First week of kindergarten

We survived the first week of kindergarten! Kai had said he was "a little bit shy" about starting kindergarten, but on the actual first day of school he was excited and ready to go, he ate his breakfast faster than I'd ever seen him eat it before.

Timothy from Agape is in Kai's class. Micah and Jo Jo are also at Noble!

Kai was able to meet his teacher and see his kindergarten classroom the week before class started.

Before the first day of school, Kai and Sora met and played with Nora, one of Kai's classmates

The weekend before the first day of school, we also visited Noble with the Ngs to get the kids excited for the new school year. It was nice to have Sophie and Brandon show Kai the ropes.

We've adjusted our bedtime to an hour earlier to accommodate the fact that we need to wake the kids up at 6:30 am to have enough time to eat breakfast and get ready for school. Kai usually passes out at bedtime, but Sora (who still naps at preschool) fights bedtime and will stay up for at least 45 minutes after we say goodnight. Dropping Kai off in the mornings can be a bit chaotic, since if one of us is working, it means unloading all three kids to walk Kai to his classroom in the morning.

Feeling a little bit guilty about Sora remaining at preschool full-time while Kai is on half days at kindergarten, I've been taking Sora to the playground to play a little before I drop her off for the past few mornings. Needless to say, she loves the special treatment (gotta make sure she doesn't get middle child syndrome!).

Speaking of kindergarten half days, we weren't sure what to do with Kai for the first week of school. We thought we would try to keep him home, but after a week of having him at home (and having Kai complain that he's bored at home and that he wants Teacher Bea to pick him up), Nik and I have thrown in the towel and we're starting Kai in part-time afterschool care next week. We're weak.

Kai said he wanted to surprise Sora when she got home from preschool <3

Kai: "This, Jaddy, is a cookie." More time at home means taking my boys out on errands

On the move!

So in my last post, I wrote that Jad was very nearly crawling.. this time around, I'm calling it: Jad is on the move and he is officially crawling. Over the past few days, the big lunges forward have transformed into actual crawling Of course this now makes everyone's life a little more difficult, Kai and Sora now need to mind their stuff, and Nik and I now have to worry about all the little Legos and beads that Jad might grab.

Jad is such a joy. He loves the kids and they love him. He's always full of giggles and smiles and will grin and shriek with joy if you just give him a shred of attention or love. It's not perfect--I wish he ate/slept better and he's a bit clingy.. but he's a pretty darn good baby.

The kids wanted to hold Jad's hands as Nik was carrying him

And during preschool dropoff.. all the kids are delighted to see him and scream, "baby!", so I let the teacher present him to the class

Sleep training.. and a new hope

Today we started sleep training Jad. Lately, he's been waking up every 2 hours. I've been blaming it on teething (his second tooth also popped out), but last night was particularly horrible, between waking up, feeding him, and bouncing him back to sleep, it felt like Nik and I were up every hour. Fingers crossed, he seems to be asleep and it only took 45 minutes.. much better than Sora's two hour record of non-stop crying and eventual collapse.

I used to find time in the evenings to update the blog, but between Sora and Jad's recent sleep problems, I'm usually ping ponging between kid sleep disruptions in the evening, and by the time I have a little time to myself, I don't have much energy for anything besides browsing my phone. -_- Sora's sleep seems to be getting better and I'm hoping that Jad's sleep will get better soon.. that would be a revelation for Nik and me.

Better enjoy this happy moment in the pack n' play while it lasts, Jaddy

Very nearly crawling: he lunges forward and scoots around. He can go from prone to sitting up now. I often find him a few feet away from where I initially set him down

The kids went to Noe's birthday party last weekend, it was great besides the fact we didn't realize that Kai was sick until during the party and he had already spread his germs to Niko. :(

Paint party!

Playing with the big boys

 Eventually, Sora also got sick and between Kai and Sora being sick, the week flew by. By the grace of God, Jad was spared and did not get sick. Buoyed by Tylenol, we did manage a trip to the playground and library.

Jad's first time on a swing!

Building Rapunzel's tower at the library..

.. only to crash at home after the Tylenol wore off

By the end of the week, the kids were fully recovered and were ready for a visit to the Rotary Play Garden and Sweet Tomatoes.

Hamming it up for the camera. "Mama, take a picture of me!"

Sora's been acting up lately. Not sure if it's just leftover crankiness from being sick or middle child syndrome, but she hasn't been listening (to me or her teachers) and will defiantly look you in the eye as she deliberately does the exact opposite of what you ask her to do.

She thinks she's a princess #smh