Monthly Archives: January 2013

A Tale of Two (or Three) Giraffes Part 1

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Part 1: There was a crime spree at Piper’s school last week. At least, according to Piper.

“Mom! A little boy stole my giraffe magnet!”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“I saw it in his locker. I was walking by in the hallway and I saw MY giraffe magnet in HIS locker.”

Piper told her teacher. The teacher gathered information and investigated the crime scene. Then she helped Piper retrieve the evidence. And they decided that maybe Piper shouldn’t bling out her locker with such cool stuff. Piper agreed and packed up her locker mirror, pictures of Sissy, magnetic notepads, and giraffe magnets. No reason to leave the good stuff in plain view when there are elementary school thugs roaming the halls.

“Who was the boy?” I asked.

“Some first grader,” Piper said. “Those first graders are all evil.”

A Tale of Two (or Three) Giraffes Part 2

Beach Illustrated

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According to Piper, this is what the beach looks like:

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There is always a rainbow at the beach. Your mommy is always with you. And those big bright shiny things in the sky? That’s how bright the stars are at the beach. Sometimes you see shooting stars, too. Your rainbow protects you from their fall.

Your mom carries a sand bucket and a shovel for you at the beach, too. Oh, and mom is green. Either green was the only crayon available or Piper watched the Wizard of Oz at the beach for the first time. But, really, if your mom was a witch, would she carry your sand castle making implements? I don’t think so.

Miss Manners

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Piper’s been learning about manners this week at school.  Her teacher took the opportunity to suggest some etiquette among the unruly kindergarten masses.

Piper is taking the manners very seriously and correcting our trespasses freely. This from a child who still leaves the bathroom door open so she can talk to us if she gets bored from the potty throne.

“Due to my recent manners training, Mom, I’ve decided to stop picking my nose,” Piper said.

“Sounds good to me,” I nodded.

“But only at the dinner table.”

What’s On Your Plate?

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It’s a little slow around here, especially compared to the marathon that is the holidays. Today there weren’t any presents to wrap or unwrap. No holiday cards to address (Oh, who am I kidding? Tiny Prints does all the work for me). No holiday tunes to belt out. We said goodbye to the beach and flew home with sand in our suitcases. I’m hoping the fairies show up soon and wrap each ornament individually and put away the tree. Le Sigh.

So Piper and I spent some time this afternoon mulling the new year over a bowl of spaghetti. It’s what she asked for when she came in the door from her first day back to school. “Mom, I had a great day,” Piper announced, creating a pile one foot from the door of backpack, coat, mittens, scarf, lunchbox, hat. “Now, I need some spaghetti. Bolognese sauce, please.” I understand. I had made the same thing earlier for lunch. Great minds think alike. The new year needs comfort food. Parmesan makes everything better.

Piper ate and told me about her new school project called “What’s on your plate?” where she’ll be learning how food actually gets onto her plate. It’s her first big research project. She’ll create a Power Point. She’ll present it by herself to an audience of parents. There will be cookies, of course, but she’ll know that the cookies are made from flour which comes from wheat which is grown in the ground. It’s cool stuff. I’m pretty sure I sat and made Playdoh snakes my entire kindergarten year. Times have changed.

“I’m really starting to think about my food, you know?” Piper said, gazing down into her spaghetti goodness. “Like this came from you, right?”

“I boiled the pasta and made the sauce, but I didn’t grow the wheat myself,” I admitted. “I bought the pasta from a store. Someone else grew the tomatoes.”

Piper twirled a good amount around her fork and sprinkled on more cheese, which comes from cows and is aged two years in Italy’s Parmigiano-Reggiano region.

“Well, wherever it came from, I like the sound spaghetti makes when I slurp it,” she said, smacking her lips together for effect. “It sounds like someone is KISSING!”