We spend at least 3 afternoons a week doing "school," and she really loves it. She even wears her backpack and calls me "Teacher Mommy." She's not too fond of writing, but LOVES anything to do with reading, sounding out words, and math. We're starting to work on connecting the dots and simple mazes too, which she really loves. Jill is SO close to reading...she can tell you all of the sounds in a word either by looking at it or hearing it, but she just can't yet put them together to make the word. She'll be reading on her own very soon!
She also likes to do art projects and science experiments. We do Science Fridays, and she really looks forward to them. She likes to pretend she's Gabriella from Sid the Science Kid and that we're going to the Super Fab Lab. So silly.
Speaking of pretending, that's what nearly all of her play involves now. She doesn't even need us to play with her anymore. In fact, she usually prefers to do her games by herself while we sit by watching. She LOVES an audience. We also do a lot of dressing up and she likes to go out on the swing set and act out the princess stories and other fairy tales with us. She claims the choice roles for herself. For example, when we play "The Three Little Pigs," she's Magnolia, the just right sister pig, and Steve and I have to be Mudder Mudder Gubber (the mama), the brother pigs (their names change daily), and the big bad wolf. It's lots of fun. When we do "The Little Mermaid," she really gets into it, and will stay silent throughout the entire time that Ariel has lost her voice. It's really amazing.
We just finished up her Mommy and Me Dance class, and she's starting Wiggles and Giggles next week, which is the same thing, just without me. She's a little nervous about being by herself. In fact she told me, "Mama, I can't go by myself. I can't know how to drive the car!" In the fall she'll begin a ballet/tap combo class at the dance studio instead of the community center. She's getting so grown up!
We still go to the library every week for story time, and we spend at least 30 minutes each day reading, sometimes more. Some of Jill's favorite books right now are:
Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa, Mr. Putter & Tabby, Henry & Mudge, Annie & Snowball, The Jellybeans, any princess story or fairy tale, and her Your Big Backyard magazines.On June 1st, Jill gave her chupo (pacifier) to the Chupo Fairy. Really, I'd convinced her to go to sleep without it for 2 nights and had put it on her pillow after she was asleep. On the 3rd night, Steve just took it without telling her, and it worked really well. Here's her morning discovery:
Some funny things she's said lately:
"Mama, that's amazing news! Thank you for telling me that!"
"Daddy, you're BOTHERING me. I'm calling the police!"
"Mama, I love you, but sometimes I don't LIKE what you say."
"Daddy, how's your nibbenide feeling?"
She also asks for things using "May I," and she always says "Thank you."
Here are some photos/video from June that we haven't posted yet.
first Supercuts haircut...the kids salon was too expensive
all dressed up at the zoo
petting the corn snake
riding Smoky
first time getting her face painted
hot pink flowers!
playing with her Mobigo
with Sally the butterfly, which she made at the museum
Happy Father's Day
the lone photo of our Father's Day bike ride to the park
all decked out on a sunny day
my stylish Bean
Candyland in the clubhouse
getting her toes done
it's called "Forever Fancy"
wearing her "bride dress" and carrying a tissue paper bouquet
running at the zoo
the best photo we could get: Jill, Connor, Caleb
free birthday cone from Baskin-Robbins
wearing her backpack and "galoshes" to our upstairs school session
scratching her back on a tree
at the splash park
right outside the library
resting
looking sad on Miss Sandra's last day of Story Time**She went to 3 year old story time yesterday and liked Miss Karen a lot. I was so glad, because I was nervous that it wouldn't ever be fun for her again. I'm so happy I was wrong! She missed Miss Sandra, and kept asking about her, but she had a good time.
Here is Jill's goodbye gift to Miss Sandra...a movie!
