I've been away from this blog for a whole month! It seemed that a dark cloud of germs descended on our home for the month of February. Everyone was sick and crabby at some point. Mike was in Louisville on business for at least part of three weeks in February, so I was flying solo. The girls and I did fit in a trip back to Indiana last week. Poor Emily ended up with a high fever on the first morning of our visit. This landed her back in the doctor's office and on her second antibiotic in a row, this time for an upper respiratory infection. Mike joined us for the weekend to celebrate his dad's 60th birthday at a suprise party. Happy 60th Birthday, Nick!
Between all of the sickies and travelling I tried to keep Krista's Kitchen updated too. Unfortunately, our family blog fell by the wayside. So, now I'm back with 5 posts to make up for my negligence.
Sorry to keep ya'll hanging.
Boy am I excited for Spring to come....
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
14 months!
It has been too long since I updated about Emily. She will be 14 months this week. Her 13th month was not her best, but she's back to her happy self now. It seems like the poor girl spent the whole last month sick sick sick. She caught every little bug that big sis brought home from preschool. First it was a wicked cold with a cough, then an infection in both ears and then an upper respiratory infection. All of that and she got 4 molars too! Talk about cranky!
She has really developed such a fun little personality. She loves to get a laugh and flirt with people in stores. Dancing is her new passion. She busts a move to anything with a catchy beat. Of course she wants to be everywhere that her big sister is, eat what Ava eats, play with Ava's toys. She's a little smarty pants too. When it's time for bed, she gets her own p.j.'s and brings them to me. Today she was playing in the toy kitchen and she found two plastic buns and a plastic burger, arranged them into the correct burger form and proudly brought it to me. Ask her to touch her eyes. She does. Same with ears, nose, and mouth. She's showing lots of interest in puzzles and fitting shapes through the holes in her block toys, not to mention that she wants to draw and color on everything. Lucky for her (but not for me!), there are lots of opportunities since Ava leaves her crayons and markers laying all over the place. Arrgh!
She knows exactly what she wants these days, she just doesn't have the words to describe it. So she gestures and points and yells gibberish at me. If I can't (or won't) deliver, she gets downright angry and that little toddler temper flares. She's been throwing her first real tantrums lately. Along with the tantrums are the usual toddler mischief. Tell her "no" and it makes her want to do it more. And now she's telling me "no" and violently shaking her her to emphasize her point. Her little independent attitude is a family trait. I'm not naming names...
Despite her toddler tendencies, she's still my little cuddle bug. I love how she snuggles up and she's very generous with her hugs, kisses, and even back rubs.
So that's Miss Emily. 14 whole months old this week.
On the Road to Literacy
I spent the first part of Ava's life looking forward to the milestones: first tooth, rolling, crawling, first words...I guess it never occurred to me that one day she'd be old enough to read and write. It just seemed so far away.
In the last 6 months, she's learned all of her letters and can write most of them with accuracy. In the last few weeks she's been asking me to spell words for her so that she can write them down. She even practices in the salt and grime on the side of our car. Lovely.
She's not actually reading yet. Not in the way that she can sound out words for herself, but she is pretty good at memorization and she recognizes words by the way that they look. So if I point to words like: cat, the, see, foot, and so on she can tell me the word.
We're on the road to literacy. Pretty exciting stuff!
I put together a few clips from the last couple of days of her "reading" and writing. We also had The Alphabet Bag again this week. You may remember the Alphabet Bag from September when we had the letter "A". Well, this time we were in charge of the letter "Q". Ava's presentation of "A" was certainly more animated. In this video she looks like I drugged her with Ritalin before showing me the 5 items in our house beginning with the letter "Q". Oh well. Hopefully she had a little more enthusiasm when she got to school.
In the last 6 months, she's learned all of her letters and can write most of them with accuracy. In the last few weeks she's been asking me to spell words for her so that she can write them down. She even practices in the salt and grime on the side of our car. Lovely.
She's not actually reading yet. Not in the way that she can sound out words for herself, but she is pretty good at memorization and she recognizes words by the way that they look. So if I point to words like: cat, the, see, foot, and so on she can tell me the word.
We're on the road to literacy. Pretty exciting stuff!
I put together a few clips from the last couple of days of her "reading" and writing. We also had The Alphabet Bag again this week. You may remember the Alphabet Bag from September when we had the letter "A". Well, this time we were in charge of the letter "Q". Ava's presentation of "A" was certainly more animated. In this video she looks like I drugged her with Ritalin before showing me the 5 items in our house beginning with the letter "Q". Oh well. Hopefully she had a little more enthusiasm when she got to school.
Sisters
My little ladies watching some t.v. before bed last night.
I just love watching the girls together. This is exactly what I wanted...for my kids to be friends. Sure there are moments of unrest, like when Emily chews on Ava's favorite Barbie. But for the most part, they love each other so much. Ava is very protective of her baby sister and is constantly in a one-sided conversation with her, trying to teach her or just saying something encouraging. Emily is Ava's little shadow. She can't wait for Ava to wake up in the morning. She always drops whatever she's doing and runs to her with the biggest hug. I tried to capture a little of this in some video clips that I've taken over the last week.
I just love watching the girls together. This is exactly what I wanted...for my kids to be friends. Sure there are moments of unrest, like when Emily chews on Ava's favorite Barbie. But for the most part, they love each other so much. Ava is very protective of her baby sister and is constantly in a one-sided conversation with her, trying to teach her or just saying something encouraging. Emily is Ava's little shadow. She can't wait for Ava to wake up in the morning. She always drops whatever she's doing and runs to her with the biggest hug. I tried to capture a little of this in some video clips that I've taken over the last week.
Arrested!
From time to time my sweet daughter decides to remove her safety belt while the car is in motion. I may have said to her once or twice that if she did not sit in her seat and keep her belt on that I, her precious mommy, could be arrested. About 3 months ago, I got pulled over. It's no secret that I have a bit of a lead foot. Always have. Anyhow, when the officer approached the car, Ava blurted out, "Are you going to arrest my mommy?" The officer answered, "We'll see" and then took my license and registration back to his car. When he returned my paperwork with a warning, he let Ava know that he would not be arresting me that day. Nice. Apparently my knack for flying under the radar had run out, and later that week I got pulled over again. This time I was slapped with a ticket and a court date. Needless to say, I am reformed (by force of the law and insurance premiums).
Now fast forward to Career Week at Ava's preschool. The assignment was to talk to your child about your job. Then the kids shared what their parents do for a living during Show and Tell. At breakfast on Wednesday morning Ava announced, "Billy's dad is a COPS."(I'm not sure why she was using the plural for cop, but it was pretty amusing.) She went on, "HE arrests people. Cops is another name for a police officer." I told her she was right and went on making breakfast.
On Thursday afternoon the twins in Ava's class had their 5th birthday party. The whole class and most of the mommies were in attendance. While the kids ate their pizza, the moms sat together, catching up. We were talking about career week. I shared the "Billy's dad is a cops" story. Including the part where Ava said he arrests people. Thank goodness I brought it up because that's when Katie's mom said, "Yes, I heard that at dinner last night... right before Katie told us that 'Ava's mommy got arrested'."
What?! Apparently, not to be outdone, when Billy said that his dad arrests people, Ava blurted out, "Well, my mommy has BEEN arrested!"
Great. I wonder what her teachers think I got arrested for...
At least I got a chance to clear my name with the other moms.
Now fast forward to Career Week at Ava's preschool. The assignment was to talk to your child about your job. Then the kids shared what their parents do for a living during Show and Tell. At breakfast on Wednesday morning Ava announced, "Billy's dad is a COPS."(I'm not sure why she was using the plural for cop, but it was pretty amusing.) She went on, "HE arrests people. Cops is another name for a police officer." I told her she was right and went on making breakfast.
On Thursday afternoon the twins in Ava's class had their 5th birthday party. The whole class and most of the mommies were in attendance. While the kids ate their pizza, the moms sat together, catching up. We were talking about career week. I shared the "Billy's dad is a cops" story. Including the part where Ava said he arrests people. Thank goodness I brought it up because that's when Katie's mom said, "Yes, I heard that at dinner last night... right before Katie told us that 'Ava's mommy got arrested'."
What?! Apparently, not to be outdone, when Billy said that his dad arrests people, Ava blurted out, "Well, my mommy has BEEN arrested!"
Great. I wonder what her teachers think I got arrested for...
At least I got a chance to clear my name with the other moms.
Valentine's Party
The Friday before Valentine's Day, I had the opportunity to chaperone Ava's class Valentine's Party. Emily had just as much fun as the preschoolers and Ava was so excited for the opportunity to show off her baby sister.
I was in charge of making a game, so I came up with "Fishing for Valentines".
The kids really seemed to enjoy it. Ava thought that because her mom brought the game, that she was supposed to be in charge of it. She was assisting and directing the kids into the line, making sure that they took turns, helping to place the Valentines back on the ground. Clearly, my "Type A" is rubbing off on her. When musical chairs began across the room, Ava looked at me and very seriously asked, "Mommy, could you please do my job for a little bit? I'd really like to go over and play musical chairs." I answered back with a straight face, "Yes. Of course. Go have fun!"
Snack time!
Ava and her friend Katie decorating their cookies.
Would you like to see my 4 year old's Valentine? Here he is. Michael from my "Across the Breakfast Table" post about Ava's first kiss. Short, dark, and handsome. He gave her a Super Hero Valentine. It was a big deal. Apparently, her affections are being reciprocated. Michael's mom shared with me recently that they have to drive home a different way now so that they can drive by Ava's house. Too cute!
I was in charge of making a game, so I came up with "Fishing for Valentines".
The kids really seemed to enjoy it. Ava thought that because her mom brought the game, that she was supposed to be in charge of it. She was assisting and directing the kids into the line, making sure that they took turns, helping to place the Valentines back on the ground. Clearly, my "Type A" is rubbing off on her. When musical chairs began across the room, Ava looked at me and very seriously asked, "Mommy, could you please do my job for a little bit? I'd really like to go over and play musical chairs." I answered back with a straight face, "Yes. Of course. Go have fun!"
Snack time!
Ava and her friend Katie decorating their cookies.
Would you like to see my 4 year old's Valentine? Here he is. Michael from my "Across the Breakfast Table" post about Ava's first kiss. Short, dark, and handsome. He gave her a Super Hero Valentine. It was a big deal. Apparently, her affections are being reciprocated. Michael's mom shared with me recently that they have to drive home a different way now so that they can drive by Ava's house. Too cute!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)