Santa

Penguin Girl and I took an unscheduled trip to Las Vegas over her winter break from school because Po-Po was in the hospital.  As usual, Penguin Girl was unperturbed by the sudden change.  It was a pretty good trip for her--she got a new set of books to read (the Percy Jackson series); I taught her how to crochet and this time she could do it; we ate out just about every day; and she got to watch what she wanted on tv without her brother interrupting.  Meanwhile, I slept about 4 hours a night and lost 5 pounds even though we ate out so much.

She did ask if Santa was going to bring her Xmas presents to Vegas.  Uncle W very helpfully interjected, "Sure, Santa knows everything!"  Um, no.  Santa is going to make his regularly scheduled delivery at our house and she will have to wait until we get home to see what he brought.  I didn't even wrap her presents because I thought Penguin Girl would be too old for the Santa charade this year.  You can never tell with her.  I had to call Car Guy and tell him to wrap those suckers up before we got home.

It's a Mystery

I watched a Youtube video and learned how to cut layers into long hair.  Then I gave Penguin Girl a haircut.  I cut off lots of hair but the end result looks pretty much the same as before.

Teacher Gifts

I have been busy procrastinating.  I have papers to grade, some of which I know will be very terrible.  Instead, I'm working on the children's teacher gifts.  This year I am making scarves since I recently discovered a huge stash of yarn that I acquired just before Penguin Girl was born.  I'm sure that somewhere I have scribled notes about why I bought the amounts and colors I have but I have no idea where they might be.  I'm just going to use whatever I want and crank out 5 scarves before the winter break for Penguin Girl's main teacher and her enrichment teacher and Mr. Destructo's 3 preschool teachers.

The Devious Gene

Penguin Girl is too trusting.  Recently she took one of the dogs down the street for a walk.  She did not return for an unusually long period of time.  Upon her return, Car Guy inquired about the delay.  It turns out that Penguin Girl started chatting with a neighbor up the street who invited her to run the dog in her fenced backyard. Penguin Girl accepted the invitation.  Hence, the lost time.

We are not friends with this neighbor.  We only know her in passing.  This neighbor is a stranger to Penguin Girl.  We gave Penguin Girl a lecture about how there are really bad, bad people out there in the world that will hurt and kill little kids and if she doesn't tell us where she is going, we will not be able to tell that something has gone wrong.

Penguin Girl:  (getting worried and teary)  What would you do if some bad person did that to me?!

Mr. D:  I have idea!  (always full of ideas this one is)

Me:  What's your idea?

Mr. D:  HIDE HER!!!!!

Me:  (starting to laugh because that is a good idea and why is it the 4-year-old has all the good ideas and the 8-year-old is going home with total strangers)  That's a good idea!

Mr. D:  And then Daddy get his saw and chop off bad man's head!

Me:  (totally laughing now with Car Guy)  That's a really good idea!  Really good!

What can you do except laugh?  It's a disturbing idea yet very appropriate.  Car Guy attributes it to watching violent cartoons.  I think he was just born with the ideas.  He's clearly got the devious-gene that passes to selected people in my family.  Meanwhile, Penguin Girl's ideas are riddled with poor reasoning.

Surprise!

Since we acquired our new pups so that Penguin Girl could experience having a pet, we told her that we were not throwing her a birthday party this year.  We explained that with the dogs being so much work and their high vet bills for their check-ups and 2 different rounds of de-worming medications, we can't spare the time, energy, or expense of a party.  She was disappointed but she understood.

Yesterday, I told her I was picking her up early from school to take her to a doctor's appointment and I sent a note in to her teacher saying the same.  When I picked her up and started driving, she noticed pretty quickly that we were not going home.  She asked if we were seeing a new doc.  Yup.

At the end of the drive, I pulled into the parking lot of the Great Wolf Lodge and she asked me if it's a hotel.  Yup.  She still hadn't figured out that we were not going to the doctor's.  I explained to her that in the back of the hotel, there is a giant water park and we were there to meet Her dad and brother and this is her birthday surprise.  We walked in the front door and Mr. Destructo jumps out and yells, "Surprise!"

She was very surprised.  She played for about 6 hours and thought it was more fun than a birthday party.  Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Charlotte partnered with the Great Wolf Lodge to sell tickets to the water park as a fundraiser.  Normally, you have to be a guest at the hotel to use the water park, which we would never do in a million years.  I paid $20 total our tickets!  I'm so glad I stumbled upon this promotion.

Tomorrow Penguin Girl will bring rainbow fruity-pebbles-rice-krispie treats to school to share with her class.  They'll all sing happy birthday in Chinese.  It's very cute.  We asked Nate what he would like to give to Lorelei and he said a Harry Potter book and a Harry Potter DVD.  Good choice, very appropriate.  So I ordered a 2-book set that is supposed to be 2 of Harry's textbooks and the 7th movie.  He and I will wrap it up while she's at school.  I got her a couple of art books about mixed media collage, keeping an art journal, and a blank sketch book to keep her own art journal.  I think she'll be pretty surprised because 2 new puppies and the fanciest water park ever are probably more than she expected.

It's Twins!

First Jelly (light brown) came cautiously over to meet us.  Then Popcorn (dark brown) came wiggling and bounding out.  I knew we'd end up with both even though we were only looking for one.  Car Guy really likes how playful Popcorn is.  That's how he chose Miki for me all those years ago; she was the playful one in the litter.  But Penguin Girl took a shine to Jelly.  Actually, she prefers to call him Jelly Bean.  But years ago when Miki and Buddy were still young, I said that my next two dogs would be called PB (Peanut Butter) and Jelly.  Now we've got Jelly but PB just didn't seem to suit so we've got Popcorn instead.

Try Out

Penguin Girl really digs swimming.  I arranged for her to try out for the non-competitive junior swim league.  She has been very excited about this and working really hard.  Her swim teacher introduced her to the butterfly just two weeks ago and I am still floored that she can do it.  Today at the try out, the coach ran the kids through all 4 strokes and then finished off with a race.  Penguin Girl was not the fastest kid but she has some really good technique.  For instance, most of the other kids create a whole world of splashing and poke their heads up out of the water to do their freestyle.  Penguin Girl keeps her head in, does her shark fin arms, and looks like she's gliding through so very smoothly.  They'll let us know next week!

Getting Crafty

I read about a couple of bloggers who do a craft challenge called Project Project Runway.  They make outfits for dolls based on the tv show challenges.  I know Penguin Girl would love to do this.  Although I'm not quite sure she has the manual dexterity to pull it off.  She was really hoping for the version of a doll that looks the most like herself, which happens to be one that is discontinued.  I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the internet hunting it down.  Then I spent a crazy amount of money on this posable plastic doll to be her model.  If this isn't fun, I'm going to be so disappointed.

Stay tuned for her first design!

Cheer

This week Penguin Girl is attending cheer camp through the town's parks and rec program.  I don't view cheerleading as a sport.  I just thought Penguin Girl would have fun because I imagine the camp will have her dancing and jumping around and shouting silly things.  The combination of which is pretty annoying when it happens in the house and leads to conflict with Mr. Destructo.

Yesterday I asked Penguin Girl what she did at camp.  She demonstrated many, many moves and told me their names.  She has never gone to any activity and returned home retaining as much information.  I told Car Guy about this.  Tonight he asked Penguin Girl what she did at camp and received a similar demonstration.  Why is it that she absorbs this much of a completely inane activity over a mere 2 days yet after 2 seasons of soccer, she still seems like she hasn't really played?

Camp Ginger Cascades

Penguin Girl went to sleep-away Girl Scout camp for the first time.  It was only two nights away and she went with her troop and troop leaders.  Her troop leaders asked for a volunteer to drive because their vehicles could not hold all the stuff.  I said I would drive all the stuff.  I don't mind a leisurely drive with backpacks and sleeping bags--they are pretty quiet.  However, when I got to her leader's house, I was pretty surprised to learn that there had been a change of plans and I was in fact going to have five girls riding with me.  It was not a quiet ride up to the camp.  The camp was very much like the Girl Scout camp I remember from my youth.  Very, very rustic.  I was glad I'd be going home to sleep in air conditioned splendor in my clean, bug-free house.

Penguin Girl went swimming, paddled a canoe, made crafts, went on a scavenger hunt, played capture-the-flag, and ate brownies but no vegetables.  It rained so she did not get to sit around a campfire.  And there was some thundering going on so the troop did not get to go cascading.  The lack of cascading seemed to be her principal disappointment otherwise she had fun.  I sent along some money for the trading post and she selected a patch for her vest and a kit to construct a butterfly.

When she got back, her troop leader recommended unpacking outside in case of critters.  Luckily I listened to her advice.  There was a pretty big beetle stowed away at the bottom of her duffel.  Yick.  I asked Penguin Girl if she wants to go again next summer.  She said that she did not like the abundance of spiders so she'd have to think about it.  And she's not as keen on participating in the weeklong camps because she learned that girls are required to take a turn cleaning the bathroom.  Double yick.

Summer is Here!

Boy is it ever.  It's been going up into the 90s for a while.  Good thing Penguin Girl has A/C at her school.  A couple of weeks ago, Penguin Girl was excited to participate in Field Day.  She was looking forward to having snow cones and the event where you can try to dunk an adult by throwing tennis balls at the target (many thanks to the PTA for funding the rental of the dunk tank and all the parents who were such good sports to volunteer to be dunked).  The weather report predicted temperatures in the mid-90s.  Car Guy and I asked if Penguin Girl wouldn't rather stay home.  The intrepid Penguin Girl said, "No.  Why would I?"

When I picked her up from the bus stop at the end of the day, I asked if she would still choose to go to Field Day if she had the chance to go back and change her mind.  Now she wasn't so sure.  It must have been pretty hot out there.

Last Friday was the last day of school.  Penguin Girl got her report card that said she is officially promoted to 3rd grade.  Whoo-hooo!  This summer her school is scheduled to move to a different building.  It's not a new building but it will be new and amazing for all of us.  In the meantime, Penguin Girl has much to look forward to this summer.  This week she is doing a week of softball camp.  When I picked her up, she immediately announce, "I got hit by the ball a LOT!"  She was pretty enthusiastic with the announcement so it probably didn't hurt.

Enrichment Project

Penguin Girl read Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster at school with Ms. G.  The book's plot centers around a sort of play-on-words vocabulary mistake. Ms. G gave the kids a related assignment of thinking up a word and then coming up with a creative costume.  Then the kids would do a vocabulary parade just like in the book.

Penguin Girl had some trouble coming up with a word.  After a whole lot of "thinking," I suggested she have a look in the dictionary.  That proved to be unproductive.  So I picked out a page in the dictionary on which there were many possibilities.  Finally (finally!) she chose the word "eyeglass."  Then I asked what sort of costume she envisioned.

Penguin Girl:  Well, I could have a drinking glass and make an eyeball to put in it and hold that.

Me:  Is that really a costume?

Penguin Girl:  No, not really.

Me:  Why don't you make your idea into a costume you can wear?

Penguin Girl:  You mean like a big drinking glass?

Me:  Yes!  Then you could put something in it . . .

Penguin Girl:  Yeah!  Juice!

Me:  (exasperated) Not juice!  A big eyeball!  Like your word!

Busted!

For Xmas, Penguin Girl got a boxed set of Harry Potter DVDs.  She was still reading the books so she didn't open up the package of DVDs until long after Xmas was over.  When she did open it, she realized that one disc was missing and there was a double of another.  When she showed me the problem, I arranged an exchange with Amazon and we had a replacement within a day.  That was a really long time ago, a couple of months at least.  Last night, she had some questions about it when I wasn't around:

Penguin Girl:  Is Mom Santa Claus?

Car Guy:  Why do you think she's Santa Claus?

Penguin Girl:  Because she returned the Harry Potter DVDs to Amazon and not the North Pole.

Car Guy:  Well, maybe mom is Santa or maybe that's just what Mom got for you.

Penguin Girl:  No, it said it was from Santa.  I remember!  It said from Santa!*  But I think you got me the National Geographic.  Did you?

Car Guy:  If I got you anything, what do you think it would be?

Penguin Girl:  An SAT book?**

Car Guy:  You got it.

So the jig is up.  Santa has been debunked.  However, it remains to be seen if this means Penguin Girl will also apply the same logic to the Tooth Fairy and the Halloween Fairy.

*I'm pretty sure I didn't leave a card or note with the kids' Xmas presents.

**Car Guy is always telling Penguin Girl that she's lucky to get all the cool stuff she has because all his parents ever got him were SAT books.  So she does pay attention to some of what we say . . .

What's Up, Penguin Girl?

We haven't had an update in a while.  Mostly because we haven't done anything really exciting.  Penguin Girl started playing with the local recreational soccer league a few weeks ago.  For the past few games, she's managed to score one or two goals per game but her team usually loses.  Penguin Girl doesn't notice.  Most of the time, she thinks her team won even if the other team completely decimated them.

Penguin Girl has powered through the Harry Potter books.  I've suggested she read the City of Ember books next.  Maybe this summer we'll get to the Percy Jackson books.

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Happy New Year!  All the kids who take Chinese at Penguin Girl's school all take part in a huge performance for the Lunar New Year.  They sings songs, perform dances, and each class has a little pot luck party with lots of Chinese food.  The performances are cute.  And how sad is it that even the songs that the kindergartners perform use words that I completely don't know.  This year Penguin Girl performed with her Chinese dance class as well as her regular class.  Here she is in the outfit all the girls from dance class wore.  (Note her completely non-Chinese looking penguin socks!)

Happy New Year!

Penguin Girl is starting the new year with a fresh gap in her smile.  I think this is the seventh one.  The Tooth Fairy brought her a hair clip which she found in the junk drawer of her kitchen.  She's not actually sure if it's a hair clip or a clip for paper but it's been in Penguin Girl's hair all day.

Thanksgiving came and went.  Car Guy fried a turkey and it was very yummy.  He kept the oil and fried another for Xmas.  It was even better!  Xmas went by in a flash.  Penguin Girl spent Xmas Eve sleeping over with Nai-Nai and Ye-Ye.  As soon as she got back home, she immediately asked if Santa brought her any presents.  One of the gifts was Just Dance 2 for our Wii.  Car Guy and I are not big gamers and we discourage Penguin Girl from spending too much time in ComputerLand so it really doesn't get much use.  However, now we have been using the Wii every day and dancing up a storm.  We're not super coordinated but we sure work up a sweat.