January 8, 2002 Genny got baby dolls for Christmas and she plays and plays with them. She points at herself and says,"Momma, MEEEE!" She tucks in her babies with blankets, throw rugs, and dirty laundry (when the blankets get washed and the throw rug gets made off limits...for about the bazillionth time and we don't catch her sneaking into the laundry room). She tells her daddy "Pee" or "Boo" for which of her pink and blue music and light disks she'd like played when she goes to bed. I find myself being very proud of her and at the same time feeling quite sad. We've moved her into her toddler bed and we've had to emphasize what a "big girl" she is when she stays in her "big girl" bed and when she goes potty like a "big girl." I just wish she wouldn't get so darned big on me all of the sudden. Russell has been really difficult lately in some ways and a real sweetheart in other ways. He's become a lot more helpful about chores in the house. We have him clear dinner now. I had him clean out the car for me last night. I can ask him to watch his sister and he's getting better about not doing THE thing that will send her into a screaming fit pounding on the bathroom door. He's getting more coordinated, too. He put together the rudiments of skiing after only one lesson on Sunday and I was pretty impressed. The first time he totally did a faceplant when he got off the lift. To some degree, I'm sure it didn't help that his klutz dad inadvertently ploughed him over. I took him up on the second run, ex-ski lift operator that I am, and told him what to do go get off the lift and he said he didn't fall any more after that. I think for me, the look of victory on his face when he got off that first time was well worth it because apparently he'd been worrying about it a lot. He was up about 3 times during the night with nightmares the night before. I finally gave him an ibuprofen and sent him back to bed. This year, we're in that in-between place of whether or not to kiss goodbye when I drop him off. When we walk, he will sometimes give me a hug and let me kiss his cheek at the corner. When we drive, I never get the goodbye kiss or hug, though he will often wave to me, which I wait for like a junky waits for a fix. I know that I am being weaned of little boy kisses and hugs. I know that soon I will have to steal my kisses or demand them petulantly and that soon I won't be able to sneak into his room when he's asleep and breathe in that little boy smell and kiss his hair. Yesterday, was kind of stressful because not only was it the first day of school after christmas break, but for the first time in ages, he asked me to help him correct his homework. Russell was tired from skiing the day before and he hates to be told that his handwriting needs work. So when I had to tell him that his handwriting needed some improvement he about burst into tears and then kept trying to pitch a fit with me. I finally told him that I was being honest and that I wouldn't look at his homework any more and he could check it with his teacher at school. I didn't want to fight with him. He stomped and fumed, but that didn't help his cause of course, so he had to cope. This is a system his teacher and I worked out months ago. When he's starting to pitch a fit and try to make me responsible for whether his homework is done the way it's supposed to be, I counteract that and he's got to face the outcome, whatever he chooses. He can either follow my suggestions or correct it at recess. This is what she does with other kids, so he's not special, but it does force him to be responsible for the outcome and then I'm not left yanking my hair out in clumps. He hates it. His homework gets done. And I retain a full head of hair. I love this teacher. I love her so much that I made her a baby's first Christmas ornament and had Russell make her a regular teacher ornament. She wrote in the thank you note to Russell that she almost cried over the baby one. Now, if we could just get Miss Big Girl to stop trashing the play room, we'd be alllll set.
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