A good read

 


She looks pretty comfortable doesn't she! We got some new-to-us books in the mail this week! Layla LOVES anything from Richard Scarry and is happy to stare and stare at the pages for what seems like ages (= Thank you Cary, Christy and the Palmer family! I think the books actually belonged to Austin who is Tom's cousin's son. What does that mean to Layla? Second cousin once removed?? No idea (= We're just happy for some new books!

Language School

For the thousands who follow my blog (!) you may have noticed that I'm a wee bit slow on the posting these days. It is largely due to the fact that I am in language school and having to do HOMEWORK during my free minutes here and there. I haven't tried to seriously read formal Arabic for almost 4 years and it is painful to restart (= I love it though. I am reading very slowly and very inaccurately at about a high school level. So I'm guessing I'm like those poor students in the US who make it to high school and are constantly misbehaving because the material is so far over their heads. I greatly sympathize. If I wasn't 37, motived and a mother, I'd be throwing fits in class too!

She's a natural!

Since Tom is traveling and the kids have been sick, we all desperately needed a day out to have some fun. So we crossed the border to go to a mall (layla's eyes are bugging her so no outside activities during the day unfortunately) and see what we could find to do!

I can't believe what a natural she was a this driving thing! There was a little foot pedal on one side to make it go and then the kids just steer. I was so proud of her being the only kid to dismount, drag the car around and get herself unstuck (= She was quite happily passing the slower kids and ramming in to anyone in the way (=

Sadly, she was running into stuff rather frequently as she was so distracted by all the other kids and parents around her (=

By the way, you might notice that she has a pink hair clip in her hair. This is the only hair clip she will keep in her hair, and only if she puts it in herself. I mean, she'll let me put it in, but she always takes it off later. If she mashes it up there herself, she'll keep it for hours. (= Ahhhhh, the battles we choose.....or don't choose!

Lost and Found

 

I realize that he looks like a girl here with the pink sheets and the pink "dots dolly". I love his big smile which is so typical of him. You can also see his curly hair! The other day we were in the car about sunset time and I glanced in the back seat and both my kids' heads were lit up like copper fire! It was so cool (=

Back to Dots Dolly though.....I had to show a picture of Ryan with my childhood doll. Layla has thoroughly enjoyed her as well. I was completely distraught when I thought we had left her at a hotel several months back. I kept avoiding the issue of really looking for her in our things in the hope that she might turn up. Well, lo and behold, when we got our stuff out for camping, I discovered that she has been sleeping in one of our big coolers this whole time! The other small cooler also had a little toy in it (= Joy joy.

Ryan learns to stand up (=

Cute video of Ryan learning to stand. SO FUNNY that he did it in the same place Layla learned to stand as well! She was 3 months ahead of him, but not nearly as strong as he is (=

We have to move the mattress down ASAP. A couple of days after I took this video, he learned how to stand up in the pack and play which is where he actually sleeps 90% of the time. If I put him in Layla's room, she wakes up when he cries and comes wailing in our bedroom begging me to take him out (= We tried that for about a month and then I gave up! Not sure when we'll get them in the same room, but we're grateful for having 2 beds and for having the space to separate them until they are more tolerant of each other!

While I dearly love my babies, this is probably only really interesting to the grandparents and aunties and uncles (=

Father and Son

 

 

Ryan is a real snuggler. I remember Layla being snuggly as well, but nothing like Ryan. He'll put his little arms around your neck and press his cheek up to yours and just sit there as still as can be. It is so precious (=

Doggie Dress!

 

 

 

 

We love Christmas in January! We got our package from Tom's Dad and Lisa a couple of weeks ago and I haven't had a chance to post these. Layla loves this dress. It was still cold so she wears long sleeves and pants under all her dresses. She grabbed my scarf at the last minute (= It is warming up here, but just a tad. We thought the warm weather was going to come after all that wind like it usually does. But we are still enjoying some lovely cool air all day! So thankful.

Family Resemblance

 

Having a talented husband gets you cool stuff like this put together when he has time on his hands..... It really is amazing how much they all look alike! In case you are wondering about Ryan's dirty face, Layla painted him! I had stepped out of the room for 30 SECONDS and she managed to run over to him, paint paint paint and nip back to the easel before I returned! Goober.

My self-aware girl

We have been using a kitchen timer to help Lj with various situations. It lets me off the hook with having to remember the length of naps, special play times, time-outs, my own time on the computer etc etc. It has been very helpful, but I'm not totally confident about it at times.

Today is a classic example of it working wonders even though I'm doubting the process the whole time.

I've been putting a timer on for Layla's naps because she started to not sleep during her naps a week ago. I've been giving her an hour and a half to be quiet in her room and she can sleep if she wants or just lay there. If the timer would go off and she was still sleeping, I would surueptisously add more time (=

Today she bolted awake and came out of her room not aware if the timer had gone off or not. This is classic. She was wailing and totally distraught. She still had another 20 mins to go and I thought "man this isn't worth it. She's totally upset, she slept most of the time...I should just shut off the timer." blah blah blah

But I decided to stick to my guns and carried her back to her bed, gave her a nice long cuddle and let her be. She still wailed and wailed but eventually quieted down. When the time did go off, I walked in all excited and ready for her to press the "off" button. She stuck out her little hand and said "No mommy. Don't come in. I want some time alone." I walked right back out happy to comply. When she says she needs time alone, you'd better give it to her! I checked on her two other times and finally went back in and opened the curtains. She stuck her hand out again "No mommy. Don't see me. I'm sad. I need some time alone."
"Well Layla, if you are sad, I don't want you to be sad alone, I want to be with you!"
"No mommy. I just need some time alone."

Well okay then. She was obviously working something out. Needless to say, she eventually got up and is now happily skipping back and forth around the house with some sort of game in her head. That whole thing of "if a kid is not waking up happy, they need more sleep" really is true.

So at least today the timer thing worked out (= Parenting successes and failure are so day by day. I heard once that God made days 24 hours to give us a chance to start again. Thank goodness for that!

Sand

Everywhere.
It has been blowing for almost three days, but it REALLY blew today and there is sand everywhere. Kids got baths, bushes and trees and flowers were washed down in the yard and I finally sat down to the computer after a lovely shower with clean pajamas, perfume on and with no sand in my ears. A sweet moment to end my frazzled day.
Yes, it is still all over the floor by the doorway and all over the front steps so thick you could draw pictures in it. All that will have to wait until it dies down even more before all that gets cleaned up. Simply no use!