A new pin..

.. a second pin has been set up because the old pin is full. Full of what? Diamonds of course, and after the seventh diamond is attached to the pin, you get to take it home and a new pin is started. Now do you see what I mean?

You get a diamond for being good, actually exceptionally good, a role model no less. After Kylee got her first ‘Bravo’, she had already won double the awards I ever got at school and she is not even out of Grade One yet.

Getting to take your pin home is no easy achievement but I would imagine that Kylee makes it look easy.

Another success..

Guess who doesn’t need trainer wheels on her bicycle anymore? It doesn’t take much guesswork, and if you answered ‘Kylee’, you would be right of course, but there are no prizes for a right answer.

Kylee’s achievements to date show how far a person can go with kindness and a determination to succeed, and it will be interesting to see the grand total for the entire year. There are only five and a half months to go to her next birthday celebration and a lot can happen in that time, and I expect that it will..

A new way to make friends..

Kylee has been told not to interrupt when people are speaking, and being an intrinsically good kid, she obeys the rule. However, Kylee is difficult to keep down, not a bad thing in my books, and a few days ago, she found a new around not interrupting.

We were sitting in a local Tim Horton’s, and Kylee has been playing a version of ‘hide and seek’ with a couple of pensioners sitting behind us. She asked me for use of a pen, grabbed a paper napkin, wrote ‘My name is Kylee’, and then held it up for the two pensioners to see.

As it happened, both were or had been teachers, and they just had to talk to her as we were about to leave. All big smiles of course, and questions for her.

She loves it, people around her love it, and we could all learn a lot from her. It’s al too easy to become insular, secretive and crotchety, and far too many of us do attain all three negative qualities. I am hoping that she doesn’t or is forced into it by the disposition and attitudes of others. So far, it s all good, and is a pleasure to watch.

PS. Guess who can ride a bike without training wheels attached? Another break-through in recent days. It all happens for good little girls..

A lover of technology..

Kylee has always embraced technology, right from the first days of watching me fix computers. I set up a computer for her at this location almost four years ago and, last birthday, she was bought a cellphone (it wasn’t me) which occasionally has minutes out on it.

Anyway, it came to pass that I had to collect her from school last Wednesday, visiting the school office before leaving. I was told why, but Kylee was completely in the dark, and a touch apprehensive about having to go there.

On entry, the school secretary looked up, big smile, walked around the desk and presented Kylee with a prize she had won in the school draw. It wasn’t an ‘also ran’ prize. It was the TOP prize, an iPad Mini no less.

I have seen Kylee go through many emotions over time, but I have never seen her blush so much or be speechless. As the enormity of it dawned on her, she let out ‘I’ve won an iPad”, a phrase repeated continually as we left the school, on the way back home, at home..

I can’t think of a better candidate for the win. If anybody deserved it, she did, for her kindness, her caring, everything good about her.

Well done, Kylee..

One liners.. perfect timing..

These are not in any particular order, but most were said in the early days of her grasping spoken English. It is but a small selection. I will start another post if I remember more.. 

‘This is my bum’

Location: Masonville Mall. Kylee was walking by this time and she liked to pull along the red cooler bag in which were stored supplies for a diaper change. She was very proud of her red bag and told everybody what was in it.

“I got keys”

Location: the elevator in our apartment block. She was sitting in a push chair at the time, holding Granny’s keys. The elevator stopped and another resident entered. The extraordinary part about this is that we were not aware that she knew the word ‘keys’.

“On the cupboard”

Location: Our apartment. Kylee had hurt herself, obvious by the complaining. It wasn’t bad, but Granny asked where she hurt herself. We expected her to say ‘knee’ or ‘hand’. For her age at the time, she wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near the age where multi-syllable words could be said.

“No moon, no sleep”

Location: balcony. Granny was out on the balcony and was holding Kylee such that she could see more. Granny had also been explaining earlier about going to sleep when the moon comes out. Kylee looked out over the night view and saw that there was no moon.

“I want houp”

Location: Tim Hortons at Wonderland and Southdale.  Kylee was asked what she would like to eat. On a previous visit, I had shared some of my SOUP with here, but at the time, Kylee couldn’t manage the letter S at the front of a word. Granny couldn’t understand her, so Kylee raised her voice and said “Baba Houp”..

“Four year Old's can do that”

Location: Anywhere. This expression was used if Kylee was advised that what she was about to do next might not be a good idea..

“Ha Ha Ha”

Location: Masonville Mall. Santa had just announced his presence with a hearty ‘Ho Ho Ho’. Seconds later, Kylee announced her presence too..

“She used to be on a lot”

Location: Our apartment. Kylee knew that her mother was an ardent hockey player, and when hockey was being shown on TV, she more or less assumed that her mother was one of the players. Granny may also have played a part in Kylee believing this. So, when passing the TV, she would say ‘skate momma, skate’. Recently, hockey was on TV and she asked if her mother was playing. Granny told her no, and Kylee though about it for a few seconds and finally said “That’s strange.. ……..” The rest of this story should be obvious..

One hundred days into Grade One..

.. and Kylee’s interim school report is glowing, all A’s and B’s. But wait, there is a problem!

Kylee is pleased to have A’s and B’s, but other kids in the class got C’s and D’s, and Kylee doesn’t have any of them. Zut alors!!

She is a competitive girl and does not like to lose out, even on low marks apparently. It was explained to her that C’s and D’s were not so good, and the tears that had started to appear dried up rapidly.

Destination Disney..

As I write this, Kylee is in Florida for her yearly visit to Disney, beaches and warm weather. The family first drive to Detroit and stay over in a hotel because the flight south leaves criminally early in the morning. For Kylee, this part of the journey is almost as exciting as Florida. If it were me at that age, I would be asking when we were going to be on a beach, not looking forward to a night in Detroit.

Swimmingly good..

On the ‘learning to swim’ front, Kylee is getting set to swim Lake Ontario, well not quite that yet, but certainly the ‘deep’ end of the pool at the ‘Boys and Girls Club here in London. The only problem is that the deep end is separated off from the shallow end by a solid divider, and it is considerably colder on the other side.

Even with tears in her eyes, and swimming against the current made by the circulatory pumps, she made it from one side to the other, a truly supreme effort.

Gymnastics..

Kylee likes it but she lacks a ‘quality’ that all gymnasts have.. fearlessness. Whether swinging from bars, hanging from rings or ‘flic-flac’ floor exercises, gymnasts put a lot of faith into the landing, and Kylee doesn’t have what it takes to do that. A ‘flaw’ perhaps as far as gymnastics goes, but her fear works for her in everyday life. Safe, soft landings is her bag, and quite honestly, I think that is a good thing.

She recognizes that she is not quite the gymnast that some in here peer group are, but she enjoys the exercise and that is what counts.. 

Well, that rounds up this entry..

Another curtain call..

After 8 weeks of activities revolving around learning lines, new songs and dance moves, the  Original Kids Theatre Company of London Ontario put on the Fall 2013 show called ‘Squirm!’. It centred around the rhyme ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’.

This is just up Kylee’s street as she loves to learn new lines, songs and dance routines. She is and always has been a ‘natural’ entertainer who puts on impromptu shows wherever she is.

An example fairly recently was in Cherryhill Mall. There was an old guy watching her, and one would have to say that he didn’t look too impressed. However, when his wife arrived back from her shopping excursion and was ready to leave, he told her that he couldn’t leave just yet as he was watching the show. So they both watched Kylee until she had finished her routines.

Kylee always inspires pride in us, and this was one of many times, so if I was asked who was star of the Squirms show, I would have to say that Kylee was.

Of course, OKTC is not about being a star. It is all about fun, and the players do other activities as well as learning about stage craft.

There are some ‘players’ who don’t always remember their lines, songs or the dance routines, and look out of place, but OKTC ensures that all players have an equal showing, and that nobody is singled out in any way. These shows are as much about bringing children out of their shells as much as anything, and we should be grateful that Kylee does it with such ease.

Was it a good show? As grandparents, we were ALL proud of our respective ‘stars’, as one would expect and hope.

For more on OKTC, click on the link..

http://www.oktc.ca

.. and have a great day..

Now we are ‘Six’..

Kylee had a special birthday party two days before her official date. It was held at home and was a properly organised ‘princess’ party headed by a professional Cinderella.

Cinders made her an ‘official’ princess as part of the closing ceremony, and Kylee’s face was priceless. To be honoured in such a way was more than she expected, especially as she thought that Cinderella would be way too busy attending balls to even show up for her birthday party.

The birthday cake was special too, having been made by Aunt Mel (it was good, Mel. I would have eaten more of it but had to leave some for everybody else) and in Kylee’s favourite colours, pink and white.

In attendance were classmates and friends she has had since being able to sit up without the assistance of a Jolly Jumper. It was three hours of less raucous fun that I expected. Surprisingly, there was not as much screaming as one might associate with 17 little girls and one boy chasing each other around the garden.

Being ‘six’ brings other joys of course. Grade One school involves more learning than play, and she has the task of learning 32 new words, ‘en Francais s’il vous plait, je crois’. I will do my best to help out even though my memory of French is limited to mainly grammar and having to cast my mind back a ‘long’ way into the past.

Other than that, Kylee is adapting to being older very well.

Today, she gets to see her new car booster seat. It is one of these.. see the photo?

OK, well its time to get ready to greet her from school. Until the next time..