Addison's first "official" spring break and the Indy Children's Museum

This year marks Addison's first "official" school spring break. We decided to do something a little special with her in the few days we had off from work, so we took her to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. As a special treat, we stayed at a hotel with a pool - which she loves to do.

First, we trekked to Indianapolis to the Wingate by Wyndham hotel. Pretty nice. I think I like staying on the first floor - and we were close to the pool. Plus, it wasn't busy...so I'm sure that made a HUGE difference. We decided to grab a bite, then go see The Croods at a nearby movie theatre (which we had gift cards for, hint, hint). Greg and I hadn't been to Grindstone Charley's in a decade and remembered it being waaaay better than it actually was. No more GC. Me, being the unprepared mom that I am, didn't bring my poor child a sweatshirt, and it was chilly, had to buy a sweatshirt at Target while picking up our smuggled-in movie snacks...then headed to the movie. I totally recommend, by the way.  In the movie theatre, I'm reminded why I don't care for watching movies in the movie theatre. Especially kids movies. For a late Monday night, there were a shockingly high number of very small children at this movie. Then there was the multi-generational family who seemed to bring all of the children in their family and their friends. Did I miss the bus somewhere? If you have a small child who is very vocal, perhaps a movie theatre isn't the best place for you. Trust me, you find your child MUCH more charming than I do. I was nearly in complaint mode...and that's not pretty.

We made it through the movie and headed back to the hotel for some late night swimming.Being that it was late March in Ohio, it was moderately chilly those few days...and the pool was supposed to be heated. I'm pretty sure it wasn't. Brrr! Luckily, they had a hot tub. Unfortunately, I decided that I could definitely enjoy a hot tub. We flitted between the cold pool and the hot tub to warm back up. I know, I know...bad idea. Good way to have a heart attack, but we had the whole things to ourselves and it was fun. Of course Addison decides to change from her swimsuit - right where the monitoring cameras were. Whoops. Don't ask me why she couldn't use the bathroom which was less than 20 feet away.

We headed to our room for a much needed night of sleep. Addison decided she'd rather sleep in Greg's bed, so I had a queen sized bed ALL to myself. I slept in the middle all splayed out just because I could.

In the morning, we packed up our stuff, enjoyed a very nice complimentary continental breakfast (with eggs, waffles, sausage and the works - not just cold cereal and muffins like you get some other places). Afterward, we headed to the museum.

Let me just say, do NOT follow the directions from Siri, or Garmin or any other gps. Look at the map and find the way that you do not have to turn LEFT to get to the street by the museum. We waited in traffic nearly 45 minutes just to turn to get to the parking lot. Being there right at the beginning of the day, the parking garage was STILL completely full. We parked on the very top level. Every single parking space was taken.

Once we got into the museum, we waited probably another 45 minutes just to buy tickets! This place is insane! We almost bought season passes just so we wouldn't have to stay in the line any longer.

After that, we explored the museum. There is so much to see, it was overwhelming at first. I think Addison had a hard time with it being so crowded and visually stimulating that we had a difficult time getting her to interact with anything at first. It was a very nice museum though. Here's what I learned...buy your tickets in advance, see everything, then go back to your favorite displays, and if you stay the whole day - people give you their stuff when they are leaving. We got free tickets to the carousel and the little play they put on.

All in all it was a very fun trip. I'm glad we didn't get the season tickets though.

 

The Dreaded THUMB!!

It’s been awhile. I have no excuses other than the normal “been busy” excuse. The oldest in the book. In the meantime, I recently read an article written by a mom about her thumb-sucking daughter. That almost sounded like a bad word! Ironic. I agreed with her article, so I thought I’d write about it. We had lots of parallels. She was a thumb-sucker – I was a thumb-sucker. Now her daughter is a thumb-sucker and my daughter is a thumb-sucker. I knew it would be this way. Addison was sucking her thumb in-utero, so no surprise here. Basically, what is most bothersome about the whole ordeal is how much it bugs OTHER people. As a former thumb-sucker, I don’t think the teasing, humiliation, and overall disappointment from other people was helpful. I’m not sure that’s what really made me quit either. I became a sneak-thumb-sucker. Like an addict. Not the message you want to send to a kid. Addison sucks her thumb as her Zen. Couple that with certain corners of her “blankie” and she’s in such a relaxed state that any Buddhist would drool over. It’s her lullaby. I commend her for finding her peace. Unfortunately, societal pressures will shame her from achieving that peace soon. I wish people would lay off her for now. It doesn’t bother me. Should it? Why? Because you say so? Meh. Whatever. She’s only 4…almost 5. Why does she need to go through that pressure now? It helps her cope with whatever is stressing her. I think she’ll find other, more “appropriate” ways in due time, but how do you expect a 5 year-old to know how to deal with her emotions and stressors. A 5 year-old shouldn’t have stressors, you say? To her, having a doll taken away from her for 10 minutes is the end of the world. Trust me, she has stress. Having to wear pants instead of a dress is sheer torture. Not being allowed to watch a movie at 8:30pm because it’s bed-time is cruel. She has stress. Let her have her thumb, for now…ok? Don’t let it bother you and she’ll quit when she’s ready and found another way to cope. In due time.

The Hash Brown

Occasionally, as a special treat, I will go through McDonald’s to get a hash brown for Addison before school. At first, she thought she didn’t like them. When she asked me what it was I told her it was like chopped up French fries smooshed together and it was love from then on. It takes her about the whole ride to school to eat it and it starts the day off nice. A week or so ago, we made the trip. After eating about 9/10ths of the hash brown she decided that she really wanted to share it with her teacher, Ms. Beth. So for several miles she saved all of about a pinch of her hash brown. I tried to convince her that I was certain that Ms. Beth would appreciate the thought, but that she would totally understand if Addison ate that last little bit. But no, she wanted to share. I even told her that Ms. Beth would probably prefer her own hash brown and that perhaps she didn’t want to share. Finally, just as we’re creeping up the last curve in the road before school, that little pinch disappeared. Addison gave in and ate what was left. She quickly forgot about her desire to share. That is, until she remembered this week. Several days we passed by McDonald’s and Addison insisted that we should take her teacher a hash brown. Finally, we settled on asking Ms. Beth if she even liked hash browns and could we bring her one. I wasn’t sure what the rules were for teachers eating food their students brought. So yesterday Addison finally remembered to ask Ms. Beth if she liked hash browns. To her delight, the teacher said she did. We were on a mission today to get one. Of course the line at McDonald’s was the longest I’ve seen in a long time, but the glee from my daughter was worth the wait. We ordered 2 hash browns. One to eat and one to share. By the time we got to school, Addison had devoured hers. Just as we were getting out of the car, I gave her the extra hash brown for Ms. Beth. She carefully carried it into the building and we made a beeline for her classroom. She took it right over to Ms. Beth who seemed genuinely surprised and gave Addison a hug. (Where was my hug? I’m the one who forked out the money! Lol!) That made Addison’s day. Another good start to the morning. Thanks McDonald’s.

And yes, America…I give my daughter the greasy hash brown that can turn a paper bag clear with the grease that drips off of it. That’s my right and I take responsibility for it. She loves it, and I’m smart enough to know not to give her a dozen of them for breakfast. Nor do I take her to McDonald’s for every meal…but if I did, my right and my responsibility. Get off yer damn high horse and quit telling me what’s best for my kid. Another discussion for another day.
Look at all that bubbly goodness:

Why TV is good for kids.

I will admit we are a tv-watching family. At times, I get a little irritated with the tv on so much...we watch a LOT of it. I see articles about how bad television is for kids. It fries their brain, ruins concentration, leads to ADD, etc, etc. To a certain degree I think some of this is true. Addison will not pay attention to what you're saying most of the time when she's staring at the screen. She concentrates much better with it off as well. I'm not dumb. I know these things. BUT, we do monitor what she sees. I carefully pick shows to DVR which I think will be about something she needs to learn about. For instance, PBS has great shows for kids and so does Disney Junior. They all teach something. WordWorld teaches words and spelling. All the characters are made of letters and they put letters together to create objects. Another show she watches on PBS is Arthur. This is one of my favorites. It mostly teaches everyday experiences and interpersonal relationships. Arthur is a smart kid and a good role model. SuperWhy is another word show. The characters go into books and read stories. It's also about problem solving and choosing words. Lots of letter identification goes on. Special Agent Oso teaches us how to do things like tie our shoes and water the plants-all in 3 special steps. Handy Manny shows introduces self-sufficiency by problem-solving and fixing things. A new show we've gotten into is The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That which is how I know my kid is actually learning from tv. A few days ago Addison and I had a lengthy discussion about flowers and bees and pollination which I would not have had if not for this show. She knew that bees made honey from drinking nectar and that they stick their tongues waaay out to drink it up. We talked about how pretty dandelions were but that they were a weed and the reason they were so pretty was to attract the bees so their pollen would spread. She also knew that rain was for the plants to grow. My kid is a genius because of tv. Granted, she's probably learning a lot in preschool :), but they are both mirroring each other and it gives me an opportunity to have discussions with my kid and I know she's getting pretty accurate information. Disney Junior is taking a different approach with programming and encouraging exercise and healthy eating. They have exercise and dancing bits between some of the shows and cooking skits. Many of the role models introduce healthy and international foods that kids may not otherwise be exposed to. It's a new day and while I appreciate the opportunity and see huge benefits to Addison getting out and playing, there is also much to be said about the benefits of tv as well. These times do not allow for kids to just "go outside and play" unless you have a secured backyard and even then you have to have a watchful eye. Television has been both a bonding experience (in our discussions about shows) and a refuge (when I need to get some work around the house) because I can't send my kid out to play without supervising her. That's okay. We still make time for the park and other projects without the tv. The community resources don't offer much for working parents and their children after work and school, so we have to make up our own fun. Once summer arrives we'll spend more time outdoors and less cooped up inside. It's all good.

The new daycare

We switched Addison to a new daycare mostly because of issues we were having with the old one and Addison’s general unhappiness there. She cried and clung to me when I dropped her off and seemed glad to be going home most of the time. It was a battle every morning. We took a break over the summer, and perhaps she matured over the couple of months she was home, but I’d like to think it has more to do with her just being more stimulated and nurtured at her new “school”. She calls the old one the “Black Daycare” because they made all the kids wear all black pants and shirts. She’s excited to go into her classroom and talk to Ms. Beth. I only had an issue where I had to drop her off early and she had to have breakfast in the cafeteria and she had a fit about that for like, a second…and we had an incident last week where another student in her classroom got mad and pushed Addison which resulted in her face-planting into a chair. No injury other than a red mark which lasted the day and some hurt feelings, but I felt like they handled it appropriately and I was just relieved that a) it wasn’t her that was doing the pushing and b) they actually told me about it and wrote up an incident report. The other girl got a time-out from the group and her mom was going to get told. Ooooh! So glad it wasn’t me. Addison relayed the story to us several times and said how next time maybe she and the girl could put the doll away together so the other girl wouldn’t get mad. Who is this kid of mine? Anyway, her teacher is awesome and they encourage family to come to read to the kids, do projects, bring snacks or have lunch. I’m very excited to see her progress this year. She’s starting dance at the school on Fridays and if they attend consistently they’ll be in the Spring Program in May! How exciting!

P.S.  Greg reminds me that she also called her old daycare the "Bad Daycare" because they yelled at her.  You know, now that I think back on this, it really makes me mad because I thought she was being a bad kid...when in reality she may have just been getting yelled at for nothing...and really, no one needs to be yelling at my kid but me.  Especially someone who is supposed to be mentoring young children.  Thanks Greg. 

Grandma and Addison

This is a picture of Addison with her great-grandma Louise.  She doesn't say her "L"s, so it comes out like Moo-eez.

This is another picture that makes me smile everytime I look at it because I know the sound that accompanies it, and it's delightful.  They were having a giggle.  The only way we could get Addison to smile for these pictures properly was to say "WEEZIE" as goofy as we could.  It finally got to her here.

This was also the day she told great-grandma Louise that she couldn't talk to her because she was too distracting.

Smashburger and blowers

I realized that I haven't recently posted any pictures of my ever-growing preschooler.  At her last doctor's visit she was exactly 36 inches tall and 31 pounds.  That puts her in the 10th percentile for height which basically means she's short.

About a month ago we went to Smashburger for the first time.  I would recommend it.  You can't leave without Smashfries.  I have to say I went back and ate in the restaurant recently and the fries are way better fresh and hot.  Rosemary and garlic and a little olive oil...mmm.  Makes a good fry.

Anyway, Addison is a bathroom explorer.  Just about any new place we go, she has to go to the bathroom.  Takes everything I have not to get skeeved out by some of the nasty ones we've seen.  Oddly, one of the worst is at T.W.I.G.S where she has her ISR (swim) lessons.  It's also very hard to hold 30 pounds up to wash her hands.  These places are NOT kid friendly bathrooms most of the time.  I've seen cute little urinals in the boys bathroom for little guys, why can't they put a little toilet in for the girls?  She's holding on to dear life to not fall in while she uses the HUGE potties they have in public bathrooms and since she's terribly independent, she wants to do it on her own which results in her fingers being wrapped around that nasty seat.  I need little seats and step stools or lower sinks.  Come on people!

Along with bathrooms, come hand blowers.  (I swear I'm coming full circle here.)  One of the most powerful hand blowers I've seen so far is the one at Smashburger.  It's a giggle to watch her startle every time you hit the button - even when she's expecting it.  Here's the picture.

Video of Addison playing in the "rain"

She wanted to play in the "rain" so we dressed her up in her rain gear and let her have at it until her teeth were chattering.  She had a blast.

Pre-school

Addison started in the pre-school class at her daycare when we returned from Walt Disney World last week. The first day (as expected) was rough for drop off since she'd been out for 3 weeks because of her hospital stay, then we kept her out the following week because of holiday and leaving for vacation and then we were in Florida for the week after that. She worked herself up into a frenzy of nerves and anticipation about going back to daycare. We were greeted with a new routine when we arrived: new room, new place to put her coat and shoes, etc., but her teacher came over with her as well as a few girls from her toddler class so I think there was enough familiarity to not be so overwhelming. Since she couldn't see me after I left the room she stopped crying almost immediately.


So, she liked pre-school class except for the fact that she keeps saying she doesn't want to go back to the pre-school class. Trust me, she likes it. She practically leaps into the center now and is excited to turn in her homework. Yes, she has homework. The first day wasn't so bad and seemed age appropriate to me. The other days it seemed way too advanced and she didn't have fun with it. In fact, it was frustrating to her because she didn't know the answers we were trying to help her come up with and we were frustrated because we're not teachers and don't know how to help her. To me, that does not make a good homework assignment for a 3 year old. It should be fun, not like homework. She's just 3. I get the whole concept of getting the parents involved in the whole learning process of a child, but I think we all felt it was a little too much. At this stage learning should be fun.

The other thing is they make them wear uniforms. We got 1 long sleeved black shirt to last the whole week. She has to wear solid black pants too. It's quite boring and dull and it makes me think that they look like an urban militia or gang or something. I try to liven it up a little with bright hair bows and crazy socks, but in reality it's just a drab black uniform. They're not even going anywhere, so I'm not sure why they have to wear the uniform. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe Addison was looking too darn cute for everyone else in her cute outfits that they had to tame everyone down and make them all look the same. This seriously stifles our creativity...hers and mine and limits her decision making about her appearance in the mornings. I think it's time to find a new daycare. We need choices and we need to look CUTE! Black is not flattering. Even Clinton and Stacy would agree that head to toe black looks terrible.

Addison's New Mickey Sunglasses

These were Addison's new flip out Mickey sunglasses that we got at WDW.  She was so cute, but didn't want her picture taken, so I had to take her by surprise.

Addison's first hospital admission...

We ended up taking Addison to Urgent Care all the way out in Springboro on Monday night because they took the UC out of Dayton Children's (which is about 5 minutes from our house). We thought she had the flu or something, but her breathing was bothering me and the fact that she hadn't eaten for 2 whole days and was barely drinking. Well, they ended up transporting her over to Dayton Children's because it turns out she's got RSV.  She was admitted Monday night and we're here to stay for awhile. She's hooked up to oxygen and IV's, still not eating and barely drinking. She sleeps all day and when she's not, she is barely alert. She has (infrequent) bouts of wanting to tear everything off - who wouldn't?, but for the most part she's taking it all like a trooper. She has come to hate all the people touching and staring at her and she looks pathetic. She may have a touch of pneumonia which may contribute to her rapid breathing and we're teetering on having to admit her to ICU. They are trying everything to avoid that. Greg got a touch of it too, but it reared it's ugly head as the flu. Now he just has laryngitis to my surprise and delight! He's sore from coughing and - well, all the stuff that came before that, but he's a big boy.

Anyway, here we remain in our single occupant room. Yay for being contagious, right? And because of her severity we got to move to a nicer room. Gotta find the good in it I guess. The other good thing is that the oxygen makes a sound like the bubbling pond outside her bedroom window at home and her new antibiotic pump has a whistling like a windy day. That must bring some comfort, although I find myself having to pee more often.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day and she'll perk up a bit.  We're all a little tired of this scene.  The staff here at Children's has been nothing but stellar (although when a 2 year says she has to pee, we don't have 5 minutes to wait for a nurse to disconnect her from everything - poor thing, she's still giving it a good effort).  That's my only complaint.

Christmas with Addison

This year's Christmas season has been quite fun to see in Addison's eyes. The day after Thanksgiving we went downtown to the Grande Illumination. They had carnival rides, a scavenger hunt, the lighting of the tree and the Children's Parade. We started off with hot dogs, french fries and fried pretzels, of course. Then we went on the scavenger hunt. This starts out with a map of all the participating businesses and a bag to carry your goods you get along the way. It was a clever way to get us to visit places we probably wouldn't know about. Also, it's about the only way anyone would EVER get me to go to the RTA bus depot downtown. After we collected (most of) our loot - we went to ride the carousel which is one of Addison's favorite rides. Because of that, she ended up briefly on the news! It was quite exciting to see her face on tv. After the carousel she wanted to ride Dizzy Dragons which is essentially a Tea Cup type ride that you control the spinning with a wheel in the middle. She wanted to do this over seeing the tree lighting up. The downside to this was a group of little kids who kind of weaseled their way in front of us even after I told them at some point that they actually came after us. The little punks still ended up in front and we had to catch the next round of rides which actually worked out better because I think I might have caused a scene if I were stuck in the same dragon as them. So, here I am...the mom who has to ride with her kid (she was way to little to ride alone and the ride was very spinny). I'm in a dragon's belly with a crew of sisters ranging from 6 to 9, I think. And they spun. They spun FAST. I don't normally get queasy on a ride, but I glanced out the door for a second and lost my bearings for a moment and for the seconds after that, I had to convince myself that I wouldn't get sick on a bunch of little girls. How embarrassing would that have been? Even after the ride stopped, I thought Addison was looking a little green as well, but she held it like a trooper and quickly got over it. I was glad the camera wasn't around for that. She had a blast and laughed the entire time, so it made it all worthwhile. After the ride, we were a little late for the parade, so Greg had to hold her up on his shoulders. She's not good at this. She lets her arms fly wildly around and throws off the balance by dipping her butt down too far. Always an inch away from peril - this little daredevil. Overall, kind of a dull parade, but it lasted forever. We learned that Addison likes loud, big black men and the drum corps. Not sure what that will bring for us in the future, but she enjoyed it immensely.








The next day we decided to take a chance with our pictures with Santa. We stood in line at The Greene and finally it was her turn. We missed out on Mrs. Clause which may have helped, but she tried to be brave anyway. She got choked up as soon as it was her turn to see the big guy. I did a drop-and-run which was probably the first mistake. Her lip was trembling before I even let go and then we were both standing about 5 feet away from her just staring at her and talking to her while she tried very hard to keep a straight face. She fell apart for a few moments, regained her composure and wiped her eyes and tried to keep her lip from trembling again. I'm convinced once you get the trembly lip it's nearly impossible to stop tears from flowing, so she didn't have much chance. Finally, a pseudo- non-weeping picture was captured...but we were done and I officially became the worst mom ever for that minute. We're over it now, until the next time.










Next was our trek to cut down our Christmas tree at the tree farm. She wanted to help like no one's business, so she pulled the sled and helped pick out the tree. Once we got it home she even helped decorate it (until she saw the Barbie ornaments, then she was off to create scenarios with them while I was left to decorate the rest).















Later that evening, we decided to chance a Santa again. This time we went to the Mall at Fairfield Commons. It was a much better set-up and not many people. I had hopes that it would be much better this time. Addison even brought a card for Santa. I thought that was a great idea (her own) and it would give her a reason to approach him. Her card was actually the cardboard part of a pack of stickers you get, but it was a prize to her anyway. So, finally our turn arose. Immediately she buried her head into my leg. This was not a good start. I picked her up and we slowly approached the man in red. I've never experienced a child so glued to me ever. I knelt down and Santa and I gave each other high-fives and he held my hand. No go. She flat out refused to cave and look at him. She was the ostrich. We stepped aside so she could see a few more kids go through. I think I remember the first kid crying, which just feeds into her doubt. Not a good method. A few more went through unscathed, so we tried again. This time she still wouldn't look, but was half-way willing to stand in front of him. The photographer grabbed a rocking horse and after peeling her off of Greg we got her to sit through a few quick pictures before she had enough and got up. I'm surprised she didn't flip us off and storm out. Anyway, that ended up being our Christmas picture. Not horrible and no tears were shed that time. As a reward we let her ride a quarter ride (more like 3 quarter ride) and then she played in the play area upstairs until Greg and I got fed up with the dropped-off-too-big-and-too-old-to-be-running-around-in-a-little-kids-playarea kids. I think it's really just a test to see how long parents can withstand the bad kids knocking over all the small ones while they chase each other around. Can't say anything though, cause I could be arrested for harrassing a child. I'd rather just get up and leave.



She's been able to open a few gifts already and is on her way to mastering the art of unwrapping. At mom and dad's house she meticulously ripped 1X1 inch squares of paper and handed them to my dad. Eventually she realized that she could rip bigger sheets of paper, but she still has to get every single little piece off before she can open the box to see what's inside. I hope no one uses a lot of tape in the future. I almost can't bear the anticipation myself of seeing what's inside. It seems that she's nearly forgotten that there is a gift inside underneath all the paper and wants to go off and do something else. Her joy is simply unwrapping and the gift is just a bonus I guess. She's in her stage of apathy right now too, and she, being who she is lays it out sometimes that she doesn't care about her gifts. We know differently though. She has announced already that she "doesn't want" something that she's gotten and an hour later it's her "favorite thing". Once in awhile you might see the truly amazed gasp of delight escape from her, but it's not often.



Christmas carols have been fun to hear her sing as well. One day we heard her singing along to a song in the backseat "Fleece Nobbynob". She'll ask to sing "Frosty the Snowman was a Jolly Happy Soul" and occasionally she won't know all the words to a carol, but you can hear the last word of the sentence quite loudly as she belts out the parts she knows. "Watch out" "not pout" "Telling you why".



Yes, this Christmas has been a joy so far in the eyes of my child and how she's starting to recognize the magic of the season.

Addison's Halloween 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Addison's ISR refresher part deux

Here's the latest, greatest Addison video of her ISR refresher lesson.  She's swimming to the edge (kicking and everything) and she thought it was great fun to launch herself backwards.  She always goes to her float though.  Her instructor says she's a fish and a natural swimmer.  *beaming*  :)  She also says she'll have a huge advantage when she starts with traditional swim lessons which will probably be next year.  She'll be our little guppy.

The Trauma of Daycare

It’s been a trial, but I think she’s finally getting into the swing of it. She started the first week a little confused and out of sorts because her daily routine was changing for the first time. By the end of the week we were in full blown freak-out mode because she couldn’t figure out what was going on. Week 2 – well, it’s a blur for me. I’d say weeks 2 and 3 were the worst ever. Every morning as soon as daddy left for work, she’d start whining and wimpering saying she didn’t want to go to daycare. She didn’t want me to go to work. We should just stay home. As much as I’d like that, it’s not an option right now. She began to equate Greg leaving for work with her miserable day at daycare about to begin. She’d cry from the time we left the house until we got to daycare when she’d switch to clinging and panicking. She would moan for me not to leave…but I had to. It was heartbreaking and a little concerning. I couldn’t figure out why she hated daycare so much. Then I realized it wasn’t so much the daycare as it was the huge change in routine. Her first time being left with people she didn’t know. Her first time hanging out with the same kids every day. Her first time following their rules. Life wasn’t altered for her convenience and comfort anymore. She was on someone else’s time schedule and had to obey the rules…suffer someone else’s consequences. Her first really hard lessons.

Well, it’s week 4 now and she’s not crying when I leave her now (much). Although I’d really like to be able to send her to a really, really good daycare with field trips and sunny rooms, I think she’s safe and learning things. That’s what’s really important. She’s already claimed the play castle in the backyard as her own and has taken a role as teacher to the younger, less experienced youth there. She tells me of a boy named De’Shay(?) who apparently talks a lot when they are supposed to be sleeping. I’m sure my child appropriately shushes him. That’s my girl. Hopefully soon her potty-training will be back on schedule as well. We had a little setback with the change, but I’m confident that she’ll do better soon.

So we forge ahead to the next obstacle or challenge – which I think will be pre-school or kindergarten. Until then, we’ll try to enjoy each tantrum-filled, giggle-filled, tears-filled day.

Addison update with video

Addison has started daycare fulltime now and it's been a struggle, but I think she's on her way to accepting it. A few weeks ago I got a report that she had taught the class to sing "B-I-N-G-O". Today, Greg said the teachers think she's the smartest in her class! She's been learning so much and catches on quickly. Imagine our surprise when she started singing a song we hadn't heard her sing all by herself. She knows all the words and can sing it all by herself, though she prefers some group participation. She likes if you sing her a word and she'll finish the phrase. Here's a video to illustrate. I subtitled it, but I think she says the words relatively clearly, though some might not be familiar with the song.



Needless to say, I'm a proud mama. Addison is a genius! She's also been learning to jump and hop, and catch and throw a ball. She can kick the ball like a pro. She could be a great soccer player, though Greg and I aren't so sure we're ready to be soccer parents. We will be, I'm sure and cheering her along from the sidelines. Can't wait to see what the next day will bring. She's just full of surprises.

Learn to SWIM!!

Here are two of Addison's last ISR lessons of the season. Remarkable how well she's done. She kicks off the wall now and can swim about 5 feet or so before she needs to come up for a breath when we're in our pool at home. It's quite humbling and sad to know that there are so many kids out there who drown in family pools or wander off to other bodies of water. They don't have a chance without some kind of lesson. So, to all you moms and dads out there or caring adults of young people - GET THEM LESSONS! I rarely get on my soapbox, but I feel very strongly that everyone needs to know how to swim. Even adults. If you don't know how to swim, get over yourself, go to the YMCA or where ever and get some adult swim lessons. It's a skill you don't "unlearn" and you never know when you might need it...even if it's to save someone else.

So, as inspiration, check out my brilliant 2 1/2 year old daughter and what she's learned. She's AMAZING as ever.



Here's the monkey crawl to a safe place...

Underwater!!

I don't have a video editing program which will allow me to splice these 4 videos together, so you'll have to watch them concurrently...but I'm sure you'll get the idea. These are 4 different times (and there were many more) where Addison was showing her bravery by dunking her own head under water. She holds her breath for such a long time sometimes that I have to pull her up for fear that she'll turn into a mermaid or something. She's getting more and more brave by dipping her head back when I'm holding her and she even floats on her back and will occasionally let go if you prompt her enough. It's quite amazing to see. Last night in the pool she was actually asking to swim back and forth between mommy and daddy and a couple times she got tossed in when she was ready. Her ISR instructor is trying to teach her to say "Here I come!" whenever she's ready to get in the pool or wants to swim to someone. I think she's also teaching her a few float/swim combos where she goes into a short burst of swimming after rolling over from a float and then rolling back over to a float again. The goal is that eventually she could make it to the ladder. Big improvements from the first time she went 2 years ago. Well worth the money!

Father's Day

I took this video with my new iPhone 3Gs. First of all, how cool that I can have a camera AND video camera all in one. Second, how cool that I can edit it and post it right to YouTube within seconds! And third, how cool that this video is even better quality than the videos that I've been taking with my little flip-style video camera? Anyway, enjoy this video of Addison reading her book to her daddy on Father's Day.

ABC's

I also couldn't resist posting a video of Addison singing her ABC's.