Can We Build It?

Yes we can!  Selena is really into Bob the Builder right now.  Unfortunately we do not get the channel Sprout, so the way she gets to watch it is through Netflix streaming, and unfortunately the videos are all 45 minutes - 2 hrs long, so I have to be diligent and turn it off before she sits in front of the TV, and I sit in front of the computer too long.  So of course she wants to build, and blocks just aren't going to cut it.  I had bought some fence posts at the end of the summer to build a raised garden bed.  (I was inspired by ana-white.com, if you haven't looked at her blog you should.  Of course because I have an aversion to following directions, a lack of an electric saw, and a sloped yard, so we built ours completely different than hers)  I told Selena that we could go and build a raised garden in the garage.  So we got out our goggles, and our drill, and our handsaw and started building.  We would just build a bit each day.  Do some sawing one day and some screwing another day until we finished.  Selena sawed some of the boards almost completely by herself and screwed in lots of the screws all by herself (I drilled the holes for them).  So we built one and now we have at least 5 more to go.  It is a bit tedious, and on one hand I want to get an electric saw so it would go faster, but on the other hand Selena can't use an electric saw and she really enjoys sawing.  Hopefully we'll finish by the spring.

Selena has also completely mastered the computer.  She knows how to open up the websites she likes.  Her papa introduced her to Jigzone, so she's been doing puzzles there.  She figured out how to search all the pictures, how to change the cut and number of pieces on the puzzles, how to have it auto solve.  She knows how to close windows by finding the X in the upper corner.  She has figured out how to do most of these things on her own.

It is also evident from her computer skills that she has some word recognition/reading ability since she is able to navigate the jigzone page and click on the specific links she wants.  Also a popup came up asking me Yes or No, and I wasn't paying attention and she says, "Mom you have to click yes or no."   She also was pointing out every time the word Fox came on the TV while we were watching football.

She really enjoys riding the bus (except for the one day when we ended up riding the bus for about 2 hours).  The bus stop is about a 1/4 mile away and it takes us straight to the shopping center and library, which are about 10 minutes away.  It is a bit stressful for me to take two kids on the bus what with manipulating the stroller and 15 lbs of library books, but we manage.  One day we went to the library and did a bit of grocery shopping so I wanted to call Floyd and have him pick us up, but Selena really wanted to take the bus home.  It was still 40 minutes from coming though, so we watched the crows fly to their crow convention (they do this every evening around dusk) and tried to count them, but there are thousands so it was hard.  Then it started getting dark, and then it started raining (so we huddled under a tree), and then the bus was late.  But eventually we made it home and Selena still likes riding the bus.  One sunny day she said, "It is a nice day to ride the bus.  We just passed a beautiful farm.  Farms always look beautiful on sunny days."

Halloween was fun.  Selena was a monster/dragon/dinosaur, depending on the mood.  I made her costume and she liked it.  Especially the tail.  Unfortunately I didn't get a very good picture of her costume.  She keeps asking when the next Halloween is.  My brother, sister-in-law and nephew came and visited.  My nephew is about 6 months old and Selena loves dancing and tickling him.  He seems to enjoy it too and it is pretty cute.