Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Pre- preschool?

Today was my first attempt at a little co-op preschool with Liliana and some friends. Kids under 3 have an attention span of exactly 4 and a half seconds. I guess since 3 of the 4 have regularly attended nursery at church, I assumed they'd like sitting in a circle to sing songs and play some games. Wrong! Even though I kept each activity very short and had play breaks in between and offered a wide variety of things to do, it was more like I was singing songs and playing games with the other mothers than anything else. We were talking about our bodies and what they can do. I made up a little song/chant about great things our bodies can do (clapping, jumping, flapping our arms, etc.) and thought they'd enjoy acting those things out, but got very little response. We talked about how our bodies can show when we're happy and sang "If you're happy and you know it" with various movements to show our happiness - again, minimal reaction. All 4 kids were into coloring pumpkin pictures with happy and sad faces, so that seemed to go well. I bet they'll get used to it and more engaged as we continue our attempts at our co-op preschool.

I noticed Emmett's third tooth on the bottom popped through last week. He's up to 7 now. My baby just keeps getting bigger and bigger every day. He looks more like a little toddler boy than a baby now. How the time flies.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Conversation with a 2 year old

Liliana to me: "Wiggle your ears, Mommy."

Me: "I don't know how. Only Daddy does."

Liliana: "I want Daddy to stay home with me with no Mommy. I want her go to work."

Thanks, kid. Now that's loyalty for you!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Lili-isms

Last night as Liliana sat on the potty, she looked at me and said, "Pretty soon I will be a boy."
"Just a minute, I want you to tell Daddy," I responded. I called David in and had her repeat herself. He looked at me with a confused grin. "Why do you think you'll be a boy soon, Liliana?" I asked.
"Because I am."
My only explanation is that she is surrounded by boy cousins, a brother, and mainly boys in her nursery class at church, playgroup, and her preschool co-op that we're starting. Also, her cousin, Mason, had been here earlier that day and since they are both potty training, they would follow each other into the bathroom with real interest in what one or the other was doing in there. I asked Liliana, "Don't you want to be a girl like Mommy?"
"No," was her simple and very quick response.
"I'm sorry to break it to you, Liliana, but you're a girl and that doesn't change, honey."
No response. I guess I'll never know what she thought about that!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Words of Lili-Wili

Some days I let Liliana jump in the bath with me while Emmett is taking a nap if I didn't manage to get showered before David heads off to work. Today I put Liliana in the tub first while I finished gathering towels, clean clothes, etc. When I came in the bathroom, ready to shower, Liliana said, "Mommy, I don't want you get in the bathtub because I want to pee in it." I assured her that I didn't want to get in either if that was the case.

Later, while Emmett was still napping, she said, "I want Emmett to go away forever."
"But won't you miss him? Don't you want him to stay so you can play with him?" I asked.
"I want him to go outside. He can look for his daddy at his work," Liliana replied.
"Emmett is just a baby. He can't even walk yet. He would get lost if he tried to find his daddy outside all alone," I explained.
"Ok. Emmett can stay and play with me," Liliana decided.