Tying shoes

Quinn just tied her own shoes today

Stomping fun

45 minutes of stomp rocket fun at the children's museum

Practicing falling

This weekend we had Quinn practice falling off the ski trainer and being alone in the lake, while we circled around for her. She'll be real skiing soon :)

Pizza Planet

Quinn's create-your-own visor from school had a space theme. Rocket ships, stars, suns, moons and Saturn (representing the planets)... She refused to call Saturn anything other then the Pizza Planet.

That's just for decoration

Quinn scraped her right arm just on the back of the armpit today. I told her to crawl into bed, as I didn't want to pick her up - so as not to hurt her. She said you can pick me up from this arm (left), this arm (right) is just for decoration.

So cute!

(BTW Pam later informed me that while teaching follows to dance, that she often refers to the right arm as decoration... the jury is out if that is where Quinn got it from, or if it was just a cute recognition that she was unable to use her arm, like decorations are just to look at).

Flabergasted

So from the girl who lives "pink"... pink clothes, pink room, pink everything - doesn't like pink milk (made from Berry Berry Kix)

Skiing

Quinn skied 1/2 of the cove all by herself today

Here's your hat, what's your hurry?

Several of my friends came over to Pam & Drew's house to 1) see Mandy (who was visiting from San Diego), 2) see Pam & Drew's house (hadn't seen it since they moved in) and 3) see Quinn and Brock (hadn't seen them since Brock was very little). Mary Beth was going to the dog show after the visit, so she brought her 4 year old grand daughter Annabelle with her. The girls right away played dress up and had a good time together. However, at some point Annabelle didn't share as quickly as Quinn thought she should. So Quinn said, ever so politely, "Isn't it time for you to go to the dog show?" and she ran to her room and brought back Annabelle's clothes. I thought that was a brilliant strategy Quinn had for handling the situation!

Deodorant

Quinn was quite happy with herself for slyly putting on mom's deodorant - even though we told her not to. After scolding her and explaining that she was too young for deodorant and that it might hurt her skin... her underarm started hurting (I'm pretty sure mostly psychological) - so we took a shower to wash it off.

After much crying, I'm pretty sure that she won't do that again.

4th birthday party

We had our rock star performer party today... All if the kids dressed in costume, got pix by Dan Mohr for the cup favors, Janet lead the Arts Alive part, and everyone iced their own cupcakes.

Then we got Quinn a new bed that has a bunk play space. It was a lot of effort to get here, but she loves it. We also got her skates, but in retrospect, I think that might be a year too early. And clearly the lilac nail polish was a hit. (For historical documentation sake, when Quinn was two, we said she could paint her fingernails when she was four- so this was a major milestone in her mind)

Playful roughhousing

After a little playful roughhousing, Brock accidentally gave Quinn a bloody nose for her 4th birthday.

Counting money

Quinn was over counting coins. We put the quarters in stacks. We had five stacks. I asked her how many stacks she had and she replied, "Four." I looked at her funny and she explained, "These 4 are my stacks. That one is yours."

Continuing on, we spread all the coins out to count them. I suggested we put them in lines so it would be easier to keep track of the coins she had counted. She said, "Or you can just pick them up as I count them."

I've been out thunk by a not quite 4 year old. Sigh.

Pgh Trip continued

The kids had a great time in DC. Quinn pretended that Samantha was her sister while they were doing cartwheels on the grass. Nathan was a huge help pushing the stroller and helping everyone climb.

What does Quinn remember most? The fact that she got gummy's and a lollipop on the plane home (she did a fantastic job on the plane).

Pgh trip

Well, we avoided near disaster when Popo brought our left toy backpack to the airport.

Everyone did great on the plane, but safety pops where quite messy for Brock.

Had a great time at the family reunion and then spent a couple of hours with Brian, Savanah, Conner, and Cadence.

On Sunday, had breakfast with Pappy and Cindy. Then a fantastic picnic at Tom and Jennifer's where we saw Maria, Peter, and the Foote gang again.

After several mishaps and misunderstandings around the rental car - we left three hours later than the we wanted (8pm instead of 5). Brock didn't fall asleep until near 10. It is a quarter to 11 and Quinn, Samantha, and Nathan are still awake watching videos.

Cautious bravery

I'm so proud of Quinn today.
First I'm proud of her for wanting to ride her bike down the big hill at Godwin park. Second, I'm proud of her for figuring out how
to drag her bike up the hill ( she ended up pulling the front handlebars while manually turning the front wheel). Finally I'm proud of her for deciding not to ride down the hill once she got to the top. Brave, creative, and cautious - what a fabulous combination.

Pineapple burns

After sucking on the core and having about fifteen pieces of pineapple, Quinn ended up "burning" her tongue from the bromelian (the enzyme in pineapple that causes that sensation... It is also used as a meat tenderizer)

Ski trainer

Quinn skied and stood up on the ski trainer today

Learning disappointment

Even though we missed our flight to San Jose, I'm quite pleased with our ability to tell Quinn "that what you are feeling right now is disappointment."

One point for emotional intelligence training. :)

Lost shoes

FYI, clear plastic jelly shoes disappear in the ocean instantaneously. Lesson learned - kids water shoes should be brightly colored

Dr Suess nightmares

Daddy screwed up. As customary on the weekends I let her watch a video... We were going to watch Sid the Science Kid, but on the home screen was a Dr Suess movie (I think it was a tv series), which Quinn wanted to see. I've like the other Dr Suess videos and stories we have seen, so we went ahead and watched it.... Now Quinn is having nightmares (and she has only been asleep for an hour). Crap!

Quinn's Spring 2011 Progress Report

It has been a delight to have Quinn in our class this year!! She is always proud of her ability to sign in daily.

Quinn is very creative when playing with her peers, both at centers in the classroom or outside. Occasionally we continue to remind Quinn she is not the "boss" or "teacher." She quickly re-approaches the situation and restates the comment. We are proud of Quinn's success.

We know next year will be a terrific year for Quinn in Pre-K!!! Thank you for sharing Quinn with us!!

I've got bad news quote

"I've got bad news.... Brock is following me." --Quinn

Sleeping at dinner

Yesterday, we somehow managed to exhaust Quinn so much that she fell asleep during dinner. Literally mid-bite.

Reading and words

I was reading, waiting for Quinn to go to sleep. I don't know if someone said this to her or if she made it up, but I loved it: She said, "You read in your imagination. Sometimes I talk in silent words."

Quinn wins

Quinn and I were trying to decide who was hungrier. I raised one hand and said I was hungrier. She raised one hand and said she was hungrier. I raised the other hand. She raised the other hand. I raised a leg. She raised a leg. I raised the other leg. So did she. I said we must both be equally hungry. She said she raised her head so she was the hungriest! It's tough when a 3 1/2 year old beats you at your own game. It was just the kind of argument Drew would have won at that age too. It's really fun to see him getting his own back. :-)

Sounding like mom

Well I've heard two quotes from Quinn that are straight from her mom:

What the hay!
Mother of god!

What's daddy's job

So, as we dropped off Quinn at school, a recent art project was hanging on the wall entitled "What does your daddy do at work?"

Quinn's project said: "He helps John" :)

This is referring to John Bennett, a co-worker and friend who has been over to dinner several times.

Thank you to myself

Quinn, who happened to help choose my new deodorant, said it smelled "Wonderful!" and that she needed to say thank you to herself, for choosing it.

"Thank you self.... hehe hehe hehe"

360Flex conference

Quinn loved meeting some of my friends from the conference. She also enjoyed learning about pool (billiards).

Role model

Teaching Quinn the word role model and what it means. I think she likes having that job