After months of inquiries as to when it would happen, the girls attended their spring dance recital earlier this month, for both tap and ballet. After Harper’s solo dance class last spring, Emerie and Reagan begged to join so they could perform on the big stage like Harper. Custom costumes for each routine made for some excited little girls, and the big evening happened on an already big day, the last day of school.
Attending another ballet school’s performance the weekend prior also amped up the excitement. The Alice in Wonderland theme was really fun and everyone dressed up for the occasion, including Papa Cliff! The girls kept saying I looked beautiful -just for wearing a skirt- and all wanted do pose for photos and wear crowns. Craig went all out and did temporary hair color for each kiddo and everyone was ready for an evening downtown.
To our surprise at the girls’ show, Emerie turned out as the crowd pleaser, waving constantly and ensuring she was in the front of the group. Harper attempted to stay close to Miss Jess just like last year; while Reagan was more shy and stayed toward the back, focusing on her footwork. It took a bit to figure out who was who from so far back in the auditorium, and even then I wasn’t completely sure I was right on Harper and Reagan. Doing the same hairstyle and costume and a significant distance equals difficulty!!
The girls were excited for “real” eyeshadow and my eyeliner, and did pretty well to not smear it everywhere. Harper ripped her tights after the first dance and although displeased, thankfully didn’t throw a fit over it. Also unlike last year, Craig didn’t have to carry a screaming, overtired toddler to the car; all three did great after the picture with their teachers and some much needed French fries; bedtime routine was smooth sailing after a long night.
Another fun event that week, arguably the best run kid event ever, was the annual Anchorage Fire Department’s spring open house, at the training station over by the hospital. It was seriously the most fun event, with an immediate stop at the free face painting, a hotdog snd hot chocolate lunch due to the cold temperatures, and tons of activities to try and things to climb on. Don’t forget the bouncy houses and shaved ice!
Everyone climbed in the fire trucks and asked the kind firefighter five thousand questions about all the buttons; I had to pry Reagan away as she kept thinking of new things to ask. Everyone tried drilling concrete (with ear protection of course!), smashing soda cans and crumpling wood piles with the cool power tools. All in all, it was a really well done event, even with the rain! We will definitely return next year.
While Papa Cliff was here for a quick visit, the girls were excited to build the girly Lego sets with him, and we were quickly reminded that building a set with three six year olds at the same time is impossible. Building with two is actually doable. All three definitely demanded turns and they are improving on putting them together.
With summer’s arrival and the ground completely thawed, we finally buried our sweet kitty Rory, who spent the past two months solidly frozen in the garage freezer (unbeknown to the girls!). About two years ago we did this with Rafi and impressively the girls remembered that and knew what to do. Everyone sprinkled rose petals on him from their dance bouquets from Craig and added a million dandelions atop the dirt. It’s never easy to bury a beloved pet, but as death is still a part of our lives, I believe it is good to share the experience and talk about it, and prepare them for something that is not enjoyable, but happens in real life. They did great; Reagan needed some hugs but otherwise all were satisfied decorating his resting spot and asking questions about him in heaven with Rafi. Yes, Emerie still verified that his head was indeed still attached to his body….just in case that changed since she last inquired.
Decorating Rory one last time!
Unrelated to the burial service, Craig convinced me and the girls that adopting a puppy was the logical next step for our household. While this is continuing topic in our lives, he managed to find a super calm, five month old lab mix to bring home to love. The best part…in my opinion? She chews EVERYTHING, so all toys and clothes have to stay off the floor. That’s an instant way to convince kids to clean up after themselves, don’t you think?? The poor little teether is finding all kinds of goodies to enjoy, including our feet, cat toys, real mice, and the handles off bags. Seems like we have another toddler in the house. Just like with Rosie, the girls unanimously agreed with Harper’s first name suggestion, Gemma, and insist she sparkles like a gem or diamond. Insightful, right?
So we ease into summer with an empty, cat less freezer, and a new, sweet pup. If we can potty train three toddlers at once, we should be able to train one pup…I think!
Another small life shift for our everyday household, that really only impacts me and Craig at this point, is the new and improved bedtime routine. Since the girls were getting out of cribs and into toddler beds, for more than three years, every single night either Craig or I have sat in the comfy sofa chair in their bedroom after lights out and until everyone fell asleep. We both had different music playlists and rotated through song requests until the snoozing began; sometimes when they were smaller it involved quiet singing as well. For at least two of those years, every time I sat we listened to Let It Go (Frozen) for Emerie, Cover Me in Sunshine (Pink) for Reagan, Toward the Sun (Rihanna) for Harper and other random movie soundtracks as we watched them (Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Spirit, Trolls, My Little Pony, Tangled Adventures, Frozen, Sing, etc.). As they grew this involved arguments on whose song should play first and whose played last resulting in it being the worst thing in the world in that moment. Another hit was Craig playing Katie Perry’s Daisies.
This bedtime routine started when Reagan discovered how to climb out of her crib, even with the mattress dropped to the floor, and lasted through the transition to toddler beds and into big girl bunk beds around a year ago. While I will say this definitely impacted our ability to decompress together in the evenings, it did provide quiet time once all three fell asleep and became a routine that I really enjoyed. It also gave Craig and I a little space to ourselves at the end of every busy day; something that rarely happens during the day with young kids. It created an hour or two of calm at night, but also closeness to the girls and that was my favorite part. We sat and watch a show on an iPad, listening to music through headphones or I would write a blog about the day, enjoying the stillness and peace, since it’s a pretty rare thing. I even came to enjoy this part of my day and feeling close to everyone without the anxiety and loudness and chaos that is the life of a triplet parent, while knowing they were safe and happy and not a care in the world while cuddled into their beds with their stuffies. It’s hard to explain but I actually miss it a bit!
Of course, we started sitting this habit to keep everyone in bed and from running about and refusing to settle (which occurred frequently similarly to all kids at night!) and making nighttime routine take forever,. The bigger issue after its establishment was we couldn’t figure out how to stop doing it. The girls freaked out without our presence and that turned into tired meltdowns, so we’d cave and come back in, continuing the habit well after age five and unsuccessful on how to remove ourselves from the equation. I will also note that most of my fellow parent friends do many household chores and things after the kids go to bed; this is not how we’ve handled it the past few years, from the time of sleepless nights and getting up more than a handful of times per night, for months on end. In fact, I can easily say Craig and I are a well oiled machine when it comes to cooking, cleaning, laundry, tidying up, and maintaining order in our house, and do the majority of these things while everyone is up and active. The biggest difference now compared to years past is it is easier now that the girls are bigger. Busy chore time during the day also equals quiet post bedtime hours in the evening to mentally and physically recoup from everything, and not needing to squeeze in more chores after going strong for 14+ hours. I continue to enjoy this routine now!
And now -drum roll please- we are no longer confined to the kid room at night! By about Christmas time we managed to convince everyone that Mom and Dad are just in the next bedroom, with some strong convincing and argumentative five-year-olds on the subject, and that sisters are close by so no one is really alone. Clearly having their own rooms would be too much of an issues, since their complaints are often that they don’t want to be alone…you know…with 2 sisters still in the room. The combination of the amazing Tonie music and stories player, a white noise machine for after the music stops, and a multi-colored star projector do the trick. I should also mention we are on our THIRD star projector…because it’s used every day, travels around the house, and does not like to be drowned in water (shocking really :)). Unless everyone ran really hard that day and burned the energy, then the new routine takes longer to hear three resting kiddos, but it’s drastically improved over the past two months and the longing faces and tired eyes don’t demand our presence as often now. Everyone does not immediately calm down and often fight or argue with each other (amidst stuffed animals throwing, stealing, and unplanned music changes) about something from that day, or someone has to use the bathroom or get out of bed a million times to try to play. But all things that all parents deal with now; I can’t imagine trying to manage that when they were two or three. So we are making good progress and we are almost there, thankfully!!
I should also add the parents are getting MUCH more sleep than in the past five years, with more nights sans kiddo between us than nights with someone there. Everyone rotates through different reasons for standing at my bedside until my subconscious jolts awake, whether it’s a bad dream, not feeling well, or went to the bathroom and won’t go back to their bed. Reagan most consistently comes to our bed from a bad dream -or she just wants to snuggle- while Emerie will get up and go back to her bed nine times out of ten, and anytime Harper wanders over to my bedside, I almost think it’s Reagan until the next morning. Emerie insists that Craig’s snore mask (CPAP) is loud and I think that is part of her reasoning to always climb back to her bed; she also likes to be cuddled in her blanks with all her things. And even with kiddos coming and going, it is still huge-huge-huge progress on the sleep front for us. And ridiculously, after years of wanting to get a solid night of uninterrupted sleep or not wanting to sit while they were not ready to go to sleep yet, my mom brain actually misses the need for snuggles and butt patting to go back to sleep. It nearly misses the need to lay on the floor and pat one kid’s butt while rubbing the back of the one next to them, which is not the easiest. Mom brain is ridiculous, I tell you.
And now we are right around the corner to age six!!
The past month everyone discovered the fun of loose and wiggly teeth. Since classmates began to see new holes in their smiles, specifically one of their besties, everyone continues to ask when theirs will start falling out. The enthusiasm for this life event is strong! We are also receiving questions why teeth brushing remains important, because the threat “your teeth will fall out if you don’t brush them” is exactly the opposite of this situation. Similarly to when their teeth came in as babies, I’m really interested to see the order of loss, with the girls’ identical attributes showing in so many ways in their first five years.
So proud and ready for a tooth fairy visitAfter Craig pulled Reagan’s front tooth
Right before Christmas, Reagan was the first of the group to lose one. She spent a while constantly wiggling it with her finger and biting into the evening snack (apples) every night. After a bit she embraced the idea and insisted Craig pull it and get it over with; probably secretly wanting to be the first of the household and before her sisters. She was excited it was so ready that it didn’t hurt in the least and that shocked the other two. It was her front/bottom tooth on the left side, which perfectly lines up with the missing top one from toddler age. To this day she still remembers when that top one was pulled, but not when she initially cracked it in half about six months before that. Harper and Emerie were quite interested to see the gaping hole (and blood) and if there was pain or not. Harper refused to believe Reagan’s claims as her front ones began to loosen.
Why is a tooth fairy so smart?! She has a lot of wisdom teeth!
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Harper’s first tooth!
After about a week and a half of torturing Harper about her extremely loose front tooth, the opposite bottom one from Reagan, it finally came out! This was after the entire household volunteered to do it, including both her sisters, and she would either run away or bury her face with her jaw firmly shut. We thought she might agree to Tyler’s volunteering, since he receives special permission to do things the parents can’t, and even that was a no-go. After it finally came out came the proclamation it was painless, like she couldn’t believe that was the case, and she acted like it was no big deal, after allll the back and forth about pulling it.
The following week Harper then lost her bottom left tooth, presumably so she and Reagan could continue their identical look (kidding?). This occurred after a lot of endless wiggling at nighttime, in place of the mild, absent minded nail biting she sometimes does while watching a show. The last straw was biting into a piece of Costco pizza at lunchtime at school, and Miss Tawni did a great job noticing the event and securing the tooth for fairy retrieval that night. After only a few days, one adult tooth is already popping through her gums. That sure happens fast!
Harper on tooth #2
Emerie’s first tooth!
Watching both sisters lose one (or more) teeth, poor Emerie was quite displeased at her lack of toothlessness. Luckily this resolved itself only one day after Harper’s pizza excitement, while watching Raya at bedtime. She reluctantly allowed Craig to easily pop it out, her front bottom tooth on the left side, and resulting in one happy girl to join the club.
A stroke of wisdom on my part was ordering customized pink, purple and teal tooth pillows to ensure a visit from the tooth fairy occurred, a few short weeks before the first “event.” Inflation has not occurred yet for the Douglas tooth fairy, and the one dollar bill found each morning was very well received. I’m pretty sure they are just as thrilled to receive a $1 bill versus a $10 bill, so for now we will hold out to the lower amount while the girls don’t have an issue with it. Thank goodness between Craig and I, a few dollars were around the house that we could use and we didn’t forget!
When switching Reagan’s tooth for the gift, I tried to pull the pillow out of her hands and woke her up, so obviously I covered by tucking her in with a hug and handing the dollar off to Craig to try after a few more minutes. Both Harper’s swaps went fine after she followed instructions to leave it propped against her pillow. I can only imagine trying to climb into that top bunk to find the pillow, without waking her up! Her first dollar was folded into a tiny square (not fancy at all) and she carried it around for two days without losing it. Craig did a fancy folding for the second tooth, which she instantly unfolded and added to her wallet, very excitedly!
Next week I’m sure another tooth will make it’s exist, and so far the elusiveness of the tooth fairy is working out. Timing wise everyone appears very close for the front bottoms, which I believe was the case when they first came in; it will be interesting to see if that continues going forward. And for now we will enjoy all the toothless smiles and see if folks can still tell who is who without the easy tell for Reagan! Big girls indeed!
Earlier this summer I complained about a lighter fluid incident with the tiny humans that happened outside…and let’s just say…you know what is worse to clean up AND off said children?! TILE (thin set) MORTAR.
God forbid Kid A (Harper) was chilling in a blanket on the couch, watching a movie as her Tylenol kicked in to reduce the crummy fever; me sitting with my laptop out working on emails, and Craig finishing up the tile in the bathtub and then pausing to eat some actual dinner.
In the span of 20 minutes, Kid B and C managed to explode, I mean explode, a full bag of mortar powder, to give the entire garage, and all tools, strollers, food, bikes, and so on in it a lovely layer of “snow.” It wouldn’t be nearly as bad if it were a bag of flour or sugar and covered in white; but the key point with thin-set is, adding water makes it do just that, SET. Craig’s reaction in this picture says more than any words I could say. Sigh.
Reagan managed to come back into the living room without us noticing the new layer of white on her right away; Emerie? Not so much.
Have you ever tried to get mortar out of hair, ears and eyes? Well I haven’t either….and it’s not fun. Hell, I didn’t even approach the mess in the garage and my eyes are on fire from it in the air! The garage explosion quickly spread to the downstairs bathroom and then to the one working shower we have, creating another lovely layer of white to scrub up before even trying to clean off those pesky monsters.
After multiple hair scrubs, shampoo, conditioner, soap, and a LOT of scolding, Kid B and C are confined to their beds with only one stuffed animal and didn’t put up much of a fight about it. But holy moley, I know we will chuckle on this in the future, but for now? How does one clean mortar off saws and tools without ruining them?
Only bonus I see is that only two kids needed scrubbing, not three; and the fact they didn’t bring water to the party before we realized their activity and caused cemented mortar all over downstairs. I used to dread the toddlers getting into flour or sugar and man, that would have been a nice result instead of this!
Harper sure enjoyed her popsicle while the other two were scrubbed and sent to bed. I’m not sure about any other positives to this…and with that. Good night? Want to come over and scrub some walls with us?
I can hardly believe it, but we are at the end of our preschool journey. No more toddlers or preschoolers reside in this house! I’m not sure it’s hitting me so hard simply because they are growing up so quickly, or because my brain recognizes the fact that I only get to do this transition once, because they are all the same age and we have no other children. After two different classes in two years at their current school, we are beginning the grade school journey with three little ladies starting kindergarten this week. It feels both surreal and like it took forever to get here; but mostly pulls a bit at the mom heartstrings knowing they are growing up and becoming more independent in this next phase of childhood.
We began the preschool journey at home when the girls were a few month shy of age three. With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing and our decision to exit out of an unsupportive daycare environment, the girls stayed at home while Craig and I both worked full time; a scenario that lasted about six full months. We rotated work meetings, working bright and early and many late nights, to get our hours in and tasks done all while entertaining three small tornadoes at the same time. Reading over the blog I posted on that transition over two years ago, I remember feeling mighty overwhelmed physically and mentally, and very tired from getting up multiple times every night, all without the “break” of a kid-less work day. Not everyone would call that a break, but it certainly was for both Craig and I, allowing us to focus on work while sitting still, in quiet, and enjoying warm meals and hot coffee, something we didn’t get to do for a long time when the girls were very small.
Several months past age three, three spots opened up in the three-year-old class at Anchor, called the Ladybugs, and the rest is history. The transition into a new class environment went better than expected, something I was super stressed over initially, and I’m certain Miss Tawni and her kindness and support played a huge part in that. Emerie had several surgeries over the course of the first year and with each event, the school supported and helped us when we needed it and it was much appreciated. Her continual morning patching is still an ongoing challenge and their support- I’m not exaggerating here- has greatly contributed to the eyesight she has and is retaining in her left eye. Without all the patching and effort to keep her on track; it would be a much different story.
It’s ironic that changing life situations for your kids is so very stressful on the parents, and yet most of the time the kids ease into it like it’s no big deal; looking back and making you wonder why you were so stressed in the first place. I strongly felt this way as we moved into the four-year-old class last August, the Butterflies, and once again feel this same stressful anxiety as we transition out of preschool and into grade school. Luckily I know it will pass eventually and I just need to get out of my own anxious headspace. Deep breaths!
Looking over the past two years, SO much has changed in our day to day as well as in personality and life skills:
Potty training: We went from amateurs to pro status on all levels. Accidents are far more infrequent now. So glad to pass that stage!
Walking to the car: This was an epic (and potentially scary) task at pickup everyday, especially on solo trips. I am thankful to report within a month or so of going to preschool, they started going to the car and not running off and trying to take on the parking lot in three directions. Now all three know they are supposed to go to the car and are usually pretty obedient about it. At least they don’t run straight at oncoming traffic!
Adventuring and getting out and about: It is SO much easier to be out and about now and doesn’t take three hours to get out the door. Less structure means more opportunity to do things on a whim, something Craig and I really missed doing for a couple of years. This is likely the largest change we’ve had so far.
Napping: We lost our beautiful home naps when the girls transitions to toddler beds during the summer of age three. We had a bad track record for naps at the first daycare, whether that was my kids or some of their unreasonable rules, we will never know. All three eased into it fine and continued to nap almost every day for two years! I still don’t know how the teachers could convince them to doze off in the middle of the school day.
The talking….oh the TALKING. It’s constant. And endless. And some days I wonder why we taught them verbiage and nouns (and expletives!). Over the past few weeks I’ve really noticed how excellently they use sentence structure, adjectives, and even adverbs. Goes to show talking to kiddos without the baby talk goes a long way to helping them pick up more words and use them correctly.
Less structure– it took years, and I mean years, to get to the point we could go do things on a whim and do them safely.
Writing and coloring: The girls have all loved to color since they could hold a crayon, and this love continues to grow into pictures, shapes and letters, and now real words. We are mostly skilled at name writing but progressing on recognizing the alphabet and sounding out what different words start with.
While more fighting occurs everyday than prior to preschool, so much of that relates to the thoughts and opinions they more easily convey to each other now, and the disagreements that branch from it. Growing pains that happen for every sibling, I suppose. That, and being in permanently close proximity with family members.
The vivid imaginations also expand on the daily basis. They free play independently so much more every day, and come up with fun and random games with one another. We worked hard to limit the screen time, not allow iPads or video games (yet), and encourage creativity. Playing “kitties” and “mom and dads” are still the favorites, and soooo many weddings occur in our house.
The girls went to their 5 year old check ups in July- yes several months after their birthdays- and all have majorly grown since last year. Emerie and Reagan both had several vaccines, meaning lots of band-aids but overall good attitudes during it, and Harper wanted to know why she didn’t get to have them too, forgetting she did hers the week prior during an ear infection visit. Here are the latest stats for your viewing pleasure:
Harper: weighs 46.2 pounds (77%) and is 46.5″ tall (94%)
Emerie: weighs 42.4 pounds (56%) and is 45.25″ tall (83%)
Reagan: weighs 44.6 pounds (70%) and is 46.5″ tall (94%)
To put this into perspective, that means Harper gained 8.6 pounds and 4.25 inches in a little over a year; Emerie gained 8.2 pounds and grew about 3.5″; and Reagan gained 7.2 pounds and grew 4.25″. Considering the fact that they all trend on the slender side, that’s quite a lot! This is the first time with a significant (if two pounds counts as significant) difference in any statistics between Harper and Reagan, who have remained consistently the same for most of their lives on everything. And Emerie is working her hardest to catch up and eating everything. Her height gain puts her the closest she’s been to her sisters in quite a while.
HarperEmerieReaganTriplets!
Grandma Sue and I took the girls back-to-school supply shopping last week. The girls were excited to fill their grocery bags with all the goodies, including folders and glue and markers. Apparently I am old enough now that my recollection of school supplies is no longer reality. For example, as a kid peechee folders, themed like Hello Kitty or Transformers or really anything currently “in” were sought over and collected for school…how is that no longer a thing? I could only find plain, primary colored folders and certainly no My Little Pony styles. Instead the girls decorated those boring folders with a million stickers, because why not! Everyone was also given the opportunity to pick their own backpack; Reagan chose a teal star style, Emerie of course opted for light purple unicorns, and Harper looked right over the pink princesses and selected a teal and purple Little Mermaid one. Last year everyone had a matching princess backpacks and I’ve found it is easier to have each kiddo carry a different one so I don’t have to find the name tag to know whose is who for gear each day.
Emerie & Harper looking at books quietly!
We also visited Barnes and Noble, a first for the girls, and each picked out a book and all agreed on a princess (Sleeping Beauty, Tiana, and Merida) Lego set that we built later that day. All three did fantastic in the bookstore until we had to wait in line; as I perused books, I found Emerie and Harper sitting quietly on the floor, thumbing through new material and Reagan a few steps away playing with the assembled train set. I believe we finally found Emerie’s happy place: a bookstore!
Sue and I then organized all the crafting and artwork, puzzles and miscellaneous finds from the front hall closet and craft bins while the girls put the stickers and other cool finds to good use. The living room ended up completely destroyed that afternoon, but now I have a much better functioning front area, all ready and organized for school.
Are the girls excited for kindergarten, you ask? That is a resounding YES followed by shrieks of enthusiasm. There were countdowns. There were requests to know how many sleeps until the start! There were many questions about it. These requests started occurring the day they turned five; so you know…questions for months! All three were so proud to be in the big kids’ class for two days before we left for adventuring for two weeks prior to the year starting. Everyone enthusiastically shared they didn’t have to nap and went outside THREE times in one day. Another highlight- big kids are allowed to go to the bathroom unsupervised, and that one was quite exciting. Another epic piece of this life change is their 3-year-old classroom teacher is teaching kindergarten this year and we are beyond thrilled. I’m not sure who is more excited, the parents or the kids! This solidified our choice to keep them at the same school and not go to our zoned public school down the road, knowing they adore her and will hopefully start off their grade school experience growing a love for school and learning. We are also thrilled that only seventeen kids are in their class; and we make up three of them!
Their favorite teacher, Miss Tawni!
The first day went surprisingly smooth. It probably helped that we attended “meet your desk” the day before and they saw the new room set up and greeted their beloved Miss Tawni. With all the late nights the past few weeks, we accidentally managed to reset those internal clocks to sleeping in a little later in the morning too, from the typical 7 AM (or earlier!) wake up call for the past two years. If you are wondering, sleeping in generally means to 8 AM, and with school drop off about 8:45, it is a nice reprieve to have a quiet house for longer in the morning. I expected a little resistance at drop off, but after all the pictures and enthusiasm from the morning and seeing so many classmates from the preschool class, as well as new back-to-school dresses and hair ribbons, they were more than content checking out the new classroom and letting us head off to work. No parental or kid tears occurred, and that’s probably a milestone in itself! All three simultaneously answered the first day was FUN and that is about the only description I received. When asked if they sat at the same tables, I received three different answers and have no idea what actually happened.
I asked each kiddo their favorite part of their first two days of kindergarten: without a beat Reagan responded playing with Miss Tawni (although I’m guessing the 10+ drawings are probably part of that list too); Emerie thought about it and responded playing with Miss Tawni while she worked. We didn’t cross the line by her desk; she said we couldn’t cross the line. Nothing else was her favorite thing today; and Harper said only playing with Nicole! I managed to ask this question to all three so they couldn’t hear each others responses, but overall they all end up being quite similar.
Headed to meet their desk!
On a random and funny side note, on the drive home from pickup yesterday the girls were asking for the millionth time when it will be their birthday now that they started kindergarten. We listed off the family members ahead of them…Papa Lon, Uncle Will, cousin Jaren, Papa Cliff and then Craig, cousin Chatum and me, and cousin Corbin, and then it will be time for their party. After grumbling sighs that it’s too far from now and will take forever, Reagan went off on a tangent about knowing other families at school who have 3 kids in their family and they have three kids but don’t have to share their party. They all have their own birthdays. It doesn’t make sense! (her exact words). It doesn’t make sense that I have to share my birthday party with Emerie, she’s littler than me. When I retorted with everyone is the same age, she disagreed. Funny to see her brain churning and trying to figure out how their age sharing affects their birthday. Everyone was then arguing over who is oldest, youngest, or “middlest.” I’m not sure I fully convinced her to agree with me. More discussion is ahead of us I’m certain.
The third day of school I attempted drop off at the front door and not taking them inside to the classroom. Everyone gave me a hundred hugs and kisses and stood on the curb as I drove away. My prompting to go inside was not helping and eventually one of the school staff shuffled them in the door. Now we just have to learn what gear and shoes need to come home each night and to remember to bring lunch boxes each day. We will be there in no time!
After several requests to know what new activities happened each day and no success on a real answer; all the practice drawings and writing came home on Friday. Reagan had the most, as usual throughout preschool, and a compilation of coloring pages in addition to practice pages. Harper was excited to show off her rainbow drawings. Emerie brought one drawing straight into the car and demanded instant attention to look at it and hang it up at home.
Even after the first week, their letters are already changing slightly with the adorable curly cue for Reagan’s “g” and Emerie’s “e.” I looked through the workbook pages and all three did pretty well, marking out bad behavior on the one pictured here and hopefully following directions during class. I’m excited to see what else they work on; after all, I’ve never had a kid in grade school before, let alone three of them at once!
As I finish writing this blog, we are officially out of all things preschool and diving into the next stage of childhood. I’m excited to see vocabularies continue to expand, improvement on reading and writing skills, and the ability to do more things without as much pre-planning and total chaos. It is already a game changer from three months ago and finally feels almost fun to adventure to new places and try new things, without as much stress involved.
And how much they’ve grown in only a year. At least we haven’t yet lost the requests for hugs and kisses and willingness to see parents in public. If anything, they are asking for more snuggles after being gone all day in a new experience. Here’s to Kindergarten!
The Douglets 