Preschool Update

So a few weeks ago, Greg and I went into Finley's preschool to have our first center visit.  A centre visit is a monthly visit with Finley's teachers, her speech therapist, her occupational therapist, her physiotherapist and her aides.

Finley doesn't really need the occupational therapist or the physiotherapist since her only developmental delay is related to speech. So she has gym class with physio and occupational helps use scissors and stuff like that.

Finley is doing very well at school.  She is very confident, independent and loves to learn.  They were impressed with her recognition of the alphabet and that she knew all her shapes, colours and can count to 20.  They were also happy that she greets all her teachers, aides and fellow classmates by their names.  She also greets both her aides with hugs too.

We were told that Finley will start kindergarten at a regular school without an extra assistance from aides or assistants or programs.  This made me happy.  I have full confidence that this is not said to every parent in hopes of making them feel better.

Her goals for the rest of the year are as follows:

1) To correctly say her name and Penelope's.  She has improved leaps and bounds with both although Penelope sometimes sounds like puppy.

2) To work on things like Gilk (milk), Gickey (Mickey) and Mimi (Minnie) because Penelope is starting to repeat these as well.

3)  To work on her "s" sounds.  Some she does very well, other times she reverses the consonants in the words or just skips part of the word

4) To work on the word "not".  She doesn't understand this word at all.  If you show her a red crayon and a blue crayon and say which is NOT the blue crayon, she points to the blue.  We have been working on this all the time and I have some seen some improvement although I sometimes wonder if she just gets lucky.

5) She has a hard time with "over, under, on, beside" so we are working on this too.

6) Lots of times she doesn't remember what she had for breakfast or did at school.  Her speech therapist (who I love) said that it is more likely that she can't express herself properly than it is a memory problem.  So what we do now, is ask her did you have hotdogs for breakfast or oatmeal and usually she will answer correctly.  However, if you ask pizza or whatever it was she actually had, then she will always answer pizza.  She loves her pizza!  Her aides also tell me what they do so that I can ask her.  She is getting a bit better even telling me what she did on her own, which is really good.

7) Because she has no physical disabilities, her goals are to properly use scissors and to throw a ball properly - work on her aim since she has none.

We have these meetings once per month and discuss the progress that Finley has made since the last one.  She gets tested in June again for enrollment for next year.  Most likely she will be approved for PUF programming and back at that school.  Some days I think she has made great progress and then other days I see nothing.  Most people who don't see her everyday say that they have seen significant improvement in her.  I don't know if it's because they feel sorry for us or if they really do see a difference.

Finley LOVES school, she loves her classmates, her teachers, her aides - everybody!  She loves to show me what she has made and proudly has all her artwork hanging in her room.  Although I have more to hang so I think some will have to come down.  She is even doing some fingerpainting but still prefers to use brushes at all times!  One of Finley's classmates always says  Hi Finley's Mom to me and Hi Finley's baby to Penelope.  It seriously makes my day!! Such cute kids!

Anyways, I think that is all for now.  Our next meeting is on March 16 and I will let you know what happens then!

Family Day

On Family Day we headed to the little park a few blocks from our house to do some sliding and some sledding.  

Finley and Daddy heading over to the park.  There are parks closer to our house but this one is the nicest in all of Bridlewood plus the hill is pretty nice too!

Penelope slowing checking out the snow.  She hates most things winter but she surprisingly enjoyed herself outside.  Granted it was pretty warm outside.

This was Greg jumping on one of the bridges to knock all the snow off.  Finley doesn't like to get wet if she doesn't have to.  And since she refused to wear ski pants this is what needed to be done.

Penelope looking up at Daddy + Finley but she didn't want to go on the jungle gym at all!

She made it across!

This was another bridge that swings when you walk (like the on in Little Red) Greg jumped on it to make sure it rocked a lot.  This did not bother Finley

Penelope still just a watching but from a different angle.

Time for some sliding.  Finley goes first!

And down they went!

Penelope watched with delight and soon it was her turn!

Greg trying to get Penelope to walk towards him

It worked!  This was Penelope's FIRST time ever on the sled!

She really liked it!

Walking back up the hill  Finley was at the top screaming My TURN My TURN!!  We continued to go down a few more times each before heading home.

Penelope 1.5

Dear Penelope,

Today you are 18 months old.  I still can't believe that my sweet baby girl is almost 2!!  Right before my eyes you have turned into a sweet, cuddly, somewhat destructive, mostly happy toddler.  You keep me on my toes and rarely let me rest - especially when Finley is at school.   We both miss her when she is not here!

You love to wear hats as long as you are not outside.  For some reason you insist on taking them off as soon we get into the car, after you get out of the car or walk out of the store.  Thankfully we have had a mild winter and have not had too many issues with this!  Same goes with boots and mittens.  Stonz boots very much saved us this winter with your refusal to wear socks and/or shoes.

You and your sister are best friends.  You love to get into trouble together.  For example, here are you two hiding in our pantry eating muffins that you stole off the kitchen counter.  You constantly copy her and your face lights up as soon as you see her.   When we drop her off at preschool, you cry when we leave because you want to stay there with her.  

Here is another example of your trouble making.  You and your sister were playing with markers and you let her draw all over you.  You love markers.  Finley still cannot get the lid off of them and yet you have no problem.  Thankfully all of our markers are now washable to avoid any disasters like our basement stairs.

You love to play with rings and necklaces and bracelets.  You love to bang the balls with your hammer and watch them fall through the slats.  You love to play pretend at the play kitchen and you always want to feed me or daddy your creations.  You love playing with puzzle pieces but have no interest in putting them together.  You love playing with blocks and knocking over your sister's castles even more.  You love to read books and absolutely love Elmo and Mickey Mouse.  

You are such a sweet cuddly little girl.  This is a photo of you giving kisses.  You love to give kisses, blow kisses and are a pro at high fives.  You are the best hug giver in the world and love to share with other people.  You love to dance to music and play with your babies as long as they are wrapped up tight in a blanket.

You love the Talking Tom App on the Ipad.  You shock me at your ability to use the ipad.  You are a pro and turning it on and finding this app.  And if you come across any other app you will gladly "play" that one too.  You also have a love for my iphone.  You seem to have a super power regarding it because the second i put it down you come out of no where to get it.  Thankfully, your sister sees this and promptly takes it from you to give it to me.  

You are a very musical toddler.  You love to play the piano, the drums, the shakers and especially this recorder.  This is your sisters recorder and she doesn't like to share it with you.  This is the one thing you go to play everyday she is at school.  

You have become obsessed with your blanket - just as your big sister is with hers.  You take it everywhere you can and cry when you see it but can't get it or if anybody else touches it.  You still suck your thumb much to mine and your daddy's dismay.  We try to pull it out whenever we see it in your mouth but  you are pretty sneaky.  Hopefully this ends son.

Here is another photo with your sister.  Such a cute and cuddly photo but mere minutes later you are pinching her and pulling her hair with all your might.  Your grip is strong as you have brought me to tears when you have pulled my hair.  We are trying to work on this too but it's hard since you don't completely comprehend what we are saying and what is wrong versus what is right.

Here you are using a Nalogene sippy cup that you got for Christmas.  You are finally able to use it!!  We tried to get you to use the sippy cups with the straws but you don't like them.  However, you love to drink water out of a straw in a restaurant.  Go figure.  I don't quite understand how one is different from the other but I guess that's kids for you.  Your favorite foods are sushi (yes sushi, she can eat 6 rolls in one sitting easily), cheerios and any kind of muffin.  The only food you absolutely refuse to eat is perogies.  You hate perogies.  So does Finley.  You don't like ice cream either but only because it is too cold for you.  If it is melted you will sometimes eat it.  

One of your favorite things is emptying this toy organizer.  For everything 3 things I put away, you take out 15.  I am not even exaggerating.  The amount of mess that you as an 18 month child make astounds me.  

You love to sing and talk and talk you do.  You can say no, mama, dada, ball, baby, mimi refers to you, mickey and minnie and anything else she has a fondness for, kitty, baba is your words for blanket and for milk.  You are starting to say bye bye and wave.  This makes the receptionist at Finley's school's day!  You are also trying to say sister and you point to your bum and say ewww when you poop.  We tried putting you on the potty recently and you loved it the first time and not so much the following times.  One day we will try again.

You love to ride around on the choo choo train and you love the sounds that it makes.  Mostly you just bounce on it and move backwards a tiny little bit but man it makes your day!

You recently discovered your tongue and love sticking it out.  You do this all of the time.  You also recently moved into your own bed.  You love it.  Unlike your sister who loved to sleep in drawers and closets, you stick to your bed.  Once we found you on the floor but that's it.  You discovered how to open your door and when you wake up in the middle of the night, you open it and head down stairs.  Thankfully, this doesn't happen too often!  You sleep about 12 hours each night and rarely ever nap.  Sometimes on the weekend you will have a nap but with your sister's preschools schedule it's a very rare occurance for  you to sleep outside the vehicle.

You are a climber.  You climb on anything and everything.  I am almost certain a broken bone is in our near future.  You also love to climb into baskets of all kinds and sit in it.  You absolutely love it.

You have taken an interest in Little People mostly because it is one of your sister's favorite thing to do and so when she heads into the basement to play with them, you are right on her heels.  You don't play with them together yet but you each play with various sets.  It's cute to watch you do this!

So Penelope, I think that is all of your milestones since my last letter to you.  It has been a privilege to watch you turn into the sweet little girl you have become.  I cannot wait for our next letter in 6 months although if I could stop the hands of time, I would.  

Love you Sweet Pea,

Mama

A Trip To The Zoo

A few weeks ago we took advantage of this beautiful, mild winter weather that Calgary has been having the last few months and headed to the Calgary Zoo for the day.  It wasn't too busy and it was warm out and most importantly, all of the animals were out.  Here are some photos of the girls and a few animals of our day:

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Spent the last 2 days trying to get that "perfect" shot for Valentine's Day and well....it just didn't work out!!  But here are some of the "better" ones...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!