The New Bike

When Scott and I were out for our anniversary, we went to dinner and did some shopping. Our last stop was Target (are you thinking, seriously Target on your anniversary date...just remember I don't get to leave the house without children very often, so this shopping time was a luxury). Juliana had outgrown her tricycle and I had been thinking about buying a bike, so it wasn't completely an impulse when we passed the bikes and I announced that we were buying one...plus it is purple and pink.

We decided that she should earn the bike. Scott found a stack of 8 carnival tickets and we agreed that she would earn a ticket when she was mostly good that day (perfectly good and the bike would still be in the box). The first day we told her about the tickets and that there would be a surprise when she collected all 8. She was so good and very excited to collect her 1st ticket. The next day she was soooo bad and therefore no ticket; and she told me she would rather be bad than have a ticket...she would just get her 2nd ticket the next day. Each day she got a ticket she would tell me how many she had and how many she needed to add up to 8. When she earned her last ticket I told her that her surprise was a bike.

Juliana - A bike!!! Is it a Dora bike?

Me: No, even better, it's purple and pink.

Juliana: Is it a purple and pink Dora bike?

Thursday after school her bike was assembled and waiting. She counted her 8 tickets out and hopped on her bike. She is still getting the hang of peddling and driving straight at the same time. She has her fist bike related scraped knee from an over-steering fall.

Random Happenings

I love Juliana's summer childcare program. It is at the same school she attends during the year so she is around familiar teachers and kids. But the best part is how much they play outside which is what summer should be all about for children. They have creative time to draw and color and play with toys, but spend the majority of the day outside. On hot days, they set-up pools and sprinklers and play in the water. But Juliana's current favorite thing at the school is the sandbox - apparently she spends entire days in it. I'm glad that she loves it so much, but I don't love that she comes home with sand in her hair and we can never get it all out and the bathtub has a sandy residue each night...sand caught in the bath toys, washcloths, shoes, clothes, bath mat... I do not love sand in my house.

My mom bought some size 4 shirts from Target this past week for Juliana. 4, not 4T, size 4 as in the department where you buy clothes for older children...how did this happen?

Recently Juliana has been fascinated by rocks; not just any rocks - small, round, smooth rocks. She comes home from school with a new one almost everyday and sneaks as many as possible into her room (they are really fun to step on when walking down the hall in the dark, in the middle of the night to feed a baby). At a softball game this past weekend, she spent the entire time looking through the dirt for small rocks and found some she was quite proud to show everyone.

One morning last week:
J: Is it my wake-up time?
M: Yes, time to get up
J: ok, then it is also my rock's wake-up time, and my rock is thirsty, let's get a cup of water for it
M: Rocks don't drink out of cups, they are supposed to live outside and they get all of their water from the rain
Juliana proceeded downstairs and outside and left her rock to live in the basil and parsley pot. Tuesday night she went outside, found her rock and announced that it had gotten bigger from the rain.

Last Night
M: I think these PJs are getting too small for you
J: Actually Mommy, I'm getting bigger and the PJs are staying the same size

This Morning
J: I don't like when it storms
M: The rain waters the plants and helps them grow
J: rain, rain, go away, come again no other day...and people can water their own plants

Kennywood - June 2009

We went to Kennywood today - the weather was beautiful and the park was not crowded - short lines for most of the rides. The boys were with us, but their only ride was in the stroller. Juliana went on a few rides in Kiddyland and was bored...she is into the big rides now. The Paratrouper, Kangaroo, and Whip are favorites from last year. Last year she was so excited for a big rollercoaster but did not enjoy the Jack Rabbit. This time she loved it! She wanted to go on a water ride so Scott took her on the Raging Rapids...she did not love that. The best part of the ride was that the water washed the chocolate ice cream out of her hair.

Exercise

Scott started a new exercise program this week and Juliana is fascinated (let's not focus on the fact that our child is memerized by exercise occuring in our home)...

She has joined Scott for bits and pieces when he has been exercising and she is home. Standing moves are particularly entertaining as she transitions from the correct position to a wild dancing frenzy.

Last Week of Preschool

Last week was the final week of preschool for the year. She will be spending the summer at the school's childcare program and back for 4-yr preschool in the fall.

In the last few days, they went on a field trip to the zoo - she was so excited in her purple and pink, ready to go see the animals.

They had a carnival with races after school last Tuesday. And on Wednesday there was an end-of-year program for the parents where the preschool class sang songs, told stories and received a certitifcate.

Friday was the last day of preschool for the year. She loves her teacher Ms Moran and fortunately Ms Moran will be teaching the 4-yr class next year so we will have another year with her.

10 Random Photos from the Past Month

1 - Eating birthday cake for Uncle Nick on SuperBowl Sunday

2 - Showing me the butterfly dance that they were doing in music class at school that day

3 - Eating Lik-N-Stik for the first time

4 - Looking at all of her valentines.

5 - Snuggling puppies for the babies while wearing new nightgown I had purchased that day and she insisted on wearing immediately.

6 - Post-nap games

7 - She put 2 of her babies in time-out and then took their picture.

8 - Playing iphone games while we were waiting for lunch at TGI Fridays.

9 - Taking a pretend nap in the babies' crib.

10 - Evening snack before bed.