Shyness

I just read this article about shyness (here). Lately I have been concerned about Kaitlyn's shyness, not because I want a loud extroverted child, but I don't want her to miss opportunities to have fun and make friends. We were at this birthday party Saturday and birthday's are a normal place for her to get embarrassingly shy. Large crowds of unfamiliar people have always been tough for her. I don't blame her on that but I need to teach her to assimilate rather than crawl under my skirt (which has happened!). We arrived and the first thing she did was want me to hold her. The first activity was freeze dance and she wanted hide in the corner. As a formerly shy child, I feel that she wants to join in and have fun but doesn't quite know how and of course I don't know how to encourage her. I can remember going to school and playing by myself or with one other person in the corner. I remember not wanting to put on the fireman's pants because that would make me the center of attention. I remember at my first middle school dance feeling uncomfortable at everybody dancing in a circle. All of these things I wanted to do but I didn't want to break out of my shell to do it.

Kaitlyn has many sweet personality traits and I don't want to change her. I truly embrace her innocence and loving heart. I mean she's a mini-me! The article I linked to says, "other children compete for attention and shy girls bestow it." That couldn't be more true in Kaitlyn's case. If you touch her heart one time, she will never forget you. She knows books are for mommy, Bojangles is for daddy, Saturday's are for Grandma, Aunt Sharon and Leslie can do braids, Lucy gives kisses. I just hope that I can instill confidence in her and help her to not miss out on making memories just because she doesn't know how to act. I knew that freeze dance was not up her alley and I didn't try to push her into it. I stood there with her and we silly danced in the corner. I did make her ask Woody for a balloon and watch the magic show. In situations with adults, I tell her to please speak to people when spoken too and hold my hand if she's nervous. Really, this hasn't helped. At parties, I try to pick one person she knows and just do what they are doing. After freeze dance was over she was better at staying with the group of kids but she definitely stayed quiet and to herself. I am pretty concerned about this right now because, like I said, I don't want her to spend the next 20 years missing out on all the fun. In case you are wondering, I came out of my shell sometime around 25! Do you have any suggestions? I'm searching for a couple books to read right now so we'll see how all this turns out!

Handwritting

I am not a big proponent of pushing little kids to write but over the last month or so, Kaitlyn has begun to show interest. She wants to write her name on everything. And she always writes in the air to show me what something looks like. I have watched her coloring and since I know she can hold her pencil correctly and I have resolved to spend more one on one time with the girls, I have decided to start having writing lessons. We do two letters a day, capital and lower case, and she writes her name. She can't spell her name, but she'll write it with my help :) She is doing well. And she is surprisingly confident and willing. I guess my reward of TV helps!

The last four days Kylie hasn't made me quite so crazy. I don't know if she is calming down or since my house is clean, I can give her undivided attention every waking minute!

Snow Day #2

We borrowed some snow pants, a snow jacket and a sled and today's adventure in the snow was wickedly fun!!! Both kids were screaming fun going down the hills. How did Ky even know to scream? Pictures to come.

Snow Day

Today we woke up to six inches of snow topped with 1/4 inch of ice. Of course we couldn't wait to get outside. Here's how it went down:

Amount of time it took to get all four of us dressed: 37 minutes
Amount of time it took for someone to complain they were cold: 3.2 minutes
Amount of times mommy tried to push Kaitlyn down the hill in a laundry basket resulting in snow up my shirt: 1
Amount of times Kaitlyn sled down "The Parkway": 1
Total amount of time that mommy and daddy tortured the K's outside: 64 minutes
Amount of time it took for 2 toddlers to thaw out and stop crying: 24 minutes


And after our kids were thoroughly frozen, neighbors said they have snow suits for both of them. Yay! We can do it all again!!!

Pictures

Christmas 2010

I know its been a while since I've updated but December was a whirlwind. We had lots of fun plans all month long starting with Lucy's birthday party, a live nativity, a trip to Disney, Leslie's graduation, daddy's (too) long vacation, Christmas, a visit from Nana and Sir, my big 3-0, UCF beat Georgia... And finally John went back to work. We had a very blessed Christmas. I tried to make sure and talk about Jesus all month long because I knew Christmas morning would be all about the presents. We read the Christmas story in several books and the bible, went to two birthday parties for Jesus and visited a live nativity which will become a new tradition for us. Except for being late for church on Christmas Eve, I was proud of how our family watched and waited for Jesus throughout the month of December. Christmas morning was magical. The kids were so excited. Both girls got bikes and lots of other things. We couldn't keep Kylie off of her bike to open presents. When she did open them she put them in her basket. I guess it has become a new Kramer tradition to have breakfast at my house Christmas morning so all of the local Kramer's came over and after they left it began to snow. We got several inches. The first white Christmas I can remember! We definitely saw God at work. It was beautiful SNOW. No ice or sleet to make the roads dangerous but beautiful powdery snow! We did have some family drama on Christmas and I regret the entire situation but I also saw God at work. John really took a stand for me and our family in a way I never expected. I was proud of how he comforted me, protected me, and stood up for our family. It was a really bad situation but I have never loved my husband more and the way he reacted was a gift and blessing.

After Christmas, I turned 30. Yay. And UCF beat UGA in the Liberty Bowl. John has never been prouder!!! And the girls are hilarious. Kylie can recognize the letters and the mascot anywhere. Ni-Nights she says (go Knights). And Kaitlyn really tries to be a part of it too but she's like me, she'd rather be playing Barbies!

I'd like to post some pictures but blogger isn't letting me... we'll see if I can do it on another post.