You let him do what?

J has a crush on a girl in his class. He proposed and she turned him down. :(

Anyway, J likes to play with this little girl. Her mom and I were talking the other day before the school day ended. She was telling me that her daughter said that she and J play in the Home Living Area. Apparently, they like to play with the kitchen and to play dress-up. Another mom (of a boy) overheard our conversation. She said to me, "You let him play dress-up?!" I told her yes and that J even has a baby doll. She replied that her husband would never go for that. Who cares? They're three. J is currently also sporting pink toenails. I guess that if my son plays with dolls, gets dressed up as a princess, and likes to hang with the girls that he is going to catch the gay. Oh, J also told me the other night that he wants to take ballet. I should have told that to that other mom. Some people are just so close-minded. It's sad.

Want a challenge?

Have you ever tried to take a picture of three kids? Yeah, I have. All my mom wants for Christmas is a picture of her three grandkids. J and Kensie's cousin is five and his name is Ryan. On Friday night, my sister and I picked out matching Christmas pajamas for the three kids. Then on Saturday we tried the photo shoot. Unfortunately, Kensie is at the height of her separation anxiety and stranger anxiety. Another unfortunate thing is that my sister hasn't spent much time with her niece. So, Kensie is quite leery of her.

We tried. We really did. But we could not accomplish all three kids looking and all three kids smiling at the same time. In fact, Kensie did not break a smile at any point. All she wanted was for Mommy to hold her and for her auntie to stop looking at her.

Here are some of the outtakes:



And this one is our keeper:


Professional quality? Nah. But Gramma will love it, none the less.

What is God?

That is the question my son asked me today. I was stumped. I have never been stumped by a question of his. I had no idea how to reply. I told him we would go to Barnes and Noble and find some books about God. How do you explain the concept of God to a three-year-old when I don't even truly grasp it?

The Dentist

J had his first dentist appointment yesterday. He did as well as could be expected. I had no idea what to expect as three-year-olds are a little unpredictable. It went as follows:

Actually speaking to the hygienist: Check

Getting into the big chair: Check

Allowing the hygienist to count his teeth: Check

Examining the instruments and holding Mr. Thirsty (the spit sucker thing): Check

Actually allowing the hygienist to clean his teeth: Check, check!

Fluoride treatment: No go

X-rays: Absolutely a no go

Speaking to the dentist: Negative

Getting back into the big chair: No way

Letting the dentist take a look inside his mouth: Absolutely no. (Well, in J-speak, "Ever, never, ever." This was said with the arms crossed across his chest and a very defiant look on his face.)

We pinned him down and she took a look in his mouth while J screamed like a crazy person. She saw no visible cavities. Yay! But she said the nooch needs to go. It's affecting his palate. I know it needs to go and it comes to no surprise to me that she said so, but I was already feeling pressure about it. Now I feel intense pressure.

So, the visit went better that I expected. J needs to go back in six months. I am so happy to have that behind me.

The Epilogue

So, J and Kensie finally fell asleep last night around 11:30ish. It was great! Chris and I went to bed at about 2. Yup, we're night owls. While we were getting ready for bed, J came walking into our room. He's never done that before. He said he couldn't sleep, but I just steered him right back to his bed. I rubbed his back for a bit and left. Both kids slept til 8:45!

Chris and I were both, like, this is so weird to have our room to ourselves now. We could turn on the bathroom light and talk in normal voices rather than whispering. Now, we both fell asleep as soon as we hit the pillows, but maybe we'll celebrate our new freedom tonight. ;)

Go to Sleep Little Babies

So, Kensie has been sleeping in our room since birth. Chris and I are sick of her being in there. However, she and J have to share a room since we have no extra bedroom. I have been quite hesitant about moving Kensie to J's room as J is sometimes a PITA about going to bed at night, plus I worry about them waking each other up. Chris decided out of the blue tonight to move Kensie to J's room....I mean, their room.

So, I put her down in the crib in their room. Kensie is fine for a few minutes and then begins screaming. She does her morning nap in the crib and does her afternoon nap in there as well if J is skipping, so she is familiar with the crib. For the record, Kensie never cries when she goes to bed. She fusses sometimes a bit, but never screams.

I go back upstairs, settle her in again, and then leave. Within 15 seconds, she's crying again. I go back in and pick her up. Chris tells me to just leave her alone as she needs to get used to it. I cannot hear my kids cry, so I turn off the monitor.

Chris rocked her for a bit and then put her back to bed. She has been crying off and on since then. It's 11:18. Kensie has never been awake this late before. J is also not sleeping.

I knew this was going to be a transition and that it was going to be challenging, but I feel so frustrated. I don't know how she'll do tonight, if they will wake each other up, or if anyone is going to get any rest. And this mommy needs her sleep.

Halloween

Clever title, eh?

Halloween was so much fun this year. J actually understood it and the concept of Trick or Treating. Our city's TOT hours were 4-8 that night and I like to go out the earlier the better. I don't like being out after dark with my kids. After much deliberation in the Halloween store, J had decided on Dracula. Kensie was Scooby Doo.

I got J and Kensie into their costumes, loaded Kensie into the stroller, and off we went. At every house, J would tell Chris and me to "wait right here on sidewalk" and then he would march up to the door all by himself. At most of the houses, the people were waiting either by their door or on their porches. J would announce, "Trick or Treat!" and hold out his pumpkin basket. We usually had to remind him to say thank you as he was so overwhelmed with joy of getting candy.

One can tell which houses are giving out candy as they are the ones with porch lights on. No porch light means no candy. After explaining this to J several times, he became the light lookout. He would announce either "That house not giving out candy." or "That house has light on!".

We went for a few blocks before J began dragging his basket on the ground and his steps became sluggish. He was happy to go back home so he could dig into his candy and hand out goodies to the other kids. Unfortunately, we only had three trick-or-treaters! We have so much candy to eat now.

And now for the pictures...