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I wanted to brag on my daughter, but I didn't think starting a thread just for that was cool - so how about a thread where everyone can share their kids accomplishments? Hatrack kids are, as we all know, amazingly talented and smart.
So, I'll start by bragging on my middle daughter Emily. She is 7, and this year she started taking gymnastics for the first time - began in September. Emily has always been athletic, and she asked if she could take gymnastics after three years of dance.
Well, she started and did wonderfully - she progressed very fast and in February they moved her up from beginner to intermediate. I was very worried about her, so I asked the coach if she could keep up. She said "Emily? Are you kidding? We'll probably have to hold her back."
Well, she's been in intermediates for two months now, and last night she perfected a move on the uneven bars - a cast hip circle (I think I'm saying that right) Basically, it's where she swings out then does a 360 loop with her hips against the bar.
She did it several times, perfectly. The coach hi-fived her and called all the other kids' attention to it. Emily is the only one in the group to master the move - and except for one other kid who moved up when she did - the group has been working on it since September. She never even tried it before February.
The coach's basically insisted that she come for the summer session and said they wouldn't be surprised if she moved up to Advanced level before next fall.
Most importantly - she loves it. She has so much fun in gymnastics and it's encouraged a lot of good habits for her - she is always bugging me to make sure there are green vegetables at dinner and that kid can put away a plate of broccoli like you've never seen! The coaches told her she needed to eat vegetables and drink a lot of water to help her conditioning and she took it to heart.
To make things even more cool, today Emily had a checkup at the dentist and the dentist came out and complimented me - he's seen all four kids in the last two weeks for six month cleanings and checkups and said I was doing an incredible job - all of them had excellent oral hygiene.
*beams*
I like feeling like a good mommy!
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I've always admired gymnasts -- I am nowhere near flexible. I love to watch them on the Olympics.
My daughter is Mary Poppins - practically perfect in every way. That - and she did really well on her ACT test, so probably can now choose whatever college she wants, which makes me happy.
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I walked into my son's room this morning and was literally taken aback by the smells he produced. He noticed me and flashed his famously toothless grin at me. So, I'm proud that my son is so evidently MINE!
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My daughter, who barely turned four, can write all of her ABCs and numbers up to 10, as well as spell her full name, select other names, and some short words. She's been perfecting these skills over the past year. She was speaking in sentences before she turned two. Given her age, she has no box to think inside yet, and therefore she produces some simply amazing artwork on paper with inks, crayons, and paints, and even on the computer in MS Paint. I mean, I work with designers all day and I am impressed at what she does with shapes and colors.
My son, who just turned two, has perfected an abbreviated alphabet and can also count to 10. He can even produce a few of the numbers on his fingers. He's not as quick to talk as my daughter, but he's definitely a smart one, too.
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Cool! We really need to get Emily and the boys together to play again. They always have so much fun!
Liam is writing his own little books and illustrating them, to immitate his brother, who has been doing that since before he could write (I used to write down what he told me to, but now he does it all himself). My current favorite is a book he cut and stapled himself. Now, Liam knows his abcs and numbers, but he's just getting a grasp of phonics (he starts kindergarten this coming fall). This book he made me is really cute. It says "KOOKD DBOOK" on the front, because it's a cook book. Obviously, he had no guidance with spelling, but it was an excellent attempt. The book is full of lots of all caps writing and wirey pictures of people with extra limbs. The back page says, "DN" for The End, which totally slays me.
Robert had to do a booklet on landforms for science, and Liam tried to copy it, too. However, he took it to school, so Liam was doing the drawings from memory and trying to sound out the words. He wanted to call the book 'Volcano Day' and wrote it 'OKNODAE', which is spelled pretty much just like he said it before we told him it started with a V.
Robert got an O for 'outstanding' in reading, which made me very proud. Also, he's sorted to the Language Arts G/T class, so it's a big deal to be outstanding in reading when you consider his peer group. His Young Writer's contest story got third place, but I have not been allowed to read it yet. He tells me it was about an otter. I should get the hard cover version soon, since the school has them professionally printed. I can't hardly wait!
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I think I mentioned it somewhere, but I'll say it here just in case. Mango has been moved out of the ESE math class into regular math. She's not so sure she likes the change yet, but it pleases me.
She brought home a spelling quiz with a hundred percent on it the other day. It's the first good grade she's ever brought home on any assignment done at school on which there were incorrect answers. She even drew almost all her letters on the correct lines, and the correct size (except she forgot to make the t in her last name taller than the other lowercase letters).
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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We had an escape this morning! Usually the Ketchup Princess gets up in the morning and either calls for Abba, then Mama if he doesn't come, or goes to her door and knocks (sometimes after playing a bit.) This morning, I heard the wake-up noises, then the making her way to the door, and then... no calling, no knocking, just the ominous sound of the doorknob turning! Since she's never managed to get her door open on her own, it being a bit tougher than the front door (which slips right open and we have to keep deadlocked), I expected a few tries and then some knocking and calling. No such luck! I heard little feet padding around checking out the situation, then a knock on my partly-open door and "Mama? Mama?" The little escapee then plopped her LittleTouch LeapPad (talking book) up on the bed and followed herself, played with it while snuggling a bit, then climbed down, led me to the fridge, and said, "Yeah! Now et berkfust!"
She's obviously very proud. So I thought I'd tell you all.
We're gonna have to start locking our door when we don't want a visitor...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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My daughter's school is down in Hyde Park, on the south side of Chicago. We live far enough north that we're virtually in Evanston. So she takes the bus every day, as do about 30% of the kids in her school.
She's in kindergarten. There's a 2nd grade girl on the bus whose mother arranged with my partner to take her home on Tuesdays, because her mother can't make it to the bus on time.
This week, she asked if my daughter could come for a sleepover this Friday night with a couple other girls. My partner was happy, but asked her, "Wouldn't your daughter rather invite kids closer to her age?"
The woman's response was, "Your daughter is smart. My daughter can't stand dumb kids."
Now... I wouldn't want to see my daughter, or any other kids, shunning kids who were perceived as less bright, and I don't think that really happens at this school. But I was tickled to hear this. And the 2nd grader does play with my daughter as a peer when she's over on Tuesdays.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Ryan knows how to open doors and as we found out recently, can undo the deadbolt as well. Apparently it's time to put a chain on the front door.
He never leaves his room in the morning when he wakes up, though. He'll call out and wait patiently until someone comes in. Even if he plays quietly, he always gets his toy and then takes it back to his bed. He's like his Mom. He just doesn't like getting out of bed in the morning.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Why don't you buy those door knob cover thingies that you have to squeeze in order to open the door?
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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We have those on any interior doors we don't want him getting through. They won't work on the type of handle on the front door, though.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Aerin rolled over yesterday, two months ahead of schedule. She also spit up like a pledge during Greek Week.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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Icarus, your news about your kids is wonderful.
Daniel is on track in kindergarten, he seems to be overcoming the issues with his fine motor control. His handwriting is legible, the biggest issue is that he tires quickly when writing. That's normal for kids with hypotonia, because they have to exercise such muscle control their muscles get worn out.
In celebration of Emily making it to the competitive team in gymnastics, I'm taking her to see the SEC gymnastics championships tomorrow night. Should be fun. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Sequoyah got a part in a play he auditioned for (I posted aboout it in another thread I started). He is the youngest in the show, and knows all his lines and cues (learned them by rehearsal number 2) and has at least one singing solo.
He is being called back to audition for a speaking role in one or more movies that are coming to the state in the next couple of months.
He is starting to sight read more words and can read easy readers with sounding out only about half the words and just knowing what the others are. I'm really proud because reading has been a struggle for him and he's been really afraid of it because he thinks it is too hard, and hates to do things "wrong" and he can't read perfectly.
On the other hand he doing really great with math and has a really good understanding of fractions and multiplication, and is starting to memorize the facts, which is not too shabby fr a 6 yr old.
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BabyDot ate her first entire piece of pizza. She's also packed on a pound and a half over the last month or so. She's still small, but at least people aren't worried about her as much.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Liam has mastered all his necessary Kindergarten skills, according to his report card, and there are still nine weeks left of school. I think he's motivated because he has an older brother to keep up with, I guess. His handwriting is almost as good as Robert's, but Robert's is really bad (takes after me, I guess). He got an "N" in P.E. because he has been a thorn in the coach's side this period, but I find it hard to be anything but amused by the irate "Liam whistles in gym class" notes.
Robert has come on like a champ with the school work recently. I'm really proud of him because this has been a rough year for him socially. He's really never had to put any effort into school work until he had to memorize the times tables, and got really angry when he couldn't just do it perfectly the first time. Some skills take repetition, and I'm really proud of him for not getting discouraged. My wee perfectionist. *shakes head*
Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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A few weeks ago Livvie had her Badge Dance at Ballet. The dancers are judged on a short dance they choreograph, knowledge of ballet terms, and leading floorwork and a warm up. Out of a possible 22 points, she got 21.5!
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Goodlet #1 tried out for and made Swing Choir for the '06-'07 school year!
There are about 75 kids in each of the 6th and 7th grade choruses and about 50 in 8th grade (a regular class). Swing Choir is only about 25 kids, combined 7th and 8th, and an extracurricular by audition only activity.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Daughter #1 started saying "Hi!" at some ridiculous age, like 6-9 months. Now at 3 1/2, she's probably about a year or more ahead as far as grammar and vocabulary are concerned. Her diction is also beyond the typical. Her pediatrician was amazed when she buttoned and zipped up her jeans after a check up all by herself, telling my wife that those skills usually come around age 5!
She's friendly to all, adults or children. She's always been cuddly (though wiggly) and is extremely loving. But she's MINDBOGGLINGLY strong-willed! I have yet to encounter a child so determined. My wife and I now know some of the best ways to reward and discipline her, but these came through 18 months of trench warfare.
#2 is 14 months old and has amazing dexterity. She's been walking for about 3 weeks and loves it. Her speech is composed of words like Dada, Mama, Nana, Gaga, Bapa, Bama, Lala, Zhazha, etc. Like her sister, she can pick up just about anything with her feet. Her smile could stop a train, and she uses it to tease without mercy.
The most amazing talent she has is mimicry. Whatever pop, buzz, raspberry, tongue-click, or other sound effect we make, she tries to imitate it. Her success rate is perhaps around 75%.
One night when she was 10 months, we were in the girls' bedroom reading scriptures. She pulled herself up on the changing table (a then-uncommon accomplishment) and announced "Gu-grl!" When I closed the scriptures, she pronounced "Ah-dun!," followed by "Nai-nai!" We thought our miracle baby had started talking, but we've never since heard those words.
Ah, my sweet princesses! How remarkable is your generation!
Posts: 105 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Super-K and I played Talisman yesterday when we were both home from church sick.
We don't play with spells, but all of the rest of the rules are in place.
He beat me fair and square. What's better is that he understands the math of the game. It's really neat to see him add up STR + [dice roll] and come up with the right number AND know that that number means that he beat a Dragon, AND because the Dragon had a Strength of 7, he gets an extra strength point that he can then use to smack Daddy's puny minstrel around the board...
And oh, yeah-- he's FIVE. I'm glad I didn't eat him.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I took Em to the SEC gymnastics championship Sat. night. At the end, they gave out all the awards, and she asked me what the "Scholar Athlete of the Year" award was for. I told her.
Then on the way home she asked me if she would ever be good enough to compete in gymnastics on the college level. I told her I didn't know, but it was certainly possible if she remained dedicated and worked hard. Then she said if she did make it, she wanted to win a Scholar Athlete award. I asked her why that one, because there were other awards like Athlete of the Year. She said it was because she would be going to college not to do gymnastics, but to learn. And since she wanted to be a nurse one day, she needed really good grades, so if she got the scholar athlete award it would mean she was doing what she was supposed to be doing.
*sniff* What a great kid.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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As someone who started school with my mom only being able to understand 50% of what I said and my teachers being unable to understand anything I said, I have usually been leery of bragging threads. Kids mature at different rates.
That being said, I LOVE READING this thread. I guess until I became a parent, I never fully recognized how fun kids are. So I am trashing my philosophy and bragging too.
Toshi is only 21 months old, but he has been drawing alot for a couple months. My work was throwing out reams of dot-matrix printing paper, so I took some home. Toshi created his first work of art from it. I wrote a little story to capture it on my blog. I also have pictures. Here it is! He is such a good little artist.
quote:Over and over, day after day, Toshi hones his skill. The cycle of intensely creating something and dramatically discarding it finally begins to give form to what is on his mind. At first the face seems too abstract to comfortably identify, but each rendition is clearer.
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So, Robert and I had a "date" the other night. I figured some one-on-one time would do him good, since Liam is often the squeakier wheel, if you take my meaning.
So, after dinner Ron and Liam went to play tennis with Ben, and Robert and I set off on our adventure. First, we hit the library. I was all set to order him the second book in the Jedi Apprentice series (he SO loved the first, because he thinks Obi-Wan is the coolest ever) from another library in the network, when the lady said she thought there was a paperback of the same book on the rack around the corner. We found it and Robert checked it out with the machine, and we talked about what he thougt would happen in the story. *glows with pride at her little Star Wars geek*I just love how this kid is growing into such an interesting person, with his own ideas about things. And he still thinks it's cool to hang with me.
Then we hit the pool. There were young people there with beer, which is a no no, but we ignored them and passed a ball back and forth in the pool, rode noodles and generally had a blast. Some kids Robert knew from school peeked in, but they didn't have their trunks and were hostages to their parents at the tennis court, anyway. He seemed content to play with me.
We got out and dried off, hauled everything up to the truck and went to Brusters for ice cream. He got exactly what he wanted (a cup of purple vanilla with green sprinkles and eyes, plus a baby cone hat) which was cool. he read the first chapter of his book to me while we drove, then we sat in the truck a bit to eat the ice cream (since it was beginning to be dark and chilly outside).
By the time we got in, showered and ready for bed, the other men in life were back, and I read the boys a couple of chapters of another book we've been reading together. Then lights out.
The really cool thing was that Robert and I really connected. The difference in his overall attitude has been incredible. Posts: 9293 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Emma has begun to fearlessly go down the 8-foot-tall slide at the park-- all by herself. She climbs up the stairs, runs across the bridge without hesitation, and goes up more stairs, around the big hole with the ladder (I'm mortally afraid she'll decide to jump down there head-first and kill herself, even though I know she's a cautious kid and I shouldn't worry, and it's soft ground anyway), and straight down the loooong slide. This from the kid who, a month ago, wouldn't go down the baby slide without Abba holding her hand to the top and Mama waiting at the bottom for her, much less cross the bridge without holding onto the railing with one hand and Abba's hand with the other! It's amazing how she grows up by leaps and bounds.
And Olivia, I know how cool it can be to spend some one-on-one time. Once a week or so, Ems and I go out to lunch. We pack Bridget in the carseat and into the stroller, and that puts her straight to sleep so we can go to Burger King or Taco Bell and enjoy each other's company (and the kids' meal toys) without screaming interrupting us or a baby in Mama's arms. I enjoy it a lot, and so does Ems; I can only imagine how much cooler one-on-one time will be when she's grown up enough to have opinions about series books and Star Wars. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Whew, I disappear and show up to brag about my kid every once in awhile... sorry.
Well, aside from bronchitis and pneumonia over the past 1.5-2 months, my boy has been amazing.
He's had performances of how to Eat Like A Child every weekend this month and has held up wonderfully. He even went on when he got bronchitis (AGAIN) last weekend. He has a solo, which he does SO well, and everyone wants to talk to him afterward to tell him he is a natural and destined for stardom.
Never gotcallbacks for the movies like the casting director said we would, but, oh well.
My favorite thing is he's started raising money to send little extras to the two kids he is sponsoring through Children International. I see a long summer of lemonade stands ahead.
Posts: 772 | Registered: Feb 2005
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I have to resurrect this to brag on Emily again.
Saturday she went to an open workout at gymnastics, this is an optional workout that the kids don't need to attend, but they can if they want to work on mastering a new skill or refining their routines.
When I got there to pick her up, I was shocked - she was doing back handsprings all by herself! She just learned it that day, and the coach allowed her to do them without a spotter she was doing them so well. She was the only girl at her level that was allowed to do them without a spotter. She also learned the front handspring, but still needed to be spotted on that one (seems odd, but front handsprings are apparently more difficult to master than back ones, because it's a blind landing.)
She was so excited, because the back handspring is the skill she needed to learn to advance to her next level. Of course, the competition season is about to begin, so she won't move up a level now, but it does mean that when the time comes for promotions, she'll almost definitely get promoted.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Sequoyah auditioned for a movie on July 28. He went in and they toldhim to sit against the wall and "Look Sick" The Casting director said "excellent" and wrote "Good sick kid at the top of his paperwork.
He had a callback yesterday and was cast. We are waiting for the filming schedule still. His part is small, one of a number of "sick children" but they really liked him. His scene may be cut from the final movie, who knows? But still he was cast. He's thrilled!
Posts: 772 | Registered: Feb 2005
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The little escapee then plopped her LittleTouch LeapPad (talking book) up on the bed and followed herself, played with it while snuggling a bit, then climbed down, led me to the fridge, and said, "Yeah! Now et berkfust!"![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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"She also spit up like a pledge during Greek Week."
