Parent/Teacher Conference

Last week, I had my first Parent/Teacher Conference with Ms. Aurora for Keira's preschool. There were lots of things that we discussed. Since Keira is still fairly new to being in a preschool, she rated 'satisfactory' for most topics. She still has alot to learn with most of it being adjustments to being in a more structured environment throughout the day. There are definitely some 'areas of improvement' that we spent most of the time discussing. We'll be working on Keira's issue with controlling her body. What does that mean? She can't keep still!!! They have circle time in the morning for about 15 minutes and Keira is completely antsy by the time around 10 minutes rolls around. She starts fidgeting, tapping her legs, getting up on her knees, getting up and running around. UGH... Other issues that she has are all related to the problem with her staying still and being so antsy, I think those will resolve once we are able to get a handle on the antsy-ness. How DO you work on that with a 3 year old? Any help and tips are appreciated!!!

On the other hand, she got rave reviews for being so advanced with her letter recognition and pronunciation. She knows all of her letters and can pronounce the sounds that each of them make, so she is just steps away from reading..which is wonderful. Alot of that, I credit to the Letter Factory DVDs that belonged to Max. Gigi gave me them when Keira was still little and it really helps with recognizing sounds that the letters make. Gigi swears by it for helping Max to read as well as he does. I highly recommend it for any parents with little ones to get them geared up for reading.

Wish us luck and like I said, any tips on how to work with kids that are antsy is greatly appreciated! :)

BUSY BUSY BUSY

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while. Things have been so hectic lately with my work schedule, with Keira' schedule etc. She is growing like a weed and has unfortunately been getting lots of time in the corner lately for her sassy attitude that she has picked up along the way with her terrible 3s. Yes, 3s can be terrible too LOL. Dan and I are very strict with her because she is very well aware of the fact that she is so darned cute and already knows how to work it to her advantage...complete with the posing and ' I know I'm adorable' looks...so from here on out until she is 30 NO ONE is allowed to call her cute anymore otherwise, she may BE in the corner until she is 30. LOL just kidding...

All in all though, in general, she really is a very well behaved little one knowing consistently to say please and thank you. She's a social butterfly that will wave and say hi to people until they can't help but smile and say hi back. She only does this though when Mommy and Daddy are right there and she is holding our hands knowing that we're right there with her. Daycare has been great for her, but her confidence has really blossomed since going to pre-school. She used to just play all by herself or wanted Dan and I to be the ones to play with her even when other children were around. Now, she makes friends everywhere she goes....


It really is something seeing our little girl growing up!

Chris Fisher- 3 Year Anniversary

We love and miss you Chris!

3 Year Old Check up

It has been so long since I've blogged! We've been so busy and so much has gone on, it's been so hard to get here. Keira is now in pre-school and having a great time. She is meeting lots of new friends and is as fun and active as ever! I took her to her 3 year old check up and she is doing great! She is 95% percentile for height (yes, she's a tall one) and is in the 50% percentile for weight! When we first brought her home, she was about 5% and was barely eating anything, now she eats everything in sight since she's just so active. She is still wearing size 3 clothes but they are starting to flood a little on her heightwise.

She loves watching "The Letter Factory" leapfrog DVD's that Kuya Max gave her. She is really understanding the pronunciations of the letters and is trying to read words by sounding out the letters. Dan has made her a bunch of templates that she likes using to trace out the Capital and lower case letters of the Alphabet. She LOVES to have story time and have us read to her. She loves trying to read to baby and her dolls. If I didn't know better, I would SWEAR that she really was reading Cat in the Hat since she knows all of the words just about! She loves trying to help me cook, help make Daddy coffee and loves to climb all of the fun things at the park that they built close to our house. She's talking up a storm and singing and dancing all the time. She is even practicing MC'ing where she stands in front of Dan and I and starts announcing the next show (it's pretty funny since she also makes sure we clap and respond appropriately LOL She's so bossy!) She loves playing with Amelia and giving her dog treats although I have to watch and make sure that she doesn't give her the whole thing. It's not like Amelia would tell me!

She is such a whirlwind and it's so fun to watch all of the changes happening in her world- I feel so blessed to get to be part of it. She's growing up so fast!

2 Year Anniversary!

On this day 2 years ago, we met our crazy little girl for the first time. Things are so different than on that day. Things were so new for her and she was very scared...believe me...Dan and I were just as scared as she was! I was so worried about whether I was doing the right thing taking her from the only family that she had known up until that point in her young life...worried about whether I would be a good mother...

My how time flies! Here we are...2 years later. I'm still far from being a perfect mother, but who is??? She is in pre-school now and talking up a storm! She loves to run, play, pretend to dance ballet and sing songs from Phantom of the Opera. She knows her name is Keira Jade Curry and she is from China. Daddy and Mommy got on a big plane to bring Keira home from China to be our baby...one day I will explain more of it to her when she is ready...

2 years ago today was the happiest day of my life...when we became a family.

Van Gogh Curry

Keira has been doing alot of drawing lately. They all kind of look like this... at least she didn't draw poop today! :)

Update- If you look closely at the picture...I think she DID draw poop! What is with this crazy girl's obsession??? LOL

Pre-School and Panda Bears

Dan and I have been checking out a few pre-schools to have Keira go to for a few months now. The price ranges for some changed significantly depending on whether your child is potty trained or not. Keira was potty trained but was still having some accidents when taking a nap. She sometimes takes a nap for an hour..other times, she'll be down for almost 3-4 hours! I would think this would be an issue if she wasn't sleeping at night, but on those days, she still would sleep through the night! She's now been potty trained completely through the day including her naps for a few months now so I thought she might be ready until she started having a few accidents here and there. We held off on pre-school until we were SURE that there wouldn't be anymore accidents and she is doing great again.

Dan and I went to check out a really great pre-school yesterday. It was decorated nicely and spotless which is always nice to see. I guess I feel that a clean place that doesn't look run down shows that the teachers and staff care more about things than just collecting a paycheck. I really liked the philosophies and their curriculum. While in the waiting area for the tour, they had a little table with paper for children that were waiting to draw and color. Keira LOVES to color and it amazes me that she completely stays within the lines when she does. Is that normal for a 3 year old? She will sit there for a very long time being very careful about it and granted, Daisy Duck will be purple, it's still so neat and precise! LOL Well, yesterday was the first time that I have actually seen her DRAW something... not color someting, but DRAW it. She always asks Dan and I to draw things for her, but this was the first time I ever saw her actually do it! "Mommy! Mommy! Look! A panda bear!" There it was! Keira's version of a panda bear. It looked very much like that weird Quizno's singing rat thing (see picture above), but it was her panda bear and I loved it! "Mommy look! Panda bear poo poo!" Sure enough, she had taken a brown crayon and drawn something that was supposed to resemble...well, you get the picture. I laughed and told her how wonderful her drawing was. She started on her next masterpiece. "Mommy...look! A doggie!" Wow! Another cute drawing...which also remarkably resembled the Quizno's rat (am I sensing a theme here?) "Mommy look! Doggie poo poo!" What on earth??? I told her that was nice, but she should let them go poo poo in private. I could hear laughter in the other room before a couple of ladies came out laughing telling me how little ones always seem to get in that stage where it just fascinates them to no end! Later on that day, she proceeded to draw several other animals doing their business for me. I know that I'm not supposed to encourage that, but I just couldn't help but laugh a few times! LOL

I think we're going to fill out the paperwork to register her tomorrow. I am going to have Keira go to be in a learning environment for 3 days a weekdays. 1 day will be with me and I still want her to stay with her current daycare 1 day a week. I want her to be able to have a day of just play play play and I also didn't want to take her away from friends and what she has known as routine with her regular daycare out of the blue. I figured it might just be too much for her. I'm really excited and think this will be a wonderful thing for her! Maybe they will teach her to draw something else...LOL

The Dentist

I finally got everything straightened out with my dental insurance and was able to bring Keira for her first trip to the Dentist. Since most people have a fear of the dentist, I just wasn't sure what to expect! She is a pretty brave little girl so I was hoping it wouldn't be too traumatic and I started preparing her a few days before explaining that she was going to the Dentist and little things about the procedures so that she wouldn't be caught off guard. I would ask her, "Keira, where are you going tomorrow?" She would tell me "I go Dentist, then open mouth look at teeth..then sticker!!!" She got the basics LOL

This was her playing in the waiting area. So far so good! She was laughing and playing with the toys and having a great time telling me about the pictures of the fish on the walls.

They called us in and she sat in the chair waiting to have her xrays done. I stood by telling her to go AAAAHHHHH and she did a great job. She got all of her xrays done without a problem.
After that, they moved her over to the chairs where she could have her teeth cleaned. They had pictures all over the ceilings for her to look at as well as Kung Fu Panda playing. Jack Black kind of drowned out the sound of one of the kids in a back room screaming bloody murder. YIKES! He obviously wasn't just getting a cleaning or a regular check up...at least I HOPE he wasn't!

Here she was being a good little helper. The paste was in a ring that Keira got to wear on her finger to hand to the lady cleaning her teeth. I didn't know how she would handled the tube that sucks the stuff out of your mouth. The look on her face was priceless...but after the initial weirdness, she didn't mind it.

Here she is! Stickers in hand and new toothbrush! She has healthy teeth and gums and did a great job!

The Birthday Girl in Princess Heaven

December 20th, my little baby turned 3 years old!!! We spent the day at Disneyland and she was in absolute Princess Heaven! Mom, Gigi and Max arrived and Lorraine was able to come too. Disneyland is absolutely beautiful during the Christmas Season...all the lights...it's a "must do" for Christmas. This was Sleeping Beauty's Castle. We just happened to be right in front when they did the transformation from the regular lights to the Special Winterlights they put up.

Small World!!! They updated Small World for the Christmas Season. It is definitely a sight to behold. We go to Disneyland every Christmas, but I am always in awe everytime.

These were some pictures before we headed out to Disneyland. Max and Keira decided that since they couldn't make Snow Angels, they would make Tile Angels instead. Not quite the same effect, but just as fun...at least for us watching them :).

The gang's all here! This was when Doowa, Max and Auntie Gigi arrived. They all jumped on the couch to read "Where The Wild Things Are".

The next morning was when we headed to Disneyland. Here are Auntie Gigi, Max and Keira on the Tram from the Mickey and Friend's Parking Lot. This picture cracks me up since it's so typical of the family chaos that goes on. Max was playing around with Keira's hair and the look on her face is priceless! LOL

Here are Dan, Mom, Lorraine, Keira and Max all standing in Line at the Finding Nemo Submarine ride. WOW! Keira loved this ride. All through the ride, she was yelling and waving "Hi Nemo!!!" "Hi Dory!!!" She loves Finding Nemo and it's so much fun now that she recognizes all of the characters.

Uh OH! PRINCESS HEAVEN!!! We had lunch at Ariel's Grotto in the California Adventure Park. I had read mixed reviews on the food and the experience and it honestly looked like more of the bad experiences with late seating etc were all later in the day. Because of that, I decided to make our reservations for lunch as early as possible. Definitely the way to go!!! We were seated right away, the food was absolutely FANTASTIC and she saw just about EVERY princess.

When you first step in, you meet Ariel. Ariel and Cinderella are Keira's favorite princesses, so she was absolutely thrilled.

Each of the princesses were introduced one by one and went to each of the tables to meet the kids. Ours was one of the last tables even though we were right in front to see all the princesses come out (they went around in the opposite direction from where we were). It couldn't have been better. Because we were one of the last tables, each of them were able to really take the time to stop and take the time to talk to Keira and wish her a Happy Birthday. Here is Keira and Cinderella. Keira and Sleeping Beauty

Keira, Max and Belle

Keira and Snow White

Here we were waiting in line at the Haunted Mansion. They made it in the "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme which is always alot of fun.

We had a wonderful time. Keira is still not quite used to holding 3 fingers up as her age, but she'll get it soon! I can't believe my baby is 3!

Fun Downtown

Dan and I were off this weekend and decided to take Keira to Downtown San Diego to go ice skating. Where else can you go ice skating in an outdoor skating rink in 75 degree weather??? Dan is from Maine, so he was pretty much born with ice skates on, but he hasn't been on ice skates in a few years. He broke a bone in his foot believe it or not when someone ran over his foot when he was on his motorcycle in traffic. Yes...ran over his foot with their car. Thanks to his super duper strong Harley Davidson Motorcycle boots, he was able to walk away from it. He didn't realize though that he had a broken bone until his foot really started hurting more and more when walking. He decided to go ahead and give ice skating a try.


Keira was much better at balancing herself on ice skates than I thought she would be! I think it's because she likes to walk around on her tiptoes all the time. Must have helped her with her balance. She went around once with Daddy, but after that first round, she was done. Dan skated around for a bit more until he was tired, but he really thinks that his foot is healed now and is looking forward to skating more.

She really did pretty good

After that, we headed over to the New Children's Museum. Keira painted the VW Bug and was able to handle getting a little paint on her better than last time. She really hates getting dirty and wanted to stop constantly to wash her hands!
We really had so much fun and need to try to make it down a little more often!

Thanksgiving Week

I've been off for the past week and have had so much to do! The backyard was an absolute jungle, so I've been storming through it machete in hand filling the green recycling bin to the brim. I've taken care of tying up loose ends for the business as well as cleaning up the house and rounding up all of Keira's clothes for donations. Yes, it's been a busy week! Even as busy as it has been, I still love to cook the Thanksgiving meal so we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Kat and Matt who drove down from Studio City as well as Lorraine and Mike. It was great to get to spend the day with family. I was good this year and packed the majority of the leftovers in tupperwares for them to take home.

We headed down to Carlsbad to the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony they had at The Forum tonight. It is a great little annual event that they go all out for the kids. They had horse drawn carriage rides, crafts for the kids, cookies, brownies and mini peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Carolers, Santa..you name it. It's a great way to kick off the Christmas Season.

Here is Keira by a little Koi pond they have. There is a small waterfall along with a reindeer display which is really cute. Keira loved looking at the fish.

Here we were watching Santa make his way down the red carpet! Santa looked like he was about 4'9" tall! He was a tiny guy!

Here were some of the carolers entertaining the crowds. They also had dancers and other singers.

Here are Dan and Keira in the crowd enjoying the show. We alternated with her on our shoulders, but after a while, she finally wanted to be on the ground so that she could dance.

We had a great time and are very excited about the Christmas Season!!!

The Plug

As some of you may know, Dan has been working on a second business during his off-time from his current business. He's been a part time insurance agent and is taking the leap and starting his agency full time at the end of this month. He has not been added to the Farmer's website yet since it's all still pretty new, but he has his own site where it discusses all of the different insurance coverages he specializes in- including his specialty which is Motorcycle coverage.

The more clicks he gets on the site, the better positioning he gets in the search engines, so check out his site...and check it out often! :) Also, if you live in the state of California and your policies are expiring or you have any questions about your policies, consider giving Dan a call! THANKS!!!

www.dancurryagency.com

The Rating System

Me: Keira, you know Mommy loves you,right?
Keira: (Nodding her head) Yes
Me: You know how much Mommy loves you? Very Very Much!
Keira: (Smiling) Yes
Me: Do you love Mommy?
Keira: (Nodding her head) I love you much
Me: How much?
Keira: 2 1/2

Yes. 2 1/2. LOL I noticed that whenever I would ask Keira "How Much" of anything, her response has been some number and a 1/2. I think it's actually from her trying to answer how old she is.
Here are the ratings so far...mind you, they change constantly and can go up or down at will.

Mommy- 2 1/2 sometimes 4 1/2
Daddy 3 1/2
Amelia 5 1/2

The last time I asked, I was down to 1 1/2. I better stop asking until I've done something to raise my stock, huh? LOL

Visiting The Family

The past week or so has been such a whirlwind! Keira and I headed out to Illinois to visit with Auntie Gigi, Max and Doowa (Lola, my mom). I have been a little worried about how Keira would handle the flight, but she did so great! Dan had to stay behind to work, so he dropped us off at the Airport early in the morning. I was able to get everything for both of us in 2 carryons and already had the boarding passes printed out and ready to go. I thought I had it made until Keira wanted me to carry her everywhere. "Mommy! Carry Yooooouuuu!" That is how she asks me to carry her. I think it's from me saying "Do you want Mommy to Carry You?" LOL. I've been trying to get her to say "carry ME" instead...but it's just so darn cute how she says it! She wasn't quite getting it all until we started to board the plane. She buckled herself in and was really getting excited! She didn't cry for a second through the entire flight and really enjoyed herself. She watched a little of Cinderella and mainly looked at the clouds from the window or played Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo DS. I don't normally like her playing with it, but hey...it made for a nice flight! We had such a great time. I love going back to Illinois for Halloween. It really feels like Fall with the change of weather and colors and everyone really gets into the spirit with their decorations. This year was a Star Wars Theme and Max and Gigi decided that they wanted Keira to be Yoda. I promised Dan that she would also get to dress as a princess for the second round as well.

Here is Yoda! Princess Yoda that is. Rose, Gigi's sister in law put the purple flower antennae on her so that she would be Princess Yoda instead. Dan said that it wasn't a Yoda costume, but she looked more like a green pig in a bathrobe or Ted Kennedy- Think dirty bathrobe and a bottle of Scotch. He's nuts. Max and the cousins Caleb, Allie, Josh and Jacob were all dressed as Star Wars characters as well. Rose was even Padme Amidala! LOL We got to spend some time with the Fisher Family as well which is always wonderful. Mr. Fisher and I talked Politics and Jon (Chris' younger brother) flew the kids around like planes. They really were high up in the air considering that he's 6'7" tall! He however was protesting the Star Wars theme. He refused to be part of there not only being 2 Anakin Skywalkers, but there also being a separate Darth Vader in the same plane and space. How is that even possible??? LOL Funny thing was that a couple of people when we were out trick or treating asked how it was possible as well! Come on now all you Star Wars freaks! :)

The second time around, Max was Speed Racer and Keira was dressed as Sleeping Beauty. There was a little button on the side that you pushed and the whole skirt of the dress lit up with flickering blue, purple and white lights. She was tired and wanted to ride around in Max's Radio Flyer wagon. Allie was wonderful and pulled her around. Allie put on one of Max's shirts and was Max for Halloween the second round LOL. Keira was turning her lights on, so while riding around in the wagon, she looked like the Disney Electric Light Parade! LOL

We did a little bit of karaoke afterwards and here is Keira singing her Princess songs. She was really belting it out which kind of surprised me. I thought that she might be a little shy singing in front of everyone, but she just got up in front of everyone and took over. What a ham!

After Halloween, we spent some mellow time taking in some of the sights and just enjoying the unusually warm weather! It was such beautiful weather- around the early 70s. Here are some pictures of Keira and Max at the Riverwalk in Naperville. The Riverwalk was there back when I was in High School for a couple of years, but I just don't remember it being as beautiful as it really is. I don't know if they changed it any, or if I was just too dumb to notice how beautiful it is...probably the latter! LOL

Here was a structure built as a memorial for 9/11 at the Riverwalk. Max was taking a picture as well as you can see.

There were a few bridges along the river that we crossed to see the geese swimming around. The kids had a great time running along the edge of the water and back and forth on stairs. After this, we went to visit Chris' grave site. It still is so hard to believe that he is gone. I'm glad that we got a chance to visit.

We also got to take in Max's first basketball game of the season. Max's Uncle Jon (The Mocker of Star Wars ) is the coach and did a great job. I really thought that the kids were all so young and probably would just be running around not really knowing the game. BOY! I couldn't have been more wrong! It really was such an exciting game and the kids were fantastic! Max's team came back after being behind 18 points to tie the game at the last minute. Not too shabby considering that the other team looked like they were each about a foot taller than these kids. Size doesn't necessarily matter does it?

We spent some time at the Morton Arboretum where they had a beautiful children's garden. It is almost like a Children's Museum in a great outdoor setting. Max did such a great job with Keira! He was so patient and even though he looks kind of grumpy in this picture, they actually got along great!

Here he was helping her across some rocks. He was always helping her with everything and slowed down for her since she isn't quite as fast as he was. They truly adore each other which is wonderful.

We also went to the Children's Museum in Naperville. It really is a great hands on experience for the kids. So much for them to do and play with.

After about 5 days, we headed home. She did just as good on the flight home except for the fact that she got so engrossed in playing the Nintendo DS that she forgot to tell me that she had to go to the bathroom. She is pretty much potty trained except for naps and sleeping at night, but from what I hear, that takes some time.

We had such a wonderful time. Thank you Gigi, Mom and Max! Can't wait to see all of you for Christmas!

Bill O'Reilly

Me: Keira, what did you want to watch on tv?
Keira: I want to watch Bill O'Reilly.
Me: You want to watch what?
Keira: I want to watch Bill O'Reilly.
Me: Did you just say that you want to watch Bill O'Reilly?
Keira: Yes...I want to watch Bill O'Reilly.

The Pumpkin Station

Keira and I are heading to Illinois to visit with Auntie Gigi, Doowa and Max this Halloween! It is going to be her first time on a plane since we came home from China so I'm not sure how she will be. The flight home from China was absolutely MISERABLE so I can't imagine this being worse LOL. We were still in the bonding stages and getting to really know each other back then not to mention it was an 18 hour flight. This time, Keira and I are totally in sync and it's a 4 hour flight. Hopefully that counts for something! LOL. I've been preparing her ahead of time by explaining that we were goin to be flying, so once in a while she asks me about the plane we'll be on.

Dan will be staying back to work, so he won't get to do any trick or treating with us. To make up for it some, this past weekend we headed over to the Pumpkin Station in Del Mar. They had tons of pumpkins of course as well as a petting zoo and carnival rides. Keira had a blast and although they totally killed us with the ticket prices (OUCH!) it was worth it to see her have so much fun.

Here she is going cruising in her Purple Buggie. There was a jolly big guy named Kemo manning the ride that let them ride FOREVER. That made it worth it as well.

She specifically asked to be in the Batman plane. Even though she loves her Princesses, she still loves pointing out Spiderman, Batman and Thomas things that she spots.

Ahh....the train ride. She loves trains and got to sit with the blue dinosaur until the dinosaur started crying and wanted OFF! LOL

We had a good time and still had lots of tickets left, so Dan and Keira are going to be there again while I'm working sometime this weekend. They are also going to pick up a pumpkin this time and work on carving it together. Hopefully I'll get to do it with them although honestly any pumpkin I have tried to carve in the past has been a complete disaster...