Warm November Weather

Saturday, we took advantage of the warm weather and went to a local park. As you can see, she enjoyed the heck out of herself... Summer was so hot, and fall came and went so quickly, with a lot of rain on weekends, that we didn't get out much to play much.














And then there was Sunday... with a high around 70 degrees. Our yard was so full of leaves, and we hadn't even begun to rake them... Kenzie went outside to help her daddy. When I went outside to take a picture of them, I was amazed at the amount of leaves that had been piled into the street. When I asked her if she did that all by herself, she said, "Yes... but daddy helped a little." I believe that, sweetie!

Then when I started to go back inside, she said to her Daddy, "C'mon, let's get a move on!" As if he had just been standing around doing nothing... but his blisters tell a different story.

Ooooh - she's a cheeky one. But you can see the pride in her face that she's helping.

100 Wishes Quilt

In previous posts I had talked about a little special needs girl we had been wanting to adopt. As it happened, it didn't work out for us, but the other lady who had been interested was able to get her file and is going to be adopting her. I am so very happy for her and her family.

She asked us if we would give her a piece of cloth for a 100 wishes quilt that she is having made for the child. I said that Kenzie and I both would contribute.

I took Kenzie with me to Walmart and we each picked out some cloth. I put together the cards with a swatch of the cloth taped to the card, our wish, and a picture of us included.

I sat down with Kenzie and asked her, "If you could make a wish for a little girl that is getting adopted, what would you wish for her?"

At first she wished that she would be teensy. I think she was thinking this was a wish for her own little sister. She wants her little sister to be a baby, and we keep working with her on the thought that her sister will most likely be older.

So I explained what I meant by making a wish for someone, such as wishing them good health, or success in life, or much love and happiness.

Her wish then became "I wish I could hug her and kiss her all over."

Out of the mouths of babes. That is the wish I wrote for the little girl's quilt on Kenzie's behalf. And Kenzie signed her own name to it.

Happy Birthday!

Saturday was Kenzie's fourth birthday. I am still in awe at her growth and development.

Friday, I had a birthday party for her at her daycare. It wasn't fancy, but you could tell she felt special, and was reveling in "her" day.

The little boy who sits beside her seems to be crazy about her. When she comes in to daycare, he wants her to sit by him or to give him a hug. OK, she's got a boy wanting to be her friend already... kind of scary for the future.






Saturday we took her to see "Happy Feet". I'll give you a warning. Although the music rocks, and the basic premise of the story is that everyone has something they can contribute to the group, no matter how different they are... there was one disturbing (for me) part to it. The penguins had a religion that worshipped a Penguin God, from whom all the blessings of food and prosperity flowed. And when Mumble (the young penguin that dances) upsets the elders in the penguin group, it takes on a mix of Puritanical overtones with superstitious undertones... Now, as an adult, I understand the background and what is being used here as a basis for the ousting of Mumble from the group. But it may be hard for children to understand if they have any religious background at all. The way it is presented, it made worship of any deity seem like it was nothing more than superstition. And it didn't set well with me.

If you can explain the background for that one portion of the film so they can understand it, or they are mature enough and have had some schooling to understand what it is about - the rest of the movie is great. I'm looking for the release of the music on CD!

Switched to Blogger Beta

If you can't tell by now, I've switched to Blogger Beta. There's still some quirks the programmers need to get ironed out. I won't tell you not to switch, but I will caution you that you may be spending ungodly amounts of time trying to fix the problems that are caused by the changes.

I had tried to fix the arrangement of pictures in blogger beta and found that 1) it ain't that easy and 2) the "Recover Post" option deleted all my pictures - even though I had saved and posted this one post prior to having to use the recover post option. GRRRRR

If you're like me and are technologically challenged, wait until you can read some posts where the bugs have been ironed out.

CHOPSTICKS!

Last night we went to a Chinese restaurant to eat. Mommy thought she'd try their Sushi.



I know, I know. Everyone out there is saying "Sushi at a Chinese restaurant? That's like going to a steakhouse and ordering chicken...."



But I picked up some chopsticks and thought I'd try theirs. Truth is, I only like the sushi that doesn't have seaweed in it. I hate seaweed. And I hate any kind of Asian pickle - they are too briny and have a weird flavor in my opinion... and one of the pieces had both seaweed and pickle. YUCK - they don't have enough wasabi to cover that taste! As much as I want to experience and appreciate other cultures and their foods - my preference for certian tastes is one thing I just can't ignore.



When I got to the table and began using the chopsticks to eat with, Kenzie said she wanted to eat with chopsticks, too. So daddy went and got her some. Neither of us showed her how to use them. She just began using them... still awkward, but she was able to pick up stuff on her own.



Roy was incredulous that she could do this. My stupid reply was, "Well, she IS Chinese." (I know, that was a stupid comment - Bad Mama!) He wanted to know who had shown her this... and I know for a fact no one has ever shown her how to use chopsticks... especially not me. She is just a clever kid - and I think most kids will figure it out if you give them time and let them play with it.



Now she wants a pair of chopsticks for herself at home and another pair to take to daycare so she can eat with them there. LOL! I guess I found something to buy her for her birthday next week.

The Pre-Christmas pictures

Since the company that takes the Christmas photos charges an arm and a leg for permission to use them on any website (etc.) I got some pics prior to the sitting. Good enough to see what she looks like all dressed up.

Thank goodness that's not a real cat she's holding.

The CCAA has now reviewed January's dossiers!

I have been waiting to see this for what feels like forever. I know I've been checking the CCAA's website now for a solid 3 weeks daily to see if they had made any movement. Only today did I not go there... and when I went to our local FCC group's Yahoo message board, there was a message from Lisa saying they had reviewed January 2006's dossiers. Ours was logged in on January 16, 2006.

MOVEMENT!!! At least we are going in a positive direction. Now comes the long wait to get a referral. I'm praying we can go either in the summer or fall of next year (at the very latest.)

Halloween party pics & video

You know... you end up making decisions about what part of the American Culture you want your child to be exposed to... and then sometimes, it just happens without really thinking about it. That's what happened with Halloween. We just thought it would be cute to dress her up and let her do it. The first year, she would walk up to the door and (barely) say "Trick or Treat" and people thought she was so cute, they started out giving her several pieces of candy rather than just one. (I tried to stop them, but I was outnumbered by Kenzie and Daddy.) It was done so often that by the time we finally got to a house that only gave her one piece, she looked at them like "Where's the rest?" and said "More". She learned quick.

This year, since we are expecting rain tomorrow, we made sure we went to a Halloween party put on by my husband's place of employment. And she picked the costume - a witch. The outfit was complete with dark purple nails, black lip gloss, a plastic cauldron for her candy (which I put one of those battery operated jack-o-lantern lights in that changed colors - gave it a nice glow coming out of it and I think every kid in the place her age just HAD to see what was in there!) and a glow stick for her magic wand. She was cute as can be. And for a cheap outfit, she won 3rd place in her age category - although I like to think it wasn't so much the costume as it was her "being in the role". She kept waving her magic wand at people, casting spells.

Daddy's Girl

A couple of weekends ago, we went to eat at a favorite downtown pizza joint. This place has been in business since 1953, and serves some really great pizza!

Kenzie loves this place - and started goofing off for me so I began to shoot photos. She so dearly loves her daddy. But she began saying, "Hey Mama, take a picture of this" and then she'd "pose" for me.

What will your epitaph say? Here's a few I like for me...

I coudn't choose which one I liked the best. They are each apropos in their own way.











Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Piss Ass: This had to happen sooner or later...

I picked Kenzie up yesterday from daycare, and we were having a lively debate (I thought it was friendly... guess it wasn't from her point of view) about who "owned" the blankies (two very old linen towels that I had bought at an auction years ago). When I sat down on the driver's side, she said, "You're a piss ass."

What the?

She'd never heard that term from me nor my husband (who doesn't use any profanity or vulgarity at all).

OK - here is the moment when I either do it right or do it wrong. I asked her one more time to clarify what she said... and she looked me straight in the eye and said "Piss ass". Clear as day. Grinning. I even questioned it to be sure...

I just glared at her and told her that that was a bad word, that I was not happy she said it.... and I didn't want to hear another sound from her for awhile.

Not... another... sound.

Several sniffles later, she starts to talk...

I told her the only thing I wanted to hear from her were two words: I'm Sorry.

OK, technically that's 3 words...

By the time we got to the pharmacy, she asked if she was going inside. I told her I only wanted to hear "I"m sorry" - and I guess she'd had enough time to think about it, so she said "I'm sorry, Mama." And she actually sounded like she meant it.

I then told her that we don't call each other names, and that what she said was very bad. I also told her that I know I sometimes seem mean, but I am responsible for making sure she grows up to be respectful, considerate and knows that she can say she's mad and state why she is mad without calling people names.

I know that when she was 2 and even through most of this past year, if she said a word that was (in our home) considered a bad word, I could ignore it, and if we didn't repeat it or use it, she would drop it. But she is now at a point where she is beginning to have a better understanding about words, their meanings, and how to use them.

Time will only tell if I handled this one right. I guess this can be the trial run for when she's a teenager and calls me a stupid bitch because, as we all know, teenagers are the smartest people in the whole wide world... right?

Wonder how I'll handle it then.

OH, and by the end of the day there were lots of hugs and kisses and "I love you"s. I never go to bed mad at her... She always gets the softer, sweeter side of mommy at the end of the day.

Where is that dialect from?

Here lately, Kenzie has been doing something that is driving me crazy. She has been talking like a backwoods hillbilly. Living in South Central Indiana, a lot of people here have the typical southern Indiana dialect... but we dont' speak like that in our home. I am sure there are certain things we say (such as how we say "greasy" or the word "that") that would place (at least me) in the southern region of Indiana, but I do not have a [strong] Hoosier twang to my speach unless I affect it... on purpose.

And normally, Kenzie speaks very plainly, without any noticeable dialect (at least for this portion of Indiana). But here lately, sometimes she has been saying things with a definite dialect that I am trying to place. I thought perhaps, being in a college town, she would have heard it from someone she is in contact with daily at the daycare... a lot of the younger women working there are college students from all over the U.S. But that is not the case... none of the women I have talked with have this dialect.

I can't tell if it reminds me of Arkansas... West Virginia.... ?????? I just have no clue. I mean... there is only one syllable in the word "help"... but Kenzie is saying it so it sounds like "heyalp". She has this dialect down to an art... "Yeeou wanna put lotion on mah laigs? I kin heyalp yeeou."

Then I got to thinking.. one of the favorite movies at the daycare is a Goofy movie. Hmmmmmm.... Goofy kinda talks like this... maybe she is imitating that.

Wherever it is coming from... she can switch it back and forth between strong dialect and no dialect in an instant. I'll hang in there and hope it's just something she is going to grow out of.

And then again... If this is something she is doing on purpose, she is going to make one really great little actess.

IU Campus Walk

Indiana University has one of the most beautiful campuses in the U.S. I took Kenzie on a walk through the campus... she got all excited to see the squirrels and chipmunks scurrying about looking for food.

It was a perfect fall day. I'll try to get back to the campus with her in a week or two when the leaves are in high color.

I got the biggest kick when she saw the bronze statue of Herman B. Wells - she kept stepping on his foot to check and be sure he wasn't real. When she felt comfortable, she sat beside him.

The Multicultural Festival

Our fair city has a Multicultural Festival every fall. On October 1st, we went to the complex where they were holding it. We always like going to this festival, especially to hear the different musical pieces.

Here is a demo of martial arts from China.































Here we were sitting down and resting. It was hot that day - in the 80's. Indian Summer has come and on that day, we were sweltering, except in the shade where a nice breeze would cool you off. Unfortunately, it was nothing but asphalt where all the events were taking place, so the ambient heat was increased by the radiant heat... or something like that. Gee, I almost sound smart...

Here is Kenzie playing with a Chinese yo-yo. Well, that's what I've heard them called. She was good at it - Mommy just made a mess of it every time I tried to "throw" it.




















Here she is listening to - and loving - a type of African music and dance that was imported to South America with the Portuguese slave trade. (I have forgotten what it was called - if I find the paperwork on it, I'll change this post and put the correct name for it here.) Surprise, Kenzie really LOVED this. It also incorporated a type of "dance" that involved martial arts. She began beating her balloon with the yo-yo like it was a drum, "playing" along with the musicians.




































They asked that they get volunteers to come up and form a circle. The group was to clap their hands and to sing a musical phrase after every time the one singer sang something. Then they got up and walked in a circle , stopped and watched the martial arts dancing. Kenzie just had to participate - she couldn't wait to get up and join in the group.























Of course, instead of clapping, she was making her yo-yo work. I think she might have been trying to imitate the way they have held teh musical instruments here... She has her own style, and she follows no one. I really love that about her. Probably until she is 12 and begins to think she knows it all... and then "her own style" will drive me crazy.






The last event of the day involved group dancing to Eastern European music. Again, she just had to join in. She got the biggest kick out of "dancing" with the group. The smile she has is worth a thousand hot days in the sun.


I'm looking forward to next year's event. I think Kenzie will enjoy participating in more dances as she gets older.