Lucy's October Accomplishments

Lucy has settled in well at preschool.  We even had her first Parent-Teacher conference this month and she got pretty good reports.  Some highlights include that Lucy communicates better with adults than with her peers, Lucy likes to play in the dress up corner (even when it is not dress up time), and that Lucy G and Lucy K are "frenemies" or seem to have a love-hate relationship.  Girl drama starts early, apparently.  She loves tracing her name and doing arts and crafts.

Early in October, Holy Name celebrated the Feast of St. Francis and the Blessing of the Animals.  The K-8 students bring their pets to be blessed.  The preschool students brought their stuffed animals.  We felt, Brown Bear could use all the blessings he could get and a little holy water certainly wouldn't hurt!

Lucy & Daddy play with Legos

She continues to enjoy dance class

and an eclectic sense of style around the house.

We squeezed in one last trip to Great America for the year

and Lucy visited with Lucy at the Academy of Sciences

She still loves a good playground

or a game of catch with Papa

got a little silly with a marker at Nana's house!

 

and most recently, helped Grandma pick walnuts in Gilroy.

 as Lucy inches closer to 3, she continues to pave her own way.  Thanks to the dress up corner at school, she has now acquired princess language (oh well, it was a fun 2 3/4 years).  The other day she told me "I wish I had yellow hair."  I think it was the meanest thing she'd ever said to me and my brunette heart broke.

Other than that, she is sweet and adorable and continues to make us laugh on a regular basis.

5 and a Half!

Happy Half Birthday, Tommy!


(Full disclosure, I took this pic yesterday... But I was going to be away and didn't want to forget)

Tappa Tappa Tappa

A few weekends ago, Lucy was stuck at school with me while one of our choreographers held an audition for her Bollywood style piece.  Lucy decided to try out too

Then, one of my students came into class a couple of weeks ago and let me know that she was going to be teaching dance this fall.  She was very excited to  have her own class.  Upon further inquiry, I found out she was teaching a 3-4 year old Ballet & Tap class at the studio 2 blocks from our house.  

Will you take a 2 year 9 month old who is already potty trained, goes to preschool, and takes gymnastics without parent participation?  Fantastic.  Sign her up!

So Lucy got her first pair of TAP SHOES!

When she took ballet earlier this year, that was very cute and all.  But when my girl put on tap shoes I was seriously in heaven!  Like her mother and her grandmother before her she seems quite at home in a pair of taps. (it should also be noted that her father took tap in college...)

Her two teachers are both two of my dancers, they are twins actually... so I'm very comfortable and confident in their abilities.  I dropped her off and walked out the door....

... this little Stage Bro peeked through the window!

I got to go back in halfway through to change shoes.

The best part is the quick walk to and from the studio!

Recitals in December and June folks... mark your calendars :)

C-H-A-M-P

We are very proud of Tommy.  This week he was the First Grade Spelling Bee co-Champion!  He and a classmate got to represent the first grade in the all school spelling bee.

He made it to the fourth round.  After successfully spelling "away" "ball" and "quick" they flipped several pages to the harder words.  Now spelling 4th grade words, he received "undertow."  Since we don't go play at the beach too often (given the dangerous undertow!) Tommy had never seen or heard this word.  All things considered, he did very well spelling it "undertoe".  The two girls after him also misspelled it so he was not eliminated alone.

We were so proud of his accomplishment and he was too.  After getting to watch the entire bee, now he wants to be lower school champion next year.

Spelling champ? -yes!    Tie his own shoes? - not so much

I loved the dangling feet on the first graders

Spelling "quick"

 

The principal wanted a picture of the kids watching and she borrowed my camera.  This is not all the kids.  Anyone who showed up out of their full dress uniform was not allowed in the picture.  But this is almost the whole school, minus about 25 kids probably.

September Highlights

We started with Star Wars Day at the ballpark

Lucy & I did "Jog for Jill" for the third year in a row.  Lucy found this little sign and decided to carry it through the entire race.

Papa Tom got to celebrate Grandparents' Day with Tommy at his school.

In case one needs reminding...

Marco & Lucy had an outing with Grandma to the San Jose Discovery Museum

I am so glad Marco got to this museum since they have the giant pizza oven to play with.  It must have helped with any homesickness he's feeling!

During Clara's birthday BBQ, these three boys bonded over baseball, perched on the counter of the Cecchina

These two boys assembled a boat

This young lady went to a fancy tea party... but ended up wearing a different dress due to inclement (hot) weather in Moraga

Grandma and Lucy spent some more time at the Academy of Science

Checking up on the ostrich chicks

Learning about emergency preparedness

Tommy's school year is off to a great start.  While he did have a couple of days in the principal's office he's had more days "off the chart," meaning exceptionally good behavior.  He's having a great time!

Lucy also loves school.  She and the "other Lucy" have worked through their tension and now she has a great time.  She is coming home singing songs and spelling her name.