Sisters, siblings, silliness

Arlington is a great big sister. But, being a great big sister comes with great responsibility. I was an older sister, but I had a brother. It wasn't the same. So I really can't relate to the sisterly bond she and Finley will always share. But, Arlington proclaimed, with much dismay, that "Finley is following her everywhere". Sorry kiddo - that is never going to change.

Finley does follow Arlington everywhere. She is her big sister's shadow. Arlington dutifully allows her to follow. And actually, 90% of the time, Arlington enjoys her sister's company. But there are days when Arlington just doesn't want Finley's overly smothering affection. The day we were at the fair, Finley really wanted to hold Arlington's hand, but Arlington wasn't in the mood. It was sad to see Arlington pull away from her, and Finley's feelings get hurt. I felt for both of them. I am sure that is going to happen more and more.

The funniest, though, was when we were at Lake Compounce Saturday and Arlington was eating a churro (yummy cinnamon dough stick). She was graciously sharing it with Finley. She got to the end, and there was enough left for two bites. She leaned the remainder of her churro toward Finley and told her to take a bite. Finley, not understanding that she wasn't supposed to eat the rest of it, put the whole piece in her mouth. Arlington started to cry. Her favorite treat at the amusement park, and Finley just finished it off. Finley just stood there, dumb founded, with churro sticking out of her mouth. Poor Arlington. Poor Finley! We did end up getting them another one later in the day, and it went much smoother.

Cainan adores both of his sisters. He is definitely the biggest follower in this family. The girls treat him like a baby, and Cainan loves it. They dode on him, and pretend he is a baby, and he lets them. It is the great "copy cat" so whatever they do, he does it too. We are still waiting for Cainan to develop independence from the girls. I am starting to think it may never happen.

They have all been playing extremely well together lately. Now that school is back in session and they are all separated all day long, I think they enjoy each other's company more. The evenings in our house have been smooth with little to no tears, and that has been a blessing.

I forgot to tell you that Cainan got stung by a bee while at the amusement park. Poor thing. That is the second time this summer. He must be quite tasty because the mosquitos love him as well. We were walking along and all of the sudden he started to cry. Hard. He was holding his neck, and sure enough, he got stung by a bee. They were all over the park - tons of them. He had a hooded sweatshirt on, and after he got stung, he put his hood up and wouldn't take it off. He was protecting himself, he said.

Monday we were all back to school and work. We lazed around on Sunday after church, but we still were tired Monday morning. Arlington had her first starts of homework on Monday. We were told she will have homework every evening Monday-Thursday. We got a list Monday of the week's homework. She was actually excited about it. She thinks she is very grown up being in first grade and will say things like "I am not in Kindergarten any more, mommy. I am a big first grader." Well then.

We heard from BESB (Board of Education for services for the Blind) of Connecticut today. They emailed to let me know that Finley qualifies as legally visionally impaired. As much as that pains us, that also means that she qualifies for services for visionally impaired children. We will be receiving paperwork in a few days to look over and sign. Once we send that back, we will be assigned a teacher that will go and work with her at her preschool. I am anxious to see what they are going to be working on with her. Since she still sees fairly well, I am not sure where they will start. We do see her struggle to write and draw. She thinks she is doing fine, but she really has to concentrate to write letters and draw pictures. Well, right now besides people all she draws is lollipops, but still. I will keep you posted on what they have to say.

We had pasta to eat Monday night, and while Finley was eating, she took the pasta off her plate and made this:


And F! She is too cute. She then wanted me to take her picture looking at her F. If she ate as well as she played with her food, she would be really fat.



Cainan and Arlington got into the fun as well. Cainan's was the easiest.



Arlington, well, you know she can make letters, but I promised her I would take her picture with her pasta masterpiece anyway.



This week is already turning into a long week at work. We have an behavior challenged kid starting this week, and after three meetings, and finding our new friend a "safe room" for tantrums, we are all on edge. I am a huge fan of public education for everyone, but this kiddo - I am afraid even I don't think he belongs in public school. But we are going to give him a chance and take it day by day. My biggest qualm is - he is in the same class as my diabetic. He is my biggest responsibility and he takes up a lot of the teacher's time. I need him to be the teacher's main focus (because he still isn't really able to tell when his sugar is low and he needs me), but now, her focus is going to be altered. I did advocate. Hard. But I lost. So we will have to see what happens.

Tonight is also PTO. So my blog is ending early. I am sorry I don't have more pictures. I just didn't have much to take this week! Did you like Arlington's outfit from above? Here is a close up of her shirt.


And she wore another cute outfit today. Don't worry - the fashion show will soon be over.



Pretty soon it will be too cold outside for cute things!



See you Saturday!