Gemma starts with...

Gemma and I were driving to the library for storytime and we were playing my favorite game of "what do you see?"

Mama: I see a red sign! Do you see it?

Gemma: yeah! I see! I see o!

Mama: you see an o? WOW! Good job looking Gemma!

Gemma: Gemma o.

Mama: hmmm...

Gemma: Gemma! O! I see letters!

Mama: I know! I was so excited!

Hey! Do you know letter Gemma starts with!

Gemma: yeah! I do! Gemma o!

Mama: (deflated). (With much enthusiasm) Gemma's first letter is G! Gemma starts with G!!

Gemma: nope. Nope. No g. Gemma is o.

Mama: (cheerleader style): Gemma starts with G! Gemma starts with G!

Gemma: (matter of factly): nope. Nope. Gemma is o.

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Amelia's snack

Amelia has a snack every day at kindergarten. This snack makes me crazy because it is a community snack. This means every student in the class is supposed to bring in a prepackaged snack for a month. All the snacks get thrown in a bucket and the students pick out what they want every day until the bucket is near empty. Then, the teacher requests parents send in more snacks.

I dislike this for so many reasons, but I'm sure the biggest reason is because I am a control freak. I hate not knowing what my child is consuming. Also, it is unhealthy choices usually and I work hard to try and make healthier choices for my family.

I haven't complained about this because I am trying to not be a complainer. You get a limited number of complaints before you are labeled as "difficult" or "demanding" and I am not sure I want to use up one of my complaints on this. So, here I am complaining to you all instead.

Everyday Amelia and I have a conversation about what her snack choice was and then we decode together if she made a healthy choice. On Friday, we had the following conversation about her snack:

Mom: Amelia! What did you have for snack today?
Amelia: fruit snacks! Isn't that a healthy choice?
Mom: yes! Fruit snacks are a good choice (in truth, they aren't my favorite. They also aren't the worst choice, so I'll take it). What kind of fruit snacks did you have?
Amelia: what kind? Ummmm....
Mom: yes, what kind. Were they scooby-doo? Or shapes? What kind did you have?
Amelia: they were circle shaped ones...like....ummmm....
Mom: shapes? What color was the bag (isn't it sad that I can tell you pretty accurately what brand the fruit snack is if you tell me what color the bag is?)?
Amelia: it was white with blue stripe and it had round little fruit snacks.
Mom: I don't know what kind that is Amelia. They were round with a white bag?
Amelia: yes, they were round like a cookie. I think they were cookie shaped fruit snacks.
Mom:..... Cookie shaped fruit snacks?
Amelia: (hangs head) ok. I think I had cookies for a snack. That wasn't the healthy choice, was it?

Then we had a conversation about telling the truth and continued our ongoing discussion about healthy snacks.

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Breakfast conversation

You know you are at Grandma's house when the kids are fighting over who has the healthier cereal option in their bowl. William is arguing Lucky Charms is the better choice and Amelia is championing Cocoa Puffs.

They DO have the boxes side by side and are comparing the nutrition components, so maybe they are learning something?

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Tiger, kitty, silly

We went to a city event in July that had face painting for the kids. William picked a tiger, Amelia picked a kitty and Gemma was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time and didn't end up with anything.

Both William and Amelia gave us their fiercest poses. Gemma then showed off her fierceness.....or silliness!

William's work, last installment

William's class had a writing celebration. The students each could apply for various jobs during the party. William applied for the job of teacher (be still my heart!). Here is his application.

A lovely paragraph about William's favorite book this week.

Math time, final volume

Here is the continuation of the math story.

Math time, volume 1

A math story in which William takes credit for teaching Amelia everything she knows about math. (It's not too far from the truth).