The Younger One

I feel so bad for Leni sometimes. She definitely hasn't received all the "oohs" and "ahhs" of her firsts like Gemma has. For example, I noticed every tooth that popped out in Gemma's mouth. Leni, I have no idea. Like suddenly one day I noticed she had all her teeth. With Gemma getting to be school age, we never really gave a second thought to teaching Leni the alphabet or numbers like we did with Gem. Gemma is and was always super inquisitive and wanted to know everything, so naturally we taught her a lot just by answering her gazillion questions. Leni, on the other hand, never asks... so we never tell. We just figured she was like any normal kid her age and Gemma was always more curious for answers. We never even gave her the chance, it turns out!

Yesterday Leni wrote her name. WHAT. I know. She wrote her name. She told me how she spells L-E-N-I and she wrote it. I guess Gemma's been doing a little tutoring of her own! So then we tested her to see how much of the alphabet she actually knows and - she knows most of the letters! Still gets confused with S, D, W, B.

We had an eye appointment for the kids today and Gemma went first. When the doc tested Leni's 3D vision (or stereopsis, i think they call it?), she just randomly asked Leni two letters on the page - L and R she never asked Gemma during her test) and Leni answered her correctly! Then the doc just looked at me, almost glaringly, and said "What is she doing knowing her letters?" LOL.

18 month update

I have my laptop back! Hopefully I can journal regularly again.

The last post from 18 months ago was potty training Leni. Well, needless to say, that was a great success and came much faster than it did with Gemma. She has maybe had three accidents in the last 18 months, maybe once at nighttime.

Preschool has come and gone, Gemma had a great year. After talking to her teacher, we decided to put Gemma into kindergarten this year instead of next. The school board changed their age cutoff to Dec 31, so Gemma will definitely be one of the younger kids in the class. But honestly I think I would be doing her a disservice not sending her this year. She is so bright, smart, inquisitive, and SOCIAL. I don't know where she gets it from. She just loves making new friends - almost too much. Her preschool teacher was Ms. Sandi, her best friends this year were Grace, Mina, Charlie, Wyatt. I actually enjoyed my volunteer days and it was great to see Gemma interacting with her teacher and peers. Definitely surprised to see how quiet she is at school compared to home.

Gem also did dance -jazz, ballet, and tap - in the spring and even got to participate in the recital! She did great, cracked up the audience by covering her ears every time they applauded after a routine.

Leni did the Ms. Pat classes at the rec centre. It was a bit of a hit and miss for her, definitely a miss in the beginning. The first class, she didn't like it when I was leaving and I figured she would cry for a bit. When I went to pick her up, Ms. Pat just patted me on the shoulder and pointed to where Leni was - passed out on the couch. She threw a tantrum over changing activities and got sent to the couch to calm down, where she just cried and screamed until she fell asleep. I was just dumbfounded to see her there like that.

After scooting around on the balance bike and getting better at it, Gemma turned to a real bike with training wheels. Mom had a brilliant idea of having the bikes in the basement so the kids could practice over the winter. By the time summer rolled around, they were pros at pedaling. Right now we are in the midst of getting Leni to get on the training bike instead of the tricycle, which I gave away behind her back.

They also did their level 1 of preschool swimming lessons recently and, to my surprise, Gemma passed! When she did her swim lessons with Ms. Sandi's class, she was the second worst swimmer there, so scared of everything. I figured she wasn't going to pass, but she was really brave in putting her face in the water and doing floats, etc. Leni was a bit more hesitant, so she will be repeating it, but she also did pretty well in the class. Bribing them with popsicles after their lesson didn't hurt either.

The summer is almost over already, even though it feels like it just began. I dreaded summer thinking the kids would be bored to tears, but they have been inseparable! I love the age they are at right now. Leni looks up to Gemma so much and Gemma is so eager to teach her. Don't get me wrong, they still fight A LOT. But now they're at a point where they will almost give in to compromise to make the other one happy. It's heartwarming to see them play together so well. Now I wonder how Leni is going to handle Gemma's full days at kindergarten.

We just spent a week in Toronto visiting my brother and sister-in-law. I gotta say, every time we go on a trip, it gets easier and easier. Not having to haul a stroller and a box of diapers is also nice. We had a great time and did so much, Wonderland, Toronto Island, science center, taste of Danforth festival, and even a birthday party.

I hope I can keep up with the blogging again, I miss reminiscing about my day this way. My kids are evidently growing up way too fast and I don't want to forget so much of it. 

Preschool

A few posts back I wrote about trying to decide on a preschool for Gemma, whether to even send her this year or not. Well, we decided we would. Through some moms in town via a facebook group, I heard a lot of great feedback at the preschool within one of the public schools. I didn't even know public schools had preschools. Jesse and I went to an open house and met the teacher, saw the classroom, etc., and we both really had a great vibe from it all. I could see Gemma having a great time and really truly enjoying "school". The big plus is that it is significantly cheaper than a private preschool. For 9 hours a week, we are paying $125.  A parent is required to volunteer once every 6 weeks or so and on that day that parent is responsible for providing a snack for the entire class. I don't mind the volunteering so much, but the snack thing really bugs me - not that I have to provide one, but that I have no control over what Gemma is getting for a snack except when it's my turn to be the parent volunteer. If you know me, you know I'm extremely anal about what my kids can and can't eat. No juice, nothing deep fried, no cold cuts with preservatives, no pickles, no candy. And while it was crystal clear in talking to the teacher and the handouts she gave us that the snacks needed to be healthy, I didn't love some of the examples of "good snacks to bring" on there - pepperoni sticks, pickles, pure juice - these just made me cringe. I know, I know... I can't hover over my kids for the rest of their lives to see what they're eating, but i hate that I have to give up control already. 

Snacks aside, I can't WAIT for September. I know plenty of people who are against the idea of preschool at 3 years, bringing up reasons like "why do you want them to grow up so fast?" or "but they learn most when they're with their parents" or "they'll be in school long enough, why add an extra year?" etc. Well, this has nothing to do with me wanting them to grow up faster (who wants that?). This is 100% based on the fact that she is bored to death at home and I cannot do these "preschool"-type things at home with her. I work full time for crying out loud and their caregiver (my mom) isn't obligated to be a teacher. This way Gemma will be socializing, playing, learning, experiencing new things that I just can't provide her being a full-time working mom... and with Gemma especially, she just craves knowledge and new experience and it would be bad parenting to keep her at home just for the sake of not wanting her to "grow up too fast". 

Potty training Leni - end of week 1

Seriously, I am blown away. Since day 2, Leni has had one poop accident and one pee accident. We've even taken her out of the house twice without her having an oopsy. I am still so amazed at how well she has done. About four times we napped her with no diaper and the rest with no diaper. Each time she napped with the diaper, she peed in it. Each time we napped her sans diaper, she woke up dry. Yesterday though she napped no diaper and woke up only a half hour later... 

So I am completely thrilled at Leni's progress. Now the challenge is what to do in the mornings while I work. With Gemma my work desk was on the same floor as her play area, so i could always hear her say she had to pee or else she would come and find me quickly. In our new house, my office is on the main floor while the kids stay upstairs to play. This will be an interesting week while I try to figure out how to do this. 

Potty training Leni

Pretty much since I began potty training Gemma when she was 17 months old, I swore I would not do it so early with Leni. I would hear of these 3-year-olds who would just "get it" in mere days and never had an accident again. It was a good month before I braved a trip out with Gemma, I think, and that was with many extra pairs of clothes PLUS her potty shoved into the bottom basket of her stroller. Mind you she didn't have an accident, but it just took a while for her to really "get it". 

Seriously, I look at Leni and she is like... a baby. Maybe it's having this 3-year-old smart-aleck always talking back to me, but Leni really seems like such a baby. I don't recall looking at Gemma at 19 months and thinking "she's just a baby", but then again, I guess I never had an older kid to compare her to. 

Back to potty training. About a month and a half ago, we ran out of diapers and I had to run out. For the first time EVER, I really noticed how stinking expensive diapers were! A pack of 120ish Pampers Cruisers are $40! So I re-contemplated my feelings on early potty training and booked a week off work to try potty training Leni. Even before beginning, I said that if by the end of the long weekend things were seemingly hopeless, I would just let it go and try again another time.

We started Saturday morning. I tried the tactic that worked BEST with Gemma, which was taking her to the bathroom with me while I'd pee and she's sit on her potty. Well, I peed. Leni didn't. Then Jesse took a turn. She didn't pee. Gemma took a turn. About a minute or two later, Leni peed. We jumped up and down for joy and we praised the heck out of her, gave her some Teddy Grahams. 

Our joy and praise was short-lived as she spent the rest of the day peeing everywhere but the potty. But interestingly she would flip out and cry if she peed her pants (or in her case, her bare legs). She would really get disturbed and just scream and cry, then stop peeing, only to repeat it just minute later. She was literally walking around the house squirting pee and screaming her head off for hours. At suppertime we sat her upon folded towels on her booster and she soaked right through that and there was pee all over the floor by the end of the meal. Taking her with me to the bathroom didn't work anymore, she would just get up and throw a fit. 

By the end of the night, i was SPENT. As much as I told myself I wouldn't stress out over this, it was hard watching Leni pee and get so upset over and over and over again. And I couldn't figure out why she was doing that like every 10 seconds instead of just peeing and letting it all out, and THEN crying. I worried about her getting a urinary tract infection and it was just a completely new territory - Gemma never did that during her potty training process, at least not that I can remember now. We thought maybe she just physically could not feel the urge to pee or whatever, leading to the conclusion that maybe she is too young... but then again, Gemma did it at a younger age, so why couldn't she? Anyway, I went to bed stressed, but telling myself again that I could start over some other time if by the end of the long weekend things were just as hopeless. But honestly, I couldn't see this getting any better...

Day 2 began and Leni had her first pee in the potty. The second time, Jesse tried to take her into the bathroom and she threw a fit in there, rolled on the floor, and in the midst of banging on the door trying to get out, she peed on the floor. Jesse was super frustrated and I decided I'd better take over for the rest of the day, seeing how it was my idea to begin with. 

Jesse took Gemma to church and then they ran errands all afternoon. I obviously stayed home with Leni. 

I had Leni bare-bottomed with just some leggings on. So I could see that each time Leni would say "poop" and point to her crotch, she would already have started peeing but literally like a squirt. Each time I just grabbed her right away and put her on the potty and she actually started peeing the rest of the way in the potty. It was like that for most of the afternoon - she would wet herself just a tiny bit, point to her crotch and say "poop", then I'd rush to put her on the potty and she would finish the pee there. At least we had figured out some kind of a system. After her nap, we had one real "accident" where it was more than just a squirt, but by bedtime, she wasn't even wetting herself anymore. She would say "poop" and point down and would pee when we'd sit on the potty. Going to bed last night was a completely different feeling than the night before. I couldn't believe how far Leni had come along and I was so incredibly proud. I went to bed optimistic. 

Today was Day 3. Leni has had ZERO accidents. Every single time she would point and say "poop" without wetting herself and we would sit her down and she would pee, clapping and smiling, saying "I did it!". Of course each pee is rewarded with a Teddy Graham or a piece of banana bread or whatever and plenty of clapping and praising and hugging and kissing. I am just in awe of how well she is doing. 

I guess I should mention that No. 2 of course has been much more difficult. We caught her standing and about to push on day 2 and sat her down and she had the tiniest poop. Day 1 she didn't poop at all. and this morning when she woke up, she had pooped in her diaper. I was super relieved because i really don't want her to get constipated. I know No. 2 is a bigger challenge, but I feel optimistic that it will come along soon also. The funny thing is that she normally has a very regular poop schedule, but that's all changed in the last 3 days... 

Wish us continued luck!

Preschool, Potty, 18 months

I know I'm going to really regret this lack of posting later on, when i have nothing to look back for for a significant chunk of my kids' lives. I hope I can be more vigilant in keeping up with this blog...

Gemma. 

Turning 3 has brought with it some new things to think about and maybe even a couple of challenges. I think the main item has been preschool and whether I should send her in September or whether I should wait another year so she only goes to preschool for 1 year or whether to send her to a formal preschool at all. This town has so many wonderful preschool programs offered by the Town and it is much cheaper than sending her to a formal preschool. Having said that, I myself have never been to preschool and so I am not sure what she would be missing if she didn't go. Would it put her behind at kindergarten? Do I want her to go to preschool for 2 years or just 1 year? What age do I want her to go into grade 1? I realize it seems early to be thinking about real school already, but I need to kinda think about that too in order to figure out when/how long she will go to preschool, when she will then go to kindergarten, etc. Then it all snowballs into - well, which school will she go to? I am not sure if all towns/cities have this area boundary thing, but here the school you attend depends on which part of town you live in. If you want to go to a school outside of your "boundary" then you may be waitlisted as those kids who live in that boundary get priority. The problem with us is that we would love for our kids to go to Catholic school as apparently they have a really great program and the public school in our "boundary" sound less than desirable. Unfortunately neither Jesse nor I are Catholic and so our kids would get the very bottom the list. Once all the baptized Catholic kids are in, they take in the kids whose one parent at least was baptized, then the non-Catholic kids. The two Catholic schools in town have just exploded with students in the last few years as more young families move to town and more people are moving their kids into the Catholic system after learning how much better the program/teaching is. So basically I am afraid that when it's Gemma's time to go to school, she will not be able to get in. Thus, thinking about preschool has become much more complicated than it seemed at first. 

Last week Gemma started her first 2-hour unparented preschool program offered by the Town. It's called "Create and Play" and basically they do crafts, maybe play with some play-doh, some new toys, play a game, etc. I had no idea before, but it has come to my attention that these kids need to be able to go to the bathroom on their own. I mean, completely on their own. Climb up to the adult-sized toilet, wipe, come down and re-dress, then wash their hands at the big sink - all on their own. Maybe we are completely behind in this aspect, but until now I've always helped Gemma in the bathroom, mainly with lifting her up onto the toilet seat and then wiping. I was completely surprised to learn that she had to be able to do all this on her own. I know Gemma is physically not able to climb up on to the toilet (thanks to my lack of upper body strength she has inherited) and frankly I don't know that I want her to be touching the toilet seat with her hands/arms trying to get up on it. They do have a small stepstool in the bathroom, so we've been practicing at home. Still, i think it's rather absurd that they expect 3-year-olds to be able to do this on their own. and I know that it could very well just be MY 3-year-old as I hear stories about 2-year-olds and not even 2-year-olds who will climb the toilet to pee. I still think it's absurd. 

Leni.

She'll be 18 months tomorrow!

• She understands pretty well everything you say to her, but whether she does what you say is another thing entirely. 
• She always tells me right away if she pooped, she doesn't like a poopy diaper. 
• She has to have/do everything Gemma has/does. 
• She is sooooo cuddly and will sit on your lap for hours just like that.
• She sleeps at about 7:30-8 PM until 6:30-7 AM. She naps about 1.5 hours during the day. 
• Toki ("akki") is her bunny that she loves and can't live without. 
• For several weeks now she has been very adamant that she feed herself with a spoon. She has gotten pretty good!
• We recently stopped giving her bedtime milk. A rather surprisingly smooth transition.
• She loves to play hide and seek. 
• She is very good at copying what you say.
• She still throws tantrums and rolls on the ground with every "no".

the "problem child"

Someone please tell me what to do with Leni.

She hits Gemma. 

She bites Gemma. 

She pushes Gemma. 

"No" has absolutely no meaning to her. 

Slap her on the hand and she looks at you with a smirk!

If she doesn't get her way, she lays on the floor, face down, and starts screaming and crying. 

I swear I don't ever remember Gemma being this way. Sure, Gemma doesn't like being told "no" either, but she never reacts to this extent. I am at a loss as to how to deal with Leni. She is just so different from her sister, it's a completely new territory for me. 

but you should her Leni say "I dunnoooo". It's the cutest thing ever.

Gemma's third birthday!

What chaos. I don't even know why I thought it was a good idea to throw a birthday party for 10 kids, their parents, and their siblings within 1 week of moving into my new house. I had no seating (sold our couches unexpectedly just before moving) and so we just had rugs and a mattress on the floor to sit on. No toys downstairs, just a couple dozen balloons, which, I have learned, is enough to keep kids crazy happy for 2 hours.

Initially I had an entire Dora theme in mind since Gemma is going through a huge Dora phase right now. I didn't even know she knew what a Pinata was, but she made it a point to tell me she wanted a "horsey one". Unfortunately with all the craziness of the move, the only "Dora" remained the books I forgot to hand out as part of the "goodie bags". 

The thing that really mattered anyway was that Gemma had a tremendous time screaming and running and just going crazy with her very good friends that she cherishes so much. She can't see enough of them and I wish I didn't work so she really could see them more. 

Happy birthday my darling, goodness how time flies...

Leni's Words

My girls sure have the gift of gab, if nothing else. They just love to talk, talk, talk...

This is what Leni is saying these days:

mine
bubble (she means bath)
Dora
foot (in korean)
tickle
food (in korean)
what's that?
over there
Elmo
mommy (in korean)
dada
puppy
quack-quack
bap (she means diaper)
pee
poop
big sister ("un-nee")
please
stop
here you go ("hugo")
water (in korean)
no (in korean)
hi
bye
snack (in korean)
lion (in korean)
hippo (in korean)
ball

Gemma, my little genius!

On the weekend, Jesse and I were taking the trampoline down and packing it up. Gemma was out there with us the whole time, wanting to help. Obviously there wasn't much she could do, but once I had the net and mat packed up into boxes, I just told her to come and write on the box for me. So I started calling out letters and telling her where to write them, not really expecting anything, just thinking that she would just scribble all over the place. To my complete surprise, she wrote down all the letters!

I don't know if the "R" is supposed to be lower case and the "P" looks a bit odd and the first "N" is backwards, but Jesse and I were just peeing our pants with pride (is that even an expression???). Completely unexpected. My little smartie pants.