Trick-or-Treat!

Lydia loved being a poodle this year and enjoyed seeing her friends from school around the neighborhood. 

Abigail was an oh-so-nice witch.

Meet Autumn!

 We're happy to introduce our first family pet, Autumn! Ben and I were sure the name was going to be Sprinkles, Rainbow, Cookie, or the like, but the girls agreed and settled on Autumn.

We got her on October 29th. She is orange with a white nose and belly.

Many hours of gazing and adoring are ahead of us! :)

"Take care of Autumn!" Lydia shouted as she waved goodbye and walked into school on Friday.

Pumpkin Painting Party

We traded our carving knives for paint brushes this year. It was too nice to stay inside, which was perfect. There's a glimpse at our partially finished screen. 

 Abigail calls this her 'working hard' face.

This would be her 'getting a little chilly' pose.

Here we are with our finished pumpkins!

 And Grandma with the cutest pumpkin of all!

Fun candy corn science activity. The kids couldn't wait to make their predictions and record their observations! We then wondered what would happen with Coke or milk...next time!

Eager to jump in leaves, we scrounged up what we could in our yard. The laundry piles in our house get bigger than this, but they don't have slugs!! =P

Fish & Trips

 Our little fishes graduated from Parent & Child and Level 1!

Abigail was always grinning and Lydia even enjoyed swimming this year! She also didn't let us forget that we promised to get frozen yogurt after the last lesson. A little incentive never hurt.

At Apple Hollar we learned all about Johnny Appleseed and how eating apples make us strong.

 The giant corn pit was fun,

 as was snuggling and sliding.

 Packer party at Aunt Sarah's meant rocking, singing, and "This Little Piggy"-ing to Baby Quincy.

His face almost shows it, but he did appreciate it!

 Preschool Field Trip to Swan's Pumpkin Farm. Abigail liked the honking geese and corn maze the best. Lydia will get to go there with her class next week!

Action-packed weekend!

 After discovering we went to high school together, both play french horn, our daughters are in the same Kindergarten class, we live in the same neighborhood, both married engineers, and both have 3 year old girls, we set up a play date, of course! That was Friday morning.

 Then tested out our Halloween costumes for Trunk or Treating.

 This is where Lydia takes ballet classes now, every Wednesday.

Saturday morning, we went to Rock Cut State Park to join the Peterson/Pulley family.

 for a brisk Fall hike. Lydia did a good job walking!

 And celebrate Kaitlyn, Jan, and Bruce's birthdays, two of which were milestones!

We dropped off Lydia and Abigail with Linda so we could have a date night (she is not our go-to babysitter, but this is the third time we've gone through our list of 4 babysitters and been turned down by all of them! It was homecoming weekend, but only two are in high school!)

Then on Sunday we witnessed Quincy's beautiful baptism day!
I was getting so wiped that I barely made it through gift opening after all that, but what a blessing it is to do fun things and have celebrations with family!

HSC

Kindergartner!!

Overall, school's going great for Lydia, but it started off with a heart ache. Lydia cried on the first day because she didn't get to play in the play kitchen. I talked to her teacher briefly about it and she said Lydia's sensitive. Yes, I think we all know that. She's a super lover and a tender heart. The next week, I picked her up from school crying again and figured out that another kid scolded her for skipping in line. "Well, Lydia," I told her, "she was just reminding you of the rules and that's nothing you really need to cry over, is it?" The next week, Lydia told me she cried when she got moved from green to blue on the discipline scale for talking when she wasn't supposed to, but she knew that was "just like a reminder." Crying isn't a bad thing, but it seems like an overreaction in these situations, doesn't it, even for a 5 year old? Today, I got to help the teacher out with whatever she needed (tracing and cutting and some monitoring of centers). She asked me how Lydia was doing. I shared how she gets easily frustrated when we practice reading, and again she told me that Lydia is "very sensitive," and takes things very personally, but this time I heard it like it was really a thing.

Yes, if you give her a strict punishment it just blows up the situation. Yes, she loves and clings to anything with a silky, soft, smooth texture. I've heard my fair share of wailing. Last year on a 4K sheet, I said she "may need a warm welcome" after many rough/clingy send offs at ECEC. She certainly responds best to gentleness. So great, I'm going to go home and research, "Teacher says my daughter is very sensitive."

As it turns out, it looks like you could call Lydia a highly sensitive child, or HSC, who turns into a highly sensitive person, like me. :) Dr. Elaine Aron says the HSC is "born with a nervous system that is highly aware and quick to react to everything." They say this is a character trait that 15-20% of people have, and that it is great in that these people are compassionate, creative, wise, and peacemakers. A lot of HSC's are introverted and shy, so that's probably why her teacher mentioned in a contrary way, that she does well explaining things in front of the class. Yes, she'll confidently talk to anyone, being entirely perceptive while she listens, and well-thought out in her response. Maureen Healy states, "With a sharpened sense of awareness, these children are often overwhelmed easily by crowds and noise." I can think of many examples of how Lydia fits the description of HSC, but I'll share just two more memories and how I'm thinking of them in a new way:

Grocery shopping with toddler Lydia was treacherous because she was so naughty and undisciplined, right? I really think now that the big bright crowded stores overstimulated her, and that's why she would go berserk as soon as we entered. Secondly, this summer I felt so bad thinking my daughter was a wimp for not wanting to try to ride her bike because she was scared. I wanted to push her harder and teacher her that if you fall, you get back up. What I perceived as wimpy, was really her being highly perceptive to what could happen, like fall and get hurt, which she feels deeply, and her getting stuck on that thought.  I vow to continue to help her problem solve her way out and accept her feelings, even if they don't seem logical.  As for her teachers, I think they have and will continue to appreciate her friendliness and wise remarks. I hope that will, in turn, encourage them to extend the extra effort to discipline her gently, as it is required.