The girls had a party tonight in Alameda so I decided to take Parker to this 80's video game arcade/museum while they were there. It had all classic games like Centipede, Donkey Kong, Frogger and many, many more. Parker enjoyed the driving game the best and was impressed I did so well at Pac Man.
Elizabeth is still really enjoying her gymnastics class at UC Village. It's a hellish drive but very worth it to see her enjoying gymnastics again. Yesterday they were learning the beginnings of a front handspring. There were three stations. One where you stood on a mat, did a small jump then a handstand and land flat on your back. The second where you ran, jumped with your hands upside down on a cushy mat and then landed on your back. The third was one where you stand on a hard mat, hop to a cartwheel type handstand and then the coach flips you over so you land on your feet on the floor. The kids were suppose to alternate between the stations but Elizabeth just stayed at the last one with the coach. She did it over and over, running back each time to try again. The coach told her to do it faster and each time helped her less and less. After only about 15 minutes she was doing it on her own. She was super happy and it was fun to watch.
Miranda was having a super hard time with homework the first week or two of school that they had it (which was the third or fourth week of school). She would melt down, say she didn't understand it before she even looked at it and generally freak out adding much time and energy to the nightly routine. It was exhausting for all.
The last week or so, though, there has been much improvement. She gets through it generally on her own or with a little coaxing to stay focused or struggles a bit, gets frustrated and then recovers. Last night she forgot her homework folder at school so she had to do two night's of homework this evening. She did some of it while Elizabeth was at gymnastics and the rest at home. At both locations, she started to get frustrated, but never really lost it and completed it all with a smile on her face. Later in the evening, I told her how proud I was that she was able to get through the homework even though it was hard and she was frustrated. I told her I was happy to see how she was able to control her emotions to stay on task. I also told her that she needed to remember she was a smart, capable girl because sometimes it seems like she forgets that.
Then I added, "When I was younger, my brother and sister were smarter than I was and sometimes it was hard for me. I felt dumb a lot even though I wasn't. I just wasn't as smart as they were." She replied, shyly, "Sometimes I feel like that too, Mom." Then we hugged and went back to playing with the foster kitty.
We've been fostering some scared older kittens. One came around and I had a feeling that when we separated them, the other would. And I was right.
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The girls had their slumber party last night. They each got to invite 2 girls. Elizabeth wanted to go to a nail salon and Miranda wanted to do something with animals. So I we did both. Michael took the girls to salon and I took the others to the animal shelter. Then we all came back, played a bit, had dinner, played more, watched a movie, and tried to get them to sleep which only required me to sit in the dark with them saying "Shh" every few minutes. They woke up around 7 which wasn't too bad. Watched cartoons until their pancake, bacon and sausage breakfast was ready. After breakfast, they jumped on the trampoline and played with legos. They ended the party with a Katy Perry dance off. I considered it a success.
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Parker had a few piano lesson's at his teacher's house in the hills of Montclair this summer (they are usually at our house). It isn't really enough time to go home and come back, so we got in the habit of taking the girls to Montclair Park. We used to go there a lot when they were young as they have a nice enclosed toddler area. They still love the fake horses and carriage. I wish I could find the same shot of them when they were 3 climbing on that. We also discovered the pond there is full of turtles and giant goldfish.
I bought a week long use pass for the Claremont back in the spring at Parker's swim team auction. We used it the last week of August before school and it was great. We lived like the rich folk all week. The last day, we took Alex, who is a pretty awesome friend of Parkers.
The kids are all enrolled in what I am sure is far too many activities. But...it works for them and in general, it works for me.
Parker
Mondays are his culture day...Chess and Piano
Tuesdays is his light day...Swim Team Only
Wednesdays are his hard day: Video Game Design Class, Swim Team, Soccer Practice
Thursdays are also ok...Swim Team Only
Fridays he has nothing so we do playdates then.
Weekends are for Swim Meets, Soccer Games, Fall Ball, Chess Tournaments and Piano Recitals...Which all seem to fall on the same day...
Elizabeth
Mondays are her hard days... Theatre Class and Girl Scouts
Tuesdays are her fun days...Gymnastics. I put her in a non competitive class with her old coach from when she was a toddler and she is loving it. She's the youngest and doesn't know as much as the others, but fits in well and still "has it".
Wednesdays are light...Just Ballet
Thursdays is her easy day...Sewing Class
Fridays she has nothing so we do playdates then
Miranda
Mondays are also hard for her... Theatre Class and Girl Scouts
Tuesdays she has...NOTHING. And this is how she likes it. She still loves her alone time.
Wednesdays are her fun day...Art with Suzie after school and Ballet
Thursdays she has....NOTHING. Again, she loves her down time.
Fridays she has....NOTHING...Are you seeing a trend with her???
Meanwhile, I'm looking to get a part time job during the school day so I can keep busy, do less volunteering, but still be available for after school chauffeuring...
The new exploratorium opened this past spring. We've been a couple times already...the last time with Ebba and her crew. It's walking distance from the ferry and in a huge building on the water. It's fantastic.
Julia came to visit in early August. She flew back with me from LA and we surprised the girls. The girls were thrilled. Miranda and her played all day long taking mutually decided upon "alone time" breaks. Then Elizabeth would get home from camp and join the fun. We saw a movie, climbed some trees, and painted some faces. It was a good week.
Parker had his first real soccer game today with a full field, referees and positions. It was hot and Parker had periods of apparent exhaustion but otherwise did very well.
