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Daddy joins Emily at kindergarten today! Emily introduces him to the class and they practice their interviewing skills by asking him LOTS of questions! They talk about bones today, and how they support our bodies. To demonstrate the concept of "support," Mrs. Cameron stacks up some blocks, then takes out the "supporting" one so they all fall down. Emily says, "You know what makes that happen? Gravity!" 11/7

Emily is participating in a Pizza Hut reading incentive at school--if she reads a book for every day of the month, she will get a coupon for a free little pizza. If she reads a book a day for 6 months, she gets a pizza every month and medal from Pizza Hut at the end. Of course Em had no problem filling in her days for October, and today, with no school for Veteran's Day, we spent the morning at the zoo and then stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch on the way home. Em got a little plastic card on a clip to keep track of her monthly rewards and was quite pleased with herself. Her November chart is 2/3rds done already! 11/11

Emily participated in an assembly today at school to mark the students' progress on their Million Word campaign--this is a project where every kid in the DPS system tries to read or listen to a million words during the school year (Em's pizza books count towards this!) Emily had a chance to stand on the stage with the other kids to show that she was "on her way" to her goal. 11/03

Emily is learning about the history of the Native American culture in school, and is very impressed by the fact that the Indians rode bareback and that they invented snowshoes! 11/03

When I say that I'm tired, Emily likes to give me "hard math" to do in my head, since I told her one time that I had to be very awake to do math! She will say, "What's 8 times 15?" and giggles while I say, "Um, um, 8 x10 is 80, and, um, 8 x 5 is 40, so, um, that's 120." Anyway, she has become interested in doing "times" herself, so I told her how to think of it (2 times 3 is 2 sets of 3 things) and showed her how to do it on her fingers if she got stuck. Now she likes ME to give HER "hard math" in the car! AND, one night when she was asking for some "hard math" after dinner, Bill gave her 6 + 7. Em realized right away, "I can't do it on my fingers!" So I said, "Do you want to borrow some of mine?" She said, "No, I want to do it in my head." Then she said, "6 + 6 is 12, and one more is 13." Bill and I practically threw her a party we were so proud of her problem solving!!!! 11/03

Em and I FINALLY finished "The Knight at Dawn," the second book in the Magic Tree House series. Em is already looking forward to the next one! 11/15

After we wash her hair in the bath, Emily likes to tip her head waaaaaaaay back to see how far her hair reaches down her legs!

Em announces, "I have 4 loose teeth and 3 molars. That's 7 things going on in my mouth."

Em's kindergarten class has a "Native American" ceremony as part of their study. Emily wears a brown paper sack "leather" vest, and gets a headband with an "Indian" name on it--"Little Soft Autumn Leaf." 11/24

Em counts backwards: "Five, four, three, two, one, one and a half, one and three quarters, zero!" 11/26

 

We watch the Macy's Parade & see Santa at the end. Em says, "I think that's someone dressed up as Santa." I say, "Why do you think that?" Em answers, "I think Santa's busy now [getting ready for Christmas]." 11/27

Em and I have powered on in the Magic Tree House books and have finished #3, Mummies in the Morning!

Emily was an usher for the first time during collection today in church! Our church pairs two adults with two children for this job. K'Lei, who is in 2nd grade, walked with Emily and showed her where to go next and how to trade collection plates down the rows. I can't believe she's old enough to do this already! 11/30

In the course of the evening, Emily made an Indian camp out of pipe cleaners (she pushed the ends into the carpet to make them stand up and rested the other ends together at the top) including an asterix-shaped campfire; an elephant made out of a piece of cardboard out of which she had cut some squares for a different project, adding marker for eyes and toes and a pipe cleaner tusk; used a shoebox, with pipe cleaner logs laid across the top, and clothes-pin "legs" to support it--this is a type of Native American dwelling, a Seminole chickee--she learned about in school. *Whew!* 11/30

   

In the car, on the way home from school, Sarah asks, "When I sixteen, can I drive?" !!!!!!!! 11/2

Sarah's new book at school is "In November," by Cythia Rylant. 11/3

Sarah eats some chicken nuggets for her dinner, and after she has finished two or three, she is allowed to have dessert. She chooses a lollipop and eats it all up. Then she shows us the empty stick, notices a leftover chicken nugget on her plate, and promptly spears the chicken with ther lollipop, picks it up, and starts eating it off the stick! 11/03

Sarah listens as I read a book to Emily. It is called "Bubble-Gum Radar" and is about a teacher who knows who is misbehaving in her classroom. The first events in the story are: After an exciting announcement, a student throws his bubblegum into the air and it hits another student on the ear. After they settle down, the teacher asks someone to come to the board and do a problem. The student sits down again, realizes the answer was wrong, and is asked to come back up and correct it, but he can't move out of his seat! Sarah says, "It's bubblegum!" And she's right! The boy is stuck to his seat with gum. I like this story (and go to such lengths here) because Sarah figured out that the problem was bubblegum with only the title and one incident to guide her--she didn't need the story to provide several instances of repetition before she could guess what was going to happen next. 11/03

I made some flannelboards pieces for the Abiyoyos to use along with their book, and when Miss Katie thanked me, she said, "Sarah was SO proud of her Mommy at circle time today!" 11/12

At dinner time, talking about growing big and strong, Sarah says, "When I big I gonna be a teacher." I said, "Wow, a teacher!" And she continued, "Just like Miss Susan!" I told Miss Susan that the next day and she was so touched! 11/13

Sarah watches Daddy and Emily play a board game. When they are done, she says, "Good game, guys!" 11/14

We are watching hockey when Sarah says, "Come on, boys!" Daddy laughs because this is what Mommy says all the time! 11/15

I check on Sarah during her "nap" because I hear some thumping around. When I peek in, I see her in the dead center of her crib, not holding on to the railings, jumping up and down like a trampoline. Hmmm...is this why she is getting cranky at dinnertimes?

We went out to pick up some long pants and long sleeve shirts (and winter coats, hats, gloves, boots, socks, hair clippies.....) today and Sarah was careful to make sure she was choosing colors that did NOT match Emily's exactly! 11/22

Sarah is looking so grown up all of a sudden. I mentioned this to Miss Rachel at school, and she said, "Yes, I think Sarah's legs got longer this week." 11/24

Well, Sarah is heading into her Tricky Three year old phase. She gets frustrated VERY quickly and will go from playing happily to yelling from one moment to the next if she feels she is being thwarted in some way! She is being more stubborn about doing things (eating, getting dressed) on her OWN schedule and gets VERY SAD if we suggest she might want to hurry it up a little bit. She is still mostly a sunny kid, but is definitely starting to chomp at the bit! 11/26

Sarah's Thanksgiving Plate: a crescent roll, corn kernels, and some no-cranberry cranberry jelly. 11/28

Me: "Sarah, go look at all your curls from after your bath!"
Sarah [looking in the mirror]: "Seven!" 11/28

I change Sarah's diaper at 10 pm and she tells me her leg hurts. I say, "Well, I think some lotion will make it feel better." Sarah says, in a very sad voice, "No, it will just keep ouching." 11/30

 
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