Measurements

Yesterday was the semi-annual semi-accurate measuring of height day.

Venice is 56" - she grew 1 1/4 inches since January

Casey is almost 56" (I call it 56)...he and Venice are almost equal, he is delighted, proud and happy.  He grew 1 3/4 inches

Xander is 50 inches - he grew 1 1/2 inches.  He is slightly taller than Casey was when Casey was 7 1/2.  So Xander is very proud.

Teiya tried several times to stand on her tippy toes....I caught her each time.  She was laughing as she did this.  She is 47 3/4 inches.  Almost 4 feet tall....She grew 1 inch.

Granny

Outing Part: Granny and Jiichan

Granny: The kids couldn't decide whether to go bowling or to putters. Venice slightly wanted to go bowling and Xander to putters. I said okay, how will we decide this?  Xander said, since we might fight, he wanted to not go anywhere...Venice was easily persuaded. Venice was reading, so I got some 'magic cards' and Xander and I practiced magic tricks.  He did some that he already knew and asked if I was impressed - before I answered he told me Casey was impressed.  I said I was impressed...I asked him if my being impressed or Casey's being impressed was better.  He chose Casey...sad Granny, can't compete. lol.

Jiichan: It's fun to watch the kids decide as a group and resolve so no one feels their input isn't considered - When all 4 are present Casey almost always says "he doesn't care..." and often Xander will follow suit - It matters a lot to Venice and Teiya where we go, and whose place is chosen to go to - After a number of weeks when this took a very long time to decide, it now doesn't take too long and mainly it's Venice and Teiya who make the decision - Then, it's who rides with whom that needs to be decided - Again it doesn't matter to Casey who he rides with, and mostly all 3 others want to ride with Casey so it's decision time again with who rides with him on the way and who on the way home....Like with the decision on destination, Venice and Teiya have come to be the deciders, and they've worked out between them so that one of them rides with Casey out and the other on the way in - Xander also wants to ride with Casey, and he does get his turn, tho I'm not exactly clear how he gets a turn - recently Venice and Teiya since Casey and Teiya were going to be gone over the next 2 weeks decided that Venice would ride one way with Teiya and one with Casey, and Xander would also ride one way with Casey and on the return with Teiya, this way they could each "say goodbye" to their cousins - Very sweet...!

Granny: Xander went out with Jiichan to throw the ball up against the garage. Venice and I worked on her blanket.  I gave Venice a piece of knitting to just learn on and practice knitting.  I cast on the stitches for the blanket and began to knit away.  Then Xander and Jiichan started playing with water so Venice was lured outside.  She watered plants and Xander shot the water into the sky...to see how far it would go.  

Jiichan: Xander had discovered throwing the ball against the garage door a couple of weeks ago when we chose to stay at home instead of going out - He loves doing this, and throws himself into it, and figures out whether the ball will come back to him depending on where he throws it - Literally throws himself into it, and the look on his face as he chases to ball down is priceless....This time, as he had done once before, threw the ball a little too high and it hit on the roof and settled into the drain - He looked at me and said we need to get the ladder - Yes, Xander, we do, and the look of anticipation on his face is again priceless - I get the ladder, hold it as he climbs up and plucks the ball out of the drain, and climbs down again - I say we'll leave the ladder against the outside of the garage in case this happens again - Xander loves this - I'd gotten a bit winded from throwing the ball and chasing it down, so sat down with a bag of chips in the shade and Xander came and sat down in the other Maurie Jacob's chair and foar a good 10 minutes we sat there and chatted - Mainly Xander chatted about being excited and can't wait to get home, and when I asked why he said he was waiting for package containing "Portal 2" which is supposed to come today - I asked how he knew and he said because he'd checked in the morning and it was "in Springfield this morning" so should be here this afternoon - He described to me about what the game was, and because I'd asked him since this was Portal 2 did he already have Portal 1, but he said no, as it was only for PCs, and Portal 2 was for both PCs and MACs - Oh....As for the water part, he wanted to wet the driveway down and proceeded to do so, working meticulously to cover it all - by this time Venice came out, so he gave her a turn with the hose, and even directed her to cover some of the driveway that was still somewhat dry - Venice completed this, and then with a twinkle in her eye started spraying the stream closer and closer to my feet, which I'd stuck out in front of me as I reclined in my Jiichan Maurie Jacob's chair - she was teasing me that she was going to wet my feet, and started spraying my socks - they got awfully wet, but I didn't move them - She continued til they were soaking wet, and then I got up slowly and started chasing her, grabbed the hose and started wetting her bare legs - of course she screamed, and said this wasn't fair as she only set my socks - I teased her that it was pay-back time, and she screamed and ran across the lawn....Later she got the hose back and said she wanted to fool Granny into thinking it was raining, and directed the stream onto the living room window where Granny was sitting inside knitting....Did I say my socks were soaking wet...?

Granny: Then inside for ice cream, rootbeer floats oreos...We played a few games of spoons.  Very funny as when one time it was my turn to deal, the others quietly stole the spoons.  I didn't notice and started to play and they all laughed and laughed.  


Jiichan: This was sooooo funny - When Granny finally got what was happening, her hysterical laffter was funnier than the trick we'd played on her - Took her a while go compose herself she was laffing so hard...! 




Granny: They tried the same trick on Jiichan almost got him. Then Xander and I started a card game of war.  Venice decided that she and Jiichan should play and that the two winners would then play each other.  Xander and I played and played, altho I was heroic, he beat me..

Venice and Jiichan played and she won.  

Jiichan: She beat me pretty handily...!

Granny: Then she and Xander began to play...they were in high hilarity.  Xander couldn't get over mixing two decks of cards, Venice devised a system of laying out her cards in a preplan method of playing them.  Xander copied her and then when Venice had a huge line of cards, she shouted out, "This is really fun"....Xander got all excited and they moved into an imaginary game of war using the cards.  Jiichan was sitting and nodding and nodding, 

Jiichan: Well, I was checking something on my not-so-smart phone and was nodding in agreement at what I saw - well, actually I didn't really see what was on my phone's face as my eyes kept closing - embarrassing...

Granny: so I pointed to him and Venice finally looked and then Xander...but as soon as they got quiet, Jiichan woke up...go figure.

Jiichan: It was the "sound of silence" that woke me up...

Granny: It was a few minutes before going, and Venice asked if she could play minecraft...then a few minutes later at 4:55 Xander asked to play also....so we said...it is very late and your mom will be here soon....they said okay....

Diana came, the day was over, they were great.

- Granny

Jiichan: It was a great day...

Jiichan... 

Venice's Questions

Venice is sensitive and aware. Sometimes I just don't know how to answer all her questions! So, as an example, here's what I dealt with today:

I come into the living room and see Venice visibly upset (she is going through something right now, more anxiety than usual, we're not sure why, phase or what...) I ask her what's wrong and she's very upset about her favorite stuffed animal (Daddy Bear). As background, I have also made a rule that if she wants to get any new stuffed animal, she has to donate 5 stuffed animals (of her choice) because she has so many as it is (they don't all fit on her bed or in her case).

As we talked, her "what if" questions were non-stop. I could not make her feel safe or satisfied with any of my answers. At the end of most of these strings of conversations, I had to end each one with, "that won't happen", which wasn't satisfying to her and would launch her into the next question. In the end, we did a search on Google to find another Daddy Bear to see if we could at least get another one, we found a similar one without a pocket, so hopefully that has made her a little calmer.

Here are just the big questions I had to deal with:

1. What if the Daddy went to the store and bought me a stuffed animal and I had to give away 5 animals. So I picked the 5, then you gave them away and then I realized they were my favorite ones?

(Answer: we won't give away any you want to keep and Daddy knows not to buy you any stuffed animals. We'll make sure he remembers.)

2. What if Daddy Bear got stolen and the police said they didn't care because it was just a stuffed animal?

(Answer: Daddy Bear is sentimental, priceless to you, but to a robber, not worth anything. They will take jewelry, TVs, computers, cameras, etc. things they can sell.)

Follow up question: What if the robber has a daughter who likes bears, so he takes it?

(Answer: We'll hunt them down and find him.)

3. What if when I'm in college I don't love Daddy Bear anymore?

(Answer: then it will be ok. Whatever you decide to do with Daddy Bear, you will be ok with it.)

Follow up question: But I love him so much right now.

(Answer: Remember Toy Story 3? Remember the boy outgrew his toys and gave them to someone else to love?)

Follow up question: But I can't stand it if I didn't love him anymore. How can I make sure I love him forever?

(Answer: Sometimes we fall in and out of love with people. But with family, we always love them, no matter what. Daddy Bear is family, you will love him forever.)

Follow up question: But what if I turn out like Henry and I betray my family? (He's a character in a book we're reading who betrayed his family)

(Answer: Henry made bad choices. You will not make any choices like that.)

Now, WHAT THE HELL... HOW DID WE GET HERE TO THIS NEXT QUESTION, I CAN'T QUITE REMEMBER!

4. What if you were in the middle of nowhere and the bad guys asked you to pick only one family member you could save, who would you save?

(Answer: I didn't say anything.)

Follow up question: Well, what would you do?

(Answer: I wouldn't be able to choose anyone. I would probably crawl into a ball and cry.)

5. What if Daddy Bear got lost or stolen. How would we ever replace him?

(Answer: We wouldn't replace him. He is irreplaceable. We would try to find another one like him, but he wouldn't be Daddy Bear.)

THIS IS WHEN I went online and found a link to a new Daddy Bear to show her. $18 for a new one, prime shipping with Amazon.

Dinner time!

Chat about Breakfast

8:47 AM Venice: mom can we go out to brecfast?

8:48 AM me: maybe, but no promises

Daddy's still asleep

Venice: ok

me: Maybe tomorrow morning

8:49 AM Xander has a birthday party at 11am, so we'll see how much time we have this morning

8:52 AM Venice: we will get drest

me: thank you!

8:53 AM Venice: yes

9 minutes

9:02 AM Venice: x is not drest i am

9:03 AM me read now

me: thank you

Biggest Loser

Last nite, as we were standing in line at the Sizzler, Venice asked me how much weight she would have to gain to be on The Biggest Loser. So I told her around 100 pounds. She said, oh....

-Granny

First Piano Lesson

Venice had her first piano lesson with Heather today. Venice asked that I stay, so I sat in her living room while they did their lesson in their "piano room". Venice got off topic a lot but Heather listened and then reeled her back into the lesson. When we got home, Venice practiced and wanted to put on a recital for us after dinner. Fun stuff.

I loved walking to the lesson. I feel that in a very short time, Venice will just walk by herself to the lesson. She says she's ready to do it next week all alone... but I'm not sure I'm ready :)

-Diana

Cheese-Its Scrabble

For last week's outing we actually stayed here - We had gotten a box of Scrabble Cheese-Its, regular cheese-its with letters stamped on them, and a Scrabble square on the back of the package - A cute idea for kids to play with words as a learning experience...

WELL - On the front of the package were several words, one of which was "F-U-N" - Venice came up to me with a couple of Cheese-Its in her hand with 2 Cheese-It letters laid on top of the words on the box, a "C" covering the "N" of "F-U-N" followed by a "K"....Venice was beaming and grinning widely with a sly chuckle...

I tried not to make a major crime out of so as not to emphasis this too much and thus embue it with a lot of emotional energy, but had a little talk with her about it being not good language and we shouldn't be using it in our home - She said "ok" and left still grinning widely...

I don't know what if anything she said to Casey, Xander, and Teiya about the word - Maybe Casey knows the word, and who knows with Xander and Teiya...

Jiichan...

More of Girls and Boys

I volunteered today in Venice's classroom. They kids were working on their aquariums and terrariums. They were asked to figure out who had not had a chance to feed the animals yet and who's turn it should be today.

Venice said she hadn't gotten to feed the animals at all yet, but the other three at her table said she did. At this time, the girls bickered over who was lying, who wasn't being fair, who's not remembering, etc. Each time they would get quiet, and then the arguing would ensue, under breath, then loudly again. As girls fight. This went on for over 5 minutes.

As I'm trying to stay out of it, I look over at another table and two boys were deciding who was going to feed next and they did 2 out of 3 Ro Sham Bo. Simple. Done.

Meanwhile, long after the feeding of the animals, the girls were still issuing zingers under their breaths.

Venice update

Before we left her school, she showed me a parent consent paper for her to participate in an after school program, and initially she was excited about starting - I read the info on the paper, and it was to start yesterday at 1:30, and run thru March some time - she wanted to start right then, and wanted me to call her Mom to get permission - I said we had an activity already set for the day, and she should talk with her parents about the program first - she fussed for a bit, then said she needed to go tell the teacher that she wouldn't be starting "today" - and ran off....in a few minutes she returned, and looking dejected said she didn't want to participate in the program - I asked why, and she said because it looked "boring" and she didn't know anyone in the program, and would feel funny - she crammed the paper into the pocket of her backpack, and we went on our way...

On the way home from Michael's Venice told me about some math she was doing, something about "extended functions" (I think), and gave me an example = you take a number, like 79 - you write it on paper with 79 and an equal sign to the right - you put 70 with a plus sign to the right and a 9 at the end...

I said you could also write it this way = 79 = 35 + 35 + 9....She said no, that isn't right - I said that was the way I learned it - and she said without missing a step, "you learned it in the olden times...!" - Again in the face of such wisdom pearls coming out of the mouths of babes, I nearly had an accident...! - Funny...!


Jiichan...

Outing report...

Hey,

At Putter's we started out as a whole group, 6 of us - the regs say only 5 in a group playing the course, but the woman said since there weren't many people we could go as a group....This didn't last more than the first hole, as it took all 6 of us a very long time to play the hole - was always confusing who was to put next....Of course, the first thing to decide was whether we use the rules of play, or use our own modified rules - Venice was clear, we use our modified rules...

So - starting on the 2nd hole, I went with Casey and Venice, and Granny played with Xander & Teiya....this moved things along much faster, at least for my group - by the time we played the 9th hole, half way thru the course, we were so far ahead the trailing group had played maybe 5 holes - Granny and I switched anyway, and Venice was "disappointed" - Why do we get Granny now...? - I said that she and I had discussed it, and felt that it was to the benefit of everyone to experience being with Granny and with me - oh, but with a sour sort of face - while she didn't say it, Venice felt it was "unfair"...

It was clear that Xander and Teiya needed a lot of help and tips on how to strike the ball - I'd watched Granny working very hard with the 2 of them, so I continued the "training" helping with their stance, the way they addressed the ball (as in, "how do you do, ball..." - just kidding), holding the putter, and how hard to hit the ball....Well, it was like trying to stand up a piece of cooked spaghetti - each time they'd "forget" the instructions....Teiya kept coming at the ball from the left-hand side, tho she admitted she was right-handed - after awhile, she got into the swing of it (hahaha) but kept just tapping the ball and it would dribble a couple of feet down the fairway and stop - I'd have her do it over again, then she'd hit it harder and it would be fine - but, on the next hole, we'd go thru the same routine....Xander was better at it, but he also had a hard time getting the club face to be in the right direction....About the 11th hole, Teiya asked if we could "skip" this hole as she was tired - but, she was ready to take on the next hole....Then around hole 16 she said again that she was tired, and could we skip this hole - I said fine, but Xander didn't want to skip it, so Teiya skipped it, and Xander played the hole....Atone point Xander while waiting his turn stuck the putter's head in a crack between a couple of bricks lining the edge of the green, and it got stuck - I hadn't noticed this, but all of a sudden here he comes over to me tears streaming down his face and silently crying - I hugged him, and asked what had happened - he showed me his putter stuck in the crack between the bricks, and he tugged on it and it wouldn't come out - more tears....I grabbed the handle and jiggled it back and forth and after some effort it came loose - Xander took the club, and wiping tears moved on to take his turn - he was fine after that, and didn't stick the putter into any cracks around the course...

Xander found a white ball about mid-way around the course that someone had left there - I pocketed it, and said we'd return it at the end....Xander asked me who had won between him and Teiya, so I tallied it up - when I told the two that they'd both gotten a score of 79, they seemed fine with that...

As we were progressing thru the holes, Teiya asked me if she could hit her ball into the water hazards - I said no, not deliberately, and asked why she wanted to do that - she wanted to retrieve her ball with the nets provided at various of the water hazards - she accidentally hit one into the creek, so did have an opportunity to scoop it out with the net, and was a happy camper for it...

More as, or if, I remember it...

Jiichan...

Venice's New School

Venice has settled into her new school nicely. It's been about two weeks and she's made some great friends already. She's gone on two field trips, participated on a school council, and learned some Spanish. Her attitude towards school is filled with positive energy. We are all happy about the change.

Discussions with the Grandkids

Had a short discussion with Teiya and Xander about what a week is. First, however, as a lead in....Xander says my mom was gone a long long time to Vegas...Teiya said, "about a week?" He said, Yes. I asked him if he missed his mom....he said, yes, then quickly no...I asked if she called every night...he said yes....Then Teiya says, is a week 7 days? I said yes. We then named the days of the week....and counted them...Everyone was satisfied....

Had a longish discussion with Venice about cremation. We passed a cemetery (because I took a wrong turn)....the one at the top of the University, very old....Venice, said..."oh, there's a graveyard." I said yes. She then said, "I wonder if Satie's grandmother is buried there." I said I didn't think so as this was a very old graveyard and I thot that Satie's grandmother was buried somewhere else. Somehow she asked a question...I don't remember what....and the topic of cremation came up. I told she and Casey what cremation was...Just so you know all thru this conversation, Venice was very matter of fact and interested.....So then I said that sometimes people choose cremation because it doesn't use up land....and also, after a person is cremated the ashes can be scattered. I said sometimes people scatter them in the ocean and they know the person they love is always there...or they put the ashes on plants in their yard and the person is with them thru the plants. Venice was getting happier and happier...she loved these ideas!....then I said some people put the ashes in a vase with a lid...called and urn....and sometimes ashes are shared. So some go to different members of the family. She nearly flipped out with joy....she said can I have some of your ashes and Jiichan's....I said probably...then she said, "I will be a collector of ashes" I will get as many as I can....then when I die I will have my ashes mixed in and then give that to my children in my will. They will go on and on forever........ So then I asked Casey what he thot about all of this...was it good or bad...he basically said he didn't know...he spoke kind of tentatively...but wasn't sure what he thot........

then it was on to other topics...

Granny

No More Pink

I've noticed that Venice is growing up. She no longer wants the frilly girly pink stuff. When I looked back at her in the car, she was wearing her new sunglasses that are from the "adult" section and are all black. There were some "bling" on them, but they were definitely older. Sigh.

Too Old?

During a discussion with Venice, I was not understanding what she was saying. As time went along, she was getting more frustrated and finally said in an exasperated voice, "Your too old to understand."

Martin Luther King Jr.

Venice noticed the street name when we left the Science Factory and so began a discussion of Martin Luther King Jr. She knew quite a lot. Rosa Parks, whites treating the brown people badly, and that he was shot. We talked about all of this. And she kept asking questions. I thot she would get tired of the topic but she didn't. I did tell her that one of the legacy's that he left was his way of dealing with mean people. I said, he told his people that they had to treat every one right. No meanness from them. I told her this was very hard to do...to treat people who are treating you badly with respect. I told her he learned this method from Ghandi who had gotten Independence for his country. These were people who showed everyone that they deserved to be treated equally. She seemed very interested in the topic. She did know that he had been assassinated. I asked her where she learned that, she didn't really know..she just knew. We talked about how when someone gets power, that other people don't like that. Even tho the person is power might be right. That King had succeeded with civil rights and was now talking about poverty and the Vietnam war. And people didn't like that. Poor Teiya kept trying to get her back into their game of teacher/student...but Venice kept asking more. Finally she seemed satisfied and went back to the game with Teiya.

anyway
you have a smart little girl with lots of questions.
Granny

Sterotyping Starts Early

Funny story. We went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. There were chopsticks. While the kids were trying to figure out how to use them, Xander asked me, "Why do you know how to use them so well?" Venice answered, "Because she's from Japan and they have chopsticks there." Chris asked, "They why do I know how to use them too?" Venice confidently answered, "Because your parents taught you."

Of course!

Surprise Gift

I woke up this morning when Venice ran into the bedroom and gave me a big hug. She said, "you are the best mom in the whole world." She ran back out saying she and Xander were getting something ready for me. A few minutes later, she and Xander came back into my room with a wrapped gift. I opened it up and it was a homemade bookmark and some floss from the dentist all decorated with stickers. Pretty nice way to wake up to the morning!

Playing Piano

Last week, Casey and Venice were humming a song (that you would all recognize, but I can't recall)

Anyway, Venice sat down at the piano to pick out the notes....they hummed the melody, then she would try to replicate it. She got the first few notes in a couple tries, but couldn't get the last three or four notes as they came down and she didn't go down far enuf.

But they valiantly hummed, she played, Casey encouraged...and by gum,...they got it...
An once they got it, they were done!!

Very charming.

Venice's LONG Story

I am trying to teach Venice the art of retelling a story... succinctly.... When I picked Venice up from school today, this is how our conversation went:

Venice: Mom (as she came from a different direction than her classroom door), I was in the Principal's office!
Mom: Why?
Venice: Because I was with two of my friends.
Mom: Why were you with your two friends in the Principal's office?
Venice: Because I got to choose them?
Mom: Why did you get to choose them?
Venice: Because they were doing something [pause] with ice.
Mom: What were they doing with ice?
Venice: I didn't like it.
Mom: What about the ice didn't you like?
Venice: MOOOOOM, that's not what I said.
Mom: What did you say?
Venice: They were watching something to do with ice.
Mom: And who were "they"?
Venice: The class.
Mom: Ok, so the class was watching something with ice and so you were in the Principal's office?
Venice: Yes.
Mom: I'm still not sure why you were in the office?
Venice: Because we were coloring.
Mom: Why were you coloring in the Principal's Office?
Venice: Because the Vice Principal was out of her office.
Mom: Ok, so the class was watching something to do with ice, you didn't like it?
Venice: Right.
Mom: Were they watching the movie Ice Age?
Venice: Yes, and it made me nervous. I almost cried.
Mom: Ok, so they were watching Ice Age, you didn't like it, so you asked to do something else. They said you could color?
Venice: Yes, and I got to pick two friends to come with me.
Mom: And you all went to color in the Vice Principal's office, but she wasn't there, so you went to the Principal's Office?
Venice: Yes.

GOT IT! It only took 15 minutes to uncover. I tried to explain to her that we discussed this all backwards. We started the conversation at the end and had to use a billion questions to get to the beginning. And could the next time she just start at the beginning and say it in only one sentence? I'm sure she got it.. right?

7 Years Old

It's official. I'm the mom of a 7 year old. The weekend was filled with birthday celebrations. Venice has said thank you for the multiple celebrations over and over. It is obvious she had a great time with her friends and family.

This birthday was hard on Xander. He was jealous of all her presents and cried a little at night that he didn't get any. After a few tears, he settled in and was ok.

7 years old. How did that happen?