Taking the Scenic Route

[Zane] “Sorry, guy”
[Zora] “I’m not a guy; I’m your sister!”
[Zane] “Sorry, gal”
[Zora] “I’m your SISTER!”
[Zane] “OK. Sorry, Zora.”
[Zora] “Better.”
[Zane] (a little later) “Stop it, Zora”
[Zora] “You’re supposed to say, ‘please stop doing that’”
[Zane] “Stop doing that, Zora…please.”
[Zora] “OK”

Some days I think I gave birth to Punky Brewster. (heading to the store for Thanksgiving Dinner shopping)

I edited this post to add some art she did later in the day.  She drew a picture of her and Zane being kings on our dry erase board.

Zora is at that stage in learning to read where she writes out a “word” and wants us to read it to her.  Usually, no big deal, but when presented with this word, I hesitated before I “pronounced” it, because the first pronunciation that flit through my brain was not something I want her to repeat.  Like, ever.

“phpp hoor aasso” 

Zora’s preschool had all the kids dress as “something from a farm”.   I assumed she was going to want either cat or dog, but I listed off all of the possibilities:  cow, duck (even had an online friend with a great costume for this), horse, cat, dog, goat, chicken….”  Jokingly, when she was oscillating between several, I said “skunk” under my breath.  She heard me and was convinced that it was perfect.  Couldn’t really argue with her with a straight face.  So, here is my “Little Stinker”

The face is because she wants to go, not stand still for pictures.  She was very enthused about the make-up.

Happily wiggling her tail.  She and Zach picked out the fun fur and the white feathers that I sewed to the back of the black coveralls (which were from Zane’s old pumpkin costume).  The ears were a pipe cleaner strung through a little jaw clip, then felt put over it and sewn together around the pipe cleaners.  It worked a lot better than attaching them to a hairband for her because they were easier to position, stayed put, and didn’t pull or dig into her head.

The project was to make your own pumpkin pudding.

She had a lot of fun with her costume, swinging her tail around, and chasing her friends around “spraying” them with her tail.  I don’t think she understood the mechanics of how a skunk sprays exactly though; she would pick up her tail and say “spray” while aiming her tail like a hose.  The other kids giggled and made a lot of “eww, stinky” declarations, so it was all good.

Children’s story at church was about why Jesus talked about separating the sheep from the goats and what it meant. Asking the kids what the difference was, Zora piped up with some long rambly thing about “Sheeps being nice”…blah, blah, *needs to be cut off now* blah.  Zane, in a loud clear voice, states “Sheep are Good, Goats are Eeeeevil”. You could find me on the floor under my pew hiding.

After seeing us take pictures of Zane’s hair, Zora grabs her Halloween costume and strikes a pose.

Then shows us she can fly

Zane joins us, after the goop is out of his hair

(by the way, he is wearing shorts, it is just an unfortunate angle)

Really?

10 minutes and lots of hair products later:  OK, here ya go…

10 minutes later:  I want normal hair again. 

edited to add: Eraserhead examples. But he has never seen the movie, so I have no idea where he got the concept from.

It isn’t unusual to be uploading my camera to the computer and discovering a series of photos taken by somebody else, totally unbeknownst to me.  This set made me chuckle because of the context.  We went to a family reunion, forgot to take the camera inside with us, but  Zach obviously found the camera while I was chatting with my family as we were getting ready to leave.

It showed three things.

First, apparently, I talk too long

Second, we really need to wash the windsheild

And third, Zach found a way to entertain the kids while they were waiting.

We snuck downstairs to see Zora having a big party for her dolls, followed by a “ride” on the big stuffed dog.  Adorable.

(that is her blur in the foreground, but we didn’t want to turn on the flash and alert her to our presence)

aka: My Little Gentile.

Zora was writing (drawing) out the lyrics to a song she is learning at church. I asked her what it was and she said it was about Jesus and the Rabbits. Confused, I got her to elaborate. Evidently, Jesus was talking with the Rabbits, and they weren’t very nice (and bit him, apparently), but Jesus still loved them and was nice to them (he pets them).

I think I need to explain what a “Rabbi” is.