Show and Tell - HALLOWEEN PAST!

THIS SHOW AND TELL WAS FROM EARLY NOVEMBER AND EASILY ONE OF MY FAVORITES. ANY TIME I GET TO SEE MY GIRLS GROW IN RAPID SEQUENCE AND MARVEL THAT THEY WERE EVER THAT LITTLE IS A FAV FOR ME! - ENJOY...AGAIN! THEN CHECK OUT ALL THE OTHER HOMEWORK!

No Costumes this year - so here is a look at Halloween Past:

Halloween 2003 - BEAR IS A BEAR! (the "heart on the butt" pic!)

HALLOWEEN 2004 - SCOOBY DOO

HALLOWEEN 2005 - THE LADYBUG AND THE PRINCESS

HALLOWEEN 2006

All Hail Princess Dora and her trusty sidekick Boots! (who looks a lot like Curious George)

HALLOWEEN 2007 - A PURPLE CAT AND A PELICAN

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED IMAGES OF HALLOWEEN PAST...AND JUST FOR GOOD MEASURE...HERE IS ONE OF THE COMEDIAN IN FULL "ANTIC" MODE!

As Promised...

If you are here then you know that Halloween has been the topic of MUCH discussion in my home this year. The "heavy" part of that discussion is reflected in my recent post at Building Heavenly Bridges. This is the lighter side!

We have to walk to the post office.

We live "too close" to have a mailbox.

To get to the post office you have to walk by the, "Scaaawwwwwyyyyy House"!

(If these images look familiar than THANK YOU for checking out the Virtual World Tour!)

Anyway, the "Scaaaawwwwyyy House" had been decked out since the first day of October. This is our daily conversation.

Me: "Ok ladies, let's walk to the Post Office."

The Comedian: (instantly whining) - "Aaaahhhh. I don't wike the scawwwyyyies."

Me: "It's fine honey, they are all fake." (stressing the word fake)

The Comedian: (still whining and looking genuinely scared) "You pick me up by the scaawwyyies?"

And so I do. Every day, approximately 10 feet from the arfore mentioned home I pick her up. She burries her little face in my fleecy jacket, occasionally peeking with one eye, then shreiking back into my coat.

Approximately 10 feet after the offensive house, I put her down and she is fine until we come back the other way.

So - this begged the question, WHAT THE HECK ARE WE GOING TO DO FOR HALLOWEEN? It is dark and the streets are filled with people dressed up in scary gear! I asked my sweet Comediant exactly that (well I used more toddlerish language - but the message was clear)

She simply said, "I not doing Alloween. It too scaaawwwyyy."

I said, "What do you want to do?" And my sweet, simple little angel gave the perfect answer:

"Stay home with Mommy and eat candy!"

Halloween has never been sweeter. (smile)

Perfect Moment Monday - Slumber Style

I celebrate the blissfully simple joys in life.

My children napped today.

The firehorn went off (um..it's LOUD)

They still napped.

The train went by (um..it's CLOSE and VERY LOUD)

They slumbered without interruption.

I got ALOT done!!!

(BTW - My five, nearly six year old slept for FOUR hours...wow!)

Backseat Confusion

This morning the girls and I drove about an hour and a half round trip to get the supplied we needed to start our outdoor furnace. (ours looks just like that green one!) It's getting realllllly nippy here in Verdmont!

Anyway, driving back from semi-local dealer the girls were getting a.n.t.s.y in the back seat squished around a collective 16 feet of pipe-stack (in 4-feet sections of course) and three gallons of anti-corrosive to flush the system.

And I...was stopping here and there and everywhere to take my last few pics for the Virtual World Tour for 2008. No wonder they were getting crabby! So, I did what any desperate mother would do...I threw a non-healthy but "keep 'em quiet for a few minutes" snack their way.

Exhibit A:

This is what I hear between gummy, fake fruity chews.

Bear: "Mom, is this from China?"

Me: "Huh?"

Bear: "The fruit snacks. Did they make them in China?"

(Comprehension slowly dawning on me, but hysteria taking over as I can not possibly understand where her 5 year old mind put together the fact that nearly EVERYTHING we give them is made in China...I can't stop laughing."

Me: (Eventually calming down I manage to say) "No honey. I don't think they are made in China. I think they are made in America."

Bear: "Where is America?"

SERIOUSLY - WE ARE TEACHING THE WRONG THINGS..NO?

NOTE: I checked the box. They are made in Minnesota. Betty Crocker style.

Have You Lost Your Marbles?

STOP giving her standing ovations, would ya?

And now...for the feature presentation of the day... The Comedian in The Pre-School Screening.

Featuring: The Teacher - M.S.

MS (with a big smile)- "Good Morning Comedian. We are going to play some games together to see how smart you are!"

Comedian: (agreeably) "OK"

MS (in a very sing song voice) - "If a brother is a boy, a sister is a _____"

Comedian: (smiles broadly)

MS (trying again - same voice quality) - "If a brother is a boy, a sister is a ______"

Comedian (with a look of recognition) "I have he friend. He friend a brother. That brother is my friend. He name L. L have a sister. She name is T."

MS ( stunned look - eyebrows raised, but determined because she knows Mrs. funny pants knows the answer!) "Wow. Yes that is very interesting but can you listen to my words?" (speaking a little slower now and annun.ci.at.ing clearly) "If a brother is a boy, a sister is a ______"

Comedian (puzzled as she is sure she just answered this) "Right. T is a sister and L is a brother. I don't have she's brother because I have a sister. Bear is my sister but she is not a brother."

MS (deep breath, smiling, a tad bit frustrated, but in truth - she's laughing but trying not to show it)

- INSERT ME SITTING IN THE CORNER OUT OF SIGHT, CRUMBLING INTO SILENT HYSTERICS BECAUSE I DON'T WANT THE COMEDIAN TO HEAR ME. IT WILL ONLY PROLOGUE THE SHOW AND THE POOR TEACHER IS LOOKING FOR A FREAKIN' ONE WORD ANSWER! -

MS (in a very even, calculated tone) "Comedian, lets try this one more time. If...a...brother...is...a ..boy...THEN a ...sister...is...a..._______?"

Comedian: (dumbfounded that this lady hasn't got the point yet when she was soooo explicit, looks her straight in the eyes and simply says) "A SISTER!"

She's Getting The Hang of It!

The last two posts have focused on Bear. The Comedian has not been quiet, on the contrary she has been developing her skills in the scariest of ways...cognative! Here she is finding it hysterical that her glasses (second pair in seven months) are hanging by a thread on her ear!

If you are new to the anecdotes of my youngest, click here and enjoy her proud moment as she did my paperwork for me! Now, I admit it was funny, yes - very funny, but what makes her so indescribably effective when she delivers her punchlines is how very much she BELIEVES them in contrast to the adult spin we put on her words.

She sat at the dinner table a few weeks ago, with a perfectly straight face and delivered this line in a base deadpan voice. Conversation:

Hubby to Friend: Do you need to go to work tonight?

Friend: No. I think I'm going to stop in at the bar.

Hubby: Oh. (then looking at the girls) At least I don't have to worry about you going to the bar.

The Comedian: (takes a drink, looks up and says) "Not yet." (takes another bite of food, unaffected)

I, totally affected, spit out my milk and ruined whatever was left on my plate. I laughed so hard I cried, mostly at the continual look on her face of, What? I don't even know what a bar is but I'm not going, so 'not yet' seems like a perfectly logical response. She's priceless really and if you aren't currently spitting milk on your plate, I warned you ...words don't do her justice. She induces those moments that you can just think about later on in the evening and find yourself, once again, doubling over with silent tears escaping from your eyes.

We have been laughing with (and occasionally at) her for the last three years. She is a smart little girl, and like all babes when you react they do it again and again and again for a better reaction. But now, she is (here's the scary part) THINKING about how amusing we think she is and it appears she is now ...PLOTTING AGAINST US!

This evening, my parents took the kids to what sounded like the most magical evening ever. It was called the Enchanted Forest, an outdoor storytelling, music and folk song production which can only be heightened by the Fall evening smell present in our little country towns these days.

My mother reported back: "The Comedian's first hoodwinking expedition in the name of humor."

After the show, she looks up at my father and reports how very tired she is, accompanied by an equally convincing facial contortion. Obviously he leans over to pick her up. (NOTE: she is three years old, totally proportional, but NOT light!) As she is getting her hip ride to the car, she sweetly looks in direcly in the eyes ( a twinkle in hers) and reports with unadulterated glee, "I was not tired!" Then, that Comedian look - and all three of them are laughing.

So now I know she is spending her latter months as a three year old, thinking, processing, and devising ways to prank us so we will dissolve into hysterical laughter, for - no doubt, we will. You know, I wish I had that gift. I don't, but I just pray I have the tolerance to endure it during the teenage years!

Young Love Thwarted (AN UPDATE)

If you read the post before this, (check it out for the dialogue alone!)then you know I was having a minor panic attack because my Kindergartener was exibiting slighly teenagerish behaviour with regards to a FIRST GRADE BOY!


We live close to the school, so on mornings when we can, I walk Bear just the two of us and the most amazing thing happens..SHE TALKS TO ME! You know, that kind of "spill all" conversation you were hoping for when you pick up and say, "How was your day honey" and you get a sullen faced "Fine. Nothing happened" response.

Well, walking to school on this particular morning she covered various topics: making stone soup, the very hungry catepillar, playing baseball IN the gym, wanting to win the art "scribble" of the month (I'll post it when its done - CUTE!), then....the BUS goes by (YES...but number 2) and her face instantly becomes dagger-like, as in "a woman scorned" kind of way. She turns to me and says in a similarly disgusted voice:

Bear: "That bo-oy doesn't want to play with me anymore."

Me: "Oh?" (I tried to keep my responses short cause she was an info spilling machine!)

Bear: (with great digust) "HE wants to play with M. now." (and she sighes heavily)

Me: (nodding) "Well..."

Bear: "When I started chasing him yesterday he PUSHED me!"

Me: "On purpose?"

Bear: (begrudingly - but pretty sure I'm not getting her point) "No, on accident cause HE was chasing M.!!"

And that, my bloggy friends, is the end of that! Kindergarden unrequited love ending with a frown and a stomp, then a cheeful, "Ah - mom we have library today!"

Oh- to be five again (with - of course a certain flare for the dramatic...wonder where she got that?)

5 going on 15? (a mulligan post for my BHB friends)

A picture of my Bear (the one on the left...obviously) - 5 1/2: serious yet curious, a clear and analytical decision maker, a lover of all things tried and true (with toddler research to back them up of course), a strict follower and enforcer of the rules, and most recently ... A KINDERGARTENER!

In my airy, carefree dreams I say to others, "Oh, the transition to Kindergarten has been seamless, delightful really - just so easy I can't believe it!", but those are my dreams ...then there is the reality of her heightned anxiety, her "safe space" being the classroom (but leaving it isn't so much fun), the worried look I get when I ask a question about her day and her realizing she doesn't have the words to tell me, then ...tears.

Ok - I've dealt with my sweet worried Bear for years...so I fully expected this. I even expected her to "pick her person" and "cling to them for dear life" because this is also in her bag of tricks when she feels out of control in a new setting. What I DIDN'T expect was for it to be a boy (not in her m.o.), and not just any boy but an OLDER boy (a first grader to be specific).

About a week ago she slowly announced, "I met a new friend today". My gleeful response as venturing out of the predicatable and unknown is not easy for her, "Ooooooo - how exciiiiting! What is her name?" (Notice the female pronoun? Who knew?) Her quick response, "Oh no mom, he is a boy." Again I say, "Oooooo" (not such an exicted tone now..but whatever there are boys in the world - right? And she is in kindergarten!), then her struggle begins because she can't remember his name (he IS in first grade after all) and eventually gives up the fight and just says through her tears, "I ch-chased him on the play..ground" and she walks away.

Phew...that was interesting I thought. Ok, that's a week ago...here is our conversation this morning.

Bear: "Mom. I like that boy"

Me: "Yes. I know you like to play with him on the playground, right?"

Bear: (slightly irratated that I forgot the details) "Mooom, I like to CHASE him on the playground"

Me: "Oh Right! Yes I remember you said that." Ok...she's chasing boys - whatever, right?

Bear: (slightly hesitant now) "Um...Mom, I dream about him" Hmmmmm....

Me: "How nice."

Bear: "My body dreams about him." RED ALERT - RED ALERT - WHAT????

Me: (responding with an appropriately shocked face I HOPE morphed into a look of interest) "How does your body dream about him?"

Bear: "It chases him sily" PHEW!!!!! (big sigh) - she's FIVE!!!


FAST FORWARD TO DROPPING HER OFF AT SCHOOL...


Bear: "Mom, there aren't any kids here yet." ("here" being on the playground)

Me: "Sure there are. I see about seven."

Bear: (with a very teenagery (possibly my imagination?) whiny voice) "Yeesss...but not the one I want to see."

Me: speechless...trust me - it doesn't happen often

Bear: (her voice rising with excitement) "Oh look. Here comes a bus. Maybe he's on that one...(then dejected) Oh. That's bus one. He rides bus two."

(and she walks away with heavy feet (am I imagining all this?) to join the kids who ARE there.)


Ok - what is wrong with this picture? Let's count them off...
1. She's attached herself to a boy

2. He's an older boy

3. She chases him on the playground

4. She dreams about him

5. She KNOW WHAT BUS HE RIDES FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

All right - I know I should probably just laugh and let the whole thing slide off my shoulders since they are all of 5 and 6 years old, but here's the thing. I spent a lifetime (well about 22 years actually) learning about and FINALLY internalizing this little thing called SELF-ESTEEM! Moreover, I spent the latter part of those years defining myself by the boys I spent time with, and being madddly in love each and every one of them.

So...the point is I swore when I had girls (and I've had three of them) that my re-formed inner self would put off such self-assured vibes that my girls were sure to be solid choice makers and stand on their own ideas and be their own person even when it wasn't the way the crowd was going - and the worst part is I thought I was doing a pretty good job, but (ahem) check the facts: (they are mapped out above...points 1-5)

So here's my question to the blogosphere at large. Do you have any great stories of Kindergarten love that evolved into a strong, self-assurred, don't rain on my parade kind of kid? Cause, I need to hear them right now!!!