Reading Fancy Nancy

Dear Em,
At the beginning of the school year, you set some goals for yourself. A couple weeks ago, you met one of your goals. You read your first Fancy Nancy book. Actually, you read your first collection of Fancy Nancy books.

You were so excited to be reading Fancy Nancy. Typically, you are begging us to read to you. With your Fancy Nancy collection, you were asking to read to us. You have a new confidence in being able to read your favorite books, & it's really amazing. I'm so proud of you.

I love you so,
Mommy

Little Reader

Dear Em,
When you got out of school for the summer, had a mental list of things I hoped we could work on together. One of them was to work on your attitude, & we're still taking things day by day with that one. Some of the other things I hoped we could practice together is writing, sounding out letters, & reading one, two, & maybe three letter words.

We're still having so much fun making rainbow words. So far we've worked from APPLE to KANGAROO. You've been so excited to pick out a word each day & show us all your finished work. The rainbowed pages have filled every inch of our refrigerator. You and Nonnie have also been working on letter sounds & sounding out words (we're so fortunate to have such an excellent teacher spending the summer with us). You've been so excited to learn, & I've been thrilled to come home & hear all about what you're learning each day.

Then the other day I got a video text message from Nonnie while I was working. I was sitting in a parking lot when I hit play. It was then that I watched you read your very first book. Tears streamed down my face as I listened to you sound out the words. I was overflowing with pride & shock simultaneously. Wasn't it just yesterday we brought you home from the hospital? Is it possible that our little girl is reading?

Of course, it was a very short book. Grandma & Papa had gifted you a set of BOB Books for Christmas. While each book is filled with sight words, you were also sounding out the words you hadn't memorized by sight. The storyline wasn't exactly exciting. I'm pretty sure it mostly consisted of one character sitting, another character sitting, & then both characters sitting. That didn't matter to me. At that moment it was the most precious & amazing book I had ever heard, because my little love was the one reading it.

When I got home, I couldn't wait for you to read the book to me, & you surprised me by reading two of the BOB Books (each equally thrilling in storyline). Since then you've also read a couple others. You get frustrated when you come across a word you don't immediately recognize, but you're working to sound each word out.

At bedtime the other night, I asked you if you would read to me. "No Mommy. You're supposed to read to me. It's my bedtime, not yours," you told me matter of factly. You finally agreed, & it made me realize how much I'd been looking forward to this. I'm so excited about what we'll read together in the future (I have a mental list of books from The Chronicles of Narnia to Nancy Drew to The Baby-sitters Club I hope we'll read together). I hope you'll always hold a love of books & reading.

I can't even begin to express how truly proud of you I am as I watch you take each new step. You simply dazzle me.

I love you so,
Mommy

Resolutions Revisited

Dear Em,
Can you believe the first six months of 2012 have already flown by? Sometimes I feel like we need a moment to stop & catch our breath. With the first half of the year over, I've been thinking about the goals I set for myself this year. Remember this post where I talked about six goals I had for 2012? Sometimes it's hard to follow through with the resolutions I've set the whole year through. The best way I know to stay on track is to periodically go back to the goals I've set & check in with how I'm doing. I thought the six month point was as good a time as any to do just that...

1) Work on being healthy: I lost 8 pounds this winter. I did most of it on the treadmill & by cutting down portion sizes (I know I said I don't like dieting, but I hit a plateau with exercise & it had to be done). I don't know that I spent a whole lot more time outdoors this winter, but we did bundle up more often & head to the park (having a mild winter made it a little easier). Living a healthier lifestyle helped me to fit into a bridesmaid dress (as well as much of my clothing that had previously felt a little tight), & finish a 5k while pushing you in the stroller at my best time ever. Looking ahead, we signed up for the Warrior Dash in September & I'm hoping that will motivate me to keep in shape. The past few moths have gotten busy & I haven't been as good about planning time for fitness. I have to continue to work on this.

2) Take time for me: This one has been more of a struggle for me. There are times I do well with this & there are times things are too busy & time for myself is pushed to the side. I'll continue to work on it, but I think this may always be something I struggle with.

3) Read 2 books a month: This is another one that I wish I had done better with. I started off really well with this. I read while I ran on the treadmill (& was so proud of my multi-tasking me-time). Then April & May came with a whirlwind of things to do & I got off track. I think I've read 9 books. Not too bad, but I'm hoping to do better in the summer sun.

4) Making time for friends: This one I'm really excited about, because we've had so much fun reconnecting with some of our friends this year. We've planned a once a month Thursday Night Dinner with some of my college friends (which I posted about here, here, here, & here), have had fun movie/dinner nights at out house, and a couple game nights. It's been so fun to see the new milestones some of our friends have reached this year & to be more a part of it all. Our guest room has been used more this year than any other year, & I'm loving it. I especially love that you've been able to get to know some of the people we hold so dear in our hearts as well. 

5) Home Projects: Originally we were planning to get many of these projects done in February & March. When I found out my company would be laying off 60% of it's employees, we put most of our projects on hold until I found out I still had a job. This past month & a half has been a whirlwind of home improving activities.

  - Replace the curtains in the living room/dining room: This actually grew to replacing the curtains in the family room, guest room, & living room/dining room. They're not all up, but I'm hoping they will be by the end of July.

  - Paint front door & shutters: We haven't done this yet. Your daddy was actually excited about this one until he realized I wanted to do it ourselves. Now he doesn't think it's necessary. Sigh, hopefully we'll get this done in the fall.

  - Replace the pebble front walkway: After talking to our handyman about this for months, the project should finally be finished today. I'm so excited. I may roll all over the new paver stone walkway in happiness when I get home from work.

  - Put a curtain up over the office closet: Done!

  - Organize the basement storage areas: Yeah, so we'll be putting this off until 2013. It's hard to try to do this now that we've added so many things to the mess (i.e. a highchair & crib). We'll be donating a lot to family & we're waiting to clean it out until then.

  - Design a bedroom for a little girl & move you into the larger bedroom: You moved last week into your new room! There's a couple things we're waiting to get delivered & then your room will be completely finished (& I'll do a blog reveal).

- There were a few things I added to the mix. We added a little garden around our mailbox, refinished the deck in the back, designed & decorated a new guest room, & replaced the last few old light fixtures in our house. We'll be replacing the door handles upstairs, & we'll repainting a couple rooms & doors.

6) Milestones for us to work on together.

  - Say goodbye to the highchair & hello to the booster seat: Done in January.

  - Potty training: Done in April.

  - Moving you into your new bedroom, saying goodbye to the crib, & saying hello to a big girl bed: Done last week.

OMG, I can't believe how much you've changed & grown in six short months!

Wow, it's been a busy six months. It was actually nice to look back at this list, because I didn't realize how much we accomplished together until I did. Don't get me wrong, I've still got  lot to work on. Finding a balance for me time is going to be an on going process. Convincing your daddy that the family room we painted three years ago needs to be repainted is going to be an ongoing process. Overall, I'm happy with the goals I set for this year & where we've taken them.

I can't wait to see where the next six months takes us. Sigh, I can't wait to see our paver stone walkway at the end of today.

I love you so,

Mommy