Katrina came home yesterday and told us she had really exciting news. Her bottom tooth came out at lunch in a piece of bread she was eating. We didn’t even know that one was loose, but sure enough it was out. Apparently she was unable to find it so she wrote this note for the tooth fairy.
Katrina pulled her first tooth yesterday. The first one to come out naturally at least, she had to have her two front bottom teeth removed by the dentist several months ago and wasn’t awake for it. She had been wiggling this one for about a month now and it was ready to come out.
I told her the night before while putting her to bed that her tooth has been ready to come out for a while now and she could probably pull it out tomorrow if she really tried. The next day while I was working she came back and asked me if I really thought she could pull it out today. I told her, “yes” and asked if she wanted me to help. She said, “yes”.
We went back to her room and I let her work on it at first and alternated turns. She was excited but also pretty scared so after about a minute of trying each time she’d start getting nervous giggles and tearing up, so we’d take 5 minutes for her to calm down. During each one she asked me “What if a new tooth doesn’t come in!?”, “What if I swallow the tooth when it comes out!?”, “What if my mouth doesn’t stop bleeding!?”, “Does it hurt when the new tooth comes in!?” and about every other potential problem she could dream up. She also made up a complex set of hand gestures to indicate when it was and wasn’t ok to proceed with various tasks.
I tried to answer all her questions and explained to her that Dad is a pro at this and has done this 20 times before. Then showed her all of my teeth and explained I had to pull out a baby tooth for each one to come in. She was really brave and wanted to press on even though she was clearly scared.
With all the breaks it took us about an hour and a half to pull the thing out, but we finally got it. She was SO excited when it finally came out. Probably more so relieved. She wanted to rush out and tell mom, but I made her hold some tissue on her gums until it stopped bleeding first. I was so proud of her for sticking it out. She kept thanking me for helping her every 10 minutes.
Afterwards we showed mom and celebrated with some soup for dinner and ice cream later. That night the Tooth Fairy brought her $1 and Junie B. Jones: Toothless Wonder. Notice the similarity on the cover picture. That wasn’t intentional.
The clogging group that I’m a member of decided at the beginning of this year that those who wanted to should enter a national competition in Grove, OK. It happens every year around the same time & although it was last month, I thought I’d go ahead & tell our story. It was a long, determined 6 months worth of practice & hard work, but we were all in it to give our best & to have fun!
Not only was there a competition, but also a workshop. It was an interesting one, held at the Grove Civic Center. On one side, in a large room were cloggers, and in the other half of the building, there was a fiddle workshop & competition going on that weekend. Since both hobbies go well together, I guess that’s why they hold this event for each, at the same time, every year. In any case, the cool thing for me was that Katrina got to come & it was her first ever clogging workshop. She’s not a seasoned enough dancer to compete, just yet, but I figure she’d have fun & probably pick up some moves at the workshop, in any case…
The workshop was also a short one — only 4 hours on Friday. But, we were all invited to go to a camp on Grand Lake for dinner & dancing & enjoying fiddle music in the evening. Since she didn’t want to participate, Kat & I sat out, but there was even a special dance at the end of the evening, where some of the cloggers got to show off their skills to the fiddlers. Katrina’s Nana, Annette as well as a few of the other dancers on our competition team decided to take part in that & they did a wonderful job, showcasing some of the “mountain figures” they had just learned, earlier in the day!
The next morning was the “big day” for us competitors. We had 3 routines to perform, each in a different category. We were all nervous & excited at the same time. Although it was kinda’ “by default”, since there were no other teams in our age division (30+), we actually won, placing first for our category & division, all 3 times! We didn’t take any “overall grand champion” titles; those mainly went to the kids groups that competed, but we all still had a great time & it gave us a wonderful sense of achievement & accomplishment!
I think Katrina enjoyed just being there & getting to stay overnight in a different city — her first “roadtrip” with her Nana & Mama, to go somewhere else & enjoy the new hobby she’s really been getting into lately. I’m proud of how good she was for the duration, as well. And, thanks to all my clogging friends that helped to keep an eye on her, when I had to compete, too! It was a journey worth remembering! Enjoy the photos!
A buddy of mine, Shane interviewed his kids and posted it on Facebook today. I thought it was a great idea so I decided to do the same with Katrina. Here are her answers.
1. What jobs would you like to have when you grow up?
“An art teacher because it’s easy and I like crafts”
“Build houses. I’ve never tried it before and I’d like to try it and find out what it’s like”
“Paint houses because it’s almost like art”
“I want to own a restaurant”
2. What kind of restaurant would you own?
“The Funny O’Fridays” – “It’s only open on Fridays and it’s a lot of fun”
“Gummy’s” – “Would have gum for desert”
3. What is your favorite game?
“I like Checkers, Dominos and CandyLand. I like CandyLand because you get a castle of candy for winning”
4. What is your favorite subject in school?
“I like art because I like crafts a lot”
“I like math too”
5. What is your least favorite subject in school?
“I can’t decide. I like them all.”
6. What is your favorite toy?
“Squeaky the Mouse”
7. What hobbies do you have?
“Clogging, playing, watching tv and eating snacks”
8. What is your favorite part about clogging?
“Starting to dance”
9. What is dad’s job?
“Taking care of kids”
10. What does dad do to make money?
“Go to the store and get change back”
11. What is mom’s job?
“Help teaching me to clog”
12. What does mom do to make money?
“Now this is a tough one…”
“Do they give you money when you go to the bank?”
13. What is your favorite book?
“If You Take a Mouse to the Movies”
14. Why is that your favorite book?
“It reminds me of Squeaky”
15. What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
“Make something stick out” (a paper spring on a pop-up card)
16. Who is the president of the United States?
“Barack Obama” (I’m surprised she knew this)
17. What’s your favorite song?
“It’s a big big house” (“Big House” – Audio Adrenaline)
18. What’s your favorite place you’ve been to?
“The train in Washington DC”
19. Do you want to get married when you grow up?
“Umm.. Maybe”
20. What do you want your husband to be like?
“Knows how to play a guitar”
“Be a little skinny”
“Have great hair”
“Brushes his teeth everyday. I don’t want someone who doesn’t brush their teeth!”
21. What pets do you want to have when you’re grown up?
“Mice, birds, turtles, frogs, fish and butterflies”
22. What nicknames do you have?
“Kat”
“Katrina Beana”
23. What talents do you have?
“Singing”
“Crafts. I know I’m good at crafts because every time you see one you say its really good”
24. What are you not good at?
“Things I just learned”
25. If you had $1 million, what would you buy?
“A rocket ship so I could go to the moon”
“A bird bath because I like birds” (We just bought a bird bath earlier today. She later explained this was an indoor birdbath for her bet birds and she wanted to build it herself once she learned how to make houses)
26. If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?
“Wings so I can fly”
“Cheese for my pet mice”
“Good luck building the bird bath”
27. What are you afraid of?
“Tornadoes”
28. What makes you happy?
“When I get to see my friends who moved away.”
29. What makes you sad?
“I forgot everything I was sad about”
30. How old is dad?
“29 or 30?”
31. How old is mom?
“31!”
32. What is your favorite food?
“Macaroni and Cheese”
33. What is your favorite TV show?
“SpongeBob”
34. Do you want to have kids when you grow up?
“I might have some… and I’ll take them to my job on Friday and have my husband take care of them”
35. How many kids do you want to have?
“As many as you have.” (Me: “two?”) “yeah”
Katrina’s just learning more & impressing us with every passing day! Of course, we knew she loved school, even prior to this year. But, it seems with first grade, you get to learn some new skills & one of her favorites this week has been spelling! She had a list of ten words that they brought home & we got to practice each evening. She loves playing the game of putting together cards with each of the letters on them to spell a word, especially. Even though she got them all correct during our “practice runs”, she missed one on the actual test they had on Friday. But, 9/10 isn’t bad for someone who’s just learning! She’s happy about it & excited to continue learning more. They have 10 more words this week – 2 which are from last week & the rest are new. We’re so proud of our eager little scholar!
Katrina had a regular check-up with her eye doctor this past Wednesday. She has grown accustomed to them over nearly the past 2 years. For those that may not know, she was diagnosed with a condition called Amblyopia, when she was 4½ years old. It is more commonly known as “lazy eye”. We took her to the eye doctor on the notion from her teacher at the time, who noticed that Kat would color slightly to one side of the shapes on the papers she was given & that she tended to look at things further to one side than they actually were when they were pointed at. Neither of her eyes ever actually “wandered”, so it was difficult to even notice, really. But, the eye doctor, after screening her vision, one eye at a time realized that the left one was seeing things extremely differently. At that first visit, her eyesight was 20/70. So, we began using a patch over the “good eye” (her right one), in order to make the vision in her left one stronger. She also got her first prescription for glasses at that time, as well. We have been back every couple of months & Kat has grown significantly & her eyesight has improved a great deal, since then. At this past appointment, we were pleasantly surprised to find that it is now at 20/25! Her prescription lenses were changed once more, but she is still wearing the original, cute, purple frames she picked out almost a couple of years ago, now. We feel blessed that she has shown so much improvement & continues to go on. She has such a great personality & attitude toward the whole thing, too. She has never had a negative comment about wearing glasses & she is very good about keeping them on, during her waking hours. Here’s keeping the faith that she will continue to progress toward 20/20 & that her next appointment, in 6 months will be even better! 🙂
Well, Katrina’s been making more progress on becoming “mobile” this week! Her Dad took her to the schoolyard to ride her bike the other day. They had a great time! She was turning corners & going all over the place on that thing like a pro! So, we decided it was a good idea to go ahead & take her training wheels off. This was a much harder thing for us, than for her, it seems. She was all excited about it, we just weren’t sure if any of us were quite ready. So, we took her to a local park that has a little walking/biking trail around it. The whole thing I’d estimate is only about ¼ – ½ mile, or so. Jeremy & I took turns, helping her balance while riding. Whichever one of us was not helping Kat at the time was pushing Alyssa in the stroller. She got to pedaling rather well & got up to speed where her Dad & I had to jog to keep up, but the entire time, it felt like she was leaning one way or the other, rather then balancing on her own. We each let go a handful of times, but only for a second or two, before we felt the need to grab on & let her use us to lean on… She’s getting there, though. A couple more times & she’ll probably be going around on her own, with no training wheels. We’re proud of her for trying her best & for trusting us & not being apprehensive at all! It’s a great first step! 🙂
Katrina just loves first grade, so far! We are so proud of her, too! She is extremely responsible! Even though they’ve only been back in school for like, 5 days now, she already has “homework”. This week & next, she is supposed to wear something & bring something to show her class that is the “color of the day” & she’s doing really well, so far. On Friday, she made sure to tell us, “Mom & Dad, you need to read the note in my backpack about special color days.” So, yesterday was “red day” & today was orange. Tomorrow will be yellow, and so forth, until the 6 major rainbow colors are done, then there are a few more to fill in the other days. She is enjoying it, so far. She has even made little paper hearts & colored them & given them to her teacher & a few of her friends (this wasn’t something assigned, just something she wanted to do, out of her own creativity). We are so glad she is loving school & hope the trend continues for years to come!
Katrina is sooo ready for school to start! Good thing her first day back is tomorrow! She went with me last week to Wal-Mart to finish fulfilling her supply list. We also got her a new backpack, new shoes & some new clothes. She picked out some new headbands for her hair, as well. All of this is really exciting to a 6-year-old, of course! While finishing our shopping trip up, we bought groceries together. This included “fun” things to put in her lunch pail, such as apple slices and Raspberry Zingers, too. This weekend, we went to get a booster seat for her, because she’s outgrowing the 5-point harness carseat she was sitting in. She got to pick it out & of course got a pink & purple one, with flowers all over it. She’s been enjoying riding in it & can strap herself in with the seatbelt really well, already. Today, we went to meet her new teacher & see where her first grade classroom is. We’re excited for her, of course, but we also see our little girl growing up before our eyes & wonder just where the time went… We look forward to the future adventures of our sweet first-grader, though!
Well, the Music Camp that Katrina was attending at our church is over with, but she had such a great time & she learned a lot, too. We enjoyed watching her perform in the musical finale put on by all the kids, “The Slingshot Heard ‘Round the World”. It was a story about David & Goliath. It taught the kids how they can face giants in their own lives, through prayer. Not only did Kat learn a lot of songs that week, but she also brought home some wonderful Biblical knowledge. The day of the performance, I was telling her how proud I was that she had done such a good job practicing & I was encouraging her not to be nervous that evening. She promptly told me, “Mom, I know you’re proud of me, but you should be glad for God, because this is a show about Him & it’s all for His glory”. I told her I was & that I was happy she knew that, while holding back tears of joy. We’re so grateful not only that Katrina had a wonderful experience, learning & playing in music camp this year, but that she brought back some truly great life lessons that we hope will remain with her for years to come!
