Dirtbiking, putdowns, hugs, and giggles

Tuesday I had the opportunity to go back to the school where I taught 4th grade and spend the day. I helped administer the state test to a small group of kids and it was great! I could have done without the constant pacing of the room that I was requried to do, but otherwise it was a joy. I miss being there with the kids so much!

As I paced the room for the 2,387th time, these were the things that I missed the most...
-The hugs from big 4th graders who are SO tough and cool
-The giggles about the most ridiculous jokes and stories
-4th graders imagination (read: overexaggeration) when talking about money
-Stories about how they went dirtbiking and had the MOST spectactacular falls (read: overexaggeration)
-The silly and downright hilarious putdowns that they say to one another
-How they fake working and think I won't notice that they are sitting idle
-Their sweet smiles
-How excited they get to have snacks and water bottles during testing

But, being at the school also reminded me of the crazy parts of teaching too...
-Do kids seriously need to go to the bathroom 17 times a day?!?!
-You would never believe it but kids can dull a pencil in about 1.5 minutes. I have NO idea where all that lead goes

Overall, it was a great day. I loved reconnecting with the kids and being able to help out during the testing. In many ways I can't wait to go back to teaching, but in many others I am glad it will be put off for a few more years. At least I have a lot to look foward to when I do return though!

Question of the day

I have often giggled inside when people said "my daughter is 1 going on 13." However, my question for today is, "if Hannah can be 1 going on 13, can we skip terrible 2's altogether?!?!"

I will let you read between the lines on that question!!!!

Building blocks

I am amazed at how often I find other deeper meanings in my playtime with Hannah. We built this tower a few days ago and as I look back at the pictures and reflect on our time together I am reminded about how much of her (and our) lives are like these building blocks. When she was so little I felt like things I did with and for her did not mean much. But as I look back now and see how far she has come and all she has learned, it had to be like these building blocks. Everything we do with and for our kids are like putting little building blocks in their lives. Much is the same with us as children of God. All of the little blocks may seem small and insignificant at the time, but over years they build up into tall and strong structures. On the other hand, I am also mindful that I constantly need to be aware of my words and actions to Hannah, as even negative things are taken in by her so quickly.

This whole parenting thing is a daunting task when you think about it this way. That is why I am so thankful to God for His grace, strength, and guidance to do this job well and in a way that is pleasing to Him.

YAH for the colorful building blocks of life!!!

Our growing girl

Just some fun pictures from Valentine's Day. Check out how long her hair is!!!

Outside Fun

The weather out here has been really nice lately, so thankfully we have been able to spend some significant time outside. This has been good since Hannah has really enjoyed taking her babies for walks now. One day we asked her if she wanted to get in her stroller and go for a walk with us. She quickly informed us that she wanted to take her stroller with her baby for a walk. So, we packed up her stroller with her favorite baby and went for a walk around the block. I was impressed too because she made it for the whole walk while pushing her stroller.
We have taken several more walks around the block and she picks a different baby every time. Yesterday Big Bird even got a chance to take a stroll. Way to spread the love Hannah!

Singing

Tonight as we drove across town to Home Depot we were serenaded by Hannah. It was awesome! She treated us to her renditions of The Wheels on the Bus, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, The ABC's, and her version of counting. It is so fun to listen to her try and imitate songs and the coordinating hand motions. So, here are a couple of her favorite songs right now for your listening and viewing pleasure. But, listener beware...don't listen to my voice!!!! In fact, I apologize in advance for my singing. I am definitely NOT a good singer.

Morning Fun

Since Hannah has done finger/hand painting at Mother's Day out several times, yesterday morning I decided we would graduate on to painting with a paintbrush. It was great! I am trying to be more intentional about doing fun projects in the mornings with Hannah like painting, cooking, and drawing. Maybe sometime soon we can move onto more crafty stuff like cutting and pasting things.

The first thing she did when she got the wet paintbrush in her hand was to paint her other hand with it. She had no other idea of how to use a paintbrush but to paint your hands...it was pretty funny! However, after I showed her how to paint on the paper, she caught right on and went for it. She definitely loves to paint, but what kid wouldn't at this age?!?!

Hannah's first paintbrush creations!!! Can you tell that I am one proud Mama?! These are going straight into her file of "stuff." Since she is not in school yet, I can't call it her schoolwork file yet.

I think she had just as much fun cleaning her paintbrush out as she did with the actual painting. Anything involving the sink and water is totally exciting for her!!! In fact, she helped me wash the dishes on the counter behind her earlier that morning. She is becoming quite the little helper in the kitchen.

YEAH for a fun first painting experience!!

A full weekend

We had a lot of fun this past weekend with plenty to do. On Thursday Hannah had a little party at Mother's Day out for Valentine's Day. She received her first fun little Valentine's Day bag with cards inside. She also made her Daddy and I a bouquet of handprints which was precious! She did get a sucker in her Valentine's bag, so we let her have it later that night...she LOVED it! I ended up taking it away from her before she finished it because she was making a royal mess, and she was NOT happy AT ALL that I was so cruel and unkind as to take away her sucker!!!

We have entered a really fun new talking stage where Hannah is consistantly stringing words together to make "meaningful" phrases. Her favorite thing to say recently involves waiting for Daddy to get home for us to have dinner. I always tell her that we need to wait until Daddy gets home before we can eat. So, she will say "vait, Daddy, eat" over and over again until he gets home and we get to eat. Or, when we go and pick Daddy up from work she will say "Daddy up." When we finished our family walk tonight she said "all done walk."

It is really sweet for me as a teacher to get to see the progression of her language development. I remember learning all of this theory in my Master's classes, but it is great to see it played out in person. This Sat. our not so little baby will be 21 months and well on her way to the big #2!!!

Gotta love these BIG brown eyes...they get her pretty much whatever she wants from her Daddy!

Cousin It

Hannah's hair is still growing like a weed and it is never more clear than first thing in the morning. I snapped these pictures this morning right when she woke up. Can we say "cousin it?"
It's nice to see this pretty little face out from under that hair!!!

Paint....finally!

We have FINALLY gotten around to painting our bedroom. It was a dark, not pretty Texas orange color (sorry Todd!!!) and it had to go! We chose a farely neutral tan color that really made our furniture stand out in the room and I love the result. We still have yet to paint the bathroom but we will get there. The people before us painted the orange right over wallpaper so we have to strip the wallpaper, texture the walls, and then paint. It is entirely more that I want to do tonight...or tomorrow.

See the orange color?!?! It was way too much for me and I will be glad to see it gone altogether. It is amazing how much brighter our room looks too once we got a lighter color on the walls.

An avid reader

I hope that Hannah keeps up her enthusiasm for reading in life! She will be a great reader someday, but for now, we will keep practicing like this.

You gotta love it!!!

What a treasure

At the website http://www.creationsbyyou.com/ you can make books (and other things) with your child's picture and name in the story as a keepsake. Some of you may have heard of these type of books before and I was so lucky to find this one for a great deal. Usually these customized books cost around $20 in the store and then you have to pay shipping when the book is made. I was really lucky to find the unopened package for this book at a county book sale for $1! So, I sent in Hannah's picture and paid $5 shipping and got a customized book and story featuring Hannah. I know it might be cheesy, but for $6 I could not pass up the opportunity for her to have "her own" book. What a cool thing!!! I had 3 different books to choose from, but I choose the alphabet book with all the Sesame Street characters.

Check her out as a Sesame Street character! I love it!!

This is her favorite page because it has an airplane on it. She is obsessed with airplanes and asks to go on one many times a day. Silly kid!

For $6, this was a steal!

Success!!!

Well, I described below how we have had a rough 2 weeks at Mother's Day Out. Thankfully today was much better!

Several people had suggested that I should have Hannah sleep on a mat here at home in order to help prepare her for sleeping on a mat in her class. Well, let me tell you how thrilled I was about that idea! I just wish someone else could have come over and done it for me. It actually was not that bad though. It took her about 15 minutes to get to sleep and that was after several pops (for continually getting off the map). I laid down next to the mat and closed my eyes to give her the idea that we were sleeping, but I was more of a novelty than anything. She spent about 10 minutes poking my eyes, nose, and mouth and naming them all. She stuck her finger up my nose! and into my mouth several times. Actually, it became so funny that I busted out laughing several times while little fingers were in my ears! But, eventually she did go to sleep...I have proof!!!

So, today she did much better in her class as can be seen by her little "report card" below. This was the first time her mood was written as "happy." YAH!

This was also the first day that I have received an art project from our sweet Hannah! This one is going up on the fridge and into the baby book eventually. I am just glad that she was able to finger paint on someone elses watch! She has blue all over her shirt today too! Can you imagine finger painting with 10 children between the ages of 16-24 months!!!!!

Thanks for listening to me rant about her sleeping problems at school. I am just glad that others can celebrate these little milestones with us too!

Tuesday already?!?!

Sorry for slacking off with the blog lately. I am still figuring out how to juggle staying at home, having a part time job, putting Hannah in Mother's day out, and being apart of a committee at church! WHEW, I'll let you know when I "figure it out" as that might not be any time soon.

Things here are going well well though. As I mentioned above, Hannah has begun a mother's day out program at a local church 1 day a week. It has been a great time for me to get things done at work and for her to have some interaction with other kids. I say it has been great for me, but maybe not for Hannah (or her teachers). The first week was fine but this past week was not good at all! The kids sleep on mats...which Hannah has never done in her life! The first week they laid her down and she screamed bloody murder. So, they rocked her to sleep and laid her on the mat and she slept for about an hour. Not bad considering that was her first time. Well, last week they laid her down, she screamed bloody murder for 30 minutes and then slept for 15 minutes!!! Nap time is 2.5 hours and she only slept 15 minutes! Lovely!
Anyway, the teachers seemed perturbed when I picked Hannah up...doesn't make me feel to great about it, but we will try again this week.

Hannah is talking up a storm and repeats everything! It is great and I LOVE LOVE LOVE listening to this little one talk! I have some videos that I will try and get up later...when I have time!