Last week was Butterfly’s last dance class for the season. I decided not to do it for the last session. Why? Because that is the session that they are preparing for their recital. They will pick out their little costumes and learn a little routine to do. It would have been so cute! Sadly, we are going to be in Utah during the recital. I didn’t want her to go through picking out the costume, learning the steps, and getting all excited to tell her she can’t do it. I don’t think that would have gone over very well. So. She’s not taking dance class any more. But she will start swimming here in about 2 weeks. That should be fun! The parents were asked to come in and watch this time and I took a bunch of videos. They practiced leaping over a bean bag and after every leap, she turned and mouthed to me, “Did you take a picture?!” So I have a ton of videos of her leaping.
Here she is talking to me instead of paying attention. I think her teacher had to tell her 4 times to pay attention. I am a big distraction, apparently.
She had a really good time with it. Even with her saying every single week that she didn’t want to go. She always enjoyed seeing her little friend G. And hopefully, G will be joining us for swim lessons! I think Butterfly would love to have a friend there with her. In fact, we missed them so much on Monday that we spent today day playing at their house. Can you believe these girls are only a week apart?
Yesterday I was sitting on the couch with Professor on my lap. I asked him, “Do you want to go play?” because he was gestering and gabbering at Pirate and Butterfly playing across the room. He looked at me, pouted out his lip a little. Then it started to tremble. Then his eyes got really sad and he took a shuddering breath. He squeezed out a tear just in the corner of his eye. His hands flew to his mouth and he took in another huge shuddering breath. That breath turned into “the cry with no sound” that kids do before they let loose. And then he did let loose. Ho.ly.cow. Not that hard of a question kid! Juice and I just stared at each other stunned. This kid could be an actor!
Today has gone much the same, with the slow progression into a huge sobbing mass by lunch time. Vinny (Butterfly’s BFF) and his mom came over to spend the morning playing and they had a great time together. The boys followed me around the house wailing. I finally broke down and gave Professor his binkie because I just could not handle the crying anymore! He never gets his binkie out of his bed. I did consider leaving him in his bed for awhile but he cried so hard I just carried him around with me. I also fed him lunch standing up holding him because he would sit down. I couldn’t sit down either.
Once everyone was down for their naps and Vinny and Lala were sent safely home, I sat down and did a few deep breaths. About 10 minutes later, Professor wakes up screaming. And it just kept going and going and going. Finally I got him up, gave him some happy juice (pain killers) and dealt with the aftermath of NO! MORE! MEDICINE! screaming. I finally took him to Butterfly (who was watching a movie in my room) and watched some of the movie with her and him limp on my chest. He fell asleep. However, Butterfly can not sit still for a moment and all that jostling woke him up. Screaming followed and continued until Juice got home. My ears hurt.
I took Butterfly to dance class tonight and that was a real treat to talk to my friend for a whole 50 minutes without any of my offspring around. Awesome. But Butterfly fell on her tailbone the minute she came home and screamed the rest of the evening.
Juice said he had no problems with the boys and they were great and happy and fun. Why me?!
Butterfly’s little dance class had it’s last class today. The year long classes have a big recital at the end of the year but Butterfly’s class doesn’t. The teacher invited the parents in to watch the class. It was TONS of fun. I loved watching Butterfly listening to the teacher and seeing her interact with her friends. She is, by far, the biggest kid in there. Poor awkward dear, she also has a lot of leg to deal with. Still, I think she has a great time and she looks so cute in her leotard.
They start out with some stretching and a little bit of warm up. Some jumping, some spinning, some skipping. Then they go into a few songs (called the can-can songs) that say things like jump up and down and turn around! Then they danced with their bean bags. Butterfly got a blue one (of course) and here she is! (She is the one with the dark pink tights and the braid.)
After the bean bag dance, they had a train that they did which was really cute. Then they did some ballet stuff, including twirling and first position.
They did some leaping after that. The teacher split the class in two and had each of the sections take turns to dance and watch. I thought they way she put it, “Learn to be a good audience!” was great. She even had them clap. The dancers had to bow. So cute.
Butterfly requested some freeze dance time and the teacher let them. Basically they ran around like crazy and tried to stop when the music stops. Her friend, Lou, is the blond girl with the pony tail and skirt. They make sure they are next to each other for everything!
I think she had so much fun with this class that we are probably going to sign up for the next round. Lou’s parents were so sweet and brought Lou and Butterfly some flowers for their “recital”. They will be in the next round of classes together too. It’s fun to have a friend!
“Mama, I don’t like it when you call me that name.”
“Uhhh….what name honey?!” I could not figure out what she was talking about. This declaration came after about 2 minutes of silence in the car while she was eating a snack.
“I know I am one but I don’t want you or Daddy to call me that anymore.”
“What honey? What are we calling you that you don’t like.”
“I don’t like to say it but I will,” big dramatic sigh, “a person.” She said it in that toddler whisper that’s not a whisper but more of a breathy way of saying something.
“You don’t want me to call you a person?”
“Yeah, I don’t like it. I know I am one, but I don’t like it. I don’t, I don’t! I just don’t!”
“Okay okay honey. Don’t get so worked up about it. I won’t call you that if you don’t want me too. What can I call you?”
“Um…honey. Butterfly. Bolt.” I thought of Flower and how she had to deal with watching Bolt the movie over and over and over the month she was here. (Miss you Flower! Come back and watch Mulan over and over with us!)
“What about a young lady. Can I call you that?”
“Nope.”
“What about a little girl. Can I call you that?”
“Yeah, that’s okay. And when I’m me, you can call me a human. But when I’m Bolt you can’t call me a human because Bolt is a dog.”
“How about Young Sister Maryland (insertlastnamehere)? They called you that at church on Sunday.”
“Nah, that’s just my Sunday name. But today is not Sunday! It’s dance day!”
“What about my sweetheart, can I call you that?”
She got a very pleased smile on her face. “Yeah, that’s the best name.”
And ALL the kids are in bed. Why so early you ask? We just couldn’t take it anymore. There was crying. There was whining. There was yelling. There was a broom. It was not pretty.
It all started earlier today when I was trying to shower. Normally the boys are very good when I shower and just kind of play in my room and pound on the door. Not today. By the time I came downstairs all clean and refreshed, they had scattered the dog food and the dog water across the kitchen. Professor was stuffing as much into his mouth as he could get and Pirate was splashing in the puddles.
This has been an on going battle for us the past week or so. I kind of flipped out on them and snatched up Professor and took him to the sink. I rinsed his mouth out with water and dug at least 5 pieces of kibble out of his cheeks. He was NOT happy. Then I stripped off his wet clothes and child gated him out of the kitchen. I turned on Pirate. I stripped off his wet clothes and put him crying next to his brother on the other side of the gate.
Then I swept up soggy kibble from the far reaches of the kitchen and dining room area. I also did some dishes, laundry, and put dinner in the crock pot. The whole time the boys are screaming on the other side of the gate. By now Butterfly is yelling at me because she can’t hear her movie. Mommy needed a time out. Since I’m almost 30, does that mean I can hang out in my room for half and hour? Please?!
Lunch time and nap time came early today because I just couldn’t take it. I did some internet research on Christmas presents and then it was all too soon to go to dance class. Butterfly burst into tears when I came into my room (where she naps because they are all sharing a room right now) and yelled at me because she hasn’t had time to sleep! She had 2 hours of time to sleep. She just chose to play instead. So now she’s sobbing while getting her dance clothes on. And the boys are sobbing because they are stuck in their cribs.
On the way out to the car (we did eventually get outside), I met up with a neighbor. This neirghbor is old and nice but she talks. A lot. And very slowly. And not all in English. Any other time and I would have taken some time to say hello but not today. We were late and I was flustered. I shoved screaming kids into their car seats while she stood next to the car. I said goodbye (nicely) and got in and pulled away. We made it to class on time. Whew.
I took the boys to the library where we got a ton of M books (it’s M week here!) and a book for me to read as well. By the time dance class was over, the boys had had it. They wanted out of the their stroller, they wanted to walk. But when I let them out, they ran in two different directions. I had now had it. Back into the stroller they go, screaming. Butterfly came right out of class and asked for a milkshake. Uh, no.
Pirate screamed all the way home because he ripped a library book and Butterfly took it away from him. No one but Juice and I ate dinner tonight because it was “yucky”. If they don’t eat, they go right to bed. I can not deal with tired AND hungry kids. It is an unspoken rule in our house. Well, not anymore I guess.
Anyway, I think I’m off to bed myself. What a long and arduous day.
Today started off with a hasty and cool walk to a school and ended with a sob. There was everything and anything in between. Want to know the details?
So, this morning Lala calls me to tell me her daughter (just a few weeks older than my boys) had to be rushed to the doctor for some tummy trouble. Her hubby just pulled a double all night shift (working from 4pm-8am) and she needed me to watch Vinny. Vinny is in school and was supposed to be there right as soon as she needed to be at the doctor’s. Since we live near his school, I just offered to drop him off this morning. Butterfly was in heaven. They had so much fun scampering together to school and Vinny knew right where to go. I got to have some exercise, the dog got out, it was a win/win for everyone I think. It was also really refreshing to walk to school and then walk home with all my children. I don’t know why but it put me in a holiday mood. I’m sure I will have more of a holiday mood when all my kids are in school and I can actually think through the day but today was sweet. I enjoyed having everyone home.
I’ve been dying to try my hand at making sesame noodles but I was missing some ingredients. I knew my regular grocery store didn’t have them, so off to the Asian market. Lala was able to come along, minus sick daughter (who napped at home). We lingered in the store and watched crabs attack each other in the pot and then people attack the crabs to take them home. We watched poor fish swim in tanks and marveled that you can actually buy frozen ox blood to eat. Ugh. Butterfly picked out a very bright pink bucket of cookies with sayings in a language I can’t even guess at. That’s what she had for lunch. Very nutritious.
We stopped by the drug store and the home goods store and the bank but had to come home because my boys were asleep. Everyone napped and I tried to clean before they woke up.
And they woke up hungry! So in between rushing around trying to feed them, keep them from killing each other over the doll stroller, I am trying to get Butterfly ready for dance class. Juice was kind enough to come home and watch the boys while I took her to dance class. My friend K and her daughter were there as always, but she was also baby-less. The hour flew by as we sat and chatted in the coffee shop. So nice!
I came home to a partially burned dinner (apparently Juice is not too great at multitasking). Dinner, FHE, bedtime (which Butterfly did not want to do and ended up crying over) and cleaning. It’s now 9pm and the first time I’ve had a chance to sit down.
My friend K from Butterfly’s play group mentioned that she was putting her daughter in a dance class. I’d heard other moms in that group mentioning a dance class and I thought Butterfly might like a chance at a class too. So when K told me what class, I went ahead and signed Butterfly up kind of at the last minute. Literally, the class started on Monday and I signed her up last Thursday.
Several times over the weekend she told me she didn’t want to go. But she did want to wear her new pink leotard every single day. And the day of the class she told me she didn’t want to go about 5 times and that she wanted to go only once.
Of course, we were late. We’re always late. And I couldn’t find the classroom. But with the help of K, we found the class and she had a great time I think.
Her class is an hour long. And it’s across the street from a grocery store. Guess where I go? It’s kind of nice to get all of my shopping done without her. The boys still come along and they ride in the little car stuck to the front of the shopping cart and have a great time. Now I just need to remember my insulated bags and ice for the frozen stuff and I’ll be all set.
Once I got back to the class, I peeked in and took a few pictures. Butterfly is by far the tallest in a sea of pink. There is one boy in the class and one girl has a blue outfit. They did a lot of jumping over lines and skipping in a circle.
She seemed to really like it. Once we came home, she ate like a horse and went to bed early and slept hard. Yay for dance class! We have it every Monday from now until Christmas. I’m excited to see what she will do next week!
I think Butterfly would love to have a friend there with her. In fact, we missed them so much on Monday that we spent today day playing at their house. Can you believe these girls are only a week apart? 
