Three and a Half"ish"

We are in the midst of age three-okay slightly beyond but close enough...sort of. From my perspective it's both fun and challenging. They are just so cute when they are pretending. Kaylie is the boss. Ryan appeases her but has his moments of bucking the system so to speak. Some days they can go hours playing so nice with each other and some days it's fighting from the get go.


Ryan: Still loves cars and trucks. Loves his football. Gives hugs and kisses often. (Fun!) Likes his routines. He is a sensitive guy. Not always the best at listening. He can be stubborn when asked to clean up, take a bath, or ya know do something like pull his pants up and down when using the bathroom. He CAN do it but simply refuses to. He does it just fine at school and at random times does it on his own at home with no problem but often claims the words, "I can't," over and over. We've made some progress and he has been pulling them down a little more. I pull up sometimes and I see he is more willing to do it now but this has been a long fight. He gets happy when we praise him after doing it. You would think he would want to keep doing it. Nope. I don't get why he fights it so much. Sometimes it has literally taken 40 minutes of me asking/pleading/begging him to pull up his pants. He would rather walk around with the pants at his ankles. (Challenging!)


I have noticed that Ryan doesn't like to do things that involve fine motor skills (which is probably the underlying reason he doesn't like to do his pants) like coloring, drawing, doing puzzles, play doh, legos, and things like that. He lasts about a minute doing these activities because he finds them hard for him. I guess I have to keep pushing him before it becomes really obvious when he can't tie shoes or write.





Kaylie: Still feisty as ever! As much as she can be difficult she is also a good girl. Occasionally getting a time out here and there but generally listens. She definitely chooses when she doesn't listen. She often responds with an "I'm too tired," when asked to clean up. Yet, they do this task without incident at school! She gives hugs and wants to snuggle. She can be demanding. I would say most of the day is spent with her demanding things. She still has princesses as her number one favorite but has branched out into Barbie. She must sleep with a bunch of books, animals and any other trinkets she finds. She enjoys arts and crafts and really spends a lot of time doing all the activities that Ryan doesn't enjoy so much.


Mealtime: I HATE feeding my kids. Really it has become quite the task. First, they don't want to sit and eat. They would rather watch whatever is on TV or play. Second, they have very limited food that they will eat and of course some of those are not the same for both. I really want to get to the point where we all eat the same thing for dinner but I don't see that happening any time soon. Neither of us remember ever having a special dinner made for us when we were kids and I don't want to do it for them especially since they haven't been eating the special thing I make for them. I would really love it if they ate PB&J every day! Then I would know it would be something they'll eat. (They don't eat PB&J by the way.) It's very frustrating. Breakfast is okay but lunch and dinner-- forget about it!


School: Still good although Kaylie still doesn't talk to other kids. The thought of splitting them up next year has entered my mind even though I thought I would wait until kindergarten to do that. I don't know if it would be good for Kaylie or detrimental. I really want her to break out of this shell she is in. They behave at school at least. One of the parents who helps out in the class told me they are well behaved and listen. (Yep, a pat on the back there.) Unfortunately at home I feel I need Supernanny half the time. Conferences are next week so I will get more info then.

We've started playing board games and they do well taking turns. It's funny, at this point they don't care who wins. I was the worst at losing so I cannot wait for that to kick in. (insert eyeroll)


I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff they are doing. This will have to do though.

It's Been a Year

On January 12, 2010, it marked a year since I first found the quarter size bald patch on Kaylie's head. It was an emotional year for me. I cried a lot for about the first 6 months. A lot of people told me it was no big deal and things could be worse. I know they could be but I had the right to grieve didn't I? Sometime in the summer I gained some acceptance of it and resigned myself to the fact that she might be bald for the rest of her life. At that point, she had lost all the hair. I also stopped reading about alopecia and everyone's personal struggle with it. That probably stressed me out the most, hearing how everyone struggles with it and how I didn't want that to happen to my daughter. Then in July we spotted the fuzz growing back on the top of her hair and I gained some hope back. Slowly with her hair growing back, my hope keeps growing back too. I just hope it doesn't get crushed again.

So where are we a year later...here.

You can see hair is growing back on the top. Hair on the sides and back are taking their sweet old time. I spotted some fuzz on the side today so that is promising. You can still see circular spots a clear sign of the alopecia. But of course all of this new hair can fall out again and we start the cycle all over. The unknown is what gets you.

I stopped using the cream we were using. I wasn't seeing any reaction like it was supposed to cause so I figured what's the point? Her body clearly got used to it. Even without the cream, growth is happening. That's a good thing.

Kaylie knows her hair is short but she doesn't know that it's not supposed to be like that. She is not self conscious of it at all. I have told her she has something called alopecia where her hair doesn't grow but she doesn't quite "get it." She has never asked me why other people have long hair and she doesn't. It's funny b/c she plays with my hair from time to time pulling it back into a ponytail and messing it up but never asks for her hair to be put up. I actually have not put it up in pig tails since January 12th of last year. Kids in her class have never asked about it. I do see older kids--maybe age 7 and up looking at her trying to figure out just what was going on. No one has ever asked me about it either. Kind of strange I think. I don't know if they are just avoiding it or what but then again I probably would never go up to someone and ask either.

Oh and you know what? Her hair actually gets messed up now. I actually have to do her hair. I had many months of not having to do anything to her hair. It feels good but at the same time, man having no hair was so easy!

How I'm handling it: I'm trying to be strong about it. I just tell her she is beautiful every day because she is! I need to build up her self confidence as much as I can. When she asks, I will tell her. I am hoping all the hair grows back before then. :)

A Short Catch Up Post

Christmas was very nice. The kids were into the whole leaving cookies and reindeer food (oatmeal mixed with red sprinkles) out for Santa. They were not as excited on Christmas morning as I thought they would be. They took awhile to even begin to open gifts. Santa did not wrap his gifts and they did gravitate towards those first. I guess that's all they needed. I just expected some tearing into the gifts but didn't get that. That's okay though. I'm sure next year will be totally different. I have a skeptic on my hands. Ryan actually questioned whether Santa had really come. I reassured him that he did come and he seemed to accept that. We spent the day visiting family and they were whooped.

The day after Christmas we had a major snowstorm here that dropped two plus feet of snow and the drifts were so bad that we couldn't see out the front door at all. It was all mounded up in front like we have never seen. We seem to be getting hit every week with some sort of snowstorm. Today it was ice and school was cancelled. It's actually getting a bit old already. I can't wait for spring to hurry up and get here.

That's all that's been going on here. Snow, snow, and more snow.