September 28, 2009

A day with Popo

Quinn spent the whole day with Popo. What a fine time we both had! We started out by going to Temple for Yom Kippur. Quinn was engaged the entire time: first she put all the seats in the row down, then back up again; then moved the books onto the seats instead of the chair arms. She does like to arrange things. :-)

She loved the music and recognized that there was a piano playing, even though she couldn't see it. She saw that the shofar that the Rabbi blew was very long. After she got to my house, she found a long stick on the street and pretended to blow the shofar too.

We visited Annabelle, the granddaughter of my friend Mary Beth. They played in the tent/house, climbed the steps to the bed (many times), dressed up with necklaces, rolled the ball, had a snack, danced and generally played well together. When we got back to my house it only took about 15 minutes to get her to nap in the hippo sleeping bag on the floor. I was VERY glad she was so cooperative about that!

We found a play gym with a tire swing, rock wall, rings, swings, slide and had a grand time exploring all it had to offer. When there's a yard available that may be Popo's next gift!!

Then we visited my neighbor Michele and said hi to the Mahh Jong gang. Came back to the house and she read several books to Sybil (doll). Daddy came by, we had dinner, and she went home.

I was tired but feel like it was a very fun, successful day. I know Mommy and Daddy are glad I feel that way since I know they're hoping there will be more days like this one! :-)

September 27, 2009

Very Adaptable Child

We took duckie, our most favorite sleep lovey, to school on friday. And against our advice, she took into class instead of leaving it in the car. Needless to say, we forgot it at school, and since it was Friday before Yom Kipur, it would be 4 days without it. Pam was secretly really scared that the weekend was going to be horrible, but we reminded Quinn that we forgot duckie at school and that we needed to go to sleep without him. She said okay, and fell asleep with some of our backups (a hippo and a lion)... Still a very impressive feat.... and we didn't have to track down the director of the school on a holiday weekend and beg her to let us in so we could retrieve Duckie.

She is the greatest child ever!

Mommy, you look so beautiful

Pam and I went to a formal dance gala on Saturday. While we were getting dressed, Quinn says "Mommy, you look so beautiful."

Warm fuzzy anyone?

September 26, 2009

Rugger gucky

I baby sat with Quinn tonight, We were reading from her Animal Dictionary book. She identified so many of the pictures, including bison, baboon, chimpanzee and other not so ordinary animals. When she saw the duck picture she started singing, over and over," Rugger gucky you're the one. You make bath time so much fun. Rugger gucky I love you. He he he he he."
She was soooo cute! In another book she named all the shapes including diamond and octagon - "That's a stop sing." I don't know. Is it just me or is she really smart for a 26 month old?

September 25, 2009

Pop Pop goes to gymnastics

Pop Pop came to gymnastics today to watch Quinn be always energetic ... and independent! She loves doing the obstacle course - her way. Although today she actually let Coach Carrie help her pull over the bar. :-) The other thing Quinn absolutely loves is stamps. From music class she's learned to ask for them on both feet, both hands and even her belly!

September 24, 2009

So proud

Not what you think by the title.....

Tonight we went to go see 3 one act plays at Rice. We are trying to expose Quinn to a variety of theater, so we figured that short one acts would be a good intro.
She did great... but that is not what I'm writing about.

Normally when we leave Rice for dance, we have two cars, and I usually have to get out just outside the parking garage to go get the other car. Tonight we took one car.

Quinn asked if I was leaving, and we explained that I already brought the other car home and I wouldn't have to leave tonight. Quinn said "I'm so proud of you Daddy."
Man, it was SUPER cute.

Great dinner

Quinn ate broccoli and rice for dinner... Even asked for more broccoli!

September 22, 2009

Who Knew: Being a bad influence is an inheritable trait

I've always been the person that would encourage friends to play instead of work, study, or otherwise do something less fun. Yesterday while Quinn was running around the circle at school, Sophie her 2 year old friend came out. She said, "Come run around with me". Sophie declined. "Come run around with me, It will be fun". Sophie declined again. "PPPPLLLLLEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEEEEE".... it didn't work on Sophie, but man, I've had that same conversation with dozens of friends previously. (Although not to my memory since Quinn has been around)

September 19, 2009

Note to self

Don't ask a kid if they remember the taiko drum festival show from last night while you are carrying them on your shoulders. Unless of course you're in the mood to be slapped repeatedly.

September 17, 2009

Highest Levels of Blooms Taxonomy - Application

So we were reading Ella the Elegant Elephant tonight. Where if you haven't read it... Ella's hat that she is teased about basically becomes a parachute and ella saves the day.

Well, I'm fairly certain that Quinn has never actually seen a parachute in action (like as a device to gently guide someone to the ground from a high altitude), only in music class as a fun toy that you catch air in an sit under, or spin or, etc.

The book doesn't say it at all, only illustrates it... the book says "then the most amazing thing happened, they were safe."

Quinn says like a parachute.

Crazy!

September 15, 2009

Dancing

Quinn loves to dance in her pajamas (that's critical) in the middle of the grand hall at rice during dance class

Synonyms

How can someone who watches maybe an hour of tv a week, and only on the weekends and only DVDs, know nearly every synonym available for it?

Last night she was trying to pursuade us to let her watch a video, or a movie, or tv, or a show.

Her level of comprehension is insane

September 14, 2009

Big Sister news

Yesterday at the gender identification party, Quinn discovered that she was going to have a baby brother.

September 12, 2009

Komodo dragon and other zoo adventures

Great day at the zoo today! First off, it was a perfect 78 degrees and overcast with very few people.We got to touch a Komodo dragon, splash in the puddles, hear Jonathan the lion roar, see the sea lion demonstration, then later see them try to retrieve a lost umbrella. We rode the carousel extra long because we were in with a birthday crowd. Then when we got home, we had a super poop in the potty.

September 09, 2009

Skiing

In the mornings, Quinn has taken two hairbrushes and has made them skis. Quinn "skiied" on them first, then she did it with her dolls

September 07, 2009

Paci Weening continued

Well, we made it all weekend without a paci... naps have been hard, but night time has been much easier then we had expected.

Bolly show

We took Quinn to see a tribute to Bollywood production last night at Miller Outdoor theatre. Man she loves dancing.

Although this show was not as engaging as the Wiz, she still had a great hot, sticky, muggy Houston time out past her bed time.

Paying Attention while hysterical

So tonight, without prompting, Quinn remembered Mom's visit to the hospital to have the ultrasound (Aug 18th). She was replaying how she cried and said "mommy, mommy, mommy" (but in a making fun of herself way)... she remembered the "soap" (ultrasound gel) on mommy's belly.

The strange thing was, she was hysterical - upset beyond anything that we have seen before. We haven't reinforced this memory at all.... yet she still remembers lots of details from it.

We were in shock that she remembered so much

September 05, 2009

Pleasant Surprises

So today, Quinn kinda skipped her nap and was in a nasty mood all afteroon. While we were making dinner we had to block the refrigerator to keep her from eating before dinner. She said that she wanted a piece of bread.... seeing as we were having taco's for dinner - I offered her some chips. But when I opened the pantry, she saw the ceral bars and was adamant about having one.

I asked if she wanted a taco ceral bar, and she said yes. I said, okay we'll have to make one... lets find a box.... so we scour the whole house for a box (really buying Pam time to finish cooking), can come back to the kitchen with our box (a normal tupperware container). We layer in chips, then lettuce, then meat, and cheese and top it off with chips again.

By this time dinner is ready and she doesn't eat the whole "bar", but eats the meat and cheese out of it.

Very surprised that that whole thing worked out as well as it did.

Paci weening

Last night we started weening off our paci. We had lots of success and was easier the we expected. Of course there was a new Wiggles video as a reward/ incentive. The real trick is to see if the act of not sleeping with the paci, is reward in itself.

Great day at gymnastics

What a fun day in the gym. Not only did Quinn do the warm-up exercises (and Coach Carrie was quite impressed with how flexible Quinn is), she also gave the coach a hug at the end of class!! A first! She jumped, jumped, jumped on the trampoline, did all of the obstacle course several times, walked on the beam, crawled on the beam, did forward rolls, and loved, loved the rings. And go Popo - I managed to get some good video of all this! :-)

September 02, 2009

The next song is a .....

At dance last night, a waltz came on and Quinn was able to identify it as a waltz AND started counting 1,2,3 in time.

WOW!

Then of course she started reciting "Giraffes can't dance" with "the warthogs started waltzing"