April started off with a jam packed week with Spring Break, and the rest of the month was just as eventful. Quinn had spring picture day on his second day back to school and I let him choose his outfit and background. I wasn't surprised he wanted to wear his suit, it's often his Outfit of the Day #ootd when we go places. You can catch him looking dapper just about anywhere--at home, a track meet, Lowe's.
If he runs for a political office one day, he already has the look down 😂
Sometimes he changes it up a bit and switches out his button down for a black polo. I like to think of this as his undertaker look, or maybe a mob boss. He said he was trying to look creepy 😆
Quinn has always had his own style, and I truly love that about him. He wore a pink shirt to school the other day and said some of the kids were making fun of him for it. I asked if that bothered him and he said it didn't. I told him, "Good. Don't let other people tell you what to wear. You wear what you like. Their opinions don't matter."
Last year's slightly too small Hawaiian and sweat shorts? Cool.
I think he is rubbing off some on his brother, who has never been as nearly into costumes as Quinn, but who could be? 😂. Ash got it in his head that he wanted a new werewolf costume so he "can howl at the moon", and that's a direct quote. The boys had an expensive werewolf mask, but they finally broke it after a few years, and I told them I wasn't buying them a new one. However, the boys have been earning money for good behavior and doing some chores, so I told Ash he could save his allowance and buy it himself. They each earn $1 for every day they don't go to time out a week, and the costume he wanted was $40, so he had a while to wait. He told everyone he encountered about his savings plan, and that even convinced a few people to contribute to it 😂🤦🏻♀️. I ordered it way before he knew and set a deadline for when it would be here. He waited for about three weeks and then I gave in and let him have it because I was tired of hearing about it 😂.
🐺
I made sure to give it to him on a Tuesday so that he could wear it to school that week (he only goes on Wednesdays and Thursdays). He had told his teachers all about it, so I knew he wanted to show them. That thing came with a massive tail and buckling him in his car seat with it was a challenge 😂
😁😁😁😁
Of course, he has barely worn it all since then, and now he's onto the next thing he wants 🙄.
Asher is the clingiest, tattliest, mess makingist version of himself right now and he's driving me nuts. He asks me to get everythinggggg for him. We'll both be sitting at the table, usually I'm eating and he's not, and he'll say, "Can you get me some water?," and I'll be like, "Can you get you some water?" Obviously, I get him things, but I'm not going to be his maid, he is perfectly capable of getting water for himself. He usually asks when he's preoccupied on his iPad and doesn't wanna stop his show to go get it. That's been a consistent issue, and we've cut down their iPad usage significantly for both of them. Well, for Quinn whenever he's allowed on his at all, which isn't much these days.
As if dealing with my own children's annoyances wasn't enough, we've got some kids coming around now who've been pushing my buttons, too. They're coming over saying, "F*** this, and f*** that," and it turns out I'm not cool with kids cussing after all. Maybe one day, but today isn't that day. I've told them all to clean up their mouths or they won't be playing here. I've also had to tell them not to throw their trash in our yard, we have two trash cans outside, and not to break our things 🤦🏻♀️. I'm not sure how much longer we're gonna be the hosting this crowd. I want my kids to play with other kids and have fun, but I don't want them picking up behaviors that I've worked hard to train out of them.
These other kids are quick to tattle on Quinn, which is good and bad. I told them all that if my kids are doing something they shouldn't, primarily being too handsy or rough, because I know Quinn struggles with that and it has lead to blowups before, I want them to come tell me. I would rather they work it out first, of course, but these kids are a lot bigger than mine, so sometimes they need some adult intervention before someone gets hurt. However, I've caught on that they often only tell me one side of the story, and that's not cool. I'm fine with stopping the activity, giving my kids a time out to regroup, or whatever needs to happen, but I don't want to always punish without the full details. I also want my kids to know that I have their backs, but I won't co-sign their bullshit 😂. Ash told me a 9 year old was hitting him on the head--that's not gonna fly. Quinn told me someone was chasing him with a stick, trying to hit him. When I questioned the other kids, it was because Quinn started it 🙄. There's so much drama, everyone should probably just go home 😂. Geez.
I like that they've been playing outside more and making less of a mess inside. To save our sanity, Philip and I started making them do a nightly cleanup of shared spaces, which are the only spaces they want to put their shit in 🙄. Ash plays at the table a lot, which is great, but we actually eat there, so it can't constantly be covered in toys. He's a tiny tornado and makes lots of messes without cleaning up the one before, so we really have to stay on him. Quinn loves to make forts in the living room that involves getting out every toy they own. They complain about the cleanup, but it's helped resolve some of the anxiety that visual clutter gives me. They are always welcome to make as big of a mess as they want in their rooms, but they're not bedroom kids. They're stuck up mom's butt kids, so here we are 🙃.
Anyway, other April happenings were Ash's Pre-K bootcamp and Quinn's Kindergarten field trip to Discovery World. I didn't go on Quinn's trip because they don't ask parents to chaperone anymore, but he would've liked for me to go. He almost didn't go himself because he wanted me to go and I couldn't, but also because he hates long car rides. I messaged his teacher and asked for her help in convincing him to go. She let him pick his seat mates and I did lots of talking about how I hoped he didn't miss out on fun because he was scared of doing something out of the ordinary. We've been there lots of times before, but I knew he would still have fun going with his friends. I was proud of him for choosing to go! I was nervous all day because we didn't get any updates about arriving safely, or anything throughout the day, and I would never have forgiven myself if something happened to him on a trip that I talked him into going on. All was well, though, thankfully. I asked when he got home if he had fun, and he did, but he still said it wasn't worth the drive 🙄 🤦🏻♀️.
I got to take Asher for Pre-K bootcamp and he got to meet the teachers and do some activities. He was super shy during the whole event, and even cried at one station because a speech teacher wanted him to come and play with her while I did paperwork 🤦🏻♀️. I was literally, like, six feet away. I have a feeling his first day of school isn't going to go as smoothly as Quinn's did 😬. His skills are ready, but his emotions are not. He completed everything on his Little Red Schoolhouse checklist--days of the week, seasons, months, ABC's, count down from 10, count to 10 in Spanish, spell his name, and vowels. The only thing he didn't pass was counting to 100, they said he can only get to 59, but that's still pretty good for someone newly turned 4. I can add that he also knows his address (street number, city, and state 👏🏻) and my phone number, so I'm pretty proud of him!
During the Pre-K readiness event, I was reminded that Ash could use some work on his fine motor skills, so we've been doing some activities to strengthen his hands. I have big plans (maybe dreams because I'm a realist about how well Quinn and I work together anymore 🤦🏻♀️) for some structured summer homework for both boys. We're going to try to resist the summer slide--which happens when kids regress in their reading and other skills over the summer because they aren't using them.
Soph was a big help in getting some worksheets prepared for them 🙄
I made slime and put pony beads in it and Ash used tools to pick them out. He didn't like the paired, connected chop sticks because they were hard (again with the weak fine motor), but he was able to use just one and lift them out. One he got them all, he lined them all up like a graph, and then counted them to see which color had the most.
Another activity we did involved squeezing, which will definitely strengthen his hands! I cut up some sponges and put them in our small water table with water. He used a lemon squeezer and then just his hands to transfer water from one side to the other.
Where we went
We got to see Kate in track action at their only home meet of the season. I grew up at track meets and sporting events, so I love going to them. I hope the boys choose to get involved with a sport at some point.
They don't really care about what's going on but I do 🤦🏻♀️ 😂
Ash and Iris planted zinnia seeds with Miss Lacey at the library at the beginning of the month and we watched them grow each week. We brought them home to transplant, and I can't wait see them bloom!
