The Pink Pig

We took the kids to ride the Pnk Pig last night. Sydney really looks forward to it each year. Every time we drive past Lenox Square she asks if it's close to Christmas yet so that we can ride the pig. Jaxy just likes any train - pink or not.



After the Pink Pig we went to a hibachi restaurant. It was the first time for the kids. Jaxon loved the "fire", but Sydney hid on the floor until I could assure her that the volcano fire had stopped.



She recovered quickly when she saw the broccoli and carrots on her plate (she gave the mushrooms and shrimp to Donnie, so everyone was happy). Jaxon and Sydney both liked using chopsticks, and they really liked the dipping sauces.


All in all it was a fun night.

Just smile and say okay

On Wednesday we told Sydney we would be meeting with her teacher the next day for a parent-teacher conference. We told her that we were going to talk about her. She then looked at me and said, "My teacher might tell you that I have been bad, but you just smile and say 'okay', and then don't really listen to her."

After I managed to check my laughter, I began to worry. We were not sure what to expect when we met with her teacher. Thankfully, the conference went well, and Sydney is doing a great job at school. Her teacher said she listens well and follows rules (why not at home?!), she is doing great with her numbers, letters, sight words, and math with manipulatives.

She loves art time, and she is very creative. Ms. Parker said that all of the kids have too explain their pictures so that they can lable them (to show the state Pre-K board when they check up on the program). She said most kids will say, "that's me," or "that's a dog." Sydney likes to tell a story: "This is a little girl who loves to play outside, but she is sad today because it is raining,"
That picture was a girl with a frown and large blue dots (rain) all over the place.

Most of her pictures were that way. Sydney has always been very creative - and a little dramatic too :-).

The only thing she really needs to work is resting time. Sydney refuses to lay on her mat and sleep, so she sneaks books under her blanket and "reads" while everyone naps. She hasn't willfully napped for me in 3 years, so I'm not much help there.

O Christmas Tree

We took the kids to pick out a live tree this year. They had a lot of fun, but it was really, REALLY cold, so we didn't spend too much time at the lot. Luckily, we were able to find the perfect tree pretty quickly.

The man re-cut our tree, and tied it to the roof of the car. He handed Sydney and Jaxon a string each and told them to "hold on tight so tthe tree doesn't fall off." Sydney thought it was funny, but Jaxy took it pretty seriously.

We decorated the tree the next day, after school.

The only way to get these two to nap...

is to let them run wild at the aquarium and hope they pass out at home.

"I not Jaxy, I Woody"

That is what I hear from Jaxon about 15 times a day. For his birthday (about 6 months ago) we saw Toy Story 3, and everyone bought him a present along those same lines. Thus began the transformation...


Fast forward a few months to Halloween. By this time, Jaxon has been watching Toy Story (the first one) on an almost daily basis, and playing with his birthday presents non-stop. Jaxon picked out a Woody costume, and proceeded to wear it every day. The only time he would take it off was at night when he would change into his Woody pajamas that eerily resembled his costume.


See Jaxon not only tells me his name is Woody, he tells everyone he sees his name is Woody. He cannot be in the house - or out of it - unless he is in full costume. On the one hand, we have definitely used all $19.99 of this costume, but on the other hand, it is time to scale back a little.


Jaxy, I mean Woody, has made multiple trips to the grocery store, the bank, the post office, the aquarium, the zoo, the museum, Target, and a little bit of everywhere else in full costume.


The worst part of it all is the costume is "hand wash only!" AND we only have one, so hopefully he outgrows his obsession before the costume is reduced to shreds...