There's not a lot of news to write about. Things have calmed down at school. Rachel's doing fine and enjoying it. She especially likes art and music class, and on the days she has those classes, I hear all kinds of details about what they did.
She's really into her art these days. She's always liked to draw and color, but lately she's drawing more and more. She told me yesterday she wants to be an artist when she grows up. And she's decided she wants to be an artist for Halloween.
Yesterday she opened an "Art Stoodeo" in her bedroom (that's how she spelled it). She spent all afternoon up in her room cleaning it, and when she came down she invited me to come up to her art studio (sometimes she calls it a museum, but she also calls it her studio). She had taped all kinds of drawings all around her room.
Today she decided she wants to sing in the children's choir at our church for their Christmas performance. I'm thrilled, though really surprised, because she's never had any interest in it in the past. She's always said she's too scared to sing on stage. So I'm excited that she brought it up all on her own and wants to do it. Yay!
Rebecca has a new "Handy Dandy Notebook," (a different little notebook that used to belong to Rachel, and now Rebecca has claimed it). But today she brought it to me and said, "See my iPad, Mommy?" How she knows what an iPad is, I'm not sure, since I don't have one. My mom just got one, and had it here the last time she came to visit, so maybe that's why she knows, but still....a two year old talking about an iPad? She keeps telling me that she's drawing a zig zag line in her handy dandy notebook. That was one of the clues once on Blue's Clues, so I guess that's where she got that, but she really doesn't know what a zig zag line is.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
caterpillars and such
Today I went outside with Rebecca, and while inspecting my tomato plants for any new ripe tomatoes, I came across these obnoxious, ugly things attached to my plants:
Later I came inside and looked them up. They're called Hornworms, and they eat tomato plants. They also attract a certain kind of wasps, who lay their eggs inside them. Yuck. The white things on the outside are the larve of the wasps. Gross.
Yesterday was our church picnic. It was a fun time, but right at the end, the kids were thrilled to see this rising above the trees.
It wasn't a part of our picnic. It just happened to be nearby, and it's the closest I've ever been to a hot air balloon. Rachel was thrilled because she had never seen one before.
And while I was taking picture of the ugly caterpillars, Rebecca wanted me to take her picture.
There's my sweet little stinker!
Later I came inside and looked them up. They're called Hornworms, and they eat tomato plants. They also attract a certain kind of wasps, who lay their eggs inside them. Yuck. The white things on the outside are the larve of the wasps. Gross.
Yesterday was our church picnic. It was a fun time, but right at the end, the kids were thrilled to see this rising above the trees.
It wasn't a part of our picnic. It just happened to be nearby, and it's the closest I've ever been to a hot air balloon. Rachel was thrilled because she had never seen one before.
And while I was taking picture of the ugly caterpillars, Rebecca wanted me to take her picture.
There's my sweet little stinker!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Dandy Dandy
Rebecca's really started loving Blue's Clues in the last few weeks. She asks for it now almost as much as she asks for the Wiggles, though I think she still likes the Wiggles better. The problem is, finding Blue's Clues stuff is pretty much just as hard as it is to find Wiggles stuff, since Blue's Clue's isn't made anymore, so they don't make anymore Blue's Clues books, clothes, toys, coloring books, etc. The only way to find them is used.
I was excited to find a $1 Blue's Clues DVD at the baby sale this past weekend where I sold my stuff, but that was all I found. I have a couple of Blue's Clues puzzles from when Rachel was little, but they're too hard for Rebecca (and she's not really into puzzles, while Rachel really was). I did find a pair of Blue's Clues PJs in my stash of clothes (someone gave them to me as hand-me-downs for Rachel, but they were too small for her when we got them, so she never got to wear them), so Rebecca got to wear them the other night for the first time when it got chilly (since they're long sleeved). She was thrilled!!
She carries around her "Dandy Dandy Notebook" (it's actually Rachel's princess coloring pad, but she took it over as her own and calls it her dandy dandy notebook (instead of a "Handy Dandy Notebook," which is what it's called in the show, for those of you who aren't familiar with Blue's Clues!) and a crayon for much of the day, and periodically sits down and says to me, "Wet's Fink." (Let's Think) Sometimes she'll bring the notebook up to me and say, "Mommy, we have all free cwoos!" (all three clues)
She greets me by saying, "Oh, hi!" (Because that's what Steve says on the show.)
Whenever she sees a picture of a paw print she yells, "A Cwoo! A Cwoo!" (A clue, A clue!) Every week Rachel brings home a class newsletter, and since her school's mascot is the Cougars, there's always a cougar paw print on the newsletter. Rebecca always wants it because it's, "A cwoo! A cwoo!" but I need it because it has Rachel's spelling words for the week on it. So I've started saving the old one and letting Rebecca have it after the spelling test is done rather than giving her the new one.
That girl cracks me up.
I was excited to find a $1 Blue's Clues DVD at the baby sale this past weekend where I sold my stuff, but that was all I found. I have a couple of Blue's Clues puzzles from when Rachel was little, but they're too hard for Rebecca (and she's not really into puzzles, while Rachel really was). I did find a pair of Blue's Clues PJs in my stash of clothes (someone gave them to me as hand-me-downs for Rachel, but they were too small for her when we got them, so she never got to wear them), so Rebecca got to wear them the other night for the first time when it got chilly (since they're long sleeved). She was thrilled!!
She carries around her "Dandy Dandy Notebook" (it's actually Rachel's princess coloring pad, but she took it over as her own and calls it her dandy dandy notebook (instead of a "Handy Dandy Notebook," which is what it's called in the show, for those of you who aren't familiar with Blue's Clues!) and a crayon for much of the day, and periodically sits down and says to me, "Wet's Fink." (Let's Think) Sometimes she'll bring the notebook up to me and say, "Mommy, we have all free cwoos!" (all three clues)
She greets me by saying, "Oh, hi!" (Because that's what Steve says on the show.)
Whenever she sees a picture of a paw print she yells, "A Cwoo! A Cwoo!" (A clue, A clue!) Every week Rachel brings home a class newsletter, and since her school's mascot is the Cougars, there's always a cougar paw print on the newsletter. Rebecca always wants it because it's, "A cwoo! A cwoo!" but I need it because it has Rachel's spelling words for the week on it. So I've started saving the old one and letting Rebecca have it after the spelling test is done rather than giving her the new one.
That girl cracks me up.
Saturday, September 08, 2012
toothless
The other one came out!
Daddy wanted to wiggle it, just to see how loose it was, and it came out! No tears, no drama this time. Yay!
It'll be a toothless school picture in a couple of weeks....
School seems to be going better. I hesitate to say that, because as soon as I do, something else will happen, but she's had several good days in a row, so we're all happier.
Daddy wanted to wiggle it, just to see how loose it was, and it came out! No tears, no drama this time. Yay!
It'll be a toothless school picture in a couple of weeks....
School seems to be going better. I hesitate to say that, because as soon as I do, something else will happen, but she's had several good days in a row, so we're all happier.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
road trip
Since my husband didn't have to work on labor day, and it was supposed to rain most of the weekend, he suggested we go somewhere new and fun for the day. We decided on the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland (mostly because we get in free with our membership to our science museum). It was a little bit of a drive, but we left early in the morning in order to get there by the time they opened, and drove back during Rebecca's nap time, so she still caught a decent nap in the car. It worked out great and we all had fun.
The Great Lakes Science Center is on the lake, and is right next to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Cleveland Air Show, which was going on this weekend, too. The weather was beautiful (not at all rainy, like was predicted at home this weekend) so we ate our lunch outside, walked over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just to look around outside, and watched the planes in the air show (the highlight for my husband--he LOVED it).
Both girls loved all of the hands on exhibits. It's a lot like our science museum in town, which they both enjoy. Rebecca spend her time running from place to place, touching as many buttons as possible.
It was a fun family day.
The Great Lakes Science Center is on the lake, and is right next to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Cleveland Air Show, which was going on this weekend, too. The weather was beautiful (not at all rainy, like was predicted at home this weekend) so we ate our lunch outside, walked over to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just to look around outside, and watched the planes in the air show (the highlight for my husband--he LOVED it).
Both girls loved all of the hands on exhibits. It's a lot like our science museum in town, which they both enjoy. Rebecca spend her time running from place to place, touching as many buttons as possible.
It was a fun family day.
Sunday, September 02, 2012
drama queen
I don't know how I'm going to handle these next 12 years of Rachel's life. The drama in these first few weeks of first grade is enough to last me the rest of my life. I don't want to go into too many details, but it seems like every day Rachel comes home with another story of something that happened at school that makes me want to pull my hair out in frustration. Either I'm completely aghast at something she's said or done, or in tears because she's hurt, which hurts me, or ready to email the teacher for more clarification about something she's told me. I'm not one of those "helicopter moms," and before this year I'd never contacted the teacher about something that happened at school or preschool, but this year has already been full of it! And this is only the beginning. My mom said it's like I have to whack another mole every day after school, just like playing that game at Chuck-e-Cheese, and that's exactly what I feel like!
In addition to school drama, there's been tooth drama. Rachel's two front teeth have been loose for months. I've written before about her aversion to the dentist, doctor, and any sort of touching when there's the tiniest bit of pain involved. Even brushing snarls out of her hair elicits tears and yelling. So when it came to these teeth, she wouldn't let us touch them. We've wanted to pull them out for months, but she wouldn't let us, and unless we held her down, which would result in tears and a huge fit, they weren't going to come out, so we just let it go. For the last week or two, one of them has been hanging by a thread. You could tell that the permanent tooth was pushing down on it because her teeth started to look crooked. She wiggled it every morning and evening, but wouldn't pull hard enough to get it out. All it would've taken was a little twist, and it would've come out, but she was too afraid to do it.
Yesterday she finally decided to do it.
There were tears (happy tears, she told us), but it's finally out. The other one is pretty loose, too, but I'm sure it will be a number of weeks before she works up the courage to get it out.
But wait, there's more drama. Last night she woke me up around 11:30 because she said her sheet was wet because she had been crying in her bed. She woke up and had to go potty, but was afraid to get up because she didn't want to see the tooth fairy, because she's not supposed to see her (I never told her that, by the way--she came up with that all on her own--I say as little as possible about the tooth fairy...and Santa...I don't want to lie to her, but I also don't want to crush her imagination, so I just listen whenever she has something to say about either of them). Anyway, she laid there and cried because she was afraid to get up, so her sheet was all wet with tears. I assured her it was okay to go potty. So she did, and we went to go take care of the wet sheet--she covered her eyes all the way back to her room because she didn't want to see the tooth fairy if she was in the house (little did she know that the tooth fairy came around 10:00 pm and there was a dollar bill on her bedside table already).
I honestly did not create this drama queen. I don't give in to her drama, thus perpetuating it, I do everything I can to ignore it, and to my knowledge I do nothing to encourage it. I don't coddle her in the least. I guess this is just Rachel. And I somehow have to learn to deal with it for the next however many years. Oh my.
In addition to school drama, there's been tooth drama. Rachel's two front teeth have been loose for months. I've written before about her aversion to the dentist, doctor, and any sort of touching when there's the tiniest bit of pain involved. Even brushing snarls out of her hair elicits tears and yelling. So when it came to these teeth, she wouldn't let us touch them. We've wanted to pull them out for months, but she wouldn't let us, and unless we held her down, which would result in tears and a huge fit, they weren't going to come out, so we just let it go. For the last week or two, one of them has been hanging by a thread. You could tell that the permanent tooth was pushing down on it because her teeth started to look crooked. She wiggled it every morning and evening, but wouldn't pull hard enough to get it out. All it would've taken was a little twist, and it would've come out, but she was too afraid to do it.
Yesterday she finally decided to do it.
There were tears (happy tears, she told us), but it's finally out. The other one is pretty loose, too, but I'm sure it will be a number of weeks before she works up the courage to get it out.
But wait, there's more drama. Last night she woke me up around 11:30 because she said her sheet was wet because she had been crying in her bed. She woke up and had to go potty, but was afraid to get up because she didn't want to see the tooth fairy, because she's not supposed to see her (I never told her that, by the way--she came up with that all on her own--I say as little as possible about the tooth fairy...and Santa...I don't want to lie to her, but I also don't want to crush her imagination, so I just listen whenever she has something to say about either of them). Anyway, she laid there and cried because she was afraid to get up, so her sheet was all wet with tears. I assured her it was okay to go potty. So she did, and we went to go take care of the wet sheet--she covered her eyes all the way back to her room because she didn't want to see the tooth fairy if she was in the house (little did she know that the tooth fairy came around 10:00 pm and there was a dollar bill on her bedside table already).
I honestly did not create this drama queen. I don't give in to her drama, thus perpetuating it, I do everything I can to ignore it, and to my knowledge I do nothing to encourage it. I don't coddle her in the least. I guess this is just Rachel. And I somehow have to learn to deal with it for the next however many years. Oh my.
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