Parent Teacher Conferences

Today was Conni's parent teacher conference.  I love Conni's teacher Miss Gina and I was so excited to meet with her to see how Conni is doing in school.  And I was nervous.  Nervous that she would need to work on something.  But she should - otherwise why is she in school?

We had a great visit!  Conni loves school and she loved showing me around some more today.  Miss Gina showed us the art project Conni had been working on this week for "r".  They tore colored paper into pieces and glued it in a rainbow.  Conni's was so precise and all lined up - I could tell she had worked very hard on making it neat!

Miss Gina showed us the ABC book they are creating at school.  They do a letter each week.  For each letter there is a page where they practice writing the letter, then draw a picture at the bottom and write what it is.  Conni has improved so much from the beginning of the school year!  I love to see her handwriting develop too!

Another page she showed us is one they did just earlier this week.  Conni wrote her name, her numbers 1-10, and her alphabet.  (Maybe I should scan that in here.)  Then Miss Gina wrote how far Conni could count that day - it was to 16. 

Then we went over the interview sheet to discuss how Conni is doing.  Her social skills are great.  She got an award for "Always caring about other's feelings".  My bug does have such a sweet heart.   Her communication skills are excellent.  She loves to talk - but she has excellent behavior skills in class.  

Then we talked about Kindergarten readiness.  Overall she is doing well - Miss Gina said she was ready to go.  But since we've been home I've been beating myself up over the things Conni needs to work on.  She has a hard time drawing shapes.  She can tell you what a whole bunch of different shapes are called, but she can't draw them.  She is struggling with her sight words.  She knows the color words, but the other power words they have learned don't come easily to my bug.  And counting.  Conni can count some days up to 20, but for Kindergarten they suggest being able to count to 30.  

So here I've stewed beating myself up that we haven't practiced sight words every day.  That I don't have her drawing more.  (However, she is on a kick right now of making her own little books.  She draws the cutest stick figures!)  I'm sitting here formulating plans of what grand activities we can do daily to help her improve in time for school.  We have Kindergarten registration tomorrow.  Is she ready?  But I know she is ready.  And while we register tomorrow, we still have time before she starts classes.  

My husband and my mom both made a point of reminding Conni is the youngest in her class.  With her August birthday, she hasn't had as much time as her classmates to learn and develop.  And, its only (almost) March.  This gives me a plan of what to focus on now and thru the summer to help her have the tools to prepare.  I need to not obsess so that I don't cram it down her throat and turn her off from learning.  She enjoys is so much!

And, if she struggles, that is good.  There is an article I browsed that came yesterday in our Ensign that talks about helping kids be resilient.  Conni needs to have opportunities to struggle so that she has the skills to bounce back thru life.  

My little girl is growing up - its hard and its so exciting and rewarding!!!  As I sit here and write, I think it is good that she has these little challenges so I can help her learn to work hard and overcome.  And its good for me to learn that I'm not in control of every aspect of our lives - even though I would like to be!

Opposites

Its feast or famine my sweet readers!

Wednesdays are Conni's full day at Grandma's since she doesn't have school.  So, after lunch, the kids all do quiet time.  The younger cousins lay down for a nap and Conni and her other cousin read or play a video game quietly on "their spot".

Yesterday, Grandma told everyone it was quiet time.  Grandpa went to lay down.  The baby got laid down.  The three year old got laid down.  Everyone but Conni was laying down.  Conni was playing her Smart Girls game on her DS in Grandpa's chair.  

A few minutes later Grandpa was back up.  Then the baby was up.  Then the three year old was up.  Suddenly everyone was all out of bed again.  Conni looked at Grandma and, ever so sweetly said, "Grandma, is it loud time now?"

Glad to know she paid attention when they did opposites at school last week!

"It's Breaking My Heart"

So remember I challenged myself to post once a week?  And see how good I've been doing since I challenged myself?  Well, this week I'm going to throw in one more so that will count in the future when I miss one.  Remember that ;)  This Conni-ism was too good not to remember.  (Sorry for the long wind up, but when I look back I want to remember the full event cause I could hardly keep from laughing.)

Conni had a hard day today.  Ok, not really, but kind of.  This is her first day really doing anything since she caught strep last Wednesday night.  She's stayed at home with either mom or dad every day until this morning.  Then it was back to reality.  

She had a great morning at Grandma's.  Then she was excited to go to school, and she got her bag of goodies she missed at the Valentine's party last week.  I picked her up and took her to dance and she was in a great mood.  She was so excited to show her dance teacher the plush bear she got from her school teacher as a valentine. 

By now Conni was starting to show signs of being a bit tired.  But that's normal.  I kissed her goodbye and told her to have fun at dance and follow instructions, and then Grandma would take her home.  (Like every other week).

Grandma let me have a little longer than normal at home Conni-free to catch up on some things that were neglected while Conni was sick.  I made some phone calls and before I realized it had been an hour since dance got out.  I headed over to my parents to get my sweet bug.

Conni was having a blast playing with her cousin.  After a bit, I told her she could have ten minutes before we had to head home.  But then things went downhill from there.  She demanded a drink of water from Grandma, and I wasn't really impressed with her delivery, so I went to talk to her about her manners.  

Well, the world as she knew it came to an end.  (Ok, she reached the end of her energy reserves.) Tantrum ensued.  We started our routine for such occurrences , but Conni totally freaked out.  She went in to a full body kicking and screaming fest - but she kept enough control to not hit me.  But she had gone too far, and so there was no negotiation. (Normally, she gets a warning as she is set into time out.  If she can get herself under control in a timely manner, she has minor consequences - ie, she can't play what she was playing any more or not treat after dinner.  I'm more concerned that she learn to keep herself in control of her emotions.  Its quite rare to have anything more than whiny crocodile tears for a minute or two while she resets.)   

I told Conni we were leaving immediately, instead of in ten minutes.  (I even managed to do it in a controlled, almost calm voice instead of blowing my top like I wanted.)  I tried to put her shoes on and that was a bit of a circus act.  Then I got her to focus on me and I told her that we were leaving and she had lost her blankie for the night, and other consequences would continue to pile up if she kept acting that way.  She had a bit more of a fit, and so she lost her love bug for the night as had been promised.  Then she took a big breath and got herself (almost) under control.  She stopped her tears (mostly) and brought her voice back to a pitch that I could hear and understand.  Here's the conversation and the whole punch line of this short-story-turned-way-too-long post:

"Mom, I'm calmed down, can I have my ten minutes please?"

"Thank you for calming down.  Because you chose to calm down so well, you have earned blankie back for the night.  But we have to leave now."

Tears start again - true girl wind up form.  "But Mom, I love Tini and I want to stay and play with her.  Its breaking my heart!"

My mom and I did everything we could to keep a straight face at this moment!!!  I manged to get her tears under control, keep myself from crying tears of laughter, and calmly have my daughter and myself tell my parents goodbye and head home.

Seriously - where did she get this "It's breaking my heart" stuff?  All I know is this cute little bug fell asleep an hour and a half earlier than normal almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.  I can't wait to tease her about this one when she's older!  

Valentine's Day

We had a low key Valentine's day this year, because Conni came down with strep the night before :(  But it was still fun!

We woke up and I gave Conni and Dave my gifts to them.  A bunch of random Angry Birds stuff - because they both love it - and a new shirt for each.  All bundled in Angry Bird sacks.  They were pretty excited!

Dave gave Conni and I our cute plush treats that we were able to cuddle with.  Conni insisted they both come with us everywhere we went that day.

Dave headed off to work and Conni and I headed off to the doctor's for antibiotics.  She did great with the throat swab and drew a picture for our nurse while we were waiting.  She honestly enjoys going there and I love it!  

Then we headed to school - Conni had made valentines that we wanted to drop off for the party.  I was so sad that she wasn't going to be able to go - I was more upset than she was!  

Next we went to the grocery store to pick up medicine and some treats to lessen the blow of missing the party.  (Again, probably more for mom than for Conni!)  We headed home for a mellow afternoon to wait for dad. 

Dave got home earlier than normal so we were very excited.  We had originally made plans to go out to eat, but since we were under quarantine again he stopped and brought some dinner home.  He surprised me with a dozen roses as well.  

We just hung out and watched some tv before bedtime and had a very simple night.  

I love my sweeties and I am so grateful we are a forever family!  I am grateful that my hubby is ok with low key nights with a little sick bug.  I am so blessed to have him as my Valentine!!!

Conni's Love Bug from Dad

My cuddly teddy and roses

I was having fun playing with my camera for some cool close-ups of the buds.  I love that Dave encourages me with this new hobby of mine and just grins when I take random pictures of flowers and icicles and stuff!  Ah, love!

New Beginnings

Last Wednesday night was our ward's New Beginning's night.  We based it on the mutual theme for this year which is "Stand in Holy Places."  We used Jenny Phillips's program and it was a ton of fun!

The program was shoe themed and we ran with it.  (Get it - ha ha - ok I'm done).  We decorated with shoes and had shoe cupcakes.  Our handouts were shoe keychains with the theme attached.  (See pics at the bottom).

We had a girl come up and try on a pair of shoes that were too small.  I asked her if she could skip around in them.  (Not very well.)  Then I had her try on a pair of boots that were waaaay too big for her and to skip again.  Again, she couldn't do it very well.  Then I had her try on a pair of shoes that were just hashed - holey, worn out, beat up. I asked her if she could run a marathon or do a five mile hike in those.  She said she could, but it wouldn't be a good experience.  

Then we likened this to Standing in Holy Places and how important it was to be in the right place so you could reach your goals and be happy.  

(I'm totally not doing the program justice.  Its a cute idea - if you are interested go to her page and read the whole thing: www.jennyphillips.com).  We used several of her songs and a couple of her videos for the program. 

We had three of our girls share how the Young Women's program has helped them to Stand in Holy Places and be better people.  They shared such awesome testimonies and it was fun to see their strengths and personalities.  

At the end we talked briefly about temple shoes and our goal to attend the temple and return home to live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.

It was such a great night and I was so glad it went off so well.  I am so grateful for the support of my sweet husband and my wonderful mother.  They let me bounce ideas around and talk things out.  Dave takes on Mr. Mom duties while I check out and focus on getting things done.  Conni loved helping me gather all the shoes and wanted to come to share with the girls.  Soon enough, right?

I am so grateful that we have the YW program and that I have the opportunity to serve.  I learn so much and I am grateful for little reminders like this that, while they are designed for the girls, I still learn a lot and am reminded of the things that are truly important.

Our tables

 

our adorable shoe cupcakes

our object lesson

our handout

Improvements

I am enjoying the challenge I have given myself to blog weekly.  It makes me pay more attention to what I do and I look at things differently to see if they are worth writing about.  And to recognize the good things.  They make for fun posts to write.  

This last week its been mine and Dave's turn to be sick.  I have strep - full on, keep losing my voice, strep.  (I am kind of weird that I think its cool to lose my voice - so I get excited when nothing but a squeak comes out :) In my life I have only ever lost my voice once before because I yelled for 20 minutes straight M/C-ing an outdoor pie eating contest for a lot of people.)  Dave has a sinus infection, the flu, and possibly strep.  We're on antibiotics and we've just kind of hunkered down for the weekend.  

With all this going on, I haven't had the most energy.  But my house still needs attention.  So, when I've had those small bursts I get as much clean as I can.  And I noticed a few things.  I have improved on my cleaning habits in the past six weeks that really add up.  

Here they are:

* I have actually folded the laundry as it comes out of the dryer.

* I have put these folded clothes away as I finish each batch rather than waiting until everything is folded.

* I have managed to keep most of my clutter clear from the kitchen table so its easier to sit down to dinner together as a family.

* While this one isn't perfect yet, I am doing better at emptying the dishwasher after it finished rather than waiting until I have a sink full of dirty dishes to load.  With this, my sweet Conni is starting to load her dishes (without being asked!) when she finishes.  Love her desire to help and clean with me!

I know that many of you already do these little things, and I applaud you for them.  I hope to have more exciting blog posts for you in the future, but for now, enjoy with me some more little things that made me smile since my shouts for joy were a little hard to hear.

Signs of Life

We live in a rambler style house.  When we first bought our house, I used to obsess about keeping the front room spotless in case someone stopped by unannounced.  I would try to keep the counter and anything else clean in the "line of sight" from the front door.  It wasn't always perfect, but I did ok.  

Then we had Conni.  Toys starting showing up in the front room.  Burp cloths.  Books.  I would still worry about keeping the room clean, but I knew I was fighting a losing battle.  Every time I cleaned up, when I turned around Conni had brought out twice as much.  

I still try to keep the front room cleaned up, but I have finally recognized that it is more important to live my life with my family.  It hit me today that I am making progress.  

Friday we set up the puppet show curtain that Conni got from Grandma for Christmas.  We set it up in the front room.  Then Conni gave us a great puppet show.  Then she wanted to camp out with her sleeping bag and kinda make the curtain into a tent.  So we did.  We set up the portable DVD player and watched Brave.  We had a great time. 

Conni wanted to leave it up to show dad.  So we did.  Then she wanted to do more puppet shows on Saturday.  So we did.  And we never got it cleaned up.

Today was Fast Sunday.  We had some men from the ward come by to collect Fast Offerings.  And my front room was still set up for camp out puppet shows.  And I realized - I didn't care.  I was happy that our front room showed signs of life - and that we were making such fun memories with my daughter.  Both the men that came over had grandchildren and thought it was pretty cute.  And even if they didn't, it wasn't bugging me.

I am so grateful that I finally got my priorities straight.  I am so grateful that I am having fun and making memories with Conni.  I am happy that my house shows signs of life.  And if you happen to stop by, beware that there may be stuff strewn across the couches and you won't have anywhere to sit.  But we will share our toys and include you in our fun!