September 2015

I know it is already November 30 (or maybe even December by the time this posts), but I thought instead of doing one very very long post on the last three and a half months, I’d break it up into three posts to make it less overwhelming. Lots has happened and nothing at all. Victoria has six teeth now and two more on the way. The last two were particularly painful for all of us, as she wasn’t sleeping and was generally really fussy all the time. She has developed a little separation anxiety, but it is manageable when she is not teething.

Here is a recap, in photos, of the end of August and September, because I don’t really remember much of it.

August

The garden produced well into the fall. Here is a basket-full from August:

 

Sisters:

 

 

September

No idea where these were taken, maybe in a restaurant:

 

Enjoying the swings at the beach:

Sleeping in the stroller:

We went to the beach a lot because the air wasn’t too hot and the water was really nice instead of its usual coldness. Then it got really hot and we all whined about it. The ceiling fans were turning 24 hours a day. Luckily it has not been so hot lately.

Fiona finally donated her lemonade stand money. We went to a no-kill shelter in Santa Paula and gave them a little over 14 dollars. They were thrilled and let her hold a tiny dog, took her photo, and thanked her on their Facebook page.

 

The girls like to ride side by side in the shopping carts at the supermarket:

We use Cheddar Bunnies to mark keys on the keyboard.

Hey, she’s asleep in the stroller again:

Grandpa with Victoria, getting bunny ears from Lindsey, and Fiona is next to them, posing:

What a cutie:

We went to a Star Wards themed birthday party. The dad dressed up like Darth Vader and allowed the kids to beat him mercilessly with pool noodle lightsabers.

(Fiona is in the middle with her back to the camera, in white with pink sticking out)

Yummy toes:

My usually happy baby:

 

Sleeping:

When Fiona is outside, or when she wants to go out, Victoria sits or stands at the back door, banging on the glass:

Fiona doing her very first homework assignment in kindergarten:

 

Fiona likes homework, especially if it involved cutting, counting, or tracing. She can read now, and at the parent conference we learned that she already knows all the sight words she is supposed to learn this year. Somehow, she started the year already knowing 11 out of 18 of them. Yay preschool I guess, even though her class was non-academic and I loath doing anything related to “teaching” my child reading if it involved anything more than just reading to her. I will not get into why I think kindergarten shouldn’t even have homework, or why parents are not doing anyone any favors by foisting academics on their kids too early, nor will I go on about everything that is wrong with how we prioritize spending in this country and how it affects kids and why things are the way they are. Fiona gets a packet every Monday. She does it as soon as she gets home. The first packet was given sometime in September, after she was in school for a few weeks. It took her about five minutes to complete. The packets have gradually grown longer and now take her closer to an hour, but keep in mind they are not supposed to be completed all in one day, she just likes to do them immediately.

Fiona took swim lessons at the local park and really liked them. She was taking strokes by the third one. I can’t wait to enroll again next summer.

Here is my mom, feeding Victoria:

I was worried Victoria was not going to like books, but they are now some of her favorite “toys”. She will sit for long periods of time, flipping through them, looking at the pictures, sometimes upside down, sometimes right side up.

 

I cleaned out and organized all the cabinets in the house. I found this tin in the pantry:

I believe it is from the 1990’s and John thinks he brought it from Canada when he moved to the US in 1995. We decided to keep it.

Fiona, doing more homework, gluing and coloring:

This cutie, pulling to a stand on the couch and everywhere else as well:

The evolution of Fiona’s self portrait, with Victoria and me on the side:

Love this girl:

They were finally strong enough to overtake him:

Nothing like sisters united for a common cause.

Everyone reading on a weekend morning:

I’m sure lots happened. Fiona took a Tai Kwon Do class, her music classes started up again and we switched schools. Her teacher from last year left and started her own music school. Her space and equipment are much nicer and Fiona likes her better, so we made the switch. Victoria and I started Kindermusik again and love it, and Victoria also goes to MyGym once a week. We made friends there and have been to many birthday parties in the last couple of months. Victoria is now standing without holding onto things. She claps, “talks” to us and herself, is eating everything we are, responds to music, and helps clean up. Today at Kindermusik, she became so focused on putting away the instruments, that she started taking them out of other children’s hands to putting them in the basket. Sometimes she is a lot like her sister.

Soon, I will post photos and try to remember what we did in October.