Tidbits from the Zoo

January has been a busy month so far. Goose is very active in her school’s drama club. This winter they are putting on The Importance of Being Earnest . I still don’t understand why the drama teacher chose this old play which is full of Victorian satire for high school. I don’t think those young kids will completely understand the satire and even if they did it is kind of stupid and irrelevant for 2012. But because my daughter is in it I will go and see the play.

Goose is also getting excited about attending her first high-school dance this Saturday. The Snowball Dance is one of those events where girls are supposed to ask the boys to go with them. When I was in high-school our school called it Twirp and it was right around Valentine’s Day each year. I don’t think I ever attended that dance. Goose is going to Snowball with a group of girls instead of having a date; thank goodness! I don’t think I will ever be ready for her to start dating.

This Saturday we are also having a birthday party for Kitty. She will be 6 on the 31st. I still can’t believe that my baby girl is going to be 6! We let her invite 6 of her closest friends but so far none of them have RSVPed so I am a little worried.

Parrot is finally going to start pre-school in a couple of weeks. This summer he was diagnosed with Asperger’s and the therapist that diagnosed him recommended that he attend a pre-school right away, before he goes to Kindergarten this fall. We contacted the pre-school at our local public school and he had two assessments which were scheduled months apart before he can start. On Wednesday we have an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting with the principal, his teacher and a couple of other professionals from the school district. I am frustrated that it has taken such a long time to get things going, but at least he will be in a structured classroom for a couple of months before Kindergarten.

Monkey is finally saying farewell to diapers and pull-ups. He’s trading them in for more comfortable cotton big boy underwear. I never thought this day would ever happen! He’s doing fairly well too and usually only has one or two potty accidents a day. The next step will be overnight training. I don’t think I am ready for that just yet.

Little Bear is finally growing and is officially 18lbs. He’s outgrown his 6-9 mos clothing and is getting three new teeth. We’ve also given up on the afternoon nap so he only takes one nap a day right around noon-1:00. Bear is also talking and putting words together. He repeats everything he hears and if he keeps this up within a week or two his vocabulary will be larger than Monkey’s!

Our new year’s resolution this year was to get the kids to bed by 8pm every single night. So far the routine is going well, except Monkey doesn’t like it. I think he wants to snuggle a little more before bed. After dinner we let the kids play for a half an hour, then it is clean up time. The whole family gets involved with clean up and we even play fun clean up songs on the computer. The music gets my kids excited about cleaning up. Kitty decided to add extra songs to the playlist so after clean up time is over the kids dance around a little to the music. Below is a video from last night.