Eric Carle Day at summer camp

No, ring pops!

Pacifiers?

Flashback to June 4, 2015

Shaving cream cupcakes

The Sunday Funnies

There is a series written for young readers called the Nancy Drew Notebooks that follows the detective at age 8.  We cannot get enough of them!  So far we have read every one at our library, with irresistible titles such as:

The Dollhouse Mystery
Alien in the Classroom
The Snowman Surprise
Not Nice on Ice
The Lost Locket
Dinosaur Alert!
The Soccer Shoe Clue
The Apple Bandit
The Chinese New Year Mystery
The Puppy Problem
The Kitten Caper
The Bunny-Hop Hoax
The Singing Suspects
The Secret Santa
Trouble at Camp Treehouse
The Hidden Treasures
The Black Velvet Mystery
Candy Is Dandy
The Ice Cream Scoop

Nancy has two cousins who appear in every book.  George is a tomboy; Bess likes fashion and shopping and doesn't like to get dirty.  Dorothy commented, "George likes to play soccer because she is sporty, but Bess likes to do fun stuff."

I was tucking Dorothy in bed and she kept coming up with things to tell me.  "I'm playing Nancy Drew," she said.  "My teddy bear is Bess.  My Cinderella doll is George.  This is my blue notebook and I'm writing clues in it."  "Yes, yes," I'm saying as I scoot towards the door.  "And Mama!" she calls out.  "Yes?" I ask.  "I'm Nancy Drew."

In Dinosaur Alert, the lunch lady, a former student at Nancy's elementary school, came dressed as the school's former mascot for a reunion.  She told the story that thirty years prior she had stamped the dinosaur's footprint in wet cement and was scolded and not allowed to be the mascot anymore.  Dorothy asked, "So at the reunion, was the lady who said she cannot be the dinosaur not there anymore?"

Plunking around

And when it was time to go Dorothy slowly made her way to me, drawing this swirling line all the way

We had 10 minutes at the beach after dropping off the ND girls at camp. It was so hot that 10 minutes was enough for me.

...jammies with a sunhat

Jammies...

Fish faces at the aquarium (with our friend Maisie)

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy complained that Allen at school "always wants his lunch to be the best.  He doesn't like my lunches."  "What in your lunch does Allen not like?" I asked.  Dorothy answered, "He always says 'Uhhh, yogurt?!  Uhhh, a spoon?!'"

Dorothy likes to sing new words to familiar tunes, and then explain, "That was based on...", as in "That was based on Mary Had a Little Lamb."

Dorothy picked up a summery lotion with a beachy pink flamingo graphic.  She asked, "What is this?"  "Lotion," I answered.  "Is it supposed to smell like flamingoes?" she asked.

Dorothy was wearing two stickers; one said "I love Unicorns" and the other said "Believe".  At the same time, I was listening to my own music and paying half-attention to her.  Dorothy asked me, "What does this say?" and I, thinking she was asking about lyrics, answered honestly, "Live fast.  Die young.  Bad girls do it well."  "Oh," she said.  I looked up and she pointed to her second sticker and asked, "And what does this other one say?"

Dorothy spent the full hour at the pool jumping off the side into the water, climbing out, and jumping back in.  On the way home, I complimented her.  She responded, "Dad said I'm not supposed to jump off the side of the pool until I can swim without my floaties."  I asked, "Oh?  Then why did you do it?"  She answered, "Well, the first time I did it, I was in a hurry to get to the mermaid toy, and I forgot that I wasn't on the steps.  Then you said, 'Good job, Dorothy!' and I thought 'Hmmmm...'."

I'm not a pool person, but I'm getting a routine at our neighborhood pool and it's getting easier each day.  On the first day, I had to take Dorothy to the pool bathroom, and upon entering I even uttered, "This is a nightmare."  A few days later we needed to visit the pool bathroom again.  Upon entering this time, Dorothy asked, "Mama, are you still having your nightmare?"

I showed Dorothy a picture of Rosie the Riveter; unfortunately for feminists everywhere, she said, "I've seen that picture before on boxes of washing detergent."

Bathing Beauty (we've joined our neighborhood pool)

Last day at Montessori Academy!

Performance snippet:
https://youtu.be/5Lrk0SAVask

Dolphin pose:
https://youtu.be/Hf-E1ZqRxCo

#DanceMom

And did I mention that her costume included a teddy bear wearing an identical costume?

Dorothy's friend Willa was also in the show!

I assume everyone enjoys these as much as Sarah?

Where's Dorothy?

Wave from the stage

The Sunday Funnies

Dorothy hasn't napped in many years.  She doesn't nap when she's sick; she doesn't fall asleep in the car; she quit napping around the time she started walking.
This week was an exception.  She had a cold and napped for around two hours in the early evening two days in a row.
She could not wrap her mind around it:  Why are we eating dinner?  What do you mean I already watched a movie today?  How is it close to bedtime?  You mean yesterday when I went to school.

I told Dorothy that she was older than four-and-a-half; she is now four-and-two-thirds.  "What do you mean?" she asked.  I said, "Just a minute.  I'll show you."  I started to walk across the room, intending to grab a few building blocks.  Dorothy asked, "Are you going to ask Google?"