Planting Plants

Every year Munkey gets to help me re-pot the seedlings.  Today she helped me re-pot 13 tomatoes and this year she helped me spell out the names for the labels on the pots too.  She can spell "Roma" now, still needs work on heirloom.

Here is a post of her helping on a previous year.

I can't believe how big she looks now compared to that previous post where she still looks like a baby sort of, she had just turned 2.

She did amazing this year, she's really got the hang of it.  I was surprised at how little direction I had to give her.  She knew how to be careful of the seedlings.  She really loves helping too. Soon she'll be doing it by herself.

Lessons

Somehow we've survived the last 6 weeks.  We've all be wrestling with a bad cold since Sara's birthday.  Sara and I still have a pretty bad cough but I think we're starting to get better.  We didn't let it get us down.  Part of the stress has been that she has so many activities but I don't regret her having them at all, they've been so good for her.

Today was her last swimming lesson.  She did so well, loved it so much.   I didn't sign her up again in April/May because of our trip to Alabama, so she'll get a little break.  However I am considering signing her up for lessons at the Spanish Fork outdoor pool during the summer if I can get a good time in the morning.  I think she would enjoy that, and then later this fall, put her back at the indoor pool.  I really liked her teacher there and want her to continue to take as many lessons as Dan will let me sign her up for.  Hopefully she'll be an awesome swimmer by the end of it.  Then it'll be time to start with Brennan, I guess I'll be sitting poolside a lot.  When they both go to school, then I can take lessons.

Her music class is up and down.  Some days she aces it and does everything perfect.  Other days she has such a hard time concentrating and she would rather just dance than do any of the activities.  A lot of the other kids (there's only 2, 1 dropped out) seem that way too, hit or miss.  Not sure if it's the class structure, content, or their age or what.  She also does not seem to want to do her piano homework at home as much and she's always wanting to do her pre-school homework.

 Sara's preschool teacher tells me that Sara does wonderful and pays attention and is learning.  I told her about how Sara is at music class and she said maybe it's just because it's so much more complicated of a thing to learn and also her preschool moves so fast but really, music class does too.  Anyway, the pre-school teacher reports that she's doing great and that's good.

I have seen results from pre-school, she can draw shapes and simple figures.  She can write letters and she can cut out shapes and around objects like the wind. Her teacher says they do that to work on fine motor skills because they take the longest to develop.  She says actually learning to cut a shape out along a line can help them with writing, by paying attention to the shape of lines and following them with hand/eye coordination. They do a lot of cutting and gluing things in pre-school and for homework, she always is cutting and gluing.  She loves it.  I hope she is able to get a spot there again in the fall, they are full right now for the fall term and she is on a waiting list.

She is also coming along on her bike. We've been taking walks every day this week and she has really gotten more confident on her bike, it's great to see.  She still tips over several times a ride but isn't afraid and today after she took a corner too fast and fell over, she said "Wow, that was fun!".   I'm sure it's because she fell in grass and didn't scrape up her arm or anything.  Falling would be a bunch of fun if we didn't ever get hurt!  Now that she's not wearing bulky coats I'm afraid we're in for some scraped elbows at some point.

Today I was thinking I should really write down all the things she says that I love so I can remember them.  Today she said Brennan, "slibber slobbered" on her.  Not sure what that means except he was drooling.  It cracked me up.  Also, I love the way she says orange, she says it like "warange".  There are a bunch more things like that, I'll have to keep a list of them.

On the down side, Sara also gets angry at us a lot and has been expressing her displeasure or independence a lot more.  Dan says we should let her have "small wins" so I've been thinking about that and trying to back off if it's not something important.  Also, I think she suffers a little from the divided attention although she's been really gracious about it, there are still moments.  She does require a ton of attention, she always has but it's because she's very engaged with us.

Today I took her back to the library for the first time.  She knows that's all about her and it's her time. She got to see all the friendly librarians that she had missed and it made me want to start going back to story time too now that swimming is over.  She really enjoyed that.  Also, I've been taking a lot more time to read to her at night, after Brennan goes to bed.  It is something just she and I used to do a lot and I think she misses it a lot even though she doesn't or can't voice it.  She likes that it's her special time and she loves reading, something we really haven't done as much anymore, sometimes hardly at all, when I'm too tired.  I think it's starting to make a difference with her though, today she asked me to wipe her butt on the toilet instead of Dan which almost never happens, that's progress in her book!

Rock show

We were hoping to get out to the West desert this weekend to go hunt for obsidian but the weather did not cooperate.  Instead we made ourselves at home and went out to the gem and mineral show at the fair grounds here.  It was free and it was open on Sunday, so that was perfect.

Sara was really excited to see all the rocks.  There were tons of really neat fossils there such as fish, reptiles, turtles, trees, dino eggs, bones, and teeth.  Also there were lots of neat samples of minerals and various objects and rocks that the rock club put in display cases, showcasing all of their collections as individuals.  The display cases and the glow-in-the-dark mineral room were probably our favorite stops, also the 20ft tall t-rex that walked around the room greeting people. 

The phosphorescent minerals reminded me of the kit I had as a kid with a black light and rocks that glowed.  I loved it and would even bring home rocks I had found elsewhere and check to see if they glowed.  It make me want to get Sara a kit like that too.  I'm really excited that she likes rocks.  I hope to go hunt rocks with her someday soon. 

Amazingly even Dan and Brennan had a good time today too.

Sara standing in front of a display case filled with polished stones shaped like eggs.

You can see the man in black that walked around carrying this t-rex skeleton for people to pose with.  Sara was pretty scared of it, hence no pics of her next to it. We've seen this guy at other museums in Utah, apparently he and his t-rex get around, what a neat thing for the kids of Utah.

Here comes trouble

OOps, I accidentally posted this on MB's page, oh well, it's been that kind of day.  I'm sure she won't mind sharing the space just this time.


Brennan has decided that crawling is for babies and walking is for big boys.  He pulls himself up onto everything now and cries when he has to crawl.  He wants to be upright and climbing.  I've had to try and figure out how to keep him from climbing everything because he goes from climbing from one thing to another.  

It would be great if he didn't fall over but he's still unsteady and he falls over to the side and hits his head first on the floor hard.  Luckily he hasn't done this on the kitchen floor yet and luckily we don't have tile yet.  I think he could knock himself out.  He has hit his head pretty good on the carpet a few times, either falling backwards or sideways.  He wants to be a big boy but he'll have to wait until he can catch that huge head of his or at least put his hands down to cushion himself.   I think he'll be walking sooner rather than later but if it means he hits his head more because he's not strong enough to catch himself, I'm hoping he holds off a while.

Also another problem he's having is he climbs inside the end tables and then he can't back himself out, he hits his head on the underside of the top of the table and cries until we come get him.

He's funny too, since the weather has been warm we've let him crawl occasionally in his diaper or with a onsie.  He does not like his knees to touch the floor, especially on the kitchen floor so he crawls on all fours instead.

*This pic shows his big paws.

He does sit up really well and usually does not fall over, so he takes his baths that way now.  He loves splashing in the water and playing with toys.

Today he ate rice with nori furikake like Sara likes.  It wasn't his favorite but he kept eating it as long as I was feeding it to him.

Tomorrow is the last day of his antibiotic for his ear infection.  I'm so glad.  He is still sick though, his nose is really running a lot but at least the terrible cough he had seems to have abated thankfully.

He's almost 8 months old!

Tripple tutus and applesauce

Sara has been helping me dig my garden and get it read for planting.  She helped me pick up all the grass, sticks, and trash today in the yard. We worked really hard.  Also we planted tons of carrot seeds last year, she proudly helped.  I mostly ate the carrot tops in my green shakes but I left the carrots in the ground over the winter.  So yesterday and again today we dug up probably 300 baby carrots. She helped me wash them and collect them in several batches.   Pictured below was our first batch we dug up.

Dan made some nice coleslaw last night with them and today Sara wanted me to make applesauce, so we put carrots in with the apples.  Also we added some lemon juice, cinnamon, all spice, and maple syrup (instead of honey so that Brennan could have some too).  It turned out really good and was very tasty.  Sara helped me load it all into the blender.   Sara and Brennan both ate tons of it today, so much that we made a second batch.  I think we used 6 apples and probably 30-40 baby carrots.  We still have a lot of carrots left over.

Sara is really excited about all the bulbs coming up in the yard right now.  She asks to water them every day. I usually let her and she does a pretty good job.  It'll be nice to have help watering, it's a big job around here.  We have several yellow and purple crocouses that have come up, she is restraining herself from picking the flowers.  We have so many bulbs popping up that we are going to have a flower explosion soon.  I'm worried they will be at their peak bloom while we are in Bama and Sara will miss it. I really hope not, she helped me plant a lot of them and she can't wait for them to bloom, she keeps asking me to tell her what they all are. 

Also today a box came for her that had tutus in it that Nanna had made for her.  She was really excited to try them all on.  Video 1  Video 2  She was a little confused that we called them tutu's because of her Grandma Tutu, she couldn't figure out if they were from Tutu or Nanna, so I set her straight on that.  Also, she thought that you were supposed to wear them over a dress and i explained that over her pants was just fine.  Then she wanted to go on a bike ride wearing her tutu.  Right after she tried them all on she said out loud, "Nanna, I thank you with all my heart".  I thought it was really sweet.  Thank you Nanna for taking the time to make her something very special!

Today she also had another really good swim lesson.  The teacher is amazed and so am I, at how much she likes it and how fast she's learning.  I almost feel like she's getting more out of swimming lessons than her music lessons.  She learned to kick today and float on her back while kicking and she retrieved small rocks under the water without even wanting to come up for air,  even though she was done she asked the teacher if she could do it again without goggles and she went way under the water holding her breath.

Her teacher is so cool too and great with kids.  Sara has to ride a pool float that is like a big foam noodle but it's hollow in the middle.  She rides it like a horse between her legs but because it sticks up, she says it's Thomas with his smoke stack.

 So the teacher told her to jump in the pool from the side while riding the Thomas float, she told her she had to hold her breath and jump in.  The first time she didn't hold her breath and came up coughing.  The teacher blew in the end of the tube float and water shot out the other end up into the air and she said to Sara, "Oh look, Thomas forgot to hold his breath too, he's full of water".  Then she told her to jump in again holding her breath.  This time Sara did it and she handed the end of the pool noodle to Sara to blow in but she couldn't blow any water out the other end, so the teacher said, "Oh look, no water, Thomas must have held his breath that time, good job Thomas".  It was really cute and Sara LOVED it. 

We will definitely be taking more lessons, it's been a great experience for her and I know she will be a lifelong great swimmer and hopefully she'll come away loving it.  There is a 3 year old girl that is supposed to be having lessons with her but every time they get her in the water she screams bloody murder until her mom comes to get her.  I'm glad Sara is not doing that.  She is really getting a lot out of it. I feel so lucky that the pool and her teacher is right in our neighborhood!

All of Sara's activities are keeping us so busy but we've been having fun. Sara's music class went really well this week.  It was the first class where I think she did everything perfectly, listening to the teacher, playing the exercises, etc.  She earned two vanilla wafers for that.  Dan took her to the teacher's music recital at her music academy this weekend and she got to hear all the teachers perform.  She particularly liked flute and the Cello.  Dan and I were discussing that the Cello might be a good instrument for her to pick up later, she will have big hands and we both enjoy the sound.

Her swimming lessons are going wonderfully.  She will be so sad when they end.  The teacher is amazed how fast she is progressing.  This week she let go of the side of the pool with no life jacket on and kind of sank but tried to swim.  It was a little scary for me to watch but the teacher grabbed her after a few seconds.  It did not scare Sara at all, she came up laughing.  Also she put her face totally under water and retrieved objects from the bottom of the pool, first with goggles and then with no goggles.  The teacher was telling me that it's most helpful that Sara thinks it's so fun and she's not afraid at all. Also, she got to ride a pool float like a horse and she named it Thomas. There is a pool cleaner on a long hose that runs along the bottom and they call it the shark.  Sara really likes the pool shark as itt runs along and does its thing while they are swimming.

Sara is also doing well at pre-school.  She likes the teacher and the class and she is always telling me all the things she has learned when she comes home.  I can always tell what the teacher has talked to them about because she roll plays it later with her puppets and stuffed animals.  She was telling her little bear this week that he needs to learn self control.  She has learned to write about 10 letters and she spends a lot of time at our table at home cutting and gluing things together like she does at school.

Because of all her activities, Sara is a lot more tired than she was before, she almost always needs an afternoon nap and she is also a lot more hungry, especially after her swim lesson.

Sara talks all the time about things that she is looking forward to.  She always is asking us if it's Easter yet.  She is really looking forward to dyeing and hiding eggs at Granny KP's with Benny.  Also she is looking forward to going to the beach with Nanna in May.

Rock around the clock

Sara's very favorite song is "Rock Around The Clock".  She likes to watch the video and dance to it over and over. 

This week I also introduced her to Elvis, which she liked a lot too. 

She likes to dance in her brown dress because she says it swishes the best. 

She also likes to play on the floor with Brennan.  They play cooking and puppets and sometimes cooking with puppets.

Drawing Papal Pigs

Today Sara helped me make this display line for her room of all of her artwork from school. She comes home from pre-school with a ton of stuff she's made or colored and she even has homework.

This was my practice design just to see if it would hold up and if I liked it.  I think I'll make the line a bit longer and bigger now that I know it works and maybe hang it a bit higher.   She had fun helping me use the hole puncher and the hole reinforcing stickers, also she helped me cut the yarn and measure it.

It's easy to punch holes in her artwork and homework and just string it on.  We could change it out every week or so to display her current work. 

Also, Sara has really gotten in to learning her letters and learning how to write.  She is able to write about 10 letters now. Here she is practicing and drawing Papal Pigs!

She also likes feeding the fish.  She was feeding them and showing me how they eat when they are trying to catch the food in their mouths.

Also, last weekend while Daddy was gone, to distract her, we had a little Momma and kids party.  We went and got Sushi take-out from our favorite Sushi place. Sara ate every last bit of her veggie sushi.