Ho Ho Ho

This girl is something else. . .

Philip got a train set for Christmas. Stephanie is the only one who noticed that one of the cars says "Toys R Us" on it so she advised me that Santa does some of his shopping there.

I am so hoping she can keep believing in Santa for at least a few more years.

Meredith still has unwavering belief but one of Steffi's classmates tried to tell her Santa is just a suit. Stupid little punk. So we went with the marvelous explanation given on "The Penguins of Madagascar" and advised her that most of the Santa's she sees are his "deputies" but the real Santa is still keeping tabs on them and her. We'll see how long this lasts.

We also got some oranges for Christmas. I couldn't help her peel one right the very second she decided she wanted one but she said she could do it. So she went into the kitchen. She came back very quickly after and told me she was bleeding. She was cutting the orange with a KNIFE! Remind me to not let her sign up for "woodshop" in school.

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Stephanie's class went on a field trip to Roca Berry Farm for Halloween. She got to ride on the bus with her friends. Philip and I followed them in the car. (They don't let younger siblings ride on the bus for field trips.)

My little group consisted of Stephanie, Philip, and another little girl. We walked through and did everything. Except ~ the haunted house. Stephanie walked up to the door and refused to go any farther. So another mother took my extra child with her group. They got about 4 feet inside the door, then it got dark, so they came back out.

The only rule at the pumpkin patch was they had to be able to carry the pumpkin they picked out. Philip found one right away. Stephanie kept finding newer and better ones. She did finally settle on a good one though.

Bedtime

Stephanie has been asking me to lay down with her at bedtime for awhile now. So tonight I finally did. I'm so glad.

Normally, she's running all over the place, in constant movement, and constant chatter, and so busy, and she loves to make goofy faces.

But ~ laying down with her tonight and watching her fall asleep ~ she is just SO beautiful! It was stunning to notice. I mean, I know she's beautiful but I don't often get the chance to just look at her like that.

Eyes and Ice

I took Stephanie to the eye doctor today. She has a slight astigmatism but 20/20 vision so the doctor said she didn't need glasses this year.

Then we took Meredith to her guitar lesson and I took the little kids to Earl May while we waited for her. Mainly for the free popcorn although we did look around for awhile. While we sat in the car eating popcorn, Stephanie bit her own finger. This kid is so accident-prone, it drives me insane. I keep telling her to slow down and pay more attention but not a day goes by where she doesn't hurt herself somehow.

Which reminds me ~ I need to re-thank Annette for sending us those 'ice bears' all those years ago. I probably need to go get some more.

Keep a Stiff Upper Lip

I went to pick up the kids last Wednesday. Stephanie was over by her class and then Meredith came out. I turned to talk to Meredith and Stephanie was behind me and she just hit the ground. Just fell flat on her face. She scraped up her left knee, her right hand, and her upper lip just under her nose. Poor little girl - she screamed bloody murder. We had to take her in to the bathroom and get her a cold wet towel for her lip. Then when we finally got to the car, she saw her knee was bleeding and it started all over again.

Friday I got a note from the school nurse saying if she still has a sore under her lip by Monday, she needs to see a doctor. Ummm - no. I am not taking her to the doctor for a scrape. And I'm annoyed because this happened at the school. Her teacher was right there and other people saw me carry her to the bathroom so I'm just going to send the nurse a note and tell her what happened.

{Is it sad that I have a label for Stephanie's site called "Injury?"}

Just Call Her Grace

Stephanie's been to the nurse's office every day this week. Just minor cuts or scrapes from the playground. I did warn the nurse she would be seeing Steffi often but even I didn't realize it would be every day.

Here's hoping she outgrows this clumsy phases. (Please let it just be a phase!)

Probably doesn't help that her sister slammed the bedroom door in her face the other night either. Luckily, there was no swelling or bruising from that - just a whole lot of hurt feelings and needing some cuddle-time with Mom.

Five Years Ago. . .

Five years ago on August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans.

Four days later, my little Stephanie made her appearance. She was delivered by the nurse since she refused to wait 3 minutes for the doctor to get there.

She was my tiniest baby ~ weighing in at 6 pounds, 5 ounces.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Today she is 5 years old. She is 3 foot 9 inches tall and weighs 48 pounds.

She's already been in school for a couple of weeks. And it's taking some getting used to! It's hard work sitting in a classroom all day and having to learn and pay attention. When she gets home, she's usually a little tired and very - emotional, I guess I would say. Everybody "be's mean" to her when we first get home. I probably need to spend a little quality time with her when we first get home but normally I'm downstairs working then. Poor little GooGoo.

Other than that, she loves school. She loves having friends that she gets to see every day. And she loves her teacher too. The other day she counted to 39 for me without any help. (Then I just had to help with the transitioning to the next step, i.e. 40, 50.) Before she started school, she would always skip either 14 or 16, but she's been practicing! She's still having trouble remembering how to spell her name but she does have 9 letters so that doesn't make it easy.

She loves to play games on the computer. Mostly WebKinz or Wizard 101.

Duck Blankie is still around. He is needed always at night and sometimes during the day too. Luv Frog is another lovie that goes hand-in-hand with duck blankie.

She's a sweet little thing and probably too smart for her own good ~ definitely too smart for her parents' good!