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[kcobweb]

When I look at my recent entries, I realize that I haven't made a Real Post in like forEVAR. So I think I'll try - but it may end up being a random laundry list.

* School is good. This has been an unexpectedly easy quarter, which is lovely and nice. I am surviving Stats, and maybe even understand some of it. (I have an AWESOME prof - that helps.) And the quarter is almost done. Dang, quarters go fast...... In 3 weeks I will be 1/4 of the way through the entire degree!

* Work is good. I like my crappy, low-paying job, and that's a nice realization. And someday, the economy will shift and there will once again be job openings, and I can hope to move on from this to something bigger and more challenging. All in good time (I hope).

* Elena is about to turn 4. 4!! Yes, I know. She is roughly 8 feet tall and talks a blue streak when she gets going...... We had a playdate this morning and I can tell she really likes this particular mom, because she talks about her (as opposed to talking about her child) before they even showed up, and once they got here, she would not shut up! She kept bringing books and toys to K to show off to her.

She was poking through our DVDs last week, and pulled out The Little Mermaid. (Yes, I own it. Shut up.) She was instantly drawn to it, and has watched it every day since. (Actually - she's only allowed to watch it once a day, and we've gotten it so that she watches half of the movie per day - that's 45 minutes, and about as long as her attention span will really go.) This is her first movie obsession (in that toddler way of watching the same movie over and over and over and over) - and it's not THAT bad. She has absolutely no problems with Ursula the Sea Witch. (Let me point out that she won't watch Sesame Street anymore - though she loves it - because she's afraid of Cookie Monster, despite my repeated statements that he's a very nice monster who just gets a little excited sometimes...... But Ursula is no problem? Sheesh.)

So let's add mermaids to the obsession list of princesses and ballerinas.

She's always telling me about her sisters (usually represented by dolls). Sometimes they get time-outs for no apparent reason. It's always a little horrifying to watch her parody of parental discipline and wonder if that's how we appear to her.

She is completely madly utterly head-over-heels in love with me right now. She's so affectionate too, which means she'll launch herself at me for a full body hug and lots of kisses. If she knocks me over, so much the better. This also means, in the balancing scale which is parenting, that she's totally not into Daddy right now. This is okay - he knows how it goes, and that eventually it will shift back again. But this did lead to an amusing conversation yesterday when I left for rehearsal:

Me: I'm going - now you be nice to Daddy, okay?
Her: Okay. I won't push him.
[pause]
Me: Okay, don't yell at him either.

I need to plan a birthday party for her..... My mom will be here all next week (leading up to E's birthday), so that will be help on some fronts, and also more work entertaining the house guest, etc. etc.

* I have read so many good books in the last month or so! Some of the recent favorites: Graceling, Feed, Fires of the Faithful, Uglies (!!!!!!), the Sharing Knife series, the Essential Dykes to Watch Out For, Spiral Hunt, Rapunzel's Revenge. Mmmmm, good stuff.

Comments

[journeywoman.livejournal.com]

E. was into the Little Mermaid until Ursula showed up. Then he freaked out and refused to watch any more.

But he has no problem with Cookie Monster. Funny how they get traumatized by different things.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Elena is so easily freaked out / scared that I was sure she wouldn't make it all the way through. But she was determined, I think. Didn't bat an eye.

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

I just posted something somewhere about how Cassie had no trouble at all with all the skeletons crawling out of the Black Cauldron, or the wine-drinking skeleton in The Last Unicorn, but had *bunny* nightmares for a time after Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Wererabbit. *shrug* Kids.

Yay birthday party! What sorts of things are on her want list?

Also: I'd be interested in hearing more about what taking classes online is like. What kinds of professor interactions do you get? Classmate interactions? What do you miss?

[ltlbird.livejournal.com]

I have a soft spot for The Little Mermaid. Probably largely due to the fact that I love singing the songs. :)

It is so interesting to me that kids have such varied responses to "scary" things. I guess it just reinforces that humans are as individual in their phobias as they are in their passions.

Maybe Elena is scared of Cookie Monster because he gobbles things so ferociously. Ursula doesn't eat anyone/anything. Is she afraid of any of the other muppets?

[scottahill.livejournal.com]

I used to listen to the Little Mermaid soundtrack over and over again in high school. And I'm a guy. :)

It's so hard to picture Miriam having a princess/mermaid phase: she's a little girl, but she's not a little *girl* if you get my drift-- not frilly at all (because we don't dress her that way, DUH). Was that true for E when she was 18 months old?

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Nope, at 18 months we had a lot more control over her wardrobe, and she wore pants and T-shirts and overalls:

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirstenr/241705065/)

She hit her ultra-girly phase last summer (3 years + 3 months, or thereabouts) when all of a sudden she would only wear skirts and dresses. I'm given to understand that it's a part of normal gender development, though of course not every girl has a big girly girl thing.

[scottahill.livejournal.com]

I guess her hair in that picture is pretty girly; Miriam's isn't as long yet.

She probably hasn't figured out the whole gender thing yet, anyway; we call her a "girl" often enough, but while she knows we're different we don't refer to Jen as a "girl". Probably when she starts hanging around other little kids for long enough (and talking), she'll figure it out.

I sort of dread the girly girl business, but I'm trying to see it as part of a well-rounded childhood; if anything, it's little boys who are typically deprived of the full range of experiences. (As someone once said, "If your daughter dresses up like Robin Hood, people think it's cute; if your son dresses up like Maid Marian, people freak out.")

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Well, Elena's always had HAIR and lots of it. :)

But I think you're right about a girly phase being a part of a well-rounded experience. I think of it like her trying on extreme gender stereotypes - at her age, she doesn't know much beyond dresses, pink, princesses...... As she's starting to identify herself as female, I think she needs to announce it to the world - "hey! I'm a girl! not a boy! don't mess it up!" ....And that's the only way she knows how to express that. I think (I hope....) she'll lighten up on the gender expression as she gets into other things, realizes that girls don't have to wear dresses, gets a more nuanced view of gender roles...... Something like that. And yes, girls have a lot more options than boys.

By the way, you clearly need to share some pictures with us. I don't think I've seen any pics of Miriam in a loooooong time.

[scottahill.livejournal.com]

Yup, makes sense to me. I don't know if my aversion to girly-girl is due to my training as a feminist or as a male. Probably both. :)

I don't take as many pictures as I used to and it's a hassle to get them up and organized, but it's on my todo list.