Bits and pieces

We had a lovely weekend. Very quiet. The kids and I were still tuckered out from our beach excursion. Nothing wears you out like being in the sun all day. Sunday we visited dh's aunt and uncle. We barbequed chicken and carne asada for dinner. After dinner things finally started to cool off and it was actually enjoyable outside. Dh's aunt filled me in on all the latest family goings on. Some major drama involving a family friend that was pretty much family. Although I'll say she's definately not like family now. I wonder what posses people sometimes that causes them to just go off for no good reason and ruin a relationship. Or in this case several.

La Katie has decided that I'm hers and hers alone. She told me the other day that I'm not allowed to kiss her big brother or scratch her daddy's back. I'm only allowed to kiss her and I'm only supposed to love her. Now I'll admit that a little part of me just loves this and is doing the snoopy dance. But the majority of me is less than thrilled. I've always tried to instill the value of the brother/sister relationship. That they should love each other and look out for one another. I don't expect it to be all sunshine and roses. I know they'll be fights and whatnot between siblings. But I want them to know and understand that I love them both equally. My connection with them is special and unique with each of them. With Mikel because he is my first child and only son. With LaKatie because she is my baby and my only girl. I'm close with both of them, but in different ways.

I guess it bothers me that she doesn't want to share me with dh and her brother, because I want her to see me have good relationships with both of them. That's her role model for her future relationships with men. I'm trying to set a good example. I think it's a part of the phase she seems to be going through. She's testing her limits and learning how to express herself. It's difficult to remember that all the time. She's a very bright, emotional girl. I want to be so careful of the values I give her. I want her to be confident and not be afraid of asserting herself, butI don't want her to be a bully either. Ah, such is the life of a parent. You feel like someone has told you to program a vcr and forgot to give you the instructions. You're flying blind and taking daily leaps of faith with something so incredibly close to your heart.

My son is learning to read. Right now he can read most of the smaller words. He likes to play his PS2 games and games on our computer. Obviously he has trouble reading the directions. He'll ask for help and instead of spelling out the words, he spells out the whole entire sentence. Since I have my laptop on the dinning room table and our desktop is in the corner of the dinning room, he usually asks me for help. By the time he finishes spelling the sentence my eyes are rolling around like the wheels on a slot machine and I'm bleeding from the ears. He hasn't quite gotten the concept of the space between words. We'll be working on this a lot during the week.