4th of July 2013

We had a nice, mellow 4th of July this year. The started with me running the Claremont Freedom 5000 5K race with some co-workers and Jordyn and Daddy met me at the park when I finished. After the race and breakfast, we headed home and Jordyn and Daddy made some homemade strawberry ice cream.



Ice cream is ready!!



After we waited and had a little ice cream, we went out to watch Despicable Me 2. Jordyn loves the first movie and has watched the DVD almost every day this week. So we knew she would be so excited to see the new one. She loved the movie and loved it. She did get scared at one point in the movie and began crying. So I had held her and had her sit on my lap. But despite getting scared and crying through that one part, she still said she loved the movie. She did day that she liked the first movie best.

After the movie, we all rested up before it was time for fireworks.



Then we headed over to my office to watch the fireworks from the terrace of my building, which had a wonderful view of the fireworks. We watched from there last year and knew it was the best place for us. A colleague was there too and Jordyn had a blast with her son who is a little older than her. She had a great time with her new friend.

A great 4th of July!

Little Swimmer

The end of June Jordyn took a couple weeks of swimming lessons. One of her instructors was the same one she had last year (Michael). She was very excited to see Michael again.





This summer, she was more tentative about lessons and was a little more fearful. She didn't want to jump, whereas last year she didn't have as much of a problem. But I am proud of her for trying and doing it.





On her last class, she was the only one who came to class. The other two kids didn't show up so she pretty much had a private lesson with two instructors.



Doing great floating on her back.



Our little swimmer. Kick, kick, kick....

Swimming 2013-0628 from Sherylle White on Vimeo.

A little tentative jumper.

More swimming 2013-0628 from Sherylle White on Vimeo.

I wish we had a pool we could use regularly to get her more practice in. I am sure with more practice she will get it. I wish I had more time to have her take more lessons, but it is tough being a working mom and taking the time out every day for two weeks to get her to her lessons in the middle of the day. At this stage, I think she just needs more practice time in the water. She loves being in the water and playing around.

Summer Beach Fun

The weather's been hot and it is summer time, so we have been heading to the beach to cool down.

The first beach trip of the summer at The Wedge at Balboa.



It was a beautiful day and a great day to fly a kite at the beach.





We love heading to the beach and relaxing in the sun together.



Afterwards, we stopped for dinner and Jordyn's silly self.





Our second beach trip was a day where it was over 100 degrees at home, so we headed down to the beach where it was actually 25 degrees cooler and windy. We had a nice afternoon and Jordyn didn't let overcast, cool weather stop her from enjoying her beach time at Newport Dunes.







I am sure we will have more beach time fun this summer. We love the beach!

Butterfly Babies

Jordyn received a butterfly kit and we got some caterpillars and watched their amazing transformation into butterflies.

The caterpillars.









About a week after receiving the caterpillars in the mail: Getting ready to form them chrysalis.









A week later, I went out of town for a conference and while I was gone Jordyn and Daddy saw them come out of their chrysalis and transform into butterflies. I was really bummed to have missed that.






We enjoyed the butterflies for a few days and then let them go and do their job to polinate. It was a fun experience to watch this transformation.

Butterfly 2013 from Sherylle White on Vimeo.

Butterfly 2013-06 from Sherylle White on Vimeo.

4 year old Check-up 2013

At Jordyn's 4 year check up she weighed in at 30 lbs and 40 inches. She is doing very well. There is so much that she can do.

• She has a great imagination and loves to pretend.
• She loves to sing and make-up her own songs.
• She loves to dance around the house.
• She has a pretend baby sister, named Luna (the same name as her friend's baby sister)
• She has a great vocabulary. She will say: "That's brilliant!"
• Ride her bike with training wheels. We no longer have to push her or hold her.
• She is not as shy as she once was.
• She is shy but she is also a ham.
• She does get frustrated very easily and wants her way all the time, but what 4 year old doesn't - but we are working on that.
• She is great with little babies and toddlers and just so kind and sweet with them.
• She loves school.
• Knows her ABCs.
• Counts to 12.
• Write parts of her name.
• Recognize her name or her letters as she calls them.
• She loves to draw and create things.
• She loves to play with boxes to make pirate ships and mouse traps.
• She loves girly things like princesses and dolls, but she can also hold her own with the boys and likes to play pirate and build houses and castles.

From December 2010



Her 3 year check-up (June 2012)



Her 4 year check-up (June 2013)



No more need to tiptoe to reach the light anymore. She has definitely grown, she no longer looks like a toddler. The doctor was pleased to see her. She was not pleased at having to get 4 shots. But she was brave and let the nurse give her the shots through her tears.

Now that she is 4

Jordyn is 4 years and 1 month old. I am still in awe that I have a 4 year old. There is so much that she can do now that she is 4....

She can dress herself in the morning. It takes some coaxing but she is fully capable of dressing herself. Although she can be quite lazy and take an hour to get dressed.

 

She goes to plays without her parents. She went to a school play with some cousins and grandma. Such a big girl.



She already is not a fan of the dentist. She is doing pretty good in this picture, but in the end I had to hold her for the dentist to clean her teeth.



She gardens with grandma.



Look at the happy face flowers.



She loves to swim at grandma's house.



She has breakfast dates with friends. Breakfast with Isabel.



She makes birthday cards for her friends. This one is for her BFF, Anna.



Plays classic games with her daddy.



She still likes to dress us. Here in a little gift from my college students who are back from studying abroad in Spain.

All that in the last month. Turning 4 and all of a sudden she is a big girl. No longer my little baby, or even a little toddler. Sigh. This is all going way to fast for me. I just need to sit and try and take each moment in.