Derek and the Piano

I started out teaching Derek and Miranda the piano in January. Well, with Miranda being at school every day and our usual busy afternoons, she hasn't been getting too many lessons. Derek, on the other hand, asks everyday when he will get his lesson. We usually do it after lunch and before Lindsey has her nap. I sit with him and he just zips through song after song. Today was a big milestone. We finished up with his 6 level A books, so we moved on to level B. He was so thrilled. Now he can count, knows most of the notes on the staff, some dynamics, and the meaning of time signatures. We will soon be moving on to using both hands at the same time.
For me, it is so thrilling to see Derek progress so quickly. He is so easy to teach, and very eager. He usually sits down at the piano 5-6 times a day to just play old songs he already knows or mess around. In fact, it seems that if he's ever bored that's what he does- play the piano or read a book.

Go Derek!

Watch out Lephrechauns!

Miranda had a most unusual homework assignment last week- make a Lephrechaun trap! All we had to go on was that Lephrechauns love shiny things and like to disobey signs. Here's what we came up with. First, the unsuspecting Lephrechaun steps on to the CD to pick up one of the pennies glued to it. Little does he know...
Down the hole he goes! Straight into the orange net !
All the first graders brought theirs on Friday and laid them out over the weekend. Somehow they all left their green sparkly footprints, but jump out of the traps and out the door. Miranda was disappointed because the teacher said that anyone that caught a Lephrechaun could keep it!

Independent Lindsey

I was reflecting on how much Lindsey has changed in the last 6 months or so. Do you all remember when she was quiet, timid, and basically sat by watching the action?? It seems like a distant memory now. She has really evolved into a VERY determined, independent child. Here are some examples:

1. We went swimming on Wednesday- it was our normal weekly swim night. Lindsey loves to walk in the water and will even continue until her mouth is covered until she looks for rescue. She loves to get out of the pool and run away. Last Wednesday was particularly bad because she made a dash for the big slide that Larry was on with Spencer. I caught her about 20 feet away and quickly put a lifejacket on her. She got to go on the slide with Larry next.
Anyway, it was so funny this week as us girls washed our hair in the showers. They have two short showers by the adult sized ones. Miranda used one, and Lindsey decided this week that she wanted her own shower- instead of me holding her. After figuring out that standing directly underneath the shower didn't work, she moved right into the stream of water. It just poured over her head and into her face, but did she move? NO. She stayed there for a full 5 minutes, patting her swimsuit and feeling so big and important. I almost had to drag her out of there.

2. Larry took the kids over to the schoolyard to play and ride bikes. Lindsey loves this new slide that starts really high, is steep, and then bottoms out so that you don't go flying off the bottom. She climbed up and tried it out a few weeks ago with me. I couldn't even reach her waist from the ground. She had to push off, then I would catch her part way down to slow her. She did it over and over again. So, when she went with Larry to the school, she just went by herself, over and over. Many times, she's going so fast that she falls backwards or twists around. She loves it, though.

3. Larry got a bike trailer that holds two small kids a week or so ago. Since it's been rainy for a while, we've backed the cars out of the garage to let the kids ride bikes and trikes inside. Lindsey goes out there all the time. Sometimes she scoots herself on a trike, and other times she will go sit in the trailer and wait to see if anyone is coming to take her for a ride. She even enjoys having Derek or Miranda strap her in. I also let her roam around the backyard in her fleece bodysuit. She does all sorts of things, and doesn't really need to be supervised too much. Maybe I'm just not cautious enough- I'm sure I wouldn't have let Miranda do that- but she does well out there and rarely gets hurt.

4. Every school morning when Larry is home he walks Miranda to her school which is a block down the road. As soon as Larry gets his coat on, she runs and gets her coat and shoes and brings them to him so that she can come along. She really has become a daddy's girl!

5. Something funny: Whenever anyone is brushing their teeth, Lindsey quickly pushes them off the stool, so that she can brush hers. She will even stay there while I do her hair. All I have to say is, "Do you want pretty hair today?" and fawn over how pretty she looks. (I took Cilla's advice about that one when I asked her how Eden would sit still to let her do her hair).

Random News

This past Sunday we took dinner over to Grandpa D's. The kids were so behaved. It was wonderful! Larry and I really enjoyed spending time with Grandpa, Stella, and Chris as well. The kids loved Stella's corndogs and red jello with bananas and whipped cream. We will definatly have to do that again.
Miranda had Monday off this week, so I promised her that we would break out her easybake oven that she got for Christmas. Little did we know that it was missing the two small cake pans (it was a secondhand toy from a friend). She was crushed. Finally, I made a cake pan out of aluminum foil. It actually worked. We also made a big cookie. The cookie tasted pretty good. Miranda and the boys thought it was so thrilling. They all hovered around it for about an hour.
Here's just a cute picture of Lindsey and Spencer. Lindsey is obsessed with drawing, so she loved our magnadoodle. She also grabs any pencil, marker, or crayon in sight. I guess we have another budding artist in the family.



In other news, today Larry and I got to see our baby via ultrasound. It was fun to see it. Everything looks normal and measuring about 3 inches from head to rump. We couldn't tell if it's a boy or a girl, so I guess we'll just have to wait another 7-8 weeks to find out.



Also, Miranda experienced the consequences of tracing the words in a library book with a permanent marker. Now she owes me $20.95. We'll be draining her piggy bank tomorrow and holding back her allowance for a while. Maybe this will finally help her control her impulse (we've bought at least 3 books because of her).