"It had to be done!"

On Wednesday the kids were outside playing and I was inside getting ready to make lunch.  I seen all these nuks (nunu) all over the floor and had it.  I had just read my bible study book (Me & You Forever) that morning and the chapter was on parenting.  Seeing the nuks on the floor and knowing that they belonged to my almost 3-year old... I need to take care of it.  And now felt like the right moment.  I was all amped up from reading my parenting chapter.  So I grabbed them, cut the tips off and threw them in her bed.  Then I emailed Jesse and told him what I did... because I was starting to have regret already. 

I take her in for nap and I am watching her putting all these nuks in her mouth and she is taking them out and looking at them funny.  Tries another one, takes it out.  I am holding back the laughter.  She looks at me and says "These nunus don't taste good."  Then her eyes fill up with her tears and her bottom lip sticks out and she is about to cry.  I start telling her how she is getting to be a big girl and big girls don't need nunus.  She is full on crying now and says, "There has to be more around here somewhere." 

Nap didn't go well.  She cried.  She cried for awhile.  She cried herself right to sleep.  I had told Max & Mally why she was crying and they were so supportive of me.  It was comical.  Max told me good job and that it would be okay.  Mallory told me it had to be done.  Which I actually needed to hear because I knew where there was another one and was about to go get it for her. 

We are 5 days into this and she still has no clue how to fall asleep.  It has been rough.  She doesn't nap.  It takes her over an hour to fall asleep.  She fights it.  She sneaks out and plays toys or reads books.  She can't fall asleep.

On Saturday I needed her to take a nap because we had an event that night.  She needed the rest.  With no naps the days before and late nights because she can't fall asleep... girl was becoming a beast!  She needed sleep.  She cried herself to sleep again (it was shorter this time) and when I went to check on her I found her sucking her thumb!!!

I clearly let her have this nuk way too long.  The other two didn't care when they got theirs taken away.  Melanie doesn't ask for it anymore or want it to be new, but she just can't get herself to sleep.  She wants me to rock her... and I did the first night... but we can't get in that habit either.  So hard.  I have to trust that she will figure it out and get it.  Just going to take longer with her. 

Ice Skating!

I am loving being part of the RVA for our schooling this year.  The RVA does so many fun things that I just didn't have time to plan when I was doing school on my own.  So far we have painted clay, joined Lego Club, Cooking Classes, Indoor Waterparks... and now Ice Skating!  We have a play coming up in March that we are super excited about too.

Mallory has had some interest in ice skating but I wasn't able to get her to a place to try it out.  When I saw that the RVA was hosting an ice skating  & Valentine swap I was all over it!!  It was thankfully pretty warm a few days before so Mallory got out her roller blades and thought she would start practicing.  The neighbor directly across the street seen this so she runs over a pair of roller skates for Melanie.  Then comes back again with a pair of roller skates for Max. 

Max and roller skates was hilarious!!  He couldn't move he just sat and spun in one spot with his feet going back & forth but he was going no where. 

The day of skating came and Mallory quickly caught on and she was a huge fan!  Loved it!  Wouldn't come off the ice for nothing!  Max would get a little ways then fall and was unable to get himself back up so he would have to crawl to the edge to pull himself back up.  He was soaked by the time we left from all the crawling on the ice he did.  He eventually took his skates off and scooted around in his shoes. 

Melanie wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.  I put her in skates and then we set her on the ice and she grabbed onto me and quickly started sending her feet in a million directions.  I haven't been on skates since I was a teen so I started reaching for the wall to stable myself and her.  I was laughing so hard.  I ended up handing her back out to my mom, who was spending her lunch hour with us.  Melanie was done.  She was back in her boots.  We tried her on her boots and she still didn't like it.  Once Grandma left I was done skating too and we sat and drank hot chocolate until it was time to go.

Fevers & Crafting

A couple of weeks ago Melanie woke up and mentioned a headache and then moments later was throwing up the Motrin I had given her.  Then quickly ran a fever.  She was sick!  When this girl is sick she wants me to be right by her side the whole time.  Which is super hard for me.  I am not a good nurse.  I may be able to teach my kids to read and write and math... but sit with them while they are sick is so hard.  Of course I did it and then would try to sneak away but I would quickly find her searching me down.  So here we sat for 2 or 3 days.  I can't even remember anymore.

I laid her down for a nap and thought I was good.  So I hopped in the shower and I didn't even get the towel off my head and she was awake crying for me.  So we didn't get any school done with her sick.  The big kids got super antsy.  I couldn't listen to anymore T.V. and either could they.  Even Melanie asked to turn it off.  Max started army crawling around with his nerf gun.

Mallory decided now was a good time to cut out patterns and sew.  I read the directions from underneath a burning up Melanie.  I had a heck of time getting her fevers to break.  I couldn't even get her to drink anything.  I started googling how to break fevers and saw ice chips.  So Max got her a cup of crushed ice and she liked eating those.

Once Melanie got the fever to break she let me sneak away a bit and help Mallory with her sewing project.  I run the iron and pin things together and she sews.  We make a good team.  Here is her finished piece.  An apron for her American Girl Doll.  Mallory is actually going to enter this into her 4H Arts & Crafts Festival in March. 

Melanie ended up being sick for 7 days.  On the 7th day I couldn't take it anymore.  I called the doctor and they asked for her to come in and be checked out.  They looked her over real good and thought she might be on the tail-end of it.  They were right, by the next morning she was back to herself. 

She Reads & Talks

Ever since Mallory was tiny I read to her.  We went to the library and brought home stacks of books.  I think if we go back far enough in my blog you will find pictures of her as a toddler laying on her back in her room with her feet up reading a book.  Back even further taking all the books off the book shelf as a tiny little baby. 

All that reading stuck.  She now is able to read on her own.  Full blown chapter books.  However, she feels like she has to tell me all about them!  This morning I thought I would grab my camera and take pictures.  I had no idea she was practically going to read the book to us.  She told us every last detail and went on for a good 20 minutes.

She was reading out loud to Melanie before she decided to share it with me. 

She is also very animated when she talks about her books.

Yup.  Melanie.

Oh yes, I am walking around snapping pictures and she is just a talking about this book.

Yup.  Maxwell.

She hasn't moved but the rest of us have walked circles around the place while she keeps telling us about her book.

She still had 4 more chapters left to read.  Which she read that night and proudly told me the next morning that she read an 11 chapter book in 3 days!! 

Pajamas & Legos

This particular Saturday we just needed to slow down and be lazy for a bit.  I typically don't let the kids watch too much TV because it makes them very antsy when they are done.  And it makes them want more and more and more TV.  So this Saturday I let them bring up all their legos and they built and played for hours.

Mallory is working on a lego city and is building as many pieces as she can.  She has the cutest girl legos.  Tiny little lego animals too.

Melanie has her own legos too!  She has Doc McStuffins legos and she plays with them and talks with them.  She will build and rebuild towers.  Legos seem to be her favorite toys to play with, but only if she is right by someone.

Max was seeing if he could build a set all by himself.  Typically he needs us to help him, but he was determined this day.

He did it!  100% all on his own!  He was super proud of himself.

They played for until lunch!!  And then after lunch!!  Most of the day was spent with these legos.

Mid afternoon we went to Menards.  While we were walking around I had so many flashbacks of having to entertain tiny babies in Menards while Jesse shopped for the next home improvement needs we needed to get.  It has been a long time since we have had to go here... but we are thinking about redoing the last room in the house and just doing some minor touch ups in the other rooms. 

We had two carts and Momma Mallory had all the kids on her cart! 

On the way home Jesse and I talked about how when we use to go to Menards we would show up in our truck and enclosed trailer.  This time we went in our mini van and drove home listening to 3 squirrels in the backseat eat Cheetos.