Two Very Different Christmas Lists

One:

"Girly" black cowboy boots
High heels
Extra lipstick (she doesn't have lipstick now)
Make up kit

Two:

2 year Muse subscription (her paternal grandmother gets a 1 year for her every year)
Pencils
Erasers
Black cowboy boots, "non-girly"
Origami supplies, including books with new animal patterns
"Bright perky" Zumbuddy (she got one for her sister for her birthday)
Snuggie

Owner of list number two also has a running commentary about which Christmas book she would like. The Christmas book appears on the end of their beds from their mom and dad every year. Owner of list two is also very much looking forward to the Christmas Eve pajamas. Owner of list one would like a bathrobe and slippers since her sister has those things. Who knows if they will get worn. (I've gotten the pajamas and slippers, but no robe yet).

I don't know what the fascination is with black cowboy boots, and I'm even less sure if I can get "girly" ones (I think that must mean it has sparkles or the like on it).

Six Years

Happy birthday to my amazing Sophia. I love your complicated personality. Fierce, fearless, stylish. You're only six and you have your rock moves.

Sophia

I wasn't here for this, but apparently Sophia was talking to Fiona and she said that some girls told her that God made them. She got this look on her face as if to say, "isn't that the craziest thing you've ever heard?". Then she said, "I told them it wasn't true; my mommy made me."

The first day of school went well for Fiona and it went well for Sophia, except for the part where I came for lunch to help and she had a hard time with me leaving. That was painful. They read a book the first week of school called The Kissing Hand, by Audrey Penn. When I left the cafeteria, Sophia was inconsolable and I was barely holding it together. Sophia's teacher told her I would kiss the palm of Sophia's hand so she could have my kiss, and Sophia would kiss the palm of my hand so I would have hers.

Two weeks later, her teacher tells me that Sophia will be sitting in class, working, and occasionally brings the palm of her hand to her cheek for my kiss.

A Review of Summer

This has been the summer of origami. My nightstand is covered with various animals. Origami has spread to the kids' grandparents' house, their cousin's house, and Triana's house. Doug's work colleagues are also the recipient of Fiona's origami creations. Sophia is starting to take an interest, too. It's great to see them so focused on something creative like this...as my dad said, the origami are like Tribbles. They are in everything at this point.

(Lunchbox of tribbles. I mean origami.)

The kids had some week long classes in June: Fiona had origami (her fascination started way before the class), a cooking class, a science class, and an engineering class. Sophia's age group had fewer choices, but she took a class about bugs. They seemed to have a good time.

There was lots of swimming this summer, but no formal swimming lessons. We made a trip to the zoo to meet friends, which was fabulous, but ended with us all drenched in sweat. It is too hot to do much of anything during the day. Most swimming is done in the evening.

School starts next week, which is leaving me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, school! They should have fun and they'll be with other kids (so far, this is a good thing). On the other hand, who will I play with? I would love a job, but it would have to be something that leaves me here in the afternoon when they get home, and would hopefully involve me having some free time on the weekend. In the meantime, there is plenty to work on in the house. I could paint any room, for a start. The kids' bathroom not only needs updating, it needs the paint/peeling wallpaper to come off. I need to get out of the house, though, or I will rave. I'm sure there is volunteer work I can do somewhere (definitely at their school).

February 2, 2002

Fiona turns EIGHT tomorrow! She had a slumber party with three friends (only two stayed the night, though). They seemed to have a great time.

It was actually a great party. Fiona has great friends. Thank goodness!

I can't believe it's been 8 years. I feel like this picture is not that old, but it also seems so long ago, because she looks so different and is so different now! She used to be a quiet, clingy baby who I could not put down. She did not walk until she was 17 months. At playgroups, she would sit and observe. Now? Now she's off to slumber parties, is so talkative that she sometimes has to write in the "behavior book" in her class (ahem), and is quite independent. It's been so amazing watching her grow and develop into such an interesting person. One moment, you're nursing your baby in the middle of the night, wondering if there will be no end to this (there is, obviously, but it sometimes does not feel like it at the time) and the next they're begging to spend the night at a friend's house. The whole night away from you and they're relishing the idea. It's a cliche that the days are long and the years are short, but it is so true.

Send To Phone

Send To Phone

Now is the Moon's Eyebrow

I may have previously mentioned, that one Christmas tradition my parents did for us during our childhood was to place a book at the end of our bed (wrapped) so that we could open it first thing in the morning (and I do mean first thing). This was the book I got in 1988. I loved it then and I love it now. The whole book is based on bizarre nonsensical (some are rather poetic, some are just gloriously silly) questions like, "What is the difference between reality and a idea? Reality is what a person thinks who cannot remember." or "What is the difference between the moon and a needle and thread? The needle and thread are older." Each question and answer is accompanied by a whimsical illustration.

Ra Ra Ra...Smile!

Sophia and I are hanging out this afternoon with new batteries in her camera. She's mostly interested in how the camera operates right now. I just taught her how to delete the pictures. Here are some that missed the axe:








Fiona had to write in the conduct book again. This time it was for throwing paper airplanes in the classroom while her teacher was out. She places a lot of the blame on C--C had all the planes in his desk, and he started it, etc etc (different C, but still a boy), but knows what she did was wrong and can't really answer why she did it--she just gets this bemused expression on her face. SIGH. In fact, it didn't even end up on her homework sheet that I sign because she came up to me in the classroom as I was leaving. I was there volunteering, saying my goodbyes to her teacher and Fiona marched up and launched into her conduct book story. Her teacher looked amused. We're going in Wednesday for a PT conference to--I'm sure talk about her behavior, which honestly seems mostly good, except when it's not--but also to revisit testing for the GT program.

Sophia came home from school ravenous despite just having eaten most of her lunch (I usually pick her up right after lunch). She ate a bowl of my granola! I don't think she's ever eaten my granola. She ate a whole bowl of that WITH yogurt. She hasn't eaten yogurt in ages.

It was cold enough this morning (upper 20s!) that I caught myself looking for my snow boots. Yeah, those are long gone. I know this is NOT really cold, but since we have crappy windows the cold just blasts through. People have trash bags and sheets all over their yards (to protect plants from freezing). Looks great.

I got hooked on some new (to me) songs over the Christmas break and here is one that Sophia also likes immensely. She calls it the "Ra Ra Ra" song.



Right now Sophia is reading The Pigeon Wants a Puppy out loud. I mean out LOUD. With inflections. I'll try to catch it later on video; it's entertaining.

One of Fiona's new favorite songs now is this (thanks, Alex!):


I should point out they don't watch the video, only hear the song.

Bad Boy Influence

I guess I have acclimated to winter in Texas because it's about 46F right now and it feels COLD. However, the sun is brightly shining, so it's not so bad. We're supposed to get a hard freeze Thursday night and Friday night, so that will kill off anything that survived in the garden from the last freeze. Hopefully, this means fewer mosquitoes next summer. Sophia came home exclaiming that her teacher said we were getting snow tomorrow. There doesn't seem to be anything like that in the forecast, however. This is not a problem for me.

Fiona got off the bus yesterday looking happy and then very serious as she said, "Can I show you something before we go inside?". Then she shows me the page I have to sign every day that has her homework assignment and things to remember for the next day. Her teacher said that Fiona had been acting very silly in class today and was influenced by C (a new boy)--please talk to her. First of all, I was relieved it wasn't something worse. Fiona acting very silly in class is a problem we've had to address off and on during the years and it is gradually getting better. So we did talk about it. She said, "But MOM! I'ts C's fault! C is so silly and he makes me laugh so hard! I can not help it." She has been talking about C for a while now. She loves people who make her laugh. Hopefully, today goes better. She did say that when I met her at the bus stop, I looked so happy and "smiley" that she felt "really bad" about telling me her bad news (when she is silly or talkative or not following directions, etc, she gets written up in the "conduct book"). She is very forthcoming about the conduct book. She never hides it. It's quite remarkable. I'm not sure if it's the age or her personality or both. She's not going to sit next to C in groups and will keep the silliness to recess. She asked me if she and C could still be friends. Oh, Fiona.

On that note, though, our school (or at least her teachers) don't have any scheduled parent/teacher conferences during the year. I'm going to schedule one (for both girls) just to make sure I really know what's going on. The work that comes home looks good and Sophia is improving with reading and writing and Fiona's grades are great. I would like to try to get Fiona in the gifted/talented program, but it's a little tricky. Her teacher thinks she is more "high achieving" than gifted/talented, but said she would watch her during the year. The books that Fiona reads at school are easier than the ones she reads at home. All the other subjects seem pretty much at her level and she excels in those subjects. It's possible I don't really know what the gifted/talented program is really about. They test kids for the program in kindergarten. Obviously, we missed that since we just moved here. If it's just a matter of testing her, then I don't see why we shouldn't.

I don't have any pictures from today, so here, completely out of context, are pictures from last Halloween, which we had a lot of fun with.