Official

It's official. We have yet another Dora fanatic in the house. Natalie has decided that Dora is the best thing ever and she'd rather watch that than play, eat, or sleep. I don't indulge her in her obsession every day but today she's on her 4th Dora (I've been busy!) and is the sweetest, happiest girl ever! Luckily Miranda still likes Dora too (although she never asks for it), so they're both happy at the moment. I love how she says "Tico" (sounds kind of like "taco") and when she sees Swiper, she holds up her arm to stop him from swiping but she doesn't say anything. :) She is also saying a lot more words lately (maybe thanks to the educational value of Dora the Explorer!) and she gets really annoyed when people take her toys away lately! Yesterday at my friend's house, Miranda said that Natalie bit her. My friend asked if Miranda took anything away from Natalie and she realized that she'd kind of provoked her and stopped harping on the fact that she'd been bit. :) I didn't see any marks and I didn't witness the event but I guess I have to watch out for that now. I've never had a biter before, so I'm thinking Miranda might be elaborating the story a bit.

It's official that Miranda has a great imagination and might be turning into a really good liar. She tells me stories every day about her family at the beach. It started with her "other dad at the beach." Now she has a mom and a grandma and a baby sister there. She'll tell me things they've said, things they've done together, etc. She also tells me what her teacher said at her school and who's having a birthday and who brought treats. It is HILARIOUS! She wants to be like Jill so bad, so she has to create stories to rival what Jill comes home with every day. She acts like these things are very real, so hopefully it's just a great imagination and not voices in her head telling her things! :)

It's official that my daughter is a great student in school. We had our first parent/teacher conference yesterday and it was such a highlight of my day/week/month! Her teacher really adores her and says she's always polite, well-behaved, kind to the others, and willing to do anything the rest of the class is doing. Who doesn't want to hear that??? Even when the teacher says, "Jill, you don't have to do this activity," because it's way too easy for a kid who has been reading for a couple of years, Jill always says, "But I WANT to do it too." So she does what all the other kids are doing, plus extra worksheets and things. She has a 1st grade curriculum book that she brings home to read out of every day and this week her teacher started sending her to 2nd grade for an hour every day to read with those kids and do Accelerated Reading tests. She is having a blast in school and my favorite part that the teacher said was, "She knows almost everything I'm teaching in my kindergarten curriculum but she never lets the other kids know that she already knows it. She never acts like she's smarter and she never rolls her eyes at me when I tell everyone to sort their shapes or do patterns. She just does it and genuinely enjoys it." I was so happy that she doesn't act bored or like a know-it-all. My two biggest worries for this year. She's never been a snotty know-it-all kid but I thought since she does kind of know it all that it might be a problem. Guess not! The teacher did say she was running out of things to teach her and that's why she does Accelerated Reading and other things with the 2nd grade class now and she's working on finding new workbooks for Jill to work in. She said Jill enjoys playing and being a normal 6 year old kid, so the teacher said not to worry about her not being in 1st grade this year because the social part of kindergarten is a good building block for school success and I guess she's right.

It's official that I'm a bragging parent. :) Ha ha. This is my full-time job, so it's obviously the thing I focus on most in life. :) I am the PTA's Room Parent Coordinator this year, so I met a lot of the teachers, the librarian, and several office workers yesterday to try and get to know the school. It's such a fun place that I know why Jill loves it so much. I told her yesterday that I was glad she loved school so much and if she didn't it would be SO hard for me to send her off every day. She looked me in the eye and with a very serious look on her face said, "Mom, I will NEVER not like school." Ha ha. I hope that attitude stays throughout the college years. :)

It's official that Ben is a work-a-holic. He came home last night feeling horrible with a high fever. He went straight to bed and woke up for a quick dinner and then went back to sleep. He got up this morning and the fever was gone, so he went to work. Ugh! Allow yourself ONE SICK DAY! He said, "I feel responsible. I need to make sure things get done. Maybe I'll do a half day." But it's after noon and no sign of him, so I think he's staying there!

So that's the update for today. I'll try to post pictures later of our pumpkin patch trip this week.