Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Follow up to being SOTW

I know some of you are wondering how living with the Student of the Week is going, so I wanted to share two small snapshots into our life right now:
  • Yesterday morning she woke up and ran to find me to exclaim, "who's the student of the week? Oh yeah, that's me!" Good morning to you too.
  • This morning she was doing something annoying and I asked her to knock it off and she looked me square in the eye and said, "That's not how you should talk to the student of the week."

Addie's favorite things

The unit on the five senses culminated with her production of a booklet of her favorite things. Now pay attention to not only the drawings, but also her attempt at phonetic spelling. It's priceless. I'll decipher each for you.
The cover and back page. She's really into making her lower case e with the diagonal slant instead of a horizontal one.
Ok, ok, I bet you are cracking up now, right? Of her favorite things to see, they are: Regean, her friend (Rag), a princess (Pesas--missing a few syllables, much?), a flower (FWL) and then the best one a heart (HOT-- remember the whole speech therapy evaluation because of the soft r sound? Prime example of it, when she is slowly pronouncing heart, she hears hot. I laughed til I cried over that one.)
Favorite thing to smell, let me tell you scared me before I turned the page. Most of you know Addie's affinity for my shirts and I could only imagine what she would write/draw. She ended up playing it safe with my mom (me mom) and then flower, but she says she ran out of time to write it. No idea what bot was going to be. Favorite things to touch: again get ready to crack up- because I read BONE and thought 'what in the name of God is she talking about?' and then I looked at the picture and realized she sounded out 'bunny.' Under that is "me mom scen" which means "my mom's skin."

This page got cut off in the scan, it reads "These are my favorite things to eat." Look how well she managed to spell these!! First off, RAVIOLEI, which is so darn close I about fell off of my chair. Then we have IESCEM or ice cream and COC, which was the beginning of cookie.
She didn't have the page "These are my favorite things to hear" filled out. She said she wants to finish it for me though.

Apple and the tree

What's that old expression about the apple and the tree?* Ben insists on doing homework now too, while Addie is doing hers. So naturally I have to draft some on the spot for him. Since Addie was doing a unit on the five senses, I figured Ben could follow in her footsteps too. So:

When you read "Dynamite" is what he likes to hear, it's a pop song called Dynamite; he's not really into explosive sounds. And ever since the great bat fiasco of 2010, Ben has been obsessed with them.
*Muddy still has an "assignment" she gave me while I was in kindergarten to write a one-page report on "Why I like baby's butts," since Wendy and TJ were writing one page reports in their grades. My whole report is written in cursive, again because that's what my older siblings were doing. My kindergarten teacher actually sent home a note asking Muddy to talk to me about printing instead of writing in cursive. :-)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Introducing....

The Highlands Elementary School Room 1 Student of the Week!
Her name got announced over the intercom this morning. She was invited to the lobby to receive her certificate, signed by the principal and to receive her special "Highlands Student of the Week pencil."
Tomorrow she gets to bring in a baby picture. Wednesday she's supposed to bring in her favorite book. Thursday she's to bring in something that represents her outside of school and what she likes to do. Friday she gets to bring in snack for her classmates.
She's really proud of herself and worked really hard for it. Two weeks ago, Regean was the first SOTW. Last week it was Elijah G. Each day the SOTW gets to choose a friend to sit with them at lunch in the special SOTW table. She was Elijah G's guest once last week. Regean was her's today. Tomorrow will be Vada. Wednesday either Elijah G or James.
When she started talking to me about snack on Friday she said, "I think you should make brownies." I said, "I was thinking rice krispy treats," and she said, "But no, someone else already brought them in." "Addie, you told me that Elijah G brought in munchkins. What did Regean bring?" "Yeah, it was Regean she brought in rice krispy treats." So I'll be making brownies. I don't want to mess with the SOTW!
She was chosen "because she demonstrated the four characteristics of a Highlands Wildcat-- courteous, cooperative, respectful and responsible." Yup, that 'bout sums her up.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

The article about my program

Not sure how well this will turn out, since it had to be as jpegs, but hopefully if you click on them you can read the text.


More from this weekend

Coach Daddy giving the team a pep talk. See how tall Max is? And see how Ben is exactly the same size as all of the other 5+ and 6 year olds?
Mid-game. That's Addie out there to the left.
It ended up being unseasonably warm- like 90 degrees warm on Saturday morning. Look how sweaty Ben is. By the end of the game, each child was begging to come off the field for a water break.

Addie chillaxing after the game. See how rosy red her cheeks and forehead are?

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Let's hear it....

GGGGGOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLL!
The Hornets lost 3-2, but it was neck and neck the whole time. Ben scored the second goal, with the assist from Addie. Brian couldn't be happier- he's watched that video about 20 times already. His smile was bigger than Ben's after they scored. Ben didn't even react to scoring the goal, but Addie was doing her finger-pointing-up-in-the-air-happy-dance for the next 30 seconds.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Heckuva week

My apologies for the lack of posts this week. My big grant that I've been working on for 20 months...really, 20 months, is finally wrapping up and will hopefully be submitted tomorrow afternoon. It can't come soon enough. Every waking moment has been spent on that freaking thing. I'm so over it at this point.
It's also been a hectic week with events. Tuesday night we had soccer practice, Wednesday I was in Washington DC presenting at the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine conference and then I had to come back to attend Addie's Open House. Then tonight we had hip hop. It's just been non-stop. I'm really looking forward to a weekend without my darn Blackberry lighting up with emails about the grant.
I wanted to give a special mention to Aunt Kim and Tom, who are dealing with the horrible reality of Tom's father's decline and soon death. While I know there's nothing I can do for them, besides be willing to listen and offer support, I can't help but feel like I should be able to. I've never been in this situation before, luckily, and I can't imagine the sadness and pain they feel right now. I just want them to know how much we are thinking of them and Jim, and sending our love.
I have videos from hip hop and soccer this week to post, when I get a chance.
Oh and there was a big article in the News Journal about the program that my physician partner and I created, so that was cool too! I'll try to post it some time.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

trip to the beach

Totally out of order, sorry. But I didn't want to miss this. Kate, that's the kite you gave us!! It's the first time I've ever been able to get a kite to fly in the air!!!
The four of us took an early-fall/goodbye to summer trip to the shore in New Jersey this weekend. Muddy and Guppy cam with us, and Onkteb met us there. Upon arriving on Friday night, Ben exclaimed, "I just love waking up here." We stayed at my physician-partner's house, which is exquisite. They rent it out over the summer.
Since we got there about 9:30pm, and wanted to wait up for Onkteb to arrive, we had to play in the dark. The kids were excited to have Muddy read books to them.
After having breakfast on Saturday morning, the kids had fun playing on all of the balconies. This is taken from the 3rd floor balcony, with them up on the Master balcony on the 4th floor.
Playing in the sand. Since it is not officially the summer season at the shore, we basically had the whole beach to ourselves.
Onkteb took them in for a dip first.
And then realized the waves were borderline off-da-hook, so it was wise to have Brian come in too. I stayed on shore and photographed (someone had to.)
Addie LOVES the beach. She loves to lay face down on the sand, loves to be covered in it, just loves it. Could that sandy face be any happier? I think not.
Muddy brought some of the super bubble makers, and Addie and Ben chased them around the beach, trying to break them. Talk about great exercise.


See, what I mean?

A sand-dried face.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Singing

Addie was super excited to tell me that she was singing "Sleepy Jeans" on the playground and Ms. Melgarejo overheard her and asked what she was singing. Once Ms. M was sure it was what she thought it was, they sang it together. Addie thought it was so cool to have a song that she and Ms. M both knew. Ms. M did tell me that she told Addie, "but you have a much nicer voice than me," to which Addie replied, "Yes I do." Nothing spells confidence like that, right?
Now, I need to give credit where credit is due- the reason Addie knows "Sleepy Jeans" so well is because that is her and Onkteb's song. So much so that I fully expect at Addie's wedding reception (you know, in 40 years) that she will request that song be played so she and Onkteb can dance to it together. Awwwww.
Now little does Addie (or Ms. M, for that matter) realize, there are many songs that Addie could sing that Ms. M would know. Perhaps the entire Glee soundtrack?

Hip Hop Week 2

There are some times when being a parent when everything aligns and you have the chance to be pleasantly surprised by your child, who happens to be very good at something you weren't expecting. I got to experience that today with Addie. She "gets it." The first video below shows her rocking it- the other students even cheered for her, because she nailed it so well.

Talk about smooth moves. Yowza!

Did you see that spin? Incredible

Their "mini routine"

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

It finally happened

We all knew it was only a matter of time before Addie and Ben started playing soccer. Not because they were always kicking in the womb or because they can juggle a ball like nobody's business- just for the purely simple reason that Brian is their father.
They had their first practice tonight and "Coach Daddy" had his first coaching experience. Funny, to say the least. Brian assumed that all of the kids knew what soccer was about, how to play, etc. He began with "everyone grab a ball and dribble around in a circle." Um, excuse me, most of these 6 year old and under believe that dribbling involves drool or a basketball. After he led to drills, I told him I thought it might be helpful to have all of the kids tell each other their names. Have to love the perspective of someone who has study early childhood development, right? Anyway, much to my surprise Addie really enjoyed it as much as Benjamin. Graham is on their team, so the Nourie kids make up a third of the team. Everyone else if 5 or 6, except for Ben, but size-wise he fit right in. Skill-wise he really held his own too. Enjoy some pictures. Their first "game" is on Saturday, which is apparently very important, because Brian decided now that we should drive 2 hours back from the beach to play the 45 minute game and then drive 2 hours back to the beach for the rest of the weekend. Whatever, Coach Daddy.

Such typical Addie, she started pulling poses left and right. Mighty provocative for a 5 year old right?
Meanwhile Benjamin is just as happy as he can be.
They started with a huddle, 2 seconds into meeting some players. Note how Ben and Tommy are holding hands. So cute.
That monster boy in the middle is 6. So is the kid in goal. Major difference in height.
They played "red light, green light." This is as Coach Daddy called "red light." I like how Addie's hair stopped.

This is a great description of who they are as competitive athletes. Looking at Addie's expression you can totally hear her belly laugh, right? She is hooting and hollering the whole time, with excitement. Meanwhile Ben has his tongue out, as he's determined to beat anyone else to the ball.
Overall, I think we have some soccer fans! Coach Daddy said he almost cried, he was so proud of them. Aye caramba!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

A girl in Addie's class

Addie was talking about her friends this weekend. Since I'm not there like I was when she was in daycare, where I had a chance to get to know all of her peers, I have to rely on her memory for who she played with, what she did, etc. A lot of the time I have a pretty good inkling to the fact that she is totally making stuff up, so I'll say, "Well, I'll have to go email your teacher about that" and suddenly she says, "Oh no, don't do that" so I know what's reality and what's not.
So anyway, Addie is rattling off her friends names and that now she sits at the yellow table with "Elijah G, Cavity and James." OMG, did she say "Cavity?" The girl's name is Cassidy. Too funny. Just reminded me of Uncle Jeremy's friend "Laundry" who was really Audrey. Poor little girl is probably going home in tears each night telling her parents that her friend is calling her a cavity.

Hip hop dance class

Addie and Ben had the awesome opportunity to start taking hip hop dance classes at the Y last week. It's offered to kids ages 6+, but when I read the description I thought "eh, can't hurt to ask" so I did and they said Addie and Ben would be welcome. It's called Kids Groovement and is supposed to be hip hop, jazz and break dance.
I took lots of videos over the 45 minute class. They basically learned 15 different hip hop moves and combinations. Really really fun.
This weekend we had Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Amanda in town, so they got to see some of these moves in person. I know there are plenty of others across the country who are eagerly waiting the videos. So, without further ado, I give you Addie and Ben running through all of their moves one after the other, which you can tell when they stop and look quizzically at the camera. After their choreographed moves are done they start free-styling, which begins when Ben starts breaking, fyi. Oh and I should tell you, this is not all of their moves- I forgot to cue them on two other combinations, sorry. Also, the teacher does everything in groups of 4- so it's really only 4 "down and pops" and 4 "slide and claps", etc, not 20 as you'll see. I'm really looking forward to class on Thursdays!



Saturday, September 11, 2010

Friday, September 3, 2010

What one does in Kindergarten

Addie reported to me last night that she and Regean worked together in the "reading center." Apparently there's a puzzle game of rhyming words that she enjoyed putting together. She started telling me about the words that fit together. There's a cat on one puzzle piece and its match is a cat laying inside a hat. Another puzzle piece is a king and its match is the king with a ring. You get the picture. So she's running through the list of rhyming words and tells me "there's a seahorse and a plate." and then she moves onto the next match. I stopped her and said, "Addie, seahorse and a plate? That doesn't rhyme. Are you sure it isn't fish and dish?" She started her loud belly laugh and covering her mouth in a hysterical giggle. Then she wanted to know how I could figure that out and she said I am the smartest person she knows.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Day Three


Addie woke up this morning and told me that she didn't feel like going to school today. Gee, that was short-lived enthusiasm for this new routine, huh? After I explained to her that she had to go to school everyday that I worked, she managed to get dressed.
She chose her Hello Kitty dress to match her new Hello Kitty lunch bag from Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Amanda. She even wore her Hello Kitty bracelet, but not in this picture.
I didn't get any emails from her teacher today. In trying to encourage her to make other friends, I asked her this morning to ask four friends what their favorite color and songs are and to report back to me. When I got home, she said she asked only one friend named Regean, "but either she didn't answer or I didn't listen" so we'll never know what Regean's favorite color and song are.
In her nightly folder was her "monthly calendar" which documents your child's behavior each day. The note explains that they use a stop light approach in her class, where all students start our on green light in the morning and throughout the day if they don't follow directions or make bad choices, they move to yellow light. If then this continues after multiple warnings, they move to red light. "All students know red light is not a good place to be." :) She asked that we review the behavior for each day and praise the green lights and talk about bad choices if it's red. Never have I hesitated to so much to turn a page over to see September 1's color: a green smiley face. Phew! Addie did tell me that there are two boys who already had a red light.
That's all from here. During the day Muddy has been taking Ben to the park and then come back home where he does a ton of school work sheets. He loves it and is learning stuff too. Kindergarten is going to be a breeze for Addie- right now they are at "put three letters in a hat, pull one out and name the letter." Really? Ben could've done that last year.
Ben was asleep by 7:30 tonight and Addie wasn't much further behind him. Lovin' this school thing! :)