I'm walking my 8 year old students to the bus after school today and my little one named Ava (not really) says to me,
"Mrs. C...I know you said our moms needed to call you about the field trip but is it okay if my dad calls you instead? My mom went to jail last night for trying to kill my dad with the knife that's on our kitchen counter."
Really. I couldn't make this up if I tried.
And I'm supposed to ride this girl about her homework?!?
Monday, April 27, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Failing a Grade...Good Idea or Not???
We hear a lot these days about how 8th graders are reading at a 3rd grade reading level. We hear about how high school kids are graduating even though they are performing at a 7th grade level. You may have been one of those people who think that teachers have dropped the ball: how the heck are we graduating these kids who can't read, can't add or can't write???
I'll tell you exactly how it happens: teachers are not allowed to do their jobs anymore. It's been taken away from us. Thanks to new legislation (ie: NCLB), we are under the microscope and forced to have every decision that used to be left up to our professional judgement (yes, I went to college for 5 years and graduate school for 3 years to do what I do...I do have some professional judgement) now has to go through an insane amount of meetings, committees, opinions, and all sorts of people weighing in on how they think I should best teach my kiddos.
Remember back when we were growing up? How scary the thought of being "held back" a grade was? It was awful. That was the worse thing that could happen to you. If a teacher threatened it...you knew she was serious. You'd better straighten up and do your work, turn your homework in, actually start studying.
Not anymore. I tell at least 4 parents every year that unless a big change happens, their child will not be ready for third grade and will therefore be...left behind. See where this is going?? Every year there really are about 4 of my students who just do NOTHING and aren't ready for third grade. They are either not emotionally ready or they just haven't learned the content that is necessary for them to be promoted. In the old days, the children would be held back. We all knew kids like that had been held back and we looked at them in awe: those were the kids that just didn't care and boy, we did NOT want to be like them. We knew we'd do whatever it took to get ourselves promoted.
It's quite different now. I am in the process of getting ready for my retention meeting tomorrow and I'm a bit nervous about it. I only have one little girl this year who I think would benefit from being held back but boy, do I have to make a case for it. She's young for her age, she averages 20% on things when the class average is about 90% and she's just not performing at grade level. If she goes to 3rd grade, she's going to be absolutely lost. She won't be able to do a darn thing. Parents even want her to be retained. However, I have to take a metric ton of data and evidence to this meeting tomorrow to prove my case.
This is how daunting it is: I've received some (for lack of a better term) "Retention Hate Mail" in my mailbox at work over the last couple of days. The powers that be have read the research that show that retention is not a good thing for all students and are trying to intimidate the teachers into not bringing any kiddos to the retention meetings. (btw: they are awful because you are sitting with the school psychologist, people from the district, the principal, the learning specialists and you have to make the case on why this child learned NOTHING in your class all year). In essence, you have to prove you haven't done your job with this child. See how little they progressed? These meetings are not fun.
Back to the hate mail. Here are a few of the golden nuggets we all received over the past week. See what you think:
"...Retention is HIGHLY ASSOCIATED with significant increases in behavior problems and mental health issues in adolescence and adulthood."
"...most children do not "catch up" when they are held back. Although some retained children do better at first, they often fall behind again in later grades, and are often referred for remedial help or special education during elementary school."
"...by the time they get into middle school,. many children who were held back tend to get into trouble, dislike school and feel more poorly about themselves than do children who were never retained. There is some evidence that retained children are more likely to have mental health problems than those who are not retained."
"...a study in 1980 was done on sixth graders. They were surveyed on 20 stressful life events. Of the 20 events, children feared grade retention MOST after loss of a parent and going blind. That study was replicated in 2001 and 6th graders said that retentions was the single most stressful life event...even higher than the death of a parent (Anderson, Jimmerson, Whipple, 2002 UC-Santa Barbara).
"...systematic review and meta-analyses examining research over the past century (studies concluded between 1911-2001) support that in MOST cases, grade retention harms children."
So what's a classroom teacher in Commerce City with all sorts of leaking pipes making noises supposed to do? I know in my heart that this child will NOT be successful in 3rd grade. Do I just "pass her along" and have her be one of the 8th graders y'all are talking about who can't read and can't add? She'll probably drop out at that point anyway. Or do I fight to have her retained...ignoring these little gems of research that someone keeps placing in our boxes? So when I tell my parents at the beginning of the year that their child will be held back unless they get on the ball and start helping their child at home, THEY DON'T BELIEVE ME. They know the process and they know I have no power over this whatsoever. Big difference from back when we were in school, isn't it?
I wish we could go back to the days where there was some personal responsibility taken for education. I told her parents in September that if she didn't make huge improvements (ie: WORK WITH YOUR CHILD AT HOME) by the end of the year, she may have to be held back. Instead of actually doing that, mom just wants her retained. Where does that leave the classroom teacher? Our professional judgement is systematically being reduced to nothing: eventually everyone will be able to say that public education doesn't work and here's the reasons why.
And you all will be right. It's not working. Kids are being "left behind" all the time.
p.s. Exactly 15 minutes after I posted this, another "golden nugget" was placed in my box at work. Here it is in all its glory:
"...Initial achievement gains may occur during the retention year, but the consistent trend across many research studies is that achievement gains decline within 2-3 years of retentions such that retained children either do no better or perform MORE POORLY than similar groups of promoted children."
I'll tell you exactly how it happens: teachers are not allowed to do their jobs anymore. It's been taken away from us. Thanks to new legislation (ie: NCLB), we are under the microscope and forced to have every decision that used to be left up to our professional judgement (yes, I went to college for 5 years and graduate school for 3 years to do what I do...I do have some professional judgement) now has to go through an insane amount of meetings, committees, opinions, and all sorts of people weighing in on how they think I should best teach my kiddos.
Remember back when we were growing up? How scary the thought of being "held back" a grade was? It was awful. That was the worse thing that could happen to you. If a teacher threatened it...you knew she was serious. You'd better straighten up and do your work, turn your homework in, actually start studying.
Not anymore. I tell at least 4 parents every year that unless a big change happens, their child will not be ready for third grade and will therefore be...left behind. See where this is going?? Every year there really are about 4 of my students who just do NOTHING and aren't ready for third grade. They are either not emotionally ready or they just haven't learned the content that is necessary for them to be promoted. In the old days, the children would be held back. We all knew kids like that had been held back and we looked at them in awe: those were the kids that just didn't care and boy, we did NOT want to be like them. We knew we'd do whatever it took to get ourselves promoted.
It's quite different now. I am in the process of getting ready for my retention meeting tomorrow and I'm a bit nervous about it. I only have one little girl this year who I think would benefit from being held back but boy, do I have to make a case for it. She's young for her age, she averages 20% on things when the class average is about 90% and she's just not performing at grade level. If she goes to 3rd grade, she's going to be absolutely lost. She won't be able to do a darn thing. Parents even want her to be retained. However, I have to take a metric ton of data and evidence to this meeting tomorrow to prove my case.
This is how daunting it is: I've received some (for lack of a better term) "Retention Hate Mail" in my mailbox at work over the last couple of days. The powers that be have read the research that show that retention is not a good thing for all students and are trying to intimidate the teachers into not bringing any kiddos to the retention meetings. (btw: they are awful because you are sitting with the school psychologist, people from the district, the principal, the learning specialists and you have to make the case on why this child learned NOTHING in your class all year). In essence, you have to prove you haven't done your job with this child. See how little they progressed? These meetings are not fun.
Back to the hate mail. Here are a few of the golden nuggets we all received over the past week. See what you think:
"...Retention is HIGHLY ASSOCIATED with significant increases in behavior problems and mental health issues in adolescence and adulthood."
"...most children do not "catch up" when they are held back. Although some retained children do better at first, they often fall behind again in later grades, and are often referred for remedial help or special education during elementary school."
"...by the time they get into middle school,. many children who were held back tend to get into trouble, dislike school and feel more poorly about themselves than do children who were never retained. There is some evidence that retained children are more likely to have mental health problems than those who are not retained."
"...a study in 1980 was done on sixth graders. They were surveyed on 20 stressful life events. Of the 20 events, children feared grade retention MOST after loss of a parent and going blind. That study was replicated in 2001 and 6th graders said that retentions was the single most stressful life event...even higher than the death of a parent (Anderson, Jimmerson, Whipple, 2002 UC-Santa Barbara).
"...systematic review and meta-analyses examining research over the past century (studies concluded between 1911-2001) support that in MOST cases, grade retention harms children."
So what's a classroom teacher in Commerce City with all sorts of leaking pipes making noises supposed to do? I know in my heart that this child will NOT be successful in 3rd grade. Do I just "pass her along" and have her be one of the 8th graders y'all are talking about who can't read and can't add? She'll probably drop out at that point anyway. Or do I fight to have her retained...ignoring these little gems of research that someone keeps placing in our boxes? So when I tell my parents at the beginning of the year that their child will be held back unless they get on the ball and start helping their child at home, THEY DON'T BELIEVE ME. They know the process and they know I have no power over this whatsoever. Big difference from back when we were in school, isn't it?
I wish we could go back to the days where there was some personal responsibility taken for education. I told her parents in September that if she didn't make huge improvements (ie: WORK WITH YOUR CHILD AT HOME) by the end of the year, she may have to be held back. Instead of actually doing that, mom just wants her retained. Where does that leave the classroom teacher? Our professional judgement is systematically being reduced to nothing: eventually everyone will be able to say that public education doesn't work and here's the reasons why.
And you all will be right. It's not working. Kids are being "left behind" all the time.
p.s. Exactly 15 minutes after I posted this, another "golden nugget" was placed in my box at work. Here it is in all its glory:
"...Initial achievement gains may occur during the retention year, but the consistent trend across many research studies is that achievement gains decline within 2-3 years of retentions such that retained children either do no better or perform MORE POORLY than similar groups of promoted children."
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Maelin's Two Year Old Pics
So you may remember my post about how Maelin was a 3 month old model. If not, click here for the amazing pictures we got of our little one when she was tiny. Mae isn't so tiny anymore.
Here are some of the better pictures from our latest trip to Portrait Innovations. We love it there. We even brought Uncle Jeff along this time in case Maelin needed help in the smiling department, but she did great with the photographer all by herself. He got some amazing shots of her...Uncle Jeff, Aunt Kat and Aunt Heather and I all just sat back and watched. She is one funny little girl!
Hope you enjoy
Here are some of the better pictures from our latest trip to Portrait Innovations. We love it there. We even brought Uncle Jeff along this time in case Maelin needed help in the smiling department, but she did great with the photographer all by herself. He got some amazing shots of her...Uncle Jeff, Aunt Kat and Aunt Heather and I all just sat back and watched. She is one funny little girl!
Hope you enjoy
Friday, April 17, 2009
Sad Day for Alsup
We had a sad day at work today. We've been lucky enough to be blessed with an amazing principal for the last 6 years. She's everything a true leader should be: encouraging, compassionate, reasonable, stern, not afraid to get her hands dirty, hilarious, personable and wonderful.
She will do anything for you if she thinks it will make you a better teacher: and therefore help out the kiddos. She is a fantastic mixture of being knowledgeable and professional...but yet extremely approachable. She knows all the names of our kids. She knows I have 2 cats. She knows Kevin's job and she's met some members of my family and remembers their names. In 6 years, I've never been turned away when I showed up at her door to talk. She encourages you to do better because she herself is so amazing and you would rather walk on nails then let her down.
One of my favorite Lynn-moments was a few years ago when we didn't have air conditioning and we were in the 85 degree classrooms in August getting set up. I was super sweaty and hot and dusty and gross and I thought I heard the ice-cream man. (click on that link and you can hear the song for yourself...be prepared. It tends to get stuck in your head!) I thought that was odd because we never get the ice-cream man in Commerce City. The music kept getting louder and louder so I went to my outside door to look out...nothing. Just the playground. Funny, I thought. Then I looked up and Lynn was wheeling her laptop into the room: it was playing the ice-cream man song! Under it, she had a bunch of choices of ice-cream for the staff to have. Just a little treat to help you through the day, she said, laughing. I got to pick my ice-cream and she wheeled away to the next teacher with the ice-cream song playing. It was awesome.
So, we had a sad day today. Lynn has decided to apply for a very prominent position in the district. It's an amazing opportunity for her and we're really not surprised: someone with her talents wasn't going to last at Alsup for very long. We all walked around today with sad, but resigned faces. We knew it was too good to last. We had an amazing leader who got our little school up to over 90% proficient in the CSAP tests (the other schools in our district are around 30%-60%) and now she's going to be gone. She's been gone since Feb anyway helping out at another school, but now she's officially gone.
I have to make some decisions now. I've always said that the main reason I love my job is because I have such an amazing principal. That's gone now. We'll see what I decide to do...
Here's a picture of me with Lynn and some of the staff when we took a trip to Niagara Falls for a training. We really enjoyed our time away from the conference! (Lynn is front and center and Niagara is behind us.)
She will do anything for you if she thinks it will make you a better teacher: and therefore help out the kiddos. She is a fantastic mixture of being knowledgeable and professional...but yet extremely approachable. She knows all the names of our kids. She knows I have 2 cats. She knows Kevin's job and she's met some members of my family and remembers their names. In 6 years, I've never been turned away when I showed up at her door to talk. She encourages you to do better because she herself is so amazing and you would rather walk on nails then let her down.
One of my favorite Lynn-moments was a few years ago when we didn't have air conditioning and we were in the 85 degree classrooms in August getting set up. I was super sweaty and hot and dusty and gross and I thought I heard the ice-cream man. (click on that link and you can hear the song for yourself...be prepared. It tends to get stuck in your head!) I thought that was odd because we never get the ice-cream man in Commerce City. The music kept getting louder and louder so I went to my outside door to look out...nothing. Just the playground. Funny, I thought. Then I looked up and Lynn was wheeling her laptop into the room: it was playing the ice-cream man song! Under it, she had a bunch of choices of ice-cream for the staff to have. Just a little treat to help you through the day, she said, laughing. I got to pick my ice-cream and she wheeled away to the next teacher with the ice-cream song playing. It was awesome.
So, we had a sad day today. Lynn has decided to apply for a very prominent position in the district. It's an amazing opportunity for her and we're really not surprised: someone with her talents wasn't going to last at Alsup for very long. We all walked around today with sad, but resigned faces. We knew it was too good to last. We had an amazing leader who got our little school up to over 90% proficient in the CSAP tests (the other schools in our district are around 30%-60%) and now she's going to be gone. She's been gone since Feb anyway helping out at another school, but now she's officially gone.
I have to make some decisions now. I've always said that the main reason I love my job is because I have such an amazing principal. That's gone now. We'll see what I decide to do...
Here's a picture of me with Lynn and some of the staff when we took a trip to Niagara Falls for a training. We really enjoyed our time away from the conference! (Lynn is front and center and Niagara is behind us.)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Maelin's 2nd Birthday
Came and went. Maelin is officially 2 years old. Amazing. We had scheduled her party for April 4, but the weather people (who make WAY too much money for how inaccurate they are) predicted 8-15 inches of snow for the 4th so we postponed it till the next Sat the 11th. Which was a bit of a bummer because my mom had flown out for it and some of our best kid friends wouldn't be able to come.
Lesson learned. Don't listen to weather people.
Anyway, we had Maelin's "Maisy Mouse" party on the 11th at our house. We all had a really nice time. The weather cooperated and even though a few of our good friends and family weren't able to make it, everyone who was there was in a great mood and excited to help our little one celebrate how big she is getting!
She was a bit out-of-sorts though. She did NOT like having that many people in her house. She was totally clinging to me, Kevin, Kat and Jeff. That's it. NO ONE else was allowed near her (which made Kat and Jeff very happy...Grandma, not so much). She had a great time running around outside and swinging. However, she was a bit confused why we were messing with Elmo the pinata. You could totally see the wheels turning in her head and wondering why candy and things were falling out of Elmo's back.
Then it was cake time! She didn't understand the whole "blow out the candles" thing, but she got into the spirit of it when cousin Ryan helped her blow. She loved her cake...as shown by the totally adorable picture below. She's still asking for "Brdday Cake?!?" as soon as we get into the car every day...then opening her mouth real wide into an "O" shape like she's super excited for it. :-) Couldn't be cuter.
The best part of any birthday party is the presents! Maelin got lots of great stuff: books, toys, tea sets, shoes, and a zoo pass! I'm super excited about that one. Anyway, she had fun opening presents until we tried to help her: that created a 15 minute crying-jag because she wasn't doing it herself. Little Diva.
Our good friends helped us celebrate Maelin's 2nd birthday with so much love and support. They brought food, drinks and even stayed late to help clean up. I hope when Mae grows up she realizes how lucky she is to be surrounded by so many people who think she's pretty special. I know I do.
Here are a few pictures from Maelin's birthday party. Our big 2-year-old girl!
Lesson learned. Don't listen to weather people.
Anyway, we had Maelin's "Maisy Mouse" party on the 11th at our house. We all had a really nice time. The weather cooperated and even though a few of our good friends and family weren't able to make it, everyone who was there was in a great mood and excited to help our little one celebrate how big she is getting!
She was a bit out-of-sorts though. She did NOT like having that many people in her house. She was totally clinging to me, Kevin, Kat and Jeff. That's it. NO ONE else was allowed near her (which made Kat and Jeff very happy...Grandma, not so much). She had a great time running around outside and swinging. However, she was a bit confused why we were messing with Elmo the pinata. You could totally see the wheels turning in her head and wondering why candy and things were falling out of Elmo's back.
Then it was cake time! She didn't understand the whole "blow out the candles" thing, but she got into the spirit of it when cousin Ryan helped her blow. She loved her cake...as shown by the totally adorable picture below. She's still asking for "Brdday Cake?!?" as soon as we get into the car every day...then opening her mouth real wide into an "O" shape like she's super excited for it. :-) Couldn't be cuter.
The best part of any birthday party is the presents! Maelin got lots of great stuff: books, toys, tea sets, shoes, and a zoo pass! I'm super excited about that one. Anyway, she had fun opening presents until we tried to help her: that created a 15 minute crying-jag because she wasn't doing it herself. Little Diva.
Our good friends helped us celebrate Maelin's 2nd birthday with so much love and support. They brought food, drinks and even stayed late to help clean up. I hope when Mae grows up she realizes how lucky she is to be surrounded by so many people who think she's pretty special. I know I do.
Here are a few pictures from Maelin's birthday party. Our big 2-year-old girl!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Nuestra Niña Bonita
I picked up Mae today from our babysitter's house and this little hair-do was what greeted me. I took about 40 pictures trying to get a good one, but Mae just does NOT want to sit still long enough for that to happen.
Super cute little one...
p.s. I've TRIED to do Maelin's hair in many different types of 'dos but the child will NOT let me. She hates it. It's amazing that Sandra got her to sit still for so long...maybe it's in the Spanish...
Super cute little one...
p.s. I've TRIED to do Maelin's hair in many different types of 'dos but the child will NOT let me. She hates it. It's amazing that Sandra got her to sit still for so long...maybe it's in the Spanish...
Monday, April 6, 2009
My Big Two-Year Old Girl
Can hardly believe it's time to write this post about Mae Mae. She's 2 years old today. How is that possible?!? Wasn't I just pregnant? Wasn't I just posting about how tired I was with a newborn and how I wished I could get some sleep? Doesn't seem that long ago that we were up every 3 hours with her, or playing with her on the floor, or watching her sleep on Daddy's chest. How is she 2 already?!?
Our big two-year-old girl is the light of our lives. She is so incredibly smart. She knows all her ABC's backwards and forwards...in English and in Spanish. One of her great "tricks" is to start reading letters off of T-shirts, in line at Target, off of menus, etc. She also knows all her numbers, in order, from 1-20 in English. She knows them from 1-10 in Spanish as well. At the store the other day, we were in the shopping cart and Mae was singing her numbers in Spanish..."uno, dos,..." really loud as we were walking. A lady stopped me and told me how impressed she was that Mae knew that in Spanish and how wonderful it was. I said "Thank you" as Maelin continued to count. It was pretty darn cute.
She's also a bit of a diva. She knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it. She will not hesitate to let you know. She is really talking a lot and tends to gibber at you...until you realize that it is real words that she's saying...you just didn't understand. Last week we were coming out of Uncle and Auntie's apartment building and a man was waiting for us to come out so he could go in. Maelin walked by him and looked up at him as he was waiting and said, "-orry!". It was the cutest thing you've ever seen. He totally started laughing and she said it again..."-orry." We gave her high-fives for having such good manners.
She loves to play outside. Given the choice, she'd be perfectly content to spend all day running around in the dirt, smearing it all over her, playing with rocks, poking sticks, running up and down the hills, in her sandbox, writing with chalk, etc. She is the happiest when she's outside...so I'm very excited the weather is starting to change for the better and we can spend more time outside. My favorite days after work is when I go to pick up Maelin from Sandra's house and she's filthy. Totally covered in dirt from head to toe. Smeared with dirt everywhere. But...she's got the biggest grin. I love it.
She can also be incredibly sweet. She loves her family and friends so much and isn't afraid to run over and give you a hug...out of the blue. Or tell you to "SIT!" down next to her while she's reading because she wants your company. She will light up with the biggest smile when someone she knows comes over. She's a lucky girl to have so many people who love her and love to spend time with her...and she lets them know she appreciates it by her sweet hugs, love pats on the arm and constant demands that they "Sit!" next to her. A few days ago, we went in to wake up Daddy (yes, he gets to sleep in sometimes) and she ran in and yelled "Dada!" and then went to his side of the bed and demanded "Up!" so he lifted her up. She lay next to him and put her head on his shoulder and patted his arm and said "Dada" with a big grin. It was the cutest thing ever.
Her favorite things now:
"Yo Gabba Gabba." If you're wondering what the heck this is...you can thank Peter and Megan for introducing this to Mae. She LOVES it...go check it out on youtube if you're curious. I warn you...it's not my cup of tea at all.
"Am-in-als" Hippos, horsies, doggies (but only in theory: she's not a fan of dogs in real life)
"Nimo" (Gizmo...our big lover cat is her best friend)
vanilla ice cream, chips, "-ies?" (fries), Dum-Dum suckers, The Wiggles, Elmo, dirt, and "A-do-bo" (her friend at daycare...his name is Adofso but she can't say that).
Our little one is so amazing and precious and we're so lucky to have her. Here are a some pictures from the past wonderful two years. I can't believe how quickly she's growing up but I'm so excited to continue watching this little person grow, learn and change.
I love you Love Bug! Happy Birthday!
This was about 3 hours after Mae was born. I was exhausted from being in labor for 3 days but so excited to meet my little girl at last!
This was when Mae was about 2 weeks old. She loved laying in her crib and watching her mobile go round and round.
Maelin's first Christmas. We had the santa hat and everything for her but she liked the boxes and ribbons the presents came in best!
Mae was 6 months old in this picture. Again...she's laying in her crib. This was just a few days before she figured out how she could roll herself over!
Maelin was about 3 months old here. You can start to see her personality shine through!
I love this picture too because it shows how into books our little one has always been. She's about 13 months old here.
This is one of Maelin's First Year Portraits. I love this one. I just think she's so pretty...
Maelin enjoying her pool in the backyard in her new house. We had just moved so she was about 14 months old here.
Look Mommy...I'm a big walking girl! She was about 15 months old when she started walking and boy, was she proud!
Maelin playing at the Children's Museum at about 1 1/2 years old. She loved being a vet!
Maelin's "Stink Face". One of my all-time favorite pictures of her. She is about 17 months old here.
This is Maelin just a couple of days ago at the zoo. She kept running over to these guys to yell at them..."Cows?" She loves the zoo.
This is the epitome of Maelin. She's happiest when playing in the dirt. No matter where we are, if there's dirt that can be played in...she'll find it and smear it all over her. She was way less interested in the animals at the zoo after she found this dirt. I sat next to her and made myself comfortable. We played in this darn dirty, muddy pool for about 45 minutes before I dragged her kicking and yelling away to wash her hands.
This is what the "Terrible Twos" are going to be like?!? Bring it on Mae...
Our big two-year-old girl is the light of our lives. She is so incredibly smart. She knows all her ABC's backwards and forwards...in English and in Spanish. One of her great "tricks" is to start reading letters off of T-shirts, in line at Target, off of menus, etc. She also knows all her numbers, in order, from 1-20 in English. She knows them from 1-10 in Spanish as well. At the store the other day, we were in the shopping cart and Mae was singing her numbers in Spanish..."uno, dos,..." really loud as we were walking. A lady stopped me and told me how impressed she was that Mae knew that in Spanish and how wonderful it was. I said "Thank you" as Maelin continued to count. It was pretty darn cute.
She's also a bit of a diva. She knows exactly what she wants and when she wants it. She will not hesitate to let you know. She is really talking a lot and tends to gibber at you...until you realize that it is real words that she's saying...you just didn't understand. Last week we were coming out of Uncle and Auntie's apartment building and a man was waiting for us to come out so he could go in. Maelin walked by him and looked up at him as he was waiting and said, "-orry!". It was the cutest thing you've ever seen. He totally started laughing and she said it again..."-orry." We gave her high-fives for having such good manners.
She loves to play outside. Given the choice, she'd be perfectly content to spend all day running around in the dirt, smearing it all over her, playing with rocks, poking sticks, running up and down the hills, in her sandbox, writing with chalk, etc. She is the happiest when she's outside...so I'm very excited the weather is starting to change for the better and we can spend more time outside. My favorite days after work is when I go to pick up Maelin from Sandra's house and she's filthy. Totally covered in dirt from head to toe. Smeared with dirt everywhere. But...she's got the biggest grin. I love it.
She can also be incredibly sweet. She loves her family and friends so much and isn't afraid to run over and give you a hug...out of the blue. Or tell you to "SIT!" down next to her while she's reading because she wants your company. She will light up with the biggest smile when someone she knows comes over. She's a lucky girl to have so many people who love her and love to spend time with her...and she lets them know she appreciates it by her sweet hugs, love pats on the arm and constant demands that they "Sit!" next to her. A few days ago, we went in to wake up Daddy (yes, he gets to sleep in sometimes) and she ran in and yelled "Dada!" and then went to his side of the bed and demanded "Up!" so he lifted her up. She lay next to him and put her head on his shoulder and patted his arm and said "Dada" with a big grin. It was the cutest thing ever.
Her favorite things now:
"Yo Gabba Gabba." If you're wondering what the heck this is...you can thank Peter and Megan for introducing this to Mae. She LOVES it...go check it out on youtube if you're curious. I warn you...it's not my cup of tea at all.
"Am-in-als" Hippos, horsies, doggies (but only in theory: she's not a fan of dogs in real life)
"Nimo" (Gizmo...our big lover cat is her best friend)
vanilla ice cream, chips, "-ies?" (fries), Dum-Dum suckers, The Wiggles, Elmo, dirt, and "A-do-bo" (her friend at daycare...his name is Adofso but she can't say that).
Our little one is so amazing and precious and we're so lucky to have her. Here are a some pictures from the past wonderful two years. I can't believe how quickly she's growing up but I'm so excited to continue watching this little person grow, learn and change.
I love you Love Bug! Happy Birthday!
This was about 3 hours after Mae was born. I was exhausted from being in labor for 3 days but so excited to meet my little girl at last!
This was when Mae was about 2 weeks old. She loved laying in her crib and watching her mobile go round and round.
Maelin's first Christmas. We had the santa hat and everything for her but she liked the boxes and ribbons the presents came in best!
Mae was 6 months old in this picture. Again...she's laying in her crib. This was just a few days before she figured out how she could roll herself over!
Maelin was about 3 months old here. You can start to see her personality shine through!
I love this picture too because it shows how into books our little one has always been. She's about 13 months old here.
This is one of Maelin's First Year Portraits. I love this one. I just think she's so pretty...
Maelin enjoying her pool in the backyard in her new house. We had just moved so she was about 14 months old here.
Look Mommy...I'm a big walking girl! She was about 15 months old when she started walking and boy, was she proud!
Maelin playing at the Children's Museum at about 1 1/2 years old. She loved being a vet!
Maelin's "Stink Face". One of my all-time favorite pictures of her. She is about 17 months old here.
This is Maelin just a couple of days ago at the zoo. She kept running over to these guys to yell at them..."Cows?" She loves the zoo.
This is the epitome of Maelin. She's happiest when playing in the dirt. No matter where we are, if there's dirt that can be played in...she'll find it and smear it all over her. She was way less interested in the animals at the zoo after she found this dirt. I sat next to her and made myself comfortable. We played in this darn dirty, muddy pool for about 45 minutes before I dragged her kicking and yelling away to wash her hands.
This is what the "Terrible Twos" are going to be like?!? Bring it on Mae...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
