A New Way of Doing Things

Kellen yelled to me "Mom, come take our picture, quick!"

A rare snapshot of all three together. :)

So we're registering Kellen for kindergarten next week (sob, sob, sob), and Geof went to an kindergarten information session the other night to learn more about the process. We started talking about what a big change this was going to be for Kellen and the issues we are likely to face as he transitions into this new big kid phase! We were thinking about what we could do to help prepare him (other than regular preschool stuff), and I came up with a plan. Now I have NEVER been much of a planner. I just like to go with the flow and take care of things as they come up. Thus, I've been a Mom for 5.08 years and have never really operated on any kind of schedule other than what the kids' naps/meals have dictated. Well get ready kiddos, that is all about to change! (actually, it changed yesterday). We are now officially on a daily schedule. It is posted in the kitchen where we can't get away from it! So far Kellen loves it! He likes to know what to expect, and I think this will be good for him. In addition to our normal daily activities, I'm working in designated quiet time (I've been quite the flunky with this up until now), "help time" (chores that they are capable of), table time (crafts and workbooks), one-on-one time (special time with me and just one kid), and playtime/tv time. Kellen and Addie also have "helping hands" charts to document the ways they help around the house each day. They are in charge of things like clearing the table, dust-busting the floor after EB eats, folding washcloths and matching socks in the laundry, making their beds, hanging up coats and putting away shoes, unloading utensils from the dishwasher, and several other things that they are quite capable of. Kellen especially loves earning stars on his helping chart and he LOVES dustbusting since I got the cone-shaped dustbuster (Kellen is obsessed with traffic cones, so a cone-shaped vacuum is wonderful for him). I think he would wear it in a holster on his belt and vacuum the floor all day if we let him! Anyway, this is a very new way of doing things for me, but yesterday went very well and I hope we can stick to it!

Also, Ellary had a MAJOR breakthrough last night. She slept through the night!!!!!!!! I heard her wimpering at some point early in the morning, but I steeled myself against the urge to go in and feed her and she went back to sleep. This is HUGE since she's been in the habit of getting up 3 or 4 times a night, which is ridiculous for an 8-month old. I give credit, in part, to Geof, who has started feeding her oatmeal before bedtime to hold her over (EB still won't take a bottle, but she'll take oatmeal!). And she is 8 months old today!