Friday January 5

Happy Birthday to my big brother Ben! Wahooo! Getting older each year and feeling better about it too. Glad I'm not as old as you!

Fridays are Fridays. Half days for Lux. I was able to squeeze in some time with Zane and Zoey at the store after preschool. Smiths has these super cute kid carts. I was hoping I could find two, but instead we fit all we came to the store for (and more obviously). They were really good with the timers and trading responsibilities. You can see that Zoey likes to take the easy way out and catch a ride. Which also makes me want to get some sort of fit bit for my kids. I wonder how many steps they take in a day! And distance wouldn't change, but for how often they jump around and run circles in the living room for no real reason, it would be interesting to know.

Speaking of jumping, we have recently let Pippa get on the tramp. Mainly because it is more work to let her get on she watches on longingly from below. But check out the joy on her face!! She has probably waited long enough. And she's a decent jumper as well. Gets a bit of height and can land more often than not. She does enjoy sitting on my lap and watching when things start to get a bit crazy with the other kids. And I am glad she will do that and save me from kissing a few too many owies.

Also today, Zane and Zoey played with some friends. That made it possible for me to leave mom watching Pippa, and I did crossing guard duty that afternoon. Then Lux and I took Chayse his lunch at work. We ended up talking a bit longer than I planned with his office staff, so I decided to not do the errands I was planning on, and just take her to Yogurtland before she was supposed to go to Venice's house. It was really nice to sit and chat with her. It did make me laugh because she put on a big scoop of marshmallows from Lucky Charms on the top--we had 4 pounds of solid marshmallows at home. But she just needed her fix with her yogurt. She's a sweet girl. I have figured that with all this chemo my kids sometimes feel a bit of neglect from me. We have been trying hard to avoid that and with all the help from my village it has been easier on the kids and keeping my stress levels low. And I guess kids just go through emotions and needing to learn how to manage them just as adults have through their years, being refined through events in our lives and I just expect my kids to have a handle on their feelings already.

Chayse did find a neat article a few months ago and one of the key things when kids are being disciplined is to have some sort of physical touch. Holding their hand, touching their shoulder, an arm on their back. A literal touch is supposed to help calm them down. This has helped out with Zane so much. He can get physical when he's frustrated and we don't understand what he is trying to tell us. I have noticed it has helped with him, but sometimes it doesn't and he gets mad I am touching him. Point of the story. One minute it worked for Zane. Now I don't know what to do. Fingers crossed an idea comes to mind soon!