Wasting Money

When we were at the mall earlier this week for the library’s annual book sale, I found a box set of Spongebob Squarepants books that was packed with eight books, all for only $1!  I asked the kids if they wanted it, but they both said no. It was such a great deal that I couldn't pass it up, so I held on to the set as I continued sifting through the rows of children's books... just in case they changed their minds later on.  When we were ready to pay for our items, I asked them again if they wanted the set of books, and again they told me no. I tried to convince them otherwise, but big sister K said to me, “but mommy, you would be wasting money!” She was absolutely right, so I put the books back. Alas, we have trained our daughter well! So well in fact, that sometimes I wonder who's the parent around here.

Reflection

I don’t think I’m overly strict with my kids but when I’m in “teaching” mode, my “tiger mom” persona has a tendency to reveal its gory self.  I have little tolerance for repeated mistakes, and often have to remind myself that big sister K is only 5-years old.  This became especially evident a few nights ago during her piano lesson.  After many unsuccessful attempts at playing a simple song (which only involved using one hand and two notes on the keyboard), I had her write out the C and D notes on a music sheet, mixing them up between whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes.  Big sister K got the type of notes correct, but could not distinguish between a C and a D.  I finally gave up after half an hour of trying.  The evening ended in tears.

While big sister K was brushing her teeth that night, she said to me, “I’m not good at a lot of things.”  I was so crushed to hear her say that.  I reassured her that she’s good at a lot of things and merely needed to practice to get better, but it was a wake-up call for me that the impact of my words may have a bigger (or even wrong) effect than intended.  I never want my kids to think they’re not good enough.  Big sister K already knows so much more than I did when I was her age, but she still constantly looks for positive reinforcement (which I do give her).  I hope that in time, she will be able to build up the confidence she needs to excel.

We continued her piano lesson last night, and this time there was much improvement.  It's been about three weeks since we've started, and I am so proud of the progress she's made:

Diaperless

If you’ve been following this blog, you know that we are potty training baby M.  Well, it’s been a few weeks and the potty training is still going.  Much of the slow progress is attributed to M and me… we’ve just been too tired (or have had too much happening) on the weekends to dedicate a lot of time to it; it’s been easier leaving him in a diaper.  Baby M does okay for the most part, but still has an accident here and there at daycare a few times a week.  They put him in underwear during the day, but by pickup time, they put the kids back in a diaper for the ride home.  I always just take it for granted that this is automatically done, and I never bother checking if baby M is in a diaper or not when I pick him up.

Our town’s library is having a book sale all week long at the local mall and last night, they had a puppet show for the kids.  I thought it would be fun, so we deviated from our normal going-home routine and went to the mall after school.  The puppet show was at 7:00pm and lasted for about 20 minutes.  We decided to have dinner at Panera Bread afterwards.  I was holding baby M on my lap while we were eating, and all of a sudden, I felt a warm sensation on one side of my lap.  A second later, the warm sensation trickled over to my other leg.  I put baby M down and realized he had peed on me.  I initially thought it was just an overfilled diaper, but then baby M said he had to go poopy.  I looked in his pants to see if he pooped already, and to my horror, he was only wearing underwear!  I could not believe his teacher forgot to put a diaper on him!  And of course, this had to happen on a day when we did not go straight home.  Fortunately no poop in his pants yet, so I rushed to the bathroom for him to do his deed.  Seeing how his pants and underwear were soaked in urine, I was torn between hurrying home to give him a bath and buying new clothes for him at the mall (yes, as luck would have it, I did not bring an extra change of clothes with me).  Since it was getting late, we decided to just head home.  I used a blanket that baby M had in the car to cover the car seat so that he wouldn’t get pee all over it.  Oddly enough, baby M didn’t seem bothered by the fact that he was drenched in wet pee-stained clothing. Oh the fun!

Piano Lessons

So I've been looking into piano lessons for big sister K (yes, again).  I got the name and phone number to a teacher that a friend's daughter goes to, but she didn't have availability in her schedule to fit us in.  Maybe something will open up with her in the future, but for the time being, I wasn't about to give up that easily.  There were a few other places I looked into, but they all cost a fortune.  Then I came across someone in our town that offered pretty reasonable prices, so I gave her a call and made an appointment to see her today.

The lady was nice enough, but has a heavy Russian accent and I'm not sure if big sister K understands everything she says. She requires students to have lessons with her twice a week in addition to attending these mandatory master classes twice a month that teaches them how to perform in front of an audience.  With our work schedules, I have a hard enough time keeping up with a once a week commitment, let alone twice a week plus more classes. This is the type of teacher who expects her students to become professional pianists and perform at Carnegie Hall. Not that that's not what I want for big sister K, but I know she has other interests, and if push came to shove, she'd choose some of her other extracurricular activities over piano.  That's a choice I'm willing to let her make (alas, I am not living up to my tiger mom reputation).

On the car ride home, I asked big sister K if she wanted the lady to be her piano teacher.  She surprised me by saying no, that she wanted mommy to teach her how to play the piano.  Her response warmed my heart.  I'm hesitant to teach her because I've tried in the past, and I know it will result in much stress and frustration.  But how can I say no to my little girl? Our first lesson starts tomorrow morning and will continue for every Saturday thereafter.  Wish us luck!