Supplies

Amanda really got on the ball yesterday.  Lily's school published its required school supply list and she was able to get most of them yesterday in the afternoon.  She then took Lily out after dinner and almost completed the list.  They got home after 8:30, but that was because of the trip to the thrift store.

Apparently Lily has a good sense of fashion for an almost 7 year-old.  What I find interesting is how consistent she is.  She picked out lots of tops with sparkles on them.  She also got some jeans with sparkles.  She very patiently tried on a ton of clothes and when all was said and done she was almost completely set for school for around $40.

It's times like this when we're very glad that we've raised Lily to think that the thrift store is a normal place to buy clothes.  She occasionally gets something new, but we've been very happy with the thrift store purchases so far.  Why mess with a good thing?

Grumpy Boy

Yesterday evening was a bit rough with Noah.  He reluctantly ate dinner and ended up throwing some blueberries on the floor.  He spent all day begging Amanda to play a game on the Wii, but when I played it he lost focus after about 10 minutes.  He went to bed OK, but he clearly was not right.

Lately we've been getting him up for one last pee when we go to bed.  He barely wakes up for this, but it helps him get through the night and well into the morning.  But last night he woke up around midnight.  I helped him go to the bathroom, but he started crying again shortly afterwards.  The problem is that he had to poop, but he wouldn't do it.  Amanda ended up getting up with him twice last night, but he was so out of it that he didn't go.

Let's hope that a little activity today will grease the works.  He had been doing really well with this lately, so hopefully this is just a single aberration.

My Daughter

Oftentimes Lily will do things that seem like she is a carbon-copy of Amanda.  This is particularly evident when she puts on a show, though I did some of that when I was younger too.  But today she did something that very clearly evidenced my influence.

I am working from home today and I volunteered to take her to piano camp.  There are two entrances to Meredith College and I wanted to try one that she had not taken before.  She told me it was wrong and talked me out of turning the van around.  As we went farther down the street I realized that I was right and so I turned the van around.

Through this whole time she was screaming her head off.  You would think that I was trying to drive the wrong way down a one-way street.  She was so frantic that she even grabbed the back of my collar to get me to stop.  The problem was that she did not know that way and was not sure that it would work.  Since Amanda went home out of that entrance yesterday she thought that it was only for going out.  However, once she saw that it worked she got quiet.

The tough thing for me was not laughing through all of this.  I really had to work hard not to laugh for a variety of reasons.  The good news is that I paved the way for Amanda to take her that way tomorrow.

Piano Camp

Lily had her first class at piano camp yesterday.  This was held at Meredith College, which is a women's college about 15 minutes from our house.  This is also where Lily took swim lessons in the past. Incidentally, she has decided that she wants to go there for college.  We'll see about that.

She was very nervous about going to the camp.  She kept asking if she knew anyone in the class and we kept reassuring her that she would make friends.  She was so nervous that she didn't really eat much breakfast yesterday.  But of course she made friends and had a good time.  She learned about the accidentals yesterday and two songs where she plays them up and then plays them down.

We're hoping that this will spark an interest in the piano.  She needs to learn an instrument sooner or later so she understands how music works.  We figure the sooner the better.  We don't expect her to be a virtuoso or anything, but we know that if she learns the piano it is something that she will appreciate down the road.

Pest Control

Like most residents of the South, we have critters.  These guys crawl up through the drains and sneak under the doors.  It's pretty much impossible not to have any in your house at all.  I spray periodically, so I find lots of dead roaches in the basement, but we see live critters in the house from time to time.

Today was one of those times.  I was using the half bathroom in off the kitchen when I hear Lily let out a blood-curdling scream.  I had seen the critter as I went into the bathroom, but I figured I'd deal with him when I was done.  Lily was not happy about this at all.  Imagine the heroine of a horror movie.  Lily thought she was auditioning.  Move over Janet Leigh.

Busy Afternoon

Lily got double activities yesterday.  First, Katie and Sarah's mom too her to our neighborhood pool.  Lily swam her little heart out, which was great.  The problem was that she had to go to dance class immediately afterward.  She just wanted to rest, but it was time to go.  She said that there were times in dance class when she just wanted to sit down.  But she pushed through.  I'm very proud.

As I write this it is 7:24 AM and she has not got up yet.  You know that she was pretty tuckered-out when that happens.

As a return for all the hospitality they've shown us, we've invited Katie to spend the night tonight.  Tomorrow's blog may be interesting.

Discipline Tool

If you really want to get under Amanda's skin, walk up to her and ask, "Can we pway bow-wing on the Wii?"  Why does that bother her?  She hears it dozens of times a day now.  In fact, she's not sure that buying the Wii was such a good thing because of this.  The boy is obsessed.

The good news is that it served as a great motivational tool last night.  "Noah, do you want to play the Wii tomorrow?  Then stop crying and let me get you dressed."  Sure enough, that worked!

I'm working from home and I can hear the sound of his plastic bowling pins hitting the floor.  I think it may be time to find Noah a shirt that says "Bowling is Life...the rest is just details," because that's how he's living right now.