Last day of preschool

today was Skye's last day at her preschool. we're leaving tomorrow for a week long trip to North Carolina, so Skye will miss the last few days of school. i think all the adults were sadder than Skye. her teacher was getting teary even, but Skye was all excited it was her last day of school. don't get me wrong, she LOVES school, but she was all excited about the trip to North Carolina. she's SO looking forward to warm weather! yeah, it's still a little chilly here.

anyways, it truly hit me today that Skye is growing up - gosh, she's going to kindergarten once the summer is over! saying goodbye to all the teachers at the preschool was like saying goodbye to another phase in Skye's life. at the same time, it was great to see all the teachers looking forward to welcoming Claire when it will be her time to start school.

well, preschool has been a wonderful experience for our Skye. i hope elementary school also proves to be the same.

Brat Fest again

Brat fest is back! of course, we had to go. how could we not? they claim to be the world's largest Brat fest - where else would we see so many people gorging themselves?? :) we had a great time - Skye and Claire got to enjoy a carousel ride and loved eating their brats! here are some shots from our day:











and the pool opened up this weekend! unfortunately, it has been too cold to go. but this afternoon, after the Brat fest, it actually felt hot, so we headed over to the pool to see if we could even dip our toes in the frigid water. well, the water didn't feel too bad. the pool was packed out - everyone else had the same idea, but the girls had a blast. Skye ran into some friends, so she was busy splashing around with them while Claire kept herself very busy with a bucket. she plunged right in too while walking down the stairs into the water and i had to pull her out! but i think last year's dunking did some good - she spluttered a little bit and it seemed she didn't really drink much of the water! it was a great taste of what's in store for us in the next few months!

Dancing with the Stars

we don't really watch TV anymore, but we did make time to watch this past season of "Dancing with the Stars." mainly because i was curious about Marlee Matlin and how she would do it and i loved watching Kristi Yamaguchi ice skating so why not watch her learn to dance. and so, of course, we were all rooting for Kristi to win. now that it's over, i'll miss our Monday evenings watching everyone in their glitzy ballroom dancing getups doing some great and not-so-great dances!

Nursing troubles

while i hate to think about forcing Claire to wean, nursing Claire has become increasingly difficult over the past few months. ever since she learned to walk, she has done major gymnastics on my lap while still attached to my nipple, so you can imagine how stretched out my boobs have become! but even that isn't so bad compared to the territorial battle nursing seems to have become. i'm trying to encourage her to eat more rather than nurse, but she always prefers nursing. even in the middle of a meal, she'll want to nurse rather than eat. i feel like she's getting too old to opt out of food... so it is this battle - i don't want to deny her completely because i know it's good for her, yet i want her to learn to enjoy eating food and she is old enough now to be doing that.

Sisters

lately, i've been thinking a lot about my two girls and marvelling at how beautifully different they are. a lot of it has to do with the fact that they are 3 years apart, but of course, they are two very different little people too. so here are some thoughts:

Claire is so cuddly that i enjoy having her sit on my lap - she fits in so snuggly! Skye would love to sit on my lap, but she is all elbows and energy! most of the time, i feel like i'm holding on to a spring that's ready to bounce away.

compared to Skye, Claire is a picky picky eater. i used to get away with feeding Skye sweet potatoes and beets for snack! Skye still eats most of what we put in front of her. Claire sticks to her rice or noodles and fruits. she'll eat broccoli and greens but she doesn't love sweet potatoes and butternut squash the way Skye did!

both girls love to draw. the two of them will sit together at a table and one will draw while the other writes and have a great time. i hope they keep doing this together until they're very old!!

we had Skye's 5 year check up and Claire 18 month check up today. both girls did pretty well at the check up. Skye has always been above average in her weight and height. Claire, on the other hand, is dropping into the low 25th percentile range... i'm going to have to work hard on feeding my little picky eater.

Skye's party and Mother's Day

today, Skye wanted to stay home and not go to school - shocking words from a girl that is always so excited to go to school! but it goes to show you just how busy and full our weekend was and how little time we had by ourselves.

Saturday turned out to be a good day for a party outside. it didn't rain, as predicted, and it wasn't too cold. unfortunately, i had had a bad night - both Claire and i were sick. Claire woke up often due to a stuffy nose. i threw up in the middle of the night and never got to sleep soundly. so, Saturday morning, i sort of had to gather all will power to face the day. i guess i asked for it by doing all the work that i did for the party. rather than buying little trinkets to fill up party favour bags, i baked cookies to send the kids home with. i worried i hadn't planned enough activities and all other stresses that come with entertaining 15 kids for an hour and a half. Phil and i had decided to stick to a budget as these kids parties sometimes end up costing so much and so we kept everything simple and low cost, but it meant much more work for me! at the end of it all, though, i'm glad we did what we did. the kids arrived, they played for a bit running around the backyard, then they did an art project with clay pots (which cost under $1 each!) which they would take home, then they ate lunch and cupcakes, played some more and then went home. i expected complete mayhem - afterall, 15 kids was more than i've had before! - but they were all surprisingly calm and cooperative. they played well, ate well and seemed to genuinely have a great time. i act surprised because i've been to quite a few birthday parties now and they all seem intent on getting the kids to spend a lot of energy. i worried that doing an art project wasn't active enough, yet we ended up doing it because Skye loves to do this kind of stuff.

now, i'm relieved that it is over. if it hadn't been for my babysitter who came to help me out that day, i'm sure i'd be much sicker now! i'm glad we did it and Skye had a blast, but i'm just glad it's done. i'm still recovering...whatever i had has turned into this really bad cold in my nose and is now making its way down to my chest!








i've also been thinking about the whole gift thing...i mean, should Skye get gifts when she gets all she needs? i know many parents have birthday parties and ask guests not to bring any gifts, but Skye really looks forward to getting the gifts! but i also notice, kids REALLY enjoy watching the gift unwrapping. they enjoy seeing their gift get unwrapped and they seem to participate in the birthday girl's excitement/enjoyment of opening her gifts. so, i don't think i could eliminate this one, even though Phil keeps saying, "no more stuff!"


after the party, my parents arrived from Michigan and Phil's family arrived from Illinois, so we had some family time.



so, on to Mother's Day... i was a miserable, sick mother. fortunately, i had my parents who took care of the kids while super-dad Phil cooked all day long. he made some delicious lamb for dinner which he smoked with hickory nut shells. i couldn't enjoy it to the full extent as everyone else, but we all ate until we were stuffed! Skye thoughtfully made me a bead necklace and wrote me a beautiful card.

i think this was the first Mother's day i spent both with my mother and with my children! we never really celebrated it when we lived in Kenya. i have to say, i was pretty out of it to really take it all in, but was so thankful for my mother's presence. when she is here, i feel like it's ok if i fall apart because i know she is capable of taking care of me and my family. not everyone finds their mothers to be so dependable/capable. i hope i can be there for my girls too when they grow up, although i fear i'm not quite so competent as my mother in the area of housework! but our enjoyment of our smoked lamb dinner reminded me also of something my mother has passed down to her children. she always liked to try new things in the kitchen. i'd have to say both my parents are adventurous eaters, but my mother was the cook and she was always looking to learn how to make new dishes. i will always be thankful to her for teaching me that sense of adventure when it comes to trying new foods and i hope to pass that on to my children.

my parents then gave us the best gift - an evening out without the kids! so on Monday night, Phil and i enjoyed a quiet, early dinner surrounded by senior citizens at an italian restaurant. i realize only old people eat out before 6 pm! but we were happy just to be able to chew our food without interruption. :)

would love to hear how YOUR mother's day was...feel free to leave comments!

Happy Birthday, Skye!!

our big girl turned 5 today! and she was quite a busy 5 year old. she had her ballet recital this morning where she danced as the Little Mermaid. we took a special snack to school and then we had a dinner of kimbap (Skye's favourite - rice and veggies rolled in seaweed) and fruit tart (when i asked Skye what cake she would like for her birthday, she asked for a tart).

here are some shots. i'll post some videos later.

the birthday girl putting the fruit on the tarts


Happy birthday, Skye!


Claire decided to celebrate Skye's birthday in her birthday suit

More on Kindergarten readiness

last week, we went to Skye's kindergarten screening and orientation. to help Skye prepare for it, i told her a little bit about what would happen. i told her she would be in a classroom with the other children and Phil and i would go to another room for a meeting. i told her that she would be asked to do some things because the teachers want to see if she is ready for kindergarten. well, this seemed to freak her out. she told me she didn't want to go. i was hoping to prepare her, but instead, it made her really nervous! so we had a long chat, that the teachers were going to ask her to do what she already knew how to do, like write her name, draw a picture of herself, look at some pictures and talk about what was in the pictures. and if she didn't know the answer to some of the things they asked her to do, that was OK. well, that helped relieve the nervousness, but Skye was still reluctant to let us go when we arrived at the classroom. but after a few minutes, we left her engrossed in a book one of the teachers was reading to her.

the orientation was great. they gave us lots of information on what the first day would look like and took us through a day of kindergarten. they talked about placement and school buses. it was so much information, but very helpful.

when we got Skye, she wanted to stay! she kept saying she wished she was going to kindergarten! so that was good. i felt like she got really comfortable there, especially since they had a morning much as they would have on a regular school day. she seemed to have enjoyed the screening too, which the child psychologist did by pulling out one child at a time.

since the screening, i've talked with many other mums and gathered even more information about the public school system. having gone to school in Kenya, i have no idea what the system is like here, and boy, it really is this big system that i'm going to have to be vigilant about. one mum told me how her child was tagged for ESL - her child is Chinese by birth, but is above her grade level in reading and writing. the school told her her daughter would require 70 hours of testing. needless to say, this mother was furious. she managed to get out of it, but warned me that Skye would be tagged for ESL. this issue, along with some other placement questions i had, prompted me to call the headmistress at Franklin, the school Skye will attend in the fall. fortunately, the headmistress was very helpful. she did agree that Skye would be tagged, but we can decline ESL "services". it made me think about where Skye would be placed also because she said certain classrooms are designated for ESL students. another mother told me that there is a difference between ESL and ELL and that Skye is clearly a dual language student, NOT ESL nor ELL. No, i wouldn't want Skye in a classroom full of children who are learning to speak English for the first time that the teacher's energies would all go to those children, but at the same time, i don't think it would be terrible for Skye to be with other children who speak another language. i would like her to learn to appreciate speaking another language. i remember when i first went to school in Kenya, there was a girl i was placed next to and she was so helpful to me, especially those first few scary weeks when i couldn't understand a word anyone said.

it's been a busy few weeks - i'm getting a crash course on the public school system! on top of that, Skye's birthday is coming up and we're going to have a party. Skye wanted to invite 15 kids, and i foolishly agreed. and guess what? all 15 kids are coming! i've decided that next year, i'm going to limit Skye's guest list to 6. i've been busy planning and now, i'll be busy baking and getting things ready for the party! let's hope we have great weather because i'm not sure i could handle all those kids running around inside the house!