Bears On Wheels

I have read this book to Courtney maybe 3-4 times her whole 6 1/2 years of life. Tonight she picked it for her bedtime book. I asked her to read it to Megan and I. She read the entire book (she needed help with the word "none" which then we were able to discuss its definition and by the end of the book she was reading and understanding it on her own, and the word Twenty). She was amazing! I didn't even know she could read so many of her number words (one, two, three, etc). She was very proud of herself. Always exceeding my expectations that girl!

Courtney loves to ride her horses. One day we brought treats and when she was done riding we got to feed all of the horses=but this one got the most since she is the one she rode that day. Her name is Rhabana. The volunteer helping her is Susanna. Courtney loves to sing her the "Oh Susanna" song, which luckily, she thinks is super cute!

Things she has learned to do this session of riding are:
Give her horse instructions with confidence: She was a little shy about this last time, but this time she tells that horse what to do in a strong, confident voice. She tells her "Walk On" to go, "Whoa" to stop, "Trot" to trot, "Step" to step over poles, and I think she says "Right" and "Left" when she uses the reins to turn her.
2-point: She can rest her hands near the horse's mane (she rides in a saddle now) and then she stands in her stir-ups and then trots. This takes a lot of core muscle strength and balance.
Reining: She uses the reins now every time she rides. When she is instructed to, she can turn the horse left or right. She is working on remembering to put her elbows in.
Looking: She is working on looking where she wants the horse to go. This helps her focus on what she is doing and it helps the horse feel comfortable with what is going on.

She sits up so straight while she is on her horse-she is really looking quite comfortable on the horse. She always wants to put her horse and saddle away when she is done riding and she always loves to say hello to all the horses in the arena stalls. I can't wait until we will be able to do another session of lessons.

Kind Sister

Courtney is such a kind sister to Megan. They play so well together and have such a great time with each other. The other day, Megan wanted to have more macaroni and cheese (we were eating lunch). I explained that she had to eat her peach slice before she could have more. She whined and complained and begged and told me she didn't want to for about 10 minutes. I stood firm. As I got busy with other things, I watched out of the corner of my eye as Megan took the peach slice over to Courtney and asked her if she would eat it. Courtney said sure and ate the peach slice for her. Courtney had been watching and is always distraught when Megan is distraught (she has a very tender heart). I was impressed that she looked at me when Megan asked her to eat the peach and waited for my nod of approval before she ate it. I told her that she was a kind sister to do that for Megan. (And then I gave Megan more macaroni and cheese!)