writing

expressions, fine motor, friends, outings, play

Isla’s Party

March 27, 2016 No Comments

Today, we went to Isla’s 3rd birthday party. In the morning, Janie made a card for her.

She ran out of room for the word “birthday” so Mama helped fill in the rest of the word. She drew a picture of kids playing outside. She said the little pink one was Peanut.

Here’s the inside of the card. We’re gonna have to work on sizing and spacing.

At the party, there was a bounce house and since we were the first ones there, Janie got first try at the basketball hoop inside.

She also bounced around like a crazy person with her hood on her head.

Both Janie and Isla are really into chocolate right now so the cake was chocolate, of course!

Peanut got to hangout on the playground for a bit while waiting for the swings to clear.

Then it was his turn on his new favorite toy. Big sister pushed him today and he loved it.

It was a Paw Patrol party today and Janie came home with this puzzle in her goodie bag. She finished most of it with some of Dada’s help and was so proud, she took a photo of it with Mama’s phone.

fine motor, outings, play

Barbacco

March 24, 2016 No Comments

We went out for a fancy dinner this evening and the restaurant was surprisingly accommodating with a highchair for Peanut and paper+pens for Janie.

Lately I’m amazed by Janie’s drawing and writing skills.

I said I wanted a picture of a balloon and she drew Mame holding a balloon.

Dada asked for an elephant and this is what she drew. With some help spelling the word elephant, she was able to write all the letters on her own. She certainly knows how to make her Mama proud.

expressions, fine motor, milestones

This morning, Janie sat at the table with Mama and worked on her writing. She liked Mama’s tracing workbook that doubles as a whiteboard. She practiced tracing different designs with the dry-erase markers.

She also practiced writing her full name. She needed a demonstration on the N and J but she figured it out rather quickly.

She actually wrote this whole thing on her own. I didn’t even know she knew how to spell it. Impressive.

eating, expressions, family, outfits, special days, videos

Disney on Ice

February 26, 2016 No Comments

Today was a special day for this little girl. To thank her for being such an awesome big sister, we treated her to a day with just Mama and Dada. The highlight of the day was going to see Disney on Ice Frozen. We got half-off tickets back in December and it was finally time to go!! Janie called the Oracle Arena North Mountain because we told her we were going to see Elsa today.

When we arrived, Mama gave her a necklace and bracelet that had Elsa and Anna’s picture on it.

We knew there would be lots of little girls dressed in Elsa and Anna costumes so this was our way of including her.

We arrived early enough to walk around the stadium and took the escalator all the way up to check out the view from the top.

Then we went down to the Club Level where we had some pretty good seats close to the floor.

We were so impressed with her ability to filter out all the crazy Frozen shwag that was being sold everywhere we turned. She didn’t care for the $24 light-up toys or the $20 t-shirts. She just kept saying “I don’t want any of that. I just want to go to my seat to see Elsa”. The one thing she did notice was the man with the popcorn on his head while we waited for the show to begin. She leaned over and whispered to Mama and asked “Mama, can I have some popcorn?” So, we got a giant box of popcorn for $7 and there was plenty to share between the three of us and probably the people seated all around us.

Before the show started, we walked a few steps down to check out the ice rink. Throughout the whole preshow, we saw Mickey, Minnie, and a bunch of other princesses skate around and Janie kept leaning over to Mama and asking “Where’s Elsa?”

Mama was excited to see an ice skating reindeer (Sven) but the highlight of the show for Janie was when Elsa came out and sang “Let it Go”.

https://youtu.be/wf2KmKIq_bE
Here’s a video of Janie singing along to the song with the cup of popcorn in her mouth.

This kid was literally at the edge of her seat the whole time and it was so fun to see her face light up throughout the show.

Janie said the only part that she didn’t like was when Marshmallow came out. Dada thought it was pretty cool.

It was so good that she couldn’t be bothered to look at the camera for a photo.

For lunch, we went to Fenton’s Creamery. It’s a famous ice cream parlor that was even featured at the end of the movie “Up”. Janie ate her kid’s hamburger and fruit before picking out her ice cream from the display.

She chose Rocky Road – the perfect ice cream that has chocolate ice cream and marshmallows (her favorites!) Her sundae came with rainbow sprinkles and two mini cookies on the side too!

This is one happy little girl.

At lunch, she also drew a picture of Elsa (person with yellow squiggly hair).

Dada (plunging neckline) and Mama (dress and cape) helped add a couple details and then she wrote the word “FROZEN” at the bottom.

When we got back to the city, we parked the car and took a walk around the neighborhood.

Janie carried around her big box of popcorn and snacked as we walked.

Then we stopped at MoMo’s for happy hour $1 oysters!! Janie ate all 6 of them on her own and was happy as a clam. Heh heh.

What a fun day with our First Born. Peanut stayed with Mimi all day and will have his own day later when he’s a little older.

fine motor, videos

writing her name

January 31, 2016 No Comments

https://youtu.be/Ygcg87KTH6c
She’s worked really hard on getting the K A Y down. They each have diagonal lines, which makes them some of the hardest letters to write.

expressions, fine motor

January 30, 2016 No Comments

Janie’s class has been working on the alphabet this month and she has become more interested in writing her letters. This morning, she wrote her name all on her own and was so proud.

expressions, fine motor, outings

Letters at Dinner

August 21, 2015 No Comments

This evening, Janie had dinner outside with Mama and Yai. She practiced drawing letters while we waited for the food. She made that “C” all by herself today!

Hooray!!

family, fine motor

Letters

August 9, 2015 No Comments

Janie tried writing her name today. She made a K on her own, her A looked like an H, Mama drew the Y, the L needed a second try, and her Es were perfect.

Then, she asked Mama to write her name and Janie tried writing her Dada’s name. The J came our backwards, the E was drawn inside the J and then she also made an S after Mama drew one to show her. It’s the S between Mama’s S and her E.

Afterward, she did the alphabet floor puzzle with Dada.

expressions, fine motor, play

chalkboard

November 23, 2014 No Comments

Janie loves playing on the Auntie Jia’s chalkboard.

She also drew an “L” next to Mommy’s. Yippee!!

fine motor, videos

building letters

September 7, 2014 No Comments

Janie really enjoys my wooden sticks and letter templates from work. It helps her learn how the letters are formed using big lines, little lines, big curves, and little curves.

After making the letter on the template, she tries to make the letter on her own on the blue mat. She needs a lot of prompting for that part but it’s coming along nicely.

Here she is making the letter “D”. She’s supposed to do the line first but she insists on putting down the curve first…so stubborn.