Sophie’s preschool graduation (sniff sniff)

I was sad for Sophie to graduate from preschool, and not for the reason that you think.  It’s not that I’m sad for her to grow up… though I am.  But I was really sad for her to leave her AMAZING preschool teachers.  This is Ms. Beth, Sophie, Ms. Terri, and Ms. Phyllis, they are seriously so awesome.  I don’t know if I will ever love another teacher as much as I loved and respected Ms. Terri, I don’t know how else to describe her but AMAZING, seriously, just so so so good with kids and such a wonderful teacher.  She has been teaching preschool for 20 years and has got it figured out!  I loved to watch her work and felt like I should be taking notes the whole time.

Anyway, here’s Sophie waiting for her class’ turn to sing for everyone.  She’s the one waving under the red arrow I drew.

Here they are singing Pete the Cat, which is such a cute book/song by the way.  Sophie sang the loudest!  And by a long shot.  When the songs were over she told Ms. Terri (though we could all easily hear her), “I was SHINING during that song!”  The guy who was sitting next to me actually turned to me and said, ”that girl is ready for Broadway!”  I laughed and told him that she was mine. I wish I had brought the video camera!  Apparently, Jacob was not amused.  He he he!

 

Tessa, flirting with Miles.  I don’t know how she talked me into letting her wear a dress up… I thought I never let them do that.  But there’s the proof!

This is Ms. Kim, Sophie’s speech and language pathologist.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it on the blog before but early in the preschool year Ms. Terri mentioned to me that Sophie had been showing some speech fluency issues in school and was wondering if she did it home or if it was just nerves from being somewhere new.  I told her that she has stuttered since she was 2 but I was told by pediatricians to just ignore it, that it would go away.  So, I’d just been ignoring it.  Well, long story short, we ended up having her tested by Ms. Kim and it was determined that she was eligible for therapy services at school.  Ms. Kim was a great resource for me and a wonderful teacher for Sophie.  I thought for sure Sophie would snub her (as she has me) efforts and refuse to play her little games of trying to talk “easy” as they call it.  But Sophie loved Ms. Kim and was always excited to see her.  She progressed through-out the year, but it’s slow going.  She started out with experiencing dis-fluency 40-60% of the time, the goal is 4-6%.  She was down to 20-40% in March but I think she regressed during the summer.  We got her started up in Kindergarten now, but I think I’ll look into some private therapy just because the older she is, the harder it is to overcome.  Anyway, Ms. Kim is missed.

Sophie and I made these cute little cake balls and cards for her teachers, to say thanks and goodbye.

 

Yes I totally cried when we said goodbye, and it makes me teary thinking about it too.  Good times.

Super Friend Sophie, Tessa's ballet class, Jacob army crawling

So... catching up is hard and I still haven't even blogged Christmas!  Yikes.  Today, I'd rather show you what we're up to right now.  I'm a rebel, I know.  So here's what's goin' on with the Chapmans:

Sophie's almost done with preschool, she has learned and grown in a lot of ways throughout the year.  Sophie's always been a super smarty-pants, but I think she's made the most progress socially, which is harder area to learn in my opinion... especially for us strong-willed type A personalities. :) Remember when Sophie punched the boy in the face because he didn't want to dance with her?  Yeah, well now they are friends and play things they both enjoy at recess!  I saw them the other day pretending the big foam blocks were guns and shooting each other, dying and then "waking up."  I think that's progress.  Sophie still has romantical thoughts about him though in secret.  She told me this week that she had a dream about Nehemiah, that they were grown up, she was a princess and he was a prince, they were in a castle and danced together and lived happily ever after.  I'm glad she isn't trying to force him into playing her way, she's playing his games instead (which I'm sure she likes just as much or more anyway) and learning to be a better friend.  They have 4 different special education teachers that rotate in their class once a week, one of them is Ms. Jessica.  She is a psychologist (?? I think, something like that) she works with them on talking about their feelings and what to do if you're sad, angry, etc.  She dresses up as "Super Friend" and they got to make their own costumes and bring them home.  Naturally, Sophie wore it non-stop for 2 days.  I love how energetic she is about school and how excited she gets about it!  Here she goes off to help a friend in need...

 

I included the picture where she wrote her name because I think it's funny how she wants there to be an "F" in it.  She's getting really good at reading (read me a whole Amelia Bedillia book the other day!) and knows that it sounds like it should have an F  at the end, so sometimes she just adds it in, she already doesn't believe me when I tell her things, oh dear!  She's just like her mother, doesn't take anyone's word for anything, has to figure it out herself.

Isn't she cute in that mask?  Sophie's so passionate.

Tessa has always been jealous of Sophie going to school, it's not as hard now but I heard about a dance class in the neighborhood that was reasonably priced and during preschool once a week, perfect!  I love Tessa in her dance clothes, I could just eat her up!  What an adorable little girl.  When people tell me she looks like me, I take that as the highest compliment.

Ready for her 1st day of class!

Next week is her last class, we'll probably miss the recital because we've got a family reunion.  Today I stayed to watch because we were in charge of the tea party snack. Check out this adorable little class, they're so stinkin' cute.

First position (right Ann?)

 

Every week they get to dress up and have a tea party at the end of class!  Yep, Tessa is in heaven.  We brought her favorite, pink cake balls, they were a big hit.

 

Jacob is mobile!  At 9 months old he started army crawling around the house last week.  Check out his chapped elbows and knees.

Found him under the table yesterday eating crumbs, so much cuter than a puppy!

With his new skills, there's a learning curve.  He woke up with a black eye over the weekend, it's not too easy to see in the pictures, but it's the eye on the right.  Don't know how it happened, I can only imagine what he might of pulled on himself or pulled up and fell off of.  I really need to work on baby-proofing our house!

He's a jolly little guy and I am loving every minute of being with my little baby boy, kissing him thousands of time a day as any mom should.

 

There's oh so much more!  But duty calls, having 3 kids is kicking my trash!!  Thanks for reading!

10 Things from Our October

1.  Went to Time Out for women, an LDS based motivational speaker kind of thing, with these lovely ladies.

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2.  Tessa tried to go without a nap… (and fell asleep in the chair).

3.  Dan, tried to get our antenna to work so he could watch football, I don’t think anything frustrates that poor guy more! 

4.  Toodee and Foofa (from Yo Gabba Gabba) at the trunk or treat.

5.  Sophie got to ride a school bus around the block as part of a little activity at school, she was VERY excited!  We love her school, and her teachers are so AWESOME.

Still talks about Buster the Bus and how he can dance (he was a remote controlled bus that taught them about bus safety).  This bus ride was a long time coming.  Her friend she sat with is Deborah.

6.  Jacob turned 3 months old!  No official numbers, since we didn’t go to the doctor, but our scales at home weighed him at 14.6 pounds.  He’s such a joy!

 

7.  We carved/painted pumpkins.

  

 

8.  We went to the museum to see the “robot dinosaurs” almost every week in October (and November).  It’s their first free travelling exhibit since we’ve been members.  My girls LOVE it!  Come visit us and we’ll take you too! :)

9.  Trick or treating, ahhh, it was perfect weather!

Cutest. Pirate. EVER.

10.  And Jacob was blessed, but that’s already been posted, though it was in October… just wanted there to be 10 things for the 10th month ok? ;)  9 Things just didn’t sound as good.

Here’s to speed blogging 1 month at a time!!