Entries from November 2013 ↓

She is taking care of her friend J’s hermit crabs for a week. She can tell all three apart even though I still get Lola and Grace confused and have to refer to my notes about which one has the spikier shell.

There has never been a more excited hermit crab caretaker.

Here’s hermit crab, Charlie, when Ezri picked him up to place him in a “hermit crab playground” she created in a laundry basket with sticks and shells and acorns.

Ezri was sure she could ice skate because she had practiced in socks without grippies on our hardwood floor.
She had also ice “skated” on an ice coated cement step outside in her boots.
So, skating at a rink was something she was absolutely confident she could do.

I was afraid that her over confidence might lead to disappointment the first time she fell on the ice.
But, she was dedicated to ice skating and worked hard to get herself off of the wall.
I will say I was working pretty hard to keep her up as evidenced by my arm and back muscle soreness today.

When she went skating without me supporting her, I felt like waving my arms and yelling “Look, no hands!”
She was very proud of how well she could get herself up to standing after she fell down. She’s right it’s more important to be able to get yourself back up than it is not to fall down.

It was a mincing skate with short steps and limited steering capabilities, but we had fun and I feel we’ll be back at the rink again soon.

This short clips shows her skating. She fell down at the end of it and while I stopped recording to help her back up, she did not need any assistance. Go, Ezri!

We could not build a snowman, but there was enough to throw some snowballs, make footprints, and catch snowflakes on tongues.

No, it’s not as tall as you are yet. Keep building.

Almost tall enough.

Ezri wants to see if she can add a plastic mouse to the bottom floor.

You saw it coming, didn’t you?

A Hulk see-saw should be green.

Look, a kitty cat staircase.

Ezri lost her 2nd tooth last night. “After 3 more teeth I can buy a new My Little Pony.” We discussed the idea of an allowance since purchasing power seemed entrancing. But once she heard she might not get her allowance if she didn’t help out, she did not want an allowance at all. Apparently it would be sadder for her not to get her allowance in a given week than to never have had one at all. She said, “Maybe when I am five, I will get one.”

“You are a good singer. I am a good singer. Maybe together we can be movie stars.” Obviously this was said to her father, not her mother.

We were talking about all different kinds of jobs people have and Ezri said, “I want my job to be being friends with all the kids in whole world.”

“Manny is my closest friend.” Further conversation revealed that this is the case because he is the friend who lives closest to our house.

Amanda: It won’t matter which pillow you put your tooth under. The tooth fairy will find it. She’s magic.
ezri: No, she’s NOT magic.
Eric: Then how does she know you just lost a tooth?
ezri: She’s just really smart.
(Ezri knows magic is pretend and I think she wants to believe the tooth fairy is REAL.)

“I’m doomed! Doomed! I have so much to pack and only these two bags.” Hyperbole. Her dramatic tone made me chuckle. She was just putting toys in her owly bags for fun and carrying them from room to room.

“Rectangles! Get your free Rectangles!” Ezri called this out as she cut a piece of paper into tiny rectangles. I got 12 free rectangles.

“It’s a littlest pet shop fashion show and Ivan is my little assistant. Can I have him for 5 more minutes, please?” When I told Ezri, Ivan needed to go take his nap. These days they are playing together more productively. Plenty of squabbling, but lots of nice moments enjoying each other too.

When the kids had gone into “Kids Land where no grown-ups are allowed” and been quiet a bit too long. I suspected climbing on the bed which they had been doing earlier in the morning, but when I opened the door I found Ezri reading Ivan a story quietly.

Max monkey needed a new outfit and it was Blau Haus Dance Day.

Pumpkin decorating involved a small wooden hammer. Both my kids like banging pegs into a pumpkin. See Ezri tongue bite of concentration. It makes her look like my father.

Ezri decided to paint her pumpkin purple & pink.

Here Ezri asks if it is too rainy to Trick-or-Treat.

Our first stop has a nice, dry porch for the Princess of Light. Her preschool teachers told me that she explained yesterday that she was the Princess of Light who brings the sun. They asked me where the character is from – I do not know. Meghan who took the photo below explained that “this was the face she made right after explaining to me very sweetly that ‘a princess’s job is to give orders and everybody has to listen because she is the princess.'” This is also the stop where after being given candy, Ezri asked for a slice of cheese.

Here I think the princess is getting ready for a masquerade ball.

Here is the posse we went Trick-or-Treating with. Luckily, the weather was down to a drizzle by this point and we even saw a patch of blue sky.

The vampire and the princess did a great job going from house to house and saying their Trick or Treats and Thank yous. They were often hand-in-hand along the path. They particularly enjoyed the house with the fog machine at the door that got turned on for kids ringing the bell. Spooktastic.