General Update: January

NAME/ALIAS: AGE: Piper, 3 years 4 months

PSYCHOMOTOR STUFF: Getting better at playing the Wii, likes the Wii Fit game for kids especially. Walked on stilts (cans basically) at the Children’s Museum. She was adamant she wanted to try them, and hopped right on. Even when someone knocked her off, she climbed right back on. I need to make her a pair to play with at home now.

COGNITIVE STUFF: Loves her Leapster Explorer, still argues about everything and debates/explains why she is right and you are wrong.

ACADEMICS: Is doing some workbook type stuff- nothing major, nothing hard. I was surprised at how easy they were, and how many things in them she learned even years ago. She really likes the Cariboo game I picked up for her, but she does try to cheat and figure out where the balls are ahead of time so she can find the right card to get it.

CREATIVE OUTPUT: coloring more inside the lines, and with more focus than before.

EMOTIONAL ISSUES: She is the most stubborn person I know, and she can ignore you like nothing I have ever seen. Everyone comments on the ignoring factor. If she doesn’t want to do something, or if she has her mind made up- she will not look at you, and there is no emotion whatsoever. You are simply not there.

SCHOOL UPDATES: n/a

ANYTHING ELSE: Loves her sister dearly. She is so good with her, makes her laugh, plays with her, speaks for her, carries on a conversation with her and then tells me what Stella said. I am enjoying watching them play and learn from each other.

Snowman

Here is Piper's snowman I helped her make yesterday. She was so excited to go outside in the snow. It was the perfect type for packing too.

Message from Santa

Here is the video message Piper got from Santa this year.

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/c6XRS2rbWB8U9fXuSUNnTQ

Gingerbread House

She was very certain as to where the candy must go.

Every house must have sprinkles

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Here she is counting the bowls. We counted a lot during this project, the candy, the bowls, etc.

Finally it was done! She's so proud.

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Polar Bear Express

We did the Santa train last night. It wasn't a complete fail, but not exactly a success either. They listened to a story, and then boarded the train for an hour long ride. We got to see lots of lights and deocrations, as well as many people and costumed characters waving to us. On board, the kids were served giant sugar cookies, hot chocolate, a bag of candy and yogurt pretzles, and given a small stuffed polar bear. They were visited by a costumed polar bear and Mr. and Mrs. Claus. It was really nice that they spread everything out and each person took time to talk and sing to every child and take as many pictures as you wanted to take.

Hiding from Santa

With that being said, the polar bear was a hit after the first time through. Piper launched herself at him after refusing to get near him when he visited the first time. Stella was okay with him.

They both liked Mrs. Claus, I think because she passed out the stuffed bears. When Santa walked through, Stella cried when he held her, and Piper hid between the seats of the train. I managed to get this shot while she was distracted by the polar bear after the ride was over.

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First Snow this Season

She would have played outside all day if I had let her.

Advent Calendar Day 5

A new animal today: a little deer. She got the box out today by herself and said let's open number 5 and then found it herself. She's mad in this picture because I couldn't get a good shot with my camera and she was tired of posing.

Advent Calendar Day 1

We got Piper her first Advent Calendar this year. It is a Playmobile one with a forest theme. Today she opened the first door and found a tree. It went very nicely with her Schleich raccoon.

Dear Santa

Piper wrote a letter to Santa telling him what she would like. I'm not sure about the Barbie stuff as she has no idea what that is. I will go and get her the purse she saw at Meijer because she won't stop talking about it.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch today with both the girls. Erick got free passes for us at work, so that saved us $18. :) Piper had a lot of fun picking out just the right pumpkin. They had lots for the kids to do: corn mazes, tricycle path, petting zoo, hay ride, bounce house and slides, live music, food, and more. She was a little cranky and grouchy by the end, but she had fun. She fell alseep in the car on the way home.

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Leaves

Puzzle Video

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She's not a big puzzler, so
I was happy when she drug this out and started showing an interest in doing them.

Riding Her Bike

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Piper finally has enough interest to ride her big bike now. Her 12 in. bicycle is too small for her, but she wouldn't really try riding this one (16 in.) much this summer because it is still a little big for her and wobbles a bit. This one also has the braking issue when the pedal is pushed the opposite direction, so she sometimes has trouble getting around it. She is getting a lot better at it after this first time though.