Loving Syesha

There is a performer on American Idol, "Syesha," who is under-loved by the judges. I know this judgment to be true because tonight, Lola was in the room for all of the other performers, and played with blocks and other things. When Syesha came on, however, Lola stopped, turned toward the TV, and started singing with her. Lola never does this. Not only did she sing with her, but she also started imitating her gestures and the dramatic tilt of her head. Since those who follow American Idol will know that tonight was "Neil Diamond" night, I think you will believe me when I tell you that Lola has never before heard Syesha's song (or any of the Diamond repertoire). At the end of the song, she got excited and started imitating the waving hands of the audience. She also improvised her own lines, which turned out to be "Everybody Wants to Be A Cat" from the Aristocats.--K

The Family Gets a Grooming

Lola has cute disheveled pigtails! So get your game on, Baby Ida the Duchess of Hair.

Abdiel went from hairy . . .
to scary . . . in only one trip to the salon.

Stranger to my Daughter

Yes, it is the end of the semester, and all academics know that at this time, we abandon our families to the tender mercies of the television. Thanks to extra service at the university, I have seen very little of Lola in the afternoons this week. I see how heart-wrenching it must be regularly to leave your child with others until 5:30 or 6 at night. On Wednesday night, I hear that she and her babysitter, Miss Ashley, fell asleep together on the couch watching the Disney Channel. Alas! I didn't think a non-relative would have that experience with Lola for years. I must sign off because another student appointment is coming.--K

Josh and Lola's Good Deed

In the first picture below, Lola is holding the end of the phone "cord" (a string) and, in the other hand, the plastic phone that usually dangles from it. We found the phone at the top of one of the slides at the playground. These phones used to be Lola's favorite toy at the playground. Josh the Handyman looked at the phone and figured out how to fix it: unscrew the two halves of the phone, then put a knot in the cord and place the knot in the hole in the open phone. Then reattach the phone halves.


Here's Lola wielding the screwdriver.
Now the phone dangles from its cord again, just as good as new! I was so impressed with Lola and her daddy that I wanted to send these pictures to our local paper, but there was no email address for "pictures taken by proud moms."--K

Small but Significant Accomplishments

Some wise people have told me that these are the keys to happiness. This morning I ran my usual 2 year-old nursery at church. I really felt like I was doing a good job after Charlie, who was new to the nursery this morning, first stopped crying after I held him and sang the ABC song for a while, THEN stayed calm when he saw his mom in the nursery next door, sitting there with her older son (Charlie was sitting on my lap coloring, and I told him, "You'll see your mommy soon."). Finally, after the mom-sighting, he decided he could leave my lap, went to the other side of the nursery, and embarked on an intricate game of cars with Henry, a nursery veteran. Success! When they leave you without fuss, you've done your job. Lola was also doing well today: she was much less demanding of me, and acted like she was "one of the gang." It's nice to post about achievements like this one, so that I can revisit them if I'm feeling particularly unsuccessful in more "serious" endeavors.--K

Library TIme

Lola is enamored of her new library book, "Cowgirl Rosie and the Five Baby Bison." We hope the Western theme, conjured up by a British writer-illustrator, will be sufficiently quirky to prepare her for a visit to her cousin Brooke in Albuquerque next summer. The eldest baby bison is named "Bigwig," a name we also bestow on Abdiel every time he reaches his present poodle-maned splendor. Her other library finds, "I Like Cats" and "Let Me Do It," are also in heavy rotation. After the library, we went to the playground, met up with Lola's friend Maggie and her parental attendants, and headed to a coffee shop. Lola proceeded to consume a large quantity of Sprite Zero, straight from the bottle, as if she were swigging gin. I told our friends that the chemicals in the diet drink might actually give Lola a perfect, plastic complexion. Every time Lola encounters a new Coke product, we have to put another item on our "banned from Lola's presence" list. What are the coke barons putting in these products that makes them so irresistible to toddlers? Sprite Zero doesn't even have caffeine, or real sugar.--K

Hectic Week

I can't believe that I haven't posted since Sunday. I spent this week collecting 70 papers from students, and interviewing job applicants. These are not the most appealing parts of my job. Lola had a good week. Last night, while her dad and mom were attending job-related functions, she enjoyed a good three hours of furious playtime with the Babysitter Supreme, Miss Ashley. This week she was bitten at school by the bad child "Gracie," but another milestone was reached when she was able to tell me who the culprit was (the school's policy is not to disclose the biter's identity for fear of parental vigilante justice). Hopefully our family will have fun at the playground and the library this weekend. More later, K

Sunday Night Wrap-Up

Our family had a great time this weekend. This morning the power went out in our part of town, so we used the open time without email or TV to clean up, especially in the study. The study has looked a little junky for a while, but we made a big improvement by collapsing the Pack-and-Play (playpen), which has been standing in the middle of the room. Lola used to serve the occasional time-out inside it, but she is now too tall to be contained by it. The era of the Pack-and-Play has ended! Lola and I had fun playing together at church later in the morning (I supervise a toddler room which had no other guests this Sunday). I think Lola had a bad dream about hurting her dog during her nap this afternoon. She woke up and started describing how she had hurt him and how he reacted. I tried to explain dreams to her, but in the end it seemed better just to point to the dog and show her that he was fine. She's calling for me now--good night!--K

Pancakes on Saturday

Today we followed a family tradition and enjoyed pancakes on Saturday. Our generational twist is that we make banana pancakes (with slices added to each pancake). Lola, however, takes her pancakes "neat." (If "neat" is what you call them when they are drenched with syrup.) Lola really likes the cartoon "Spongebob." I'm not a huge fan. Unlike some of the better cartoons, which depict simple human (or anthropomorphized animal) characters and thus convey simple lessons about nice and naughty behavior, Spongebob has no human characters and is written for adults. The Spongebob characters say things like "that big fat meanie," which is funny to adults as a cliche of childish speech. However, I don't want Lola to think it's acceptable to call someone "fat" to another person as a way of demeaning him or her. Most adults (including myself) will offer up this kind of insult in moments of weakness, but this tendency shouldn't be treated as funny and normal. Josh says he's not a "Spongebigot" and has no problem with Lola watching "Spongebob." I'm not going to try to stop her from seeing it, since she only catches it every once in a while, but when she gets a little older I will try to expose her to other, better (yet still funny) sources of entertainment.--K

Preschool Selection: Ruling Out, Buying In

Happy birthday Des! My dad is 65 today. The April Fools angle is so obvious this year that I won't bother commenting. My dad asked me on the phone today whether we had settled on a plan for Lola's education. This question may sound "foolish" to some (sorry, I had to do it), since Lola is approaching 2.4 years old, but in our family the standards for education are high. All four of Lola's grandparents were educators at some time in their lives. One grandparent has a Ph.D. Two of the women in the next generation have Ph.D.s (including me). My siblings and I were reading by the time we reached kindergarten, Lola's cousin Brooke has already acquired the same skills (she began reading--not just learning to read) at 4 and a half.

This blog is my ongoing meditation on good ideas for Lola's schooling. Everyone is welcome to comment and give suggestions.

Ruled Out for Pre-Kindergarten (4 years old): Montessori School (the enriched environment is most helpful for children who lack parents who are professional educators). Mom's thought: "I can do it myself, for 0 dollars a month."
Ruled Out for Pre-Kindergarten: Heritage School, the private school up the road. $6500 total for three hours a day, ten months of the year. Mom's thought: "I can do it myself, for 0 dollars a month, and spend more time with my daughter, AND still pay for some childcare to cover my working hours."
Possibility for Pre-Kindergarten: The Primrose School: combines Montessori-like enrichment with traditional subjects like phonics.
Probably Ruled Out for Pre-Kindergarten: State-Funded Pre-K: Lola will probably be significantly ahead by this point, and the results of boredom usually include bad behavior.
Possibility for Pre-Kindergarten: Local Presbyterian school, IF they allow testing for grade level. Lola would technically have to be admitted 3 months early in order to attend pre-school during her fourth year and not her fifth.
Please record your thoughts here--K