Camping 2011

The whole family just got back from Annabel's second grade camping trip out to Petaluma.

Annabel lost her 9th tooth out there. It had been loose and Sophie Rose, her friend pictures below pulled it out for her. Apparently Sophie had done this 2 or three times before with other teeth, so she is becoming known for the skill.

The operation took place inside of our tent. This picture was taken just seconds after the discovery. Kristin and I looked at each other and thought about how the tooth fairy should be handled. We knew we weren't likely to find a silver dollar out there, any we know that Annabel's has been somewhat down if not angry about the tooth fairy since Kristin refused to pinky swear that there was in fact a toothfairy.

By some miraculous twist of fate, we managed to score a Susan B. Anthony from one of the other parents on the Camping Trip. Krsitin woke up in the middle of the night and wrote a note in the car and tucked it under her pillow in the tent. Annabel found the note in the morning and then put it along with the coin on the bumper of the car.

I noticed later that she hadn't picked it up and tucked it into one of our suitcases from the camping trip. She didn't mention it again. So I think that about wraps up the toothfairy phase for her.

Lady Gaga

Annabel's favorite music is lady Gaga, and she loves to make up jokes.

Here's a recent joke she told:

"How do you wake up Lady Gaga?"

Answer:

"Poke her face."

Invention box

 

Recently Annabel has been asking if I can help her put together an invention box. An invention box is a shoebox or plastic bin full of parts of broken toys, pen springs, magnets, paperclips and other ingredients for inventions.

She likes to make things. Her imagination is way bigger than her abilities at this point. Some of her invention ideas involve conveyor belts, like the one she had in mind yesterday that would "bring food to dogs, cats and people". Some of them are rube-goldberg like contraptions that do household tasks, like making her bed, and others involve airplanes that can actually fly.

The invention box is a real throwback for me, as I remember having one of my own back when I was Annabel's age. I remember a broken cassette player in particular that I rescued from the garbage to salvage the motor and battery pack.

I've long since upgraded to computer software as my invention box, but the urge is the same.

Brandeis' featured artist of the month

Annabel's is the featured artist at her school this month. She has
her work displayed on a big wall just outside of the gym.

Her first solo show and it's already a retrospective that covers
several of her phases of development. It features several of her
monster food drawings along with a variety of self portraits and
several rainbow and butterfly themed works.

She is very proud.

And the training wheels are off!

After seeing a younger girl riding without her training wheels last week at the park, Annabel asked if she could take off her training wheels yesterday. "It's time." she said to Kristin.

She was a little bit tentative but certainly up for the challenge. After a few runs back and forth on the driveway with Uncle Rick and I, she was off to a wobbly but auspicious start.

Today we went to the park just before dusk on a cloudy and drizzly cold San Francisco afternoon, and she was riding off on her own in no time. She wasn't the best student in the world, preferring to "do it her way" then to listen to instruction or coaching. That meant falling several times, but not hard and it never seemed to upset her.

As I think back now, she really didn't seem to respond much to feedback at all, whether suggestions for how to improve of just words of encouragement. Once she got going though, she was LOVING riding her bike. When she crossed over from the green center to the red box of the basketball court, I heard her say:

"Annabel Goldman is riding through fields of hot lava!" That was awesome.

When we got back into the car for the ride home I said.

"I'm so proud of you guys! You both learned how to ride on two-wheelers in just one day!"

I sensed that Anabel may have been feeling a bit strange because Gaby too had managed to ride unassisted today.

"and Annabel, you could have learned when you were four and a half too if you had wanted. You never liked the idea of taking off the training wheels."

"I didn't want to then though because no one else had theirs off. But now everyone is taking them off and so I did too".

"You sure did. And it only took you one day too. Awesome job!"

I looked back in the rearview and could easily see that he was proud of herself.

Tooth Fairy / Santa Claus Double Header!

This is going to be a very big night for Annabel. She lost her second tooth today, so we are expecting evening visits from both the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus tonight if you can believe it! It's going to grand central in here for childhood figures bearing gifts.

As you can see from the girls thoughtful note, Santa is still a very important figure at Christmas. In case you can't quite make it out, that is a potholder that the girls made for Mrs. Claus. Annabel seems to have some interesting suspicions. She is often quiet when the topic comes up around me, and she has asked Kristin if Santa Claus is really your parents. Kristin of course said no. Gaby is 100% on Santa and can't WAIT for tomorrow morning.

They are both off to bed and we just finished getting the house ready for tomorrow morning. Merry Christmas everyone, we are missing out extended family this year. We hope you have a wonderful holiday and a peaceful New Year!

Lost Teeth, Thanksgiving and Paying The Bronco, Dude!

From ThanksGiving

It's been a very busy few weeks for Annabel.

She lost her first tooth on November 13th. She said she was playing with it at school and it came out on her tongue. She said that it didn't hurt and it only bled a little. She also got word to the tooth fairy (using her Mom as a trusted go-between) that she wanted to keep the tooth so she could show her grandpa who had said that he wanted to see it.

Much to my surprise, Kristin told me that the tooth fairy agreed to let her keep it! I also heard that the tooth fairy is now paying outrageous amounts for first-time teeth. I think there must be a shortage of teeth in fairyland or something.

Shortly thereafter I started to notice some changes in Annabel. She seems suddenly a bit more playful and a bit more at ease around strangers. She was practically performing for our house guests on thanksgiving.

"Pay the Bronco, dude!" she would say in a very funny western accent, holding out her hand, as if to accept payment. Everyone was laughing at the performance and she was eating it up. Kristin and I have never seen her so outgoing. We were also surprised that she was (apparently) the Bronco and needed to be payed.

She has also been reading much more readily. Last week she read practically all of fox in sox fluently and without problems. There is some talk about the fact that losing teeth and reading frequently coincide. That is certainly the case with Annabel.

Here are some recent pics from Thanksgiving which we had here in San Francisco and then our weekend in Lake Tahoe.

From ThanksGiving

From ThanksGiving