Amy got her birthday present just a little early this year. As you can see by the pictures she is helping Dean build it. It is a large or should I say enormous wooden play set. Once it is all finished it will have 2 swings, a trapeze bar, monkey bars, a picnic table, sandbox, slide, rock climbing wall, and house on top with a roof. Oh and a steering wheel and periscope that mount in the house. We found it at Costco and after seeing how much she plays on all the neighbors play sets, we figured it would be a good thing to get her own.
While helping to build it, she was also pretending to be a drill - imitating the noise that the drill would make. Apparently loud noises don't bother her as much as they once did.
The Tooth Fairy came for a visit to their school. Amy was one of the only kids that would talk to her. The director told me that Amy was telling the tooth fairy all the healthy things you should eat to make your teeth strong. She also told her how well she brushes her teeth too. And according to Amy this new toothpaste that I had gotten her at the store the other day gives her "breath". Which is the same thing she says about mints too. This apparently is a good thing - and as long as she keeps up with the good habit she's established, it's fine with me.
We have now finished the first month of gymnastics. The coach had a little ceremony for Amy and Courtney after class the other day. They both, one at a time, stood up on the #1 riser, were presented with a medal and certificate and had their picture taken. I have to wait for the film to come back from the developer before I can share that picture. But it was very cute, they both did their "tada's" and thought the medals were "cool" in Amy's words. So we will continue to do gymnastics for another month, taking it one month at a time.
Well let's see... Happy New Year, Happy Chinese New Year (the year of the Monkey), Happy Valentines Day, did I miss anything? Oh yes, Happy Birthday to anyone who had a birthday in the past month and a half. It seems like it was just Christmas and here we are already 1 1/2 monhts into 2004.
The time has just flown by - mostly because we have been so busy. Amy started back to preschool in January, still 3 days a week. But Fridays we still have music class and then in February we added a gymnastics class to the schedule on Mondays. The gymnastics class is great - mainly because there are only 2 girls in the class, Amy and her friend from school Courtney. This gives them both a lot of one on one time with the coach.
Amy seems to have a natural talent for it, but we're not pushing it very hard. If she wants to continue to do it, then we will, and the same goes for her music classes. She's really enjoying both right now, but I imagine the time will come, probably sooner than later, when she'll be on to her next interest - whatever that may be.
She is quite the conversationalist. So much so, that some days I'm just exhausted at the end of the day from talking to her. And if she gets you on the phone, well that can often be a lengthy conversation as well.
She continues to practice her writing or what she calls her "homework". She has a desk in the livingroom where she has all her paper, glue, pencils, crayons, markers, etc. where she plays and pretends to write letters, do homework and color things. We're starting to amass quite the collection of paintings and watercolors lately. And Dean has a pile going in his office at work as well. She definitely loves to create and share what she's created.
She did announce to me a week or so ago that she was always going to live with Dean and me and never move out. When I said I would remind her of that when she was 16 she got very defensive and told me not to do that. Then when I tried to explain to her that neither mommy nor daddy lived with their parents anymore she didn't understand why we didn't. But her mind was definitely made up that she was always going to live with us and that we would be living in this house for a long time.
Here are the two most recent pictures. After I finish jury duty this week - yes, I was picked for a jury, I will try to get some more pictures and get them posted. Maybe life will slow down a bit for a little while. Enjoy.
