Cute Courtney

Courtney has been going through this separation anxiety phase lately. And she isn't just attached to me! At Church, if all of Junior Primary is released and she happens to see Ethan before he goes into his classroom, she will yell and cry for him until someone has to come and get Bryan or me. That happened last week and Bryan had told Ethan that he isn't to take Courtney into his class so he just stood in the hallway with her until another adult took Courtney and brought her to me so Ethan could go to class. What a great big brother!!

Anyway, we switched Courtney to another dance class that is cheaper and all the neighborhood girls go to it. I thought she would love being with all the girls and the first week she did fine. But the second, third and fourth weeks, she just clung to me, wouldn't dance and screamed each time I tried to leave her side. I had about had it. Another mom in the ward, who I will be forever grateful for, suggested that she take Courtney this week to dance. I was nervous that Courtney wouldn't do well, but she was so excited to be going with "Lydia's Mom" to dance class that she was ready an hour early. I also didn't make her put on a leotard and tights (this may have helped too). She went right out to the car and Leann was wonderful with her (it helps that Courtney really liked her too). All reports came back that Courtney did great and she was much happier. So I think the solution is just for me to have no involvement in her dancing but I still have to carpool them when it's my turn. But it really made my day yesterday to know that she did so well. Maybe she's growing up!

Courtney's Way of Thinking

Yesterday Bryan wanted to treat the family to dinner out. I was pretty excited because I was tired and restless and a meal out sounded great. But Bryan soon regretted saying anything. Courtney's favorite restaurant is Applebee's, Ethan's favorite food is either pizza or a cheese sandwich from Sonic, and Bryan felt like Panda Express. As the discussion moved on there was no way to sway Courtney from wanting Applebee's and Ethan didn't want to drive "so far to eat dinner!" After Ethan stormed from the room screaming that he wasn't going to "drive forever" just to eat dinner, Courtney turned to Bryan and said, "How can we help Ethan decide that he wants Applebee's?" Yeah, she wanted us to come up with a plan to "help" Ethan change his mind in her favor. We just had to crack up.

We ended up at Pasta Factory where the kids got pizza, I got alfredo and Bryan got a salad. It wasn't the best night out we've had and quite a few tears were shed over the decision where to go. Needless to say, we won't be going out as a family for a while! Our kids are addicted to $5 pizza!

Read-A-Thon

Thanks to everyone who donated for Ethan's school Read-A-Thon! He was able to raise $60 for new books in his school library. He was pretty excited. All the kids wore their pjs to school and took pillows. Ethan sat on the floor, lounging on his pillow and did what he loved to do...READ! They only took breaks for lunch and recess. I don't know the total amount of money raised, I'll let you know later. Thanks again to everyone!!!

Dr. Seuss Trivia

This week has been Dr. Seuss week at Ethan's school. They have read a lot of books and even had a read-a-thon today where they wore their pjs and read books all day. Each class was asked to put together a team to compete in a Dr. Seuss trivia contest on Thursday. Ethan, of course, volunteered for the team and spent all week studying the trivia sheet they gave him. He was fun to study with and now I know quite a bit of Dr. Seuss trivia. Anyway, yesterday he came home from school so excited because his class team had won the 1st grade category! He loved it and was so happy that he had been able to help them answer questions so they could win. There were about 5 on each class team and they competed against the other 1st grade teams. Today he brought home a poetry book that was his prize for winning. Good job Ethan!

Riding to the Park

Monday morning I decided to do an experiment. Courtney has been resisting her naps lately and I devised a plan to WEAR HER DOWN so she would be so exhausted that she couldn't do anything but sleep.

After Ethan left on the bus, Courtney got her 30 minutes of TV time then we got on the bikes. It has been great weather here so I decided to take advantage of it. I put the bike trailer on behind my bike and then got Courtney on her bike. I figured that we could bike to the park that is about 1 1/2 miles from our house (I'm just guessing there) and when Courtney got tired I could put her bike on the top of the trailer and her inside it.

Courtney loves speed and so I had to rush to keep up a lot of the time. But we had to stop a few times to fight monsters she saw and to rescue R2-D2 and Luke Skywalker (but that's another story!). She is quite erratic when she rides too. I had forgotten about that but Ethan was the same way. They stop on a dime and don't let you know, so you have to be on your guard or you run over them. And Courtney loves to crowd me, so I kept having to move over to let her by but then she would keep crowding me. It really was hilarious because I crashed twice because I am a funny bike rider, but I'll blame it on Courtney's erratic riding ;) No, when I was little my Grandpa Andersen told me that there is only one way to mount and dimount a horse - from the left side. Somehow this switched over to the way I ride a bike. I can't get off a bike or on a bike except on the left side and if I have to stop it has to be with my left foot down. If I have to use my right foot, I fall. And that's what happened a few times. I had to think too hard about which foot to put on the ground when stopping quickly behind Courtney. But it was fun.

About halfway there she got pretty tired and got in the bike trailer for about 4 blocks, then got back out and finished on to the park. We played at the park for about an hour and then rode back home. I noticed when we took off for home that she was a bit slower than she had been before so I knew it was working!

About halfway home she just told me that she "couldn't go any more" and I put her in the trailer and drove back home. It took up all the morning and she was so tired when we got home. We quickly ran to the store for some supplies for our turn to do Preschool this week and then we ate lunch at home. By this time she was really worn out so I put her down for a nap and didn't hear from her for 2 1/2 hours! It was awesome. I think I may have to do it a couple of times per week just to get her a good nap.

Here is her crazy ride down the slight decline by the park. She was pretty wobbly and kept looking around and getting distracted. I thought for sure she would crash but she just loved the speed!

Piano Practice

What a difference M&Ms make. This morning during Ethan's piano practice, he asked me to video tape him because he was doing so "great!" So I did. I took 3 tries because he would stop to itch or something but then we got one he was happy with. Here it is:

Those darn Legos!

Ethan was playing Legos yesterday morning in his room when he came out and ran into the bathroom and began spitting into the sink. I couldn't figure out what was going on so I went in to see if he was okay. He was building a Lego creation and needed a small piece that was attached to a larger piece. He couldn't get the smaller piece off with his fingernail so he decided to use his tooth. He forgot that his one tooth was loose and used that one. Apparently by trying to leverage the piece off with that tooth he really loosened it and it began to bleed. He was really afraid that he had done something really wrong, but I just told him that he had helped it along. But I don't think he is going to use his teeth to pull Legos apart any more.