Spring Snow Showers & Easter

Apparently, Mother Nature is confused and just won't let winter go. Even though it was officially Spring, we had another snow fall. The kids were super excited to go sledding across the street and build one more snowman.

Then the weather changed within days and it was warm and sunny. Perfect for coloring Easter eggs on the deck!

And wiping out the shorts (& silliness):

For Easter, we went to my parent's house and my brother came over. And we made a fire in the fireplace. I'm telling you, Maryland weather is as moody as a 13-year-old. Grumpy, happy, sad, excited...

The morning started with the kids getting their Easter basket from the Easter bunny.

Since it was also April Fools, we shoved tissue into one of their shoes. They both were so confused as to why their shoe wasn't going on right, but thought it was super funny that we fooled them! It was off to go outside and do an Easter egg hunt with the neighbors!

Happy Easter, from the Hairson's!

Sweet Luc

Though I often wonder where my sweet baby Luc is sometimes when I see him tease his sister nonstop, there are moments when he surprises us and his sweet heart appears.
As much as he loves to drive his sister crazy and tease her, he will often help her in the bathroom to wash her hands when she was potty training, fix her tablet, get things for her, or even, <:O, share his after-dinner treat with her.

Bonne Maman had surgery on her shoulder last Friday. Her recovery will be quite long and she's not able to use her one arm. She can't cook, clean, etc. Her sister from Belgium is coming to stay and help for 3 weeks. She wasn't coming until Monday evening, so we all went over Saturday to make dinner, bring over a crock pot meal for Sunday, and spend some time with her.

We were telling Luc that Aunt Dominique was coming and we would see her next weekend when we came back to Bonne Maman and Bon Papa's house. Luc remembers Dominique from multiple visits (us there, her here) and enjoys seeing her.  Bonne Maman wasn't sure if Luc remembered exactly who she is, so she began to describe her. "She's the one with no hair."
Luc remembered and asked if she always had no hair. Bonne Maman started telling a story about how when Dominique was Luc's age their neighbor had a fire in their house. This traumatized Dominique and was scared of fire for a long time. About a year or more later she started to lose her hair. They used to think it was the trauma and stress from her fear of fire, but now they believe it's an autoimmune disease. We were trying to explain to Luc what that disease is by saying it's when your cells in your body start fighting with other cells.
Luc said how that must've been scary for her and Bonne Maman shared how she used to get made fun of by other kids.

While were talking to him more about it on the way home, I was reminding him how sometimes she's wears wigs or hats, but other times in the house she doesn't wear anything at all. He told us, "I like her better with no hair."
He then said his ukulele teachers has no hair and wears hats and asked if he had the same thing as Dominique. His teacher is in his 30's, and we said probably not. He probably just shaves it because he doesn't like having hair on his head. Then Luc asked what "special tool" do you need to do that. Frederic began to tell him how he uses a hair trimmer when he does Luc's hair, but to make it all bald you use a razor like what Daddy uses to shave his face.

The next day we told Luc he needed a hair cut (Frederic always cuts it). And that's when Luc asked if he could shave his head to look like Dominique. We said he could if he wanted to, but we would go little at a time and have him look to make sure he kept wanting it shorter.
I asked Luc why he wanted to be bald and he said it's because he felt bad for Dominique and doesn't want her to feel alone. ---There's my sweet-hearted Luc! 💙

So we cut and cut... Frederic couldn't bare to take a razor, but Luc was ok with that.

Luc loves his "bald" head and keeps asking if he can cut it this short all the time from now on.

*Luc was student of the week in class and had to carry around a Cat in the Hat wherever he went that week and take pictures.

This winter has been pretty stagnant. We've shared colds and coughs (Luc had an ear infection; Frederic and I got bronchitis), and spent many days and weekends inside.

Aria willingly laying on the couch in the afternoon...because she's sick.

And while Luc and Aria now play together and create their own games, it also means they fight even more. Aria gets bossy, Luc thinks he knows better than her and tries to control her, Aria will not have anyone controlling what she does or thinks, and so they fight, kick, hit, and scream...then someone ends up crying.

We finally got a warm 65 degree day yesterday, but since it was raining, we still couldn't enjoy it much. But since we weren't in an arctic freeze, we decided to use our pool membership and visit the indoor pool for the afternoon. What a brilliant idea! Except Aria has turned into our accident-prone child.
First, why does a kiddie pool area have tables and chairs for people to use up 2 concrete stairs that are slippery and barely have a traction strip at the ends of them? Nevertheless, they do. And Aria was going back and forth to find different toys. I went up to the table with her and caught her from falling down the stairs one time. The second time, my reflexes weren't fast enough. And the kids wonder why I tell them to be careful and be aware of their surroundings! Aria grabbed a toy, was turning around to head toward the pool, forgot there were 2 concrete stairs, and fell face forward, landing on her hand (the top side of her hand, not palms). sigh.
With her crying (for 30 seconds because she has some weird super power in regards to pain), I picked her up and thought only her knees were messed up. Nope, she started saying her hand hurt and as I looked at the top of her hand, I see a big cut and it instantly turned blue/purple. I took her to front desk for ice and a band aid. The woman was testing to see whether Aria would hold something in that hand since she was holding it strangely and close to her body, like people do when it's broken. She recommended I take her for an x-ray at an urgent care to be sure it's not broken. Of course it was swollen as well. So I put some ice on it, and she and I got dressed.
Aria fell asleep on the car ride home. So we let her sleep while we showered and I bathed Luc. Since she had started to use her hand and bend her wrist before we left, we decided to see how she used it in the bath to determine whether to take her to the urgent care. I took the band aid off and it didn't look as bad. She was using her hand like normal, so we decided not to take her. We did use some left over gauze wrap from her burns to keep a bandage on and kind of immobilize her wrist. But by the next day at Grandma's, she was asking to take it off.
Seems we lucked out on this one and it's only cut and badly bruised. Whew!

Other Updates:

-Aria is 100% diaper-free (we're using up the last Pull Ups for night time, but she wakes up dry every morning)
-Luc got a great report card for school! He also got a bonus question on a classwork and no one else in the entire class got it right except him. He informed me, "It was easy."
-Luc continues to do really well playing his ukulele. He also taught himself how to play Frere Jacques on the keyboard we set up, by ear.
-Aria's new favorite things: Trolls movie, play-doh creations, pretending to be in school

-Luc's new favorite things: singing along to Trolls in the car, learning and playing around with the keyboard
-We've had many mini jam sessions in the house in the evenings:

-Making crepes with Daddy on the weekends

Aria eating the butter

-Pretending to be in school with school-teacher Daddy. He teaches the alphabet, colors, numbers, shapes in English and French! He also teaches about Belgium.

So the winter continues. Frederic impatiently waits for a big snow storm. I impatiently wait for Spring. Aria impatiently waits for next Fall when she starts school, and Luc impatiently waits for Summer when he can go to the beach, and ride his bike all evening long.

What Did We Just Do?!

The first day of the new year was extremely cold. Like high of 10 degrees, wind chill feels like 8-- cold. It hurt to just look outside.
Luc was invited to have a play date at Noah's house across the street after lunch. So off he went for four hours. While he was away, Frederic and I got to spend some one-on-one time with Aria.

In the last week or so we've been dropping more and more hints to Aria that she needs to start using the potty (she has to be 100% trained to start school in the Fall). At her birthday party, the Grandmas were talking to her about it too.
I already bought princess underwear quite awhile ago when they were on sale. I showed them to Aria last month, but she didn't really care.
Monday, I mentioned again to Aria about wearing underwear and she suddenly got really excited. So I ran with it. I showed her the stash, and she picked out a pair and insisted she wear it right then and there!
And so prompted the spontaneous day of starting to potty-train Aria. Luc has been a great helper. He will encourage Aria to go to the bathroom, he will come with her for support (?), he reminds her to wipe and flush, and also helps her wash her hands by pushing up her sleeves, turning on the water and getting her the soap (not that she can't do it herself, but she likes when he helps her). And then they both ask for an M&M or Raisinette when they're done.

After 6 years of continuous diaper changes, it feels quite strange not doing it anymore. But a total welcomed change! My kids are all grown up and aren't babies anymore :-(

...so here we go! ...

Aria is 3 Years old

Say What?!!?

Where do I even begin with this girl...

Stats:

Weight: 29 lbs (29%)
Height: 38 inches (79%; she grew 4 inches in a year!)
Clothes size: moving into 4T
Shoe size: 8

Aria is still a force. She knows what she wants and doesn't like. And hell, she will tell you. I swear sometimes she picks a fight with me just because...and then laughs. I asked her why, in my desperate attempt to get her dressed and ready for bed one night, why she resists and fights with me. She told me, "It's fun!" Grrrr

She is so full of personality. While she learned the rolling of the eyes from Luc, she is so outgoing and bubbly. She'll walk right up to any kid and talk to them, especially to girls and tells them she loves their dress or shoes.
She is super picky about her own clothes and shoes. I pick out an outfit every day and 99.6% of the time she changes something about it.

Lately, naps have been disappearing. The only way to get her to sleep is if she's tied down in her car seat with nothing to do. Then she has to know that everyone else is stuck there with her and not doing anything exciting. Only then will she give in and pass out.

At night, she's waiting until Luc goes to bed to let herself fall asleep. This summer she was great at going to bed. No fighting, no keeping herself up. This Fall- total turn around. She wants to bring a book into bed to "read", the door has to be left open a crack, and she won't give in until Luc comes up for bed (usually within a half hour of her). After Luc brushes his teeth, she calls for him and he goes in her room. He climbs onto the outside of the crib to give her a hug and/or kiss and they tell each other good night (and I love you) about 3 times.

I haven't written down a lot of milestone and knowledge that she knows over the last year because she knows so much from copying Luc I can't keep up. She counts. One day she did it to 20! She's learning her alphabet, knows all her colors, can name more animals than I can count, can dress/undress socks, pants, and skirts all by herself, put her boots on, and a bunch of other things.

Her Favorite Foods: Mac n Cheese, Eggs, veggies, yogurt tubes, applesauce pouches, salami
Least Favorite foods: chicken nuggets, fish sticks, most fruits, plain cheese, milk

Favorite games: Pretend to be a doggy or kitty, mommy or doctor; hide n seek (though she won't hide on her own) 
Favorite TV Shows:  Puppy Dog Pals, Vampirina, Doc McStuffins, Elena of Avalor

Aria will be joining Luc at school next year. Enrollment forms are due this month! Ah! And this Spring will be potty training time. Double AH! And Triple AH because we will also transition her out of her crib to encourage her to use the potty at night when/if she needs it. Knowing her personality and lack of obedience, she's going to be one of those kids who's constantly getting out of bed. God, give me lots and lots of patience when the Spring approaches.

We did survive Aria's weaning off the pacifier! She nearly tore the Build-a-Bear apart that has her last pacifier sewn into it. After leaving the bear in the closet, and giving her time to adjust, she can now play with the bear and not try to destroy it. And while she's hasn't asked for her pacifier in a long time now, we have noticed she uses applesauce pouches to chew on to substitute her oral fixation need. As soon as she's upset or tired, she asks to have a pouch.

And she loves to tell Daddy that he needs to shave. She refuses to kiss him if he's scruffy. Or sometimes she'll just kiss his nose if he's too scratchy.

Aria is quite a challenge to me (and Frederic as well). She is so strongly opinionated and does not back down. She is loud and persistent. She has a great memory and insists things be done how and when she wants it. She is very outgoing and vocal. Often times it is hard for us to fight back and stick to our guns, when giving in and not hearing her cry and fight is easier. While we love this part of her personality and know it will serve her extremely well in the future, it is very hard at the moment to control and focus.

(oh, and I trimmed her hair a few weeks ago. She was turned her back toward me while in the tub playing, so I took out tiny scissors and took about a half inch off without her even knowing. The ends here just so dry from the summer-and never being cut before. It wasn't as traumatic (for me) as I thought it would be... but her hair is getting a lot darker, like Luc's, and that is making me sad. Soon all her baby bright blonde hair will be trimmed off and there will be no more remembrance of her silky locks she was born with.)

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 Aria's Birthday
I used my last PL day of the year for Aria's birthday. And since Luc didn't have school, we stayed home. Aria opened her gifts before Frederic left for work.
She got a Barbie, Disney princess dolls (Cinderella, Aurora; and Ariel from Matt & Jackie), a baby Bambi stuffed animal (from Aunt Anita and Uncle Ron), Minnie Mouse purse and accessories (from Matt & Jackie), and a Disney princess castle.

Frederic got home early and brought mini cupcakes for dessert.

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Aria's Birthday Party
Sat, Dec 30th at our house, with grandparents and Uncle Dave.
Theme: Doc McStuffins

And of course, again this year, it was snowing on the day of the party and we prayed it wouldn't get bad and no one would come, or would have to leave too early. Luckily, again, we lucked out.