Monday, October 24, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
morning from Zoe
I go into to shut Zoe's door this morning at 7am, thinking she was going to sleep a little longer, and she creaks, "Mom, what are you doing here".. I mumble something and then say "what are you doing here?" and she says, "I'm still hibernating"
then later I ask her where she put the hair brush, and she says, "did you check the kitchen counter" and I say yes, I already checked there; then I ask again, "where else do you think it could be?" (I saw her with it last night)... she says back, "I don't know. I took it on the tour of the house, it could be any where. You should check every room."
Monday, October 17, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Re: update from Harrisburg
Mikah,
thanks for the update... how busy you guys are...! congrats on the
job.. it is an exhausting processing (moving, kids, new jobs)... you
are to be commended!
thanks for the update... how busy you guys are...! congrats on the
job.. it is an exhausting processing (moving, kids, new jobs)... you
are to be commended!
things here are finally moving smoothly for fall.. it was an
adjustment getting all of our goals and schedules aligned (I get up at
6:30, get ready, get kids ready, we all head out the door at 8:20..
drop off Zoe, then Bruce, then Finn, then I get to work)... I have
Nanny-Annie picking up Zoe three days a week and they walk to my
office, then we go get Finn when I finish teaching.
The app is out! It is on a slow start.. it take a bit to get
something like this on Apple's first page, but we are doing everything
we can.
We are prepping changes to ToonPaint (the previous app), and gearing
up for the next two..
Finneas is no longer a toddler.. a real, stick-wielding, girl chasing,
charming, cheeky boy... he loves to play on his own.. talking all the
while.. loves to snuggle with and battle Zoe. He and his girlfriend
Evie are nearly inseparable... so cute together, just like an old
married couple.
see the blog: finneasgooch.blogspot.com
Zoe is really into Kindergarten, already knows over a 100 words and
French and just this week I've witnessed several instances of her
preferring French over English..(mostly counting).. I expect by
Christmas this will be huge. She can count to 29, knows her alphabet,
many colors, and phrases.. (Can I go to the bathroom? I forgot. Can
I go to the drinking fountain? and a few songs...) She is learning
letter by letter... sounding out words and writing them. She is
dressing like a girl ready to learn.. picking out completely matching,
well organized, weather appropriate clothes... (wow!) She has a bunch
of new friends who greet each other with big hugs. We have three
birthday parties to go to in the next two weekends.
we are off to the pumpkin patch for our annual pilgrimage on a hayride
and train ride...
Have a lovely fall weekend!
Love Amy & family
On Sat, Oct 15, 2011 at 8:34 AM, Mikah Simmons <formikah@msn.com> wrote:
> Hello all.
>
> Well we are slowly getting back to some routines at home after our trip to
> SLC followed by our trip to the Outerbanks. It is nice to be home. Ty is
> getting back to a better sleep schedule which is good for the whole family!
> Ty is busy working on his inch worm crawl. We have to watch him all the
> time, keep the door to the basement closed, hide all electrical cords, etc.
> He seems a much happier person now that he is able to get around on his own
> a bit. He is now eating all types of baby food and one of his favorites is
> peas.
>
> Tice had his first day off since our vacation yesterday. We got a lot done
> around the house including an attempt to rid ourselves of the skunks that
> are living under our shed. Hopefully our interventions will end in success!
> Tice made Korean BBQ short ribs with roasted veggies for dinner. I'm going
> to try to show him up tonight with a cornbread stuffed meatloaf. Wish me
> luck. We had our sitter, Jane, come for a few hours so we could have a date
> night at the movies. We saw Moneyball. Excellent movie, very slow, all about
> baseball, great underlying message. That being said I wouldn't recommend it
> to anyone who doesn't LOVE baseball and/or doesn't swoon at the site of Brad
> Pitt.
>
> I finally got a job. What a stressful process. I will working per diem in
> the same ER where Tice is a resident (should be interesting). I applied for
> positions at 3 hospitals. This was the only one who gave me a call. It is a
> great position where I can pick and choose the shifts that I want to work,
> so when Tice has a day off, or I can find a sitter, I can make some $$$. The
> only drawback is 2 full weeks (40 hr/week) of orientation. That means the
> little guy is headed to daycare. I sure will miss him. We are going to take
> the next few weeks and have him go a few hours a day. Hopefully this will
> help both of us transition into those 2 - 40 hr. weeks. I start November
> 7th.
>
> As most of you have probably heard, we're not going to be able to make it to
> SLC for Christmas. Tice will only have 5 days off and that seems too short a
> time to put in the effort and $ to make the trip. Tice has a couple of weeks
> off in the spring, one in March and one in Aprill, so we will probably make
> the trek then.
>
> My Mom is doing better. She is now eating 700 calories a day. That is a 200
> calorie/day improvement from a couple of months ago. Her weight and energy
> are slowly returning. She is still being followed by a gastroenterologist,
> and gynecologic oncologist, and a gerneral surgeon. She is still on IV
> therapy 14 hours a day. Her companion friend Scott will be returning to
> Oregon for about 3 weeks beginning Nov. 5th, so if any of you were willing
> to check in on her or give her a call during that time it would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Taylor and Robert are doing well in school and seem pretty happy right now.
> We are hoping to have Robert here for Thanksgiving, and Taylor will be home
> for Christmas.
>
> Ty and I are off to Wildwood Park for a nature walk. It is cool and sunny
> here today, definitely jacket weather, and the rain will return in a couple
> of days... I hope you all are having a great weekend.
>
> Love, Mikah
>
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Mom, did you pee blood? How Cool!
--warning, the title tells all---
This morning, while I was relishing staying in bed (not sleeping-in
mind you, staying in bed), Zoe comes into our room in search of the
bathroom...and yells... 'Mom, did you pee blood"
I said, sheepishly, "yes"
She responds, "How cool!"
Back story:
about a week or so ago, Zoe went to the ladies room at work (Nanny
picks her up 3 days a week and brings her to work), and yelled,
"ooooh, mom, this toilet has blood in it"
I proceeded to tell her that it was okay, and that every woman bled
once a month, it was normal, she would some day, and it was part of
the process that made it possible for women to have kids.
She obviously thought hard about it, but didn't ask too many questions.
The next day in the car, she asked me...out of the blue, "When was the
last time you pee'd blood?" I told her it was a while ago and that I
would be due any day now. She asked a bunch more, trying to get me to
give her a last date... and then finally settled on, "Well, when you
pee blood next time, will you let me know?"
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
growing up
A bit ago, Bruce and I found some link on stages of development.. and there was some quote about girls being 57% of their adult height at 3 year of age... finding some number back in my email, Zoe was about 40inches.. translating to an adult height of 5'10" (not surprising for a Gooch Girl ;)
It just reminds me of all the milestones Zoe has hit.. .
Just before turning 5, she suddenly went to having to be dragged to bath kicking and screaming to submerging up over her ears, just recently over her eyes, and deciding she was ready to swim at the pool under water. Two weeks ago, she did just that, with goggles on, she swam underwater for an hour.. learning to push off walls, dive to the bottom to fetch rings.. amazing how fast things are changing. She also loves the shower (which we call waterfall)..
She is also really into the learning part of school, mostly revolving around language. She is also a perfectionist... an over achiever. She got together with her friends Asha and Claire from preschool and there were several moments of hysterics by one of them... one thing I remember Zoe saying: "But I want to be the one who knows the most".. she meant french.. they are all in French immersion. they were so competitive together.
More to it: Zoe has homework.. her sounds book, part of learning through Jolly Phonics... the book comes with the letters, sounds, a few practice words.. starting with "s".. Zoe is to practice writing, doing the actions, and then draw something... these are all her strong suits, especially the draw something.. but there isn't much room, and both times we have worked on this (once after school when she was very tired, and the next first thing in the morning before school) she would end up sobbing and we'd just have to put it away because she was worried she was doing it wrong, or it wasn't right, or it wasn't enough.. I had to ask the teacher to take extra time to explain her expectations and tell Zoe she was doing it right... We'll see if it worked.
This weekend she has spent quite a lot of time drawing.. it is amazing how much she has changed. She does color in the lines (as she is expected in school) and has a good sense of colors that go together. She now draws faces and colors them with "skin" color". She has started asking me to cut out shapes and she assembles them.. first it was wonder woman, picking out different sheets of paper as needed to make the pieces of the outfits. Today a Christmas elf.
She also spent a lot of time playing with the markers that have faces.. each of them in a role.. grandma, mom, dad, little brother, sisters, etc... a whole story..
she has also spent time writing... the number 3, 4, 5...
she has about 100 words in french in her vocabulary... counts to 29 (skipping some, but this too has changed fast... she now counts to 14 without error)
she always wants more...
we've bought a book with extra worksheets and she is practicing more letters, colors, etc. "I love homework!" she says.
She is also a caring sister.. played well with Finn for 2 hours.. with only a little skuttle here and there... they found twin shirts from the preschool.. and both wore them to be twins.
I am so proud and excited to watch her grow... an amazing adventure.
It just reminds me of all the milestones Zoe has hit.. .
Just before turning 5, she suddenly went to having to be dragged to bath kicking and screaming to submerging up over her ears, just recently over her eyes, and deciding she was ready to swim at the pool under water. Two weeks ago, she did just that, with goggles on, she swam underwater for an hour.. learning to push off walls, dive to the bottom to fetch rings.. amazing how fast things are changing. She also loves the shower (which we call waterfall)..
She is also really into the learning part of school, mostly revolving around language. She is also a perfectionist... an over achiever. She got together with her friends Asha and Claire from preschool and there were several moments of hysterics by one of them... one thing I remember Zoe saying: "But I want to be the one who knows the most".. she meant french.. they are all in French immersion. they were so competitive together.
More to it: Zoe has homework.. her sounds book, part of learning through Jolly Phonics... the book comes with the letters, sounds, a few practice words.. starting with "s".. Zoe is to practice writing, doing the actions, and then draw something... these are all her strong suits, especially the draw something.. but there isn't much room, and both times we have worked on this (once after school when she was very tired, and the next first thing in the morning before school) she would end up sobbing and we'd just have to put it away because she was worried she was doing it wrong, or it wasn't right, or it wasn't enough.. I had to ask the teacher to take extra time to explain her expectations and tell Zoe she was doing it right... We'll see if it worked.
This weekend she has spent quite a lot of time drawing.. it is amazing how much she has changed. She does color in the lines (as she is expected in school) and has a good sense of colors that go together. She now draws faces and colors them with "skin" color". She has started asking me to cut out shapes and she assembles them.. first it was wonder woman, picking out different sheets of paper as needed to make the pieces of the outfits. Today a Christmas elf.
She also spent a lot of time playing with the markers that have faces.. each of them in a role.. grandma, mom, dad, little brother, sisters, etc... a whole story..
she has also spent time writing... the number 3, 4, 5...
she has about 100 words in french in her vocabulary... counts to 29 (skipping some, but this too has changed fast... she now counts to 14 without error)
she always wants more...
we've bought a book with extra worksheets and she is practicing more letters, colors, etc. "I love homework!" she says.
She is also a caring sister.. played well with Finn for 2 hours.. with only a little skuttle here and there... they found twin shirts from the preschool.. and both wore them to be twins.
I am so proud and excited to watch her grow... an amazing adventure.
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