So, the first thing I did was to bring down the "Getting Ready for Preschool" box Michael and I bought for Emerald at Barnes and Noble a while back.
It is actually a really neat box--it has scissors and a little "learning to tie your shoes" activity, plus all these worksheets and stickers...for the most part, all I have used thus far are the ABC's and 123's books that have an erasable marker so that Emerald can practice reading and writing and tracing the letters, but today I decided to see what other activities were in there that we might enjoy.
The first thing we did was a sticker sheet to help kids learn about emotions. There is a picture of several kids playing on a playground and you have to stick the face stickers on them to express happy, sad, surprise, scared, mad, etc. For the rest of the day, we have been trying to identify how things make us feel--it makes mommy sad when Emerald disobeys; Gabriel is happy when he swings on the swing; Emerald is scared when she poops in her room. Things like that.
Next was a really cool sticker worksheet that taught her to sort by shape, size, and color. There were four animals--a toad, a cat, a dog, and a pig--and she had to find the shapes to complete the animals. She really really loved that. I asked her then what her favorite shape was, and she told me "I like octagons". What the heck!? Why does a 3 year old know octagons?! I was expecting circle, square, heart...something!!
Don't think that while Emerald was doing all these fun activities that Gabriel was getting ignored. I found the neatest thing in the box and Gabriel had the most fun ever trying them out.
You see, most crayons are difficult for Gabriel to hold--they are too skinny and break too easily. These are short and stubby and triangular, but they have holes in the bottoms so they fit perfectly on the ends of little fingers. Gabriel sticks his fingers in them and has a blast coloring!! We only have one problem with him contemplating eating the crayons, but that was only near the end when he was starting to get bored.
We did that for as long as they were willing to pay attention, and then I made them help me clean up while I got out some board games. We have several games, but I never remember them because I still think of the kids as so young.
While I am setting up the board games and trying to figure out to play them and everything, Emerald runs off to her room. We are still working on potty training, and she has had lots of tinkle successes over the last few days. Unfortunately, Emerald went back there to poop on the floor for the second day in a row. I am very calm and patient with her as I help her clean it up, explaining why this was not okay and talking to her about where poo-poo and pee-pee go. We wash our hands and she gets sent to time-out to think about how she messed up and how she can do better next time.
The first game we tried was Memory.
It was hard to get Gabriel interested in this one, but we let him watch me and Emerald for a while and that sort of peaked his interest. First we matched all the cards to make sure they were all there. Then we separated the pairs into groups--animals, food, outdoor, around the house, transportation, and toys. Emerald really enjoyed matching the cards together and organizing them so nicely.
For Gabriel, we encouraged him to point at the ones he wanted; to stack the cards into a tower; to hand us one at a time so that Emerald could match them; and to sign "more" and "please" and make eye contact while playing with us.
Eventually we actually shifted into playing real memory, and for about half that game we had fun. At first Emerald was focused and enjoying herself, she was working hard to find pairs, and was very proud of herself for her achievements. Then, near the end, her interest started waning and she started to think it was funny to get it wrong every time and to count wrong. It was annoying and felt like a waste of my time. I know she was just getting restless and trying to enjoy herself, but I found it frustrating, so we put away Memory and got out the next game.
I let Emerald pick, and she chose Chutes and Ladders. We had never tried Chutes and Ladders before, but I figured that Gabriel would enjoy the spinner and Emerald could learn something from it and have fun too.
This was probably the most frustrating experience in recent memory.
First of all, Gabriel was absolutely 100% checked out socializing at this point, so he fought and squirmed, even after I showed him how the spinner worked. Which he had zero interest in, might I add. So it is just me and Emerald--I can hear Gabriel over on the other side of the room emptying out the toy organizer, which would tick me off if I stopped to think about it, so I focused on getting Emerald to understand the game.
Emerald can easily count to 13, and can read all the numbers (1-6) on the Chutes and Ladders spinner, so I think this should be no problem.
Wrong. =/
She cannot work the spinner...like at all. We try several different methods for her to work it, but she keeps just grabbing the arrow and turning it until it it lands on the number she wants it to be on. Since she doesn't really understand the point of the game, it is not always a high number--not a very efficient little cheater, but A for effort.
About this time she quits listening to me all together, which makes me pretty mad. She isn't interested in talking about the little stories of success and failure on the board; even when she identifies the number correctly on the spinner, she just randomly slams her token however many times she wants on the board instead of moving in any form of rhyme or reason, and no matter how many times I try to explain it to her, she refuses to listen.
It is so frustrating and irritating that I feel my temper waning, so I decide we all need an outdoor break before Daddy gets home for lunch.
Unfortunately, Daddy is not coming home for lunch because he has a busy day and has to work through lunch. The pickle on the crap sandwich that is my day. At least we are enjoying a beautiful day outside.
Emerald is still refusing to listen, and is giving me a good deal of attitude, which does nothing to soothe my all ready fraying nerves. We have a talk, which I am sure she was ignoring every word, and then we try and enjoy the fresh air and relatively quiet day.
Gabriel is being his normal self, albeit a little fussier than usual. But he is doing his signs without prompting and seems to be feeling a bit better, at any rate. They run around and I soak in the sun, when all of a sudden I hear the most grating, jarring noise.
The children have stuffed a metal stick down in the air conditioner unit to try and touch the spinning fan.
Luckily, nothing is broken, but both kids are punished by immediately being brought back into the house and given time-outs. Everyone is tired and cranky and hungry and ready for this day to just stop.
Washing our hands, we all set to making lunch. I make this revolting little grill-cheese/hot dog hybrid for the kids--I melt cheese on a piece of white bread and then roll it all up with a hot dog inside of it so when the cheese sets, they can't pick out the hot dog or the cheese without eating the bread. I don't know why it bothers me so bad that they always leave the bread, but at least this time they were unable to. I personally eat a couple of cheddarwurst sausages and pineapple.
Nap time is still a little ways off, so I ask the kids if they would like to take a walk. Normally, I would load Gabriel into the stroller and Emerald and I would walk, but I want to wear them both out so I opt to make both of them walk today. It was kind of fun--Gabriel got a kick out of being able to walk like a big kid, and I let them have mini races until--once again--they quit listening to me and started doing stupid, dangerous things. We made it around the block twice before Emerald started complaining that her foot hurt, so we come in and lay down.
As it is, Gabriel went right to sleep, but Emerald spent the last two hours scowling at me and telling me how mad and sad I make her. Logically, I know that she is trying to get a rise out of me because she is three and is exerting her independence. Other examples of this include her telling me how and how not to speak to Gabriel, arguing over every little word I say no matter how innocuous, and screeching at me all the time. Emotionally, I am surprisingly hurt by how much anger and resentment I feel coming off from her....all the time. I don't know how to make it better, I don't even know how I made it wrong in the first place. It seems like everything I do is wrong with her, and it is wearying and discouraging.
Anyways, while writing this Emerald FINALLY fell asleep, so I was going to go into the kitchen and set up some ramps and sweep the kitchen because I was hoping we could do some Matchbox car races this afternoon. Maybe Beth and Sarah coming over will help ease the tension as well. Plus, Michael finally has a day off tomorrow, so that is always a plus.
Here's praying for patience....
~Andie~
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