Gracie Update

Grace is now in Pre-K, and seems to be doing well with it. She still plays soccer at school and is now doing Mouse Club which is a computer class. She is doing very well with her writing, I'm impressed. She has stopped taking dance, becuase she told me she doesn't like it anymore, which is fine with me. I don't think I'll sign her up for anymore activities outside of school for now. I think we have enough going on in our lives. She is loving our new dog, Abbie. She had been asking to get a dog again for weeks. There isn't too much else to say about her right now, she's as smart as always and growing like a weed. I can't believe she's 4. Where did the time go?

I'll be sure to update her blog more often.

Much has happened...

Much has happened since our last post. Grace is doing very well in school. She now knows her ABC's, tons of songs, can write and acknowledge several letters, and is working on spelling and writing her name. She knows her name too - "Graccccce Larrrrsen." Oh, and of course, she is COMPLETELY potty trained now!!!!!!!

She had a Bonnet Parade and Easter egg hunt at school yesterday, which most of you know about. She made a very cute little bunny! Mommy teared up over how much she's grown up. She's not a little baby anymore.

Tomorrow is her first day of dance class at The Little Gym. She will be in the Giggle Toes class, doing half dance (tap, ballet, and creative movement) and half gymnastics (tumbling.) We went shopping today and got TONS of dance stuff... tap shoes, ballet shoes, leotards, dance skirts, ballet books, and ballet dolls. She is set! She loved the trial class we did, and asked about going back, so I just know she's going to love it. If she really gets into the dance portion I'm thinking of putting her into traditional dance classes.

She's also set to start soccer next week at school. They do it during their playground time on Wednesdays. I had been thinking about putting her in the class every since she started school. The other day I got a note from the teacher saying she was asking to go. She seems to really be looking forward to it.

Sunday is Easter and she's already worn and ruined her Easter dress. Hopefully mom can get the strawberry and OJ stains out. Why did I let her wear it you ask? Well, not all battles are worth fighting, and I didn't dream she would dump OJ down her front. I'm sure the Easter bunny will come all the same. She has lots of goodies coming from him.

We wish you a Happy Easter!

Love,
Mommy and Grace

Gracie's First Day of School!

Grace had her first day of school today. She did not want to wake up, and told me "no it's still dark, it's sleep time." Luckily she was still so sleepy she didn't protest getting dressed, but she did protest going down the stairs. We finally managed to get out the door and on our way to school. She was not having it when I tried to take pictures of her. She was still half asleep. As I wrote in my blog, she asked if I was leaving her there and where I was going, which made me a little sad, but we quickly moved through that. Unfortunatly she had an accident while the teacher was going over some things, but the teachers and all the kids were great about it. She didn't even notice when I ended up leaving, she was way too busy playing. I called before lunch, they said she was doing great and that she hadn't had another accident. When I got there to pick her up they said she did great, ate well, and TOOK A NAP. They even gave us a cute little report card type thing saying how she did and what she liked during the day. When it was time for us to leave she did not want to go, and after some coercing she finally yielded the plastic sandwich and left with somewhat minimal screaming. Still no accident, WONDERFUL!! Once she calmed down from the trauma of having to leave school (seriously!?) she started telling me about her day; they danced, clapped, went to the playground, had cookies, used the small potties (they have cute little miniature potties) and used the computer. She got some Curious George panties and a little stuffed puppy for being such a big girl about going to school and staying dry while mommy was gone.

She can't wait to go back tomorrow.

http://www.dropshots.com/addibug#date/2008-01-14

Update!

There is so much to write about...

Grace starts preschool on Jan. 14th. She's very excited and has been talking about school non-stop, especially about having friends. I think the poor girl is starved for social interaction with other munchkins her age. She's going to be in the class with all the kids her age. We thought she was going to go in the class where they potty train, which is a bunch of 2 year olds. Long story short, since she's mostly potty trained they're going to put her with the big kids, and just kind of deal with the situation. As of the 14th she'll be wearing big girl panties only. They said no more pull ups unless she's napping. Monday should be interesting.

On the potty training note, she's been doing fairly well. We got her a potty that sings when she goes. She seems to really like it, and gets excited when it makes noise. The m&m's we've been using as bribes have been helping too. She still won't tell us she needs to go, but we've been able to get her to go when we ask her to for the most part. I'm sure the peer pressure at school is going to finally get her fully trained. Let's hope at least.

Christmas was good. Grace got a bunch of fun stuff. Thanks to everyone who got her gifts. Let's see, she got a camera from Santa, a dollhouse, some art supplies, Shrek the Third (which we have watched several times already), My Little Ponys, a Curious George outfit, a Popple, and a bunch of other good stuff. She has taken a ton of pictures, we'll include a slide show in the blog. It's fun to see the world from her point of view.

That's it for now, we'll update again after the first day of school.

Christmas Wishes

** Commercial Advertising "My Friends Tigger and Pooh Christmas Movie" Comes On**

Grace: I want that Pooh movie, Christmas movie for Christmas
Mom: What else do you want for Christmas?
Grace: I want a skirt ... and a shirt for it. A ball.
Mom: What else?
Grace: A BIG BIG Choo choo... a balloon... and a little choo choo

*Conversation Ends*

She's funny, she's been telling me all of this stuff she wants for Christmas like the Ponyville toy they keep showing in commercials and Shrek the Third.

It's all beginning. We've been lucky that she hasn't really gotten the concept of Christmas until now. We just had to share because her list was so random.

Haircut

Grace got her haircut yesterday. I was tired of it looking all stringy and uneven. She was AMAZING, she sat perfectly still for it! Mommy was very proud of her.

Pictures

Potty Time Update!

Grace has made some progress lately. Twice, she has gone on her own or asked to go. We were at the ranch Monday and I told her mommy had to go potty, and she said "I'm going to go on MY potty." Before I knew it she was yanking off her pull up and going on her own. Mom was very proud! Yesterday she climbed out of the bath to go potty. I was so happy she knew she had to go and got out of the tub in time. Gracie is becoming a big girl!