Our Little Dancer (video)

This is a quick video that Roman made of Ryla's first dance class.

Dancer_1 from roman maestas on Vimeo.

La Artiste!

DSC01138, originally uploaded by roman_tiffany.

One of Ryla's favorite activities is drawing. She has recently perfected the art of the "smiley face" and loves to incorporate it into everything she draws.

We have discovered that a dry erase board is the best invention when it comes to kids and drawing. We don't waste a ton of paper and she loves to wipe off the board and start a new picture. As you can see in this picture, Ryla is very proud of her smiling sun.

A Computer Wiz at Age 3

DSC01157, originally uploaded by roman_tiffany.

Having been introduced to a computer in my young adulthood, it is really mind blowing that the children of today will know more about computers by the time they reach their early teens than I do now. When we first toured Ryla's pre-school I thought it was funny that there was a computer in the classroom. I remember thinking, they are three how much can they do on a computer?

Ryla is quickly taking after her daddy and is already becoming quite the techie. The computer is now one of her favorite activities. I was a little skeptical at first with how much she was really doing on her own. I thought maybe Roman was doing the majority of the navigation. I was so wrong. Ryla knows how to use the mouse and can easily play the learning games on the kid-friendly sites she visits.

We were at the library last week and she wanted to play games on their computer. This is a computer in the kid section that is pre-loaded with educational games. Ryla sat at the desk, put on the headphones and once I launched the program she did everything herself. It was really amazing to watch her. She was laughing and shouting out answers of the game, a little too loud for the library, but it was so cute!

Roman has an old computer that still works so we are pondering the idea of making it a game computer for Ryla. We are thinking it might make the perfect Christmas gift.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho It's Trick or Treating I Go...

DSC06280, originally uploaded by roman_tiffany.

Halloween is one of Ryla's favorite holidays but what kid doesn't like a holiday where you get a ton of candy? Well, dress-up is one of her favorite games so she was super excited to get a new costume for Halloween. After much thought, our little princess finally decided to be Snow White for Halloween this year.

Ryla had a whirl-wind of Halloween festivities. She attended a Halloween party at her pre-school the weekend before Halloween. It was a great time. They had games set-up in each of the classrooms with treats and lots of snacks. She had a great time playing with all of her friends.

On Halloween, we went to The Wildlife Experience with some friends and did the "trick or treat off the street" event. It was a lot of fun for the kids. They were able to play games, make crafts and of course, trick or treat. We ended the evening by trick or treating around the neighborhood. Ryla got so much candy that I had to carry her bucket because it was so heavy!

Now that the holiday is over, she still wants to wear her costume and she is already talking about trick or treating again next year! There is nothing like celebrating a holiday through the eyes of a child.