Still here...

Just saying we're still here!

Things that have happened since August:

• Natalie tuned 6 on August 3rd
  
• We took a two-week vacation to New England in lat August
  
• DH got a new job (!!!) in September on Capitol Hill
  
• Natalie started 1st Grade
• Nicholas started with the 4 year-old group in pre-school (in November) and turned 4 on December 13th. He's 43" tall and 44 pounds.
  

I'll fill in more in the next couple of days. :-)

Happenings

To say things have been hectic would be an understatement.

We have been making our way through summer camp time, which has been a logistics "challenge" for me. I have been doing my best to keep up with Natalie's schoolwork during the summer, but there is so much more that I wanted to have done by now. Anyway, we've been trying. Thankfully she's been going to some great field trips, so I know she's being exposed to "good stuff". We have been trying to add in some things on weekends as well. As an example, yesterday we finished up preparations for Natalie's birthday party next weekend. We calculated how many things we would need to get, what size birthday cake we would need for her guests, etc. We went to the bakery and ordered her cake and we "did math" without talking about it as "doing math". :-) We're just trying to make it a part of daily living.

On the medical front, Dad did well with his hip replacement surgery (on July 24), as an update for all those that have asked about him. He's at the rehab place now and should be back home sometime next week. Natalie did well at her doctor's appointment the following day, and her vision is "perfect". The "scanning problem" identified at her school is therefore not a vision issue.

This morning we went to Clemyjontri Park in McLean for the first time -- and I have to say, kudos to all those that worked on such a delightful playground! I took some pictures -- I hope you enjoy them!

Kids time!

Long time, no hear -- I know, I know. :-)

Yesterday was an in-service day at Natalie's summer camp and Nicholas' preschool. So I took the day off from work :-) and we all went to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. "The plan" for lots of touring quickly got scrapped because we decided to go the the Science Center first. Five hours later (!) we were still there, so our plans to go back to Port Discovery weren't met. We went to Velleggia's for dinner -- yummy food and excellent service, which was most welcomed by me as I was alone with the two kids at a white tablecloth restaurant. :-) We brought back leftover pizza for DH. I wanted to stop at Vaccaro's on the way home, but the kids were really worn out. So that will have to wait for the next visit. (And since we got a family membership to the Science Center, we'll be back soon!)

Today I took the kids to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Five hours on the Mall with yummy food and lots of fun! Of course we had a carousel ride and a stop at the Museum of Natural History, too.

More later!

Yes, I'm still here.

I know. My bad. I haven't posted in close to two months. It's just been BUSY. I will post more next week.

Catching Up -- again!

Yikes, it's been BUSY!

Last week was Spring Break -- we all had such a great time! Monday we had our day seeing the cherry blossoms, complete with 1 pm reservation for the paddle boats at the Tidal Basin. We also went to see the Thomas Jefferson Memorial of course. We had a picnic on the mall plus yummy ice cream thanks to temps being in the 80s (woohoo!).

Tuesday was a visit to the Cub Run RECenter leisure pool -- it was so much fun and the kids just had a blast! We were "in the water" for 5 hours!

Wednesday was a "rest day". We went to the Fair Oaks Mall for some playtime at their indoor playground (temps in the 40s -- what happened to the great weather?) and we picked up some new toys for fun.

Thursday was a visit to the National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall -- complete with lunch at the best cafe at any Smithsonian Museum. Then we went to Union Station as well as the National Postal Museum, where we made greeting cards and postcards, and sent them in the mail to people we love (including school teachers!).

Friday was a "rest day" because Nicholas took a four-hour afternoon nap (!!!) so we did movie night a little early.

Saturday it snowed (!!!) but the neighborhood egg hunt still went on! The kids had fun although it was COLD!

Sunday we all went to church and had Easter dinner at home.

Monday was back to work day for me -- and I was the most relaxed I've been in months. :-) I need to take more breaks like last week!

Tuesday I went to my first meeting of the new "gifted and talented" advisory committee I'm serving on for the county. They are really at the end of their work product, so my attendance was more to get a lay of the land. Unfortunately it was at the same time as the school PTA meeting, so I had to miss that.

Wednesday night we watched Daisuke Matsuzaka pitch against Felix Hernandez. Wow, that was an interesting night for DiceK!

Tonight was Science Fair night -- the tadpoles were ready and so was Natalie. Natalie was so totally in her element -- complete with her bright pink dress, pink tights, and "high-heeled" white shoes. :-) Then she wanted to buy some raffle tickets to win some "flowers" -- well, the "flowers" were actually a Norfolk Pine tree sapling -- and of course she WON the raffle! So she is tending her tree daily and we have to pick a place to plant it, wait for the last frost, get the spot ready, etc. She said tonight, "This is without a doubt the happiest Ive ever been!" Nicholas had a ball, too, playing with Lego blocks at one of the "exhibits". What I really liked was the turnout -- it was amazing! SO MANY people came to see the students' work. It was wonderful!

Prayers are appreciated for DH -- he's still job hunting, and he had two interviews last week and another interview tomorrow. Something has to break soon...

Angry Hour

More quotes that sustain you when a child wakes you at 3 a.m. to crawl into your bed because "I can't sleep by myself":

Natalie is reading everything everywhere -- so while we were having lunch at a restaurant today, she saw a sign that said HAPPY HOUR. She asked what Happy Hour meant and I said it is the hour after people leave work. Nicholas piped in, "So when is Angry Hour?"

At the restaurant, there was a little baby with her family. One of the family members brought her over to our table to say hi to the kids. So Natalie and Nicholas were "a-ga-ga" over the little girl during lunch. The baby ended up falling asleep, and she was leaning on the shoulder of a family member in "burp position", and she went out. Like a light. Arms limp and all. I said, "She was being burped and she fell asleep." Natalie looked over at her and said, "How cute!" Nicholas looked over and said, "Is she broken?"

Spring Break

We made it to Spring Break -- WOOHOO!!!

Due to DH's unemployment, we canceled our reservations in Williamsburg. We still are going to the circus today, and we still have dance/swim/gymnastics classes today. DH has an interview on Tuesday so the kids and I will do the museums. We will also go to the Cherry Blossom Festival activities that are going on throughout the week.

Did you know you can reserve a Tidal Basin paddle boat online? Very cool!

We will also work on Natalie's Science Fair poster over the break. She's really having fun with her "tadpole to frog" project. This from a girl that generates an ear-piercing scream if there is a single moth in the house. :-)

Nicholas is getting ready to transition to his new multi-age preschool classroom. Looks like that will happen the week of April 23rd (the same week as my birthday/our wedding anniversary). He's very excited!

The Weekend

Wow, it's been a wild weekend!

First off we had St. Patrick's Day -- which included Natalie's dance class (9 am), a visit to the Air & Space Museum for Family Day (10:15 am - 1:45 pm), and a birthday party for one of Natalie's Kindergarten classmates (6 - 8 pm).

On Sunday it was church and I had to work (at home) since our association's Annual Meeting is going on this week. So much of Sunday was spent on the computer.

And the added distraction of March Madness, of course. I've picked Georgetown to win the National Championship. That means the Hoyas are now doomed. ;-)

Who dreams up this stuff?

Dangerous Dave gets whacked over the cliff by Brutal Bob -- the best top score I have heard of is 1400+ but I've only made it to 1280.8.

Head, Meet the Floor

My head met the floor last night. Twice. And not by choice.

Sunday evening, after our day at the zoo, I was feeling pretty awful. I wasn't sure if it was all the uphill pushing or the hot dog I had at the zoo. I even looked for the "pink stuff" to help settle my tummy. We didn't have any in the house, so I made do with Tums.

Big mistake.

I was miserable Sunday night. To the point when Monday morning rolled around, I skipped breakfast. It was safer not to eat. Instead I took more Tums. And I skipped lunch on Monday, although I did have half of a sandwich at a meeting at my son's preschool. I had all intents of skipping dinner, too, but that didn't seem wise, so I had some soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Last night was unbelievable. I was in MISERY. I actually thought about going to the ER because I was in such pain. So I went into the bathroom -- and my head met the floor.

I came too and realized that I was lying on the bathroom rug. Certainly not the place to get a sip of water.

I made my way back to bed. DH and the kids slept through the whole thing. Then, some time later -- I'm not sure how long -- I tried another trip to the bathroom.

Head Meet Floor, Revisited. This time I wrenched my neck and got a rug burn on my face. And this one woke DH up because he found me on the floor.

So the Boo Boo Buddy was added to my face to try to get the swelling down. I asked DH for a banana, hoping that some potassium would help me out. And I slept some.

Morning came, and there was no way I could trust myself behind the wheel of a car so I could go to work. So I stayed home. And Nicholas said he "needs to be home with Mommy". So DH dropped Natalie off at school and Nicholas and I have been home together.

DH bought some Gatorade, and crackers, and Jello, and other bland stuff. So I have something in my tummy today

And I will be at work tomorrow. (With a lot of make-up next to my left eye to cover rug burn!)

The Crayon To Color the Sky

The weather was pretty wonderful this weekend, so today we went to the National Zoo. We have a FONZ membership which gives us a discount on a stroller rental, and there's no way I can take my Maclaren Twin Traveler any longer as both children are now over 40 pounds -- so the rental stroller was the answer. And, of course, with two children, I had to get the double, because Natalie would whine about Nicholas getting a ride, etc. So I pushed around 90+ pounds of children and stroller today. For five hours. Uphill most of the time. And yes, I was silly enough to take the steep grade route to the Bird House. (!!!) WHAT was I thinking?!

We had a great time! We had to skip some of the exhibits simply because we were running towards the end of Nicholas' energy span, but we managed well.

Oh -- about the Crayon post title. I drove to the Zoo today and took Route 50 into DC. For those that are familiar with the area, we took the Roosevelt Bridge across the Potomac to head to Rock Creek. Natalie and Nicholas both love to see the Washington Monument, but Nicholas sometimes gets it confused with the Jefferson Memorial, particularly when we take our usual route across the 14th Street Bridge. So he wasn't accustomed to seeing the Washington Monument from that viewing angle. And he said, "Mommy, it's a crayon -- and it's to color the sky!"

It's comments like that which help one forget the five hours of pushing a double stroller up hills.

Science Club

Natalie started in her school's Science Club today. It all happened in a very roundabout way.

A few weeks ago, we received a flyer from school about "after school clubs". There was not a great of information, other than they started on February 28 and would run for 6 weeks. here are the clubs, pick the one you want for your child and submit the form. So I signed Natalie up for K-3 science club, and I sent the form back to school with Natalie the next day.

A few days later, I get a form letter from the school stating that Natalie did not get in to the program, and that even if we submitted the form right away, there are not enough spots for everyone that is interested.

So I wrote a note on the "parent communication" form that we can use to communicate with Natalie's teacher. I asked what the selection criteria/procedures are for the science club. I honestly did not know if I need to drive to the school and get some sort of date/time stamp on an after school program form, etc. I learned a lot through the summer camp process, maybe I could apply it for these clubs, too!

Well, someone from the school called our house that day and told DH about the "selection criteria" for the science club. The only way a student gets in the club is if the teacher that is coordinating the science fair knows that the student is going to submit a project for science fair. Okay, I kind of understand that, but I didn't even know about a form for science fair, and certainly nothing about a "deadline", forgot about even seeing that "prerequisite" on the after-school program form.

So I emailed the principal a few days later. I said in my email that I wasn't looking for anything for this year, and that I was just pointing out that the communications could be a bit better. She replied almost immediately, saying that she was going to have folks check into the issue for me.

DH and I went to the assembly last week and the principal sought me out to ask if anyone had contacted me yet. I said no, but I wasn't out to "ding" anybody, etc. A few minutes later, the teacher that coordinates the K-3 science club came up to DH and I to introduce himself. He explained how the process normally works, and that he is assisting the science fair coordinator by handling the younger kids projects -- and that Natalie is very much welcome to join in their already-identified experiment. I thanked him for the offer and said that Natalie would love to join in.

So, she went to science club today. They are growing bacteria (hardly a first choice science project for her! LOL!) and she already checked out a "germs" book from the school library. She is very excited and told DH that she wished science club was for two hours instead of one.

So we have a budding scientist in our midst!

And speaking of science -- a friend of mine shared this tidbit with me -- on March 17, the Smithsonian will have a Women in Aviation and Space Family Day out at the Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (out by the Dulles Airport). We will definitely be there! (We are not saying anything so Nicholas is not disappointed. Plus he has swim class that day.)

Green Eggs and Ham

As I posted last week, Natalie's Kindergarten class did a special "read aloud play" of Green Eggs and Ham. In front of all the children and teachers in grades K through 3. Natalie's teacher somehow pulled off the impossible feat of getting 9 Kindergarten students to read their lives, with great timing of 9 students holding up artwork -- "not in a box", "not with a fox", not in the dark", etc. Natalie was great with her "dramatic reading". :-)

We took the kids out to get new shoes on Saturday -- growing feet, warmer weather hinting at Spring, and the chance to use some generous gift cards from Christmas thanks to Nana and Pop Pop. After shopping, we went to Kidwell Farm to go see the babies -- specifically the lambs and calves. Nicholas wanted no part of it, so he played on the tractors with DH while Natalie and I toured the farm.

Today we saw signs of our fall-planted tulips -- we have several 1.5 to 2 inch "sprouts" in the front garden. We are starting to see signs of buds on the trees, too. I cut back our butterfly bushes today, at hopefully the right time of the year.

Yes, we're here

I can't believe I haven't posted in two whole weeks!

Well, we had a good long weekend with President's Day and all. I took the kids up to PlayWise Kids in Columbia, MD, for a chance to have some fun and we all had a ball. We ended up spending about 4 hours there with a short lunch break, too. I timed it so we could leave at 3 pm with the hopes of avoiding Beltway traffic. They both fell asleep on the ride home and there was hardly back-ups, so we were home in about 40 minutes. So a short nap that day. :-)

The next night we had a PTA meeting, which was the rescheduled PTA meeting from one of the school closing days. Thankfully it was not too late a night. However, I have been spending a good 45 minutes to an hour doing "reading stuff" with Natalie each night, and having a meeting on a weeknight really crimps into that time. I did manage to get the reading in before heading to the meeting.

Of course then we had the surprise snow storm that weekend -- it was a surprise because we were really counting on rain! We all played in the snow to make an snow princess, complete with sunglasses, princess party hat, and a pareo. I'll have to post a picture once we get it off the camera. :-)

Fairfax County had a two hour delay for school on Monday, and DH had to take Nicholas to a hearing test at 9 am that day, so Natalie went to work with me. We arrived early (8:30 am) and she helped me make photocopies, helped with some stapling, and she helped me recycle a pile of papers off my desk. Then I brought her to school for 10:15 am. She had such fun at my office that she has been begging me since then to go "be an assistant". :-)

Tuesday I had a civic association board meeting, and those start late (7:30 pm) and I didn't get home until close to 10 pm. But I was smart and managed to get Natalie's reading in before I went to the meeting.

Last night we had a Partners in Print session at Natalie's school. Partners in Print is a program where teachers show parents some unique (and fun!) ways to help children as they develop their reading skills. We were in a classroom with some Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade students to learn "Look, Say, Cover, Write, and Check". I think this approach will be a great way to help Natalie get practice writing her words, and she'll get the added bonus of learning how to spell words at the same time. We were done with our session by 7 pm, but that's because it starts so very early (6:30 pm)!

Tomorrow is Dr. Seuss' Birthday, and Natalie will be reading part of Green Eggs and Ham at the school assembly. She will also be a recipient of an award for her participation in the Reflections program. So we are all going, including Nicholas, and we'll cheer her on!

Snow day

Yes, we have another school closure day in Fairfax County.

I'll be staying home with Natalie today as DH has an interview. Natalie is, of course, thrilled that she has a day off from school. I asked Nicholas if he wanted to go to pre-school or if he would rather stay home . He said he'd rather stay home. So we'll have a good "play day" together. (I do have a webinar that I have to attend for work -- so I'll be a Bad Mom and have a 90 minute movie break for the kids.)

Our street is a real mess. Hopefully VDOT will be able to do something with it today. But it is so frozen over, it may take over a week to see any forward progress on our road.

Strep throat

DH got the call yesterday from my doctor's office. Yes, the throat culture they did on Thursday that had to "cook" for two (which ended up being 3+ due to the weekend) days tested positive. So I'm on amoxicillin for 10 days. Of course Natalie finished her antibiotic on Saturday and Nicholas finished his on Sunday. So now I am hoping that I have not reinfected them with strep. *sigh*

We're in waiting-for-whatever-storm mode. Natalie is disappointed that there is no snow yet. She'll be really disappointed if it's "only" ice. Ugh, I really despise ice storms. If it can't be snow, I'd much prefer rain over ice.

Natalie celebrated her 100th day of school by bringing home "trail mix" that her teacher mixed in class. Each student brought in 100 pieces of something -- cheese crackers, M&Ms, pretzels, etc. Natalie brought in 100 chocolate chips. So every child got to bring a trail mix bag home. Natalie even shared some with her brother. :-)

It's just after 4 am and there's no snow on the ground (yet) but some light snow just started. I'm guessing that we might be looking at early release for the county public schools. The afternoon commute might be quite "interesting".

Natalie's report card

An update on Natalie's report card -- she scored 24 out of a possible 25. She's great on verbal, scoring 5s ("exceeding Kindergarten objectives") for the two language arts components, as well as the social studies and science components. She's great on math, scoring a 4 ("mastery of Kindergarten objectives -- benchmark for the end of Kindergarten). But on the listening ears related "stuff", she scores "mostly demonstrated" or "sometimes demonstrated", instead of "consistently demonstrated". We are taking a strong interest in the "listening ears" part right now, which appears to be improving.

We told Natalie that we are very proud of her for such a great report card, and are looking forward to seeing the improvements in her listening ears that we'll know she'll be proud to show us on her next report card. :-)

Snow storm? Ice storm?

Looks like we'll be getting "something" on Tuesday and into Wednesday. So all the geeky snow lovers out there *grin* have been watching the model runs over at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction's web site. This message posting gave me a chuckle:

SENIOR DUTY METEOROLOGIST NWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE
NWS NCEP CENTRAL OPERATIONS CAMP SPRINGS MD
1035 AM EST SUN FEB 11 2007

USERS OF NCEP EXTERNAL MODEL WEB SITES WILL HAVE DIFFICULTY
ACESSING DATA DUE TO HIGH TRAFFIC AND INTEREST...OUR WEB
SERVERS HAVE REACHED CAPACITY AND THERE IS LITTLE THAT WE
CAN DO ABOUT THIS AT THIS TIME...WE HAVE PLANNED UPGRADES
TO INCREASE CAPACITY WITHIN THE COMING WEEKS....THANK YOU
FOR YOUR PATIENCE...

12Z GFS RAOB RECAP...

PASY/70414 - NOT IN FOR THE NAM OR GFS
TUS/72274 - NOT IN FOR THE NAM; IN FOR THE GFS
GSO/72317 - NOT IN FOR THE NAM OR GFS


SHRUELL/SDM/NCO/NCEP

$$

Medical update, continued

DH took both kids to the pediatrician on Wednesday because we had run out of antibiotics for Natalie -- the pharmacy that we had received the 10- day prescription from gave us only enough for five days. :-( Since Fairfax County Public Schools decided to CLOSE instead of have a 2 hour delayed opening due to our less-than-one-inch "snowstorm" (insert eye roll here), DH brought Natalie to the pediatrician -- and he brought Nicholas to get checked, too. Nicki is now on antibiotics, too, for his nose/sinuses, plus bacitracin for a case of impetigo.

Then I started with a sore throat and did not want to potentially re-infect Natalie, so I went to get a strep test on Thursday. The initial test was negative and the throat culture results will be back on Monday.

Natalie and Nicholas are both hoping for a "big snowstorm" for Tuesday. The National Weather Service in Sterling is now talking about a "heavy snow event" and we're 4 days out. I think that's historic. It also helps me think we'll end up with a rainstorm. ;-)

Today is Natalie's 100th day of school celebration (which is actually the 99th day of school thanks to the school closing on Wednesday). She also gets her first report card today. We're all very excited!

Oh -- on DH's job front -- the Member that said he's get back to DH last month? He's readvertised the position. So DH is doing a "full-court press". I'm still miffed that the Member didn't follow-up as he said he would.

The bug goes on...

Natalie is now back at school and is fine (still on antibiotics) but Nicholas is now down with "something". Poor little guy can't sleep at night thanks to a plugged up nose. :-( So he'll be home with DH today. Perhaps he'll get to see an inch or two of snow come down this afternoon?

As a side note, I'm glad to hear that the CEO of the National Pork Board has apologized to the blogger at The Lactivist Store for their absolutely silly cease-and-desist tactic. I've never been a huge fan of lawyers and it's stunts like theirs that helped form my opinion. Kudos to them for their apology and lawyers (as well as some trade associations) have managed to step up a few pegs now.

The bug, continued

Well, Natalie did make it back to school on Tuesday. Until 4 pm when we got The Call from her after-care -- a fever of 101. :-( So we got her home, gave her acetaminophen, and off to bed she went.

Wednesday she was better but she stayed home from school due to the fever on Tuesday. She said she wanted to go to school the next morning.

Thursday comes, we send her to school and -- get The Call at 10:15 am. Fever of 100. She says she has a sore throat.

So I call the pediatrician. Maybe it's strep and I don't want to mess with it, especially with the weekend coming. We get an appointment at 1:15 pm with our favorite doctor. She looks at Natalie; looks at her (red) throat. Time to do a culture. Five minutes later -- positive for strep.

So now she's on antibiotics for 10 days. Of course no school for Friday and possibly no dance class for Saturday. Definitely no swim class on Sunday.


In the meantime, Nicholas has a runny nose so we kept him home, too. Just in case. Whatever viruses and bacteria are running around seem to be taking out a whole lot of people!

An update

Well, all the good vibes are most appreciated...

DH had an interview with a Member of Congress and the Member said that he would get in touch with him on Tuesday. Then Tuesday came and went and we heard nothing. Then Wednesday passed, and Thursday...and the Member has still not gotten in touch.

Yes, it is disappointing. I told DH that it says a lot about that Member re: keeping one's word. It's just hard to hear the "it's probably for the best" message when it's been 7 months.

In the meantime he is still interviewing. I truly wish he would broaden his search a bit. But he won't.

I've been sick with some sort of "bug" and the kids had something (with fever) over the weekend. Thankfully they were better Sunday night so Natalie could go to school on Monday and Nicholas could go to preschool as well. Natalie will get her first report card on Friday February 9. We are all anxiously awaiting the news on that day -- which is also the 100th day of school!

Please continue the "please hire him!" vibes!

Good vibes appreciated...

There may be some positive news looming on DH's job hunt...good vibes and prayers most appreciated!

Eye exams

Natalie went for her first "full blown" eye exam over the weekend. She has perfect eyes and no color blindness.

I have what is called "lazy eye" and it was never diagnosed early enough (as a young child) to be patched early on. So I'm stuck with what I have and literally have no depth perception thanks to it. I didn't want Natalie to be in a similar predicament, and I wanted to rule out things that may have helped inattention at school, so I scheduled the appointment with my eye doctor.

Natalie did great with the appointment and the eye doctor was fabulous! Seriously, if you know anyone that ever needs a recommendation for a good eye doctor for kids in Arlington, VA, tell them to contact Dr. Trisia Jarvis.

Kindergarten progress

I seriously need to figure out how to be a better Kindergarten parent because the transition from daycare/preschool parent to Kindergarten parent is not going well for me.

Prior to Natalie starting Kindergarten, I was concerned that she might not be "ready" due to her August birthday and some trouble with her "listening ears". In the first few weeks of Kindergarten, Natalie's teacher and I emailed each other several times about Natalie's inattention and not following class rules. Looking back on these exchanges, I can see that the teacher was viewing these emails as communicating what was going on in the classroom vs. asking me to "fix things". Of course I was trying to "fix things".

Natalie is doing great in school as far as "academics" (!!!) go. She was NOT reading when she started Kindergarten -- she knew her letters, the sounds that they make, the difference between lower case/uppercase, could count to 50 -- an "ordinary kid" in my mind. Just two months into Kindergarten, she (and about five of her classmates) has "taken off like a rocket" (her teacher's description) and is reading far above grade level, can do addition and starting to do subtraction from 1st grade workbooks, etc.

But she is NOT doing her "Writing Workshop" well AT ALL. In "Writing Workshop" the students write stories in "composition books". The stories start out with something as basic as a series of three pictures -- the beginning, middle and the end of a story, etc. Then they start by adding words with the best spelling that they can -- "skl" for the word "school", etc. When we met with Natalie's teacher at parent-teacher conference (in early November), DH and I were told that her baseline "assessment" is great (as I'm sure many of the other children in her class are as well) but that she wasn't really participating in Writing Workshop. By the end of November, her classmates had 20 pages completed in their notebooks and Natalie had 3 pages done.

So I stepped up writing activities at home. When we went away for our weekend trip for Thanksgiving, I had Natalie write a "packing list" for our trip. Some of the items she wrote down (3 books, with books spelled correctly) and other items she drew pictures of (3 and then a picture of her in a bathing suit). I had her help me create a shopping list for holiday grocery shopping. For Christmas I bought Natalie some "pretty notebooks" so that she could do more writing.

On Sunday, I asked Natalie to write a story in one of her new notebooks. She was all excited to do that but it turned into an absolute cry-fest. I enlisted DH's help to get her to write a story. She was so VERY upset that she almost started hyperventilating. :-( So I emailed her teacher about it and she offered some suggestions as to how to get her to write more.

So now we are concentrating on writing about the constellations. At school, she is writing about the sun, the moon, and the planets. And I'm trying to do better about always trying to "fix" things and letting a great teacher do her job.

Summer Camps

Yes, it is the third day of the new year and we are already mired in Summer Camp decisions.

Over the weekend I learned that my daughter's elementary school has a summer camp program. So I had DH call today to sign her up -- more as a "backstop" so we would have something in place.

There are 120 spots in the summer camp and THEY ARE ALL FILLED and we are #53 on the wait list. Unfreakenbelievable.

So -- I managed to book three weeks at an arts camp for the summer. Just seven more weeks of summer camp to secure. And it looks like No One has summer camps operating in the last two weeks of August.

I honestly do not know how working parents with more than one child pull this off. I'm in awe of people that manage this with multiple children.