Proud Mamma!

Kenzie has received her first Kindergarten report card.  I must say, in my humble, unbiased opinion that Kenzie is brilliant.  Mrs. MacPherson said so!

We went to the parent/teacher conference last night and Kenzie came with us.  She was a little shy to show us her talents but blew us away anyway.  Mrs. MacPherson has all the students names on a flash cards and she started to ask Kenzie if she could read the names.  Kenzie is able to read all 16 students names in her class.  When I asked her later how she knows all those kids names she told me she needed to know them to know who the line leader is each day.  It is very important who the line leader is.

Next Mrs. MacPherson had some other flash cards and Kenzie knew every word. The teacher looked at Cory and I proudly and said that no other student can do that.  She's brilliant.

I asked the teacher about Kenzie's lunch as she comes home with a full lunch kit each day.  Some days after 2 snacks and a lunch all that is missing is her granola bar.  Mrs. MacPherson has observed that it takes Kenzie a real long time to get herself organized to eat and the minute the first classmate is putting on their coat to go outside, she packs up and heads out too.  I love that she enjoys going outside and playing with her friends.  There was also the comment that Kenzie does a lot of visiting.  That shocked us!

So this is my blog and my Kenzie so I get to share some of the great comments on the report card:
"Kenzie is eager to participate in circle time."
"Kenzie knows all of the letter sounds we have learned so far.  She loves to sing and dance and eagerly share what she knows. Kenzie listens carefully when we blend sounds together to make words."
"Kenzie counts with confidence."
"Kenzie is able to print letters and color her pictures very neatly"
"Kenzie is happy to participate in gym.  She always tries her best!"
"Kenzie is a pleasure to have in class. She is an enthusiastic participant in discussions and activities.  She listens well and follows directions."
"Great Work, Kenzie! You are working hard in Kindergarten.  You have many friends and they enjoy being with you.  I love that you have stories to share with us and you like to listen to other's stories too.  Keep up the great work, Kenzie!"

That is my sweet little peanut.  I just love my Kenzie.  You make me proud everyday!

To Sleep or Not to Sleep? That is the question...

Before kids (BK) I loved to sleep and I was very good at it.  At exactly 9:55pm every night systems would shut down, I would go brush my teeth and at 10:01 pm I would be fast asleep.   (BK) I worked at the School and started at 8:00am.  That meant I liked to be up by 7:00am to have a healthy breakfast, shower, shave my legs and iron something to wear.  With an early start to my day like that there was no wonder I needed to be sleeping by 10:00pm.  I also used weekends to catch up on my sleep.  I would often wake up on Sunday mornings and go for a walk with Jane and Candice and as soon as Cory left to coach skiing at 1:00pm I would head for a much needed nap!

But now after I've had kids (AK) I don't sleep.  To be honest it is my kids and cat that don't sleep but seem to feel the need to take me along on their sleepless escapades. 

Take last night for example:  I looked at the ceiling and the clock said 11:37pm.  YES, finally to bed a bit early, that will feel good.  1:57am startled awake by a stone cold finger tapping my forehead.  Kenzie just announcing that she has already gone pee.  I mumble "thank you for doing that but as we have discussed many times, you don't need to wake Mommy to tell me you have gone pee.  Now back to bed."  Well that was almost 3 hours in a row, I probably got close to REM sleep.

3:50am I am dreaming I have been in a car accident on Fort San road.  The Honda is flipped and I can't move.  I am Paralyzed. Oh my God, I can't move my legs.  I can't move my legs!!  No actually Kenzie's bathroom announcement allowed the 30 pound cat in my room and she is laying in her favorite spot across my legs.  I am NOT paralyzed.  I kick the cat, tingling feeling comes back to my feet.

5:30am MOMMY! MOMMY!  Kaida is screaming from downstairs. I come down and open her door.  She bounces out of bed and announces that she has to go PEE, she is STARVING and her tummy is RUMBLING.  I realize that there is no way I am going to convince her to go back to sleep so resign my self to the fact that was the end of that night and I go make a multi fruit salad for her majesty.

When Cory wakes he asks "so how was your night?"  This is a skill he learned a few years back.  It translates into "I had a great sleep and didn't hear anything but can tell by the scary look in your eyes you may have been up once or twice so I will tread lightly."  The sad thing is that my girls are sleeping so much better compared to when Kenzie was 3 and Kaida was a newborn that I confidently say "pretty good."

Is anyone questioning my need to start drinking coffee (AK)!?

Difficult questions for a mom.

Kids ask questions everyday.  It is just one of the ways that they learn hundreds of things each day.  Of course there is the often grating "Why?" question.  And the "how do babies get in the tummy?" delicate question but neither of those send the tingling, warm sensation of panic through me quite like the "is this left or right, Mommy?" question.

When we are at home it is not big deal.  I just turn my body the exact same way they are standing and then hold out my hand and see where the letter 'L" is.  No problem.  It is when we are in public, like say a busy skating dressing room, and Kenzie says "is this left or right mommy" and I start to sweat and twitch.  I realize that if I had to turn my body to match hers and hold out the letter 'L" it would probably stand for something other than Left.  I usually respond with my motherly tone "what do you think dear".  That way I appear to be fostering critical thinking and independence instead of stalling for time.

I blame this disability on my many years of being a dance instructors' assistant when I was at a young impressionable age.  I spent many hours in front of 3 and 4 year olds saying 'left' with my right foot pointed out and then 'right' with my left out there.  You do this enough and your brain starts to automatically shift to believe what the lips are saying.

This disability of mine proves to be very interesting when I am the map reader in the car.  Cory has learned over the years to tune out my voice and just turn his head away from the busy traffic to SEE which way I am pointing to make the next turn.

And even though I blame this on years of teaching dance, you should ask Cory about the challenges of getting directions from both my mom and I together!!

I'll wear a poppy.

Today is Rememberance Day which is a pretty important day for my family.  It started years ago with my Grandparents going to the Legion after the service and staying to share stories that would get bigger and bigger with every beverage.  I would attend the service occasionally, but if something else was happpening that day I could miss and do my remembering in private.

Then in 2000 my Grampa Dodd was dying and we were spending his last days in the hospital.  We do a lot as a family and this was no different.  We hung out, laughed, teased each other, worried about Gramma, felt sad, cried and laughed some more.  After 3 days of 'being together' my Grampa passed away.  We then went into planning mode and planned a nice service for him on Nov. 4th.  After that many days together the Dodd side of my family had to take a break from each other and we all went back to our own home and lifes for a few days.  It was unspoken but known that we would all meet again a the High School Gym on Nov. 11th.

When I walked into that gym the year my Grampa died I was surprized how caught up in emotion I was.  I was proud of my family and the strength that we share with each other.  I was really missing and mourning my Grampa that day.  I knew I would never miss another Rememberance Day service again.

Since that year my Gramma Dodd has also passed away and although I miss them both every day, November 11th is a day I hold special in my heart to Remember.

I'll tip one to Gramma and Grampa every year!

Hide and seek with a 3 year old!

Kenzie was at school ALL day today and boy do Kaida and I miss her.  They play so well together most of the time, which usually means I don't have to spend a lot of time being a dog owner, or pet shop owner, or Auntie Renee... but when Kenzie is not here I must fill the void.  So today Kaida decided we would play a game of hide and go seek.  She would hide this little bunny eraser and then I would have to find it and they we would switch.

This is how it went:
Mom: Ok Kaida hide your eyes.  No Peeking!
Kaida: I won't

Then when it was Kaida's turn to hide the eraser she would say things like:
- don't look on the couch
- I'll give you a hint, I hid it on something you run on
- Mom can I hide it in the laundry basket
As you can see this game was fun for quite some time but I must admit after about a half hour of her cheating and creating no challenge I was desperate for Kenzie to come home!!

First Skate of the Year

We went out to the rink for the first skate of the year this morning.  Both girls are kind of fitting last years skates and I figure if there is  no whinning, bruised toes or ripped toenails we are good to go.

I was amazed at how well they both did right out of the gate.  Kaida has better balance and is much stronger this year.  She was walking all over the ice chasing Grampa with her evil grin.  Kenzie is skating well too and really enjoys her role of 'teacher' to Kaida.  I love listening to her explain to Kaida how to hold out her arms when she skates and then waiting an appropriate amount of time to say 'good job Kaida, I am very proud of you'.    Kaida loves it and yells for the rest of the morning 'Kenzie, watch this.'  They can be such good friends some days.



The rink was quite busy as there were 8 kids, 4 moms a Grandpa and a Grandma.  It was great fun and an easy way to spend the morning.  Topped off with a milk and doughnut at the bakery.   Mmmmm!

The exorcism

When Kaida is tired, or frustrated she doesn't really suffer in silence.  If fact her 'meltdowns' as we call them can be both frightful and funny at the same time.  So yesterday when she was without a nap and had been to school for the morning she was, shall we say, emotional.  To give you a description of this child when she is emotional you can think of a happy, singing little angel who all  of a sudden SNAPS!  She grits her teeth and vibrates with rage.  She growls and pierces her eyes into you like she is trying to light you on fire.  Her nails extend and she scratches at the first thing she sees, often the leather couch.  So this was supper time and the 25th 'meltdown' of the day so I picked her up by the armpits and carried her to her room with all 4 limbs swinging.  I told her when she calmed down and was ready to talk to us nicely I would be back to talk.

As I was coming out the bedroom Cory gave me a LOOK!  I didn' t know what the look meant so I said 'what would you like me to do with her?',  he said 'perform and exorcism!'  Well I burst out laughing at his fear and the only thing funnier was the look on his face when I said 'Yah, just wait, when they are teenagers I will be in Menopause'.

Now does this look like the face of someone needing an Exorcism???

Happy Halloween

Yay!! Daddy is home early from volleyball, now we can carve our pumpkins!  The pumpkin carving thing has always been Cory's department.  If left to me every one's pumpkin would have 3 triangles and a gash for a mouth and we'd be done.  When Cory carves a pumpkins Kenzie gets:

A Blues Clues pumpkin

and Kaida gets a Princess Cat.  It is really just a cat but Kaida calls it a Princess Cat!

We hit the streets early because there was a Rider game at 3:00pm.  Now I am not sure but I think Halloween has been Oct. 31st for many years.  Step off football...

Here is my adorable Cat in the Hat and Pink Puppy

This Halloween I convinced Cory to relax and just let the kids eat candy.  We monitor the junk food pretty closely most of the time but I felt if there is one day of the year that they can have a free for all why not Halloween. He relented and went with it.  Cringing with every wrapper Kaida demolished as she ate candy after candy after chocolate bar.  They behaved pretty well and went to bed not too bad.  The pay off for me and my wisdom was at 4:30am when Kaida was screaming down the house because she had a tummy ache and it was ``wrubbling``.  She woke up Kenzie and they didn`t go back to sleep.  Now it is 4:00pm, they are both fast asleep and should be getting ready for watching day at Dance class.  Next year we will have limit on the candy, even if it is Halloween!