Since Christmas, there has been a lot of this:
And some crafting.
Raine got a charm bracelet kit where you paint the charms before stringing them on the bracelets.
Carter wanted to paint too, but Raine wasn’t going to let him anywhere near her charms, so he painted at the easel instead . . . samurai sword in hand.
Carter is in a phase where he only wants to wear pajamas. As soon as we get home, he runs to his room to put on pjs. He’ll even wear multiple pairs in a single day. So, despite being dressed the rest of the day, here he is in pjs in the middle of the afternoon.
Although, the clothes he wears out aren’t much better — he refuses to wear pants, unless they are pajama pants. It is a major fight to get him to put on jeans (and don’t even get me started on the drama involved in putting on Sunday pants). Most of the time we work out some sort of compromise where he can only wear flip-flops if he has pants on or he has to wear both a sweatshirt and a jacket if he is going to wear shorts. I keep thinking that one of these days he’ll get cold enough to realize that Mom is right and he should wear pants, but it hasn’t happened yet.
When he was done, he explained that it was a picture of bricks falling into water. Apparently there was a building full of bad-guys and the Hulk smashed it.
We’ve also ventured out to do some shopping and visit the library.
Upon leaving the library this afternoon, we found our new favorite treat place.
Joe’s has, by far, the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted — and I’ve had a lot of good ice cream in my life. This place not only makes all their ice cream in-store, but also makes their own chocolate for the chocolate ice cream base. Their triple-chocolate ice cream is beyond words! I have a feeling that we will be making a lot of trips to this local joint in the spring — especially since it is within biking distance!
I told Raine that we can go back as soon as she learns to ride her bike — although, I may not be able to wait that long. That girl lacks any sense of balance and it could be years before she figures out that you can’t lean to the side and expect the bike to stay upright! It is absolutely exhausting to hold the back of the bike while she is trying to ride. We took the peddles off her bike for a while to see if she could get the hang of it as a balance bike, but I’m not sure it did any good. Physical feats of coordination just aren’t her forte!
This little monkey may be riding before she is . . . now that we finally got him a bike!
Speaking of Raine’s struggles with physical feats, about a month ago she sadly confided in me that she was the slowest runner in PE that day. Upon further questioning, I found out that Raine is frequently the slowest runner in her class. She was obviously self-conscious about her less-than-stellar performance in PE, but it was a good opportunity to point out how everyone has different talents. She may be the best reader in her class, but someone else is the best runner. I tried to help her understand that she needs to be sensitive to others who are struggling with something she can do well, just like she wanted her friends to be sensitive to her feelings when she came in last. I’m not sure the empathy lesson really sank in, but it was a good teaching moment. And it was a teaching moment for me too. We all know that I’m not the most sensitive person when it comes to feelings — I may have laughed just a little when she told me that she was the slowest runner in her class — so I had to work on my empathy as I listened to her. My natural instinct was to tell her to buck-up and go run some laps — I get it from my PE coach mom — but I reeled it in and showed some sympathy!
Rather than force her into sports, I try to encourage her in the things she loves! Unfortunately, my rudimentary “girly skills” always limit the grand ideas she has. As soon as her fine motor skills catch up with her creativity — so she doesn’t have to rely on me to implement — she’ll be the girliest girl on the block!
Marble runs are more my thing!
