2012 Fall Parent/Teacher Conference Report

(my comments are in parentheses)

"Language and Literacy Development:  Kendall has strong language skills (no ... really?).  She can identify sounds and words just spoken, carries on a simple conversation and can name common objects and actions.  She can follow a set of 3 simple related directions in order (can and will are two entirely different things).  She speaks using 4-6 words in a sentence (I think this was supposed to be 46 instead of 4-6) and has a steadily increasing vocabulary.

Cognitive Development:  She can identify numbers 1-20 and can count to 12 using one to one correspondence (I've actually heard her count to 40).  She can draw a circle and square, imitating an adult or copying a model.  She also claps to the beat of familiar songs and does hand and body motions along with songs.

Gross Motor Development:  Kendall can catch a large ball thrown from 5 feet using hands/arms.  She is also able to balance on one foot for 5 seconds and can stand on tiptoe for 10 seconds.  She is also able to ride the tricycles on the naturescape (seriously, just call it a playground) using the pedals to maneuver. 

Fine Motor Development:  Kendall can put together simple puzzles.  (Kendall can put together more difficult puzzles than can her mother)  She is able to hold the scissors correctly to cut 60% of the time (but all the time at home so this is odd to me).  She also holds the marker/crayon using a static tripod grasp (huh?) and is able to string small beads based on a simple pattern.

Social Skills Development:  Kendall is a sweet little girl who was shy and cautious at first.  She has gradually come out of her shell and seems to really enjoy school.  She is able to carry on simple conversations (this leads me to believe her teacher has not yet dared to engage her in a comlex conversation) and responds to simple questions.  She plays cooperatively with a group of 3-4 other children. 

Self Help:  Kendall is able to eat completely independently and only requires a little help opening some containers.  She dresses almost completely independently, needing help only when things are inside out. 

Scientific Thinking:  Kendall is a very curious child who enjoys learning new topics.  She is able to categorize fish, reptiles, birds and other mammals.  She can also describe characteristics of plants, animals and people, as well as identify that plants and animals have different parts.

Additonal Comments:  Kendall is such a sweet, funny little girl.  She is sometimes shy at the beginning of the day (not a morning person, just like her mama!) but quickly comes out of her shell and is quite funny.  She has made lots of friends in the class and especially enjoys playing with Alana and the other girls . Kendall is sometimes very cautious about trying new things she is unsure of (I guess I can forgive the poor grammar of a 3 year old class teacher so long as she's not teaching my daughter grammar lessons), but can usually be coaxed into things easily. 

I have really enjoyed having Kendall (in class??) over the last few months and look forward to another great semester watching her grow." 

Christmas 2012



 

Christmas Eve 2012 will be known as "the first year Kendall was too excited to go to bed so Santa could come!"  After a gourmet dinner of hot dogs and mac 'n cheese with Nana and Saza, we started the unsuccessful "wind down."  Kendall was in bed at 7:45 and even told me she didn't want me to come back and snuggle "just this night" because Santa was coming and she "shouldn't be woken up."  Then she proceeded to stay awake until well past 10, at which point I put the baby proof door knob thingy on the door and effectively locked her in her room for the night.  She still either can't open "baby proofed" doors, or just doesn't want to expend the effort to try.  But she was not happy that I put it on there!  

 

 

With Kendall safely locked in her bedroom (I know, mother of the year), Santa finally came! 

 

Christmas morning began for us at 3AM this year with a lovely thunderstorm that woke everyone up and required me to spend the rest of my night in Kendall's bed.  Translation:  required me to be awake for the day at 3AM.  I'm not sure when she decided to be afraid of thunderstorms, but it is most unfortunate for me.  Chris and I were in the kitchen making coffee and getting the dogs fed, etc. by 6:00 (when I gave up trying to get back to sleep next to Miss Snores-like-a-60-year-old-drunk-man).  Her highness woke up at 7:15 sporting the beautiful Christmas nightgown Santa sent with Mick Elf for her on Christmas Eve (the fact that it was a nightgown was imperative this year). 

 

Brief attention paid to the dollhouse (MY favorite new toy in my house now) ....

 

... and MAJOR excitement over lipgloss in the stocking (*sigh*)

 

... intermittent attention again to my her new doll house ...

 

... then serious excitement over Ariel underwear.  (*double sigh*)

 

And then the carnage of the living room really got started! 

 

The coveted "red shiny gymnastics" leotard!

 

A new ballet leotard with a built in skirt!

 

A super cool balance board from Auntie M. and Papa Hugh!  (my 2nd favorite new toy in the house .... I'm allowing myself the probably dangerous delusion that I'm not too heavy for it.) 

 

.... then back to the stocking for the princess candy cane and more lipgloss.

 

After round one, Nana and Saza and Grandmother and Pops joined us for round two!  Did I mention it was pouring outside??  I'm dreaming of a WET Christmas .... NOT

 

Nana made Kendall this beautiful new soft red, hooded robe that has all of her favorite Disney "friends" on it!

 

 

Love this picture of Nana and Grandmother patiently trying to put together Kendall's newest bath toy with Kendall sitting between them giving instructions.  

 

Cute new Minnie Mouse suitcase from Grandmother and Pops!

 

Time for a new "Kendall shirt" for Saza! 

 

 

I think this picture below is my favorite of the day.  After naptime (3 hours for Kendall and 1 glorious hour for ME!), we woke up to SNOW (which you can sort of see out the back window and the path of which you can see on the weather report on the tv)!  And the temperature had dropped a good 25 degrees!  We had a nice fire in the fireplace, some relaxing play with my Kendall's dollhouse, and watched the snow come down before the cooking frenzy started.  

 

Wasn't much snow, but our WET Christmas had successfully turned (somewhat) WHITE! 

 

There are no pictures of dinner.  Funny how that happens when I'm cooking.  There were also no picture of Kendall with ME in the morning so we remedied that after dinner, which was, if I do say so myself, fabulous! 

 

Gingerbread Christmas Cookies in the house!

They are all beautiful, but only about 1/2 of them are edible.  I consider this to be a success given that it was my first time baking any type of cookie from scratch.  It will probably be my last time too since my mother saw fit to inform me after I made these things that there is a ready-made gingerbread cookie dough that tastes just the same.  Nice timing.  

Blissfully un-prissy!

Kendall:  "Mom - come wipe me!"
Me:  "Coming..." (when can kids wipe themselves??)
Kendall:  "Can you smell it from there?"
Me:  "Thankfully, I cannot."
Kendall:  "Ok, give me a second to make it stinkier!"


Yep, she's a Somers!  :)

New World Record?

Kendall vehemently refused to get out of the bathtub today.  When I insisted (and threatened to throw her bath toys away), she yelled at me, "Now you've ruined my entire life!"  I think this may be some sort of world record for the maternal ruin of a child's life.  It didn't even take me 4 years!  (note to self:  Kendall is not yet ready to drop her nap)

Gingerbread House Decorating!

Getting into the Christmas spirit this year has been difficult since work has been so ridiculously crazy for both me and Chris that we just want the month to be over.  But I'm trying to squeeze in some Christmas activities for Kendall and a Gingerbread House decorating party at her friend Jackson's house was perfect!  The kids had so much fun.  And SO much candy.  So did I.  (fun and candy, that is!)

Check out the homemade aprons customized with each kid's name made by Kristi, who, by the way, is about 10 months pregnant!  Supermom!  Seeing Kendall and Jackson's names next to each other never fails to make me giggle.  

The final product!  Now to keep it out of the bellies of my dogs ...