Stuff Jo Knows ...: (67 Months)

Felt Birdy kick - and I caught it on video!! - posted at the end of the blog

Playing with a baby rocker: “I'm the teenage mom.” (Every parent's dream, amiright?!?)

Meltdowns - tired from school?? Sassafras attitude. "Boring." "Ugh." "Fine."

“I do love you, even though sometimes I'm mean to you.”

Checked out Barbie book. Alex talked to her about the problems - jealous mean girl tears a dress, two boys fighting to get married to a certain girl, love spells - only redeeming factor is Ken is kidnapped and the girls save him

Playing Soccer Shots on Mondays after school.

First sleepover! - Mila's 6th bday. BuildABear. Hair paint. BFF necklaces. Up too late. Cake AND ice cream. Moana and popcorn. And a nap the next day (when Daddy was in Corvallis for his alumni soccer reunion).

Juicy fart overheard from Francie eating bfast. "That didn't even come out of my butt. It came out of my 'gina!"

Maintains a penchant for dressing up. Elsa. Wonder Woman. Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. A princess/queen/fairy. In any kind of "fancy" or nice clothes.

Still enjoying more screen time and than we'd like, movies like Sleeping Beauty, Annie, Eloise, and Curious George's headless man Halloween movie. But I'm pregnant and tired and when it's rainy or a weekend night, I am easily swayed to eat dinner in front of a kid movie and then go to bed myself just after my 5 year old.

Thursday evening, F sitting in my lap drawing in her notebook, me picking my nails and kissing on her, Alex playing the guitar.

Mama: I think it's pouring out.

Alex: I hope our basement isn't flooding.

F: Uh oh … But daddy we're in luck.

Alex: What's that?

F: No more snail tracks!

Francie told us a story from Art4Life (aftercare) …

We have fairies at our school!

But a boy and his friends were destroying the fairies and their houses.

So I asked him if he lost all his teeth yet.

He said no.

I told him that he wouldn't get any gold coins because he basically just killed the tooth fairy.

Talking about weasels and moles, "I really like gross creatures.”

Came to work with me at Waterhouse on Friday, October 13 and mastered (Montessori) therapy with Lorraine. My heart swelled and I took a million videos, in case one day I really do start an evidenced-based intergenerational preschool/memory care program.

Pretending to ‘fight war’ or be Wonder Woman or something:

“Guns and swords don't make you strong you know ... What most makes you strong is your love.”

“Can I show you my best wind sound?

And I can whistle. Listen to me whistle.

"Can I show you my best cheetah prey walk?”

Counts by 10s. Can count to 100. Learning to read - books like Biscuit and Elephant/Piggie. Upper and lower case letter writing practice. Can spell some easy 3-letter words like cat, pig, dog, etc.

Eclectic sense of style. One day she wears the pilgrim looking dress that was once the bane of my existence with clogs, the next day a rhinestone “love Vegas” tee with a sparkly pink dressup skirt.

First play date at a house have never been to, in fact, I have never even seen the outside of or could locate in an emergency. With Owen, from school, but also from daycare.

“Vaguely.”

Typical schedule:

Mama has to wake Francie up between 6:30 and 7 a.m. to get dressed and make/eat breakfast. Sack lunch is usually prepared by Mama the night before.

Moana song alarm goes off at 7:38 to remind us to brush teeth and put on shoes/jacket.

Walk to school- first alarm at 7:50 a.m., second/final alarm to start school at 8 a.m. She likes to show me where she's sitting and what her "morning work" is each day.

Kindergarten class with Ms. Thomas 8-2:05.

Soccer Shots until 3:15 on Mondays.

Parent Pickup at 2:05 on Wednesdays and Fridays, when she likes to stay and play at the playground either at school or the church/preschool across the street.

Art4Life aftercare until 530ish on Tuesdays/Thursdays.

Goes to bed around 8ish, although we often aim for earlier, starting bath around 6:30, PJ's, brush teeth and hair, read books, do a meditation on my phone, and Mama still lays with her until she's asleep every night.

Carries her pink Nike backpack with space patches and a reusable lunch sack and walks to school everyday; likes to carry an umbrella in the rain.

Sometimes we walk to school with neighbors Stella or Riley or Milo or the Longbine twins, we often walk home with Mackenzie or Riley/Marley.

Favorite parts of kindergarten include recess; “specials” like library, computers, dance, PE, art class; special jobs like being line leader, caboose, lunch tub carrier.

Friends (so far that we know of): Owen (from VHFLC daycare) Mackenzie, Juniper.

“Sometimes I play pirates with Osama, Awab, Orion.”

Wants to have hot school lunch, but I still haven't registered her in the PPS school lunch system.

In the morning she says she's too tired to want to do Soccer Shots or Art4Life, but every time I pick her up I have a hard time pulling her away from playing outside or just with friends.

Photos from the month ...

Quickie weekend in PDX with the Thorners and Cliftons.

Stroller Bike Gang = Grant, Caroline, Kennedy, Francie, Peter, Evan

Francie showing Peter how to play "family."

Children's Museum fun.

BuildABear at Washington Square, courtesy of Morgan for Mila's 6th birthday party.

First official sleepover/slumber party!

Meanwhile, Alex had his own slumber party with his fellow old man teammates at OSU for a reunion weekend. Looking good, guys!

Somehow they finagled getting onto the field for the football game.

Francie came home from her slumber party with pink dyed hair and an Elsa BuildABear.

And then she cuddled and napped in my arms!

I LOVE watching her learn to read/write, and her independent attempts at spelling such as this "Beanstalk" drawing.

Our latest family portrait, that black blob in my belly is Birdy.

She likes to sneak into my weekly pregnancy photos (about 22 or 23 weeks here).

Post flu-shot cake pop, crown and all.

Daddy cuddles.

The harvest.

I swear we went into Baker and Spice for just a slice of crumb cake. But this pregnant fatty was easily convinced by my Sugar Monster to just buy a whole cake instead.