I'm back

After a bit of a break I've decided to resume my blogging here once more. I've been trying lots of new things to lift me out of this depression I've been in for the past few months, it's been a really hard year but I just have to hope things will get better. So, I've started updating and personalizing this blog, and with Jason's help I hope to have a custom header and signature by tomorrow. I'm getting out of The Mom's Club which feels freeing, I'm going to try my hand at scrapbooking, and my new goal is just to make life simpler.

Catharina is obsessed with everything ABC's currently, which is resulting in her knowing almost all of her sight letters. We are doing some basic potty stuff which she is actually receptive to, may'be she'll be trained by 4 I can only hope. Jason is taking charge of art here as Cath has decided that I am too boring to be a art teacher... I just get the fun of cleaning up the creations *whoopie*. Jason is also teaching Cath how to use the computer mouse to play games online, this mostly ties in to her ABC obsession. Cath has decided she loves drawing lately... on the walls... I figured out recently that she prefers ro stand up when drawing/painting rather than sit down, so one of her presents for Christmas is a art easel. And, on a final note for Cath, she finally got her hair cut! She and I have been tired of taking care of her long hair for quite some time so last weekend I asked her if she wanted it cut and she said yes, now it's just below her ears and very cute. We are donating her 12in ponytail to Locks of Love.

Peter, my baby, will be 2 on Dec. 13th, and I am so sad. Pete has really gotten into Thomas the tank engine, and trains, I have no idea where it came from as we never watch that at our place. He talks more now, although only 50% is audible to others, and he is joining Cath on her potty training, at his request. Again, to end on a hair note, Pete got a mohawk! It looks really cute, although being the amateurs we are the lines aren't straight so it looks much better spiked than not.

Kumon Workbooks

We've recently rediscovered the wonders that are Kumon workbooks! I tried them about a year ago with Cath and there was no interest, and we've tried mountains of other workbooks with the same results. I recently decided to give workbooks another try since Cath needs to work on things like letter recognition, pre-writing skills/tracing, and other fine motor stuff.. and we decided to try Kumon, because everyone seems to rave about it. We got a bunch of Kumon workbooks at Target, and have been working mainly on coloring and pasteing over the last few days, and I'm suprised to say that Cath loves these workbooks! She and I both love the colorful pages, how they start off very simple and increasingly get harder, they're not "too" long, they seem more fun than academic.. Cath has showed some interest in the Uppercase letters workbook I got her and is getting better at guessing which letter I'm showing her, but still not much interest in tracing it. And, we gave the Cutting workbook a shot but Cath got really frustrated when I told her that she shouldn't operate the scissors with 2 hands, and that ended the lesson real quick.

This week we'll be reading "The Big Green Pocketbook" by Candice Ransom, it was about time we started actually "doing something again". I plan on helping Cath to make a lapbook for this book, and I hope to record some of this adventure and share it all with you. I just hope Cath is cooperative when I'm taking pictures, I normally can't make her hold still for more than a minute. Peter, if you're reading this I'm sure you know what I'm talking about;)

This is me, take it or leave it...

I am so sick of kissing up to people and playing nice just to be snubbed by them at the first possible opportunity, or to hear those whispers about "how weird she is". So, I'm done with trying to please people!!! This is who I am what you see is what you get, if you don't like it then good for you go get a cookie and cry about it for all I care.

I know I'm young, I'm "so liberal she should be a Communist", a hippie, not one of those "perfect mom's", my kid's actually have tantrums in public *oh the horror*, I'm "weird" and "ruining her kid's life" because there's no Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth Fairy/figment of somebody's imagination here. Yes, Pete still co-sleeps and wakes up in the middle of the night, yes I'm still nursing, yes it's still considered "normal" for all this to be going on. No, Cath is still not potty trained, she shows no interest in handwriting so we're not going there, and there is nothing wrong with her because she doesn't like crowds and has breakdowns in public she's just a introverted child.

There, I think all the major issues are on the table. So, if you get offended easily, don't like what you've read thus far, completely disagree with my views, or whatever you're excuse is you know where the door is and trust me I won't be shedding a tear over that departure.

So, for those sticking with me, I've started to personalize this thing. It's still obviously in the beginning stages, but something is better than nothing. Yes, I actually put up a picture and there may be more to come, at least of the kid's. I have come to terms with the fact that I'm completely un-photogenic, the camera and I are not friends, so I will not be posting pictures of myself much.

We're Home!

We made it back, now it's time for the fun to begin again! I'm suprising myself by admitting that we actually had a wonderful trip with almost no major bumps, for once. It was so relaxing to be away from the city, the river and all its wonders has always worked some sort of magic calming on me, and I think its rubbed off on the kiddo's too. We had such a wonderful visit that when Jason came up for the weekend to bring us back we were actually talking of may'be moving back to NY after he finishes getting his degree, which is something we swore we'd never do. I guess as much as I hate to admit it I am a small town girl who wants to live close to her family, I'm not suited to live in this or any city, I yearn for a simpler life with less stress. Why is it that the older I get the more of a hypocrite I find myself becoming?

Cath is really blossoming now, she seems to be growing out of her shyness although I suspect that like me she will always be shy to a degree, she talks more especially outside her comfort zones, and we're making headway on verbalizing our emotions when she gets upset instead of just yelling. Pete isn't really doing anything new I can think of, except looking less like my baby everyday, especially nowadays since he's sporting a faux-hawk. The schooling is on hiatus right now because life is too busy and we need some cool down time before adding another thing to our schedule, I plan to start up again in a week or two, after we recover from MIL's expected visit this weekend.

The "blah's"

I'm feeling kinda "blah", I guess is the word to describe it, about things lately. I swear I'll figure out sometime how to get pictures up and personalize this blog, but then I've never been good about journals so this shouldn't be any better. And, the kid's broke my glasses today, I don't have another pair, I don't have contacts anymore, I don't have a current prescription nor the money to get new one's at the moment either! So, how am I walking around without bumping into things? Well, Jason hot glued my glasses back together (they broke at the bridge of the nose), yeah I'm not showing my face in public until we come up with a better solution for this.

Enough about me, now onto the kiddo's. Cath is loving Goodnight Moon this week, she's even answering most questions I ask about the book! Our second attempt at lapbooking is going well, although I'm still doing most of the legwork Cath is helping which is encouraging. Pete is happy and recovering well from his Corneal Abrasion last week, only thing new with him is the fact that we called PCC today because he ate some Pepto Bismol Jason left out. That child will be the end of me, he's too much like Jason for his own good.

Crayons anyone? How about paint?

I don't know what has gotten into Cath but all of a sudden she's interested in art! It started early last week with a intense interest in coloring. Now, she has been bringing me her crayons and a coloring book and announcing she needs to color, and she's been doing this 3-4x daily!! While I'm very excited about this I have to ask, did I miss something here?!

I realized over the weekend that we really haven't given the kid's a lot of access to paint, so off to the store we went. First for the hand paint, that was a hit with Pete, but Cath wanted to use a paintbrush. Next, lets try the oil based paint! Oil based paint is a hit with Cath, but Pete just wants to dip the brush in the paint and eat it. Now we have something for everyone.

Showing Off

Ever feel like you have to show off all your child's abilities just to prove that you're actually doing something with them and not just setting them in front of the tube all day? Why is it that our parents are most often the one's with which whom make us feel this way? Ok, enough with the rhetorical questions on my part.

Anyways, I'm putting together little 4th of July projects for the kid's to work on and send to the grandma's to prove we're actually "doing something". They already think I'm just homeschooling to "keep on baby-ing them", I can only imagine the talks I'll be subject to once they find out the kid's aren't going to Kindergarten much less Elementary school.

Oh well, I've always been seen as the "slightly off" one in the family, I guess this is my way of staying true to form.