Pony Show

I told Kyra that my friend Karla who has Morgan and Logan was coming to the Melting Pot that night. She asked if Karla was coming with her girlfriends or her husband. I told her that in fact, Karla just got married last week and he was coming over with her new husband. Kyra's response:
- But how did she have kids if she just married? (I explained she was married to kids' Dad before) and if I was remarried, I would not go around and show off my husband to everybody!!

Cracked me up!

What Did She Do??

Today me and Kyra went to help out in Brandon's class as usual on Thursday afternoon. I was tracing the picture from Dr. Seuss book about the moose so that 2nd graders could decorate their door with it.
I used the pencil first and then used different colors sharpies. Kyra asked if she could have purple color sharpie and I said no, because it belonged to Ms. Hommel and I would let her pick a color or two sometime when we go to Staples.

On the way out, she dropped something on the stairs. I turned around to see what it was and it was red sharpie. I gulped. I could not believe she could do it! I made her go back and return it.

On the way back we talked. I did not raise my voice, I was so in shock that I was not even mad at her. I got to her level and explained that stealing was wrong and adults go to jail for that.

She did not "fight" back, just listened and when we got home, she silently went up to her room for time out. We talked again about it and I hope that was the end of it.

Finally!

Today is the day - Brandon left top tooth came through. We have not seen him with his front chompers for FIVE years. Wow. I am so excited for him!

What Is Going On?

Lately, all that Brandon wants to do is to be at Nane's. It got "worse" so to say when he keep wanting to sleep there every night and gets very, very upset if he can't sleep over there.

We all tried to talk to him and see what is going on with him. All he says is that he is more comfortable there. I guess, he does not need to do anything around the house, he does not have to go to bed at 8, he can have snacks when he wants to, there is no Kyra who would ask him questions etc.

We feel like there is more to it but at this point, Brandon did not verbalize his reasoning. We had a "meeting" today where Brandon indicated that taking his bed apart might help or him sleeping on the top of his bunk bed (considering Kyra would agree to try to sleep on the bottom which she is not thrilled about)

I am very happy that he has such a bond at least with one set of grandparents.. But I also feel like we are losing him...

What Does Sexy Mean to 6-Year Old?

As much as I tried to make sure kids did not hear innapropriate songs, I could not hide them all. "I am sexy and I know it" was sang by a classmate of Kyra (K-n!), was shown on TV in Madagascar.. Kyra heard it and asked me if "sexy" was a bad word. Oh boy. I tried to say it is for adult use only. It is not a bad word but it is not for the kids to use. It means when adults say to each other that they want to spend some time with each other snuggling, kissing and hugging and may be even making a baby (she missed that part, fortunately). She listened, said Okay and that was it. Phew.. Till the next time...

Relationships Are Such Difficult Matter

We were covering relationship statuses. After talking about in-laws, Kyra asked me if Caiden was a cousin in law for me. Bless her heart :)

How Come

My kids are growing and they are becoming as difference as possible in showing their feelings.
Brandon is a tough boy, who sometimes can not put his desire to be hugged in the words, he constantly says to Kyra that she annoys him and all the time he wants, he spends at Nan.
Surprise, surprise, the only Valentine Brandon did for a member of a family.. was for Nan's.

Kyra is huggy, snuggly girl. She gives me many hugs and says I love you. She is not afraid to show her feelings of love and affection and she showers the whole family with it.

Two kids - but a boy and a girl and there it goes :) Love you both!

Sick Baby

What a day after school! Kyra and I wanted to go to Giant to rent a movie at Redbox and I accidentally left the keys in the house. Nan did not have any so me and Kyra walked all the way to their school and back. She did so great! It is one mile walk each way and she even ran 4 times. But two miles for her!!! In about 50 minutes. So proud of my little girl!

We rented Chiuaua-3 movie and we ate Chinese (not Kyra though) and some junk and watched a movie. At the end Brandon decided to ask Nan if he could sleep over and then spend a day today at her house. And I heard him asking her to say that he did not just ask for a sleepover, "it just came up".

Brandon and Kyra are complete opposites here - Kyra likes to be at home, Brandon at Nan's. He would move in if we let him. Kyra would never even consider.

So, he went to sleep over and Kyra slept home. At night we heard her coughing and we thought she was getting Brandon's cold (he has his nose running for the first time this season) but she threw up at night, poor thing. She did, though, remarkably, made it to the sink. Did not to the toilet but to the sink. Such a good girl!

She awoke up with fever and then slept 3 more hours with one more throw up and now.. She awoke up all happy. When she was very sick, she asked if she could go lay in her own bed upstairs (def know she IS sick). When she woke up, she asked for her iPod. When I brought it to her and I was there waiting for her get settled, she looked up at me and said with smile:
- Thank, Mom. You can go now.
What a big girl I have! Feel better, girlie!

At Music Special

Interesting comparisons :)

Valentine's Day

What a fun day! For the morning I cut hearts out of pink and red paper and drew arrows to show where to go (downstairs). I left two little gifts on the table but asked not to open then without me. I did not think they would even notice my note but they did and they waited :) Kyra got Panda earrings and Brandon got a pair of orange socks. :) You are welcome! :)

Both kids brought their Valentines to their classmates and K-ers were supposed to make their own boxes, decorated to their liking. I am so glad Mrs. Decker took some pictures! :)

Kids did not do much that day - just watched a video, exchanged valentimes and had a yummy food party.

Brandon did pretty much the same. School rocks at holidays, does not it? :)

Left to right first row: Brady, Maddy, Hannah, Kyra, Lyla

Left to right second row: Baron, Matthew, Winter and Emma

T-P Conference - Brandon

Before meeting with Ms. Hommel, I met with Mrs. Hanlen, Brandon's speech teacher. Brandon likes her a lot - she is a fun lady! :) He is progressing well and now, she noticed that he still has what is called immature swallowing reflex, that sometimes does not go away until kids are as old as 10 and it means when they say, let's say, sound 's', their whole jaw goes forward. She started him wearing sort of a leash on his jaw so he is aware when he does it and now, she said, he does not need it as much.

She hopes to start working on zh, ch, sh with him soon after this reflex is less going on :) But sound 's' sounds so much better now!

Ms. Hommel had only good things to say about Brandon. He is doing very well at writing (adv) and math (adv). I am not surprised at that - he barely ever misses his goal for it. If he gets a concept of multiplication by the end of the year when she introduces it, she might consider starting him on it although they usually do not until 3rd grade. Will see.

He does need to recognize the main plot in a story, that is his only week spot but his comprehension level improved, so I hope main idea in a text is just a matter of time because he is a very smart cookie, that Brandon-Bear of mine who I love as much as my Kyrabelle :)
Good work done in this marking period! :)

T-P Conference- Kyra

I can not believe kids are more than half way through school year. This was the last conference for this year - 2nd marking period. I was excited to go and hear all the stuff I do not know. 

First, I met with Mrs. Decker who asked me what Kyra thought of school. I said she told me numerous times she was bored and Mrs. Decker was quite surprised by it. She said with the level Kyra is on, she is really not trying. Basically, she does not go extra mile/take risks/does extra job he is capable of. 

When asked to think outside of the box, she gets stuck. She must have gotten it from me. She knows 2+2=4 but she can not explain it and does not try. When asked about other possible ending to a story or describing a character, her answer is "I don't know". If somebody starts conversation and she prompted to answer, she will but she would not raise her hand voluntarily. 

Her writing is below her ability where she rights a sentence "It was fun". Some children are struggling with writing the only one, next week she will be allowed to write 5. But Mrs. Decker constantly has to bug and push her to write full, her level sentence because she can.

Sounds like she is afraid to take risks/make mistakes. Interesting. On all the test she scored fantastically good. 

Her numbers are 2-5 TIMES  higher than should be. She was given list of sight words for 1st grade and out of 82 she could spell correctly 70. She is half way in K yet. 

Mrs. Decker suggested a couple things to do and to ask her after we finish a chapter or a book. Ask her alternative questions and direct her in using more sparkly words when she writes. Hopefully it will work.

Because she is capable, Mrs. Decker will try to get her to independent phonetic level of writing this coming marking period - earlier than others. I hope she will be up to it. I am still proud of her. She is a smart little girl and I love her more than anything! :)

Basketball Show Off

Besides basketball practices Brandon had clinic games and one show off, so to say, during high school varsity game at Lower Dauphin. I really enjoyed watching it and Brandon wanted to stay for the rest of the game as well. 

Brandon is #14 wtih long dark sleeve shirt and of course, orange sneakers :) between Brayden and Julia

I am sure I would not have done at least half of what he did :)

You've Got To Be Kidding!

Me and Kyra were playing You've Got To Be Kidding the other day. Well, the whole game is built with gross, disgusting questions where you have to make choices between one gross answer or another. Kyra had a question to answer:
- Would you rather have a long hair sticking out of your nose or have a hairy back?
Kyra picked hairy back. I told her how sweaty she would get from it. She said she would shave it. I asked how she would reach. Her reply was?
- Well, I will ask my Dad to do it for me.
I can only imagine :)

Second question:
- Would you rather let a stranger get a boogie out of your nose or for you to get a boogie out of a stranger's nose?
- Hmm. Mommy.. But I will not be able to reach to a stranger nose.. And what if a strange would put me in a car and take me away?? (which was not the point :)

Third question:
- Would you rather it rained with caterpillars for a day or rained with feathers whole week?
- Of course..Caterpillars.. Because then they would turn into butterflies and when they die we will be able to make lot of barrettes for our hair.

Thank You Aloud

From Kyra: - it was her thank you for signing her up for Track and Field. I guess I am now Mommom :)

2 Marking Period Report Cards

Both kids made excellent progress this marking period - Kyra raised up to Advanced in Math and Brandon in writing.

Brandon:

Kyra:

I Love My Lil' Man!

I am so flattered - in this set of writings over the last two months he mentioned me 6 times. Love it!

Basketball Clinic

Brandon was practicing and then playing with other 2nd graders of LDSD. He had fun and I have to say he was pretty good :) 

Best Time to Catch Grasshoppers

On Saturday morning Jimmy was making Kyra breakfast and he asked he if she would like grasshoppers on the top of the pancakes. She looked at him sort of amazed and said:

- But Dad, you can not catch them in the morning, only at night! 

My sweet trustful girl :)

C Surprise

Well, it is no secret that Kyra is meat eater, not fruit or veg. So, the other day she asked me to buy her cucumber. I told her if I went to Giant that day, I would. I did in fact, go and got it for her. When she got off the bus, I told her I got her something and it started with C. Immediately she yelled:
- Chinese?

It cracked me up for couple reasons - first, she does not even like Chinese food. Second, all she wanted was a cucumber and it did not even cross her mind :) But I was impressed how fast she could thing that Chinese, does start with C. :)

Only Nervous?

We were watching a video for Pink's song "So what". I am not crazy about it, but we did watch it once and when they showed Pink performing like naked but all her parts were covered with black area, Kyra said:
- How could she do that? I would be so nervous!

Hmmm!