Baby No More

In the past month, Charlie has been replaced. With a toddler. You see, just last month, she was scooting around on her knees and pointing at things and grunting. Now, she walks. She talks. She knows what she wants. It seems almost over night, she has transformed from a baby into a toddler. When she's done eating, she throws her arms in the air and yells, "All done!" As people leave the house, she casually waves and says, "Bye." She asks for her baby, her bike, her shoes, and crackers. She runs up to us and hands us random items and says, "Thank you!" She yells for Mommy. She yells for Dada. She's also very feisty. If she doesn't get her way, she gets angry. Very angry. When her sisters take toys from her, she screams and holds on for dear life. When we ask her if she wants to go to bed, she gets a disgusted look on her face and yells, "Nooooo!!!" When we ask her if she wants to brush her teeth, she toddles to the bathroom and puts the first toothbrush she can grab into her mouth. You better not lay down on the floor anywhere near her because she'll jump on you and bounce up and down.

This week, I switched the girls' clothes over. Summer out, winter in. Anything less than size 12 months got put away. No more baby clothes. No more tiny little onesies. No more socks that seem impossibly small. We also put away some old toys, ready for a rummage sale. No more play mat. No more walker. No more bouncing swing.

No more baby.

I'd be lying if I said it didn't bring a tear to my eye. I'm so excited to see what they become, how they grow, watch them learn. But, sometimes I just wish it could all stop. I want to kiss boo-boos, rock sick little babies to sleep, come home to shouts of excitement and giant bear hugs. But I also want them to go to bed without it being a huge ordeal, feed themselves without making a giant mess, and I'm ready to be done with diapers.

It is definitely bittersweet.

Mean Girls... and So it Begins

Last year, for K4, Lydia picked out a Disney princess backpack. I wasn't too excited about it. I tried to steer her towards Toy Story or Dora, but she insisted on princesses, and if that's what she wanted, fine with me. Of course, being a backpack that cost less than $10, it was looking pretty ragged by the end of the year.

This year, we looked online for one, and my aim was to spend a little more money on a decent backpack that would last several years. Maybe even get her name embroidered on it. As we searched online, though, we came across a Phineas and Ferb backpack that came with a matching lunch box. OMG! She was smitten. Had it been another princess backpack, I would have shot her down, but I admit, I loved the fact that she was drawn to a "boy" backpack and not another Disney princess one. Today, Phineas and Ferb. Tomorrow? Social advocate! Awww... my little feminist. We found a Perry the Platypus water bottle to go with it, and completed our order.

When her backpack came, it was a pretty big deal. She immediately ran to get her school supplies to put in it. We opened the box with the water bottle and discovered they accidentally sent us three! Christmas in August! I quickly claimed one as my own to bring to school. (Scroll down to the previous post to see her wearing the backpack).

Then, it happened. Lydia told me girls at school were bullying her because she didn't have a princess backpack. They told her Phineas and Ferb was for boys, and she should have a princess backpack. I asked her who was saying that, and she said all the girls in her class except for her friend who had a monkey backpack. My heart broke. My first instinct was to talk to her teacher. Well, actually, my first instinct was go to her class before school and find those girls and tell them through gritted teeth that the needed to leave my daughter alone and their stupid Disney princess backpacks were ugly. Alas, I refrained.

Instead, I talked to Lydia about bullying and why girls do it. I helped her come up with something she could say back to them, which she has memorized. I talked to her about sticking up for her friend with the monkey backpack too. I hope that the girls forget about the backpacks and she doesn't have to worry about her comeback, but I'm also kind of looking forward to her asserting herself if they don't forget.

Back to School

Last week, Lydia and I returned to school. Just like last year, I didn't get to see her get on the bus, but Jayson took plenty of pictures for me. I think it's probably better that I wasn't there because I think both Lydia and I would have been in tears.

Audrey really wanted to go to school with Lydia, and we talked to her about it and told her that when she turns four, then she gets to go to school with Lydia. On the night before school started, we were getting Lydia's backpack ready and Audrey asked if she could use her old one. I told her she could and then realized she meant immediately. She wanted to get it packed and wanted to go to school too. I reminded her that she would go to school when she was four, and then realized she thought that would be happening in a matter of days, not almost ten months. It was very sad, but for now, she's happy getting to go to the gym with Daddy every day.

Last year, Lydia was in K4 and did great. This year, we told her K5 would be the same, except she would eat lunch at school and she would have quiet time. I was worried the most about quiet time because she stopped napping shortly after she turned two. As it turns out, quiet time wasn't what I should have been worried about. She returned from school on her first day and told us she hated it, she was scared of the lunch room, and she wanted to go back to K4. She also barely touched her lunch. So, I did that thing I hate and wrote a note to her teacher on the second day of school to let her know about Lydia's apprehension and to ask if she could please make sure she had a friend to sit with at lunch. The next day, she returned to tell us lunch was much better, she got to sit next to her friend, she ate most of her lunch, and she wanted to get hot lunch. She even had her five-digit code memorized.

She also asked me if she could go to the after school program and I pointed out to her the fact that both her parents are home after school. So, that was a no-go.

Today Lydia again asked to get hot lunch, so I figured out how to put money in her account (I hope) and discussed with her the idea of a "balanced meal." She knows what healthy food are, and I told her she needs to eat more healthy foods than unhealthy foods. I also told her no chocolate milk and she looked at me and said, "That's all they have. Chocolate milk." I assured her they would have white milk too. I'm very interested to see how she does.

Here are some pictures of her first day:

New Phineas and Ferb backpack and lunch box, and Perry water bottle.

Ready to go!

Audrey and Charlie had to get in on the action too.

 

Heading out to the bus.

Watching for the bus.

One last hug.

Off to K5!