Morning fights

Kayden and I have been having some big battles before school with her getting dressed. It has nothing to do with the time (she is up 2 hours before school starts) and it has nothing to do with school (she loves school). It is all because she likes to be naked and because she likes to choose. I've worked through all the love and logic I know - do you want to pick or do you want Mom to pick? do you want the red shirt or the green shirt? do you want to dress yourself or do you want help? All the answers are adament "NO!" and then some flailing about. It got so bad that I was sitting her in my lap and holding her in place with my legs when I dressed her. THEN she started taking OFF the clothes after they were on. So I started getting her dressed and strapping her immediately in her car seat. The second day of that I realized this was absurd and I needed some help to figure out something else that might work.

I emailed her teachers and asked for help. I explained the situation and said that I knew it wasn't their job to help me at home, but that they work with that age and they might have some hints. Plus, the kids have to wear a uniform to school. Certainly I am not the only parent that has the battle with school clothes in the morning.

Her teacher responded and said that it was age appropriate for her to be doing that and very common. She suggested a change in the morning routine (getting dressed right after breakfast instead of breakfast, play, get dressed). But then she said that if that didn't work, I was welcome to just bring her to school and they would take care of it. She said it is referred to as the "walk of shame" and that her own son did it last week (he's 4). Typically, she told me, it only takes once and then the kids start cooperating.

I wasn't optimistic the next morning that she would get dressed, but I knew there would be no fight and that made me happy. We started the getting dressed process right after breakfast. ONE HOUR later, it was time to leave and Kayden was in her diaper. I packed up her school clothes in her little bag and loaded her up.

When we got to school, the office secretary poked her head in the car at carpool and said, "Oh, pumpkin, do you not feel good today?" To which I responded, "No, she simply chose not to get dressed." We pulled up to her drop off and her teacher opened the door. She looked at me and said, "I was going to ask if you had gotten my email, but I see you have." I told her that Kayden wanted to fix her hair but didn't want to get dressed so her clothes were in her bag. Kayden took her teacher's hand, looked up, and said, "I'm not wearing any shoes." I wanted to say, "you aren't wearing ANYTHING"

I picked her up from school in her uniform and all smiles. The following day she told me she was not going to get dressed. I gathered her clothes, put them in Keeley's room while Keeley got dressed, and walked away. Kayden decided to get dressed. :-)

I have a feeling we'll have this repeated periodically when she is feeling particularly strong-willed, but at least I know it won't have to end in a fight now!

Make a boy

Keeley still talks a lot about how we don't have a little boy at our house. The other night we were reading and she said that she she grows up, she's going to make a boy. Then she said, "I'm going to marry Wesley. And we are going to make a boy." Wonder if Wesley knows of this plan?

State Fair

It has become a bit of a tradition to go to the State Fair with the Martinez family. I will admit that there was quite a difference from the first year we went (before kids) to this year (with the six kids between us)! The girls had fun. It was Kayden's first year to go and both girls first experience with carnival rides. The rides were unintentional. We somehow ended up entering at all the rides...not the best of plans! But, the girls enjoyed them.
We have to go on the carousel any place we see it. You'd think they would get tired of it, but they never seem to.
I think their favorite ride was probably these swings. The love the swings at the regular park so imagine their joy that these went faster and higher than Mom and Dad could push them!

They also enjoyed the motorcycle ride - even though poor Kayden was barely big enough to reach the handles.
We went over to the aquarium and grabbed a quick bite while waiting for the Martinez family.

Then we went inside where the girls acted like they wanted to touch the stingrays - but never did.
We spent forever at this touch tank and the girls touched and held all sorts of crabs.

We ended at the dog show. Kayden melted down and had to leave for a wagon ride with Dad. She just about passed out during the ride.

All in all, a pretty good day!

Pumpkin Patch

Fall is upon us and that means it is time to head out to the pumpkin patch. This year we went to the Flower Mound pumpkin patch with Granddad and Cathy. The girls had so much fun!

Checking out the pumpkins on the pumpkin house.

With their selections. We talked them into small ones so they could carry them to "show and share" at school.

They weren't riding the train unless I did. It was quite a dusty ride!I thought the pumpkin house made a great back drop for a picture. Kayden agreed with me. Keeley is yelling, "no, not here" and waving frantically. She has an opinion about everything right now.

Smiling with Dad on the hayride and wearing their pumpkin patch shirts Grandad bought them.

Cleaning

I put the girls' energy to use cleaning their bathtub the other day (just with a baking soda paste, nothing caustic or toxic). They had a blast and Kayden keeps asking if she can do it again. Look at these smiles!

Secret

Keely really, really wants us to have another baby. She talks about it a lot. This morning she came in my room and whispered very quietly, "I have a secret. I prayed for another baby." Breaks my heart. She's such a sweet girl.

Dallas Zoo

Yesterday we went to the Dallas Zoo with Grandma. Turns out it was a great day to go because I think everyone was at the football game at the fair. The girls had tons of fun. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the Giants of the Savannah because our girls were done after 4 hours. Next time we'll start there!

We started at the children's zoo section. The girls liked it. I had to convince Kayden that she wanted to ride the pony after she had balked on not one but two ticket buys. I think it went okay but she was certainly not happy about it.

We checked out the goats. Keeley was a little freaked out by them, Kayden was fascinated with their droppings.They looked at ducks with Grandma.
And that was as much as we could stall Keeley from her focus for the day. She wanted to ride a camel. Not one part of me thought this would go well - she was too freaked out by the pony to ride it and didn't want to go in with the goats. Was she actually going to ride the camel? Turns out yes, I just had to go too.
She had so much fun and told me that she'll ride by herself next time. That is fine by me. We were way too high off the ground and the camel was entirely too bumpy for my liking!

The girls really enjoyed all the statues around the zoo.
And they couldn't have been happier that we decided to end the day with an ice cream sandwich!
They both crashed out on the way home which I found very impressive because Grandma was in the back seat with them! Looks like we'll be making another trip to the Dallas Zoo sometime soon!

Balloon Festival

When the balloon festival was happening, I made a very last minute decision to go on a Friday night. Turns out that it was not the best plan all together because we rode the DART and there were storms coming. When the storms got close, they closed everything down and made us go to our cars. We didn't have cars because of the DART ride so we had to hike up the hill (carrying both the girls because we hadn't brought our stroller) to the college. And, the girls didn't really care about the balloons at all. Oh well. They had MORE than enough fun at the bounce house section!

Riding the DART shuttle

Bounce houses

Best Daddy ever. Do you see how loaded down he is? Two pairs of flip flops, a drink, three balloons, one art bag and our back pack of supplies!

Declined

In afternoon carpool the other day, Kayden's teacher told me that there was an accident report for me to sign in her bag. She explained that Kayden had fallen and cried pretty hard and that her other teacher gave her some snuggles. Because Kayden was getting buckled in, I decided to just get the report out and sign their copy right then. I glanced at it and noticed that the "injury" was a fall outside. The next section detailed all the types of first aid that could be given. The teacher had drawn a bracket around all the options and written "declined". I turned around and said, "She declined first aid?" Her teacher said, "Oh yes. She wanted nothing of that. I think she was more angry that she spilled her snack than anything else." I then turned to Kayden and said, "Baby, did you get hurt today?" she nodded "and did you need a bandaid or to wash off the boo boo?" She looked at me very seriously, hiked up her skort just above her knee and said, "It is just a scratch, Mom."

Weddings

Little girls are portrayed as being obsessed with weddings and brides. I've always wondered how that started at when that started. For us, apparently, it starts at 3. Keeley has been very concerned with figuring out family relationships lately, both immediate family and extended family (for example: she'll point out that Oma is my mom). The other day she asked why Kelly was my husband and I told him it was because I loved him very much.

Later she told me that she loved him very much and wanted to marry him. I told her that was really sweet but that Daddy was already taken and that she would have to choose someone else when she got older. She said, "but I really love Daddy. But, maybe he's too tall. I'll need to find someone smaller." I told her that she could find someone closer to her age and she said, "How do I choose?" This was turning into quite a level of worry for her. I assured her that she had years before she had to worry about choosing a husband and that she could pick one from her class or one of her friends when she was older. She asked if I would help her choose someone like Daddy.

A few days later we pull up to a park. As the girls are getting out, Keeley said, "I don't know how to choose." I asked what she was talking about since we had not been discussing anything that involved choosing. She gave me an exasperated sigh and said, "How to choose a husband. Well, maybe Nicholas. I like Nicholas." Then she hopped out of the car and went to play.

When we were getting back into the car that same day, she said, "No, I'm going to marry Wesley because I love Wesley." Kayden quickly said, "and I'm going to marry Lucas because I love Lucas" (Wesley's younger brother).

Then, yesterday morning, the first things she said to me was, "Wesley is going to be my husband." I wonder if she has informed Wesley of these plans...

Picture of God

The other night I was reading one of our books about pregnancy loss with the girls before bed. Keeley was telling me again that she was upset that she "never even got to see Kendrick". I told her that Kelly and I would try to find a picture. (We have pictures of him that our great photographer Kim came and took at the hospital, but I honestly thought that they would be a little unsettling to a 3 year old).

When I told Keeley that I'd try to find a picture, Kayden said, "of God?" (we had been talking about Kendrick being in Heaven with God.) I said, "No, no one knows what God looks like. I'm going to get a picture of Kendrick for Keeley."

Kayden responded with, "I do. God is white."

I'll readily admit I was beyond shocked. We don't read books where God is portrayed as white. The girls don't go to Sunday School. And the sermons at church, if the girls are even listening, certainly don't describe God as white. When she said that, I immediately thought white like light because she is too young to describe skin color. All this is running through my head so I decide to ask, "Kayden, do you talk to God?"

She looks at me in all seriousness, and with a little bit of annoyance and say, "No, Mom. God doesn't have a mouth. He is just white."

I still haven't decided if I am comforted that she has seen God or concerned that I won't get to keep her long, but it is an exchange with her that I'm likely to never forget.

isn't that bizarre?

8:20 PM then, during our prayers, keeley said to ask God when they would die

when i talked to her about that she said "if we die before you, you can see us in heaven later and be really, really happy