Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Countdown

Things have certainly been busy around here for my little girls. Olivia is seven months old and cute as a button. She is crawling all over the place now and nothing is safe! She's already pulling Blu-Rays off the stand, slamming the media center door over and over again for kicks, and of course trying to get ahold of every big-kid toy within sight. She certainly knows how to entertain herself, but really enjoys being around her big sisters. She is happiest when they are playing in the same room as her. Christina and Gwen love Olivia dearly except in different ways. Christina is very protective over Olivia and is such a sweet and loving big sister. She always wants to make sure Olivia is ok and happy. If Olivia fusses or cries, she feels it is her job as a big sister to comfort or entertain her. She can't go a morning without kissing her first thing and can't go to bed without a kiss goodnight. She always wants to help out with whatever baby-care is at hand and even brags about "her baby" to anyone that will listen. She loves Olivia so much that she has thanked me more than a dozen times for "making this baby". "Mommy, thank you so much for making this baby.", "Mommy, isn't Olivia the cutest baby?", "Mommy, we have the perfect baby, don't we?" Christina is just too darn cute. Now Gwen on the other hand loves rough. She also brags about "her baby", but her one on one interaction is less cuddles and kisses and more like knocking over, smothering her, bumping her in the head, jumping on top of her or over her. She reminds me of Christina when Gwen was that age. I assume she will grow out of it and in the meantime I have to be very careful when Gwen is with Olivia. There have been a handful of times where she has purposely done something that would hurt Olivia (throw a toy at her, pinch her, etc), I think just to see what Olivia will do. I guess Gwen is just curious, but that curiosity can hurt her baby sister and she doesn't quite get that yet. Christina and Gwen also fight over helping out with Olivia or even fight over who gets to kiss her first. Olivia is eating solid foods now (so far just rice cereal, oatmeal and green beans - soon to be carrots), and the girls (for awhile there) would fight over who got to feed her. I think the excitement of that wore off though because they haven't asked in awhile. They do, however, fight over helping out with everything, not just things related to Olivia. If I ask one to do something for me, the other takes it as a challenge and runs to try to do it first. Unless, of course, they both decide they are too "busy" to help. Feast or famine in this house for sure. Sometimes they drive me crazy and I have to ask over and over to get them to do the easiest things. Other times they are overwhelming me with questions about what they can do to help. I have the girls regularly doing chores around the house now so that I can take advantage of this helping stage (before they learn to hate it). I have them putting away their own laundry. Christina can do it completely on her own. I can just dump a basket of clean clothing on her bed and she will sort and put everything away in the proper drawers. Gwen needs me to do the sorting and then she needs to be told specifically where to put it. She does know what items go in which drawers though, so I only need to tell her "put this in your PJ drawer" and then she does it. Christina also makes her own bed every morning, but I haven't gotten Gwen to catch on to that one. When CC is feeling generous, she will make both beds. They love to vacuum using the shark, clean tables, and occasionally to unload the dishwasher. I also have them clear their plates from the table most of the time although I have to admit that sometimes I prefer to do it in order to avoid a mess on the way to the garbage and/or sink. I'm trying to take advantage of the little time we have left this summer. I have to admit that this has been a very lazy one. I've been letting the kids go to bed a little later and sleep a little later each morning. We've been strolling into daycare at 9 or 10am each day. Luckily, since my office is practically empty this month, I have been working from home most days. But boy oh boy are things about to change. Christina starts Kindergarten in exactly 8 days. Yikes! We are going back to the days of waking up at the crack of dawn and we will be rushing to get the kids to school on time for breakfast and me to the office at a decent time. Weekly swim lessons are over and we will spend our evenings doing homework. I have to say I'm nervous, but also excited.