Last Thursday, I struggled to fall asleep as I was thinking about JoElle's gymnastics. It's been over five months since she has been able to practice. I was thinking about her future and all the money we are spending on tuition. Maybe for no reason?? Right now Covid-19 has had us locked down since early March. Gyms are starting back up this week at 25% capacity.
However, Tim and I are not comfortable with her going. She has a heart defect from birth that was discovered when she had an echocardiagram last June on the way to diagnosing SVT (supraventricular tachycardia). It's called PDA and its a small hole that should have closed days after birth It isn't large enough to cause a heart murmur so it didn't show up until now. If it had been larger she would have needed surgery as a baby. Although rare, children up to around age 21 are developing an inflammatory disease with Covid or after having it that causes the heart to fail and they need to be hospitalized in ICU. How are we supposed to be ok with her resuming practice with so many other girls?
I spoke with her the following morning to get an idea of how she was feeling about it all.
She told me she wants to retire and does not want to do college gymnastics. JoElle told me she had been praying for a way to bring it up to us. She explained that she wants to focus on school and she does not enjoy it the way she did previously. I told her I support her.
I helped her talk to her dad. Tim does not agree but did say we need facts over the next couple months. He told her she would be bored in college without gymnastics and she responded that she doesn't agree.We shall see. For now, I contacted gym and they are not charging us for now.Instead, we are investing the money from tuition in the brokerage accounts we just opened for them.
We are all praying for wisdom and peace with the decision.
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
6th Grade Graduation
Next Thursday would have been Alexa's 6th grade graduation from elementary school. She has completed 7 years with all A's! We are very proud of her accomplishments in and out of the classroom.
She loves playing cello and she is currently doing private lessons with a JH orchestra teacher and she is growing by leaps and bounds! She has two solos to work on and the first Bach Minuet is really starting to sound good!
Alexa shared several weeks ago that she is a little sad that she is missing all the 6th grade end of year activities that she would have enjoyed, including 6th grade orchestra trip to NRH2O Waterpark, spring orchestra concert, awards ceremony, graduation and the 6th grade clapout, where all the other grades line the hallway and clap for them as they leave Pearcy for their last day of elementary school.
Instead the school is doing a drive thru clapout and sending us certificates for awards. I feel like she is taking it well. Will see what she thinks about next week, the last week of elementary!
Saturday, April 18, 2020
Where did the time go?
Wow I can't believe I have so many posts detailing the girls' milestones and little anecdotes from daily life on here!
I honestly haven't been on here in many years. I started postng to FB around 2009.
How about some recent updates?
JoEllle is now 15 and Alexa is 12!!
JoElle is finishing up her first year of high school! She has all A's and we are very proud of her! Her favorite subject is biology, so she came to me recently as I slept on the couch (Covid-19 has me crashing on the couch after Tim's kicks me out of our room so he can work!)
She was talking so fast and I was so groggy."Mommy, I want to change my track to science!"
"What in the world are you talking about," I muttered.
JoElle kept talking faster than I could comprehend, plus I couldn't see her holding the paper she was trying to ask me to review since I am blind without contacts! I finally woke up enough to let her know I needed to put my contacts in and please give me a few minutes to wake up!!
JoElle explained that she wants to change her high school track from Computer Science to Science.
At first I didn't really think that was a smart move since she wants to be an engineer. But when she showed me she will take physics and two sciences her senior year, including AP Biology, I was sold!
She will still take some technology coursed and she already completed year one of Computer Science. JoElle has been teaching me what she is learning in 9th grade biology, and they are learning concepts and details I have never even heard of and I took AP Biology in High School! But to be fair, I wasn't interested in science like my brother and sister, so I honestly only studied what I needed to make an A in the class, and I didn't commit it to my long term memory. The way JoElle explains these biology concepts is very interesting. So, I have learned some things from her recently!
JoElle loves to watch Korean dramas during her spare time. She also likes listening to K-Pop like BTS and Blank Pink. JoElle is learning Chinese for fun! I am excited she want to learn a third language. She is finishing up her second year of Spanish.
JoElle is now on week one, round 2 of physical therapy from a major hip fracture along the growth plate. She injured it Dec 20, 2019 while doing a front aerial on floor at gym. She practiced gymnastics on it three times before I realized we had a real problem. Tim and I thought it was muscular so I took her to Airrosti chiropractor because they manipulate muscles to relive pain and then give PT type workouts for home. The dr was concerned that it was still hurting so bad a few weeks later, so she sent us for an xray.
The x-ray showed a fracture so the dr immedietly informed us we needed to see an orthopedist.
It had been a while since she went to a sports med dr, so I asked Texas Dreams, where she does gymnastics, and was given a few names. I called around an the first one that called me back and got us in in just a couple days. The orthopedist ordered and MRI right away.
It took a few days for results, but Tim had prepared JoElle for the worst; that she might not compete this season again. She was unable to compete last year for Level 9. That's a long story for another day...
Dr. Muller, her orthopedist, informed me that it was a major hip fracture along the growth plate. He advised that it should take 4-6 weeks to heal, since she had injured it two weeks before she saw him.
JoElle was still going to practice every morning and doing arms and abs. Pain really wasn't getting much better. Feb 17th she starter PT, but her pain was an 8 our of 10. She told her dr and he decided she could start PT. Week one was fine. Week two was not. Her pain had gotten a little better with the first week of PT and then she was back to an 8 after only two weeks.
I decided to take her back to the orthopedist. The PA we saw decided to repeat the MRI.
The results took the whole week; dr had to wait for the hard copy of the MRI in the mail.
Dr. Muller called me and told me her hip looks much better and take off another 4 weeks. She had already been off two weeks per her dr.
So now it has been over 12 weeks and she started that first week last Friday. So far her pain is very low or not at all! Finally!! She is eager to get back into shape. Her gym is closed due to Covid-19, and she confided in me that it's a relief that she will not be the only one who needs to get back into shape! USAG had cancelled all meets through summer, which included state, regionals, national. The Olympic trial were cancelled and the 2020 Olympics has been delayed until 2021.
I honestly haven't been on here in many years. I started postng to FB around 2009.
How about some recent updates?
JoEllle is now 15 and Alexa is 12!!
JoElle is finishing up her first year of high school! She has all A's and we are very proud of her! Her favorite subject is biology, so she came to me recently as I slept on the couch (Covid-19 has me crashing on the couch after Tim's kicks me out of our room so he can work!)
She was talking so fast and I was so groggy."Mommy, I want to change my track to science!"
"What in the world are you talking about," I muttered.
JoElle kept talking faster than I could comprehend, plus I couldn't see her holding the paper she was trying to ask me to review since I am blind without contacts! I finally woke up enough to let her know I needed to put my contacts in and please give me a few minutes to wake up!!
JoElle explained that she wants to change her high school track from Computer Science to Science.
At first I didn't really think that was a smart move since she wants to be an engineer. But when she showed me she will take physics and two sciences her senior year, including AP Biology, I was sold!
She will still take some technology coursed and she already completed year one of Computer Science. JoElle has been teaching me what she is learning in 9th grade biology, and they are learning concepts and details I have never even heard of and I took AP Biology in High School! But to be fair, I wasn't interested in science like my brother and sister, so I honestly only studied what I needed to make an A in the class, and I didn't commit it to my long term memory. The way JoElle explains these biology concepts is very interesting. So, I have learned some things from her recently!
JoElle loves to watch Korean dramas during her spare time. She also likes listening to K-Pop like BTS and Blank Pink. JoElle is learning Chinese for fun! I am excited she want to learn a third language. She is finishing up her second year of Spanish.
JoElle is now on week one, round 2 of physical therapy from a major hip fracture along the growth plate. She injured it Dec 20, 2019 while doing a front aerial on floor at gym. She practiced gymnastics on it three times before I realized we had a real problem. Tim and I thought it was muscular so I took her to Airrosti chiropractor because they manipulate muscles to relive pain and then give PT type workouts for home. The dr was concerned that it was still hurting so bad a few weeks later, so she sent us for an xray.
The x-ray showed a fracture so the dr immedietly informed us we needed to see an orthopedist.
It had been a while since she went to a sports med dr, so I asked Texas Dreams, where she does gymnastics, and was given a few names. I called around an the first one that called me back and got us in in just a couple days. The orthopedist ordered and MRI right away.
It took a few days for results, but Tim had prepared JoElle for the worst; that she might not compete this season again. She was unable to compete last year for Level 9. That's a long story for another day...
Dr. Muller, her orthopedist, informed me that it was a major hip fracture along the growth plate. He advised that it should take 4-6 weeks to heal, since she had injured it two weeks before she saw him.
JoElle was still going to practice every morning and doing arms and abs. Pain really wasn't getting much better. Feb 17th she starter PT, but her pain was an 8 our of 10. She told her dr and he decided she could start PT. Week one was fine. Week two was not. Her pain had gotten a little better with the first week of PT and then she was back to an 8 after only two weeks.
I decided to take her back to the orthopedist. The PA we saw decided to repeat the MRI.
The results took the whole week; dr had to wait for the hard copy of the MRI in the mail.
Dr. Muller called me and told me her hip looks much better and take off another 4 weeks. She had already been off two weeks per her dr.
So now it has been over 12 weeks and she started that first week last Friday. So far her pain is very low or not at all! Finally!! She is eager to get back into shape. Her gym is closed due to Covid-19, and she confided in me that it's a relief that she will not be the only one who needs to get back into shape! USAG had cancelled all meets through summer, which included state, regionals, national. The Olympic trial were cancelled and the 2020 Olympics has been delayed until 2021.
Friday, April 17, 2020
Several posts...
Last week in August: JoElle loves to sing a new fave song. Last Sunday she started to sing "I love you, I love you" and I thought she was making up her own song...but I found out she is singing the Barney song from school. Oh you really have to her her sweet voice singing "I love you...." over and over!!!!! She sang it to Nana on the phone, too. She also sings some of the other words, but she mainly repeats this over and over! I love it!!
August 17, 2006 19 months old today!
JoElle used the potty twice today at school all by herself! Her teacher, Ms. Staci, has to put her on the potty by herself while she watches the other kids in the class, so JoElle holds herself up there all by herself on the big potty. Then when she is done, she jumps down and says "I flush" and she loves to flush it.
Yesterday, JoElle told her teacher "potty, potty" and Ms. Staci was talking to a parent, so by the time she was done talking, JoElle told her "pooh pooh" and she couldn't hold it; but she told her teacher BEFORE this time! She is picking it up, but some nights she wears us out because we have to go back and forth to the potty.....
Ms. Staci is impressed that JoElle is using 3 word sentences. In fact, on Sunday, JoElle told me and Tandi " I need a new diaper" She said all five words, it was crazy, but Tandi heard her too, I swear!
JoElle always says "please" now; she is starting to say "thanks" without any prompting at all. She also says "I'm sorry" without prompting, too. Also, she puts her hands together to pray at the table and in bed before we even get a chance to tell her it's time to pray! She is a very sweet girl.
Tonight JoElle pointed and Daddy's belly and said "belly" then she said "nice!" hehe she is silly. She is also saying "yucky" and "yuck", "stinky" "oooweee" for a smelly diaper, "messy" and "mess" and "nasty". I told her "Daddy will be back" when he went outside to turn the water off, so she said "be back, Daddy, be back"
Last night, JoElle was sweeping the living room floor but she came to me and asked me "up?" I told her to first go put up her broom then she can come up with me. So, she walked over to the wall, propped her broom in the corner, and came back to me! Then she sang "The Wheels on the Bus" to herself and fell asleep on me. I taught her a new part, we made up "the Daddies on the bus say I love you...I love you...." so when we got out of the car, she saw Daddy and said "I love you" How sweet
August 11th, 2006 Trip to visit Nana and Aunt Carol
JoElle and I stopped by Aunt Carol's and Nana's house tonight after work and she went swimming with Nana and cousin Emily. At first I just held her over the side of the above-ground pool and she kicked and kicked and laughed heartily. Then, Nana got in with her. At first she reached out to me to hold her and cried "mommy mommy" but then she decided she liked it and she was kicking her little feet trying to swim. This is only her second time this summer to go swimming and the first time, at Uncle Aaron's apartment, she wasn't so thrilled that the water was so cold. After watching Emily float on her back, JoElle decided to try floating on her back too, and she was not afraid to lean back and get her head wet. I was really surprised!
Another little girl named Carly was over and Carly had JoElle cracking up like I have never seen before; it was hilarious. JoElle just keeps going and going; we didn't leave until 10:00 and she was still going strong. Oh yeah, did I mention that she ate half of my steak? She wolfed it down.
August 10, 2006 Potty times
We are having great successes with potty training! Today at school she used the potty; her teacher asks the 2 year olds if they are ready to go potty, and JoElle tells them "ready, ready" and runs into the bathroom.
Then at home, she used it again just as soon as we got home and twice more with Daddy that night. We are putting her in Dora pullups and she is really starting to act like a big girl. Daddy helped out the potty training by helping JoElle take her doll to use the potty, sitting her on the potty and putting her in one of JoElle's pullups. Great idea Daddy!
When I was leaving to go to a meeting to learn about writing opportunities at church, JoElle bawled and bawled; she has never cried this much for me, it was very sweet! I cherish these moments because all too soon she will be grown and I will long for the days she cried for me with those beautiful brown eyes and reached her arms to me to hold her.
It is quite amazing the unconditional love that little ones give to you. I know that we are all born sinners, yet watching her and interacting with her, JoElle is such a reflection of God's love. She loves her Bible, she calls Jesus "daddy" at times and He is, her heavenly Daddy. She loves to pray and sing about Jesus.
August 9, 2006 Happy Birthday Aunt Carol! We love you!
August 8, 2006 - 18 months old
Today JoElle accidentally hit me and she turned to me and told me "sorry" with a sad, inoccent look. She was so sweet! Plus, her sorry sounded like "sowwy" so it was that much cuter! Then she also told me "thank you!" without prompting - she is great at telling us "please" when she wants something and also "help me."
Also tonight Granny taught JoElle how to blow bubbles and to put the little stick into the bubble container to get more soap in order to blow more. She was really excited that she could blow them by herself! She kept saying "Wow!" and chasing them around, trying to eat them!
JoElle also finally jumped OFF the ground! Before she would try to jump and would get really low with her knees bent and bounce up, but she never actually left the floor. So, when Granny came home from work, JoElle jumped up in the air and landed on her bottom. She thought it was hilarious, so she repeated it at least 20 times.
JoElle is starting to tell Daddy "I love you" when he tells her he loves her. It just melts my heart to hear her say this!
Our bedtime routine is very precious to me, after we give everyone who is here hugs and kisses, I carry JoElle to her room, look into her beautiful brown eyes and put her in her bed. At this point, she gets really excited. Then she clasps her hands together and looks at me, waiting to say bedtime prayers. After we pray to God, she pounds on the bed with her hands, like when she it at the table, then she says amen and puts her hands over her hand, kinds like "hooray!" Then we give kisses, I tell her I love her and as I am leaving, I blow more kisses, tell her I love her some more, and sometimes she waves, sometimes she says "Bye bye" really loudly. She watches me shut the door, then she is out cold.
Yesterday for the first time, JoElle got out of her bed and came out of her door without us getting her up. I guess she was wondering what was taking me so long to come get her up (I was running late!) She was standing at her bedroom door, with wild hair, one hand in her hair and one rubbing her eyes, she looked a little confused!
On the mornings when Daddy is already gone before us, we always tell Daddy bye bye anyways - to our bedroom, she thinks he is the room. She gets upset if we don't tell him bye.
Oh yeah also tonight she tried to go swimming in her bathtub. She kicked her little legs out and tried to swim.
She started gymnastics last Saturday; the class is for 18 months to 3 years. JoElle loved to jump on the trampoline and fall down. As soon as her coach said "Let's move to the next rotation" JoElle was marching off in front of everyone, leading the way (but I don't know how she knew where we were going?). She loved the music circle and dancing, of course, she always loves to boogie down. Also, she likes hanging from the bar, she pulls her legs up really high, almost to the bar, all by herself. Her coach was surprised at how strong her stomach is. She likes to do barrel rolls down the mats, and she can almost do a forward roll (i.e. flip) all by herself!
July 31, 2006 18 months
JoElle has become pretty attached to her Elmo doll. She doesn't HAVE to have him, but she likes to have him with her in the car, she asks for him as soon as we get in the car, and she loves to give him big hugs! She also likes to put shoes on him and her other doll and make them walk around the house. She tells them "walk, walk", oh yeah there are two babies in her class part of the day, who are still learning to walk, so she tells them "walk, baby, walk!" Her teacher, Ms. Sharon, tells her to leave them alone, not everyone is walking when they are 11 months old.
She is quite the pro at putting her shoes on (sandals); she loves her sandals and her dress up shoes. She can even put my shoes on really well. She walks around in my sandals all the time. It is amazing how many words JoElle is repeating. This past week, she picked up on "messy" as one of her faveorite words, along with "towel" "napkin" and "medicine" She will remind me to give her medicine by telling me "medicine!" Hehe great kid, huh?
JoElle can name so many things now, she loves the bus at church- she points and shouts bus, then starts motioning bus with her hands from the song "The Wheels on the Bus", speaking of which, the other day we were driving to a friend's house to drop off a meal and she saw a big 18 wheeler, she calls them buses. So she started singing this song by herself, she was doing the baby part- the babies on the bus go "wah wah wah", she is so cute when she does this, she says wah wah wah in a real whiny voice with her hands rubbing her eyes like she is crying, then she sang "all...town" (she couldn't quite remember "through the")
At times we can get her to tell us her name, it sounds so precious coming out of her mouth! She loves to read, she points to letters and says "O" "E" because we spell her name with her all the time!
The potty training is still going pretty well, she tells us potty all the time, sometimes she goes, sometimes not, but she loves toilet paper, I have to ration out the toilet paper with her, one day I walked out of the bathroom to get her clothes and I came back and she had stuffed a ton of toilet paper in there as she sat on the potty. Another time, I turned around to throw her diaper away and she was on our potty without her little potty on top, and she fell in!! It was funny, she didn't cry but for 3 seconds, then she was ok with it.
The other night we were at Tim's bosses house and JoElle actually used the potty over there! I was very proud of her! She got so much attention over there from everybody! She wasn't shy at all, sometimes she starts out a little shy, but it never lasts. She didn't get into anything at their house and she didn't cry at all, even though we stayed until 10:30, way past her bedtime. Tim's boss and her husband kept telling us, she is such a great kid, she doesn't get into trouble! OK so we know THAT is not true, but she really is sweet. She loved wiping her mouth, hands and tongue on their kitchen towel that they had hanging up. She also called her glass glasses, she is really stargting to apply words to new objects.
The other night she was scratching her leg and she told us "itch" One of her favorite colors is blue, she definitely knows what is blue and loves to tell us "boo"
One of her favorite games is still "This little piggy" she loves the "wee wee wee" part because I tickle her up to her chin. If you pause at this last part, she will say "wee wee wee" in her cute little voice and then giggle.
I love the way she shares, she loves to share with everyone, even her dolls. She always gives them blankets, her milk, her water, her shoes, etc. Sometimes she can be selfish, like all of us, but most of the time she is very sharing. She will step back and let other kids play first, then she will play when they get tired of it in a few seconds. Sometimes, when she knows they want something that she has, she will tease them with it and laugh. She can be a little sly. Every once in a while she gets tired of trying to be nice and will say "mine" and sometimes hit if the other kids won't share with her, but then she gets sad because she knows she wasn't supposed to do that. She hates to let anybody down.
I know I say this all the time, but she is such a joy to us and everyone else she meets. We love her so much!
July 13, 2006
Tonight before choir practice, JoElle and I stopped at McDonald's. She sat next to me on the bench like a big girl, swinging her legs, eating fries!I looked at her and was thinking about how I used to have to hold her, make sure she didn't fall, hand her food, but now she does this all on her own, she evens grabs the ketchup from me and dips her fries....
I can't believe how old she is now. She acts so grown up, did you see the pics of her in her dress up shoes with her phone? She looks like a little teenager! She also loves Mommy's shoes. She can put her shoes and my shoes on all by herself.
Oh yeah, on the 4th, she picked up calling me Mommy again instead of Mama, I think this time it's going to stick. She started calling me Mommy back on June 2, then went back to Mama....she has her own mind!
This week at day care, she wrestled a little boy in her class who is twice her size, he didn't know what to do, he started yelling help me!! Her teacher was laughing because JoElle is so little and he is so big, but he couldn't even move! She was playing with him like Daddy plays with her, he "pins" her down and starts counting....
She also finally had enough with one of her friends, Becca, and hit her when Becca wouldn't let her play under the table strapping in the baby seats. This is the first time she has done this, usually she justs walks away and finds something else to do...
My friend Robyn told me that when she was dropping her daughter off at their daycare, and JoElle was sitting on their little kid's couch in her classroom and all the other kids were gathered around her! I think she is already exerting her leadership qualities!
She is also very social, she loves the other kids and teachers. Monday when I picked her up, she didn't want to go home, she started crying because she wanted to stay and play! I thought she was supposed to cry when I leave her and not when I pick her up!!!???
JoElle loves her Elmo doll that knows her name and her little Dora chair, she also loves to ride around on her "bike" (I call it her bike...it's really a trike/ rocking trike). She propels herself around the kitchen, she can't quite reach the pedals yet.
Yesterday, she used the potty at school in the big potty. Is it really time for her to learn to use the potty already? How crazy....
July 1st, 2006
JoElle's favorite words this week are Ana, ice-she loves to eat ice- water, and march--she loves to march around the house.
June 21, 2006
JoElle learned to say "shower" (in reference to water, she was talking about the water sprinkler at day care for use in case of a fire, I'm not sure how she knows water comes out of there??
June 20, 2006
JoElle learned to say "purple" Oh yeah she used her potty again, she was excited too that she used it!
June 19, 2006
JoElle said "Katelyn, Bubba" (friends at school) and something else...can't remember...
Over the weekend she started saying "I want Mama, I want Daddy, I want Ana" very cute!Oh yeah, she loves to say Ana...over and over. Aunt Ana, she was saying your name again tonight!!! On Father's Day, JoElle was loving on her Aunt Ana, she kept leaving me to lay on Aunt Ana; how sweet!
August 17, 2006 19 months old today!
JoElle used the potty twice today at school all by herself! Her teacher, Ms. Staci, has to put her on the potty by herself while she watches the other kids in the class, so JoElle holds herself up there all by herself on the big potty. Then when she is done, she jumps down and says "I flush" and she loves to flush it.
Yesterday, JoElle told her teacher "potty, potty" and Ms. Staci was talking to a parent, so by the time she was done talking, JoElle told her "pooh pooh" and she couldn't hold it; but she told her teacher BEFORE this time! She is picking it up, but some nights she wears us out because we have to go back and forth to the potty.....
Ms. Staci is impressed that JoElle is using 3 word sentences. In fact, on Sunday, JoElle told me and Tandi " I need a new diaper" She said all five words, it was crazy, but Tandi heard her too, I swear!
JoElle always says "please" now; she is starting to say "thanks" without any prompting at all. She also says "I'm sorry" without prompting, too. Also, she puts her hands together to pray at the table and in bed before we even get a chance to tell her it's time to pray! She is a very sweet girl.
Tonight JoElle pointed and Daddy's belly and said "belly" then she said "nice!" hehe she is silly. She is also saying "yucky" and "yuck", "stinky" "oooweee" for a smelly diaper, "messy" and "mess" and "nasty". I told her "Daddy will be back" when he went outside to turn the water off, so she said "be back, Daddy, be back"
Last night, JoElle was sweeping the living room floor but she came to me and asked me "up?" I told her to first go put up her broom then she can come up with me. So, she walked over to the wall, propped her broom in the corner, and came back to me! Then she sang "The Wheels on the Bus" to herself and fell asleep on me. I taught her a new part, we made up "the Daddies on the bus say I love you...I love you...." so when we got out of the car, she saw Daddy and said "I love you" How sweet
August 11th, 2006 Trip to visit Nana and Aunt Carol
JoElle and I stopped by Aunt Carol's and Nana's house tonight after work and she went swimming with Nana and cousin Emily. At first I just held her over the side of the above-ground pool and she kicked and kicked and laughed heartily. Then, Nana got in with her. At first she reached out to me to hold her and cried "mommy mommy" but then she decided she liked it and she was kicking her little feet trying to swim. This is only her second time this summer to go swimming and the first time, at Uncle Aaron's apartment, she wasn't so thrilled that the water was so cold. After watching Emily float on her back, JoElle decided to try floating on her back too, and she was not afraid to lean back and get her head wet. I was really surprised!
Another little girl named Carly was over and Carly had JoElle cracking up like I have never seen before; it was hilarious. JoElle just keeps going and going; we didn't leave until 10:00 and she was still going strong. Oh yeah, did I mention that she ate half of my steak? She wolfed it down.
August 10, 2006 Potty times
We are having great successes with potty training! Today at school she used the potty; her teacher asks the 2 year olds if they are ready to go potty, and JoElle tells them "ready, ready" and runs into the bathroom.
Then at home, she used it again just as soon as we got home and twice more with Daddy that night. We are putting her in Dora pullups and she is really starting to act like a big girl. Daddy helped out the potty training by helping JoElle take her doll to use the potty, sitting her on the potty and putting her in one of JoElle's pullups. Great idea Daddy!
When I was leaving to go to a meeting to learn about writing opportunities at church, JoElle bawled and bawled; she has never cried this much for me, it was very sweet! I cherish these moments because all too soon she will be grown and I will long for the days she cried for me with those beautiful brown eyes and reached her arms to me to hold her.
It is quite amazing the unconditional love that little ones give to you. I know that we are all born sinners, yet watching her and interacting with her, JoElle is such a reflection of God's love. She loves her Bible, she calls Jesus "daddy" at times and He is, her heavenly Daddy. She loves to pray and sing about Jesus.
August 9, 2006 Happy Birthday Aunt Carol! We love you!
August 8, 2006 - 18 months old
Today JoElle accidentally hit me and she turned to me and told me "sorry" with a sad, inoccent look. She was so sweet! Plus, her sorry sounded like "sowwy" so it was that much cuter! Then she also told me "thank you!" without prompting - she is great at telling us "please" when she wants something and also "help me."
Also tonight Granny taught JoElle how to blow bubbles and to put the little stick into the bubble container to get more soap in order to blow more. She was really excited that she could blow them by herself! She kept saying "Wow!" and chasing them around, trying to eat them!
JoElle also finally jumped OFF the ground! Before she would try to jump and would get really low with her knees bent and bounce up, but she never actually left the floor. So, when Granny came home from work, JoElle jumped up in the air and landed on her bottom. She thought it was hilarious, so she repeated it at least 20 times.
JoElle is starting to tell Daddy "I love you" when he tells her he loves her. It just melts my heart to hear her say this!
Our bedtime routine is very precious to me, after we give everyone who is here hugs and kisses, I carry JoElle to her room, look into her beautiful brown eyes and put her in her bed. At this point, she gets really excited. Then she clasps her hands together and looks at me, waiting to say bedtime prayers. After we pray to God, she pounds on the bed with her hands, like when she it at the table, then she says amen and puts her hands over her hand, kinds like "hooray!" Then we give kisses, I tell her I love her and as I am leaving, I blow more kisses, tell her I love her some more, and sometimes she waves, sometimes she says "Bye bye" really loudly. She watches me shut the door, then she is out cold.
Yesterday for the first time, JoElle got out of her bed and came out of her door without us getting her up. I guess she was wondering what was taking me so long to come get her up (I was running late!) She was standing at her bedroom door, with wild hair, one hand in her hair and one rubbing her eyes, she looked a little confused!
On the mornings when Daddy is already gone before us, we always tell Daddy bye bye anyways - to our bedroom, she thinks he is the room. She gets upset if we don't tell him bye.
Oh yeah also tonight she tried to go swimming in her bathtub. She kicked her little legs out and tried to swim.
She started gymnastics last Saturday; the class is for 18 months to 3 years. JoElle loved to jump on the trampoline and fall down. As soon as her coach said "Let's move to the next rotation" JoElle was marching off in front of everyone, leading the way (but I don't know how she knew where we were going?). She loved the music circle and dancing, of course, she always loves to boogie down. Also, she likes hanging from the bar, she pulls her legs up really high, almost to the bar, all by herself. Her coach was surprised at how strong her stomach is. She likes to do barrel rolls down the mats, and she can almost do a forward roll (i.e. flip) all by herself!
July 31, 2006 18 months
JoElle has become pretty attached to her Elmo doll. She doesn't HAVE to have him, but she likes to have him with her in the car, she asks for him as soon as we get in the car, and she loves to give him big hugs! She also likes to put shoes on him and her other doll and make them walk around the house. She tells them "walk, walk", oh yeah there are two babies in her class part of the day, who are still learning to walk, so she tells them "walk, baby, walk!" Her teacher, Ms. Sharon, tells her to leave them alone, not everyone is walking when they are 11 months old.
She is quite the pro at putting her shoes on (sandals); she loves her sandals and her dress up shoes. She can even put my shoes on really well. She walks around in my sandals all the time. It is amazing how many words JoElle is repeating. This past week, she picked up on "messy" as one of her faveorite words, along with "towel" "napkin" and "medicine" She will remind me to give her medicine by telling me "medicine!" Hehe great kid, huh?
JoElle can name so many things now, she loves the bus at church- she points and shouts bus, then starts motioning bus with her hands from the song "The Wheels on the Bus", speaking of which, the other day we were driving to a friend's house to drop off a meal and she saw a big 18 wheeler, she calls them buses. So she started singing this song by herself, she was doing the baby part- the babies on the bus go "wah wah wah", she is so cute when she does this, she says wah wah wah in a real whiny voice with her hands rubbing her eyes like she is crying, then she sang "all...town" (she couldn't quite remember "through the")
At times we can get her to tell us her name, it sounds so precious coming out of her mouth! She loves to read, she points to letters and says "O" "E" because we spell her name with her all the time!
The potty training is still going pretty well, she tells us potty all the time, sometimes she goes, sometimes not, but she loves toilet paper, I have to ration out the toilet paper with her, one day I walked out of the bathroom to get her clothes and I came back and she had stuffed a ton of toilet paper in there as she sat on the potty. Another time, I turned around to throw her diaper away and she was on our potty without her little potty on top, and she fell in!! It was funny, she didn't cry but for 3 seconds, then she was ok with it.
The other night we were at Tim's bosses house and JoElle actually used the potty over there! I was very proud of her! She got so much attention over there from everybody! She wasn't shy at all, sometimes she starts out a little shy, but it never lasts. She didn't get into anything at their house and she didn't cry at all, even though we stayed until 10:30, way past her bedtime. Tim's boss and her husband kept telling us, she is such a great kid, she doesn't get into trouble! OK so we know THAT is not true, but she really is sweet. She loved wiping her mouth, hands and tongue on their kitchen towel that they had hanging up. She also called her glass glasses, she is really stargting to apply words to new objects.
The other night she was scratching her leg and she told us "itch" One of her favorite colors is blue, she definitely knows what is blue and loves to tell us "boo"
One of her favorite games is still "This little piggy" she loves the "wee wee wee" part because I tickle her up to her chin. If you pause at this last part, she will say "wee wee wee" in her cute little voice and then giggle.
I love the way she shares, she loves to share with everyone, even her dolls. She always gives them blankets, her milk, her water, her shoes, etc. Sometimes she can be selfish, like all of us, but most of the time she is very sharing. She will step back and let other kids play first, then she will play when they get tired of it in a few seconds. Sometimes, when she knows they want something that she has, she will tease them with it and laugh. She can be a little sly. Every once in a while she gets tired of trying to be nice and will say "mine" and sometimes hit if the other kids won't share with her, but then she gets sad because she knows she wasn't supposed to do that. She hates to let anybody down.
I know I say this all the time, but she is such a joy to us and everyone else she meets. We love her so much!
July 13, 2006
Tonight before choir practice, JoElle and I stopped at McDonald's. She sat next to me on the bench like a big girl, swinging her legs, eating fries!I looked at her and was thinking about how I used to have to hold her, make sure she didn't fall, hand her food, but now she does this all on her own, she evens grabs the ketchup from me and dips her fries....
I can't believe how old she is now. She acts so grown up, did you see the pics of her in her dress up shoes with her phone? She looks like a little teenager! She also loves Mommy's shoes. She can put her shoes and my shoes on all by herself.
Oh yeah, on the 4th, she picked up calling me Mommy again instead of Mama, I think this time it's going to stick. She started calling me Mommy back on June 2, then went back to Mama....she has her own mind!
This week at day care, she wrestled a little boy in her class who is twice her size, he didn't know what to do, he started yelling help me!! Her teacher was laughing because JoElle is so little and he is so big, but he couldn't even move! She was playing with him like Daddy plays with her, he "pins" her down and starts counting....
She also finally had enough with one of her friends, Becca, and hit her when Becca wouldn't let her play under the table strapping in the baby seats. This is the first time she has done this, usually she justs walks away and finds something else to do...
My friend Robyn told me that when she was dropping her daughter off at their daycare, and JoElle was sitting on their little kid's couch in her classroom and all the other kids were gathered around her! I think she is already exerting her leadership qualities!
She is also very social, she loves the other kids and teachers. Monday when I picked her up, she didn't want to go home, she started crying because she wanted to stay and play! I thought she was supposed to cry when I leave her and not when I pick her up!!!???
JoElle loves her Elmo doll that knows her name and her little Dora chair, she also loves to ride around on her "bike" (I call it her bike...it's really a trike/ rocking trike). She propels herself around the kitchen, she can't quite reach the pedals yet.
Yesterday, she used the potty at school in the big potty. Is it really time for her to learn to use the potty already? How crazy....
July 1st, 2006
JoElle's favorite words this week are Ana, ice-she loves to eat ice- water, and march--she loves to march around the house.
June 21, 2006
JoElle learned to say "shower" (in reference to water, she was talking about the water sprinkler at day care for use in case of a fire, I'm not sure how she knows water comes out of there??
June 20, 2006
JoElle learned to say "purple" Oh yeah she used her potty again, she was excited too that she used it!
June 19, 2006
JoElle said "Katelyn, Bubba" (friends at school) and something else...can't remember...
Over the weekend she started saying "I want Mama, I want Daddy, I want Ana" very cute!Oh yeah, she loves to say Ana...over and over. Aunt Ana, she was saying your name again tonight!!! On Father's Day, JoElle was loving on her Aunt Ana, she kept leaving me to lay on Aunt Ana; how sweet!
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
The moon
The moon is a fascinating object in
the sky. The outside of the moon, the
surface, is rocky and dusty and has craters, which look dark spots from the
earth. The moon is about ¼ the size of
the Earth and it is about 238,857 miles away from Earth. The moon is a natural satellite that orbits
the Earth. It takes 28 days for the moon to orbit, or go around, the
Earth. Together, the moon and the Earth
take 365 days to orbit the sun.
The
moon rises in the east and sets in the west like the sun. The reason for this is that the Earth is
spinning. Sometimes you can see both
the sun and the moon in the sky at the same time. The moon does not make its own light, rather
the light of the moon is actually a reflection of the sun shining on it. The
moon has different phases, periods of time, where we can either see none of the
moon, part of the moon, or the entire moon. The phases are created by where the
sun is located compared to where the moon is located around the earth.
The Sun
The Sun is by far
the largest object in
the solar system and is at the center of our solar system. The sun is a large
star, which is made up of 70% hydrogen and 28% helium gas. The sun is not a
solid. The outer layer of the sun is known as the photosphere, and this is the
part of the sun that we see from Earth.
The sun has dark spots or sunspots which are cooler than the rest of the
sun. The sun also has a magnetic field
that reaches all the way to Pluto! The sun gives off heat, light, and solar
winds. The solar winds can affect the earth by disrupting radio waves and
causing power line surges. The inside of
the sun is called the core and it much hotter than the photosphere.
The
sun is about 4.5 billion years old. It
is expected to continue to burn for another 5 billion years. After that, all the hydrogen gas will be used
up. The sun has 7 planets orbiting it
and also many other objects such as asteroids and comets. Jupiter is the
biggest planet orbiting the sun while Mercury is the smallest. The sun is not standing still, but rather is
moving through the Milky Way, our galaxy. It takes the sun 225-250 million
years for the sun to complete on orbit through the Milky Way.
Lesson One Rapid Response Worksheet
The Resurrection of
Jesus Vocabulary
Example: Jesus |
Mary Jesus Simon
Peter
1.
Magdalene | Magnificent Maleficent Magdalene Maria
2.
soldiers | sandals
soldiers solidify softly
3.
angel | angel
antler angle anything
4.
followers | fellows
falling followers fellowship
5.
Peter | Paul
Peter Petal Potato
6.
grave | gone
gravy gave grave
7.
soldiers | solidify
softly soldiers sandals
8.
followers | falling
followers fellowship fellows
9.
Magdalene | Maria
Maleficent Magnificent Magdalene
10.
angel | antler
angel anything angle
11.
grave | gravy
gave gone grave
12.
Peter | Petal
Potato Peter Paul
13.
followers | falling
followers falling fellowship
14.
soldiers | soldiers
softly solidify sandals
15.
Magdalene | Maleficent
Magdalene Maria Magnificent
16.
grave | grave
gone gravy gave
17.
angel | anything
angle antler angel
18.
Peter | Potato
Petal Peter Paul
19.
Magdalene | Magdalene
Maria Maleficent Magnificent
20.
soldiers | softly
soldiers solidify sandals
21.
followers | fellowship
falling followers fellows
22.
Peter | Petal
Paul Peter Potato
23.
grave | gone
grave gave gravy
24.
angel | angel
anything antler angle
25.
Magdalene | Magnificent Maleficent Magdalene Maria
26.
soldiers | sandals
soldiers solidify softly
27.
angel | angel
antler angle anything
28.
followers | fellows
falling followers fellowship
29.
Peter | Paul
Peter Petal Potato
30.
grave | gone
gravy gave grave
31.
soldiers | solidify
softly soldiers sandals
32.
followers | falling
followers fellowship fellows
33.
Magdalene | Maria
Maleficent Magnificent Magdalene
34.
angel | antler
angel anything angle
35.
grave | gravy
gave gone grave
36.
Peter | Petal
Potato Peter Paul
37.
followers | falling
followers falling fellowship
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