Teeth and Hair

It feels like awhile since I've posted and there are things I need to catch up on.

 One day I noticed Anna had a tooth about to pop through.  The next day there it was.

 

And a couple of days later there was tooth #2!  She did well, I barely noticed she was teething.  She's in such a fun stage right now, her personality is shining through.  She's a fun-loving gal. :)

Most mornings, Natalie's hair looks like this.  That's a huge messy rat's nest in the back.  Not fun to comb through.

 So I decided it was time to get it shaped.  She'd never had her haircut before.  I asked a Laurel in our ward who is going to hair school to cut it.  Natalie was so excited, she wanted her to make her look like "Belle."  She basically just evened up the back and now it is so much easier to comb through!  I felt comfortable cutting Cyrena's hair since it has such texture it can hide mistakes.  Natalie's hair is fine and thin so I knew any mistakes I made would show!  And I'm happy to say her ends are still curling beautifully!

On Saturday (I was fighting a head cold) we met up with Ashley and Logan to see the premiere of "The Lion King 3D".  It was fun even though I just wanted to be horizontal.  I just love that movie though.  Ashley had won free tickets and it was kind of a big event in a fun large theater...Radio Disney people were there! :)

Chores, Chores, Chores

I think we've finally done it.  We've implemented a chore plan in our house.  In the past we've had a lot of failures when it came to a system that actually worked.  Usually it was my fault because I had a hard time being consistent with it.  

It's been 2 weeks and we're still going strong--that's a record!  I've seen so many awesome chore plans out there but I chose this one for now.  It could very well change in the next little while but for now, we're sticking with it. 

I have looked at that chore plan on Confessions of a Homeschooler for awhile but I changed it a bit to work for us. 

I printed off a bunch of the chore cards and picked and chose which ones my family would use.  I laminated them and also a few blank cards so I could write in some of my own. 

So here's what we do:  Every night before I go to bed, I decide what chores I need the girls to do the next day.  I really like the flexibility of this since we don't run the dishwasher or do laundry everyday but when we do I can add in those chores: empty the dishwasher, fold and put away laundry, dust, etc.  Each girl has a few chores that stay the same everyday then they usually get 1-2 more that changes daily:

Natalie: make bed, take a nap, pick up dirty clothes, pick up family room

Cyrena: make bed, read for 20 minutes, pick up playroom, wipe the kitchen table

As they finish their chores, they move the card to the ALL DONE! row.  

 Then right before bed, we check to see which chores are done and if they are ALL done they pick a sticker to put on their reward card (what Natalie is holding).  If they haven't completed all their chores, they do not get a sticker for the day. The reward card has 6 spots and when it is full they get to pick a prize ($1 store items, gum for Cyrena, etc).  

There are also "Best-'bee'havior cards." For our family, you can trade in 3 full reward cards for a bee card.  The bee card gets them things like: ice cream with dad, a playdate, cooking with mom, etc.  They can also earn a bee card if they meet their goal which I will explain below.

Another thing that we started are GOALS.  It's hard for them to hear, "just be good, ok?" They need something more specific than that.  So for Cyrena we picked a behavior she really needed to work on.  She was constantly 'roaring' at Natalie and making her scream.  It was becoming a bad (and not to mention annoying!!) habit.  So her goal this past week has been, "I will not roar at Natalie"  She's been amazing and has met her goal as of right now.  We're going to officially evaluate tonight.  She is so excited to earn her bee card! 

Natalie's goal was "I will poop on the potty" since that's been her biggest struggle lately.  And she's done really well! It's so funny because sometimes while she's playing I will hear her repeating "I will poop on the potty....I will poop on the potty"  

It's been great to have a visual reminder of their goals, we refer to them very often. 

The third and final thing we started are screentime tickets (the pink tickets next to their names).  It's been hard for me to keep track of how much screentime (t.v. and computer) they are getting.  It's harder for Cyrena since she is home all day and doesn't nap.  I figure she is awake and home for about 13 hours a day and it's hard to keep a 5 year old entertained that long!  The tickets are in 30 minute increments so as they watch a show (or Cyrena plays computer) we just move a ticket down to 'all done'.  I also purchased a small digital timer so Cyrena can set it while she's on the computer.  That has made a huge difference!  She uses it for her reading time as well.  And she also uses it when I say, "I'll play with you in 5 minutes"......it can work against me. :)

Ok, does that sound overwhelming??  It's really a lot simpler than it sounds but it's hard to get it all out of my head into comprehensible text. :)  I know most of you already have an awesome plan in place.  For right now my girls need something tangible and broken down like this but I'm sure eventually we can go to some kind of checklist.  

How do you handle chores at your house? 

Nature, FHE, and Potty Power

Nature:

We've been overrun with bird nests this spring.  We're renting so the handyman usually takes care of the nests.  However, he's been out of town for family emergencies. As a result we've had a few baby birds to observe.  Here's a video of one trying to learn how to fly, but actually just running away from us.  You have to listen to how Natalie talks to the bird toward the end of the video. 

Also anytime we're in a hurry and we tell her to 'grab shoes' she picks these ruby red slippers...she loves them and they fit her personality well. 

 

Family Home Evening:

I love my new primary chorister calling, it's so much fun.  This past Sunday I had an activity for the kids to do that involved hiding magnetic letters in a bucket of rice.  They dug out each letter, put it on the board then we sang a song about a corresponding gospel topic.  For example. r=reverence.  For senior primary I had them tell me what the song taught them about that specific gospel topic.  Then when all the letters were on the board we unscrambled the letters to make a word that had to do with the monthly primary theme ("restored") and had a quick mini-lesson.  It was a fun activity. 

Since I am basically a pretty lazy person I wanted to get more mileage out of this activity.  So we used it for FHE the next night.  The topic was prayer because we've been feeling like the girls are using a lot of 'vain repetitions'  We didn't expect Natalie to really understand too much, and she didn't.  But digging out the letters kept her engaged.  

Potty Power:

   Well I guess the third time's the charm in our house.  Anna is a wonderful third baby, David loves his third job out of college, and our third attempt at potty training Natalie has been successful.  She's proud to wear panties and has been very good with few accidents.  Oh but those accidents can be doozies....I won't go into detail.  I think it's been successful this time for two reasons.  First, her obsession with princesses has grown exponentially so princess panties are a huge hit.  And second, this video that was recommended by a friend:

Natalie loves movies and music so this was perfect.  It had catchy songs that she memorized quickly, real kids sitting on a real potty, and a fun princess fairytale at the end.  She related and has done amazing well.  Pass on the Potty Power!  I checked it out from the library. 

Boring to some, adorable to others

Natalie is 4 months old now.  Here are here stats from the Dr.

weight: 13 lbs. 2 oz.

height: 23 3/4 inches

Cyrena was the same length at 4 months but weighed 2 pounds more.  It was around this age that she started packing on the weight.  I think Natalie still looks chubby though, which I love. So here she is playing with her favorite toy and sucking her thumb.  

And she finally took a bottle, hooray!!!

The Cuteness

I don't have much to write about today but I wanted to share some recent pictures.  Natalie has been better lately.  Almost to the point where I feel like I don't know who she is anymore! :) It could have something to do with her finding her thumb and using it to soothe herself.  I am a little apprehensive, but the girl refuses a pacifier and I refuse to be her pacifier so what other choice does she have?  Anyway, she's sure a happy girl other than when she's being forced to go to bed at night.  She loves to laugh and smile and play with us.  She's aDorable!  I could eat her for every meal.

Saturday was 'Surprise Pride Day'.  Ashley came over to spend the morning with me while our husbands volunteered.  I straightened her hair, we chatted, had lunch and let the kids play.  And she took some pictures of me and Natalie.  I never get to be in pictures so I was excited!  Thanks Ashley!

Also, David is reworking our garden area.  He has ripped out the wood and is putting in block.  We're getting ready to plant soon, I can't wait for the giant zucchini!  I'll share I promise.

Three Months

I am:

*smiling

*laughing

*rolling

*scratching

*kicking

*watching

*batting at toys

*cooing

*squealing

*crying, crying, crying

*pooping, pooping, pooping (see previous post)

*drooling

*teething

*loving

Seriously?

"Hey Grandma, I'm in the market for some new onesies"

A sister

I have to say that I am amazed at what a great sister Cyrena is to Natalie.  I think I had prepared myself for the worst.  Those of you that know Cyrena well understand that this could have been disastrous.  Her intense and spirited personality can be quite a challenge at times.  So you would all understand that I envisioned her transition to big sisterhood to be quite rocky.  I believe I am someone that tells it how it is.  I've never made excuses for Cyrena, I've worked really hard on just accepting her personality and working with it, however frustrating it can be at times.  

But boy was I way off this time.  

Cyrena is a truly amazing big sister to Natalie.  She is so attentive and will sit on floor and play with her forever.  She always wants to be with her, but not in an overbearing way.  Cyrena has never been an overly affectionate child, but I see her being sweet and affectionate to her baby sister, often kissing her chubby cheeks.  She is quick to fetch me a burp cloth, diaper, etc. whenever there is a need.  She wants her sister to be well-taken care of.  She loves picking out what Natalie is going to wear and say, "I wore that when I was a baby."  She loves taking baths with Natalie and reading books with her on her bed.  This afternoon when she requested to hold her, I sat Natalie on the couch next to her.  Pretty soon I looked down and saw Cyrena was holding Natalie's hand and Natalie's little fingers were wrapped around one of Cyrena's.  It's moments like this that make me so happy to have two precious daughters.

It makes the tears of yesterday seem so meaningless.