a post per day, #5: late night TV and a bit about my babies

i always feel like watching a late night TV show somehow justifies staying up later than i should be staying up.

jimmy fallon is clearly my fave, followed closely by james corden. then maybe jimmy kimmel, seth meyers, and then colbert. poor guy. he's a funny dude but his show is kinda snoozeville. which is tough when you're trying to entertain people who are already falling asleep.

is anyone else rewatching downton abbey before the movie comes out this year? bc we totally are and i forgot how much i love it. im glad there are so many seasons. it's a nice slow burn.

i feel like i should jot down some notes about the kids; bea is turning SIX on wednesday so i should document some stuff. im glad i have instagram/fb/timehop to keep me in line or i wouldnt have any memories saved!

Bea
like i said, she is turning 6 this week and i can't believe it. i have been a parent for almost 7 years now. it's insane.

she got into the advanced program at school. not only did she qualify, she tested in the 97th percentile for state and national gifted testing programs. she is brilliant, and it totally shows whenever you have a conversation with her. she has an insane vocabulary that is growing rapidly everyday. which is probably helped by her new obsession with....

HARRY POTTER! we are reading the illustrated versions with her/listening to the jim dale recordings and she is hooked. i am beyond thrilled about this. her activity of choice today was watching the extended version of HP2 (we let her watch them as we finish reading them). we are in the middle of HP3 but she wanted to watch one, and she can't watch the next one til we finish reading, so she opted for watching 2 again. it is a whopping 3 hours long, so after she finished her homework today we put it on and watched til bedtime. as far as the movies go, it is not my favorite one but 3 IS my favorite movie (or maybe 5. or 6. or 7. I DONT KNOW!) so i am dying to finish it so she can watch it. its the most whimsy and magical of the movies for sure so i am excited to watch it with her. oliver loves it too even though he kind of doesn't entirely know what's going on. he loves to say "VOLDEMORT IS A STUPID BAD GUY! I PUNCH AND KILL HIM!!!"
we love harry potter, bottom line. she wants to be hermione for halloween this year. point, me.

she still loves dance and she is getting so good at it. she works hard and loves to practice. she is getting pretty good at tap and rhythm, and her spins in ballet are getting pretty amazing. and her turnout is awesome for a 5/6 year old. i am in love with watching her dance.

she is AMAZING at math. she doesn't care much about reading right now but her math skills are above and beyond. doing her math homework with her is painful because of how much i need to dumb it down. i am so proud of her sharp STEM brain.

she still is crazy spirited but she seems to have things a lot more under control these days and outbursts are becoming fewer and farther between. it's nice to not see her constantly at war with herself. that being said, she has pretty crazy ADHD and has a hard time focusing without guidance. she can't focus long enough to get dressed on her own most days and needs a lot of help focusing and staying on task. i want to find as many ways as we can to help her out without having to medicate her. the doctor says evaluating things after kindergarten is the time to find a good starting point with serious ADHD treatment.

i'm sure there's more but i need to get to oliver before it's time for me to go to sleep. which is like, yesterday.. 😱

oliver
oliver is a delight. is he screaming and crying half the time? sure. but the other half he is a melt-in-your-arms puddle of snuggles. so i'd say it balances out.

his favorite word right now is "stupid" so we are working on that....

he likes to find sticks to turn into magic wands, and always gives you a rhyming spell. typically it is:
abra cadabra, abra cazoo, turn mommy into a POO!!!!" but sometimes he gets creative and throws in a different set of rhyming words.

he loves his preschool teacher and is learning how to get along with other kids. he has tiffs now and then but they are thinning out and he is getting a lot better at controlling his emotions. he's not as big of a hitter now as he was coming into the school year so i am happy about that. he teacher says he is an angel like 90% of the time so it's promising.

he is in SUNBEAMS now!!! i can't believe he is that big. i really don't have a baby anymore. it's kinda sad but it is so fun to watch him grow, i can't get too hung up about it. he is taking to primary like a fish to water. i play piano in primary so i get to observe him and it is a treat. he is so good and well behaved and he enjoys it so much and it's just a joy to watch.

he loves jurassic park, despite never having seen it. his favorite activity of choice is to watch youtube videos of the jurassic park ride at universal studios. he could watch it for hours. no matter how many times i tell him the dinosaurs are robots, he is CONVINCED they are real and has told me he will never go on that ride for that reason. he does love dinosaurs though, and you can find him looking through his dinosaur library books on the reg.

he is a singer. it is adorable. he'll walk around and just sing about whatever he's doing. or he'll sing a song that's stuck in his head. and he always sings to the radio. and he loves to dance. he's got swag. he is very serious about his dancing and always has a stank face when he gets serious about it. he loves to dance to the spiderman soundtrack these days. it's super cute, he is very passionate about his dance moves.

ANYWAY. i'm sure there's more but i really need to go to bed. so. there you have it. a kid update. i love love love love them.