Eleanor » Flesworthy

KINDERGARTEN!!!!1!!ZOMG

Jan 282012

It doesn’t officially start until later this year (September, in our case), but registration is occurring now, so Andy and I had to make the decision this month about where Henry and Eleanor will attend kindergarten. After hemming and hawing (township school = FREE! current school = LOVE LOVE LOVE!) we chose to keep the kids at the co-op for one more year. A great decision, but Andy and I joked that first grade will be the bigger deal, since the big change for kindergarten will just be going to school upstairs instead of downstairs.

But then I sat down Friday morning to start filling out registration paperwork. I went to write the word “kindergarten” and it suddenly hit me like a tons of bricks that HOLY SHIT MY KIDS ARE GOING TO KINDERGARTEN. Yep, burst into tears right there at the kitchen table.

(What, you mean YOU don’t text photos of yourself crying to your spouse so that he/she can share in your sorrow over fleeting childhood?)

Everyone tells you it goes by fast and I’ve said before on this blog about how it goes by fast but MAN it goes by so fast. Their newborn days seem so long ago but also like it was just yesterday, know what I mean? Henry and Eleanor are so curious and creative and I love seeing them master new things and grow and become people I love to hang out with. But I’ll look at them this week and suddenly my brain gets all-caps screamy KINDERGARTEN KINDERGARTEN KINDERGARTEN and then short-circuits trying to comprehend that my little kids won’t be so little for very much longer.

This “let them grow up and leave” thing is the hardest part of parenting for me. I won’t be a helicopter parent in the sense that I think Henry and Eleanor need to learn to deal with mistakes and rejection and all the yucky stuff that can happen in adulthood (we’re definitely not an “every kid gets a trophy” kind of family). But I can absolutely 100% guarantee that in thirteen years Henry and Eleanor will be at college, slowly shuffling down the Quad while I cling to their legs shrieking “MAH BAAAAAYBEEEEES.”

Luckily I have seven months to get my act together, but in the meantime, pass me that box of Kleenex, please.

Snow!

Dec 282011

I think this is becoming a yearly tradition: the kids lose their minds over the first snow of the winter and I grab my camera.

Merry Christmas

Dec 252011

Things I Thought I’d Never Say And Then I Had Kids

Nov 302011

Yes, you can sing about a fart having a birthday party.

Why is Minnesota in the kitchen?

Please don’t step on Darth Vader.

Oh, you caught that rabbit in the ocean, huh?

We can listen to more Justin Bieber songs tomorrow.

Another Probably-Cheating Post

Nov 282011

It’s 11:53 pm and I have exactly seven minutes to slap something up on the internet to keep my NaBloPoMo streak alive. So after a day of

spend morning in Champaign
pack up van
head back to Indy
unload van
Cyber Monday shopping
“Mom, can we put up the Christmas tree?”
“When will we put up the tree?”
“How many minutes until we put up the tree?”
“Can we put up the tree now?”
“When will we put up the tree?”
“Is it time to put up the tree?”
put up the tree
prepare for twins club meeting
twins club meeting
stop by post office
late-night trip to Target
supper at 11:00
a few emails
a poorly written blog post

I’m going to pinky swear cross my heart promise to write more tomorrow.

A long time ago, in a living room far, far away…

Nov 222011

I know that eventually Henry and Eleanor will develop their own interests, and probably reject anything that heaven forbid their mom and dad think is cool. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to share with them things that I liked in childhood (and beyond), and when it matches up with stuff they’re currently into? Even better.

Henry somehow caught wind of the fact that I had my Star Wars toys at our house, and has been begging every day to play with them. Today was a rainy, stay-in-our-jammies kind of day, so I caved and dug them out of the garage.

And yes, R2D2, Chewbacca and the gang had to share space with my Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Growing up, my girly side and my nerdy side lived in harmony. Don’t YOU want your wookiees to smell like fruit?

I opened up the cases and Henry and Eleanor’s eyes grew wide. Then I whipped out a Millennium Falcon I found at the Goodwill Outlet and immediately won the Best Mom Ever title for life.

Watching your kids’ excitement over your most cherished toys is such a wonderful perk of parenting. Henry and Eleanor played Star Wars all day until we finally had to shut the lid on the big strawberry and send them off to bed. Who knows, someday they’ll probably think I’m a big dork, but for now, the ~~Force~~ nerdiness is strong in these two.

Interview

Nov 192011

Is it cheating if your husband writes one of your NaBloPoMo posts for you? Oh, well. Even if it is, this interview Andy did with Henry and Eleanor today is too cute not to share.

………

Sat Henry and Eleanor down to get their thoughts about Mom.

(BEGIN INTERVIEW)

Q: What do you love most about Mom?

Henry: Because she loves me.
Eleanor: Because I snuggle with her.

Q: What is the prettiest thing about Mom?

Henry: Her hat she wears.
Eleanor: She wears pretty shirts.

Q: What would you do without Mom?

Henry: I would cry.
Eleanor: I would cry, too.

Q: If Mom was a Superhero who would she be and why?

Henry: Super Mom. She will fly and she will get flat when people sit beside her.
Eleanor: Supergirl. She pushes away bad guys with her head, and her arms too.

Q: What should Mom get for Christmas?

Henry: A new cell phone for when her new one breaks.
Eleanor: An iPad for Dad (swear to God she said this – Andy)

Q: If a tarantula came after Mom how would you protect her?

Henry: I would shoo him away with my light saber.
Eleanor: Stomp on it and make it flat.

Q: How much money should Mom make for taking care of you?

Henry: 13 dollars.
Eleanor: 0 because I DON’T WANT ANY MORE QUESTIONS!

(INTERVIEW END)

Halloween: let me finally tell you about it

Nov 152011

So, Halloween. We basically celebrated it for the entire month of October. This year, the kids were very excited to count down the days on our Halloween advent tree, which belonged to a dear family friend. The first thing they did each morning was go find the ornament for that day.

What did we dress up as?

I was a witch, mostly so I could wear fun socks.

Andy was Tim Tebow.

Henry and Eleanor were a firefighter and princess (preschool party), Spiderman and Supergirl (preschool on Halloween day), and owls for everything else. I found cute owl masks by Jessica of Opposite of Far, and let me just detour this post for a second and say that Jessica is awesome, because she will let you place a last-minute order even though she had temporarily halted mask orders on Etsy, and will have the masks ready for you at the Halloween festival, and then will sell you another mask when you sprint back to the craft tent minutes before the costume parade because you thought Henry had lost his first mask, and then after the first mask turns up at the lost-and-found tent, when you run into her in front of the pizza place where you just had supper, she will let you return the second mask.

The rest of the owl costume? Sewn by yours truly. I cut up clothes from the Goodwill Outlet into feathers, and sewed them onto a long-sleeve t-shirt. I hardly ever sew, so I had an up-until-2-am, Tim Gunn “make it work” moment. But now I can say that I’ve made them Halloween costumes. That means I can shop in the Target costume aisle guilt-free next year, right?

How did we celebrate?

By going to the pumpkin patch with preschool.

By playing with friends, listening to music, bouncing, and marching in the costume parade at the Irvington Halloween Festival. This was our third year attending; it’s a fun tradition we’re forming with Henry and Eleanor.

Another tradition we’ve started is going to Zoo Boo, so we headed there for trick-or-treating, sticking our heads through cut-outs, looking at animals, and more bouncing.

This year it was impossible to get any good photos of Henry and Eleanor in their costumes. They were so into the holiday and wanted to go and see and do and be with their friends.

The pre-trick-or-treating photoshoot on the driveway? Didn’t happen. The kids were too obsessed with catching up with the pack of neighborhood kids that they idolize. This was pretty much Andy’s and my view of the kids that night.

We still have candy left, if anyone would like a piece.

Henry and Eleanor had so much fun this season, and Andy and I had so much fun watching the kids have fun. I know everyone’s starting to get all fired up for Christmas, but in my book, Halloween’s the best, hands down.

11 Is One Louder

Nov 112011

Today was Veterans Day, and as always I am thankful for all veterans, soldiers, and their families for what they sacrifice for our country.

But today was another holiday, too, and a one-day-on-one-year-never-gonna-happen-again kind of holiday to boot. Because of all the elevens in today’s date it was also Nigel Tufnel Day.

Andy and I are HUGE Christopher Guest fans and love all of his movies, including This Is Spinal Tap, so I was excited to discover this special day.

And how does one celebrate Nigel Tufnel Day, you ask? Drawing a picture of Stonehenge and bribing your children with cookies to reenact your favorite scene, of course.

I hope your Nigel Tufnel Day went to 11!

You Go, Girl

Nov 102011

Lately my girl has been acting like…well, a girl.

Up until now, she’s never been into the stereotypical “girl” things. She’s never watched a Disney princess movie. She refuses to wear skirts. She has doll stuff, like a highchair and a stroller, but uses it with her stuffed animals instead.

It started last month, when out of nowhere she told me she wanted to be a princess for Halloween. I figured she was just copying what she heard someone say at preschool or something like that, but then she told me again. And again every time I’d ask her. On one of my Goodwill visits I picked up a Disney Belle princess dress for her, since yellow is her favorite color. I figured when she refused to wear it, I’d only be out $4. I presented it to her, and she was happy, but wanted to hang it up in the closet instead of try it on.

The kids had a pumpkin carving party at preschool, and they weren’t supposed to wear masks, so their owl trick-or-treating costumes were out (I’ll post pictures, I promise!). I told them we could pick an outfit from their dress-up bin instead. Henry donned his firefighter gear, and I asked Eleanor if she wanted to wear her princess dress. I about fell over when she agreed.

(apologies for her dazed expression, I was ordered “not to smile or laugh” at her, so I had to stealthily snap this photo)

Her apparent girlification continued when we got together with friends for an impromptu playgroup. I hadn’t heard Eleanor’s voice in a few minutes (and she is NEVER quiet), so I asked where she was. “She’s over here, playing dolls with Veronica,” my friends told me. And there she sat, first playing Barbies and then with a dollhouse.

Last week we were at the Children’s Museum, and headed to the Barbie exhibit. Out came Eleanor on the pretend catwalk, wearing a skirt. A SKIRT!

She walked the runway in probably five or six different outfits, each one a skirt or a dress. And then she went backstage and played with Barbies until I lied and said the museum was closing.

And this week? The yellow princess dress has been worn every day. I got a Barbie and Ken out of our extra-toy storage and they’ve been played with, too. And by “played with” I mean “I’ve been asked ‘Mom, can you take off/put on her clothes’ five million times.”

As a girl who loves Star Wars AND Sephora, I have no problem with her donning her princess dress to play superheroes with her brother. It’s just that after four years of no dolls no hair bows no skirts I’m not sure how to proceed. I want to encourage her in all her interests. I also don’t want a house overloaded with pink plastic princess crap if this is just a short-lived passing phase.

But whether she decides she’s a tomboy girl or a girly girl or a little bit of both, she’s still MY girl. Eleanor’s always been a force of nature, keeping us on our toes. Who knows, next week she could decide she’d rather play with robots instead of Barbies. Until then, pass me that tiara, I’ve got a princess to attend to.