Skating: Part 2

After her mention of skating on "stiff lakes," we found out that Iceland (the rink in Berkeley, not the country -- though I'm sure you can skate there, too) had open skating. And so we went.

Mountain on Fire: Struggling for Words

Olivia was looking at a National Geographic magazine, and saw a picture of a mountain on fire. She was obviously struggling with the words, so I tried to help: "A forest fire?" "No, it's, uh, uh..." "It's a fire on a mountain, and that can also be called a forest fire." "No, it's, uh... uh..." "I'm not sure what you;re thinking of..." Interrupting. "It's a cocaine-oh!"

Skating

We were watching the news about all the winter storms around the country on the tv and there is some video of kids ice skating. Livvy says "When the water is stiff, can I buy some roller skates so I can skate on the stiff lake?" Pauses, looking at the tv. Tugging on my sleeve. "Can I do that daddy?" Pause again. "Because I haven't done that in a long time."

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Time is tough. Tough for a three year old, that is. I remember obsessing a lot about tomorrow, and how when it arrived, it would be today. And that was just plain weird. Olivia, for the last several months, has asked like clockwork every morning: "Is the sun coming up?" And I have answered, "Yes, it's going to travel across the sky all day long." Every evening as the sky darkens she asks, "Is the sun going down now?" "Yes, the sun is going down, nighttime is starting." That's when she gets miffed. "You SAID the sun was coming UP!!" (Again, this conversation happens EVERY DAY.) Thus ensues the litany: "Yes, the sun came up in the morning, but then it traveled through the sky all day long, and now it's going down to shine on the other side of the world."

Long Overdue: Boys & Girls

So, this happened a good 8-9 months ago, but I forgot to make an entry about it. Olivia has shown an interest in learning Spanish words for awhile now, mostly sparked by her time in co-op with Maria who introduced such gems as "huacala" (gross) and "loca" (crazy). I had explained to Liv at one point that Maria always called the girls locas and the boys locos, and that the change in the word was part of how Spanish works. Around the same time, Liv also started remarking on the physical differences she saw between her girl and boy friends. One night she was playing in the "tub" (kitchen sink) at Grandma's with some rubber duckies. She was narrating a story about them, and one of the specifics was which were boys and which were girls. Thinking to prompt a physiology lesson, I asked "Liv, how are boys and girls different?" She looked completely puzzled. I asked again, in a couple of different ways, to try to jog her memory about things we'd discussed (girls have vaginas, boys have penises, yadda yadda), but it was awhile before her eyes lit up with comprehension and she smiled. "I KNOW!" she said proudly. "Boys are LOCO, and girls are LOCA."

Bun Warmer

Olivia likes to sit on the heater grates and warm her bottom. If you look carefully, you'll see that she's stuffed all available gaps with stuffed animals to prevent any warm air from escaping.