Lenore at 23 Months

23 Months Old

aka Here Come the Twos
aka Just realized this is the third time she's worn this sleeper for a monthly picture. 

And then sound asleep for 3 hours. Yay, Lenore. :)

She was mad about something pretty much from the time we walked in the door from school, all through lunch, and now (trying to) nap. It has been one of those days. She still has a runny nose, so that could be part of it. Hopefully she feels better after she sleeps (and stops crying!). Mama's patience tank is running low.

What she's doing this month:

• Whatever Bubba (Lewis) is having to eat, she must have the same. She is copying most everything he does, especially when it comes to food.
• She's been sick the past few weeks. It was a runny nose, then a few days of fever, then more runny nose. The doctor thought it's probably a sinus infection, so she is finishing up antibiotics now (and still has a runny nose). 'Tis the season, I know. Kevin and Lewis and I all woke up sneezing the past few days with the changing of the seasons.
• Naps have not been as good the past few weeks. What once were solid 3 hour afternoon naps have now sometimes become 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps. Sometimes she wakes up around 3pm and goes back down until 4pm, but more often, it seems, she's up at 3 and stays up (and isn't happy about it, understandably). Hopefully she gets back into a better routine soon.
• Something else that she does (she literally just did as I was typing up this post yesterday), is open the freezer drawer, get out what she wants (i.e. an ice cream sandwich), and unwraps it and starts to eat it all on her own. I need to get a lock on that drawer.
• Still wearing 2T and 3T clothes. I did jump up to size 5 diapers, finally. The 4s still fit, but were starting to get a little snug.
• Current Tooth Count: still 20

Ch-Ch-Changes and General Updates

I have a job. I wasn't looking for one, but I had entertained the idea of having one for the past 6-9 months. When I was approached about one at the kids' preschool, I decided to say yes. It's very part-time (11-12 hours/week), but it's still a shift in our schedule, nonetheless. I am an assistant teacher in the 3-year-old's room. Lenore hangs out with me the first 15 minutes, then she goes to her class for 3 hours while I work. She helps me in my room for the last 15-30 minutes, and we head home for lunch, nap, and pick Lewis up at the bus stop. It really couldn't be more ideal. I'm still getting used to the new schedule myself and to teaching/loving/parenting these extra 15 kids three days a week, but I think it will work out well.

Lewis is in Kindergarten and loves it. His bus picks up at 8:24am (ish), and returns at 4:10pm (ish), so we spend quite a lot of time apart Monday-Friday. He still comes home from school SO very tired and SO very hungry. I'm not sure what he is eating while he's at school, but I've heard it can take 6-8 weeks for them to adjust to such a long day. I usually give him 30-45 minutes to chill when we get home from the bus stop, and then he does his homework while I'm making dinner. He has homework Monday-Thursday and gets Fridays/weekends off. He is getting really good marks for behavior every day, and he seems to love and respect his teachers and their rules.

I had hired house cleaners in the spring to help me, and I just let them go at the end of the summer because I thought I could definitely get a grip on things once school started for Lewis. I was supposed to have Wednesday-Friday mornings 'off' or 'free from children' to make doctor's appointments or clean the house. Then I got offered the job, and there goes my grand plans. The dog hair is everywhere, and I constantly feel like I can't get anything completed from start-to-finish. I'm always interrupted, and that just messes with me/my sense of accomplishment. Let me tell you, nothing feels as amazing as coming home to a totally clean house*. (*Which was accomplished with no children present, no mess-makers underfoot, no frustrations on my behalf.) I think I just talked myself into it, so I'm probably going to have to call and hire them back.

Lewis is in swim lessons again. He's taken the Beginner and Intermediate(preschool) levels, which were a tad disappointing. I don't mean to be critical, but I felt like they were too easy on him and didn't make him learn how to struggle through and learn how to *really* swim. Now he's in the Advanced (preschool) class, and it is a bit above his current level, but I think they're going to let him stay in. Just in the span of one class, he was able to swim with his face in the water, take breaths to the side, use a forward stroke, swim on his back, and try to do backstroke. Granted, his instructor was supporting him through most of those things, but he was actually having to work hard and seemed to be clicking more than the other classes did the entire time. 

Lewis is in soccer through the Y for the first time. He'd done a program through his preschool the past two years, but that was more skill-building than actual team play. He's only had one game so far and seemed to be running the wrong way for most of the first half. Kevin told him which goal he should be heading towards, and he got the hang of it more in the second half. :) He's having a lot of fun with it.

Lenore is the same. Bossy and hilarious. She HAS started hitting me in the face, which is not cute. I'm wondering if she picked it up at school and/or is doing it at school. I need to ask her teachers.

Kevin broke his big toe last Friday. He'd volunteered to be in the dunk tank for a work function, and it happened sometime in the course of those 30 minutes. He thinks it might have been from slipping on the ladder to get back on the seat, but he isn't sure. He, of course, proceeded to split firewood with my dad all the next morning before going to Urgent Care for an x-ray. He has to wear a special shoe for a few weeks and will hopefully be fine after that.

The owls are back in our woods. I can't wait to have consistently cool overnights (next week!) so I can sleep with the windows open again. I love our house and neighborhood so much, especially when it's cool enough to leave the windows up. The bugs are deafening, too--I love it.

Ta-ta for now.

Lewis the Truest, Vol. XXV

Back with another Lewis the Truest, the 25th installment (wow!):

After bedtime one night, I heard him yelling out for Kevin, then me, then crying, which is unusual:

Lewis: I'm scared. I had a little bit of a bad dream. Who is Bigfoot?
Me: Where did you hear about Bigfoot?
Lewis: On my Kindle.
Me: He is a made-up creature. He is not real. Try to dream about something real and happy.
Lewis: I'll have beautiful dreams.
Me: Ok, have beautiful dreams, buddy. Good night.
Lewis: I'll just dream about riding on trains.

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Randomly, while looking out the window/riding in the car one day:

Lewis: My favorite things are long trains, long fire trucks, and Southwest airplanes. Because they have two of my favorite colors.

It just cracks me up, the things he has on his mind. And it warms my heart, the simplicity of it all.

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Sitting at dinner, talking about our different hair textures. How Lenore and I and even Kevin have wavy/curly hair, but how Lewis's is straight and thick as molasses:

Kevin: Our hair is kind of the same.
Lewis: Yea, except mine doesn't have that thing.
Kevin: What thing?
Lewis: That triangle thing.

LOL. He was referencing Kevin's receding hairline. :)

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Driving back from a mom-and-Lewis outing, he said he wanted to tell some jokes. The subject matter is a perfect snapshot of our lives right now:

Lewis: What happens if a train poops on the tracks?
Me: What happens?
Lewis: Another train runs over it and falls over it. HA HA!

Lewis: What happens if an earthquake poops on McDonald's?
Me: What happens?
Lewis: McDonald's explodes.

Lewis: What happens if a plane poops on a car while a car is driving down the road?
Me: What happens?
Lewis: It tips over!

Vehicles, natural disasters, and poop, that's what he's about. Vehicles and poop are kind of expected--natural disasters come from discussing safety drills at school the past few weeks.