Ellen is still very much enjoying school. She's all signed up for next year's 5 day a week pre-K class. Some of the other mom's have mentioned how disappointed they'll be that Ellen won't be in class with their children. Apparently, one morning, there was a boy from her class that didn't want to get out of the car until Ellen ran by and said, "come on! we're going to have fun at school today. You should come inside". He came into class at that point. Of course, she won't be the oldest one any more next year, so we'll have to see how she responds to that. We've also seen the re-emergence of imaginary friends Keeter and Kotter. Apparently, they had moved down to Mexico with their family, but they came back to visit. We don't hear much from them any more. Ellen has certainly gotten more outspoken. When we were at Red Robin the other night, there were a bunch of teenaged girls who came in and sat in the booth behind us. Ellen turned to look at them, and then asked us "why aren't those girls wearing any clothes?" Of course, at that point we all burst out laughing. It's funny because it's so true.
Phoebe has learned a lot just since January. This month she began her new movement class. During the last class she would lead Gram around and point to what she wanted to do. Now she uses full sentences like "Play with the balls," and using phrases like "next to." Her conversational skills continue to improve as well. She can clearly ask for things and tell us things. There's also the negative side of that. The tantrums are fun, but the smaller tantrums are just funny. She growls to show her displeasure. It's really hard not to laugh at it. On the flip side, she's still quite polite otherwise. Phoebe always remembers to stay thank you, and most of the time remembers please. She can now also count to 10 and sing some of the alphabet song...sort of. She gets some of the letters right, but the effort's there. Phoebe's nap times have become quite bad when she chooses not to have one. She gets out of bed a lot, and pulls anything she can find in her room into her bed with her. She'll also take off her clothes and try new ones. One weekend, she put on as many clothes as she could. (I think she may have also done some knee bends.) She's getting more coordinated too. On Ellen's first ballet class of this session, she got to join in. She did the entire class. She did a great job. I think she did a better job of some of the kids who were supposed to be in the class. It's too bad she's still not old enough to be in the class. She'll get more classes this summer though. She just keeps getting more grown up. She has peed in the potty each night before bath time in the big toilet, or at least tried if she didn't get anything out. Phoebe's been starting to identify herself as characters in books. We'll read a story, and then she'll say, "That's me!"
This month brought a smaller set of weekend commitments. One of Phoebe's little friend's (daughter of one of Jada's former partner teachers) had a birthday party this month. It was a luau theme. The girls had a good time playing with the other kids. There was a climbing wall on a play structure which Phoebe really enjoyed. Both girls were excited to leave with leis.
We had dinner at Manghelli's where the girls got to play with her nieces, Sophia(4 years old) and Olivia(14 months old). They had lots of fun playing chase around the house and the flashlight game with Laurie's dog, Tazie. Though when it was time to go, Ellen threw a huge fit. She has periods where she can be fine, and other where she just completely can't handle leaving places. We never know when it'll hit. We do all the things that are suggested by the magazines: warnings well in advance, cleanups, the whole bit. Phoebe did just fine leaving though which was good since many times she takes her cues from Ellen.
The girls are capable of playing very well together. There are times where they play quietly together on the floor looking at books where Ellen is reading them to Phoebe, or playing with the Little People, or running around the room dancing or doing ballet...of course, they are also quite capable of not playing well together. With lots of screaming, and taking of toys. But at least they can play well together some times. That's a start.
Jada and I have been getting out on the tandem to train for the Cycle Oregon weekend coming up in June. We've gotten up over 20 miles now. We just have to keep stepping it up. I completed my first metric century of the season in the Monster Cookie ride. It rained the whole time, but I managed to complete the 60 miles in about 4 hours. I've got Reach the Beach coming up in 2 weeks. It's 103 miles, and I'm not prepared at all, but I'll see what I can do. We didn't get out with the girls in the trailer or with the bikes much this month since our more typical spring arrived with rain and the occasionally thunderstorm. We'll hope to get out more in May. June is usually a little more wet than May anyway.
Journal Entry: May 2, 2005