Thursday, October 30, 2014

Halloween parade and party at school

Today was the girls' Halloween parade and party at school. As it turned out, it wasn't quite as cold and they were able to parade outside.

After the parade, I tool Avery up to Alexis's classroom so they could party together!

They had a great day!

Avery, as Elsa!



 Alexis, as Anna!




 Alexis showing off her rice krispie treat.
 Sisterly love! I love it!

Tomorrow night is Trick-or-Treat night!
The girls can't wait.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Halloween 2014

What a beautiful day to be out and about.
Trick or Treat night is just three days away. I wish Friday's weather would be exactly like today; 74 degrees!

This year the girls are...

Who else but Elsa and Anna from Frozen!




 Bonus pic!
Last weekend Aunt Brooke came and helped Alexis make her Princess Globes! This was a birthday present from Aunt Brooke and she came to help her make them! Thanks Aunt Brooke

Monday, October 27, 2014

Alexis's 4-year check-up

Last week I had Alexi's 4-year "well" visit. 4 years old! I can hardly believe it.

I took a few concerns to the doctor but the doctor did not have any concerns! I guess that's a good thing.

She had a hearing test and they also checked her eyes. She did great on both!

Alexis weighs 30lbs 3.3 oz and is in the 11%ile based on weight-for-age.
She is 3'3" tall and in the 34%ile based on stature-for-age.
Her BMI is 13.9 and with that, she's in the 9%ile based on the CDC 2-20 Years BMI-for-age date.

What the Doctor's office lists as: What your child will be learning next
-Knows letters
-Sings alphabet song
-Counts 6 objects
-Catches a ball
-Climbs stairs without holding on
-Repeats a story
-Draws a person with at least 4 body parts
-Plays games with rules
-Can wait for turn
-Shares with others
-Cooperative play

Looking over this list, Alexis is well on her way. She recognizes some numbers and letters. She can count pretty high. She is good at catching/kicking a ball and enjoys playing games. Where we need to do some work, is getting her to draw her people a little more clearer and have her draw arms and legs. Of course we could always work on sharing too.

The doctor promises me she is steadily progressing in the right direction!

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Progress time!

We were given progress reports on both girls last week. As we would all guess, they are both doing great!

For Alexis:
Her strengths:
-Alexis is absolutely comfortable writing different letters and designs. This has strengthened her fine motor skills.
-Alexis is very confident with sorting items by color, size and shape. She is often observed using our counting bears to sort.
-Alexis is very kind to all of her friends in our class. She is always willing to share a toy with a friend.
-Story time is one of Alexis' favorite parts of the day. She loves sitting and listening to a story being read to her.

Next development milestones:
-We are going to work with Alexis on her balancing skills. We will have her practice standing on one foot at a time.
-We will work on one-to-one correspondence with Alexis by playing counting and dice games. We will also continue identifying shapes with her.
-When something goes wrong, Alexis often gets upset and has difficulty expressing her emotions. We want to encourage her to try and talk her feelings out and come to her teachers for help.
-We are going to continue working with Alexis on building her confidence in recognizing her letters. We will use different letter puzzles to help her match lower and uppercase letters.

For Avery:
Her strengths:
-Avery can complete eight to ten piece knob puzzles. She can also walk on tiptoes, backwards and hop on two feet. Avery is now manipulating connectors with purpose.
-Avery can count to thirteen. She even tries to count objects without assistance.
-Avery's self help skills are age appropriate. She cleans up with no reminders and reminds her friends to clean up too!
-Avery's vocabulary and language skills grow more and more each day. She can verbalize her wants and needs easily.

Next development milestones:
-We will encourage Avery to start stringing large beads. We will improve Avery's balance by kicking a ball.
-We will use shape puzzles and our shape board to encourage Avery to identify shapes. We will also encourage Avery to recognize colors during play.
-After diaper changes, we will encourage Avery to pull-up her own pants. We will also teach Avery how to put her jacket on independently.
-We will encourage Avery to start having meaningful conversations with peers and adults. We will facilitate conversation between Avery and peers during play.

We are very proud of Alexis and how she is doing in her new Pre-K class. She loves going to school, playing with her friends and learning. She has adjusted very well in her new class and is learning new things every day!

Avery has very much surprised us...in a good way! She is very smart! After talking to her teachers about her progress report they said, in one-weeks time they have seen new progress with her. She is doing AMAZING with her color recognition, learning her shapes and her vocabulary is growing every day. I had to laugh when I read about helping Avery dress, undress and pull her own pants up. It was just a month or so ago, when we were dealing with her undressing herself (completely). She has definitely mastered that. She has been doing great with going on the big-girl potty at home, but unfortunately not telling the teachers at school when she has to go to the bathroom. Now that is a goal!

Thanks for checking in! 

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

and #2

The Family party. It was Elsa and Anna all the way!


 A new Elsa doll that talks and sings!
Looking at her birthday card, made by Aunt Carol.
 A bag that Aunt Carol made with my name on it!

 A new Frozen watch that I love!
 A set of 4 Frozen board books. Thanks Uncle Ken!

 A new ballet bag with my name on it! Thanks Grandmom!
 Avery got a new baby doll too!
 This gift lets me make my own snow globes. Thanks Aunt Brooke!

 New animal back-packs. Thanks Uncle Robb & Aunt Lucy!

 
I want to thank EVERYONE who helped make my 4th Birthday so special. It was a fun and very special weekend.

Thank you!
Love,
Alexis

Birthday Party #1

It was a Birthday Weekend for Alexis! Turning 4 is a Big deal!

Friday she celebrated with her friends in her classroom with fruit kabobs and pumpkin flavored popcorn. She loved them!

Saturday was her "friend" birthday party. Due to a slight change in plans, thanks to Mother Nature and the rain, we started at a pizza place for lunch. From there, we all went to a pumpkin patch for a hayride, some play and pumpkin picking.

Alexis was looking forward to her party being at the pumpkin patch since July, so I am SO thankful we were able to fit it in with the weather the way it was. Although it stopped raining, it was still chilly and damp. That fortunately didn't bother the kids.























 To be continued...