Parent Teacher Conferences

Ds report: “She’s really quiet, and very serious.  We put her in the back row often because we never have to tell her twice.  She gets it done.”  But when we told them that she was really goofy the teacher laughed and said, “Look I wrote that word down!  Every once in a while we see her get a little goofy on us, and we are surprised.” Will be interesting to see how they see her at the end of the year.

And where the hell is that "never ask twice" kid when we are at home?!?!  Guess I would prefer it this way to the other way around, but she could throw us a bone once in a while.

Cs report:  “She participates a lot.  She is a great addition to the classroom.  She sometimes ‘acts out’ (talks out of turn, acts goofy a bit too long, doesn’t follow rules), but she takes her consequences (ie. Miss a minute of recess) without complaint, and even reminds us (with a little grin) if we forget to give them to her.”

We find it fascinating the that C is both so eager to please in school and so comfortable being a bit of a rules challenger... but we kind of like it.

Short answer: The monkeys are doing great.  And both teachers specifically mentioned how they really care about how others are doing and they are often ‘helpers’ to other kids.  Score one for being a twin.

Quotes

C asked me a science question I didn't know, and I said we would google the answer when we got home.
C:  "How does Google know all these things???"
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D: (Crawling into our bed in the morning, and after laying quietly for 5 minutes): "Daddy?"
A: "Yes sweetheart."
D: "You smell."
A: (laughing) "I do?"
D: "Like melted chocolate.  (pause) Not as bad as poop though."
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D: Watching football...Andrew says "Looks like they are going to keep it."
D asked a few more strange questions, and then said "Oh, I thought you meant they got to take the football home."
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A few weeks after school started we were waiting to start a tennis lesson at a nearby park, and the University High girls tennis team arrived and started practicing on nearby courts.  The girls were mesmerized.
After a while C whispers quietly, "Mom, do they EVER see their Moms and Dads?"
(6 hours of school is a big change for a little girl).
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We were getting a frozen yogurt and discussing Native American names.  D and C were coming up with theirs.
Me: "What would Daddy's native American name be?"
C: "How 'bout "Lives in Airplane."
Me:  "And mine?"
D: (Scrunching up her nose, smacking her lips with her 'umm,' and tilting her head to ponder) "Ummm....maybe .... 'Acts Angry.'"
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Sometimes when the girls get upset they ask for a hug to calm themselves down.  But it often feels like they use it as an excuse to get out of trouble, and that even with the hug they go right on behaving badly.  So I went to a talk that gave very detailed explanations for handling these situations for 5-6 year olds, including saying "I would like you to calm yourself down, and I want to hug you with a calm heart, and I don't have a calm heart right now."  Anyway so I tried this and it seemed to be working and I was feeling all uppity -- clearly my ace parenting skills were helping to develop their emotional intelligence.

Then one day D gets throws a fit about something and as she is whining for a hug, C says to her, "Dylan Mom can't hug you because she can't find her...wait, what's that thing you need again? Oh yeah, a compart.  She needs a compart to hug you."
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We were discussing what I should be for Halloween.  We talked about how I could be a witch since C was going to be Dorothy.
Me:  "Should I be a good witch or an evil witch?"
C: "Mom, you'd do evil witch much better."

Ford

D's best friend at school (besides, as she will tell you, here sister C) is a little boy named Ford.

Ford is adorable.  I can always pick out the boys the girls will like--because they are the types of boys I always imagine I would have if I had a son.  They go for kind but not wimpy, sporty boyish over superhero boyish, outgoing but never obnoxious, and handsome but not pretty looks.  They like the boys who play with them, not chase them or just bug them physically.  At this age at least, they have great taste.

Ford and D are in a club together.  The members are Ford, D, and "of course C" as D says.  It is a spy club.  Maybe that is why she asked for the spy car for xmas.   C loves Ford too, and now every time we name something ("The Elf on the Shelf", C's future brother that she keeps urging me to have), C suggests we name it Ford.  But D sees him more because they are in the same class.

Seeing her with Ford makes me SO glad that I didn't send her to an all girls school.  Having both genders around provides such a great balance in temperaments, something all my kids seem to like.  And going to a co-ed school comes with added benefits.  The other day D comes home and says "Mom, I think I learned the real F word today." And of course I asked her what she thought it was, and let me tell you, it is really hard not to laugh out loud when your 37lber whispers the word F%&K into your ear with emphasis.  I asked her how she found out and she said "Well I told Ford I thought I knew what the F word was. But I thought it was 'fart.'  It wasn't."  Miraculously, the word came up only once again the next day--as D waxed poetic on why it was so much worse than fart until I told her if I heard it again I would have to give her a teaspoon of tabasco in her mouth, which reduced D to tears because she really didn't get it before--and then never since.

Yesterday C announced that "Mom, you wouldn't believe it, but everyone has a boyfriend.  They think you are supposed to in kindergarten" Then she shakes her head in disgust. (yeah!) I turned to D and asked her, "Do people say Ford is your boyfriend?" D says, "Umm, no. Me and Ford tell everyone that boyfriends are for when you want to get married, or are, like, a teenager.  And I don't think I ever want to get married anyway."

Dorothy, Wonder Woman, and a Doggy Walk into a Room...

Charlie was Dorothy, Super D was Wonder Woman, and Pippa was a doggy.    L had her first school performance and C and D had a parade at school.  Both will be watched ad nauseum by me for years to come.  Sadly, L was one of only 3 girls among 15 (2 AND 3 YEAR OLDS) who were not princesses.  Luckily she LOVED being a doggy (and wore the outfit to nap in and play in for weeks beforehand).  I was so glad to see the sweet and creative costumes at C and D’s school. (Even cuter was watching how much the 8^th graders loved seeing the kindergartners parade by them.  Each kindergartner has an 8^th grade buddy and the day before they had carved pumpkins together.   I think the kindergartners help the 8^th graders marinade in childhood just a tinch longer.)

This year we initially tried to trick or treat right on our block and the next two blocks.  It started out well as our neighbor had rented a taco truck for the night.  And one street over from us is a beautiful street with big old houses and a number of families from our two schools.  The problem? Our kids were so used to having one open door after another in succession, that they didn’t really know how to trick or treat.  The first time they rang a doorbell and the people answered they walked right in the house and just stood there silently.  The second time, when the person didn’t answer they were crushed and started to complain about the time to walk between houses.  So we quickly aborted and walked three blocks up to….

The mother of all Halloween streets.  I kid you not.  The second house we went to looked like this…. There were 4 card tables set up, and   probably 8 people handing things out—and by ‘things’ I mean glow necklaces, candy necklaces, giant toblerone for the adults, and even little stuffed animals (D told me later than night that ‘next year I think I’d like to go trick or treating for more toys than candy’).  They would literally ask each kid “What would you like?” The other houses weren’t quite as aggressive, but there was not a house in 4 blocks that didn’t have their doors open and candy aplenty.  The only downside is that is got very crowded quickly.  A friend of mine lives on the street and says she went through 30 giant bags of candy before running out at 9:30.  

Aside from YaYa falling down one set of stairs at the end, we had a great time. And Goags got very good at saying “Trick or Treat!” and then “Does dis have nuts in it?”

Hottie in the pun'kin patch!

C making butter at our fav pumpkin patch

Take THAT all you jackasses who say "your poor husband" when they see I have 3 girls 

LBD sat on every prospective pumpkin, ostensibly to see if it would hold her weight

Our Work is Done Here 

Making Forts Later in the Day 

Pumpkin muffins from the Pumpkin Patch 

Do I like Halloween?  Yes, yes I do.

Our pumpkins (admittedly, not as good as last year) 

Even doggies get the blues

Yes YaYa, I made these for your class.  Never say I never did anything for you!! 

Because of course 2 year olds are going to appreciate the work that went into these!

Singing at her first performance 

Dorothy and her subdued C smile 

Apparently "Wonder Woman doesn't smile" 

But if you taunt her just enough...

SHE CRACKS!! 

Pre party on Saturday night

Super D playing it cool at her parade 

C never strays far from her beloved teachers

The candy we left out

Trick or treating is tiring

This can be tiring!

Seriously? My children will never recover from trick or treating here.

While L would pick candy any day, C and D preferred the "toy trick or treating." Good Lord.

They came home, tried to give out as much candy as we could on our street, went through their candy, and feasted.  Pippa shoved everything she could into her mouth and then swiftly took the rest to her “side table.”  C and D enjoyed their stuffed animals the most. 

About the only downside of Halloween is that YaYa has taken to licking as a sign of affection, and every time I find her face in a bowl of food and reprimand her she says, 'But Mom, I a doggy for Halloween!"