Lots of New Things Going On...

Here are some pictures of Adelyn from Montessori. She's working on letter sounds with Miles at the top -- Miles is one of her "best friends". She has a ton of best friends and they change on a daily basis. It isn't that people lose their spot, they just have to share it with others!

So, lots of new things are happening! Adelyn is going to The Montessori Experience! It's five mornings a week, which I'm not crazy about, but it's a good school and they have great teachers. It's a small school, and I really felt like if we didn't go ahead and get her in, we probably wouldn't be able to get her in later. They have a waiting list now for August, but as an established student, she should be able to continue without being on the list. She's learning a lot and gets to do lots of fun things that I don't have the patience for at home. I would love to do pre-school at home, but I'm beginning to think that Adelyn just doesn't take instruction from me well enough to learn things like letters and numbers. I get frustrated and so does she. It isn't that she doesn't pick up the information quickly enough -- she seems to pick it up pretty easily, but instead of sitting nicely and doing what I want her to do, she likes to get up and run in circles and do backflips off the couch! God help me!! She's learning all kinds of neat things at Montessori -- she told me that she needs to be a "responsible role model" and mentioned "Georgetown Washington" yesterday! She can also just about recite the months of the year in order. Of course in typical Adelyn fashion, she does that when she wants, but not on request. :)

Tabitha is training for a 10K run to support Compassion Internation's Child Survival Program .

http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=marshins.wordpress.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.firstgiving.com%2Fchildsurvival10k

Seth is leaving his job and starting his own bank consulting business. It's exciting and scary all the same time, but we believe it is God's will.

More on Adelyn -- I often scoffed when people commented on the terrible twos -- Adelyn wasn't terrible at all. Then nearing her third birthday, friends started warning me about the threes being worse. For us, this has proven true. Adelyn has always been strong-willed, but she has really been testing me lately. She recently made up a song in response to one of my commments.. Her song went "You can't, you can't, you can't change my name to ornery!" I'm sure you can surmise what my comment must have been!

Other random notes from the recent weeks (things I want to remember, but am too lazy to write down) -- yesterday instead of napping, she was putting on a play complete with different voices and everthing! Our video baby monitor had provided me with hours of entertainment!

She jumped on her rocking horse the other day and yelled "hee haw, hee haw" -- she always says that. Still cracks me up! :)

Adelyn went to the dentist for the first time this week -- she went with me first and was a perfect angel. She sat there and talked to the hygeniest, brushed the fake teeth, and never misbehaved! I really couldn't believe how good she was! Then the next day we took her for her first visit -- she screamed and I had to force her to let the dentist look in her mouth! She's really afraid of the dentist! It's my fault, I vilified him in an attempt to make her conscientious about taking care of her teeth. I think I learned my lesson. That wasn't the right thing to do... she's great about brushing her teeth, but only out of fear of having to go to the terrible dentist!

Adelyn loves all kinds of nuts, and especially pistachios. She likes to open them herself. She told me a few days ago, "Mom, you're a hard 'stachio." That's what we call the ones that are too hard for her to take the shell off by herself -- I'm guessing that was an insult. She's said it a few times since then. Her first original insult! :)

She's also seemed to found her giving heart! I started telling her about how the world is full of people that don't have as much as we have back in the fall. She blew it off at first, but now she frequently says that she wants to do things for kids and people without food/toys/houses! I'm proud because it really seems to come from a desire to help and not from a desire to say what I want her to say!