School Spirit

Eliana's school is going through their "Spirit Week" and one of the main colors is red. Eliana said that she needs to wear the most red, or all red this week so she can out-do the principal. She then asked if she could dye her hair red. (With the obvious "no" response.) Realizing the flaw in her question, she asked if her mom could dye her hair red. I can only imagine what it's like seeing life through the eyes of a young child.

72 in 60

I'm impressed - Eliana just did 72 math problems (addition w/ totals up to 20) in about 60 minutes. We worked on using the abacus for some of the addition and also did the basic "count the dots" method. That worked well as long as she didn't lose track of the dots or put down the wrong number of dots. It was a pretty good time and I'm glad she enjoyed it.

Bookstore Mixup

We were browsing in our semi-local Half Price Books recently, looking for a book for a friend as well as letting Eliana peek through the various offerings in the Kids' section. She was sitting quietly looking through a rather large assortment of Berenstein Bears books when her mom said, "Eliana, Stop it." I looked at Eliana and back at her mom, trying to figure out what was going on. Once again, "Eliana! Stop that right now!" This was followed by, "Peter, will you help me out?" I look at Eliana again, trying to figure out what's going on.

Her mom then reached down, grabbed a book, and said, "Thanks a lot, Peter." I then told her that Eliana was over here and realized she'd been talking to a little girl who was just about Eliana's size, hair color, and complexion. She immediately apologized to the little girl and started insisting on a somewhat hastier than normal exit from the store. (Eliana was disappointed that she didn't get to finish going through the books.)

I did discover a book that looked promising in the Bear vein through all of that - something along the lines of the Berenstein Bears Help Those in Need or Put Others First or something along those lines. Looked like a good theme on using what we've been given to help others who are genuinely in need and can't help themselves.

Chex Mix Makeover

Eliana was helping her mom make up some chocolate/peanut-butter Chex mix (w powdered sugar). She was in charge of the shaking to mix everything together and coat the Chex w/ sugar. Mom thought that the bag needed some more air. She adjusted the bag, opened it up a little more, re-sealed, and gave the bag back to Eliana. Eliana stops shaking and starts to unzip the bag. Mom asked what she was doing, to which she replied, "The bag needs more air."

Before mom could stop her, Eliana had opened the bag and puffed really hard into the bag. The powdered sugar flew out of the bag and resulted in a white mask of powdered sugar on her face. (Kind of like a white raccoon.)

After they cleaned up and finished, she wanted to know if she had to test it like Daddy had "tested" the previous batch.

Eliana - Reporter

No idea where she gets some of these ideas from.  I walk in to our room as mom is doing her hair.  Eliana reaches over an grabs a spare hairbrush.  She starts talking into it along the lines of "We're here with a big giant.  Here he is." and points the hairbrush at me.  This goes back and forth for a while as she pretends to be a reporter while her hair is being put up.  When that was done and I left, she turned to her mom and started to interview her.  Shortly before I left she ran out of the room, grabbed her jump-rope, and ran back in.  I then heard, "That's not a stethascope!"

It's interesting seeing the role-playing that she's doing.  She was a gymnast yesterday and was flipping all over the living room and eventually walked the balance beam (her jump-rope again).  Reporter and doctor combination today.  Who knows what it will be tonight?

Foster Care - Part II

As expected, Paris and Solomon left to go to a more permanent foster home. We had the normal issues that can be expected from two kids who have been moved around quite a bit, but they were great to have around. Eliana was a great "big sister" and helped constantly with both of them. When Solomon was crying, she would comfort him by telling him that everything was okay and there was nothing to cry about (sometimes a little too loudly, but she tried). When we explained that Paris was having trouble sleeping because she was a little scared of the different environment, Eliana was determined to explain to Paris that there was nothing to be scared of at night.

We are praying that they will have a great home to live in permanently very soon and that they will grow up safely. They're already on the right path. Paris is a very bright and friendly two year old. Solomon is a great baby and is extremely happy when he's not pre-occupied with typical baby matters. (nap, eat, cuddle, etc) We miss them, but are glad that we could play even a small part in their lives.

Foster Care

We have our first experience with foster care providing respite care for two beautiful kids - Paris and Solomon. They've been great to have in our house, even if only for a couple of days until they can be moved to a permanent foster home. Eliana has been a great "big sister" and has played well with Paris and hugged and kissed Solomon for the little baby he is. It's been different with new young ones in the house, but I'm glad that we've all been given an opportunity to be together for a short time. We've been learning a lot through this experience and I know that we'll all be somewhat sad to see them leave.

Vegetables Won't Kill You

Apparently while mom was encouringing Eliana to eat her vegetables, she said that a little bite of this vegetable won't kill you. Eliana finally took her bite and immediately started a gagging, coughing "fit" and then slumped over pretending to be dead. I guess this was relayed to grandma who was listening on the phone while this happened.

No idea where our kid gets the over-dramatic tendencies - I don't even think this has been in a movie she's seen, but they definitely make for great stories. :D

Allowance Time!

We discussed an allowance for Eliana with her today. We asked her what her normal daily chores should be. She rattled off a list: Go to bed, take a bath, play with her friends, eat dinner, play games, visit her friends, eat breakfast, play with her toys, etc. After we brought her back down to tasks that would help the family and house, we decided on putting up her toys and clothes, helping put up dishes, and similar. We discussed a quarter per day if all of her chores were done. Eliana is a shrewd negotiator, though. She insists that we need to give her a nickel. While I'm all for that, mom wants to stick to the quarter.

Punishment for the friends....

Eliana decided that Susan, Lucy, Peter, and Edmund (her friends/brothers and sisters depending on when you ask - she got into Narnia in a big way) had "broken" her toybox. She resigned them to the hall for 2 minutes as punishment. Susan was initially left out, but after some clarification, it was determined that she was there as well. Apparently Lucy was the main culprit and the others were covering for her. She disappeared in there a couple of minutes ago to fuss at them and let them up. She does pick up on the oddest things at times. :-)

Zoo Trip with Eliana

Eliana decided late last night that her daddy was one of her "sons" (the other being a doll she's had for almost 3 years) and that we needed to get a good nights' sleep because we were going to the zoo "tomorrow". She then had me lay down on the couch to sleep and she lay herself down on the other couch with a blanket and pillow.
After a small amount of time (to work as "night", I suppose), she came over to her happily dozing dad and woke me up gently by shouting "Wake Up!" as loudly as she could. She then hurried around fixing me breakfast, insisting that I get dressed, and dragged me off to the "car" (a spot in the living room not particularly different than any other). We then got in the car (after opening the "door" of course) and she realized she had forgotten her key. She left me and the baby doll in the car while running to her kitchen to get her key (a pink plastic knife). After driving frantically (never saw those elbows move so quickly), we arrived at the "zoo".
I was then given a tour of the zoo (aka living room) where she picked up a souveneir and showed me the animals (in this case a giant stuffed chicken). We then had to get back in the car and go home so we could nap before going back to the zoo.
At this point, it was actually past bedtime. We all got ready to go to bed for real after some cleanup of the toys that were out.

She'd been to the Dallas Aquarium a couple of days earlier which probably prompted this trip. She got a set of binoculars while there and discovered last night how they are actually supposed to work. That was pretty cute as well.

Blue houses don't make us happy

Once again, Eliana demonstrates that she takes in more than we realize. As we were driving along on the way to church, we detoured past a house that mom has looked at for a while just because she's liked the look of it. She pointed it out to Eliana and noted that the blue house was the one to look at. Eliana pointed out that our house is brick. She the explained to both of us that "blue houses don't make us happy."

Too true, now if that would only apply to items that are pink for a certain small girl I can think of. :-)

Hats don't guard cars

Eliana's been toting her bears around lately (sometimes a tiger, dog, or doll instead). Joe was the favored bear for a while, but we wanted to ensure that he'd be safe so we insisted that he stay behind to "guard the car" regularly.

Today Eliana decided to pick up her play cowboy hat (the one that's bright baby-blue) and wear it in to church. Mom tried to convince her that she should let the hat guard the car. Eliana looked at her mom and explained to her that "Hats don't guard cars. Bears guard cars." She then proceeded to pick up the hat and wear it into church.

That girl picks up on the strangest things at times, but it makes life all the more interesting.

Kidz CD 1 - small review

Downloaded (and installed) the "Kidz CD 1" program - something age appropriate for Kids up to 6 years old.

Warning - upgrade your Flash an Macromedia players before actually running the program. Most of the sites for games use one or the other and if you attempt to update from within the program, you'll have problems. I had to open the program again (fortunately on the desktop) and exit it normally.

Kid review:
Eliana loved it. She was able to use the mouse to play with the various sites that are pre-defined. She spent a good 30-40 minutes making lemonade with Elmo and Zoe. She learned how to control the mouse pretty well during this time. She's able to easily switch to other components within the software and seems to enjoy exploring the different options.

Parental review:
Great program overall. This program stops kids from using special keys, alt-tab, Ctrl+Alt+Delete, and everything except Ctrl+L which is used to exit the program. The program also keeps them from going to other sites easily and from printing within the site for most sites. Right-mouse-clicks are disabled as well. If you have special buttons on the mouse, they may still function so be watchful. (Logitech App Launcher still works, for example.) The same holds for anything that may be forced to "stay on top" such as toolbars or other helper apps.

Special key combinations are disabled so even Ctrl+Alt+Del doesn't work while the program is running. This makes it really safe for kids to use.

The links are pre-defined - both good and bad. They are categorized under 4 categories - Games, Stories, Television, and More. That doesn't necessarily mean that you won't find some under the other categories, but it's a good general guide. The good part with this is that you don't have to add a lot of different sites to the program (and the authors do take suggestions). The bad is that you can't add/remove anything on your own.

Personally, I would have liked a little more information on exactly what I'm about to hit. The only hint you get is a picture that grows very slightly when you hover over it. I had no idea if Eliana would choose something too old or young for her, though she's able to switch away without too much trouble if she doesn't like the link.


Overall - great program. The company makes several other products for different age-ranges - all free. They have different sites set up for each age range, but block things like social sites, chat rooms, and other things with forums. The website describes the programs relatively well, but I'd still urge parents to check out the program before the kids start using it.

Go turn on that light....

Eliana couldn't reach her light switch tonight due to some re-arranging of her room. Her mom told her to stand on her box to reach the switch. She goes into her room. The light turns on. She comes back with a small smushed up box that holds tissues. I realized that she had quite literally "Stood on her box" to turn on the lights - just not the nice, sturdy wooden box that we'd expected.

She's nothing at this age if not literal. :-)

Superpowers

Eliana definitely pays attention to her movies. She was watching "Sky High" earlier today. While out with her mom, she had a serious question to ask. "Mom, what's your superpower?"

Mom's response was "I don't have a superpower. What's your superpower, Eliana?"

"My superpower is - Use Stick." At this point, she started beating the ground with a stick, all the while holding her purse. She started to go after the van as well, but mom used her secret superpower - the look that said it was time to stop. :-)

Dancing

Eliana decided to start dancing up a storm tonight. We cleaned out the guest room, leaving a large area free on the floor. I was testing the clock radio when some music came on. Eliana starting hopping, twirling, flipping, doing handstands, and generally having a really good time. We watched for a while and caught a couple of minutes on tape. It was pretty amusing.

Knock Knock jokes already?

No idea where this came from, but Eliana decided to start telling knock knock jokes. Her first one was: "Knock Knock" "Who's there?" "Mom, it's me! Eliana!"

I tried to tell her the interrupting cow one - (Interrupting cow who? with a MOOOOO while the person asks the "who" line.) She loved it, even if she was a little startled by it. She then tried to tell it herself. She struggles through the word "interrupting" (go figure) and can't quite get the timing to MOOOO while the person is asking "Interrupting cow who?".

More recently, she started trying to make up ones about Cheese (Cheese on Hamburger) and other common things along those lines. It's cute watching her try to figure out the humor behind the jokes and seeing her so tickled by her versions.

Moving on....

Made the decision after quite a bit of prayer and talking with others to leave Drive Financial and move to a new position at Fellowship Technologies. I will be doing roughly the same thing according to the job description and this gives me the opportunity to use my skills to help further God's kingdom. This was a hard decision as I've had a great time at Drive and have worked with a lot of really great people. I look forward to the new experiences at Fellowship Tech. Now it's just a matter of wrapping up my duties for Drive and learning the systems at Fellowship. I hope to post more on my experiences as time permits. I'm excited, if a little anxious.

Half Price Books

We took Eliana to a 1/2 Price Books store today. She was extremely content just to pick a book, go to one of the stools, and thumb through it. She must have gone through 10-15 books easily. She would even place each one back where she got it from. We ended up buying one of the Berenstain Bears books to read at home. She likes those. I think they're just the right combination of picture and story. She even identified the theme of the book as friends. I don't remember saying anything about it to her so this appears to be something she identified by herself. It's hard to believe that she'll be 3 in a couple of weeks. Where does the time go? :-)