Park, Milk, Knock, Dark and Cake

The kids have finished their first year of preschool.  I think they liked it - I know I certainly like dropping them off.

The year ended with a formal graduation ceremony.  There was a fancy program listing the ceremony events using a cursive font.  I was very impressed - we didn't even distribute programs at our wedding!  (I like to keep people guessing, why spoil what will happen next?)

First, they did awards.  Hayden got the award for the Kindest Heart.  He does have a very big heart.

Brenna got the award for the Pinkest Princess.  She does wear a lot of pink.

If I knew about this beforehand, I would have dressed her to fit the role.  There are not enough opportunities for Brenna to wear her collection of princess dresses appropriately.  Plus, almost everyone else dressed up.  The other moms wore makeup!  Instead, Brenna and I had on our matching shorts that we bought a few months ago.

After the awards, we had delicious and delectable cupcakes sprinkled with gold flakes.  Even the cupcakes at our wedding did not have gold flakes! Not that there should be any doubt, Brenna had a pink cupcake. (And so did I).

Hayden did not have a pink cupcake nor did he care.  I don't think he even noticed that there was frosting , nonetheless gold.

But the real highlight came six hours later when I took Brenna to speech therapy.  Brenna has been working hard on her speech.  It was decided that she did not have Apraxia, but instead Dysarthria.  So we have been doing things to strengthen her face muscles, like blowing horns and blowing bubbles.  The part we struggle with most is the last syllable of any word - Brenna likes to keep people guessing, too.

But, as if she understood she just surpassed a milestone in her short little life, Brenna stood for the occasion by conquering a new sound.  A sound that we have been working on for many weeks:
the very important "CK!"

You can't say "cake" without it.

Typical Day

The kids have completed their first two weeks of preschool.  They walk inside every day and forget about me instantly.  This part is great.

The teacher has reported that they are perfectly behaved.  That part is great, too. 

But perfection is a tough task and when I pick them up, they release their suppressed energy by refusing to nap, rebellious tantrums and Hayden poops in his underwear.

A good example of this is our post-preschool Cotsco outing earlier this week.  Costco has always been our safe haven with their free samples and twin-friendly carts.  Our last visit started like all others until we checked out.  It was noon so we decided to do lunch.  The problem with a weekday lunch at Costco is that every old person in the neighborhood has the same idea.

Hayden insisted on eating pizza AND hotdog.  I ordered his man-size meal and we found a seat in the sea of old people.  They looked at us.  

Hayden dropped his pizza on the floor and his eyes exploded with tears.  They looked at us more.  I gave him my portion and life was good.  

Until Brenna loudly squealed that she had to pee. 

With all bifocals on us once again, I tried to convince Hayden to come to the bathroom with us.  I even asked the old man next to us to guard his plate.

But Hayden was not going to leave his pizza and hotdog.

Brenna’s temperament began to escalate and I could feel the sweat begin to form alongside my hairline.  I toggled between begging Brenna to wait just a few more minutes and encouraging Hayden to shove additional bites of food into his mouth. 

 Finally, his pizza and hotdog was gone.  I put Brenna in the cart.  In my haste, I shoved one leg in the correct hole and one leg in the center hole.  

This left no room for Hayden and instead left him standing beside the cart, crying, “Up…up…Hayden wants up.”

Brenna was pleased that her improper positioning was upsetting Hayden and refused to let me correct it.  So I grabbed Hayden like a football and lugged him to the bathroom.

Brenna knew that getting out of the cart to pee would pacify Hayden - so she refused.  After what seemed like an eternity of screaming and no peeing, we fled from the store.

When we got home, I tried to get the still-screaming Brenna to pee but she arched her back in refusal.  She ran out of the bathroom and down the hallway.  With her undies to her ankles, she opened the front door and went outside. 

She wanted me to drive her back to Costco to pee.

She demanded to go to back to Costco to pee.

I said no.

She sat and screamed in dissatisfaction.

She got on all fours and screamed.

  

And then she got into her “extreme tantrum” position, which involves kicking feet, pounding fists and glass-shattering, eardrum bursting, blood-curdling screams.

And over what??

We both forgot when we were interrupted by Hayden’s cries from inside.  

He had pooped in his underwear.

Running Errands, Part 3

Part 1
Part 2

I think this will be the last time I post about running errands because I think we approaching the end of the running era.  We have ran much longer than expected - we endured multiple 110-degree summers, half marathon training, speed work training and potty training.

There are a lot of times, if not most of the time, I am outnumbered by toddlers.  There are moments (like nap time) where it feels like a me vs them situation.  But not when we run.
When we run, we are a team.  A unbeatable trio.
It's been a blessing to share my passion with my kids.  And just like me, they seem born to run.
I think we have all appreciated the escape that running provided.  Sometimes you need to leave the house but you have no where to go - running was always the agreed upon solution.

And sometimes, you do have somewhere to go - and running was the best way to get there.

Yesterday the kids accompanied to the voting polls.
It was a short run - just a mere mile away - but it was an essential errand.

The kids were quite interested.  And all the old people where interested in them.

It's hard to see in this picture but we all have voting stickers.

Brenna wore her sticker all day.

After I voted, we had to rush home so that the kids could get ready for preschool.

The kids have been in preschool for 6 months now, but they just started the three-year old class.  This class meets every morning.  There is not much time between their wake-up time and the preschool drop-off time, and it takes quite a bit of time to get two toddlers ready.

Of course I plan on squeezing every last mile out of that stroller as possible - but as my kids embark on a new stage in their lives, I am releasing my grip on the handlebars and starting to let go.

A Brand New Brenna

One thing you should know about Brenna is that she likes be in control.

For example:  She likes bananas.  For snack, I may offer her a banana.  However, simply for the fact that I chose the banana, she will refuse it and demand something else.

I let her make all the small decisions in her life - what she wears, what bedtime stories we read, what cartoon we watch in the morning, etc.  I also let her decide how to style her hair.

As her hair has grown, I have begged her to pull it back or at least choose a barrette so that I can clip the bangs out of her face.  Between my mother and myself, Brenna has barrettes in every color, shape and size. 
Large (possibly obnoxious) pink bow?  Check.
Small barely noticeable butterfly?  Check.
Sparkles?  Check.
Rhinestones?  Check.

A lot of them she selected herself at the store.  She carried them around like precious gold and shrieked when she had to relinquish them for two seconds so the cashier could scan  them.  And then as soon as we got home, they were dropped, abandoned and forgotten.

Even if I distracted her enough to pull back her hair, once she noticed that it was pulled back against her will, she simply pulled it out.

So for the most part, Brenna's hair was always in her face.

She didn't seem to mind but it did cause some issues.

For example, their pre-school had a tea party.  All the kids were instructed to wear their "Sunday Best."  Then they sat at fold-out card tables, lined with a table cloth, and ate copious amounts of unapproved sugar. As you can see by that nicely folded, unused napkin, my kids fail at fine dining -

And as you can see, everything that went into Brenna's mouth also went into her hair:


The obvious solution was to cut her bangs.
To be honest, I am not sure why I did not think of this many weeks ago.

With a few clips of her scissors that she bought 30 years ago, my mother gave Brenna the only hair cut she knows how to do - uneven bangs.  I had the same hair cut when I was kid.

But just like that, Brenna could see out of both eyes.
And perhaps life looks better when you can see clearly because ever since, its as if she turned over a new leaf.

Some days, she has ZERO tantrums.  It almost scares me.

Just one example: she used to always throw a fit when getting confined into her car seat. She would scream and cry and wiggle and squirm until she was able to get an arm out. I would often have to pull over.


We haven't had to pull over once since the hair cut.


Coincidence? Perhaps.
Publishing this post can be the jinxing catalyst that flings us three steps back.

But at the very least she takes better photos because now you can always see her smile.

Pre-hair cut "Daddy-fun-time":


Post-hair cut "Daddy-fun-time":


She would never admit it, but she is thankful that we made this decision. And as she will learn over and over and over again, mom is usually right.

School

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, preschool was on the horizon! I specifically was trying to get Brenna into a developmental preschool program - but all I managed to do was get her on the waiting list.

So as we wait, I enrolled both kids in an ASU pre-school course. It's two hours every Monday and Wednesday morning. Half of that consists of snack time, because two hours is too long to go without food.


They encourage kids to eat their snacks with the appropriate utensil, and also encourage kids to drink out of cups (as opposed to sippies or straw cups). This means that Hayden comes home very dirty every day but aside from that, preschool has been very successful!!

In fact, ever since they started 2 weeks ago, Brenna has not thrown a single tanrum when I dress her. Sometimes she will pick out her outfit, encoaching on what could perhaps be considered "couture".


Although I am not claiming that I dress her any better, the other day I winced when I saw her backside in a pair of pants leggings that I selected for her. Leggings need to be layered, even on the best behinds:



It just makes me giddy when I say, "Brenna, would you like to get dressed?" and she smiles and comes and sits in my lap.
So easy!
So simple!

The ASU toddler preschool program is fantastic. It is run my grad students so each child gets a lot of attention - and ASU itself makes for fantastic stroller running...so much pavement.  You just need to watch out for all the other wheels (cyclists, skate boarders, rollerbladers, electric scooters, segways - it is quite crowded out there.


I am not the only one who has been running, the kids are still training for their upcoming 100 meter race. We were sidelined over the weekend when Hayden got sick. I knew he was sick when he fell asleep watching Dance Moms:

  Because,
   A. He has not fallen asleep on the couch since he was 3 months old.
   B. Who can fall asleep during the riveting and addictive drama of Lifetime reality TV???