Elf on a shelf: Keep it clean!

You 'elf on a shelf' people need to keep it clean! At the bus stop today the parents were sharing photos of their elf on the shelf pooping out hershey's kisses. The kids all thought it was hilarious. Unfortunately, so did LS. When she's still talking about it and reliving the moment in June, and they are sick of hearing about it, I will remind them it's their fault. But all they have to do is hear about it at the bus stop once a day. For me it could be years of hearing about it daily, any time, all the time, and in appropriate places and at inappropriate times.

Piano recital

LS had a piano recital Sunday afternoon. Though it was a casual open house style recital I still wasn't able to get video of her playing her songs because it all happened so fast. Literally. She pretty much just barged into the room of quietly seated guests and announced she was next up to play. Luckily she at least let the boy who was already at the piano finish before she plopped down and started playing, without even taking a breath or waiting for her teacher to finish introducing her.

She played the pieces very well and even did an encore. There was applause, and laughter (the laughter due to her lack of hesitation to get up there and have her turn). Unfortunately, any kind of attention can cause things to take a turn for the weird...and they did. The next step toward the weird was LS marching around in the middle of the room shaking the jingle bells and yelling "everybody shake it!" That's okay. It was festive. And gained more laughter. But then it devolved to her going up to the piano again in between sets, banging a nonsense chord and yelling "goose in the toilet!"  I took her out of the room after that but then she escaped and ran back in, running around with the jingle bells yelling "everyone shake your tummies!" That was our cue to leave before things got worse, and she had already attracted the "I wonder what's wrong with her" looks. So we said goodbye to her teacher and left. Overall it was a success. She didn't pull up her dress and show her underwear during the bow like last year. And no one was hurt. 

Back to School Tomorrow! Yay!

Now that Little Squirrel can read the whole visual schedule thing is so much easier! It's working well so far. I just carry around a tablet and before I pick her up from school I quickly write out the day of the week, then everything that's happening (that I know of) the rest of the day. And since today was Friday I included the rest of today AND the itinerary for tomorrow also, which I think has helped simmer down the weekend anxiety, at least as far as I can tell. To do this requires actually having a plan for each day, which I have learned to do, since I have learned Little Squirrel can tolerate about 2 hours max at home before going nuts and behaving like bugs are crawling under her skin due to the uncertainty of "what's next???"