Today we left with you a non-family member for the first time in your life. It still amazes me that you are 4 years old and have been with a family member every second of your life. However, almost half your life has been in a pandemic so maybe from that perspective it isn’t that surprising?!?
Either way, you were SO excited to finally be going to school after watching Lexi and William year after year. You were telling everyone your teacher’s name and asking for a week straight, when do I go to school, how many days?
Wednesday morning we had a little open house where we got to see the classroom, bring in your school supplies and have a mini pre-conference with your teacher. You were very shy, but still excited.
Friday morning, you slept in until 8:00, got up and started playing by yourself. We had a quick breakfast, your favorite—key lime Yogurt and orange juice. We put on your new purple dress and put a headband braid in so you could match Lexi. Like William and Lexi, Daddy made you an amazing sign with your favorite—a purple bunny front and center. We took a few pictures and then drove the 5 min to school. You were pretty quiet the whole ride there (which is unusual for my non-stop question asker) and snuggled no-knee a bit. The only question you had was if you were going to do Math or not, which is hilarious to think that is what was on your mind and that you even know what Math is.
When we got there, you hopped right out of the van, got in line to get your name tag and then stood next to the school until all the students were checked in and ready to start your day. You waved a quick good-bye and walked into school without a second thought. No tears (even from me, which was surprising).
As Daddy and I went home and respectively went to do work, it was the first time that all three of you kids were in school and we could work un-interrupted (or for at least 2.5 hours). I know this is just the beginning, but it is just as big of a milestone for us as it is for you.
Daddy and I both came to pick you up and and when you were dismissed, you ran as fast as your new purple shoes could take you with the BIGGEST smile on your face and Ryan into my arms and gave me the biggest, longest and strongest hug ever. I even started to let go a little but you grabbed harder and I just embraced it as the banks of my eyes overflowed. You had the BEST day and were so HAPPY to see us and that just made me so happy.
Kate, as you start your first years of preschool, I pray that you start to build friendships, become less shy and more confident around non-family members and you have SO much fun you don’t even realize you’re learning. And just maybe enjoy math 🙂
What is more symbolic of a fresh new start, the new year or the first day of school?
For me, I think it is a new school year. From the new teachers to new classroom to new friends to new school supplies to new clothes and new shoes—it is just refreshing. It is one of the few times you do a complete reset and I find that energizing. I spent ALL weekend organizing, de-cluttering and cleaning our house. Although, I didn’t get any new clothes; having a clean and organized house to start the school year off feels as refreshing to me as a loot of new stuff.
As you grow older, I’ll be curious to see if you share that same mindset or if the unknowns of new beginnings evoke different emotions. Today, was (mostly) full of excitement.
This morning, you both woke up pretty well (Lexi 6:15, William 6:30). Badgie was a little groggy and slower moving, but the homemade waffles, homemade whip cream and sausage (both of your requests) kept you moving. Lexi woke up extra early as she also wanted a handband braid. For the most part, you both got your snacks and water bottles together on your own and in a timely manner and were ready for a few pictures by 7:05.
Once again, Daddy went above and beyond in creating you each two awesome signs that represent all of your favorite things.
Lexi as you head into 3rd grade, I pray that you continue to find activities and friends that bring you joy and your confidence exudes from these things. May your reading continue to grow, bringing ease and self-assurance into all of your other subjects.
William, as you head into 1st grade, I pray that you continue to stay kind, thoughtful and true to yourself, uninfluenced by others. May you build friendships with others like you and excel in your studies.
And most importantly, may both of you continue to have your eyes up to God and let Him lead you in times of happiness, frustration and confusion.
Your heart is pure gold sweet girl and you are just filled with love. Tomorrow, Daddy is going to Florida for a golf trip with Dustin and Papa and you were feeling a little extra emotional about him being gone.
After putting Kate and William to bed, I come into our bedroom to find you curled up in our chair sulking but with a tinge of pride as you had used your banana grams to write Daddy a little message as well as write him a note.
You are just so thoughtful and sweet and I love how you go out of your way to make others feel good. As a terrible speller myself, I also appreciate how you spell the words just as they sound. Here is the letter deciphered:
‘I will miss you very much dad. I love you. Love, Lexi. PS Please say Hi to Grammy and Papa. Love, Lexi. XOXOXOXOXOXOXO (then there is a little picture of you that says ‘Me’. I miss you all ready. I love Dad. XOXOXOXO. You are the best dad in the whole wide world. XOXO Love, Lexi Sampson’
I will miss you very much dad.
I mean….how much sweeter can an 8-year-old get. Daddy is one lucky Dad to have a daughter like you be so thoughtful and someone who loves and misses him so much. And YOU are so blessed to have a Daddy who loves you as much as he does. He adores spending time with you, loves having special activities to do together, makes you laugh, silly jokes you guys have and projects you do together.
And I am so lucky to watch this special bond grow between you two.
Lexi, I pray that you never loose that genuine, thoughtfulness you have for those you love and you only continue to grow in your abilities to articulate and share those feelings with those you love. It sure is special and keeps your mom and dad swooning over you.
Believe. It is such a simple word but the depth and potential of this word is limitless. From believing in your intuition, to believing in others to believing in the impossible to believing in Jesus Christ our Savior—the possibilities and outcomes are remarkable. In what has been the most challenging year, belief has been a staple in keeping a positive attitude for me. Every morning I choose to believe in myself, I choose to believe in the good of others and choose to believe in God and that this year is all part of a bigger plan. I should probably write several more blog posts about this word and unpack it a bit, because I believe (see what I did there 🙂 it is a truly powerful word. So as a true believer, celebrating Christmas and the birth of Jesus at the end of 2020 is a perfect way to end the year.
The Christmas season felt like a true gift from Jesus. To me, it was just as special and magical as it ever has been, probably more so. Each of you kids are true believers in Santa and of Jesus. We had a Zoom call with Santa that my work organized and when he asked what you were most excited about for Christmas, you yelled, ‘Jesus!’ It was definitely not what Santa was expecting to hear, but I was sure proud.
Every year, you kids get a little more into celebration of Christmas. You understand the Bible stories a little better, you want to be more involved in the decorating, the baking, the gift giving (and receiving), the wrapping, the music, the lights, the Christmas cards, the books, and the movies. Everything you experience is like gold and it is one of my favorite things as a parent.
Each year, I try and add or update one piece of my Christmas decor to help balance my love for Christmas decor and desire to want our house to look and feel like a magazine. Last year, part of those dream became a reality when we were gifted a 12 foot Christmas tree to sit in our front room. However, those dreams quickly diminished as string by string, the lights started to go out. Daddy and I attempted to fix some of them by replacing each bulb in a string one-by-one, but as more strings went out, I decided the whole tree just needed to be re-done. I knew it was going to be a time-consuming project so, come November 1st, that tree came out and I got to work. The tree originally had 1400 lights on it and each light was clipped to a branch to keep it in place. My plan was to replace light for light and take one light off and replace it with a new light to ensure it looked as good it originally came. I quickly discovered that the lights they put on these trees are made for that specific tree. They have strategically placed the bulbs in specific locations on the strings (which are also circular verses linear) so they hit at just the right spot on the branch and there are no ‘un-used’ lights. A regular string of lights that you buy at the store are obviously evenly spaced out on the string so there were many lights that weren’t able to attach to the branch that the original set was attached to—which also meant I was going to need more lights than the 1400 that were previously on there. Section by section, I took off the existing lights and replaced with a new set. With 5 individually-wired sections on the tree, I had to also strategically guess how heavy or light I needed to string in order to make sure I didn’t run up short, or have too many lights at the end. I did not manage the top two sections well and they didn’t have enough lights on them, relative to the rest of the tree, so I had to re-do those. Many, many hours, 1800 lights (maybe more) and a sore back later, we had a beautiful jaw-dropping tree.
Of course, as soon as the tree was done, you guys were begging to decorate it so away you went putting up the ornaments, knowing that I had every intention of taking every ornament off and re-doing it. To help compensate for my OCD ways, I did tell you we could set up our old tree and it could be the ‘kids’ tree. We could put colored lights on it and you could decorate it in any way you wanted. The three of you picked out pink, purple, green and blue ornaments and had fun putting all of your favorite colors and home-made ornaments on.
On a similar note, the three of you LOVE to help decorate the rest of the house with all of the decorations. Lexi put together the entire nativity scene this year and Williams and Kate loved putting the snowman shelf together.
Like clockwork, our elves, Sparkle Minnie, Sparkle Mickey and Sparkle Daisy arrived on December 1st bringing a Paw Patrol advent calendar. The elves also helped us celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 6th and brought us a fun Christmas painting book on the first day of Christmas break. As always, they got into some mischief by wrapping your bedroom doors with wrapping paper, getting eaten by dinosaurs, climbing up bows like a rock climbing wall on our shelf/window, taking a shower, sitting in the fridge, playing with the Tsum Tsums, and even made a visit to Grammy’s house. Finding them each morning was a high of the day and brought each of you so much joy.
Lexi, you are turning into quite the little gift giver. You listen to what others are saying and then suggest gifts that you’ve heard them mention and are really thoughtful in thinking about what the recipient would like to receive. All of the gifts you gave were spot on this year. You picked out new drill bits for Daddy, a Lion Guard figurine set for William, a lego kit and aqua beads for Ivy and a Barbie Pet Washing Station (complete with a bunny) for Kate.
At school, the Advent program was virtual due to Covid. They recorded what the program would have been like if it were in person and then shared the video link out for everyone to watch at home. You also both had fun celebrating pajama day and having an Advent party during the last week of school.
Your last day of school was on December 18th, a full week before Christmas, which allowed all of us to ‘quarantine’ for a decent amount of time and gather with Grammy and Papa and Uncle Joe & Auntie Angie, Dustin and Sheila and all the cousins on Christmas Eve. It was such a fun and much needed celebration. You kids had so much fun playing together, opening gifts, singing and just being silly. The adults ate delicious food, drank nummy drinks and played the 2nd Annual Bothwell Christmas exchange game.
The girls both received My Generation Dolls, which happened to have their same names and William received a beloved Nerf gun and a big T-Rex. All of the gifts were HUGE hits. Lexi is absolutely in love with her doll and couldn’t believe she got her own, let alone one that is named Lexi.
Christmas morning felt like a movie. All three of you kids were bursting with excitement you could barely keep your feet on the floor. Santa brought each of you what you had asked for; Lexi, a Barbie Pool and Barbie diver; William, a Dinosaur that eats people and Kate, a new purple Bunnie, Bunnie book and a dauber coloring book. After Santa gifts, you guys were SO excited to gift each other the gifts you had picked out, we went right to those. Lexi & Kate had picked out Lion Guard figurines for William and it will probably be one of the most played with toys out of everything you guys received. William & Kate had picked out a color your own squishie gift for Lexi and William and Lexi had picked out a pet washing barbie (because it came with a bunny) for Kate. The rest of the gift opening went well and was nice and relaxed. We took turns opening gifts and admiring what everyone received. The last gift that was opened was for Lexi and Kate had a huge blanket over it with a red bow and when they pulled it off, it revealed a BEAUTIFUL doll house, all hand-made by Daddy. It has a working elevator, working lights on a remote control, stained wood floors, doors between the rooms, windows, a side closet and complete with a kitchen set, bath tub and hand-made bunk beds. He spent hours upon hours building this for you girls and the details in it are exquisite. Your love for this dollhouse makes all the work he put into it worthwhile. The two of you have already spent so much time playing at it and tuck your dolls into their bunk beds (complete with home-made pillows and blankets from Grammy) every night.
After gift opening, we spent the rest of the day hanging out in our jammies and enjoying our new gifts, including a family Nerf gun obstacle course. It was a wonderfully relaxing day.
On the 26th, we got to work right away in the morning cleaning the house and getting things put away to host the Sampson’s for Christmas. It was a busy day but had a wonderful time celebrating with them. We introduced the gift exchange game with the siblings and it was a Big hit. All the kids got Lego kits, more dinosaurs, doll accessories, crafts, games and much more. It was a fantastic way to wrap up Christmas 2020.
Merry Christmas my sweet monkeys and may you never stop believing.
‘Papa, Papa, guess what? I went on a roller coaster that went 60 miles per hour!!!’ You proudly proclaimed with a twinkle in your eyes and smile as wide as the Mississippi. Not only did you ride the Rock N’ RollarCoaster that went 60+ mph and upside down, you also went on almost every rollarcoaster at DisneyWorld and couldn’t get enough of them. You warmed up on Slinky Dog and graduated up to Rock N’ Rollarcoster, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Everest and wrapped up our trip with back to back rides on Space Mountain.
Your 7th year of life or 2020 is one you will remember for the rest of your life. The year you became a rollar coaster junkie, also known as the year Covid ruled the world. So many unpredictable events happened, it feels like a dream that we can’t wake up from. From hoarding toilet paper and empty grocery shelves, to doing school at home, to deeming companies essential workers, to virtual dance recitals, to staying 6 ft away from people, to wearing masks everywhere we go, to a second round of lockdown, to quarantines, to deeply analyzing every cough sneeze and throat tickle, to incredible bonds and friendships with William and Kate, to a slower pace of life, to less activity running, to hours and hours of imaginative play, to lego re-builds and craft projects and SOO much more.
As challenging as this year has been there has been so much good to recognize with my favorite being your relationship with your siblings. You are an amazingly remarkable big sister to William and Kate. You make breakfast for them (cereal, toast) and turn shows on for them in the morning. The three of you play together for hours on end. You build forts together, play dinos/hatchemals/Frozen, you build awesome magnatile creations together, play cats, legos and so many other things. I love the way you get along and how you find a way to incorporate each of your interests into whatever you are playing. You are usually the boss, but do just as well listening and going along with William and Kate’s ideas. It has been a joy to watch the three of you learn how to play together so well this year and are genuinely sad when one of your playmates is missing. This spring, William and Kate slept over at Grammy and Papa’s and you had to stay home due to school and you were like a lost puppy without them. You missed their company the shenanigans you pull together and were just sad and bored without them. You love them with all your heart and it is one of the best parts of being your mom.
In the spring, you completed 1st grade, albeit virtually, and headed off to 2nd grade with Mrs. Kain this fall. Your reading has exploded this year and you are legitimately reading. You’re very close to being able to read chapter books on your own. We worked hard on reading out loud almost every night in the summer and all that hard work paid off. Proud of you for this! You are an excellent student and all of your teachers adore you. I consistently get comments about how sweet and thoughtful you are. You are kind and include everyone in playing, use your manners and are respectful. Keep up the good work, Lexi. I am so proud of the young girl you are growing up to be.
As delightful as you are in school, that doesn’t always translate at home when we try and do school related tasks. Distance learning last spring was a struggle for all of us. As much as I struggled figuring out how to work at home everyday with a full household, it was really hard for you to shift your mindset around doing school at home. I think you really compartmentalize ‘you do school at school’ and when ‘your at home, you play and relax’. It is a big struggle to get you to do school at home. All you want to do is play. Whenever we need to do school work whether it is homework, reading practice, math facts or spelling practice—it is met with complaining, whining, distraction and overall resistance, which makes the activities painful for all involved. This fall, we did a little bit of re-arranging and made room to put your desk in your room. The goal was to give you a place to go and do your work, that is separate from the rest of the activity in the house so you don’t get distracted as easily and it also don’t feel like your missing out on as much. So far, so good!
Before Covid took over, we remarkably snuck a 4-day trip into DisneyWord, followed by a 7-day trip to Panama City to visit with Grammy and Papa. We came home on March 11 and schools closed on March 16th—so when I say snuck, we barely slipped this amazing trip in. Amazing doesn’t even begin to describe this trip—especially knowing how the rest of the year wrapped up. You can read more about our trips here, here, here, here and here. After you guys go to bed, I often find myself looking through pictures from the trip, watching the videos and hoping that Disney will go back to ‘normal’ again in the future and we can experience the joy and magic again. Age 7 was the PERFECT time to go to Disney. You were tall and brave enough to go on nearly every ride, which brought a new adventurous side of Lexi out that we hadn’t really experienced before. You loved the swimming and the Characters and could appreciate the details of Disney and adored being transformed into a stunning princess at the Bippity Boppity Boutique. You also had enough stamina in you to get through the whole day without a nap and enjoy the fireworks at night. However, you would crash hard in the stroller as soon as the night show ended.
Following Disney, we drove to PCB and as always, you had a blast with Grammy and Papa. We spent hours on the beach splashing in the waves, doing Survivor challenges, swimming in the pool, playing cards on the deck and playing with your cousins Ruby and Pearl who happened to be 5 doors down visiting their Grandma and Grandpa at the same time.
Other notable things about you at age 7:
You have lost 7 teeth. You pulled your 7th one out at school all by yourself last month
You got 3 cavities filled summer—including a silver cap. Two were in baby teeth, one in an adult molar
You did a dance recital and opted to not do dance again this year
We made a few trips to the cabin and you braved the cold Lake Superior water and swam out to Moss Island with Mom and Dad
You love all things Rainbows, Fairy’s, Unicorns and hearts
You love to watch The Decendents and High School Musical, but aren’t always allowed to watch those and often select shows like Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First, Bluey, Muppet Babbies and Mickey Mouse. You’ve started to recognize that you’re growing out of these shows and most of your friends at school (particularly the ones that have older siblings) don’t watch these shows anymore. You did not want to include any of these when you were filling out your star student poster because you though kids would laugh at you for liking those shows. However, at home you actively choose to watch them.
Favorite books are The Rainbow Fairies Series, Sophie Mouse and The NeverGirls. You put up a big stink in starting a new book series, but once you get into it—you want to read every book.
You love to play outside with Luke and Anna and William and Kate on the swing set, making up games together, riding bikes or scooters, playing tag, making creations in the sandbox and just being kids. You guys played outside together almost everyday this summer, all day long. To me, this is what a kid is being all about and I am so grateful your getting a chance to do that.
You are an amazing eater. You eat pretty much everything I put in front of you, with the exception of fish, and eat your entire meal. Girl, you can put the food away! You are growing at ravishing speeds. You are in a size 10 clothing, size 4.5 tennis shoe and well over 50 inches tall. You’re tall and skinny, but proportionate.
When you grow up, you want to be an artist. You love to draw and color and have done some really awesome drawings through YouTube How To Draw XXX tutorials.
You love swimming, prefer the scooter over the bike, love doing the monkey bars and climbing trees, are self-conscious over the freckles on your nose (even though I tell you they are beautiful) and continue to love pink
This spring you began to suffer from seasonal allergies (not a great time to discover you have allergies because the symptoms are very similar to COVID) and are allergic to Birch, tree pollen, and dust mites. So far they haven’t been ‘seasonal’ as you have been suffering from them all fall and winter so we might have to do more…
You are fiercely competitive and want to be the best at everything at home and often get frustrated really quickly if you don’t get something within the first few try’s and want to quit. We spend a lot of time talking about practicing and working hard to accomplish things and you’re not going to be great at everything the first go-around.
For Halloween, you dressed up as your beloved Decendent’s character Evil Audrey
Lexi, having you as my daughter is one of my greatest joys and accomplishments. You are kind, sweet, thoughtful, hardworking, silly, smart and creative. I am proud and blessed to be your mom. I pray that God can continue to lead me to raise you to be generous, thoughtful, smart and driven for I believe HE has remarkable plans for you.
It’s here! After 6 months of spending every waking hour together, we’re attempting to return to some sense of normalcy. You are both heading back to school, full-time! Can I get an Amen? Things will look different, but honestly—anything is better than distance learning and I’m so excited for both of you to get back into a routine, see your friends and get a little bit of independence.
We are one of the few schools that I’m aware of in the metro area that are going back full time. Most schools are doing 100% distance learning or a hybrid model where they go into school for two days and then do distance learning for three days. Fortunately, St. Vincents is a pretty small school which allows for a little more flexibility than many of the public schools.
I’ve been so impressed with everything the school has done to prepare over the summer and the communication with parents keeping us updated on the plans. They sent several surveys, updated the air filtration system, converted all toilets & sinks to motion sensors—including installing sinks in every classroom, created a guardian angel room for kids experiencing COVID systems, modified the lunchroom, recess & mass process, replaced shared tables with individual desks, are ONLY allowing teachers and students into the building, specialists will be visiting the classrooms verses traveling to other rooms, modified the doors kids enter school from, are going to try and do as much learning outside as possible (each child has their own Yoga mat). Generally, it feels like a great plan.
In prep for school to begin, we dropped school supplies off outside at a table for each grade since there wasn’t an open house. Teachers sent videos giving kids a tour of the classroom and showing the students what they looked like without a mask and what they look like with a mask and a shield on. Lexi has Mrs. Kain and has 3 of your closest friends in her class and William is in Mrs. Yosef’s class.
At home, we started preparing for school by going to bed early and getting up early to start to get you into a routine. On Labor Day, I cleaned the house from top to bottom. Put stuff away. Washed all of the beach towels, swim suits and basically put summer away. The school year is kind of like the new year—its a moment to reset ourselves up and having a clean and organized house feels like a great wya to do that. Overall, you were both pretty excited to get back to school. Each day, William would ask, ‘how many more days until school starts?’
Since parents aren’t allowed in the school and I wasn’t going to be able to walk William in to his class, we put that responsibility on Big Sister, Lexi. We talked through how Lexi would walk William into his classroom, help him find his locker and make sure he got into the right classroom. She was pretty excited and proud to have such an important role and show him the ropes. Night before—talked about how Lexi would walk William into school. She would help him find his locker and get him to his classroom. She was pretty excited to show him the ropes and be the big sister.
While putting William to bed, I asked, ‘Are you nervous or excited?’ He responds, ‘I’m just SO excited!! My teacher said we were going to have lots of fun! I can’t wait.’
Lexi requested to have her hair curled in the morning instead of a braid and really wanted to have it all down, but compromised with it half up. Said she didn’t care about how early she needed to get up to have it curled.
On Tuesday, I woke up around 5:20 to make the kids request, pancakes and bacon.
Lexi also requested that I curl her hair and she didn’t care how early I had to wake her up to do it. Around 6:10, I woke her up and she popped right up and came downstairs to get dressed, brush teeth and eat while I curled her hair. I woke William up around 6:20 knowing he takes a little bit longer to get going in the morning. Daddy made awesome signs—as usual describing all things Lexi and all things William. The goal was to leave around 7:10–but by the time we were done taking our pictures it was closer to 7:15-7:20.
Cars line for drop off was crazy. Cars snaked all around the parking lot, down the street and the way past the school. When we finally got to the front door, William was flustered getting his yoga mat and backpack out the door and was pretty pooky walking in, but Lexi grabbed his had and walked him to his locker, while my eyes pooled with tears.
I have such conflicting emotions. After being together every single day since February, doing distance learning, figuring out a new way to work, having constant distractions or interuptions has been really hard. So a big part of me is thrilled for both of you to go back to school so all of us to get some space, independence and shift back into a more structured routine.
There is this other part of me that is really sad. I’m really sad that we weren’t able to go into schools for a little orientation with William’s teacher. I’m sad that I didn’t get to walk him into school today. I’m sad that they are wearing masks. I’m sad that everyone else he sees and interacts with will have a mask on. I’m sad the kids won’t be able to give their teachers a hug or vice versa. I’m sad they won’t be able to see others smiles. I’m sad that William won’t get an 8th grade buddy or a 5th grade ready pal. I’m sad they won’t get to go on field trips. There are just so many exciting things that typically happen and I’m sad he (or Lexi) won’t get to experience them
And granted, I know just being in school is a HUGE blessing and we are so fortunate and things could be much worse, but it still doesn’t take away of those other feelings.
Overall, both Lexi and William had a ‘GREAT’ first day as William said. He loved everything about the day and Lexi couldn’t stop chatting about everything that happened and every conversation she had. Cheers to a great year!
If there was one word to describe you it would be happy. So short and simple but it encapsulates you perfectly. You genuinely are just a happy little 3-year-old. You love to smile, laugh and be silly. Most mornings you tip toe downstairs and your big eyes and golden hair radiate to give you this angelic glow as you jump into my arms with pure joy. You’ll snuggle in and just rest in contentment before you start your day.
This past year with you has been a joy. You have grown so much, and laughed your way through the many many changes life threw at you and adapted as if nothing in the world had changed.
Between transitioning out of a crib and into a big girl bed, to being the only kid at home 3 days a week while William was at school, to no scheduled naps, to Mommy working from home everyday, to Lexi and William doing distance learning—I would say that is a lot of change for a 3-year-old to adapt to.
Throughout all of this change, there has been no shortage of sharing your expressive and animated nature. When you are excited, your eyes get huge and twinkle with elation as you tell us a story. Whenever I walk in the door, whether I have been gone for 10 minutes or 10 hours—you drop what you are doing, yell, ‘Maammaa’ and run and jump into my arms for a big bear hug. On the contrary, if you don’t get what you want; you hit or push your siblings, yell, tattle or will hold each of my cheeks with your palms and swivel me head to look you in the eye and get my attention. Although you are the baby, you demand to be heard and not be stomped on and refuse to let anyone think that you are the youngest. You yell and demand things with such confidence, sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m the one in charge.
As devious as you can be to Lexi and William—you have a very special bond with each of them. You and Lexi tend to have more hot and cold moments, which is probably because you often like to play with the same toys and their is a bigger gap in maturity. You can be a really big stinker to her for no reason. Just the other day, Lexi came downstairs in the morning and wanted to give you a good morning hug and you pushed her away and said, ‘no I don’t want to hug you.’ But, then you go over and give William a big hug. And other days, you give her a hug so big she falls down. Whenever you do or create something, Lexi is one of the first people you want to show or tell. If you get a new toy or pick out a treat at the grocery store—you parade into the house and share the news with Lexi. You also regularly tell me (and her) that Lexi is your best friend. One thing that never comes up cold is wearing matching outfits. Both of you LOVE to match. You have several matching pajamas and I’m working on getting you more clothes that match since you love it so much—and now that you both are in little girls clothes, it makes it easier.
You and William are the best of buds. Your bond really grew while Lexi was at school. The two of you would play toys together, wrestle, snuggle and really go together like pancakes and syrup. He is gentle and patient with you, watches out for you and often volunteers to share or give things to you because he knows it will make you happy. You love to play dinosaurs with him, or build magnetite creations, play trains or watch shows together. You almost never call him ‘William’ and always call him Badger, Badgie, Oatsie or Oatsie the goatsie—or my personal favorite when you are upset with him—Badger Sampson.
Over the last 3 months or so as you grew in maturity and Covid forced all of us to spend every waking second together—you three have really learned to play together. You don’t wreak their creations as often and can play and integrate into their little stories. It has been so fun to watch the relationships build across all three of you but then with each of you individually as well.
Given that you have been home with Daddy your entire life, the two of you have a very special bond. You love to be by his side, help him with things and ask a million questions. He is equally as obsessed with you as you are with him. You two loved to visit Great Grandma, watch trains, wrestle and be silly together. When the big kids first started going to school, you whined about going to pick them up, but soon got into a good rhythm and when Daddy’s alarm went off to go get them, you would just stop what you were doing and say time to go get Oatsie and Lexi. Kate, you lite up your Daddy’s world and you make him laugh everyday. He often says, ‘I just love Kate. She is the best’.
With that said, Mama is still number 1 in your book for the time being. If both of us are around, you come to Mama for snacks, potty help, playing, owies, tattling on others, reading stores, putting you to bed, getting dressed, and snuggles. Anytime I am sitting down, you like to be on top of me and climbing on my arms, shoulders, flipping upside down or requesting ‘criss-cross applesauce’ on your back. You love to be carried around but are particular about where my arm can hold you—usually around your belly. If my hand is on your legs or your butt, you move it to the place you want it. You give my unprompted daily hugs and kisses 5+ times a day and love to snuggle into my neck and whisper, I love you mama.
Adapting to change:
The first real change was transitioning out of your crib and into a big girl bed. This happened pretty easily. We already had a big girl bed set up in your room so instead of putting you to bed in the crib, we just put you there. You got out of bed a few times, but overall, you liked your new independence. Then right around the end of August, beginning of September, you moved to the bottom bunk and started sharing a room with Lexi. I re-decorated the room to be a rainbow unicorn. For the first time ever, I bought what I really wanted and liked for bedding (Pottery Barn) verses what was the cheapest. I need to do a bit more in there from a decor standpoint to finish it off, but overall, I get happy every time I go in there.
You like sharing a room with Lexi, but I think you would be just as happy with William or by yourself. You often go to bed before they do and rarely need anyone to snuggle with you. You would often tell me, ‘Please leave.’ And would roll over and go right to sleep. However, as the year progressed, you started to get a bit more particular—you liked to have lights on and the door open. You love to have your back rubbed and sing songs—Twinkle Twinkle, Row-Row-Row your boat and the badger specialty; Nonee Nonee Hop Hop Hop. The biggest thing I’ve figured out is you need to give me a kiss and a hug and say GoodNight Mama for you to really go to bed. If you don’t do those things and I leave—you’ll for sure be up.
Around the middle of the fall, Daddy stopped putting you down for a formal nap in your bed. You would throw a fit it like crazy and the bigger issue was if you did actually fall asleep, you would fall into a deep sleep and then go to bed until 10:30 or 11:00 at night, which was just not working. With that said, you fell asleep in the van on the way to get Lexi and William almost everyday. For the most part, Daddy would wake you when you got home to avoid the 11:00 bed times, but you would get about a 30 min nap most days. What is crazy about that is, school is 5 min away and you would often fall into a deep sleep in that 5 min—so deep that in the middle of the winter when it was very cold outside, Daddy would open the van door, unbuckle you, walk into school while holding you, wait for William to get out, walk back out into the cold, buckle you back up in your car seat without you waking up.
Then, in March we were all ruffled with a big change—Covid. I started working from home and Lexi and William were home from school for the rest of the year. This was a big and hard transition for all of us. Although you had playmates and mom home, you also lacked the 1:1 attention you had been getting, which I’m sure wasn’t easy. Whether an outcome of this change or just the fact that you were almost 3, you started to throw some EPIC tantrums. These usually happen when you are over-tired and you are not getting your way. The stomping and crying and yelling come out and can’t be controlled. NOTHING will make you happy—which usually results you being sent to your room, which almost always makes the situation worse. You will scream and get so worked up that you will sweat through your shirt. Sometimes, the only thing that will calm you down is having whoever didn’t put you in timeout talk to you.
These past few months have been a gift (albeit challenging gift) but a TRUE gift to have all this extra time home with you. I love seeing you throughout the day, being there to put ponies in your hair in the morning, make you lunch, the 30 extra hugs I get, you falling asleep on my shoulder during a meeting, watching you interact with my co-workers during video meetings or even the fact of you watching me work each day and being a role model for you to pursue your dreams are things that I am so grateful to have.
However, one of the hardest things for me with this transition was the lack of understanding you had about everything that was going around you. You didn’t understand that I couldn’t come play with you at any moment in the day, or that you needed to be quiet when I was on a call or that you couldn’t come barging in to tattle that William pinched you. Although you understood that I was working, you didn’t understand that meant I couldn’t be there for you at any moment. When I would say, I’ll be there in 3 minutes or come back later—that didn’t mean anything to you. You wanted and needed me now and couldn’t understand why you couldn’t have me now. Things have gotten better and the warm weather has been such a blessing as you play outside a lot more, but it was a hard thing to try and teach you.
Facts about Kate at age 3:
39 inches tall & weigh 41 lbs—98%
Nicknames: Kate, Katers, Taters, Tator-tot, Kate the Great, Katie<
Wear size 5T clothes and some XS or size 6 (which is the same size as William)
You had your first haircut (which you call a shortcut) a few days ago. You had these beautiful curls and I avoided getting your hair cut for a long time because I didn’t think they would go away, but the longer they grew, the more I thought they were going to stay around so we did a quick cut in the garage. You have these ringlets in the back of your hair and on your sides, but the hair growing out of the top of your head is STICK straight—no volume or curl to it at all. So that will be interesting as time goes on, but for now, I cut that straight hair shorter so your sweet curls show off more.
Fears: laying on back in the water, going fast, being up high, swinging
Loves: Frozen, Frozen II, Repunzel, Bunnies, Books, Purple, the stroller, snuggles, fruit, candy, chips, cheese, nuts (cashews), milk, running errands with mom,
Dislikes: the shower, sitting still, being quiet, meat,
Lovie or Pal is your grey bunny, which you have named Nonee and have also adopted a purple bunny to be pal number 2, which you call Rabby. You love to sleep and snuggle with them and request them when you are upset
Obsessed with the color purple. You want everything to be purple—your cups, your plates, blankets, clothes, shoes, crayons, paper, legos—everything is ‘pupule’ as you like to call it
You talk VERY clearly and in full sentences constantly. Rarely is there a moment of silence with you.
We haven’t worked on identifying any letters or numbers yet, but can sing the ABCs and count to 10. Lots of scribbles when you color.
Have hearing like a wolf. You could be two floors away and hear someone open a bag of chips or candy and be down at your side in seconds to have your share.
If we ask you a question and you don’t know the answer you say ‘You call it’
As happy as you are, you also have a stubborn streak in you. When you set your mind to something, you don’t budge. You refused to lie down in the bathtub the other day to wash your hair, so you sat in there for over 30 minutes in cold water—but refused to lay down for me. Then Daddy came up to say goodnight and you would suddenly lay down for him.
In February, we went to Disney. You got the flu 3 days before we left (the last one in our family to get it) and although you were fever free—you still didn’t feel great and were pretty crabby and moody for the first 2 days. You had moments of joy in meeting some characters and swimming—but were pretty clingy to mommy and didn’t get to truly experience the magic. Following Disney, we spent a week visiting with Grammy and Papa in PCB and you loved playing in the sand, splashing in the water and just having a good time with Grammy and Papa.
Kate, you are one-of-a-kind and I pray your determination, stubbornness, ability to command, laughter and kindness will take you far in this world. Please never stop whispering in my ear that you love me.
I think this was the last year for dance, for awhile. You just were not into it and never wanted to go. You did have fun while you were there, but it was a contact battle to get you to actually go.
It was your third year in the kindergarten/1st grade program and I’m not sure if you were bored or if you just don’t like the structure of it because you LOVE to dance at home and I regularly find you dancing in your room in front of the mirror—especially to The Decendents. You say you love Jazz but not ballet and tap so much…so we’ll see. I would not be surprised if it is something you come back to in a few years.
Here are a few pictures from your Halloween celebration and your Christmas performance.
Similar to everything stopping in March, dance went virtual. You had a Zoom call once a week and they tried, but it just wasn’t the same. Surprisingly, the recital turned out adorable.
They had each dancer come in one at a time and recorded you performing your dance as if you were on stage. The room was dark and they had the spotlights on you and you were able to follow Mrs. Gina since nobody knew the dances very well. Considering the circumstances it was very cute and made you feel like a star. There was a little red carpet and you got a little prize goodie bag. Then the production company is going to produce a recital video Brady Bunch style of your class dancing together.
Lexi, I have loved watching you dance and am excited to watch and cheer for you in the next activity you embark on.
Hallelujah!! School is out. For Summer. After 10 weeks of distance learning, we are done. To say this experience has been a journey is a minor statement. I felt like we started off strong with schedules, a routine and consistency. However, with each passing week and warmer weather each one of those things deteriorated a little bit. We kept trying to adapt and adjust and find something that worked and I think the constant adaptation was the only thing that did work.
Lexi, I know you act differently with Daddy and I than you do at school, but boy am I grateful for all that your teachers do. As hard as these last 10 weeks have been, I’m also really grateful for them. It has been really wonderful to have special 1:1 time with you and be more involved in your school work. I can see areas that you get excited about (Art & Science) and areas that you need a little extra help in (math). Now I know the things we can do at home to give you that extra practice to build up your confidence. Your reading also has really improved a lot these last 10 weeks. We have been much more consistent in read-out-louds and you’re getting better and faster everyday. I’m so proud of you.
William, you have been done with school for a few weeks and I’m astonished at how much you have grown and learned this year. At the beginning of the year, the only letter you knew was ‘W’ and now, not only can you identify the uppercase and lowercase, you can write them and identify the sounds they make. You are thoughtful, respectful, a good listener and very inquisitive about how things work. I am so excited for you to go to Kindergarten next year and really have very little stress or worries about it. I know you are going continue to learn and love kindergarten.
This week, Daddy also started working on remodeling our Master closet. The space hasn’t been working for us for quite some time, so it will be nice to get some drawers and and more hanging space and have things be a bit more organized.
As excited as I am for school to be complete for the year, I’m also a little scared about what this summer is going to look like. We can not continue to ask you guys to brush your teeth 7 times and nobody doing it. We just can’t fight these battles everyday. So starting on Monday, you kids need to brush your teeth, get dressed, do a chore and some of your workbooks before you can play outside, watch TV or play with toys. We need to get into some kind of routine where the basic things aren’t so challenging.
As far as Covid goes—the stay at home order in Minnesota was officially lifted and many stores were able to open back up. Restaurants, salons and experiences that are harder to social distance are still closed, but should be able to open in early June. About 100,000 people have died in the US from Covid at this point with the sweeping majority of them being 80+. As awful as it is to know so many people are passing, it is encouraging to know that most people contracting the virus are recovering at home and it isn’t quite as scary as I thought it was going to be when this all started to unfold 10 weeks ago.
That is all for now my favorite little monkeys. It is Memorial Day weekend and we’re looking forward to an outdoor BBQ at Grammy and Papas. Let’s have an awesome summer!!
I’m not sure if it was the sunshine and the 70 degree temperature today but this week was a pretty good week. Pushing the school work to the evening has really helped my mental sanity and Lexi is a lot more cooperative about completing it in the evening. Next week will be the last week any assignments are given with the last official ‘day’ being May 29th!!
You three have been really really good about cleaning up your toys. All toys have been picked up every single night since last Monday so you didn’t lose any additional ones and even earned back all the ones you lost–which are all still sitting in a bin untouched, so it shows how much you really ‘missed’ those toys.
The whining, complaining and attitude was maybe a tinch better–but still needs some work. Lexi lost TV & iPad for two days because she turned on YouTube without asking and then lost playing with Luke for the week for lying to us three times in a row. William also lied and lost playing with Luke for two days.
Yesterday, we did a good-bye parade for William’s preschool. We were able to give teacher gifts and pick up all of William’s things and then headed out to the Vossen’s to wish Avery a Happy Birthday. It was nice to get out of the house and also see some friends, even if it was only 20 minutes.
Daddy did a great job of keeping you out of my hair this week so I could work. Last night, I worked from 9:30 until 2:30am (and have done that about once a week). As hard as it is to work late into the night like that, is one of the few times I can actually focus and dig into some stuff without being interrupted or distracted every 30 minutes by one of you kids, have a meeting or be IM’d by someone. It also does help reduce some of my anxiety.
As a result, Daddy works in the evening from 6-11:30 or so while I do dinner, dishes, clean-up, baths and bedtime. It makes for some long days, for both of us. It isn’t ideal, but is manageable and better than you three running rampant.
The governor also lifted the stay at home order and ‘allowed’ people to start gathering in groups of 10 or less with retail stores able to open to a 50% capacity. Salons, restaurants, bars etc… are still closed with the hope of opening June 1st.
Today the weather was beautiful–sunny and 70 all day. You guys literally played outside from about 10 am until 7. You three plus Luke and Anna played in the sandbox, rode scooters, played hide and seek, played on the swing set, played Star Wars and Decendants and there was almost no tattling or crying. Daddy even was able to golf with Uncle Joe this afternoon. It was a good day. Daddy
Peanut Smiles 