have i ever talked about how i think nina is psychic?

sometimes, i'll be washing dishes thinking about something or other, and nina will start talking about the very thing i was thinking about. one time recently i had run into a friend (heather) on the way to pick up nina from school, and she said she'd be going to the playground with the kids after school. i was thinking about this as we were approaching the playground (but not yet in sight of it), when nina said "maybe heather will be at the playground." what the heck! it's not like we see heather at the playground often at all... totally out of the blue. anyway, it happens enough that i noticed, and started to try to figure out if she really is psychic. then i thought hey, maybe i'm reading her thoughts! then i realized that if i were the psychic one, i'd notice this phenomenon with other people too. and with the exception of knowing what erik got isabelle for christmas in 07, i've never read anyone's mind. so, it must be nina.

which brings me to an interesting article i read on yahoo today: Romney's Work Puts Him in 2012 Political Spotlight. remember the time we drove by the white house, and nina said mitt romney lived there? it all makes sense now....

another nina is so cute post

nick had to work some on saturday, so i took the girls outside to play. when we got down to the lobby, greg the mailman was there. we said hi and he said, "going out to play?" i said yup, and nina said "not papa, he has to work today. he loves his job."

cutie!

and a video

nina is so good at writing!

the kids made vegetable soup at school this week and ate it for lunch on thursday. (they all brought in sandwiches too and had dessert. nina was really excited to be a "lunch kid" for a day). so, they also made these little crafts--paper basket cutouts with pictures of vegetables glued to them. i didn't notice right away, but this morning i saw a word nina had written on the back of the basket.

i couldn't figure out what she had tried to write, so i asked her. "maggie!" she said. she mixes up the order of letters sometimes, so i was thrown of because she wrote amggie instead of maggie. and because the first g kinda looks like a p, and the second g like a balloon... but lowercase g's are hard to write! so, i thought this was pretty fantastic! it's not like anyone had written it down for her to copy either. go nina!

a little cuteness...

maggie loves to stick her little tongue out.

nina in my or vanessa's old dance costume!

performance art, the final installment?

it's not quite finished, but it's almost just a technicality at this point. i'll need to get out the rubber spatula to get the last. we're at 4 days now. estimated time until finish: 0.75 days. don't worry about us though, there's another jar in the cupboard.

parent teacher conference today

i had a conference with mrs. d, one of nina's preschool teachers. everything's great, but we all knew that already. she said nina is a delight to have at school, that she is friends with everyone, plays well, and just generally wonderful. mrs. d said that when nina plays with toys, she goes for the toy she wants regardless of which kid is playing with it too. meaning, if she wants to play with the blocks, she'll go over regardless who is there. she doesn't base her activity choice on which kid she wants to play with, it's based on which toy she wants to play with. this fits well with nina at home too. she's much more interested in what we're doing than she is in playing with any particular kid.

mrs. d also said that nina is always 100% aware of what's going on and what she's supposed to be doing. which of course is no surprise as well. she said that if the class is talking about, say, the weather, it's very common for a 3 year old, when asked a question, to say something like "my shoes are blue." and they say, "why yes they are, but what about blah blah blah." but not nina--if she's asked a question, she always answers appropriately. ah, i forsee nina's future, sitting in the classroom, teacher trying desperately to draw the correct answer out of another child, knowing that he can call on nina at any time and always get the correct answer.

mrs. d said that nina is much less shy than she was at the beginning of the year. at the beginning, nina was more likely to hang back and watch the other kids play. mrs. d said she would ask nina, "would you like to play with the blocks too?" and nina would nod. so mrs. d would say, "well, why don't you go ask if you can play too?" and nina would say no, she didn't want to. so mrs. d would take her over and ask for her. but now, and for a long time, she has just happily gone over by herself and asked to join in. so, isn't that nice.

maggie was with me, and mrs. d was very impressed with her too (little show stealer!). she said something to maggie at one point, and maggie looked up at her, and mrs. d said "oh, she's smart. she's very smart."

i think that's it! i'm so glad nina has so much fun at school. this week they're making vegetable soup. nina brought in carrots.