First Day of Pre-K

The girls had their first day of Pre-K on Monday.  They were really excited to get back to school and see all their friends and they couldn't wait to explore their new classes.  The girls go to a really small school, so there was nothing intimidating about this transition for them.  They were already very familiar with their new teachers and they have most of the same classmates still.  Julia is an Allstar.  Her class pet is a snake named George Washington and her teacher is a soccer junky.  It's a good fit for Julia because she's so creative and active.  Amelia is a Terrific Tiger.  Her teacher is on maternity leave, so time will tell what her class will really be like.  She is enjoying her substitute for now though.

Keeping the Peace

Like any set of siblings, my girls have their moments where they play nicely together followed immediately by screams and tears.  Praise the good Lord for one bit of wisdom that I found somewhere on the mighty internet many moons ago that has drastically decreased the amount of bickering in our home.  On a calendar on the refrigerator (where all of our sanity saving documents can be found) we have the letters "A" and "J" alternating on every day of every month.  Each of our girls take turns being the Leader of the Day.  Big title that comes with lots of perks.  The leader of the day in our house gets to choose all things first, unless of course they are over-ruled by Mom and Dad.  This includes, but is not limited to dish color, seat at the table, car seat, movie, TV show, etc.  It also means that she gets to do things first, such as say her prayers first before bed.  Sometimes being the leader means that you have to be the brave one.  At our first dentist appointment we had no eager volunteers.  So the leader of the day was elected (by yours truly) to go first.  I think the beauty of this technique is that nobody really gets terribly sad (whines or pitches a fit) when it's not their day because they know that tomorrow they get the coveted title and all that goes with it.

How do you keep meltdowns at a minimum in your house?  Do you have any tips for dealing with sibling rivalry?

Sometimes I think they may actually like each other!