Dance Class #2 for Venily!

Oh my gosh!!!!  Venily did AMAZING!!!!  I was astounded!  She walked right in, went right up to the teacher and started talking to her... followed her around a little before her class started (lol) and then took her seat on her carpet square with all the other girls (ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE GYM AS ME!!!!)!!!!  I was in shock until it was time to go around and say what color butterfly they wanted to be and Venily was 2nd in line and actually said "sparkly pink" loud enough for me to hear her across the room... then I was close to tears, lol! ♥  She did everything with all the other girls and couldn't have cared less that I was there or not (she was never more than 1 foot away from me last time, haha)!  She was so fricken cute I could hardly stand it.  
 

They worked on lots of different ballet moves and she was even picked to be the leader for one exercise and all the other girls had to follow her! :)  She was shouting out answers to things and chatting with the other girls... it was simply AMAZING!!!
  
 

And I LOVE her teacher!  There are 20 girls there and this teacher teaches tons of other dance classes and Zumba classes and at the start of the 2nd class she had already memorized all 20 of the girls' names!  Venily was so far away from me for most of the class that I could hardly get any good pics or videos of her, lol!  And she told me beforehand that she wanted me to take 103 pictures of her (her favorite #)! :)

**I'll add the couple of videos I got later!


Also...
* We got 2 offers on our duplex!!!  I doubt it will all work out, but I am definitely hoping!!!

* Still no letter from Wheatland saying Venily can't go to Trevor-Wilmot next year (had to be postmarked by last Friday) so it's looking really good!! :)

*Haven's teething is continuing to wear on my patience!  I miss my sweet little girl who used to sleep in her own bed and was never crabby! :(  She still has a lot of good times throughout the day, but when she is crabby (especially later in the day) WATCH OUT!

Venily's Newest School Info...

She got approved for the Trevor-Wilmot 4K program!!!!!!! (our 2nd choice school).  Wheatland still needs to approve the open enrollment application but their denial has to be postmarked by yesterday so if we don't get anything in the mail on Monday, I think it's safe to say that they approve.  We have still not heard whether or not Wheatland would consider letting Venily go to their 4K program (our 1st choice school) but I'm starting to think that it's going to be too late since they already did their 4K testing.  Also, Venily is approved for full day Head Start preschool at Wheatland if we chose to let her go there (our 3rd choice program).

So, as it stands, Jason and I need to decide if we want her to go to 4K at Trevor-Wilmot (where I'd have to drive her to and from school each day) or full day preschool at Wheatland (where she'd get to take the bus to and from school).  Throw into the mix the fact that I have to be at my house at 7:40am to get Allison on the Wheatland bus and that I will be most likely watching Kylee as well next year and have to get at least 3 kids and myself dressed, ready, and out the door in time to drive Venily off to school (though I won't know until the middle of May if Venily is in the morning or afternoon class) and it starts to get interesting!!

The following year will be so much simpler!  Full day kindergarten for Venily at Wheatland and the bus will pick her up and drop her off with Allison!  (which would also be the case if I sent her to Head Start next year.... but I REALLY want to have her go to 4K!)  Decisions, decisions!!

Also, they didn't send me the results of her 4K screening yet.  I guess it was enough to get her "in" but I am curious to see what scores she got since I know how shy she was during it!

Venily's 1st Dance Class!!

Venily had her first dance class today!  All day she was so excited.  She told me that she couldn't wait and that she was going to go into the class all by herself and that I didn't even need to go into the gym (lol, okay THAT definitely didn't happen!).  But, overall she did really well!  I was super proud of her!!!!


For the first part, they sat in a circle on mats.  Venily made me sit right next to her even though all the other parents (except one other one) sat on bleachers and watched.  Then she wouldn't talk to the teacher (they had to go around the room and say their name and what color butterfly they wanted to be and Venily whispered in my ear so that I could tell the teacher, much to everyone's amusement, lol!).  She only sort of did what the teacher told her to do, but was super shy and kept stopping.  I didn't think it was going to go well!  Next, they had to move across the gym doing various different ballet and dance moves.  She sat by my side the whole time not participating.  I kept trying to make deals with her and she said the saddest thing I've ever heard in my life "Mommy, how about we make a deal that I can go home?".  Uhhhh!  I was super patient with her and didn't pressure her, but said that we were going to stay and watch and that she could join in if/when she wanted to.  I was so sad she wasn't participating, even though I KNOW how much she loves to dance and how much fun she'd have!  Finally, they started working on different dances as a group.  I told her if she danced with the other girls I'd let her paint her own nails all by herself and that she could make dinner with me!  She was so excited that she actually got up and did it!! :)  I was so impressed with how well she did too!  She caught on really fast!

 
Now, she was about 10 feet away from the entire rest of the kids, but she was dancing so well, I didn't care!  Strangely enough, she danced fine right in front of all of the bleachers where all the parents were sitting, but was too shy to go over by the teachers.  LOL, oh well!  SHE HAD A BLAST!!!!  I really hope she warms up even more next time and gets more and more comfortable.... we'll see!

Here are some videos I took!  Soooo flippin cute!! :)
And here are her rewards for doing so well! :)
 
 

Parent Teacher Conference!

Venily had her end of the year parent teacher conference today!  The teacher said that she is incredibly bright and extremely verbal!  She says that when she talks to her, she feels like she's talking to a 4.5 year old (she'll be 3.5 years old next month)! :)  She was evaluated in a variety of different areas and scored above where she should be on almost everything again.  The only thing she got "at age level" was with some of her social interactions like "sharing".  The teacher said that she's very opinionated on what she wants to do!  (Like we didn't know that already, lol!).  Sometimes when she's playing with a group of friends she can be very insistent on what she wants to do/ what she wants to play with etc, and sometimes has a difficult time sharing.  If she sees Mrs. Vivian looking at her, she'll do it, but the teacher can tell she doesn't want to.  Another thing she brought up, which I thought was interesting is that she will sometimes not express fully the things that she knows.  (Which makes me even more anxious about her 4K screening results).  She can be really unsure of herself at some times.  I have noticed this myself.  Sometimes I KNOW that she knows something or how to do something, but she won't do it b/c she only wants to do it if she's 100% confident in herself.  She's really afraid to make mistakes.  I'm the same way!!  Jason says that she's a combination of over confident (from him) and insecure (from me) at the same time, haha!  The teacher said it might just be a phase or her unsureness might be just a part of her personality.

Surprisingly when we brought up her severe shyness the teacher said that she doesn't see that from her at all.  She isn't shy to the other preschool teacher or to the director, Mrs. Phyllis, but other than that she doesn't really interact with any other adults.  Actually, we saw Mrs. Phyllis at the library the other day and Venily was so excited and waved and said hi to her! :)

Screening 2 of (hopefully 3)

Venily had a real 4K screening today (at our 2nd choice school)!!  I literally made myself sick about it all day (not letting Venily see any of that, of course)!

We got there and it was not good.  She didn't want to go into the room.  Finally, she went in with me even though she was supposed to go alone.  The first thing she needed to do was throw a ball.  Absolutely refused.  Crumbled to the ground and refused to talk or look at the teacher whatsoever.  We tried skipping to the cutting activity.  Nope, refused!  I was mentally telling myself not to cry!  The teacher was like "oh it happens, we'll schedule her another meeting in April and maybe it will go better next time."  She was really understanding and nice, but I felt like the world's biggest failure as a parent! :(

Soooo.... we stuck around out in the hall for a while longer.  There was a table set up with crayons and big legos and the girls were playing with those.  The teacher came out after a while and showed us the kindergarten rooms, etc.  She thought Venily was 5 and in for the 5K screening b/c she's so tall, lol!  Venily clung to Jason the whole time and wouldn't say a word except when she'd whisper in his ear.  We went and sat back at the table debating whether we should just leave.  Venily was playing with the legos when the other teacher (the actual 4K teacher) came over and asked Venily if she could play blocks with her.  She absolutely refused to say anything to her.  But the teacher just kept playing with her and asking her questions about what she was making.  Venily made a car and the teacher made a garage for it.  By the end Venily was nodding her head to questions! (Seriously this woman was a godsend!).  Then she asked Venily if she wanted to come with her and get a sticker.  She said yes and off they went back into the room!!!!!   She stayed in there and did the whole screening with the woman while we sat out in the hall!!!  I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!!!!  The other teacher even came out and told us that Venily was doing great and that she was talking and doing really well!  ♥  I only got to overhear a few things they did, but that's okay!

After a long time (I can't believe how extensive the screening is!), she came out smiling with 2 stickers on her shirt!  ♥  They said that we'd get the results in the mail in 2-3 weeks!  Honestly, I don't care what the results are or if she's even able to go to the school (we still have absolutely no idea), I'm just so glad that she was able to go by herself and complete the screening!!  ♥  We took her out for ice cream afterward and she got to watch her new princess movie from the library!  I am so very proud of her!!  She keeps singing "If you're scared, just try it.... and you'll love it!" (in a made up song, lol)!!

I have 3 parenting books on shyness at my house now... I better get to reading! 

P.S.  I LOVE this school and LOVE the teacher!!  Even though it would suck driving Venily to and from school every day, I would love for this to be her school next year!

Signed Venily up for Dance Class!!!

And gosh am I nervous!!  Soccer was a disaster, baseball was okay... so I'm hoping dance is great! lol!  She really wants to go and I want to encourage her to do things to help with her shyness!  It's a 6 week class that starts April 4th, 1x a week for 45 minutes each time.  There is a female teacher and I imagine a lot fewer dads are going to be there, so I'm really hoping she enjoys it!  She SAYS that she wants to go and that's she's really excited, etc, but I heard the same things about her other classes as well!  It's a bit more money than her other classes so I'm really hoping she's not sitting out the whole time watching the other kids.  If that is the case, I'm just going to wait a whole year before signing her up for any more classes!!  *please oh please oh please let her do good in this class!*  Also she has to wear dance clothes and how fricken cute is that?

I put a ton of shyness books on hold at the library (parenting books and children's books).  Maybe I will gain some insight?!

You can never take too many videos...

right?!  That's what I tell myself!!  Here's more of our latest!


Haven missing her Aunt Lisa who is across the country for 10 months working with Americorp!  :(  She is so the cutest thing in the planet!!



And Venily missing her as well!


Here's one of the girls being goofy! :)


And 2 from Venily's baseball camp.  I am seriously considering putting her into dance class next (it's a 6 week class and has a female teacher, but money is super tight right now).

4K/ Preschool Next Year!

Okay, I've written a ton of posts about this in absolute frustration, but never posted any, lol!  As I've said before, Venily misses the 4K cutoff by 1.5 months.  Cutoff is Sept 1st, she has an Oct 13th birthday.  She is currently in preschool and is the youngest in her class, but does exceptionally well and is more than ready to go to 4 year old kindergarten next year, but our district has a school board rule where they will not do an early assessment for 4 year old kindergarten- meaning, they won't let you go in early.  However, they WILL let you do an assessment and get into 5 year old kindergarten early if the child passes (which I absolutely plan on doing).

Wisconsin also has open enrollment, where you can go to any school (not just in your district) if they have room and you want to drive your child there yourself.  I found a school that's not too far away that will do an early assessment for her and let her in their 4K class.  HOWEVER... DPI says that in order for your child to go to 4K in another district your own district must offer 4K (it does) and your child must be eligible for that 4K program (she doesn't b/c they won't do an early assessment).  Sooooo.... I put in a call to DPI to plead my case.  She said that nope, she can't go to another 4K program if she can't go to the one in my district.  UNLESS.... Wheatland were to say it was okay (and she was highly doubtful that they would ever do this- I assume they'd have to pay for it).  

So, next step was to call Wheatland and ask if we could open enroll to another district since they won't let her into their program.  I made Jason call b/c he's great at that sort of thing and I get so emotional that I almost cry and forget half of what I want to say, lol.  He got a hold of the district superintendent who is fairly new and didn't have any idea about Wheatland's 4K policy.  He asked if we would consider her in the top 5% intelligent-wise for her age group (we definitely do) and asked a bunch more questions.  He was really interested in helping us out and called a whole separate board meeting to re-evaluate their rule just b/c of Venily, LOL!!!  We haven't heard back from him on how that went, but I am grateful to him for at least trying.  *fingers crossed*

SOOOOO.... here's our options for next year!

1.)  My absolute ideal situation would be that Venily gets into 4K at Wheatland.  It's an awesome program.  I love the school.  I know the teacher well and love her (I've subbed for her a bunch of times while pregnant with Venily)!  It's 5 days a week (half days) and is FREE and the bus would pick her up and drop her off at our house.  Awesome, awesome, awesome!!   I don't think it's going to happen, but at least I now have some hope! :)  Plus, I plan on sending her to Wheatland for Kindergarten- 8th grade as well and it would be nice for her to get used to the school that she's going to spending so much time in! (and in a perfect world, I'd get a teaching job there once Haven is in school as well!) :)

2.)  My 2nd ideal situation would be that Wheatland would allow us to open-enroll.  I don't know what their stance is on this, but I signed her up for the other district just in case since the paperwork was due last Friday.  I had to fill out tons and tons of forms and pay $20, but it will be worth it if the Wheatland thing doesn't work out.  All the people I have talked to from that school have been super nice.  It would also be 5 days a week and free, but we'd have to bring her to and from school (which will be extra hard since I have Allison getting on and off the bus at my house and it's a bit of a drive to get there).  She has a 4K screening scheduled at the end of March if this option all works out!

3.)  Lastly, I also filled out all the paperwork for Head Start.  This is also at Wheatland and the bus would also pick her up and drop her off at my house.  And it's also 5 days a week and I have the option of sending her half days or full days (I would definitely only send her half days!!!).  It is also free b/c we qualify financially.  Jason seems to think that this should be my 2nd choice, but I just have a lot of apprehension about sending her there.  It's a preschool program, but I just so wanted her to go to 4K since I absolutely plan on her going into 5K the following year.

4.)  A 2nd year at her current preschool was an idea we considered, but decided against!  Just sending her 2x a week puts a HUGE financial strain on us and I would want her to go more than twice a week to prepare her for kindergarten the following year.  I was really sad when I had to tell her teacher. :(

That's where we're at now!!  It drives me crazy not knowing!!  I don't do well with indecision and waiting for the pieces to all fall in place!  Another thing that fills me with anxiety is the kindergarten screening process... I really don't know what to expect!  If a guy does it, I know hand-down Venily will not say a single word. :(  And if it's a woman, she will probably be a bit shy at first, but I think she'll do fine (but can't be certain- it takes her a bit to warm up to some women too).

The only thing I can do is wait and see!!

Baseball Camp!!!

Venily had her first fantasy baseball camp today!!!  We were so nervous since soccer was a disaster, but she kept insisting that she wanted to go!  And she did AMAZING!!!!!  Sure she was a little shy here and there if there was a guy trying to help her with something, but she loved all the women (and a majority of the "teachers" were women) and participated in all of the activities!!!!!  I was so close to crying the whole time!  I AM SOOOO PROUD OF HER!!!!!  She was definitely one of the youngest there too since it was for 3-6 year olds and it seemed most of the kids were 5.  She was also only 1 of 2 girls in her group, but did amazing!!!  She got to practice throwing, catching, batting, and running bases!  And she even spoke when asked questions like "What is your name?  What is your favorite color? etc.!  :)  I am so happy for her!!!!  She says she loves baseball and can't wait to go back next week!  ♥

Catching the ball

Having so much fun!
Throwing... (p.s. she got it in the right hole almost every time even when she tried throwing with her left hand, lol)
Defense stance
More throwing
Haven being a goof and laying and rolling on the floor, haha!

Running the bases!

Here she is batting and running the bases! :) So proud of her!!!

The Happiest Toddller on the Block!

I FINALLY finished reading it and can honestly say that it's changed my entire perspective on disciplining and relating to my children!  I started using some of the techniques with Venily and have seen a DRAMATIC improvement over the last week and a half!  Highly recommended!  And I was worried that Jason would be resistant to some of the techniques b/c I knew he would never actually read it, but without even saying anything he is following my lead really well and he can see what a huge difference it has made!!!

Venily was at the point where I will admit, I often did not even want to be around her anymore and she was driving me CRAZY and now she is a completely different child!!!!!  It's unreal!  If I ever have another baby, I will definitely be reading The Happiest Baby on the Block because the toddler edition is so incredible!  There are some things that just don't appeal to me like the extreme of the "Toddler-ese" that he uses, but I have been able to adapt it to better fit our family.  The "time-ins", "FFR", and overall insight into a toddler's brain along with the importance of letting a toddler feel in control and how to validate her feelings and basically all the "how to avoid a tantrum" stuff has been a complete lifesaver!  They've literally worked like magic!

I think I'm going to read it again in 3 months just to refresh my memory!  (or sooner if we have any more troubles) :)  There are some things that I think would be really great ideas like the "Magic Breathing" and "Fairy Tale" lessons that I'd like to do, but I don't want to focus on too many things at once.  I need to get some of the other things down really well first and then maybe we'll add in some more in 3 months or so! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

And Venily had her first Valentine's Day at preschool yesterday!!  She was so excited to make all of her cards and bring them to school for her friends!  It's hitting me hard lately how much she is growing up.  And it didn't help at all that I just gave away a bunch of baby stuff to a woman a few days ago!  :(  The day before Valentine's day marked the 4 year mark when I found out I was pregnant with Venily! My pregnancy test was an "early Valentine's day" present from Jason, lol!

Venily and I made pink cupcakes with pink frosting for Valentine's day!  I LOVE my girls!!!!  ♥

 

And I got Venily a sucker in the shape of the "I love you" sign and she's been doing it for the past 2 days, lol.  Haven, of course, got a peace sign! :)

Newest Sayings!

Haven:

"Shake your booty"

"Yeah, baby!" (learned from her sister, lol)

(video coming soon)

Venily:

"But I was JUST trying to be helpful" (said so cutely you almost believe it, lol!)

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And here are some more videos of the girls!!

Venily talking to Santa, haha! 3 years old

Haven reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear (she is doing a lot better at calling animals by their names rather than their sounds, but still needs to be reminded sometimes!) Haven-16m

 Singing "Rudolph" over a month AFTER Christmas, lol, it's still one of her favorite songs! Haven-16m

Two of her favorite things, lol! I'd like to think she's going to be a dinosaur veterinarian when she gets older! :) Haven-16m

She is always pretending to hurt herself so I have to kiss it, lol! Haven-16m

January Review!

The first month of the year is over!  Checking over my resolutions and adding some more!

***For my reading 100 books this year resolution, I am at the following:

January- 11 books read as of last night (pretty good since I need 8 1/3 read each month to meet my goal!)

So far, so good! :)  I finished the one series I thought was only okay and was glad I did, the later books were much better!  I am still waiting impatiently on the next book in the series I LOVE, though I already have the next 2 after that waiting for me! :)  Next up I'm reading The Happiest Toddler on the Block (I've started it before, but am going to start it over and finish it this time).  I've also put several more books on hold and I'm going to start another series too! :)

I'm also adding 2 more resolutions to my list!!!

1.)  I will work out for at least 30 minutes 2x a week (starting off small here, lol, and hoping to increase it)!  I will probably just do a video or 2 on my Exercise OnDemand station.  I would like to get into really good shape before spring and, luckily for me, it usually doesn't take too much work on my part!

2.)  I WILL donate blood this year.  Hopefully I can do this in February.  I have never donated blood before and really want to!

And some Randomness:

* Haven threw her sandwich off the side of her high chair after lunch because I was busy doing something else and she wanted to be done.  I told her "No throwing your food on the floor, Haven, that's naughty!  What do you say to Mommy?"  and she says with a smile "You're welcome!".   I definitely laughed, which was not a good lesson for her, but I couldn't help it, LOL!

* Jason was measuring something in our bathroom while Venily was brushing her teeth and she says "Daddy, what are you inchering?"  Get it?  Inch instead of measure b/c he was measuring in inches, lol! :)

Newest Videos!

I'm a little behind on putting videos up on here!!  I love taking videos of them though, they do the cutest things!  Hopefully they appreciate it some day! :)



This song gets stuck in her head and she'll keep singing it over and over and over! LOL!
Haven- 15m

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She knows how to do all the end words correctly except that I always sing "You are my Haven, my only Haven" lol, so she now sings it with either Mommy or Daddy, haha. Oh, and she thinks it goes "when skies are grape"! She really is my sunshine! ♥
Haven- 15m

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Sooo naughty! The first time I saw her up there I thought maybe Venily helped her up, lol! She is so like her Daddy! :)  Haven- 15m

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She says this ALL the time! :)  Haven- 15m

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I ♥ this dance!!
15m

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I call that Haven's "broken-wing" dance! :)
Venily- 3 years
Haven- 15m

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Love, Haven 15m

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that turns into "knick-knack", lol. I never know what she's going to sing! :) And the one was "I love Grandma with the dogs" lol!
Venily- 3 years

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Haven grabs my camera at the end, haha.
Venily- 3 years

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"And that's what Christmas is all about..."
She sings crazy, made-up songs all day long! :)
Venily- 3 years

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Xmas day 2010
My favorite part is when she says "I'm the luckiest girl!" lol and Haven is in the background saying "Cashew! Cashew! Cashew, please! Cashew, please!" Haha! :)
Venily- 3 years, Haven- 14m

Venily is 3 1/4 years old!!

FINALLY!!!  I started writing this a while ago, but am finally finished.  Yay!! :)

Okay, so I totally missed her official "3 year update" and she is already 3 and a quarter years old!!!!  Better late than never, I suppose...


So at 3 1/4 years old...
* Venily can write her name and is working on writing the other letters in the alphabet!!

* LOVES preschool!!!

* Is still super shy at times! :(  Soccer is not going so well.  We are considering bringing her to see someone.  We're thinking being shy is fine, crippling shyness is not! :(

* Other times (like in our own home) she is the MOST outgoing child ever, even with people she doesn't know well!  Jason's friend who is HUGE and super muscular and has a huge beard (someone who she would normally be super afraid of) has stayed at our house a few times and she talked to him, danced and sang for him, etc. NONSTOP the ENTIRE time he's been over, LOL!!!!

* can cut things out really well now with scissors!

* loves to sing made up songs all day long!  And dance super crazy! :)

* she is VERY inquisitive and is very interested in things like "how people used to live a long time ago" and why we have blood in our bodies and things like that!

* has a great vocabulary and loves to learn new words!

* her eczema is finally getting under control!  We've been using her new prescription and Zyrtec each night and it looks fantastic!!!

* she tried to kiss her first boy at preschool!  His name is Nicki!  Oh, boy!!


* she is very picky about clothing!  AND wants to pick out her own clothes every day.  It's really embarrassing when we have to go out of the house.  She's always in some kind of weird dress/ sweat pant combo (p.s. only Jason allows her to pick out ANYTHING she wants to wear!  I usually give her options at least!).  She hates "long sleeved" shirts and prefers "short sleeves up" (as she calls them, lol) but in WI in the winter, that's not always an option!!  She is ALWAYS hot though and also hates wearing socks!  She also loves soft clothing and anything that sparkles!


* I was so happy that we skipped "the terrible two's", however, the 3's are coming at us with a vengeance!!!  I feel like I'm definitely doing something wrong!  It doesn't help that I'm with her almost 24/7 as well.  She has definitely had some BAD days lately where she is sassy, throws tantrums, and whines like crazy! :(  However, she also has "princess" days as well where she is a princess all day long! :)

* still takes a nap every day for about 1.5 hours!! :)  And lately she's been going to bed a lot later (9pm) and sleeping until around 6:45am ish.  One day last week she slept until 7:20am and I was super happy!


* She is SOOOO funny!  Seriously one of the funniest people I know!! 

* I am happy to say that she still has no idea what a McDonald's is! :)

* She is the perfect mix of girly and tom boy!  LOVES makeup and dresses and getting her hair straightened, but also loves four-wheeling, ice fishing, and getting dirty!

* She's really into doing "homework" and "projects" which are basically just her drawing, cutting, and gluing papers together, haha!  She also begs us to do her workbooks ALL the time!!! :)

* LOVES Haven!!!  Really, I don't know what she'd do without her!


Venily interview!!


FAVORITES:
food: tomatoes (she likes tomatoes a lot, but I don't know if it's actually her favorite)
 
desert: pudding (she also loves suckers and licorice and gummy worms and things like that... she a lot more like Jason, where as I prefer chocolate!)
 
vegetable: carrots, peas, and corn (she's pretty good about almost all vegetables)
 
fruit: grapes and pears. (she loves almost all fruits too)
 
snack: cereal, but that's breakfast.  (So what's your favorite snack?)  granola bars with chocolate chips
 
drink: juice, milk, and water.  and, and.... juice boxes!  and not blood.  We don't drink blood.  That's nasty, blood... (and NO she has not watched anything with vampires or anything, lol, I think she said that b/c the other day she said the juice form her blueberries looked like blood!)


things to sleep with: pillow pet, bear, and another bear... pretend bears, not real bears!! (she also loves her soft puppy and HAS to have her soft purple blanket!)
 
place to shop: Kmart, Walmart, and Walmart with food (apparently there is a difference?)
 
place to be: to grandma's house! (yep, couldn't be more true, haha!)
 
animal: lions... real lions!!  Real lions at the zoo!  And I like to go to the zoo with all my family!  Write that, okay?  (no problem Venily, lol!)
 
extra curricular activity: preschool and gymnastics
 
game: Roll the ball and you pass it to each kid and then you roll it back to different people and we touch our toes like this and then we roll the ball like... a ball you get and then you touch each feet like we did at playgroup!  (She also loves duck, duck, goose.  And any board game too!)
 
book: Lion cub.  (I have no idea which one she's talking about, lol, but her favorite book is ALWAYS changing.  She consistently picks out at least one Amelia Bedilia book at the library though and knows right where to find them!)


friend: Kaitlyn with Jacki and Jake... and Ethan and Kaitlyn in my preschool, and Aubrey and Autumn and Adalein and Haven and Alisha and Amanda and my Daddy (p.s.- she is as much a Daddy's girl as Haven is a Mommy's girl!)
 
colors: purple, blue and gray (usually it's purple, blue, and pink... but she has said gray before as well!)
 
toys: my morocca and my timer Santa gave me (she also loves her cars, her pretend food, and her jump rope (though it's always getting in time-outs, lol))  
 
things to do: make pictures, connect the dots, read books, read lots of books... my house Daddy got from the junk yard (LOL, I think she was still on the previous question).  I love painting pictures!
 
way to annoy her parents: (she yells).  Yell! (sticks out her tongue).  (anything else?)  (she pretends to bite me).  (Okay, moving on... lol)


song: If you're happy and you know it shout hurray!  Ms. Joy sings it and I love that song.  Happy Birthday (sings whole song, lol).  

songs on the radio:  Loud songs so I can dance very fast like this (dances).  Like that.  We dance very fast.  Are you writing we dance very fast?  (yes) Oh. (haha, she also loves... Lady Gaga (STILL a huge fan!), Taylor Swift (any song, but especially the "I wear t-shirts" song), Ke$ha (she calls her Ketcha), the Bottoms Up song, Pink... and tons more!


actor/actress: iCarly, Sam, Freddie and Spencer (I should have guessed!)

TV shows: I like iCarly and not Squongebob. (that's what she calls it, she's never seen it before b/c I won't let her watch it, lol).  I like Dinosaur Train and Blues Clues and Baby Bear (I don't let her watch that show either b/c it weirds me out). (She also loves Little Einsteins and Dora)
 
movie: Movies from the library!  (though she can't sit through a whole movie, lol)


Nonfavorites:
food: broccoli
 
things that scare her: maybe a witch?  ghosts... I remember... uh... maybe bears!  (she also doesn't like the dark)
 
what makes you angry: yelling.  yelling at me. (I really do need to learn to tone that down!)
 
things to do: I don't like to go in time-outs.  I don't like to go to soccer.  Did you write that I don't like to go to soccer? (yes) And when I'm angry and I'm sad. (P.S. every week she tells me she DOES want to go to soccer, but then once she's there she hates it! :(  )


My favorite things about her:
physical feature: her eyelashes
personality trait: her compassion for others (makes me want to cry sometimes b/c I'm so proud of her!)
time to be with her: when I read to her or do a project with her (I RARELY get to do anything with just her and me and it's really nice!)
thing about her that makes me smile: any time she dances or sings! :)
nicknames: mostly Ven, sometimes Vena.  I frequently call her "Venily Autumn" as well.






Some funny things she's said recently:


"Mommy, I might be a hippopotumous when I get older!" (like that's a career choice! haha)


(while I was driving) "Mommy, when I get big hands and really good eyesight, I'm going to be able to drive too!"


"Mommy, I have my blanket and my pillow and my baby.  I'm not sick, I just want to lay down for fun."

I hate winter!

Jason had the flu like 2 weeks ago.  I got the flu 2 days ago and have felt like I was hit by a truck ever since (just starting to feel better) and Jason took Venily into the walk-in today b/c she said it sounded like she had ear muffs on and it turns out she has a slight ear infection!!! :(  And my Haven-lilies has something going on too.  DEFINITELY teething, but hopefully nothing else!  After an entire week of going to bed like an angel, she now cries and fights going to sleep.  She also woke up crying in the middle of the night last night (which NEVER happens) and has been clingy all day!

Pee Wee Soccer

I signed Venily up for Pee Wee Soccer (ages 3-4) and a Pee Wee Fantasy Baseball Camp (ages 3-6).  She had her first of 4 soccer classes today (1/8/11) and unfortunately, it did not go so well!  She was really excited to go, but as soon as we got there was super shy! :(  The teacher is a guy (which doesn't help matters) and there is another guy and a girl that help him.  Today was "buddy day" so I was allowed to help her out, but he made it clear that the parents were not allowed to help next week.  She went through all of the drills alright, learned how to kick properly, trap the ball, do a knee kick, chest bump, etc. but any time any of the teachers would come around or when we had to watch the teacher demonstrate the next skill, she'd cling to my side!  Her best friend Aubrey was there too (who is also really shy) but it only helped a little.  They played a game towards the end and Venily would NOT go out on the floor at all, she just sat and cried any time she was supposed to go out there.  Aubrey went out for about 10 seconds and then came and sat by Venily and cried too. :(  They were the only 2 there that wouldn't participate!

Haven, on the other hand, couldn't get enough of it, lol!  She kept saying "kick, kick!" and was practicing her kicks when she was supposed to and fought me super hard to get out on the floor and play during the games, lol.  Well, maybe I'll have ONE soccer star someday...

We do plan on going back next Saturday (Venily really wants to!) and hopefully Jason will be able to come with and help me out!  I promised Venily a million things if she'd participate so I'm hoping it works!!  Ice cream, candy, circle money to put in machines (lol), and even a new BIKE, so hopefully....!  (not sure how I feel about the bribing thing, but I just don't want to imagine her growing up as shy as I was!!!!)

15 month well-check! And toddler bed update!

 Showing off all 5 of her band-aids! :)

Haven  had her 15 month well check today! (1/4/11)


Her stats at 15 months:
WEIGHT: 24 pounds, 4ounces (70th %ile)


HEIGHT: 33.3 inches (99+ %ile)


HEAD CIRCUMFERENCE: 47.5cm


She is doing great!!!  The doctor was very happy and impressed with everything she can do!  And even though Haven is a little shy to the doctor, she talked to her quite a bit!  She had to get FOUR shots today though! :(  She just whined for a few seconds though and was happy as could be again!  We brought her baby and her puppy with so she was good to go! :)  She also had to get her blood taken at the lab... Venily had never gotten hers taken b/c of moved around appointments and stuff and then the doctor forgot about it, so this was my first experience having a child get their blood taken (Venily is now going to have hers taken at her 4 year check since I brought it up to her dr).  It is EXACTLY like an adult getting it taken!  She had to sit in the chair (on my lap), put her arm on the little chair table thing and they put the rubber band thing around the top of her arm!  Luckily Haven takes after me and has practically translucent skin, making finding veins very easy! :)  She whined a little again and said "Mommy, mommy!" absolutely breaking my heart, but it wasn't too bad.  She also kept saying "Baby!  Puppy!" (even though she had them in her arms, lol.  And when she was all done, she pointed to the door, looked at  me and said "Mommy, GO!" (b/c she wanted to leave)  LOL, the 2 women with us thought it was very funny!  We will hear back in a few days to find out if she is anemic or not and what her lead level is!

Venily also got her eczema looked at while we there.  Venily weighed in at 32 pounds, 4 ounces.  The doctor put her on a new prescription: Fluticasone 2x a day until it *hopefully* clears up, as well as Chilren's Zyrtec each night before bed for a few weeks!  The prescription I guess is pretty strong!  Right now her legs look pretty bad and they've been bothering her and she has just started scratching them, which of course makes it so much worse!


On another note, Haven is 7/7 in sleeping great in her new toddler bed!!!!!   4 nights of sleep and 3 naps with ZERO problems!  She always goes right to sleep and doesn't get out of her bed until it's time to get up!  We have rearranged and reorganized the girls' room several times and have found a way we like.  It turns out that the bunk beds that Jason made for the girls wouldn't have worked out really well so Haven is going to stay in her toddler bed for a while (after having to disassemble and reassemble it), but we lofted Venily's bed and she is VERY excited about that.  However, Haven can climb right up into Venily's bed still, so hopefully we aren't going to have any problems with that!


AND!!!!!!  I went through ALL of the girls' toys today and got rid of about half of them and organized the rest AND took down our Xmas tree and decorations!!!!  I am so excited and feel so much better about everything!  There is still more work to be done, but today was a HuGE accomplishment!

Venily can write her name!!!!!!!!!

(and correctly, with D'nealian letters and lowercase "enily", I might add! :) ) Venily has know how to make a "V" for quite a while now (and a few other easy letters), but we were focusing on the letters in her name and she got stuck on the lowercase "e".  Well, a few days ago it clicked in her head and she was drawing e's like crazy!  Now today she just decided to learn the rest of the letters in her name!

 

(fyi- the thing between the "n" and "i" is from when one of the girls stepped on it, lol)

And look at those tails on her n, i, and l....  YEP, I COULDN'T BE PROUDER!!!!! :)

Zipper!

I realized that I haven't been updating on here as often as I'd like, so I'm going to try to start doing better!  Last week Venily learned how to zipper her coat all by herself!  I was busy getting Haven ready and Venily kept asking me to help her zipper her coat and I kept saying "Wait a minute hunny, I have to help your sister first".  So, she just did it herself and was like "Look Mommy, I zippered it all by myself!"!  Yay, Venily!  She has been so excited that she told her teacher all about it yesterday and told the librarian, Mrs. Joy, about it today after storytime and even made Mrs. Joy watch as she zipped her coat up by herself!  :)

I love that she's becoming more and more independent.  She can get all her own things on herself, gets in her seat herself and buckles herself up too!  I guess as some things get harder (like her attitude), some things get a lot easier too!

And a Random Venily Conversation that happened today while driving:

"Mrs.  Vivian and Mrs. Joy have the same word in their name (Mrs.)!  Isn't that awesomely amazing, Mommy?"  :)