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| Dancing after participating in the Primary School's Color Run. |
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| End of the year thank you card to our beloved first grade teacher. |
Catching Up: A Quick Snapshot of our May
Avery
- Finished up 1st grade. He loved his first grade teacher. She seemed to understand his sense of humor and helped him catch himself when he spoke inappropriately. A favorite saying that we've adopted from her is: “You get what you get, and you
don’t throw a fit.” Thanks Mrs. Gann! We're still using that one around our house now.
- Finished up his soccer season. Their team won first place! The players had a team photo in front of the soccer goal. The coach encouraged the kids to hold up a finger for "We're #1!". Avery wanted to hold and display his first place medal in the photo too. Consequently, his pointer finger held the medal, so he (innocently) held up the next free finger (middle) for the coach.
- Wanted to know "Is there a secret room in the house that I don't know about?!!"
- Places plastic glow-in-the-dark bugs in Aileen's room to frighten her.
- Sneaks up and tries to scare his mommy quite frequently. Sometimes, to his immense delight, he succeeds!
- Still a very picky eater, but always happily gobbles up his mom's blueberries and waffles. We get an animated happy response when he discovers that is what we are having for dinner.
- Doesn't mean to be, but delivers backhanded compliments often about his mom's cooking. Such as, "Wow, this is MUCH better than I thought it was going to be!" "Ummm, I don't really like this mommy. Sorry. BUT nice try!"
- Constantly needs to have the company of someone else around him, especially boys his age. Not long after school was out, he was complaining about being SO BORED because there wasn't anyone to play with.
- Happy that he no longer has to mess with sitting in a booster seat. That made him feel a little more grown up and independent.
- Lost 6 baby teeth since Kindergarten. Each one seems to have a dramatic story about how he lost it somewhere, swallowed it, or how the tooth unexpectedly popped out. He avoids crunchy granola bars for fear that others will unexpectedly fall out. Multiple letters have been written to the tooth fairy explaining the circumstances.
Aileen
- Has been enjoying her transition from a crib to a toddler bed successfully for some time now.
- Transitioned to a "big girl" booster seat. This one is so much easier to switch out from vehicle to vehicle. She was so proud to make this step and get big brother's old seat.
- Although she loves her brother, Aileen sometimes has to sternly tell him that she wants to be alone. We suspect that she is an introvert and just needs to recharge with some time to herself.
- Enjoys going to the hair salon with Mom to get her hair cut. We give her a sucker, and she sits very still and quietly as she soaks up being pampered. The hair stylist will sometimes put her hair up in a special ponytail or curl it a little with the curling iron.
- She dresses up (in a used, pink sparkly tulle dress that was given to us for play) daily, dancing and pretending to be a princess.
- Often asks Daddy "Dance with me!" She and her Daddy prance around the living room to pretend music, twirling and following her orders. She is sweet, but requires things to be done in a particular way. Her Daddy and I think this is sweet, particularly because we first met in college taking dancing lessons.
- The most common play theme is playing "birfday parties" and "princesses". She cooks the food for the party in her play kitchen and plays hostess to several stuffed animals, all which the adult is supposed to give personalities too. There is one ornery cat puppet in the bunch that needs a lot of time outs.
- Pedals a trike well for her age. Aileen loves being outdoors and often asks to play outside with reluctant Avery.
- We did not have to teach her how to blow her nose. She figured this out on her own, which made things easier when she was sick.
- Music speaks to her. She can feel emotion through how she interprets a song sounds. Often, she is compelled to dance in a way that shows that emotion. She will even wear the emotion through the expression on her face. When she closes her eyes, we know that she is really concentrating and lost in the moment of her imagination.
