![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Oct. 28th, 2005 10:54 amI'm spending way too much time wondering if Jesse could handle a kitten in the house. This is not good. I. must. stop. this. train. of. thought. now. I should probably also leave that baby animals community, 'cause it ain't helpin' any.
It is so cool here in the mornings lately. Like between 50 and 60 degress. But then it gets up to 80 by early afternoon. So I'm at a loss as to how to dress my children. So far, I don't think I'm being very successful. I think they are cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon. Layers, you say? Yes, I'm trying. But the whole premise of my fall/winter plan for them was to avoid the thousand and one pieces of clothing we usually have. You know, shirts and pants and socks that all have to match and be sorted and with three of them it is just overwhelming! So I have lots of simple play dress and tights and leggings, and they have a few sweaters and light weight jackets. I thought that would be perfect. They could wear leggings or tights with their dresses in the morning and take them off in the afternoon if they got hot. But, so far, they've either refused to wear the leggings or tights in the morning and wanted socks and shoes leaving their legs bare and cold or not wanted to take off the leggings or tights in the afternoons and been running around sweaty. What a completely silly dilemma! Of course, they want to be outside all day.
Have I ever mentioned that my children will not watch TV anymore? It is so strange. I mean, we've never watched much. PBS kids was on sometimes in the morning and they would request a movie periodically. We don't have cable or satellite, so there is little to watch most of the time and the TV was rarely on anyway. But for the last about five months, they won't even watch a half hour PBS show. They wander away bored within minutes and back to their incredibly elaborate and rich pretend play. The forts and houses and offices they build out of boxes and baskets and old scarves, the zoos of blocks and little animals, the baby dolls that must be fed and diapered and dressed. They live in this wonderful big world of imagination. I don't have to enforce TV limits at all. In fact, on more than one occasion in the last few days, when every one was a little sick and whiney and the noise and intensity were making me insane, I've begged them to sit down and watch a movie for just a little while. Reading books is a good way to get them somewhat still and quiet. But eventually my voice starts getting tired and tight after, you know, like ten books or so. They play really well with each other 90% of the time, with no interference from me. But, since they've had these colds, I really discovered how little interest they have in TV. I hope that continues. Please, no one tell me this is normal for preschoolers and not to expect it to continue. Let me remain in my "ignorance is bliss" little utopia. Okay?
Speaking of books, I never wrote about our trip to the library. I've avoided the library for some now, because it was just not fun to try and manage Luci in there. She would run and scream and had no interest whatsoever in the books, other than to pull them off the shelves as fast as she could. I couldn't try and find books at all. But we tried it again on Monday and she was really good about it. She wandered calmly around the children's section and picked out her books and then sat calmly in the stroller looking at them while I found some for myself. The other girls were angelic, picking out their books and sitting quietly at a table to look at them while I browsed for a few minutes. I think we can make this a routine now. I'm so glad because I've really been missing it a lot. They were so cute picking out their books and their choices were so typical of them. Zoe knew exactly what kind of books she wanted before we even got there. A book about bugs and a book about killer whales. We found them both and she was so thrilled. Mari always takes a long time to make up her mind, but when she did it was exactly what I would have expected. She let me pick one for her and then she chose one about a ballerina. She is such a girlie girl! I'm glad I have one, because Zoe and Luci are much more interested in bugs and trucks and dinosaurs then hair bows and dancing. Luci's books both had funny, colorful covers with silly looking frogs and crazy looking people. The stories turned out to match those illustrations perfectly. That is so Luci.
It is so cool here in the mornings lately. Like between 50 and 60 degress. But then it gets up to 80 by early afternoon. So I'm at a loss as to how to dress my children. So far, I don't think I'm being very successful. I think they are cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon. Layers, you say? Yes, I'm trying. But the whole premise of my fall/winter plan for them was to avoid the thousand and one pieces of clothing we usually have. You know, shirts and pants and socks that all have to match and be sorted and with three of them it is just overwhelming! So I have lots of simple play dress and tights and leggings, and they have a few sweaters and light weight jackets. I thought that would be perfect. They could wear leggings or tights with their dresses in the morning and take them off in the afternoon if they got hot. But, so far, they've either refused to wear the leggings or tights in the morning and wanted socks and shoes leaving their legs bare and cold or not wanted to take off the leggings or tights in the afternoons and been running around sweaty. What a completely silly dilemma! Of course, they want to be outside all day.
Have I ever mentioned that my children will not watch TV anymore? It is so strange. I mean, we've never watched much. PBS kids was on sometimes in the morning and they would request a movie periodically. We don't have cable or satellite, so there is little to watch most of the time and the TV was rarely on anyway. But for the last about five months, they won't even watch a half hour PBS show. They wander away bored within minutes and back to their incredibly elaborate and rich pretend play. The forts and houses and offices they build out of boxes and baskets and old scarves, the zoos of blocks and little animals, the baby dolls that must be fed and diapered and dressed. They live in this wonderful big world of imagination. I don't have to enforce TV limits at all. In fact, on more than one occasion in the last few days, when every one was a little sick and whiney and the noise and intensity were making me insane, I've begged them to sit down and watch a movie for just a little while. Reading books is a good way to get them somewhat still and quiet. But eventually my voice starts getting tired and tight after, you know, like ten books or so. They play really well with each other 90% of the time, with no interference from me. But, since they've had these colds, I really discovered how little interest they have in TV. I hope that continues. Please, no one tell me this is normal for preschoolers and not to expect it to continue. Let me remain in my "ignorance is bliss" little utopia. Okay?
Speaking of books, I never wrote about our trip to the library. I've avoided the library for some now, because it was just not fun to try and manage Luci in there. She would run and scream and had no interest whatsoever in the books, other than to pull them off the shelves as fast as she could. I couldn't try and find books at all. But we tried it again on Monday and she was really good about it. She wandered calmly around the children's section and picked out her books and then sat calmly in the stroller looking at them while I found some for myself. The other girls were angelic, picking out their books and sitting quietly at a table to look at them while I browsed for a few minutes. I think we can make this a routine now. I'm so glad because I've really been missing it a lot. They were so cute picking out their books and their choices were so typical of them. Zoe knew exactly what kind of books she wanted before we even got there. A book about bugs and a book about killer whales. We found them both and she was so thrilled. Mari always takes a long time to make up her mind, but when she did it was exactly what I would have expected. She let me pick one for her and then she chose one about a ballerina. She is such a girlie girl! I'm glad I have one, because Zoe and Luci are much more interested in bugs and trucks and dinosaurs then hair bows and dancing. Luci's books both had funny, colorful covers with silly looking frogs and crazy looking people. The stories turned out to match those illustrations perfectly. That is so Luci.
