An Afternoon at The Farm

Last year all five of us went on Ailey's preschool field trip to The Farm, for a hay ride, hay maze, and pumpkin picking. Last week only I went with on Ailey's Kindergarten field trip to the same Farm, so all five of us went today so that Marin and Silje could pick out their pumpkins too.

This being our first trip to a pumpkin farm on a weekend ... whew, it was crowded. But The Farm handled it well, and we all had some fun in the hay maze, watching the duck race, checking out the farm animals, and wandering the field looking for the perfect pumpkins. And we only got rained on the last half-hour or so, so consider the visit a success!

The girls sat on Farmer Bob's first tractor.
We found some big pumpkins just the right size to take a rest on.

Cheesey and cheeky.

Running to find those perfect pumpkins.

Andy and the girls (yes, that's a grouchy Marin).

We're looking forward to several Halloween activities in the next week, and hope you are enjoying the first of the holidays. Happy Halloween!

Sleepy Silje

It seems Silje hasn't quite got the hang of sleeping in a big girl bed. This is where I find her at some point almost every night. One night she was all the way behind the chair. At least she sleeps through it!

My Big Girls

As of last night, Marin and Silje are now in **sigh** Big Girl Beds. I sigh not out of frustration, because it has been a relatively easy transition. I sigh because it is yet another big transition that means my girls are growing up.

Over the summer both Marin and Silje finally transitioned out of naps. NOT one of the prettier transitions! In fact, we are still working our way out of that mess. I'm sure this is the case with a lot of kids - it was certainly the case with Ailey three years earlier - that they don't need the nap and have a difficult time falling asleep at night if they do nap, but they just can't make it all the way to bedtime without showcasing their exhaustion in some ugly form. *Sigh*

Then just a few weeks ago Marin got potty-trained. In only a few days time she had a couple accidents, took 1,094 trips to the potty, and kicked diapers, pull-ups and the training panties. She's a champ. About the same time, she decided that she would spit out the toothpaste so that she could use Ailey's big girl toothpaste with flouride. *Sigh*

Since before Marin and Silje were a twinkle Andy's and my eyes, Ailey's Big Girl Bedroom was decorated just for her. That is, before we knew we were having two babies who would need two cribs in a very tiny little nursery. But we weren't about to take away Ailey's bedroom just because we were silly enough to have two babies at once, so we were lucky that we could fit two cribs in that room. But for three years now we've wondered what we would do when they grew out of their cribs. The room - even without the dressers and the chair - would probably not hold two twin beds.

Luckily, I have a twin-mom friend with girls just 18 months older than Marin and Silje. I tend to get a lot of hand-me-down things and ideas from her. Her girls just transitioned out of their toddler beds and the beds were offered to us. So do we store two toddler beds until whenever, or get rid of the cribs now? Last week the thought occured to me that, since Marin and Silje aren't napping anymore and tend to drop like bricks into bed at night, this would be the perfect time to "drop" them into toddler beds while they don't have the energy to jump in and out of bed for hours after bedtime just out of curiosity.

So yesterday Andy took down the cribs and I washed the sheets. Ailey, Marin and Silje enjoyed some novelty time in a half-empty bedroom....

Then Andy went and got the beds and delivered them to three very excited girls who could hardly wait for the sheets and pillows and blankets to go on before testing them out. Their "new" Laurie Gilbert custom-made fleece quilted blankets sat at the end of their beds until it was time to tuck in last night (unbeknownst to Marin and Silje, the blankets were a gift almost three years ago, but they are "new" to them!). They are also trying out pillows for the first time.

Marin on her new bed.

Silje on her new bed.

It has only been one night, but if last night was an indication of how this transition will go it wasn't too bad. Marin and Silje did drop like bricks onto their pillows even after all the excitement of the new beds. But luckily they only floated like feathers as they took turns sliding out of bed in their sleep. I wish I had dared to take a picture of Marin as she slept with her knees on the floor and her head on the mattress. Or of Silje as she sat on the floor with her head laid back on her mattress. Those rails don't hold them in at all, but at least they don't have far to go to the floor!

Marin in Training

Remember how Marin learned to walk?


This is basically how she learns everything -- sitting up, crawling, eating with a spoon, using the potty -- by doing it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over....

She's learning to use the potty this week, in much the same fashion -- by doing it over and over and over and over and over and over.... Potty, wipe, flush, wash hands. Potty, wipe, flush, wash hands. Potty, wipe, flush, wash hands. We set a timer, not to remind her to go before she has an accident. No, she has to wait for the timer before she gets to go again.

The first day in training we were home all day and she went into the bathroom every time the timer went off. Sometimes more often because she would sneak into the bathroom and I wouldn't know it until she called me to help wipe. It was an exhausting day.

Yesterday I braved the children's museum with the girls (Marin in pull-ups, not actual panties - I'm no dummy) and, at least while distracted by all the activities, Marin only had to go to the bathroom once while there. Whew!

Silje is a little put-out that she doesn't get M&Ms when she pees ... in her diaper. And she wants pull-ups ... to pee in. But she'll get there soon enough. Right now it's enough that we've halved the number of diapers we're using. Woo Hoo!!!

Ailey's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Ailey and I went to her first day of Kindergarten today. The first day of school was a sort of "orientation" for the Kindergarten kids and parents, and only lasted an hour. There was no bus today (which Ailey was NOT happy about). Ailey drew a picture at her seat while the teacher filled all of us parents in on the routine and gave out a lot of paperwork. We made Ailey's nametag/bus badge, which she will wear for 2 weeks so the teacher can learn names.

Then we came home. Pretty uneventful for a first day!

Tomorrow is the REAL first day. Ailey will ride the bus (assuming she is willing once she sees all those other kids in the seats and realizes she has to sit with someone she doesn't know). I won't drop her off in her classroom like I have been doing in preschool for the past two years, but will wait at the bus stop to greet her home. It's a little nerve-wracking for me, I wonder what is going on in Ailey's head with all this new stuff!

Ailey's teacher seems like a good one. She is apparently "sought after" at Ailey's school, has been teaching for many years in Kindergarten, and Ailey likes her already. It should be a fun and interesting year!

We got to see Parker this morning before his first day at another school.

The crew (by age, no less!) before waving good-bye to Ailey and Parker.

Now let's see if I can get a picture of Ailey boarding the bus tomorrow....