10/22/08 Crazy Tails

It was a day of the purple and ponytails. Katrina (sort of) permitted ponytails to be put in her hair this morning -- her hair is getting long enough that pulling it back is necessary to keep it out of her food.

Though obviously I can't do that good a job.

Tonya often re-does her hair later, and this afternoon she managed to get it into super-high bouncy ponytails. Perfect for a silly, edgy girl!



I'm still semi-traumatized from Katrina's full-on 55-minute tantrum a few days ago. That included several attempts to move her to a different room, only she'd storm back in the kitchen, shoes in hand, throw them into the kitchen, demand I put them on her, then scream "NO TUHSH SHEW!!" and start a fresh round of fits when I tried to put them on her.

Five minutes of this is a very long time to live through, so it's easy to think these last longer than they really do. But Gabriel got me in the habit of actually looking at the clock, so I know for certain that this lasted nearly an hour, with no breaks at all. This knowledge is of no use whatsoever.

Happily, tonight's scene was much sweeter, though hard to capture in video. Julian and Katrina have a "yahyah" game together, in which they run across a room with pull-toys behind them saying, "Yahyahyahyah!!" It's very cute. I took this to show Bonne Maman, because she always loved pull-toys. It's not all that interesting, but does give a glimpse of life around here as Dave is finishing up with Gabriel's homework.

Notice how Katrina reacts to setbacks -- at the top of her lungs!

Gabriel's homework hasn't been quite as bad lately, partly because the exercises have been a little more defined, such as numbering all 12 positions on a clock. But tonight once again they threw in the sort of thing that is just silly, time-consuming, and outdated: find 5 nickels around the house, do some exercises with them, then bring them into school. What is this, the 1940s? Who has nickels lying around anymore?

Speaking of nickels, Gabriel's last dentist appointment was ominous: the two permanent teeth has he growing in are really out of whack -- as soon as he has a pair of permanent molars, it's off to the orthodontist for him. That could be as soon as 6 months, said the dentist. Now that's going to take some nickels!

10/22/08