Update

I am going to try and blog once a week on Sunday mornings. I actually stopped for a while because I felt that it was actually making me dwell on the negative things but i think it is worse not having any record of life and looking back on a year and wondering "what happened this year?". So, I will try and write something positive in every post to balance out the negative.

What is going on with Tony:
Tony is just adorable. I know that I am not objective but I can't help but think that he is the cutest kid. Except when he throws his temper tantrums. Last night he didn't want to eat what we were having for dinner. Usually, I have to admit, that we will give in and make him a sandwich or mac & cheese but last night we must have been in the mood for a fight with a two year old. And a fight it was! The stubborn little thing was having none of the soup or hamburger helper leftovers that we offered. He wanted the bread, which actually consisted of the cream puffs that Monica made, and he just stuck with that. It was fairly successful, though, when we told him that he had two choices: either stop crying and stay downstairs with us or go and cry in his room. The first time was not as successful, since it was just a threat of him going to his room and he forget the deal after about five minutes. It wasn't until the second time however, after I actually walked him to his room and sat him on his bed and explained that he had to stop crying and asking for bread in order to get out, that the concept stuck. He did quietly ask Alex a half an hour of so later for bread (with a please of course because he thinks a "please" will get him anything) but when Alex reminded him that he had agreed to not asking that, he didn't ask again. Oh what fun it is reasoning with a two year old! I do have to say that he did eventually eat the hamburger helper leftover and that when he actually got some "bread" he didn't even like the cream puff! Poor little guy!

Tony has learned all his letter sounds from the Leapfrog Letter Factory movie. He doesn't quite get the concept that the letters form words, but will pick out the letters in words and tell us what letter they are. His favorite letter is the W (don't ask me why) and just loves to make the "wh wh wh" sound (and to tell me in our way into Walmart that it has a w in it. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Leapfrog Talking Words movie I ordered from Amazon because it is supposed to teach him how to put the sounds together to make words. We are considering putting him in preschool next month. I think he is so smart and want to see his love of learning continue. My goal, however, is to potty train him next weekend first. Even though the school doesn't require it, I've already read the "potty training in a day book" (several months ago - so you can see how excited about the process I am since I "got right on it"), bought the anatomically correct Paul doll from eBay and am "excitedly" awaiting the books and videos I ordered from amazon and the library to begin the fun!

What's going on with Katya:
School is our biggest issue right now. I don't really know what to do with it. She got 3 A's lat quarter, 2 B's, a D and two F's. Despite knowing that F's and D's are not acceptable, she doesn't seem to get the concept. At the end of last quarter I pulled teeth at the counseling office to get her started on a tracking system where she has to have all her teachers sign it and say whether she has homework or not (except we negotiated that her drama teacher didn't have to sign because she got an A in that class and her teacher was so "pissy" about it). We threatened that if she didn't bring this list home that she would have a homework assignment from us that would be much worse than her having to get a paper signed by her teachers and so she has been really good about bringing us that paper. Yet when I checked her grades last week, F in history, C- in math and no score in science which I wouldn't be surprised to see an F. I know we need to come up with some other method but I'm currently at a loss...

Katya has a boyfriend, not really to my great excitement. Really he is just a boy friend (that she sends about 2,000 texts to each month) that we let her hang out with under adult supervision. My reasoning for allowing this is that I want her to actually have some experience with the opposite sex before we let her single date at 16 because I am terrified that she would do anything to make a boy like her. I have to admit that it has been entertaining to watch her manage a "relationship". I thought she had her friend break up with him on Friday (yeah I know - isn't that so "junior high"!) but then she asked to hang out with him yesterday. I think my game plan will be to give unsolicited advice occasionally (such as the "if your mad at him you're better off telling him rather than having him guess because guys are lousy at guessing") but stay out of it. I need to update our "sex" talk with her and have this whole lecture planned out about how the decisions she makes now will affect the rest of her life. I'll admit it, though, that I have been avoiding it! I guess I keep waiting for the right moment to bring it up and I'm afraid of saying the wrong thing. But not saying anything at all is worse -I know I know...

The other day Katya brought home this pamphlet for a college savings plan, handed it to Alex and said, "but you don't need this because I'm not going to college!". Oh brother! She told me yesterday that she wishes she could have a job and actually if I could find her one I probably would because I think she needs a taste of what a collegeless job looks like. (the job thing is humorous because she has had $20 for about three weeks that she hasn't spent and has now lost! What does she need money for?).

My positive thing: On the way into Walmart yesterday Katya said, "I love you mom". It's moments like these that make me look at her and wonder how we ever lived without her :)

What's happening with me:
I'm too busy at work. I think that this is a trait unique to women but most of the time I just feel so inadequate as a parent. I try not to play the "what if" game but if I had known that I was going to adopt a girl, have a baby and have too many extra family members living with me because there is room for them, I would never have bought the really expensive house we are in. This would make it so that I could afford to work part-time and would never have had extra people living here in the future. Instead I have to just think to myself that it is nice to have the rent money from Alex's sister so that we can send Tony to a good preschool and that if we follow our quicken debt plan and if they hire someone else at work then I may be able to work less in the future. Sigh.