Words by AJ

Since AJ's last doctor's appointment Still a Bobble Head we've made some progress on the word count. We've surpassed the 10-20 words that he should have been saying and we're on our way to reaching 50. I must say, it's been very fun trying to figure out what he's trying to say...a bit of a mystery game, not to mention oh so very cute! He seems to be catching on to words easier too...G taught him how to say "football" almost immediately.

AJ’s words

1. Ne na´ – Seena
2. nana – nana
3. anana – banana
4. daddee - daddy
5. no nie – not nice (with raised pointed finger)
6. pee pee – penis, pee
7. tuck – truck
8. ball – ball
9. Nose – Nose
10. Daa – hot dog
11. Mama – mom
12. ba by – bye bye
13. hi – hi
14. Noo – no
15. babas – warm milk in sippy cup
16. gogut – yogurt
17. ckee – cookie
18. Dun – done
19. Mine – Mine
20. Ma – more, mas
21. boon – balloon
22. booball - football
24. aba - agua, drink
25. bus - bus
26. daa da daa – AJ’s favorite song. ok so this is not an actual word but he says it ALL of the time and it's very cute.

Keeping Up

Goodness. That is all I can say. Life is busy and I only have one kid in one activity...well, actually two. I realized this morning taht I didn't take my laptop out of it's bag once this weekend. Crazy, crazy, crazy. October "appears" to be a slower month...according to my calendar but I can see that changing pretty quickly. I have to say that I have written on this blog daily...just mentally. For now, since I have a brief ten minutes before my next meeting I will jot down a very funny moment between Seena and G last night:

G is putting Seena down to bed and has just finished reading her a book:
G - quit peeing in your bed.
Seena - you quit smoking.

Enough said...that's my girl :)

Seena Good...Seena Bad

We've made it through 2 weeks of school and today was the first day Seena did not tear up when I left...Seena Good. But perhaps that was because I was actually IN the classroom to show her where the bathroom was....Seena Bad.

Seena Good
Seena seems to like school. She still hasn't talked about meeting a bunch of new friends yet but she does have a friend from daycare in her class. She recalls most of the details of the day, her instructions from her teacher and anything interesting. She has had all six enrichment classes; PE, Art, Science, Computer, Library and Music. So far her favorites are gym and library?? Not sure how that is right since both times she came home from PE she said it was boring???

On a side note, I joined the PTA and at the first meeting I learned that they (we) are trying to put in an Outdoor Science Garden complete with a pond, raised garden boxes and a butterfly garden. Very excited about this!!

Dance - Finally, finally, finally Seena is up for this and looks forward to it now. Yeah!! The first time I took her she was 3 and she was TERRIFIED. I had to pull her out by the 2nd class. It was so bad. Now, she gets right in. G took her to her first class....I'm devastated that I missed it but I'm sure there will be other times now that she's comfortable with it. From the reports from G she did very well. A lot of running back and forth and jumping and clamoring around in her tap shoes :) Plus she looks adorable in her leotard and tights!

Seena Bad
The wet shorts are still a problem...everyday and now every night. I've threatened diapers (again) and that stopped it for one day but we had another accident last night. When asked Seena says she's "never" used the bathroom in her class, I'm not sure I believe that 100% but just in case, I walked her to her class this morning and walked her through the whole process of using the bathroom IN the classroom. Hopefully, this will get her going in the right direction.

1st assessment on letters - not great but Teacher is going to retest her herself in case it was just a "shy" thing. I know it's very early but still I worry.

Answering Prayers or Playing Jokes...Which is It?

I delayed writing this post because I wanted to be a bit calm. See, I did it again. I unleashed the famous Juno Jinx. I either commented or I thought something good. At first I was upset, scared and angry but I've learned from my past emotions and I'm trying to be open minded about why things happen the way they do. A lot of my rationale has to do with my Faith so I'm trying to understand and see the good in my current situation.

Just last week I was excited and looking forward to finally having some breathing room again. I dared make grand plans in my head of the all of the fun activities I was going to sign the kids up for, maybe even have a little extra spending money left over for something fun. I know this extra money meant my husband's continued misery at work but he (we) don't have any other options right now. I know he's miserable at his job (hey, I hate my job too) and I feel guilty that I'm (was) looking forward to spending money but it's been such a long time since I've had it, I don't want it taken away. I've had a taste and I now I'm drooling at the mouth for more.

To appease my guilty feelings I've been praying. I've been praying for G to find something that makes him happy and worthy. Um, the last time I prayed for this G got the restaurant and look where I am now. Hmmm. I pray this same prayer again, and now G is facing a layoff in two weeks. So what does this mean now? I was hoping to at least have something lined up first. So, again, what does this mean? Is this a joke...haha on me....or as the good ole Joel Olsteen says "there is river of good fortune heading my way, just be patient". Yeah, I listen to him occasionally....he's entertaining and it makes me feel a little less guilty for not going to church if I listen to him for the day.

So, I've decided to do as I've been doing...have faith. Have faith this is meant to be and to adjust accordingly. I suppose God answered half of my prayer, he gave G an out...now we just need to find the new "in".

Week in Review

Wow, what a week! And this is before any of the real activities have started. Even though it's been busy...not hectic yet...but just a constant steady busy, it's been a good week. A nice change of pace. I like this pace, I do better in this pace. Since I really couldn't do a daily blog I will wrap up this week in one post:

First day of School
Surprisingly went very well minus the crying. I stuck to my schedule - which required me to get up at 5:15am to make sure Teen gets out the door on time and to get in a run before the little ones woke up. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to go running on the first day because it was raining but I at least got up and got dressed to go running ;). Seena and AJ did well...no big fights from either of them. After dropping of AJ at daycare, I came back and met G and Seena for our first walk to school. It was really sweet. When it was time to say goodbye I could feel the tears instantly flowing out of my eyes. Of course Seena didn't help. She was clinging on to me begging to go home with me. She has this heart wrenching pout, add that to her throwing her arms around my neck and burying her face in my neck while crying just made me lose all self-control I had. I buried my head in her shoulders and cried like a baby. G even got teary eyed a few times. After our emotional goodbyes we watched our little girl walk away to her first day of kindergarten. I'm so proud of her, I know she was so scared but she kept herself grounded and followed the rest of the class.

After school, we got, what I thought, was a pretty decent recount of her first day until I called Nana. After a quick debrief, ML (6 year old cousin) got on the phone and you would have thought my 5 year old warped into a babbling teenager. Seena proceeded to tell ML all kinds of things, who was in her class, what she did at recess, what the boys did at recess, what she ate, what she wore ...it went on and on. It was very entertaining but at the same time I'm thinking..."come on - I just lost her to kindergarten PLEASE don't speed this growing-up thing any faster than it needs to".

The rest of the week, though uneventful for the most part other than car-pooling, back-to-school night etc., was very good. I'm a little hesitant to say that things may be turning around for us for fear of jinxing it but this week has been full of good things and good news; a potential new job for me, getting the car choice that I want if I stay at my current job, financially things turning out in our favor (potentially), court hearing going very well and Teen getting a call back from an agency that I sent pictures to months ago for an audition. I really do hope it lasts. I even learned that I'm Teen's Role Model....who would have ever guessed :)

Going to School

After Seena was born my mom told me that she was worried about me being a mom. She worried that I would need "help" taking care of a baby. I can understand why she felt that way...I never really displayed any gaga feelings about having kids or kids in general...that was always my sister. I never really showed too much emotion about kids...didn't get what all of the commotion was about. Of course, I knew I wanted them and I wanted them sooner than later but other than that I didn't think I was going to be the mushy mom that I SO AM NOW. It's crazy, it really is. Kids change you. Mine have changed me. I used to only want 3 (which I have now) but now I want more. I want a whole house full and I want to be around kids and do things for them. I've been brainwashed by kid mania!!!

The mushiness has crept up on me. I was super emotional when I first had Seena but after that the whole mess with her apnea and RSV, I was ok. I calmed down for awhile. I didn't get emotional over daycare, I didn't get emotional about going back to work, I didn't get as emotional about having another baby, I definitely wasn't the crazy freak that I was with Seena with AJ. I've been much more relaxed there. And as Seena got older, I didn't get the emotional business of going to kindergarten. When I went to register her, I didn't get emotional...I was actually afraid that I wouldn't at all. Does that make me a bad mommy? Some people I know cried at registration. Why didn't I?

But as the day approaches I've been feeling the twinge of tears lurking in my eyes. I know Seena going to school is driving my wanting another baby. I don't want her to grow up. I don't want her to go to school. I don't.

And finally, the tears came. They came the day I had kindergarten orientation. They came all today just thinking that tomorrow was it. Tomorrow she's officially in school. And of course it didn't make it easier when we were getting ready for bed she looked up at me and said she was scared. Talk about pulling at your heart strings!!

So, I mustered up all of my super mommy strength and talked about all of the great things she'll do in school, that it's ok that she's scared, we talked about how all of the other kids are scared too because it's their first day too and we even talked about how lucky she was that she had a friend already in the class. And then I thought I would be a real super mom and tell her that I would be with her in her heart and if she ever got scared at school to close her eyes and she would see mommy smiling at her, telling her it was ok. Her response "that's not real mommy". That's pretend". And the little booger laughed. So much for that tender moment :)

Just So I Won't Forget

I know I've complained about not getting enough sleep and that AJ wakes up randomly every other night blah, blah, blah. I know it will pass and I will get my full night sleep one day blah, blah, blah. Why I'm choosing to write about this is because last night AJ did the sweetest thing, I think at least. Since we've moved AJ into a big bed, he's progressed from crying out from his bed to getting up and coming to my door and crying out. It never mattered to him what time it was...but last night was different.

At 3:47am I felt the slightest tap on my arm. I opened up my eyes and there was my sweet boy looking at me with his sweet eyes. There is nothing significant about this but yet to me it was.

As soon as he saw that my eyes were opened...he cried out. I didn't say it was a long moment...just a sweet second moment.

I grabbed my pillows, turned off my alarm and headed to his room. We snuggled up, he grabbed my arm, wrapped it around him and he held it there for.....yep, another sweet second.

Still trying to hold on to the honeymoom :)