Annual Update
A year? I haven’t posted in a YEAR? How did that happen? Where did my year go? I want it BACK! It was filled with wonderful experiences and we’ve made really great memories, but it was way too FAST!
FavoriteSon is 10, almost as tall as me and we currently wear the same size shoes. I do not have tiny feet.
Trivia Question: Do you know the difference between a Nike tennis shoe in a kids size 5 1/2 and the same Nike tennis show in an adult size 6? (see below for the answer)
The doctor says if FavoriteSon keeps growing at this rate, he will be about 6′3″ when he grows up. That’s two inches taller than his dad and . . . a lot taller than me. He likes school, but has his moments. He’s finally adjusting to the fact that he is really good at math - a real bummer for him because until recently, he hated math. He was still very good at it - he just hated it.
Weird. (in the voice of Krunk, from Disney’s Emporer’s New Groove).
He has a split personality when it comes to his little sister. Sometimes he is the most patient, kind and understanding big brother on the face of this planet and sometimes (like 30 seconds later), he will pretend to spit on her head just to freak her out.
While he’s on the brink of responsibility, I find myself muttering things like, “I am not a 5th grader” the night before his science project is due as I sit next to him at the kitchen table while he types at the laptop. (Use the home keys, please, FavoriteSon)
It was his idea to do a devotion every night before bed and he NEVER wants to skip it. I feel like a total bum when I suggest it due to a late bedtime. We use a great devotional book called, “The One Year Book of Family Devotions, Volume 1.” After that, I read out loud for a few minutes. Recently, we’ve been reading poems from Jack Prelutsky’s book, “Something Big Has Been Here.” One of their favorite poems is:
“I Wish My Father Wouldn’t Try To Fix Things Anymore“
My father’s listed everything
he’s planning to repair,
I hope he won’t attempt it,
for the talent isn’t there,
he tinkered with the toaster
when the toaster wouldn’t pop,
now we keep it disconnected,
but we cannot make it stop.
He fiddled with the blender,
and he took the clock apart,
the clock is running backward,
and the blender will not start,
every windowpane he’s puttied
now admits the slightest breeze,
and he’s half destroyed the furnace,
if we’re lucky, we won’t freeze.
The TV set was working,
yet he thought he’d poke around,
now the picture’s out of focus,
and there isn’t any sound,
there’s a faucet in the basement
that had dripped one drop all year,
since he fixed it, we can’t find it
without wearing scuba gear.
I wish my father wouldn’t try
to fix things anymore,
for everything he’s mended
is more broken than before,
if my father finally fixes
every item on his list,
we’ll be living in the garden,
for our house will not exist.
PinkGirl. As her teacher, Mrs. Kindergarden says, PinkGirl is so . . . PinkGirl. I know exactly what she means, but let me try to explain. During our parent teacher conference, Mrs. Kindergarden told me that sometimes, when she’s tired, she asks PinkGirl to sing a song during circle time. PinkGirl sings original compositions. They don’t rhyme, they don’t end and they are very detailed. Not a lot of repetitive lyrics. Mrs. Kindergarden says that all the kids pay attention to these endless musical stories of inspiration. I’m not sure if that’s going to be a good thing in the long run. PinkGirl already sees the world from her perspective of center of the universe. It’s going to be interesting when she meets another aspiring actress and singer who wants spotlight time.
So that tells a little about PinkGirl’s creative side. Her analytical side is unique as well. We were at Disney Quest at Downtown Disney this summer. It’s a 5 story arcade and one of the most popular things to do there is ride the virtual roller coaster. First, you program the computer with all the things you want your roller coaster to do (drops, barrel rolls, etc.) and then you get in this big red barrel with a video screen inside and ride your custom coaster. So. We get to Disney Quest and the first thing PinkGirl does is walk up to a big cutout of Genie, from Aladin to see if she is tall enough to reach Genie’s hand. If you are tall enough to reach Genie’s hand, you are tall enough to ride the virtual roller coaster. You guessed it. Too short. By about a half an inch. Mom deals with the tears and pouting while dad and FavoriteSon ride the coaster and then we go up to the 5th floor to have a snack at the Cheesecake Factory. Half an hour later, PinkGirl says, “Come on, we have to measure me at Genie.” I say, “Honey, we already measured you, you were just a little bit too short.” She looks at me with that teenager, “duh” look that is bound to be commonplace in my future, rolls her eyes and palms up, says, “Mom. I just aa-ate!” So we measured her again. Still too short. PinkGirl. She is so . . . PinkGirl.
Trivia Answer: $20.00
