Painting Helper

Luke is approaching 3 and because of that we are getting his big boy room ready. The first step in doing that is to get his room painted.

When I paint a room I like to do it by myself. I find the methodical quiet work very relaxing. When painting Alyce's room we hadn't moved in and I had the house to myself. For weeks now Alyce has been asking to help paint. Mom and I's response of "it's a Daddy job" has been falling on deaf ears.

This weekend I finally tackled his room and Alyce was ready to help. I started off cutting in the ceiling with Alyce sitting in the room with me. She was sitting under the desk because she didn't want to get paint on her head. What kind of messy painter does she think I am? As I neared the floor she started asking if she could help. I didn't have it in me to tell her no. I set up a drop cloth, gave a brief lesson, and let Alyce loose on the receptacles. I held her hand for the first one and needed to clean up her work when she was finished. But in all she did a pretty decent job. There was one paint splatter on the drop cloth from when she forgot to scrape the excess off her brush. Later on while Alyce was in quiet time I pulled her out to finish the last baseboard in the room. I wanted her to have one final chance behind a brush.
Alyce seemed pretty pleased with herself. I liked the bonding time. Even though I was kind of dreading painting with her in the room it turned out better than expected. The hard part in parenting is knowing what your kids are ready for. I didn't think Alyce had it in her. It turns out she did and then some.

Siblings and Friends

Luke is growing up.  No longer is he a blank slate just learning the world.  He is now his own person with his own personality and it is a good one.  One neat aspect of him growing up is that he is now able to play with Alyce.  At first it started off with Alyce and Luke fighting over the toy the other person had at the time.  Then it advanced to Luke taking whatever Alyce was focused on and running through the house keeping it away and giggling.  Recently we pulled out an old toy of Alyce's that has gotten the two of them to play together, the cardboard bricks.

We gave them to Alyce for her 1st birthday and they were very helpful teaching her gross motor skills like picking up and stacking things.  Luke is quickly learning the same.  What is neat is that at times they work together to build up a tower, that they then knock down, and having a great time in the process.

A few weeks ago while we were out at Sam's Wholesale getting cases of green beans and discount pizza Alyce and Luke showed me siblings don't always have to be at each others throats.  While eating pizza and hot dogs Alyce and Luke shared a set of cute sibling hugs.  In the pictures we took it looks more like Alyce is strangling Luke but he was definitely giving her some "lovies" too.

Seeing the initial glimpses of what brother and sister life looks like gives me hope that Alyce and Luke will be friends as well as siblings.

Goodbye Mommy, Goodbye Daddy

Hello Mom and Dad.  Starting just recently Alyce is making a transition from calling Mom and I Mommy and Daddy and instead she is calling us Mom and Dad.  We're not sure where she picked up Mom and Dad or why she is saying it the new way but we don't like it.  Well we don't like it yet.  Our little girl is still 3 not 13 and we really enjoy hearing Mommy and Daddy on a daily basis.  Most likely she picked it up a school which is where she is picking up most any new behavior.

First Day of School

Today Alyce had her first day of school. It isn't kindergarten or even preschool instead she is going to Kid's Day Out. Kid's Day Out (K.D.O.) is a program put on by a lot of churches and schools in the area to get children out of the house, away from the parents, and socialized with other children. We wanted to give Alyce this experience because her access up to this point to children of similar age has been limited.


We've been gearing Alyce up for "school" for the past week since we had our orientation last Tuesday. To do this we have been telling her that she has school next week, that she will be able to play with other kids, and be able to color pretty pictures. On top of that her pink backpack arrived via the mail which has put Alyce in a frenzy.

Today is finally the day and I stayed home to record the event. We got Alyce into her clothes, fed, and out the door. Before zipping off to class we took a few pictures of her in front of the house. I'm not sure why parents do this. Both Mom's parents and my own took pictures of us in front of our childhood homes on our first days of school; here we are continuing the tradition.



Upon getting to school you could tell that Alyce was getting a little nervous. She has always been shy around new people and this was no exception. She was very quiet, looked around, and took stock of everything she saw. She took off her backpack and left it with the others then followed Mom down the hallway to her classroom. By the time I came into the room with Luke in tow Alyce was playing with toys with along side two other kids that arrived before us. Mom gave Alyce a kiss, hug, and some words of encouragement then took exit of the room and eventually the building. Alyce didn't come chasing after us tears streaming down her eyes so she must have been ok by herself in a room full of strangers. I'm thinking the orientation last week was beneficial in getting Alyce used to the teacher and other classmates.




Talking to Mom after the fact she said that she was close to tears twice but held them in. While I wasn't moved to tears I did find it both happy and sad that my little girl was growing up and leaving the nest if only for 2+ hours two days a week. I think this will be good for her and I'm looking forward to getting the scoop on how her first day of school went.