Princess? or Pirate...

Katy has been asking to have her ears pierced ever since 4 of her close friends got theirs pierced nearly a year ago. I told her that if she still wanted it done when she turned 5, I'd take her to have them done.

So this morning, she and Livvy had a day off from school and I had to pick up a few things from our mall and we took a trip to Libby Lu to get her ears done.

We arrived, and discovered there was only one woman working at the time. Now, Katy is a VERY brave little girl. She barely even flinches when she gets a shot, doesn't even shed a tear, so I figured that she would be fine having her ears done one at a time... can you see where I'm going with this yet?

She selected some pretty pink c.z. heart earrings, and then she hopped up in the chair and sat very still with a slightly nervous grin on her face, waiting to get her first ear pierced. As soon as it was done, she looked over at me with a look of horror as she realized that her other ear still needed to be pierced...

The nice lady at the store gave us all the time we needed to try to convince her to do her other ear, but Katy wanted no parts of it. Not even for a Webkinz.

Fortunately, the package holding the second earring cartridge had not yet been opened, so the lady explained that we could come back another time when she was ready to have her other ear pierced. Katy decided that that was what she wanted to do.

On our way home, she told me that she would get her other ear pierced. She'd do it for her 6th birthday.

So instead of a little princess for a daughter, I now have a little pirate. Why am I really not surprised?

Happy Birthday x Two!

My babies are now one whole hand old. Not really babies anymore. I'm not exactly sure how it's been five years already since they joined our family, while at the same time I can't believe that it's only been five years.

My "babies" can feed themselves, make their own PB&J sandwiches, use the potty, swing themselves, walk to the bus, communicate their wants, needs, hopes and dreams eloquently with words, write their names, sing songs, dribble a basketball, ride a bicycle with training wheels, play hopscotch, blow bubbles, wink their eyes, whistle, buckle their own seatbelts, climb a ladder, jumprope, twirl until they can't stand up anymore, turn on the TV and find their favorite channel, brush their own teeth, wash their bodies in the shower, lather their hair, and the list just goes on and on...

I've been there for all of their firsts, and look forward to the many firsts that are still to come as they continue to learn and grow and become people who are independent of me. I applaud that independence and encourage it and will do everything I can to allow them to be strong, happy, and independent adults some day.

At the same time, I will be sure that they know that there is always someone that they can come to for a hug, a kiss, and a listening and nonjudgemental ear. Someone who will cheer for them and encourage them anytime they need it, no matter how many hands (or feet!) it takes to count their age.

Five Things

Katy has been trying my patience for the past few weeks, and yesterday was no exception. If anything, it was one of the worst days we've had in a while. I seem to remember Ryan getting this way close to his 5th birthday too. Some sort of need to push the limits and see what she can get away with now.

Lately she has been acting extremely ungrateful for her possesions. She has been treating her things with a total disregard for their value. I reached my breaking point yesterday and told her to go to her room and pick 5 things (pulled this one from Stephanie's mommy playbook).

She brought back a fabric baby book, an eraser, a broken mobile to her doll crib, a stuffed animal she hasn't played with in months, and a tube of lip gloss. She looked rather smug until I told her that this was all that she would have to play with for the following week!

I then put all other toys in her room into her closet or the playroom. I gated off the playroom and locked her closet and declared Olivia's room off-limits.

I was expecting a fit of monstrous proportions but she actually accepted the punishment gracefully. I let her play with her five 'toys' for a little while to let things sink in a bit, and then I told her how proud I was of her acceptance of the punishment without any arguing or crying. Since she had acted so maturely, I allowed her to choose 2 additional items that she would be able to play with that week. This time she chose much more carefully and selected a webkin and her leapster.

Hopefully she will become a bit more appreciative of her numerous blessings over the next week!

What we've been doing...

Painting! The past few months have seen a lot of cans of paint come into our home. So far, we've painted the kitchen, family room, front hallway, up the stairs, the playroom, and all three kids' rooms. Whew! We will continue the same color from the downstairs into the hallway upstairs and up the stairs to the attic, and have a nice olive green chosen for the living room and "dining" room and powder room downstairs; a deep red for the movie room (used to be Kevin's office), a nice aqua for our bathroom and a beige for our bedroom and the attic, and we'll be using the leftover blue from Ryan's room for the kids' bathroom. Still working to decide what to paint the scraproom and the laundry room...

Here are some pics: