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.