A multiple choice get well card and other odd things

Our neighbor had to stay home from school after she had taken a bad fall earlier this week. Teh girls wrote Get Well Cards. I was busy working on something else, and just overheard Arantxa murmuring to herself, sounding out words.

This is what she wrote:



I hope you get better soon. Whow did you get hurt?
A Run and fall
b run to a wall and fall
C Go down a slid in or land on rock
if none of these send a note saying whow.
From Arantxa (and with the obligatory girly little heart).

When I glanced at what she had written I almost laughed out loud. One would think that she has taken multiple choice tests.

Today, when I picked her up from school., I realized that she had a little red mark on her cheek. This is a summary of the conversation we had.
M: What happened to you? How did you get hurt?
Ax: Oh, it is that we were playing hockey during 1st recess, but there were a lot of kids playing. It was both K classrooms, so that is 32 kids, plus, I think there I counted 10 other kids. That means there were 42 kids. Mom, quick, I need paper and pencil.
(passed her a piece of paper, she pulled out a pencil from her backpack).
Ax: I need to write this down. 16*2=32; 32+10=42. That means each team had 16+5 kids.
M: How many would that be?
Ax: 21, (then while writing she said) 16+5=21.
M: So, what happened then?
Ax: Oh, somebody was pulling their stick, and let go, and it hit me in the face.

Notice how she turned the conversation into a math problem. I guess instead of going off a tangent, she went off an arithmetic problem.... since we were there, I asked more.

M: So, how many girls in your class?
Ax:8
M: and boys?
Ax: 8.
M: and girls and boys in the other class?
Ax: 8 and 8.
M: So how much is 8*4?
Ax: 32! Let me get that down in paper again.

I haven't seen her notes, I want to see how she wrote everything.

It seems that lately she is in a math growth spurt. She frequently says things like: 17+5=22, 14+5=19. 3*6=18, etc.

One last one. I was filling out a Scholastic book order and asked her if she'd read all of the Deltora books. "Well, there are the ones with the jewels, the first one is called ___ and then there are the ones blablabla, but I read the one that blabla.. and also the other one that comes after and is titled blablabla....and on and on and on ". Pablo quietly said to me: she could have said: no.

Lorena was the mom today

Arantxa and I were practicing some catching and throwing (we had completely forgotten about her glove and ball..ooops!). Lorena got in her Little Tikes car announced she was the mom, and that she'd pick us up after our baseball class.

She stayed in character all day, Arantxa quit after a while. She got tired that when she said "mom, look", Lorena reminded her that she was the mom.

Here are some of the quotes from the day:

- You guys are going to go to extended day today. Extended day is where kids can go to after regular school hours. Arantxa doesn't go there. Well, her Drama class was through X-day.

She finally picked us up. We got "in" the car, and she asked, "Did you have a good lunch? How much did you eat? Who did you seat with?". Oops! I hadn't realized how predictable I am.

Later, we are going to go to the gym. You are going to go the school there (childcare while you work out) because I need to exercise. I am going to do the climber. It is only for moms, you can't do it because I am afraid you'd get hurt.

I am not going to give you a snack in the car because we are going to have dinner soon.

Maybe I will remember some later on. It was funny!

Oh, and here is Arantxa in her incomplete Baseball uniform. She is so excited! Practices start this week.

Is Arantxa growing?

This will probably be my shortest blog ever.

Arantxa had gotten all dressed in her new baseball uniform. This is the first time she is participating in a formal sport. She will do co-ed T-ball. By the way, I discovered I am completely clueless in this department. Luckily another mom took me to the store where I could buy the appropriate clothes. Who knew that baseball pants had belt loops and that they are special belts for them? Certainly not me. I had bought the smaller pants, socks, shirt, and belt; and it really did not look that bad in the store. However, by the time I saw them next to her it was obvious they are humongous! Thank goodness for the belt....

Back to Saturday, it was freezing and it was raining non-stop. Sadly, but fortunately, the parade was cancelled. Luckily for Arantxa, she had something to look forward to. She had $30 worth of Barnes and Noble gift cards from her birthday (Thanks S and C!). As Pablo left to help set up for the school auction, I took the girls to the bookstore. Arantxa quickly started separating some books she wanted to read, she had to really resist start reading the last Magic Tree House (41!), while she sorted the others out. I gave her a pile, and she found some herself. After much reflection, she ended up with 5 books, which she had in order of preference, since she did not know how much she could afford. Lorena, in the meantime, had her own stack of books. I bought her a Dora book. She really loves that episode not only because it has mermaids, but because one is named Mariana, how cool is that for a 3 year old?

Arantxa's total was about $32, but I remembered I had a 15% coupon off one item, so she got lucky there and did not have to use her own allowance money to complete the payment. We were at Crossroads mall, so we went to get some lunch. Before we started eating, she had already read 3 chapters of her MTH book.

After lunch, we saw the "Library Connections" which was perfect. I had with me her 2 last reading logs. Since she had read 20 minutes for 20 days during a month (I don't even bother recording the days, most days she reads at least an hour). anyway, she was eligible to get 2 free books. She made her selection, and was even lucky enough to find a thick chapter Dragon book of a series she was after.

By 4 o'clock, she had finished reading a few of the books. Needless to say, she hardly did anything but read. I saw her on the floor, wiggling on the couch, nestled against a corner next to a table.

Rafael and Dani arrived to take care of the girls at 4. Pablo and I got all dressed up in our safari clothes (the theme of the auction was "Where the Wildcats are", so that was easy for us. The auction was fun, and we did get some items.

When we came back we were schocked to learn that Arantxa had announced at 5 that she was very tired, had a headache, and was ready for bed. They quickly had dinner, and then they had to talk her into getting her into her PJs. She went to bed before 6, and fell asleep super fast with her first ever headache. We are sure she got it from that last reading place she found, she was in a really bad posture. And yes, when I found her there, I had asked her to move to a different place and to turn the lights on. She did not wake up until the following morning.

Sunday night she had a very bad night, full of nightmares. I forgot to say that I wanted to ban a "Goosebumps" books she had gotten. I had explained it would probably be very scary, I had read a few paragraphs to show her. She could not resist it because of the title and the first few paragraphs. (http://www.amazon.com/How-I-Learned-Fly-Goosebumps/dp/0590568892). We agreed that if she mentioned anything about being scared or not able to sleep, I'd have to take the book away, and she would not be allowed to read more of that series. She had very little sleep, and needless to say, those books will be banned for an undetermined amount of time.

Lorena picked her up from drama class yesterday. She was really cranky in the car; and fell asleep shortly before we made it home, it was around 5 pm. I left her in the car while I started dinner. I then brought her in to the couch. Lorena kept bringing toys to her, but she did not move. I tried to wake her for dinner, but she just wouldn't wake up!! I finally gave up and took her to her bed. Lorena was sad that Pablo was not going to join us for dinner, he was going to work late. She was devastated when she realized that Arantxa would not have dinner with us either. I made it for her by joining her in her bath.

I kept checking on Arantxa a few times, I was a bit worried, but she seemed just fine. She walked into our room at 6 am this morning, with a cheerful "Happy St. Patrick's day!". She slept almost 13 hours.

We'll see what the rest of the week brings. She might be growing....

What Lorena remembers....

Both girls frequently astonish us with things they remember. Here are some recent examples from Lorena.

1) We were at the museums' cafeteria, and she started pointing to a table far away. She said that they had the same bottles that they gave to kids at her sister's preschool (sister now in K). We had no idea what she was talking about, so we asked her to clarify. She said that Ms. S had given kids that water bottle at the field trip. She went on to say that it was the field trip she had been invited to at the museum with the dinosaurs bones. She then added the other snack items she was given that day by Ms S.

2) When she asked what was for dinner and I said Ravioli, she replied that she doesn't like those. Lately she has been saying that too frequently, so I told her that she hadn't tasted them. "Yes, I have mom, remember, that was what we had the day we saw Annie, and you let us have dinner in the family room, watching TV".

Mmh... 2 food items, maybe there is a pattern here.

3) When I was going to do her hair, she said she wanted to have braids AND a headband that day, like the girl in the book. What girl? what book? She ran upstairs, brought down "Gigi, God's little princess" book, and turned pages until she found the right one. Her sister got that book as a party favor last year, and neither of the girls really liked it that much. I am sure we read it to both, but definitely not too frequently. She did not remember the girl's name. What surprised me most is that Gigi has different hairstyles through out the book.

4) We went to the super market and I put her in one of those annoying carts with the huge plastic car add-ons, the ones that look like cars. I playfully put her down, sideways, and she "fell" in it, with her arms and legs up. She laughed and said, "just like Goldilocks". What? Apparently, Goldilocks fell just like that from the chair in one of the "versions" (her word) of Goldilocks that we have, the one in the thick book with a compendium (my word) of stories in Spanish. We came home, and she showed me the illustration.

Found it, found it, found the diamond...

We were not even a full week away from our 10th anniversary. I had read books to Lorena in our bed, and then played, roughly with her, on the bottom of the stairs. That is when I realized that the diamond was missing from my engagement ring, as I felt something scratching me. I immediately let out a big "Help! Pablo, come!". I am sure there was a sense of urgency in my voice, but I think it did not sound as if someone had broken a leg.

I stayed looking on the steps, with my eyes and passing my hand over the carpet. Nothing. Lorena was trying to help. Pablo had run to get some flashlights. Nothing on the stairs, I went back to the bed, nothing. I made Lorena undress, and checked my clothing as well, nothing. I must add that our house was spotless as it had been cleaned in the morning: no distracting clutter on the floor, freshly vaccuumed; and I was positive I had the stone in the morning.

We had been about to leave out for dinner when I realized. Arantxa was barely aware than anything was going on, since she was immersed in her books in the family room. Lorena, on the other hand, really tried to help. I found myself alternating from being annoyed at her when she got in the way, or moved things roughly; and melted by her genuined desire to help.

Now, bare in mind that we live in a house with 2 small girls. I cannot tell you how many fake jewels, glitter, or otherwise sparkly small items we found. We had countless moments of false hope. Pablo had looked in the car. I had gotten back to the few places I had been in before (Thursdays I mostly chaufeur kids around. The 3 of us leave the house at 7:30 am, and we all get back around 3:30, many miles later).

All of this time my mind kept racing, but my emotions were kept at bay: "we will have to quit soon. Once the girls are in bed, we can extend a dark towel in our carpet, and empty the folded clothes from the bins. We'll sleep in the guest room..."

Eventually, it was clear that it was time to quit looking. We had been searching for 1:15 hours. I was going to take a last peek in Mei aka as Pablo's car (the one I had been driving due to snow), but he took over as I got the girls ready in Satsuki, i.e. my van. (Yes, we love My Neighbor Totoro movie). Pablo exclaimed, "found it" and then "maybe not, I think it is another of the girls' jewels". But it was not, it was the real deal. He had found it under the driver's seat. Phew!

That is when all the emotions hit with full force. I must say that all the time that we were looking I was so relieved that it had not been my fault: I hadn't misplaced the ring, or forgotten it someplace. One of the little "legs" holding it, had broken off. We went to dinner, and it took me several hours to calm down. We were both exhausted when we went to bed!

At the end, I could just think of the Kindermusic song, both girls, but especially Arantxa, used to love "Found it, found it, here is the diamong ring...". Oh, and in the middle of the search, the song that kept popping to my mind was "Hush Little Baby"; and thinking that the way the economy is going "if that diamond ring gets lost... nobody is getting you another one...".

Oh, and I want my mom to read this and remind me of a similar story. I just remember a few details of when this daugher of their friends had come to my apartement with a tape of music from their choir. Pablo and I were engaged and looking at choirs for our wedding. I think this woman also had just lost her diamond, and I remember that she had also found it in the car. My memory might be failing me, though, it sounds too similar to our own story!

Some things they have said this year

We were at a public restroom and there was something different about the sinks/faucets. I guess she wanted to close it, but it was automatic (press on, but stops on its own). Lorena said, "look, that is quite a spectacle!". "Mira mamá, es todo un espectáculo".

I did not let her get her shirt off for a car ride. It was cold outside and I did not want her only in her undershirt. "Mom, you are destroying my world" (In Spanish she used the reflexive, so this was my best translation: "me estás destruyendo el mundo").

I prepared "cochinita pibil" some time ago, Arantxa loved and as she asked for seconds she asked, ""mom, can I please have the recipe?". "Mamá, ?me puedes dar la receta por favor?". She had suggested that it would be a good idea to keep hers and Lorena's favorite recipes handy for when they got married or went to live on their own.

Lorena, describing parallel play. After Arantxa's party.
- Hey, Lorena, what were you playing with C yesterday?
- We were sitting next to each other playing with Little People, but she was playing her game and I was playing mine. We were not really playing together. What a hassle! She did not want to play the same thing. "Estábamos sentadas juntas jugando con Little People, pero ella estaba de su lado jugando su juego, y yo de mi lado jugando el mío. No estábamos jugando juntas. !qué lata"! Ella no quería que jugáramos la misma cosa."

Lorena, being annoyed AND annoying. It was my turn to choose music on the car, so I turned to NPR. "Argh! No aguanto el radio, por favor, alguien, ayúdeme a quitarme la cabeza. (mientras se la jalaba para arriba) !AAAH! Por favor, quien sea, ayuden a que me quite la cabeza. El mundo sería MÁS MEJOR si no tuviera mi cabeza y no pudiera escuchar el radio"."I can't stand the radio, please, somebody help me pull my head out. "Remove my head! (while actually pulling her head up). Please, someone, help me remove my head! The world would be more better if I did not have my head, I wouldn't have to listen to the radio" Does anybody else thinks she might be slightly over reacting? Ah, the drama never ends!

The next 2 are Arantxa being profound and self-reflective.

1) Pondering on the conscience.
"We (humans) are made of 2 parts;l one is the voice that tells you what you have to do, like no hitting; but there is another part that just does the things. Sometimes the parts are connected, and one can stop the other one; but sometimes those 2 parts are completely separate". "Estamos (humanos) hechos de dos partes, una es la voz que te dice lo que debes hacer, como no pegar; pero hay otra parte que solo hace las cosas. A veces las partes están conectadas y una puede detener a la otra; pero a veces las 2 partes están completamente separadas".
And no, she was not trying to get out of trouble, I guess her 2 parts had been connected that whole day.

2) Pondering on personal space and explaining this to Lorena. Apparently it was a concept she though of herself, she had not read/heard about it. "It is like everybody has a bubble, and if someone else comes to close to your bubble it bursts. Voice can come in the bubble, and sometimes hands." We all then later elaborated on how very loud voices can indeed burst the bubble, and how everybody's bubble is a different size. "Lorena, es como si cada quien tuviera una burbuja, y si alguien se acerca mucho a tu burbuja, se rompe. La voz si puede entrar a tu burbuja y a veces las manos".

Did Lorena understand? Sort of. The three of us were eating out, and we were seated in a circular booth, Lorena in the middle. Arantxa had to approach to get Purell for her hands, so I explained to Lorena that Arantxa was going to get close. After all hands were clean, Arantxa scooted back, but not all the way to her original "place". Lorena turned to me and said, "Mom, Arantxa entered OUR bubble". "Mamá, Arantxa se metió a NUESTRA burbuja". I had to explain that bubbles were personal.

A final one from Lorena. "I don't need protein, there was Hawaiian pizza at my school's Valentine party yesterday, it had Canadian bacon; so I don''t need any protein". "Yo no necesito proteína, hubo Pizza Hawaiiana en la fiesta de San Valentín de mi escuela, y tenía lomo canadiense, así que no necesito proteína."

The last one from Arantxa. She was dictating thank you notes to me. "The flower you drew was very detailed and it looks like a real flower. I loved it! The way you drew the picture made me imagine myself in a garden with giant flowers and the sun shining down on me."

The birthday party and the castle cake!

We finally had Arantxa's 6th party on Sunday. With her b'day so close to Xmas and our trip, it is just crazy to do anything before that. However, later we have the Super Bowl, Valentine's day, and Winter break. I have to remember all of this for next year.

What she really wanted was to have the party at home, have some crafts, play, and especially a piñata. Since it is during the winter, she had to settle for about a dozen kids.

Last year, she wanted a "bear" cake. We ended up getting a fisherman's cake: it was guy fishing on a stream. We removed the guy, added some Schleich bears, kept the salmon, and voilà, a bear cake. This year, she REALLY wanted a castle cake. Not any castle cake, not a flat cake, but one that indeed looked like a castle. When we were in Mexico she and her cousin spent hours creating 3D cardboard furniture for a little house. This is then, a real interest of hers.

I started by baking 3 batches of carrot cake. I needed 2 for the bottom layer, and another one for the top layer. I had bought a kit that includes the towers, door, windows, etc. I prepared the frosting and set to work the night before. It was definitely a challenge, but overall I had fun doing it. I have been wanting to take a cake decorating class, and in the meantime I have learned on my own. I set up knowing that I would be unable to even come close to the one in the box, but that I could make something work that would impress the little kids.

First I figured out how to use "dowels" to stablize the cake and keep it from falling. Then, came the trickiest part: frosting the layers do that they would look smooth. Afterwards came the fun of actual decorating the towers and the rest of the cake. I knew my limitations so I decided toto simplify in some ways while still aiming for an "awe" factor. Oh,. by the way, Pablo helped me, not only bouncing off ideas, actually doing some frosting.

Here is the just finished product.

I joked with Pablo that the cake looked good from the distance, sort of like you have to see many a masterpiece in a museum: not too close.

The girls woke up early in the morning; well, maybe not that early, but definitely too much for those of us who had gone to bed late getting everything ready. We heard the girls excitedly talking and getting dressed. Half asleep I heard them speculate who would be the second guest to arrive (the first one was guaranteed to be Lorena). Lorena even came to our room to share the most exciting news. "Arantxa invited the twins! She said they could come!!!!". Which twins are we talking about? Lorena's teddy bear baby twins. Arantxa then asked if they could go downstairs to see the cake (no touching, not even with a finger!!!) and so they did. We just heard them ooh and aah over the cake. They were so excited!

Pablo took the girls out for breakfast while I made some sandwiches, and got the rest of the stuff ready. Here is the ever so important task of filling the piñata.

Most kids started arriving on time. This was our first party with "big" kids and we did not know what to expect. Most parents stayed. They got started by decorating their goody bag, scratching some "magic" picture frames, or other crafts.

The day was gorgeous (meaning sunny, dry from the night before, and not freezing); so pretty soon they all were outside. We were so glad they were able to enjoy the backyard. A lof ot them tried the scooters, chalk, sand table, and the play structure. It was really nice to mostly play in small groups or individually, but they all interacted really well. They were all in their best behavior. We really lucked out since that night it snowed and it was all covered in white! We had games planned in case they were going crazy or we had to stay inside, but they were playing so happily we did not have the heart to direct their play.

The Piñata was of course a big hit! Arantxa had 2 or 3 small drama moments, but she was able to move on. You can see some of the chalk creations.

We cut and enjoyed the cake. My favorite part of the party was while all the kids were sitting on the table singing silly made up verses to a song. You do need a teacher to go to school. You don't need a teacher to learn how to learn. You don't need a dolphin to say hello to you in the ocean. If you are in Jupiter you do need some place to walk on because it is made out of gas. They all giggled and were creative together.

THINGS ARANTXA SAID:

I heard Arantxa tell all her friends that she already knew how to fly. Since she continues to be obsessed with flying (remember the rule in our house, all attempts of flying must begin at ground level, and can't involve jumping off things); my mom ears are always detecting any flying reference. All I need to do is find a place with no gravity and then jump up and I will be floating and flying by moving my body.

A certain friend of ours called to apologize before they arrived since they had left the present home. We relayed the message to Arantxa who said: No problem, presents are the least important thing in a party. The most important thing in a party is to have your family and at least one other guest. you can't have a party unless you have one or more guests.

She later was talking about birthdays, so she started saying. When I am 8, I am going to be thinking, only 2 years away from 10; and then when I am 9, I'll say that it is only one more year. Then, the day before I turn 10, I will think, we are only a day away. I really want to be 10, but I don't want to skip the middle part. I love that!

As she was opening presents, a mom overheard her saying, Wow, all my friends got me things I really needed, I am so happy.

Finally, at night, after reading to her (yes, we still read to her every night), she gave me a great big hug and thanked me for making a special cake, organizing the party, and for letting them have cake for dinner.

So, there you go. From all of the above comments, it is clear to us that she is indeed growing and maturing.

Thanks for reading!