Friday, June 13, 2014

Funny bunny (Aurelia-isms)


Oh, Aurelia!  My funny little girl!  Always making us laugh, always up for a good tickle, always a bit dramatic (for good or ill!). 

I wanted to share a few of the funny and cute things she does and says, mostly so I have these written down somewhere and can look back fondly on them when she's older, but also because she's just so darned awesome!

When I got home from work yesterday, I was greeted by Aurelia in Underwear.  Dashiell's underwear, to be precise.  On the outside of her clothes.  I hear Dashiell had been doing the same thing, but the fact that she kept it up?  Priceless.

She loves a good mustache, even if it's a "banana string" mustache.  I guess Rick's Movember look really stuck with her!

She also loves making funny faces:



And jamming to songs the mommy and daddy way (she was copying our head-bob, duck-face car dance):
(bonus - can you name that artist and song?*  It played on a now-defunct alternative radio station in Boston for about a minute probably 6 or 7 years ago.  Rick dug up the CD a couple of weeks ago, and somehow we knew every.single.song, word for word)

And trying to be a daredevil on her trike:



I unfortunately don't have any video of this (yet!), but she does this funny dance all.the.time, where she sticks out her little tushy at us, wiggles it around, and sings "shake a bum bum!  shake a bum bum!"  Hi-larious! 

The things I'm going to miss when she stops saying them:

Aurelia: "I a monkey - ooh-ee-ah-ah!"
Me: "You're a monkey?!"
Aurelia: "No, I 'Rea!"

"la you soon!" (combo of "love you" and "see you soon")

"'ere go Dacho!" ("here you go Dashiell", as she hands him things)

The way she says "ma-muh" in the middle of sentences - "I ma-muh take a nap!"  (replacing "am going to", usually.  Also this sentence is usually followed by her lying down on the steps, blocking our way up the stairs)

"Hey eya-body!  I 'Rea!" ("Hey everybody, I'm Aurelia!" - her introduction of herself, which she's been practicing on us for weeks now)

In the same vein, "Hey eya-body, nacktime!" ("Hey everybody, snacktime!" when she decides it's time to have a snack.)

She also likes to announce "Bekfast time!"  "Lunch time!" of "Dinner time!"

"'gen?" ("Again", which she says after every tickle, every wrestle, every bounce, every swing, every upside-down hold...really after anything she finds fun and awesome)

Her laugh.  Oh, it's just the best!  So uninhibited, so full of joy - I could listen to it all day!  Especially when Dashiell is laughing with her.  The way they feed off each other is so much fun!  I'm pretty sure this is what everyone means when they say "you'll miss this time when they're grown up".  Yup, I definitely will!


*She wants Revenge, "Tear you Apart" - in hindsight, not the best song to play for a 2-year-old...

Friday, June 6, 2014

Kindergarten Author's Day

Original poem by Dashiell W. Hanson

The school year is winding down (finally!  What's with school lasting until the end of June in Massachusetts??), and last week Dashiell's school had their Kindergarten Author's Day - a celebration of the school year and a chance for all the kindies to show off all they learned during the year!

Let me tell you, Dashiell has learned a LOT.  I often think about my own kindergarten experience, and how it was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like what Dashiell is experiencing.  Mostly I remember having to take a nap on a carpet remnant, having milk and graham crackers as a snack, playing with the kitchen, and fighting with this boy named Johnny over the plastic toy stilts (those upside down cups with ropes attached?  They were the BEST!).  And getting read to, of course.  Dashiell, on the other hand, is writing full sentences, analyzing stories, finding out how non-fiction books are organized, doing addition and subtraction (and starting to try to figure out multiplication), and writing poetry.  He does have a rest time each day, and social centers (play time), and specials (music, art, computers, library or gym), and a short recess every day, but it's crazy how much these little 6-year-olds are learning now!  But thankfully his big little brain is soaking it all in and figuring it all out.

Anyway, Author's Day was kind of a big deal. All the kids were so excited to show their families everything they worked so hard on this year!  The first order of business was to show off all of their writing skills.  Dashiell showed us his "Writing Book" first, which is a journal where they wrote and drew pictures about books that they read in class. 

Here's a example from the beginning of the year, when they read Kitten's First Full Moon:
A lovely analysis of the beginning, middle and end of the story! (I like Kitten in the tree seeing the moon in the water below!)

At the end of the year, Dashiell wrote about and drew a picture about Todd Parr, who I had never even heard of!

You can see he tried to draw in the style of Todd Parr, with the black outline around everything.  Cool, huh?

Then Dashiell showed us some of the writing assignments he had completed through the year (the ones that did not get sent home to us previously).

Beginning of the year:
End of the year:
His writing has definitely improved!

Then he showed us his Poetry Book!  This is not a book of his poetry, but a book where they illustrate poems they have read. 

Beginning of the year:
End of the year:

After showing us his work, all of the kids went up to the front of the classroom and performed a number of songs for us!  The finale was "Let it Go" from "Frozen".  As Ms. Moroney was cuing up the music, she told us that they listen to music every day and one day when they put this song on she was "surprised" to find out that every child knew every word to it!  (A little sarcasm, perhaps...)

The final event was a slideshow from the year.  It was so cute to hear all the kids yelling out the names of whoever was on the screen.  They were all so excited!

We were not allowed to take pictures of the event due to a school policy on privacy, but I did get a picture of Dashiell and Aurelia after the event!
She was almost as excited to be there as he was, sang along to all the songs she knew, and went up and sat with Dashiell on the "rainbow rug" when the slideshow was taking place.  I must say it was adorable (at least to us!).

Dashiell's teacher and the paras in his room did a great job with the whole program!  We are going to miss them so much when the school year ends - we couldn't have asked for a better kindergarten experience for our special little big guy!

Before I sign off, I wanted to add a couple more drawings and assignments that Dashiell has done this year that I am particularly fond of!  The first was from another school journal, where they could write or draw about anything they wanted:

I love how he showed the progression from seed to flower in six simple drawings!

Next is the assignment he did for his writing homework right after his birthday party at Jump on In:
It totally looks like the bounce house slide they have!  And it makes me happy to see him write about how happy he was!

And lastly, this is a drawing he did on his own at home, of the whole layout of our house!
The amount of detail is incredible, even with such simple pictures!  And everything is there, in the right place!  The car is in the driveway, the trees are in front of the house on either side of the walkway, there's a dining room, a kitchen with the wall of cabinets, the living room with the couch, ottoman, TV, and chairs, everything!  I love it!

It's been a great year full of growth and exploration!  I hope next year is just as awesome!

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Fashionista!

The fashion gene is strong in this one.  Opinions abound regarding clothing choices.  I think it started way back last fall, when she discovered her strawberry skirt and wanted to wear it any time she noticed it in her drawer.
Then came the accessorizing.
And the ever-present hats.
 

 Not to mention her excitement about wearing "Minnie-bows"!

(and tutus, of course)

She also has her supermodel/superstar poses down pat.

(though in that last picture she had declared "I take a nap!" before striking that pose - but seriously, doesn't that look like something you'd see in a fashion mag?  You can imagine a photographer saying "now, try to look comfortable, like you're about to take a nap!" and this is what the model came up with.  Pure "comfort")

But in the past couple of weeks, it hit a new high.  First, we went shoe shopping for some new sandals about two weeks ago.  As I handed her a shoe box with some practical but pretty pink sandals in them, she opened them and literally squealed with delight.  Squealed.  And couldn't wait to put them on!  It should be noted that I am decidedly not shoe-obsessed, and while I do have a few pairs of pretty shoes, they are also inexpensive, comfortable and practical.  People who care about such things would look at my feet and think, "there's a mom who just doesn't care anymore".  So I have no idea where she gets this love of shoes! 

I should also point out that after trying on two pairs of sandals, Aurelia was convinced that she wanted the less-practical white-with-a-pink-flower sandals over the more practical shoe.  I promptly hid those until she forgot they existed, and now she is the proud owner of some very pink yet practical sandals!
Second, we were invited to a 50th anniversary party for the parents of one of Rick's long-time friends.  As I was pulling out Aurelia's fancy dresses (she has waaayyy too many of them, by the way - fancy dresses seem to be a favorite gift to give to little girls), I showed her two dresses that I knew she was going to grow out of soon so we could get some use out of them.  Both pink, but one more pink than the other.  Without a moment's hesitation, she pointed at the "more pink" dress and yelled "PINK!!!" and insisted on wearing that one.  I was thankful it actually did fit her - I shudder to think what would have happened if it was too small!  When we got her in the dress, she kept saying, "I a princess!"  Once again, a bit out of the blue since we are not a "princess" family.  I never liked her wearing clothing that proclaimed her a princess, and she has more doctor and superhero dress-up clothing than anything remotely princess-y.  The pink thing I can understand - it's hard to find clothing and toys for girls that aren't pink. 

The flip side to her fashion-loving ways is that she is constantly telling me my dress (which is sometimes a shirt or a skirt) looks nice - "I like a dress.  Pretty!".  And that's pretty darn nice to hear, even if it is from a two-year-old!  She even told me I was a princess on the night of the party.  Aww...

Me and my princess
(apologies for the light behind my head)