On point

Except for not fitting in a shower, I was suprisingly on point today. I'm tired, but I feel like things ran pretty smoothly. Everyone was up, fed and dressed on time, I remembered to give Jared some ibuprofen for his teeth before leaving (or I knew he'd be miserable), got everyone in the van to take Jenna to the bus, then right to MOPS. I actually remembered paci, blankie, snacks and juice cup for Jared in the nursery. I put him in a miniature chair at a kids table with all of his things and then left to take Ava to her room. I saw him cry right away, but I had to give it a chance. Ava was screaming at the top of her lungs when I was trying to leave her room, but I knew she would be fine in a couple minutes. This was our first MOPS meeting of the year, and it was a great time talking to friends and other moms that I didn't really get to know last year. After the meeting, I went off to get Jared, and the workers told me he sat in his chair the whole time! I could've cried right there. This was over 2 hours! I had given him medicine, he completely missed his morning nap and was exhausted. I also don't think he knew how to get out of that little chair on his own. Not that he would've allowed anyone to pick him up anyway, but I felt bad for him. At least my mom will be here the next two months to stay with him. Ava was happy as could be in her class and when I got her.

By the time we got home, we played a little, then it was time to get Jenna off the bus and have lunch. After Jenna had some quiet time playing her Leapster and laying down, Ava was refusing to take a nap, so outside we went. The girls dug in the dirt, did bubbles, and Jenna threw some rocks onto the patio that she had to sweep back into the planters. By this time she was exhausted and ready to go back inside. Before they played, it was shower time. I'm so glad I got that out of the way! It was a rough late afternoon with all these restless, tired, kids. I tried to sit with Jenna to do an assignment, but I knew she was too cranky to focus. I was determined to get good bed times for all of them. So I did! Jared was down by 6:30, and Ava was out at 7. While I was sitting with Ava, Jenna was at the kitchen table doing some drawing. I came out and had her do one of her homework assignments on her own, coloring, cutting and gluing pictures that start with "C" while I cleaned up the kitchen. Things don't usually work out well when I hover  :)  After that we had a very nice time completing her other assignment, practicing writing numbers 1-10. She tends to rush when she's writing, so we've been working on slowing down. When she does a number like 2 it can look like a backwards "S," so I came up with the "stop sign" for each number that has sharp points in. Now when she writes them she makes a race track track sound and screeches the brakes when she needs to pause at a point. This has helped her slow down a lot and focus on the shapes and curves of the numbers. She also consistenly drew legible 8s on her sheet! That has been her toughest one to get. After almost every number I praised her, and she gave me a big hug. I love that smile that came from her, she was so proud of herself. They actually looked like the right numbers  :) We also worked on using lowercase letters in her name, and she would continually tell me NOT to give her instruction line-by-line-by-curve. I had to back off the hovering. She was even in a good enough mood to do some EXTRA activities. One that I picked from the choices on her sheet was jumping, skipping, kneeling and twisting, 10 times each. For kneeling I showed her to lunge, which I only did once and hoped she'd get it.  She skipped across the living room, did her twists and then wanted me to twist too. Why not? After all of those school things she actually wanted to do some of her Kindergarten workbook that I got from Target. We did 4 pages, then it was time to get ready for bed, right at 8 p.m.

Most nights the girls go down at the same time, I have to sit by Ava's bed until she falls asleep, and I sneak back out to the living room. The past few nights Jenna has wanted me to lay down with her too, and I tell her that I can if Ava goes to sleep well. Last night Ava was NOT going to sleep, but I wanted to give Jenna some cuddle time, laid with her for a few minutes while Ava was up getting into things, then finally went to do the dishes and left Ava to go to sleep on her own, which was about 10 p.m. after repeatedly taking her back to her bed. Days that Ava doesn't take a nap are rough in the afternoon but pay off at night because she falls asleep so much quicker. So tonight I could actually lay down with Jenna. Twenty minutes later she was still awake, but quiet as I left the room.

The kitchen is decent, the kids are all asleep now, it's almost 9:30, and I might actually get a good night's sleep. I have definitely been wearing down the last few days. I can tell my mind is not all there. My mom's coming back tomorrow, and I need a nap  :)