So we're playing Clue now

No strategy yet, but we understand the rules.  Oh, and the mystery is "Who captured the unicorn?"

Dorothy is into secret codes

The Sunday Funnies

An online school assignment showed Dorothy three pictures:  a shattered dinner plate, a glass of spilled milk, and a burned piece of pizza.  She was supposed to talk about which one sounded the worst to her.  She identified the images as:  "a broken glass plate, milk spilled on a wooden floor, and getting mold on your pizza."

One of Dorothy's podcasts talked about the concept of unconscious bias.  Dorothy brings this up about once a week in her own way, such as, "The way I put this leprechaun over here and that leprechaun with the shamrock over there is an example of unconscious bias."

We were discussing the Pledge of Allegiance, and Dorothy noted that it's boring to say the same thing over and over in school every day, "Plus, I didn't even know that a pledge was a promise, so I didn't know that I was making a promise."

I ordered a random chapter book at Dorothy's level from the library, and I was surprised that she wasn't diving into it.  Then one night I saw her reading chapter ten intensely.  I said I didn't realize that she had been reading the book at all.  "I haven't read it," she said.  "The first chapter looked boring.  So I read the best-looking chapter to see if it's good, and it is good, so I'm going to read the book now."

We were kicking a soccer ball, and Dorothy complained, "I want to kick it straight, but I keep kicking it diangular."

Dorothy likes to play with her words and create spoonerisms, where you transpose the first sounds of two words.  This makes us giggle when she crosses words like "slime" and "putty."

Dorothy told me that Aaron is her favorite boy at school.  "He's my favorite boy friend," she said.  "What do you like about him?" I asked.  She answered, "He laughs when I try to do funny things."

Brian took a book off the shelf and said, "Dorothy, you might like this book.  It's called Questions Children Ask."  "And answers?" Dorothy offered hopefully.

Dorothy dressed as Sally from "The Cat in the Hat" -- the pink Sally from the computer game

Still snaggletoothed

I like these faces DJ drew

Green Eggs & Ham Day

 

Fox in Socks Day

The Sunday Funnies

I pointed out a beautifully blooming Japanese magnolia tree.  Dorothy quipped, "If they were selling that tree, roots and all, we'd buy it!"

"Mom, elephants are lucky.  Wanna know why?  They can give themselves a shower with their trunks, and if they want to look at their noses, they don't have to hurt their eyes."

Before I dropped Dorothy at school on her first day back, I told her that I was going to ask her a thousand questions when she got home.  For the next two days, whenever there was a quiet moment, Dorothy would prompt me, "Now about those thousand questions..."

Dorothy's thinking is getting very meticulous.  On her first day back to school, I asked her to count the kids in her class and let me know how many kids are in her group, Cohort B.  After a moment she said, "Well, I won't actually know how many kids are in Cohort B if somebody doesn't come to school today."

Brian was sitting in Dorothy's room, reading a very long chapter to Dorothy from an Oz book.  Dorothy was playing with toys on her floor, and, totally in the zone, she stood up and accidentally instructed her dad to, "Hey Google, stop."

"Take a picture of me...did you get my foot in it?"

Helping dad's back after a long day of yardwork

Library book drop

Hittin' the books

Today was the first day back at in-person school (hybrid).

Static

Quarantine pod

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy hasn't studied telling time in school yet, but she has some flashcards and one card asks questions about time.  She read the question and then ran to her room, and then returned, confused.  "The front of the card says 'It was 2:30 fifteen minutes ago; what time is it now?'  So I checked the time, and the back of the card says '2:45,' but it's 3:30 right now."

I was curious about a standardized test Dorothy took at school, and I asked if it was on the computer or if she used pencil.  "We used pencil in a book," she said.  "Oh, like a workbook?" I asked.  "Yes," she said, "but it didn't have an answer key in the back."

Dorothy and a friend were looking for four-leaf clovers.  Her friend pulled up a handful, including roots, and Dorothy fussed, "You unplugged 'em!"

We were reading a children's book about Anne Frank, and it ends on an uplifting note with a drawing of children everywhere reading copies of her diary.  "They're all reading the same book," Dorothy observed.  "Yes, it's Anne Frank's diary," I told her.  "How are they all reading her diary at the same time?" Dorothy asked.

Azaleas are on the way

School for the Gifted

Dorothy went to school this week to take a standardized test for admittance to the gifted program.  When I picked her up, I asked how the day went.  She complained, "I can't believe that you dressed me in a sweater.  I was so hot all day!"  It was a zip-up cardigan sweater over her uniform.

 

Looking for four-leaf clovers

Morning blogging

Dorothy's pet

Night blogging

The Sunday Funnies

For Valentine's week Dorothy's teacher was talking about hearts, and she asked each child what makes his heart beat fast.  One after another, the kids gave examples of exercise:  running, gymnastics, spinning around.  Dorothy went last.  "Doing XtraMath," she said.  This is her school's timed computer game about math facts.

Dorothy has been making up her own jokes lately:

What's a cat's favorite food?
    A purr-nip

What did the nutcracker say when someone made it laugh?
    You crack me up

I took a "before" picture because we are expecting that front tooth to come out any day now

This style is an attempt to stop hair-chewing

Here's to the Ladies Who Lunch

I received a gift assortment of hot chocolates for my birthday, and we've been doing tastings each night. Pictured here: raspberry hot chocolate

 

The Sunday Funnies

We were watching a YouTube video called "Jelle's Marble Runs."  The set-up is a course for a marble run, filmed and narrated as though you're watching a live sporting event.  There are even stands full of fans (marbles).  It's surprisingly engaging.  At the end of a series of races, the marbles ascended stairs in stop-motion, carrying a tealight Olympic torch, up to the winner's podium.  "They must be so proud," Dorothy observed.

Dorothy likes soft-boiled eggs, and the eggs we usually buy are brown.  We happened to buy white eggs, and when I picked-up an egg and cracked it, Dorothy said, "I thought those eggs were already peeled!"

Dorothy appeared in the living room from bed.  "If I had three people in my heart, Willa would have one-quarter of my heart, you would have one quarter and one-half of one quarter of my heart, and Dad would have one quarter and one-half of one quarter of my heart."

Friend at the neighborhood little library

Blog Takeover

How-to-draw video

Homemade kite this weekend

Happy 1st birthday, Baby Will!

Kal-eye-doscope

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy is sort of anxious by nature.  Now that she's reading, I keep having to play-down the warnings on all her objects -- the toys, her bicycle, the inside of her helmet.  The helmet should not be used for climbing or diving.

Dorothy's art class was looking at a painting depicting a baptism in a river.  "The person is walking into the water to be baptized," the teacher said.  Dorothy was surprised, so I added that at some baptisms, instead of pouring water over the head, people will be baptized in a river or big tub.  "And they already could walk?" she asked.

Personalized facemask fail #1

Personalized facemask fail #2

Outdoor reunion

 

Last night's birthday celebration

Happy birthday! in Legos

6 years ago tomorrow

Showing work to the teacher

The Sunday Funnies

Overheard:  "Star light, star bright, second and third stars I've seen tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight."

Dorothy complained, "I hate it when I get water up my eyes."

Dorothy heard that Hank Aaron died, and I explained that he was a famous baseball player who set a homerun record, and that he lived until he was 86.  I then had to explain a home run record.  "Well, at least he did that, right?" she replied.

We all dressed-up for a "fancy dinner" at home.  Dorothy and I were wearing high heels; they were approximately the same height.  She said, "Look, the points on our shoes are the same."

Fancy dinner

Love notes

A woman at the table

Art class today

A drawing of Dorothy's room: yellow walls, green and white carpet, bed, dresser, picture wall, garland of bows, colorful lamp, and Legos on the floor

Uni - cycle

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy plays with a friend who is into dinosaurs -- the girl crawls around on her hands and knees and roars.  This isn't really up Dorothy's alley, but she has compromised with the friend and will play dinosaur.  This is the dinosaur she agrees to:  "Its name is Dorothy-o-saurus and it's purple, it stays a baby forever, it lives forever, it eats plants, it can walk on two feet, it can jump over a tree, and it learns how to protect itself as soon as it's born."

Dorothy refers to her hem as "the rim of her dress."

Dorothy took this picture which makes it look like Brian didn't do all the work hanging our new lights by himself

This is our home compared to the local Krispy Kreme

 

Virtual PE

Video:  https://youtu.be/UzkCyaw0YdI

Beloved fox hat

Picking up our worksheet packets at school