all hold hands

On the way to Flagstaff, Chloe was listening to a CD with her
earphones. She was marily singing along to her CD of children's songs.
The song Kumbya came on and she began to sing, "Someone's singing my
Lord......Someone's crying my Lord..........Someone's laughing my Lord"
then she paused and said to me, "Man, that person singing surely is a
tattletale!"

Today I was playing an imaginary game with Paige. We had a path that I
would pretend to drive on my way to work that a broom handle was
blocking. I came to the blocked path where Paige had decided she was
the "lifter upper and putter downer girl" and I asked her to lift up the
broom so I could pass. She immediately asked if I was paying by cash or
credit card (nice). I told her that I didn't have any money and I was
late for work, but she held firm. She said that she would call my work
for me and tell them I would be late because I had to go to the credit
card store and get a credit card to give to her. So I dutifully went to
the imaginary credit card store, where she showed me how to buy a credit
card (with imaginary money of course). When I asked her which kind of
credit card I had, she told me it was a "Splenda card."

Today I was telling Paige that she was really a special and wonderful
girl to which she replied, "I should totally marry myself!"

the girls

Paige and Chloe were playing in the car the other day. They were
pretending to be 8 years old so naturally, they were using big words.
Paige said some made up word of hers like, "Shannanizerea." Chloe told
her that it was not a real word, to which Paige replied, "It is a real
word. Maybe you just don't know it because it is in French."

Yesterday Chloe decided to send her teacher an email. She sent it and
then announced that she had sent the email. We discussed the importance
of checking with me first before she sends any emails. I then asked to
see the email that she sent. It read, "I LOVE
YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It was a really sweet thought, except
she didn't sign her name and I was listed as the sender. A follow up
email was quickly sent to clarify the situation.

words

Today Greg brought home some sushi for himself for dinner. Chloe was
disgusted and kept saying how gross sushi is. Greg commented that she
hasn't even tried it, so how can she be sure it is gross. She
responded, "Who would want to eat rotten fish!" When it was explained
that sushi is raw fish, not rotten fish, she was unimpressed and said it
was still disgusting.

Paige watched a movie where the characters were singing a song. They
came to a part where they had to rhyme with the word orange. Paige
spent all yesterday and today trying to come up with words that rhyme
with orange. I tried to tell her that there is no real word that rhymes
with orange, but she is determined to find one so the quest continues.

newspapers

Chloe has to read 20 min each night as part of her homework. She
decided to try reading the newspaper in the car today for her time. She
was quietly reading along and would occasionally ask what a certain
unfamiliar word was. She kept coming across some pretty unusual words
so Greg asked to see the article. When he took a look at the article
she was reading, he realized it was about a girl telling about her
friend who posed for Playboy---nice.

catching up

Today while I was playing dolls with Paige, she chose one with
particularly messy hair and then messed it up further. She then
proceeded to tell me that we could call her "Crazy hair princess" and
that she was the doll I was to play with. She further explained that I
needed to play with her because I have crazy hair too. I went and got a
haircut this afternoon.

We were sitting at lunch when Paige suddenly exclaimed, "Mommy, you
don't have that owie anymore!" (referring to a small cut I had on my
chin about 2 weeks ago) I responded that my body had fixed it right up,
and thanked her for "looking out for me." to which she matter-of-factly
replied, "No, I'm not looking out for you. I am not an angel."

The other day I gave Paige a fruit leather after school on the way to
the library. When we were leaving the library, Paige began to ask for a
snack. I explained that we already had a snack and Paige became very
insistent. I reminded her about the fruit leather to which she replied,
"That's not a snack.....that's a taster!"

We were sitting at dinner the other night when Chloe proclaimed, "Can
you please move these pita chips to the other end of the table so I
won't be so eager to eat them."

the girls

Chloe came up with some theory that if you run with your mouth open, it
helps you run faster. She of course told Paige one day when they were
playing chase around the house. Paige took a practice run and was
amazed at how much faster she could run! I was volunteering in her
class yesterday when the class went out to recess. There were some
girls playing tag and she went up to them and said, "No, you are doing
it all wrong. I will show you how to do it. You have to run with your
mouth open like this so you can go more faster." She then proceeded to
run with an open mouth with the other 3 girls running with open mouths
behind her. I am glad it isn't mosquito season.

Yesterday Paige proclaimed, "Mommy, when I grow up, I am going to be a
ferocious terrible fire breathing GIRL dragon."

I was eating lunch with Paige the other day when she told me, "Mommy, if
I had one more toe, I would have 7 toes!" I explained to her that she
would have 6 toes if she had an extra toe on one foot. I further
questioned her as to what she would do with an extra toe and she said,
"Well, I would clean it out if I was wearing socks (I can only imagine
that she is referring to toe jam) and you would have to buy me some
really bigger socks!"

Chloe, who is just coming off of her addiction to the Wii video game
Mario Cart, has cleverly discovered that when she is playing by herself,
if she sets it up for 2 players on separate teams and then lets the
other controller just sit there unused (so the opposing team has a
member who doesn't score any points) so that her team always wins!

Chloe's exciting news

We are facing mixed emotions this week. Five days before school is
scheduled to begin, we received word that Chloe qualified for the CATS
(Chandler Academically Talented Students) program which is terrific
news! She had to test in and score above the 97th percentile to qualify
for the program. The sad news is that she has to change schools and
leave all of her friends. Fortunately, the new school she will be
attending is about 5 minutes away from our home (in contrast to our 30
minute commute we were doing). This also meant that we had to scramble
to find Paige a new Preschool. It all worked out in the end.