It's the last day of September, so of course we're in the midst of our annual autumn heat wave. I've lived here for nearly 25 years, and it's happened every single autumn, but for some reason I keep hoping each year that this will be the year we get to skip it. Maybe this will be the year, I think, that we have a nice crisp autumn with crackling leaf piles and frosty mornings, the way the rest of the country does. Then the temperature hits 104 degrees, the hot wind screams down the canyons, and people's heads spontaneously combust.
I hope it's cooler tomorrow. I'm planning to get out our autumn decorations, and it just feels wrong to cover the fireplace hearth with fake pumpkins and leaves while electric fans are blasting in every room. What wouldn't I give for central air!
Friday, September 30, 2005
Friday, September 16, 2005
Back in the groove
G's been back in school for two weeks now. She likes her teacher, and so far everything's been good. I must say, though, I'm surprised at how serious and, well, academic first grade is in comparison to kindergarten. Starting next week there will be nightly homework -- not very difficult homework, judging by the samples I've seen, but still a lot more than before. In-class birthday parties are no longer allowed because they take too much time away from instruction. Each kid will receive a behavior report at the end of every week. It seems strict, but G probably needs the extra structure. Like a lot of bright, creative kids, she tends to get distracted and goof around, and I think it'll be good for her to have a teacher who keeps her focused on learning.
Pete and I are both a little bit worried about her being bored, though. Last year she was the only kid in her class who could read at all (not at a high level or anything, but she knew enough words to read "Dick and Jane"-type books). The assignments were easy for her, so she'd sit around and talk to the kid next to her, thereby preventing him from doing his work, and then fill in her own worksheet at lightning speed at the last minute. One of her teachers used to have to set a timer for 30 seconds per page to motivate her. (When I found out about this, I said, "Thirty seconds?" and she said "Trust me, she can do it in twenty." She was right.)
This year it looks like they're going to be working on basic phonics, and that's not what she needs to learn. She knows all the consonant and short and long vowel sounds; all the consonant blends; the common vowel digraphs; word endings like -ed and -ing; the soft -ce sound; etcetera. What she really needs help with is applying everything she knows. She recognizes lots of words by sight, and that makes her a little bit lazy when she comes to a word she doesn't recognize -- instead of trying to work it out with phonics, she just guesses at it (usually incorrectly) so she can move on. If we sound out the first couple of letters together, she'll get it right, but I have to initiate that activity. I think she's realized that sounding out doesn't always work because phonics rules don't apply to all words, so she doesn't bother. I'm hoping her teacher will be able to impress upon her that you always try sounding out first, and maybe give her some strategies to use when sounding out fails. The question is, will he have time to do that when he's busy teaching the other 19 kids in the class how to string together the sounds in "cat" and "hat?" However, he seems very organized and together, so if anyone can do it, he probably can.
Pete and I are both a little bit worried about her being bored, though. Last year she was the only kid in her class who could read at all (not at a high level or anything, but she knew enough words to read "Dick and Jane"-type books). The assignments were easy for her, so she'd sit around and talk to the kid next to her, thereby preventing him from doing his work, and then fill in her own worksheet at lightning speed at the last minute. One of her teachers used to have to set a timer for 30 seconds per page to motivate her. (When I found out about this, I said, "Thirty seconds?" and she said "Trust me, she can do it in twenty." She was right.)
This year it looks like they're going to be working on basic phonics, and that's not what she needs to learn. She knows all the consonant and short and long vowel sounds; all the consonant blends; the common vowel digraphs; word endings like -ed and -ing; the soft -ce sound; etcetera. What she really needs help with is applying everything she knows. She recognizes lots of words by sight, and that makes her a little bit lazy when she comes to a word she doesn't recognize -- instead of trying to work it out with phonics, she just guesses at it (usually incorrectly) so she can move on. If we sound out the first couple of letters together, she'll get it right, but I have to initiate that activity. I think she's realized that sounding out doesn't always work because phonics rules don't apply to all words, so she doesn't bother. I'm hoping her teacher will be able to impress upon her that you always try sounding out first, and maybe give her some strategies to use when sounding out fails. The question is, will he have time to do that when he's busy teaching the other 19 kids in the class how to string together the sounds in "cat" and "hat?" However, he seems very organized and together, so if anyone can do it, he probably can.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Playing catch-up
Yikes. I've been lazy about updating lately. Here's a quick summary of the last month and a half:
July: We went to the local science center, attended a birthday party, went to the county fair twice, saw Wicked: The Musical, and visited friends at their new home. G also went to day camp for two weeks. (It was only supposed to be one week, but she loved it so much we signed her up for the following session too.) I finally finished my dental ordeal, though I have to go back in October for yet another cleaning. Dun dun dunnnn!
August: This month was a little bit calmer. P's brother came to visit from NYC one weekend and bought Gsome nifty school clothes -- what a great uncle! We also went to the zoo with G's 14-month-old cousin, and G herself went to a very fancy christening party with her grandma and aunts.
G starts first grade in a little less than two weeks, and I'm both looking forward to it and wishing the summer could last longer. We've done a lot, but there was so much I wanted to do that we didn't get around to -- the beach, the aquarium, the King Tut exhibit. I know she's had a great vacation, though, and she's learned tons of things. Her printing and spelling have improved. She's learned the addition doubles facts up to 20 and the names of all the Greek gods and their myths (we read Roman and Norse myths too, but the Greek ones were her favorites). She helped me make a mobile of the solar system. And her reading is much better than it was in June, although she's not quite ready for chapter books yet.
Also, thanks to her father, she's become a huge Duran Duran fan, LOL. They rented a DVD of old Duran Duran videos from Netflix, and now she can sing "New Moon on Monday" and thinks Simon LeBon is cute. Most importantly, though, she had plenty of time to play and relax and hang out with me and Pete and the rest of her family. Now she's eager for the new school year to begin.
July: We went to the local science center, attended a birthday party, went to the county fair twice, saw Wicked: The Musical, and visited friends at their new home. G also went to day camp for two weeks. (It was only supposed to be one week, but she loved it so much we signed her up for the following session too.) I finally finished my dental ordeal, though I have to go back in October for yet another cleaning. Dun dun dunnnn!
August: This month was a little bit calmer. P's brother came to visit from NYC one weekend and bought Gsome nifty school clothes -- what a great uncle! We also went to the zoo with G's 14-month-old cousin, and G herself went to a very fancy christening party with her grandma and aunts.
G starts first grade in a little less than two weeks, and I'm both looking forward to it and wishing the summer could last longer. We've done a lot, but there was so much I wanted to do that we didn't get around to -- the beach, the aquarium, the King Tut exhibit. I know she's had a great vacation, though, and she's learned tons of things. Her printing and spelling have improved. She's learned the addition doubles facts up to 20 and the names of all the Greek gods and their myths (we read Roman and Norse myths too, but the Greek ones were her favorites). She helped me make a mobile of the solar system. And her reading is much better than it was in June, although she's not quite ready for chapter books yet.
Also, thanks to her father, she's become a huge Duran Duran fan, LOL. They rented a DVD of old Duran Duran videos from Netflix, and now she can sing "New Moon on Monday" and thinks Simon LeBon is cute. Most importantly, though, she had plenty of time to play and relax and hang out with me and Pete and the rest of her family. Now she's eager for the new school year to begin.
Monday, July 25, 2005
They say it's your birthday
Just getting on here to wish my grandmother a happy birthday. She's 80 years old and still one of the sharpest, funniest, strongest and kindest people I know. I only hope I turn out half as well. Happy birthday, Grams -- I love you!
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Hey, Torquemada, what do you say?
Today I had another session of root planing and scaling. For those not in the know, this is like a dental cleaning performed by a ruthless sadist in a black mask and spiked collar, except that in this case the sadist is actually my otherwise pleasant dentist. When I had the right side of my mouth done, I went into the bathroom afterward and nearly fainted at the sight of bloodstains all over my face. This time it wasn't quite so brutal, but my jaw is just as sore. I have to go back again at the end of the month to get a filling and possibly two crowns. I swear, you don't go to the dentist for two or three years and your teeth just run wild in there!
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Perhaps I spoke too soon
Not four hours after I complained about the picky birds, I looked out the window again and saw a sparrow sitting on the edge of the feeder, eating seed. I ran to get G, and we stood there watching him till he'd finished and flapped away. That's right, bird. You'd better eat if you know what's good for you. ;-)
G and I had a busy day. In addition to the library trip, we bought a new lawn chair to replace the one I had to throw out, some butterflies on a stick to brighten up the back yard, and a Scooby-Doo checker game. Against my better judgment, we also bought seed packets. We've had limited success with growing seeds in pots, but the earth in our back yard is like the Gobi Desert: anything we plant there is fated either to struggle vainly for a while and then keel over, or never come up at all (or get weed-whacked and pruned to death by the landlord's gardening service). It wasn't like that when we moved in. Believe it or not, at the time the yard, with its deep, lush grass and vegetable beds, was the main thing that convinced me to rent this place. Within six months, the grass had died, the vegetables had succumbed to some sort of mysterious leaf rot, and there was nothing out back but my potted geraniums and one sickly rosebush. Ever since then, I've been trying to restore the yard to its original splendor, or at least to get it to stop being an eyesore. I'm a little bit hopeful about the morning-glory seeds we bought today -- morning-glory vines grow wild in the gravel side yard despite a complete lack of water and the gardeners' dogged efforts to root them out, so you'd think they'd be happy to grow in the nice, recently fertilized bed where the vegetables used to live.
After the shopping, G and I watered the front lawn with both hose and sprinklers, which gave her a chance to run around barefoot and get soaked. Hey, that's what summer's all about, isn't it? We all had an early dinner, and then G and I picked up some ice cream from Baskin-Robbins. (I'm in love with their Nutty Coconut flavor. In fact, you should stop reading this right now and go get yourself a scoop or two!) She took a long bath afterward and is still watching TV while she waits for her hair to dry. It's so thick that drying is a two-hour affair, and even the hair dryer takes a good 45 minutes.
G and I had a busy day. In addition to the library trip, we bought a new lawn chair to replace the one I had to throw out, some butterflies on a stick to brighten up the back yard, and a Scooby-Doo checker game. Against my better judgment, we also bought seed packets. We've had limited success with growing seeds in pots, but the earth in our back yard is like the Gobi Desert: anything we plant there is fated either to struggle vainly for a while and then keel over, or never come up at all (or get weed-whacked and pruned to death by the landlord's gardening service). It wasn't like that when we moved in. Believe it or not, at the time the yard, with its deep, lush grass and vegetable beds, was the main thing that convinced me to rent this place. Within six months, the grass had died, the vegetables had succumbed to some sort of mysterious leaf rot, and there was nothing out back but my potted geraniums and one sickly rosebush. Ever since then, I've been trying to restore the yard to its original splendor, or at least to get it to stop being an eyesore. I'm a little bit hopeful about the morning-glory seeds we bought today -- morning-glory vines grow wild in the gravel side yard despite a complete lack of water and the gardeners' dogged efforts to root them out, so you'd think they'd be happy to grow in the nice, recently fertilized bed where the vegetables used to live.
After the shopping, G and I watered the front lawn with both hose and sprinklers, which gave her a chance to run around barefoot and get soaked. Hey, that's what summer's all about, isn't it? We all had an early dinner, and then G and I picked up some ice cream from Baskin-Robbins. (I'm in love with their Nutty Coconut flavor. In fact, you should stop reading this right now and go get yourself a scoop or two!) She took a long bath afterward and is still watching TV while she waits for her hair to dry. It's so thick that drying is a two-hour affair, and even the hair dryer takes a good 45 minutes.
For the birds
G and I put a bird feeder in our backyard a couple of weeks ago. So far, we have not seen one bird visit it. Well, I just looked out the kitchen window, and the yard was full of birds sitting on the wall, fluttering back and forth from tree to tree, hopping around on the patch of bare dirt where no grass dares show its face ... and completely ignoring our feeder. Argh! I was ready to open the back door and yell "Eat, you ungrateful little buggers! EAT!" I guess they don't like the seed mix we're offering, and are therefore turning their beaks up at it. What do they think this is, a restaurant?
Friday, July 01, 2005
Rubbish
Today was one of my favorite days of the year. No, not Christmas: it was the annual large-item trash pickup day in our neighborhood. Large-item day is like the reverse of Christmas -- instead of a bunch of new crap coming into the house, a bunch of old crap goes out. Barbecue that we used once before it rusted in last year's rains? Gone. Broken lawn chair that sags alarmingly whenever someone sits in it? Gone. G's old sand table? Gone. It's good for the soul.
Wouldn't it be great if you could get rid of emotional junk that easily? I'd love to be able to drag all my grudges and disappointments and failures out to the curb once a year and have someone come by with a truck and take them away. Ah well, I can dream.
So this is the beginning of the long weekend. Tomorrow, G and I have to find and return her overdue library book before the library police come and haul us off in the paddy wagon. I think they're a little overzealous: the book is a couple of weeks overdue, and they've already sent us a letter threatening to report us to a collection agency. Of course, this is the same library that made me pay a $7 overdue fine for a book I checked out in 1983 when I applied for an adult card in 1995. Busted! I actually think we've returned this book already, so it'll just be a matter of going to the shelf and finding it.
Other than the library, and a trip to the science center on Sunday, we really don't have any plans for the next few days. I'm sure there'll be some sort of family event on Monday for the fourth, and we'll see fireworks -- G and I discovered last year that we can stand out on the sidewalk that runs in front of our lawn and watch a huge display a few miles away for free. Also, "safe and sane" fireworks are still legal in our city, and believe me, the neighbors take full advantage of them. I'm not sure how safe and sane the fireworks are when you're launching them from a nine-foot aluminum ladder in the middle of the street, but they are pretty to look at. :-)
Wouldn't it be great if you could get rid of emotional junk that easily? I'd love to be able to drag all my grudges and disappointments and failures out to the curb once a year and have someone come by with a truck and take them away. Ah well, I can dream.
So this is the beginning of the long weekend. Tomorrow, G and I have to find and return her overdue library book before the library police come and haul us off in the paddy wagon. I think they're a little overzealous: the book is a couple of weeks overdue, and they've already sent us a letter threatening to report us to a collection agency. Of course, this is the same library that made me pay a $7 overdue fine for a book I checked out in 1983 when I applied for an adult card in 1995. Busted! I actually think we've returned this book already, so it'll just be a matter of going to the shelf and finding it.
Other than the library, and a trip to the science center on Sunday, we really don't have any plans for the next few days. I'm sure there'll be some sort of family event on Monday for the fourth, and we'll see fireworks -- G and I discovered last year that we can stand out on the sidewalk that runs in front of our lawn and watch a huge display a few miles away for free. Also, "safe and sane" fireworks are still legal in our city, and believe me, the neighbors take full advantage of them. I'm not sure how safe and sane the fireworks are when you're launching them from a nine-foot aluminum ladder in the middle of the street, but they are pretty to look at. :-)
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Out of school
Friday was G's last day of kindergarten. I had the day off, so Pete and I headed over to the school at lunchtime and spent a couple of hours with her class, visiting the park next to the school and watching the kids eat ice cream and blow bubbles. There is no joy like the joy of 17 six-year-olds who are blowing bubbles on a warm, sunny day in late June, especially when it's also the last day of school. I felt happy just watching them. :-)
Friday evening was the dance recital, which went about the way you would expect a recital made up mostly of three- and four-year-olds to go. About two kids in each group actually danced; the rest stood transfixed on stage, staring out at the audience like deer caught in the headlights. It was cute, though, and as the dance teacher said in veiled terms, that's what you get when you pay $40 for 9 weeks of instruction. I've already talked to her about putting G in the regular studio classes with girls closer to her own age, so now I just have to find the motivation to call and arrange it. Knowing me, that will take a while. Heh.
On Saturday, we drove down to San Diego to visit the zoo. I had intended to leave around noon, but for one reason and another, we didn't actually get on the road till after 2. We crawled from Oceanside to Carlsbad in some of the most heinous traffic I've seen in a while, and I was expecting G, who is usually an are-we-there-yet sort of car traveler, to complain. Luckily, she was engrossed in a pile of books and hardly looked up from them. By the time we finally arrived, it was so late in the afternoon that we went to the hotel first to check in and drop off our stuff. I'd chosen the hotel specifically because it had bunk beds for kids, so I was glad to see G get excited about them. We plucked her down from the top bunk after a bit and drove over to the zoo for a few hours of eating, riding the tour bus and looking at animals. We had fun, but the weather was unexpectedly cold and windy, so we left at dusk and headed back to the hotel again.
After a complimentary breakfast on Sunday morning, we got home in less than half the time it took us to drive down the previous afternoon. P, who had not been at all pleased with the hotel mattress, promptly fell asleep on the couch and stayed that way for hours while I took G to ride her bike at the park. Later in the afternoon, she and I went to see "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" -- her choice, not mine. (I was sitting there in the theater with my peanut M&Ms, feeling that little thrill of Hey, I'm going to the movies! excitement, and then I remembered I was seeing "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" and it fizzled in an instant!) After the movie let out, we picked up some new books for her at Barnes and Noble, got Chinese food for dinner, and went home to collapse.
This week is going to be all about work. I have so much right now that it feels like my head's going to explode, and you can imagine how much fun that is. However, if I make it to Friday, I get a three-day weekend to recover. Wish me luck.
Friday evening was the dance recital, which went about the way you would expect a recital made up mostly of three- and four-year-olds to go. About two kids in each group actually danced; the rest stood transfixed on stage, staring out at the audience like deer caught in the headlights. It was cute, though, and as the dance teacher said in veiled terms, that's what you get when you pay $40 for 9 weeks of instruction. I've already talked to her about putting G in the regular studio classes with girls closer to her own age, so now I just have to find the motivation to call and arrange it. Knowing me, that will take a while. Heh.
On Saturday, we drove down to San Diego to visit the zoo. I had intended to leave around noon, but for one reason and another, we didn't actually get on the road till after 2. We crawled from Oceanside to Carlsbad in some of the most heinous traffic I've seen in a while, and I was expecting G, who is usually an are-we-there-yet sort of car traveler, to complain. Luckily, she was engrossed in a pile of books and hardly looked up from them. By the time we finally arrived, it was so late in the afternoon that we went to the hotel first to check in and drop off our stuff. I'd chosen the hotel specifically because it had bunk beds for kids, so I was glad to see G get excited about them. We plucked her down from the top bunk after a bit and drove over to the zoo for a few hours of eating, riding the tour bus and looking at animals. We had fun, but the weather was unexpectedly cold and windy, so we left at dusk and headed back to the hotel again.
After a complimentary breakfast on Sunday morning, we got home in less than half the time it took us to drive down the previous afternoon. P, who had not been at all pleased with the hotel mattress, promptly fell asleep on the couch and stayed that way for hours while I took G to ride her bike at the park. Later in the afternoon, she and I went to see "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" -- her choice, not mine. (I was sitting there in the theater with my peanut M&Ms, feeling that little thrill of Hey, I'm going to the movies! excitement, and then I remembered I was seeing "Sharkboy and Lavagirl" and it fizzled in an instant!) After the movie let out, we picked up some new books for her at Barnes and Noble, got Chinese food for dinner, and went home to collapse.
This week is going to be all about work. I have so much right now that it feels like my head's going to explode, and you can imagine how much fun that is. However, if I make it to Friday, I get a three-day weekend to recover. Wish me luck.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Saturday
G got up way before I did this morning. I have no idea what she did while I slept, but she didn't make a mess and she didn't come in and bug me, so I'm fine with it. Go her!
When I woke up, she and I wrote and drew a book called The Adventures of Stickman, which was a continuation of a story I made up while we were waiting for our order at Z Pizza last night. After the drawing, we finished reading about the labors of Hercules in her mythology book, and that made her want to see the Disney Hercules movie, so she watched it while I took a shower. P must have sent her to clean her room at some point, because when I got out, she was cleaning -- well, half-cleaning, half-playing -- and listening to jazz on her clock radio. It gets terrible reception, so she'll listen to whatever station she can find, whether it's jazz or mariachi music or hip-hop.
P and I still haven't eaten breakfast and it's almost lunchtime (I hear some people actually eat regular meals on weekends; can you believe it?) so we've got to do something about that soon. The only other thing on our schedule today is G's dance class -- the regular class is over for this session, but they've got rehearsal for next week's recital this afternoon. I think they'll be rehearsing with the other city classes, all of which are for kids under eight, and most of which seem to be made up of three- and four-year-olds. It's a two-hour rehearsal, which seems like a long time to expect a group of kids that young to stay focused and out of trouble, but that's the dance teachers' problem, not mine.
When I woke up, she and I wrote and drew a book called The Adventures of Stickman, which was a continuation of a story I made up while we were waiting for our order at Z Pizza last night. After the drawing, we finished reading about the labors of Hercules in her mythology book, and that made her want to see the Disney Hercules movie, so she watched it while I took a shower. P must have sent her to clean her room at some point, because when I got out, she was cleaning -- well, half-cleaning, half-playing -- and listening to jazz on her clock radio. It gets terrible reception, so she'll listen to whatever station she can find, whether it's jazz or mariachi music or hip-hop.
P and I still haven't eaten breakfast and it's almost lunchtime (I hear some people actually eat regular meals on weekends; can you believe it?) so we've got to do something about that soon. The only other thing on our schedule today is G's dance class -- the regular class is over for this session, but they've got rehearsal for next week's recital this afternoon. I think they'll be rehearsing with the other city classes, all of which are for kids under eight, and most of which seem to be made up of three- and four-year-olds. It's a two-hour rehearsal, which seems like a long time to expect a group of kids that young to stay focused and out of trouble, but that's the dance teachers' problem, not mine.
Friday, June 10, 2005
From the pits of Hades
Ugh, what a week. I had call-in jury service all week long, which meant I never knew from one day to the next whether I'd be going in or not. I finally had to report yesterday, which coincidentally was the same day I was scheduled to get a super-deep dental cleaning.
Okay, I thought, I'll be spending all day at the courthouse, but at least I can put the dentist off for a while! Things could be worse!
Ha ha! said Fate, and promptly made me sick.
I'm sure everyone in the courtroom was glad when I didn't end up on the jury. No one wants to sit next to someone who's sneezing and clutching a damp tissue in each hand. It's still going strong today -- I woke up feeling like I'd been kicked the head, and ended up leaving work halfway through the morning. I don't know whether it's a cold or a really bad allergy attack, but it doesn't make much difference in the amount of misery I feel. It had better be gone by tomorrow, though, because we've got birthday parties both days this weekend.
In other news, I'm reading an interesting book called The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home. I like the authors' systematic approach to learning and the idea that it can be used as either a supplement or a replacement for public/private school. I don't want to overwhelm G with a lot of extra work at home, but I think we're going to add some of the recommended books to our regular reading. You're supposed to focus on the ancients (Greeks, Egyptians, etc.) during the first four "grammar" years, and she's interested in that sort of thing anyway, so she should enjoy it. At the very least, she'll already be familiar with some of the myths when they come up in the higher grades.
That's it for now. I have to go blow my nose and whimper for a while.
Okay, I thought, I'll be spending all day at the courthouse, but at least I can put the dentist off for a while! Things could be worse!
Ha ha! said Fate, and promptly made me sick.
I'm sure everyone in the courtroom was glad when I didn't end up on the jury. No one wants to sit next to someone who's sneezing and clutching a damp tissue in each hand. It's still going strong today -- I woke up feeling like I'd been kicked the head, and ended up leaving work halfway through the morning. I don't know whether it's a cold or a really bad allergy attack, but it doesn't make much difference in the amount of misery I feel. It had better be gone by tomorrow, though, because we've got birthday parties both days this weekend.
In other news, I'm reading an interesting book called The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home. I like the authors' systematic approach to learning and the idea that it can be used as either a supplement or a replacement for public/private school. I don't want to overwhelm G with a lot of extra work at home, but I think we're going to add some of the recommended books to our regular reading. You're supposed to focus on the ancients (Greeks, Egyptians, etc.) during the first four "grammar" years, and she's interested in that sort of thing anyway, so she should enjoy it. At the very least, she'll already be familiar with some of the myths when they come up in the higher grades.
That's it for now. I have to go blow my nose and whimper for a while.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Let's all put on our bragging hats
This is where I reveal myself as one of those mothers who gets overly excited about her child's every small accomplishment. Deal with it. :-)
The kindergarten play was this week, and dang was it cute. (Really, all you have to do is put fifty or sixty kindergarteners on stage together, and you're guaranteed cuteness whether they perform well or not.) It was a farm play, and G's class played the pigs. She had six lines, which made me a little nervous -- she could say them perfectly at home, not to mention execute all the songs and dances like a pro, but you never know what's going to happen when the spotlight's on. She did wonderfully well, though, and we were very proud.
Because she was one of the Student of the Month winners for May, we were invited to watch her accept her award at an assembly the day after the play. She got to shake the principal's hand and stand up on the stage with her certificate and the "Super Student" bumper sticker that comes with it. P isn't a bumper-sticker kind of guy, so the sticker went on my car. I told her that I would take her out to dinner anywhere she wanted to celebrate, but instead of a restaurant, she chose a little hole-in-the-wall pizza place she loves. So, we went to an early showing of Madagascar, and then she had her slice of cheese pizza and was happy.
Today was the usual Saturday-morning tap class. They're having a recital on June 24, so the entire class is devoted to rehearsal for that right now. Most of the other girls in her class are much younger -- it's for 4- to 6-year-olds, and I think she's the only one at the top end of that range -- and they're all over the place, talking to each other and giggling and falling on the floor. G, on the other hand, is dead serious about it all. She stands there in the middle of the line, towering over everyone else, watching the teacher with a look of intense concentration and copying her every move. She may not be the world's best tap dancer, but it's not for lack of trying. I have the feeling I ought to switch her into a class for older kids when this session ends, because the teacher has to spend so much time getting the 4-year-olds to stay in line and do what they're supposed to do that there isn't much left for actual instruction.
G, for her part, says she wants to quit tap and take flamenco during the summer session. There is a flamenco class for 6- to 12-year-olds, but I really don't want to sign her up for it. For one thing, I don't think she actually knows what flamenco is -- she just likes the sound of it -- and for another, I don't want to buy yet another pair of special shoes for a class that only lasts 9 weeks. I think I'll check out what's available through the rec departments in a few neighboring cities and see if there's something that appeals to her more.
After tap, I took her out to breakfast at Denny's, where she's been asking to go for a while. She enjoyed her French toast sticks and had fun playing with the Madagascar mask and finger puppet they were giving out. We had to ask specially for her to have one, and I'm pretty sure it's because the hostess thought she was older and wouldn't want it. This is something that happens all the time -- she's very tall for her age and always has been, and so people assume she's older than she is, even though she talks and acts like a 6-year-old. In fact, it happened again later in the day while we were at the Lakeshore Learning store. An older girl came up to us in the musical instruments aisle and started talking to G, obviously assuming G was her age. When she got around to asking G how old she was, G said "Six," and the girl said "Oh! I'm eight ... I thought you were eight too." (I hope this looking-older thing doesn't translate into looking 16 when she's 12. Eeek.)
Lakeshore Learning was great, by the way. They have free crafts for kids every Saturday, so G made a hand puppet, and we bought some fun stuff -- a kit for making bead necklaces and bracelets, a floor puzzle, a bucket of word tiles (there are prefixes like bl- and br- and endings like -ack and -ight, and you put them together to make words), and a laminated map of the world. She played with these goodies all afternoon, first with me, and then by herself while P and I watched the season finale of "Lost." I got a Teacher's Club card on this visit, so I'll definitely be going back for more shopping. I've always gotten educational supplies at Staples, but they don't have anywhere near the selection this place does.
The kindergarten play was this week, and dang was it cute. (Really, all you have to do is put fifty or sixty kindergarteners on stage together, and you're guaranteed cuteness whether they perform well or not.) It was a farm play, and G's class played the pigs. She had six lines, which made me a little nervous -- she could say them perfectly at home, not to mention execute all the songs and dances like a pro, but you never know what's going to happen when the spotlight's on. She did wonderfully well, though, and we were very proud.
Because she was one of the Student of the Month winners for May, we were invited to watch her accept her award at an assembly the day after the play. She got to shake the principal's hand and stand up on the stage with her certificate and the "Super Student" bumper sticker that comes with it. P isn't a bumper-sticker kind of guy, so the sticker went on my car. I told her that I would take her out to dinner anywhere she wanted to celebrate, but instead of a restaurant, she chose a little hole-in-the-wall pizza place she loves. So, we went to an early showing of Madagascar, and then she had her slice of cheese pizza and was happy.
Today was the usual Saturday-morning tap class. They're having a recital on June 24, so the entire class is devoted to rehearsal for that right now. Most of the other girls in her class are much younger -- it's for 4- to 6-year-olds, and I think she's the only one at the top end of that range -- and they're all over the place, talking to each other and giggling and falling on the floor. G, on the other hand, is dead serious about it all. She stands there in the middle of the line, towering over everyone else, watching the teacher with a look of intense concentration and copying her every move. She may not be the world's best tap dancer, but it's not for lack of trying. I have the feeling I ought to switch her into a class for older kids when this session ends, because the teacher has to spend so much time getting the 4-year-olds to stay in line and do what they're supposed to do that there isn't much left for actual instruction.
G, for her part, says she wants to quit tap and take flamenco during the summer session. There is a flamenco class for 6- to 12-year-olds, but I really don't want to sign her up for it. For one thing, I don't think she actually knows what flamenco is -- she just likes the sound of it -- and for another, I don't want to buy yet another pair of special shoes for a class that only lasts 9 weeks. I think I'll check out what's available through the rec departments in a few neighboring cities and see if there's something that appeals to her more.
After tap, I took her out to breakfast at Denny's, where she's been asking to go for a while. She enjoyed her French toast sticks and had fun playing with the Madagascar mask and finger puppet they were giving out. We had to ask specially for her to have one, and I'm pretty sure it's because the hostess thought she was older and wouldn't want it. This is something that happens all the time -- she's very tall for her age and always has been, and so people assume she's older than she is, even though she talks and acts like a 6-year-old. In fact, it happened again later in the day while we were at the Lakeshore Learning store. An older girl came up to us in the musical instruments aisle and started talking to G, obviously assuming G was her age. When she got around to asking G how old she was, G said "Six," and the girl said "Oh! I'm eight ... I thought you were eight too." (I hope this looking-older thing doesn't translate into looking 16 when she's 12. Eeek.)
Lakeshore Learning was great, by the way. They have free crafts for kids every Saturday, so G made a hand puppet, and we bought some fun stuff -- a kit for making bead necklaces and bracelets, a floor puzzle, a bucket of word tiles (there are prefixes like bl- and br- and endings like -ack and -ight, and you put them together to make words), and a laminated map of the world. She played with these goodies all afternoon, first with me, and then by herself while P and I watched the season finale of "Lost." I got a Teacher's Club card on this visit, so I'll definitely be going back for more shopping. I've always gotten educational supplies at Staples, but they don't have anywhere near the selection this place does.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Talk to me
G's pretty articulate for a six-year-old -- she has a good vocabulary, and her speech is clear and easy to understand, even for adults who don't know her. However, a couple of "baby" pronunciations have lingered. Until this year, she always said "do's" for "does," as in "He do's that." Now she always gets "does" right, but she still says "taste-es" for "tastes," as in "This spaghetti sauce taste-es weird." (I heard that one at the dinner table this evening.) I probably should not find this cute, but I do. I'm going to be sad when "taste-es" goes the way of "do's."
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
You know your weekend was busy ...
... when you don't get around to writing about it till Wednesday.
On Friday night, we went as a family to see "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." I probably enjoyed it the most, since I've been a fan of the books since I was a teenager, but P and G liked it too.
On Saturday, G had tap class as usual. Then, after lunch, we went with some friends to see an exhibit of Egyptian mummies at a local museum. G's been interested in mummies ever since we read a Magic Treehouse book about them, so she was pretty excited to see some in person. I was too -- I did see some Egyptian things when P and I visited the Metropolitan Museum several years ago, but we were in a hurry at the time and I didn't get to look at them for as long as I would have liked. In addition to mummies, this exhibit had lots of sarcophagi, canopic jars, wooden coffins, figurines, and scarabs and other jewelry. G pronounced all the jewelry "gorgeous," LOL. I'm fascinated by personal effects like those because they make me think about the people they belonged to: a necklace may be an artifact in a glass case now, but once it was someone's prized possession, kept safe in a box and taken out on special occasions. Somehow I doubt any of my own jewelry will be in a museum 3,000 years from now, but hey, you never know.
On Sunday morning, G had a playdate with one of her best friends. The two girls hadn't seen each other in a few months, and it was hard for them to say goodbye even after three hours of nonstop playing! We finished out the day with a trip to Toys R' Us and an early dinner, and then it was time to regroup for another crazy week of work and school. That's one thing I don't like about Sunday nights: the feeling that my reprieve is over and I'm about to jump back on the hamster wheel again. Blah.
Anyway, next weekend is promising to be just as busy. G has a birthday party to attend on Saturday afternoon and is looking forward to it immensely -- she's been talking about it nonstop ever since she got the invitation two weeks ago. On Sunday, we'll make a quick stop to give P's mom her Mother's Day gifts, and then we're off to Disneyland to renew our annual passes. G doesn't know we're going to Disneyland yet. She also doesn't know we're spending the night at the Disneyland Hotel and going again the next day, so there should be major excitement when we tell her. I'm looking forward to it. :-)
On Friday night, we went as a family to see "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." I probably enjoyed it the most, since I've been a fan of the books since I was a teenager, but P and G liked it too.
On Saturday, G had tap class as usual. Then, after lunch, we went with some friends to see an exhibit of Egyptian mummies at a local museum. G's been interested in mummies ever since we read a Magic Treehouse book about them, so she was pretty excited to see some in person. I was too -- I did see some Egyptian things when P and I visited the Metropolitan Museum several years ago, but we were in a hurry at the time and I didn't get to look at them for as long as I would have liked. In addition to mummies, this exhibit had lots of sarcophagi, canopic jars, wooden coffins, figurines, and scarabs and other jewelry. G pronounced all the jewelry "gorgeous," LOL. I'm fascinated by personal effects like those because they make me think about the people they belonged to: a necklace may be an artifact in a glass case now, but once it was someone's prized possession, kept safe in a box and taken out on special occasions. Somehow I doubt any of my own jewelry will be in a museum 3,000 years from now, but hey, you never know.
On Sunday morning, G had a playdate with one of her best friends. The two girls hadn't seen each other in a few months, and it was hard for them to say goodbye even after three hours of nonstop playing! We finished out the day with a trip to Toys R' Us and an early dinner, and then it was time to regroup for another crazy week of work and school. That's one thing I don't like about Sunday nights: the feeling that my reprieve is over and I'm about to jump back on the hamster wheel again. Blah.
Anyway, next weekend is promising to be just as busy. G has a birthday party to attend on Saturday afternoon and is looking forward to it immensely -- she's been talking about it nonstop ever since she got the invitation two weeks ago. On Sunday, we'll make a quick stop to give P's mom her Mother's Day gifts, and then we're off to Disneyland to renew our annual passes. G doesn't know we're going to Disneyland yet. She also doesn't know we're spending the night at the Disneyland Hotel and going again the next day, so there should be major excitement when we tell her. I'm looking forward to it. :-)
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Under the sea
Since pretty much everything in G's bathroom was ruined when the ceiling fell in, she got to choose all-new decor for it last night. P vetoed her first choice (multicolored stripes), so she went for Target's Glitter Fish design instead. I bought the toothbrush holder and soap dispenser (both shaped like fish), the trash can (tropical blue with fish) the rug (also tropical blue with fish) and the towels (white with embroidered fish), as well as a picture of a cartoon octopus for the wall. The rug is awfully small, and it still looks pretty bare in there, so I may try to find some additional rugs in a complementary color, and maybe a wallpaper border. I like decorating, but it's so hard to fill up a whole room, even one as tiny as a bathroom! I wish we could paint -- it's a much cheaper way to liven a place up -- but that's one of the drawbacks of renting.
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