Petra, my sweet, you can't get there from here

Petra has been asking lately to be taken to the pet store so that she can get a pet unicorn.  I keep telling her that I don't know of any pet stores in the area that carry unicorns.

Last week I made a puppet called Little Dinosaur out of my hand.  Petra, like her siblings before her, started telling Little Dinosaur EVERYTHING, including -

Petra: I want to go to the store and get a Pegasus.
LD: Oh. And where would you fly on your Pegasus?
Petra: Hmm...  I would fly to Atlantis.

Seems like an appropriate destination for a Pegasus.  I wonder if the flight is nonstop, and if there is an fee for checked bags.

Emergency Preparedness

The children at school practice "lock downs" for certain types of emergencies.

E-mail from teacher to parents:

Good Evening,

I just wanted to let you know that we had our mandatory lockdown at school today. Part of the new procedure is to discuss with children all of our options including, hiding, evacuating, and self-defense. We talked about problem solving based on the particular situation. We also discussed how important it is to be quiet in order hear directions from an adult or to assess the situation.

We also talked about what a small probability it would to have such a situation, but how important it is to be prepared just like with fire drills and tornadoes.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you,
Mrs. C. 


E-mail from parent to teacher:

Paul and some of his friends are prepared to strip out of their clothing and make it into a rope to help lower everybody to the ground so that you don't have to hang halfway out of the window to drop them out.  

Just don't let them get lock-down and fire-drill confused.

Yours,

Sarah Kuhlman

Response from teacher to parent:

Good idea!

Zoo Jaunt

Last week my children had a day off from school for parent teacher conferences.  I had scheduled my conferences for early in the day, and then we went to the zoo.

The weather was a little chilly at first, but really not to bad.  We went to several indoor exhibits like the reptile house, the insect building, and the bird house.

One of my favorite things this trip was when we visited the manatees.  The viewing room was pretty empty and the manatee was eating a case of lettuce.  Paul and I were a little startled to realize that the manatee used its serrated upper lip to grab the lettuce and pull it into its mouth.  I let Nathan out of the stroller.  He was able to walk right up to the glass side of the aquarium and watch this big thing move around and eat.  He seemed pretty interested in it.

My kids in front of Monkey Island

Petra walking with Grandma

Proof Nathan was there

Paul explaining stuff to Julia in the World of Insect

Nathan getting a chance to explore

Nathan is 1!

Here is Nathan with Steve on his birthday

Grandma H decorated the traditional 1st Birthday Winnie the Pooh Cake

Nathan had fun eating some peas and bits of sausage off a baby fork for dinner.

He was very enthusiastic about his cake frosting.  Once he got down to the actual cake, he started dropping bits to Maggie.

He didn't know what to do with wrapped packages, but unwrapped blocks were a big hit.

Not that I want to encourage this

Julia practicing looking too cool

Petra and Nathan playing in the dog's crate

Paul relaxing before bath time with clean underwear on his head

November Thanks Part I

The colors of autumn turn my mouth to praise.  I want to remember with gratitude:

November 1: A full tank of gas, the places it gets me, and the confidence it affords me.

November 2: An exercise class that is making me think about the mind - body - spirit connectedness.  It is challenging my thinking and encouraging me to take care of my health and use movement as a form of meditation and prayer.
Also thanks for a margin of time in the evening to indulge and coddle sick children.

November 3: Freedom to go to church and be open about my faith  and the WORST that will happen is that people will think that I am snooty or foolish.
Also thanks for a father-in-law willing to watch sick children while I go to church.

November 4: We kept the baby alive for a whole year!  Happy Birthday, buddy.

November 5: The privilege to cast a vote in the governance of my community.  The resources to take sick baby to the doctor.  An experienced doctor who can trick the baby into thinking that the exam is play time.

A blog by Petra

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halloween '13

The scary cute witch with floppy broom

Paul as beetle - that's insect, not musician

Petra on the left as Diego, Animal Rescuer.

Nathan in his brother's old pirate costume

Grandma K made costumes for the older three.  They all got to wear the costumes to school.  I came to Petra's class party and saw her make a pumpkin craft and dance a silly dance.  Nathan came too, so I tossed an old costume on him before we went.

Petra and Nathan were too sniffly to come out for trick or treat.  The weather promised to be quite wet.  I took Paul and Julia out.  We had a break in the rain for the first part of our walk.  Paul went with some of our friends and Julia and I walked more slowly with one of her friends from school.  As the rain and wind picked up our friends decided to go home.  Julia had just been declaring that she wanted to trick or treat forever.  I said, "Julia, we can go to the next street and try to find Paul, or we can go back where it is dry."

"Let's go where it is dry."

"That's the answer I wanted to hear."

I held an umbrella up horizontally as we walked into the wind.  Then we had to turn a corner to get to the garage where our friends were.  I closed the umbrella and yelled, "Run!"  We ran.  Julia was still pretty soaked when we got into shelter.

Paul and his group came a little later.  He thought it was funny to hang back and try to enter the garage through the doggy door.  His bug costume wouldn't let him through.

Petra and daddy had a quiet evening.  They watched a long Veggie Tale cartoon and ate leftover birthday cake and lighted the jack'o'lanterns.  She was disappointed not to come out, but her sniffles and coughing convinced Steve and I that it was the right decision.

Petra's Birthday

Petra is 4!

We celebrated her birthday this week.  She asked for a strawberry cake, with her name and pink polka dots on it.

Poor girl has a cold this week.  Nevertheless, she is enjoying preschool.  She knows her letters now.

Petra is now telling me that she does not love preschool, because she does not like having to sit criss-cross applesauce.  She likes the computer.  She likes toys.  She is into toys from the cartoons Doc McStuffins and Sofia the First.

Her favorite color is pink.  She wants to be a princess when she grows up.  She and I are looking forward to joining Tae Kwon Do in a couple of months.  She has been practicing her warm ups (imagine doing hula hoop without the hoop to loosen your hips) and her ki-up, or spirit yell.  We might have to make a new rule about no spirit yelling in the house.