Halloween 2015

Little Person Scootering

About Naomi...

Today is Nono's last day in her infant/toddler classroom. It is bittersweet to see her "graduating" to the 2's side - she's no longer a baby!

Photo timeline of her time in the infant classroom:

The first month at daycare

Hanging out with her friend "Molls"

Practicing pulling up with buddies "Molls" and Ira

Lunch time with "Molls", Clay and Ira (out of frame)

Here's a snippet of what's going on with Nono now:

Naomi, or "Nono", is our little girl with a BIG personality. She loves to have dance parties with her friends, ride bikes, play with water and eat snacks! She loves copying what other kids do, especially her big sister Ellie. Like her big sister, she loves art, especially if it's messy. She has no problem getting her hands dirty (and face, belly, arms, legs, hair...). It's tough getting her to follow instructions sometimes because she can have very selective hearing, wanting only to do things in her own time and in her own way. She may get upset quickly and let you know by screaming or throwing a tantrum, but she usually gets over it just as quickly and acts as if nothing had happened. Nono is a dual language learner, so she says some things Mandarin, but her English vocabulary has grown tremendously the past month. One of her favorite phrases is "Iwon ..." which is "I want ...". Words I would use to describe Nono are loving, cheeky, silly, adventurous, busy and passionate.

"Molls" and "Nono" - 2 year olds

First day of Kindergarten

Super excited

First day of Kindergarten was on Tuesday, August 18th. SO much drama around the start of school beginning with the surprise announcement that there was a new principal - 1 week before school was due to start!

The orientation new parents attended answered only part of all the questions as the new principal was learning and adjusting to her new role at the school. We were told that we would not know who the teachers were or what class the children are assigned to until the first day of school. Even then, we were told there might be classroom adjustments depending on how class sizes shift the first few weeks of school.

She picked out what to wear and how she wanted her hair

Ellie did SO well on her first day. It was Mommy and Daddy that had a hard time that day. Because she attended summer camp on the school campus, she knew one of the kids in her class already and saw some First grader friends on the playground during lunch.

Daddy lurking

She is on her 3rd week of school this week and I am hoping to see some progress in terms of communication from the teacher and classroom. So far there has not been any homework or letter to parents about what the kids are doing every day at school. Of course when I ask Ellie what she did in school her default answer is "I don't remember." So we will continue with her "homework" on the weekends and teach her on our own. (We bought some workbooks that help reinforce numbers, letters and sight words)

Fun with Gelli Baff

Can you believe this plant was almost dead?

H.O.T weekend

It's over 90 degrees this weekend...IN MARCH. I dug the kiddie pool out when I was cleaning and organizing the garage last week and put it to good use.

Family Portrait

Strawberries

Every year I get it into my head that I can be fruitful - I can make things grow! Most times it fails miserably, with the plants looking brown and sad within a few months. I'm really good about watering, weeding and talking to the plants for the first few weeks, but then as life happens and the kids endless demands wear me down, I forget about the poor plants I helped nourish until this point. They inevitably die.

This time, I promised myself (and Will) I wouldn't buy any more plants. But I couldn't resist buying at least a couple of beautiful Citronella plants I saw at Home Depot one day. They were in a hanging planter, and right next to them, was a cute strawberry plant in a hanging planter as well. I just couldn't resist. I've wanted Citronella for years now to help naturally repel mosquitoes from getting into the house. And a hanging strawberry plant was too cute and easy to pass up.

So far I've been really good about watering them. There was one extraordinary hot week where I forgot and they almost died, but I managed to water them just in time and they've been doing great! To my delight, the strawberry plant has actually produced small strawberries! I caught sight of them yesterday afternoon

I was so excited I grabbed the girls and took them outside in the back yard to water and pick the strawberries. There were 4 that were ripe to pick and with some help, the girls were able to enjoy them. 

 Nono liked them so much she ate the entire thing - leaves, stem and all!