Skip to main content

Eleanor, the party planner

Eleanor announced today that she wanted to have a New Year's party, with just our family. As usual, she was trying to explain this to me while I was doing about 10 other things, so I asked her to write down a list of what she wanted to eat and what she wanted to do, using abbreviations if necessary.

In the past she would have demurred, saying that she didn't know how to spell, or write, or something else. This time, however, she agreed. Here is her list, from both sides of a sheet of paper:

First side:
  • 2009 cupcakes
  • sandwigis
  • yogret (Amanda)
  • OJ Mlik
Second side:
  • race
  • hoop's
  • obstickle
  • sandbox
  • trow
Thus we see that Eleanor is getting braver about sounding out words and writing down what she thinks they sound like. We also see that adding extraneous apostrophes starts early.

Some notes: she wanted to have cupcakes decorated with the numbers 2009. Since we didn't have frosting, we used some chocolate chips on the chocolate cupcakes. The "trow" refers to each person throwing a ball as far as they could, to see who can throw it the farthest. I was never quite clear what she wanted to do with the "hoop's," it involved making hoops out of toys and jumping from one to the other... The obstacle course involved putting pillows on the floor and jumping from cushion to cushion. Amanda didn't understand exactly what she was supposed to do, which created conflict. The kids played in the sand box, but it was pretty cold (for North Carolina) so we didn't stay outside for long.

We had a good time, even though we didn't do all of the activities. Eleanor's party planning ability far outstrips mine at that age.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

My hero, Helen Parr

Otherwise known as Elastigirl , a.k.a Mrs. Incredible. She is a stay at home mom ( SAHM ), she clearly feels that what she is doing is important and is willing to give up a lot to do it (remember her comment in the intro: "I'm at the top of my game! Leave saving the world to the guys? I don't think so.") But she is finding fulfillment in leading her family from day to day, in doing a hard job well. She also knows that she is very talented, and that knowledge helps her see beyond the repetitive drudgery of staying home. My favorite scene is from the deleted introduction, where she talks with a "career woman" who is of the opinion that staying home is fine for people who can't do anything else. She responds that taking care of her kid is at least as hard as saving the world, and is valuable contribution to society. The point for me is that someone has to do the job that I'm doing, and it's not something that you could pay someone to do. I see...

Kindergarten Fashions

I was informed the other day that Eleanor wants to get a new thermos. She lost the o-ring from her purple Tinkerbell thermos, and I have so far resisted buying another one for her, on the theory that you shouldn't just replace things that are broken since it doesn't encourage being careful with one's things. I have been sending her with the sippee cups that she has been using since she was a year old, which she has resisted giving up to the point of becoming partly dehydrated when I don't let her use them at home. Here's how the conversation went. Eleanor: Anna and Jane said today at lunch, " Kindergartners don't drink from sippee cups!" Me: That's very interesting. Eleanor: They are supposed to drink from thermoses. Me: Eleanor, would you like a new thermos? Eleanor: Yes! Get the purple one, please. If there is a crayon one, that's the one I want.... Who knew that peer pressure started in kindergarten? The sippee cups are perfectly f...

Girl toys

A friend just had a post about her son's desire to have a pink bejewled play phone (she and the people who comment have great things to say: here it is so you can read it). Thinking about her post made me very glad that for girls 5 and under (which is all I have experienced lately) there is no toy that is off limits as far as I can tell. Amanda's favorite toys are trains (although she doesn't play with them the way some of her boy friends do. I think Chanson's kids would play well with her version of trains). Her favorite movie is Cars. Her favorite TV show is Bob the Builder. No one in her life (relatives, friends, teachers) tells her that she can't enjoy all of these things. On the other hand, she likes to play with all these things while she is dressed as a princess... In Eleanor's class, everyone's favorite thing to do is woodworking, both girls and boys. The only mathematicians she knows are women, so she expects to do well in math as well...