Some time ago Neko began talking about Zero the Hero. He's part of the kindergarten curriculum where they learn to count by tens. Neko kept talking about how he's coming to visit their classroom. I think he's supposed to come visit on one of the ten days (the 10th, 20th, or 30th), but I think he's had some scheduling conflicts.
Anyway, this morning Neko created her very own Zero the Hero, which, in my own humble opinion, is nothing short of brilliant.
Who couldn't use a few more superhero photos? Especially when they're superheroes that are channeling their inner dinosaur.
The important part of that title is "girls".
Since her birth, Neko has been surrounded by boys. Which, for the most part, has been really wonderful. Her oldest, dearest friends are boys. Her everyday playmate, Shep, is a boy. Our playgroup was filled with boys. I adore that these friendships encouraged her gusto and spunk, but I was also a little worried she might have trouble making friends with girls once she got to school.
I can now lay my fears to rest. She's happily settled in with a fantastic group of girls at school, and seems happy and at ease. Plus, she's still forging friendships with the boys, one of whom she has a playdate with this weekend!
Now maybe, just maybe, one of these girls (or boys) can convince her that its okay to wear a color other than pink.
See! I made that vow a week ago, and I'm kind of keeping it. You know, now that we're not doing constant laundry on the sanitize mode and taking a bowl with us everywhere we go just in case someone throws up.
We only lasted about fifteen minutes before everyone got cold and demanded hot chocolate. But I feel good we got out, and (this is for you, Dr. Oz) we got our daily allotment of Vitamin D.
Hooray for sunshine!
See! I made that vow a week ago, and I'm kind of keeping it. You know, now that we're not doing constant laundry on the sanitize mode and taking a bowl with us everywhere we go just in case someone throws up.
We only lasted about fifteen minutes before everyone got cold and demanded hot chocolate. But I feel good we got out, and (this is for you, Dr. Oz) we got our daily allotment of Vitamin D.
Hooray for sunshine!
There's that whole adage about parenthood—give your children wings and then let them fly. Which, you know, I thought meant when they were 18 and I packed all their belongings into our minivan and carted them off to college.
But I can see it's going to come much sooner.
Going with ice skating with Neko used to be a bit of a challenge. She wants to go fast, but lacks the patience to learn the skills. So she would hang on my arm the whole time, demanding to go faster. Although great quality time, inevitably, the next day I would wake up with some sort of tweak in my back from being in an awkward position for two hours.
However, Neko's school has begun its winter skating program, where the whole school goes skating on Friday afternoons. Enter Kaili, super-partner, and today Neko proudly proclaimed that she can skate by herself. She can even turn easily, because Kaili taught her how (many demonstrations followed).
And so she could. For the first ten minutes of skating today, she clung to my arm, but then she took off. I could barely keep up, not just because she's quick, but she's tiny and can squeeze past people when it gets crowded.
This is the view I saw most of her today. Periodically, she spotted a few friends, and went skating off with them. I suppose this is the beginning of that whole wings thing. At least, for the time being, I get to watch her as she flies.
Stellaluna has been massively popular in our house lately. This is Mama Stellaluna and Baby Stellaluna, mid-flight.
A while back Neko brought home some mealworms that were left over from the big kids' science project. I think they were actually food for something, but they became hers to watch as they morphed into beetles.
I'll be honest, I kind of forgot about them, as their well-sealed (yet ventilated) container made its way into the mudroom. We tossed a few old apple slices in with them and went along with our days.
Tonight, in an effort to stall bedtime just a little bit more, Neko checked on her mealworms. The screams of delight and joy that rang through the house as she discovered they had turned in to pupas (pupae?) rivaled that kid who got a Wii on Xmas morning.
I didn't take a photo because I know it would make most of you queasy, but if you'd like to know more about the lifecycle of a mealworm, look here.
I think a few of you just fainted.
