whiskey

"Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, whiskey makes my baby feel a little frisky..."

Not only does Lauren sing along to this song, but it's her favorite song. With as often as we listen to it, I wouldn't be surprised if Sasha says 'whiskey' soon. ;-)

We are doing sign language with Sasha, and ohmy, it's awesome! I didn't do it with my other girls because, well, I just didn't. But we're doing it with Sasha, and an added bonus is that we are all learning sign language. Really, it's pretty amazing to watch your baby (she's 12 months old) tell you she wants to eat, or that she wants more of something, or that the cat is nearby. Cheese, milk/nurse, apple, banana. All words she's signing, plus some others.

And, on the preschool front, I am enjoying teaching preschool. The one year olds are tough, man. But they are cute, and fun. I'm enjoying this age more than I expected to. Mostly, I figure, because the one year olds, while they do need a schedule, need less of a curriculum than the older ones do, which fits in with my style pretty easily.

Last week I made blue jello (blue being the color of the unit, along with the shape being triangle, and the theme being Texas) that we played with. I plopped jello in front of each kid, and let them just do whatever. Sasha wasted no time in putting it to her mouth. Suffice it to say, Sasha ate more jello than her 6 other classmates combined. Anyway, one little boy did really get into smearing it around on the table, and the other kiddos poked at it, not really sure what to do. We'll be playing lots with different textures (great for brain development!) throughout the year - any ideas are welcome!

Oh, and I'm doing signs with them, too. Eat is the one that some of them have picked up on.

We're doing dance class again this year, and I'm so excited to see how the girls grow and change from last year. The owner of the studio is their teacher this year. They are in separate classes, back-to-back, and the owner teaches each one. I had no idea before we signed up, but I'm glad. I feel like we lucked out, because the owner has such a passion for teaching little ones to dance. I'm very curious to see how Aubrey does with her, as she's such a free spirit when it comes to dancing. Or, well, anything, actually, but with dance it's just more obvious.

Starting to make Thanksgiving travel plans, figuring out where we'll go (because it's always been Deming, and now that no one is in Deming, it's not the place anymore) and what we'll do, and who can come. Some folks aren't feeling up for a big family gathering, and while part of me understands it, another part of me is saddened. Dude, we're still family. Makes me feel like, for some of the family, the old folks were the glue, and now that they're gone, maybe some of my relatives think, 'What's the point in sticking together?" Really, it makes me sad.

Lauren Elizabeth has decided that maybe Lauren is not the name for her. So she's requested that we call her L.E. I love it, and if she really takes to being called L.E., would you have her write it as L.E. or as Ellie? But then, also, there's a girl in her class called Lizzie, and Lauren/L.E./Ellie now would like to be called Lizzie, too. Since her middle name is Elizabeth, it's not really a stretch, but she likes it because then 'There would be two Lizzies. Wouldn't that be great, mom?' Anyway, I'm cool with calling her L.E. Not too keen on Lizzie yet, because of the classmate. Eh, we'll see.

Oh, and one more thing, to make this post even more random, have you ever had kalbi? Man, on man, is that stuff good. Korean bbq short ribs. Judy got it all ready and brought it over for Andy to grill. Yum! If you are so inclined, I'm tagged in a note on facebook, the note being the recipe Judy used. I'd go copy it, except facebook isn't loading well tonight. Poop.