Sophie is getting older. She still likes to cuddle, but I am starting to sense that she’s not into cuddling as much as she used to be. More often than not, I’m the one who’s asking her to cuddle. Whereas in the past, she would just come to me and cuddle. I’ve been in denial about this for awhile now, but I think I need to start facing the facts. Sophie is getting older and it’s an irreversible trend.
1,000 Posts!
This is a day worth memorializing. This blog post is the 1,000th musing on www.pinkmenot.com. Yes, indeed – 1,000 stories about my girls (mostly about my girls, in any case) since October 2007.
Now that’s a feat of derring-do if I’ve ever heard of one. The most amazing thing about it is that I’ve kept it up this long. I don’t think I’ve ever maintained a hobby for that length of time. Which must mean that I really, really enjoy writing about my kids. I think that’s a big hint to me about what I should be doing with the rest of my life. Now if I’d only take the hint…
I Hear Things, I Figure Things Out
Chloe just announced with a big grin that a kid on her bus found a condom in his backpack. Forget for now why a 10-year old boy would have a condom in his backpack. He probably has an older brother or something.
When we asked her if she even knew what a condom was, she replied with another funny grin, “it’s what a dude puts on his thing to do you know what with a girl.” Don’t you love the euphemisms? When I then asked her how she knew what a condom was, she replied, “I hear things. I figure things out. I know things.” Chloe’s omniscient.
We’ve always been open with her about sex, body parts and other stuff. But it’s still amazing to me that she knows what a condom is. “Eventually you learn things,” she sagely says. “Like an elephant. You eventually learn what an elephant is. I didn’t have to ask you. I figured it out by myself. Or like mathematics.” Leave it to her to use the word ‘mathematics’ instead of ‘math.”
Ten years old going on 20. Woe is me.
Thank You, Osama bin Laden
The wicked witch is dead. Dead as a doornail, lying somewhere at the bottom of the sea. It feels odd to celebrate the death of a person, but he wasn’t really a person, was he? He truly was evil incarnate. Good riddance.
Oy, That Hair!
Sophie’s hair is getting curlier and curlier. She’s in desperate need of a haircut, which I promise I will take care of in the next couple of weeks. With the warmer weather, her hair is also frizzier and frizzier. And knottier and knottier. Which makes Sophie cry.
So she’s past due for a new ‘do. My goal is to have it cut a little shorter than usual. A little more like Shirley Temple. Which is easier said than done. Because I certainly can’t share my intentions with Sophie. She’d flip if I told her my plans before the actual date with the scissors.
Needless to say, Operation Curly Cue is going to necessitate a fair amount of subterfuge and bribery by chocolate.
The Reading Relay Results
As loyal readers of PinkMeNot know, Chloe participated in a school read-a-thon to raise money for the American Cancer Society, in honor of her aunt who is currently waging war against breast cancer.
Well folks, the results are in. Chloe read more than 2,600 pages in 25 days and raised $222. She’s a crazy reader. In fact, she’s apparently the most voracious reader in her class. Since the beginning of the school year, Chloe has read more than 12.500 pages (yes, the teacher keeps track). If that doesn’t merit some kind of prize in this age of Wii and Playstation, Internet and texting, I don’t know what does.
Her Grammy pledged $0.02 for every page read. I pledged $0.04 for every page read. We’re suckers. But at least we were suckers for a good cause.
Her favorite kind of book is the thickest kind of book. More value for her money, as far as she’s concerned. And all the better if it’s part of a series of really thick books. I’m telling you, she’s a crazy reader. I’ll take that kind of crazy any day.
The Magnetic Electricity Generator
I’ve been alluding to the infamous “science fair project” in my recent blog postings, promising to recount all of the sordid details that went into the production of this 4th grade scientific masterpiece. Here goes.
Papa and Chloe
A rare photo of Papa and his first-born, Chloe. I’d like to think they shared a father-daughter bonding marathon during the creation of Chloe’s science project (more on that in the next couple of days). He’s all about the engineering and science, and I’m sure as hell not. Yes, the project almost sent him to the loony bin, but that was his fault, not hers (again, more on that soon).
They’ve also bonded over things like laughing hysterically over bodily noises, bad jokes and the shape of their noses; watching “Fringe” and silly shows like “Sponge Bob,” “iCarly” and other Nickelodeon juvenile nonsense; playing board games (which we know Papa does out of pure love for Chloe because he’s really not a fan of board games, except for Risk, which he does like); the stupid “Cool Facts” iPhone app; and planting corn in the backyard (which yielded one minuscule inedible ear).
I love my family!
Happy Easter
We had our annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt at our friends’ house today. The girls had fun, although Chloe bowed out of the actual hunting this year. Because she’s 10 now and it’s no longer cool to search for eggs. That didn’t prevent her, however, from pleading with Sophie to give her some chocolate.
The weather even cooperated. It was warm and the sun peeked out a couple of times. The chocolate goodies started to melt and it truly felt like spring.
The girls go back to school tomorrow after a week of spring staycation break. Chloe finished her poetry project and she and her Papa finished her science fair project after much drama and many, many hours of toil and trouble (more on that later this week).
May is around the corner – which I find extremely hard to believe, but I can’t wait for it to arrive.
“Groundhog Day”
Yes, the early-90s classic. Watching it with my girl, Chloe. And it’s still funny. Very funny. I love Bill Murray. Chloe thinks that Bill Murray’s character is like “Squidward” in Sponge Bob because he’s “unhappy and stuff.” “He’s so arrogant!” Chloe just remarked. She’s very observant.
It’s so much fun to watch normal (i.e., movies that have not been made with little people in mind) movies with my big girl. I’ll have to check out Netflix for our next mother/daughter bonding movie. I think it’s going to be “The Secret of Kells.”