Six

This year Eliza wanted to try something different for her birthday.  She wanted her BFF to spend the night, instead of having a big party.  It was the first sleepover for them both.  C's mom assured me that I wouldn't have to drive her home at 3am and she was right; both girls were fine.  The girls decorated a birthday cake, then the three of us went to dinner at Phil's. We had cake after dinner and Papa and Grammy picked up Ezra for a slumber party of their own.  This turned out to be a great thing (even though I really missed him!) because about 10 seconds after the adorable tiara pic above, the girls ran off to Eliza's room and slammed the door in little brother's face, just as Grammy predicted.  I offered to take the girls to a movie but E decided they wanted to watch Brave and eat popcorn at home instead.  They slept in sleeping bags on the living room floor and giggled until about 9pm.  Then they woke up at 6:30 am and played Groovy Girls.  That afternoon all the grandparents and our best family friends came over for some cupcakes and to open presents.  E got a beautiful dress made by Grandma, complete with a matching dress for her doll.  She also got some My Little Ponies.  Even Ezra has been running around the house singing the theme song.  Uncle Eli stopped by that night and then both kids fell asleep early. 

Dia de los muertos

Eliza spent at least a couple of weeks working on projects for El Dia de los Muertos.  Her after school program was having a parade and a showcase of artwork.  She made a puppet, a mask and a maraca.  She was pretty stressed out about not finishing her projects on time. So, the event was last Friday.  Well, Ezra and I rushed over to get there in time and the "parade" lasted 2 minutes, tops, and the "showcase" was really just us picking up the artwork I'd already seen for days.  Anyway, I guess we all had it built up in our minds.  S felt bad that he got stuck in traffic and didn't make it in time.  I assured him he didn't miss anything.  Eliza looked very cute though. :)

Halloween

Wow, October flew by! Here are the kids, headed to a Halloween party and some group trick or treating!  I got the cutest group pic but I feel weird posting a picture of other people's kids without permission, so just trust me it was adorable.  On the way over the kids were singing along to Ghost Busters, although Ez sounded more like "dost dusters!"  This year Ez totally had trick or treating down pat, no more trying to wonder into strangers' houses like last year.  He did a great job of saying trick or treat and thank you and happy halloween.  Eliza wanted to trick or treat in our neighborhood after the party but when we got home at 7:30 she said she'd changed her mind and that she should go to bed at her normal time so she wouldn't be tired for her Dia de los Muertos parade today at school.  I was very surprised! Ez, on the other hand, bounced off the walls from the sugar high until 10pm.  I feel a little bad for his teachers today! :)

This snow man

When Ez sees a pic of a snowman, he starts singing, "This old man, he sings one, he sings knick knack on my thumb."  We finally figured out he's saying, "this snowman" instead and that's the connection.

This weekend he counted to ten old by himself and got every number right.  He's also been going potty on the potty chair at school and a few times for us at home.  He and his little friends all line up on their potty chairs together and read books.  It's pretty cute. 

1st in her class :)

This week was an exciting one for Eliza.  Everyone in Mr. Green's class has a card with their name on it.  They get a tiny sticker on their card for good behavior.  When their card is full of stickers, the child gets to choose a prize out of the treasure chest.  This week Eliza was the first in her class to fill up her card.  She very proudly chose a star shaped maze (approximately value 10 cents) that she's been carting around all week.  She brought it for show and tell at her afterschool program and her friends mom even texted to congratulate Eliza on being the first one.  Side note: I didn't even know they had show and tell after school.  Eliza remembered to bring something in all on her own; this is novel for us. :) Someone is shaping up to be quite the teacher's pet.

Rock Style

I keep noticing all these funny little sayings the kids have and thinking I should write them down so we remember them later.  So, here goes...

Eliza has been saying "Rock Style" instead of rock star for months.  I think I refer to someone as being a rock star more often than I'd like to admit.  i.e. "She runs every morning at 5am, then goes to work, then comes home and cooks from scratch- what a rock star!" Somehow that has turned into rock style in Eliza's mind.  Kinda adorable.

I noticed the other day she's been saying "So call me navy" instead of "Call me maybe" from that popular song.

Ezra has been running around saying, "I superman!!" all week.  He's also been saying, "I no go night night" and "Be nice to me."  He threw a pretty big fit yesterday.  The terrible twos are almost funny the second time around.  It's more like, "Wow dude, impressive tantrum- you're really going for it, huh?!  Let me know when you're done."  Doesn't phase me like last time.  Plus I know the threes are when it really gets tough, LOL.  He's getting very stubborn with clothing.  I do the whole "Do you want choice A or choice B?" technique but he just says he wants to wear his "Papa car" shirt or his "blue truck" shirt every day, even when they're dirty. 

Changes

Well, our oldest is officially an elementary school student.  Despite having to wake up much earlier than usual the past four days, she's still very excited and raring to go each day.  I'm sure once the excitement wears off she's going to be very tired (I am) but so far she's handling it like a champ. She's already making friends and getting stickers for good behavior. Ezra also started a new class but at the same preschool.  He is doing great in Ms. Katherine's class.  Ms. Katherine has 30 years of experience with two year olds and Ez is already super comfortable.  Having his best friend Jamey there helps and so does feeding his new class pet, GG the guinea pig.

 

I'll admit that these changes have been a lot harder on me than they have been on her.  Even though we chose the school she's attending because we loved it, public school is a big adjustment. We've spent over 3 years at a tiny co-op preschool that truly is a community.  We know the parents, kids and teachers very well.  We pick the kids up whenever we want. We stop by school whenever we want (i.e. every 3 hours when I was pumping).  It's next door to my office.  I spend 4 hours each week co-oping and know the dynamics between my kids and their classmates very well.  There are just a handful of kids in each class, plus a full time teacher, a parent helper and sometimes a part time college student teacher.  Now we've got a class of 22 kindergartners and a teacher who seems friendly enough but who has done very little communicating thus far.  Even though Eliza is having a great time, I'm not used to not really knowing what her day is like.  I'm used to calling up Ms. Madelynn (the preschool director) and her answering her phone immediately and having the answer to my question without even having to go ask a teacher.  So, adjusting will take some time, at least on my end.  In the meantime, take a look at these cuties. :)