Crickets, Ants and Other Randomness

| June 20, 2015

Out basement is always full of crickets. I have no idea where they come from, or why they love our basement so much, but there you go. They are always there. I don’t mind them so much, as far as bugs go, so we leave them alone. They never make noise that we can hear so they don’t bother anyone. Sam loves them. Anytime she finds one hopping around, she is so excited. This morning, Sam was playing with her giant piano and left it out. Not long after, I came down and found a cricket on it. I thought Sam would find it funny so I called to her to see. I was right. She thought it was hysterical, especially when I made “cricket voices” and made it say, “Hey, why won’t this thing play?” and other nonsense. Sam loves when I make silly voices and I can’t resist doing it because she laughs so hard.

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Sam’s got a typical fascination with bugs right now, I did too when I was a kid. Her other bug love is ants. And anthills in particular. We have so many of them at the edges of our lawn and in the cracks in our driveway. Sam is always running over to check on “the neighbors” as she likes to call them.

This weekend we also got to pick our first tomato! Yum! (Yeah, don’t get your hopes up, Sam didn’t eat it, we did. Picky kid…)

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New Bike!

| June 20, 2015

Sam got a new bike! After a day of bike riding, we realized that Sam’s bike is really much too small for her now. The smallness is probably part of the reason that she has trouble riding up hills and in general. It is hard for her to pedal when her legs are bent up so much. We had tried her on a 16″ bike a few weeks ago and were surprised at how well she seemed to fit on it. Her current bike was a 12″ and it was time to go. So, off we went to the bike store, Sam tried a bunch and picked this one!

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We were shocked, frankly, that it wasn’t completely pink. Mark and I fully support her choice. It looks fantastic.

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Lately, she has been talking about riding with no hands and popping wheelies. She sees the big kids do those things, so of course, she wants to do them to. Wheelies may be far off in her future, but look, ma, no hands!

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She is so proud of her new bike, and I can see why. It’s pretty awesome! She has also mastered standing and riding, which she loves to do. I’m telling you, if she gets more and more confident, those training wheels will be off in no time.

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Kinder Kub Hub

| June 15, 2015

Today we took Sam to kindergarten for Kinder Kub Hub. It is a day when the kids enrolled in kindergarten get to come and visit the school and the parents get a bit of information. Sam was nervous and excited at the same time. I think she wants to go to kindergarten really badly, but she is scared too because it’s a new school and she doesn’t know what to expect. She got very comfortable at St. Matt’s not only with the people, but the building in general. She felt at home there and the prospect of starting that all over is daunting.

That morning, I took her to the gym with me and dropped her in the Kid Club care area while I worked out. She loves it there – but, honestly, what kid wouldn’t – it’s full of toys, games, crafts and whatnot to keep them amused. She loves seeing all the other kids who are there and chatting up a storm. On this particular day, she left telling me that the little girl she was playing with said she was going to see her new kindergarten today too. I told Sam that she may not see her there since there were a number of Kub Hub sessions that day, but you never know.

When we arrived, sure enough, there was her new little friend! Ashley was her name and Sam was so happy to see her. Not long after that, Toby, a boy from her St. Matt’s class, came in with his mom. I was glad that Sam saw some familiar faces to ease the experience. It was funny. She wanted to show Ashley some of the things she found in the library (where we were all assembled) but Ashley was being shy and scared and wouldn’t separate from her mom. Sam didn’t understand why. It was not that long ago that Sam would have been the one clinging to me, and now she was the adventurous one. I was quite proud of her and how far she has come.

We took some picture of Sam in the library of her new school! She picked out her outfit herself. I think she looks amazing!

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Sam loved seeing so many books, and the tiny little chairs. There are a number of stuffed animals that are book characters on the shelves and Sam loved seeing Splat the Cat, one of her favorites!

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We also found Pigeon, of the Mo Willems books. Sam recently discovered those when they read one at St. Matt’s. We have all of the Pigeon books now.

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Soon enough, it was time for the kids to be led off to their classroom while the parents went to another. We got a lot of information from the principal about their philosophy, teaching style, and such as well as some practical info about pick up and drop off, school supplies and the home and school association. One thing they made sure to tell us is the answer to the question they say they get most often – what does my child have to know to be ready for kindergarten? According to the principal – they have to be 5 years old by the cutoff date, that’s it. Well…it was reassuring to some extent, since I am always worried that Sam is not ready yet, but I couldn’t help but think, let’s be serious, some kids are clearly more ready than others intellectually. But Sam will be fine, I know it.

At the end, the kids were led out onto the playground where we picked them up. Sam sees the playground when we drive past the school all the time so she was happy to finally get to play on it. When we got home I asked her how it was and she said it was great. I asked her what they did and she told me about the hearing test and some sort of eye test, as well as when they asked her to cut things out and color. All these things were obviously some sort of quick evaluations but all Sam knew is she had fun. Which is just perfect. Now, we wait until the end of August to see what class she is in (a.m. or p.m.) and who her teacher is. Hopefully, some kids from St. Matt’s will be in her class, but if not, Sam will do great, I have no doubt.

 

Family Day at the Pool

| June 14, 2015

Yesterday, we had quite the day at the pool. It was super warm and everyone came along – Mark’s dad, Krista, Adam, Maddox, and Ryder, and even Analiece. We had quite a crowd and it was so much fun! The water was so warm you just walked right in without any hesitation, and the kids had a blast! We spent a lot longer than I had planned, but it was worth it. We definitely need to make a habit of it.

Ryder was so funny – he didn’t seem to be enjoying the baby pool at all until he found a shovel to play with, then it was super fun!

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All the kids liked showing off their various levels of swimming skills in the big pool. I think Sam was glad to see that Maddox still uses his pool noodle too.

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…and the lazy river was a big hit too.

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Does that man look relaxed, or what?

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One of Krista’s few moments of peace and quiet. 🙂

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Chipmunk rescue!

| June 8, 2015

Today we had quite the adventure. Sam and I spent the day shopping with my mom and when we came home, just as my mom was going to leave, Sam decided she wanted to show her how well the garden was growing. We went over to see and were chatting for a minute when we heard the distinctive metal noise that comes when a chipmunk is running up one of our downspouts. My mom and I looked at each other and smiled then I walked over to see if I could make it run out. Well, when I got over there, I had quite a surprise. The downspout is right next to my strawberry pot which I had this year covered in bird netting (last year we got no berries and I guessed any fruit was quickly eaten). A chipmunk somehow got tangled up in some of the excess netting that had come out from underneath the put and was stuck stuck stuck. The poor little thing was completely trapped with no way to get out. It’s head was through the netting and since its little ears went through, there was no way for it to pull its head back out. The chipmunk was so terrified of its predicament. I quickly ran into the house and got some scissors and sturdy gloves and came back out to try to help the poor tiny thing.

Sam wanted to help in the worst way but I was afraid that the chipmunk might bite in fear so I wouldn’t let her get too close. I don’t think I had much to be worried about though, truthfully. By the time I came out again, the chipmunk was lying on its back, paws holding the netting, looking up at me like, HELP!! It was like a deer in headlights. I picked it up and held it with one hand while my mom pulled the netting back away from its head and I cut with the scissors until it was free. My mom wound up holding the poor, scared little thing. It didn’t even run away immediately. It just sat there in my mom’s hand for a stunned few seconds (in which Sam quickly got a quick pet of its back in) then it ran off across the grass and through the fence. I told Sam it was probably running home to tell its family all about its adventure with the humans who saved it.

Sam thought the entire thing was quite an adventure. She got up close and personal with a chipmunk, something I doubt many other kids have. We trimmed up the bird netting quite a bit so that it doesn’t happen again, but now we are on chipmunk patrol, that is for sure!