The wind of change

WARNING, it's nearly midnight, I am rambling, all of this is probably only interesting to me, so don't feel bad if you don't read it...

I don't do well with change. Well, I suppose I think that I don't, but I actually probably do. The one thing that I have learnt since I have become a mum is that whenever I get used to something the kids do or don't do, it will change withing a very short time-frame.

So let's see what is changing...

During the summer I have introduced that each day is either Tara's day or Lia's day. Fi will join in when she is 3, until then every day is her day too as she is younger she can't wait well. yet :-) This small game has really increased Lia's confidence and has helped Tara to learn to wait and generally to stop doing much of the typical first child behaviors she would have exhibited in the past. I suppose I was at fault as I was so concerned about her speech development for years that I have focused a lot on what she said and spent time correcting it, etc. But now her speech is almost completely caught up in both languages which is a huge relief.

Our 2 eldest have started playing n our estate. This is not something that would have been the done thing when we were growing up so we are watching with great interest how their personality and independence develops through this.

Tara is now in first class taking the school bus and doing a whooping 8 hours of gymnastics every week. She is now in school from 9-3 which I find way too long. This year is supposed to be the big leap after the infant years in school work, I hope she will do OK, she has already complained that they do very little arts and crafts. So now we make sure that we have a special crafts afternoon every week and a baking day...

Lia has started junior infants, she seems quite happy and is mainly looking forward to starting have proper playdates. She has really come a long way socially and confidence wise this summer, so I am looking forward to seeing a happier, less whiny Lia this year. I anticipate that she will come out of Tara's shadow as she will no longer be the small sister of Tara. It also helps that she has been invited to join the junior squad for gymnastics for 3 hours a week and is in a different team than Tara.

I will continue about Fi and me another day as there is a lot to say.

Birthday pic

Darling Lia couldn't believe her cake. She was delighted...

Lia is 4

Lia is turning 4 tomorrow. It is completely shocking, in the midst of all that has gone on in our lives over the last 2 years, she has become 4. I can hardly believe it. It all happens so fast, and I can't help but feel guilty of how little of my attention she gets. of course she gets plenty of my attention, but she doesn't get any of my anxious, all consuming attention, that seems to be reserved for the other 2 these days. She is so easy from birth really, well apart from 2 years of sleepless nights, but I forgot that by now.

She is still a mini me, but a lot less demanding than last year, as she is maturing, she is becoming quite a delightful child, but a major character, with a wicked sense of humor.

Lia is fearless, yet afraid of almost everything at the moment. She has the verbal skills of a 7-8 year old, but can't do a 12 piece puzzle. She is already doing gymnastics and is great at it, yet knocks everything over. She is really low maintenance, yet is always around. I have no doubt that she will remain a person of such paradoxes throughout her life. She is certainly not someone to be told what to do, yet capable of compromise way beyond her years.

I am looking forward to her starting school this September, she can't wait to have playdates like Tara. I also hope she will learn to appreciate Fi a bit more. Fi absolutely adores her, but mostly Lia plays with her big sister, Tara. I will be curious to see how that dynamic will change as Fi gets older.

Pics to follow from bday.

Lia turned 3

I will take a break for today and write about/for Lia.

Darling Lia,
You turned 3 a few days ago and I have been wanting to write you this letter. Because one day you will have a child who will be 3 and I have no doubt that she will be driving you up the wall at times and you will wonder what you must have been like at this age, because I do and you are like me in so many ways. So let's hope Google won't get bust and we will remember and find this letter for you.
You are a fragile little thing, your face and body so delicate, you weigh a whooping 12 kg, but nothing could be further from the truth, you are wild and brave, you protect your older sister if someone wants to hurt her and well, my dear, you are the most stubborn person I have met. I am sure this will (somewhat) change as you get older, and you get more emotionally intelligent to match the immense brain power, but for now there isn't an inch of compromise in your reasoning and you love to reason.
You love Tara and Fi dearly and share your things very nicely with them, you can play so well together until something happens and you shriek at the top of your voice until you get what you want.
You are alarmingly intelligent, I can only hope that we will be able to educate you in a school that won't bore you to death and kill your desire to learn. I will be watching you closely my dear, you will for sure not choose some ordinary profession, your interests are already so varied, i just hope you will choose something that won't make you starve :-).
You sometimes bite when you are mad and you lick our faces when you want to express your love.
It has been difficult for you since Fi was born, becoming the middle child is never easy, I hear. But you are coping with it reasonably well, demanding lots of attention for yourself and melting down ever so often, but this is all good and normal, you get lots of special time with me, your dad and with Margo too. You are mummy's little Roo and I wouldn't have it any other way. Happy Birthday Lia!!!
PS. You have asked to start ballet as your birthday gift and we took this picture right before your first class...

Note to Self

Must remember not to give Lia anything to eat or drink next time I am waking her at 3:30 AM for a journey, because 10 minutes into it she will vomit into George's hands... The joy of traveling to see the grandparents...

My middle child

This is Lia. She is our second daughter and thus the one I am most worried about right now. Arriving of a new sibling is never easy for the older kids, it is especially not easy when you are 2.5 and going through the terrible twos. It's even harder when you are a real mammy's girl and were breastfeeding up until a few weeks ago... I guess starting creche (though she has been begging for it for months) was not a good idea either.

I am not sure how much of the drama before and shortly after Fi's birth the girls understood, I am sure they noticed that we were a lot more impatient. I remember Tara kept saying for days that "something was in her eyes, that is why she kept crying", I must have said that a few times for her to remember.
I guess things have calmed down a lot now, we are almost back to our old selves, but now, the problem is that often I can't attend to Lia when she wants me (which is nearly all the time) and I can't go with them when G takes them out, we can't use a sling for Fi as she can't support her head yet and she would just scream her head off in the stroller. I can't wait to be able to carry her everywhere and have 2 hands free for the other 2.

What is Lia like, she is a real mini-me, that is why she can annoy me a lot more than Tara at times, she not only hold the mirror any child would to a parent, but she shows me how much fun it can be to live with me at times.
She is curious and witty, she is the type of child that you can't be mad at, because she will say something that will have you in stitches. Her speech is insanely good, she lisps, but her vocabulary and grammar is better than her 4.5 year old sister's. She is very affectionate, when she is upset or tired, her cure always is to be in our arms.
She is very sweet to all other kids, but fights like a woman possessed with Tara, I guess this is what sisters do, but I must admit, I find it quite tiring, I am sure it will be better in like 10 years...
We always wanted to have 4 kids, 3 is a lonely number for someone, and I think that tends to be the middle child, but I am almost certain that I couldn't face another pregnancy, so we might have to stick with the lonely number and just work on the loneliness part...