Monday, November 21, 2016

November Update

It’s now almost Thanksgiving, so I figured I’d give a quick update on N. More pictures/videos will be in the next post. 

Novaley switched schools in September to come to a closer school within the district and she loves it there!  She is still in a Montessori program, and continues to surprise Joe and I each day with everything she is learning, and how fast she can pick things up.  She’s also in violin and dance class.  N’s currently learning how to read words--she knows all the letter sounds and such, so if you ask her something like, “Novaley what does C-A-T spell”, she will repeat each sound back to you and be able to tell you what the word is.  While she is reading, she points to each letter to sound it out and is able to read words.  She’s working on addition and subtraction in math--which is crazy to me!  She can tell you what my phone number is, and is wondering when she will have her own, of course.  She still has a sharp memory and we enjoy watching Gilmore Girls before bed each night.  It’s funny because if we’re eating dinner in the living room and Joe’s watching Sports Center or football, she gets mad and says, “Oh my gosh, Dad, turn this off. I don’t want to watch any more sports!”  I guess she’s heard me say something like that a time or two. We’ve taken a few different trips the past few months, and Novaley is currently in Florida with Joe’s side of the family for the week. 
The holidays are approaching, so Joe and I just reiterate the fact that we would very much prefer that you do NOT buy her any toys or clothes for Christmas.  She really, really does not need anything.  If you’d like to get her something for Christmas, try coming to Houston to spend time with her.  Buy her a few piano lessons or a pass to a museum.  If you want to wait until she’s back in MN, then take her to Lego Land or a park or something.  Just spend time with her.  Joe and I want to get her away from the hyper-consumerism and materialism within this world, and most especially during the Holiday season.  We’ve actually been trying to purge our house of a loooooooot of stuff---even my beloved books! AHHH! It’s a lot more freeing with less and we’d rather spend money on traveling more and allowing N to have different experiences in different places with different people, rather than spending the money on something that will be put in a corner, closet, donated, or thrown away. 
That’s pretty much it for now….maybe I’ll have Novaley write the next post.



P.S. Be on the lookout for her Christmas card and picture.