Smiling Stock Show

Something else happened at the Fort Worth Stock Show that I need to report. Paxten Parker decided to start smiling on command. Too bad we couldn't get any with her and Presley both smiling, but hey, it was a start. Pics below.

Stock Show

We went to the Fort Worth Stock Show on Friday. The girls had a lot of fun, but it was not easy to maneuver in and out of the isles with our double stroller, so we did not see as many animals as I would have liked, but both girls preferred the rides anyway. Paxten (fake) cried every time we took her out of the swings. Pics below.

P1 had her boots on for the Fort Worth Stock Show.

Cereal Paxten

Paxten has trouble communicating with us and feeding herself, which means that often times, right now, meal times are not fun. She wants to feed herself, but she gets frustrated when she is not able to, but then she wants our help, but gets frustrated if we don't pick out the right piece of food that she wanted on her fork at that moment, etc. This is very true for dinner, but not for breakfast if she is having cereal because Paxten has figured it out. It may be because the spoon she uses is soft, rubbery and shaped like a bowl itself. Most of the time she uses the spoon to get her cereal, but sometimes she physically picks up each piece of cereal and puts it on her spoon. On Wednesday morning, Presley had already eaten by the time I brought Paxten down, so at breakfast, Paxten sat by herself and ate and didn't make a sound. I watched the whole thing and took pictures and enjoyed every second of it.

Celebration Of Life And The Truth

At Presley's school whenever a child has a birthday, the parents have the option to come in and watch a  celebration of life circle with their child. The way it works is the kids all get in a circle around a globe, and then the teacher and students say every month of the year while she sets out laminated cards with the names of the months on them on the ground. After that, the child walks around the circle one time for every year of their life, including when they were born, holding pictures that the parents brought from home. So Presley walked around the circle showing pictures of when she was first born, and then at age 1, 2 and 3. During that time, the teacher and parents ask the child questions about themselves.

One of the questions we asked Presley was about who she shares her birthday with, and she answered, "Martin Luther King." At that point, I would have stopped asking questions because I knew what more prying could lead to, but regardless, Lora followed up with, "What else do you know about him?" I cringed a bit on the inside waiting for her answer. Presley's answer was, "He was a good man, and a bad man shot him," but this did not really have an impact on any of the children, who probably, just like Presley, don't understand death yet. It was a neat celebration, and Lora and I both enjoyed it. The kids also sang happy birthday to her, then got in a line and gave her a hug, and then ate the snacks for that day of sugar free muffins and fruit (they don't allow sugar) that we brought.

Later I was talking to Presley's teacher while the kids were all eating, I said something about Presley's comment about MLK, Jr., and I told her that I am very honest with Presley about everything except for Jolly-Ol-You-Know-Who, and that I hope it was okay. The teacher agreed with me that we should be honest with our kids, and then had an antidote to share with me about Presley and telling the truth.

She told me that one day in the Fall, Presley and the kids were talking, and she was not sure how they got on this topic, but Presley told all of the kids that, "everybody dies," which caused a boy in her class to start crying. (The story made me laugh.) I am almost positive that this happened after Presley lost her great grandmother Peaches because I remember her asking why Peaches died, and I told her that everybody who has ever lived or will ever live is either dead or will die and that it is just part of life, but the shortness of life is what makes it so sweet.

So here's to life. Here's to Presley turning 4. Here's to Paxten communicating more each day. Here's to my life and your life and Peaches' life. Enjoy it while you can.

Presley's celebration of life circle.

Here Paxten is helping us all enjoy life by making everyone laugh. This is from March of 2011. 

Pixie Presley

Presley had her birthday party over the weekend, and I thought it was a great party, but it was all because of Presley's mommy's hard work. Every child there, boy or girl, was given a four piece pixie (wings, tutu, tiara, wand) or pirate (hat, cape, pirate hook, eye patch) costume when they came in, and then started playing at the Little Gym. Unfortunately Paxten was still getting over her sickness so she stayed at home and took a 4 hour nap, but she was definitely missed. Here are some pictures from the party. (Note: Presley was the only child in green because she was "Tinkerbell.")

H-2-Oh She's So Smart!

While putting Paxten to bed the other night she asked for water several times, so we walked over to her sink and she took 3 drinks of water from her little medicine cup. Later after I put her down in her crib she started asking for more water, but I knew she was just trying to stall going to bed:
P2: Water, water, water, water.
Me: No Pax, you just had some.
P2: More water, more water, more water.
Me:  Paxten, no, it's night-night time. Good night.
P2: Water please.
Me: Water please! Good job baby girl! Okay, I'll get you some water.

(They always know just how to push my buttons.)

Holding Heaven In My Arms

I think a combination of me feeling that Presley is growing up way too fast for me, and me realizing that I need to appreciate each moment with my girls given the fact that Paxten might be my last child, (but not if Lora has anything to say about it), I  had a special moment with Paxten the other morning.

I was carrying her with her head in one arm and her legs in the other arm, just staring into her big, bright eyes, and she was just singing away. I have no idea what she was singing as I could not really understand her, but that did not matter. All that mattered at that moment was that I was holding someone that I loved as much as I have ever loved anyone in the world, and nothing else mattered in my life at that moment. It truly was a perfect moment in my life that I have thought about multiple times since its occurrence two weeks ago. There is truly nothing in this world that I love so much and unconditional as I love my two daughters, and I was thankful for the moment a few weeks ago and thankful that I was aware enough at the time to appreciate it.

TV Time-Out

Paxten's a smart girl who keeps us busy. One of the many reasons for this is because of the fact that "time-out" doesn't bother her. Case and point below:

Presley was watching TV. Paxten was having fun turning off the TV and upsetting Presley. Lora told Paxten not to do it again or she would go to time-out, and of course, Paxten did it again.

So Lora put Paxten in time-out for a few minutes, and then said, "Paxten, you are not supposed to turn the TV off. If you do it again,  you're going to have to go back in time-out, okay?" "Okay," said Paxten.

"Now, go tell sissy you are sorry, give her a hug, and then you can get out of time-out," Lora told Paxten, and then three things happened.

First, Paxten sprinted out of time-out to where Presley was, gave her a hug, and said, "sorry," and "no TV off."

Then, Paxten sprinted back to the TV and turned it off.

Finally, she sprinted from the TV she had just turned off back to time-out.

Lora and I were laughing quietly to ourselves and wondering what to do next. We've started putting her blanket in "time-out," in other words, taking her blanket away from her, which seems to be working a little bit better, but not much.

I love my little fireball who does not care if she's in trouble, but hopefully she'll grow out of that before she becomes a teenager.

Doctor Visit Paxten

Okay so both girls have/had the flu and strep throat. The doc said that the flu is very mild this year and was more concerned about strep throat in both of them. She said we probably all had the flu about 2 weeks ago when we were all coughing substantially more than now. The point of this post is to talk about how Paxten knew there were suckers at the doctor's office, which means that she remembers her trip there in early December, six  weeks ago. Presley obviously knew there were suckers when she went there two days ago as well, and they both did the exact same thing after we gave them a sucker: they both asked if they could get a sucker for their "sissy." My girls LOVE suckers and the ALWAYS make sure that they get a (insert item here) for "sissy" too. I love my sharing, sick, sucker lovin' girls!

Sick Day Presley

So if you haven't heard yet, Presley had fever of 103 on her birthday. We took her to the doctor the day after her birthday on Monday, and she was diagnosed with strep throat, an ear infection and type b flu. The doc wanted her to stay home on Tuesday as well since she had strep throat so she stayed home with me on Tuesday. I think she loves "being sick" because we let her watch t.v. all day. She has seen almost all of her Disney Princess movies and a lot of Scooby-Doo! On Monday night as I was leaving her room, she asked me if she could jump on the bounce house the next day, which made me chuckle because she isn't acting sick at all. Tuesday morning she got herself dress, and of course, she put on the same shirt she always wants to wear when she dresses herself even though it is a 2T and a tank top. (She loves it because "it's rainbow.") I told her she couldn't wear it because it was cold outside, and she told me that she wouldn't go outside on Tuesday then. I just let her wear it until we left for lunch. Like Lora said, she looked like Punky Brewster. So here are a few pics from that morning, and if you can't tell, her outfit includes the following: navy dress shoes, a tu-tu, a tank top, sunglasses, a ring, a watch, multiple bracelets, two purses, 3 hair clips, and finally, her hair smells like strawberry de-tangler spray, which she sprayed in her hair as well.

I love my little sick punky brewster.

This is what Presley wore when we went "out," and in case you can't tell, she's still wearing the same shirt and skirt, but with a new sweater over the shirt and tights under the skirt.

Communicating Paxten

I know I've posted a lot about Paxten's communicating skills lately, but she constantly amazes me, and communicating with her makes me so happy. Her newest thing, which has probably changed since I posted this, is to say "shut the door" after we put her to bed. The other night she was cracking me and herself both up though:

I had put her down and just left her room, when I heard Paxten scream loudly, "DA-DA.... DA-DA... DA-DA!"

Me:  (I opened the door and went in her room.) Yes Paxten?

P2: Shut the door, Da-Da.

Me:  Okay. (I shut the door and left.)

P2: Da-Da! Da-Da! Da-Da!

Me: (I opened the door and went in her room.) Yes Paxten?

P2:  Shut the door, Da-Da. (She giggled after she said it.)

Me:  Okay. (I shut the door and left.)

P2: DaDa!

Me:  Yes Paxten?

P2:  Shut the door, Da-Da!

Me: Paxten you're silly. It's time to go night-night though. Don't yell for me again. Go night-night, okay?

P2:  Okay.

(I left, and did not hear a peep out of her the rest of the night.)

That's My Girl

Sometimes, Presley gets deep, and sometimes the stuff I've talked to her about, really comes out. Presley shares a birthday with Martin Luther the King, Jr., and so not only do I work on her regarding the date of her birthday, but also with whom she shares it. The other day on the way to school, the following conversation happened, and it made me feel good as a parent:

P1:  Who made us?

Me:  What do you mean? Who made people?

P1:  Yea.

Me:  Well no one knows for sure, but some people think God made us.

P1:  Did Jesus make us?

Me:  No sweetie, he was God's son, and he didn't make us, but he was a really really good man who always did the right thing. I know that sounds easy, but most people don't do the right thing all the time because it's very hard to do. There are only a few people in this world who do the right thing all the time.

P1:  Like Marin Luther King?

Me: (smiling) Yes, Presley, Martin Luther King was a very good man who always did the right thing too. I'm proud of you for saying that. I love you.

(I'm glad she didn't ask me if I always do the right thing, but if she asked, I would tell her that I try to.)

I love my daughter who I am raising to never judge anyone based on the color of their skin, their religion or their sexual orientation. I wish there were more parents like me out there.

(This reminds me about a conversation I had with Lora the other day. We are going to always let our girls know that there isn't a person on this planet that is better than them, but on the flip side of that, we're also going to teach them that there isn't a person on this planet that they are better than either, and that is kind of harsh, but I think necessary to get the message across and have a child who doesn't judge.)

Happy Birthday Presley ! ! !

Happy birthday to one of my favorite people in the world. I never wonder what the purpose of this life is anymore because of you and your sister. I love every ounce of you both and every second I spend with you. And although I think the world might become a harder place to live with food shortages and pollution, etc., in the future, I'm not worried about you because you, Presley Parker, will be part of the solution that fixes all of that. I honestly cannot put to words how much I love you!  Happy 4th Birthday! ! ! ! !  (On a side note, it saddens me already that next year you'll turn 5 and be starting kindergarten by the Fall.)

Watery Mac & Cheese

The Scene: We are all sitting around the dinner table eating. I look over at Presley's bowl of macaroni and cheese and notice it being very watery. Since it was instant mac and cheese, and I do remember it being on the watery side when I made it, I just assumed that it had more water in it than I realized.

Me:  Oh Presley, I didn't realize your mac and cheese had that much water in it. (I pulled the bowl over to look at it.) Is it still good? (I took a bite of the watery, cold mac and cheese.)

P1: It's watery because I put water in it.

Me: Why did you pour water in your macaroni and cheese, it doesn't taste good.

P1: I didn't pour water in it. I drank some water and spit it into the bowl.

Me: . . . .  

I really don't have a comment about this event except that it sounds like something that would be in a sitcom, but honestly, it didn't bother me as much as you think it should since she is one of my top 3 favorite girls in the world.

BFFL

Best Friends For Life

I've commented on it a few times already, but P1 and P2 are such best friends that I am amazed.

Lora the other day made a comment that she felt like we had gremlins in the house. What she was talking about was the actions of the girls. P1 was running around grabbing stuff and messing it up, and of course, whatever P1 does, then P2 does the same. When Presley isn't watching T.V. she is all about Paxten, and of course, Paxten just wants to do whatever Presley is doing all the time. Paxten has started requesting "Dora, Dora" to watch on T.V. even though she doesn't watch it yet, but she knows that is what Presley always wants to watch. Presley's teachers at school told me that every time Presley walks by Paxten's classroom, she tells everyone, "I love my sissy so much." I'm sure all siblings are close, but I am amazed by how close these two are already, and I love it.

Also, on Wednesday, I am happy to report, Paxten did NOT cry when the teacher came and got her out of the car. I was saying, "Yeah Paxten!" and getting excited about it so she would feel good about it. After the teacher took her out, I said, "bye Paxten, I love you," and she had the most pitiful look on her face and whimpered "bye,bye," but she wasn't crying!

BFFL !

Leaping Lizards Presley

Although I don't have any action shots of Presley at the indoor bounce house that I referenced in yesterday's post, I do have some very cute pictures of her from that day. The first two are just before she got in the car on our way to the place. Don't ask me who taught her to curtsy. In the last one, she had just finished getting a unicorn painted on her arm when we got there, and believe it or not, it stayed on the entire time that she was jumping. I love my beautiful-princess-even-though-looks-don't-matter-and-it's-what's-on-the-inside-that-counts-daughter.

Leaping Lizards' Slide

Speaking of Paxten, this weekend, I took the girls to an indoor bounce house called Leaping Lizards, and we met our good friends who have two daughters, Charlotte and Juliet, that are very close in age to P1 and P2, respectively. We do more with them than any other couple for sure. Lora was not able to make it so I was watching Paxten the entire time while Charlotte and Juliet's mommy and daddy were watching their daughters play with Presley. Where was I the whole time? I was in the back corner watching Paxten go down this giant slide. She LOVED it, and I would say she went down it close to 25 times!!!! You'll notice that the pictures do not always line up and are very blurry, but I assure you she was smiling the entire time. Sometimes she is on the slide on the left, and sometimes she is on the slide on the right. Sometimes, she has socks on and sometimes she doesn't have socks on. In the end, I had to take her off because she started taking her socks off once she knew is bothered me, and her feet were sticking to the slide and making her fall face forwards every once in a while. She did not like that, but I managed. Also, when she realized I was trying to take her picture from the top of the slide, she started running back and forth, which was cracking both of us up. She is sooooo much fun right now. I love my little sliding lizard!

Watching her climb the stairs was half the fun!

Look at that blurry smile! ! ! 

Monday Morning

If you've been keeping up with this blog lately, I imagine you're here to see how Paxten's doing at school.

On Friday when I picked her up, I walked outside to her teacher sitting down with her back against the wall with Paxten's head on her chest. She saw me, started crying again and ran to me. I picked her up, but decided to take a new approach. I sat down beside her teacher with Paxten on my chest. Talked to her teacher for a bit. Touched her shoulder and said, "Nice, nice Paxten, she's my friend, she takes care of you." Later, before, I got up, I asked her if she wanted to walk to get Presley or have me carry her. She agreed to walk, and she was all grins as we went to get her big sister, and she walked the entire time. I really felt like we turned a corner Friday afternoon. I'd love to tell you that Monday morning when we took her, she did not cry, but she did, much to Lora's dismay, who was dropping her off for the first time. We'll stay after it, and when we get through it, I'll blog about it, but until then, P1 and P2 bring me so much joy every day that I have other stuff to blog about as well. (This should be a good week of posts with pictures, Patrick.)

We went to the Zoo on Sunday, and I recommend everyone go to the zoo when it's cold and damp and before noon while everyone is still in church. We had our run of the place. The girls got to pet a snake and all of the animals were frisky and up and eating. We had a really nice time and saw all the animals that we needed to see in less than two hours. Pics below.

Heart Breaking Part Two

This post will make more sense if you read yesterday's post here.

So after Paxten cried when I dropped her off yesterday morning, I was looking forward to picking Presley and her up after school to see if Paxten's day got any better.

When I got just outside of the toddler's classroom, I saw her sitting with her back to me at a desk playing with another child, and it made me happy because she was playing with someone. Her teacher was walking out the door towards me, but I gave her the "shhh" sign because I wanted to watch Paxten interact some more with this other child.

Me to her teacher: How was her day?

Miss Lindsey: It was okay, but she cried a lot.

Me: Well, she's playing well now with another child now so that's good-wait- is that Presley?

Miss Lindsey: Yea, we had to go get Presley from the primary class to play with her to calm her down.

Me: Oh no! Did it work?

Miss Lindsey:  Yes, a little bit. She kept seeing Presley walk by in the hall way, and she would start crying.

(This broke my heart that Paxten was still having a rough day, but made my heart smile that she got better when she was with her "sissy.")

So I decided to go in and get her because yesterday when she saw me, she started smiling and ran to me as fast as she could, and that will make anyone's day. "Paxten," I said, and she turned, saw me, started crying and running to me as fast as she could! I scooped her up and started loving on her and kissing and hugging her, but she continued crying.

(As much as I love her running to me to dive into my arms, since she was crying the whole time because she obviously had a rough day, this just flat out broke my heart.)

So I gathered P1 and P2's backpacks and jackets (without setting Paxten down) and we left the school. Lora was on her way up to the school to pay for and pick out some pictures from Presley's photo day last month. As I was loading the girls up, Lora called and said she was near so I waited for her so she could see her girls. Of course Paxten wanted mommy immediately. "Out, Out, Out." So Lora picked up Paxten to take with her to pick up the pictures, and then I took Presley home. Well, apparently that wasn't a good idea because the second Lora walked back into the school to pick up the pictures, Paxten started crying and proceeded to cry the entire time she was in the school. (Now that REALLY broke my heart.) I know it will get better, but I can't believe how upset she gets. I keep forgetting that she is only 21 months and Presley was 28 months when she started, and that means Presley was 33% older when she started Montessori school.

I love how close my girls are, and I love my heart broken baby, but I know it will get better.

Heart Breaking

Paxten Parker is a fireball. I've said that multiple times on this blog. Her day care provider told us she can be a "spitfire" in her good bye letter to us and Paxten. For all of the toughness that we know Paxten has, I've also noticed here lately that she is also very affectionate and sensitive. That's why it breaks my heart when for the second day in a row I drop her off at her new school with Presley that she starts balling!!

We took her to school for an hour one day and two hours the next day last week, and she did fine. On Tuesday morning this week, she was very excited about going to school with her sister, and she did fine. On Wednesday, I think she realized that she was not going to be dropped off for an hour or two, but more like 8-9 hours, and when I started to leave she just started crying. I picked her up and comforted her, but it broke my heart. I didn't leave until I peaked in the window about 5 minutes later to see that she was no longer crying.

The school recommends that we use the car line, so we don't have to walk away from her, but instead someone comes and gets her. We tried that today too. Paxten saw a teacher come get Presley, and didn't make a sound, but the second that same teacher opened the door to get her, she started balling again. It really does break your heart even though I know she'll be fine and that Montessori school is good for her. Maybe tomorrow will be better. I love my sensitive fireball!

Suckers

The girls have both been under the weather for a good week now. Lots of coughing mainly. Yesterday when I was at the store, I was excited to find some non-medicated honey suckers that "naturally help control cough," so I bought them. After I picked up the girls from school, I was telling Presley about them, and the following conversation took place:

Me:  Presley, I got a sucker for you in the car.

P1:  Is it my bubble gum sucker?

Me:  No, it's a honey sucker that will also help your cough.

P1:  But what about my bubble gum sucker? (She's talking about a blow pop someone gave her last week.)

Me:  You can have it later, but right now, I have a honey sucker for you.

P1:  You keep saying I can have it later, but you just won't give it to me.

(I laughed out loud at this. I have not given it to her yet, but I will when she gets home from school today.)

Note to self: Presley is leaving the stage of her life where I can tell her we'll do something "later" and hope that she forgets about it. I love my little remember-er. 

She Gets It

I've blogged several times recently about how I think Paxten is communicating with us so well, but this past week, it seems like something just clicked. Not only does it seem like she understands everything we say to her, but she is communicating back to us in full, short sentences. Two examples:

The other night while I was putting her to bed in her room, this happened:

P2:  Water. Water. Water.

Me:  You want water?

P2: Water.

(I carried her over to the sink, and she took a drink of water out of a small, clean, little medicine cup that holds 2 teaspoons.)

P2:  More.

(She took another drink, and I rinsed the cup out and started carrying her back to her chair.)

P2:  (Holding up her pointer finger.) One more time.

Me: You want more water?

P2:  One more time.

I had to give her another drink of water after that happened. I was so proud of her, but the next thing happened last night in the bath tub, and I was blown away:

(We bathe P1 and P2 together, and we always take Paxten out first because, in the past, we never wanted Paxten sitting by herself in the bathtub while we're drying off Presley. She would be fine now, but it has become a habit, I guess.)

So both girls are clean and have played for a while so I'm ready to get Paxten out:

Me:  Paxten come on, it's time to get out.

P2: No. No.

Me:  Yes, we have to get out and get ready for bed.

P2: (Paxten placed her hand on Presley's back and looked up at me.) Sissy first.

Me: (amazed.) You want me to take sissy out first?

P2:  (smiling.) Sissy first.

I was so proud of P2 that I did as she ordered and took Presley out first, which took some bribing, but I made it happen. I can't believe how quickly she is progressing every day. I love my little communicator!