Gem’s Gems 2014 Wrapup

Gem’s Gems 2014 Wrapup

My kid says some funny stuff, and every year I post a round-up of some of her best lines.

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enjoy.

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 Ambition

G: I can be anything I want when I grow up?
Me: Sure, what do you want to be?
G: A unicorn

Me: wanna watch a movie?
G: No. I must rule the world.

Me: you talk about being a princess a lot. do you ever think about being an engineer or a teacher?
G: Princesses never lie to their mommies
thus endeth the career counseling session

g: “I’m gonna be a kid for a long time?”
me: “yep, you are going to be a kid for a long time.”
g: “I love being a kid! Grownups work while kids play.”

G: Do you know what my superpower is?
Me: What is it?
G: writing… and thinking. oh, and snoring.

G has decided that now that she is a kid instead of a baby, we are going to have to change the nicknames by which we refer to her. The list is long and I won’t go through them all, but Baby is out, Sweetpea is still ok, and on and on.
So what do you really want me to call you? I asked.
Genevieve. Or you can call me the Judge.

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That’s my girl!

G, on the way to the party last night: “I’m bringing the party with me, I carry it in my heart.”

G, fists in the air: “Even though I small on the outside, I big and powerful on the inside!”

space-alien

this is the space alien that lives in the space volcano. they are not monsters, they are just not from here. I learn new things from my little one every day.

“I want to keep doing this mischief thing forever”

G’s word of the day: Accigently – when you make a mistake, but do it carefully

card shark | CoffeeJitters.Net

card shark

G: DADDY! daddy DADDY! daddy
Me: Genevieve! Daddy’s office is not a yelling place
G: I was trying to find him using echo location

“when I see a baby, the love goes right into my heart and then I sing it out”

applause sign | CoffeeJitters.Net

what? your living room doesn’t have ann applause sign? she hung this sign a couple days ago when we failed to perceive that her dancing was a performance. sign says: if you like my dance, clap.

Me: when you wake up tomorrow, it will be your last day of being 4
G: Oh, good, I’m REALLY tired of being 4

train to Denmark

she arranged the stools into a train, and she has her trusty atlas. the library thinks its time to close, but we are on a train, on our way to denmark to see a pig

G, to another kid at the playground: “That’s my mom and dad over there, and they both love me and I both love them.”

“it’s a good day for dancing”

invincible yoga girl

it took some doing, but she finally climbed up on that boulder – then she stood up and started in on yoga poses ‪#‎invincible

Very angry little girl in time out: I’m just going to take a sharp saw and cut off my room from the rest of the house and sail away.
apparently she likes to travel in style: with dress-up clothes, fancy bed, and toys.

shoe-phone

I told her about Get Smart, and the shoe phone…

G: what does BFF mean?
Me: that means Best Friends Forever
G: like you and me?

picnic -2

my girl packed us a picnic

G, clinging to my back: “Can you turn your head around and look at me?”
Me: “no, my head only goes side to side, it doesn’t go to the back”
G, grabbing head: “I can fix that”
Just one of the many things that my kid says that would totally creep me out if it was anyone else

G: I would be happy to trade my computer for your computer
Me: my computer isn’t working very well right now.
G: Then I will trade this lego figure for your computer

G: close your eyes and I will sing you a lullaby so you can sleep better tonight
Me: awww, that’s sweet
G: ♫ Old McDonald Had a Farm… ♩ ♬

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For the love of books

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waiting for the library to open

waiting for the library to open

riveted | CoffeeJitters.Net

riveted

G: I want to give these books to other kids who don’t have any books.
Me: That’s a very nice thing to do.
G: Well, these books are bad
Me: why are they bad?
G: Well it’s not nice to hop on people, its not nice to mess up people’s houses, and kids should never cross the street without holding a grownup’s hand
bas-seuss

G picked up an English/Russian dictionary and tried to read it. After a few frustrated minutes, she throws it down, stomps away, and pouts with her arms folded across her chest…
I ask her about it…
G: “that book is for a different day”

walk-and-read

attempts reading while walking. at least mom was there to pay attention to boring details like stairs

“when you learn about light, that’s called light reading”

G just told me she is writing a book. The title: The world of make believe is real… ly cool

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People just don’t measure up to animals

G, reading a book about different kinds of birds: “not all birds lay eggs”
Me: “sure they do, all different kinds of birds lay eggs”
G: “the boys don’t”
‪#‎facepalm‬

caterpillar

Awwwww. it’s a cute little baby butterfly

the kid is campaigning for a pet at our new place, so I asked her what kind of pet she wants
me: do you want a pet rhinoceros?
G: no that’s to big
me: how about a pet whale?
G: no that would splash too much and get everything wet
me: how about a pet orangutan?
G: no that would throw poop everywhere.
We’re running out of options here

pig farmer

you might think those look like toy trucks, but you’d be wrong. they’re pigs, and shes a pig farmer

“Butterfly to the rescue!”

rescuing worms | CoffeeJitters

rescuing worms from the sidewalk

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The parenting books didn’t warn me about this

G: Why wont you make another baby so I can have a sister?
Me: my body has too much trouble making babies
G: you just need to practice more

G just informed us that the guards at her office called and they really need her to come in to work right now.
most creative attempt at getting out of bedtime yet

spider brush

I was enjoying G brushing my hair till Aaron walked by and suggested she use a real brush. Me: why? what is she using?

“Mommy, how do you spell body parts?”
– she was searching for something to watch on Netflix

“ok, mama, I’ll be good, but just to make you happy”

Me: tell you what, I will let you watch one tv show before you go have some quiet play time in your room
G: if you can decide to let me watch one show, you can decide to let me watch two

G, deadpan, to me: were you there when the Earth was still flat?

G: You’re not my real mom!
Me: Is that so? Who is?
G: Maleficent

G informed me that last night she had the best dream ever. she dreamed that she was Snow White. I asked her if she cooked and cleaned for the dwarves, and she said yes. I asked her if she was going to clean up her mess in the living room… “Mom! It was just a dream!”
Just trying to make her dreams come true

“I’m serious, Mom. I’m as serious as a first grader.”

“my little tooth is so excited to get out of my mouth”

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 My little chef

G, at dinner: have you made this before?
me: yes
G: and you made it again anyway?

G: I want to make Daddy a cherry pie for his birthday
Me: I just bought ingredients for coconut cream pie, because it’s his favorite
G: I think Daddy wants cherry
Me: did you ask him
G: Daddy, do you want a surprise?

G: Mommy I’m going to watch over you forever
ME: that’s sweet
G: I’m going to watch to make sure you never make this food again

G: I’m so hungry I don’t care what you give me – except if you give me something I don’t like.

G, to me: When I grow up and have a restaurant, you can be one of my chefs
Me: what about Daddy?
G: he can clean and eat

ice cream

ice cream is deliciouser than ants on a log

G: when I grow up and have a restaurant it will have a special room with comfy chairs for sick people, and I will give them special tea to make them feel better, and daddy will play guitar.

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The Fashionista

G: “I don’t even know who St. Patrick is. Why does he get to pick what color I wear?”
nothing bashful about the pink she’s wearing today

dancing-2

favorite mode of transportation: dancing

G, to Aaron: too bad you don’t have my glorious hair

fashionista

oh how I love these outfits she puts together

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 Ready for Kindergarten

backpack

she wanted to practice wearing her new backpack today so she would be ready for kindergarten

picnic | CoffeeJitters.Net

breakfast picnic: she wanted to test her new lunchbox to make sure it works. kindergarten countdown: 8 days

G: Every time I look outside, it’s still dark out
Me: Because it’s still night time
G: But how will I know when to wake up for school? I don’t think morning will ever come

Gem's first day of Kindergarten | CoffeeJitters

first day of kindergarten

end of first day of kindergarten

the end of the first day of kindergarten

dancing on the way to school | CoffeeJitters.Net

dancing on the way to school

Kindergarten school picture | CoffeeJitters

kindergarten school picture

 

I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next year.

Gem’s Gems 2013

Gem’s Gems 2012

Outside looking in: a flash-forward peek at my future in parenting

Outside looking in: a flash-forward peek at my future in parenting

My daughter recently competed in her first chess tournament. I was more nervous than she was.

She’s only 5, and I worried about sportsmanship, I worried about whether she would have fun. I worried about whether she would get bored, or scared.

She was just excited that she would get to play chess: Five games of chess  – with other kids.

outside looking in

And trophies!

outside looking in

She wanted one of those trophies.

So we got up at the butt-crack of too early to get up on a Saturday morning, and still had to run to school to get there in time to check-in, because, of course, late check-in means forfeiting the first game.

So, we get all checked in, and wait. Why is it that the big days in life seem to involve so much waiting?

Finally, we got the pairings, and the judge for the Kindergarten tournament introduced himself, recapped the rules,  reminded the little ones about sportsmanship,

and…

and…

ushered all the parents out of the room.

So we sat on the floor in the hallway, we parents of the 25 kindergarteners duking it out across chessboards in that classroom. The door to the classroom had a thin window, and the parents rotated throughout the game play, taking turns peeking through the window trying to get a glimpse of what was going on in our child’s game.

outside looking inI got a little glimpse that morning – a preview of my future in parenting.

More and more, as she gets older, her important events will take place outside of my control. I can lead her up to the door, but she has to take it from there.

I don’t think they’ll let me in the room when she takes her SATs either.

I’ve said it before, and I still believe that parenthood seems to be one big, long, excruciating yet joyous exercise in letting go.

And the chess tournament? That went very well. The kids were all well behaved, and gracious winners and losers. As a whole, they seemed to be pretty good at getting their pieces into the middle of the board, but only a few of them were closing the deal. There were a lot of stalemates.

Gem had one draw, lost 3, and then because there were an odd number of kids, there was a bye every round. Gem got a bye on the fourth round. She was more disappointed about not getting to play that game than any of her losses.

But in the end, since this was kindergarten, she did get her trophy, along with all the other kids.

outside looking in

 

And she still loves playing chess.

Recipe: Blueberry Crisp with Peaches and Ginger

Recipe: Blueberry Crisp with Peaches and Ginger

Ginger adds a warm, earthy, autumn kick to this classic dessert.

blueberry crisp with peaches and ginger

Years ago, my mother taught me how to make a skillet pie. This is much like a regular pie, but quicker, and quite a bit more rustic. Simply start with a cast iron (or other oven safe) skillet. Melt butter, add a touch of flour and sugar and fruit, and heat in the skillet till the fruit starts releasing it’s juices and forming a syrup. Then top it with a pie crust and pop it in the oven. So simple and easy.

I started combining ginger with blueberries in dishes recently, and I just love the flavor combination: down home with a kick.  A few weeks ago, my friend Diane baked me a blueberry and nectarine pie, and that inspired the addition of the peaches.

I wanted a simple dessert like that, but I did not want to bother with pie crust, so I substituted with a standard crisp topping – with a touch of ginger for a little more kick. Toasted nuts would be delightful in this topping as well.

We are fruit smoothie people, so our freezer is always stocked with frozen fruit; this recipe was easy to whip up with ingredients we keep on hand all the time.

As always, delightful kitchen helpers make the food taste more delicious.

gem is a wonderful cook

 

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:10]

First Sleepover

First Sleepover

Gem and her BFF/cousin had their first sleepover recently.  It was a big rite of passage for both little girls.

First Sleepover

Checking out that awesome tent.

First Sleepover

Puppy snuggles.

The tent was set up so they could see the TV and watch a movie before falling asleep.

First Sleepover

They did eventually get some sleep.

Respect the School Zone

Respect the School Zone

I’ll admit to being annoyed by the 20-mile per hour speed limit in school zones… in the past.  Funny how things change now that I have a 5-year-old walking to school every day. And now, every day, I give those fast drivers a mama bear glare.

school zone

The neighborhood in which we now live has well marked school zone signs, but there are a few school zones around Seattle that I suspect have become quite the source of income for city hall. School zone signs that are hidden behind trees or tucked in around a corner, placed where a driver wouldn’t notice if they were watching the road – those are a problem. Those not only put the driver at risk of being ticketed, they put our children at risk, too.

Last year, I contacted the city about one hidden sign, and since the sign is now much more easily seen, I suspect the overgrown bushes and trees were trimmed back.

If you see signs that are poorly placed, or where shrubbery has obscured the sign, please contact your city and ask to have it fixed.

And please, respect the reduced speed limit in school zones. A child’s life is worth so much more than the couple extra seconds it takes to get through that part of the road.

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