Here We Go Again...

Last week I had the pleasure of picking up Kali from school.  Usually, I drop her off and Daddy does the pick up but Daddy was busy so I picked her up.  It was a real treat because I got to see Kali's actual classroom versus the "holding tank" that I drop her off at in the mornings.  While we were in the classroom, Kali's teacher explained a "new concept" that they were incorporating to encourage good behavior.  Basically, there is a chart with 5 goals and Kali gets a sticker for each daily goal that she meets.  At the end of the week, she takes her stickers to buy a small prize.  I told her teacher that I thought that was a good idea and I told Kali about it.  The next day, Daddy picked up Kali and when I got home, he asked if I knew about the new behavior chart.  I told him that I found out about it yesterday.  Then he asked me if I knew that Kali was the only child who had to do it?!?  Whaaaaaat?  Noooooo, I didn't know that my sweet-faced little girl was a terror in the classroom!!!  Honestly, she does not behave this way at home.  She is very mindful but for some reason, she is not listening in class.  I was shocked and actually kind of embarrassed.  Daddy suggested that we carry this reward program home so that we're reinforcing the teacher's efforts.  Now, I am not all for rewarding folks for things they are supposed to do, but she's 2 and obviously what we're doing isn't working so I'll give it a try.

We have a money counting jar that Kali gets a kick out of using.  So the next day, Daddy bought Kali her own piggy bank that makes silly noises when she deposits coins.  Using the premise of earning stickers, we instead reward her with coins.  If she accomplishes her goals at home, she gets to "feed the piggy" which she absolutely loves doing!

Last week was the first full week that we incorporated operation "Positive Reinforcement" and so far, so good.  She's gotten the majority of her stickers through the week at school and she responds very well to our system at home.   She really likes being called "a big girl" so we're also starting to use that to our advantage.  We tell her "big girls behave like this".  Along those same lines, we finally have her sitting at the table with us for meals!  Yup, bye bye high chair!!!  She's almost 3 so it was definitely time, and she likes that she's eating with us.  Next step is her crib!  *lol*  I'm going to miss having her confined to her crib at night!!  She has plenty of room in it and doesn't try to get out so I don't even see the point in converting it but I suppose at some point it has to be done.  I'm just in no rush to have her be a big girl in that regard!  : )

SMA?

Until 20 minutes ago, I had never heard of this disease.  I read about this little girl's blog (written by her daddy) on Yahoo! news and felt compelled to have a look.  Needless to say I have a lump the size of a golf ball in my throat but seeing how her parents are dealing with it made me smile.  I pray I will never know their pain, and if faced with anything like this, that God will give us the strength to cope in a similar manner.  I didn't want to just click away and act like I never read their story....they ask that it be shared.  Soo.....have a look at Avery's Bucket List, she will warm your heart.

1st Class See You Laters

This Saturday, Oma is leaving for her annual stint in Alaska.  So when she came over on Sunday for her final visit before she leaves, we made sure she had a fabulous departing dinner! 

I started us off with a shrimp and crab bisque, followed by Daddy’s scrumptious bacon-wrapped scallops.  Then we moved on to the main course of mushroom-stuffed fillet mignon topped with fresh tarragon & rosemary and a Béarnaise sauce served with wild rice and steamed broccoli.   Yuuuuuummmmmm!  Everything was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious!!! 

Kali definitely didn’t want her to go but we explained that they will talk and she’ll be back soon.  The next morning, Kali said, “I not going to school….I move to Alaska.”  Awwwwww.

Preparing for Baby Brooklyn!

Last weekend we helped the Woods family celebrate the impending birth of Brooklyn's baby.  Brooklyn is having a girl and she'll be arriving around May 10.  So to prepare Kalissa for the new baby, I've been showing her lots of photos of pregnant women, then pictures of new born babies and explaining that the baby came from the mommy's belly.  She acts like she's understanding the concept....but she also informed me that she wanted to go BACK inside my belly.  *lol*

We, and about 30 more friends and family members, gathered at the Woods' home last Saturday and had a great time.  Brooklyn received soooo many gifts and clothing and diapers and wipes.   She is definitely set for a looooong time to come on supplies for her baby.  We were more than happy to gift her a convertible carseat just like the ones we have for Kalissa and all of Kali's infant toys and miscellaneous items, since it doesn't look like we'll be needing them afterall *sniff sniff*. 

I am soooo disappointed with my photo skills during this event.  I guess I was just too preoccupied with keeping a look out on Kali and with catching up with everybody, that I wasn't taking many photos.  Kalissa was the youngest kid there but of course that didn't stop her from playing with the big kids.  Matter of fact, at one point I hadn't heard or seen her for quite a few minutes so I went looking all around the house for her.  She ended up being in the front yard playing with a 4 year old little boy.   Ohhhhh, but no!  You two are both waaay to young to be out front with no supervision.  I shudder to think of what could have been.  Thank you God for always keeping a watchful eye on our baby!  Aside from my poor picture taking, we had a great time.  We played plenty of games and ate lots of delicious food. Brooklyn was absolutely radiant!

In true Woods' fashion, the men played the classic baby shower game "who can drink beer from a sippy cup the fastest?"  *lol*  Al played but didn't do well.  Not surprisingly, the Grandfather-to-be ended up being in the top two and having to compete for the prize -- a case of beer.  *lol*

We are all looking forward to seeing the newest edition, and can't wait for her arrival!

School Days

I love Kalissa's school.  I really, really do! ....and the best part is, Kalissa does too!  She's learning so much there.  Not just intellectually, but she's also learning how to interact with other children, adults and authority figures.  Believe it or not, Kalissa is no angel all the time.  She has been sent to the Director's office for misbehaving.  Nothing too drastic but sometimes she doesn't listen to directions as quickly as she should.  They work with her and we reinforce her minding at home.  Overall, she's doing a great job.

The kids go the library each week and to chapel service.  They are growing plants and learning how to care for them.  And every day Kalissa comes home with the cutest art projects.  Here are just a recent few:

The school is also very responsive to any of our concerns and they communicate very well with us on any issues that may arise.  Earlier this week, Kali fell off the monkey bars and they provided a written account of what happened which Kali eagerly corroborated.

It's such a blessing to have found a place that we are 100% comfortable entrusting Kali's care.  I have no doubt that because of her experiences at this preschool, she will be beyond ready for kindergarten when that time comes!

KalissaRae.com is here!

Last year, I purchased a domain name in Kali's name....and until now, I really didn't know what to do with it! *LOL* I finally took some time and figured out how to co-mingle the new website name with this blog. The result is now you can simply type in www.KalissaRae.com when you want to find out what little miss Kalissa Rae is doing. Ahhhh....simplicity!