I can read!

OK, well maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, but I did actually read an entire book to mom and dad last night!  I read every single word in the book, even THE END. They couldn't stop saying how proud they were of me :)

The book was called Fun in the Sun and was part of the Bob Books for Advancing Beginners.  They really are great books for new readers and are a good mix between words I can sound out and sight words.  Check out what I read:

Fun in the Sun
The sun was hot.
Pop had a top hat.
Mom had a red wig.
Peg had a big cap.
Pop got the red wig.
Mom got the big cap.
Peg got the top hat.
Mom, Pop, and Peg sat in the sun.
Mom was OK.
Peg was OK.
Pop was hot! (I read that one as Pop was hoti...who knew that that last thing was an exclamation point???)
Pop, Mom, and Peg had fun in the hot sun.
The End.

Mom says she wants me to read to her at bedtime before she reads me my stories.  I think I can do that! 

Yesterday was kind of a bittersweet day.  It was my last day at school and it was hard to say goodbye to my friends and teachers.  Mom got there a little early to pick me up and spend a fun evening with me.  Daddy was at the bike store getting his bike ready for the triathlon next weekend.  Mom had to make a few trips to the car to carry all my stuff out, then Ms. Carmen gave me a gift - she made cards of all of the animals that I know (in English and Spanish).  I'll have to teach mom what they are in Spanish.

We stopped to say Thank You and good bye to Ms. Pam (the director) and mom started crying :(  It's hard to say good bye to people you like!  Ms. Pam was so nice and even gave me a Penguin boo boo buddy that has the name of my school on it - she called it a souvenir.  That was so nice of her and I really love the Penguin.

When we left, mom took me to Chik Fil A as a treat.  Their grilled nuggets are pretty good (and not too bad for me) and I *love* their fruit cup.  But best of all, I love the play area (which mom rarely lets me play in due to time constraints). Yesterday I got to play in there, so that was fun. When we left there, we had to stop at the grocery store to get a few items for the chocolate peanut butter cupcakes that we were planning on making for daddy.  We had to get buttermilk, chocolate and cherries - it was my job to remember those three things and I did a great job!

Mom and I made the cupcakes when we got home - I got to stir the dry ingredients together, then the wet ingredients and then I mixed them all together.  I even held the measuring cups and got to dump a few things in the bowl.  Once mom poured the vanilla in the bowl, it smelled DELICIOUS!  I picked out special cupcake paper cups for daddy - they have soccer balls and footballs on them - I hope he likes them!

Today we're going to make the icing and maybe go for a run, to get my haircut, and to the pool this afternoon.  Weekends are busy times (but fun!)

Hopscotch!

Tomorrow is my last day at my current school :(  I'm really going to miss my friends and teachers and didn't want to leave tonight.  On our way out tonight, I must have played hopscotch at least 5 times.  Hopping on one foot is a hard skill to master!  The crown on my head is actually a frog.  I even wrote on it (legibly, I might add) "I am a FROG."



Tomorrow is water day, though, so I'm going to have a blast!  I hope it's not too chilly in the morning!

Busy Weekend!

What a fun time - I'm really glad it's practically summer and we're able to spend a ton of time outside!  Saturday morning, we met Lily at the playground and "rode bikes."  I say "rode bikes" loosely because really all we wanted to do was swing, run around, climb, slide, jump from the benches, etc.  I think we made one loop on the track and I was pretty grumpy about my bike.  Lily did a great job, but I was really nervous for some reason.  It was strange because I ride (up the hill) at home just fine, so it's not a matter of not knowing how to ride, I just didn't feel like it, I guess.  For some reason, I only wanted mom to hold my bike and when she didn't have a death grip on the handle bars, I freaked out.  We'll have to keep working on that.

Mom and I stopped at Home Depot on the way home and bought a new garbage disposal (ours broke) and some stakes for the veggie plants.  The plants have really taken off, especially the tomatoes.  I'll have to ask mom to take pictures.  The cucumbers aren't looking so great - I think we didn't put stakes in early enough and they're kind of droopy.  It's ok - this year is kind of an experiment anyway to just try our hand at gardening and since I picked out all the plants without much research, who knows what's actually going to grow.  The eggplant is huge and the squash and peppers look pretty good.  The squash I started from seeds in my window garden even grew (mom and dad didn't think it would!)  My beans that I started from seeds inside have also taken off and they even wrapped themselves around the eggplant.  I think we may get a few strawberries and the tomatoes will give us a lot (I better learn to like tomatoes a little better!)  Arabelle loves them, so if we get a lot, we may have to give her a bunch :)  I've been really good about helping mom water the plants and it's been a fun thing to do together.

Saturday afternoon, one of my favorite babysitters came to play with me.  Mom and dad went to see Gavin DeGraw and Colbie Caillat at Wolftrap.  They had backstage VIP passes and got to meet Gavin DeGraw - how cool is that???  I know this is *my* blog, but I wanted to share this picture anyway :)  Even if you don't know his music, you probably have at least seen him on Dancing With the Stars.



Mom said it was one of the best concerts she has ever seen and I had fun at home too!  My babysitter said I behaved the whole night and we had fun playing games and reading books.

Mom and I got up on Sunday morning and went to my swim class.  The air conditioning in mom's car was broken, so it was pretty hot and we had to roll the windows down. I didn't care for the wind blowing my hair all around. I wore one of the bathing suits that Belle let me borrow - can you believe one is a size 5/6 and fits perfectly?  I had a blast in class, even though Mr. Warren, my regular teacher wasn't there.  Miss Taylor was my teacher and I told mom that she yelled at me a few times. I wasn't wearing my listening ears and wandered away from the steps a few times. Mom told me I had to listen better next time. On the way home, mom and I had a funny conversation:

Me:  "Mom, my teacher didn't have a tail."
Mom:  "What are you talking about?  Why would she have a tail?  Are you thinking about your soccer teacher playing Fox and Hound with you?"
Me:  "No, silly mom.  Her name was Miss TAYLOR and she didn't have a tail."
Mom:  Laughing hysterically "Oh, I see."

We stopped on the way home and got the AC in the car fixed.  Just needed a charge, but it felt SO much better afterwards!!!  We had lunch and a quick nap when we got home, then mom and I headed to the outdoor pool while daddy went to the indoor pool to do some laps before his bike ride.  His first triathlon is in 2 weeks - GO DADDY!

Mom and I ran into my friend Sam and his mommy at the pool, so we got to play for a while.  We took turns sliding down the slide in the big pool and then jumping off the wall to our moms.  When it was time for adult swim, we went to the tot pool which is very shallow, so we could run around pretty much by ourselves.  There was a little slide there too, so we kept going down the slide then waiting in line again.  At one point, a bigger kid cut in front of me and Sam (about 3 months younger than me) pushed the bigger kid out of the way.  While it's not cool to push other kids, I really appreciated Sam sticking up for me!  He's such a good friend!

I was worn out by the time we left, but we had to get home in time for dinner.  Dad was still on his bike ride, so mom and I made dinner and ate on the deck.  When daddy got home, we all went to get an ice cream cone!  I got to go in my jammies - how cool is that???  It was perfect weather for ice cream.  The line was REALLY long and daddy had the brilliant idea to go through the drive through, then park and eat it in the parking lot.  It only took a few minutes and I told mommy I wanted an ice cream cone with chocolate ice cream and a cherry on top.  So that's exactly what I got (and it dripped EVERYWHERE).  Mom and dad even shared some of their ice cream with me. Thank goodness for baby wipes.  I was a champ and went to bed pretty well last night.  Needless to say, I did NOT want to get up this morning.  I kept saying I was tired, but ended up listening pretty well and got to school on time.

Today was my last Monday at my current school.  I'm going to really miss my friends and teachers. Tonight I told mom I want to make cards for my teachers and I said I was going to write "I love you" on them. She told me they would love that, so I'm working on those before Friday.

Daddy made oysters tonight for dinner!  They wanted me to try some shellfish (I've had mussels and clams before) before we go to the beach next month (in case I have a reaction, it would be nice to be close to my own doctor).  Daddy broiled some for me and topped them with butter.  I was a total champ - I didn't like the first one and spit it out, but told mom I'd try a second.  I tried it and made an awful, sour face and told her I didn't like it.  She asked if I'd try one more and I agreed.  I chewed a couple of times and I think it started to slide down my throat and I looked like I was going to lose it. But I held it together, finished eating it and told mom I really didn't like it.  She said it was ok and she was just so proud of me for trying them.  Proof positive that I'm a pretty adventurous eater. Mom gave me a hug and heated up some left over pasta and broccoli for me :)

DC United!

I got a special treat this week and got to go to a Tuesday night DC United game!  They played the Philadelphia Union at the Soccerplex!  On the very same field where I had class on Saturday :)  How cool is that???  We even got to go to a restaurant first.  Ken, Marie, Arabelle and Cole were there, so Belle and I got to run around, cheer, play, and eat a few snacks.

Talon even came to meet us!  I ran up to mom and said "Mom, look, it's Talon the Seagull!"  Close, she said.



Today, mom and dad took me to visit my new school for a while in the morning.  They got to have their thumbprints scanned (to get in the doors) and I had SO much fun!  I really didn't have any problems meeting my new teachers or friends and jumped right into things, though I did look to mom and dad a few times.  Once they're not there, I think I'll probably be perfectly at ease.  I got to sing songs, do gym class (more about that later), pick a few centers to do (art, sensory, dramatic play, math, computer, etc.), we made and played with playdoh and we left as my new friends were heading out to the playground.  Mom and dad said we had to leave so I could get to my current school in time to eat lunch.  And mommy had a lunch meeting, so she had to go too.  Daddy took me back to school and I had fun the rest of the day too.

I think I'm really going to like gym class at my new school.  Today they had scooters (little boards on wheels) and I got to "swim" around the gym like a fish.  It was pretty cool.  There were also some foam paddles and balls to hit around and some bean bags and hula hoops.  As we were walking out, we even saw another class in the gym playing with a big parachute.  Needless to say, I think I'm going to be completely tuckered out once I start there!  We do gym at least once a day and also get to go outside several times.  One more week at my current school, then I move on over.  I'm sad to leave my friends, but I think I'll stay in touch with the people I will miss the most.

One more day, then it's the weekend!!!  I'm looking forward to riding my bike with my friend Lily on Saturday and mom said maybe she'd take me for a run afterwards.  Hope everyone is doing well!

Strawberry Picking

What a fun day!  I had my last soccer class this morning, then was supposed to have a picnic at the park with my friend Sam and his mommy.  Unfortunately, Sam was sick so we'll have to reschedule :(

Soccer was a lot of fun and I did a great job (as usual).  When class was over, my coach gave us all a medal, which I very proudly wore the rest of the day!  Excuse the poor quality photos from mom's phone.



Can you tell how excited we were to get our medals?  A group of 3 and 4 year olds don't normally pay attention this well :)


Since we weren't meeting Sam, mom and I decided to have lunch out - we were going to go to Chipotle, but when we parked the car, I saw Five Guys and wanted a burger instead, so we went there.  I had an awesome lunch and mom even let me try a peanut for the first time! I've had peanut butter, just not whole nuts (mom says they're a choking hazard, but they were fine).  Mom had to crack the shells for me, but I loved getting the peanuts out and eating them.



We went home and I played with my legos while she put the groceries from Peapod away.  I'm really starting to enjoy the legos and am able to put all the little pieces together now.  Unfortunately, Peapod didn't deliver half of our groceries, so we still have to go to the store, boo.  Mom was NOT happy about that!  Though she doesn't usually like me to nap, mom told me I could nap today (I think she really just wanted a nap herself).  Daddy's in Philly watching a Rugby tournament, so she let me nap in her bed!  We both got a great nap in :)

We woke up, grabbed some containers, put our rain boots on (there were bad storms last night and it was a little muddy) and headed over to the local farm to go strawberry picking!  It's kind of late in the season and today may well have been the last day of picking for strawberries, but we got almost 2 lbs of good berries.  We got to take a wagon out to the fields and it was pretty bumpy.  I was sliding around, so asked mom if I could sit in her lap.  We each had our own buckets and I got good at spotting the good berries hiding in the shade.  We took the wagon back to the car and stopped at the farmers market on the way out.  Mom let me get a strawberry lemonade slushy that was fantastic!  We also got some fresh peas that looked really good.  Yum!





Since half of our groceries didn't show up (all refrigerated stuff, so no meat, fruit, veggies, grrrr), mom said she'd take me to get sushi for dinner!  We stopped at the fabric store first so she could get some fabric for a dress for me and for some more "unpaper" towels for the kitchen.  I picked out sparkly butterfly fabric for my dress - we'll see how that goes!  Mom finally got the guest room mostly in order and set up her sewing machine again, so she's looking forward to making a few projects.

We went to mom's favorite sushi restaurant in Rockville and I ate EVERY.SINGLE.BITE of my rolls and even 2 pieces of mom's.  In addition to a whole bowl of miso soup and a huge glass of water.  You think I'm a growing girl???  I've grown so much taller, but strangely haven't gained a ton of weight (not according to mom's scale, at least).  I haven't been to the doctor in a few months, so I guess we'll see when we go back for my 4 year well visit.  After dinner, we walked to the grocery store to get some lemonade - mom said we could make strawberry lemonade tomorrow and I can't wait!  Should be good with all those fresh strawberries!

It was already bathtime by the time we got home, so I got to play in the tub while mom folded some laundry in the bathroom.  And daddy called to say good night while I was in the tub, so I got to tell him all about our fun day!  Mom and I read 3 books at bedtime and I continued to read for almost 2 hours after that (that's what happens when I nap...).  Mom said she didn't mind and maybe we'll sleep in a bit tomorrow (mom can hope, right?).  I have swimming tomorrow morning, then we have a fun birthday party to go to!

Hope everyone is doing well!

My Second Camping Trip

It’s been far too long since I’ve updated!  Figured I’d get at least one post in during May J  Nothing like waiting till the last minute, right? 

So much has happened in the past month and a half!  For starters, I’m going to yet another school starting in 2 weeks.  Mom and dad had been evaluating the options and finally decided to enroll me at this new school which has a private Kindergarten option for me for next fall.  I miss the cut off for the public schools by 3 weeks, so if I start in public school, I’d either have to test in early next fall (when I’m almost 5) or wait until I’m almost 6 to start Kindergarten.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be academically ready to go next fall, but it’s so hard to tell whether I’ll be ready socially or emotionally ready and that’s probably the bigger deciding factor on whether I go early or not.  There’s also no guarantee that I’d get in if I tried to test in early to public schools (no set criteria and a lot of the decision is up to the individual principal), so this is a great solution.  I can go to private Kindergarten here and then mom and dad (and my teachers of course) can re-evaluate whether I go to public Kindergarten or 1^st grade the year after.  Gives mom and dad an extra year to have to decide and lets me experience the Kindergarten curriculum in the social setting more similar to the preschool I’m used to.  Mom’s going to the parent orientation tonight and she and dad are taking me to meet my new friends and teachers next week.  I’m pretty excited about it, though of course I’m sad that I won’t see all of my current friends every day anymore.  It’s ok, we’ll just have to get together on the weekends more. 

Soccer is almost over and I’ve started back in swimming again.  We’re going to the same pool where mom and I did the Mommy and Me classes, but now that I can go underwater by myself, I can take lessons without mom or dad.  I’ve only been to one session thus far, but it was a lot of fun!  There were 3 other kids in my class and Mr. Warren was my teacher.  Mom got to watch through the window and I did a fantastic job! 

Last weekend, we went camping!  We loaded everything up in the garage on Thursday night so we were ready to go on Friday afternoon.  I went to school on Friday morning so mom and dad could work in the morning, then mom came to get me before naptime.  We loaded up the car and headed out.  We intended to go to Shenandoah National Park along Skyline Drive, but by the time we got there, ALL of the sites were full.  Can you believe it?  Well, I guess we can, given that it was a long holiday weekend and we didn’t think to make a reservation.  One of the rangers gave us a list of other private campgrounds nearby, so we scouted some of those out, but they looked awful.  First one was full of slides, golf cards, TONS of RV’s – everything *but* relaxing, so we did some more research (thank goodness for mobile internet!) We found two other somewhat promising sites that were sort of on our way home if we ended up having to go home.  We got to what we thought was the first place, but it turned out to be a big giant warehouse that was actually nowhere near the actual campsite.  Turns out the guidebook we had listed the wrong address.  Don’t know how that happened, but with the benefit of the internet, we were able to find the real directions.  Ended up stopping by the second one that we were planning on stopping at and it was also awful – tents, RV’s, and people EVERYWHERE and right next to each other.  No thanks.  So we kept driving to what was going to be our last stop. 

As we pulled in, there was a huge sign saying “Campground Full.”  Boo L  We decided to stop for a minute, get out, let me use the rest room, then head home (this was all after about 5.5 hours of driving, so it really would have been a bummer to leave).  Mom and I went to the bathroom and as we were walking back to the car, another couple came walking by and said “You know you can go right across the street and there’s plenty of space and it’s free!”  What?  We figured they had just climbed into an area of the woods that they weren’t supposed to be in.  We all looked at each other and decided it was worth checking out, though. 

We drove across the street and daddy hopped out to scope it out (they didn’t want to get me out of my carseat if we were going to go home).  He was gone for a few minutes and came back and said that he found a decent spot, but we had to hike our stuff in rather than driving in and having the car right by the campsite.  We decided to stay – after all we had been in the car for so long and were really looking forward to a few relaxing days.  We figured a little hard work in the beginning would probably be worth it.  Of course at this time it was getting late, so we had to hurry so we could get the tent up and a fire started before it got TOO dark. 

We took a light load up (chairs and tent and such) and I sat and watched daddy start to put the tent up while mom went back to the car for more stuff, rather than standing around being little help to dad (you really only need two people for a small part of putting the tent up).  Daddy was actually able to get the tent up all by himself and mom grabbed most of the stuff from the car, including the cooler which was pretty heavy.  You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, right?  Dad got the rest of the stuff from the car and got the lantern set up while mom got our sleeping bags set up.  By that time, it was already after my bedtime, so daddy went back to the car to drive to go get some firewood – we didn’t have enough time (or light) to go search for it on our own.  Mom read to me while dad went to get the firewood.  Dad wasn’t gone too long (thankfully, because I’ve proven that I can’t fall asleep while mom’s anywhere near me – remind me to tell you about our trip to Fredericksburg a few weeks ago).  Mom didn’t want to get out of the tent in the dark (she couldn’t turn the lantern on), so I ended up still being awake when daddy got back.  Mom said good night and sat with dad until he got the fire started.  I talked to myself until almost 11:00 Friday night (because I had a long nap in the car). 

I got mom up on Saturday morning and we walked down and across the street to the bathroom.  I don’t think we were technically supposed to use them, but no one stopped us.  They were very clean and it was nice to be able to wash our hands and faces in cold water (did I mention how hot it was last weekend???)  Mom made a big thermos of coffee and we made eggs, bacon and sausage when we got back to the campsite (thanks grandpa and grandma for the camp stove!)  Yum! 

I was pretty whiny and defiant on Saturday morning, so mom and dad made me rest after lunch time.  I finally fell asleep (it had to happen for all of our sanity) and mom laid down in the travel hammock that we got daddy for Father’s Day last year.  She ended up falling asleep too and said that it was the best nap she had ever had.  I was much happier when I got up as well and we had a fun afternoon!  Not much to do out there other than relax, blow bubbles, collect and throw sticks and rocks, run and jump around.  It was perfect! 

Sometime Saturday afternoon, the host from the campground across the street came up to tell us that he was opening the gate so we could bring our cars up to the campsites!  Apparently there were so many people and people had to hike way up the mountain that the ranger told him to open the gates.  He said he had never seen so many people there before, but we sure appreciated having the car closer to our campsite when we packed up the next day! 

We had campfire chili dogs for dinner – YUM!  I got to roast my own hot dog, but it got too hot on my face, so I let daddy finish cooking it for me.  I also really loved the chili, especially eating it with my spork J  What a fun word to say!  After dinner, we searched for the perfect marshmallow roasting stick and daddy cut the end down so it was sharp.  We roasted my marshmallow first and I got to have the first smore of the night.  Then daddy and mommy had theirs and I got to eat the last bit of chocolate.  Needless to say between the nap and the chocolate, I was up pretty late Saturday night as well. 

We got up Sunday morning, had bagels and cream cheese for breakfast and started packing and loading our stuff up to go home.  We figured it would be nice to have at least a full day at home to unpack and get settled before going back to school and work on Tuesday.  It was much easier to pack the car on Sunday than it was to unpack it Friday night!  And the drive home wasn’t even too bad – about an hour and a half and I managed to stay awake the whole time which made it a little easier to get back on a normal schedule Sunday night. 

We showered when we got home and went to Whole Foods to get stuff to grill.  We were going to have ribs, but mom bought the wrong kind (the kind that weren’t already cooked), so we couldn’t eat them Sunday night.  We ended up ordering a pizza instead and daddy smoked the ribs on Monday instead J 

Since it was so hot on Monday, mom and I went out and bought a sprinkler.  We have one for the yard, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun as what we got.  I wore one of my new suits (I’m in a 5T!), put on my sandals and ran around for a long time.  Our yard got kind of muddy, so we moved it around a few times, but I had SO much fun.    

Back to school and work on Tuesday and now just looking forward to another weekend.  One more day! 

Mom promises to post more pictures soon.  She’s taken at least one every day this year (there’s ONE day she missed), but I think she’s kind of burned out on the editing part after the 365 project from last year.  One of these days she’ll buckle down and power through it…

 

Happy Almost Easter!

Guess who I think is going to come visit me on Sunday???  That's right - the Easter Bunny!  I hope he brings me some candy :) I went and visited him today.  I forgot to ask him where he lives, though. I asked mom this morning, but she told me I had to ask the bunny himself.  He was really nice and even let me pick a lollipop out of a basket!



After a *really* bad week of sleep (shrieking, kicking, screaming fits at bedtime followed by the same kind of shenanigans for well over an hour in the middle of every night), I'm heading in to what we hope is "Good Night #5."  I kept telling mom and dad that I was scared of random things and I just couldn't calm down, no matter what they tried.  One night I was afraid of my dresser, the next night it was mom's alarm clock (I told you it was random) and another night it was a panda bear in my room.  We got the new windows on Monday, though (we replaced the windows in the living room AND my room) and daddy told me that the new windows would keep any scary things out.  It must have worked because Monday was the first peaceful night in a week!  Mom got some new chapstick and there are two tubes in the package - she told me that if I have 10 good nights in a row that she'll give me one of them!  Huzzah!  Chapstick is enough motivation for me to have good nights!  We have a sticker chart on my easel to keep track of how many nights.  Fingers crossed we get there :)

I started soccer again last week, but we don't have class this Saturday and I'm going to miss my regular class the next two .  Next week is a 5K that daddy and a bunch of friends are running.  Mom decided not to sign up because her foot still really hurts.  She's had trouble with plantar fasciitis since about a week before her half marathon and has only run twice since the end of February :(  A trip to the orthopedist and a round of steroids later and the pain is still there.  So she decided just to rest it until it heals, then start running and building mileage really slowly from there.  The weekend after next, mom and I are going to Indiana, PA to visit my Great Grandma!  She's moving to Charlotte the following week, so we thought we could help pack up stuff and run errands as needed.  Anyway, I enjoyed my first soccer class last weekend!



Daddy's been running a lot lately (well, races, at least!)  Last weekend he did the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler - this is his third time running it and he absolutely killed his PR and finished in 1:23!  It was an early race and it was a bit chilly, so we bundled up and headed down to DC early with dad.  Mom and I went for a decent run before the race started - that was one of her two runs since February.  Her foot didn't hurt while running, but felt awful afterwards.  What a cool place to be, though.  We stopped for a quick photo in front of the WWII Memorial with the Lincoln (aka Blinking) Memorial in the background.  Pretty spectacular before sunrise!



I'm sure I'll post again after a certain bunny comes to visit on Sunday.  Hope you all have a great weekend!