Well, school is really back in session. I feel like I never left. I REALLY like my students so far and I hope that does not change. Lots has happened in the last two weeks, and yet, probably nothing has really happened. Last I wrote, we got a new rug for the kitchen. We all love it, especially Fiona, who likes to twirl around on it until she gets dizzy. We sit on it and play a lot, and also just walk around on it because it feels nice and soft on our feet. Another advantage of this rug is that it looks sooooo much better than the old floor mats. I can’t believe I waited so long to get something.
Fiona is doing great in preschool and my mom reports that Fiona does not want to leave when she comes to pick her up. She keeps bringing home art work, and I don’t know where to put all of it. We are becoming overwhelmed with the amount of papers she creates at school and at home. I think I’m going to start giving the excess to my mother. She may soon run out of space as well, having created a little corner in her house for Fiona to make art:
Fiona ran right to it, sat down, and started drawing.
Speaking of school, last week was the preschool picnic. I could not attend because I was working, so my parents went instead. Fiona’s class ate in the garden:
Fiona ate a lunch that I made for her and my parents had their own lunch. The entire preschool ate lunch outside on Picnic Day. I am glad my parents were there because my mommy guilt was running high for missing it. There is a field trip coming up that John is going to take her too, but I am sad that I have to miss all of these events. I don’t think the world was designed for working moms.
Speaking of eating outside, it has been so hot lately, that we ate dinner outside one evening. I didn’t want to turn on an oven or stand over a stove, so we ordered pizza and ate it in the back yard:
We spent the entire afternoon in the backyard because it was cooler there than inside the house. I understand that 80-something degrees with some humidity is not hot compared to many places, but please consider that we do not have air conditioning at all. We have ceiling fans, but at some point, they just move the air around. Fiona enjoyed going au natural on that day:
Of course, she requested oranges.
She plops herself on the wall and asks for an orange. I think she can only eat them when she is sitting on the wall. We have been enjoying our grapes as well. Fiona loves them and I enjoy picking them off the vine, washing them, and eating them as well. Nothing like fresh fruit from the source, I say.
Here is Fiona playing with my mom:
And here we are, reading in the hammock:
We have been spending a lot of time in hammock lately.
Here is a picture of John and Fiona, both reading National Geographic magazines:
Two days a week my friend Amanda watched Fiona while I am at work. Amanda has a little girl about Fi’s age. The other day, Fiona decided she wanted a scarf on her head. Amanda sent me this picture:
Who can resist that girl?
After nap, Fiona wanted to wear the scarf again:
I’m not as good at tying it on, but as long as it was on her head somehow, Fiona was satisfied.
Fiona’s language development is amazing to me. She now makes specific requests for breakfast and lunch, and tells me all sorts of things. For example, today she asked for pancakes. Luckily for her, I was already planning to make them:
In the photo on the left, she was trying to get John to move to his old seat.
She has a sense of humor and sometimes makes jokes, but mostly laughs at our jokes and tells us “funny” when we are being funny. Her vocabulary is exploding. I can’t even think of the words she is using now. She is starting to use prepositions which is nice. We recently bought her new sippy cups and she tells us that she has a new sippy from Target (where we bought the cups). She told me how John put the cups in the cart and she put the cups on the belt (conveyer belt at the checkout). I told her that I was there when it happened, but that I am very excited for her. She can match up her matching cards, and can match numbers to each other. She still counts “one, two, three, five, three, five, six...” but her counting is very regular, meaning the numbers are always in the same order (1, 2, 3, 5, 6). I am not sure why she keeps skipping four, but she pretty much never says it. She knows all her letters, even the ones she can’t pronounce yet, like Z and L, but she still sometimes mistakes Ks for Xs and vice versa. We have conversations now, and she also talks to herself, which is really cute. She mutters to herself whatever it is that she is doing. I melt when she does it, which is often. I’ll try to get a video of it soon.
She can say “good morning” “hello/goodbye” and “good evening” in Hebrew, and is learning to count in Hebrew as well. I know that she will probably not be bilingual as an adult, but at least she will have the beginnings of the language for if she ever wants to become fluent in it.
I can’t think of anything else right now, but if I do, I will include it in the next post.
I am going to end on a sad note. My dear friend Katie lost her mom suddenly a week ago tonight (September 9). Jane was a wonderful woman who had a positive influence on all those who met her. She came to my baby shower and used to read my blog, giving Katie all sorts of updates on Fiona. It was really funny that Katie was learning about Fi from her mom, instead of me. She will be sorely missed and I am heartbroken for Katie. She has the long, difficult road of grief ahead of her. She is returning to work tomorrow. Please keep Katie and her family in your thoughts and prayers. This is a photo of Jane from Katie’s wedding last year:
Have a great week otherwise!
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