Hallie and Travis

All four of us went to Hallie’s first school conference this afternoon. The kids played on the classroom computers while Ms. Wood showed off Hallie’s work and told us nice things about her. We weren’t surprised that Hallie’s doing well, but it’s still nice to hear it again. Hallie’s reading on a first grade level, and her teacher has pulled books from a first grade classroom for her group. Hallie and her friend Evelyn make up their own reading and writing groups, as they are farther along than the rest of the class. Ms. Wood said it’s a good pairing because they “challenge each other.” (For readers of earlier posts, apparently all is well between Hallie and Evelyn these days.) Read the rest of this entry »

Last week Travis and I were heading off to get Hallie from school. When we said good-bye to Mark, I reminded him that I was taking the kids for haircuts after school. Mark teasingly asked Travis if he needed a haircut, too. Travis very seriously patted Mark on the top of the head, where things are rather, er, thin, and said, “It looks OK up here, you don’t need this part cut. But down on the sides you do need a haircut.” When Mark and I got done laughing, T and I headed out the door.

We’re never quite sure which Hallie is going to wake up each morning. Some days Hallie springs out of bed raring to go, some days she gets up smoothly when I go nudge her, and some days there’s a good bit of prodding needed. Most of our recent mornings have been very pleasant. This week she’s taken the leaping out of bed days to a new level. Twice this week she’s come bursting out of her room completely dressed in clothes she’s picked out herself. (This morning she explained to me that last night she was afraid she wouldn’t get herself dressed in time to surprise me in the morning, so she picked out her clothes after we put her to bed, got dressed, and slept in them. The covers were up to her chin when I kissed her before going to bed myself, so I had no idea she was already dressed.) Then she’s collected Travis, shepherded him into his room, and gotten him dressed too!

Both kids have been beaming with pride when they’ve come to show themselves off. I have to say Hallie’s doing better with her own outfits than with Travis’s, though I think he’s playing a role in picking things out. Today he’s wearing a maroon shirt with navy trim paired with a pair of bright red exercise pants with white stripes. You’d have to be color blind, or maybe just plain blind, to suggest they go together. But with two happy kids and no one for me to get dressed, I’m not complaining!

As I’ve posted frequently, Hallie’s been in a greedy phase, exacerbated recently by Travis’s extended birthday. (He’s been getting presents for about 7 weeks, now, between his early party in Warrenton and gifts delivered late.) When I suggested a few weeks ago that we consider giving some toys she doesn’t play with to kids who would really love to have them, she dug in her heels and pretty much refused. I let it go at the time but have revisited it a few times recently. Read the rest of this entry »

We had a fun time sharing Thanksgiving with the Turner clan. We enjoyed a wonderful meal last night with everyone but Allen and Tanya’s families. Hallie and Hadley loved the attention they got from their older cousins, and Travis and Davis were a manic pair as usual. Today we had the whole crew together, including baby Benjamin who looks at least twice his actual age (3 months). Hallie and Travis were especially excited about seeing him!

We didn’t have as much time as we’d had yesterday, but we got in a full-family photo shoot and at least a little bit of visiting with everyone all together. Tomorrow we’re heading up to Lake Gaston for a quick visit with David, Anna, Wesley, Ralph, Suzzanne, and Matt. With the weather finally turning seasonable, at least for a couple of days, we’ll be bringing hats and mittens in case we can get in a good walk. Now that I know we’ve got four hikers in our family, there’s nothing to stop us!

It was clear after reading Hallie stories that she wasn’t likely to fall asleep during quiet time today. I was torn between napping and exercising, so I decided to invite her on a walk. We had a grand time! We followed the greenway up to the whale rocks then crossed the stream and trudged through the woods (some on trail, some off) to criss-cross a chunk of the park on a circuitous route home. Hallie and I chatted the whole time, often about how much she loves nature and how she can’t wait to be a “real” scientist. Oh, and she started grilling me about evolution. Time for a trip to the library! In a nutshell, Hallie was clearly thrilled to be out there and enjoying our special time together. Even after yesterday’s marathon hike, I was surprised at the ground she covered without complaint. I don’t know what’s changed in recent weeks, but I couldn’t stop telling her how nice it was to be able to go on real hikes together. She agreed! Read the rest of this entry »

This was our year for Thanksgiving with the Turner crew, so we didn’t have to travel anywhere. The four of us had planned to take a morning hike in the nature park, but we had no idea how far we’d actually go! We ended up wandering a chunk of the railroad track behind our house first, with the kids picking up all sorts of “treasures” including railroad spikes and a piece of an animal skeleton.

As I’ve posted before, neither Hallie nor Travis is known for their stamina. Sometimes we’d hear “pick me up” before reachind the end of our block. So I was blown away by how well they did yesterday. We were gone 2.5 hours (which included a stop at the playground) and must have covered at least 3 or 4 miles. And though we had a short whiny spell from each of them (at different times), the kids walked the entire way themselves — and had a blast doing it! Mark and I were both a little sore and tired when we got home, so I’m even more amazed that the kids covered all that ground. It gives me high hopes for future outings! And the best part was they really enjoyed themselves and were clearly proud that they’d gone so far. Hurray!

The other day Hallie gave me the first glimpse that she’s feeling peer pressure. And the funny things is in this case I think the pressure was all in her head. We left for school one morning in a torrential downpour. Hallie was wearing her beloved red rainboats, but I’d thrown her other shoes in her backpack. I’d told her her feet might got hot and she should have those if she wanted to change.

Right before we pulled into school I saw her changing out of her boots. It was still raining and I asked her why she was taking them off. “I don’t think anyone else is going to be wearing rainboots,” she said, “and I’ll be embarrassed if I’m the only one.” Without trying to pressure her I told her that being the only one doing something isn’t a bad thing. I did suggest that her friends might all love her boots and wish they had worn their own to school, too.

I was secretly pleased to watch her slip her boots back on and put her other shoes in her pack. And her fashion daring was rewarded when her teacher’s first response was to exclaim over her beautiful “NC State red” rain boats. Hallie beamed! There were no other kids in boots in her class that day. But Hallie was still wearing hers when I picked her up. They were gleaming in the bright sunshine.

Hallie continues to impress me with her ability to verbalize her emotions. This week she was explaining to me how she was confused about why her friend Evelyn wasn’t being as friendly to her as she used to be. I never got the whole story of what happened or didn’t happen — and from what I gathered, the next day everything was fine or Hallie was happy playing with other friends or both. I’m trying not to push for too many details because I don’t want any of these interactions to become more important in her mind than they really are. Read the rest of this entry »

The kids have always loved it when we wrestle with them on the floor. But I’ve never seen them, and especially Hallie, as into it as they were this week. Mark spent quite a while “rasseling” them one night while I made dinner. Hallie was postively gleeful, and she came charging in the next morning asking to wrestle some more. Mark gave them another session last night, and I joined in at the end. At one point I was under a heap of bodies and yelled our traditional “Hay-elp! Hay-elp!” in protest.

The next thing I knew, Travis was hysterical. He was wailing at Mark and Hallie not to pile on me and trying to pull them off. Somehow the wrestling was all fine until he thought his mommy was in trouble. We stopped immediately and I assured him it was just part of our play. It actually took quite a while to calm him down. I was sorry to see him so upset, but it was also pretty touching. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to his mommy!