iBeth

We'll miss that, too

Emma watched her sister cross the street on her way to her grandparents' house.

"Amelia just skips down the sidewalk the whole way. She's so cute." Emma said.  "I'm gonna miss that when she grows up."

We'll miss that, too.  We'll miss a lot of things, but it's wonderful to experience them now.

When you're right, you're right

Me to Emma: I can't believe you are ten years old already!  That's so old!

Emma (consolingly): Well, not compared to you, Mommy.

I can't argue with that, kid.

Wild Cows

We often see cows grazing in a field near our home.  Just the cows--no barn is visible, so we have no idea where they go when they aren't grazing.  The other day, Amelia asked, "Mommy, are those wild cows?"

No, her daddy and I told her.  There's no such thing as wild cows anymore--all cows are domesticated.  But you know what? We were wrong.

Figure Sledding: The New Olympic Sport

Amelia invented a new Olympic sport at school.  I'd watch it.

 

Emma's First College Mailing

When 9yo Emma received this postcard from Iowa State, she said, "Well it doesn't say Star Fleet Academy on it, so I guess I'm not interested."

Of course she was joking.  Everyone knows that it's the Star Fleet shipyard that's in Iowa--Star Fleet Academy is in San Francisco.

Now Amelia will never know her mood

Amelia lost her mood necklace.  She'd bought it a few days earlier with her own allowance money at the school's "holiday shop" fundraiser and worn it nonstop since then, including our trip to see the Osborne Family Lights.  And somehow, probably while she was dancing in the snow, the mood charm came loose and was irretrievably lost.   "Now I'll never know my mood!" she sobbed in my arms. 

"Can you tell my mood?" I asked after a while.  I mimed different moods for her.  She guessed them all.  "I know," I said, "whenever you're wondering what your mood is, just ask me, and I'll act it out for you." 

She cried some more.  "No, that won't work, Mommy!  Plus," she said through her tears, "I never saw it turn gray!" 

"What does gray mean?" I asked.

"Sad," she said.

I promised that if she ever got another mood necklace*, I would make her sad right away, so that she would be sure to see all the colors.  She was not comforted.

*Fortunately, this calamity happened close to Christmas.  Making her sad on Christmas morning will be quite a job.

Gift shopping for the girls

For those of you asking about possible gifts for the girls, see their wishlist over on the right margin.  They don't have any particular wants, but right now they enjoy Star Trek* and Futurama (in the unlikely event that you find anything themed to those shows).  (*That is, the Treks with Kirk & Spock characters, from either TOS or the recent movie, but not the other Trek series with Picard, Janeway, etc. We have all the dvds already.)  They both like jewelry (necklaces, bracelets, rings) and hair doodads (barrettes, headbands, rubberbands for hair, ponytail decorations) and umbrellas.  Amelia still loves tigers, kittens, and puppies.  Emma still loves cats, kittens, and guinea pigs.  They both like to draw and play board games.  Here are their sizes:

• Emma: shoe size 1, clothes size L or 9/10. (She wears size 8 right now, but not for much longer.)
• Amelia: shoe size 12, clothes size M or 7/8. (She wears size 6x right now, but not for much longer.)

My husband, Super Shopper

My husband is an excellent shopper (he can always tell you where orange juice is two cents cheaper), so he handles most of our household purchases, from bread to milk to toilet paper.  But he outdid himself this time. 

He'd received a $50 cash rebate from BJ's Wholesale Club, issued in the form of a Visa gift card.  When he went to the store to spend it, he decided to use it up in one trip--but he didn't want to buy anything that wasn't already on his shopping list, and he didn't want to spend more than $50 either.  These goals were complicated by taxes: some items we needed were taxed, others not. 

Et voila!  He managed, without using a calculator, to find items that totaled $50.01.  The cashier was so impressed she spotted him the penny.

Proud To Be An American

I just finished purchasing Lee Greenwood's song God Bless The U.S.A. for 6yo Amelia.  She heard the song at a citizenship ceremony a couple of weeks ago and has been humming ever since.  And whenever she hears it, she confided, she thinks about the "nice brown lady" who sings it.  Lee Greenwood does sound like a nice brown lady, don't you think?

Marry me, Mommy. Love, your daughter

6yo Amelia just gave me a note that read, "Marry me, Mommy."  She explained that she knew I was already married to Daddy, and that she was too little to get married, but if she were bigger and if I weren't married she would want to marry me because she loved me very much. 

And I said that I loved her very much and that if I weren't already married and if she were old enough, I would definitely consider marrying her, except that mommies aren't allowed to marry their children. 

Amelia was dumbfounded.  "Why would anyone make a law like that?" she asked.

Tradition, I told her.