Flash Card Speed Round

I'm just astounded at how quickly Victoria is picking up reading. She absolutely loves it!

Look, Mom!

I'm a toaster! This is where the toaster oven usually resides.... I'm beginning to think Victoria is asking for things that get made in the toaster just so I take it out of the cabinet and she can get in!

The other day (and she actually did say "Look, mom! I'm a toaster!")...

Today...

Yard Work, Finally!

Friday Victoria and I were finally able to get some yard work done, as the water had finally mostly disappeared. We fit the sticks in about 1/4 of the front yard into these two trash cans, plus the pile behind V that was all bigger branches. The harsh wind really did a number on our trees this year.

And here's the visual answer to all the people who don't believe we have a squirrel problem... This is how the base of pretty much every one of our big old trees looks.

Day 2 of 3

Probably one more day sometime in the future and the portrait will have some background.

We interrupt this program to bring you the following...

Our Hooked On Phonics endorsement for today. And again, please know we only do this because Victoria loves it - and drags the box around asking to do more!

New Tattoo Day 1 of 2 or 3

Five hours in the books and a lot more to go. The first photo is from a break we took after a few hours. The last two are from the end of the day. So far so good...looking forward to another long day in the chair tomorrow.

Belated St. Patty's day wishes and other random stuff

I actually took a few photos of Victoria on St. Patrick's Day and then completely forgot to post them.

Also - thought her arrangement of blocks was quite interesting. And she was so proud, she had to lay down to be in the photo!

Habitat for all sorts of animals

Our front yard is now being referred to as Lake Victoria 1... it's gone down a little. At one point it threatened to overtake our driveway.


And you can't see too clearly but the wind was pretty rough on our trees this winter. Because the yard is so wet, I haven't been able to clean them up. This is what I call our branch graveyard!
And the back yard houses Lake Victoria 2

One more funny

As we're sitting at a stoplight, with two cars in front of us, the light turns green. Here's what could be heard from V in the back seat:

Go!
Green says go!
The light is green - go, cars!

We finally get moving, and she says, "Mom, this is the stoppiest car EVER!"
"Whose car?" I ask, "Theirs or ours?"
"Ours!"

Today's funnies

Victoria (putting her fingers through the belt loops in the front of her pants): Look, mom! My pants have pockets for my fingers!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We were driving through town and she was asking me what signs said...
V: What's that one?
Me: Godwin's Furniture
V: Gobwins?
Me: No, Godwins.
V: Gobwins!
Me: Godwins
V: Oh, you're right! God does win!
Me: He does?
V: Yeah!
Me: What does God win?
V: The furniture race!

Waiting for Spring

Reading Practice

My Aunt Nancy loaned us her copy of Hooked on Phonics for Kindergarten level readers. I opened it just to see if it was something Victoria would take interest in. Turns out, it's all she wants to do! She's constantly dragging the heavy box around, asking if we can "play this new game"! By far, her favorite part is the CD-Rom game that comes with it.

She started realizing tonight as she was reading that her R's sound like W's... on the last line she's reading, the two words, RAG and WAG are right next to each other, and she can hear that she's saying them the same. Now I just have to figure out how to teach her how to pronounce R's!

Birthday Wishes

If you love him...

Set him free. (sniff!)

Victoria let Bunny outside to play with his friends and family last night. For those of you who don't know, Bunny is the little lovey/blanket she got when she was a baby. Yet again, Rod is so much better at helping Victoria with these milestones (getting rid of bottles, eliminating pacifiers).

Yesterday evening they had a little chat about Bunny and his friends and family who live out in the woods. When they were done, Victoria went up to her room, got Bunny, brought him down, opened the sliding glass door in the kitchen and set him outside to be with his family. She cried briefly at bedtime (I let Rod handle that one, too - since I still get teary-eyed thinking about it), and she was fine. She did wake up this morning looking for him, but came downstairs, looked out the door, and I explained that he's probably in the woods playing.

So far, she's fine. It seems I'm having a tougher time with letting Bunny go than she is. My baby's not a baby anymore. (sniff!)

First Haircut

When we found out we were going to have a daughter, I never in a million years would have thought it would take over 3 years before she needed her first haircut!

She got the full workup - complete with shampoo and conditioner in the big girl shampoo bowl, blow-drying, styling, barrettes and best of all... SPARKLES!

Photos

Of course, we couldn't have V looking so cute today without going and getting some pictures taken. And when they look so great, how was I supposed to choose?!?

Photos and stuff...

I'm trying to get better about regular posts... I'm not making any promises, though!

V got a new robe for Valentine's Day... The biggest problem is that she wants to wear it all the time (I'm trying to just limit it to after bath-time) - last night she wanted to wear it to bed.

Cop in training?

Storytelling

Singing/Reading bedtime stories

Lookin' at Daddy

Not much going on around here these days. Victoria is still loving school. She'd go every day if I'd let her (and if they'd let her!) Any hesitation we may have had about starting her early are gone. She will have to have 3 years of pre-school, though, since the birthday cutoff is Dec 1 and her birthday is Dec 9. So in the fall she'll be in 4 year old preschool (there's a little more leeway with preschools) three days a week, even though when the schoolyear starts she'll still be 3. We're trying not to get too far ahead of ourselves with it all.

I remember thinking when I was talking to friends with older kids about schools, and one mentioned that they need to write their names by Kindergarten. And that seemed like an improbable task - for a kid that young to know that?!? Now, after seeing all she's learning in preschool, I understand, and my frame of reference has changed considerably.

At this point, she'll take any challenge we send her way. Even some very basic addition and subtraction! (Just in the way of playing with items, taking one away, adding one back, etc.) Victoria loves a challenge. I'm not wishing her older, but I do love to see her grasp new concepts and come back eager for more!

Some art project photos:

Happy Valentine's Day (Or Else!)

The Valentine Enforcer

WHAT IS THIS????

Victoria and I were playing games on the laptop. I was moving the mouse (with the touch pad) and she would click. She and busha were doing something similar the other day. My phone rang and I told her I'd be right back.

This is what I came back to! Sorry it's so dark... Apparently I'm no longer needed - she can do it all herself!