I really have nothing big to say. Maggie signs 50+ words and almost daily shows me at least one new one that I missed. Today was picnic- we decided to eat lunch outside, under our beach tent. When I asked Maggie if she wanted to have a picnic, she said, "Yes," and signed "picnic." Maggie babbles a lot, with serious gesturing and intonation. She loves to "talk" on the phone, and uses just about anything as a phone- remotes, keys, bananas, sticks, rocks, and actual phones. She walks like a pro and has begun trying to jump, but doesn't come close to getting either foot off the floor. We've dropped the morning nap (had I mentioned that before?)- having to work around one made essentially the entire day useless. Now, we can be out and about until 11am. After 11, we're booked... 11:15 lunch; 12:00 potty (Charlotte); 12:15 story time; 12:45 Maggie goes down for a nap; 1:00 Charlotte goes down for a nap. And they both sleep until around 3:00. Then we play a little, make and eat dinner, play or bathe, and go to bed at 7 and 7:30. Sometimes. Sometimes, getting them down is a struggle and naps start closer to 2 or 2:30. On those days, I end up waking them at 4 so the bedtime won't be affected.
Charlotte has been trying to drive me insane lately. She'll shove Maggie to get my attention. She often refuses to nap and ends up losing all sorts of privileges (i.e. we're NOT going out to lunch with Grampa tomorrow after music class). She giggles maniacally in my face when I try to discipline her or explain what she did wrong. She intentionally wakes Maggie up. She wakes up almost every night, some time between 12am and 3am, and comes to ask me to put her blankets back on her. She refuses to sleep in the dark, but a nightlight isn't enough for her so she has a table lamp on all night with the dimmest bulb I could find. But her moods turn on a dime and she'll go from complete freak-out to lovey-dovey "Mommy, I promise to cooperate now" in just seconds. She's wonderful most of the time. I just don't know what to do with her when she's misbehaving. It would be easier without Maggie, but I can't just leave Maggie to her own devices every time Charlotte pitches a fit. We put a doorknob cover on the inside of her bedroom door for a while to keep her contained at nap time, but then she figured out how to open the door in spite of it. Parenting really is a challenge with a 3-year-old.
Oh, we do have news. There's a public preschool here that's geared primarily toward children with developmental challenges. They take a limited number of "peer" students without such challenges, and those spots are doled out by lottery. I applied. I don't think Charlotte "needs" preschool, but I wasn't sure she'd get in, and if she goes at 3 she's guaranteed a spot at 4. We won the lottery. Big time. She was accepted for the 4-mornings-a-week program. FOUR days! I didn't ask for that one, but if I turn it down, we get nothing. So, we'll try it. My only real objection is that the commitment will make it next-to-impossible to go anywhere on weekdays because we'll have just one weekday per week available, and what are the odds that weather will cooperate? It's a big commitment, giving up our freedom, but I'm sure Charlotte will love it. And it'll give me a little time every day to spend with Maggie, one-on-one.
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