Feats and Firsts

School and after-school activities are in full swing. And there are lots of developmental feats going on here at the Grooters' household.

Jack is moving right along in Kindergarten. It's amazing how it seems like all of this knowledge is just sitting dormant, waiting to be unlocked. Everything that he has done leading up to this point has readied him for what lies ahead. In just one short month he has already changed so much. Four short weeks ago, he could recognize and spell a few words here and there. Now he has already started recognizing many of the sight words, sounding out new words and....reading!

I purchased from Costco, a collection of BOB books. It's a full set of sight word books for kindergarten and first grade that build upon one another, similar to what we remember as Dick and Jane books. He's already mastered the first three and is quickly wanting to read more and more.

His handwriting is already improving, as he practices letters at school every day. The math and reasoning assignments that come home amaze me. The teacher says that the new curriculum will even have him doing addition and subtraction by year's end. WOW! Even his artwork and coloring is already improving, coloring within the lines and putting together animals out of construction paper shapes and craft objects.

Jack does have a little bit of trouble with listening and following directions – no big surprise here, we struggle with that at home. I've volunteered in the classroom for the past few weeks and I listen to the commands and words that the teacher uses, so I'm trying to reiterate those at home for reinforcement. We ask him each day if he was in the (bee) hive or out of the hive, which is the teacher's disciplinary tactic. We challenged him to stay in the hive for one whole week. By his report he managed to do this all but one day last week, so I thought it deserved a trip to the store for a small-ish toy reward. He later reported that he lied about how many days he stayed in the hive. That earned him a "disappointed and hurt" speech and I sent him to his room to think about what he'd done. But before he went to his room, he had to give the toy back to his daddy and also tell him what he'd done. He will have to actually stay in the hive for one week to earn it back. Hard lessons to learn, sure. But much harder for mom and dad to know the right course of action to take.

We gave taekwondo a try thinking it would help enforce the behavior at school as well. He seemed to be enjoying it at first, but because his days at school are long and leave him pretty exhausted, he doesn't seem to want to go after school. We could probably make him, but at $150 a month {ouch} and a twice-a-week commitment, we are thinking we won't push taekwondo. This will give us more options for other extra curricular activities to try until he old enough to decide what he enjoys most. Here's a little video of him though getting to break a board - that was pretty cool.

Daddy-dentist decided that it was time for Jack to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels this weekend. Jack wasn't {and still isn't} so sure that he was ready. But I think he did pretty darn good.



This was the first day that he tried and by the end of the weekend he was pedaling downhill and uphill and keeping his balance. We are still working on stopping gracefully, paying attention and not running off the road or into objects.

Paige is working on her own potty training. I've mentioned before *my* lack of interest in potty training, but I think I may have to soon bite the bullet and put her in panties. I switched her to Pull-Ups knowing that they are useless for potty training, but they give her the flexibility to try to potty on her own if she so desires. Most of the time she tells me she wants to go potty during diaper changes. Some of the time she actually does pee. Other times she goes in between clothing changes or before bath time. Again, she's pretty good at going most of the time and going quickly. A few times she has even mentioned wanting to pee pee before she actually does go in her Pull-Up. Monday she told me she wanted to potty during her morning clothing/diaper change. I video taped it because I thought I'd capture her cute excitement and how she cheers for herself after a pee, but low and behold she gave me a number two on the potty. I'd share the video, but I fear it is rather graphic {even her daddy-dentist had a hard time watching it}.

After Paige's morning "feat", we went outside to soak up the cool morning temps. I put her in a new dress that my mom had just finished sewing. She looked so sweet and sunny, so of course, I grabbed my camera.

The front

The back

The top up close and personal

She's a little bit of mischief

And a little bit of sweetness

The pattern is the Junebug dress from here. If you are a Pinterest follower, you probably see how many adorable sewing projects that I have pinned for my uber-talented mom {note to self: I must get her to train me on some of her talents one of these days}. Besides sewing, she can crochet and embroider, too. She can craft pretty much anything I ask of her, too. I only wish I had half to talent or drive to do such things. I love Paige's new sunny, "flutter fly" {as she would call it} dress and can't wait for a few more adorable little Fall frocks to start appearing.

Paige also just started ballet lessons at Tallahassee Ballet last week. We are taking the mommy and me class and so far, she likes it and can follow directions and keep up pretty well with the other two older girls in her class. If you are looking for a great activity for your little girl, the Wednesday morning class only has three kids - all of the other time slots are jam packed. We are working on skills like listening and following directions, recognizing body parts, jumping, balance, coordination and taking turns. Not a whole lot of actual ballet just yet, but she does look pretty adorable in the tights, leotard and tutu.

my first pony tail

At 21 months, here's what Paige is up to now:
nicknames - paiger {if you ask her name, she'll tell you it's paiger} and paigey
weight - 27 pounds
height - 34 inches
favorite food - yogurt
least favorite food - most meat, except hot dogs and chicken nuggets
favorite show - elmo's world {sesame street}
favorite book - the very hungry caterpillar {"paterpillar"}
favorite thing to do - whatever my brother is doing
favorite song - wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round
i really dislike - sitting still, like riding in a shopping cart or eating at the table
i really love - singing, dancing and reading books
my pet - my favorite "horsey" marley
latest achievement - peeing and pooping on the potty
what i like to do with mommy - dance in the living room with her
what i like to do with daddy - have him chase me or throw me on the bed and tickle me
mommy and daddy think I will grow up to be - a good little mommy, teacher or caregiver