Trash Collector

My son likes collecting receipts.   He's been taping them to his bed frame,   Only special ones, with some selection process known only to him.   He also has this taped to the side of his dresser (it's empty).   We are under no circumstances allowed to remove it.   And no one knows why. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son will be a fifth-grader in two days.   How is this possible?  At all?   I swear, he was just toddling around in diapers.   

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  In a little less than two weeks my daughter is going to be a fourth-grader.   That also, cannot be possible.   No way.   She was just learning how to stand.  

My Grandma Is Special

My daughter came downstairs tonight asking for batteries.   She wanted to replace them in two books we have that are for very young children, having only a few words on each page.   The special thing about these books is you can record someone reading each page and as the child changes pages, the book reads itself from the recordings. 

One of the books had the recording lost and wasn't functioning well, but my daughter still likes to record herself making up stories she's imagined as she turns each page.   Tonight, she came down with the other book she had recently found.   She asked for new batteries and said she wanted to see if the recording was still on there. 

And indeed it was.  It was my mother, reading the book to the children.   She did this several years ago.   I told my daughter that book was very special to me, because it was my mother talking and I want to make sure we kept it just like it was.   My daughter agreed completely before taking the book upstairs to her room to listen to Mimi before going to sleep for the night. 

The Big Boy Update:  I have to say I was nerd-proud of my son today when I overheard him in a video game asking his friend, "what's your ping?"   I didn't hear the answer but after that, my son said, "okay, well, what's. your FPS?"   Proud I tell you.  So proud. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:   My daughter was overjoyed to have Blake come over today, during his short stay in the US before his next international travel for his gap year.   She was positively manic when she heard he was coming over.   We all were happy to see him.  

It's 1AM Again?

This keeps happening.   I stay up late working on things, some projects of my own, and some things my husband and I are working on together.   I make it as long as I can and then I drag myself upstairs to go to sleep.   But then I wake up early.   So by the afternoon, I'm tired and I need a nap.   I need to figure out a better schedule or I need to discover a way to go without sleep.   For tonight, I'm going to end with something about the children and then go to bed. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son has been playing Fortnite with his friends on the computer lately.  Today he got in trouble for leaving something out upstairs and was sent up to clean it up.  Without telling anyone, his father picked up his game and continued playing for him.   Through the headset, we heard and couldn't help laughing as the other two boys talked to each other saying, "do you think that's his dad?"   "That's definitely his dad."  Followed by them getting frustrated at getting killed repeatedly.   When my son came back they were on the point of quitting.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter found a cape in the costumes bin that she put on.   It was a custom cape their Aunt A had made for each of the children with their initials on them.   At the time, they were huge.   Now, it just barely fit around my daughter's neck.   We'll have to put it in keepsakes storage for the children so their children can play with them someday. 

The Hair

I have permission now to show you my daughter's hair.   

The Big Boy Update: My son was cranky this morning.   It was not a good morning overall.   Then, I noticed the iPad was missing from beside my computer and I had found out he had told his father he had no digital in his room.   So he lost screen time today.   When he came home I talked to him about it and he said when he took the iPad it was at 8% battery so he didn't really use it.   I had found it at 3%.   He had lied to his father though, and that wasn't a good thing.   He was angry, but he worked through it.   We did let him on the computer later for some actual work.  He's doing some 3D modeling in Tinkercad and has come up with a plan to make a rubber band launching device.   It's not bad.   He printed out his first pass and found some design flaws and is working on the second version.  I told him I'd share his model in an action video if he got it all working. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I think my daughter is very much loving the attention she's getting with her new hairstyle.   Today, I got a text message from one of our Movie Night friends that we haven't seen in ever so long.  Jen, upon singular coincidence, had an appointment with Sue today to get her hair done.  What had she planned on doing?  Having it colored in pink and blue.   She and I swapped pictures and I told my daughter about it, who thought Jen had cool taste in hair colors, obviously. 

Pink and Blue hair

My daughter's hair is pink and blue.   There is teal and purple in the midst and it is absolutely beautiful.   Only I'm not allowed to post a picture of it here because she wants to show some people herself before I share it with the rest of the World Wide Web.    

I picked her up from school and we went straight to the salon, where she spent several hours getting her hair done in this beautiful collection of colors.   We got home close to dark and I jumped on a conference call.   And now I'm tired.   So tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be allowed to share a picture.   She looks very striking.  

The Big Boy Update:  My son wanted to create a rubber band launching machine.   He got home, loaded up Tinkercad and designed what he was thinking about in his mind.   Then he sent it to a printer with the help of my husband.   When it was done printing four hours later he saw that part of his design didn't work or connect the way he had hoped it would.   Which is part of the design process.   Tomorrow, he's going to work on version two. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  The children's printer we got contacted me after I sent an email to them about how Reese could do things with their printer that she otherwise couldn't do.   They want to know if she'd be interested in helping with their marketing of the printer.   If things happen, I'll let you know, but for now, I told them we'd be glad to help in any way we could to market their excellent printer that makes 3D printing such an easy thing for children to do. 

Under the Canopy

It had been hours since the dog had gone outside and I realized I had to go shortly, so I took her out in the hopes she'd go quickly as I had my first board meeting in person since before COVID-19 lockdown.   Of course, she was in no hurry and that was doubly troublesome for me because it started to rain rather hard all of a sudden. 

I had a thought that brought me back to my childhood: if I stood under the tree at the start of a shower, I could stay completely dry as the droplets hit the branches above and didn't trickle down for a while.   This isn't something surprising as an adult, it makes logical sense.   But as a child this was something new, my discovery, and something I sought out. 

Spring and early summer rains bring cooler temperatures and breezes and standing under a tree made the hot weather feel comfortable.   I felt like I was in my own protective bubble standing under a tree as a child.   I remember later, as the rain progressed, it was much less enjoyable than being out in the rain itself because droplets would combine into bigger ones and the large, erratic amounts of water hitting you was not fun at all. 

So today, I stood under a tree and remembered a long time ago.   A time at about the age my children are now.   I wonder if they've noticed the same thing?

The Big Boy Update:  I just realized my son is out of school for the summer at the end of next week.   That's six more days of school.  I'm not prepared (mentally) for summer to be here yet!

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter received a thank you note from Rayan and Keira today for taking care of Charlotte, their dog, this past weekend.   In the note was some money for my daughter, forty dollars.   This was the first job my daughter has ever had.   She was very happy about it.   She wants to do more pet sitting for people around the neighborhood. 

The Flower Girl

My daughter has been bringing me flowers.   It's been something she's done to make me happy or because she knows I'll like them just because she is that kind-hearted and wants likes to do something nice.   The other day I was taking a nap and when I woke up, there were some knock-out roses on my nightstand.   I wasn't sure where they came from as we lost our plants in a blight that happened a few years ago.   I learned later she had gotten it from a bush when she walked down the street with Madison.   I don't know who's roses they were, but they're still on my nightstand now, dried and withered, but still making me happy. 

Then, two days ago, she made me an entire bouquet.   Down at my computer, I found a paper cup with two types of flowers in it, carefully arranged so all the flowers were hanging just so over the edge of the cup.   When I came back from an errand my daughter told me there was something waiting for me when I went downstairs.   I'm not even sure where she got these flowers, but there are lots of things in bloom right so hopefully, the plants didn't mind giving up their blooms. 

Then today, my daughter ran in from being brought home from school by Nana.   She came straight to me and proudly handed me two small sunflower flowers.   One of the teachers had them and was giving them away to students who wanted one.   My daughter asked for them so she could bring them home and give them to me.   

They are currently in a vase in the kitchen.   This is a very special thing my daughter is doing.   It's a way to say, "I love you, Mom."   And I definitely appreciate it.   The other way she says she loves me is in Pig Latin, which she's getting faster and faster at.  

The Big Boy Update:  We were saying what we were thankful for the other day as we sitting around the dinner table.   My son said, "I'm going to thank the chicken who was used to make my dinner."    And today, my son brought home a Didgeridoo he made in art class at school.   It's just a cardboard tube, but it's the right width and length to sound just right and the painting he did on the outside makes it almost look like the real thing.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter told me, "Mom, no offense, but this story is getting kind of long."  I asked her how she listened to the teachers when she was in school.   She said, "Oh I don’t,  I just zone out.  But I still know what they’re saying.  It’s sort of a blind skill.  This is my special skill.  It's like how people are different in different ways.  I think it’s just me."