Zuzuday: This moment brought to you by Dr. Sal Severe…

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I’ve been trying to shine up my parenting skills. I’ve been reading and re-reading Dr. Sal Severe’s: How to Behave so your Preschooler Will Too! And we had our first obvious example of it paying off. This morning my Fashionista was gathering clothing options to get ready for school. I tried to interject with a suggestions of different pants than the one she was intent on. I was all ready with my explanation as to how it matched her shirt.

Her response, quite polite and calmly presented I might add was, “Momma, I love you, but I want to choose which clothes I wear.”

Absolutely Zuzu! Way to be a big girl!

Fave-O-Lit Friday

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Sweet Summer Days

by Dennis Caraher

The summer sun is nearly done
Frost will follow soon
Asters and chrysanthemums
Light up the afternoon

The dew is on long after dawn
Mornings are a haze
One swallow’s song is holding on
In these fading sweet summer days.

We flew across the ocean
Some fell into the sea
God will choose what we will lose
Though we may disagree

We come here to be mended
That we may find our way
We pray that there’s redemption
In these fading sweet summer days

Summer months comfort us
The sun comes with sustenance
We live for its lingering light

Days slip away from us
Katydids and crickets hush
We drift into lengthening night.

We were once our children
Too soon they will be us
All they ask, a simple task:
“Remember how it was”.

We hold them close, we let them go
We watch them fly away
And if we trust, they’ll come to us
In these fading sweet summer days

Stars they are innumerable
We’ll never know them all
But nature’s not immutable
Every star will fall

And one day, I’ll return to thee
And all that will remain
Is the beauty and the certainty
of these fading sweet summer days

The Stisters Autumn Adventures begin…

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The Stisters (Zuzu’s pronunciation) are on the go! It’s the beginning of the school year and both girls are in the middle of transition woes. About a week into the new school  year it dawned on us that maybe Zuzu doesn’t remember any of her other dear teachers other than the one she had for the last 2 years. Poor thing is having a bit of a difficult adjustment. She seems to be doing ok in the classroom, but she has started bemoaning having to go in the morning, sulks into her spot at group time when dropped off and is a bundle of frayed nerves most of the rest of the evening when we pick her up. The tiniest thing- say, a chip falling on the floor, my stupidly bending to pick it up, my not anticipating her exact reaction to the announcement of bedtime sets her off into a flurry of tears. We’re trying to be patient and kind and lowering our expectations for going out and about in the evening for a while until she settles in.

And she will- settle in that is. She’s excited to have a handful of girls in her class and talks about them endlessly. She’s spent most of her first 3 years in classes primarily comprised of little boys and seems excited to have little counterparts that are equally excited to go to dance class with her. When we went to get fitted for this years outfit the girl flitted and twirled her way through the studio. Both her teachers stared open-mouthed at her energy and eagerness. Both indicated that she was quiet as a mouse the year before. It will be interesting to see if once Momma is not there if she’ll continue her enthusiasm or go back to mousehood.

The 3 year old class is a HUGE change in structure from what she is used to though. The kiddo’s have assigned duties each week and by tuesday Zuzu can list off who is line leader, door holder, spoon hander-outer and table wiper. She’s clear on what gets her daily smiley face taken away and quick to point out to her teacher when she’s earned it back. She happily shows me the footprints around the room that demonstrate where the line-up starts for different activities and shows me where her spot is at the table. She’s a good kid and likes it to be known when she does something right so I think in time it will feel less like too much pressure and more like the comfort of orderly routine.

The Quail’s transition into the Toddler Room is going along pretty well too. Lovey and I have both spent some time in the class with her and each of her therapists have taken turns bringing her in and helping her to get to know the structure and routine. She’s definitely looking forward to getting to spend lunchtime with the big kids. This week while she was finishing up her visit the lunches were brought to the room and as they were being handed out she decided to stand herself up at the table to emphasize that it was her turn! Our girl loves food! And on that happy note I’m also thrilled to report that her thyroid tests came back in the normal range. We’ve had a few reports of how tired she seems a couple of times a week and rather spaced out. I was a little worried that it might be thyroid related but that appears to not be the case.

In speech this week she also started saying “pider” for a tune to be played in addition to holding up her spiders. She also pushes her little foot at you if you ask to see her piggies. We’re working on body parts and belly and head and foot are pretty consistent.

Here’s a picture from the first day of school- gosh they look so big!

Fave-O-Lit Friday

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With love on your wedding day Auntie Deb & Uncle Greg…

An Irish Wedding Blessing for you:  May your mornings bring joy and your evenings bring peace. May your troubles grow few as your blessings increase. May the saddest day of your future Be no worse than the happiest day of your past

Quailday: 18 months and counting….

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It’s August and time is passing too quickly these days to properly keep up in our cyber and real worlds! We still have photos & tales to share from 2 of our 3 family vacations this summer, a whole host of new developmental milestones, general prettiness and wackiness of daily life, emapthies for our friends who are struggling right now and opinions galore about society and its goings-on. Not to mention a celebration of a year of happy blogging having come and gone already!

For now though; we’ll forego orderliness and the desire to be clever and just start updating.

This spunky gal turned 18 months in August. The Quail is so much still our sweet baby and yet has her little arms outstretched to big-girldom barreling after her sister.  On 8/7/10 she got her third molar in- the top right one. On 8/12/10 Jodie managed to position her into a free-stand and with the helpful distraction of her classmates she didn’t even notice or balk until 5 seconds into it she looked around and realized no one was supporting her and down she went headfirst. The next two times she was a  bit more graceful in making a choice to plop down bum-first. On 8/15/10 she managed to pull up to standing on her new awesome Plan Toy Walker  from Momma’s lap. We love this one compared to the others we have because it allows you to adjust the tension in the wheels so it is a little less likely to peel out from under her when she shifts her weight on it. The night before this big event she had been sitting by me on the couch at our new friend’s house and had tried to use my hair to haul herself up for a kiss.  Then yesterday on 9/29/10 we were out for a swim in our lil yellow pull and she about gave me a heart-attack as she plopped down on all fours in the water, crawled over to the side and hoisted herself up to standing on the side of the pool with the assistance of only Poseidon to keep her safe. I do have a blurry photo of this progression which I’ll post later. I had a half second of debate on whether to capture the moment or launch myself at the pool to prevent any untimely aspiration. Even with all of us cheering her on she managed to remain stable until she decided to plunk back down in the water. It truly is amazing to watch her development unfold itself in it’s own time. She’s getting there and we’re so pleased.

The chat-a-thon continues. I think the best way to explain the difference from a month or so ago is that when you show her something and tell her its name she tries to repeat it back to you. We thought the signing would come easier than the speaking with the oral-motor strength and motor planning issues but it is still unclear as to which she’ll take too when you show her both. Two weeks ago in speech therapy we got out some crackers and repeatedly showed her the sign while saying the word. The intensive repetition seems to be what enables it to stick. By the end of the session she was attempting the sign but even better attempting the word.

She moves into the Toddler room this upcoming month as well and we’ve been having her go visit to transition in. Snack-time for the toddlers includes a lesson in manners. You say please and thank-you when it’s your turn. So last week in speech we worked on this and she got it so quickly! You could hear the quiet little “lease”, but she prefers the sign. So now we have our third sentence (after Hi Da-da! and Night bird), “Eat please!” But she signs it, and if you don’t give her the treat quickly enough she’ll proceed to sign the please portion of the sentence with increasing pleading in her eyes and harder thumping on her chest till you hand over the goods. If anyone has ever looked earnest in signing it would be the Quail. “Thank you” though she prefers to speak.

On 8/22/09 at tubby time she told her first joke. She and her sister were in the tubby, she looked at me, looked down at the water and then looked back up at me and signed drink (which is putting her thumb to her mouth like she is sucking it for us) and then started laughing. For us she’s right in time with her sister’s first joke. One night when Zuzu was about 18 months old I was in bed not feeling well and she had come up and asked me if my nose was running. When I said yes, she said, “You better go catch it!”, laughed heartily and ran off. Apparently the sense of humor is genetic.