Milestones
Tink--finished her reading lessons and earned a fish. She had to take care of a pretend fish for a month to prove she was responsible enough to take care of a real fish. She got the real fish just after Christmas and has been doing a great job taking care of it. She stays up some nights after the other kids go to bed to read. She has really started to enjoy reading. It is so exciting for me!
--started piano lessons in September. She is improving every day and seems to really enjoy learning. Some days she tells me she never wanted to take piano lessons and why did you sign us up for them, but that's usually when she needs to practice and doesn't want to do it. She was struggling with keeping a steady beat for the first few months, but I think she is starting to get the hang of it now. She also finally admitted that she was having a hard time with some of the songs because she would try to sing/read the words of the song while she was trying to play/read the notes. So, I think that will start to get better, too. She understands how to read music really well, though.
--played soccer. See details in the Soccer post.
Skinja--started to play flag football. He was super-excited to get to finally play football like Daddy. Every practice we went to he would play with his teammates before and after practice, but he refused to participate in the practice. We went to their first pre-season game and he wouldn't participate in it, either. He was willing to go out on the field and cheer his teammates on, but we were told that if he didn't participate in the game, he couldn't be on the field because it was too dangerous. I'll let you figure that one out. It didn't make much sense to me, either! Aside from that, I had some issues with the way the organization was toward Skinja and his attitude, so we decided to pull him out. There were a number of factors that played into it all, but as much as I dislike quitting, it just felt like that was the right decision for us.
--started piano lessons in September as well. He seems to have a talent for music. He really enjoys music and plays really well. He picks up the songs pretty quickly. He does get frustrated when he can't get a song exactly right. He started on a book just behind Tink and right after Christmas he moved into the same book as Tink.
--is improving with recognizing and remembering letter names and sounds. We do reading lessons together and I can tell that things are starting to click a little better with him now than when we were doing them last year. He's not reading yet, but he's getting there.
Daffodil--just moved into Sunbeams and is doing fantastically. She is so easy going! She told me at first that she didn't want to go to Primary and that she wanted to go back to Nursery, but she does so good in Primary. She sits in her seat and listens most of them. She was even asked to say the prayer last week and got right up and said a prayer all by herself. She wasn't scared or nervous or anything.
--was the bravest, most calm of any of the kids when getting her flu shot. Last week all four kids got flu shots. Tink and Skinja got their shots on Thursday. Tink kept telling me that she wasn't afraid of shots anymore and that it was going to be fine, but when it came time to get it. She started to freak out. The nurse finally managed to give her the shot, but Tink yelled and cried pretty good. Then, it was Skinja's turn. It was practically torture for him. He was a wreck before it was even his turn. Tink's reaction to her shot did NOT help matters at all. We ended up having to get another nurse come in to hold his arms down, and I had to hold the leg that wasn't getting the shot, so he wouldn't kick the nurse giving the shot. It was horrible. He screamed and cried and yelled. I almost started to crying because I felt so bad for him. I think he would have done better if Daddy had been there, and he told me he will definitely be there when Skinja has to get his other regular shots. So, the next day it was Daffodil's and Bitty's turns. When it was time for her shot, Daffodil climbed up on the table, sat there completely calm, watched the nurse clean her leg and give her the shot like it was no big deal. It was amazing! It was like those commercials when something is so grand and they make it seem like angels are singing. Yeah, it was like that. LOL I was so incredibly proud of her. She was a champ! So I took her to the store and let her pick out an ice cream treat for doing such a fabulous job. It was awesome.
--is growing like a weed. She is bigger than Tink was at her age. She's not even 4 yet and we're just about ready to switch her into the 4T clothes.
Bitty--is walking. She started at 11 months and hasn't slowed down since.
--is a monkey! I used to think that Skinja was my biggest monkey-child. I remember when he was about 2 years old scaling the kitchen counters in our apartment. Bitty is only 14 months and has been climbing on things for about 2-3 months, basically since she could walk. She climbs everything!!! Sometimes it amazes me what she is able to pull herself up onto. And then I think, "man, it sure would be nice to have that arm strength to pull myself up without anything else."
--is talking. She says mama, dada, papa and Alice. It's pretty funny that she learned the dog's name before the brother and sisters, but I'm fairly certain that's because we call for Alice quite frequently. It's pretty cute when she copies us.
--started piano lessons in September. She is improving every day and seems to really enjoy learning. Some days she tells me she never wanted to take piano lessons and why did you sign us up for them, but that's usually when she needs to practice and doesn't want to do it. She was struggling with keeping a steady beat for the first few months, but I think she is starting to get the hang of it now. She also finally admitted that she was having a hard time with some of the songs because she would try to sing/read the words of the song while she was trying to play/read the notes. So, I think that will start to get better, too. She understands how to read music really well, though.
--played soccer. See details in the Soccer post.
Skinja--started to play flag football. He was super-excited to get to finally play football like Daddy. Every practice we went to he would play with his teammates before and after practice, but he refused to participate in the practice. We went to their first pre-season game and he wouldn't participate in it, either. He was willing to go out on the field and cheer his teammates on, but we were told that if he didn't participate in the game, he couldn't be on the field because it was too dangerous. I'll let you figure that one out. It didn't make much sense to me, either! Aside from that, I had some issues with the way the organization was toward Skinja and his attitude, so we decided to pull him out. There were a number of factors that played into it all, but as much as I dislike quitting, it just felt like that was the right decision for us.
--started piano lessons in September as well. He seems to have a talent for music. He really enjoys music and plays really well. He picks up the songs pretty quickly. He does get frustrated when he can't get a song exactly right. He started on a book just behind Tink and right after Christmas he moved into the same book as Tink.
--is improving with recognizing and remembering letter names and sounds. We do reading lessons together and I can tell that things are starting to click a little better with him now than when we were doing them last year. He's not reading yet, but he's getting there.
Daffodil--just moved into Sunbeams and is doing fantastically. She is so easy going! She told me at first that she didn't want to go to Primary and that she wanted to go back to Nursery, but she does so good in Primary. She sits in her seat and listens most of them. She was even asked to say the prayer last week and got right up and said a prayer all by herself. She wasn't scared or nervous or anything.
--was the bravest, most calm of any of the kids when getting her flu shot. Last week all four kids got flu shots. Tink and Skinja got their shots on Thursday. Tink kept telling me that she wasn't afraid of shots anymore and that it was going to be fine, but when it came time to get it. She started to freak out. The nurse finally managed to give her the shot, but Tink yelled and cried pretty good. Then, it was Skinja's turn. It was practically torture for him. He was a wreck before it was even his turn. Tink's reaction to her shot did NOT help matters at all. We ended up having to get another nurse come in to hold his arms down, and I had to hold the leg that wasn't getting the shot, so he wouldn't kick the nurse giving the shot. It was horrible. He screamed and cried and yelled. I almost started to crying because I felt so bad for him. I think he would have done better if Daddy had been there, and he told me he will definitely be there when Skinja has to get his other regular shots. So, the next day it was Daffodil's and Bitty's turns. When it was time for her shot, Daffodil climbed up on the table, sat there completely calm, watched the nurse clean her leg and give her the shot like it was no big deal. It was amazing! It was like those commercials when something is so grand and they make it seem like angels are singing. Yeah, it was like that. LOL I was so incredibly proud of her. She was a champ! So I took her to the store and let her pick out an ice cream treat for doing such a fabulous job. It was awesome.
--is growing like a weed. She is bigger than Tink was at her age. She's not even 4 yet and we're just about ready to switch her into the 4T clothes.
Bitty--is walking. She started at 11 months and hasn't slowed down since.
--is a monkey! I used to think that Skinja was my biggest monkey-child. I remember when he was about 2 years old scaling the kitchen counters in our apartment. Bitty is only 14 months and has been climbing on things for about 2-3 months, basically since she could walk. She climbs everything!!! Sometimes it amazes me what she is able to pull herself up onto. And then I think, "man, it sure would be nice to have that arm strength to pull myself up without anything else."
--is talking. She says mama, dada, papa and Alice. It's pretty funny that she learned the dog's name before the brother and sisters, but I'm fairly certain that's because we call for Alice quite frequently. It's pretty cute when she copies us.
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