Tuesday, February 26, 2013

100 Days

Today is Abby's 100th day of kindergarten! To commemorate the occassion, she brought in 100 mini-marshmallows (not sure what the purpose is, hopefully will find out after school today) and I made her a few 100-days snacks (a mini Twix bar and two Thin Mints for snack, the number 100 written on her peanut butter sandwich in Nutella). It's hard to believe she is already (and only) 100 days into her elementary school education!

Abby's flourishing in writing, spelling, drawing and reading. She loves learning sign language, taking the bus, eating in the cafeteria and of course, recess. Time will tell how she is doing in math and science, but if she's anything like her mama, those won't be her strong points, which is ok by me!

She still has so much more to learn and a lot more growing to do. But I am so proud of her accomplishments and development over the last 100 school days. She started out the school year not even knowing how to spell Abigail (which she prefers to be called in school) and now she's writing sentences and reading and sounding out words. It's thrilling to see and watch her as she completes a sentence or page in a book. I can only imagine what will come over the next 100, 200, 300 days...

Abigail Jordan - we are so proud of you! Happy 100th Day!!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Three Months Later

It seems as though the holidays - and all of the craziness that goes along with them - has taken a toll on this mama. I thought for sure I had updated The Abby (and Zach) Adventures more recently than NOVEMBER!! But alas, I see it's been almost 3 months! And what a busy 3 months at that:

November:
- Post-hurricane donations
- Dog surgery (she's ok!)
- Trip to Chicago for Thanksgiving (flight going was just mom and both kids for the first time ever!)
- Grammy in NYC to compete in the Scotch Most Gifted Wrapper contest (she didn't win)

December:
- Abby's trip to the Nutcracker, sleepover in the city with Grammy at a hotel
- Abby's first trip to the American Girl store in NYC
- Abby's first Broadway show - Annie!
- Abby's first time ice skating
- Hanukkah! (Zach's Hanukkah theme was trains, cars and legos; Abby's Hanukkah theme was Annie & American Girl doll)
- Potty Training!

January:
- New Year - 2013!
- Botanical Garden Holiday Train Show
- First preschool Shabbat for Zach
- A bunch of sick Strongins (colds, flu) :(
- Celebrating our baby nephew's first birthday
- A great report card & first kindergarten parent-teacher conference

So here we are, 3 months later with a lot accomplished, including potty training Zach in just 3 days. Yep, the little guy did great and is diaper-free (other than Pull-Ups at night) and we could not be more proud! It was a rough few days but we plugged along and made it happen. And at his first preschool parent/teacher conference, Zach's teacher told me that he his "the happiest kid in the whole school, always willing to do anything and is so good-natured." Also a proud moment, but his teacher isn't at home when he throws a fit because I won't put "Woody" (Toy Story) on or give him ice cream if he doesn't eat his dinner! But that's the Terrible Twos I fear - and I suppose we are lucky that it took him 8 months to get there.

I also could not be more proud of Abby, whose teacher wrote: “Abigail is a happy, outgoing, energetic student. She loves doing arts and crafts and drawing pictures. It is clear that Abigail is trying hard to follow the rules and be a good friend to her classmates. She often positions herself in front of the teacher during group lessons, and this usually helps her focus on the speaker. Abigail has become a fluent writer, she sits down, writes independently and also helps her peers when asked."

We, too, have seen huge progress from her in her writing, spelling and reading just in the past few months. It's exciting and encouraging when your kindergartener writes "I like Jijibredman bcoz the butis" (I like (the) gingerbread man because (of) the buttons) or "I love mom, dad, Zach and Sadie." Her teacher said she is reading at the level she should be at in June, which is promising to hear. And for a minute during her parent/teacher conference when I saw she received a 4 (for meeting with excellence) in "algebra," it turns out that kindergarten algebra is really pattern formation and recognition. Oh well, guess she won't be in MENSA :).

We have a busy few weeks ahead of us, with trips to Maryland and Florida planned as well as February vacation (for them, not me) and lots going on at home. Hopefully mama will take some time to update their adventures more frequently so that I don't forget the fun and exciting things they do!