Memorial Day 2012

We had a great party for Memorial day.

It is fantastic to be able to have Quinn swim with all of her friends and not have to worry about her in the pool. She can swim, dive down, jump in the deep end, and be completely okay in the water. Fantastic!

Also, I think that she was so hungry and involved with her friends that not only did she eat a burger, but it was a spicy Tex Mex burger... This is hope!

Job 3: Event Planner

There was so much going on this week, that we needed Quinn to help by being an event planner. 

This week there was  

• Monday: BAC Pool party and Gymnastics Showcase
• Tues - rest
• Wed: Graduation
• Thurs - Messy day @ school and dance recital
• Friday - Playing at Popo's and Shawn's Bday

The actions that Quinn took as event planner were

• Drawing up on an hourly calendar all of the events for the week
• Packing all of the outfits, bathing suits, and other clothing that she would need for the day
• Deciding what meals and snacks would be

Pre-K Graduation

Quinn is super excited about her graduation today. She is talking about Kolter kindergarten for next year and how she is a big girl. I hope that all of her graduations have as much excitement for her.

Job 2: Dress Designer

Quinn was a dress designer this past week.

• We designed a dress using Dress creator, where we talked about different necklines and dress types. 
• Quinn particularly liked the sweetheart style
• She spent lots of time coloring different style dresses. Greens for Daddy and oranges for Mommy.
• We went to International Dance Design to look at different gowns and costumes and also the different types of fabrics.
• Quinn even tried on a latin costume that was close to her size.  

Job 1: Picture Framer

Quinn's first allowance job was a picture framer.

• We looked at many different pictures around the house. 
• She identified that some were thick, and some thin. 
• Some were decorated and some plain
• Some had different color borders. We learned that these were called mattes
• We also noticed that the corners of the frames had diagonals. 
• Quinn drew a photo and then drew a matte and frame around it, making sure to add the diagonals in the corners
• We visited a picture framer shop and got to choose several frames (pink and purple). Then we choose several mattes (green and orange). 
• We talked about how the frames and mattes should be choosen with the photo in mind, so that they bring out certain colors from the picture. 
• We also discovered that some frames are deeper, to allow for things like baseballs and bats to be framed. 

She was neutral about this career

Careers and Allowances

So we've started Quinn on an allowance. After doing some research, we didn't want to pay her for nothing. We also didn't want to pay her for normal expectations, like cleaning her room, or putting her dish in the sink. Furthermore it is difficult to do extraordinary things all of the time. Then we came upon the Earn it, Learn It approach.

This approach is basically get a career for a week and learn the different aspects of that career.

For us, we are at minimum having Quinn keep a journal. In this journal she needs to write the job title, date, draw / photocopy / create a picture of the career, and finally a happy, sad or neutral face for her impression of it.

She will be earning 2 dollars a week. A $1 bill, and $1 in coins. The intent of the bill is to be saved, and we will deposit it in the bank every month. The intent of the coins is for whatever she wants.

We will let her use the saved money after 3 months in the bank, but then she can only take out 1/2 of her savings. At least that is the going plan at the moment.

We are using the Earn it, Learn it book, as well as Would you like to Fly a Jet, Would you Like to Be a Vet for inspiration on what careers to choose.

The most challenging things at the moment, is keeping track of the coins, and not letting Brock play with them.

Shadows

Quinn is really good at problem solving. She was excited about how long her shadow was this morning. I asked her to see if she could separate herself from her shadow. I was thinking that this would be pretty hard for her. In probably less than 30 seconds, she figured out if she got in the shadow of a car (we were in the parking lot), that her shadow would go away and she'd be separated.

That was really really fast. I was a little stunned.

Gold fish

Last weekend we "won" 14 goldfish from the Japan festival.... yeah, couldn't keep them alive for 12 hours... they were all dead by the morning.

Strings on the sun?

Queston of the day:
How many strings [rays] does the sun have [for drawing]?

Anti - Sharing Decree

If I were King, I would decree that there shalt be no sharing or attempted sharing before breakfast.

Brock, as usual, was up with mommy working on a puzzle. Quinn said that she wanted to "help". Which meant taking every piece that Brock was working on away from him. Even after delegating the sun to Brock and the beach to Quinn. She still wanted the sun. And of course after switching out the sun and the bird, Quinn wanted the bird.

Oh the drama of a morning kid versus a non-morning kid.

Brock time

This morning Quinn was reading Brock a story. Pam asked them if they wanted cereal. Quinn said no... "This is me an Brock time. We will have it after I finish reading..."

Awesome

Imitation Drawings

If I haven't mentioned it already, Quinn loves art projects, drawing, and coloring. I wanted to post some examples of her ability to mimic what others have drawn. The one on the chalkboard, Pam guided her through "circles for faces" and "rectangles for arms". The gnomes almost all on her own.... I did have to help her draw the swing, stop at the body, then continue on the other side. And just for the record, she is 4.5.

Falling lessons

Last week, Quinn was determined to watch a movie and that ment pulling down the projector screen. She carefully constructed a stool on top of the ottoman cushion to enable her to reach up high enough. I told her it wasn't safe and she was going to fall. She of course countered and said that she was being safe.

She fell, and probably hurt herself, but she didn't let it show.

I then did an experiment where we stacked up blocks on the floor and had her try to jump to knock them over.  Then did the same experiment on the cushion . Clearly the pile was less stable on the cushion.

You could see Quinn processing, that the next time she needed more solid surfaces (like the buffet) for her next climbing adventures.  I love teachable moments!

Cinnamon Life Cereal

Cinnamon Life changed their packaging, now Quinn's favorite cereal is invalid. Yup, that is the logic that we live in.

Cute / Sick Quinn

Quinn woke with a fever today. She didn't go to school, so she is hanging out with us. Currently she is asleep on the floor in my office while I'm working. She is such a great kid.

Daddy / Daughter Dance

We did our first daddy daughter dance tonight. I went in having the expectation that I might get a dance with Quinn, but hoping that we'd dance all night. Quinn had a blast dancing with her friends and eating desserts. I got 1/4 of a dance, split across two songs (so that would be an 1/8 of a dance each). I guess this was better then my expectations, yet still disappointing. Maybe she will actually dance with me at her wedding :)

G/T Testing

Quinn took the G/T test today. It was a 40 minute test, that Quinn described as a lot of "find the ...." She said that it wasn't much fun, at least not as much fun as we made it out to be. We will find out in March what the outcome is

Cheese toast with Parsely

Huge milestone today. Quinn tried cheese toast with visible parsely. She said that there was more cheese than green things, so it was okay. THERE IS HOPE!

the role model that sticks

trying to teach Brock not to put stickers on the furniture, Quinn pointed out that Drew's labeling stickers were teaching Brock that it was ok to put stickers on the furniture. Looks like there are labels coming off today.

welcome

before a dinner party the kids wanted to draw on the drive. Quinn took our welcome mat so she would know how to spell welcome.  resourceful!

allowed sleep

Quinn: are you done sleeping yet?
Pam: Yes, we've had all we are allowed.

Well duh moment - scrapbook == scraps

When you give a kid a scrapbook for Christmas, I guess I didn't think through, what you end up with is..... scraps....

While she loved the gift, and actually made a good Princess / Disney scrapbook... we did and do have tons of paper scraps left over from this art project.

Water cycle braclet

Super cool water cycle (hydrologic cylce) bracelet came home from school today.

Quinn beaded the bracelet as follows

yellow = sun
iridescent = water vapor
ivory = clouds
pink = rain
white = snow
brown = erosion
indigo = oceans
baby blue = lakes
rainbow = puddles
green = plants.

Yea! science!

Orion and simile

While walking tonight, Quinn proudly identified the Orion constellation (proud papa). She was asking who he was and I said that he was a hunter. She asked if he was bad (she is very much into good vs bad), and I said he was good. He was a hero (making this up, but why create bad people?). Quinn says that as selfish as Mother Gothel was in Tangled, that was as good as Orion was.

That is pretty deep. And I'm pretty sure that creating a simile and making that association is well above her age level (I have no basis for this, but I feel it must be true :))

Parenting is like a balloon

Somedays I feel like parenting is like being an inflated balloon that someone hasn't tied. You are all good and full of patience, then all of a sudden there is a massive release... you bounce wildly around the room, making hissing sounds - then you are deflated, spent, and at wits end. And you wonder what happened, for just a moment ago, life was good and full. Yup... you reconnected with the kids at the end of the day.

city center

at city centre Houston Quinn pointed to the buildings at the side and exclaimed that that must be city side since the grassy place is city center. very observant!

Suess Themed Christmas Dinner

This year's Christmas dinner was themed Dr. Suess.

So here is our menu


Munchies :  The 500 hats of Bartholomew Cubbins - Bugles and cheese dip
Salad : Gertrude McFuzz berries - Pomegranate & poppy seed salad
Main entrée : Who roast beast - Christmas rib roast
Veggies side : The turtles of Sala-ma-sond - Cashew Green Beans
Starch side : truffula trees - sweet potato puffs (using rosette tip of pastry bag)
Starch side 2: Who-hash - wild rice patties
Fruit : truffula fruits - Feijoa ( a tropical fruit with a pear like texture)
Bread : Yertle the turtle - pagnotta (from central market)
Dessert : Who-pudding - Chocolate pots de creme

First Movie

Successfully watch Arthur Christmas in the theaters today. What a great birthday present

Teaching Brock to play

Quinn, is a little rough when playing with Brock. I told her that she is teaching him the way to play, so when he is 4 and as strong as she is- he will be hitting her.

Quinn's response: "You won't remember"

"Maybe, how does my not remembering change the fact that he will hit you?"

"Because, you'll put him in timeout for hitting"

Clearly, I'm dealing with a mastermind here. She is only 4.5!

Content with coloring

Wow, never thought we'd get to the point where we could be happy coloring without getting bored. There is hope