46 months

The month started with J catching croup and missing school for an entire week. Her cough got back enough to warrant a trip to the doctor (she is weighing in at 33 pounds which to me seems light, we will see at her four year old check-up where she is on the chart) and to get a dose of steroids to help, within 12 hours her cough was much better but lingered for a week. She was really bummed about missing school but kept telling me "I don't want to get my friends sick", she is so sweet. We also had to cancel our trip to Miami to see baby B so that we didn't get him sick. We did lots of coloring, watched lots of movies and destroyed the play room every day, by Friday we all had cabin fever, went out to dinner and that is when C got sick, repeat the cycle!

She continues to love her new school and teacher. She is excited to us about each day and loves it when she is a helper in class. She loves to be the weather checker so that she can look outside, give the forecast to the class and then stamp the calendar with the weather stamp. She looks forward to Show and Share on Fridays and has to pick out on Monday what she will be taking to correspond with their letter of the week. Her beloved Elephant (the wubbie) got to go to school for letter "E" week. She has learned the Pledge of Allegiance and recognizes the American Flag when we see it.  Her class had their first field trip to a farm/pumpkin patch. I have to say it was crazy with all the kids (and hot) but she had a good time. They got to feed the animals, go on a hayride, play on the playground, and all got to pick a pumpkin from the patch.

She is having fun and doing well in soccer. They've continued to work on dribbling and trapping and have added passing and shooting.They've also started to work on weaving through cones and doing some team drills. Daddy had to coach on day since Coach Rachel had to go and ref a game. That day mommy go to step in and help J out, I am no soccer player!

We celebrated daddy's birthday and J did a good job at keeping his birthday present a secret and not spilling the beans! While she insisted we get him a new tennis racket so they can play tennis, mommy vetoed and we got him a new grill. We were sneaky and did the shopping, had it delivered and put into place where his old grill was and watched him pull the cover off and be excited for his surprise. J made him his first homemade birthday card and signed her own name.

We had a few outings this month. The weather was a little cooler (and less humid) for a week so we were able to get to the park and play. The girls love being outside and I feel bad that we haven't spent more time outdoors but it is HOT and HUMID. We went to the Mote Aquarium and spent a morning there. It was so nice to go when it wasn't busy, the girls got to see everything and run around as they pleased. We went to the pumpkin patch with a friend to get our pumpkins for Halloween. The patch was just the right size for the littles, J enjoyed pulling the wagon around filling it up. We found the perfect (after much picking up and putting back) big and small pumpkins and got a few pictures.

J enjoyed painting the small pumpkins and took her time decorating her one for Nana. We painted it during C's nap time and she spent over an hour painting. She would paint a little, put it in the sun to dry, play, add a next layer and kept doing that until it was perfect. Her creative juices were flowing that day, she used all 26 paint brushes I had!

J is doing much better with writing her name, we are starting on learning her last name now. Her coloring is improving and she is starting to stay in the lines. She likes to work on her preschool book, I hope she likes homework as much as she likes this book when she gets older! I found her attempting to do a word search by herself, not bad for not even four yet.

The month ended with a trip to Miami for a long weekend. This is what happens after 5 hours in the car! They turn crazy blocks away from G&G's house!

The Saturday we were there we babysat B so Aunt Boo and Uncle Mikey could go watch the Canes get slaughtered. J was my #1 helper for the day. She played with him, helped me feed him, change his diapers, get him dressed, put him in his car seat. You name it and she was there with her stool (so she could see) ready to help. The three of us ventured to Dadeland to get the last piece of her Halloween costume and went to the Big Cheese for lunch. She loved the rolls and pizza and specifically asked if we could bring daddy here next time we go to Miami, I don't think we'll have to twist daddy's arm!

Here are the pictures from the month.