It's Been A While.....

We've had a busy summer and now it's over (although not pool time...it's still warm enough to swim for a few more weeks).

E had a couple of first in the last few months:

1. She started swimming w/o any swim aids (vest, ring, water wings).  She is quite the fish now and LOVES to swim.  I may need to get her on a swim team.
   
2. She has started reading.  She has a few Step 1 (K-1) books and she is reading them fairly easily.  She is so proud of herself and stops just about every sentence to say "Mom, look, I'm READING!" 
   
3. She is OUT OF PULL-UPS!  This is the one that makes me the happiest.  She has stayed dry at night for all but one night the last two weeks.  I do wake her up before I go to bed to have her go potty but she is doing great and I am so proud of her!

We've started Kindergarten at home and we both LOVE it.  We took our first field trip last Friday.  We went to the St. Pete Pier, which has an aquarium on the 2nd floor.

We took the bus there...what long trip it is.  Then we had to walk about 15 minutes from the bus down to the Pier. We walked through a little park and saw a great fountain and some beautiful flowers.

It started to rain and we got drenched.  E was worried about her dress getting all wet but I just kept telling her it's only water and it will dry.

First stop was an ice cream at a little food court while we dried off.

Then it was up to the aquarium to check out the fishies and other sea creatures.   Some were beautiful...and some were just plain strange looking. LOL

I have so many other pictures but they were all taken with my cell phone and the quality is just not good.

On the way out, we stopped at the gift shop and bought a few things to remind us of our trip....a story about a flounder, a sticker book with some aquarium fish, a coloring book and crayons (mostly for the bus trip home) and a coin purse with the Aquarium logo on it.

Next, was a trip up to the 5th floor.  There is an observation deck with awesome veiws of the city skyline and Tampa Bay. 

Last stop was the restaurant also on the 5th floor for a quick dinner before heading back home. 

Turns out there is a trolley that runs from the Pier up to 1/2 a block from the bus stop so we were able to catch that...and only costs .25! 

E had a great time!  We will definitely go back another time.  She loved the clownfish and the fish that looks like Dori from Finding Nemo...and the little sting rays.

Now you are all caught up.  As usual, thanks for stopping by.


N

News From The Pool, v1, issue 1

My daughter is destined to be a cheerleader, I think.  "Mom, you are swimming great." and "Go daddy, go daddy, pull the wagon, go daddy." and "Keep peddling mom--ok that one was from last year since I haven't ridden (is that a word??) my bike in a L O N G time--you can do it."   She also happens to believe, and who am I to disagree with her, that I am the Best Mom In The World.  I mean, she tells me every day so it must be true, right?

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File this one under Imagination In Overdrive!

I've posted a lot about my daughter's imagination.  Just when I think I've heard the funniest thing from her, she surprises me.

It's not secret that she LOVES Disney Princesses.  Just about every day, she pretends to be one of the DP's and has this whole storyline that he replays, sometimes ad naseum. 

Today, she was in her blue princess gown, and tells me she just got married to Prince Eric.  Then she tells me that she is moving to the beach but not into my house on the beach but we can live next door.  Then...well I'll just post what I put on my Facebook status today.

"Is currently in a house with a Princess in a blue gown, who was recently married to Prince Eric that is being pulled through the sky by Rudolph who is taking us to the beach to look for a house that is colored 1/2 blue, 1/2 purple and 1/2 yellow."

followed by:

" ‎...and I just became a Grandmother to Daisy who was born because The Princess wished on the Wishing Crown to have a baby the same day she got married and viola (her new favorite word to say), Daisy arrived. "Now remember mom, I get to name her because she is my baby."

There is so much more of the conversation I'm leaving out so I guess it's the cause of "Guess you had to be there" to see the humor in it but some days she is just pure entertainment!  Love this little girl. :o)

News From The Pool

That is one of E's favorite games to play...in the pool of course.  She pretends to be a reporter and she interviews me because she heard that my "daughter" gave me a "Best Mom In The World" award.  She brings her camera lady and asks me questions about my award, but mostly about my "daughter."  Have I mentioned before how I LOVE her imagination?

So this got met thinking that as long as it is pool season, I'll post some of the things E does in the pool in a "News From The Pool" post. Look for more to come.

Hats Are Cool

…and keep you cool.  The Princess has always liked wearing hats.  As a baby, I never had a problem keeping a hat…or sunglasses on her.
I was shopping online the other day and saw a sale mentioned.   I went to the site and found this great sun hat, marked down from $40 to $14.

She can be such a ham (just like her mommy) when it comes to taking her picture.

Here it is from the side so you can see more of it.

Now we just need to go to the beach so she can wear it! 

Thanks Grandma!

Mom sent The Princess a package today with sun dresses, shorts, t-shirts, necklaces, a puzzle, a princess photo album and a princess coloring book.  I *think* that is everything!  Can’t miss with anything “princess” related.  Oh, I did forget something.  Princess stickers.  Yep…although she still likes Dora, she is definitely full-on into Disney Princesses!

So, thanks Mom for thinking of my girl.  She was running around the house saying “I LOVE when grandma sends me packages.  She always sends me stuff I like!”

Photo of the Week Contest

I entered my daughter's photo in a People Magazine's Photo Of The Week contest and I was just notified that she is in the finals!  Could you please go vote for her?

http://photos.parents.com/category/vote/id/4/w/27/y/2010?page=279&esrc=nwphotofaves3

On a side note, two men in forum I belong to told me that they could not vote in this contest because it is degrading and objectifying my daughter...and one suggested it was human trafficking!

What do you think?  Is it degrading to vote for photos of children in contests?  Is it human trafficking?

I Read About Him In Books........

The Princess has such an imagination.  I've said it before, I know.  She really does think she is going to marry a prince.  Not a great guy who treats her well and loves and adores her.  No, a REAL prince. 

Today, we were playing card games and while I was shuffling, she was looking out the window.  She got real quiet and said "Mom, can I sing you a song?"   I said "Sure."   I wish I had a tape recorder.  She sang the most meloncholy song about wishing her prince would come see her.   I don't remember much of the song, but I do remember a part where she says "I read about him in books, I see him on tv, now I wish he would come to see me in real life so we can get married."

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"I'm A Fish But I Want To Be A Shark Like You"

The Princess did it.  She did it.  She took off those water wings and she trust herself and she SWAM....the entire length of the pool...and back again.  And again. And again. And again.  She was so proud of herself, and I was proud of her too.



"Mom, I'm a fish but I want to be a shark like you."  I''m guessing she means a good swimmer.  I hope that is what she means. ;o)

I Want To Be A Jungle Explorer

One of E's favorite shows is "Imagination Movers" on the Disney Channel.  If you haven't heard of it, it is the American version of The Wiggles--four guys who sing and dance, and in this case, solve problems for their customers who visit their warehouse.  The Princess often envisions herself marrying one of The Movers.  She gets all dressed up in her angel costume and tells me "I'm getting married to Mover Scott...no wait Mover Dave...no I think it's Mover Rich."  I think she needs to wait until she is really sure! LOL  But I digress.....

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A Girl And Her Dolphin

Ever since going to the Clearwater Aquarium this spring during the Grandma Invasion, E has fallen in love with dolphins.  A few weeks ago we saw that Flipper (the version from the 1960's) was on a cable channel so she began watching the show everyday (well not anymore as of today but that is another post). 

During the daytime she often sees the PillowPets commercial on tv.  Can you guess which animal just happens to be offered by PillowPets?  Yep.  A dolphin.  She asked me a few times if I could get her one so I gave her another standard parental answer "Maybe you will get one for your birthday or Christmas."  She really seemed ok with that answer.

I've really noticed a HUGE improvement in E's behavior over the past few weeks.  She controls her temper more, she is more agreeable at bed time, she tries really hard to listen when I tell her something, she doesn't argue about everything...like I said, a HUGE improvement.

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Toy Story 3

My husband has the first Toy Story on VHS.  The Princess watched a month or so ago and loved it (who doesn't???) so when she saw that Toy Story 3 was coming out soon, she asked if I would take her to see it.  I gave a common parental response...."We'll see."

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The PPS Man

When the Big Brown Truck stops at our house, my daughter shouts out "Mom, the PPS man is here. Is there something for me?"  Each time I tell her "It's not PPS, its UPS." I guess in her mind it is the Princess Parcel Service! Do you think UPS would mind changing their name (and color)?

It's All About The Pool

Sorry to be absent so long but there hasn't been much happening here other than swimming in the pool a few times a day to keep cool.

The Princess is really into dolphins after visiting the Clearwater Aquarium back when her grandmas visited. Since that time, she plays on Winter the dolphins website and has discovered the old Flipper tv show, which we now watch M-F at 4:00pm. :o)

Here she is pretending to be Flipper or Winter or some other dolphin:



That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by.

It's That Time Of Year

Skies are blue, temps are in the 80's, so that can only mean one thing.....POOL TIME!

Water temp is about 76-78 degrees.  We dipped our toes in, complained loudly how cold it was and then took the plunge.  We played a bit with our new Hot Potato Splash pool toy.

Luckily for me, the phone range after a few minutes and I was rescued from the cold water.  I sat on the edge of the pool and talked to my husband while E stayed in the water for a bit longer.

We are looking forward to next month when the water will be warm enough to swim in the morning when my husband is home so we can enjoy some family pool time (i.e., dad plays with daughter while mom floats around the pool, soaking up the sun). :o)

Oh, Brother!!

And we mean that in a good way.  E calls her big brother, "Brother."   Brother left Thursday morning and E misses him very much.  She had a good time when he was here, but the visit was too short.  She's already asking when is "brother" coming back.  Hopefully, sometime yet again this year.

Here's a short video of E and her big brother playing Tag:



This picture was taken the last night my son was here. Love this picture!

With "brother" gone, it's back to preschool. Nice thing about homeschooling, you can take a break whenever you need to. But, our guests are gone, so back to work!

Surprise!

The Princess has an older brother that lives out-of-state, and this week he is here visiting. It was a big surprise for E.  I had to keep it a secret all last week until Brother arrived on Sunday. She was sooooooo surprised, and happy, to see him. It has been over two years since the last time he came down to visit us.

Brother has no idea how much happiness he has brought to his little sister...and to me. E keeps saying over and over, "I love Brother. I'm so happy he came down to visit us."

Me too, Princess.  Me too.

Hats

I'm not a hat lover or hat wearer.  I wore a baseball hat when I played softball because we had to, but other than that, I prefer no hat.

E, on the other hand, has always liked wearing hats.  I never had a problem getting her to keep her hat on, nor sunglasses for that matter.

While The Grandmas were here, we did a lot of shopping...I mean a lot!  At one store, E tried on hats with Grandma Marilyn.  This girl looks good in anything, I tell you.

On another shopping trip, E's daddy was buying a hat to wear when he works outside at his part-time job.  E started trying on hats and decided on this one.

Over the years, I've taken a few cute pictures of her in hats, so since we I am talking about hats, I'm going to share some of my favs!

Not technically a hat, I know, but it makes me laugh!

Again, not technically a hat but like I said, she looks good in anything!