Elizabeth’s Web Page –Jan 2007 thru July 15, 2007
We’ve had a great 2007
so far! We’ve had many friends over to our home as well as visited them
at their houses. It’s been a fun and busy time for our family.
During January, I
started staying until 2:30pm on Mondays at my school. This meant that I
could get an extended day of learning to prepare me for a Kindergarten
day in two years. Now, I can bring my lunch to school on those days and
eat with the other children who stay all day – eating lunch with my
friends was the most exciting part for me!
At school, I am making
sentences using the “moveable alphabet” which are cursive letters made
of rubber that are placed together to make words. I enjoy building with
blocks, reading books, spelling, math (most of the time), writing and
drawing. Making stories is another favorite activity of mine.
Whistling has become a
great pastime as well. I can whistle in and out so I do not even have
to stop to take a breath. Give me any song and I can whistle it very
well! Sometimes I whistle in the car or while I work at home and at
school. So far, it has not aggravated too many people.
I named my new violin
Elena II – therefore, both violins are named Elena now. IN violin, I
have learned the “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” theme and 3 variations
as well as Lightly Row and Song of the Wind. I even make up my own
variations with different rhythms. It’s getting tricky now but I still
enjoy it – especially when I get to play with others. I started with a
new violin teacher in July since Ms. Roslyn had a baby and no longer
took students under 8th grade. So, I just started with Eve
Hubbard at Greensboro College. She is an intense but great teacher for
me. We have weekly 20-minute private lessons together as well as
Thursday evening group lessons with about 15 students in total at one
time at the latter. I really learn from this group and have to
concentrate really hard to make sure I am playing correctly and at the
same time as the group.
Dancing is still a lot
of fun. During this semester, we were able to perform at the St. Pius
Senior Luncheon. Several girls from the same age category danced
together with our teacher, Jennifer. She instructed us while we danced
for the seniors. We danced about 30 minutes and they really enjoyed
it. It was also nice for us to practice in front of an audience.
During May, we had our dance recital at Guilford College; we did a
ballet and a separate tap routine, again. It was fun and we all
concentrated and did very well during the dances.
At home, we are working
on various subjects – math, reading, spelling, science, etc. Mom
purchased an electricity kit and a magnet kit so we could learn about
those things; our favorites were making a buzzer sound, lighting a tiny
light bulb, making a propeller spin, learning about north-south poles,
and magnetic vs. non-magnetic objects. Even David did the experiments
with us!
One day I told Mommy
that my dolls were married. She asked me what married meant; I told
her, “it means if they’ve never met before, they marry…or they love each
other and them they get together, they marry. If they spread out, they
will not marry.”
Both Mommy and Daddy
celebrated birthdays already this year. We celebrated with a dinner for
Mommy in February and a trip to the Zoo for Daddy in mid-July. We made
an Easy Bake cake for Mommy’s birthday but still owe Daddy one!
At my 4-year-old
pediatric check-up, I weighed 35 pounds and was 41 inches tall. My eye
exam went well and I even wrote the word “Mom” on a piece of paper and
handed it to the doctor. I did have shots, but developed a method of
coping; I say, “Snap, band-aid, gone!” when describing how to get a
shot.
We’ve had a lot of
normal and unusual animals visit our yard: deer, a groundhog, a turtle
(standing beside Daddy’s car one morning before he left for work),
hummingbirds, frogs, butterflies, unusual bugs and moths, and
dragonflies. We keep checking the hydrangea bushes where we saw baby
praying mantises last year, but we have not seen them yet. We enjoy
letting the ladybugs crawl on us and watching them fly away. One day
when we were passing Lake Brandt on the way home, I saw a heron at the
lake. I told Mommy that, “I could see it, but I could not see it up
close; but we can see its muscles and skin if we go to a museum.” We
see various “stuffed/mounted” animals at museums.
At school, I learn new
songs to help us learn concepts – such as various bodies of water,
continents, and the precipitation process. We still have a Spanish
teacher, Sandra, come into our classroom two times a week. We do songs
with her and learn various things such as animals, tall/short and other
description words.
We went to the Ringling
Brothers Circus in February – Bello the Clown came right up to our seats
during the show. My favorite part was when the elephants came out. I
also enjoyed the popcorn and cotton candy.
Mommy came to various
parties held in my school classroom: Valentine’s Day, spring time party
and the End-of-the-School-Year party. We make crafts relating to the
season such as planting grass seeds, making origami cards, as well as
routine activities such as beading and pipe cleaner work. We always
enjoy the variety of foods that the parents bring.
We went to Gatlinburg,
TN, and had a great time. We even saw snow – twice! We stayed 3 nights
and 4 days and were able to visit an aquarium, science museum, ice
skating rink (first time both David and I have ever ice skated), and
enjoyed the fresh air and snow of the mountains.
I have been invited to
numerous birthday parties and have enjoyed each one. Making new friends
is also fun and I am not shy a bit – I walk right up to boys and girls,
introduce myself and ask them their names – a future salesperson,
perhaps?
We still travel to visit
SciWorks, Natural Science Center, Summerfield Community Park, Bog
Garden, Children’s Museums in Greensboro and Winston-Salem and the NC
Zoo very regularly. We learn so much each time we go to these places.
One day at the Zoo, the polar bear came up to the glass and swam around
us the entire time; the gorilla sat right next to the glass where we
stood and a chimpanzee entertained us while we all sat – he even did
hand/arm movements toward us that looked like sign language! One day at
SciWorks, we were able to feed the deer sweet potatoes with one of the
museum’s employees.
One day, Mommy said she
left a voice mail for Daddy. She asked me what is a voice mail? I told
her, “a voice mail is when you mail and speak at the same time!”
We visited Asheville
with a friend of Mommy’s since she was in the 2nd grade. We
had a lot of fun meeting Eric at lunch and later playing with him at the
Science Museum in Asheville.
A few days after a great
church performance of Noah’s Ark, I made a sign that read “God, Sav us
frum the flud.” I spelled it all by myself, in case you could not have
guessed it! Once the sign was made, I asked Mommy to add a popsicle
stick to the back and bottom of it, so I could walk around with my sign.
Once it got warmer, we
started going out into the Primary Garden at school. This is where the
primary (my age) students get to plant seeds and plants to watch flowers
and vegetable plants grow. We water the plants, weed the areas, and
take care of the plants to ensure they grow well. I loved this work and
was so excited when we could go outside – even with my terrible pollen
allergies it was a lot of fun!
I had my first crush on
a boy my age at school. His name is Cory and I really like him!
Unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy are not an enthusiastic as I am about
this.
Riding my bike is fun
for me; I hung small, separate, wicker Easter basket from the middle of
the handlebars so I can ride my friends around. They like “going
places” with me such as South America – one of our favorite
destinations.
For Easter this year, we
attended the annual Easter Bunny egg hunt at the Greensboro Children’s
Museum; later that day we went to the Zoo. The next day, we did a
playgroup Easter egg hunt at a mom’s house; we got all sorts of candy
and her house was the best at hiding eggs very well (we also made
cookies at her house). We decorated Easter eggs at Gran’s house as well
as attended the 1st Annual Easter Celebration in our
neighborhood. At that latter event, we decorated our ride-on toys and
held a parade. Then there were fun games in which all of the children
participated. Another great part of the day was eating the delicious
donuts and orange juice.
We finished our basement
during this time. In it, we created a room for David and me to learn
via our educational books, arts, crafts and other projects. We can
actually access all of these things on our own now which is allowing us
to be very independent. It is also nice to be able to see all of the
things we can work with, instead of having them crammed into plastic
bins which was the prior case.
We decided to grow
plants from seeds indoors this year. Once they were established plants,
we moved them into our garden next to the education room in our
basement. We planted squash, pumpkin, onions, carrots, tomatoes, corn,
morning glory, petunias, lavender and peppermint. Because we can see
them through the windows in our room, we can monitor their growth and
take care of them via watering, etc. each day. The plants have really
grown large – so we may need to not plant as many items next year!
We celebrated Earth Day
at Bur-Mil Park this year with Grandma Jessie, Grandpa Don, Mommy, and
Daddy. There we made tie-dyed fabric and planted sunflower seeds;
inside the Education Center, we were able to feel real animal fur and
see the animals on display. We also had our faces painted – I was a red
ladybug.
This spring, we found 2
caterpillars at the Summerfield Community Park and brought them home.
We placed them into a fish aquarium and placed cheesecloth on top of the
aquarium. We misted them almost each day and made sure they were
alright; they immediately (within 2-3 days of us bringing them home)
created cocoons. After a few weeks, they turned into brown moths. We
were so excited to see them go through this process up close!
Mommy and Daddy went to
Chicago for 4 days. LaToya kept us for 2 days and we had a lot of fun.
Then, Grandma Jessie and Grandpa Don kept us over the weekend. I bet we
had more fun than Mommy and Daddy!
We attended the
Greensboro Youth Council’s Annual Carnival in May. We rode every
children’s rides and even got to ride a large pony! This was my
favorite part – now I want a pony for my house! Mommy said when I am 10
years old, we will see about riding lessons, etc. How long will it take
for me to turn 10?
We also attended
Lauren’s graduation (from UNC-CH) ceremony. She is an Elementary
Education major and will be teaching this fall. She looked so pretty in
her beautiful “Carolina” blue graduation cap and gown!
We went to the Lazy 5
Ranch in Mooresville this spring. That was a neat place and it partners
with the NC Zoo on projects. We were able to ride a horse-drawn wagon
to view and feed the animals (zebra, giraffes, emus, long-horned steer,
ostriches, and many others). Afterwards, we walked around the grounds
and saw unique animals up close. There were a lot of birds, a prairie
dog, tortoises, camels, rabbits, and horses for us to observe.
We love observing
animals. On various occasions at the Greensboro Bog Garden we saw a
baby snake, baby ducks, adult snakes, a turtle, a muskrat, birds, and
chipmunks.
One day I went to
Northwest High School with my neighbor who is a sophomore there. She
had a parenting class that invited 4-5 year olds to the classroom that
day – during the day we made crafts, had a snack and got a goodie bag at
the end. That was a lot of fun!
Also, we got to see
Uncle Mike and Aunt Liz from New York. It had been 3 years since we had
seen them. It was nice to catch up and play with them as well as our
cousins – Victoria and Carlye.
We went on a Virginia
Creeper bike ride with many of our friends from the Greensboro area. I
actually rode behind Daddy on a “tag-along” which is a small bike
connected to Daddy’s read bike. I could pedal but not brake, but it was
great – I was so excited to be riding this way and cannot wait to go
back again this fall. We enjoyed the beautiful sights of trees,
mountains and the river.
At my dentist
appointment this year, David and I went together. The dental hygienists
were able to work on both of us at the same time beside each other!
After we got great dental reports, we got goody bags!
I love to swim in the
pool and we have gone to a variety of pool including Wet N Wild/Emerald
Point and our neighborhood pool. I just jump right in and enjoy slides
as well as swimming with my life jacket. It is fun to put my head under
water and see how long I can hold my breath. I have learned to float on
my back as well.
I received my first
Greensboro Public Library card this spring. Once a person turns 4 years
old they are eligible to receive their own library card – isn’t that
great?!? We always check our books on my library card now.
During the summer, we have enjoyed attending the various public library
events for the Summer Reading Program. We log all of the books we read
during June, July and August – and turn those sheets in each month to
receive neat library awards. We have seen library events such as Dave
the Birdman (who had a macaw and owl), CSI event, and a magician. After
the magic show, I showed Mommy how I could do magic tricks; I took a
book and placed it behind my back, then dropped it and presented my
empty hands in front while saying, “See, it’s magic!” I probably need
to refine those skills somewhat.
We even got a library
card in Wilmington when we visited the beach so we could check-out books
to read! During June/July in Wilmington, we went to Figure Eight Island
with Gran, Jill, Stephanie, James and Emma and had a lot of fun. We
swam in the ocean, played in the sand and even got buried by Mommy and
Daddy all the way up to our heads in the sand one day on the beach!
After 2 days there, I fell on the stairs in the house (on my chin) and
split open my chin. We immediately left for the Medac place there and
saw a doctor who gave me 2 internal & 7 internal stitches. After that
day, I could no longer go into the beach water nor the beach at all! So
Mommy took me to the library a few days, we went to the Children’s
Museum in Wilmington, enjoyed the riverfront in Wilmington and went to
the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher. We can always find fun things to do!
The most exciting event was the 4th of July celebration at
the riverfront in Wilmington. The fireworks were fired near the USS NC
Battleship and were fabulous! We stayed up until 9:30 to watch them
that night although we were very tired afterwards.
My friends, Daddy, David
and I attended a performance of Mommy’s woodwind quintet group. It was
held at the Friends Home-Guilford retirement center one afternoon. They
played a 45-minute concert. It was a very informal event and each time
a song would end I would walk up to Mommy (I sat on the front row!) and
give her a hug and ask what they would play next. She was just relieved
that I waited until the songs were completed to come forward instead of
during the songs!
For summer camps, I have
attended a Japanese Immersion camp, Rhythm and Drumming camp, and a
World Arts camp. These were held at Greensboro Montessori School where
I attend during the regular school year. These classes were so much fun
and I’ve learned a lot from them! My Toddler teacher, Kumiko, her
daughter and a recent GMS graduate taught the Japanese Immersion class –
my favorite parts of this class were helping Kumiko pick the basil &
lavender for the snacks/sachet bags as well as learning how to make
Onigiri – a rice snack.
I also attended the
Eastern Music Festival (EMF) Kids Camp at Guilford College. During this
week we learned about the instruments & families of the orchestra,
attended the orchestra rehearsals (and got to stand on the stage next to
them), played rhythm sticks & drums, and did songs/dances to learn about
dynamics. One day I told Mommy that I knew what the smallest instrument
in the orchestra was – a “polo” (meaning piccolo). I also call a
detective a “defective.”
At the Rhythm and
Drumming camp, we learned about African instruments such as drums,
shakers and bells. We played the various instruments and learned songs
along with them. We also learned how the instruments are made. During
the World Arts camp, we learned more about Africa; this week, we
discussed and made artwork from that region. We painted pictures,
decorated wooden jewelry boxes and made clay pottery.
Mommy, Daddy and I even
attended a professional EMF concert one night where a cellist
performed. Since I always say I would like to play the cello one day
(and actually place my violin upright on the floor occasionally to play
it like a cello), she wanted me to attend the concert with them. It was
great, but started late (8pm) and I made it all the way through until
right before the last movement. I really enjoyed it, but would rather
that they begin the concerts at an earlier time of day! During the
week, the teachers had us listen to that cello concerto and we were to
draw a picture of what we felt the music sounded like – I drew an
octopus since the music seemed to be “music of the sea” to me!
In late June, Mommy was
putting items in the car so we could leave the house. She was startled
to find a baby bluebird standing right behind our truck in the garage
just looking back at her! It was a newborn who just left the nest (we
had been watching them from afar when they were feeding in the nest,
since there is poison ivy underneath the birdhouse). He led us from the
garage to the side of the front yard and his brother was in the grass
with his mouth wide open waiting to be fed by us! Of course, we did not
touch either of them but took photos and watched them. Before we left
the house they had flown away – it was amazing to see those tiny birds.
We ended this time by
celebrating Daddy’s birthday. He turned 37 – wow, that’s old!
We hope all is well with
you and your families. We look forward to hearing from you! Take care.
