French Fry Pie

So this week is going well overall. Charlotte really enjoys the stories we read together and seems to be listening even more attentively. She is still practising printing her name and now is on to learning her phone number too! I figure that's an important thing for her to know and she is learning her numbers at the same time. I think she likes knowing that there's a purpose to it. She also likes to dial numbers for me when I make a call too. It does take a little ( a lot ) longer but that's okay...it's a learning experience right?!
She is also writing a letter to her friend Eunice from Kenya. We are going to send some stickers and some pictures of the family too for Christmas. We have to send things soon as it takes so long to go through the sorting process, translators, etc. so they say to send it a couple months in advance. Hopefully it won't be late.
Along with her schoolwork, Charlotte also seems to be mastering a very quick-witted argumentative dialogue as well. Yep, she's talking back! What???! I thought that didn't happen till she turned 13! And she's got all the great facial expressions to go with it too, the rolling of the eyes, pulling up the eyebrow, and sometimes just looking at me like I'm completely out of my mind...not yet, kid.
I'm trying to keep right on it with consequences right away, but sometimes I end up arguing right along with her, like she's making a good point or something, and I should be defending my position. I remember my mom having a little crafty duck with little ducklings beside it, painted on some piece of wood in our house that read, "Because I'm the mom, that's why!" Yah, I'll have to use that I think. I so understand it now.
Connor is now wearing underwear during the day, except at naptime. Hurray!! I am so excited, but not expecting any miracles. He is going for regular potty times but still doesn't let me know if he needs to go. He will basically hold it for over 4-5 hours before leaving a wet spot somewhere on the floor, but I do think I've seen some progress. And we are going through a lot less daipers!!! I think it'll be awhile but I'm so proud of my little boy. I still see him as my little baby I guess.
For the first couple days putting him in underwear was a little daunting...and frustrating. But I knew he could hold it. Then something happened at the library that made me rethink the whole training timing. I'm checking out books and the librarian says to me "Uh, miss?...your son is licking the door."
And there he was, Connor's licking the exit door like it's tastes like ice cream and on the other side of the door, there's now a small crowd of strangers, probably that just went through the door, squealing and laughing and 'ewwwing' at him on the other side just doing his thing.
Yep, that's my boy, just when I thought I could maybe leave there without some sort of embarrassment or humiliation! After this incident, I thought to myself, "Well I know that he might be physically ready to be potty-trained, but maybe mentally he just isn't quite there yet. That could be it.
So I guess that's all to share tonight as I wind down from a busy day and a great workout with the Tara Fitness ladies and have a hot green tea. I leave you with a little comment by my daughter I thought was kind of funny.
We had Hashbrown Casserole for dinner yesterday and Charlotte is always the first to complain about what's for dinner. So I began to explain what a casserole is and what was in this one...hashbrowns, cheese, onions... and she says "Oh, so like a french fry pie Mom?"
"Huh? Yah, I guess so honey." Cute.

So much to be thankful for...God is good!

This week was busy. School was for two days only (Monday and Tuesday) because I had to work (Wed and Thursday) and then Charlotte and Connor both took turns with the cold/flu for the weekend. We did do some finger painting which was fun. A seasonal turkey, which actually turned out pretty nicely. Crafts are certainly not my strong suit, but I have now another lovely book full of ideas from Nana B, my mother-in-law. She was a teacher and said she has a few more helpful things we might be able to use for our homeschool. We are truly blessed, surrounded by supportive parents! The best thing about this book is the art supplies, usually things found in my house such as buttons, cards, etc. So I don't have to spend a lot on different materials which makes things easier!
Charlotte has really improved in her colouring or, as I would put it, fine motor skills! She is now being careful about staying in the lines and having much more success at it. It's great to watch as she refines her skills. Anytime there is colouring involved, the object, no matter what colour it might be realistically, will be crayoned using a beautiful array of colours. "Look Mom, I did rainbow colours!" She is quite happy with her rainbows! She's a colourful child.
Charlotte was so tired Friday that she actually took an afternoon nap, which is very unusual for her and she said "I don't want to do school today Mom." with a tired look in her eyes. This is rare, so we left it at that. This week we will be able to make it up though as I only work Wednesday this week. Yay!
The weekend was a lot of fun! Friday evening, my cousin Jenaia and her kids, Jodi-Lin and Dominic came up, and the kids had a blast. Charlotte and Jodi-Lin play very well together. Connor and Dominic are at the "not sharing stage" and Connor has this irresistable urge to take away things that Dominic was playing with. He does the same with his sister's things. Not that he really cares to play with her doll or anything, he just picks it up with a big grin on his face, and says "Charlotte! Baby!" and then he runs. He just loves the reaction I guess, which he always gets! And the battle that ensues.
My cousin Jenaia is homeschooling too so we always have lots to talk about when we get together. It's a great support for me and exchanging ideas is fun. Their family is also on a gluten/dairy free diet now so we made a delicious gluten free dinner Friday night. It was amazing! The kids enjoyed it too. And then it was cinnamon apples for dessert. That was a hit as well.
Saturday, we took the kids next door and our neighbour Jade taught me how to brush and saddle up Tess, the little pony, so the kids could go for a ride. Charlotte was pretty insistent she be the first to ride. The kids enjoyed brushing Tess, sweeping out the barn, and picking up all the little kittens there, but Connor made me a little nervous always going to walk behind Tess, where he couldn't be seen. Tess is a good little pony though, very friendly. Jade even showed us how to "spike" her mane! We've got a bit to learn about horses but I think it will be a great experience for the kids...and me!
Saturday afternoon, it was off to Aunt Patty's place way out near Lion's Head for turkey dinner with the whole Gard family! It was great to see cousins we haven't seen in years!
Danielle, my sister, and Derek, her hubby, arrived Saturday night. Dani's belly seems to have jutted out more than the last time I saw her, maybe 3 weeks ago. We are very excited to have a new little baby in the family. Charlotte is pretty certain it's a girl. So we'll see.
Sunday night we had my immediate family here and Great Grandma Kruisselbrink, Andrew, my cousin, and Carl Mulder, a friend of the family. Another big turkey dinner.
On Monday night, we had a delicious dinner with Papa Doyle and Nana B. The kids liked watching the chipmunks and squirrels in their backyard, we don't usually see those at our place. It was a great night. And they of course gave the kiddies their usual little packs of Smarties for the ride home. Grandparents and their candy!!
So it's back to the routine after busy weekend. I am not afraid to say it, I always like to say goodbye to company, almost as much as I love having them here! It was a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend. Sure reminds me of how blessed we are...and how fast my waistline can expand after that many dinners (and desserts) in a row. I'll be sure to post some pics of the weekend later.

Why is mommy's face turning red?

This week has run pretty smoothly. School has been going really well. Both Charlotte and I look forward to it. Charlotte is very close to writing her name all by herself! She is starting to recognize many of her letters. She is very particular and doesn't quite appreciate it when I call one letter a "small a" and one letter a "big or capital A", because they don't look EXACTLY the same. "Mom, THIS A does NOT look like THIS one!!" On a positive note, I will just call this her seamless attention to detail.
I bought the Leap Frog Fridge Magnets to help her with the alphabet sounds. She really likes to use them, so does Connor. It did start a few WARS here, but I guess it's something worth fighting for. Connor is starting to hum little tunes now and attempting to sing along to the alphabet song. It sounds so sweet...music to my ears.
We have made a few trips to the library so far. I'd like to make it a weekly routine. This week, Charlotte and Connor really enjoyed playing games on the computers there. Connor was "colouring" pictures using the mouse a bit. It's really amazing how young they can start on a computer. And it's great they make them just for kids, heavy duty, cause Connor also likes to hammer away at the keys. Boys will be boys...ROUGH.
At the end of our library trip, after Charlotte had handed the lady her library card for her books, she noticed a man standing in line behind us, with a really noticeably red face. "You're face is REALLY red!" she decided to tell him, being sure to make eye contact and saying it at an appropriate volume, for everyone in line to hear. He was a friendly man, thankfully, as he replied, "I know, I'm stressed out!" As I could feel MY face starting to burn, flushed with a red all it's own by now, I added, "And look, now Mommy's face is turning red too!" Well, the librarian and people in line had a chuckle for the day anyways.
After that, we quietly left and had a little talk about being careful what we say about people, especially if it's something someone might be embarrassed about it, or in case we might hurt someone's feelings. "It's best if you need to say something about someone, you whisper it to mommy first!" Yah, that might work. It's funny how these lessons are learned. Yes, funny, that's for sure.
We went to PumpkinFest in Port Elgin today and oh, what fun! One thing I always think about Charlotte missing out on school, is the bus ride! Of course I think that way, I spent about an hour and a half everyday back in my school days. As much fun as I had with the kids on the bus, usually with the ones who were on it as long as I was, what a waste of time!! Back to today though, the kids LOVED sitting on it as there were NO carseats strapping them down and it was fun to sit right beside mom and Grammy, and look out the window. Of course this one was only about 15 minutes or less. It was a treat! Note to self: we'll have to take the bus transit in Owen Sound sometime soon.
The kids went on two rides, plus rode the horses and jumped around in one of those big jumping gym things, sorry I have no idea what to call them. They had a blast. We even got a new Playtime Activities by Usborne for us to use for school! Packed with really cute and easy crafty ideas, I can't wait to get started. What can I say, Pumpkinfest has it all! Well now that my two little monkeys have me completely exhausted, I am so happy to note, it is also their bedtime. So off I go to tuck my two little darlings in. Thanks for reading and please write some comments, I'd love to hear them! It doesn't take much to sign in. Until next time...