the sneaky monkey

Last night we split forces - I went to La Leche League with the Dillo, and mr. flea went to Back to School Night with Casper.

My report: Tiny babies named: Bruce, Benjamin, Audrey, Theo, Max, Scarlet, Catherine, Zoa (girl). Big babies named: Stella, Logan, Cadence, Sumi, Zayveon, Nathan. 2+ names: Annabel, Zachary, Lucy, Lucy.

mr. flea's report: Mrs. B wanted to let us know that Casper has been devious around the lunches - sometimes throuwing her food away without eating it, often 'misplacing' her lunchbox on the way to lunch, and once going into the lunch line, buying a lunch and eating it (which she is not supposed to do, according to us.) So, it's passive resistance, and we talked about how we can make Casoer's lunches more interesting. I'll try to pack them before bed and have her help out more often, so SHE can decide what goes in them. We'll never be able to compete with chicken nuggets, of course, but I am not ready to just have her buy lunch every day. If she doesn't want to eat a packed lunch, it won't kill her to go without.

In general she seems to be doing well. She showed mr. flea her journal (name writing practice, and they have started daily journaling, copying what is on the board: "10/8/07. Today is Monday." ) and some of the math lessons she is doing (all manipulative stuff.) They visited Mrs. Purple, the art teacher (I think art is Casper's favorite) and had a nice visit with the librarian as well, who mr. flea says is very sharp. mr. flea told Mrs. B that Casper says she's bored sometimes; Mrs. B noted that she was clever and picked things up fast. One of the things about Montessori is that they can go at their own paces, but to a certain extent this relies on the teacher having the time to set each child up with projects. Also, I suspect Casper is probably like me in that she *thinks* she has mastered things by doing them once, and is bored with repetition, but really does need practice for true mastery. So we complemented her writing by exclaiming over how hard she was trying and how hard she was working, to try and plant the idea that practice is good.

Said by Casper at the dinner table:
"I want to make a movie about the zombies AND the vampires. The zombie team and the vampire team."

Aww...

Email from mr. flea:

Thanks to you I got an early start with the kids this morning and so
I decided to take Casper over to the DCC with me to drop off Dillo.
The drop off went well. I think Dillo is adjusting pretty well to the
new situation. Then Casper and I went over to Whole Foods for
breakfast. It's something special that I like doing with her every
once in a while ... she had a good breakfast --- 2 strips of bacon,
1/2 a biscuit, and some chocolate milk. Over breakfast we talked
about lunch and how we want her to eat well so she can be healthy and
have good energy for her day.

Anyhow, as we ate it was nagging me that the gentleman sitting in the
booth behind us looked vaguely familiar. So I introduced myself and
told him he looked familiar but that I couldn't place him. We
quickly determined that he was Dr. G, the OB/GYN that assisted
with Casper's delivery [we had a midwife, but he was the attending that day for the practice, and looked in on us when we were dealing with very long pushing and a funny head position. I have a vivid memory of seeing him standing at my feet, with his head cocked to the side like a bird]. So on this special morning I got to
introduce Casper to the doctor who delivered her. He didn't remember
us specifically, but he seemed genuinely interested in chatting with
Casper and getting an idea of what kind of little person she has
grown into. They talked a little and I told the story of how he
called her a "little rascal" and how we still call her that to this
day. It was a nice experience :))

I love having a family with you.