Today Sascha counted by 10s to 400. At least twice. Loudly.
She also can count by 2s. Thankfully, not to 400. At least not out loud.

She did another 1-miler last night in a neighboring town. She was 5th out of 9 kids, and got a ribbon (all of the kids' ribbons said "First Place," which I thought was a bit smarmy...but whatever, she can't read the ribbon yet). She also won this little handheld fan in the after-race raffle (there also was a 5K, with about 50 people in it). You push a button and the fan comes on, and little LED lights spell out what is essentially an ad for the drugstore that donated the fan. Still, it's mighty cool and the whole family has been playing with it. Plus, there was ice cream and watermelon for everyone...and that is almost a balanced dinner right there. ;)

Don't worry, we're not neglecting Zoe! She is gearing up to be three. In a big way. Suddenly she's doing those things that Sascha did that I couldn't stand...like demand something over and over and over and over until she gets it (she has no concept of "wait"), dawdle like crazy when it comes to personal hygiene or getting into her carseat, and cry/throw a fit when things don't go her way. None of this is new, just seems to be ramped up a bit. She does count all the way to ten, now, though sometimes she misses five. And she can identify three or four different birds, balance on her Kinderbike, and she almost has the hang of pumping on the swings.

Home Schoolin'

We got a letter from the state Board of Education the other day. I admit to skimming through it, looking for those magic words: "[Your homeschooling application] has been found to be complete."

So I figure Sascha is now officially a kindergartner, even though it's only June. :) This morning she was practicing counting to 100 both forward and backward. I can't say it was the most exciting thing to listen to while making coffee...but it was pretty cool.

Here is some of her curriculum:

Language Arts:
Creative listening (jargon, but oh well - she is already a creative listener, or is that more like "selective hearing"?)
Vocabulary development
Opposites
Review and write lower and uppercase alphabets
Learn some sight words
Create and write stories

Math:
Addition and subtraction - understanding what it means
Counting to 100 forward and backward (Yes, this is really on here, and we did NOT tell Sascha about the curriculum!)
Understanding written numbers up to 100
Understanding place value to 3 places
Solve written addition and subtraction problems
Beginning multiplication (she already does this, or I probably would have left it off)
Beginning fractions through concrete examples (pizza, etc.)
Recognizing patterns and continuing them
Recognizing the different coins and understanding their values
Knowing basic shapes (she's known these since she was 2 or 3, but this is on most standard K curricula so I put it on)
Beginning to tell time

Except for one or two of these, she's got all of this down, or at least somewhat.

Yesterday she asked me if I went to school or if I was homeschooled. I couldn't get a feeling for if she was interested in going to school or not, or why she asked. I think she was curious whether Matt and I met in school...which we did, but not until we were in our 20s! So I tried to explain about the different kinds of school, but who knows if I made it clear or not. Why do these conversations always occur when I am trying to drive the car?

Swimming lessons are going great - she jumps off the diving board and swam with a noodle today. I think we might be signing her up for a second course later in the summer......

Sascha lost her second tooth this past Thursday (6/19, which also happens to be our wedding anniversary). She was up at 4 am on Friday to see if the Tooth Fairy had come yet. (She had - she is quite punctual around here, at least so far.)

She just got back from her first swim lesson, which was truncated due to thunder (it's at an outdoor pool), but she still enjoyed herself. Although she pointed out that it was cold, and I admit I didn't take that into consideration when I signed her up for the 9 am lessons in June in Vermont. Oops. Maybe the 1 pm August lessons would have been more prudent. You live, you learn.

We used to have a baby named Zoe....where did she go???






Gosh, she's big. She just went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago and her teeth are healthy! They diagnosed her with early childhood caries at the age of 12 months, and were telling us we'd have to get her teeth fixed under general anesthesia in the hospital. After a couple of years of brushing, flossing and MI Paste, her teeth may not look pearly white, but they are strong! We hope they will last until they fall out on their own. :)

Lots to report, but my eyelids are just barely staying up so I'll keep this short.

First, a couple of photos from Sascha's one-mile race June 8. It was HOT during this race. I ran maybe 50 yards with her and Lindy, and that was enough for me!

Before the race (it looks like she's stretching, but she's not):



Close to the finish line (she poured it on at the end and sprinted ahead of that other little girl):




And one from our Father's Day crafty gift, which was to spell out I LOVE DADDY using photos of the kids contorted into letter-like shapes. It didn't go as well as I had planned (the "O" is particularly creative, and Sascha was on her own for the "E" because Zoe was crying by then) but Matt puzzled out what we were trying to do. Can you tell which letter this is?




Finally, before I fall over asleep at the computer - Sascha started reading today! She was sounding out simple words and made it through three BOB books. (If you don't know what BOB books are....well, I will try to explain it later, or check them out on Amazon. They have no plot, no action, and poor drawings...but they are easy to read.) I would love to find something else for her to work on, even simpler than Dr. Seuss, though "Green Eggs and Ham" might be a nice place to start.

Instead of saying "my," Zoe says "mine own."

Today she was in the kitchen, and something impressed her, and she said:

"Oh mine own gosh!"

I could not make up something like that.