Must. Brag.

So, I don't really love it when people brag about their kids. I know that every parent thinks their kid is the smartest, most beautiful child on the planet. So you kind of roll your eyes when you hear about these other kids and their accomplishments. Just go ahead and do that if you want. But I think these are genuinely great accomplishments:



KALIA's report card just came home. Before she started school, I worried a bit because she only went to 6 weeks of preschool. She used to play Starfall that helped her learn to sound out words, which she was able to do before she even turned 4. Then I helped her learn some sight words (okay, a whole bunch of them) before kindergarten started. But she just naturally caught on very fast and remembered things almost immediately after learning them.

Her teacher confirmed that she is the best reader in her class. She knows more sight words (over 100) than anyone in her class. And today I found out that she is reading at a 2nd grade level. The goal for the kindergartners was to be reading at a level 2 or 3 by the end of kindergarten (on Rigby's scale). Kalia is currently reading at level 17.  I'm so proud.

And so I don't forget, her drawings are only "average" and her handwriting...not so good...although the teacher scores her as average on writing as well. I asked her if she could slow down a little so her writing would look better, but she got tears in her eyes and said, "But if I don't hurry I won't finish and I'll have to stay inside for recess to finish!" Heaven forbid! No seriously! Those kids only have ONE recess, and Kalia NEEDS it badly! So I asked her if she would work on one page of handwriting a day after school (she has full-day kindergarten and has NO homework...I LOVE IT...) but she happily agreed to that deal.
Also, since apparently Samuel had a little dyslexia, I am keeping an eye on every letter and number that she writes backwards. I don't know when to expect that to go away, but I frequently see 2's, 3's and 7's backwards. I'm keeping an eye on it.

Kalia is also very physically gifted. She can run SO fast. She is so strong. She has been crossing monkey bars (no problem) since she was 3. She can jump high and swim far and she is just built like a little gymnast. I really want to find a way to get in into gymnastics at a really awesome gym. I'm looking forward to some days ahead of cheering on my little athlete. She is not very interested in any team sports so far...but she does think cheerleading is kind of cool.

ANNIE is lucky enough to do two different preschools this year- Joy School two days a week (it's almost 3 hours long, it's lovely- I also help teach that one week out of every six) and then an academic preschool. This sweet teacher in our ward took her in for free and it's been SO great to have someone teaching her the academic stuff. Sadly, as the second child, she has not had as much one-on-one time with me, but she is able to sound out words and count pretty high, her writing is decent, her coloring is much better than Kalia's is (even now).

Where Annie really seems to excel is in music and dancing. She can sing with almost perfect pitch. I have the cutest video of her singing the entire song "Away in a Manger" when she was barely 2 years old, and she already carried the tune amazingly. She has a beautiful voice and she seems to be a natural performer (less stage fright than Kalia, for sure.) She also took a little ballet class and had a winter recital. She was by far the best in her class. She was on the beat unlike any of the other girls, and she was very lovely and graceful. I look forward to more of all of that.



ELLA is really the one amazing me these days though. She is 21 months old, and she is doing some incredible things. She is addicted to the Ipod Touch, and constantly plays apps and watches her two favorite shows, Super Why and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Most of what she's learned has come from these apps, I'm sure of it. Here's a list of things she is doing right now:

*She loves to climb up on the toilet (all by herself) and straddle the seat and pee in the potty. She knows she gets chocolate chips if she does it. She usually just squeezes something out. (She doesn't go because she feels the urge. And she's never pooped on the potty.)
*She can sing the entire alphabet
*She can identify MOST of the letters when she sees them, both uppercase and lowercase
*She can hold a pen/pencil/crayon and tries to write letters (She likes to play Letter School on the Itouch too). She can write "L" consistently and she walks around saying, "E-L-L-A" because she knows it spells her name.
*She sings entire songs, her favorite being Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She sings really loud and it's really funny. She also sings The Eensy Weensy spider, Baa Baa black sheep, I Love to See the Temple, (in full) and she loves to sing the end of every line when I sing, "Hush Little Baby", "The Wheels on the Bus", and several others. But her most favorite that she requests almost every night is "Baby Mine" (from Dumbo...the sweetest song). She knows almost all of the words and when she sings it, you could just die it is so cute.
*She can name every Disney princess.
*She has the best manners of any child I know. She says "excuse me" EVERY time she burps. She says please for everything, and she thanks EVERYONE, for EVERYTHING, by name. Example: I hand her some juice. She says, "Thank you Mommy." If Samuel unbuckles her to get her out of the car, she says, "Thank you Daddy." She thanks Kalia, Annie, Nana, Papa, Valerie and Al (live upstairs) and she thanks strangers. When we were at the Urgent Care, she cried every time anyone touched her, but as soon as they stopped, she would say over and over, Thank you! Thank you! She thanks the check out people, people at church, and pretty much everyone she sees, and she does it all unprompted. It is one of the cutest things EVER.
And a few things that are probably average for her age:
*She also just learned to ask, "How are you?" And she is constantly asking us how we're doing. If you ask her how she's doing, she always answers, "Good!"
*If you ask her anything that starts with "Do...?" (like, "do you want cereal?" or "do you want to go outside") she loves to answer, "Yes I do!!" Only she says do like "Dew" and she says Deeeeewwwwwww.
*If you offer her something she doesn't like (which is quite a few things) she says,
"No. No like it."
*When she's trying to decide on something she says (to herself), "Ummmmmmmmmmmm.....how 'bout.......THAT one." This always makes me smile. She says "how 'bout" a lot.
Just recently she started trying to speak in LONG sentences, which means I hear a whole bunch of unintelligible mumbling sounds mixed in with all the words she does know. It's dang funny.
*She is pretty athletic as well, probably almost as strong as Kalia was at this age. She has the cutest little (muscled) legs. Her lower back curves in sharply (just like mine) which totally makes her belly stick out. She loves to climb on things and out of things and jump off things, and she throws a ball (she prefers to throw oranges) like a CHAMP. She has some great coordination.
*She is very strong willed and doesn't like it when she doesn't get her way. She doesn't like getting her diaper changed and sometimes throws a fit, kicks and tries to roll away.
*She loves to brush her teeth and always asks for "poo paste" Lol.
*She has lately loved to be "bootfull" (beautiful.) She puts on the girls princess dresses, or asks for a ponytail, then she RUNS to her daddy and says, "look daddy! bootfull!" and waits for praise.
*She's pretty fearless



This is how Ella likes to eat nowadays.

Lastly, my FAVORITE Ella phrases right now:
Anytimje I take her diaper off and she's totally naked, she says with obvious relief, "Phew!"
When you ask her where something is, (and she usually doesn't know) she puts her little hands up and says, "No know where it is!" (but she rambles it all together like one big word.)
When we tell her something (ANYTHING) that gets her excited, she yells, "HooRA
Y!"
She is always randomly asking for DONUTS.
OKAY, THAT'S ENOUGH. My kids are amazing. I love them so much. They are really well-behaved. They don't have any cavities. They help each other out. I feel so lucky to have them.