RC's Journal

Routines

2011-11-14T07:31:00.001-06:00

She has really latched on to the routine at the new house. She has some specific times that things need to happen and I give her countdowns to those times. It works really well most days. Today we were running a couple of minutes late, or the bus was a minute or two early, and we had to separate at the middle of the driveway instead of the end (because I couldn't keep up).

She gives me three kisses and hugs every day when the bus gets here. One for me, one for Corin and one (with the kiss on my belly) for Thing 3. Every morning. It's really sweet.

She has developed more patience and maturity lately. One day, she asked for a pencil for her backpack so she could start doing her homework on the bus. She finishes it every afternoon during the 45 minute bus ride. She was mad at me on Wednesday for picking her up because her homework would have to be done at home. We compromised and did it in the car in the driveway and she still finished 15 minutes before she would have been home on the bus.

Discussing the experiment to see which was faster was enough to calm her down. She didn't need to keep fighting because she knew she could prove she was right or be wrong and still come out ahead.

We forgot to do her book report this weekend. I suggested she take it on the bus this morning and she loved that idea so it's in her backpack.

The level of maturity and responsibility that comes with aging is remarkable to watch unfold. Now, if I could just get her to clean her room...

Big sister skills

2011-11-13T16:32:00.001-06:00

Ryanne was outside playing with Corin and their friend Marshall today. Corin was swinging a stick at her. It was 5 or 6 feet long. One of the times the end hit the ground, she stood on it. Corin couldn't make her budge. He was dragging the stick along with her standing on one end. Eventually, he got frustrated and dropped it.

At that point, Marshall threw a ball in her direction. She picked it up and threw it off the deck over the railing, away from both boys. They ran to get it back.

She bought herself 5-10 minutes to stand in the sun and write notes on her pad without starting a single fight. I think her big sister skills are coming along just fine.

On the other hand...

2011-10-09T18:22:00.001-05:00

Math apparently sucks. She is having such a hard time with the degree of addition and subtraction they are requiring at school. It has not clicked for her. She's not seeing the short cuts. She's not seeing the self-checks. Tonight there were tears over finishing a worksheet that she didn't get through at school.

I tried to explain that reading wasn't always easy for her, either. She worked at it and one day it clicked. I told her math would do that eventually, but she has to keep working on it.

I don't think she believes me.

Reading awe

2011-10-09T18:00:00.002-05:00

To top off the school's difficulty in finding her 'perfect book,' she finished the last book of the Harry Potter series a few days ago. She has now moved on to some of Gail Carson Levine's books.

I am in awe of her desire and ability to read.

Principal's office

2011-10-02T20:11:00.003-05:00

She gets in the car on Thursday and I, as usual, ask how her day was.

"I went to the principal's office twice."

Turns out, this is horrifying to hear. Even when it's rather unceremoniously announced. It wasn't a big deal to her. I didn't think it could be for something bad. At the same time, she wasn't exactly volunteering information.

"...uh...for what?"
"For reading"
"...uh...What were you reading?"
"My perfect book"

At this point, it clicked a little bit. The teacher had said something about them getting their 'perfect book' this week. Something that they don't totally understand, but understand most of and can learn from. They were having her read to find her perfect book. Apparently this involves the teacher and the principal listening to her read and asking her questions. I guess it's a nice way to get them comfortable with the principal and take the negative connotation I have out of the principal's office.

She is the only one in her class that she's aware of that had to go twice. Apparently the first time she understood all of the books they gave her. The second time, they found one that she didn't completely comprehend.

She wasn't very willing to talk about it (nothing new), but I got bits of information out of her by just continuing to talk about it as we discussed other things. Chrys wonders if she finally got bored with it. It doesn't sound like she did. She is proud that they finally stumped her. I am *very* curious to see what that means.

Texas policy was that they couldn't test them beyond a maximum for their grade level so I have truly had no idea what level she actually understands. She has maybe 50 pages to go in book 7 of Harry Potter at this point so it's not that she has trouble reading things.* She can explain things in the movies based on data from the books when Chrys asks her questions so she seems to grasp most of what she's reading. Nevertheless, it will be nice to have a better understanding of where we should be pointing her.

*Even if her pronunciation of some of the words is wrong, she understands what they mean. The best example was 'conjure' which she understood to mean creates, but she pronounced 'con - jhoor'. It's been impressive to see her progress.

On another brother

2011-08-19T21:53:00.001-05:00

We had our 'big' ultrasound for Thing 3 on Wednesday. It's a boy. There were many tears shed by the girl that has wanted a sister for 5 long years.

Thursday morning, she walks in and throws herself down on my bed.

R: "Mommy, what happened to all of the girl sperm?"
M: "I have no idea, sweetie. No idea."
R: "Why couldn't they get the directions right? Why didn't they beat the boy sperm? Are they lost somewhere inside your body?" (The stream of related questions was seemingly endless.)
M: "I don't know, sweetie. Nobody knows what makes some sperm get to the egg better than other sperm."

She keeps going with the questions until I advise her to take it up with her daddy. Then she walked away, defeated and sighing. Poor kid. Too much knowledge of human reproduction can be a bad thing...

On safety and television

2011-06-20T21:29:00.000-05:00

Ryanne was up making her bed this morning. Corin wanted to turn on the fan. We discussed how it wasn't safe right now because she was sitting up. She listed quite a few things that could get hurt by the fan with her sitting there. I added a few more.

Corin then asked if we could do it when she was laying down. I said no because she didn't always lay perfectly flat and we didn't want her to accidentally sit up and get hurt. She said wiggled down to the end of the bed and looked over the rail out her door, "Yeah, and sometimes I get distracted by Chuck."

Looking at the angle...that requires some impressive acrobatics.

Slow down, little one

2011-06-04T10:34:00.000-05:00

Ryanne decided she wanted egg salad for breakfast today. I told her there were four hard boiled eggs in the fridge. She got them out, peeled them, sliced them (with the egg slicer) and then came to ask for help getting spices. I put salt and dill in it because she still has some trouble controlling the flow of those and I didn't want to have to throw it out because it was too salty. She grabbed a spoon and the mayo and put some in the bowl. She didn't want to stir it up so I got to do that.

Now, she's happily eating her creation. One of her major comfort foods. It took me a while to realize that it was a comfort food for her. I guess all of those Fridays eating it in Japan really stuck.

I'm still not sure I'm ready for her to be that self-sufficient, though.

On coffee

2011-04-08T07:11:00.001-05:00

In her best whiny voice: "Why do kids never get to drink coffee? Why is it only for adults?"

"Ryanne, honestly, I drink decaf. If you want to try it, you may."

"Uh...maybe tomorrow."

Yeah, that's what I thought.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Rally to Save Texas Schools

2011-03-12T22:19:00.002-06:00

This morning, Ryanne asked me what we were doing today. I have avoided talking to her about the budget cuts because, unlike Austin, we're not facing closures in Round Rock ISD so it doesn't seem as severe. Instead, I would have to name names and tell her that teachers she has grown to love the past two years will likely not be at the school next year. We've had wonderful teachers for her. New teachers. First teachers to go when layoffs come.

This morning, I laid it out for her. Talked about the budget crisis. Talked about how Round Rock wasn't going to close schools, but that they were going to reduce staff. I listed a few possible names. She cried. I cried. I told her that as sad as it was, crying over things that aren't guaranteed doesn't help anything. Then she asked what we could do about it and I bawled like a baby.

I am so, so proud of my girl today. I told her that we could tell our government that we didn't like the decisions they were making by going to the rally. She asked if she could make a sign and I told her to bring her paper and markers to her brother's soccer practice. She did. She made a sign that said, "Save the schools by giving them money! Give money, money, money!" She drew coins on it and labeled them with values. This is what's they've been talking about at school so it was an interesting transition to the real world application.

At the rally, we bumped into some of the Wells Branch teachers and walked with them. She was able to explain to one of them why we were there. The teacher understood Ryanne's analysis and commented on how it was making her tear up that Ryanne really got it. Now I'm crying again.

My kid knows that her teachers are at risk. My kid was yelling as loud as she could to "Save Our Schools" and "Save My Teachers" with 11,000 other people. My kid was sad and angry and wants to fix it.

It was an amazing day. And heartbreaking. And then more amazing. That girl of mine is going to do spectacular things. She has a heart so big and the brains to back it. I wish these lessons didn't come with such a high emotional price tag, though.

She asked if the rally was good enough that the government would find the money for the schools. The hardest words I said all day were, "I hope so." I really hope the Texas Legislature is listening.

On syrup

2011-03-06T21:29:00.000-06:00

Today we ventured to the original pancake house (GF pancakes for the win!) for breakfast. Ryanne ordered pancakes and bacon. She wanted syrup. I poured it on.

"The bacon is soiled."

I was confused. Then she pointed to the pool of syrup touching the bacon. I excitedly dipped mine in and declared that I loved bacon soiled with syrup.

She grudgingly tried it.

She demanded more syrup.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sibling brutality

2011-02-20T08:34:00.001-06:00

From Chrys:
"We were playing Star Wars...and I had the light saber"

And that's when she hit him in the face with the snow shovel.

There was some blood. Dr. Aunt MK says it's not broken. Still looks a little sore.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Award winner

2011-02-09T19:53:00.001-06:00

Tonight, Ryanne received a council level award for the PTA's Reflections competition. She entered for photography. She is the only one from the school to get an award at the Council level.

Her photograph is titled "Together We Can Play".

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Grateful Heart

2010-12-06T22:29:00.000-06:00

I have been participating in the 30 days of a grateful heart challenge posed by the wonderful, Jote. Today is day 6.

Today, I am grateful for my beautiful girl. She is growing into such an amazing, compassionate and generous human being.

Today was the first day of her school Holiday Shoppe. She is scheduled to shop on Thursday, but I know the inventory will be iffy by then, at best, so I took her this afternoon after school. She wandered through and found gifts for her grandparents, her brother, Chrys and me. Not once did she ask to buy something for herself. All day long, I had seen other kids come through and buy things for other people and always they set aside something for themselves.

She admired the ice cream erasers, but when the time came, walked away and bought only for others. I am constantly in awe of her generosity. I am truly honored and eternally grateful that she chose me to be her mom.

-----------------------
This year has been a struggle for her with regards to Christmas. This is the first year she really hasn't wanted anything. Sure, there are things that she would like from others, but nothing that she wants so much that it has made it to a request from Santa. Chrys and I are trying to come up with anything and the Santas that she's talked to have promised to come up with a wonderful surprise for her. I fear disappointing her, even though I don't think she really cares.

Maybe a charm for the bracelet she bought herself at the Girl Scout store. Definitely some ice cream erasers in her stocking.

1st place

2010-11-23T18:46:00.000-06:00

Ryanne just scored first place in Mario Kart for the 1st time! She was so excited.

She also won an award for a photo she submitted to the PTA Reflections contest. She titled it "Together We Can Play". The theme was "Together We Can...".

Conversations with the tired

2010-10-26T18:45:00.000-05:00

From the bath...
Where's dad?
Going potty.
Why?
Do you really want to know why dad's going potty?
Uhhh. Nevermind.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

On punctuation

2010-07-26T12:40:00.001-05:00

"Our way beats their way. If you don't agree, it's Free."

Mommy, there should be an exclamation point at the end of that. It's exciting. "It's free!" This way, it looks sad. There's no excitement. It's boring. "It's free. *sigh*"

I have to agree.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Another exciting meal

2010-07-09T19:03:00.002-05:00

Ryanne is now down a 5th tooth. Go Macaroni Grill croutons! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sheltered

2010-04-18T07:40:00.001-05:00

Weekends mean that the kids get to watch TV while we sleep just a bit longer. This is a huge treat for Ryanne because school means she doesn't get to watch much, if any, during the week.

We recently got a new television so Chrys and I have actually started watching some broadcast channels again. This means it doesn't stay tuned to PBS all the time.

This morning, Corin asked what she was watching when he went downstairs. "Some sort of news."

She knows PBS doesn't broadcast news this early. This happened to be weather so she was captivated.

I told her she could push the ch button up or down to get back to channel 18, which is PBS.

She does. She gasps. "I had NO idea this thing would do that."

First she didn't realize our TV had commercials like hotel TVs and now she figures out that we get more that one channel. Somehow I feel we have wronged her.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The 4th tooth or Why Ryanne had the greatest Kindergarten teacher in the world

2010-04-16T17:15:00.000-05:00

I realized that I never posted about the 4th tooth so I'm going to put in the story and back date it so it's in the right place.

Corin and I were walking through the grocery store waiting to go get Ryanne. My phone rang. I didn't recognize the number.

The person says, "Hello, Mrs. Gordon, do you know who this is?" It sounded a lot like Ryanne's kindergarten teacher and I said so. I was very apprehensive. She quickly assured me that everything was just fine, but that Ryanne had some exciting news for me.

She put Ryanne on the phone.

She had lost a tooth at lunch. Such a treat. She bit into some veggie booty and it popped out into her yogurt. She got to go to the nurse and get a treasure chest to bring it home. She told me how excited she was.

I got Mrs. Hunter back. She said that she sometimes lets the kids call home when there's exciting news that they can't wait to share. I told her how much I appreciated the call. I truly did. It was the highlight of my day getting to hear the news before I picked her up.

We bought her a special treat to celebrate. We bought Mrs. Hunter a card to say thank you. It truly is the little things that bring light to our days.

Exciting breakfast

2010-04-11T10:00:00.001-05:00

With a bite of bagel, we are another tooth shy. This was the bottom left incisor.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Love notes

2010-04-02T23:18:00.001-05:00

Chrys has taken over making Ryanne's lunches. He's also taken over leaving her little notes on the top of the box. He would save the one from the day before and reuse it until the sticky was gone.

A while ago, I saw her coaching her brother to hide his note on the underside of the cabinet. I assumed Chrys knew about it.

Last week, he commented that she was throwing the notes away. He thought she didn't like them being reused.

I laughed and showed him the cabinet.

I asked her why. Apparently his notes take away from her brain's ability to read other things. It sounds like she assumes she has a finite limit of things she can read in a day's time and doesn't want to spend it on notes from daddy.

He now strives harder to create unique notes.

She still hides them under the cabinet.

I apologize to whoever buys this house next. I'm certain I won't remember to remove them all.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Deep Thoughts

2010-03-26T20:44:00.001-05:00

Ryanne likes to make up songs. Most of these are stream of consciousness things; she sings what she's thinking. She was doing it tonight before bed. By the time I went to record it, she was down to, "Oh English. Oh English. Oh English. Oh English." after about 20s of that, she said, "Ok," and I heard her bed rustling as she settled in.

As she was cleaning up the water mess in the bathroom this afternoon, I asked if she was done. She said, "Almost. Is almost good enough today?" Unfortunately, it wasn't. Mostly because they had both slipped on the floor already.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Another one down

2010-03-25T07:04:00.001-05:00

Sometime overnight, the tooth (bottom right looking at her) finally came out. She's not one to pull so this was as loose as the last one. No clue where the tooth is, but we will write a note to the Tooth Fairy explaining what happened. Hopefully she will be willing to reward even without the tooth.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Monkey girl

2010-03-04T09:44:00.006-06:00

Pretty much from the time that she's been able to grasp things, Ryanne has loved monkey bars. She's been getting closer to be able to do to the ones at the park by herself, but the spacing was really wide.

We went to the park yesterday and she went nuts. She went the full length once or twice. She more enjoyed going about half way and then sliding down the support poles. The ones in the middle don't have bars at the bottom so are less risk for injuring yourself. (Though they do have screws that stick out and she tagged herself at one point. When I went to go check on her she said, "I'M fine. I'm FINE." When I started to walk away, she yelled, "But my vulva is NOT fine" so I went back.)

Most impressive to me is that she's really figured out how the inertia works. She was working her legs to help her get more distance. She would get tired and hang for a bit and then swing until she got the momentum to move again. It was really impressive.

Plus, she was giggling like a fiend, which always makes mama's heart happy.

Negotiations

2010-02-28T22:26:00.000-06:00

For dinner tonight we had chicken sautéed with broccoli and marinade served with mac and cheese. You can guess which part of that was my choice and which was the kids'.

Ryanne plowed through her mac and cheese. She declared she was still hungry. I suggested the chicken and broccoli. She insisted that she needed mac and cheese to eat with it. I told her how sorry I was that she was out but that if she was really still hungry there was plenty of food left on her plate.

We had the typical dialogues on how people need a variety of foods, how mean I am, how hungry she is, how her mouth doesn't like lemon marinade anymore, etc.

Finally she looks at me.
"Mommy, do you want this to stop?"

I smell a trap.
"Yes, I do. I find this really frustrating."

She sniffles.
"Then you should just give me more mac and cheese. Then I will stop crying and eat my protein and be full."

As you can guess, it didn't stop.

Car sick

2010-02-15T11:28:00.000-06:00

Pretty sure she gets motion sickness on windy, bumpy roads. She was ill last year on a bumpy road from CT and again on the bumpy NY/VT roads today. She does ok in the car but the minute we hit land it's not pretty. So much for getting my iron stomach.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Awkward parenting moment of the week

2010-01-23T22:47:00.001-06:00

Ryanne was scoping out the drawing of us from our honeymoon. The last 0 in 2000 is a bit open. She was confused about it being 2006.

I explained that it was 2000 and that we were married in 2000.

She asked when she was born. 2003. She corrected me to her birthdate.

"When did you do penis to vulva?"

I told her that took 9 months but couldn't correct her to vagina.

Can I change my answers on the TAG for for the science question? I forgot about biology.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Impatient

2010-01-15T23:23:00.000-06:00

Today, I met up with some Girl Scout people at a Walgreen's. It was pouring. It had been a long day. I had to get our registration for spring campout turned in.

I left the kids in the car with the heater running. I was all of two feet away.

I got distracted talking cookies with our mentor mama.

I saw something in my dash and turned to see this

perched in the window.

The other mom asked what ages our girls were. She seemed surprised that my kindergartener wrote that. She laughed and said she best let me go. I could only nod and agree.

Story teller

2010-01-07T21:51:00.001-06:00

Ryanne loves role playing and general story telling. They can be pretty elaborate.

Today's involved Miss J and Christmas and stilts and...

At one point she addressed the person as "mama" in her story Ryanne voice. Corin looks at her and reprimands, "Miss Jowi is not your mom."

Ryanne matter of factly states, "In the story she is."

In the car

2010-01-06T18:40:00.001-06:00

Driving down the road in 5 o'clock traffic, I tried to distract the kids by asking what they recognized. Ryanne starts reading.

Target, Party City, Arby's

Then we moved out of the strip mall area.

Flowers for dead people...

And where they are buried...

Interesting interpretation of the cemetery.

First ball drop

2010-01-01T00:14:00.002-06:00

When Ryanne asked me today if she could stay up late tonight, I never thought she would make it. Thus, I agreed that she could hang out with us for the evening.

That girl wins the stubborn award.

She made it through 2 episodes of Chuck and watched the delayed ball drop from NYC at midnight central. We introduced her to Dick Clark. We watched a few fireworks. Daddy put her in bed.

She is one tired girl, but she made it through the evening awake.

Happy New Year!

New teacher and bikes

2009-12-31T10:24:00.003-06:00

One and half weeks before the end of school for Christmas, Ryanne was moved to a different class at school. Apparently her school was overcrowded (20 new K students since August) and they had finally received approval from the district to hire a new teacher. They did and Ryanne was one of the ones chosen to move to the new class.

The difference is night and day. Ryanne is reading, coloring and, generally, being more pleasant at home. No longer will we have to console her about hurting unborn children's ears (something the previous teacher used to keep the class quiet). She seems much happier with the new teacher. The vibe I got was so much more supportive of children and their needs. She's experienced, but still new (5 years) and came with great recommendations. Other parents seemed apprehensive, but we were overjoyed. Ryanne received a 4 (the top score) on her progress report in her first week in the new class and the teacher said she was having no problems.

At home, Ryanne learned to ride on two wheels last month. She was using a 20" bike that a friend had given to us. She was riding pretty well, but still struggling with stops, starts, turning, etc. I finally convinced Chrys to take the training wheels off of her 16" bike and WOW! She's amazing. She's stopping, starting, turning on a dime. She's going to wipe out (and hard) pretty soon, but the difference in her confidence from bike to bike is definitely noteworthy. She's definitely a two-wheeling fiend now. Even the neighbors noticed the change.

Lost tooth

2009-11-20T17:04:00.006-06:00

Ryanne has been playing with a loose tooth on the bottom for some time. Today, it finally fell out at school. She'd been hoping to lose it at school because she really wanted to go see the nurse and get a treasure chest to take it home.

In her own words:
"It was kind of weird when it fell out. She wrote me a note that I brought home from the nurse. (It was the pass to go back to class, time stamped 9:55.) I was moving it with my tongue and it suddenly fell out in my mouth. I was sitting up and getting ready to put my head down. When I got back to my classroom, everyone was going to the bathroom in my classroom. (I think they have toilets connected to the rooms.)"

The teacher was surprised that it just fell out. If only she knew how long this one has been barely hanging on.

It's her lower right front tooth. You can already see the adult tooth peeking through the gum. She really did hang on to the baby tooth for a long time. She got her pink treasure chest, though.

Out of the box

2009-11-18T20:46:00.002-06:00

Ryanne participated in a language study at UT today. I got to watch part of it. They had a series of cards and Ryanne was supposed to describe the picture on the card. Most of them were pretty simple.

Researcher: The boy is standing on the bridge. What's he going to do?
Ryanne: Jump.
Researcher: Can you tell me the whole thing? He's...
RC: He's going to jump off the bridge.
Researcher: Let's see what he did. (Next card)
Ryanne: He jumped.

There was one that really got me.
Researcher: This is one glass. These are two...
Ryanne: I can't tell what's in them.
Reasearcher: It doesn't matter what's in them. This is one glass. These are two...
Ryanne: Glass... cups that are... unfilled.
Researcher: This is one glass. These are two...
Ryanne: Glasses?

Yeah...she doesn't like your box. Where are my papers to sign her up for TAG (Talented and Gifted) testing?

She knows us well...

2009-11-14T09:38:00.002-06:00

I got our tickets to Walking with the Dinosaurs today.

Ryanne asks what they are. I point to the name of the show. She counts 4 tickets.

"Can Dani and Jori come with us?"
I asked how many people we had in our family.
She said, "Can Dani come with us?"
I asked, "What about daddy?"
"He doesn't like dinosaurs."

On turning 6...

2009-11-05T09:05:00.004-06:00

Ryanne turned 6 one week ago. It's amazing to me that she's 1/3 of the way through her 'childhood' with us. It seems like it's been a long time and only a blink of an eye at the same time. She has changed and grown so much.

She had her well-check on 11/1. She's 45.25" tall and 45.1 pounds, still 50% across both. Her blood pressure was fine (98/52). The doctor saw no cause for concern and remarked at her reading skills in the office.

She's still dramatic. Everything gets a HUGE reaction. She's blossomed into a caring being. She's becoming more empathetic. She's showing huge leaps in her people skills. She still can be a bit shy in new scenarios, but is usually very outgoing.

Happy 6, little one. I love you!

Left behind

2009-10-07T21:32:00.002-05:00

Today, I arrived at the school at 2:45 to pick up Ryanne from Kindergarten. She was not sitting with the rest of the students in the K area near the car rider lanes. I asked where she was. The substitute covering her class responded that "someone said she was still in the classroom". I asked who someone was, but before I was given an answer, another teacher arrived with Ryanne and said she had been found crying in the hallway because her class had left her alone in the room with the lights off.

I gave her a hug, acknowledged how scary that must have been. Another teacher (I think I remember her being introduced as the 'lead' for the K classes) said that she was sorry that happened. I could do nothing but stare confusedly at all of them.

I asked Ryanne what happened and she said that she hadn't finished packing her backpack when the class left. I mentioned to her that next time she should ask the teacher to wait or to help her finish versus staying behind to finish on her own.

My biggest concern is that the substitute knew that she wasn't out at pickup yet didn't go back to find her. She didn't express concern that she wasn't there because "someone" said my daughter was still in the room. This is the kind of person trusted with her safety during the day?

I'm so done with Wells Branch Elementary... I really can't get her out of there soon enough.

Tested

2009-10-07T21:29:00.002-05:00

Ryanne took her tests at the school a couple of weeks ago. A week after she said she had the test, I still hadn't received any status from the administration of the school. I asked the counselor if I could get her results. She said she would email them to me.

Ryanne scored 54% on language arts and 68% on math. They say she needs 90% to advance even though the RRISD web site says 80%. Either way, she's not close.

Honestly, though, I don't think their results are accurate. I know that every mom says their child is brilliant, etc. My daughter is smart. Possibly not above average smart, but smart. Her language skills far outweigh her math skills, though.

I need to get with the counselor and ask to look at the exam because I'm really confused by the results they get.

Big girl

2009-09-24T22:46:00.001-05:00

I just ordered a new car seat for my car for Ryanne. We're getting the Graco Nautilus 3-in-1. It's probably the last seat I'll ever have to buy for her.

Can she stop growing now?

More school woes

2009-09-02T13:08:00.005-05:00

Why must there always be drama when it comes to my daughter and school? Seriously? Do I spawn it? Do I make it worse? GAH!

So...this year's thing is that the report every afternoon has been that school is 'boring'. This concerns me on so many levels. She has lots of friends in her class. She loves playing and art and ... why is she bored? It hasn't gotten much better. We're up to "I like PE" which is a step in the right direction, but still not "cool"! Am I really asking too much that she think school is cool at age 5? She loved mother's day out. It was fun every day. She loved her first week at the school which shall remain nameless. Why shouldn't kindergarten be the same? I know the first week sucks. I really do, but it's not getting better.

So...we talked to the teacher at Parent Orientation last Thursday. When should I worry? What are our options? Should we consider testing her for 1st? What can you do with reading? We were kind of brushed off with something along the lines of she'd have a better idea of where she was by October parent/teacher conferences. Again, seriously? Two months to assess her and figure out what to do? Two months of 'boring' before she gets something else? I asked if that was before the deadline for having her tested for 1st and she said we had 20 days and asked if that was something we were interested in. I said yes and asked, specifically, if I could come in today (9/2) and request that and it would be soon enough. She told me that it would be fine.

So...I call the office to schedule an appointment only to find out that I had to request the test, in writing, by last Friday. The counselor explains that there's nothing they can do since we missed the deadline. She gave me the party line on gifted and talented and working with her, but no specific time line on when any of that would start rolling. I am really worried that they have so much paperwork to get through that by the time they're rolling, she's already acting out and done.

Then, I went to the school (fueled by a pep talk from Chrys) and asked to talk to the principal. The administrator at the desk took notes on my conversation with her teacher relayed them to the principal and, suddenly, the principal could call the district and talk to them. Interesting.

Now, with that out of the way. I know that being a reader, by itself, doesn't make her ready for first grade. However, looking at what they expect to teach her by the end of the year, she's got everything except lower case letters. (Incidentally, I handed her a workbook on those and she's already a decent way through it.) I guess I need to thumb through "What Your Kindergardener Should Know" and see if we're missing anything else big.

I'm worried that I'm going to be one of 'those' parents. I don't want to be, but I really want what's best for my child and being bored isn't it.

I hate drama.

When I grow up

2009-08-05T18:39:00.001-05:00

D: What do you want to be when you grow up?

R: I'm going to be a President and a doctor. On my day off of being President, I will be a doctor. When it's my day off of being doctor I will be president again.

M: What will you be president of?

R: The united states of Austin.

D: I wonder when we'll secede?

Final frontier

2009-08-01T13:07:00.001-05:00

"The atom it was broken. I saw the guy fixing it. It was on my side."

We drove by a broken ATM.

At this point only long words slow her down. Nothing stops her.

Sneaky sneaky

2009-07-20T23:32:00.001-05:00

I heard her bed squeaking while Amber and I watched a bit of TV. After it got louder and more prolonged, I went up to check on her. She had scooted herself down to the end of the bed, opened her door and managed to find and angle from the top of her bed where she could see the TV "to see what all the noise was."

Trouble.

In other news...

2009-07-12T22:13:00.002-05:00

Ryanne finished her first video game. Disney Princesses was knocked out in solo play mode in 2 days, I think. I don't think she spent more than an hour on it each day (go accumulated chore credits).

When we got her that game a year ago, she couldn't do the minigames in it by herself, nor could she figure out the main challenge in each level. She was so frustrated. This time, though, she blew threw it, reading the directions and plunging through the chapters with ease.

I am so proud. Sniff.

Now we have to figure out what to get her next. She's already asking for new games and I haven't seen anything else that really seemed easy enough. Cars, maybe? Endless Ocean (should have gotten it when it went on clearance at Target, but she wasn't really playing things on her own then)?

More on books

2009-07-12T20:41:00.001-05:00

Chrys and I think that summer has been really good for her reading. We've been letting her read in bed every night. She doesn't have a night light, but it's summer and doesn't get dark until nearly 9. We start bedtime at 7:30 so she typically has 30 minutes or so to read before it gets too dark.

She's read all of the early reader books she already had. The libraries don't have a great selection. Today at Target we let her pick up to three new books. (Mini rant - why does everyone's 123 system have to be different? She's a 2 in one and a 1 in another and in yet another I'm not even sure she would be able to get through 1.) She picked two new books and she will probably finish them in the next day or two. She's only allowed one per night ao that slows her down a bit.

I have really find memories of reading myself to sleep. Chrys wasn't sure about letting her start but I think he agrees it's been good for her. Yay for reading!

Reader

2009-07-10T16:24:00.003-05:00

Ryanne has come SO far in her reading. She went from being able to recite books that we read to her a lot to being able to read some of the simpler Bob series to skipping the rest of the Bob series and being able to read early level books that we check out from the library with little to no assistance. All in the last few months. It's crazy how quickly it's progressed. She just hit this spot where she had to read things and she would be really unhappy when I tried to help her out. She's figured out some of the more complicated vowel sounds. She's enjoying things like Super Why on a whole new level. She's really getting into her games and shows like Between the Lions.

She's also starting to sing along to songs and jingles that she hears frequently - radio or the car CD or whatever. Yesterday she told me that she saw Dell (sign on a building) and wanted to go there because they were a "proud supporter of Sesame Street". Too bad Apple doesn't sponsor Sesame Street here. I suppose if we lived in Cupertino...

Last week, she decided she wanted to take her allowance to the pet store. We counted it out before we left the house, as we usually do. While we were there, she told me that she had enough for "that goldfish right there". We looked around and figured out that she had enough for the fish, but not all of the stuff that she would need to take care of it. Daddy has agreed to lend her his tank when she has shown some responsibility (she chose to be responsible by doing chores and keeping her room clean) for herself on a regular basis for an extended period of time. There are no strict limits and it's not that she has to keep her room clean for x weeks to get a fish. She hasn't been terribly regular about it and we've had several discussions about what would happen to the fish if she decided not to take care of it for a couple of days. She's agreed that the fish can wait.

As for allowance, she usually gets $4 a week. She can't spend all of it in one week. She usually sits on it for a very long time. She gets 1% interest on everything she has in her 'savings' the day before she gets her allowance. She likes it. She bought herself a pottery wheel during the after Christmas sales. I wouldn't buy it because it was 8+, but it's her money and she really wanted it so she saved up for it and got it. She's built a couple of 'rocks' with it so far. We'll see what else she does with it.

She is currently counting down until she's 10 (I think) so she can audition for Fetch! I think we would have to spend a summer in Boston. Right now, we're not squelching the idea. We'll see what she still thinks of it as we get closer to the 'deadline'.

My little girl is growing up. Quickly.

I'm ready for my MySpace, Mr. DeMille

2009-06-27T10:14:00.005-05:00

Ryanne has been playing with her camera again. She's seen me take a 'self-portrait' a few times for some DITLs (that I never manage to publish on time) and decided to try some of her own. This one is pretty good and I *love* her facial expression. :)

I told her she was ready for MySpace and she was confused. "I'm ready for your space? What is your space?"

Birds and bees

2009-06-07T22:09:00.003-05:00

Tonight, Ryanne explained to me that she didn't want anything to happen to Corin. I said that was sweet, and asked what made her say that.

R: "Well, if anything happened to Corin, you'd have to do lots of exercise to have another baby."
M: Looks at her very confusedly...
R: Looks at me very confusedly... "Mommy, you've been exercising more..."
M: "Whoa, Ryanne, babies aren't made by people exercising" (as I think in my head, at least in the way I think you're thinking of)
R: "Uh...They aren't?"
M: *sigh*

At that point, I launched into a brief, but matter of fact explanation of what happened. She didn't get weirded or grossed out. She asked if daddy put his penis in my vagina to make her? Yup. And her brother? Yup. I got an "oh" and nothing more. When bath time was over, we went to get the "It's So Amazing" book that I had stashed away for just this sort of thing. We looked at pictures. She asked some more questions - mostly anatomy related. I think she's more amazed by the way the body works than the emotional aspects - which is exactly where she should be.

*Deep breath* No amount of expecting it can prepare you for the day it actually happens.

Massage addict

2009-04-24T21:21:00.002-05:00

Tonight, Ryanne's tummy was hurting during dinner. She didn't eat much at that meal, but had eaten quite a bit during the day so I wasn't too worried. I asked if she wanted me to massage it.

We rubbed her tummy in various ways that I've been taught and she said it felt a little better.

Then she said it might feel better if we massaged her back. So I did.

Then she said that it was feeling a bit worse and trying to tell us that her neck needed a massage. Hmmm.

Eventually, she ended up with about a 45 minute full body massage. She was one happy girl. She said her body felt all loose. It was great for both of us.

The other side

2009-04-18T23:41:00.002-05:00

Ryanne crossed some sort of mental barrier in the last week or so. She's finally at that (probably soon to be rather annoying, but currently incredibly cool) state where she can't stop herself from sounding words out and trying to read. She's grasped the longer vowel sounds and is starting to pick up on some of the oddities of written English. She was playing with "know" the other day.
R: Kuh-now. Mommy, what is kuh-now.
M: The "k" is silent on that one.
R: Why?
M: I have no idea. It's just how it is. English is weird that way.
R: So it's "now".
M: Well, actually, the "ow" on that one says "o" so it's just no.
R: It says "no".
M: Well, it says know, like something that you understand. Like, now you know how to spell know.

I giggled at myself. I *think* she might have actually rolled her eyes. Figures.

Kinder Round-up

2009-04-01T22:50:00.002-05:00

Today, we registered RC for kindergarten. I made it through without crying...until I got to see Janna (my hair stylist) and she got me going. I cannot believe that's she's going to be in Kinder in the fall. It's crazy.

After that, I took her back to "church" (her MDO is at a church) and we stopped to see the animals for farm day. They had these two week old baby goats that were so.freaking.adorable. One of them kept standing up on the cage trying to get RC's attention. She would lean down and gently pet it and then move to another area. It followed her. She says she drew a picture of the goat that liked her very much, but I haven't seen it yet.

This afternoon, we took her for a hair cut. Her fine hair gets so tangly and she's been wanting it shorter. She elected to have it 'on her shoulders' so that's where it is. It looks really cute, as always. :)

You must at least this obnoxious...

2009-03-31T20:58:00.003-05:00

Most nights, after the kids are in bed, Chrys and I put away the laundry that was washed that day. Usually we end up getting to putting away the kids' stuff long after they are asleep. Tonight, Ryanne wasn't. I went into her room to steal hangers.

R: Mommy, what are you doing?
M: Getting hangers so we can put away your clothes. This is the kind of exciting stuff that mommy and daddy do after you go to bed. Put away the laundry.
R: Oh.

We said I love you's and I left. Chrys took clothes in.
R: Daddy, mommy already got the hangers.
D: I know, I'm putting away clothes that are already on the hangers.
R: Oh.

I took the next load in.
R: Mommy, NOW what are you doing?
M: I'm putting away the rest of your clothes.
R: Oh, have "fun" with that.
M: ...

I must confess to laughing when I relayed the conversation to Chrys. A lot.

Can't wait til we get to discuss vinyl...

2009-03-30T22:50:00.003-05:00

R: Mommy, what's a video "tape"?
M: Uh, well... before we had DVDs, they used to put videos on magnetic tape and you would play them on a video tape player.
R: "Before"? we had DVDs?

Right...that's a totally foreign time frame to her. Oy.

Weather is confusing

2009-03-25T19:12:00.003-05:00

Today we had hail... LOTS of hail. Big hail.

First, Ryanne was scared. Then, she wanted to go play in the snowballs. Then we let her hold one and she decided it was cold and hard and would hurt. No more wanting to play.

After the rain was over, the sun actually came out (damn Texas weather). She came to me totally freaked out. "MOM, the sun is coming out. We didn't go to sleep. It's morning. We stayed up all.night.long!" This was actually very concerning to her. We were going to be so tired, etc.

I explained that just because the sun was coming out didn't mean it was night; it merely meant that the clouds were going away. Chrys took her outside and explained how the sun comes up on one side of the house and goes down on the other. She seems ok with this now.

My eyes are perfect...

2009-01-24T23:54:00.003-06:00

And that's a problem.

Ryanne has been wanting to go to the eye doctor for a while. She's oddly attracted to the whole doctor thing, in general. Hopefully I'm not generating a hypochondriac.

Anyway...

I took her. She tried on all of the kid glasses while we waited for her appointment.

She has perfect 20/20 vision.

Unfortunately, at her age, she should still be closer to 20/15 or better.

This means that she will need glasses, and probably soon. Her eyesight may end up worse than mine. Only time will tell.

She seems to have my bad ankles, too.

At least my teeth are good...

Perhaps too specific

2008-12-03T22:12:00.001-06:00

Me (as Corin tries to jam his fork into my hand): "Corin, we don't stab people with our forks"
Ryanne: "Mommy, what do we stab people with?"

No vegans here

2008-11-13T23:15:00.002-06:00

Today we were in the car driving along. Ryanne announces that we need to go catch a rabbit. I looked, understandably, a bit confused.

"Why do we need to catch a rabbit?"
"So we can cut it up into small pieces and cook it and eat it."
"..."
"We need a big net so we can catch lots of rabbits to cut up and cook and eat."
"... Ryanne, do you know where beef comes from?"

Yeah...now she wants to know why we don't have a cow so we can have more beef.

Five years

2008-11-03T22:35:00.003-06:00

This one seems so momentous. She's 5. She's so independent.

She had her 5 year well check today. She's 43 inches tall and 41.6 pounds. She's just above 50% on both height and weight, but still tracking well. Definitely no risk of being overweight on that one. The doctor asked her a bunch of questions and she answered them all without issue.

They had a bit of miscommunication about the slides at the park, though. The doctor asked if they had a slide that swirled around. Ryanne said they had one that was a circle and one that was part of a circle. I think the doctor was talking about the top down appearance. Ryanne was discussing cross-section. I don't think the doctor got it.

While we were there, Ryanne started gnawing on her knee. The doctor didn't notice because we were talking about other things. I pointed it out. Chrys and I mentioned that she still bites and chews on just about everything. The doctor said she probably has some sensory issues. She'll prescribe occupational therapy as soon as I figure out which of her recommendations takes our insurance. Honestly, I've seen this coming for a long while. It's kind of nice to have the opportunity to work on it.

She did her first urine test. We got to answer lots of questions about what on earth they were going to do with her pee. Oy.

Four was more. She was more everything. I'm curious to see what five has in store for us. I can see we've still got some work to do on listening and human interactions so she's not going to hurt others. All in all, though, she's more sympathetic, more attentive, more aware of her surroundings.

Oh, and did I mention she could read? We're most of the way through the first BOB collection - short vowel sounds and consonants. She's into longer sentences without issue. Crazy.

She's still at the Y in their Mother's Day Out. She seems happy. They're working on doing more things, more complicated things, because they have some older kids this year. There haven't been any fights. I just don't think we can do summers there again. The academic year with continuity and curriculum is fine. The more open play of the summers is just hard on her. Lesson learned.

On the body

2008-10-12T19:41:00.003-05:00

Recent statements regarding the human anatomy:
(Pointing at her wrist) My blue vines need more batteries.
(Pointing at her neck, concerned) My heart is in my neck!
(After daddy talked to her and calmed her down) Everyone has lots of hearts in their necks, fingers and ankles.

Apparently daddy had explained that oxygen in the blood was like batteries and that blue blood meant it needed more oxygen. She simplified.

As for the heart, she discovered her pulse on her own. Daddy explained that it was a pulse and told her about the other pulse points. More simplification.

She rocks!

Fail...

2008-08-27T14:42:00.004-05:00

After 2 days of how well she was doing, how it seems to be working, how they love her...they had an email complaint this morning that Ryanne had bitten someone during recess yesterday. Ryanne says she didn't, but I watched her almost bite another kid at pickup so I just don't know. She admits to trying to scratch someone because he pushed her. They say he bumped into her and she did scratch.

That reminded me that we had problems when she transitioned to the Y 2 years ago. She bit someone the first week and then stopped. I told them that. I didn't remember it before because it was so long ago and not a continuing problem. She bites at home all the time, but she doesn't do it at school.

After 10 minutes of what a doll, we've loved having her, what does she think, they explained that they didn't think it was working because of the outbreaks and the fact that she's fidgety at the end of circle time. She's right on target for her developmental age, but that age isn't 5. They invited us to try again in January, but I don't know that I will and Chrys absolutely doesn't want to, at least not there. We've already dealt with the Little Gym that labeled her as a problem at the outset and we don't want to risk that again. I took her with me, early, much to their surprise - which I don't get because I would think it would be harder for her to finish out the day with the rest of the class and *then* learn she's not coming back.

I, embarrassingly, cried. She's so, so disappointed. So much for working to fix a problem as it says in their materials. And they kept saying how they don't like surprising people with things, but this was a hell of a shock after the feedback for the rest of the week. Damn "trial week" getting her and my hopes up because, no matter how much I tell her it's a test, she doesn't get that they're testing her, too. This week has been so wonderful with her waking up, eager to go to school.

I don't know what to do. She needs something. *I* need something. The Y doesn't cut it for us anymore because I can't fight her to go everyday. I don't know if our pocketbook can take Montessori. I don't know if I want to send her every day. I guess I need to find some of the part time Montessori schools and see if any of them still have a spot.

Most of all, I'm totally pissed at a school's ability to make me question my knowledge of my daughter. I *know* she's ready for this, but in 15 minutes they made me think I was wrong. Damn them. Damn biting.

First day

2008-08-25T22:22:00.004-05:00

Today, Ryanne started Kindergarten.

I had spent the summer wrapping my head around the fact that I couldn't find a good way to get her into K early. That would leave me with trying to entertain her in other ways this year while she stuck it out at MDO. It wasn't easy to do. I had tried many avenues and my best bet was a school that might take her after a mock day in the second week.

Last Thursday, I got a call from Austin Home Base (aforementioned school). They had her teacher evaluations. They thought she looked like a good candidate. They wanted her to start on the first day. She would have a trial week starting immediately and, based on that, a decision would be made about the rest of the year.

Her first day went well. She presented her endangered animal (manatee) to the class. She was on par with her peers.

It is only three days a week. They are longer days than she's used to, though. She was *tired* tonight. She'll have homework to do on the other two days. It's a nice, gradual entry, while we figure out what to do about next year.

I think I'm still shell shocked. I didn't have time to prepare for her to start. On the one hand, I didn't have time to get myself all riled up. On the other, I don't quite have my head wrapped around her being at such a major milestone. *sniff*

Spatial awareness

2008-06-24T09:08:00.002-05:00

For Father's Day, Ryanne decided that Chrys wanted Legos. He hasn't played with any Legos in quite some time. She got him a fire boat that floats and has an engine that can be submerged in water. It's all about the cool and unique parts for him so she picked well. They spent Corin's naptime putting it together. Well, Chrys laid out pieces and helped and Ryanne assembled.

She did phenomenally. She needs very little guidance on the simple sets.

I got another one for her at Target on Sunday. It's a fire truck from the City series. I think it and the boat are part of the same set, but I haven't looked it up. We've been working on it for two sessions now (nap and bed time for Corin since he likes to eat pieces).

She's putting it together with only a suggestion or two from me. This is not an easy task. I still struggle with spatial issues to this day so the fact that she can conquer this at 4.5 is amazing to me. She doesn't get frustrated. She studies the picture until it makes sense. She's learning to do the piece closer to her and then match the other side if it's a mirror thing. I am in awe.

I guess I'll be keeping an eye out for more of the younger age Lego sets. She seems great with the 5 and up sets right now. I haven't tried 6 or 7 and probably won't rush it.

Lost in translation...

2008-05-25T13:01:00.002-05:00

We got Ryanne the books Pinkalicious and Purplicious.

She likes Pinkalicious. We've talked about how important it is to vary your diet, how you can't eat just one thing, etc. She's got it.

Purplicious, on the other hand, seems to have missed its mark. It talks about how all the other "big" kids liked black and Pinkalicious tried to fit in, but then discovered that she could still like pink because it was special. We loved that it talked about maintaining self-identity. She talked about how much she loved pink.

Now her favorite color is black. Pink is apparently for babies.

Through Ryanne's eyes

2008-05-17T21:01:00.002-05:00

For Christmas, Ryanne got a digital camera. It's nothing fancy, but she asked for a camera that takes real pictures and this one does. She loves it. It eats batteries so I'm not totally in love, but it's fun to see what she likes to look at.

Thanks to the love that is iLife '08, I can now share them with you...

Here are her recent shots. I think some of them are actually by daddy, but they were on her camera.

Observations on independence

2008-04-17T16:47:00.002-05:00

Ryanne's use of description for words she doesn't know absolutely amazes me. Last night she declared that she saw "the guacamole seeds in the guacamole wrappers." We had avocados. I guess she doesn't eat them plain all that often...

She is also becoming very good at asking for help. At Christmas, she asked someone to help her find Christmas wrapping paper, but she didn't know wrapping paper so she asked for something about the paper that you use to hide presents and the lady figured it out and helped her. Then she went to check out, even though I told her I wasn't ready. It was amusing.

Another store trip, I forgot to get wipes for Corin. I mentioned it and, without asking, she took off looking for them. Turns out, she didn't quite remember, but knew to find someone in a green apron (we were at Whole Foods which is pretty small so I wasn't too worried about her wandering off) and ask for help. She did and he walked her to the wipes and then back to me.

She orders her own food at restaurants and, now, gets pretty upset if someone asks me what she wants. She'll be ready for college next week.

Ladies and Gentlemen...

2008-04-15T20:21:00.002-05:00

We have a reader!

Today at Costco, we looked through the books. They happened to have collections of the BOB series from Scholastic for a ridiculously low price. I bought the first boxed set.

Tonight, we opened it up. Ryanne read the first two books and part of the second one to me. By the time we read them to daddy the second time, she was using the picture clues with the words to read instead of having to sound things out.

The third book presented some problems. She didn't know the word rag. She had some trouble with the "r" sound - she wanted to put h in front of it.

Nevertheless...She read! Two books. Simple books, but ... holy crap. I almost cried.

I had told Chrys, a couple of months ago, that I would put money on her reading by summer. He seemed incredulous at the time. That gives her a couple of months still to get some of the sounds ironed out. I think he's glad he didn't take the bet.

Look-alike Meter

2008-01-26T18:43:00.001-06:00

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Family search

On kids

2008-01-15T12:25:00.000-06:00

Ryanne has decided she doesn't want a brother any more. This led to a discussion about how mommy and daddy wanted two kids and she's stuck with him now. She wants to send him back. I assured her he probably felt the same way sometimes.

However, when she grows up she's going to have four kids in her belly. They'll be named Marshall (wonder where she got that), Namma, Colika and Namma. There are two Nammas; she's very specific about that.

Apparently Corin should have the same number because she's decided that there will be 10 kids - her four, his four and then the two of them. I decided not to delve into the whole she better not still be a kid when she's having kids thing just yet.

The Weather Game

2007-12-29T11:54:00.000-06:00

Chrys has convinced RC that we have another game on the Wii. Today, she asked to if she could make it not cold. He asked if she wanted to make it rain in China. She liked that idea.

Killer

2007-12-27T19:48:00.000-06:00

There was a flying something in the house tonight as Ryanne and I sat eating dessert. She was watching it closely. It flew over and landed on her chest so I reached over, tapped her and it fell to the floor.

She looked at me in horror. Her face crumpled. "I don't want it deaded."

Since when can I not kill insects in the house? Gah!

She bent down and gently picked it up off the floor.
R: "Make it not deaded."
M: "I can't do that, sweetie. We can put it outside and let its spirit fly, though."
R: "Yeah"

We open the door and she drops it outside saying something about fly little buggie, fly away.

R: "Its friends will help it get better."
M: "We can only hope."
R: "Then it can come back inside."
M: "I'm sure we'll see one again."

She still wasn't totally ok when she went upstairs. I didn't expect something like this to set her off this early. I guess all of the death she's experienced in her short life has really had more of an effect on her than I ever realized. I will certainly be more careful about trying to catch and release. Now, if I could just get her to stop squishing the ones outside. Hypocrite.

Little shopper

2007-12-21T15:55:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we went to Hallmark. While I looked for an ornament I wanted, I sent RC to find new wrapping paper (gods only know where the rest of ours went - we don't *remember* using it all up).

She comes over after a bit. "Mommy, you need to come pay." "Ryanne, I'm not ready to check out yet." "Oh." Runs off.

I wander about and end up tracking her down near the wrapping paper. The sales clerk says that Ryanne asked to be shown the "roll paper that's sticky". The clerk said, "tape?" "No, I have that. The big roll wrap paper." At which point she was shown to the wrapping paper. Apparently she debated between two rolls for some time. The clerk thought it was awesome.

Then we went to check out. "There you are again," says the lady. I must have looked confused. "She (pointing at Ryanne) came over earlier with her paper and some other stuff and asked to go so I had her all rung up. Then she came back and said you weren't ready to pay. I didn't realize she wasn't alone (what? who sends their 4 year old shopping alone?!) She just needs your credit card and she'll be all set."

I sighed. She's right in this case, though. If I can teach her to do her laundry and use the microwave, she'll be ready to live on her own. :)

Scratch that

2007-12-16T21:25:00.000-06:00

We now have a hand drawn letter to the big man in red. She wants an iPod. With headphones.

Really, she wants a big one (Classic), but she said she'd be ok with a little one (Nano). She's getting the smallest nano they make, but it will have the video capability that might enable longer car rides. This is really why we would even consider it.

I think we have our bases covered. Unless she doubles back to the doll, something she *really* wants will be under the tree.

Spoiled? What are you talking about?

More Ryanne-isms

2007-12-16T21:17:00.000-06:00

I think I've talked about work shirts before. Anything that buttons up is a work shirt. She identifies these because it's what Chrys wears to work.

She has YMCA shirts that she and I have to wear to go to the Y. If I go to the Y not in one of those she knows it's going to be a short visit or for school. So help me if I wear one and don't get hers out, too. Specifically it's a red one for Healthy Kids Day. She doesn't recognize any of her other Y shirts as YMCA work shirts. Yes, she works at the Y, too. She earns money by helping me clean toys. That's why she needs a YMCA work shirt. She's adamant about this.

And, now, we have Daddy Day shirts. These are Chrys' solid color t-shirts that he wears on weekends. She apparently let him know of this when helping him get something in the laundry one day. I think she was looking for jeans and was naming off things as she found them. He asked for clarification, but it was as he expected.

The doctor says she's 4

2007-12-07T16:20:00.001-06:00

She was 40" tall and 35.6lbs. Her blood pressure was 90/40. She got her DTaP, MMR, IPV and Chickenpox vaccine. I still feel guilty about the chickenpox. She's still 50th percentile all the way around. She also got the flu mist. I think this is one of the last times she's eligible for that. I don't know what I'll do about it next year.

We talked about her eye sight - she passed the test, even reading all the letters mostly correctly. They didn't test her hearing again. We talked about her relationship with her brother.

We talked about her being a bit of a pain and the doctor said it was normal. She's apparently 4. Ah well...

The return of Popo

2007-11-23T20:17:00.000-06:00

Popo has been missing for weeks now. Ryanne asks about her periodically. I've turned the house upside down looking - the couch, my room, her room, drawers, etc. I've looked in my car. I've looked at the Y, both in the nursery and her classroom for Mother's Day Out. Nothing.

Last night, Chrys went through our closet again. He opened Ryanne's luggage. Lo and behold, there's Popo, all packed up and ready for a trip.

It was then that I remembered her dragging her bag out into my room when I was talking about us leaving. Sadly, I don't remember if it was for Albuquerque or one of the Midland trips. I remembered her talking about packing. I remember telling her that she couldn't take her bag and putting it back in the closet. I should have opened it to make sure there was nothing in it, but I didn't.

Chrys tucked Popo into Ryanne's arms as she slept last night. She came out of her room holding her this morning. They've been inseparable since.

Turns out that Ryanne can now get Popo's clothes on and off all by herself. She's come a long way with her abilities on the doll.

She told me that she didn't want an American Doll now; she only wanted that when she didn't have Popo.

It reminds me of my first baby doll that I remember being really attached to - Suzy. I took her everywhere. I found her when we were in Midland packing and moving. I wanted to keep her. I don't remember, now, if I did or if reason set in and I let her go on.

Honestly, I don't know who was more upset about Popo being missing. (Chrys and) I thought it was mostly me because Ryanne didn't ask about her that much. Seeing Ryanne today interacting with Popo, though, I think she really missed having her around.

Nevermind...

2007-11-23T18:52:00.000-06:00

Dear Santa,

From Ryanne

For Christmas, I want a grocery place. I want Whole Foods that has groceries, ok? It has to be painted. I want a camera that does real pictures. Not that kiddie one. I think that's it. I want a haircut stand for Popo. (She wants the one pictured in the Popo brochure, but I've convinced her that one from Target will do.)

A dictated letter

2007-11-20T07:47:00.001-06:00

Dear Santa,

I want (points to the American Girl catalog) that dolly. (Mom: I think it's Julie Albright, but she's also taken with Julie's friend "the Japan one".) I like that doll, too. (M: This one's Samantha which I already have.) I want 5. (M: This was a response to "how many dollies do you want?" which I asked after she pointed at Josefina and said she wanted that one, too.) I want all dollies so all the other girls can't have any, ok? I want every dollies, ok?

(M: Then we found the "just like you" series.) I want one that's just like me. Her name is Ryanne: R-Y-A-N-N-E. I want clothes for her, too. I want a guitar for her. A puppy for her. And pizza - a pizza party for her. I want that clothing (M: a Hula outfit) that doesn't have any shoes. And I want that one with any shoes - it has brown pants and a blue shirt (M: same page as the hula outfit).

Thank you, Santa.

Love, Ryanne

Upgrade

2007-11-19T08:03:00.000-06:00

Ryanne recently figured out that she was tall enough to easily see the table while sitting in one of the 'big people' chairs instead of her chair (a Stokke knock off that we picked up in Japan). Since it was getting to be time to switch Corin to something other than his high chair, we moved her. She is ecstatic. She alternates which chair she uses at the table (for all but dinner time with daddy) to test them all out.

Ad free

2007-11-15T20:16:00.000-06:00

Tonight, Chrys sat down with RC to watch some TV. He only wanted a minute or two so he turned on broadcast - we don't have cable and 99.9% of what the kids watch is videos or rips of the videos on the AppleTV. They ended up with the Simpsons. They watched for a few minutes and then it cut to a commercial.

Ryanne said, "This is just like a hotel TV."

I hate being right

2007-11-02T08:44:00.001-05:00

Interior. Daylight. Mommy is on the step ladder in the kitchen putting away the "G" glasses that Great-Greendad insisted we take (or at least that's what Grandma says).

R: Mommy, can I help you?
M: Yes, Ryanne, you can bring me the glasses, please - one at a time so you can use both hands.

Ryanne successfully carries 4 or so of the glasses to me. Two remain.

R: Mommy, look. (She is carrying two, one in each hand.)
M: Ryanne put one of them back. I am worried that if you bring both, one will drop and break.

Instead of turning around and putting one down, she starts running toward me with both of them. She holds one out and I grab it as she nears...

R: Mommy, I can *crash*. (Crying.)

Ah well, the kitchen floor needed cleaning anyway.

Toy autonomy

2007-11-01T21:21:00.000-05:00

Apparently the magic age for being able to get your own toys out of the package thankyouverymuch is 4.

I got some Halloween toys on clearance at Target today. I handed Ryanne the bag. She started pulling things out. She started opening the first one. I asked if she wanted help.

I received the most exasperated sigh, followed by a teenage-esque "No-oh".

Then she proceeded to rip two My Little Ponies from their packages. One package won and she needed a band aid on her thumb. That didn't dissuade her from her mission, though.

In the end, she was victorious. She opened her toys and her brother's. Without any of my help.

Now to teach her to do laundry and she'll be ready for college. :)

Happy 4th birthday

2007-10-29T21:27:00.000-05:00

Today, my little girl turned four. In reality, she's been four for a few weeks. There was this magical week when things changed.

The tantrums got oh so much more ... more.

The thought processes were so much more complex.

The ability to rationalize things really started coming in to play.

The lying. The lying started.

The ability to amaze me with what she could grasp: with her logic, with her physical capabilities, with her humor.

It's astounding how quickly the transition came about and how truly profound it is. She is, indeed, becoming more a thinking, rational person right before my eyes.

I want to freeze time and enjoy the now, but I don't want to miss what might come next.

So we plod on. She tells me that she's going to be 5 next. I told her I'd like to enjoy 4 for a while first.

Who needs stairs?

2007-10-19T09:34:00.000-05:00

When you've got a 2-3 inch strip of base on the railing that you can use to carefully scale to the second floor...

*sigh*

Where you yell for your doll, waking your brother up. *grrr*

Writing leads to aging

2007-10-15T22:16:00.000-05:00

Back in May, she wrote "mom" on the side of the tub and was crazy proud of herself. We had been working on tracing, but they taught them that one for Mother's Day cards at school.

A few weeks (couple of months at this point, maybe) she told me she wanted to write her name. She got 99% of it right copying what I'd written. We had to get the N's to not look like M's. Easy enough.

At this point, she's fully functional. She can write her name with no prompt. She can spell it for anyone that asks. She can find the keys on the computer and type it.

She asked to learn the other letters. We got a couple of workbooks: letters and numbers. She wanted more so we picked up cutting, pasting, and coloring. She's cutting like a pro. Her teachers say she's the only one whose pencil holding they don't have to correct.

She can identify most of the numbers. She's counting to almost 20 (which is amazing considering I rarely remember to help her count past 5 or 10). She's starting to play with addition on her fingers.

She can identify heaps of letters and is asking about sounds. She actually sounded out "hat" one day.

When did she become more 4 than 3?

Adventures in role play

2007-10-10T22:34:00.000-05:00

From the back of the car in Midland, in the deepest little girl voice imaginable.

"Hi, Core, I'm DA. Hi, Cory, I'm Da! Hello Corin. Da says Hi! Da Da Da. Say hi to Da, C-man."

Repeat...while her parents just about die laughing in the front.

Intuitively obvious

2007-09-13T16:35:00.000-05:00

Apparently AppleTV is simple enough for RC. I left her watching Blue while I went up to get Corin from his nap. I came back to her dancing like a mad woman around the living room to Deep Blue Something (the only artist on the thing right now). She proclaims, "I pushed something and made it make music."

Go Apple.

Fashionista

2007-09-12T21:51:00.000-05:00

"Pink is the new purple," she tells Chrys. We haven't figured out if this means she no longer likes purple or what.

Where does she come up with this stuff?

Growth spurt

2007-08-18T23:25:00.001-05:00

That was sudden. RC was wearing normal clothes today and yesterday (nothing bulky) and we couldn't get her buckled in to the car seat in either car without letting her buckles out. Two days. Two cars. Nothing major, but a little bit of extra room required.

She's leaned back out, too. You can see ribs again. She's got a freaking 6 pack that you can see when she sits up. She's strong. Crazy strong.

Chrys reminded me of something I read years ago that growth spurts can be quite sudden, but man... That seems a bit extreme.

Reading

2007-08-01T14:26:00.000-05:00

We've been working on phonics with Ryanne. The other day, we were working on the letter C in a workbook I picked up. This one wanted her to pick the words that started with the letter C.

I pointed at the picture of the cake.
M: What's this?
R: Icing?
M: Well, yes, but what's the icing on?
R: Chocolate? (It was a chocolate cake)
M: *sigh* Yes, but a chocolate what?
R: Cake?
M: YES! Does that start with "kuh"?
R: YES!

It never dawned on me that working to give her a HUGE vocabulary would be detrimental to teaching her to read. Clearly we need a different style of workbook.

On marriage

2007-08-01T14:24:00.000-05:00

Ryanne and Chrys were discussing me the other day. Chrys was explaining that I was his wife. Ryanne was arguing that I wasn't; I was her mommy. Chrys said that I was his wife, I had promised "to have and to hold." Ryanne replied that I *carried* her. That ended the discussion.

Not the teeth...

2007-08-01T14:10:00.000-05:00

Today Ryanne was running around like she often does. She was getting hungry and spastic, as 3 years olds are wont to do.

She and the little girl she was running with crashed into each other.

Ryanne starts crying...far more than normal. Being half a head taller, she had smashed her teeth into the top of the other girl's head.

There was blood on the gumline of her top right tooth. It didn't stop for over 30 minutes. It wasn't gushing, but every time her saliva would wash it away, a new line would form. She said it hurt and bad. It didn't stop her from eating the McDonald's she asked for. (How could I say no?) She says it's better now.

We have a dentist appointment at 8:30am tomorrow to get it checked.

I hope it's nothing. I hope she didn't do any damage. I hope it's not going to die and grey. Thank GOD it's a baby tooth.

Waffles

2007-07-29T10:09:00.000-05:00

Today, Chrys made me the chocolate chip waffles I requested. The kids had already eaten, but Ryanne wanted one. She ate all of it.

Ryanne: I hate waffles.
Daddy (looks at her nearly empty plate): No, you love waffles.
R: I hate them, too.
Mommy: There are no people that hate waffles in our house.
D: There are people that hate waffles. In general, I ridicule them.
R: You already killed them?
D: I ridicule them. I make fun of them.
R: You already killed them.
M: He teases them. He calls them names.

We get into a discussion about the definition of ridicule and it's not having any impact on her. At this point, Chrys and I have just about lost it. I came over here to write it down.

D (looks at me): Devil woman.
R (looks at daddy): You are a devil woman, too.
D: I have the wrong parts to be a devil woman.

Growing...

2007-07-25T11:20:00.000-05:00

We've entered that phase. The one where she tries on her jeans from last winter and they're an inch or more too short. The Levi's she got from Aunt Chris last winter...yeah, those. I didn't have to let out the waist any, though.

I knew she had grown, but sheesh... Time to go through her closet. Again.

Creativity

2007-07-20T21:40:00.000-05:00

I guess my making up songs is really sinking in with her.

In music class, we've been singing this Spanish song:

Agarra tu sombrero y pontelo
vamos a la playa calienta el sol
chiviriviri po pon po chiviriviri po pon po

Well, we're asked to make up our own verse to tell a story. We go around the circle and you can sing or pass. The first week, I made up a cool song about my pinky toe - since it was my first time in there in the shoe, it offered an easy way to explain what had happened. This week, I rambled about trying to go to Maine to see the kids' great-grandmother.

Well, this week, Ryanne was also asked if she wanted to make up a song. She did. She sang about meeting Anna at the park and playing in the house. She did an incredible job of following the meter of the music. It was amazing to listen to.

We'll be signing up for more music classes. Definitely.

Lullaby

2007-07-10T14:24:00.000-05:00

Chrys and I used to take turns singing to her every night when she was younger. Then, as we nightweaned and Corin was born, he took over bedtime duty and, I think, began almost exclusively reading to her.

We've been playing with bedtime routines lately as we try to gently sleep train Corin. The result is that I get to sing to Ryanne at bedtime again. As with her books, she gets 3 songs. Usually she wants one of her Japanese songs - I only know 2 or 3, but it's enough. Then, she often requests one about her Purple Cat.

Purple Cat is a pillow made to look like the (no longer available - now they just have cocoa cats) purple cat Peeps that came out at Halloween. We got it on mega clearance one day when she was learning what a pillow was (almost 2 years ago).

There is no song that goes along with her Purple Cat. I made something up. It was 4 lines, rhyming dyads, nothing fancy. The next night, she wanted the song again. I couldn't remember what I had sung the night before so she got a new one. Now, she asks for it just about every night and I don't think I've repeated lyrics yet.

The last song is one I get to pick. I've sung "Sunshine on my Shoulders" (by John Denver) because my mom used to sing that to me. I've sung the chorus of "You are My Sunshine" because Chrys' mom used to sing that to him. (Ryanne also recognizes that as the song they sing at the end of the Biscuit Brothers concerts so she loves hearing that one. In fact, she started sining it in the car today on the way to the Y and it almost made me cry. She has the sweetest little voice. How's that for a tangent?) Sometimes I sing something from our Music Together classes. (Love those because I will apparently be reminded of, or learn, 1 or 2 new lullabies every session.) Chrys sings "Twinkle, Twinkle" in Latin and English or the "ABC"s and I've adopted those.

I always love finding new songs to sing, though. Anything anyone else remembers fondly or sings to their kids?

Skeevies

2007-06-24T10:39:00.000-05:00

Ryanne has this thing where she'll grab one finger and sit and play with it. It started out not bothering me that much. She'd sit and hold one finger and it wasn't that weird. It really bugged Chrys very quickly. At this point, she almost always grabs my pinky and it's gotten to the point where it TOTALLY weirds me out. I just hate the sensation of having my pinky pulled back so she can grip it. I end up with chills and blech for FAR longer than she actually touches me. Ech.

Katamari

2007-06-22T17:02:00.000-05:00

We've been letting Ryanne try her hand at Katamari Damacy more lately. She's really come a long way. She now deliberately moves the katamari to different locations. I don't know yet that she separates the finger motions, at least not purposefully. She can roll various directions, chase things (and catch them), and turn around pretty well. It's really phenomenal how far she's come.

She's still not fast at it. Right now, she's playing a level to get to 10m so she can take as long as she wants and when she gets bored, we'll see how close she got. That's just about perfect for her.

This came after her first lessons learning to knit today. She does pretty well wrapping the yarn. She could tell me what motions to make with the needles, but didn't want to totally control them on her own. Still impressive for 3.5.

Crafty

2007-06-21T21:20:00.000-05:00

Ryanne is in love with the new JoAnn's superstore. It has fabric and pretty purple yarn and 'crafts' and so much goodness in one store. She asks to go there on a regular basis - at least weekly.

On one of our first trips, she wanted a build your own bear thing. They had The Hulk, a princess, a ballerina and SpiderMan to choose from. My girl wanted SpiderMan. Desperately. She was pretty rude about it so we didn't get it. Next time we were in the store, she actually remembered it and asked very nicely. I had a 50% off coupon - yay internetz - so we got it.

We got home and we sat down on the floor and got it stuffed. She didn't particularly like that process so I ended up doing a lot of it. Then it was time to name it. She picked Spider Mater, in honor of two of her favorite characters these days. She loves dressing Spider Mater in his costume.

Last week, she decided she needed to knit. She wanted to knit for me - I'm working on a skirt for her these days. I asked her how she knitted and she started waving her hands around frantically in the air. I told her it was a much smaller motion and she started waving in small circles in the air. We now have one skein of yarn that she picked - purple, of course - and some kid length size 10 needles because on her last trip to JoAnn's she insisted that I teach her to knit. I'll see if I can get her started on a small scarf. I figure even if she just knits the whole thing it would be pretty amazing feat for a 3 year old.

She loves foamies and stickers and glitter glue. She's getting MUCH better with scissors. She's really enjoying her play-doh. I think she got the art gene that exists in both families, but seems to have skipped her father and me.

Shape matching

2007-06-05T21:27:00.000-05:00

The other day we were at McAlister's Deli eating dinner. She points up at the wall and says, "It says Subway." Chrys and I both turn around and study the signs. Finally, I get that she's pointing at the one that says "Spud Max" - one of their menu items. Given her constant confusion of M and W, and typical 3 year old dyslexic tendencies for the d/b, she's pretty darn close.

I think she's going to be reading sooner rather than later.