She reads, writes, draws, and publishes

Willa is literate now.

She and I curl up under the blankets in her bed to read a chapter from The Boxcar Children books every night.  She interrupts to point out words that she can read.  As I was typing, the thought that she won't need me beside her for night time reading crossed my mind.  I can't dwell on that.

She also writes.  A lot.  There are scraps of paper all over our house with lists (Willa's birthday list: a female and a male rabbit, a parakeet, a bird cage...) and sentences (I made this note for you.  You will like it.), and half written notes (Good morning, mom.  Today is February...). 

She wrote a book in November.  It's made of legal paper that she folded in 1/2.  She wrote and illustrated it, and I had no idea what she was doing until she asked for the stapler.  Here it is :

She drew our family at school yesterday, and now the Blog Sinki has a new header.

Dancing Henry

A few weeks ago, we borrowed the movie "Singing in the Rain" from the library.  Henry was mezmerized.  The singing!  The dancing!  Kiddo is a showman at heart.

Tonight we watched Ghostbusters 2.  He loved that, too, and once yelled out, "they need their futon packs!"  It's proton, by the way.  At the end of this movie, just like the end of any movie, he danced while the credits rolled.  Wanna see?

School Willa

We had parent teacher conferences for Willa today.  Our kindergartner is doing great: academically and socially.   She scored very well on her standardized tests, and she's writing well ahead of her grade level.  When she has free time, she often chooses to help friends with word flashcards.

I'm (obviously) so proud of her.

Taking care of me

Two days ago, I got paid from my little job.  I haven't had a paycheck for a while (clerical error, bah!), and it felt wonderful to have some money that I earned again.  But not as wonderful as something that I bought with that money.

This week, I bought new jeans.  And for the first time in two years, they are a size smaller than what I bought last time.  I'll pause for the little party you are surely throwing for me at your computer...

I've been spending some time on the elliptical and either listening to "This American Life" podcasts or watching shows on hulu.  Today, I was tired of the machine, and instead returned to my hip-hop cardio dvd.  Guess what?  I'm still uncoordinated, but it's a fun way to get that heart rate up.