A New Reading Bus!

Everyone is so excited to have the new reading bus. It is a brand new bus that the city has transformed into a new reading bus for the kids. The old one was quite old, and it really did need to be replaced. They had the dedication this morning. We are huge reading bus fans, so of course we attended. Curious George was on scene. Linda was very excited to see him. She was not shy at all, as she has been in the past w/Chuck E. Cheese and other people dressed up. We got to tour the bus and we are excited for the next time we go. They also gave us a curious george book to take home. the weather wasn't too cold, so it really was a great time to be outside.

Such a nice compliment

We were at the library today for storytime. I went over to the counter to check on a program Linda had signed up for. I didn't think I knew the lady at the counter so I introduced myself. She said that she actually knew who I was already. She said I come in all the time. She said Linda is so smart, and always so polite. Of course I was just beaming! What a nice compliment! And then she said Miss Linda (who also works at the library) is always talking about little Linda, and how much she enjoys her coming in, and how I'm so good w/Linda. Well I just don't think my head could have gotten any bigger!

Ducks

Part of our daily ritual is to go to the end of the street and feed the ducks. It's a great way to take the dogs for a little walk, and to get some fresh air for us. Today it felt like it was in the upper 20s, so Linda (or I) didn't want to play outside. I can always tell her we are taking the dogs and feeding the ducks. Even if it's just 1/2 hour outside, it gives her a chance to run and breath in some fresh air. Enjoy the duck feeding pics. The ducks were there there at first, but flew off when we approached. Hopefully they will find the numerous scattered pieces of bread we left for them.

Finally a Day at the Garden!

Finally a day at the Garden! The weather is really pretty right now, so we took advantage of it. We spent the entire morning at the garden. The one pic of Linda on the butterfly bench is her pretending to be a butterfly w/her wings out. We ate our lunch there, and just had a real nice morning. I'm ready for some good weather! Even it's chilly, I can handle that. It felt good to walk a couple miles on my knee too.

Proof I do indluge Linda!

I made a crazy cake this morning. Linda was more than happy to help me "clean" the spatula and beaters. When she ran out, she went over to the bowl and decided to see if she could get more. Too funny. See everyone, Linda isn't deprived of some yummies!

My Gym

Linda has started attending My Gym classes. It is her Christmas present from Grandma and Grandpa. These are pics from today's class. She really enjoys going to her gym classes. Today they did some free play, then they go in the circle to do warm ups, practice skill (which involved balance today) and songs. They did more free play and then came back to the circle to learn what gymnastics skill they would practice today. The do two each class. Today they jumped up on to the balance beam from the bounce board. They walked to the center, and did a stork stance (which is in one of the pics I think). Then they walk to the end and jump off. They did it a second time, and did a hand stand in the center. The second thing they learned was on the trampoline. They practiced different jumps on the trampoline. In one of the pics you can see Linda mimicking what Miss Missy was doing. They have free play again. This time they hooked up the zip line, and the kids whizzed down in a swing seat. Linda really liked that. Then they do fine motor skill activity. Today it was with a pom pom. Then they played a game, did a quick puppet song and finished up the class. Like I said, Linda really enjoys this class. I am so grateful she is able to go.

Here is a pic of Linda playing w/her Elmo tool bench. We got this for free from a friend in one of our playgroups. So generous to give it to us for free! It had all the tools too. Linda has been enjoying it since Sat. The other pic I thought was really cute. She just looks so cute in her hat. The weather was chilly this afternoon, so we only played outside for a bit. Not too much going on really. I bought Linda's "big girl bed." We will probably transition her w/in the next month. I'm nervous she will just get out all the time and not sleep, esp for nap. But we'll see how it goes.

Sorry I was MIA

Sorry I have been MIA for so long. We got back from NY on Friday night. Saturday morning I was sick w/a stomach bug. That lasted over till Sunday, and I was finally feeling better on Monday. Tom took 1/2 a day on Monday, which was very nice for Linda and I to have extra time w/him. Thankfully Linda did not get the bug at all!

We finished up our trip to NY. Here is a pic of Linda and Grandma reading a book. The other pic is of Linda and her Mr. Potato head. She put that together and was so proud of the potato head she made that I wanted to get a pic of it. The very first pic is of Linda's painted nails. During dinner tonight I suggested we paint her nails. She got so excited. So we went up, trimmed them, and then painted them. She held so still. Normally she is not very interested in staying still to get her nails cut. But this time she held still, and was a statue for the painting. She wanted to make sure that I put some paint on my nails too. So I slopped some on there for her. Mine don't look pretty like hers, but she was happy to have matching nails w/mom.

I thought this was pretty cool too. Linda and Ryleigh were sitting on the floor facing each other. Ryleigh was using the LeapPad. One of the pages was a map of the US. Linda is familiar w/the map of the US on her wall, and can name approx 20 states. This map looks completely different. So Linda leans over and says, "Look Ry, there is Virginia. That's where I live, in Virginia Beach." She looked at a map she wasn't familiar with, upside down, and could point out states! She does it quite a lot w/Ry too as Ry is looking at letters. Linda can identify the letters upside down. Linda hadn't really read a lot herself while we were in NY. Tonight at dinner she said, "let's do words. We haven't done them in a while." She definitely hasn't missed the week off. She sounded out the words w/no problem.

Happy New Year everyone!