Ana's six now, btw.
May. 20th, 2009 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
Go Ana!
She's a hero. Today, as she was doing her homework on the porch, our neighbor came over and asked for her help. Her basement tenant had locked himself out, and his windows are tiny. So Ana climbed through, yes, we said, you can step on the bed! and she fetched his keys - and tried to bring them to us, prompting calls of "Just open the door!", which she did, and she SAVED THE WHOLE CREW! Hooray! What a day, when thebabies key ran away.
I loathe goody bags, so we did a grab bag first (which the kidlets had apparently never done, though they were de riguer for christmas parties when I was a kid - but maybe it's a Brooklyn thing?) and we also gave some presents For The Whole Class: A set of lacing letters, two sets of alphabet stamps and a stamp pad, a dolphin stamp (because the school animal is the dolphin), several sets of letter stickers, a M&D birthday cake, and some construction paper. And two birthday-themed books. And, incidentally, some snacks, bowls, and cups that we didn't use for Ana's party. Some of them came with those special "box tops for education" on them, so win! Best part is that I can just repeat this present for Evangeline's pre-k and kindergarten birthdays. Go me! No idea what I'll do for Ana for the first grade, though - definitely some books (anybody want to suggest picture books of a more advanced level that talk about birthdays or feature birthdays prominently? Or chapter books suitable for a first grade library?), maybe a few games...? First grade is different. More craft supplies, for sure. (Which reminds me, I want to get some lefty scissors for the school, you know my feelings on that. I need to ask what teachers, aside from grade teachers, use scissors. Like, does the science teacher? The literacy teacher? Are they going to have an art teacher next year?)
To round out my stories, Evangeline was in her own personal horror film recently. She was wearing her clicky-clacky shoes (Ana is the language innovator, "clicky-clackies" for "plastic pretend dress-up shoes" is a term she invented. Evangeline picked speech up much faster, but Ana played with it more. This is an area of degree, of course) when I decided to be a tickle monster. I started to run towards her, but she cried in (mock) horror "I can't run in my c'icky-c'ackies!". I swiftly shifted to the lurching kind of tickle monster and she escaped in safety, closing a door in my face. Tickle monsters, like vampires, can't go where they're not invited, you know.
She's a hero. Today, as she was doing her homework on the porch, our neighbor came over and asked for her help. Her basement tenant had locked himself out, and his windows are tiny. So Ana climbed through, yes, we said, you can step on the bed! and she fetched his keys - and tried to bring them to us, prompting calls of "Just open the door!", which she did, and she SAVED THE WHOLE CREW! Hooray! What a day, when the
I loathe goody bags, so we did a grab bag first (which the kidlets had apparently never done, though they were de riguer for christmas parties when I was a kid - but maybe it's a Brooklyn thing?) and we also gave some presents For The Whole Class: A set of lacing letters, two sets of alphabet stamps and a stamp pad, a dolphin stamp (because the school animal is the dolphin), several sets of letter stickers, a M&D birthday cake, and some construction paper. And two birthday-themed books. And, incidentally, some snacks, bowls, and cups that we didn't use for Ana's party. Some of them came with those special "box tops for education" on them, so win! Best part is that I can just repeat this present for Evangeline's pre-k and kindergarten birthdays. Go me! No idea what I'll do for Ana for the first grade, though - definitely some books (anybody want to suggest picture books of a more advanced level that talk about birthdays or feature birthdays prominently? Or chapter books suitable for a first grade library?), maybe a few games...? First grade is different. More craft supplies, for sure. (Which reminds me, I want to get some lefty scissors for the school, you know my feelings on that. I need to ask what teachers, aside from grade teachers, use scissors. Like, does the science teacher? The literacy teacher? Are they going to have an art teacher next year?)
To round out my stories, Evangeline was in her own personal horror film recently. She was wearing her clicky-clacky shoes (Ana is the language innovator, "clicky-clackies" for "plastic pretend dress-up shoes" is a term she invented. Evangeline picked speech up much faster, but Ana played with it more. This is an area of degree, of course) when I decided to be a tickle monster. I started to run towards her, but she cried in (mock) horror "I can't run in my c'icky-c'ackies!". I swiftly shifted to the lurching kind of tickle monster and she escaped in safety, closing a door in my face. Tickle monsters, like vampires, can't go where they're not invited, you know.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 05:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 05:20 am (UTC)A goody bag is a small bag of trinkets and candy that's the same or mostly the same for each child. Every guest gets one. Goody bags in Ana's class come out heavy on the candy side - a typical one consists of three lollipops, two sets of smarties, a novelty candy, a pencil or set of crayons, and one or two cheap plastic toys.
A grab bag is a bag full of presents. Typically (when I was growing up) they were for Christmas - each child brought one wrapped present and put it in the bag. Then they took turns taking presents *from* the bag and opening it. In this way we all get the fun of giving and getting presents, but without the rejection (and expense!) of some people having more friends (and presents) than others. Some teachers thought ahead and brought extra presents so that kids who couldn't afford it could still participate.
As this was a birthday party and not Christmas, I provided all the presents for the grab bag. They were cheap trinkets of very slightly higher quality (several bouncing balls, some bottles of bubble stuff, some play dough and silly putty, a few small metal slinkies, two card games, and some teleidoscopes - I provided enough for Ana and her sister as well) than is often provided in goody bags, and each child only got one instead of several. However, the excitement of randomly picking your own individualized gift!!! more than canceled out any disappointment from having less loot.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 05:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 05:28 am (UTC)The one thing about grab bags is that there's always that one kid who brings a totally useless gift, and everybody always knows (or assumes they know, which is worse) which kid that is.
One year I was convinced *I* would be that kid because in dance class my parents had picked up a set of decorative soaps and nifty bath supplies, and I thought "How weird!" (I was a weird kid, but I didn't want to flaunt it, you know?), but my parents were totally right because at the age of 8 and 9 all the girls were completely into that sort of thing and it was, instead, the coolest present. I got a Polly Pocket that year, one of the original pocket-sized ones.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-20 05:34 am (UTC)I had so many of the pocket-size Polly Pockets, they were awesome!