Alma Quote

"When I grow up, I could be a librarian." Usually it is all ballerina from Alma.

Over-Photo'ed

So this blog has reached its limit with photos.  Ha!  I think that I can sort it out but it has been more trying than I expected. 

If I could show photos, I would show ...
our wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents and brother's family, a great shot of Joshua and Alma before their run in the Lights on the Parkway 5K, how James is standing all the time, Alma catching snow on her tongue for the first snowfall this week, how I cut off nine inches of hair and gave myself rather short bangs, Alma eating a Fruit Loop necklace, James being constantly covered in snot as his first year molars have been coming in one-by-one for the past month, Alma always in a leotard or tutu, Alma hugging her Cinderella doll that she purchased with money she saved in her piggy bank ...
 
But since I cannot show pictures, I'll tell you ...
the kids have started playing together in way that is enjoyable for everyone (not all the time, but more often than not), parenting James is pure joy as he is so happy and easily entertained (I love this age), parenting Miss Independent Alma is both a challenge and the most fun, our neighbor's house sold and, while we will be overly sad to miss the Matchettes, we are excited to meet our new neighbor, we have so many wonderful things coming up this month (fun trips, guests, both of the kids birthdays and the holidays)....

Milestone: First Steps

James's first steps happened with Joshua while Alma and I were seeing Christmas lights downtown with Nana and Grandpa.

Hair Donation

10 inches lighter

Letter to Alma's Teachers

Before Alma starts at the Montessori school, we are encouraged to write a letter to her teachers as an introduction to our daughter.  It was fun and challenging to write -- how do you sum up a child in less than a million pages? -- and I'd like to post it here to remember how we think of our little dumpling at this time in her life.

---

Dear XYZ Montessori Teachers,
We are excited for Alma to be joining your class. We appreciate having the chance to share about our daughter and look forward to hearing from you as the school year progresses.

This year, we would love to see Alma fall in love with the Montessori classroom and all of the potential it contains. Since her intake meeting, she has been anxious to return and explore so we have no doubt that she will be a focused and ambitious learner. We believe that not only will she love the materials and the other kids but also the structure and rules of the Montessori classroom. We hope that she will share these ideas with us so that we can continue to incorporate Montessori principles into our home life.

Alma loves books – looking at the pictures by herself, being read to, talking and reenacting the stories that she has read in books, anything. Currently, she is into fairy tales, mostly about princesses. She loves Cinderella. But she also loves Angelina Ballerina and anything having to do with dancing. She has an amazing attention span. We have not found the point in which she tires of being read stories.

While more of a watcher, Alma is happy to jump fully into play once she is comfortable. When faced with a new environment, she often doesn’t want a lot of attention and may hide her face in her hands. Books are the best in-road to a relationship with her. Once comfortable, she loves to laugh at jokes (i.e. silly words) and often changes the lyrics to songs to fit whatever is happening around her. She seems to be equally adept at following and leading with peers, although she tends to quickly default to a follower when older children are involved. Depending on the day and the activity, she can be both a quiet player or a rough-and-tumble child.

Alma has a younger brother, James, who she refers to as Bubbee. He will be turning one this Christmas. We also have a dog (Simon) and a cat (Shanti) with whom Alma views as key members of our family. Her maternal grandparents have recently moved into the area and we see them quite often. “Nana” may pick her up from school occasionally. She has been attending ABC Preschool two half days a week since September of this year. She transitioned well to that environment and seems to really enjoying being with her classmates. We imagine she will miss her teachers and classmates but will transition well to Grace’s new environment. She usually makes friends easily, preferring to play with other girls over boys.

Alma is great at expressing her needs. Once comfortable, she is quite the talker and can get rather loud when excited. However, when faced with an unpleasant surprise or aggressive behavior (i.e. someone taking a toy from her), she loses the words and will just bear down and fight back quietly (i.e. not letting go of the toy). She isn’t aggressive but will certainly stand up for herself. That being said, she is sensitive and cries easily if her feelings are hurt or she is scared. For comfort when very upset, she sucks her thumb and holds her belly button with her other hand. She loves hugs.

At times, she does get stuck in the rut of “this is how things are supposed to be done” which we imagine is part of being a toddler but it is also a strong component of her personality, too. Sometimes it is difficult to transition her on to a new way of doing things and, at times, it can become a battle of wills in our relationship. She is very independent but will ask for help when needed.

Alma is fully potty trained and, with those outside of our extended family, feels very independent about the process. There were some difficulties with toilet training at ABC Preschool because they did not provide child-sized toilets (or any other accommodation) and Alma didn’t feel comfortable on the large seats. This caused her, while using the toilet, to wet her pants. This has now been sorted out, but it was a little hiccup in the toilet training process. Since XYZ has smaller toilets, this shouldn’t be an issue. She does well with scheduled toilet trips to “try” as opposed to simply relying on her to speak up, especially as you develop your relationship with her. She may be shy to tell you she needs to use the toilet until she feels comfortable with you and the environment.

Alma takes a nap every afternoon around 1:30 pm. Since the XYZ school day will end at 12 noon for her, this shouldn’t be an issue. At night she sleeps from 7:30 p.m. – 6:30 a.m. While we encourage her to eat well at meals, she seems to prefer to snack throughout the day. She loves all types of fruit and crackers. She also loves peanut butter but has learned to adapt to almond butter in school environments.

Thank you in advance for your work with our daughter. We love her to bits and hope that she can thrive in the coming years at XYZ Montessori.

Sincerely,
Laura and Joshua Chisholm

Fish Pond

Standing on a neighbor's front "law" with our friend, Jack.

Christmas List

Even though I hate doing this because it seems like "buy us gifts!" I think that sharing a list of gifts that the children could use or would want is practical.

Both kids:
Bath toys
Children's picnic table (no plastic, please)
Helping to defray the costs of lessons; Alma starts ballet lessons in January, James will begin swim lessons in December

Alma:
Swim suit (has to be a two-piece as she needs access to her belly button, which she still holds for comforting) -- size 3T
Ballet gear (tights: "Ballet pink" without seams; leotard: must be a Capezio, short-sleeved pink, style 400C, size 3T)
Dresses and warm tights -- size 3T and up
Board games
Shoes -- size 8.5 and up

James:
Swim towel for his upcoming swim lessons
Shoes -- size 6 and up
Baby books

The general cavots to this list:
* If you are excited about giving a gift that isn't on this list, feel free.  They will love it!
* If you have already purchased something as a gift, don't stress out and return it.  They will love it!
* If you decide not to get a gift this year, that's perfect too.  We will always love you!
* We prefer to not have plastic toys in the house.  So if you can lean towards wooden or natural materials, we would be grateful.

Bath time

Milestone: Seatbelt

For the past month, Alma is able to climb in/out, close the car door and do her top buckle. Independence comes faster than I often expect.

Nature Church

One last time...

Halloween 2012

The MOMS Club of Bethlehem was part of the Bethlehem Halloween parade.  My good friend from college, Heather, was visiting and got to march with us in the parade. Here we are watching the first half of the parade pass by us.

Once we joined the parade, Alma was so great at handing out candy and fliers that we got a little behind our group.  So I scooped her up and she rode on the "mama float" and waved to all those watching the parade.  Eventually my arms gave out and my father joined the parade.  We even got on the local news: "look at that cutie" (about Alma) and "a frog prince, who looks nice and warm" (about James). 

Frizzy the Neighbor Dog

Halloween pictures continued

Maybe this is only funny to me, but somehow we snapped more bored pictures of our kids this Halloween than pictures of their excitement.

Cinderella Doll

First purchase with money she saved in her piggy bank: Cinderella doll from the Rite Aide ($9)

Milestone: Babysitters

James loves spending time with my parents. He doesn't even freak with "I forgot I missed you" crying when I come home after they watch him.

Milestone: Getting up from bed

For a long time, Alma stayed in her twin bed and yelled for us in the morning (~8am wake ups). Now she gets up on her own (~6am wake up).

Alma Quote of the Day

  "Jello? Jello?! But it's brown." (She thought the name was a derivative of yellow, I guess.)