July Dialogue and Milestones

You’re going to have to excuse the lack of updates lately… Melissa and I trying to find each other and ourselves amidst the stress, the new schedules, and chaos of life. And now, let’s get July out of the way so we can head into August, shall we?

Dialogue, July 2nd
Nina impressed me with the following conversation… I left my side out of it so you can see how much she held her own: “I eat it all gone.”
“Daddy you give me more cereal?”
“Put it in da bowl.”
“Can put more milk, in dere?”
“I help you.”
“I Bring my bowl to you.”
“I help you put it in?”
“I help you. Please.”
“Don’t spill it.”
“I need a napkin to wipe it up.”

Dialogue, July 9th
Ian: “You shouldn’t fall asleep on the potty, because if you start to fall over and you flipped over your hair would go get wet.”

Dialogue, July 23
Daddy: “What makes you happy, Ian?”
Ian: “Mommy and Daddy.”
Daddy: “What else makes you happy?”
Ian, while galloping around the room: “GRAMPA DAVE BOAT TRIP! GRAMPA DAVE BOAT TRIP! GRAMPA DAVE BOAT TRIP! GRAMPA DAVE BOAT TRIP! ”

Dialogue, July 26th
Ian explains Strawberry Shortcake, the cartoon: “It’s strawberry girl, or whatever.”

Dialogue, July 28th
Nina, watching toilet refilling: “It’s loading!”

Dialogue, July 29th
Nina, quoting the Spiderman opening sequence from the 1960’s: “Spideman, take a wook, overhead.”

Dialogue, July 30th
Nina, regarding playing the iPad while observing Ian at Tumble Time: “Ian went to a different kind of Tumble Time today I made cookies on the iPad and eat them num num num num ”

Journal Entry, July 30th
I sometimes write little journal entries just for kicks… this one seemed important: “So today was the last Monday, probably. For five and a half years, I’ve spent my Mondays with my little boy, and two and a half of those years with my little girl. Ian will go to daycare for five days of the week, until he attends kindergarten in about a month. Nina will go to daycare five days a week too. Very easy to look back and be disgusted with myself for not doing more with those days, but we had a pretty good run. Perhaps this will teach me to better cherish the time I get with my children.

It’ll be interesting to see if I am less stressed out. The kids do stress me sometimes, but in this case I’m talking about the stress that has come from trying to make a four day week as productive as a five. Melissa and I have both been stretched pretty thin for a good long time, and it is pretty easy to blame the days of the week where each of us stays home.

It’ll also be interesting to see if this lasts. We don’t have a choice with Ian, but I foresee us possibly going back to three or four day schedule with Nina. It’d be more fair if she got five and a half years of Mondays and Tuesdays with her folks too; but we shall see.”

The people taking care of Nina in her new class? No longer write the date on the daycare sheet. So here’s some random entries… maybe I’ll get to put them in some kind of order someday… Some are probably from July and some might be from August.

RANDOM DAYCARE NOTES (I did find some of the dates, but let’s face it, it isn’t going to make much of a difference in the long run… so these will stay out of order. Ian’s aren’t very interesting at daycare, Nina’s are worth a read.)

“Happy Friday”
Nina’s Caregiver: “In dramatic play Nina fed her baby a bottle then she made a long track for a train. Nina loved making a Smore and eating it! she was so excited to play in the tent and tunnel have a great weekend”

“Thursday”
Nina’s Caregiver: “Nina was singing E I E I O while building with Lego it was so cute! She really enjoyed our circle time songs too.”

“Thursday”
Nina’s Caregiver: ” Nina had a wonderful day. She had a lot of fun shaking the colored test tube shakers. She also enjoyed painting an orange ice cream with Miss Jillian.”

“Wednesday”
Nina’s Caregiver: “Nina had a great day. She spent a lot of time playing with the magnetic dress up doll’s. She tried very hard to cut with scissors this morning.”

“Thursday”
Nina’s Caregiver: ” Nina love playing on the big playground! She tried the climber the bikes in the steering wheel! Nina did a great job putting spots on her giraffe and she tried hard to use her thumb!”

“Wednesday”
Nina’s Caregiver: ” Nina had a great visit today! She enjoyed the water activities outside. Her favorite activities were painting the wall with water and playing with windup toys at the sensory table. She did say she wanted to see her other friends and mommy a few times but she seemed very comfortable over all and shed no tears!”

“Wednesday, July 11th”
Nina’s Caregiver: ” Nina enjoyed playing with a baby in dramatic play! When I asked her what she likes to do at the beach she said build a Sandcastle with mommy and daddy she had fun making a hand-print octopus this morning!”

“Thursday, July 12th”
Nina’s Caregiver: ” Nina had so much fun coloring with markers this morning! She played with Ava a lot! Nina was very talkative today and used her words very well. She did have some trouble with hitting and pushing her friends. Nina loves playing with Lego dinosaurs!”

“Friday, July 13th”
Nina’s Caregiver: ” Nina loves playing with Legos this morning on the circle rug with Miss Chelsea. They built houses and then made one big one together.”

“Wednesday, July 18th”
Nina’s Caregiver: “Nina had fun splashing her hands in a tub of water! She kept listening and looking up for airplanes when we were outside. Nina enjoyed painting the wall with water.”

“Thursday, July 19th”
Nina’s Caregiver: ” Nina tried so hard to hold her scissors the right way. She’s a great job cutting paper! She also built a sand castle at the sensory table. She enjoyed playing with fish at the flannel board and shared them so nicely with a friend.”

“Wednesday”
Nina’s Caregiver: ” Nina pretended to go on a school bus ride with me at the park! We even buckled our seatbelts! She loved chasing tennis balls and shared one so nicely with a friend.”

“TGIFriday”
Nina’s Caregiver: “When Ms. Joanna asked how many legs and octopus has Nina said “I have 45!” She enjoyed reading books and watching the little mermaid. She did a great job identifying animals in the movie!”

“7/11/12”
Ian’s Caregiver: ” Ian had a great day he really likes playing with the train tracks set. He didn’t eat any oatmeal at breakfast or any pasta for lunch.”

“7/12/12”
Ian’s Caregiver: ” Ian did not go in the sprinkler but enjoying dumping water and using the spray bottles.”

“7/13/12 Accident Report”
Ian’s Caregiver: ” He was climbing up the steps on the climber he tripped and fell on his right knee.”

“7/13/12”
Ian’s Caregiver: “Ian said he liked playing on the climber and going down the slides”

“7/19/12”
Ian’s Caregiver: ” Ian liked riding his bike for a second day”