61 months

We had a repeat of Christmas from last year at home with all the grandparents, Uncle G and Auntie V. There were lots of presents to be opened and while it is hard for a five year old to have patience this one did pretty well, we made them wait 10+ minutes Christmas morning to start opening presents from Santa! J was happy and grateful for her gifts and not once said "I didn't get this", I'm glad she didn't after the many talks we had about kids who don't get gifts. We now have a dog again, well a robotic one, that does tricks and is supposed to follow her around the house (it hasn't been as much of a hit as I thought it would be). The biggest hit I think has been her Lego's (they are the Juniors and very small pieces), in the course of one afternoon (took her about 3 hours) she managed to build them all by herself (following all of the instructions), mommy only helped her snap on one tiny thing. For being in such tiny boxes she has gotten great enjoyment out of them. Now I know what to keep putting on her list, Lego's are just a new form of puzzle to her! It is really a sight to see watching her piece things together and the looks and concentration she has while doing so.

Cousin B came for a visit between Christmas and New Years, the kids had fun playing with their new fort at home and had a good time playing at the park! J loves the new roller skates she got, mommy hasn't let her crash and burn yet. The memories of skating when I was younger with my sisters, it will only be time until these two are doing the same. We had a quiet New Years at home, we checked out a new place for lunch NYE day, the girls love sitting outside, the atmosphere was good, the food not so much. They were in bed long before midnight, thank goodness the fireworks in the neighborhood didn't wake them up!

Christmas break this year seemed to go by really slow, I wasn't any longer than other years, just the dates fell weird and the kids didn't go back to school until January 9th! We spent the first week of 2017 playing a lot at the park, taking walks and went to pick strawberries and tomatoes for the first time this season! The amount of strawberries and tomatoes this kid eats must be what helps keep her hair the color it is! She is a pretty good picker but tests out many she pulls off the plants! The babies and stuffed animals are now frequenting the park with us and wanting to swing and slide just like them, J got a baby bicycle seat for her bike so now she is able to ride with them (another one of her favorite gifts).

The girls have been fighting a little more these days but then there are the times that they are just so sweet to each other. C pushes J's buttons and while J has put up with it of late she is being a little more intolerable of her behavior and dishing it back at her! The girls are very into Elena of Avalor, C more than J but they both love the episode when Sophia frees Elena. The one day when I caved into their request and heated up the hot tub for them to swim all they did was pretend to be mermaids and reenact the scene from the show, they have been very imaginative of late and reenacting many shows around the house, why do they have all these toys?

The biggest accomplishment for both J and mommy this month is that J is starting to sound words out and read! We tried a few months ago but she didn't really show interest. Then this last month she started asking me what things say and making up her own words for signs so I figured we'd give it a try again. I bought some index cards and made her some flash cards with sight words and we borrowed the first set of Bob books from a friends. Well with in a few days she was sounding out 3-4 letter words and had gotten through the first two books. We are now up to the fourth book (they are very small) and are at around 50 sight words we practice at breakfast and dinner. She is so proud of herself, and the looks she makes when she finishes a book or gets a new word for the first time is priceless. I am glad I've had this moment with her and not a teacher, makes my staying home with them that more special to me. Maybe by the time she gets to Kindergarten she will be reading chapter books (her one little friend already is!).

School continues to go great! They learned about arctic animals and got to make igloos out of sugar cubes, ice cubes and blocks. They learned about Chinese New Year and made fans and lanterns to display in their classroom. They also learned how to write numbers 1-5 in Chinese and I think she was trying to write them at home one day. They learned about MLK and what a hero is, when J was asked about who her hero was she said "Mickey and Minnie", this kid!

Here are the pictures from the month. Oh and J's new thing at nap time is Facetiming me from the iPad when she wants/needs something!