Archives for November 2008

Busy Month

This has been an extraordinarily busy month. It started with Steve and I taking a much awaited cycling trip to Sicily. Indeed, it was a very hily ride; a common phrase from the guides was “gently rolling hills”. We did a lot of low grade hills that kept going and a couple steeper climbs. I averaged 25-30-35 miles a day; Steve took a couple extra extensions. Unfortunately, due to rain and a high guide ratio (11:1), he wasn’t able to complete a European century. But, we enjoyed a LOT of food during 3 hour lunches (seriously), wine and very nice hotels. We did some cool local tours – to watch a family make ricotta cheese, a walking tour, wine tastings and pasta making. Steve is working on publishing the Sicily pictures, the bike routes, etc.

Right after we got back, we celebrated Steve’s birthday, and I started up a consulting gig. The kids geared up for two Halloween parties and trick or treating. At school, the teachers requested that the kids dress up as people in the community. Allison chose to be a firefighter, and Katherine a doctor. After school, they turned into Tinkerbells for a potluck party and then trick or treating.

Since Halloween, Katherine caught a bad cold circulating through her classroom – and stayed home from school for three days. She’s still coughing a lot, occasionally having coughing spasms. Allison, Steve and I haven’t caught it yet…

Learning about World Affairs

As part of Halloween and their world learning at school, the pre-elementary kids trick or treat for UNICEF. The teachers explained UNICEF in circle and provided the orange boxes to the kids. Allison came home proudly with her box and told us the following:

Mom: Allison, do you know why your collecting money for UNICEF?
Allison: Because…some children don’t have clean water. They will buy new pumps. If they drink dirty water, they will get sick.

Katherine has been collecting money for a couple weeks from friends’ parents – taking over $39 to school for UNICEF.

The kids also have taken an interest in politics. Thru the fall, they’ve watched debates, provided commentary and even did a victory dance chanting “Obama Obama…” last Tuesdsay. Katherine asked us last week unprompted, “Why does the radio keep talking about Joe the Plumber??” She thought it was really funny that CNN and NPR would talk about some plumber as part of the presidential election.

Dinosaurs

Every classroom at school has “units of study” – basically topics that are woven throughout different works in a section of the classroom. Allison’s classroom is studying dinosaurs. As a result, we’re also learning about dinosaurs. Apparently, Allison has been listening pretty intently to her teacher who’s been presenting this information at circle.

Allison: The tyrranasaurus rex is a very angry dinosaur. He eats other dinosaurs. He’s like the king of dinosaurs. He’s MUCH bigger than our car.
Mom: Really, what other dinosaurs have you learned about??
Allison: The brontosaurus was very afraid of the tyranasaurus rex. His favorite dishes were leaves and bushes.
Mom: Favorite dishes, hm…
Allison: And, then there’s the bracheosaurus, the allisaurus, and the stegasaurus. The stegasaurus had plates on his back and his tail. He had four plates on his tail. He used them as a weapon against the tyranasaurus rex.

Steve and I were rather dumbfounded, since dinosaurs haven’t been a major topic in our house. Katherine kept trying to interject, but Allison kep rolling along with her narrative all the way to school.

Katherine thinks that Allison is very amusing and often says, “she’s soo cute.” Allison pushes her sister sometimes, for instance wanting to play with Katherine’s new toys or counting money in Katherine’s wallet. Thankfully, Katherine is relatively patient with her sister.

“If she likes ponies”

Before the summer, Steve and I met with Katherine’s teacher to discuss progress and the upcoming summer. Her suggestion for reading: find out what she wants to read and then encourage it! “If she’s interested in ponies, then check out books about ponies.” This may seem totally intuitive, probably because its spot on.

Katherine LOVES the Disney Fairies – Tinkerbell, Beck, Fira, etc. She saves her allowance money to go to Borders and buy the big, picture Disney books. (We buy her the chapter books to read.) Her prize possessions are the Fairy Homes and Inside Pixie Hollow. She just started reading the chapter books tonight, carefully using her finger to read the small text and turning the page corner for tomorrow.