I'm still pinching myself daily, thinking that my two babies are 4. FOUR. Seriously?? Just 2 years ago they were still in diapers and trying to grow out their little baby hair. Time has not been on my side here. Make it slow down.
Claire.
Claire is my buddy. She is thoughtful and opinionated and loves to spend time with me, and I love to spend time with her too.
Claire is a spunky, adventurous, fearless but shy person. She is the toughest little girl I know. Way tougher than her brothers, extremely observant, has an amazing ability to form sentences and thoughts and comparisons, and is even reading a little. She makes friends everywhere she goes and doesn't really seem to do a whole lot to attract them to her but look shy and be agreeable and cute. She is extremely tall for her age and built like an olympic athlete.
When we went on vacation to Port Aransas, on the first day, in the first 2 hours of her first trip ever to the beach, Claire was stung by a jellyfish, right between the legs. She screamed, ran up to the lounge chair, indicated that something had gotten her and then covered up her whole body with a towel and waited for me to tell her what to do.
We went up to the front desk of the condo we were renting and they gave us a mixture of unseasoned meat tenderizer and vinegar, told me to make a paste and put it on the spot to take the sting out, and then they peered over the desk at this little 4 year old girl who was not happy, but not crying, and honestly just looked ticked and a little nervous. They both commented that it was absolutely miraculous that she wasn't even crying. Another man said the same thing in the elevator up to the condo.
When I put the paste on she screamed and very forcefully indicated that there was no way in hell that was going to happen, so I wiped it off, gave her a bath and then we went shopping. She told me she would never get back in the water and I said I didn't blame her. But the next day, she did anyway because she's brave and awesome.
Her main interests are:
* Shopping
* Theater
* Teaching herself to swim (and proving mommy is wrong about swimming technique)
* Dance
* Singing
* Gymnastics
She really wants to get started with Soccer and Volleyball soon. I often have to remind myself that she, like Adam, will run herself ragged trying to do it all and never stop moving. And I, wanting to appease them, tend to sometimes forget that there isn't enough time in the week for 3 kids in multiple different activities each.
Claire would love to do modeling and acting with Adam despite her shyness, but the talent agency we use starts at age 5... so she has another year to decide if she really wants to go for that or do something else. Honestly, her heart seems drawn more frequently to dancing and singing and sports, although she does know how to give the camera all her personality.
Claire likes Carebears, My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake, but her top two favorites are Hello Kitty and Ariel from the Little Mermaid. In fact, anything mermaid is perfectly okay with Claire.
She is REALLY trying to be okay with things like underwear, shoes, socks and clothing... but when you have a very particular preference to how things should fit/touch you PLUS a very clear style, life can just be hard.
This summer she is doing:
* Theater Camp
* Gymnastics Camp
* Dance Camp
* Science Lab Camp
Claire is extremely easy to teach, quick to pick up on concepts and extremely coachable. But don't let that fool you... she is also extremely opinionated and not afraid to put her foot down. Especially when it comes to cleaning.
This fall Claire will be going to a new Montessori and starting Pre-K. I have a feeling that she will just soar this year. She is going to be with some of her friends at the old school but will need to wear a uniform... everyone just cross your fingers that we all survive.
Colin.
You don't know awesome until you've gotten Colin to like you. Colin is witty, enthusiastic, sarcastic, and clever. He is extremely smart and an excellent student. I call him "Dimples," "Mowgli," "Spot," "Colly," "Colly-pop," "Little Dude." He responds to all of them except "Spot." He is very adamant that he is NOT Spot from The Good Dinosaur (however, that's probably the best cartoon version of Colin I have ever seen).
If Colin befriends you, be flattered... you should wear a helmet when he decides you are worthy of his friendship, but it's still worth it. He loves to roughhouse and is "all boy."
Colin's artwork is very good for his age and very unique. He draws monsters, flowers with faces, abstract concepts and signs his work in binary code, all zeros and ones. He can write his name but is a very linear thinker. Zeros and ones, lines up toys and sorts them, and has a very desperate need to assign order to his world, especially when he is feeling like he lacks control in his life.
That being said, I've never seen a child able to so quickly destroy things that are supposed to be un-destoryable. And when it happens, he looks up with a quick... "ooooops. It's okay. I'll fix it."
Colin is interested in cooking, music and anything to do with water, although he is not very interested in learning to swim this year, so I enrolled him in swimming lessons to get him started. Colin also likes basketball a lot and very much has a desire to be his own person with his own things to do. He often turns shy and scared though with team sports so we have some work to do getting him comfortable and ready to participate with a team.
This summer Colin is doing:
* Theater camp (liked the camp, no interest in performing for an audience).
- He participated, followed his cues, didn't speak a word, but what impressed me the most is that he stayed on stage despite his fear.
* He did a day and a half of gymnastics camp before making it very clear he hated being there. So we withdrew him and are keeping him home for two weeks so he can have some re-grouping time to enjoy his summer.
* Cooking Camp
* Science Camp
In the fall, the new Montessori we are going to will have a music program and if they have a basketball elective, then we will put him back in that. I think Colin will really enjoy the music activities and we are looking hard for his "happy place," although there is a part of me that really thinks it is school work and art stuff as that's where he seems most content.
When we were on family vacation at the beach, Colin didn't want to have anything to do with the pool and LOVED being on the beach. His favorite part about the ocean were all the little mussels in the sand and being able to karate chop and kick the waves for as long as he wanted. We also took our little pirate on a pirate ship and it was like COLIN-HEAVEN.
He loves Pirates, Dinosaurs/Dragons, Dressing Up and playing pretend, and oh, did I mention Pirates? He also loves Pirates and Pirates.
Together, Colin and Claire still share that very close bond, but are finding very different ways to grow.
They are extremely close and extremely competitive with each other in all ways... which is why often I don't take them for bike rides because it eventually becomes a "race," and the loser is always quick to fall to the ground in tears about how horribly unfair it was that they lost the non-race that wasn't even happening.
But often I don't see either of them light up as much as they do when they are given a chance to be alone together and free to just play pretend, or dance, or create a quick game.
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