Goodbye Winter

These two months have gone by with the blink of an eye...and yet, they've been some of the longest and hardest months ever! That's what people say about parenting in general, so perhaps I should get over it. But REALLY, in the span of these past two months...we closed on a house, moved out of our apartment (and convenient lifestyle), moved into a new town in true suburbia, leased a minivan, said goodbye to our beloved nanny (thankfully we still have her over at times), enrolled the kids in a new school (Sammy's first time), and adjusted to my new office in NJ (= losing my city life). And while these were largely positive changes for our family, there's only so much change I can handle at once! Luckily, we've had lots of help from family. And the kids have shown their resilience and have proven that sometimes all you need are boxes, staircases, and TV to have a good time.

Josiah (3 years, 8.5 months) loves our new, blue house and has been thriving at his new school. We thought it would take some adjustment to the new surroundings, but he has immediately taken to it and is enjoying his new teachers and friends. On his first day, he was already hugging his new friend, William, and telling him about our family. Although I get anxious doing drop-offs in the morning, it's fun to be able to see him in action and actually hear about some of the things he's learning. He still doesn't share much with us, but every now and then he'll mention a story, craft, or yoga pose (!) that he learned. Next month, we're going to enroll him in a soccer program through his school, so we'll see how he does with that!

Josiah's stories have become even more dramatic these days, with his big arm gestures and funny explanations. He's been weaving in a lot of minions or characters from the Lion Guard into his stories, appointing each of us a role ("Daddy's the strongest, and I'm the keenest of sight!") and telling tales of escaping hyenas, jackals, and vultures. His favorite game is saying "you be ___" and "I be ___" and acting out characters. Good thing my brother gave me lots of training into this when I was a kid, so it flows naturally for me! He continues to crack us up with his daily exchanges, including challenging a waiter about items on the menu ("My mommy said you don't have spaghetti" or "you didn't give me bread"), telling Samantha's teacher to "take care of her", telling Daddy "you need to be more careful" while driving, randomly mentioning that "womens love me", and reminding me daily "don't hit boys with your car" (I swear this did not happen. But scary story for another time).

Josiah continues to be very affectionate, constantly asking for hugs and saying things like "I want you to LOVE me" or "you're the best girl EVER"! He's also been more assertive about his friendships, recalling their names and saying that they are his "best friends in whole wide world". He even told me that he needs a girlfriend and that he will marry Lana, because I told him he couldn't marry his sister! He's also been telling me that he has 3 brothers, after some recent interactions with older boys that were really good to him. Overall, he loves to express his feelings and love for others! Despite his sensitive side, he's also picked up more macho things too like putting his arms/muscles up and saying "I'm super strong" or running around yelling "super speed"!

He's still very particular and will get really upset if things don't happen the way he wants. For example, he wants the TV to be off until he comes to the room, he wants his stuffed animals arranged a certain way on the bed, he wants his bath toys all out in the water before he goes in, and he wants to always answer the door when guests arrive. Probably nothing too unusual for his age, but still super annoying deal with!

Good news - potty training has fully settled in and there is less stress for all of us in that department. For anyone embarking on this journey, note that it took us a good 3 weeks to get into a rhythm with little screaming and accidents. We still use night diapers, but rarely tote the portable potty around with us during the day. So I'm finally enjoying that phase being over! Next phase is getting him to wash his hands.  He'll go to great lengths to avoid washing his hands, like having us lift the toilet seat for him, wrap his hands in his shirt as he's peeing, etc. just to prove that they are not dirty.

Samantha (23 months) had a hard time transitioning to school. In fact, we saw a pretty dramatic change in her in the first few weeks, which I attribute to her first experience being "abandoned" by us. She was extremely clingy, mopey, and anxious for the first few weeks, which we felt terrible about. But with each week, she's getting a bit better...and is apparently fine once we leave the school premises. She cries a lot when we pick her up too, apparently because she's seen other parents pick up their children already. She gets held a LOT at school, which is my way of feeling like I'm getting my money's worth!

Not sure if this is at all related, but Samantha has become very demanding and has mastered the tantrum. I don't remember Josiah being this bad at her age. She's very clear about what she wants, from "donus" (donuts), "Elsa Anna" (anything princess), "cheers" (cheerios) or "read a book". If anyone takes something away from her, she screams, puts her hands her hips, hits the table, hit us, throws the object, and may even bite us or herself. It's a big production that she does with a hard face...but then suddenly breaks into tears if we don't relent. And she refuses to say sorry until the bitter end...but flashes a secret smile at the end of all of it. She and Josiah are always squabbling, but she generally wins just out of sheer persistence and volume.

Samantha's verbal skills have been improving and is able to cobble more sentences together, but mostly things like "me first", "gimme too", "food falling down", "Mommy gup" (Mommy, wake up), "Daddy honey"...and her favorite these days, "Siya funny!". In fact, half of her sentences are about her brother "Siya" - it's even the first thing she'll say in the morning. Like any 2nd child, she picks up a lot of random things from her brother too - I even caught her saying "dos, tres, quarto" today. Her verbal skills are not as advanced as Josiah's were at her age, but she's more physically coordinated.  I've been impressed at how well she's been picking up food with her fork at mealtime (with her left hand).

Remember those days when Samantha was the EASIEST sleeper? We used to just throw her in the crib, turn on the sound machine, and close the door. Suddenly, she's decided to be difficult...but I guess I can't really complain. She now cries bloody murder when we put her in the crib...so she's been bunking with us the last few days. We're now trying to convert her to her own bed, which has been a little better, but it's meant a much longer night process.  I'm so sad about that since I had hoped to keep Sammy confined to her crib to at least 3 years old. Oh well - kids win again!