Kolya a bully?

Kolya was outside today riding his bike with some of the neighbor kids. I went out to call him in for dinner and I see him riding his bike and crying. I called him to me and asked him what was wrong. He told me that his friend Jace had choked him. I noticed that he also had a bloody lip. Immediatley the mama bear in me reared up and I took Kolya's hand and marched over towards Jace intending to have a talk with him and his mom. As we approached Jace he looked at Kolya and said, "Sorry Kolya". The quick, but genuine apology slowed me down a bit. I asked both boys what had happened.

After peicing there stories together I discovered that Jace had called Kolya a crybaby. This made Kolya mad, so Kolya punched Jace. Jace then punched Kolya in the lip, and choked him (I don't know what exactly they meant when they said choked. I don't think it was as bad as it sounds). So in the end instead of going off on this kid and his mom, I ended up making Kolya apologize to his friend, and Kolya isn't allowed to ride his bike tomorrow.

Is this what I get to look forward to in raising a son? I've been trying to teach Kolya to control his temper. To use words, not to yell, and certainly not to hit. Apparently I haven't done such a good job at it.

Want to know the kicker? Jace is only 6! (Kolya is 7 1/2) They are the same size at least.

First day of School 2010

It is here again, the first day of school. The day was fraught with emotion (for me more than anyone else) because today was Amira's first day of Kindergarten. How is the baby that I brought home from the hospital, swaddled in her pink blanket and stocking cap, already old enough for kindergarten? I've been fretting over this day for quite some time. Worrying that she won't be ready. Worrying that she will cry and be miserable. If I'm absolutely honest, I've also worried that she will be just fine and wouldn't even miss me.
This morning Amira was all smiles and excited to "go to Kolya's school". She adores her older brother and was almost giddy at the thought of going to school with him.

We dropped Kolya off at his class first. I met his teacher and waited (even though he was perfectly fine) for him to settle in. He looked so cute sitting at his desk I couldn't resist snapping a quick picture.

Then it was time to take Amira to her class. All of my fears were unfounded (except for the one about her being fine without me). Just look at that darling smile. I can't waiting for her to cling to me and beg me not to leave, just like she did EVERY day at preschool last year. But she just kept smiling. Her teacher gave her a name tag and told her to go ahead and pick anywhere that she wanted to sit. She sat down next to her friend from preschool, Ashleigh. And that was that. She was ready for her first day of school. I faked a smile and told Amira how much fun she was going to have today. Then I left her classroom, but hovered in the hall for a few minutes, not quite able to let go just yet. She saw me peek my head in once, and she just smiled and waved.

It was so bittersweet. I'm so happy that she was happy. But it is so hard to let my baby girl go. I know this is just a first step for me. Soon she will be getting older and wanting more and more independence. When I picked her up from school she was all bubbly telling me the fun things she did today at school. She ended it by saying, "And I get to go back again tomorrow!"

Yes baby girl, you get to go back tomorrow.

And the mom of the year award goes too....

On Wednesdays I volunteer in Kolya's class at school. My friend watches Cora (Amira is at preschool) and I take Eliana with me because I don't like leaving my baby with people (except for family). Yeah well, maybe I need to rethink that because on last Wednesday she would have been better off at my friend's house with Cora.

So I help out in Kolya's class for my alotted 45 minutes. We were playing a game with flashcards and I was wearing Eliana. She was great and fell asleep on me (all of this information is irrelevant, by the way. Feel free to skip to the end). It was time to go so I gathered my stuff up and went out to my van. Eliana was still sleeping so I was trying to be really careful as I put her into her carseat so that I wouldn't wake her up. As I was trying to maneuver her I accidentally hit the lock button on my keys. I didn't want to jostle Eliana any more than I had to so I ignored it, thinking to myself, "I'll just unlock it before I get in." So I get Eliana into her carseat and I tossed my keys onto the drivers seat out of habit. That way my hands were free to buckle her in. I get her buckled in and shut the door. Just as the door is clicking shut I think, "Crap!". But it is too late. I just locked my baby in the van with my keys! "No, no, no, no, no, no no!" I exclaim as I try in vain to open up any of the doors, just in case. I even tried the back, just in case, but to no avail.

Realizing defeat I ran back into the main office and asked Annette at the front desk if I could use the phone and a phonebook because I just locked my baby in the van. As I'm flipping through pages trying to find a locksmith in Rigby, Anette tells me that she will call the police department for me and see if they can come right away and open up my van. So she calls the Rigby police and tells them that I need someone to come unlock my vehicle, emphasizing the fact that there is a baby locked in. I went back outside to stand by my van, peering in at my baby who is getting increasingly agitated because she has woken up and her hat has moved so that it is over her eyes. The police get their really fast and within moments have opened up my van. So after all was said and done it really wasn't that big of a deal, but I hope to never go through that again.

Oh, and Eliana was absolutley fine, except being a little put out by her hat. After the door was unlocked I took her hat off and she was all smiles.

Happy Halloween

The kids had so much fun trick-or-treating. We were out for 2 hours. We finally went home after visiting a scary house. After that Amira kept saying, "I don't want to go to the monster house." And Kolya was doing the potty dance, he started after the 5th house, and held it for almost 2 hours because he didn't want to stop. We brought the stroller for Cora. She refused to walk between houses. We would push her to someones driveway, she would go out and get her candy, then get back in the stroller to be pushed the 20 feet to the next house.

Carving pumpkins

Eric gutting his pumpkin

Me carving a kitty pumpkin

Amira with her happy pumpkin

Kolya with his scary pumpkin

The kids had so much fun carving pumpkins this year. Amira wanted to have a happy pumpkin, while Kolya wanted his to be scary. Amira kept saying, "Please make a happy pumpkin Kolya." After Kolya's pumpkin was carved Amira told him it was too scary. She didn't like Eric's either because it to was too scary. Cora liked getting her hand inside the pumpkin and feeling it's guts. I have no picture of Cora with her pumpkin because she was super grumpy so I put her to bed before pictures were taken.

Peaches (in case you couldn't tell)

I spent a few hours last Saturday canning the peaches with the kids while Mr. Sick played video games downstairs. I was amazed that Kolya and Amira actually helped. I expected them to want to help, but that including them would ultimately make the process take even longer. But thankfully my children amazed me and they actually helped a ton. Kolya and Amira peeled almost all of the peaches for me. Amira peeled 10 max. I kept her going by telling her that if she wanted a peach slice she had to peel a peach first. She'd get all excited and a few minutes later I would be handed a slightly mangled, but mostly peeled peach. Kolya peeled the rest of the peaches, minus the 5 I peeled. So I was able to focus on washing boiling, and slicing the peaches. It was such a wonderful experience to be working with my children to accomplish something. And here's the kicker, when all was said and done Kolya said, "Mom, thanks for letting me help you do the peaches." It doesn't get any better than that.

At death's door

When we got home on Saturday from running our half marathon Eric was running a fever. He felt horrible and kept getting worse. On Wednesday he was having a hard time breathing so he went to the doctor. The poor guy was diagnosed with bronchitis, pleurisy, and pneumonia! He's feeling a little better now that he is on steroids and antibiotics.