Progress

A couple weeks ago, Carolyn was having a rough day.  I could tell that she was sad, and by the end of the afternoon, she came over to me and said "I am not good at anything!"  I inquired about what she meant and why she was so sad.  It turns out that she was sad because 1) she could not do a cartwheel, 2) she could not write her name, and 3) she did not like to take breaks and go to the bathroom.

OK.  We can work on those.  She was already signed up for gymnastics, where they will surely work on cartwheels.  I told her that I would be happy to work on her letters with her, and we even got her some new flashcards and letter books. As for the wet undies.... well, only she is able to stop and take a break from whatever she is doing to make it to the bathroom on time.  She knows how to go to the bathroom.

After her pity-party, she was ready to work on these things.  Her determination was pretty awesome -- but it did not last too long.  She got over her feelings of low self-esteem pretty quickly, but I could tell that she was still making an effort (silently, while no one was watching or asking).  Tonight, look at what she did.  While I was cooking dinner, she asked me to help her spell some words because she wanted to write a letter to my friend, Heather.



Honestly, I did not know she could write that much.  She still struggles with writing her name because "C" is one of the hardest letters for her to write.  I think she quits as soon as she messes up the "C" (hers is often backwards/mirror-image).  I guess, we should work on writing things other than her name. 

Note:  I admit, I helped a little in writing of this letter.  For some words, she wrote them  completely by herself, after only asking which letters to write.  For other words, I wrote them out on a separate piece of paper and then she wrote them on her page after looking at the full word written out.  For the letter "c" and "r" (two very hard letters for her), I either scratched the letter on the paper with my fingernail, so she could trace it.  Or I held her hand and helped her make the letter.  I drew the heart!

Circus

The Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey circus was in town.

Carolyn was so excited.  She worked hard on finding the perfect outfit, which included a lot of strategically placed hairbows pinned to her shirt.  I am not sure she realized the irony of her fashion choices. She looked just like a little clown.

The production was pretty awesome.  Great lighting, great orchestra/band, lots of great performers.  Tickets were not all that expensive either -- only $15 -- but you can really spend a lot at the circus.  We got out of there fairly cheaply with a $6 bag of popcorn and a $10 snowcone.  (Dad, like you, I did not give for a blinky light.  The going rate for blinky lights nowadays is $23)

You may remember the budget circus we went to last year -- the one that said their elephant just happened to be at the vet.  Well, this circus had 6 elepants and one baby.  One elephants even did a headstand.

My favorite part of the circus was watching Carolyn's facial expression whenever a new performer came out.  She was in awe.  She even got up and danced and cheered a few times. 

Elizabeth, on the other hand, just came along for the ride. 

 

Soccer

Tonight was Carolyn's first attempt at playing team sports -- soccer.

There were some tears.

like when her coach said "Carolyn, off the field" to get her to rotate out,

but she heard "Carolyn, you failed!"

There was a lot of confusion.

Before we got there, I asked her what she knew about soccer.  Not much.  Except that she thought she was supposed to run as fast as she could and dive on top of the ball. 

Once she (and the other kids) were told that you can't use your hands in soccer,

There were a few kicks.

One of Carolyn's kicks even landed the ball in the goal. 
Ah, who cares if it was the other team's goal.  It was a goal!

After a bunch of high-fives and way-to-gos, she started to like the game better. 
She liked it even more when one of the parents gave the kids apples and goldfish.

We will have to see if soccer is her sport.
I am not too sure after tonight, but it is only the first night.
And, it is a team of 3 and 4 year olds who have never played before.



UPDATE
(after week 2 of soccer)
This week, she and her teammates knew that they were not supposed to touch the ball with her hands.  And, I know you are going to find this hard to believe -- especially because I am the most pathetic soccer player ever -- but Carolyn is pretty good.  She is fast.  She is aggressive.  She could work on her ball handling skills (like stopping and turning around when the ball needs to change direction), and she still needs to learn the rules of the game (like knowing where the boundary lines are, instead of kicking and following the ball to the field next door).  But, I am proud.  She has the basic foundations.  Even at age 4, she looks like a little athlete.  That said, her team is pretty pathetic.  Thank god, they do not keep score.  Tonight, we played a team with two boys who obviously have been playing soccer with older siblings.  They just ran around all of the players, scoring goal after goal.  Most of our team was too scared or too shy to even play.   

Who Knew?

This past weekend, I planned a block party for our street.  We have done them in the past, and it is always nice to get to know the neighbors.  I knew there had been quite a bit of turnover on our street lately, but I did not realize there were as many kids as there are.  Some are new neighbors, and others have just grown in the past few years so are becoming more visible.  Elizabeth is the youngest on the street, but there are quite a few elementary and preschool aged kids that have been hiding.  It is so nice to see all the kids out playing on the street.    

We all sat in the shade and enjoyed dinner together.  Below are a few photos of the bike parade and the games.  The kids also did some crafts and participated in an impromptu scavenger hunt. Thanks to a family from Kentucky, we introduced the neighbors to the midwest favorite backyard game, Cornhole. 

After the official block party was over, one family had an "after party" where the kids jumped on the trampoline and the adults chatted by the firepit until late in the evening.  Then, already today, Carolyn had her new friend, Oliver, over to play after school. 

Sentimental

I was so excited when Carolyn grew and reached each new milestone.  With Elizabeth, I get a little sad and sentimental as she reaches each new milestone .... perhaps because I realize that we will probably not have another little baby in the house. 

Can you believe how big Elizabeth is looking?

 

Ok.  I know.  She is still very much a baby.  But she is changing everyday.  She is more alert and a lot stronger than before.    

Hey Lauren,

Look at this:

I promise to take and post more pictures as the hair grows even more. 

Carolyn and Lauren made these grassy creatures last weekend. 

Carolyn's has the blue eyes; Lauren's has the pink cheeks.

4 Months Old

Elizabeth went to the doctor today for her routine 4 month check-up.  She weighed in at 12 lbs and 11 oz (18th percentile) and was 24.9 inches long (64th percentile).

When we got home, I tried to take her photo with the "4 months" sticker; however, she grabbed a hold of the sticker and put it in her mouth, nearly destroying it.  So, I guess we kind of missed this month.

   

I did get a video of Elizabeth to show her happy, talkative little sounds.  

Her other new tricks this month include rolling over, sucking her fingers, and sleeping like a champ (her record is 11 hours at night). 

She is a good one!

A Reunion

When we were back in Ohio a few weeks ago, I was able to get together with some friends with whom I did my masters (in gerontological studies) at Miami.  There were only 11 of us in our graduating class, and 7 of us were able to get together for lunch.  They came from all parts of Ohio; Angie came from Chicago, and we were home from Utah.  Some brought kids, some did not.  It was a fun afternoon to catch up. 

It is hard to believe that it was almost 15 years ago.

Katy & Lauren visit "our country"

Katy and Lauren (my cousin and her daughter) came to visit for four nights over Labor Day Weekend.  Every minute was packed, and we had a great time.

When they arrived on Wednesday afternoon, we introduced them to our house, and the girls had fun with their matching pajamas, which glowed in the dark

On Thursday, we went to Liberty Park, where we walked through the Aviary, played in the Canyons fountain, and the playground.  Before leaving the park, the girls got to feed the birds.  We enjoyed a lunch at Cowboy Grub, where the girls named the horses in the play room and exchanged their golden coins for a prize.

We came home for afternoon rest time:

After dinner at home, Steve went to "back to school" night at Carolyn's school, and all of us girls went for an evening visit to the zoo, where we saw baby zuri the eliphant, danced with the polar bear and seals, and rode the merry-go-round and the train.



 

On Friday, we went to the bounce house for a couple of hours in the morning, then Red Robin for lunch.  The girls (and the moms) took a long nap in the afternoon, had a homemade pizza party at home for dinner, and then enjoyed some ice cream and a quick trip to climb a mountain before bed.  When we were back in Ohio last month (see two posts below), Carolyn told Lauren that she would see mountains when she came to visit "our country."  I had hope to take Lauren to the top of a mountain, by taking a tram all the way up a ski resort, but our plans were thwarted by a fall thunderstorm, which closed the tram. We were able to climb on the rocks above our house.  

On Saturday, the girls took a "garden adventure" class at Red Butte Gardens.  They learned about sweet smelling and edible grasses.  They explored the garden looking for all different kinds of grasses, drank a wheat grass smoothie, and made their own chia-pet thing (Lauren, I promise to post pictures of your grass as it grows, since you weren't able to take it home with you in the suitcase).  Afterwards, we grabbed Steve and all went up to Oktoberfest at Snowbird Resort.  Steve and the girls went on the trampoline, we ate sausages and potato pancakes, listened to yoddlers and an oompa band, the girls played musical chairs, and we all did the chicken dance. 

Oh yeah, the girls also got their faces painted.  They were the identical cousins, and their matching sparkley skirts drew a lot of attention!

Sunday was our final day together.  We made a big breakfast at home and did crafts all morning, before we took them to the airport around lunchtime.

Thank you Katy and Lauren for making the trip out to Utah.  We had a blast!