Last Week of September

With summer over we finally had a chance to meet up with the cousins and family again. Our evening was filled with excellent food and great company. The girls played and played and played some more. Laura, Sophie and Sidney entertained us with a puppet show and they did a great job!!The adults and Emilie had a wonderful supper at the table while the younger kids had a candle light meal in front of the tv.
Dessert was finished up by squirting whipped cream right into the kids mouths. Who doesn't love whipped cream???After dinner Julia kept Sidney entertained by chasing her around the house. Sid had stripped down to put on her jammies and got away and started running. The girls laughed so much and Sid loved the freedom of naked chase! Emilie as always was so wonderful and caring with Sidney. She watched her and played with her and inspired Sidney to talk about her for the next two days! Sid really loves her time with her cousins.

We didn't get home from dinner until 10:30 so Sid was a bit cranky on Sunday. It was a rainy grey day so we took Maggie's lead and decide to have a quite stay at home day to just hang out and watch the world go by.

Above is a picture of what I call Baby central. This isn't all of Sid's babies but many of them are here. She is really into babies right now and can play for hours!!!

This coming week at preschool I will be the duty parent on Thursday so I am anxious to see how Sid is with me there. Meanwhile at home we have started on fall crafts to decorate the house and we are working on numbers and seriation. We were freecycled some wonderful number card puzzles that Sid has really been enjoying. I think we have the letter B down but will leave letters for the week and pick them up again next week. Sunday we will go a live butterfly exhibit so we will try and read some things on butterflies too.

The weather has cooled down considerably and it finally feels like fall, Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

A Great Monday

This week is starting off really well. Yesterday we brought Gitan to his new home and he moved in with his beagle brother and two cats. Our house has been so calm today. Sidney isn't hitting the dogs or yelling "GITAN NO!!!" It was indeed time for him to find his forever family and they are so happy to have him!

We cuddled and had free play all morning and went off to our music class. She had lots of fun and the teacher commented on how funny she was while doing the craft. Sidney really likes making people laugh and I am glad other people are starting to see her sense of humor.

It was so beautiful out we played in the backyard for most of the afternoon. We laughed so hard catching grasshoppers and putting them on Groovy's head. Sidney was really brave and held one for a few minutes until it jumped away.

Sid asked if she could try the camera. I put the strap around her neck and set it so she had to look through the view finder to take pictures. Was I ever surprised to discover she is a budding photographer! Here is one of my favorite pictures she took today.

At bedtime we write in Sidney's journal and talk about what we did during the day. I was putting her laundry away and she had her back turned and was doodling in her journal, or so I thought. I had the hardest time keeping a straight face when she stood beside me and I looked over and saw Sidney's cheeks streaked with pen. I just looked at her and said NOTHING thinking I was going to burst out laughing and she stood there for about 10 seconds and then wrapped both arms around my neck and gave me a huge hug. While still biting my tongue I said "that was nice, why did I get such a great hug" Sidney answered "Cause you're nice mom!" Oh the little monkey knew she could have been in big trouble for coloring all over her face but we both laughed and cuddled and went and washed it off. She is so clever!!!!

Apple Orchard

Well we are right on track this week. It was our first VERY full week of activities which left us both a little bit more tired than usual and so we each had our "moments" but we are working through it and starting to get into the swing of things.

I was taught to teach children upper case letters first but I was getting frustrated because most words are in lower case and most letter recognition activities are either lower case or both upper and lower case. So I did some research and found out the Montessori method encourages lower case first because 95% of our written word is lower case. This makes a lot of sense to me, however, Sidney knows at least 10 upper case letters to start so we are now going to try and learn upper and lower together. I don't know if it will make too hard, but Sid is really into babies right now so we play games where we have to find the mommy or daddy letters and their babies (upper and lower case) and she totally gets it! Today she shocked me by completing this worksheet in about two minutes on her first try. I would say we are ready for the letter Bb!!!

Sid was really into academics this morning because we haven't done any work sheets all week and we were almost late getting to the apple orchard because she kept asking for more games! We played alphabet memory on the computer and did some exercises in her workbook. We finished off with a new emotions wall by our back door to help her better discuss how she is feeling. My sensitive girl doesn't take much to melt down lately so we are trying out this activity to help tell each other how we are feeling. It worked really well this afternoon when she was sad about having to have a time out for pulling on the dogs tail. She told me, "I feel yellow, he is sad and I am too." I showed her the scared face and explained that that is how the dog felt having his tail pulled and I showed her the mad face which was how mommy felt because I asked her two times not to pull the tail. The faces seem to provide a good foundation to help us talk through these situations versus Sid throwing herself on the ground and screaming. That conversation ended in her going over to the dog and saying sorry. I hope it continues to work!

Sidney and Kayla, her field trip friend met up again at the orchard. It was exactly 2 years ago we were here. This time we met up with a couple other friends too. Celia and Sidney used to play very well together at playgroup and they ended up doing indoor soccer together in the spring. We have recently reconnected and the girls do the Monday music class and Julie, Celia's mom, and I get along really well so we chat and hang out. The girls are very cute together and you can see a nice friendship developing. I really like Celia, she has a strong independent personality and plays well with Sid.

Although the season is getting late and we had our first frost last night, the apples were plentiful and Sid didn't need a boost to pick hers this time. We picked Lobo and she ate two of them while playing at the park area. I am glad she likes them because I find them way too tart. She told Ken he wasn't allowed to eat any because we were going to make an apple pie. hahaha I guess I am going to the store to buy and apple pie tomorrow! Mom doesn't bake pies (yet!).

Next week is the same as this week minus the trip to the apple orchard, we will have a trip to the pumpkin patch with playgroup next month, I can't wait! We managed to accomplish the two goals I had set out for us this week which were knowing and recognizing the letter Aa and reciting the alphabet without singing it. So this week we are going to work on the letters Bb, add more animals to her field journal and talk a lot about our feelings! It is so nice that for her learning is playing and Dad is really great about spending time every night playing whatever Sidney wants to. This week they have been playing toy and grocery store. Since starting preschool I have been doing the groceries while she is in school and I think she misses it!

Gitan is going to visit a family on Sunday. If everyone gets along they will likely adopt him. I HOPE it is his forever home. He is always in Sid's face and she is so annoyed with him. He really does like kids. He needs a home where everyone just loves on him and appreciates him.

Mommy Loves Purple

This was our first full week with school and gymnastics. Preschool Tuesday and Thursday and gymnastics on Wednesday. It was a good week. Next week we have a music class at the family which is a one hour class for Sidney and an hour in a separate room for me. I am not sure what the parents do but it should be fun for her.

We had a fun week getting into our new routine. Sid loves school, gym is still her favorite and thankfully the last part of the day so she always leaves with a big smile on her face and is so eager to go back. She is learning her friends names and always reports who cried and missed their moms. Usually it is Gage and Eric. When I ask her if she cries or misses her mom she say "NO! I love school."

At home we are still doing lots of school stuff. Sidney is learning to recognize the numbers 1 - 5 and now knows the letter A as well as S, I, D, and X and O. She taught herself X and O! After telling me how much she LOVES Diego we started a field journal of all the wild animals we see around our house. The first animal was a fox we saw across the street and tomorrow we will add the Canada Goose. We colour and decorate a picture of the animal and I do a little write up about them. Next week we are going to work on saying the alphabet without singing it and to do some more work on her writing skills. She loves crafts but gets frustrated trying to colour. Colouring should be fun!!!!! I also bought some silicone muffin tins to start sorting buttons, or our large paperclips by size and colour.

Ken has had a busy week at work but has still found time for bedtime stories, Siddy cuddles and a special lunch meeting with us at McDonald's today. We LOVE daddy, he's the best! My weekend house league hockey has started and my competitive hockey starts on the 18th. Ken's parents are thinking of coming home so it will soon be time for Ken and his dad to start working on the plane again too.

The foster dog is still here and driving us crazy. He is a sweetheart but into everything. He is very slowly learning manners but now that his hips feel better he is an Airedale through and through. All three dogs are suffering from ragweed allergies but the rain this week has been great for keeping the pollen down.

We have a relaxing weekend planned at home. If it stops raining we might even close up the pool for the year. The south bound geese and rain means fall is here!

Russell Fair Weekend

Our weekend started a bit wet with the 10:30 parade at the fair. The nursery school entered a float and invited all the kids to come out for the parade. Sidney was joined by four classmates, their siblings, her teacher and a few parents.



We had talked about the parade on Thursday and Friday so Saturday morning, Sid woke up yelling "The Sun is OPEN, The Sun is Open, time for the parade." She ran to her playroom and brought out her basket of musical instruments. The panda tambourine was for her teacher Miss. Patti, Dad got the jingle bell giraffe, mom was given the monkey maracas and the lion castanets were for Sid. What a great idea!!



The float was comfy and greatly appreciated since the parade route was 4 km long. Sidney was an excellent waver with the occasional double wave and her secret wave that she used just for all the dogs. The dog wave was like a sideways queen wave and she did it every time she saw a dog. She was giggling about it all along the parade route.



Around 12:30 the parade came to an end and it started to rain really hard. We decided to go to lunch and come back to the fair Sunday when we could see all the animals and ride the rides. Sunday morning came quickly and back to the fair we went. Sidney's favorite part of the day was by far the pony ride. She talked about it all night.



They had a wonderful Children's section that had a petting zoo, face and hair painting plus a HUGE sandbox filled with cow corn.

Sidney loved digging and playing in the corn and it was so nice and clean. I loved it too, wish we could have that instead of sand in our backyard!

After the corn pit, Sidney wanted her face painted and her hair sprayed blue. We agreed that it would look great if her ponytails were blue! Then she had her makeup done by a 11 year old. She did a pretty good job and most importantly, Sidney was thrilled.




After face painting we ate our free pancake breakfast and hit the rides. We went right to the Ferris wheel because we knew that little kids could get on and we wouldn't have a disappointed daughter. So many of the rides require her to be much taller and she doesn't get that yet. While waiting for our turn on the Ferris wheel we saw Charlotte (from school) and her mom. It was great for Ken to finally meet them. Charlotte's dad is a pilot in the military and her mom was a flight instructor for years and years. Needles to say they are plane crazy and Ken will go crazy when he visits their house and sees all the photos and models they have of airplanes!

After the Ferris wheel we chatted with our friends and waited for our turn to go on the Chilly Willy ride which was four large Penguins that spin around. There is a big steering wheel in the middle that you can spin to make the penguin spin even more. Sidney wanted to go on the green one which Ken thought was a bad omen! He was right!!! Off we went spinning and spinning and as soon as I looked out the door, ugh... I was a touch motion sick. I looked at Ken and he was strictly focusing on Sid, I could tell we were feeling the same. I was watching Sidney's eyes and they were darting back and forth a bit while she watched the world spin by. She loved it and wanted to go again. As pathetic as it is, this ride did Ken and I in. We coerced Sid to head for the car and picked up her guitar on the way through.

Sid saw this guitar on the way to the rides and fell in love with the pink one. She has wanted a guitar like daddy's for a long time so we got it for her and she has been serenading us all night.

After bath and jammies, Sid was cuddling on the couch and she said "I loved the fair today!" So did we!

First Day Of Preschool

The morning started very early. I wanted to be up and ready to face our big day. Sid heard me cooking pancakes and wandered out to see what was going on. I don't think she was done sleeping yet. The dogs don't bother to get up until it is there breakfast time and she is starting to catch on! Once ready we headed out to preschool and Sid appeared to be just as excited as me. She had her backpack on and was ready to go!
Here are some shots of her and her friend Camryn, sitting in her cubby and playing with her friends.

I picked her up at 11:30 and the first thing out of her mouth was "Look mom, look mom" she yelled as she charged down the hall waving her certificate " I LOVE SCHOOL!!!" She had blue marker on her cheek, stickers on her hands and a smile that melted my heart. I was so proud!





Sidney informed me that she gets to be Miss Patty's helper on Tuesday and dress the weather bears. She can't wait to go back to school. Saturday we get to be in the Russell fair parade and ride the float. Ken will come so he will also get to meet Miss Patty and Sid's friends.

After school, Sharon and I took Sidney and her little friend Charlotte out to lunch to celebrate their first day of school. We had a great lunch and it was amazing to see the two girls just two weeks apart having conversations and sharing their lunch. The held hands the entire way in and out of the restaurant. It was an awwww moment I wish I had captured.

When Daddy got home from work he presented Sidney with her very own Big Girl watch for being so big and going to school. She was thrilled. Now we just have to teach her all her numbers.



Outside of school we still have our horsie friends we are taking care of. Here is two of the four, we are calling the light one Blondie until we find out her name. She is a sweetheart and loves hugs and pets. They have taken a real shine to us since we now go over and water them everyday and bring carrots and apples for snacks. They bring Siddy and I so many laughs and joy by just being around for us to pet and visit. Too bad they won't be here for long.