Summer activities.

I was ready for school to be over for the summer but now I'm trying to come up with stuff that keeps Esther busy.  If I let her, she would spend all day playing on the computer, but since that isn't very healthy, I have to come up with alternatives.  I have been really working with E on doing chores.  She has a daily chore list consisting of 5 things:  brush teeth, put away silverware, clean room, put away clothes, and take dirty clothes the washing machine.  At first, putting stickers on her checklist was exciting for her, but that quickly wore off. Cleaning her room is her least favorite chore, and who would blame her.  Boy, can that girl procrastinate.  She will spend hours in her room supposedly cleaning up and when I check on her, she has managed to make an even bigger mess.  She is not allowed to watch TV or play on the computer until she is done in hopes of motivating her, but like I said she is a great procrastinator.  She has enough energy to play for hours but when it's time to pick up, she is "exhausted". However, I use this to my advantage...when I need some quiet time I tell her to clean her room and I don't see her for quite a while.  I have been working with her on focusing on one area at a time, like putting way Legos.  She still struggles with this.  I'm hoping by the end of summer she will be more able to focus on tasks.

Some of our other activities for the summer are park dates with Esther's preschool friends.  We usually meet once a week. Esther will also be starting swimming lessons tomorrow.  This will be her first swim class.  She loves being in the water but hates to get her face wet.  We'll see how it goes.  

After last year's tragic snail vs. cd player incident, I have been a little reticent about bringing anymore in the house.  However, I decided to give Esther another chance to be a responsible "snail owner".  We found three and she had great fun with them...until I found them in the bathroom sink in a small pool of soapy water.  Apparently she was trying to clean them. They were all still alive and are now freely roaming outdoors again.

Fun at the zoo with the penguins.

Right now, Woodland Park Zoo has a cool exhibit with animatronic dinosaurs.  Of course anything that combines dinosaurs and robots is right up E's alley.

Of course E had to climb on every statue.  I love the look on these two boys faces.

We are now parents of a kindergartener!

A month like this one makes me realize I should have blogged more, but I guess it will have to be one big post.  

Esther is officially done with preschool and is so excited for kindergarten!  Registering Esther for kindergarten, I put that E's first language was Cantonese (at least for the her first 10 1/2 months of life), but this created a red flag for ESL.  ESL contacted me and wanted to evaluate her English.  Ha ha!  So I went back to the school and changed it to English as her first language.  Live and learn!  

Co-op preschool has been a wonderful experience for both of us, but I am glad summer is here.  Esther will start swimming lessons soon, and possibly a gymnastics or sports class, too.  At the end of July we will be headed to Kansas for a reunion with our fellow China travelers/adoptive families.  We haven't seen each other in 4 1/2 years and it will be so great to see everybody again.  

When we get home from that trip, we will might be getting a second dog.  Huddle is excited for this, Gene not so much!  Pretty funny since Gene is the one who wanted a dog in the first place.  Who knew I would turn out to be a dog person.

Enjoying one of the few sun breaks we've had, at the dog park.

Our silly girl.

Tired, hot, happy dog.

My peeps!  

Wow, her hair was long!  Esther decided she was ready for short hair again, and wanted a boy haircut like her friend, Theo.  We agreed on a bob.

Our two kids.

Up until recently, E didn't show much interest in writing her letters, but apparently she knew them all along.  Typical Esther...doing things on her own time.

"Animating" like Daddy.

"A robot bus, with people on it."

E's preschool friend's little brother invited Esther to his party.  The fire department delivered the cake and  let the kids check out their truck!  Esther was excited, to say the least.

Last field trip of the year was to the beach.  It was a really low tide that day so we got to see lots of cool things.  Esther's favorites were the dead crabs she found, which she carried around in the dog's Chuckit.

Showing off her find!

As preparation for kindergarten, the kids got to go on a real, live school bus.   They had a safety class first, then a little ride around the block.  On the bus Esther's reaction was, "This is SO cool!"

One classmate kept asking about why there were no seat belts.  It obviously concerned him very much. He will make a conscientious law-abiding citizen one day.

Although most of her short life E has played almost exclusively with boys, just recently she has begun to join in with the girls.  Here she is sitting by her favorite girlfriend, Maren.  She had me help her write a letter to her, telling her that she loved her and wanted to have a play date at Maren's house sometime.  She made sure I wrote that she would be very respectful of her toys, and maybe they could have a snack.

Teacher Kathy sitting in front of the quilt that our class created for her. I sewed it but each child contributed a drawn square and a special piece of fabric.

Last story time as a preschooler.  Tear.

Each kid got a book about themselves, and a mini stuffed guinea pig (like the one they all got to take home during the year.)  Esther was so pleased!

Although class is over, we will be having play dates all summer at different parks.  Unfortunately,
E won't have any of her buddies attending kindergarten with her.  

Interesting week....

Gene's been gone all week in California for his job, so it was just me, Esther and Ollie.  On Monday, I had to put our 15 year old cat down...by myself.  He suddenly got sick (kidney disease) and within 3 days we knew it was time to say goodbye.  He had been in our lives for 14 years and we miss him.  He was a character who used up many of his 9 lives:  once I had to give him the Heimlich when he was choking on some kibble, once he got caught upside down behind the water heater (thanks to his tail and my dad's strong arm we got him out), once he was attacked in his own home by a feral cat who got in through a screened window (picture cat fur and kitty poo everywhere), and just recently he got a huge abscess on his bum.  Although he woke me up nightly by pawing at my hair, had awful breath, and would scratch incessantly at closed doors, he was still a great pet.  He was cuddly and loving to everyone.  RIP Sydney.
Esther doesn't quite understand the permanence of death yet and seems to be dealing with it ok.  She'll probably miss most trying to stick him in the toilet and helping Ollie torment him.

Proudly showing off her robot creation.

Some of her best friends:  Theo and Zachary, during a field trip to Seattle Tilth  Garden.

Checking out some ladybugs.

Being her silly self.

Running around at the playground

Dying eggs for Easter

Tada, complete with cheesy grin.

I have a couple videos to post, but I'm having issues...stay tuned.

Here are the photos!

Poor Sydney, he had a big abscess on his bum, and it had to be lanced.  This is the first time in 15 years that he's had to wear a cone.  As you can see, Gene was very sympathetic to poor Sydney's plight.

Our little destroyer.  Watch out world, if anything has a screw holding it together, it is fair game for Esther.  We've had to put her tool box away when we are not supervising.  I really do love that she needs to figure out how things work.  She has a very scientific brain.  We just have to try to reign her in sometimes.

The Prince lounging on his throne.

Ever since I made a little shark costume for the preschool's stuffed guinea pig, Esther has been begging for one of her own.  She has this belief that I am magic with my sewing machine.  I had to try to make her one.  So with her Daddy's shark costume sketch in hand, I got to work.  And "Sharky" was born.  I used leftover fabric, thus the floral print, but overall I am pleased with my efforts, and best of all, so is Esther.  She wears it daily and I even allowed her to wear it to school twice.  (I was playing around with the fotoflexer because the background was bothering me, so I added the swirls.  Hey, it looks a little like waves.)

"Retro"- Girl and her dog.

Esther's preschool has an auction every year.  And this year our class had to come up with a project for the auction.  I  suggested a quilt that each kid could draw a block for.  Ha, ha...guess who volunteered herself to make it.  Yep, me.  I figured I had to be an expert after tackling one quilt in my life, right?  Actually it turned out really well and sold for $475!!  Crazy!

Esther's square is on the lower right.  It is the solar system.  (I wrote the planet names for her.)