flipping the rolodex

under-the-table airplanes

"are you supposed to do that? Uh, no."

remember the rolodex? i still visualize my mind working that way when i'm sorting through memories or ideas. maybe someday it will feel more like scrolling through a screen. but maybe not.

here are a few for the *old* files.

Liv has started punctuating all of her pronouncements with "my dear."

thank you, my dear!

come help me, my dear.

i got it, my dear.

she calls us all, "silly guy" when we do something that puzzles her. and emphasizes every observation with, 'really,' as in, i really watching a show. you really a silly guy.

this month Liv started spending a few hours twice a week at a completely wonderful neighborhood preschool. she charged in and never looked back. well. some days she says she is feeling shy, but it never takes long for her to recover her composure. mom! i not feeling shy anymore! getting her to leave is really the tricky part, especially since the little neighborhood boy goes there too and gives her lots of attention.

on the other side of the coin, she has adopted the word "hate" into her vocabulary and uses it regularly to augment an argument. i hate preschool! (no she doesn't). i hate snacks (um, no she doesn't). i hate getting dressed! (this might be true.)

she has some trouble with impulse control, as she should. it's tough to limit oneself to only one chocolate from the advent calendar. it's unbearable to leave a present unopened. it's no fun to sleep in her bed. this week she's fallen asleep in the car, in my bed, in the little cardboard playhouse and the couch, but never her own bottom bunk.

Ally turned FIVE last week and is the youngest student in her Kindergarten class. that's kind of a bummer but what's great is her school. we are discovering how very community-minded our neighborhood is. teachers are like local celebrities. people have block parties and get involved. small businesses survive. we've gotten into the spirit by riding our bikes everywhere and it's completely wonderful. there are days when i get in the car after a long time on the bike and lurch out of the driveway because i'm more used to pedaling than braking. HEAVEN.

having Liv in preschool gives me a few hours a week to spend in Ally's classroom. there are nearly 30 kids with ONE teacher. she's fantastic, but let's face it. no one can do that alone. i love being able to see the daily progress of these bitty scholars. they learn an incredible amount in a short period of time, and much of it has to be self- or parent-directed because of how little time the teacher can spend one-on-one. one little guy calls me Mom. their reading skills have accelerated much beyond what i could have predicted. Ally gave a talk in her primary class today and read almost the whole thing without help. all of this means just one thing to me: i can't trick my kid by spelling things out anymore.

this is starting to sound like a Christmas newsletter. boring. but i have nice music on and Bim took the girls to visit one of our neighbors, so i'm just enjoying a leisurely blog-posting session with no one pulling at my clothes or hair. vince guaraldi is lulling me into newsletter mode.

Ally is a "super kid" most days in class. this means her clothespin gets moved up from "great job" to the highest honor for good behavior. to tell the truth, i thought this could go either way. going to one of those unstructured preschools (which i loved) that focused more on expressing feelings than supressing them, she could have had a rough transition. turns out she likes praise. when she gets overlooked by her teacher and doesn't get her pin moved up, she really takes it to heart. at home she's created her own version of the chart on her bedroom wall and she often reports on where her classmates ended up at the end of the day.

what else...how about...

great recent discoveries:

:: i am within a ten minute bike ride to the COOLEST vintage shops in the world.

:: also, if you swerve too much on your bike, the trailer could flip. (there is such thing as having too much fun?) i'm feeling grateful that i made the girls wear their helmets even though i was tempted to skip it so close to home.

:: i'm bored of this right now. plus my family is home.