She files, she files

I'm interrupting Christmas pictures to post this because it's too cute and I'm afraid I'll forget about it before I share it.  

When we remodeled the kitchen/laundry room, I redesigned the laundry room cabinets to include 2 file drawers.  I have a file cabinet in another room, but I really wanted a drawer for mail and and the top things that seem to pile up on my desk.  So far it's working pretty well.  The bottom drawer is mine, and the top is for Parker's papers that accumulate.  Stuff from school, artwork, etc etc.  I put file folders in there and had starting adding to it when she discovered it and has taken it over.  She sorted everything into categories that made sense to her, and had me make labels and the best part, she actually FILES THINGS.  I'll pull stuff out of her folder from school and remind her "you need to file your stuff" and SHE DOES!  How great is that? 

So if you're keeping score on which side of the family she takes after, put a point my mom's column. 

No news

I have nothing really interesting to report, but I'm posting anyway just so I don't fall behind. We had a somewhat busy weekend. Parker had a couple birthday parties to attend, and I hosted a book club meeting. Parker helped with the mopping.

Book club. Just a small group, we meet once a month and take turns hosting. We meet in the evening so we just do dessert and wine, which is pretty easy on the hostess.

Parker's new thing is checking the weather report. I'm not sure if she's really that interested in the upcoming weather, or if she just likes the graphs and pictures and reading out loud to us. Either way, it's a nightly event.

Parker seems to be slowly recovering from her ear infections. I can't tell if she's still feeling run down or if she's just having trouble adjusting to not being pampered 24/7, but she's been somewhat crabby. She reported today that one of her ears "not popped" anymore....meaning she can hear out of it finally. One down, one to go.

Chores

Every couple weeks I wash a pile of cleaning rags, and Parker has learned to fold them. I give her a choice of either money for her piggy bank or a little toy or gift I've stashed away. On this day she got something she's been asking for for a long time.....her very own clipboard. I guess she gets the love of office supply gene from my side of the family.

Grocery List

Here's a little slice of my day, in the form of my grocery list after Parker is done with it. She rides along in the shopping cart with the clip board and crosses things off when I tell her. She also added "goldfish", and all the hearts and 'sparkles' (dots and astriks) The doodles are really her trying to write the number 3.

Sous-chef

This 'helping' in the kitchen thing is getting better and better. Parker volunteered to help peel shrimp (really just remove the tails) and she did a great job! I got her all set up, and she was able to do it all by herself.
She's also becoming quite skilled at folding towels and dishclothes....but she recognizes that those are a chore, and she requires compensation.
I wonder at what age it will be safe to 'let' her chop onion. THAT will be a great day.

washing dishes

This would be cute....washing dishes in her ballet outfit, except that she was supposed to be sitting at the dinner table eating.

Here's another one:


It's gotten to the point where I have to wash dishes when she's occupied, or else I have "help".

Pizza dough and a progress report

Friday night is pizza night. Either Bob picks one up, or I make one. Actually, I make 3 - we each get our own. Normally Parker is occupied when I'm making pizza, but this time she helped. She rolled out her own dough....over and over and over again, and eventually cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. With some help, she also added the canadian bacon and "topping" (she won't eat cheese if she knows what it is). I guess the little shapes tasted the best because she ate those first.

Today was her last day of 3 year old preschool. I think the teacher was a little sad saying goodbye to everyone...she had a really nice group of kids this year, and Parker has loved every minute of school. I can recall only 1 time when I had to coax her to go....and I think she wound up throwing up in the car on the way there. Last week she got her final progress report - here are her latest skills:

MASTERED SKILLS:
1. Makes plans with three or more details
2. identifies the beginning letter or sound of a word
3. writes a string of letters and asks to have them read
4. arranges objects in a series
5. recognizes a written word

EMERGING SKILLS:
1. Offering a solution to a conflict
2. arranging objects in a graduated series
3. counting two groups of objects and saying which one has more

SUGGESTIONS FOR HOME:
Parker spends a lot of time role playing. Puppets would promote her imagination, creativity and language skills.

None of those were really ground breaking news to me. The other day she spelled 'job' aloud by sounding it out, so she's getting pretty reading ready. She likes to be read to, but isn't terribly interested in any of the early reading books (Bob Books) I have for her. She has to do it all on her own terms, I guess. As for the suggestions for home, I think I'll pass on doing any more puppeteering than I already do. I'm not sure I can handle her having any more imagination or language skills.

So independent

Nearly any time I start to prepare anything in the kitchen, Parker yells "I wanna help!" . Here she is making her own peanut butter sandwich. She's not doing a bad job either. It's hard to tell, but underneath the apron, she's wearing last year's Halloween costume. We also did little quiches this week to, with Parker assisting in the dough cutting. She's really good with dough.

I think I've mentioned it before, but EVERY NIGHT before bed, she asks what we have planned for the next day, and then picks out an outfit and undies (looped on the hanger), socks, shoes and accesories, and then hangs it on her dresser. And then every morning, she has me bring it downstairs when we go down for breakfast. It really does make the morning go smoother. Maybe I can train her to do the same for Bob.
She also dressed herself completely yesterday. Top, skirt and undies. The top she picked out of the diaper bag and wanted to wear, she went upstairs by herself (that's a BIG DEAL, she never goes upstairs alone) and selected a coordinating skirt, unclipped it from the hanger and put it on. She's been capable of all that, but has never taken the initiative before. That picture is still in the camera. I'll post it next round.

Muffin making

Tuesday we made some banana muffins. It's a recipe from my friend Holly, I'll post it at the end. Parker tried them and loved them, and wanted to make some, so that was our task after a run w/ the jogger. At about mile 2 Parker decided muffing making sounded fun, so we chatted about it the rest of the way, and went right to it after we got in, which is why I'm in running gear. I bought a tripod the other day so I can get more pictures of her and I doing stuff. To look at her photo album you'd think she had a single parent household because I'm always the photographer and it's her and Bob in the pictures.

Dumping in brown sugar...

Slicing bananas w/ butter knife

tasting fresh squeezed orange juice. Mmmmmmm.

I let her smell all the spices when I put them in, vanilla, cinammon, and nutmeg. She had a little brown smudge on her nose at the end that I left there because it was cute.

Finished product. Heart shaped, of course.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Banana Bread Recipe

1 cup brown sugar

1.5 C smashed bananas (about 3 large ones, very ripe)

juice and zest of 1/2 of a med. orange

3/4 cup apple sauce (mine was at room temp - don't know if that matters. Technically, it was two or three of the ind. serv. containers. Whatever comes close but doesn't overflow 1 cup)

2 eggs

2 C Whole Wheat Flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1.5 Tablespoon vanilla

.5 teaspoon baking powder

.5 teaspoon of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup of nuts if you like nuts

Mix it all together, pour into muffin tins and bake.

about 20 mins at 400.

Helping

Here are some old 'helping' pictures I never posted. She's a biiiiiiig help these days. Here she is making muffins and making salad. There's a list below of all the stuff she can help with now. I meant to make that into a nice narrative, but I'm in a rush.



Things Parker helps with:
Cooking: stirring, assembling salads
Washing dishes
Feeding the dog
Filling bird feeder
Planting plants
Watering plants
Putting wet clothes in the dryer

More helping

Bob is taking a long time reading a story, so I'll keep posting pictures. Parker is getting really good at stretching out bedtime these days.
She really loves helping, especially when it involves a screw driver, or when she can hand you stuff. We were suprised she was dexterous (sp?) enough to spin the screwdriver around and around but she was. In the far background, you can see our new tv stand.

"helping" plant flowers

We've started working on the yard. Parker is actually semi-helpful this year....and when she's not helping, she's pretty easily entertained. Here she is digging a hole for my tomato plant. She helps water it too. The tricky part is getting her to stop digging and watering.