Excuse the interruption

We (you) are just going to ignore the fact that I haven't posted anything of substance for ages.

So. We had a lovely Thanksgiving, and spent the Saturday after at the zoo, special request of J4, who was visiting.

C5 didn't want to go to the zoo, because she "doesn't like the zoo" ... Right. So, we wisely ignored that and C40 suggested she bring paper and pens to draw/write at the zoo, which she thought was a great suggestion. And throughout the zoo she'd just sit down to write or draw a bit, which I thought was great.

And although she was excited about going, Q3 was a little bit sick and was a tad whiny. (I'm TIRED. Pick me up. Please pick me up. Carry me!) but we came to an agreement where she would walk DOWN the hill, and I would carry her up (which, frankly, considering the size of the hill at that National Zoo is more than fair). She kind of agreed, although half-way down she asked to swap, if I'd pick her up now, she'd walk all the way up.

I AM to smart to believe that, and she had to keep walking.

Anyway, by the time we reached the prairie dogs, C5 was having a great time, and just sat with the prairie dog sign and held its hand. So very sweet.



And soon there after we reached our destination: The Pizza Play Area.



The kids spent over an hour and a half there, and they did not want to leave. We outlasted everybody else. J4 reeeeealllly didn't want to leave. Q3 fell asleep on C40's shoulders on the way up the hill.

Anyway. Great weekend. Tired.

Really, truly?

I bought C5 & Q3 some books and magazines yesterday, and decided this morning to give C5 one to see if she'd stop reading the horrible horrible (but extremely funny fora 5-year-old) Junie B. Jones series.

So, I gave her Ivy & Bean, recommended by the mother of M5, C5's best friend. I told C5 that M5 read a chapter a night, and why doesn't she try that. C5 wasn't thrilled, and told C40 she didn't want to read it because M5 was "ahead" of her. So he suggested that she read and "catch up."

7:30, C5 is reading Junie B. Jones. I don't know when she switched over to Ivy & Bean, but by 7:50 she was on page 32. By 8:27 ... she was done. 120 pages done. I don't know if she read the whole thing word by word, but she did tell me a bit about the plot and we heard her laughing, but I'm filled with a little bit of disbelief that she read 120 pages (yes, small pages with big words and pictures, but that is still 120 pages) in under an hour. But she gave me details from the story. I'll just have to read it this evening and quiz her tomorrow and see if our recollections of the story are the same.

Too busy

Sorry. Too busy. But I just wanted to share that Q3 is singing as she plays with play dough:

Roll it, roll it, I roll it roll it roll it!
[Repeat]
[Repeat]
[Repeat]
[Repeat]

A poem for MeMe

C5 made up a Teeter-totter poem Tuesday and thought you'd like it.
So, this is for you.

Q3 is on the unicorn
and I am on the cat
You'll be in the middle
Just like that!

Words words words

C5 has been picking up words and running with them, using them as much as she can to try them out, sound smart, and just play with them. First it was "Attractive!" said sarcastically, which she still does. Recently it has been "This is embarrassing!" ... and she does kind of use it correctly, but I have a hard time believing she is actually embarrassed, because, really, she isn't.


Q3 has also been figuring out language, using words correctly but not knowing exactly what she is saying.

Recently Q3 and C5 have both kind of decided C40 isn't their favorite, and it has been kind of disheartening for C40 to be told that they don't like him, they don't want him to read to them or put them to bed, etc. But this weekend Q3 was with C40 and the following ensued:

Q3: Daddy you are so fascinating [Pause].
Q3: What does fascinating mean?
C40: [Gives definition. I wasn't there, so I don't know exactly what he said]
Q3: Oh, you're silly.

Snap! I guess that didn't help C40 so much.

And finally, Q3 has had some rough days being sick, but she's finally coming out of it and able to be bad again. I can't remember what she did but it wasn't too bad, but bad enough so that I brought Q3 to her room and told her she could come down to be with us all when she was ready to be civilized.

She was crying when I put her down in her chair, and as I shut the door I heard "But I don't know what civilized MEANS!"

Ha, ha. I guess that makes it difficult to be civilized, then, doesn't it. Now she knows. But still isn't.

Park Life!

Well, OK, this isn't park life, but our life at the park.

C5 has gone particularly ... crazy lately, lots of energy, enjoying the park to the extent of being unhappy to leave and deciding that we need to come back the next day.

C5 has been hanging upside down on the monkey bars. She (nor C3) can do the monkey bars with their arms, but I never excelled at that, either. Hanging upside down and letting gravity do its thing? That is my athletic speed.


Swings of course are fun, and both girls are beginning to get better at pumping. Q3 can go through the motions with her legs, and not get a whole lot of action, but she's got the motions. C5 is definitely figuring out that if you throw your body into it you might move a bit. Just a bit.


For whatever reason I spent most of my time with C5 at the park, and so took her photo. So, here are a few. Please ignore the boogie nose. We do.


C40 suggested that Q3 ask for icecream. So, she did. With a little icecream dance. She won. We went to island style for icecream.

Autumn

Autumn is for leaf piles. C40 decided this year just to rake the front so C5 could have a leaf pile and to mow the back to help feed the worms and soil and weeds. Scotts is apparently now advocating this method of leaf removal, although that isn't the reason we did it. But good to see.

It took some time to mow the leaves, and of course there weren't nearly as many leaves on the curb. But still nice.

What I like about this one is C5 holding her nose so she doesn't drown in a pile of leaves!


And Q3 seems to be pretending to be a baby walking through the leaves.

Eyes

C5 has been saying that brown eyes weren't blue so they weren't pretty. What? What? What?

So we are on a campaign to encourage the thought that brown eyes ARE pretty.

I pulled Van Morrison up on YouTube. Unfotunately, it was not easy to hear, and I think we missed the whole brown eyed girl bit.

C40 has been talking with her about how everyone's eyes are different, and hers are pretty.

Seems like the campaign is working a bit. But if you see her, maybe encourage her a bit, OK?

Fever dreams

Q is getting some bad dreams from the fever, I guess.

1) C5 is eating my lunch! (C40 gives her her 'lunch' back and gets told, "No! It's real!")
2) [while waving hand back and forth] The wavy thing broke! (E39 asks, what wavy thing?) The wavy princess thing! [more hand gestures]
3) K3 stole my lunch box! (E39 says "Just tell her you want it back) [Q3 rolls over and goes to sleep]

Questions

Q3 asked me if I thought that pirates were real.

What to say to that? Because of course they are real, but is what she is thinking real? So I asked her if she thought they were real.

She said: "I think so"

So I explained how pirates of the ilk that B5 & F3 played USED to be real, but are no longer any pirates that looked like that. And that she didn't have to worry about that. I did not bring up the Somalian pirates, because, really, I don't want to worry her.

Apparently, Q3 also was going over what was real and not real. Monsters, not real. Dragons, not real. Whew.

It was a dark and stormy night

I don't know if anybody realizes how downcast C40 and I are over C5's sudden and dramatic shift from dogs to princesses. She's moved from original to mundane. Cute and unique to ho hum princess.

And at the same time, we don't believe it. She slipped up and says "I love golden retrievers! Oh! I mean princesses!" making us both squirm with joy. We see her fawn over puppy stuffies and beam. We try to convince her that dogs are fun and princessy and great. Princess puppies! Princesses love puppies!

And then, we also think that she's figuring out how to fit in. Princesses are her attempt to be like everybody else. And that is a good thing, I believe it shows growth and maturity and the ability to think about others, not just herself.

Are we just fooling ourselves? Is the princess thing here to stay? Are dogs a thing of the past? Does it matter?

I don't know.

But here they are, on Halloween, as princesses. And me and C40, too.







After trick-or-treating I let them go wild with the candy. And it made Q3 a little wild, too.


By the time the rain really started to come down the kids were tired, a little sick and ready for bed. A good toothbrushing was had by all and they fell asleep lickity-split.