things I wish I'd learned in Kindergarten

Alex's kindergarten class recited this prayer from memory at their kindergarten graduation.

I didn't realize they had been saying it at the beginning of each school day all year. Even so, it was impressive to hear them say this in unison, with their heads bowed and eyes closed:

"In the name of God the Father,
in the name of God the Son,
in the name of God the Spirit,
Praises to the Holy One.

I thank you, heavenly Father, through your dear son Jesus Christ, that you have graciously kept me this night from all harm and danger. And I pray that you would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings in life may please you. For into your hand I commend myself, my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen."

Isn't that beautiful?

What if we all started our days with such a prayer...

bedtime fears

Alex goes through stages of bedtime fears. I think it's a form of separation anxiety. She'll be fine for a while and then go through a period of being afraid. When we ask what she's afraid of, she'll say, "My room," or "the dark," or "my closet." The other night she told me, "I keep hearing ominous sounds in my room." :-) I didn't even know she knew that word!

We have developed a system that works for us. We put a sleeping bag or blanket on the floor of our bedroom. We tell her that whenever she is afraid, she is welcome to come in and sleep on the floor as long as she is quiet. When kindergarten started, she did start coming in about every other night. Gradually she's coming in less and less. It helps that our floor is not quite as comfortable as her bed.

I had forgotten all about the sleep fairy until she reminded me a few days ago. When she was 3, we had a really hard time getting her to go to sleep and stay in her room. We told her that the sleep fairy would leave her a prize under her pillow if she went to bed quietly and stayed quiet all night. The sleep fairy left pennies, raisins, pieces of candy, stickers, and occasionally small toys.

The other day she said she wanted the sleep fairy to come again. Maybe this was her way of telling me she is ready to plan on sleeping in her room every night again. So the sleep fairy has been visiting. Now that Sam is a little older, of course he wants in on the action, so he gets a prize too. I have to admit it's a lot of fun being the sleep fairy and coming up with new things to put under their pillows. I love to watch them sleep.

Hand Shaped Soup Recipe

Alex has been talking about making "hand shaped soup" for a few days. It is an Alex original. Here is the recipe, exactly as dictated:

1 egg
2 cups baking powder
1 cup vanilla extract
4 cups milk
1 cup flour
3 cups sugar

Mix all ingredients in a big bowl and bake for 5 minutes.

Doesn't it sound delicious? I am almost ready to let her make it, just to see her face when she tastes it.

Reminds me of the time my sister's 1st grade teacher had each child write the instructions for "How to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich" and then the teacher read them to the class and made the sandwiches exactly as the recipes directed. I'll have to remember that one for the next rainy afternoon.

more quotes

I have posted these on FB so sorry if they are repeats. Mainly I am reposting them here for my own sake- so I can look back on them later.

Papa (after Alex and Sam bumped heads): "Ouch, that hurts, doesn't it? Heads are not for bumping!"
Alex: "Yeah. Heads are for singing!"

Heads are for singing. I like that. I bet a lot of my neurologist friends don't even know that. Or Bryan's psychiatrist friends, either, for that matter. In fact, if we could get more of our "head" patients singing, maybe that would help them.


Alex: "When I grow up I want to be a construction man. I would be very good at that." I can just see Alex hard at work in her little yellow hard hat. I'm pretty sure she would be the director of the crew.

Alex (completely out of the blue): "Spoiled milk controls me." Don't know what that means, but it was a truly unique thought.

Two silly kid quotes in one day

After a rather dry spell, we had two good kid quotes today.

Alex has been trying to learn some tongue twisters. After attempting "She sells seashells at the seashore" a few times, she stopped, then said, "You made...You made...You made my brain go all BLACK!" She was mad that I laughed, but I couldn't help it.

Later, Bryan and I were driving the kids home in separate cars. Sam was with Bryan, and Alex was with me. We were ahead of the boys for a while and Sam asked, "Where's mama?" Bryan told him, "She's ahead of us. She's driving faster than we are." Silence. Then Sam says, "You're NOT Lightning McQueen!"

:-)

4-year-old's shopping list, dumb kid jokes

Alex made up her first grocery list the other day. She asked how to spell things, I told her, and she attempted to write them down. The result, with backward/upside down letters and all, was:

hot dogs
crispy cereal
cookies
candy
4T pajamas
Alex cup
sausage
oranges
milk

I have been limiting the amount of hot dogs and sausage we eat, as it isn't really very good for us, and I guess she misses those. I tried to get her to add more fruits and vegetables, but to no avail. :-) But isn't that a cute window into her little mind?

The "Alex cup" refers to a red mug with her name spelled in bright colors. It's been through the dishwasher so much it is fading; thus she wants another one.

She and Sam are on a knock-knock joke kick now. They have the format down, mostly, but they don't really get the hang of the punch line. Here are some samples:

Sam: "Knock knock!"
Me: "Who's there?"
Sam: "Banana"
Me: "Banana who?"
Sam: "Orange! Ha ha ha ha ha!"

Alex: "Knock knock!"
Me: "Who's there?"
Alex: "Stinky socks!"
Me: "Stinky socks who?"
Alex: "Stinky socks wants to eat your cheese! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Yes, this is my life these days.

Oh yes, one more I thought was cute. When we were on the plane coming back from Disneyland, Alex got a seat where she could see the wing of the plane. She said, "Hey, there's the wing!" and looked at it for a while. We took off and were flying for a few minutes when she asked me, "Mom, why the wings don't flap?"

I thought that was a pretty good question. It would be cool if airplanes' wings did flap like a bird's, I think. Can any engineer-types tell me if that's possible?

Sam's crunchy and sparkly snack

Believe it or not, Sam ate part of a broken Christmas ornament today. I was cooking dinner and saw him walk by crunching something in his mouth. It occurred to me to wonder what he was crunching and when I looked, he had all these sparkly shards in there. Unbelievable. I was glad he hadn't cut himself. I tried getting him to spit it out but it was all stuck inside his mouth, so I swept it out with my fingers the best I could and I think he must have swallowed the rest.

Crazy kid! Has anyone ever eaten anything weirder?!?

Sleep chronicles

Alex is a good sleeper - off and on. At 3, to our chagrin, she still has some intermittent nighttime sleep issues, which translates to interrupted sleep for us (usually me, as Bryan sleeps through noise better than I do). I've been up briefly with her 3 of the last 4 nights. Last night she woke me up twice, at 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. She will occasionally cry and then stop on her own, but more often now she will cry until someone comes to her. I have tried letting her cry for up to 15 minutes, but that means I lie awake the entire time and Sam wakes up too, so lately I've just been giving in.

Sometimes she loses her da-dosh (special washcloth she sleeps and cuddles with), and can't seem to even attempt to look for it on her own. Last night (the 5 a.m. awakening) she fell out of bed. She is fully capable of getting back in, but she cried until I came and put her back in. Other times she has some somatic complaint: her tummy hurts, or she says, "I can't breathe." Gotta love that one - I've never seen a hint of asthma or breathing difficulties, and she says this frequently, not just if she has congestion or a cold. Very often she can't describe any reason for her crying, but just says "Hold me." After a minute or so of holding and rocking, she's happy enough to be put back in her bed and goes back to sleep without protest.

She's also quite resistant to settling down to go to sleep in the evenings, especially if she's had a good afternoon nap. If we stay up talking in the kitchen or our bedroom after putting her to bed, she will get out of bed to come and tell us we're being "too loud." Or she will say she heard "a noise." The other day we asked if it could be her heater vent and she went back into her room, stuck her finger into the vent and said, "It was my heater! No wonder I couldn't sleep!" (The low-level blowing noise has never been noticed/commented on by her before.) :-) We've found her awake at midnight in the recent past, and it's not uncommon for her to play in her room until 10:30 at night. Bryan says this (difficulty getting to sleep/staying asleep) predicts anxiety in later life, and I wonder what we're in for. I don't see her sleep issues as being severe, at this point, but I do worry a little.

So...how can we as parents best respond to these sleep issues? Ignore her at night? Refuse to let her nap (and deal with the crankiness around 5 pm)? Reward her the next morning if she stays quiet all night? My instinct is to check initially when she cries, make sure there is truly nothing wrong, and then get out quickly to minimize the "reward" of having mom's company. I debate whether to hold her when she asks, especially when she seems to have no apparent reason for getting me out of bed. If these behaviors continue, I may tell her that holding and rocking can happen any time of day and always at bedtime, but nighttime is for sleeping. Wish me luck.

Somewhere...out there...

Today Sam turns TWO!

His babyhood is disappearing even faster than Alex's. It's been harder to focus in on all his endearing little traits, to keep track of all his milestones, and just to be completely present in the moment with him every day as I felt I was with Alex when she was my only one. I suppose it's a natural thing that happens when you go from having one child to two, and it's not as if I can't pay enough attention to each of them (most of the time). It just takes more conscious effort.

Sam's Korean mom is really in my thoughts today. I admit that most of the time, what with the constant demands of working and keeping up with the kids, I don't think so much about the fact that somewhere in Korea are a man and a woman who have a direct biological connection to Sam. But today I will let my thoughts go there...what are they doing today? What does his mother remember about this day? Did she hold him when he was born? Did she cry when she had to put him in the care of another, or was she more numb, or perhaps feeling a mixture of relief and regret? What does she think about on this day? I wish I knew whether she has ever showed up at the agency to see his pictures or read our letters. I wish I could see her face, and the face of his Korean father. I wish I could take a peek at his dad's hands and feet and see if that's where Sam gets them! I wish I could know a lot more about them. Maybe someday.

Happy birthday, my precious little Samwise. We love you immensely. And we wish the best for your Korean mom and dad, whoever and wherever they are.