December 16, 2011: Man, having three kids this young and this close in age is exhausting; mentally, physically and emotionally. I feel like I spend my entire day putting out fires...if one is in a happy mood another is in a rotten one. They push each other's buttons, annoy one another and inevitably it escalates into a whining or yelling match. The sound of my own voice makes me cringe by the end of the day. This is not to say it is all bad right now. When I am worn out by the kids, I remind myself how short lived this time is and how this innocence will not be here for long. So that's the "fits" of this entry. Someone in my house is always having a fit, myself included. "Starts" is the more positive side to what's been going on lately. All the things the different girls are starting to do. Casey has been a late bloomer in terms of potty training. She's been all set in the day time for quite awhile, but has continued to wear a diaper at night. She has to wear the most absorbent diaper on the market and often she would still wet through it to her sheets. Then, all of a sudden, she started keeping diapers dry 3 nights a week, then 4, and now almost always. She has started wearing pull-ups and it's so great. She is so happy about it, and so am I. Casey has also started hockey officially. Well, really it is the Watertown Youth Hockey's Learn to Skate program, but every Saturday and Sunday morning, off we go to the rink.
And so begins the rest of my life I guess. She has to wear shin pads, elbow pads, a helmet and skates. At first she was very unsure and did not like it. I cannot blame her either as it was totally chaotic and she was used to going skating at the rink when it was just us. Now there are 60 kids with two parents there each and the place was a zoo. It is not the best run program but she enjoys going and it is a good social experience anyways. We are fortunate that we can take the time to skate with her and teach her on our own. She is enjoying it more and participates willingly and happily. Besides that Casey is doing well. She is emotional and sometimes cries at the drop of a hat. She loves writing notes to people. She is always having us spell things and putting notes in envelopes to people here at Taft. "I would like to have a play date, Love, Casey". When we were in Florida Casey was so good at swimming. She learned to really snorkel in the pool and could do it well.
She is also a big helper to me. She watches out for Molly a lot and helps do things. She wants to help her put on her socks and shoes when we are getting ready to go out. She will help give Julia a push when she is stuck on her bike. Casey has gotten so good at her two wheeler. In Florida we went for family runs and she would bike along with us. This is something that James did with his Dad as a boy and I know it makes him happy to do it with our kids.
I don't have too much of an update on Julia. She continues to be a fashion crack up. She loves layering and does it to no end. She will put on tights, a skirt, and a sweater, then just to top it off, she'll throw a dress on top of it all. It is a riot. This past week she has been saying she does not want to go to school everyday which is always upsetting to me. I tell her fine but that she has to come to drop Casey off and inevitably she wants to go in her classroom. In Florida we really tried to work on her swimming with her. She can do short spurts, and she is not afraid of the pool at all, but she did not make too much improvement. Julia is just not willing to put the time in that Casey is.
Casey is a smart and capable but she is also a hungry student in everything we do with her. Julia is also very smart and competitive but she just wants to do things on her own time. She is not patient enough to give it the time just yet. Another example of this lack of patience...this Christmas the girls have chocolate Advent calendars. Casey patiently opens one square a day. I found Julia hiding one day having eaten the whole calendar in one sitting! She has been excited to move from a tricycle to a big bike with training wheels. Another crack up is when she is using the bathroom to go poop, she will make us all leave and tell us she "needs her privacy". Here is a pic when JJ and Molly got in the shower with all of their clothes on still.
Molly has been exploding with developments. She is getting a ton of teeth right now. She has always had her hair flopping right in her face, it is just the way it grows and she has always refused to keep a bow in. Now, all of a sudden, it annoys her when it is in her face and she does this adorable thing where she brushes it out of her face. She has finally been letting us keep bows and elastics in it. Molly is talking much more too. She says Casey and JJ in a very cute way. She likes pointing to things and saying the name if she knows it. She will come up to James and I and pull on us to get us to do what she wants. She will pull us off the couch to the floor and say "play". She loves doing her baby puzzles right now, she has gotten more interested in books and she is also climbing all over the place. She can blow her nose in a tissue when we hold it for her which is great and this past week James has been experimenting with potty training with her. We let her run around the house with no pants on and she will often say poo-poo when she needs to pee or poop and we make it to the toilet successfully. There have also been some accidents.
