Scatterbrain

Stay with me on this one.  It's going to be all over the place.

Taylor went to Sanayia's birthday in June (A friend from school)....pool party!  They had a really great time playing.

I have no idea why Taylor is scrunching down so much in this picture.  She looks like a runt in comparison, but really - she and Sanayia about the same size.

Then we hosted Meinen Birthday Fest 2011.  Papa Tom, Grandma Ginny, and Anya's birthdays were all celebrated.

Grandma even made shirts!

Taylor went to another friend's birthday - Norah's Jump 4 Joy party.  It was really hard to get a good picture of them having fun, but this is the big slide they spent most of their time on.  Taylor is the one at the bottom of the slide in the pink tank...Norah is headed up the steps.

We've been swimming a lot. Cause, you know - IT IS HOT.  

Uh - someone's glasses are a little crooked.  And someone seems to be sticking out her belly :)

Last weekend we went to Deanna Rose Children's Farm in OP.  Only $2 a person!  We saw a cow getting milked, and hung out with some goats and took a tour of some teepees.  And then, it was HOT.  We'll definitely go again.

Parent Teacher Conference #2: Taylor

Last Thursday was Taylor's conference.  I took the day off and spent the morning at the Downtown Lawrence Sidewalk Sale, cleaned a bit at our house - then went to daycare.  Taylor's teacher, Miss Debbie,  is from a Montessori background, so she spent some time also explaining how they do learning in her class.  Overall - very good report on Miss T.

Taylor is so thoughtful of others and very respectful.  In the classroom, the kids aren't asked to 'Share', but to wait for their turn.  Taylor respects the 'take your turn' rule very well, and when she is done with something, will make sure to pass on the activity to the next person waiting.  (Maybe we should stop saying 'share' at home - pretty sure Connor doesn't give a toad's toe about either way you say it!)


She is very very well spoken and articulate for her age.  No problems with expressing herself or verbalizing anything. She is very creative with language, and very imaginative. (no kidding...)


Loves dramatic play (again - Shocked) and dress up/make-believe time. Loves anything that they do in the classroom that has music or art involved.


When doing her art, she has a plan of attack for each project. Where some kids like to fill the entire page, if that isn't in Taylor's plan - she isn't going to do it.  Everything is placed on the page(sculpture/item/whatever) with a purpose.


Enjoys 'social life'.  Taylor has definitely moved past the parallel play stage.  She has a couple of 'best friends' in the class, and she wants to do everything with her friends.  She sometimes will make decisions just based on what they are doing.  Miss Debbie said she is trying to make sure that she asks Taylor first some day's , so that she does what she really wants - not just to hang around her buddies.  I was a little worried about that - but Miss Debbie really emphasized that she feels that T is purely after the social interaction.  She said Taylor is very independent, knows what she likes/doesn't like and doesn't have any problems expressing those opinions.  So...maybe unnecessary worry on my part. She is only 3.5.   


Lunchtime is about 90% talking, 10% eating. But she eventually eats everything when she realizes that everyone else is done and off to play without her!  (I received two detentions in my entire life, and they were both for talking.  And I was shy.  I'm afraid we are in for a lot of 'it wasn't my fault - they were talking to me first' when she is 13)


The only time they ever see tears or an upset Taylor is when someone invades her space.  Miss Debbie was full of praise in the fact that T has never, ever shown physical violence towards anyone at school...even the boys who can get pushy and aggressive.  She is very vocal about expressing her concerns, so she does a good job using her words instead of her appendages.  She is very 'in control' of her emotions.


Overall - just a joy in class.  She relates well to others, and loves to help. 


There ya go...what I can remember anyway. Now for the schmooze: I'm reminded again how lucky & how great things are for us.  Can't be happier with my two little girls and what they've accomplished.

The End.

Parent Teacher Conference #1: Connor

Our pre-school started using an assessment tool in each classroom to help track, monitor, and enhance the daily lives of our kids. They started using the 'methods' back in February, and this week and next we have our first set of parent-teacher conferences.

Today features Miss Connor Anne.  I am not sure what I was expecting, but I tried to re-cap everything the Toddler 1 Teacher told me:

She is completely in-line with all of the milestone's for her age-group.  Even verbally, she is showing more expressiveness in language and babbles are becoming words.  Again - tracking right on.  Some other great things that Connor does:


She handles her emotions really well for her age.  She knows when she is upset, and will go grab her blanket or a teacher for some 'support'. (Sometimes both!)  Usually, after a few minutes of snuggling with one or both of those things - she is right back in a great mood. (They have apparently not seen the tantrums she can throw - as demonstrated below. OH - I know what's wrong - we didn't have her blanket here.....YES - that's it.)

She makes friends well in the classroom.  She has 3 best friends (Ben, Amelia, and Desi) They love to dance and play with each other.


She comprehends and understands directions very well...and will act on a 'command' without a visual cue. For example - you tell her to wash her hands, she will walk over and do it.  You don't have to point or show a hand signal.


Her communication and verbal skills have really begun to blossom in the last few weeks.  She communicates really well with the other kids in the class - either in their own 'language' or in signs.  Her words are now becoming less babbles and more understandable.  She sings along to things - and can sing the tune of the abc's (although we can't understand the letters she is singing!).


Connor loves to participate in the songs that have hand-motions/actions.  Like the itsy-bitsy spider, et al.


She is like a little mommy in the class for some of the younger kids.  She pats them on their back at nap time and will bring them their blankets. (Sometimes she even pats her own back at nap time!)


She is really good at balancing and walking on the balance beam in the gym.  She loves to do that whenever we are playing in there.  


So - all in all, good review. The teacher said she really likes having Connor in class, and is just amazed at how much she's changed in the last year.  I think she is really thriving there as well, and am again so happy we are at this daycare center.  Don't worry - I told the teacher that, too :)  

Zoo

I mean really, if I didn't put captions on these pictures - don't you think you would get the idea of where we were at??

After the zoo visit in the morning, we went to the park and had a picnic. The same park that I used to go to when I was a little girl. A lot of it is the same - the same concrete animals and structures to climb on. They still have the train that goes around the park, but we didn't ride that this time. I miss that the big roller-slide is gone. Apparently it was a safety concern..but I loved that thing.

Later that night, we loaded up in the 95 degree, 100% humidity weather and went to our church's Mexican Fiesta. The girls loved the music, and we went and played in the park after we ate and enjoyed some of the entertainment.

Yeah, nothing's gonna stop this one.

It was a busy Saturday. You can bet that we didn't do much on Sunday.

Bedtime and Baby Batman

I took these pictures to try and capture the bruise Connor has developed. She tripped one night (over SOMEONE's Size 15's...not naming names, though!) and smacked her head on the wood step up into our dining room. It immediately started to swell, she screamed, did not lose consciousness, and we called the on-call doctor to find out more. Long story short - all is fine, but she's sporting a smashing facemask now.

I told her to close her eyes, and this is what she did. I laughed so hard trying to take the picture!

Where were we....

Oh, yes.  We are now caught up to May.  Taylor finished her second round of gymnastics class.

Working on their 'bridges' with the instructor.

Prancing...like a gazelle.

FORWARD ROLL!

Head Stands.

Let's not forget this one, shall we?  Yes - she eats limes...and likes them.  I know, you are probably not surprised.  She also eats, bugs, dirt, food off a movie theater floor, her hair, and well...pretty much anything.

Case in point...I'm not sure if that is food in her mouth in this picture or what.

Catch Up

These pictures are from the past month.  Apparently, I neglected to download the pictures off my camera for a while.  First, we start with a Taylor reward...dinner at Chuck-E-Cheese.  We went through a weird stage where she would not stay in her bed all night long, for one reason or another.  So we created a reward chart (I printed out a blank calendar) and every night she slept in her bed, she got a sticker.  When she got 5 stickers in a row, she could pick a piece of candy out from the candy drawer (which....I should totally toss the whole drawer, but man - bribery can be a powerful parenting tool!).  If she had so many stickers at the end of the month, we would go to Chuck-E-Cheese.  Thus....we are all back to sleeping in our own beds (most of the time)...and we took a trip to Chuck's.  

I would have normally been  mad that she wasn't keeping her food in her mouth while eating, but we were at Chuck-E-Cheese....so we fit in.  It was hard to tell her not to do something when every other kid there was worse.

Fast action hands!!

You can tell she played hard, her hair got more disheveled as the night went on.

The following weekend, we decided on a whim to go to a Royals game. It was Fireworks Friday and Buck Night - I think Connor & Taylor both ate two $1 hot dogs a piece.  We took Uncle Marc also - which made the girls' day

Ok - I'm sleepy now.  More later.  Plus,we are apparently in a storm warning and I need to get Andy to move his truck to the barn...no more hail damage, please!