Swimming against the Tide...

I sent Lulu into her preschool classroom this morning dressed in her ersatz costume as a German soccer player (with her jersey and a gold medal that she brought home from school for something or other). It was a last-minute ParentOfTheYear compromise/thrown-together solution to the sudden problem of sending her to school without a costume on Halloween. I'm actually quite proud of my ingenuity in putting something together in *literally* 30 seconds as we were headed out the door.

 So, we arrived at preschool and I took off her shirt and put on the jersey and medal in the parking lot before going in.  The teachers at the front desk sign-in told her how cute she looked and that they liked her costume....and then we opened the door to her classroom. 

To a sea of pink princesses. No kidding--EVERY little girl in that classroom was wearing some variation of a princess costume (including a pink fairy and a snow white). I find this situation very, very sad. Why does the majority of little girls think they can be nothing BUT princesses on Halloween??

So I spent a good couple of minutes, kneeling down beside her and whispering to her about how special she was in comparison to all the other princesses.  I asked her if she saw another soccer player in the classroom and she pointed out the superheroes and the policeman, but we didn't see any other soccer players. And I tried to communicate how special she was, that she had her very own costume that nobody else had. To be fair, I think the only reason it worked out as well as it did was because she thought that they were playing soccer during recess again today (they had a soccer demonstration yesterday by an outfit that wants to give lessons through Merryhill). But, I do hope that she can be proud of her individuality.

 For the record, she is trick-or-treating tonight in a pink mermaid costume her godmother and I made for her on the cheap with a shiny, pink skirt that we put some tulle on the bottom of and some sea shells sewed onto a hot pink shirt, so we are not completely immune to the broader societal message. But I do try to keep it to a minimum and let her know that she has other choices, that she can be whoever she wants to be.

 But it's awfully hard to swim against the tide in that pink princess sea.....

Happy Halloween!

We did a couple of Halloween-themed things this year.  Lulu went trick-or-treating on the actual day with her BFF Shaya.  Unfortunately, I had to teach a night class on Weds nights this semester, so I was unable to go and get pictures.  Walter and Tina tried, but the girls were SO excited that they ran and ran and ran from one house in our neighborhood to another.  Lulu wore her pink mermaid outfit and Shaya was a yellow princess--yellow is Shaya's favorite color.  I think Tina texted me one picture taken on our patio before they left, but that's it (and it's still on my phone).

photo from actual Halloween at school--see the sea of pink princesses??

And Merryhill hosted their annual fall harvest festival at school.  So, all the little kids came in their Halloween costumes and got to do fun things like bob for a white powdered donut tied on a string--no hands!  And pick out their own pumpkin to decorate with jack-o-lantern themed stickers.  And visit the scaaaaaaary dark room and stick their hands in gooey stuff!

mermaids!

explaining her necklace

making another necklace

decorating goody bags

not sure what this is all about yet

now she gets it!

another angle from goody bags

another angle from necklace making

My personal proud moment was in the dark room--the last room we visited before leaving.  They had a ring-toss game that featured a black spider and glow-in-the-dark rings to try to toss on him to win a prize.  Lulu kept trying to toss the rings and kept missing (her motor coordination skills aren't that great yet--have you seen her gymnastics?).  So, she went over to the pile of rings, took two apart, and made an even BIGGER ring to try.  I joked with the teacher that she gets her mad cheating skillz from me, but I was proud of her problem-solving abilities.

sensory table with spaghetti brains!!!!

And last, but certainly not least, we attended Patrick's 1st birthday party!  Our dear friends and neighbors down the street were celebrating the birthday of their youngest and decided to embrace the October birthday and hold a Halloween-themed celebration.  Melissa goes all OUT on her parties and "Baby Patrick's" party was NO exception!

cake table (with Grandma Deb dressed as a witch in the background)

Walter, Melissa, and the birthday boy
who spent most of his part in the highchair lording over things...

enjoying a juice box

another view of cake table

Daddy and the Birthday Boy

First birthday cake!!

enjoying her owl-themed cake pop

post-piñata-popping

Funny story--the family who won the costume contest dressed as characters from the Gangnam Style video.  Mom was the yellow suit guy, Dad was the elevator guy in the shorts and cowboy hat, and their toddler was Psi dressed in the tuxedo.  I asked Melissa who Carmen Sandiego was and she couldn't stop laughing!  So, I had to google "Gangnam style" on my iPhone on the drive home to see what the deal was!  And even better, Melissa mentioned it to the Gangnam mom who replied, "Who's Carmen Sandiego?"  Classic!

First *Real* Dentist Visit

So, I took Lulu for her first real dentist visit this October.  She had been once before for a "get acquainted" visit where the dentist showed her how everything worked and they "counted" her teeth before giving her a balloon so she'd have positive associations with going to the dentist.  That was about six months ago and today was her first real visit that involved actual dentistry....

The dental hygienist is the same one we had before and she's a champ when it comes to working with small children.  She had Lulu laughing and having a great time before I knew it!  She showed her how the sucker and the water thingies worked and how to wave her hand underneath the lamp to make it turn on (Lulu's favorite part).  And she even gave Lulu a choice of three (?!) different toothpastes for cleaning her teeth--why don't I get three choices?  Lulu chose bubblegum, of course!

demonstrating the water by shooting it into the sink

showing her the tooth scraper

bright lights, dark glasses

fascinated, I tell you!

actual teeth cleaning

And, then the dentist came in to examine her teeth more closely and said that she had great teeth.  She said normally, she would prescribe flossing to clean in between them but apparently Lulu has such widely spaced teeth that there's no need to really worry about that yet.  Her dead front tooth is still hanging in there and uninfected, so we're all good on that front.  And best of all--NO cavities!

Showing Lulu her nice, clean teeth

So, we celebrated by grabbing a couple of ice cream cones at Baskin-Robbins on the way home.

Happy Halloween from Nanny!

A surprise cookie arrived in the mail earlier this week from Nanny.  Having quite the sweet tooth, Lulu was very excited to see the jack-o-lantern shaped sugar cookie!  Nanny, these photos are for you!

German School

We signed up Lulu for German lessons once a week at the Sacramento Turn Verein and yesterday was her first lesson.  She and I had gone to a couple of the "Krabbelgruppe" meetings for younger children (1-3), but I walked away disappointed.  (It was basically a bunch of parents sitting in a circle with babies on their laps, singing German songs I already knew).  Lulu was finally old enough to be in the next class (4-7 yr olds), so we decided to give it another try.

I was very pleased with her German lesson yesterday.  There were five little girls and two little boys with a teacher and an assistant.  The entire lesson was in German with the exception of a random word or two (from the teacher anyway--the kids were mostly speaking English to each other).  They started off singing a little song about how happy they were to you there and then went around the circle, introducing themselves.  Lulu was shy and didn't want to say anything when it was her turn and she wouldn't sit in the circle unless I was nearby....

interested in seeing everyone introduce themselves...

....but once the teacher pulled out a plastic Fisher-Price dollhouse, Lulu ignored me.  I was impressed with how clever that was--she could talk about all the various parts of the house and the rooms inside with their appropriate German names.  Then she pulled out out a plastic shoebox with furniture and the children really came alive.  They talked about what each thing was and in which room it belonged.

out comes the dollhouse

paying rapt attention

you could tell she REALLY wanted to play with the dollhouse!

Afterwards, they read a book in German and sang a song with hand movements.  Very cute!

a book about a family of German mice eating pumpkin soup

Mmmm, that soup is delicious!

lyrics to the song they're singing in the video below

Then, it was time for a little arts-and-crafts. The children each had a miniature pumpkin that they made into a jack-o-lantern with a marker.  There were lots of different colors of markers and Lulu insisted on yellow, so I can't say that her jack-o-lantern was particularly effective!  But the markers also allowed the teacher to talk about German color names, too.

coloring their kurbis

Then, for the end, they had a little dance and sang a little song before getting their "hausaufgabe" or homework for next week.  Given Lulu can't read yet and her drawing skills are still developing, I think we will be coloring her homework!

bow to your partner!

Concerned family members (you know who you are!!!) will be happy to note that Lulu was a regular little girl and NOT a weirdo dressed in a Snow White costume, a dirndl, or wearing a strange apron outside of the kitchen.  She laughed, sang, danced, colored, and had a nice time, so we'll definitely be back next Saturday.  I had a chance after class to also explain to her German teacher that she's big for her age, but she's only 4 and doesn't read/write well yet.  Turns out her teacher is from Nürnberg (Nuremberg!).  Small world!

Lessons in Flying

Apparently unicorns can fly.  Who knew?

Gymnastics Class

Lulu began her first gymnastics class last Tuesday and had her second follow-up class yesterday.  Walter and I thought that gymnastics might be a less frustrating experience for her because she wouldn't be standing around and waiting for everyone else to do what she just did (or conversely, waiting her turn to do what everyone else just did).  In my opinion, there seemed to be a lot of standing around in her dance class.  Not to mention that at this age, anything that burns off extra energy is useful!

So, overall the classes went well.  She liked the other little girls in the class, Makenna and Teegan (Keegan?).  The little boy, Thomas, seems like he has ADD or something--he's impossible to keep on-task, but not to the detriment of the overall class itself.  And the teacher appears to handle little kids really well--she was very encouraging to Lulu who clearly had less-developed skills in comparison to the other little girls who were already in the class.

She starts them off with doing different motions back and forth--bear-walk, crawling like a crab, hopping like a bunny, etc. before moving on to do a few stretches in a circle.

I think this was a sideways skip-hop combination

doing their stretches

getting ready to roll back and forth like a ball

Then, they moved into another area with lots of padded equipment to crawl on, under, around, etc.  The teacher demonstrated a series of moves to them and then had each child start at a different place so that no one had to wait their turn.  Genius!

walking backward on a balance beam--she did really well!

her first somersault!

she was a big fan of the monkey bars!

she did really well on this one!

Then, they moved on to the trampoline.  This was the only part of the class when the children had to wait their turn because only two of them were allowed on the trampoline at a time.  It became really obvious that Lulu has NO experience whatsoever on the trampoline, but she started to get her "sea legs" by the end of the trampoline exercises.  I really appreciated the teacher spending a little extra time with her at the end to help her figure out jumping and keeping her balance.  She's nowhere near as good as the other little girls (yet), but she'll figure it out with time!

figuring out how to balance with the teacher's help

getting some individualized instruction

Last week, they ended class with little egg-shaped shaker thingies and had fun making different rhythms and sounds.  This week, they ended class with ribbons and twirling.

shake those eggs!

ribbon twirling

It was interesting to see how she stacked up against the other kids who have been in gymnastics longer than she has.  The others have more coordination and muscle control right now, but they seem pretty small in comparison.  The little girl in the rainbow leotard is turning 4 next month, so she is only 3 months younger than Lulu.  But--I'm not kidding--Lulu can rest her head on top of the other girl's head.    the droopy drawers on the leotard just kill me every time I see this photo.

lining up for their stickers at the end of class...

Apologies--I shot all of these photos with my cell phone because I forgot to bring my camera with me.