Best Friends

It seems that everytime I mention something about Madison her best friend is often mentioned so I thought I'd add a blog about her first real best friend. Madison & Molly met in Montessori school in the fall of 2007, seems so long ago now. They seemed to hit it off right away and were always together in their class. We (Molly's mom and I) think it was due to them being the only two little girls who were big talkers. These girls can talk FOREVER! They seem to have so much in common. They're both big sisters (Berkeley and Emma are also close in age), both are VERY girly, both of their moms love Gymboree (hee hee) and they are both the sweetest little girls. They've played soccer together and will soon start ballet. We are very sad that they will no longer be in the same school but know that they will continue to be the best of friends.

My Little Ballerina.....

.... starts dance classes today. She is so excited! We've been talking about dance for a whole year now and we finally found a studio close enough that seems to be promising. And to top it off she'll be joined by none other than her best friend Molly. Here is a sneak peak at our little dancer in the making.

ABC...123

For the past few months I've been working with Madison daily on different things, writing, addition, subtraction, reading, etc. Since she didn't go to school all summer I didn't want her to forget everything she had been taught. She does really well with simple math and numbers. But she has more trouble with her letters and phonics. Last night was a big "light bulb" moment for her on the reading end. I've been using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and it's been a great tool for both me and Madison since it provides guidance for the parent teaching as well. Madison had been doing great learning all her sounds but had yet to connect how the sounds came together to make a word. Well, yesterday it all clicked and she read "DAD" for the first time. She was so excited and insisted I write more words for her to read. She was able to sound out "AM" "ME" "SAM" and "MOM". Of course, I was only able to use the sounds she had mastered but it's such a great boost to her confidence. You see, Madison gets REALLY frustrated when she doesn't get something right away. I mean, she'll throw the book and refuse to go any further so it's been a struggle for me to keep her focused. Last night after Emma went to bed we kept working, learning new sounds and sounding out new words. I'm so excited for her!!

15 months old and growing

Update on Emma's stats at 15 months old

Weight: 27 lbs 14 oz
Height: 32 inches