Courtney goes to a dance class once a week. She has memorized a song and several dance steps that she will have to do in a show in June. This week, as the teacher asked about dance positions and dance steps, Courtney was the first in the class to answer!

Courtney-Still Amazing Me

Courtney amazes me everyday. She is so smart, funny, and cute. Lately she has soared with her reading. I bring home Level 1 books from the library (ones she's never seen before) and she can make it through them pretty easily. We have started adding spelling activities and she is getting good fast. Her speech therapist today (who she has not been seeing for very long) came out of the session very impressed with all the words Courtney is reading (I think Courtney has only showed her a small percent of what she is capable of-but as she gets more comfortable with her, it will come). She did say that she won't read it for her if it is demanded of her. You have to make a game out of it. Or catch her (like I often do) doing it on her own. I frequently find her in the morning with Froggy books (or other favorites) just totally reading them on her own. Another one of our favorites is Fancy Nancy.

Memory Like an Elephant

Courtney has a GREAT memory. She can hear a song once, then go months without hearing it, hear it again and sing along to almost all the words. She frequently reminds me of details of things that happened in movies, or while we were out somewhere that I have to really think about before I can remember what she is talking about. I thought of this today because as I left for the grocery store she reminded me to get sourdough bread (one of her favorites). We hadn't talked about that in probably a day or two! It is really amazing.

I Want to Make Pumpkin Pie

Courtney and I were shopping in the grocery store when she told me she wanted to make pumpkin pie. I decided that sounded like fun (and it sounded yummy!) so we bought a can of pumpkin and headed home.
She did a great job. She read the recipe, found all the ingredients, scooped, measured, poured, and mixed with the mixer. It was fun to see her read the names of the spices and then hunt through the spice drawer to find the right one. She stuck with it until they went into the oven and was patient while they cooked and cooled. I will admit I cracked the eggs (she's not quite ready for that), and she licked one teaspoon after we used it-but that ended up being a great learning lesson. After we talked about it we put it in the sink and got a new one.

That night we all enjoyed the fruits (or I guess, vegetable) of her labor!

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!)