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Curly Haired Courtney no longer the Baby of the Family
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Courtney went to bed on New Year’s Eve with straight hair, but woke up the first morning of 2002 with curly hair and she has been curly Q ever since! She is defiantly growing up. She turned 5 years old on November 3 celebrating this mile marker with a Disney themed birthday party with all of her friends from Ruth Washburn Cooperative Nursery School. This is her third and final year at this remarkable school. Brenda is her wonderful teacher this year that knows absolutely everything about animals and nature. Courtney loves to play |
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Courtney at the Lake of the Ozarks
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with all of her friends there and her interests at school change from loving the art tables, dress-up and the writing center. You can always find Courtney engaged in some activity that to her seems like a world of just play, but as her parents we know this experience is teaching her a lot about how to work with others and expand her way of thinking. Her favorite playground is the farm where she likes to go down the Big wheel hill or dig in the sandbox. This class of children has been very close and has been together since they were 2. None of us can imagine going our separate ways in Kindergarten. At Courtney’s conference Brenda said that Courtney is always happy and willing to play with anyone. The influence of 2 older sisters is keeping her social skills sharpened and her desire to have homework like Katy is keeping her ahead of preschool expectations. |
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Courtney and Brenda (her Teacher)
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At home Courtney enjoys playing with her sisters, looking at books, writing non-stop and jumping on the trampoline. Unlike school, she has been known to whine or throw a fit when she gets dominated by one of her sisters, but if she is well rested she can use her charm to get her way. Whether at school, at a friend’s house or at home, Courtney charms everyone by her giggle. Sometimes her giggle means she is truly happy – other times she giggles because she is nervous or we’ve even seen giggling when she is sad. But her giggle has charmed many people into an extra book being read, a cookie for lunch or an extra turn on the trampoline. |
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Courtney likes "Hands-on" Activities!
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Courtney’s social schedule begins with her weekly Spanish class. She knows her colors very well and she can count, but the real joy of this class is the time she spends with the boys in her class. Most of the boys are taking this after school class where they leave school, go have lunch and then do the class together. Courtney is the only girl and truly enjoys her time with these little boys more than the language opportunity!
Courtney tries hard to keep up with her sisters. This summer she swam and when she went to take her 1st swim lesson of the summer she informed her teacher that she knew how to do the back stroke, the front crawl and the breast stroke. She only needed help with her butterfly. |
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(Her teacher informed us that she needed to learn to float also!) By the end of summer, she wasn’t ready for swim team, but she has the beginnings of a stroke that kind of looks like the butterfly! While her sisters enjoyed their swim meets, Courtney was picked up and taken to gymnastics by her friend Emma. Emma’s mom even came and found us at any pool we were at! What a treat for the entire family.
Courtney enjoyed gymnastics so much that once school started, she joined her sisters in going to Art Sports once again. This time instead of being in a class for preschoolers, she was moved into her sister’s elementary class. Courtney loves keeping up with Mikaela, but it is very funny watching her again believe she can do far more than she really is doing.
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Courtney Loves being a Pool Rat
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On Thursday’s Courtney has her friend Emma over to play. These two kids have been playing together since in the nursery at a church for a Mom’s Bible Study. Ever since this time these two kids have played once a week – so this year before kindergarten begins and these play dates become more challenging, these two girls play. Lately wearing swimsuits is their choice of activity. It can be snowing and below 0°, but they will have the towels out and the bikinis on. It must be their friendship that keeps them so toasty! |
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The Biggest Courtney news stemmed from falling at Disney world at Tom Sawyer’s Island. Her thumb wouldn’t straighten out after the fall. She wasn’t in pain, but she had a very funny thumb’s up. So our wonderful Doctor and friend arranged while we were in Disney an appointment with an orthopedic doctor here in town – so we got off the plane and the next day went to see about Courtney’s crooked thumb. Long story short, we learned she had defective thumbs and she’d need an operation to get a true thumbs-up again. Always looking out for the deal, we decided to fix the other thumb also because it was at risk of ending up crooked if she fell on it and we’d be back into the doctor again – so why not skip the second hospital bill and have the doc pre-fix the other thumb at the same time. Now Courtney was a charming patient. Her giggle followed her into the operating room and the doctors fell in love with her. When we checked in, the hospital gave her Sammy the seal – the stuffed surgical animal all children get. But after the short operation, Sammy was all bandaged. According to the nurses, the doctors spent more time on Sammy than Courtney because they enjoyed her so much they wanted to do something fun for her! Recovery was quick, and now Courtney thumbs get a true thumbs up!!! |
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Courtney Thumbs Up!
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Courtney keeps going and going...
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Courtney's 2002 Page