Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 2:00 p.m. - Cheyenne's second grade special ed teacher called to tell me her news of the day. She was excited and didn't want to wait until after school. Cheyenne had just spent her first day attending math in a regular second grade classroom. She joined her peers where she completed a subtraction worksheet and only missed two. She loved it.
This is the first real step toward mainstreaming Cheyenne into a regular classroom. The plan is to transition her into a regular classroom at our neighborhood school for third grade. I'm excited and scared and happy and sad. I'm so pleased to see Cheyenne making such progress. I'm scared to see what's going to happen when she's in a room with 25-30 other kids without the focused attention she gets now. I'm happy to see her joining all the other kids, but sad to give up a class of 12 kids with a teacher and 2 aides! I guess it's all just part of the roller coaster that is motherhood as I watch her growing and progressing. Overall, this change will probably just mean a few more entries and stories to tell on my blog as she attends school next year. For now, it's just a good day with good news!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Daniel Wilde's Spring Collection
Sometimes it's just fun to share. This first entry in the collection is titled by the artist, "Psychopathic Egg."
Here you can see the egg next to the other members of the complete collection which also includes works by his apprentice, Cheyenne.
Here you can see the egg next to the other members of the complete collection which also includes works by his apprentice, Cheyenne.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Speaking of awards....
My previous post shows Daniel with his recently acquired prize ribbon. He added it to his collection of medals. It seems that these days, contests give medals, not trophies. It's probably good because medals are small. Someday, Daniel is gonna be in his forties and he'll discover those medals and try to remember what they are for. I speak from experience.
In cle
aning out the last corner of the basement for the electrician, we ran across a big box full of trophies from my youth. Not one was for something athletic, but there were some groovy ones for spelling bees, speech contests, and essay contests. It spoke to my nerdiness. The kids were pretty entertained as we pulled them out and discussed them. Most of them still have plaques on them explaining the award. One, however, was devoid of a plaque. Dale told the kids it was because I was good at making wreaths. If that's true, apparently I was good at making wreaths in a loincloth. Nonetheless, Cheyenne thinks I'm cool 'cause couple of days later, she commented on my wreath-making talents!
So, for days I stared at that box of trophies trying to decide what to do with them. I finally decided to take some pictures then get rid of them. I took the pictures, but haven't gotten rid of them yet. Somehow I can't let go. I don't want the trophies -- I want someone to use them for Girls' Camp awards or some silly thing so someone else feels good for a moment. I think for me, they were a reminder that at one point in my life (albeit a prepubescent point), I knew something and I got something right. That was long before I became a mother of a preteen who can attest that I currently know nothing. Maybe those trophies will give me hope that someday soon I can reinvigorate those brain cells and know something again.
I still don't think I'll keep the trophies (although you can let me know if you need them for Girls Camp), but I'll keep the pictures. And maybe I will keep this one gold cup. This is the first real trophy I ever received and it's still the coolest. Dale took this picture as if I were still a young girl at my proudest moment. That's a moment I still remember, though I hope it doesn't still qualify as my proudest. I never made it to the National Spelling Bee (a thorn that still sticks in my side sometimes), but I think those early triumphs did in some way inspire me to keep trying the next thing. Maybe I'll find a place to put it next to the medal Cathy and I got for the fastest times "in the 40-45 year old female bracket" of a 5K race a couple of years ago. Then that one can inspire me to keep trying to win the elusive trophy for "best mom ever to Daniel and Cheyenne." I can only hope it'll be a sculpture of them (with clothes on) holding wreaths up!!
In cle
aning out the last corner of the basement for the electrician, we ran across a big box full of trophies from my youth. Not one was for something athletic, but there were some groovy ones for spelling bees, speech contests, and essay contests. It spoke to my nerdiness. The kids were pretty entertained as we pulled them out and discussed them. Most of them still have plaques on them explaining the award. One, however, was devoid of a plaque. Dale told the kids it was because I was good at making wreaths. If that's true, apparently I was good at making wreaths in a loincloth. Nonetheless, Cheyenne thinks I'm cool 'cause couple of days later, she commented on my wreath-making talents!So, for days I stared at that box of trophies trying to decide what to do with them. I finally decided to take some pictures then get rid of them. I took the pictures, but haven't gotten rid of them yet. Somehow I can't let go. I don't want the trophies -- I want someone to use them for Girls' Camp awards or some silly thing so someone else feels good for a moment. I think for me, they were a reminder that at one point in my life (albeit a prepubescent point), I knew something and I got something right. That was long before I became a mother of a preteen who can attest that I currently know nothing. Maybe those trophies will give me hope that someday soon I can reinvigorate those brain cells and know something again.
I still don't think I'll keep the trophies (although you can let me know if you need them for Girls Camp), but I'll keep the pictures. And maybe I will keep this one gold cup. This is the first real trophy I ever received and it's still the coolest. Dale took this picture as if I were still a young girl at my proudest moment. That's a moment I still remember, though I hope it doesn't still qualify as my proudest. I never made it to the National Spelling Bee (a thorn that still sticks in my side sometimes), but I think those early triumphs did in some way inspire me to keep trying the next thing. Maybe I'll find a place to put it next to the medal Cathy and I got for the fastest times "in the 40-45 year old female bracket" of a 5K race a couple of years ago. Then that one can inspire me to keep trying to win the elusive trophy for "best mom ever to Daniel and Cheyenne." I can only hope it'll be a sculpture of them (with clothes on) holding wreaths up!!
Update on Admiral Yi
For those who may be interested, this shows the results of the History Fair Project. Daniel went to the Utah Valley History Fair where he received a third place ribbon for his website about Admiral Yi. I was proud of him and he received a cool ribbon. Overall, a successful outing, I'd say! Way to go, Daniel!!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Our new pad
So, for many of you who know me, you know I have my mother's gypsy blood. Prior to moving to American Fork, the longest I'd lived anywhere in my life was 5 years. This fall will mark 15 years for us here in our house in AF. Wow! Sometimes I love the feeling of roots I have that I'd never experienced before. Other times, I want to pack up my family, move to someplace entirely different and have an adventure! (Then I think about how much work it would be to pack up all the 'stuff' we've aquired, and I rethink the idea.)
The gypsy blood is strong, and I hope it takes me to lots of places of travel, but the practical blood seems to be stronger. We have no compelling reason to leave a place where we are so happy, so rooted, and so not in debt. And so we stay. To satisfy an urge, though, we have decided to finish our basement. Hmm, let me rephrase that. We've decided to pay someone else to finish our basement! It's been so exciting. The first step was to clean it out. What a job that was. Thanks to our good friends Kirk and DJ for helping with the heavy stuff. I'm enclosing a picture of the cleaned out basement so you can all see it for the first time in 15 years.
Amazing, huh? Well, it doesn't look anything like that now. It's framed, the plumbing and electrical are done, the new windows are in, and we're just waiting for an inspection tomorrow before they can begin sheetrocking it. When it's done, we'll have two bedrooms (one for Daniel and one extra), a bathroom, a kitchen (we call it the lab as it will be used for family projects like soap making, science experiments, etc.), a nice big family room, and a big unfinished storage room. The sad part is that home-building materials and processes have improved in the last 15 years, so it will be largely a much nicer area than our upstairs. We're considering just moving down there as we wouldn't have to pack so much, and the moving van rental would be very cheap. We'll let you know where we end up so you can find us and come visit!!
The gypsy blood is strong, and I hope it takes me to lots of places of travel, but the practical blood seems to be stronger. We have no compelling reason to leave a place where we are so happy, so rooted, and so not in debt. And so we stay. To satisfy an urge, though, we have decided to finish our basement. Hmm, let me rephrase that. We've decided to pay someone else to finish our basement! It's been so exciting. The first step was to clean it out. What a job that was. Thanks to our good friends Kirk and DJ for helping with the heavy stuff. I'm enclosing a picture of the cleaned out basement so you can all see it for the first time in 15 years.
Amazing, huh? Well, it doesn't look anything like that now. It's framed, the plumbing and electrical are done, the new windows are in, and we're just waiting for an inspection tomorrow before they can begin sheetrocking it. When it's done, we'll have two bedrooms (one for Daniel and one extra), a bathroom, a kitchen (we call it the lab as it will be used for family projects like soap making, science experiments, etc.), a nice big family room, and a big unfinished storage room. The sad part is that home-building materials and processes have improved in the last 15 years, so it will be largely a much nicer area than our upstairs. We're considering just moving down there as we wouldn't have to pack so much, and the moving van rental would be very cheap. We'll let you know where we end up so you can find us and come visit!!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Snippets....
As usual, I've "meant" to blog a lot recently, but my real life got in the way. That's not to say that I don't think a blog about everything I do these days. And in my thinking, I think of my blog audience as well. I hope you enjoy these snippets of my life.One day Cheyenne was absolutely insistent that she was going to school with 8 ponytails in her hair. I attempted to persuade her otherwise, but there was no doing that! After considering all the forms of self-expression she might want to take, it didn't seem so bad, and at least she let me photograph it!
The sunburn is a direct result of poor planning on my part when Cathy and I decided to go skiing. It was totally fogged in -- who knew those nasty ultraviolets were getting through. Yes, it hurt. Yes, about 4-5 days later, I looked like the previously posted picture of Cheyenne, but no tortilla was needed.
The last picture shows our new helicopter and Cheyenne and Daniel test driving it. They loved it! Ok, so we really went to the Discovery Gateway children's museum and this is the old Life Flight helicopter they had there. When other kids were there, they politely explored it. When the others left, they embarked on some serious missions rescuing stranded hikers, making radio contact with me in the tower, and risking their lives hanging outside the doors while they took heroic actions! When you couple that with the special exhibit on the body including a giant nose that sneezed and a complete (that would be from chewing to pooing) characterization of the digestive system, my kids had the time of their lives!
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