Tell Me A Story

We have advanced to some longer more involved story books of late. One of Kelly's favorites is a book with 7 Dora adventure tales. We have read them so many times now that she starts "reading" it (from memory of course) right along with me. Another is a Disney storybook with shorter versions of some of the classic tales, which is perfect for introducing her to some characters she is not yet familiar with like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty (all in preparation for a coming visit to Disneyland next spring!).

But she has been driving me NUTS lately by interupting me every couple of sentences. Usually for some sort of clarification of what's going on in the story, or for her to confirm or validate what is being read. But sometimes she takes off with the storyline and re-tells a summary of the whole thing with her own little twist! Sorta goes like this:

Me: "So then Cinderella's mouse friends decided to help mend Cinderella's gown, and...."

Kelly: "And mommy, then they all went outside and played at the park, and the birds and the Bruno dog came too, and the fairy gommother said bibidibop-boo, and they all went dancing at the ball and then Cinderella, oh she came too, and then the clock went BONGGG, and they ranned all the way back to her mean stepmother and she said NO CINDERELLA, you doen getta go to the BALL! and Cinderella had the other slipper and then she got married to the prince."

Me: Blink-blink. "Yeah hun, that's pretty much it."

Kelly: "Mommy, can you read me it again!!!"

All Her Children

Kelly has developed a real "mommy" side to her. She has over the past year received some baby dolls as gifts, but never played with them much until recently. Now every one of them has a name and distinct personalities (that she has created for them). They have their own little dramas going on inside her room which she now calls the "baby room". There they all have their own sleeping spot and special things they like to do. Let me introduce her pack (from left to right):Most of us already know Kelly's first dolly, "Baby", who Kelly has now renamed "Laura" (sometime after binky left us). Next to her is "Lucy" (I sort of gave her that name when she got her and the blue twin who I told her was Liam - she kept the name Lucy, but renamed the blue twin), Then we have "Kare" and that IS with a K she'll tell you, then the blue twin she first called "Wergie", but now has settled on the name "Morgan", then the other "Baby" who she now calls "the other Laura", then the smallest baby she calls "Mertzel" (whom she flip-flops on calling he or she, so not sure of the gender of this one), and finally the BIG baby she named, "Go".

Some interesting facts about Kelly's brood... Morgan is definitely a boy, and the rest are all girls (with the occasionaly Mertzel flip-flop), and he is ALWAYS in trouble! He hits, and yells, and misbehaves, and she is always having to put him in time out! She goes thru lengthy explanations of his behavior to me and makes sure I know that he is being punished. Lucy & Kare are in competition for being her favorites. They get special treatment, and she usually takes one or both to bed w/her now. Mertzel is just a little baby and can't seem to do anything for him/herself, and he/she usually gets lost in the corner of the room face down for days at a time, although less so since I pointed that out to Kelly one day. The Lauras are still special too, especially when she has a boo-boo or needs comforting, but they have definitely taken a back seat to Lucy & Kare. GO is also sort of left out because, as Kelly says, "she's is too HEAVY to carry!". Boy do I know that feeling!

Here she is teaching some of them how to brush their teeth! (this is a strategy I learned from one of the many potty training books, to get them to teach their babies how to do it... it didn't work with the potty training, but I found another good use for it!)

Our every move involves some concern over one or all of them - if we are leaving the house she decides who is coming and who is staying. When we eat, she makes sure they have all been fed too. I think she sometimes uses them as delay tactics when I'm trying to get her to do something she doesn't want to like, "Kelly its time to get in the bath!", "But mommy, Morgan is hitting Kare again and I have to put him in time-out and and and Kare is hungry and and Go is cold and and..." you get the idea. But I can't help but encourage these new traits of compassionate, caring, loving teacher/mother. She feeds them, walks them in her little baby stroller, changes them, talks to and cuddles them. Taking care of and keeping track of the goings-on of this many babies is admirable! All I have to say is Angelina Jolie's got NOTHING on Kelly!

Soccer Saga Wrap-up

Well, our 8-week Pee-Wee soccer program is winding down, and it has been an interesting experience for both Kelly and mommy. The first 2 weeks, she'd be good for about 3 minutes total time on the field, which I thought was great given this was completely new to her and she had no idea what to do. But by the 3rd week, I could barely get her in her uniform and to the field, and she was having none of actually being ON the field or resembling any kind of soccer playing.

Instead, Kelly opted to collect all of the cones around the perimeter of the soccer field which indicate out of bounds. I finally got her to quit that by letting her play with ONE as long as she sat right next to it and in front of me. So, she got creative and used it as a megaphone to cheer her team on. Hey, cheerleading is a sport too!

Then she started wearing it as a "witches hat", and enrolled other teammates in her game (much to the coaches & other parent's dismay!)

However, week 5 she refused to put on the uniform and instead insisted on a dress and heels. I could not get her to change or budge from the house without an all-out screaming crying tantrum. I decided not to push it so as not to traumatize her and make the whole soccer experience a big huge negative thing in her mind.

So, here she is looking quite triumphant, playing happily at home as the clock struck 9 a.m. (her game's start time), and as I was emailing the coach our apologies for no showing.

Week 6 & 7 were much better, espcially because mommy learned from week 5 to take the uniform with us in the car and dress her while she is still strapped into her car seat in front of the field in view of the other frolicking children! Through constant coaxing from the coaches and one of the other mom's who took a liking to Kelly (and Kelly to her), she got in there for some warm-ups, drills and was in the game a couple times following the crowd up and down the field. She also did a couple kick-offs (or in her case, tap-offs...). And I was able to get her excited about staying to the end of the game so that she could get the snack and do the Koala cheer, "GO KOALAS!"

Next week is her last game...I think we're gonna make it! Here is her official soccer picture. At least she looks pretty eager, like she's ready to get out there and make goals all day, eh?

At both the start and end of the game, their Coach asks the kids, "What's the first rule of soccer?" and they all shout "to have FUN!". Overall, I think we definitely accomplished that! :-)

Grandad's Bday

In mid-September we celebrated Don's/grandad's birthday (Sept. 3rd) with a BBQ party at our house with family and friends. A great time was had by all! Here is Don with his soccer cake and his 3 grand-kids, Lucas, Connor and Kelly as all of us sang "Happy Birthday"!


My mom's birthday is the exact same day as Don's, which was can be a little tough now that she is gone, but we sang a little "Happy Birthday" to her as well and had a nice time remembering and celebrating and just enjoying the day all together :-)