Thursday, April 30, 2009

Rose #2's Spring Conference

Rose #2 is a social butterfly, who is just respectful enough of her teacher to avoid trouble. She is SO close to reading, but she struggles with sounding out letters. She is very visual and can memorize things, do puzzles, tangrams, and manipulate numbers and shapes.

Could she be any different than Rose #1? It is always a struggle not to compare them. It is so interesting to me that Rose #2 is so good spatially and with math, and Rose #1 is so verbal.

Rose #2's teacher said that she is just waiting for Rose #3 to come along..heard she is a real spitfire! Hmmm. Rose #3's reputation precedes her...

Thank you to Uncle Eli for babysitting tonight so H and I could go to conferences. We really appreciate it.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Only...One...More...Wednesday...Left...

This is the second to last Wednesday class night without Daddy - Hooray!  Tonight was a bit of a whirlwind because I was running late at work and the girls had to go to Guppy's house.  They had a fine time there and then came home for taco night.  We had our dinner together, then we planned the schedule for Rose #1's birthday party:

3:00 Arrive
3:15  Games (Kickball, tag)
4:00 Pinata (I am going to make a homemade Death Star pinata.  Bet you've never seen THAT sentence in print (on web - whatever) before!!)
4:15 Presents
4:30 Cake
5:00 Parents pick up

This was my suggested schedule and is open for change.  Rose #1 in particular thought it would be more fun to have cake before presents, but I have it stuck in my mind that cake should be the last thing at the party.  You, my loyal blog reader (I mean readerS of course, readerS), can get an update of the actual schedule  - you know, how it really turns out - after the party.

Rose #2 is also feverishly planning her birthday party.  As long as I am making one pinata, I am going to make another.  At first she wanted Bakugan, but then inextricably changed her mind and requested a chicken instead.  A chicken pinata!  Should be interesting.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Everything starts with "G"!

Rose #3 thinks many words start with "G":

"Mommy, my fingers gicky."  (sticky)
"Mommy, I go Garget too?"  (Target)
"Mommy, you gick me out?"  (kick)  (I teasingly said that if she wasn't so cute we would have to kick her out because of all the trouble she causes...unfortunately that level of irony (sarcasm?) is lost on a 2-year-old.  In my defense I was giving her a big fat hug and kiss at the same time.)
"La la la la I am not listening to you."  (No translation needed - I was singing "Tomorrow" from Annie at the top of my lungs in the car at the time.)

I have a .wav file of Rose #1 saying "I press the button."  She was about 1 years old at the time and it seems so long ago now.  She sounds so young!  I have to get a voice recording of Rose #3 and her funny mixed-up letters.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Warm Spring Evening

After dinner tonight I was trying to convince Rose #1 to read a book or play with her sisters when she said, "Mom, I want to do something more active!" Plus, it was about 75 degrees (here! in Minnesota!) so we went for a bike ride/scooter ride/walk.   The Roses all put on their I heart NY shirts, and we were off.  Here is Rose #1 on her bike, which is nearly too short for her:

And Rose #2.  She insists on wearing her roasting hot ski helmet.  She is quite, quite proficient on her two wheeler!  It only took a few days.  Good job, Rose #2.
And Rose #3 on the princess scooter.  She put on a helmet about 2 minutes after this picture was taken, by the way, and then did not take the helmet off for the rest of the night.  She had very sweaty hair by the end of the evening!
We went to a neighbor's house - they have three kids too, and they were out scootering and playing.  It was a lovely night (until we got home, had shower, and discovered that Rose #1 had not done her homework.  Whoops).

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Overheard at the Roses House Tonight

Scene:  Mother sweeping disgusting kitchen floor while children in dining room eating Scooby Doo Pushup treats.  Mother swiping away at mushed up green vegetable on floor, when children suddenly come up with a random line of questioning:

Rose #1 and #2:  "Mom, when you were in high school, were you a popular, a brainiac, or a jock?"

Me:  "WHAT?"

Rose #1 (exaggeratedly patient):  "Were you a popular, a brainiac, or a jock?"

Me:  "Do you know what a jock even is?"

Rose #1:  "Yes.  You told me it is someone who is good at sports and who KNOWS they are good at sports."

Me:  (Dumbfounded silence.  Never, ever told Rose #1 that, but now that I think about it, she is really quite right!)

Rose #1:  "Well, which were you?"

Me:  "I guess I was mostly a brainiac.  Does that surprise you?"

Rose #1:  "Yes, I thought you were a jock."

I have never, ever used any of these terms with my children.  I have no idea where they heard this.  I have been limiting their screen time, truly I have.  Except on the weekends they do not watch the channel which is the bane of my existence, Cartoon Network.  I wish I could honestly say that they watch only a few moments of Cartoon Network, but even I can tell that many of you (OK, all two of you) would know that is a lie.

Anyway, I'm sure there was a teaching moment in all of this, but for the life of me I couldn't come up with what it was.  Sigh.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

The Big Musical - Part 2

Here are the Roses at the musical!  

Rose #3 unfortunately was getting 1,000,000 drinks of water, and her shirt got wet.  So, she took it off, and Rose #2 took a quick photo.  Doesn't Rose #3 look like an urchin with her sticky outy hair and her shirtless state?

And here's the photographer.  I am so proud of Rose #2 - and this is unrelated to the musical - she rode her bike without training wheels today for the first time!
And the star herself.  It was hard to get a good action shot because she was so far up and the lighting was bad.  This was after the dance.
If you carefully look here you can see Rose #1 in the bleachers at the beginning of the show, second from the left in the first row.  She LOVED being in the show.  

The Jungle Musical - Part 1

Thursday night was the first grade musical at Rose #1's school - "It's a Jungle Out there." Rose #1 was a LION DANCER.   She had QUITE a fan club there, too.

Baby Kate was there, and in fact, she is not such a baby any more.  She is 1 year old!  And, she is very happy on her daddy's lap.  Isn't she SO cute?

This was a motley group.  Aunt Boo, Aunt Tonya, and Cousin Sam, mugging for Rose #2, who was very jealous of all the attention being paid to Rose #1.  So I set her loose with the camera.  
Here is Aunt Boo and me  :-)
Here is Uncle Bill who was quite kind to come even though Aunt Missy wasn't feeling well:
And last but not least - Uncle Jason:
The next post will include photos of the Lion Dancer herself!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Trip to New York!

Well, Guppy and I went to New York over the weekend! We had a momentous trip.  We arrived on Saturday morning and went directly to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  In the rain.  You can see the umbrella in this shot.  (By the way, I did not know that Korea had a Renaissance, but why should this be surprising?)

We paused in the sculpture garden for a few moments.  This is a sculpture of a guy in Dante's Inferno who was starving to death (can't tell from his muscles) and was given two small children to eat (!!!).  His anguish is because he can't decide whether to eat them.
After the Met we went to Times Square to stand in the ticket line.   We got tickets to Blithe Spirit, starring very famous actors like Angela Lansbury and Rupert Everett.  It was very, very neat.  The women in front of us (visible at the bottom of the shot) were German and smoked many, many cigarettes.  (Yuck.)
On Sunday morning we took the subway to All Souls Unitarian Church for Easter services.  Here is Guppy riding the subway escalator.
And here is Guppy in front of All Souls.  It is on the upper East Side and was a gorgeous church.  Fabulous music and very, very nice people.  Other than at church no one in New York City really talked to us.  Humph.  They should all come to the Twin Cities (in shifts, I think) for a lesson in being polite.
After church we rode the subway down to lower Manhattan and got tickets to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  We were kind of late so we could only see one.  We did not stop at the Statue of Liberty but I did take this excellent photo.
And this is the ferry as we were boarding to go back after Ellis Island.
We had a great trip.  I missed my girls but I was really glad I went.  Also glad to come home!  Rose #3 said "No more go bye bye with Guppy to New York, OK Mommy?"

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Overheard lately Chez Roses

Rose #3: "Where is my Hannah Montana chapstick, Mommy?"  This from a child who approximately 6 months ago would not say a single word.  Not a word, I'm telling you - whenever we tried to coax her to talk, she would press her little lips together in a line and shake her head.  Now she's all - "Do you have any more money, Mommy?"  This child is TWO YEARS OLD.  I guess it is because she is the youngest of three that she knows of such worldly (and wordly) things!

Rose #2:  "If you eat something off the ground, will you die?  If you eat a chicken bone, will you die?  If you eat poison will you die?  I don't ever want to ___________ because I might die."  I don't know where Rose #2 picked up this recent fear of dying, but she is obsessed.  I try to be honest but put things in context - for example, by saying that if you eat something poison, you will probably only get sick, but that's why you should only eat food that a grownup that you know gives to you.  Argh.

By the way, we (by "we" I mean "I") almost had to have the birds and the bees discussion with Rose #2.  She asked me twice how mommies get pregnant with babies, and I stalled for time.  I fully intended to answer the question when I was a bit more prepared but then...she forgot!  (I know that if I was a good Unitarian parent I would voluntarily bring it up again but I just don't think I can handle that right now.  Lesson number one of being a lawyer, and apparently a parent concerned with sex education:  Answer the question you are being asked.)

Rose #1:  "I am going to trade Boba Fett at school tomorrow for two Star Wars legos guys."  

I don't have anything to add to that last one.  Other than perhaps to say that I can't understand why Star Wars is still soooooo popular.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Easter's Coming...Time for Eggs!!

Today was the annual egg coloring party with Guppy!   A few hardboiled eggs (OK, 17) and we were good to go.  Rose #2 (I am pretending you can't see her name from her homemade nametag at church today) LOVED the part where you move the eggs around from color to color.  She loved the whole thing.  Her fingers were all green and gold and a disturbing looking brown afterwards.

I forget what Rose #1 was saying to me, but H shot this very nice picture of us.  Rose #1 also liked the egg dyeing, perhaps a tiny bit less than Rose #2.
And Guppy is always up for a good session of coloring eggs.  She was working on the permanent (i.e., blew out the insides through a small hole) eggs.  She made one for each Rose.  (Rose #3 was CONKED OUT for a 3-hour nap during this eggstravaganza...sorry, I couldn't resist the pun...)
And a very cute one of Rose #1 and Rose #2, and my long green arm.  
I love coloring eggs, or more accurately, setting up the whole business so the Roses can do it.  Next year Rose #3 will almost be old enough, and she likely will have outgrown her nap!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

MOA, Wish We Didn't Visit You

Yuck.  Kind of a crummy day, and it's Saturday and everything.  It started out OK - I got up early to exercise (yay!) and grocery shop.  But then we were planning a trip to Mall of America to return an item that Rose #1 bought which did not work and to get Baby Kate's first birthday present.  Neither of these things happened.

One:  We couldn't find the item Rose #1 was supposed to return, until about 2 hours after we arrived home.  We don't have infinite amounts of free time in our family, so having our errand hijacked is very, very annoying.

Two:  I could not find the gift I wanted to get for baby Kate at the mall.  At the largest indoor mall in the United States of America.  (I think there is a bigger indoor mall in Canada, which is the only one standing between us and WORLD DOMINATION...at least as far as shopping malls are concerned.)  

And Three:  The Roses were just atrociously behaved.  Really.  We didn't want to get a large number of points for the rides at MOA - they are just too expensive - and you never have exactly the right number of points for everyone to get to go on every ride that they want.  So, Rose #2 very graciously said that she would not ride the carousel at the end of the morning, and Rose #1 went instead.  Then Rose #1 felt guilty, and started crying.   Rose #3 was playing with her chocolate milk at lunch and sprayed it all over me through her straw.  The icing on the cake was Rose #1's behavior when Rose #2 went to spend her $20 from Grandpa Pete at the Lego store, which is actually where we were going to return the watch Rose #1 bought earlier this week.  Rose #1 was just so mad at Rose #2 for actually having the gall to buy herself a toy with the same amount of money that Rose #1 also received from Grandpa Pete.  She was growling, and threatening to punch Rose #2.  I get it - jealousy is hard, hard, hard for kids to process - but working it all through in the middle of MOA is not your best bet.

Bottom Line:  Nice spring weather can't come soon enough.  We need to get outside for some serious playtime.  Enough of this cabin fever...


Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Oh Yes It's Wednesday Night, and The Feelin's Right

So, we are getting through these Ladies Nights one at a time.

The new rule in our house:  30 minutes of TV time per day.  My amendment to the rule, introduced today:  30 minutes of SCREEN time per day.  When I got home, the Roses were playing a game on disney.com, so they had blown through most of their screen time.  They played a little bit more computer before dinner, and then all screens were OFF.

And, what do you know - Rose #1 and Rose #2 played with these little rubber salamanders that our nanny Cynthia brought for April Fool's Day jokes.  They set up a house for them, made a swimming pool, made beds for them out of Kleenex, and had a great time babysitting their toys.  I know it is naive to think that every day will be this easy, but it was great.  Rose #3 and I looked at pictures of her and her sisters when she was a BRAND new baby and we read stories. It was a much nicer evening than others we have had, and bedtime is (relatively) earlier than usual.  

I really notice a behavior difference between the Roses who have to be pried away from the TV to brush their teeth and read a story, and the Roses that play together with toys using their imagination.  I prefer the latter any day.