7/4/12
Serenity is four years old! I adore the amazing, inquisitive, sweet and funny girl she has become. She loves books and stories, to the point that she narrates her days like she was writing stories of her own already. "She ran to her Mama and hugged her and squeezed her!" And as she narrates she'll gleefully carry out her plans. She still wants lots of snuggles. Lately her plea is "Can I have my Mommy, my WHOLE Mommy?" She'll say this when she wants me to wrap my arms around her and hold my head down close to hers. She knows how to work the snuggle request too, like at bedtime. Last night, when Eric said that was the last book and the last song, she said, "Can I just hold you for awhile? I want to hold you and hold you and never let go!" When I told her I was leaving, good night and sweet dreams, she said, "Can I go with you?"
I was so busy getting ready for the Sparkly Science that I didn't do my usual million birthday updates! So I'll try to get around to that now. For now, here's more about Serenity from her regular monthly journal:
Serenity loves her little brother so much. She calls him buddy usually, and hugs him and holds him a lot. She's even starting to let go when he protests, and he giggles at all her antics. It's just the sweetest sound to hear your children enjoying each other. =) She has requested a sister that she will name Naiya and a brother she wants to call Finn. Ha. =)
She's taking dance lessons, which she is thoroughly enjoying. It will be a hard choice for her this fall, I think, between dance and gymnastics. She has learned five positions in ballet, how to walk like a princess doing heel-toe or toe-heels. She showed off her arabesques in a little solo during class. It's fun because there are windows where I can watch the whole class! I'm pretty impressed at how well she pays attention to what the teacher is demonstrating, and how she tries to participate in everything. She's not always on beat or in perfect form, but she is cheerful, willing, and improving. And it is sooo cute how she begs to wear her leotard and special dance shoes. One week it seemed like she spent the entire class session picking boogers out of her nose, and yes, eating them. We had loooots of talks about how gross that was, and how probably no one would want to give her high fives or hold hands with her if her hands were yucky with boogers. She didn't repeat the nose picking the next week, so hopefully the manners will sink in a bit at least in public. Goodness knows we're not having a whole lot of luck with spitting and nose picking at home. =) She ends up washing her hands a LOT during the day.
We've started reading chapter books for the very first time!!! Serenity got the Ramona books from Brian before she was born, so I've been waiting a very long time to read them. We finished Ramona Forever tonight. Reading chapter books is such fun because there is so much to discuss. And even when I'm not sure she's paying attention because she's rolling across the bed, she can answer questions about the text or make funny observations. In this book, Ramona's Aunt gets married, her cat dies, and her Mom is pregnant with a new baby. So as you can imagine, there is a lot to talk about.
Summer School: Serenity's tuition includes two weeks of summer school, and the choices were so much fun I enrolled her in a third. She had a blast with Mrs. McBride, and keeps asking why there is no more summer school. The first week she had Where The Wild Things Are, and she came home with an awesome wooden walking stick with jingly dangly things to let the wild things know you're walking, and a beautiful mixed media collage. The second week was Construction Zone. She had great fun building with lots of different supplies, especially the edible structures they made with marshmallows, pretzels, red vines and gummy peaches. The third week was Everything Grows. They made beautiful friendship gardens, where they put handprints on pages for their friends and turned them into flowers. She also got a throw and grow, which is a biodegradable frisbee that has seeds. It was soooo cool. Perfect party favor.
Serenity in June...
We went to the circus with their Grandma, Papa, the Thorps and Zandbergens. It was a blast! The theme was dragons, and the show was really amazing. Serenity said she especially liked the gymnastics that all the people did. Donovan was amazed as well, and spent most of the show snuggled up with Papa. Both kids were getting over colds so they fell asleep by the end of the show, but it was still wonderful fun. =)
Dad got the kids a joint birthday present this year, an inflatable pool! They adore it! I think it is the perfect grandparent gift... something I would never in a million years have bought for myself but that the kids enjoy SO much! Serenity slides, jumps, and splashes. Donovan loves splashing, bouncing on the inflated part, and sliding with help. We've had it out for a month and I don't even care that it kills our grass and floods the yard. We can actually enjoy summer. =)
While Jen was in Austria I got the chance to keep Casey and Barrett overnight. I wish they stayed over more, we had so much fun. =) It's so adorable how they pair up with my kids. Serenity and Casey are almost always together, and Barrett is always taking great care of Donovan. He tried to teach him to catch, and helped him with food, and everything.
The next morning we met up with the Hoppers at the Zoo. It was great! We got there early so we could enjoy the zoo before it got too hot. We wandered all over the zoo, making sure Serenity got to see the giraffes, as she is still feeding her pretend giraffe Polly nearly every day. =) Nearly everyone climbed up the goat rock, which was surprising and impressive. And no one fell off which was even better. I had so much fun, especially with Allie and Serenity, as they walked holding my hand for a long time. We were a fun little group!
