Daisypath - Personal pictureDaisypath Happy Birthday tickers
Daisypath - Personal pictureDaisypath Happy Birthday tickers

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

time flies

I think the last time I blogged I was complaining about the winter and how anxious we were for Spring to arrive. That was over a month ago and so much has happened since then. The weather is finally starting to warm up a bit, but instead of hoping for those long winter days to be over I find myself starting to freak out about the fact that we only have about 3 months until Baby 2.0 joins the family.

Let's get the biggest news out of the way first. For those that do not already know, which should be very few...we are having another girl! We are all thrilled, most of all Olivia. She desperately wanted a little sister and it seems her wish will come true. Todd on the other hand will be spending the rest of his days in a house full of women! He may act like he is in for a life full of torture, but secretly he could not be happier! We are all very excited to meet this "yet to be named" child. I am feeling great and trying to get as much done as I can before my June 27th due date.

When Olivia is not talking about being a big sister she is very busy with her many activities. Most importantly there is school. She is continuing to thrive in her class and I am proud to announce that we have a little reader on our hands. Over the past 2-3 months her reading skills have really started to emerge. Language in her favorite area to study at school so the teacher works with her almost daily. She brings books home each week to read to us and we practice sounding out the words that she does not already know. I am so impressed with this girl. Unfortunately I cannot take much of the credit for teaching Olivia to read. Most of the credit goes to her AMAZING teachers at Peace Montessori...Ms. Laura & Ms. Julia. Let Olivia's reading skills speak for themselves...

Before I get out of hand with my bragging let me just mention a few more things Olivia has accomplished recently. She can count well into her hundreds, she can name and point out all of the planets in the solar system (even I cannot do that!), and she not only knows Spanish but now has a limited Chinese vocabulary. She and her classmates recently learned some Chinese to prepare for the school's annual International Night. Every year the school hosts this fun event where each classroom is transformed into a different country. They decorate the rooms with items from that particular country and most importantly they serve food that represents that country. Each child receives a passport when they arrive and they have the chance to get their passport stamped at each classroom (country) they visit.

Olivia's classroom highlighted China and it was probably my favorite of the night based on the food alone. Olivia tried some of the food in each country but was more interested in running around with her friends. It is definitely one of the more popular school events each year and one the kids really look forward to and spend a ton of time preparing for.

They prepared for International Night with some fun activities. They made numerous Chinese crafts to display throughout the classroom. They also learned about the food by taking a field trip to a local Chinese restaurant. My Mom was one of the chaperones and took some pictures of this exciting event. It sounds like all of the kids had a great time and they were very well behaved.

My Mom said it was surreal to be at lunch with close to twenty 3-5 year olds and see them behave so well. Biggest surprise of the day was that Olivia helped herself to seconds of most of the food. I was speechless! The field trip was a huge hit with all of the kids and such a fun way for them to learn more about China.

Olivia has made so many nice little friends in her class this year. I hear about them every day and of course she has a few favorites. One of the moms from her class thought it would be a good idea to have a class get together so the parents could get to know each other better while the kids do something fun. We decided to take the kids bowling. Olivia had done this once before, but not with me.

Things were set up to make it easier for the kids. They had the bumpers as well as a special ramp to help the ball go down the lane with some speed. The kids had a great time, but Olivia was worn out after one game.

When she is not enjoying school to the fullest she has been keeping up with her swimming lessons, getting ready for a summer full of swimming in her Uncle's pool! We recently got her a swimming cap to help tame her wild hair during her lessons. It became so difficult to keep her hair out of her face while shew was in the water and it very distracting to her. She spent more time pushing her hair out of her face then trying to complete her strokes or take breaks for breaths. She has really improved over the past few months and if I had to bet I would say that she will be swimming without any help by the end of the summer!

Until it is warm enough for us to start going to the pool we will have to settle for brisk bike rides in the early Spring. The weather was really nice this past weekend so we busted out Olivia's bike and went for a ride. She was so excited that we went all around the neighborhood. She has training wheels of course but she does really well on her bike and I suspect that by next year we will be riding without them. I sure hope that our good weather continues so that we can keep doing fun things outdoors.

With a little over 3 months to go until this baby arrives it's time to kick things into high gear. The nursery is mostly complete, but still needs some finishing touches. We are in the middle of a few different household projects and we still have to get the outside of the house ready for Spring/Summer once it warms up a bit. I am determined to get all of my major projects done before my due date. I guess we will just have to see how that goes. Right now I am enjoying the final months of my pregnancy, knowing this will be the last time I have this experience.