Thanksgiving

As you all know, this week was Thanksgiving. Linda's Aunt Debbie, Grandma, and Grandpa came down for the holiday. It was very nice to have everyone here. We went to Aunt Shannon's for Thanksgiving dinner. Linda had been practicing singing a Thanksgiving song, but didn't want to sing it w/everyone looking at her. Aunt Deb, Daddy, and Grandma went out for Black Friday. I never did get into black Friday, but being laid up I definitely wasn't going anywhere. Aunt Debbie and Grandpa left this morning to go back home. I still have Grandma here for another week to help me while I recover from reconstructive knee surgery. It's been so wonderful having Pat here. I am having a hard time mentally not being able to do things. I am just not the type to sit around.

Linda is doing great. She has enjoyed having family around. She warms up to them immediately, which is so nice since she doesn't seem them all that much. She has been reading words to Grandma, and of course Grandma is completely amazed. Pat is a teacher's assistant for a BK class. BK is for the immature kids who should be entering kindergarten. She said Linda literally knows so much more than her kids in that class. I knew Linda was pretty smart. She didn't really do too much reading for Aunt Debbie. So Deb didn't get to see her read. Still just doing words mainly. I'm hoping she will move more into books soon. It can take her several seconds to sound out a word and get it, so I can see how the reading comprehension in a book would be difficult. As she improves, and gets more sight words, I'm sure she will want to do books more. I am just so happy she is reading, that I'm not pushing it at all. She still gets really excited when she gets one right, and wants me to make a big deal out of it.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for.

Grandma's in town!

Grandma came into town on Sat for Thanksgiving, but really to help me out w/my surgery. Linda warmed right up to her. The other pictures are of Sierra and Linda playing. We were leaving Shannon's house the other night and Linda said, "Can Sierra leave too?" It was so cute, she wanted Sierra to come home w/us.

Tonight we were reading words w/Linda at the table. Tom was there and pretending to try to read too. I can't remember what word she was trying to read. It didn't have a "t" in it though, and Tom made the "t" sound. Linda looked at Tom and she said, "Nope, there's no 't' in that word." It was so funny. She then continued on and read the word. She was then saying how she needed to help Daddy since she knew how to read. Too cute. She read quite a few words tonight. She still prefers reading individual words, as opposed to reading a whole book. She is pretty darn smart!

These were taken yesterday at the park, and at Ryleigh's house on her trampoline. Linda was so excited to bounce on the trampoline. The park was great yesterday. The weather was quite cool, but the sun felt so good. The girls just needed a light jacket, and they kept busy running all over.

I was explaining to Linda yesterday about poop and how you eat your food, it goes down your throat, into your tummy. Your body takes the food and uses it for whatever it needs, and the left over comes out as poop. She looked at me like she completely did not believe me. Then she thought for a minute, and said, "so I can eat poop?" I thought the thinking process was incredible. She connected the two and figured she could eat poop, since poop was indeed food. Too funny.

We also stopped in to a children's gym to check out the prices and classes. I told Linda where we were going and she said, "Oh that's cool!" It was so cute. She is growing up so fast!

Brisk Fresh Air

This is Linda today, w/her fake camera smile. It cracks me up that she tries to smile, but it's so fake. It looks cute anyway. We had a nice day today. We went to the library for story time. The girls came home and ate lunch then took nice naps for me. This afternoon we headed back outside to brave the cold. I know it is only relative, as some of my relatives/friends are a lot colder than we are today for sure. Linda doesn't seem to mind the cold. As long as she is outside, she is happy. We were playing in the back yard on the swing set. Toby was getting in on some of the action too. He tried his best to get up into the fort, but his 13 yr old body just wouldn't cooperate. But he liked running around chasing Copper. He is in such good shape for 13. Copper enjoyed running around and jumping over the fences. The girls enjoyed screaming outside (they aren't allowed inside) and running around w/the dogs. If anything can make Linda giggle it's Toby or Copper. It was just a real nice day.

snake update

I looked around the net and I think I found the snake Linda picked up and brought into my house! This is what the site had to say, "it is a yellow ring neck. Ring necks are nocturnal and it is a rare treat to see one during the day. They prefer damp areas hiding under loose rocks or dead trees. They grow up to 15 inches in length. Feeding primarily on small salamanders, lizards, and frogs, as well as earthworms and juvenile snakes of other species. They use partial constriction when subduing prey Although they fall into the category of being venomous, they pose no threat to humans and can be safely handled and are commonly seen in the pet trade. It is rare for them to bite, and if picked up they secrete from the corners of the mouth foul smelling saliva. Lifespan in cavity is roughly 6 years and over 10 years in the wild." and here is a link to the picture, if you dare, lol. http://www.pcs.k12.va.us/vtrail/Z-9.jpg The one Linda had was not as big as the one in the pic.

Linda had a Thanksgiving pot luck playgroup today. There was food involved, so of course she enjoyed that immensely. It was quite cold here today, but we managed to get outside and burn off some energy. I'm hoping the sun will make an appearance tomorrow.

What does indivisible mean?

We were reading books tonight and one of the books was the Pledge of Allegiance. We get to indivisible, and Linda says, "what is indivisible?" So I explained it to her. Who knows if she understood it.


Today she also said something sweet about Heavenly Father. I was getting the vaccum out and I told her that Heavenly Father wants us to keep a clean home. She said, "It makes Him happy when we obey." I just thought that was so sweet, and such a pure understanding of our Father.

Recent Pics

These pictures were taken over the last few days. There are some from a learning bus that comes around and the kids can go on. There are two from a rec center activity, where she wanted to carry the bag of raw green beans around and is doing a craft. I was getting some strange looks that day w/her eating green beans, lol. There is also one from today, where she is very happy to have cashews as a snack.

This morning I had quite a surprise. Linda brought a snake into the house. I was getting ready to go to church so I was going in and out. Linda went outside and came back in. She says, "Look what I have Mama!" I was in the kitchen and she was near the garage door. I said, "What?" She says, "a snake!" She was so excited to have this snake. I looked and there it was, a snake in my house. It was black w/yellow on it's head. It didn't bite her. It wasn't a large snake, but it was a snake. I was telling her to put it down put it down. Then I realized that if she put it down, it would be in my house. So then I'm telling her to put take it outside and put it down. She was so non chalant about the whole thing. She let him go in the grass, just like she does every other creature she catches. And yes, she catches them all, and wants to see everything. After she let him go I was thinking I should have kept him in case he did bite her, but she didn't notice. But it was too late for that. He is gone now. Crazy huh? I wonder what else is going to make it into my house over the next few years.

She is still doing well learning. She frequently asks for words to read. She enjoys picking out words around town too. It is still hard for me to believe she is actually reading, actually looking at words she doesn't know, sounding them out and reading them. She likes to help Ryleigh read some words too. She will also help her baby dolls read words. It is cute.

Will the ducks come back?

I just got done putting Linda to bed. The last book we read tonight was Five Little Ducks. It is the book that goes along w/the song. "Five little ducks went out one day, over the hills and far away. Mama duck called, "quack quack quack quack" and four little ducks came wandering back. This goes on until there are no ducks. Mama duck goes out w/no ducks and then all of a sudden all the ducks are back. Where the ducks have gone I'm not sure. Why mama duck continued to go out when she was losing ducks, I'm not sure either, but that's the story and I didn't write it. So I'm reading/singing this book to Linda. We get down to no little ducks went out one day, and she begins to cry hysterically. I'm trying to keep a straight face. She has read this book many times and never cared about the ducks. Tonight was different though. I guess she is able to reason more, and realize there are no ducks and who knows if they will ever come back. She's crying, "I want the ducks to come back." I'm telling her the ducks all come back to the mama and everything is ok. It was just too funny.

Autumn

What another beautiful day here. I was able to get around pretty early, so we headed outside before heading to the library. This morning was cute b/c Ryleigh was asking Linda to read her a story. It was Skippy Jon Jones opposites. There were a lot of simple words in there, so Linda probably could have actually read it to her, but I was getting Linda dressed. The library was fun as always. After the library we headed home to play outside. The girls wanted to play on the swing set, so I sent them out. It was nice b/c I was inside getting lunch ready and they were outside. I cracked the window so I could hear and they played for about 1/2 hour before coming in for lunch. It's nice they are getting a little older now.

After nap, we went back outside. I did some raking. The back yard was really covered in leaves. I raked most of them, but looked at the trees and saw a lot more are still going to fall. I put the leaves in a big pile and let the girls have some fun. As you can see they did. Copper was a good sport as always as well. Linda has this fake smile that she does now if she knows you are going to take her picture. That is what she has on her face in one pic, lol. I've enjoyed this fall so much. We just really love being outdoors.

We headed to the gardens today. What a glorious day to be there. The sun felt so nice and warm. We went with Ryleigh, Brianna, and Amber. I had to borrow pics from Amber b/c I forgot my camera. Anyway, the girls had such a good time running all over exploring. We packed a lunch and ate near the lake out in the sun. It was nice to be out after all the rain last week.

We haven't read any words in a few days, so we did a little this evening. She read the words "we" and "will." Then she was done for the night.

I did find out that Jesus lives in Virginia w/Linda. After nap I was talking about Jesus w/her. I told her Jesus lived up in Heaven. She told me, "No, Jesus lives in Virginia w/me." It was cute. I also asked her who my best friend was. At first she said Ryleigh. Then I repeated the question, and asked her who my best friend was. She thought for a second and said, "Daddy!" It is amazing to see her thinking things out. She obviously has some concept of a husband/wife relationship. She surprises me everyday w/something she says.

another pic from music

Here's another cute pic I found in the file of Linda at music class. Enjoy.

Music

Every week or so, we go to a music class put on by one of the moms in our play group. She is so gracious to invite us into her home. It is the equiv of a music class I would pay $12 a week to attend w/Linda. Linda always loves it and looks forward to it. Here are some pics from today's class.

The weather has finally turned nice for today. It has been raining for many days. Not too much else going on here. Have a good weekend everyone!

We visited the aquarium this morning. Linda and Ryleigh had a great time. Linda is always trying to teach Ry different things. She taught her about a lobster b/c Ry mistakenly called it a crab. She also told Ry that baby turtles were called hatchlings. I think she actually does teach Ry some stuff, lol. They are building new exhibits to the aquarium, so it isn't all that great right now. The girls didn't mind though. They loved touching sting rays, and horse shoe crabs. The aquarium has a new play area for the kids. It is pretty nice. The girls liked playing in there for about an hour.

Linda read her first sentence the other day. "The pig is big." She won't read that many words all the time. She definitely prefers doing one word at a time. If she gives me ANY indication she isn't feeling it, I stop. She is so little, I don't want to force her. Fortunately she asks me to do words quite a bit.

We were in walmart the other day looking for the spice cloves. I couldn't find any. Of course I talk to Linda non stop about every little thing she sees. So I told her I couldn't find any cloves, and how it's near Thanksgiving and how that might be why, blah blah blah. We were walking down the isle a few moments later and she got so excited and started pointing. She said, "Look Mama! I found the clothes!." It was so cute. At the check out isle some lady told me she thought I was a good mother. She based this on the fact that I was talking to Linda the whole time, and told her about the little bar that separates people's orders from one another. It was nice to hear someone say that, and greatly appreciated.

Sesame Street Live

We took Linda to Sesame Street Live. I had been looking forward to taking her for several months. Finally her big day was here. We told her she was going to go see Elmo after nap. I don't think she really understood what she was in for. We had decent seats, to the right of the stage. Once those lights went down and Bert and Ernie came out, she was in heaven. It was so cute to see how excited she got. She got so excited, I got emotional. She was saying hi, and waving to all the characters. It was the best time. After the show was over, Linda said she wanted Elmo to come back out on stage. I told her they were all done. The poor thing, she burst into tears. It was the cutest thing. She wanted Elmo to come back out so bad. Her little heart was broken. Of course she talked about the show all the way home, and the next day too. On the way home she said, "thank you for Elmo." I was emotional before, but after that I just teared up again. It was so sweet. You hope what you are teaching your children will help them be nice people. She really is just a nice little girl.

Another example of how sweet she is came today. We were getting ready to go to church. She was wearing her bead necklace. She asked me if I was going to wear my turtle necklace. I told her my turtle necklace was broken. She took a second, and then said, "do you want to wear my beads mama?" It was so thoughtful of her, and from a 2 1/2 yr old.

I found a pretty neat book at the library the other day. It is a book that you and your child read together. The adult reads a page, and then on the other page is three or four words for your child to read. It is a pretty neat book. She enjoys having me read to her, and then she only has to read a couple words. She has been trying to make up words w/a letters toy that Shannon got her. I have taken the opportunity to tell her you need a vowel to make a word. I've started going over what vowels are. Every day I just can't believe how her thought process matures.