Well, here's another entry finally. A lot has been going on. Soccer has started for N. E has taken up the clarinet and we are still in search of a violin and piano teacher for N and D. I am hoping to simplify as much as possible and either find a college student in town with a car who can come to our home and teach, or to take the kids to a local music store for lessons all at once with 3 different instruments. Wonder how lucky I will get there. A has started preschool and seems to like it for the most part. She gets so bored at home with me sometimes, so it's a welcome break 2 days a week (for both of us). She complained for the first time about going the other morning, but went when I told her she had to. I always hate it when they figure out it's not an option and they must go to school. It's a long battle for the rest of their childhood after that day.
The Baby has had many firsts of her own in the past few months as well. I should be better about recording right when they happen, but hey- I have 5 children! Not to mention that I still don't feel quite settled in our new place yet. Organizing things just the way I want takes me a while, and if it's not something that effects every day living- I procrastinate. But I digress-- E has 2 lower teeth now (those popped up around 6 months of age). She bites on occasion and I howl and scare her to death. We are learning to deal. I sometimes call her barracuda baby. Then at 7 months she began to crawl and our lives have taken a whole new turn as she gets into about everything she shouldn't and has recently even put her finger in a fan. It was nice of her to wait until things were mostly unpacked first though. Then around the same time (7mo), she gave her first wave to a friend of mine leaving the house. It was so unexpected for me! I checked in with a pediatrician who told me that they don't usually do that until 9-10 months, so I am fairly certain that she is a communications genius! This has sparked my interest in teaching her baby signs. A has already shown great interest in signing (making up her own hand signals for various things), so she has been a good tutor for me. She gets out the small book I bought and does the signs for this or that to me. Whoever put that book together was thinking because even a preschooler can know what the signs are for since there are pictures of say a cat on the cat signing page, etc. A knows a lot of signs now! Anyways I am rather impatient and thought that possibly I would give up too soon without seeing fast results with the Baby, but after only a month of signing to her she has now picked up 2 signs. I thought my eyes were deceiving me at first but she has done it too many times now this week for me to argue with her. She does the sign for milk and a funny version of cracker that reminds me of a rapper. I guess it's just as I suspected-genius...
Stuff I write about.... How's that for creative?
September 22, 2007
September 08, 2007
Long lost blog
I know it has been a long time since I blogged. I have had many things get in the way I guess. I promised myself I would get back into it though, so here I am. T has pooped out for the night and the house is quiet at 10:31pm, so I should be able to crank something out without interruption.
Big Girl has started University Pre-school, and seems to be enjoying it a lot. Every night she asks if the next day is a school day or not. We were very lucky to get her in since there was a long waiting list that we would not have made it through had we not been 'legacy' (meaning I have had children attend there before). Teacher Jan came up to me on Thursday and said that she had a story to share. Apparently during dress up time there was a girl with slow speech who was chattering away incomprehensibly. Big Girl got a strange look on her face and asked the teacher if that blond girl was a Korean.
It's funny to notice things I never would before about Asian people I see here in Iowa. There are a fair number of Koreans attending U of I, or here for other reasons as well. This week when a skinny Asian woman walked right out in front of my car without looking, N and I both noticed that she must be from Korea (or somewhere close). I was also in the car when I noticed someone walking on the sidewalk from a distance, and I sensed in the way they were doing whirlybird motions with their arms while walking that this must also be someone of Korean decent. Sure enough when I got close enough- she looked the part. One of the benefits of living in another culture is that I can smile when I see familiar things I guess.
Another funny Big Girl story and then I will turn in. I have been called as the primary chorister and this month we learned the song "Listen Listen" only we learned to sign the song. So Big Girl has taken it upon herself to make up some signs to use when she wants me to know something. She likes to tell me with her made up signs when she has to use the bathroom. Something I am usually telling her that I don't need for her to tell me when we are at home- she can just go on her own. Perhaps this is why she feels a sign is neccessary instead of 'telling' she can show me with her signs. So for pee she shows me a sign that seems pretty appropriate. She puts her hand down between her legs and points her index finder to the ground, symbolizing a stream of urine I assume. For number 2 she curls the same finger toward her bottom, I guess pointing to the origin of said waste product. So the other day she came to me with a new sign she had ingeniously come up with to represent when she has to do both. One hand forms a circle (poop) and the other makes a straight finger over the circle (peep). She is such a funny gal! We have told her that public use of these signs isn't neccessary.
Big Girl has started University Pre-school, and seems to be enjoying it a lot. Every night she asks if the next day is a school day or not. We were very lucky to get her in since there was a long waiting list that we would not have made it through had we not been 'legacy' (meaning I have had children attend there before). Teacher Jan came up to me on Thursday and said that she had a story to share. Apparently during dress up time there was a girl with slow speech who was chattering away incomprehensibly. Big Girl got a strange look on her face and asked the teacher if that blond girl was a Korean.
It's funny to notice things I never would before about Asian people I see here in Iowa. There are a fair number of Koreans attending U of I, or here for other reasons as well. This week when a skinny Asian woman walked right out in front of my car without looking, N and I both noticed that she must be from Korea (or somewhere close). I was also in the car when I noticed someone walking on the sidewalk from a distance, and I sensed in the way they were doing whirlybird motions with their arms while walking that this must also be someone of Korean decent. Sure enough when I got close enough- she looked the part. One of the benefits of living in another culture is that I can smile when I see familiar things I guess.
Another funny Big Girl story and then I will turn in. I have been called as the primary chorister and this month we learned the song "Listen Listen" only we learned to sign the song. So Big Girl has taken it upon herself to make up some signs to use when she wants me to know something. She likes to tell me with her made up signs when she has to use the bathroom. Something I am usually telling her that I don't need for her to tell me when we are at home- she can just go on her own. Perhaps this is why she feels a sign is neccessary instead of 'telling' she can show me with her signs. So for pee she shows me a sign that seems pretty appropriate. She puts her hand down between her legs and points her index finder to the ground, symbolizing a stream of urine I assume. For number 2 she curls the same finger toward her bottom, I guess pointing to the origin of said waste product. So the other day she came to me with a new sign she had ingeniously come up with to represent when she has to do both. One hand forms a circle (poop) and the other makes a straight finger over the circle (peep). She is such a funny gal! We have told her that public use of these signs isn't neccessary.
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