New Skills: Bike Riding

The children were recently outfitted with bikes of proper size and good repair.  MMan loves riding and usually can be heard singing while he zooms around.  GGirl is working hard to overcome a bit of a fear of falling, and gets her cycling groove on best when she's rested.  We took advantage of an empty parking lot this morning so they could work on their new skills.  

A Style, Still, All Her Own

GGirl's sense of style emerged early and has continued to evolve.  Her most recent exploration is in the area of prints, and such.  The shirt matched the jumper because they both had white, then everything else was accessories.

She was going through a bag of clothes passed to us and was very excited about the pink, sparkly, pretzel sweatshirt.  I was at a loss until she showed me what she was talking about.  May we all have more pretzels in our life.

Kindergarten Graffiti

"Mommy, I wrote a note on your car!"

After I took the picture.  "I wrote 'I love you' on Daddy's car too, but he didn't take a picture."

I'm sure it will be "wash me" before spring is over!

Identity Crisis

GGirl is going through phases where she is absorbing the identity of some of her favorite cartoon characters.  Or at least parts of their names.  Papers come home from school with various names on them, and sometimes include part of her given name.  Sometimes they don't.

Crafty Girl

Equipped with many crafty kits after her birthday, GGirl and HandyMan crafted the afternoon away.  The cat is her first ever sewing project and she did an awesome job of it!  She and HandyMan upped the skill level when they jumped to the rubber-band bracelet loom - that was a little more challenging.  The owl is a plush coloring project that she whipped out while she was watching Frozen (what else!) and I think she had it done before Ana could get to the chocolate.  

Sensational Six

Dear GGirl,
Today is your birthday!  You requested banana bread pancakes for breakfast and pizza for dinner.  Cake from the bakery at school and presents after school.  Calls from friends and grandparents were a highlight as you are now becoming interested in getting your own phone calls.  Ice-cream with a candle topped off today's festivities and on Saturday, it's Tea Party Time!

You are one great kid!  You are so full of energy that I can hardly keep up.  I love your inhibitions at being the center of attention - it showed in full color today as you were so excited for any gathering to sing happy birthday to you!  You wore your birthday crown with pride and were thrilled with a new dress we found in the stash of clothes that you hadn't gotten in to yet. You are a great reader, but can't be bothered to color in the lines.  You seem to have my planning gene and like to have everyone lined out around you.  You are gracious with your brother and kind to your friends.

Last night when I tucked you in, I was lamenting the last night of tucking in my 5-year-old girl.  You very matter-of-factly informed me "I'll be the same girl, I'll just be a different number!".  I'm glad that you've reached a "different number".  That you are healthy, and that you are the same girl.


I love you and the little girl you are!
Love,
Mommy

Modern Art

GGirl was gifted a scratch art kit for Christmas and has spent hours scratching away creative masterpieces.  With a humored glint in his eye and a bit of excitement in his step, Handyman pointed out one of the newest pieces of art to be added to our collection.  "It's 21st century modern art!" he raved.  "GGirl, tell your mom what it is!"

"A high-heeled boot that stepped in dog poop" she replied with a proud grin.

There you have it folks, coming to an art museum near you!

A Day For Cousins

GGirl has been making the connections of family relationships.  She was very excited to spend some time with her cousins this trip.  From creative writing sessions to pet salon construction to conference room air hockey,  there were lots of giggles from this afternoon adventure!

Christmas Gifts

It's always interesting to see what reactions my children will have to the gifts at Christmas. This year MMan was all about opening presents.  He ripped paper enthusiastically and showed varied interest in the contents. When there was nothing left to open, tears ensued.  GGirl loved her gifts that were themed with the princesses of the day (Anna and Elsa).  Less thrilled with clothes, but a gracious recipient, none the less.
This was the first year she was an independent giver.  She bought gifts at Santa's Village at school and enjoyed giving gifts that she had chosen.  She also added colored pictures and drawings to our stockings.  It was a pleasure  to see her find the joy in giving.
Two of my greatest gifts are wearing the bows below.

Good Morning

This morning was one that had all of us getting ready to leave at the same time-earlier than normal for some.  Usually this type of morning involves frenzy and chaos.  Today, we all got out the door calmly-and even some smiles.  GGirl's mood was appreciably elevated by her new shirt that I surprised her with when I woke her up.

Unexpected Reactions

Quite often one of my children will surprise me with a reaction that is unexpected.  Such was the case on Thursday morning.  Snow everywhere! We had watched it snow for most of Wednesday and I was expecting glee and excitement out of GGirl.  Nope.  She looked out the window and responded to the piles of snow with:

"Oh, the poor trees!"

A Day With My Princess

The request of a Mommy/GGirl Day got put on our calendar weeks ago.  This Saturday the day finally came.  GGirl had been anxiously awaiting her adventure time with Mommy "and NO boys"!  We ran errands most of the day but fit in a few  special treats.  Goody bags and pictures from a  Frozen promotion at Target, play time at WKids and frozen yogurt as out last stop.

As my GGirl sat on the bright pink bench seat up against a lime green wall, I stopped and just watched.  Taking in her colorful outfit, paper princess crown all askew, the excitement over a pink spoon, enjoyment of her treat I had a 'mommy moment'.  One of those moments that we moms wish we could bottle up and keep forever. The moment we wish we could stop time and keep our little ones little. 

At the end of our treats, GGirl decided that we had been gone long enough and we should go home to see Daddy and MMan, but only if we could put a Mommy/GGirl day on the calendar again soon.  Absolutely!

Kamikaze and the Kindergartener

Oye!  Summer flew by and now fall is half way over.  Oh, how time flies when you're working hard and having fun!  We are healthy and well, even with MMan sporting a nice little splint on a broken arm.  It turns out trying to escape one's crib can be a dangerous venture.  GGirl is rockin' the kindergarten world: learning to read, loves "kindergarten math" because its fun.  Of course her favorite part of school is taking her own lunch, gym class and playing outside for recess!
This week also brought making and canning 16 quarts of applesauce for me and a semi-failed gluten free baking project.  The GF Zucchini bread tasted great, but ran over everywhere.  More flour next time I think.  So there's a snippet of our world.  I hope you are all well!

Waiting For Dady

A very sneaky GGirl waited very patiently for Daddy tonight

So she could launch her first squirt gun attack!

Bedtime Reading?

GGirl's birthday is coming up and like many families we let her choose for meal for her birthday.  When I discussed her birthday with her, the menu ideas were macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, pears and cataup that wasn't spicy.  Imagine my surprise when this was on the grocery list when I got home on Saturday night.

So I asked her if she knew what mahi-mahi was.  "No" she replied.  No surprise there.

A few minutes later she came running in and says "it's fish with a yummy sauce!"

I think HandyMan and GGirl must have been using the cookbooks for bedtime reading again. 

Seeing The Future

From tonight's phone call with daddy, I got a glimpse at a much more grow up GGirl!

Homework Creativity

Homework for preschool is pretty basic, as it should be.  GGirl has a check mark list that we do each night with her that involves working on her ABC's, writing her name and reading stories.  She knows her ABC's and can identify and write upper and lower case so homework is usually an exercise in mastery.  Some nights, sitting and writing is a good option. Other nights she has a bit more energy that we need to work with.  With puzzle pieces spread along stairs so that Mman can't get at them,  she has great fun matching her upper and lowercase letters while running up and down the stairs.

Fashion Leverage

I have a very strong willed daughter.  I learned soon after she began expressing fashion choices that letting her pick her own clothes on days when it really  didn't matter gave me leverage in the days it did. Today, I'm building up leverage.

Fun Times

MMan is changing so fast and is becoming quite the little personality.  He wants to do everything the rest of us do: no more eating with his fingers, food goes on forks and spoons.  He has a great Spiderman move he uses when he wants out of the tub:  think both feet and fingertips on the edge of the tub.  Because of his lightning quick movements, there are no photos.  He has recently taken a liking to music and will motion for us to turn music on, climb on the ottoman and start bopping.  If it's live music, dancing on the floor will work too.

He is now regularly signing to communicate. Eat, drink, change, more, please and all-done come fluently and he is quite proud of his progress.

His  smiles light up the day! 

GGirl is also maturing in leaps and bounds.   She loves school and riding the bus.  The first couple weeks of school she did not like to ride the Headstart bus in the morning.  "I hate it!" she would exclaim and after investigation, it was because there were shoulder harnesses she did not like.  But, when they decorated the bus for fall and put her name on a pumpkin on the wall, that changed everything!  The grin that lights up her face when she gets off the bus is priceless.

In the evenings we snuggle a little longer, linger over bedtime stories and enjoy earlier bedtimes.

September

Summer came to an end and September took off, full speed ahead.  GGirl started Pre-K and she loves it.  She is making new friends and some of her favorite things are the tricycle s and dress-up clothes. Shelikes riding the big bus home and on HandyMan's day off, weather and schedule permitting, he picks her up on the bike.  They are a sight to be seen around town.  MMan is off and running, quite literally.  He also woke up this weekend needing his 18-month clothes.  Sometimes kids really do grow overnight.