Such overload today

We went to open gym after we dropped the bigger one off at school.  This was my first time going, not so bad but there was a little girl that kept hitting Pookie, now I know my child isn't the best but when she took a toy out of a child's hand i would take it back etc.  I guess grandma had nothing better to do then sit on her phone and watch her grandaughter hit my child.   Hitting is one of Pookies sensory things.  If she is angry she hits me, nobody else.  I'm glad she doesn't hit other kids (except her sister of course) .  I just knew it was going to be a day of overloads.  She was fine at first and then it got busy, if she has no sleep or her sleep pattern changes she is just "out of it" so to speak.  She's not my happy girl , she's fussy, stomps.   We only stayed an hour and half because I had to take her out of the situation of the crowd.  

So if you have a sensory issue child can you just sense when the day is going to be bad for them?

Weekends I love

This weekend has been wonderful, great weather. I do have to say I miss snow just a little but loving going to the beach, it's amazing in January , who would have thought!     This weekend, we had a playdate with "E" , we played outside for most of today, riding our bikes, chalk , collected leaves, feeding the fish in the pond across the street oh and to top it off we did talent shows , which were just so adorable.   Just a great weekend, hubby and I have had an amazing weekend as well together.  Since we moved down here we hired a babysitter.  We have had more date nights then I think most couple  do:) at least every other week we try to do something.   This weekend we went out with with Pookies school, we went to this latin bar to eat, was okay.  But the company was the best.  We could only stay because I had Bunco night and our babysitter could only stay an hour.   But we made it work and it was an amazing warm night we left a little early and walked downtown to enjoy the sunset which was amazing.

The next night we went and had another just us date nights!! It was so much fun, we always have fun when we go out.  We got this one bar we go to they have a couch , we just people watch.  Was so much fun, we only go for about 2 hours , just enough to unwind and remind ourselves it's important to take time for each other, even if it's just to a local restaurant.   Even an hour!  We have an amazing babysitter and we are glad she is a part of our family now.  The girls just love her, in fact they try to kick us out early.. lol.

I'm enjoying learning about the whole Montessori teaching so I can keep it going at home when she isn't in school for the 2 days.   Plus Pozzy is really interested in doing it.  I'm going to start buying some more Montessori learning.  

That's about all we did this weekend! Was fun filled, we are trying to limit TV and do more outdoor things or projects we can work without the TV.    Although there are a few days I just need to clean and need to pop in a movie or cartoons to get things done!  Except we did learn that pookie just LOVES cleaning, she has OCD at 3 I know it .. :) To end our weekend we had a Pizza party ( we made pizza) and then had a coloring party for about an hour, coloring as a family around the family table is just a great time to talk and laugh!!!

CHEERS to the Good weekend!!!

Updates

There's been some updates.

Sensory issue Pozzy.  We are trying to work with someone to work with her, pookies school does work with sensory issue kids, and we are loving that, just have to get her potty trained.  We have been nothing but thrilled with the school.

My car broke down this week, and laptop.  A 800 fix for both and we will be good (which we don't have) we did get the car done and waiting on the laptop.  My amazing husband is letting me do work on his computer.

I was really really homesick about a month ago , I don't know what it was , some sort of depression. Glad i finally got out of that funk.  It was a tough month, but as a family we got through it.

School is going great for Pookie, she loves it, we love the teacher, skye loves her new friend I will call her "E' , that's her best friend.  The one moms group that I run has been taking off but then the other one I am on is going great so I feel like maybe we could be settling.  Plus Pookies Parent's night out was super fun.  I loved it. Even if only 4 couples showed up .

But I miss my friends, I see their facebook status and pictures and miss them so much.  I wish i could just have my cake and eat it too by having them by me.  I do have some Hg sisters that are near me that I love.   I also have an amazing husand that has been great with this adjustment.  We have moved all over the place but never any where the kids were older then 1.   So it's a big deal.

I do miss my Baltimore frineds, I miss my mom and dad (which he is not getting better) but loving the weather and I feel like we have the most amazing school we could for pookie.  I still want to write about the things I would love to do around Wilmington.  I will get to those very soon, just life is getting in the way and my depression had a lot to do with it also Pozzy was dealing with a lot of sensory issues and 'm sorry.   But i'm back .   I keep trying to blog at least 3 times a week.     If you have any questions for me please  ask, or if you want me to blog on anything please let me know.

I'm hoping you guys are still following.

Montessori and loving it

Montessori is a wonderful fit for our daughter! I think each time I go , I fall in love with it even more.  Now if they could just find their own building we would love it even more.  I feel bad they are just sharing a church room and its very small and they have to take out everything each week and then redo it.   So it's a lot of work!

My daughter has made such progress even more so, like she actually takes her dishes to the sink now after dinner without us asking, she wants to help more.  We have always encouraged in kitchen help with cooking, even if its just stirring.  A child can learn a lot in the kitchen.    She cleans up her toys after she's done playing with them, this used to be a battle with us everyday.  Now when she doesn't do it, she will go back without me even asking.

I'm not saying that Montessori is the right fit for everyone, in fact I know of three people that their kids needed more structure.  I'm just glad that it is working for us and we are pleased with it.  I'm hoping to put Pozzy in there, she seems to love it when we drop Pookie off every morning.   She will even go sit in the line if they are, it's really great.  The teachers are wonderful and so into getting to know the parents.  They really are on top of communication as they text, email etc.   I'm hoping I start teaching ballet there very soon!

I haven't blogged in a few days, i'm thinking of other blogs I can come up with to keep my fans a reading!!

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Lazy weekend :)

Sometimes I just like having Lazy weekends, you know where you don't have 100 things planned and only get 1/2 finished.

I had a fundraiser for a great moms club here today, we got our make up , hair done and it was super fun , I can't wait for the photos.

The kids did nothing but played outside , one nice perk to living in the south, it feels warm to us in 48 degree weather.

I have to figure out some more things to blog about! Until then, I hope you enjoyed your weekend! If you did anything fun please leave me a comment.

Oh I did get a photo backdrop stand, i'm really excited to start using it !

Montessori School paying off already.

So we sent our daughter to a Montessori school. 2 weeks ago, first week was 2 days, now up to 3 day's and next year full 5 days!

So far we have noticed a difference like today she practice mat rolling and she's getting better at spelling. Amazing really. I can't believe it 3 years old and loving to spell and remembers what she spelled.

The school is great by sending us text pictures during the week, which I think is amazing. Since I can't be there to watch her interact. My daughter is super shy!!! It has helped her open up more at parks and today we actually left her in the day care at the Y while we went. I was a little nervous but they did great!!!

We also have noticed our parenting style changing because we are trying to bring the school into our house. We make french toast everyday, so now she helps measure, pour things, stirs it. She also pours her own drinks now. She is just opened up and blossomed over the last few days. I'm so thrilled with the school. It is a bit of a drive but it's totally worth it!

I'm so excited to see what the rest of the school year will bring for her, what she will learn. This week she learned.

Japanese brush painting, geometric cabinet, red rods, labynth walking, color matching/clarification , moveable alphabet.

She was interested in Math bead frame and art area. this changes each week i'm so excited to read her Friday report card to see what she was interested in that week.

Her goals.. continue work with moveable alphabet/ building words

working on opening lunch container solo.. at home she does them just fine ;) i think it's her shyness.

She already has a best friend "A" that she talks about all the time. The school said she had an AMAZING day on Friday.

“Little children, from the moment they are weaned, are making their way toward independence.”

zumba

No I don't make New years resolutions because I just end up breaking them. But this year me and my hubby are trying to get fit and healthier. We really can't afford to live "healthy" we all know that healthier foods are expensive, but we do try our hardest. So one of the things is we got a membership to the Y . We love it, free child care, all the classes are free (swim lessons) anything you can imagine is there.

I tried Zumba for the first time today, I used to dance and yes it's not the "same" it still brings me back to the days I used to Dance. It's a great work out, you look like a fool doing it too. I am not going to lie I prob had no coordination, it's been years since i even had to do dance. Was a great work out. I think I sweated off 6lbs.

This year I will try to tell you how we are eating healthier on a budget and try to lose weight. My husbands goal is 30-35lbs and mine is 15lbs and to get toner and it's just makes me feel better to be in great shape. Everyone that knows me asks why I need to work out, anyone can use a work out, helps you out more then you realize. Even if you just walk a few day's a week it will help.

Here's my journey on a healthier me!

Dance

I took Dance from the age of 4 - 16 years old. Along time I know. I love it, it's always come natural to me. Tap is my favorite by far and jazz or hip hop .

The preschool want's do do aftercare activities next year, such as music class, Violin (which i would LOVE pookie to learn) . they also want to do dance. I told them I took it for 12 years or so and I have been out of it , but would take some classes to get caught up (i'm sure things have changed) .

They asked me today if i would be interested in teaching. I used to teach it when I was a teenager, which meant i was an assistant . You have no idea how this would be a dream job for me. I always wanted to go to college to open my own dance studio up. If my dance teacher never sold her studio and put in someone I didn't like I would have continued with it and I know my dance teacher would have kept pushing me. Anyways, I would have to take some dance classes somewhere just to learn the basics again and I would teach!! I would love this!!!

Sensory issue child.

Have you ever noticed yourself as a parent how some try to "ignore" things? I was a very smart child growing up but always had problems with English. My parent's just said I wasn't trying hard enough. Of course back in the70's/ 80's/90's if you did certain things you were okay. My strong subjects were always math and science, I was in above average classes so they thought nothing was wrong but failed English all the time. Struggled was in 11th grade English in 12th grade, it was not fun, it was embarrassing. I always wondered if my parents were to get me more help how much I would have succeeded. It was never until I went to go do college where they give you test that they caught that I was Dyslexic. Most can tell in my writing but I will never stop writing it's one thing I love.

Onto the subject of this blog, is how parent's can ignore some of kids issues. Are they in denial? Are they embarrassed there child will not be "normal" . Can you tell me what a "normal" child is?! Is normal just average? Because having a gifted child is not normal either but yet parent's love to brag about that. Pozzy has sensory issues , always have . Most people don't know because I don't tell them, because you really can't notice unless your around her a lot , and it's not like i'm embarrassed, I just try not to treat her differently. I have noticed them since she was about 4-6 months , starting with her eating, she would not eat baby food, no "adult" food smashed, I even tried making it homemade. We just let her run her course and she just drank bottles for her first year with a few fruits in between. She always had belly issues too since she was a week old. Had to be on Elecare, which if you don't know what it is special formula. She was a spitter upper since day 3. She finally started eating foods around 15 months , crazy I know but it was her sensory issues. We had told our pediatrician since 4 months, she was not concerned, her weight was good and blood work was good. She said if she wasn't eating foods by 18 months then we will get her in.

Pozzy's speech was a little delayed (comparied to pookie) so we were worried there, as parents you hear of other's talk about when their baby talked, etc. All of a sudden around 18 months Pozzy just started speaking very well, better then pookie in somethings. Of course you hate to compare kids but it happens. Pozzy also get's overstimulated when there are crowds, or when she is super tired. She needs to decompress herself if she gets a little fussy, and she has learned to take herself of the situation and take her bottle and just go chill. She stomps her feet a lot , and will bang her head into things if she's mad or wants attention. If things aren't her way then forget it. You can just tell she is a little quirky and you know what I'm fine with that, but will not ignore the fact, even if the doctors say she's fine. She is the happiest child you could ever meet , so outgoing , friendly , and love's attention! She get's a lot of peoples attention when we are out because she is just so happy!

Most doctor's don't live with you to see the whole thing, which then get ignored. I'm hoping we can find a great pediatrician down here that will work with sensory issues. I love my kid no matter if she's quote "not normal" if she is a little quirky, it just might mean we have to work harder, which is a challenge but as a parent you have to be up for a challenge because we all know parenting is not an easy thing.

I will not stop bragging about the things she accomplishes either. We all know we hate those "bragger" moms like my kid is better then yours and I try not to do that , but sometimes your just proud and that is okay. One might be normal and one might not but they are both normal in my eyes!! But please as a parent , try not to ignore signs of your kid. You know your kid better then anyone else. I wish my parent's would have listened to me when I said I was trying harder in things when they wouldn't listen to me.

Preschoolers need learning too

I'm a big one on teaching my kids things. There are a few people that can't afford preschool, in fact when I was a kid, I never was in preschool. I don't even know if there was any preschools in my town it was so small. But I had an amazing babysitter , called her my grandma, still am in contact with her after 29+ years ;) She taught me everything, cooking, baking, playing piano, how to write cursive before i was 5, tied my shoes (which was a big deal back then ) .

My whole point is kids can get ahead of the game even if you can't afford preschool. Only reason we can do a lot now is because of our transfer and living somewhere a lot cheaper then we used to. When we decided to move I knew Pookie wouldn't be in Preschool for awhile, there is a lot of waiting list down here. I knew I had to start teaching her . I looked online at homeschooling now legally you can't "homeschool " until age 7 i think in NC. But I wanted to do something with her instead of watching TV , reading books. First I went online and googled some homeschool preschool things. There are tons out there for printing out worksheets (must have a printer or go to library ) . http://www.education.com/worksheets/preschool/?cid=55000.0068267007&s_kwcid=TC|8363|free%20preschool%20worksheets||S|b|5489161015&gclid=CPHKuY2Mwq0CFQ9Y7AodQEaE_Q

I then went to the dollar tree (my favorite place to get things started) I never knew my daughter was obsessed with scissors, got her a writing pad (sometimes they are hard to find in the start of the new year) got glue sticks, construction paper. I just let her go to town :) it was fun !! markers, crayons (except i only get crayola ) but the rest come from the dollar store. They even have preschool books. only 1.00!!! I grabbed a BUNCH of them!! I even found some cute ones at walmart for 1.00 with stickers and they had to match the pattern. Pookie did them since 18 months old and figured it out , she loves them. What I'm getting at if your son or daughter is ready to learn , start teaching them (even 20 minutes) .

We are working on Spelling, I bought a bunch of Melissa and Doug toys this Christmas that are really good with educational . I have to say the work I have done with her has really paid off, even my husband tells me all the time, the teachers were. I'm glad that I continued on it. If i had the patients for homeschooling I would love too but for now I have Pozzy I can teach for another year or so :) and maybe volunteer at Pookies school!

Some activities you can do to make them learn without them knowing

1. Let them put on their shoes (or try)
2. Help you clean up
3. Watch you cook dinner ( a lot of thing are taught in the kitchen , math such as measuring
4. Help stir things if they need to be.
5. Help sort clothes and count the socks.
6. The matching game , you can even make some . great fun way of learning matching and memory . dollar store has a memory game too.
7. Playdough / Painting / Even make your own playdough (super cheap and easy)
8. taking walks and collecting things (even if its rocks)
9. Reading a book at least 3 times a day .
10. I let the girls feed the animals , it make them feel more important and independent .

Those are just somethings that aren't really "traditional" learning but it will help them!

Limit your TV time and i'm not saying not all day , we all need those days where an hour here and there . Instead of TV time we used it as Music time (mostly 80's music..lol) . I'm not saying my way is right and that's it. I'm just telling you I get compliments and there are cheap and easy ways of doing preschool in your home even if you think it's pointless it's not! They will be read for Kindergarten.

“It is true that we cannot make a genius. We can only give to teach child the chance to fulfil his potential possibilities.”

Getting over the blues.

I'm very adaptable to things, such as moving. The very first time my husband said he was putting into this job not one time did I say no.. In fact I said YES , i was excited but knew our chances were low.

Now in NJ i meet great friends (some fake, but some really nice ones) not only did I have my NJ friends I had my baltimore family 2 hours away that was all !!! I miss them.. Being as someone how has moved in 4 times in the past 3 years i'm sick of moving but done so well adapting. I started a moms club here and also joined one. They are going great. But most places are already "clicky" and that's expected , wilminginton is a BIG town just too big but small at the same time. Everyone knows everyone. i'm a social butterfly, mostly for my kids, I want them to have friends etc. Most importantly I want friends. I have made some nice ones.. But I like to go out at least once a week (not to get shit faced) but just social get out of the house.

How do you get over your hometown blues?

Last two weeks i've been a little down. I miss my friends, I hate when I move to a new place where I don't know anyone. Thankfully i do have a few friends only 2 hours away that get me and know me.. Sometimes I just wish things were different I could have my cake and eat it too! Like they could all move down here ;) were we could all afford it ..lol. I miss you guys, and you know who you are !!! Thankfully for Facebook, being able to talk to them a few times a week and then text. Don't really have time for phone calls as the kids are always in the way . But to my friends I miss please know that i am always thinking of you even if I don't always say it!!

What do you Stay at home moms do?

I am just wondering what crafts and easy things do you do at home to keep your kids busy. We listen to a lot of music now. Only having a few hours of TV on now. Right now, the kids are busy playing pretend with their Melissa and Doug toys. My one daughter is spelling things and my other daughter is cutting cookies. I am having my down time to write a little while we are doing this. We are listening to music right now also (which we do a lot of ) .

We also play a lot of pretend dress up stuff!!! I go after Halloween and get a lot of stuff on sale , and for Christmas we asked for dress up clothes for the girls they love it.

we also love finger painting ! I would love a great recipe for easy paint to make. Also we are going to make some homemade play-dough i loved doing this as a kid and my kids are getting to the age where they are playing a lot more with it. I love homemade stuff because it doesn't dry out as easy as the store stuff.

We also love memberships to places such as the aquarium and the children's museum (keeps them busy for hours) , library for story time.

Now that it's getting a little chillier out I would love more in home activities to play if you have any ideas!!

Preschool update.

I think Daddy had a harder time then anyone in this house , oh wait i think Sissy did. She didn't know what to do without pookie being around. Anyways, we started out the morning at 7:15, got her bathed and made a little bagel for her breakfast on the way there. She is not a morning person, anyone that knows us, we stay up late and sleep in late, it's just our life. She did fantastic.

School starts at 8:30, we got there around 8:20, she was excited until we got in there and wanted me to hold her, made my heart melt. I walked her over to story time after getting her coat and shoes off (pozzy was not happy that pookie was doing something she couldn't do) . She has never been away from us for this long, so it was a big adjustment. I took her to story time and showed her the name tag. Her teacher was just amazing!!! Took pookies hand , talked softly to her and asked her to do a special project. (we warned her Pookie was very shy!!) Pookie still wanted me but i knew I had to just let her go. Her teacher just took her for me and put her in her lap while they sang. I have to say I was okay with it, I walked out the door and the look of fear in Pookies eyes were there. I was scared and nervous, I didn't want to call the teacher and be "that mom" to make sure my little baby was okay.

I got home and started to play with pozzy all by herself , was weird to have one on one time. About 2 hours later her teacher called, my heart dropped a little, she was calling to tell me she was okay and that if we didn't want to pick her up at 12 like we had said to transition her we didn't have to, that pookie was doing great and making friends. I said okay call me back if anything changes. I got pozzy lunch, we played dress up , I actually got laundry and dishes and picked up the house( amazing what i can accomplish with just one kid) . Pozzy took a nap, I thought I would have too but I didn't, I actually *get this* ate lunch, quietly !!! At 1 pm I get another call, pookie was napping!! She said to see us at 3:30!! we never would have expected her to do so well but are so happy with our choice of school!!! We went and picked her up about 3:20, the teacher gave her nothing but good things to say! She thinks she's going back tomorrow ;) but she's not until Friday.

I didn't get really too many pictures as pookie was a little nervous when we got there didn't want a camera in her face.. So here's a picture of her school room.

Pookie starts preschool?!

Tomorrow is the big day , Pookie starts preschool. I can't believe it, I mean I can when we lived in NJ she was ready for September, September 20th she would have started or around then. We loved the school and I would diffidently give them all the props and I never even went there, just by our tours and phone calls we loved them. I know at least 5 of my friends in NJ that used them. Anyways , months have gone by and we just been so busy moving getting adjusted to more family life. At one point I wanted to homeschool Skye . I still really would love too but she need school in more ways then I can give her.

Anyways, we found the best preschool after 2 months searching. I'm even driving 20 minutes to take her to it! We found the best one is a Montessori school . We love the teacher(s) . There are 12 "friends" in her class and 3 teachers , some days up to 5 teachers that is a great ratio per child. It will really help!

The school also does a lot of parents nights each month. This month we are going out to dinner to get to know the parents in the class. I think that is very important. Most schools we check into doesn't do anything like that!

:

I'm very excited for my baby girl to start her new adventure, she is so excited. I'm sure I will post some pictures!!! Daddy is having a hard time ;)

"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world

Beach in January?

Since we have moved down here, we are beach lovers, always have been beach lovers. Any chance we can get we are there!!! The kids loved it and the dog even loved it just as much . During Nov.1st - April 1st you can have them without a leash . It's really great exercise. I can't believe we have been outdoors so much. We saw dolphins today, they were playing, only about 50ft off shore! It was a really neat experience.

We got pookie a bike she is amazing on that thing!!! Runs around in circles all the time. Was a wonderful day to spend!!