Parent-Teacher Conferences

Therese helping us rake the leaves two weeks ago.

About a week and a half ago we had our first parent-teacher conference for Therese. That's right, we had a conference for our two year old. Anyhow, we sat down across from Reese's teacher who subsequently took out her paperwork for our conference, straightened it on her lap, then looked us straight in the eye and said, "Well, Therese is a very verbal child." :-) You can say that again. She also remarked that Therese is very independent. You think? I guess it's good to know that she's herself at school.

Overall the conference was very good and it was nice to hear how Therese is doing when we are at work. The paperwork documented how Therese is doing in regards to different social and developmental skills. Reese's teacher pointed out a part that asked if Therese can count to three. She was remarked with enthusiasm that she's heard her count to eleven. Yeah, Therese can count to twenty....in German.... On Saturday she made it to 44 in English... I guess that's what you get with a "very verbal" child.

Tonight I was reading Therese one of her bedtime stories (ok, she was "reading" it to me - reciting the lines and pausing to make me fill in words like I usually do to her. When I'd say the right word, she'd clap and say, "You're right! It is ____!"). Anyhow, we got to the page that says, "Eight little ladybugs looking up at heaven..." She then paused and asked, "Do you know what heaven is?" Intrigued, I asked, "What is heaven?" She replied, "Heaven means Jesus is God." Interesting...

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our little leopard!

Therese went trick-or-treating for the first time last night. She had so much fun. She was excited all day meaning that we got to practice A LOT. Anytime someone on the radio said "Halloween" or "trick-or-treat" she would squeal. Her costume came as a hand-me-down from her cousins (thanks Aunt Robin!), but she couldn't have been happier. She has a little stuffed animal leopard (she named it Tiny Leopard) that she loves to play with so she couldn't wait to be a leopard, too. She even took Tiny Leopard trick-or-treating, though it spent most of the time in Reese's plastic pumpkin. Overall, it was a great night. We had a record 15 trick-or-treaters at our house and some friends came over for the great Notre Dame game. GO IRISH!

Therese was VERY thirsty after eating some of her treats!

Hmmmm....

Therese drew this picture for us. She says it is Jesus on the cross....

Old Ladies...

Therese "hiding" in paper....

Well, there hasn't been a whole lot going on here lately. I've been working a lot which means there aren't a lot of stories to tell. Therese caught a bit of a cold and sat around watching Blue's Clues for a few days. She now refers to Steve as though he is one of the family ("Steve says that," "Steve has the sniffles," etc.). Of course she also told me today that she lives in the water :-). Reese did decide to use the potty another time which prompted me to buy her a special seat. We'll see how this goes...

I meant to include this story in my last post:

In the final days when Brian was living with us, he was having a chat with Therese over breakfast when he asked her what was on her pajamas. She responded,"Ladybugs!....Ladybugs...ladies....old ladies....little chair for old lady...Reese no sit on chair, little chair for old lady...bus 32B." Blank stare from Brian. Therese nodds emphatically. Todd starts laughing. Somehow Therese got from her ladybug pajamas to the ONE bus we took in Ireland - bus 32B - on which there was a handicapped seat (a little chair) on which Therese wanted to sit. We told her she couldn't sit there because it was for the old ladies who needed help getting up. We've not mentioned the bus since we left Ireland...

A trip home and oh the week that has followed...

Our family!

We spent our Labor Day weekend in Cincinnati with our families. The trip was fun but EXHAUSTING. My brother's surprise 30th birthday party was on Saturday with 45 friends and family members. We were all surprised that he was surprised - he's usually too curious and sneaky to keep any secrets from!

While we enjoyed our time with family, the weekend flew by. Tired and on little sleep, we drove home Monday afternoon with hopes that Therese (who had much less sleep than normal) would sleep most of the way home. Wrong. She slept for 40 minutes. When we finally dragged ourselves through the door, we expected to find an empty house (Brian moved out on Friday). Wrong again. We were greeted by about 50 flies buzzing and bumping into the windows. so along came the Great Fly Massacre of 2009 as Todd and I rolled up magazines and went to work. We still don't have any idea where the flies came from. Todd talked to Brian to see if he noticed any flies when he moved out. He said he had found a few and "shooed them out the door." A slightly different approach than ours. Todd responded, "You're such a Mennonite," which of course Brian is.

Once we cleared away some of the flies, we found that one of our two DHL shipments from Germany had arrived. Due to weight restrictions for our luggage, we sent some books home via DHL. As soon as we saw the box, it was abundantly clear that it had been tampered with. It had been torn open and was missing a few of the books. The expensive ones. At least the theif has good taste - who would want Grapes of Wrath when you could have the fifth Harry Potter in German?

While our arrival home was frustrating, we were still happy to be home. We all slept well that night. We awoke the next morning to get an email letting us know that our babysitter had the flu. No babysitting Wednesday. Great. I have loads of work to do this week in order to prepare for a retreat this weekend so Todd had to stay home with Therese Wednesday. Tuesday night I thought I would stop by the library with Therese on the way home from school. I made a wrong turn and ended up at home. No problem - I handed Therese to Todd and headed for the library. I parked in the parking lot, reached in my bag, and realized I didn't have my wallet. A short drive home and back to the library later, I carried my wallet inside with Todd's library card because I couldn't find mine. I can always use the self check-out so I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. Of course the self check-out wouldn't work because Todd's card had expired. Ugh! I just wanted to rent Transformers!!!

Todd was gracious enough to let me work all day Wednesday and all day today (Thursday) to try to catch up on my work. I sat in Starbucks to do some work this morning, finished, and tried to start my car only to find that my battery was dead. A call to AAA and an hour later I learned that I had left my parking lights on :-). I couldn't help but laugh. I've been so pressed for time this week, so busy for work, and I cost myself an hour by leaving my lights on. Ugh.

Of course, the babysitter let us know that she is still sick and can't come tomorrow. Thank goodness Todd's sister-in-law is willing to watch Therese tomorrow! It's so nice having family around.

On a brighter note, I went to pick Therese up from school today and the teacher was excited to talk to me. Once we caught up with Therese (that's right, she runs away from me as soon as she sees me at school while the other children press their faces to the window and jump up and down when they see their parents coming to pick them up) she asked Reese to tell me what she did today in school. Therese said, "I went pee pee in the potty." We haven't tried to potty train her. We don't even have a little seat for her to sit on...

I don't know who was more surprised, Adam or Baby Joey

Reese and Papa playing with markers

Watching the bubbles

Transitions

Therese practicing her Ruy Lopez opening

We always knew she was smart...

Well, the first week of school and a new babysitter proved to be a bit difficult for Therese. It is a lot of transitioning to do at one time. By the end of the week she was moody and clingy - the holding-on-to-mommy's-leg kind of clingy. It was more than enough to bring on a fresh wave of mommy-guilt every time I had to walk out the door. It's funny, Reese LOVES school and really gets excited to play with her new sitter, Kassi, but I guess a summer of nothing but all mommy all day made the school year difficult to get used to. To be honest, it's been really tough for me, too. Last week I walked Therese to the nearby Dollar General to grab an ingredient I needed for the crockpot meal that was underway and it reminded me of Germany, walking her to the store nearly every day. It made me very sad...

But our little princess has done her best to cheer me up. This morning, when I asked what she was doing, she said she was "being haved." I think she meant "behaving" :-). She's been trying to figure out language a lot lately. In the car on Saturday night, Todd said something about something being too tricky. Therese said, "Too tricky...one tricky, two trickies..." She also makes very obvious observations with the greatest amount of enthusiasm - things like, "Brian IS a Brian" and "We're all people!"

Therese is also learning the art of persuasion. She can convince Brian (our housemate for the next week) to do ANYTHING. He was ready to walk out the door, backpack and all, and she gave him a sad look. He put down his backpack and started coloring. Just tonight after an afternoon of trying to get me to play in the playroom, she sat down next to me and started rubbing my back. I told her that it was very nice. She then grabbed my finger and started trying to walk me to the playroom :-).

Perhaps my favorite thing she did this week was trying to convince me to let her wear a "red pretty dress" to Mass on Sunday. I asked her where there was a "red pretty dress." She held up one of Todd's old UD t-shirts :-).

Therese's First Day of School

Reese's first day of school picture
She got impatient with my trying to take her picture and decided she'd rather play in her sandbox...

Today was Therese's first day of school! She goes to "school" on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons while I go to work (she has a babysitter on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays). I was a little nervous about her first day away from home. I'm grateful that Todd drops her off because I think I might have cried today. Reese's teacher said she did very well (even though she didn't take a nap) and even made a little friend. I asked her about this on the way home and she said, "Yeah, Katie." When I came to pick Reese up from school, Katie (I'm assuming that's the right name) came right up to say hi to me. Therese just walked right past me to play with another toy. I had to tear her away from the playground with much negogiation and a few tears.

Therese is in a bit of a princess phase (we're hoping it's a phase)

Our princess on a skateboard...

Therese and her cousin Anna

Fun in France...and Happy Father's Day!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DADDY! We love you and your super silliness!!!

Yesterday we took our first "big" trip here in Germany with Therese (you can read the details of the trip on our other blog ourgermanexcursion.blogspot.com). We went all the way to Strasbourg, France (about 2.5 hours each way). Reese did really well. She had lots of fun of the "choo choo train" and even managed to take a nap in her stroller! Here are some pictures of her favorite parts of the day.

Reese eating her "special French hotdog"

Pointing at (not picking!) flowers at a local church

Running around in a plaza (de La Republique, I think) for a little play time before fallling asleep in her stroller.

Watching Elmo on her personal DVD player (which she refers to as her "DVDV player") on the train ride home. She loved going the tunnels in the Black Forest.

Counting Down...

Our trip is approaching quickly... Today I was changing Therese when she decided to take her sock off. She said, "Reese take sock off." Then she shocked me by asking, "Say sock off in German? Mama say sock off in German?" We had to go look it up...

Here are some pics from our time with Mamie and Papa this weekend.

Reese and Papa eating lunch

Therese loves playing her CD and singing along

Playing on campus

I know it's been a while...

Sorry for the long delay... Therese continues to grow and learn more and more every day. She turned two in March and now likes to do everything herself (of course she's always been very independent). If we try to help her slip on her shoes or finish buckling them, she insists on taking them off and starting over without our help... She also continues to crack us (and herself) up. She loves to tell us that Cookie Monster says, "Nyum, nyum, nyum, cookies... and crackers and hummus too!" That's right, she insists that Cookie Monster loves crackers and hummus... She listens to the same CD at least once a day and loves to sing along. She knows each song and it's number by heart ("ABC's is 21" and "7 no have words" are her favorites). This morning she woke up and started talking...well, actually quacking. After listening for a few minutes, we figured out that she was singing Old McDonald Had a Farm. Once I got her up, I gave her a bath. As I got her ready for her bath, I reminded her not to touch the water coming out of the faucet because it might be too hot (I hadn't checked it yet). She promptly leaned over the tub and blew on the water and said, "water hot, Reese blow on it" :-).

Ok, enough rambling. I am really writing to let you all know that you can follow our summer adventures on a different blog at ourgermanexcursion.blogspot.com. For those who do not know, we will be spending our summer in Radolfzell am See, Germany as Todd studies at a language school there. Therese has been getting ready for the trip by learning to count to 20 and how to say "thank you" and "good-bye" in German. This should be a great adventure!

Computer is fixed!

Sorry about the lack of updates, but Todd's computer has been down for a loooong time. It's all fixed now, but we lost a few pictures including Christmas :-(. In the past few weeks Therese has been learning a whole lot about pretend cooking (she likes to make cake and pea pie and Elmo pie...I think she means pie for Elmo...I hope she means pie for Elmo). She's also learned a lot of new words, a few new signs, and LOVES to sing...or at least loves to try to sing. So here are some new pics and videos. Can you tell Todd's mom gave us a new camera? These pictures are so clear!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the fun we've been having in between. Therese was a little more aware of Christmas this year (she at least knows that Santa says "ho ho ho" and liked unwrapping presents). We had lots of fun visiting family in Cincinnati even though Reese was sick the entire time we were there (poor baby!). Among her favorite Christmas presents were an Elmo video (which she watched ALL THE TIME in Cincinnati, including at 2:00am), a "computer" (not quite as nice as her cousins'), and an Elmo Live - a little Elmo that sings, dances, tells jokes, etc. She loves her Elmo Live so much that we've had to tell her that Elmo needs to have nap time (so we can have a break) to which she replies, "Elmo zzzz."

Christmas morning

Daddy and Reese

Christmas fun

Don't I look beautiful? Reese likes makeup more than mommy...

Some light reading

Reese "laughing"

Thanksgiving with all of her cousins on mommy's side