It's been ages since I've just taken a minute to write about the kids... what they're doing, who they're becoming. Some musings:
I'll do Athena first since in typical second child fashion she's gotten much less blog coverage than her big sister. Athena is... entertaining and goofy. When I think of her I picture her wide smile with its big teeth, purposefully silly and sweet at the same time. Like Mazie, Athena loves to perform. Over the past couple of months our house (like many across the country) has been filled with a cappella renderings of the Frozen soundtrack. Athena's renditions are surprisingly good -- she stays on key very well and even adds in some vibrato as she belts out, "Do you want to build a snowman" or "Let it go!!!!" Facial expressions and hand gestures add to the drama. And of course, there is much prompting to clap if our attention strays for a moment. She also likes to give "mastics" (gymnastics) performances, which mostly involves sommersaults and some spins.
Athena continues to be quite the talker as well. Some phrases she's recently been trying out include, "Seriously?!?" and "Why do I ALWAYS HAVE to do that?" We've been toying with potty training for several months now but haven't really committed to it... she's not resistant, but also doesn't usually object to wearing a diaper, so it's mostly just been our own laziness holding her back. This weekend I was home with the girls and decided to step up the commitment a bit, so we went with the approach of setting a timer and having her try to go to the bathroom every 45 minutes or so. By Saturday afternoon when the timer would go off she would slump over and complain, "Why do I ALWAYS HAVE to go to the potty?" So put upon. A little coaxing and a reminder that she can choose between going potty or putting a diaper back on usually got her back on track. And then at bedtime it was, "Why do I ALWAYS HAVE to go to bed?" Another gem: "But Daddy told me I HAD to!" As in, "Mom, can I have candy? No? But Daddy told me I HAD to!"
Athena is still loving her preschool. She goes Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-3:30 or 4 (depending on my work schedule), and gets very excited whenever we tell her its a school day. (It doesn't hurt that Caleb has established a routine of taking her to Bittersweet Cafe for hot chocolate pretty much every school morning.) She comes home singing songs she learned at school and talking about her teachers and friends.
This year, we were incredibly fortunate in having our dear friends Alli and Bryon move here from Durham. Their daughter Hazel is 6 months younger than Athena. On Mondays, Caleb stays home with Athena and Hazel, and on Wednesdays Alli has both girls. So in addition to her time at Patchwork, Athena has also gotten to spend a lot of time with Hazel and it's been really fun / funny to watch their relationship through its different phases. We made it through a biting / hairpulling / hitting phase and recently they've been getting along really well. The other night they managed to find a box of Nerds candy together, and (perhaps realizing that any conflict might result in losing the whole thing) proceeded to be models of good sharing behavior. They took turns holding the box, and the holder let the non-holder take candy out of the box. Athena was even hand-feeding Hazel at one point, which, given the biting history, demonstrated some real trust. They're quite the pair... we're a little concerned about what their teenage years together are going to look like.
In general, Athena is a very happy, adaptable, and social kid who has no problem saying goodbye to us at the beginning of the day, whether she's going to school, going to Alli and Hazel's house, or hanging out with Ahya... but she also gives the sweetest hugs and enthusiastic greetings when we get home. As a working mama, I feel incredibly lucky to know she's in such good hands (and having a great time to boot) while we're apart. And even though she's transitioning into such a KID these days, she still lets me tuggle (an Athena-ism that I'm pretty sure we'll keep using long after she gives it up) her and love her up. I just adore my little goddess.
Here's a recent chat:
