Pouty

"Quinn, why are you so pouty?"
"Because I'm the princess and I miss my king [Colin]"

Kisses

Quinn was quite pleased with the kiss she gave Collin while leaving class today.

Taking particularly yucky medicine

Child Medicine Follow up: Added Flavoring - worked once; added hersey's syrup - bubble gum medicine and chocolate = super yuk; mixed with food - massive battle over finishing food.... Final solution: Tell Quinn I have a super big problem and I need her help to solve it. Asked her what solutions that she could think to allow us to take the medicine. She said, Daddy, I'll just take it really fast and drink mango juice afterwards (sure this method was already tried, but since it was now her idea - no issue).... Three cheers for communication!

Mental Madlibs

So, I (Drew) have this "condition", where, based on my own belief, that my brain moves faster then my mouth, resulting in what I call Mental Madlibs... this is where I substitute other words that a similar to what I was intending to say.

Things, like I would need to say January, but would say July, as my mouth just fills in a "month that starts with J", or other similar style replacements.

Apparently Quinn "inherited" this condition from me. She is constantly calling me, mommy, and Pam, daddy, when she is excited as her mouth fills in "one of my parents"...

I'm just going to assume that that means that she is a fast thinker :)

What's in Arizona

When Quinn awoke from the plane trip, she asked if we were still in Arizona... I said you tell me... she said, well there are no catcus and no mountains, so we must be back in Houston....

Perfect!

Making Ice Cream

Quinn made chocolate ice cream tonight... it came out a little salty because the inner bag with the milk leaked a little and mixed with the salted ice.

Plane deliemma

So on the flight back from Arizona, Quinn negotiated to get a gourmet lollipop for the plane ride. She was super well behaved, and certainly earned it... but it was a super sticky mess everywhere.... was it worth it? probably for the good behavior.

First wedding

Quinn went to her first wedding today... She did fantastic through the whole thing.... And boy did we wear her out. She fell asleep in the restaurant during dinner. All of the running and dancing really did a number on her.

Excited for Arizona

Quinn was so super excited to go to Arizona today... Hard to describe her excitement, but it involved lots of jumping and running:)

Full time

We've moved Quinn to full time at school today.... This is to give Brock more one on one time with Sabrina now that he is walking.... Plus Quinn says that she misses her friends when she isn't at school.

Impressed

Collin has a "tree swing" that is hung from the patio awning. It is about 4 feet in the air. Quinn, standing on an outside coffee table, is at eye level with the swing. She grabs the ropes, throws a leg over, and manages to get into and out of this swing on her own. Multiple times.

I was thoroughly impressed.

Hot tubbin

At the new years party for the kids... Quinn, Jonah, Moriah, Collin, and Adrian decided, without parental supervision, to all take a bath together.

And well it is so hard to get them to bathe anyways....we let them:)

Quinn - hostess extordinaire

So for Brock's 1 year old birthday, we had 8 kids over, Brock being the youngest, and 6 being the oldest. Quinn happily entertained them all with hide-n-seek, singing in the microphone, and just all around sharing, running, and playing.

She certainly got the hosting gene.... passed from her great-grandmother, through her grandmother, father, and now to her.

Chocolate beet cake

Successful Xmas dinner with plenty of hidden veggies... including sweet potato biscuits and chocolate beet cake (http://www.keewaydinfarms.com/chocolate-beet-cake-recipe/)... hugely successful, both in terms of taste (tasted like normal chocolate cake), and consumption

Volunteer Houston

Quinn has joined the ranks of Houston Volunteers. She joined me today - Christmas 2010 -to visit Brighton House Retirement Home with other holiday cheer givers. She helped pass out Christmas cards and cookies . Oh, well - she ate some of the cookies but she did pass out the cards. :-) She blew bubbles, jingled bells and my keys to Jingle Bells. She even gave one woman a hug before we left. She made the choice to not be shy so she interacted with everyone. What a cutie patootie. Everyone loved her! And she said she'd do it again next year.

Days of the week

Quinn has been practing her days of the week by looking at a calendar. We looked up everyones birthday and then figured out what day of the week it was

Miracles for the Holidays

So after nearly an hour of after school play... And rapidly melting down from hunger... We attempted going to Joes Crab Shack, fully expecting total failure.

Not sure if it was the staff dancin to car wash, the playground, or the immediate water crackers.... But we sucessfully ate 1.5 fish fingers (wow) and a whole thing of applesauce.

Miracles do happen :)

Willbury versus Millbury

So the street near us is Millbury, yet Quinn is convinced that part of the street is Willbury.

We were standing at the intersection of millbury and breaswood and I asked Quinn where was Willbury... Where was the "W"- hoping that she'd conceed that it wad indeed Millbury.

"Right there in the middle".... Which is true, right in the middle of Breaswood is a "w"

So I told her she was right, it must still be Willbury.

I was in shock..., I didn't expect to lose this one.

Mommy and school days

When I brought Quinn home from school on Monday- Pam was not home, having stayed late at work to finish her final. Quinn says, "where's mommy? She should be home. She doesn't have school tonight.". Pam's classes are on Tuesday an thursday. She's so observant!

Quinn's Fall 2010 Progress Report

Quinn seems to have adjusted to our classroom very easily! She enjoys being with her friends. She has a wonderful imagination and shares her ideas with her friends.

At times, Quinn becomes very verbal and begins to tell her friends what to do. We remind her that she is not the teacher; she then is able to redirect her thoughts and ideas.

Quinn is very enthusiastic as she participates in music and creative play, as well as, circle time conversation.

We are enjoying having Quinn in our classroom and look forward to a terrific year.

Ahhh Crap

Tia Mandy said "Bummer" the other day... Quinn asked what it meant. Mandy explained that it means that something didn't go as expected. Quinn says "Like Oh Crap!. That's what daddy says"

Upside down accomplishments

So today at the playground, Quinn, all by herself, hung upside down on the monkey bars.

She was able to get in position, lock her feet on the bar, and hang outside down. Then she was able to recover - after some practice, and get back up.

This is a pretty big muscular accomplishment.

Potty Time

Quinn, who has been potty trained for nearly a year, insists on watching "Potty time with Elmo," one of the DVD's we used when we were training her. She said that Sara Doll, her baby doll toy, is potty training and "has been wearing panties for TWO DAYS!"

Yawning Day

Quinn proclaimed that today was a "yawning day" as everyone was yawning this morning.

Movie night

Drat, Quinn woke up in the middle of our movie night.

Princesses on ice

Another show today... Princesses on ice - totally
Different experience.... Quinn was still good, but you wouldn't notice if she wasn't.... It was a huge arena with tons of kids.

Scream endurance

1.5 hours of "I want a fruit snack" screaming from 10pm to midnight. Finally, accepted cantalope
as a substitute.

Rave revues!!!!

The intentional play on words is because we just attended our first successful inside show with Quinn. (There was a previous failed attempt). She sat through both acts of "The Marvelous Wonderettes" at Stages. This was the 3pm matinee. I'm so proud of her!!!! Especially because her behavior before we left was quite foreboding.

If this is ever used for review: wisper voices only. If you are loud, cry or whine you have to leave and can't come back. It is going to get very dark and then when the lights come on, it will be loud. We can only sit in the seats that match the tickets. Also, preview most of the acts on YouTube so the kid is ready

Painting

Quinn's painting today was entitled "Alliston Wonderland" as opposed to "Alice in Wonderland".... Wait.... Could this be a future roller derby name?

Travel

Ack, it was so hard going on this trip without the kids.... But what a great experience walking casually onto the plane unencumbered.