Rest Time

On Wednesday night, we had a back to school night for Gillian. It was an opportunity for us to meet teachers before school started. Gillian also got to come and meet her teacher, the kids in her class and learn how to buy lunch in the cafeteria. While we were there, Gillian's teacher told us that in the afternoon the kids would have a rest period and that we should send them in a blanket to lay on. She said it would only be for the beginning part of the year and the rest of the year they would use that time as free reading. Gillian gave up naps 3 years ago. On occasion she would actually sleep at daycare, but it was rare. 

We sent in a blanket on Thursday. She came home that night and said "The monkey blanket is too small! My feet don't fit on it!" Daddy and I explained that we wanted to send something small to fit in her cubby and that we were a little shocked to even find out that we needed to send in a blanket. 

On Friday, I asked her "Did you take a nap?" She said "There's no napping in Kindergarten! It's a rest period. You don't nap in Kindergarten!" 

Baby blanket - part 2

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Gillian and her little green baby doll blanket. Her baby blanket just fell apart and Gillian couldn't explain what happened. I washed the baby blanket and we showed Grandma. Grandma determined that it would be easier (and faster) to make a new blanket. Gillian got the new blanket on Friday. She was so excited, "Grandma made me a new baby manket! And I can use it for babies or stuffed animals. And it's blue. I always wanted a blue manket." She has been carrying around her pink fox with the blue blanket since Friday. I just checked on her. 

Notice her manket on her shoulder and new blue blanket covering her pink fox. I wouldn't be surprised to find pink fox on the floor in the morning and Gillian snuggled up with baby blue blanket. She loves a good blanket. 

The fortune

Tonight I gave the kids a bath, John read books to Gillian, and I read a few pages of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Then the three of us snuggled in my bed with Gillian's manket. John decided to get his Grandma blanket so we could all get under it. After about thirty seconds, the kids got bored. John said "I wish we could build a fort." I said "Go for it." They went running to John's room. They were working for awhile when Daddy got home. Gillian heard the front door open and she greeted Daddy when he walked upstairs. "We're building a fortune!" she said proudly. Daddy questioned her "A fortune?" Gilly nodded and said "Yup. We're building a fortune in Johnny's room." Daddy said "Oh a fort, go help John." She ran away and about two minutes later they both were standing in our doorway. John said "You know what? We need some help building our fort." Daddy went to John's room to help out. 

Soon all I heard was giggles. I checked on them. Gillian proudly said "Daddy made our fortune! And we can watch movies in here!"

They played in their fort until bedtime. When I tucked John in bed, he was telling me "I want to make it so it's taller. That way we can bothe sit up in it." When I tucked Gillian in bed, she said "I wish I could have a fort in my room." I love that a simple fort made them use their imagination.  

Snowy Tuesday

When I got home today (after an hour and half drive home), I found Gillian snuggling on the floor in the living room. She said "I was cold. And I take your blanket!" How can you get mad at that?  

We waited patiently for John to get off the bus. My poor little boy was stuck on the for almost two hours! But he was still happy to be home with us. I was a little surprised to see that he was assigned four spelling assignments due on Thursday. I made him a deal, we would watch one tv show and then do one assignment. He was ok with the deal until I turned off the tv. He whined but we for the assignment completed and he was able to watch another tv show. We ended up completing two spelling assignments and a math worksheet this way (less for mommy to do tomorrow).

After bath, Daddy found Gillian and I in Gillian's room. He said "Hi pretty girl." And Gillian said "We was jumping on the couch. With no cushions!" This is funny for two reasons: 1) No one questioned Gillian. She freely gave us this info. 2) Daddy yelled at the kids yesterday and told them not to jump on the couch. 

As I tucked the kids into bed, Gillian said "Let's talk." I snuggled with Gillian and she told me all about Repunzel and Cinderella. When she was done with Cinderella's story she said "Let's talk about ponies." And she started to tell me all about Twilight Sparkle. I had to stop her because it was getting late (and I still needed to tuck in John). She wasn't happy with me but I have a feeling that tomorrow night I will learn about all the ponies. 

I love my kids and I can't wait to see what adventures we have tomorrow. 

packing

This weekend, we started packing for our trip to Disney World.  I asked Gillian what we should pack for our vacation.  She said "A bath-ingI  suit, some clothes.  And blankets.  And maybe a baby."  I asked her, "A baby?  Are you sure?"  She nodded and said "A baby.  A baby blanket and a bottle too!"

We laid out all of Gillian's clothes on her bed, so we could get an idea of what else we needed.  Gillian saw all of her clothes on the bed and I could see that all she wanted to do was jump on her bed.  I told her "Do not touch the clothes on your bed.  We are getting everything ready for our trip and I don't want you to mess up our piles."  Gillian nodded and smiled.  I turned around to find her something to wear.  She was grinning and touching the edge of the bed with one finger.  I said "Gillian, I told you not to touch the bed."  She smiled and said "I can touch here, cause I not touching the clothes."   

The Return of Manket

Gillian got a hole in her favorite blanket (aka Manket). We brought Manket to Grandma's house for repair. Grandma said it was a big project. Gillian borrowed a blanket from Aunt Betty (aka Loaner Blanket). Grandma fixed Gillian's blanket and dropped it off at my office yesterday. I picked up the kids from school and told Gillian I had a surprise for her in the car. She was super excited to see her Manket.  She examined it to see if Grandma fixed it. She said "It's all fixed!"  When we got home, she insisted on bringing it downstairs to play with her. She also ate dinner with her Manket on the back of her chair. I know that doesn't sound that exciting, but in our house her blanket is only allowed to leave her bed when it is getting cleaned or she is sick. After dinner we called Grandma and Gillian said "Thank you! It's all fixed!" She also said to Aunt Betty, "Thanks for my loaner blanket!" She slept all night long with her blanket and when I woke her this morning she was curled up in her Manket. She is so happy to have her favorite blankie back. Thanks Grandma!

The Loaner Blanket

Any of my regular readers know that Gillian loves her blanket.  She has a Grandma Blanket that she loves to sleep with.  Grandma made her this blanket when she was a little baby.  Last week, we discovered a little hole in the blanket.

We called Grandma and explained that there was a little hole in "manket" and Grandma said we could bring it to her house on Friday.  I made the mistake of letting Gillian sleep with the blanket that night.  Since Gillian doesn't always fall asleep right away, I think she used that time to expand the hole.  Instead of having just one side of a square with a hole, her blanket now has three sides of a square unattached. 

We brought the blanket to Grandma's house on Friday.  Grandma says that it will take a little bit of time to repair the damage Gillian has caused.  Gillian was not too happy to hear that her "manket" would have to spend a long time at Grandma's house.  Aunt Betty came to the rescue.  She gave Gillian a "loaner blanket."  The loaner blanket is a little bit bigger than Gillian's "manket."  But Gillian doesn't mind.  As long as Gillian can stick her fingers thru the stiches, she is one happy little girl.  I think that the loaner blanket is causing Gillian to sleep in an unusual way. 

Below is a picture of Gillian from Sunday night (the loaner blanket is the white blanket Gillian is using as a pillow).

Daddy moved Gillian so that her head was back on her pillow.  But the picture below is how I found Gillian this morning.

I checked the kids tonight and below are the pictures of how Gillian is sleeping.  Again, let me point out that Gillian's feet are on her pillow.






















I did it!

Tonight Gillian and I were snuggling in my bed. Instead of sitting still, she kept climbing out of the bed and running back to me to help her get back in the bed. After repeating this process what seemed like a million times I told Gillian that I would not help her again. Once again, she came up with an excuse to get out of the bed. "I cold. I get manket!" I reminded her that I was not going to help her get back in the bed. She climbed out anyway and went running into her room. She came back with her blanket and Patches, her stuffed doggie. She threw her manket and Patches on the bed and climbed up. When she reached the top she said "I did it!"

While Gillian was climbing in and out of the bed, John was showering. He showers while Daddy supervises in the bathroom. He tells Daddy when it is time to wash his hair or when he is done showering. Tonight he yelled to Daddy "I'm shutting her down!" Where does he come up with this stuff?

Caught

I think I have mentioned in earlier posts that Gillian likes to take her Jammie's off at night. We put her to sleep and it normally takes her awhile to fall asleep. I guess during that time she gets bored and unzips her Jammie's and snuggled under the covers in just her diaper. I do check on her quite a bit and most nights I catch her and put her Jammie's back on her. But sometimes I'm too late and she has already fallen asleep. So all I do is put some extra blankets on the bed and hope she doesn't get cold. We have been putting her in regular Jammie's instead of feetie Jammie's. This has helped her stop striping.

Tonight Daddy put her to bed and said "if you take your Jammie's off, I will take away your manket." I checked on her once and she had her clothes on. I checked on her again and she was only in her diaper. I called daddy. I didn't say anything to Gillian. But as we were waiting for Daddy to come in the room, she whispered "No!" She knew what the consequences were. She would lose her manket. Daddy came in and took her blanket, folded it and put it on the ottoman. She cried. I got her dressed again and we talked about why she lost her blanket. Daddy picked her up and hugged her and again explained why she lost her blanket. She wasn't happy but she finally fell asleep. I hope she has learned her lesson.