I'm trying to be on time for once, and this was another very busy month. So let's get straight to it, shall we?
Phoebe is every bit the 2 year old. The tantrums are getting more spectacular, but she does a terrific job of going to her room and just sitting on her bed quietly to accept her punishment when she does something she knows is wrong. None of the constant dramatics of her elder sister. It's a little spooky, really. She's also learning her numbers and letters quite well. She can count all the way to 10 now where up 'til the end of the month wrapped around back to 2 after 9, and she can do some of the alphabet. She's working on it.
She wants to do everything herself. Phoebe just started swim class, and after a few sessions, she suddenly was trying to push away from me on the kick board so she could do it herself. She almost immediately fell off, but I hadn't let go completely yet so it was ok. She is jumping off the side, and she loves it. She doesn't always wait for me to be ready, or actually jump out away from the wall, but she's learning that too. We practiced jumping from the kitchen to the play room. It paid off for several successful jumps the very next week.
In addition to swim, Phoebe has enjoyed the many projects in her art class. Sand painting, foam paints, using tissue paper and water to die a frame, making handprints, and creating with clay and playdough. One of our favorite activities involved painting coffee filters with watercolor paints. When they dried, Phoebe's teacher, Michelle, twisted colored pipe cleaners around them to create flowers. They were beautiful, and quite a treat to find on the kitchen table after work. Phoebe is becoming more comfortable with a variety of art media. Her artistic side also extends to performance art. She is quite the face maker. I wish I could even explain the faces she can make, and every time we go to take a picture she goes to her cheesy grin face. We'll keep trying. Finally, she has started wearing pull-ups all day except for diapers at naps and bedtime. She has even decided that she needed to go to the bathroom on her own once. She pees fairly regularly in potties, and not always just at home. (Anything sister does, Phoebe has to try). No poops yet though. Don't worry, there will be photos when that occurs.
Ellen has been busy as well. After four weeks working with her swim instructor Ryan, Ellen has made incredible gains in her swimming skills. She moved from level B to C and has almost completed that level. She needs to practice pushing off and swimming for 15 feet, using her finning (arm action) while swimming on her back, and her legs while swimming on her side. Otherwise, she is quite adept at swimming underwater, floating on front and back, gliding, breath control, beginning treading skills, and jumping into the pool. We look forward to trying out these skills at Grandma's pool.
Ellen's ballet and tap skills have continued to improve. Miss Aubrey has used the same routines for each type of dance, but has added to the routines each time. Ellen now knows first through fifth positions, a variety of "tap walks" including soldier and penguin. Her newest moves include leaping in her ballet shoes and a "chugga- chugga-hop" move for tap where she moves her arms like train wheel and then hops.
Preschool soccer began at the end of the month. Ellen was hoping to have Coach Elizabeth again, so we checked to make sure which color shirt she should choose. Usually Coach Elizabeth has the "yellow" team, but this time she was assigned purple. She checked with Ellen to make sure that she liked that color and then told her supervisor "ok." Our first practice and game went well. It was really hot so the kids took lots of water breaks. They started out with warm up exercises-Ellen can now do a jumping jack. Then they ran the field and worked on ball skills. Phoebe practiced all the moves on the sidelines with her small soccer ball. Then the kids had their game against the blue team. One kid on the other team had really good ball skills, so most of the other kids just chased him up and down the field. We need to work with Ellen on attacking the ball. She still just watches. She got one good poke away though that almost ended in a goal. Like most kids on her team, she's just happy to be running around out there.
Ellen is becoming quite the reader. She listens to a chapter from a book every day before her nap time. We are currently reading our way through the Ramona Quimby series. Ramona has gone from nursery school to fourth grade. We have also purchased sight word cards for Ellen to practice reading. At this point she knows about 20 of the words on the cards, plus family names and "environmental" print (i.e. "stop" signs.) Her ability to read words and use letter sounds has also had an affect on her writing. She uses these sight words and family names, as well as letter sounds for words she doesn't know, for writing messages on her magna doodles. The other day she was writing "I love Momy," "I love Dady," and my favorite was "I love Made" (or Auntie Mandy for you folks beyond the phonetic spelling). She even interrupts our story time to point out words that she knows. We are constantly amazed by her.
Of course, we are also constantly frustrated by her! She continues to test boundaries to see how far she can go before she loses her priviledges. This has been a very trying month for us both, but Jada has borne the brunt of it during the days. Ellen has lost a lot of fun activities due to her tantrums and refusal to follow directions. There are days where Jada just has to leave the house after the kids go to bed. We are excited that Jada will be teaching half time in the fall-more time with the kids, but still a break when needed! (That was another bit of news-Jada's continued applications and interviews have finally paid off. She will be teaching afternoon kindergarten in the fall at Fir Grove Elementary. We are hoping this will be a good fit.)
A few months ago, the girls received a doll house that Julia Casey passed down. They have added in their little people and even the figures from their igloo. They will play at the doll house for long stretches of time. Making up stories and have pretend conversations. Sometimes we think they are talking to us, but really its the play "Mommy" and "Daddy" who are the intended receivers. It is funny to hear them use their manners during this imaginative play time. "It is nice to meet you." or "How are you doing?"
As far as family activities go, the first weekend of July was the 4th of July weekend, so we did what every red blooded American would do. We piled into the van, drove 3 hours to Seattle, and purchased some Swedish furniture. What? That's not what you did?
On July 3rd, we had the Casey Family over for dinner. The kids ate hot dogs while the adults enjoyed grilled chicken. Everyone was excited about our first corn on the cob of the summer. Our meal was out on the deck, Ellen and Julia used the picnic table, while Phoebe and Kevin joined us at our new patio table. The weather cooperated nicely-the prediction was rain, but we had a lovely sunny and temperate evening.
On the afternoon of July 4th, I went to my first guitar lesson. My friend Matt from Chicago gave me one of his first guitars as a going away gift/birthday present 10 years ago when I came out here. I'm finally using it, and having someone teach me so I have to stick with it. Trying to teach myself didn't last much longer than the drive out here. It's been going well so far. I'm taking them with the famous Mr. Bob. So I'm learning some of the kid's favorites as well as basic 12-barr blues progression. Maybe I can finally play the tune from my head for my long languishing blues song, "6-inch St. Louis".
In the evening, we participated in a 4th of July extravaganza at the Thornton's house. I met up with the rest of the crew after my first guitar lesson. The kids started off by practicing their bike riding skills and throwing the little white paper packages filled with a bit of gun powder to make a popping sound. Next the kids decorated their bikes with red, white, and blue streamers for the bike parade. Meryl led the parade, although some of the kids passed her and others lagged really far behind. Phoebe uses her legs to walk the bike, so she had trouble keeping up. Ellen is getting more secure with the training wheels and was able to keep up with the group. Everyone then trouped into the house for lots of homemade goodies including ice cream. We stayed for the first couple of fireworks. Of course it was no where near time for the sun to go down, but the kids were scared and awed just the same.
Dave's birthday weekend was mostly uneventful. We had our usual Sunday breakfast of bacon and omelets, but Jada also made blueberry waffles. We did errands in the morning and then we all took a long nap. That night we headed out to Macaroni Grill for dinner. It was Jada and the girls' first time at that restaurant. We all chose yummy pasta dishes. Then we headed home for chocolate cake with ice cream and a birthday song sung by Ellen and Phoebe.
The next weekend we attended a baptism for our friends Jenny and Brad's son Nolan. It ended up being a late night due to the wait time for dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory. The next morning we had planned a Sauvie Island bike ride with Laurie Manghelli. We got off to a late start and had to return to the house twice for forgotten items. In the end we were very late, arriving about the time we had hoped to be finishing our ride. We rode a loop around the island that is about 13 miles. Then we packed up the bikes and drove to a farm where we could eat our lunch at a shaded picnic table. The weather was beautiful, not too hot, and very sunny. While we were eating, Laurie's brother rode up with a friend. He had been out for a long practice ride and they had circled the island and were getting ready to ride back home. We passed Marty Manghelli on our drive home. He was at the beginning of a difficult hill which I would have loved to climb, but there is no way that Jada would enjoy it.
The following weekend wasn't remarkable much except for Lance Armstrong's return to yellow for the 7th consecutive and final year. In honor of the occasion, we let the girls watch the paltry and pathetic 1 hour coverage of a 3 week bike race and ABC (and they only really covered the last 2 weeks). They were pretty excited. they got to eat their lunch on TV trays in the front room and everything.
We were excited to get out to the Bruce Hornsby Concert at the Oregon Zoo. Jada and I enjoyed spending time together, while her mom watched the kids for us. The weather was warm and clear and the music was lovely. Unfortunately, our neighbors on the lawn were talkative. At least we could hear the popular songs. The next day we all attended Aurel's Birthday Party at Sunburst Gymnastics in Estacada. Aurel's mom is a college friend of Jada's. We enjoyed the playtime in the gym with the rope swing, the triple-seat swing, and foam blocks for climbing and falling on. The girls even tried out the trampolines. Too many cupcakes and a fast gift opening followed. Then it was time to go. (This location had five 90 minute parties booked back-to-back. No joke, the next group was arriving before we picked up our goody bags and headed out the door...and there was only 1 guy working there. He lead the party, helped set up, helped clean up, and got everything moving all by himself. So we helped him keep things moving out on the floor.)
Our month ended with a celebration of our marriage by taking a brunch cruise on the Portland Spirit. We can't believe we have been married five years! The cruise was on the Willamette River, beginning at the Salmon Street Fountains. We had a table on the starboard (right) side of the boat. The sights were beautiful and the food was very good, too. Ellen and Phoebe ate for an hour, pausing to look out the window often. After we finished our meal we went up to the top deck where we were offered a tour of the wheelhouse. Phoebe was the first to be brave enough to ride in the Captain's chair and take a turn steering the boat. After a while, Ellen decided that she would like to join her. Both girls spent time helping steer and then we headed outside to listen to the tour. It is always fun to learn something new about the Willamette River area. When the girls started to worry us with their attempts to get the best view of the river, we decided to go back downstairs again. Ellen and Phoebe stood on the window ledge near our table and watched the rest of the river pass by. The weather was lovely for a morning cruise.
I do believe this is the first month that has been posted on time for a couple years. Thanks to my lovely wife for helping me get it done. I promise I will get to the pictures some time. I'm not sure when yet.
Journal Entry: July 31, 2005