Monthly Archives: November 2012

Piper Writes a Sentence

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I’ve blogged before about Piper’s loathing of all things academic. She’s the daughter of two professors. One of us has been in graduate school most of her life. Of course she hates reading and writing. Makes total sense.

But last week Piper’s teacher presented me with her very first sentence. Ta da!

 

Now I know your kindergartener wrote her first novel last year, but Piper isn’t your kindergartner. Piper wrote about shopping. “I went to Macy’s.” Which is true, in her defense. Specifically, I took her to Claire’s. In the picture she drew headbands with sparkly bows and huge flowers. Those were her big purchase. She’s worn one of those headbands every day since. She loves a sparkly headband. She loves a sparkly anything. I praised her sentence, of course. I went ga ga over the thing. Piper glowed. Then she announced “Tomorrow I’m writing about my news boots!” Which are also pretty fabulous. Just like Piper.

Morning, Sunshine

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Piper likes to paint the sun in all of her pictures.

Sometimes her pictures have multiple suns.  They’re always bright yellow with lots of rays. Sometimes the suns hang out on the ground and sometimes they do their business in the sky with the clouds and birds. You never know where a sun will appear.

“I drew this sun for you!” Piper said, peeling off another sun, flower, sky picture from her easel.

“I love the sun! Yellow is my favorite color.” I admired the painting.

“The sun always makes me think of you, Mommy.”

“Really?” I asked. I’ve been called lots of things. Sunny has never been one of them.

“Yep,” Piper nodded. “Because you wake everyone in our house up, too. Just like the sun. Whether we want you to or not.”

 

Morning Exams

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Morning snuggles often catch me off guard. I’m half asleep. I stayed up too late grading essays. I haven’t had coffee. Piper’s brain, however, has been churning. She’s ready for heavy stuff.

“Mom, do you believe in God?”

“I do.”

“Mom, do you believe in Santa?”

“I do.”

“If you’re naughty, do they both know?”

“I don’t know.”

“If God and Santa asked if I was naughty, would you lie for me?”

“No, Piper. I wouldn’t lie for you. But you aren’t naughty.”

“I know. I was just testing you. I talk to those guys, too, you know.”

She Sees You When You’re Sleeping

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I have a stalker. Her name is Piper Mae.

She sleeps down the hallway behind a closed door. Yet she knows my every move.

If I get up in the middle of the night, she’s by my side. “I just happened to have to go, too, Mommy,” she says. “How about a quick hug since I’m here, you know?”

In the mornings I like to wake up early and write and blog. I’m careful not to make a sound. As soon as I lift the computer screen, though, Piper bursts through the door like she’s caught me. “I saw your light!”

“But it’s a laptop screen with just a tiny bit of light? How could you possibly see it?” I protest, throwing back the covers for the morning cuddle.

“I just know, Mommy. I always know where you are.”

Spa Bound

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“Mom,” Piper asked, “do you ever wear cucumbers on your eyes when you go to the spa?”

“Once I did, but usually they just put little hydrating pads on your eyes that do the same thing,” I said.

“Do they use anything besides cucumbers? You know, like broccoli or peppers?”

“No, just cucumbers.”

“I’d want the cucumbers, too. Then if I got hungry, I’d just eat them and ask for more.”

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Kids These Days

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Just when you think you know someone. Geez.

One of the best things about kindergarten is the new friends. Piper’s made some good ones. She’s kept her old ones, too, but her new ones have brought new friends into our whole family. It’s a win-win. So we were a bit shocked last night at dinner when Piper admitted that her classmate, Madeline, may not be the best influence.

“Madeline knows all the curse words. She said she’d teach them to me, too.”

My fork stopped mid-bite. “What?” I managed.

Dad jumped right in. “Oh? Like which ones?” Inquiring minds want details.

“I think all of them,” Piper said. “How many are there?”

“There’s a lot,” Dad said. “Which ones does she know?”

“I don’t know. But she definitely knows them. I saw her writing them.”

Sissy jumped up from the table and got a pad of paper and a pen. She brought it to Piper and wrote something down. “Is this a curse word?” she asked.

“Yep,” Piper said. “That’s what Madeline can do, too. I can’t wait to use curse words. Madeline is going to teach me how.”

Sissy sighed and handed over the notepad to me. “She means cursive, folks. Not curse words. You can breathe again.”

Time Travelin’

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Daddy: If you could live in any other time period, what would it be?

Sissy: Probably somewhere in the early 1900s. I’ve read a lot of books set then. A lot of inventions were happening. It wasn’t high tech then but it was still cool.

Me: 1920s. Most of my favorite authors were writing then. Also, I’d kind of like to meet my grandma when she was young.

Piper: The time of the unicorns, for sure.

Sissy: Unicorns aren’t real. They never existed.

Piper: What? Why would you SAY something like that?

Order in the Court

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Once a week we try to have a family meeting. There’s nothing formal about it. We just gather around the table and put whatever needs sorted on the table. It clears the air. I gripe less daily when I know I can bring up my grievance at family meeting. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a laundry list of grievances. None of us do. But when you live in a family, stuff needs talked about. The family meeting is our place to do that. It’s like therapy without the therapist. Sissy and Piper have a voice, too. Last family meeting Sissy asked people to knock before they barged into her room. Dad was frustrated that no one ever puts the hairbrushes back. I asked people to remember to clean out their lunch boxes right after school so they’d be dry by morning.

We also chat about good stuff coming up. We exchange news. The pending move in our new house was a hot topic at our last family meeting. The girls had questions, mostly about paint colors and decor. It was pretty civilized. Until Piper slammed her fist on the table out of nowhere and announced, “WE NEED SOME RULES AROUND HERE, PEOPLE!” We all gaped at her in wonder. Where did that come from? I still don’t know. The family meeting dissolved in giggles and there was no order to be had.

Wheeling and Dealing

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We dragged Piper and Sissy along with us today to a boring appointment. We have paperwork to do for our home purchase and the girls were out of school. At least there were cool chairs in the board room. And conference phones. Don’t they look like little bosses?

Their wheeling and dealing had to do with hypothetical home purchases. Sissy mentioned interest rates and home inspections. Piper said she needed a house with multiple rooms for her stuffed animals.

“What price range are you imagining?” Sissy asked.

“Who cares?” Piper answered. “I AM RICH!”