Swimming Lessons

Fear of Santa Claus

Last Christmas, we waited over an hour in line with Grandma to see Alyssa meet Santa.  She was so excited!  She kept pointing at him, jumping up and down, and saying, "There's Santa!"  When it was her turn to see Santa, she flopped on the floor kicking and screaming.  Talk about an embarrassing moment!  She refused to even get close to him and we ended up leaving without a Santa picture.

Santa was visiting early this year.  Last weekend, he was already at the mall for pictures.  There was no line, so we thought we'd ask Alyssa if she would like to see Santa.  Of course, she said yes and got all excited when she saw him.  However, when we approached him she clung to me and refused to get near him.  Santa's helper was really nice and let us stand there and look at him, but no matter how much I tried she didn't want to go near him.  We managed to ask for a dolly and give a "high five," but that's about it.  I could have left at that point, but it was important for me for Alyssa to overcome her fear.  There was nothing to be afraid of, yet I knew she was scared to death.  At Halloween time, she walked up to a life size doll of Hannibal Lector and wasn't afraid at all.  It took about 45 minutes and she agreed to see him as long as I went with.  As you can see from the photo, we sat next to Santa and not on his lap.  He did ask me if I wanted to sit on his lap which I thought was a bit creepy.

It's not uncommon for children to be afraid of Santa Claus.  He's a strange man in a bright red suit with a long beard and big 'ol boots.  It's totally normal for children to be fearful of someone or something.  We made several trips to look at him without the pressure to be near him.  I think that helped her see that he wasn't going to hurt her.  I explained that we were just going to tell him that she wants a dolly for Christmas and take a quick picture.  I volunteered to sit with her to help ease her fear and she agreed.  We took a few pictures and she said to Santa, "I want a dolly, a soccer ball, and sparkly lipstick." 

Since then, Alyssa has taken her Santa picture to school with her twice.  She says she wants to go see him again.  If we're at the mall and there's no line, I may let her go just to see if she really wants to see him or just look at him.  Either way, it took a lot of courage to go up there and take the picture.  I am so proud of her!

Little Monkey Lost Her Grip

My little monkey was swinging around, and having lots of fun on the playground.  She followed another girl and went too far, she lost her grip on the monkey bars.  Poor little thing lost her grip and fell face first in the wood chips.  She got a lot of scratches from her eyebrow to her chin, and her little cheek was pretty swollen.  When I saw her I couldn't believe my eyes, she looked at me and started to cry.  It's her first big owie and I'm sure more will come, but it's never going to be easy for her mom.  It's healing good and she's doing much better, I'm so happy we're not doing a Christmas family picture.

Leapfrogs to Seahorses

I'm so proud of Alyssa!  She was promoted from Level 3 - Leapfrogs to Level 4 - Seahorses in her swimming class.  In the past two months, she has made so much progress.  She absolutely loves diving down for rings!  She talks about it all week and even asks Ms. Sherry right when she sees her.  She is floating on her back, turning over, and swimming back to the step.  She also swims to the wall, climbs out, jumps in, and swims back to the wall.  It's amazing to watch!  We are hoping to get some video next week.  She is so excited when she jumps in the water that you can't help but laugh.  In addition to the physical benefits of swimming, the confidence she is building is immeasurable.  She is so proud of herself and I am very proud of her. 

Yippee, We're Pull-up Free!

That’s right, we are officially free from all diapers and pull-ups.  It’s been quite a journey, but we’ve reached another milestone in parenting.  I am proud to say Alyssa is 100% potty trained.  I’m just happy that I don’t have to change them anymore.  Yippee!

For the past two months, I’ve continued to use pull-ups at night.  I could have just let her wet the bed, but I didn’t think she was ready.  She wasn’t getting up in the morning and going straight to the potty and every morning her pull-ups were wet before I woke her.  I didn’t want to risk her wetting the bed and having to wash it and her every morning, so I figured we’d just wait until she was ready.

About three weeks ago, Alyssa asked to sleep in panties.  She told me she was a big girl and didn’t want pull-ups because they were for babies.  I told her if her pull-ups were dry in the morning for a few days, then we’d try panties on Friday.  On October 24th, we switched to panties.  I made a chart of the week and every morning she was dry she got to put a Dora sticker on the chart.  I told her if she got all stickers by the end of the week that we’d go shopping for a toy.  It worked!  She earned a sticker every day and ended up getting a Tinkerbell movie last Friday.  Every day this week, she’s been getting up in the morning and going.  I think it’s safe to say good-bye to pull-ups forever.

Good-bye expensive pull-ups, good-bye stinky diaper pail, good-bye emergency parking lot changes… you won’t be missed.

Smorgesbord

At preschool, all of the kids sit at the tables in the morning and eat breakfast.  For kids that eat breakfast at home (like mine), they may just sit down for a few minutes to drink a glass of orange juice.  The standard breakfast served is 1/2 cup sugared cereal (Trix, Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops) and 4 oz. orange juice.  Since I do not want my daughter eating sugared cereal every morning, I provide breakfast at home so she gets oatmeal, yogurt, fresh fruit, and healthy cereals.

Apparently, the food provided by the school is not enough for some parents.  I’m absolutely amazed by the smorgasbord of food that parents leave with their 2, 3, and 4-year-olds.  This morning, one 3-year-old girl had a bowl of Trix cereal overflowing (approx. 2 cups), a Go-GURT squeezable yogurt, a Fruit by the Foot fruit roll-up snack, a vanilla pudding cup, and a Sunny Delight orange flavored drink.  What is this parent thinking?

I’ve observed parents dropping off full McDonald’s meals with pancakes, sausage, hash browns, and orange juice for a 2-year-old.  I’ve seen Jello, donuts, cupcakes, and even M&Ms.  One little girl comes to school every day with a bottle filled with soda pop and the school dumps it out and fills the cup with juice or milk.  The 1/2 cup of cereal is not enough, so parents show up with ziplock bags full of cereal.  Some kids eat a package of six gem donuts for breakfast.  Are these people crazy?

The part that concerns me is that one little girl was sharing her M&Ms with the other kids.  I thought it was nice of her to offer to share her candy, but my daughter doesn’t need chocolate candies for breakfast.  I mentioned it today and they aren’t supposed to share their food due to food allergies.  So, while it is not the norm, the kids that are eating a normal breakfast have to watch the other kids eat candies, donuts, and puddings.  What kid wouldn’t want that for breakfast?

Every day I leave wondering why parents think this is okay.  Are they just submitting to whatever the kids want so long as they are happy?  Or, are they just teaching their children to eat what they eat?  Time can’t possibly be an issue if they can stop at McDonald’s.  Also, the school provides breakfast, so why isn’t that sufficient?  It’s the correct portions for children that age, but these parents don’t think it’s enough.  I’ve spoken to the lady who works in the kitchen and she ends up throwing all the food away that the kids don’t eat.  Not only are these parents wasting food and money, but they are teaching their children bad eating habits that will carry with them throughout their lifetime.

Child obesity has reached epidemic levels with estimates that 15% of children are overweight and an additional 15% are at risk of becoming overweight.  Two thirds of these kids will become overweight adults.  We can prevent childhood obesity by making sure that we provide healthy, nutritional foods for our children and by keeping them active rather than sedentary.  By providing our children with a wide variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, and non-processed foods, we can teach them to expand their palettes and develop healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime.

As for the daily smorgesbord of food, I will continue to shake my head in disgust at the mere site of it.  I’ve been so tempted to ask the parents why they think their child needs all that food, but I bite my tongue instead.  After all, it’s not my child and what do I know anyway?

Well, Hello Jerk!

I’m beginning to wonder if I should start grocery shopping alone.  It’s always been a family affair.  After this week and last, I don’t know if it’s such a good idea anymore.

Alyssa was riding in the car grocery cart this week.  It’s the shopping cart with a kid’s car on front so that your child can pretend to drive through the store.  She’s absolutely loves riding in the car!  As we were walking down the baking aisle, a nice lady was bent over looking at cake mixes.  Out of nowhere, Alyssa stands up through the front window of the car and says, “Well, Hello Jerk!”

I froze for a minute as if I had just been zapped with a stun gun.  Where in the world did this come from?  I have never heard her say anything like this before and she doesn’t even know what a “jerk” is.  We both yelled at her, told her that what she said was not nice, and made her apologize to the lady.  I also apologized again to the lady and said that I didn’t know where she picked that up.  The lady looked at me and said, “You’ll be surprised at the things they pick up.”

It seems like we’re having more and more embarrassing incidents.  I really think that Alyssa thinks she’s being funny and she’s just repeating something silly she learned at school.  When I asked her what she said later that day, she didn’t even remember.  She spends a lot of time with other kids and I’m sure she will be learning lots of things.  It’s my responsibility to teach her to be respectful to others.  Sometimes I struggle with finding behavior appropriate discipline, but I’m working on it.