BACK ON THE BIKE AGAIN (ALMOST 6 YRS AGAIN)

S got back on her bike again to glide. This time she had a helmet on. She glided up and down Mimi and Poppy driveway and did a good job. Still daddy said she wasn't ready to try a real bicycle but mama and daddy were happy to have her try again.

FAVORITE SHIRT (ALMOST 6 YRS OLD)

S favorite shirt is her blue Pentathlon shirt. Last week she wanted to wear so badly that she tried to sneak it out of the house to wear on top of her outfit. Mama found out and told her --

STRIPEY OUT!

Daddy discovered Stripey's cage open today and there was no Stripey. After a search by all parties, daddy found in the pantry gorging on raisins. He was a bit intoxicated by the raisins and didn't even try running away when daddy found him.

Daddy said, "Stripey would sleep it off!" and made mama and S promise to close the cage from now on.

ORAL READING (ALMOST 6 YRS OLD)

S loves school but is such a procrastinator that it makes mama crazy getting her prepared for school!S had to do an oral storytelling at school yesterday. She had to retell the Russian folk story, A Little House. Mama read it to her and then she read it herself. Mama tried to get her to practice telling the story several times, but S refused, either saying she didn't want to or saying she wanted to do something else first. She even said once that she knew the story already.

Well, finally, yesterday, she had to do her oral story. When asked how she did last night, S said, "so-so." "What is so-so?," asked mama. "So-so is not good and not bad." "Well, what was good? and what was bad?," mama continued to ask. S explained she remembered all the characters but forgot the title of the story and forgot the little house was a jar.

S blamed it upon not having the storyboard she put together. Mama doesn't think the storyboard would have helped. Maybe some more practice?!!!

JESUS (almost 6 yrs old)

Last night Mana was telling S how much I love her and playing it up. Mama said that Mama love her like a mother bear, protecting her cub from danger and would die for her to protect her.

She acted incredulous, asking if Mama really would die for her. Taking the question seriously for a moment, mama said yes.

S reflected a moment and responded with, just like Jesus dying for us, because he loves us. Mama said yes.

GREEN BELT (ALMOST 6)

S tested for her green belt today. She passed with flying colors.

It was a remarkable difference on how much she's improved between orange and green. She's more focus and attentive; even she said on the ride home that she set aside her silliness for later because today was test day!

Karate has become one of her passions and she is very proud of it. Unlike gymnastics, it doesn't come so easily for her. She has to practice it. In fact, she has asked to display her karate belts as part of her display of "Portfolio on Parade."

MATH PENTATHLON (ALMOST 6 YRS OLD)

This was one of S best school experience. Daddy and mama are so proud that she did this!

EMERGENCY ROOM (ALMOST 6)

Daddy, mama and S had one of the worst Saturdays last week -- most of which was spent in the emergency room.

Last Saturday, S biked/ glided into a car with a bicycle rack on the back. Unfortunately she didn't have a helmet on. She spent two hours crying about her jaw, neck and head and cried for almost all of the afternoon.

The doctor recommended a CAT scan to check for bleeding in the brain. S was scared of the big machine. Luckily, she cooperated enough to do two scans (out of three).

No bleeding, just a bad contusion and probably a headache for a couple of days. The good thing about of this is that daddy will have her wear a helmet from now on.

RHYMING

S made this one up today:
Tic, Tac,Towies,
Ant in a Rowies.

S IN THE HOUSE (6 YRS-2)

Mama finds it hard to have S around while mama needs to get her knee swelling down. The solution is to schedule play dates but at the end if the day, neither mama or S has had time to connect with each other.

How do working moms do this? Mama will find a way.