Dear One

Speed Bump Update

2011-06-09T20:39:00.003-04:00

They're now called "goose bumps" as in:

"Do you know why they make goose bumps? They make them on purpose. That means it's not an accident. I'm going to take all those goose bumps and rip them out and sew the road back up!"

Prgghfhrryuhpprrjhfjhfxssssycfc

2011-02-03T19:20:00.001-05:00

Shhdhd

A Great Piece of Logic

2010-05-31T21:57:00.001-04:00

Emerging from her room, she announces, "The reason I can't have quiet time . . . is because . . . some people can't have quiet time."

Old Lullaby, New Lyrics

2010-03-28T09:49:00.005-04:00

Hush little baby little don't you cry
Mama's gonna buy you a booty shaker
And if that booty shaker don't shake
Mama's gonna buy you a piece of cake
And if that piece of cake doesn't eat
Mama's gonna buy you a second head!

P-H-O-upside-down P . . .

2010-03-13T09:54:00.005-05:00

Last Friday I went to Phoebe's class to read a Dr. Seuss book. Afterward she wanted to come to my class and "sit in your lap while you teach." Despite the fact that I almost never sit down while teaching and the fact that I didn't have any students in my classroom at the time, I brought her to my room as requested. She entertained herself by climbing on desks, erasing the board, and drawing on scraps of bulletin-board paper.

When the bell rang at the end of the day, some of my students arrived to work on a project. One of them has taken it upon herself to win Phoebe's trust. She walked over to where Phoebe was drawing on the floor, and in no time at all Phoebe was bossing her around, asking her to write her name.

"P-H-O," Phoebe instructed her, and then she faltered. "Upside down P," she continued. "E-E-B!"

End result: Phobeeb.

Not bad.

Keeping Your Weights

2010-03-08T06:51:00.005-05:00

The route Phoebe and I take from the car to her classroom involves walking along a sidewalk at the top of a small but steep hill. One day, since she likes to walk on the very edge of the sidewalk, she nearly fell down the hill into the rocky drainage ditch below.

"Oh," she said, relieved, "I kept my weights."

"Kept your weights?" I asked.

"Yes. Like Harold."

I realized that she was talking about the moment in Harold and the Purple Crayon when Harold is falling but "kept his wits and his purple crayon," allowing him to get himself out of trouble once again.

Reading to Baby

2010-03-07T14:51:00.006-05:00

Phoebe likes to read to herself at night--and to her "baby" (who is required to use his paci).

I'm still crying

2009-10-20T07:30:00.003-04:00

Once Phoebe managed to bite her own finger while eating spaghetti--so hard that she sobbed with those agonizing silent spaces in between cries. I held her in my arms until I thought she'd recovered. When I encouraged her to return to eating, she began to wail, "I'm still crying." It caught me as so hilarious that I began to cackle. At first this shocked her, and she went silent. Then she began to laugh too--but not without returning to the refrain, "I'm still crying," in between her giggles.

Threats and Observations Regarding Leafhoppers

2009-08-15T12:45:00.002-04:00

I'm going to put leafhoppers in your hair.
That's not a car. That's a leafhopper.

Awesome Questions

2009-08-09T22:39:00.009-04:00

Is this beef or meat?
What is a butt called?
What word starts with "man"?
Why do mans wear seat belts?
Remember when I was a tiny baby, and I was stuck, and Daddy cut my belly button off?

I don't have words.

2009-08-09T22:36:00.004-04:00

After one day back at school, Phoebe announced, "I'm a little bit sad, Mommy." When I asked her why, she said, "I don't have words." I asked her if she wanted a hug. She said no and continued sitting with her back to me on the little couch in her room. Finally--after telling me a rambling story about a time when I had been sad and she had tried to give me a toy (which I don't recall ever happening)--she told me, "I think I'm a little girl. But I'm in the big kids' class."

The Little Reader

2009-08-05T06:43:00.005-04:00

This summer I read The Book of Learning and Forgetting by Frank Smith. He argues that learning is natural and based on the company we keep. We learn to be readers by joining the literacy club, the group of people around us whom we see reading and talking about reading. The day after I'd been up nearly all night writing a reflection on the book for one of my reading classes (and was rushing Phoebe off to daycare so I could get to that class), I heard a little voice from the backseat asking me why I had been writing in my book. Before I could finish my gobbledygook about transacting with the text, she asked for the book and my pen. She opened it to the title page and drew me a balloon (upside down).

Happy Birthday, Grandma Dene

2009-07-27T14:00:00.005-04:00

After a long hiatus from the web, here's Phoebe making Grandma Dene a birthday cake (which she later told me was strawberry) and singing "Happy Birthday." Unfortunately, I cut off the part with her blowing out the candles at the end.

One thing I had to do today

2009-03-30T22:57:00.002-04:00

Text Britt from class with the location of Phoebe's blankie: the freezer.

Hey, Diddle Diddle

2009-03-29T14:13:00.004-04:00

I can't believe this!

2009-03-29T14:01:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Britt had to remind me about one of the most amazing moments we had this week--had to remind me because the days and nights of battling the sleep abstainer, and finishing my second language movie, and planning for my classroom had all begun to run together.

One night this week--I can't remember which--we devised a method of locking Phoebe in her room. Phew, we thought, she might protest, but eventually, she'll wear herself out and fall asleep. Silly us. She wore us out first with protests of, "I can't believe this!"

That may have been the night I ended up driving around, collaborating with the artist in residence over the phone, while desperately hoping Phoebe would fall asleep in the back seat.

Some reasons why the salad course was delayed

2009-03-01T17:50:00.002-05:00

1. Britt decided it was time to vacuum the rug.
2. Phoebe decided it was time for "banilla" yogurt. She rolled her tricycle over to the washing machine and used the seat as a stool to climb on top (possibly unrelated to the banilla yogurt quest).
3. Britt threw Phoebe's owl into the kitchen to get it out of the way of the vacuum. It hit the rim of the yogurt bowl, which by this time I had filled up for Phoebe, and bounced out after skating across the surface of the yogurt. I had to clean his ear.

Eats Snow Like a Lion

2009-03-01T15:57:00.004-05:00

I never would have guessed that Phoebe's primary occupation in the snow would be eating it. But then I remembered my own snow-eating days. I think we flavored it with maple syrup. Phoebe takes hers straight up.

March Snow "Storm"

2009-03-01T15:46:00.003-05:00

I guess March really did come in like a lion this year. Laugh if you like, Minnesotans, but we're "snowed in" and loving it.

More . . .

2009-02-24T07:15:00.005-05:00

Brought to you by the fastest rope slinger this side of the Rio Grande.

A word of advice--pay special attention to the pose she tries at the end.

The Jump Rope

2009-02-22T17:49:00.004-05:00

What can I say?

Tiny Baby

2009-02-22T17:44:00.002-05:00

Lately, Phoebe has been asking to get in the Maya wrap. In this shot, believe it or not, she's completely inside the sling with only her toes sticking out. No joke. She's almost 3, dresses herself, goes pee-pee on the potty, can climb to the tip-top of the jungle gym "all by myself," and she still (sometimes) wants to be a tiny baby.

Who's busy as a bee?

2009-02-15T09:12:00.002-05:00

Cowgirls for Obama

2009-01-28T06:16:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Mr. Barry for this treat!

Promises

2009-01-18T23:00:00.002-05:00

Tonight Phoebe told me some interesting things as she was sitting on the potty.

"It is very good to eat food and rice," she said.

"Especially brown rice," I said (because I thought I should).

"You like yellow rice," she said.

It's true. I admitted it.

"You like creamer," she said.

"I do not."

"Yes, you do. You promised."

Final Take (I wanna see Evie.)

2009-01-03T11:05:00.003-05:00

Phoebe's filming this one (in case you couldn't guess). Hope it doesn't make you too dizzy.

Take 3

2009-01-03T10:58:00.001-05:00

Take 2

2009-01-03T10:54:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

2009-01-03T10:46:00.004-05:00

We love you and hope you have a very happy birthday.

That's my cool trick!

2009-01-03T00:26:00.005-05:00

Phoebe has learned about "cool tricks" from watching Yo Gabba Gabba. Here's one of hers--a thing of beauty.

Phoebe's Best Moves

2009-01-03T00:19:00.003-05:00

I've been reviewing Phoebe's moves from the last year and a half, and this definitely ranks among the best.

Where's My Doggie?

2009-01-02T15:09:00.005-05:00

Phoebe was so excited to pick Scutter up from the vet today. When we got home, she invited him into her bed where she read Grace for President to him. While it didn't make for a great nap, it was awfully sweet.

Phoebe and the Pelican

2008-12-31T18:54:00.006-05:00

I pointed out a pelican to Phoebe. He was resting on a rock, 20 feet or so out in the water. "I want to pet him," she said and told me to go across the water so we could find him.

Take my shoes off!

2008-12-28T18:58:00.005-05:00

When we arrived in La Jolla today, we took a walk down the street toward the beach. At the first break in the rail between the sidewalk and the shore, Phoebe took off across the rocks toward the sand. Then she sat down, took off her shoes and socks, and announced, "I want to go in the ocean!"

Child of my heart, you fill me up. What a joy.

Hopie

2008-12-27T20:59:00.004-05:00

We said goodbye to Grandma's house today. When Phoebe walked into the living room, she said, "What happened to Hopie?"

Making Christmas Cookies

2008-12-24T17:45:00.003-05:00

She's wearing Grandma Dene's apron--handmade by her mother Mae.

Lighting the Tree

2008-12-24T17:38:00.003-05:00

Happy Hanukkah

2008-12-21T18:29:00.004-05:00

Fireside Cookbook

2008-12-20T14:18:00.005-05:00

Apparently there was also a Fireside Cookbook. My father writes, "Sometimes my mother played the piano while we sang from The Fireside Song Book. . . . . I remember a similarly designed cookbook, in which I saw scrambled eggs or omelet recipes, including one with sauteed tomatoes."

Fireside Book of Folk Songs

2008-12-13T15:40:00.001-05:00

Lately, Phoebe asks to read the Fireside songbook before bed. Sometimes we look for animals. There are two birds in the introductory pages that we especially like to talk about and a nice lobster across from "Cockles and Mussels."

She likes to turn the pages herself and demand, "Sing this one! Sing this one!" She doesn't understand, "I don't know that one," a response I remember finding very frustrating when I was a kid leafing through my parents Fireside songbook.

The other night she discovered "Oh, Susanna!" Big hit. She seems to like the fast ones now. I can't get more than the first few words of "Scarborough Fair" or "Au Clare de la Lune" out before she's saying, "No, Mommy. I don't like that." With "Oh, Susanna!" on the other hand, she asks me to sing it again and again, while she chimes in on the last word or so of each verse: ". . . on my knee," she'll sing with a big smile.

Whoa!

2008-12-06T15:11:00.001-05:00

OK. This really has very little to do with Phoebe, but I just couldn't resist posting this amazing picture that I found on John's facebook. I hope Phoebe grows up to have such awesome glasses!

Welcome to Dear One

2008-12-06T14:31:00.002-05:00

Surely I should be grading papers or working on my grad school portfolio, but here I am creating a blog for my dear one. Today before nap she insisted on holding both Mr. Peanut banks. First she told me he was dancing. Then she said he was NOT on his "tipper toes."