Reading and Writing... It's Begun!!

Only a few weeks in to 4 year old Pre-K, my baby girl can read very simple books, and spell well enough that I can tell what she means!!

Can you read it?? I CAN!!! Little Miss Muffett was the nursery rhyme of the week at school. Grace made this drawing and wrote out the rhyme all by herself... no help!! Grace amazes me every day :)

The catalogs of Halloween costumes have been coming lately and Grace just loves to look at them. She wrote me this note describing what she thought we should all be (I decoded a bit in the gray marker!)...

Grace has Library class once a week at school. She now writes books at home, sits with them at a desk and has me "check-out" books from her library! It is so cute!!

Here is one of her first books...

"Baby, Hush Please!"
"Made by Grace"

"This (Dis) book has been made in 2010"

"Mom said, "Please Baby!"

"No, said Baby."

"Baby, go to bed!!"
I'm not sure what that last line is, I'll have to ask!!

This is from the first week of school.

Grace made this at school last week. When I saw it in her folder, I wondered if the teacher was as surprised as I was to see Grace spell and write so well!

"My Favorite Colors"

*cough* *cough*

It's been a while, and I really do have things to tell about, I just haven't gotten it done. One of my excuses is that I'm stressed... over a cough. An oh-so-constant cough that Grace has had for almost 3 weeks now. There are no other symptoms, and the cough is non-productive. It can best be described as an insatiable tickle in her throat. Yes, we've been to the doctor. Her lungs were clear and her throat looked good. She was treated for allergies, asthma, and a sinus infection... it's been A LOT of medicine. Still, the problem persists, *cough* *cough.*

I've now had two people (one was the doctor, the other was her teacher's husband) tell me that a cough can become a habit for a child. Seriously?! Well, she does stop when she's very focused on something, hmmm...

Tonight I tried a new approach. Grace really wants a Pandora bracelet and has been saving her quarter a day allowance to buy one. I know, my 4 year old wants a Pandora bracelet , it's crazy... welcome to the suburbs. In my defense, they do make one in her size, so we aren't alone in our craziness. Anyway, prepare yourselves... tonight I offered her money, not much, just a nickel and a dime ;), if she could stop coughing. It's working, at least for now. She didn't cough at dance and coughed very minimally at home tonight (I just kept threatening to take the money back! You may be reading this and thinking I'm quite crazy, even mean... but I'm doing what I have to do for my sanity!! It does seem to be at least somewhat habitual. I'll let you know...

School Daze

It's been a busy few weeks! Grace is in school 5 days a week, Marion is in Mom's Day out 2 mornings a week... I'm always running somewhere! Grace's dance and Marion's Mommy and Me classes will be starting soon too - really, I'm exhausted thinking about it! It's all so much fun though! Both girls love school, especially Grace. She adores her teachers, has a couple sweet new friends, and she is learning... what more could I ask for?!

Grace's biggest challenge has been writing lowercase letters. I taught her to write in all capital letters (couldn't one of you kind blog readers have told me how stupid that was?? I've posted her writings many times!). At school, she is expected to use capital and lowercase letters correctly. It was initially a shock to her to be told that how she had been writing was wrong... she's used to everyone telling her how great it is :) Well, we have been practicing and she is getting much better at it. Anyway, I won't make that mistake with Marion, lesson learned!

Homework!!! The teacher sent home a note telling us to practice, practice! At this time they were just working on first names.

A writing exercise she did at school today.

A simple graph, last week's math lesson. Notice how the teacher corrected her work. Hey, the 8 isn't backwards ;)

This was one of the worksheets from when Grace was still frustrated about having to use lowercase letters. Look at how she wrote "RED" on the bottom!! Determined to do it her way! She has since let it go and is happily using lowercase :)

"A Girl Monster"

She made this in Art class.

Marion is a Big Girl!

Well, maybe not yet, but she's getting there! Today was my baby's first day of Mom's Day Out. She'll go from 9 until 1, two days a week. She cried for a minute when I walked out of the door, but then she was good. When I picked her up, she was soooo cute!! She ran toward me, yelling "Mama! Mama!" When she got halfway, she started kissing the air, and didn't stop until she was in my arms kissing me! She is such a sweetie!! I hope to get that reaction every time I pick her up! I think it will be wonderful for Marion to have this time to play with little ones her own age!

Marion and her backpack... she didn't want to wear it.

Marion is walking very well, even running at times! She can also carry around armfuls of treasures! Marion is very close to being discharged from physical therapy. Last week her visits were decreased from once a week to once a month. She is pretty much age appropriate for motor skills now.

Marion's speech has had huge improvement just over the last week. In the past, when you told her, "Say _____," she would just stare back at you quietly. Now, she always tries to say what you ask of her!! Most things don't sound much like what they should, but some do!

Marion says... mama, dada, nana, paw paw, yeah and no very clearly, and she makes a variety of animal sounds. There are other things she says that I understand what she means, although they don't come out perfect, such as milk, dog, and up. She continues to have speech therapy once a week, so hopefully, now that she's more willing to talk, we'll see much improvement!

First Days of School

This week has started a new chapter for Grace! On Wednesday, she started four year old pre-K. She is now at the school that we plan for her to be in through high school, and pre-K follows the same schedule as the rest of the school. She goes five days a week, from 8 until 3.

Monday was Open House.

This is the door to Grace's classroom. The theme is "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Look Who's in Our Room." The children's names are all written on the hanging coconuts. They have been using this rhyme all week to learn each other's names.

Grace and Mrs.W. She's great!!

The Playground!! Grace learned the word "recess" this week!

Ready for her first day!! She has on the plaid shorts because Wednesday is her P.E. day. She was nervous, but excited too. There were no tears!!

I took this picture when I got home from dropping her off. We weren't used to leaving the house at 7:30, and Grace isn't used to having to rush through breakfast. Poor girl ate faster on day 2!!

After an AWESOME first day of school!! Watermelon ice cream with gummi bears mixed in... YUM!! ;)

Day 2, in her jumper, and showing off her backpack. It has painted ponies on it. Don't call them horses... she'll correct you!

My Sweet Girl :)

At school, the "school bricks" shot. She's 17 bricks tall, 18 with the bow!

Grace is loving school!! She's made some new friends, and adores her teachers. She comes home from school and draws pictures to bring them the next day! On Friday, she got the "Great Rester" award. Her teacher told her the as soon as she turned around Grace was already asleep. I'm a little surprised, since Grace stopped napping over a year ago. Big girl school can really wear a girl out!

Things I Learned in Fort Lauderdale...

Food just tastes better when you're eating beachside! It must, I mean, I gained 5 pounds there!

Some girls think a carousel with a mermaid horse is fabulous...

Some girls don't!

Sometimes, a cheap knit dress makes the cutest picture!

100 degrees at the beach feels wonderful! Can you see the breeze?

Have fun looking for shells, and bring them all home (all 20 pounds of them!), but also buy some really cool ones at the shop!

The East Coast water is oh-so-clear!

Playing on the beach until 10 o'clock at night is the best!!

That wraps up vacation stories. After the worst plane rides ever (I really don't even want to talk about it anymore!), we are home!! School is starting and we are getting back into our routine. Hello Fall!! :)

Jungle Island

Jungle Island... one word... AWESOME!!

I could have taken or left the Miami Children's Museum. Actually... we left it. We were hanging out, taking our time in a cruise ship exhibit, when we started making small talk with a local dad who was there with his kiddos. He started raving about this place called Jungle Island. Well, he made it sound pretty damn cool! He moved on to the next exhibit, and I turned to Jeremy and said, "I want to go to Jungle Island. Like, NOW!" So we did a quick tour of the rest of the children's museum and headed to JUNGLE ISLAND!!!

As soon as you walk though the gates, they load you up with parrots!! It happens so fast. They show you how to hold your arms, throw a parrot in them, and then they plop down lots of other birds all over you... all in about 3 seconds!

Yes, he's standing on her head!!! They didn't ask her first, and I'm glad they didn't, I think she would have said "NO!" This picture is her favorite memory from vacation. She loves to look at it!

Grace and I at the Look Out.

My little monkey liked the real baby monkey!

Grace bottle feeding the animals in the petting zoo.

Monkeys!

The pathways leading through the grounds were beautiful.

Mom, I took this picture for you. This was called the "Rare Plant Nursery." None of them were labeled though.

Check out the trunk of this tree!

It was so hot!! You can see it on Grace's face!

The flamingos are Grace's favorite!! She got three souvenirs on vacation... a flamingo stuffed animal, a flamingo statue (I know, I know, craziness... but as long as it's not too expensive, I let her pick out what she wants!!), and a flamingo necklace that came complete in a flamingo jewelry box. The girl loves some pink birds!

This is what Grace will remember most from Jungle Island... the parrots!! They were awesome! You could hold them, pet them, even feed them!