The Met Museum

Jellybean has been studying Jackson Pollack recently. No, not with maple syrup and food on the floor, silly (although sometimes it does feel that way)! At school!

They've done splatter paintings. They've dragged a string through white paint then put it on black paper to see how the paint transfers. They've viewed slides, talked about the artist, and really explored non-representative painting. (perfect for 3 year olds!)

And this past Wednesday, they went to the Met Museum. Boy am I regretting not accompanying her on this trip! Check out the great photos provided by a kind parent that did go:

I love the clipboard in this last shot! She's such a serious student....

Jaded

One of Monkey's after-school activities this past fall has been a class called Broadway Bound. They learned all about a song, "I won't grow up," from the broadway musical Peter Pan. They practiced the song, learned their lines, learned how to move around on stage, and generally had fun.

Many of the students in this class also attended the show, currently running at the Madison Square Garden Theater with Cathy Rigby at Peter Pan. We didn't end up going with the group (moved too slow for tickets) so we went this past weekend, along with Monkey's two closest friends and their moms. It was wonderful.

Now, by wonderful I mean it was a wonderful show for kids. It really was. They hawked cotton candy in the aisles, there was a lot of singing dancing and acrobatics on wires as the characters "flew" through the air, and Peter Pan even flew OVER the audience sprinkling them with fairy dust (aka glitter). 

At some point I gasped out loud at one particularly amazing feat of "flying" (that Cathy Rigby is in AMAZING shape (like, I'm jealous of how insanely in shape she is!!)). 

I figured Monkey would be as impressed as I was - but perhaps for a different reason. I was imagining wonder, amazement, and a brain exploding with joy at seeing people fly.

Instead, Monkey turned to me and said "mom, those people have strings on them, you know."

My broadway baby. Already knows the tricks of the trade. 

And then she was three

Jellybean turned three this past week. She got a backpack - something she had been asking for, and desperately wanted. I told her that she wasn't big enough to have a backpack at 2....but 3? Three is a BIG girl. And big girls get backpacks. Oh, the joy......

Bittersweet

Monkey attended her first slumber party last Friday night. It was a birthday party for one of her best friends.

Monkey arrived at the party with her toothbrush & toothpaste, her blankie, her lovie "Softie", her moon nightlight, pajamas and a clean pair of clothing. And of course a birthday present for her dear friend.

She left with a spring in her step and I left with a wrinkle in my brow, worrying that she'd be OK. See, she'd never slept over at someone else's house before without us - not even a grandparents house. Plus that night M and I were up in Rye at his company's holiday party - a good 45-60 minute drive away. You know, in case she needed us and wanted to go home.

We called to say goodnight. And my brave girl did exactly what I want her to do. She broke my heart.

I said hello and in a voice brimming with pride she said "Hi mom, I don't miss you AT ALL!"

That's my girl.

A future in politics...

Last week I busted Jellybean in the living room with a cracker. I scolded her, retrieved the cracker, and went back to preparing dinner.

Jellybean zoomed around in the kitchen a bit, and disappeared into the living room again.

A second later I followed for an unrelated matter, and found her - again - with a cracker in her hand. On our new chair.  Our. New. Clean. UNCRACKERED chair.

I walked up to her, and in the sternest of voices, admonished her. We do NOT eat in the living room.

Wherein she sweetly replied "I wasn't going to eat it, I was just putting it in my mouth."

Yeah, and Bill didn't inhale.

Santa

We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas at the Florida house. Really looking forward to it. Thinking about baking cookies, creating memories, and building traditions.

Monkey is also excited, but expressed some concerns the other day. She wanted to make sure that Santa could find her (and Jellybean) down there.

I assured her that since Santa keeps track of every kid in the world, he would know to find her there. And then, riffing on a cute article M shared with me from the Appalachicola newspaper, I mentioned that Santa takes a shrimp boat to get out to the Island.

Monkey was VERY concerned. Where would the reindeer go!!! I managed to keep a somewhat straight face as I rectified the situation and M gave me a hard stare in the background.

He's totally not going to let me talk to the girls about the tooth fairy, is he?

Reading

Smiles

(last one with chocolate on the chin!)

Privacy

I'd feel guilty about taking her photo if this weren't so darn funny.