park program

We attended a program at our local park put on by the city's park and rec centers. This is the first time Linda has attended, b/c she just turned 3. It was such a nice time. the theme was about what animals make. they started out w/a book. They got to see a large empty wasp nest. They got to see a real bird's nest w/eggs in it. They made a spider web by standing in a circle and criss crossing yarn to look like a web. They lined up like ants, and made an ant hill passing items back and forth in a line. They got to see and touch real rats and see a rat nest. They got to see a hawk up close and touch feathers that had fallen off the hawk. They made a craft that looks like a honeycomb. They took a piece of construction paper and glued a white piece of paper to it. Then they took HoneyComb cereal and glued it on to the white part, making it look like a piece of honey comb. Then they took a bee and glued the bee on. Linda had a blast. This is a series of programs for the next 4 weeks (excluding spring break). I am excited to see what the following weeks hold for her. I'm so grateful to live in a place where there are so many activities for our children.

Cherry Blossom Festival

We went to our local cherry blossom festival today. The weather was very nice, so we were excited to go. It's not the biggest festival, but we had fun anyway. The picture of Linda painting the fish is kind of neat. They had the kids paint a real fish, and then the fish was imprinted on the paper. Linda enjoyed this activity very much. she also got her pic w/a few of the ladies dressed in Japanese attire. The last picture she had picked up a flower that had fallen on the ground. she had this flower all morning, and in fact, it is sitting on my kitchen table right now. It was a great time this morning, and I'm so grateful we got to spend time together as a family.

Princess to Tomboy

Linda is just an amazing little girl! She embraces all aspects of life so readily. She is so happy to get in her play clothes and boots from Aunt Debbie, so she can go outside and get filthy dirty after it rains. She is just as happy to get dressed up and be a ballerina. She is so excited about her ballerina class in a couple months. The pic of her w/her mouth full is from this morning. when she eats stuff like pancakes, that she doesn't get all that much, we tell her to savor it, instead of scarfing it down. This was a pic of her savoring her pancakes this morning. The other picture of her hands is her rendition of painting her nails. She took a crayola twistable crayon and painted her nails. The twistables are crayons, but come out smooth like markers. she loves having her nails painted, so I guess she figured she would try it herself, lol

My Little Princess

I just took this pic while waiting for Grandpa to come. Doesn't she look so cute?!? She is so excited about her princess date w/grandpa.

Not too much going on

Not too much going on this week. We hosted playgroup Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday we went to the reading bus. Monday and Tuesday we watched a friend from church's little girl, Maggie. She spent the night w/us. Linda enjoyed have the extra playmate. I had Ry on Monday as well, so all I can say is I was busy, lol. Today we ran some errands early in the morning, and then headed to gym class. Linda had a great time at gym, as usual. This afternoon we dodged the rain and played outside. A couple times we had to come up on the porch b/c it was raining hard. We had accidently left a couple pieces of chalk outside, which she got a hold of. If you don't know what happens to sidewalk chalk when it gets wet, it is very soft. She got it all over herself. I took a couple of pics of her. It's hard to tell, but she has chalk all over her hands, and some on her face too. The glasses she is wearing are her 3D chalk glasses. She had a great time getting all messy. We got some energy out. I have now determined my child is in better shape than I am. She knows I can run again w/my knee and asks me to run w/her. I was ready to quit way before she was. She has quite a bit of stamina. Tomorrow is a big night for her. My father is coming and taking her to the Grandfather/Granddaughter date night at the gym. The theme is princesses. They will be taking pics of the two of them, so I'll try to post it tomorrow night after she goes to bed.

This morning we went to a local festival at a university. They mainly had vendors for the adults to browse selling children's things. But there were some children's activities as well. Here are some pics from that. They had a stage and some kids were performing on the stage. Linda was very interested in that. I think she could have sat all day watching that.

Open House at the Gym

The gym Linda goes to had an open house today. They invited members and non members. The weather was chilly today, so it was perfect. Linda had been talking about going to this open house for two weeks b/c Elmo was going to be there. When we arrived, Linda immediately asked where Elmo is. However, once Elmo came out, Linda was super shy. She decided she didn't want to get near Elmo. She did go up to him right before we left and told him bye, but still wouldn't get close. So I took a pic of my friend Lis' little boy w/Elmo.

We had yet another readig milestone occur today I think. Today is the first day that Linda read an entire book by herself. When I say by herself, she read all the words. I was sitting w/her. She did start to lose interest in the last couple pages, but finished it. She was very proud when she realized she had read the whole book. The book she read was Cats. Here are all the words she read. "See the cat in the hat. See the cat on the mat. See the cat in a lap. See the cat have a nap. See the cat in a jam. See the cat play (I had to help her w/the word play) with Pam. See the cat on her back. See the cat play (again needed help) with Jack. See the cat give a tug. See the cat hide under the rug." So again I'm so proud of her. I guess I should stop bragging about how well she is reading. This is just about the only place I feel I can really all out talk her up though.

I think we decided to not send Linda to preschool, at least this upcoming Sept. I had found a preschool that concentrated on art, dance, and music. It sounded really great. I found out that they don't allow parents to come into the school. This made me very uncomfortable. I haven't been able to find a "gifted" preschool in the area. I don't really know if Linda is gifted, but I do know since she is reading, a lot of the cirriculum would be quite a bit beneath her. so I think we are going to keep plugging away at home, and supplement her w/some rec center activities, and other local events. You always wonder if you are making the right decision w/your kids. I think this is what is right for Linda.

Reading update

I sent Linda upstairs last night to get ready for bed while I took the dogs outside. When I was coming up the stairs I heard her in her room reading a book. Now anyone who follows this blog, knows that for the longest time I was thinking she is never going to sit down herself and read a book, all she is reading are individual words, etc. As you know, we made progress w/the program on the computer, and she was reading little books on there. But she still had never sat down to really read a book herself. She has taken several books, sat down w/them and made up the words, or if she is familiar w/the story she may just say the words she knows. Last night was the first time she sat down w/a book she didn't know, and read the words. You can see in the pic that she has her little index finger out and is pointing at the words she is going to read. The book she is reading is a reader book. I like these books very much. They are in a series. They have real pics on one page, and the other page they have one sentence, that is usually very simple and short. This book was called "Left." So anyway, I just wanted to share, b/c I am very excited. Hopefully this will be the start of her just grabbing a book and reading it. Her reader books are upstairs in her room, but I'm going to put some all throughout the house to encourage her. She is just the coolest kid!

The other pic is her using the Ariel she got for her birthday. She really is enjoying this present. She is such a tom boy in many ways, and then such a girl in other ways. She told me two days ago that she would like to take ballet classes, and daddy could take her. It was cute. But that is Linda, a real cutie!

A Birthday Party!

Linda had her birthday party this last weekend. For any who are reading this, who were not invited to her party, I certainly apologize. Linda is extremely blessed w/numerous friends. We simply were not able to invite all her friends. It literally would have been about 45 kids.

She had a blast at her party. We had been talking about the party for so long. Finally the big day was here. She seemed to enjoy the whole thing, except for coming out in the wagon. She didn't seem too sure about that. She loved her cake, and since it was her birthday, she had two pieces! The staff at My Gym did great. They played games and had free play. Linda got so many presents. Thank you everyone. Linda's whole family on Tom's side came down from NY to be here. It was so special. I hope Linda remembers for a long time. I included a couple pics of her playing w/some of her toys she received as well.

I went to the temple yesterday, so Linda spent the entire day w/Daddy. It rained all day here, so it was a great day to go to an indoor play place. Tom took the camera and snapped these shots of Linda. She loves to go to here. It is an indoor play place. We are members during the colder months, as it gives her a place she can get some energy out. they have a huge bouncer that she can bounce, climb, and slide down. They also have several pretend places. Looks like Linda did some dressing up too.