The Perfect Answer

It's Christmas time and Courtney LOVES Christmas time...mostly because it means its her Birthday time!  And although her Birthday is not until the 19th, as soon as the tree goes up she starts telling people "Its almost my Birthday".  This year she started to use that phrase in early November and then would explain to people that it is almost Christmas time, and that means its her Birthday time.  She certainly has it all figured out.

At church, Courtney's Primary teacher asked her a question and I thought she gave the perfect answer (clever girl!):

Sister Cote-What do you want for your Birthday?
Courtney-Whatever you get me will be perfect!

Hard Worker

Courtney is not afraid to roll her sleeves up and help when the family is doing a project together.  This night it was helping to stack the wood.

When we were done moving the wood into the pile, I picked up a broom to sweep the driveway with.  Courtney didn't hesitate...she found the smaller kid broom and started sweeping right along side of me.  I'm proud of her willingness to help when a job needs to get done!

Sweet Prayer

As I listened reverently to Courtney's personal prayer last night I heard her say this (all on her own, unprompted):
"I pray that Jesus is real.  Please bless that I can meet him someday"

Who Tied Your Shoes For You?

I came out to the hallway the other day to see what Courtney was up to.  She said she wanted to play outside and she had her tennis shoes on (she hasn't worn them all summer because she's been wearing her sandals).  I was surprised because one of them was already  tied.

***History-Courtney has not been successful yet in having the dexterity, strength and coordination it takes to tie shoes.  I had always bought her velcro shoes until this last pair (they don't make a lot of velcro shoes in the bigger kid sizes). I had always tied these shoes for her.***

I asked her, "Who tied your shoe for you?"

She said, very casually, "Oh, I did."

I said, trying not to sound too shocked "Where did you learn to do that?"

She said, "On TV."

So there you have it.  She can tie her shoes all by herself.  I watched her tie the other one and...sure enough, she can!

I told her how excited and proud I was of her, how responsible she was, how smart she is.  We had a little celebration as she was very excited and proud of herself.

Alphabetter Soup

The other day I gave Courtney a kid's cookbook and told her that she could pick out a recipe to make.  She decided on Alphabetter Soup.  She made a list of the ingredients we would need and the first thing we did was shop for what we needed.  She was sad that we could not find ABC noodles, but was able to be talked into "O" soup (which became the joke she told for the next week, so it worked out fine!).  It was a good recipe because she had to count out a lot of things at the store and while we were preparing it.

 Washing 8 green beans

 Cutting 8 green beans into 1 inch pieces

Stirring all the ingredients together

 Alphabetter Soup

 Yum!

She did such a great job.  She counted items (green beans, onions, carrots, cups of water, bullion cubes, etc).  She followed the directions and added everything that was needed.  I was so proud of her for doing such a great job.  And the soup was delicious!

Service

Today, Courtney's job was to empty 2 of our 4 garbages around the house.  Megan, her sister, was to empty the other 2.  Courtney also had to dust their bedroom and Megan had to dust the family room.  When they were done, they were earning a 4th of July craft to do.  Megan was not happy about having to do jobs first.  Courtney got a head start on her jobs, quickly finished them and started on her craft.  Megan finished dusting and went to empty her garbages...only to find that her garbages were already empty and had new bags in them!  She was shocked and surpised!  I asked Courtney if she had emptied them all and she simply said, yes.
Without being asked to, Courtney had finished her sister's jobs for her.  I am proud of Courtney today.

Lost Teeth

Courtney has lost 2 teeth in the last 2 weeks.  One was on Easter Sunday!  She is so great about it.  She wiggles and wiggles it until it just pops out.  The one on Easter we didn't even see at first.  We were skyping Grandma and Grandpa (who are living in the Country of Georgia near Russia) and she starting yelling "Where's my tooth?"  It was bleeding a bit and that upset her a bit.  The tooth was not in her mouth, but we coldn't find it anywhere. Once the bleeding stopped we celebrated with my parents, showed them the "Toothfairy Bear" that would hold her tooth for her at night and laughed about not knowing where the tooth was.  While my parents were still on Skype with us, we found the tooth...it was under the bench that Courtney was sitting on.  She must have just pushed it right out of her mouth!
It was so much fun to share this experience with Grandma and Grandpa!

Rapunzel

This is the chapter book that Courtney has started.

(Sorry I couldn't get this page turned the right way.)

She is on chapter 3 and can read the chapters by herself without much help.  She is not quite able to keep up with the comprehension.  After she reads the chapter on her own, we spend time talking about what happened and re-reading parts that she didn't understand or remember.  She loves having a book that is just hers!

Love to Read

Courtney started her first real chapter book today. We have been reading chapter books to her for a while now, but this was the first that she picked up and read chapter 1 (12 pages) all on her own!

Thoughtful Friend

On Sunday, Courtney's good friend and neighbor was not at church.  When we passed out pictures for the kids to take home, Courtney grabbed an extra one and wanted to take it to her friend.
Today, as she got ready to go to an Activity with her friends, she was having a snack.  She put her snack in a bag and said she wanted to take it so she could share with her friends.
She is a very thoughtful friend.

Helpful Big Sister

We had just come in the door from our usual "busy Wednesday".  It was raining outside and so as we came in the door I reminded everyone to take their shoes off.  Courtney already had hers off and put away in the closet.  Brooklynn (Courtney's 22 month old sister) sat down next to the closet and asked to have her boots taken off.  Courtney walked right over and in a sweet voice said, "I'll help you take yours off, Brooklynn."
She is a helpful big sister.

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Sleep Study

I felt like Courtney hasn't been sleeping well.  She has minor sleep apnea (sp?) and had started to snore again.  She also had been getting up a lot at night (which usually meant she would sleep on our floor and didn't seem to really go back to sleep, but seemed to play with the light or anything that happened to be lying around.  Or it meant she would go out to the family room, curl up in my big blue chair and read books).  I worry about development when she doesn't sleep well.  So, I decided it would be best to have a sleep study done to see if there was anything we could do to help her.  So at the end of November we were scheduled for an over-night sleep study for her.  They said she could bring one parent with her that would sleep on a cot next to her.  I was worried because Brooklynn was still nursing and they suggested NOT bringing her...but I really wanted to be there with her.  I got brave and we decided Dad would go with her.  We got her in her pajamas, packed her an overnight bag with a few of her favorite things (pillow, books and Jesse doll) and sent her and Dad on their way.

This is her in her room, waiting to get "hooked up".

Arron said she was amazing.  They had to put all kinds of wires and monitors on her head and body.  She was happy to let them.  They joked about how she looked like a robot!  After she got all hooked up, Dad called home and was able to read their night time story to Megan on the phone so they could do it together.

In the morning, we (Megan, Brooklynn and I) awoke to Courtney and Dad home safe and a box of donuts on the table!

A few weeks later, I went back to the doctor for the results.  He asked how she has been sleeping and I explained that she was getting up a lot.  He looked puzzled and said she slept great at the clinic.  No kidding-want to have her every night?  He said that there was NOTHING going on-not even sleep apnea.  He said that sometimes when kids are really smart and have active brains, they just have a hard time sleeping (I smiled big and giggled a little when he said that)...(see?  She IS really smart!).  He said not to worry about her as long as it wasn't affecting her daytime behavior.   So, we got her a little light by her bed and let her keep a little stack of books by her bed.  We tell her that if she wakes up and wants to read that she can turn on her little light and read right in her bed.  I sleep a little better knowing that all is well with her breathing and sleeping.

Joker

Courtney loves to tell jokes.  She got a book for Christmas that is full of silly Christmas jokes and she loves reading it and telling them to people.  She loves to make up her own jokes and has quite a cute sense of humor.
The other day we were just finishing dinner and Courtney was really looking forward to the "Popcorn and Movie" night that we were going to be having.  As soon as she was ready to clear her plate she said, "Mom, I'm popcorn parvin."  I didn't really pay attention and Megan asked me what she said and I said "I don't know".  Then Courtney said "You know, like Starvin Marvin, I'm Popcorn Parvin!" (Meaning she was REALLY ready to eat some popcorn-Clever girl!)