Bye-Bye, Pap-Snackle-Crop

Liliana has lost another of our favorites.  For the longest time, Rice Crispies were known as 'Rice Cripsies'. 

R.I.P.

'Rice Cripsies'

b. 9/2010

d. 11/2012

First Parent/Teacher Conference

Yesterday, we had our first Parent/Teacher conference at Liliana's preschool.  Jason has been through many years of such conferences but this was my very first so I was pretty gosh-darn excited and really looking forward to it.  Even so, I somehow totally flaked out and wrote the wrong date on the calendar and missed our appointment.  (Fortunately, the teacher had another opening and was able to fit us in.)  

We are so proud of our little girl!  Her teacher said that she is a great leader in the classroom and the other kids look up to her. Three of her classmates are sisters (triplets) and her teacher said apparently they play "school" at home and one of them plays Liliana.

Her teacher said Liliana is right-on-target with all of her developmental milestones.  She commented that her conversation skills are advanced for her age and her vocabulary is excellent. 

She is having a little trouble with some of her numbers - she can count to 13 but then she skips right to 18.  And she struggles a little with her alphabet - she gets to 'R' before things get a little crazy.  That is all consistent with what we've seen too.  The teacher is going to continue to work with her on those but she's not concerned. 

There is one little boy in her class who has some behavior dysfunctions and is often challenging and disruptive in class.  Liliana's teacher commented that Liliana is always very polite when there is a confrontation with the boy. Instead of crying or lashing back at him, she will says things like "I don't like the way you are touching me." or "I'm just going to sit in this chair" (moving away from him but not saying anything rude to him).  Liliana will also stick up for him and say things like, "He doesn't know how to behave at school and I have to help show him how."  This little boy actually spit in her face a couple of days ago and she simply wiped it off, told the teacher, and then ignored him.  I don't know of many adults that could've kept their cool in that situation - myself included. 

Liliana loves school and is doing extremely well in that setting.  We have some really great, caring, and patient teachers in our district!  It is kind of unfortunate that she will have to wait two more years to start Kindergarten (she misses the birthday cut-off by three days) but we are really glad she is adjusting so well and learning so much in Pre-K.

From the mouths of babes...

come the funniest things.  For example:

Last night, out of nowhere, Liliana stated, "My brothers sure are lucky to have me as a sister!"  (Lest anyone think her self-esteem is out of balance, this was followed by "And I sure am lucky to have Emily as a cousin!")

Then today I was doing laundry and as I was pulling a shirt onto a hanger, Liliana asked, "Whose shirt is THAT, Mommy?"

"It's mine.  Why?"

"Ummm...it looks pretty small.  And you're not small."

Ouch!  I guess that's a not-so-subtle clue I need to step up my game at the gym.  :) 

Apparently...

Lilie was sitting at the counter coloring when something in our mail pile caught her eye.

"Daddy, look at this crazy thing!" she said.

"Oh my gosh, what is it?!" I mustered all the enthusiasm I could without really giving her my full attention...  I was cleaning out a cabinet and didn't want to spare the time.

"This silly squirrel has a stick with a bag on it," Lilie pointed out.  "Apparently he's going somewhere."

Daddy's Day

Liliana randomly declared yesterday as "Daddy's Day".  She picked up all of her toys for Daddy, she cleared off the counters for Daddy, she arranged decorations on the table for Daddy, she colored a picture for Daddy, and she sang a song for her Daddy.  Unfortunately, he wasn't home at the time so he wasn't able to hear the special song; fortunately, I was able to catch a couple snippets of it on video.  Here's hoping there's a "Mommy's Day" in my near future.

Decation, All I Ever Wanted

Among Liliana's "created words" is 'decation', which technically means 'vacation'.

We took a decation to celebrate Fake Thanksgiving and Fake Christmas with our family.  We traveled to sunny Omaha, Nebraska.

The Chicago Golwitzer (Brian, Tina, Brayden and Emily) family was there, and the new Washington D.C./Guyana Yamini (Bethany and Hatef) family.  The Haberer (Aaron, Dina and Reese) family were our gracious hosts.  Add a Grandma, and a Buxton family, and you have a recipe for adventure!

We had an awesome time.  There were late nights.  There were yummy meals.  There was fishing, and a bonfire.  There was swimming at the hotel, in a pool that was heated on Thursday, tepid on Friday, and I swear fifty degrees on Saturday.  Not that toddlers are affected by temperature.  If it's a pool, they're in it, and expect you to brave hypothermia to play.  But I'm not bitter about that.  Not one BIT!

Here are the pictures:

Yeah, they caught a fish.  Heck yeah!

Liliana calls this her 'crazy cat lady' jacket and hat.

The breakfast club!

We celebrated Reese's birthday too!

We had brunch at the 11 Worth Cafe. They have terrific food that they serve in REALLY REALLY large servings.

Uhm... does this one bite?

Photobombed by a fish!

The sky lift that took us over the zoo.

Does Katie's grip seem a little... tight?

Yeah, those knuckles are definitely white.  I think Aaron is explaining how the sky lift hardly ever crashes.

It's a bat!  Eating my finger a strawberry.

An alligator, snuggling an alligator snapping turtle.  Sounds like the start of a bad joke, amiright?