Riley and Avery

The girls both went to sleep in their own beds last night. But wait, it wasn't that great. Avery dawdled and went to bed really late. Riley was uber tired and went to bed pretty quickly, but not without a lot of whining. I did some work around the house, and then went to bed to watch "The Tudors" on demand. Turns out, I should have gotten some sleep, because the girls alternated waking up several times. Why couldn't they wake up together and give a mama a break? Riley finally came into our bed and I was waaaaay too tired to get her back in her own. I don't know how Avery got into our bed. I think Rudi brought her with him when he came to bed in the early hours. I guess. They "slept in" this morning, but only by a half hour. Not good enough.

Okay, I'm done...

Just forgot to say...I was putting together the bunk beds the other day and Riley asked me if she could help with the "Uncle Allan Wrench." I thought that was funny. And impressed that she knew an Allen wrench by sight.

Apparently, I have to upload videos separately. Blogger's being a turd...

I know what you're thinking: Riley? Conform? Well, she wants to conform, but it just isn't in her nature. Wonder where she got that. She is obsessed with "being a good match for our family" and is afraid to differ from us. She says if she likes Barbie, she won't be a good match because I don't like Barbie. This can go on and on about various sundry things. I don't know where she got this idea from. She is permitted to be herself in school and at home, so I don't understand where the disconnect comes from.

We are going to be fierce budgeters next month. Hardcore. Yay. As such, I am thinking of giving the girls allowance. They get no toys that they don't buy themselves. Period. I know I spend too much on them, and they think that we can just buy them whatever they want whenever they want. And Rudi buys them stuff just to "shut them up" which is not a good practice by any means. They are both surprisingly good with money when they have their own, choosing carefully what to spend it on, and when they'd rather save. I'm surprised at how often they choose not to spend their own money. Harder than reigning the kids in will be reigning Rudi in. He knows that he spends too much. He's not stupid. And if there's something that he really wants, he can just tell me and I'll put it in the budget for the next month. Which will reign in impulse buys. Rudi is the king of impulse buys. Who else could go to the grocery store for food and come back with a (generic) iHome, which we can't afford (but it was on sale!) and that is still sitting on the steps unopened after all these months? He will definitely have to cut back on the cigars. No two ways about it.

I cooked hamburgers yesterday, which was only the second dinner this month with land-based meat. Other than that, I've cooked chili, and that was all the non-seafood meat we've had for dinner. Rudi was surprised when I told him that. The vegetarian meals I've been trying from the Moosewood cookbook are really hardy, and you really don't miss the meat. We are by no means vegetarian, and still often have meat for lunch.

Swim lessons are over for this session. Avery passesd all the requirements for her class (there weren't that many) but would enroll in the same level again to increase her comfort in the water. But right now she says she doesn't want to take swim lessons anymore. Fine with me. She is only 3 after all. Riley didn't pass two of her requirements, of which there are about 40 or 50. She still has to do an assisted front float with her face in the water for 5 seconds. Not too shabby considering this was only a 1/2 session. I expected her to be in Level 1 again, no biggie. She is really looking forward to the next session. It will be nice with Rudi and I alternating taking her. She needs time alone with her parents. Anyway, now that spring break (a term used loosely since it snowed over "spring" break, and is snowing as we speak **Update** snowing has stopped) is over, we will be back to going to family swim on Wednesdays. Rudi missed that over spring break and said that he really enjoys doing that as a family.

The bunk beds are finally both assembled and ready to go for tonight's bedtime. I finished the upper bunk and Rudi helped me lift it on late last night. I still have more organization and purging to do in there. The bunk beds are huge and make an already small room look much smaller. The bright side is that we now have plenty of under-bed storage space. I hope to buy some bins to put all the stuffed animals in and slide them under the bed.

I'm getting excited for the conference with the director of Riley's school on Monday. I need to know what's going on next year. I have the paperwork in hand from Globe Charter School, with information on their Kindergarten open house on 4/20. It's decision time. In a perfect world, I'd like her to stay where she is for Kindergarten.

The girls have really been enjoying their swim lessons. Avery took a little time to warm up to her teacher, but now she has to the be kid who is always right next to the teacher. The first two lessons, she kind of pooped out 10 minutes before the class ended, stopped cooperating, and was let out. Now she is really making an effort to do what is asked of her. She'll put her mouth in the water and blow bubbles, but she still doesn't like splashing and getting water on her face.

Riley is having an absolute blast in her class. Seriously, her laughter fills the pool. Her teacher is really great with the kids. There are only 4 kids in her class. The teacher is like an Uncle Ben, he has a lot of fun with the kids. Riley really digs him. She will put her face in the water, but still doesn't like it much. Both Riley and Avery are getting so much more comfortable in the water. Not too shabby for $17.50 per kid. Riley for sure will be taking lessons again, we'll see if Avery want to as well. She says no right now, although I'm sure she wouldn't like going to the pool to watch Riley take lessons. Rudi has really enjoyed this too. I think he gets more involved as the children get older. He has actively been a part of this swim lesson thing, and we all know how hard it is to get him to do anything in the morning, much less 5 mornings in a row.

Speaking of 5 mornings, I doubt there will be swim lessons tomorrow. The roads are quite icy and they're calling for another 5-8 inches overnight. The people here are seriously paralyzed by ice. Two feet of snow? No problem. Ice? Yikes! But now I don't know how to figure out what level classes to put the in next session. I'm not sure if Riley is done with level one (although that's unlikely since it was a half-session) or moving on.

Speaking of classes...Riley is really really really into foreign languages. She says that her French class at school isn't moving fast enough for her and she wants to learn more and more. She wants to learn French and Chinese in particular. I don't want that language acquisition part of her brain to die. American's just stink at knowing other languages. So anyway, I found the Colorado Springs Chinese Language School which teaches Mandarin Chinese on a semester schedule with two hours of instruction per week. The cost is $125 for the three-month semester. I haven't run it by Riley yet, but thought I'd ask her closer to the semester start, otherwise she may bug me about when she gets to go, etc.

Speaking of school (the segues are coming easy!) I have a conference with Riley's teachers on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll talk more about what to do with Riley next year. It would be nice to have some closure. For once. I think I want her to go to the Montessori school, but it all depends on tuition. If they offer me work over the summer in exchange for tuition, I'd jump on it.

Speaking of summer (oh, yeah, I'm on a roll!) we are still trying to decide when to go to Maryland. I'm thinking about just throwing my hands up and just going July 1st. That way we'll have the money from the education grants for my summer classes. Also summer classes start at the very end of May, and if we leave in July (I'm going to take online courses) that would give me a chance to try and get ahead in my classes so I don't have to do much while in Maryland. Hmmm....

No smooth transition this time...We got the bunk beds via FedEx and they are fabulous and beautiful! Real wood smells so good. So different from the particle board we are used to :) However, one of the upper headboards was damaged in shipping. Damaged as in "broken". I kind of panicked when I discovered it since we bought these bunk beds incredibly cheap ($265 with free shipping!) and though their customer service must suck. You can never find cheap stuff plus good customer service. But I was wrong. Their customer service was great and our new headboard is due to arrive tomorrow via FedEx. I got the lower bed assembled and both girls slept in it for most of the night. I also fell asleep in it, but that's another story. Avery woke at 6:30am and I took her into our bed and nursed her back to sleep (I was too sleepy to try and get her back to sleep in her own bed). Riley came in at about 8am. Not too shabby. They looked so cute sleeping in the same twin bed. Oh, Avery also did not nurse to sleep last night. She nursed a bit, said she was done, asked for lemonade, and then asked for a story (Goldilocks and the Three Bears) and went to sleep without nursing. Nice. And not nice at the same time.

Mmmmm...fry bread. When the fry bread's gone, the eating's not done!







This little boy was so cute, and had a ton of rhythm! He was probably about 4.



For some reason, the color and symmetry of the fancy dancer's back pieces appealed to me.


Riley brought one of her drawing with her and was determined to give it to a "woman dancer grown-up." She was very selective as we wandered around the vendor area. It seemed that she wouldn't find anyone to give it to. She finally spotted this woman and decided she was "the one" and gave her the picture, which was folded up. The woman said thank you very kindly, and I think she was a little confused. Perhaps she thought that Riley thought she had dropped something. We walked away happy. Apparently the woman realized that Riley had gifted her a drawing and she caught up with us and opened the picture and thanked Riley and said that the picture was so colorful and that she would put it in a bag where she collects things to remember from all the powwows she goes to. Then she gave Riley an Indian name "Waste Wea" (pronounced wash-tay wee-a) meaning "Good Woman." Riley was thrilled. From a quick internet search, it appears to be an Assiniboine name. Again, Riley is thrilled. (I also notice from that picture that Avery and I have the same hair. I always assumed she had Rudi's hair. Pictures are useful for that, I guess!) We ran into the woman again in the parking lot when we were leaving and she had changed into street clothes. She recognized Riley and thanked her again. I'm not 100% sure that Riley recognized her without her buckskin dress on!

Overall, we had a ton of fun. We are all totally worn out. By all of us, I mean Rudi and I. Riley and Avery are dancing to Putumayo's Animal Playground like, well, animals. It was so busy at the powwow, so many vendors of authentic items, so many dancers. Just a whole lot of fun.

This picture-giving thing is something that Riley seems to be doing a lot of lately. Rudi said that she gave one to the lady working at Starbucks yesterday. Hey, she could be a famous artist one day, and those people could be in possession of an early piece!

I don't know if blogger lets you publish more than one video per post, but I couldn't upload it to the last post, so here it is, Riley on her bike!

So, the girls got their baskets this morning. I have a lot more outdoor pictures, but will save those for a later post.

Rudi thought I went overboard on the baskets. Yes, they were big, but contained some fun stuff in addition to things they needed. Like bathing suits, sundresses, and beach towels. (With swimming lessons next week, there's no way I could take four bath towels every single day and still have some to shower with. Just not possible)

I found a bunk bed mattress yesterday. We may not shop at Walmart, but apparently we have no problem with KMart. Withing our budget, it was our only choice. And because my interaction with the store employee was so funny, I've written a transcript:

Sales Guy: Hello!
Me: Hello!
SG: We close in about 5 minutes.
Me: Oh, I thought you closed at 10! Well, I know exactly what I'm looking for, so if you point me in the right direction, I can be out within 5 minutes.
SG: What are you looking for?
Me: I saw a twin-size foam bunk bed mattress online and didn't know if you carry it in the store or not.
SG: We have some stuff kind of like that in the bedding section and in the furniture section. I'll take you there.
Me: Okay.
SG: Wait, this bedding stuff doesn't look like what you're looking for. Here are some foam mattress pads...
Me: It was a bunk bed mattress, not a mattress pad.
SG: We have this memory foam mattress...(OMG, it was $220!)
Me: Oh, no, this was a twin bunk bed mattress for $46 or $47, something like that.
SG: Oh, we don't have anything like that, this stuff is all over $200.
Me: Well, thanks anyway. I'll probably just order it online then.
SG: Well, we do have this foam bunk bed mattress for $48.

Really? Seriously? That is exactly what I asked for in the very beginning, right? And now I made them stay in the store an extra 3 minutes to complete my transaction. I mean, really? I speak pretty good English, so I don't understand the confusion. And it's not like he happened upon the mattress, not realizing that they carried it. It was like he was showing me it, not knowing if that's what I wanted or not. Exhale...

We got the bunk beds yesterday, by the way, hence the mattress search. I don't even want to know how much FedEx charged for shipping. We can't even really move the boxes, so they are where the FedEx guy left them, practically blocking the door. My project is to get them assembled and up and running by Tuesday. Or Monday, but I don't have much faith in myself :)

I'm tired of typing, and the kids are being turds. I shall return...

So, I said that I got Riley a life jacket but was unsure what size to get Avery, so I didn't get Avery one (didn't think she'd even want one anyway). So I bring Riley the life jacket to have her try on and IT DOESN'T FIT HER!!! But here's the kicker, it fits Avery perfectly. Oh, it was so heartbreaking! So then Avery had a life jacket (which she loves) and Riley had none. Riley just wept and wept. So I went back to the sporting goods store later that day and stressed out over which one to get Riley. I wanted the neoprene kind, not the nylon-covered foam ones, but the larger ones looked way too huge and didn't have the crotch strap that keeps the jacket from coming off over her head. So I crossed my fingers and bought a Body Glove jacket for 30-50#, the same size as the one that fit Avery (which is a different brand) hoping that the sizing is just different between brands. And hooray! the Body Glove jacket fits her perfectly. Now we are all set. For what, I don't know.

So, I went to Old Navy yesterday because I had a coupon for 30% of your total purchase, applied to absolutely everything, including promotional prices and sale prices. Girls sundresses were on promotion for $10 and I got them for $7. Nice. Oh, they also had striped women's sweaters for $9.99, so I grabbed two of them. I never have enough sweaters. And I'm picky about my sweaters. Acrylic is my eternal enemy. I didn't get to spend enough time there (I didn't go through the sale stuff yet) because it was my last trip on my list of errands, so I started go get nervous that the kids were driving Rudi crazy. I'll go back today, most likely. I was feeling like such the good wife yesterday because when I came home I gave the coupon to Rudi (you can use the coupon multiple times) and told him to go get some summer stuff (the man has a ton of clothes, but 95% of it is winter). He got some t-shirts for $3 and a pair of shorts. Hey, wait, I didn't get any summer stuff for me!...

I am at a total loss of what to put in Avery's Easter basket. I got them each a new swimsuit and sundress to roll up and tie with a ribbon, but I got Riley a bead kit, some pendants for her necklaces, and some other little trinkets that I thought she would like. Oh, I got her watercolor pencils. The girl is all about experiencing new artist materials. There are a couple of things that I got them each one of, but can't think of anything especially for Avery...

And oh, my goodness, I got them each a Webkinz for Easter. This could be fun or disastrous. Riley likes playing Pet Society on Facebook, so I though Webkinz would be perfect for her. I don't think that Avery will know what is going on, but I thought I'd play it safe and get one for her too. You know, just in case.

I signed Riley and Avery up for Spring Break swimming lessons. Their classes are at the same time (11am-11:40) every morning during spring break. For $17.50 each child, you sure can't beat that! Hopefully Avery will get over some of her terror about water. She said she wanted to take the lessons, so we'll see. It would be nice if Riley could at least doggy-paddle by the time we get to Maryland. The normal sessions are 10 lessons, 40 min. each, twice a week for $35. I think we can swing that. Plus, I'm realizing that Riley probably should have has swim lessons last year or even the year before. Oh well, she loves it and I hope she takes to it. I guess it depends on how far she advances and how often she repeats. I doubt that kids move from level to level without any hold-ups. I fully expect her to take level 1 during spring break, and probably still be in level 1 for her first full session. Avery? Who knows. She is so freaking stubborn and willful. I suspect she'll be in her age group's level 1 for a while. But she may surprise me. We'll see...

Hmmm...what else? I should be doing homework, but obviously I'm not. The weather is warming up again, I hope for good this time. It can be 60-70 degrees during the day and still 20-30 degrees at night. Colorado is a cruel mistress. I'm just so ready for spring, to throw all the windows open and clean out this house. I am sooooo ready for spring cleaning, but I just can't find the motivation to actually do it while it's cold outside.

Oh, the bunk beds. Who knew that mattresses are so hard to find and so expensive? Bunk beds need specific mattresses (especially on top) so that the mattress isn't so thick as to make the safety rail on the top useless. They have them at Walmart, but we are not currently shopping there, of course. We may have no choice. Locally, they are the only ones who sell bunk-bed suitable mattresses, or so it appears so far. Essentially, it looks as though the bunk bed frame itself will be cheaper than the mattresses. That's just nuts. But the girls really have to start sleeping in their own room. They just have to. It's been so long since I've had a good nights sleep without being squished between two little people. I may be small, but I take up a lot of room in the bed. I need my space!!

A freezing-cold Avery in the locker room after swimming.


Avery demonstrating how she can brush her hair AND walk, AT THE SAME TIME! Wow!


The girls playing around in a locker.


Sisters!

We went to family swim at our neighborhood indoor pool. It was $10.50 for the whole family. This was a different pool than the one we went to for Riley's friend's birthday party and this pool wouldn't let us use the life jackets. We had fun anyway, and it was really nice having Rudi there rather than me trying to keep two non-swimmers from sinking. I did buy Riley a life jacket yesterday (which she doesn't know about yet) since they were on sale at our sporting goods store. I couldn't get one yet for Avery. The infant size goes up to 30 lbs and the child size is 30-50 lbs, so I don't know which to get for her. Most of her weight is in her head, so I'd say the smaller size, but I would like it to last. I'm not even sure she'd wear a life jacket anyway. Riley likes wearing the life jacket and "swimming" around in the pool.

So, we are all definitely driving to Maryland, just have to figure out when. Rudi said that he is going to try to be more personable this time. Yeah, we'll see...

Oh, and the Moosewood Simple Suppers cookbook rocks! We've made five (or six?) recipes from it and they were all good. We made Chesapeake roasted potatoes with tilapia, lentils and spinach with sausage (it called for soy sausage, so we put in regular sausage), seafood orzo, ratatouille, and something else.....oh, and west indian red beans with coconut rice. Although a couple nights ago, my cookbook was in Rudi's way and he tossed it into a large tupperware dish, which was the one that had been under the sink to catch the leak. No, he did not realize that there was still water in there, and the cookbook is all soft and squishy. He feels so bad. Oh well, still usable.

We have to get going to Riley's play therapy appointment and I don't want to leave another post on my computer for weeks, so here goes...

Just a warning, this will be long...

Fun things first: The dollhouse is coming along well. The shingling is done on the front and I'm just waiting for the stain to dry. That part sucked, mostly because shingling the roof was an adult thing. No way the children could help with that. Too much lining up and I wasn't using kid-friendly glue, you know? The paint on the front is done and some of the windows are in. I still have to put another coat of paint on the sides, but I'm avoiding that right now. We should get working on the front porch pretty soon. Update: I just noticed that the adhesive I used for the wallpaper is not sufficient. Now I have to re-paper. Yay. Shouldn't be too tough, but I don't know where to find the paste I need. Humph.

On to the not-fun stuff: Riley has been have a tummy ache for weeks now. I have an appointment today with a doctor for her. Not her normal doctor because he's out this week, but one in the same practice. Hope it goes well. My gut says that her stomach aches are related to her anxiety, but I wanted to rule out anything physical first. Tomorrow she has an appointment with a child psychologist to see about her anxiety and her general behavior.

Update: nothing physically wrong with Riley. Can't say that I'm surprised. I liked the doctor, she was really affable and comfortable and likeable. She's new to the practice so her schedule is not too full, which is why she could get us in. Her name is Dr. Mulder, which I thought was cool because I'm a nerd.

Okay, it's taken me a long time to write this blog. We've now gone to the psychologist. I really liked him. He was younger (but not too young) and informative. One thing he wants me to do is get Riley a blood test for thyroid. He said that mood swings and behavioral problems can be symptomatic of a thyroid problem, and with thyroid problems running rampant in our family...I'm sure nothing is wrong with her thyroid, but I'll check it out anyway. Just ruling things out. He wants to observe us as a family next time we go in, etc. It's going to be a pain in the butt to do all this stuff, but it is what we really need. Riley is not a normal child and I need a new way of parenting her. I'm willing to go outside of my comfort zone (such as more structured rules and a rewards system) if I'm asked to. I don't normally like those things, but Riley is not everychild. I have to accept that. That is, stuff that is not accepted on mothering.com may be just what Riley needs. I'm willing to accept that things that work for most children (time-outs, talking about it, listening, etc) just don't work for her. Meh, who knows...We're going back as a family on the 16th. The guy is only there Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are the only not-good days in our week, so I had to hold out for the 4pm appointment, which is a popular time.

Riley has an appointment today with her play therapist. She really likes Ms. Barb and has been asking to go back. That's at 11. Hopefully we won't be having 8 million appointments every single week. It's exhausting.

Avery had developed into quite the little artist. And makes a nice mess in the process!

I'm letting this one go so I can start fresh...someday.