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Sweet child
Jun. 18th, 2008 07:09 amI really love the little girl next door. I got sick the night of her talent show so I don't think I posted about it. She really wanted me to go and since it was after work, I went.
She was going to sing at first, and I had her sing for me. I think I posted about that. She wanders from key to key with every line of the song. I loaned her my childrens Karaoke CD's to see if there was a song she could use with music to guide her and bought a CD that had two songs she wanted to try. She sang with the set for a week the new one for another week and decided the version of "On the Good Ship Lollipop" was too different to use and "Under the Sea" had backup singers that threw her off. "Instead," she said, "I'm doing a step routine my mom is teaching me." Her flag team was also going to perform with sports equipment I forget the name of. It's a sport that uses small scoop-shaped baskets on a stick.
A's Talent Show
Her after-care center was packed with parents, kids and other fans. A's babysitter for when after-care is closed was also there and saved a seat for me. Oh those little children's chairs are tiny! The show was chaos. Those caregivers have their hands full with this bunch of kids. CD's kids were going to dance or sing with were missing and had to be found. Kids simply weren't there when their names were called. Two little boys kept running through the crowd and across the "stage" the entire time. Once they started talking loudly when some girls were singing. Matthew and I both shushed them because they were next to us. It took a long time to get through the show. I was wrong about A's singing. She would have been just fine. Only two out of 15 kids that sang could carry a tune in a bucket. You could hear one of them and all of them used a microphone. The kids who sang off-key seemed to have more confidence. The "dancing" was pretty much the same choreography for all three pairs of girls who danced. All the kids were wooden in their movements. Except for the one rapping boy who was actually pretty good with "P, B and J" the singers all looked ashamed to be singing. One boy's "talent" was bouncing a tennis ball on a racquet as long as he could. We counted 15 bounces. "A" was the best solo act in the show. She used an exercise step bench I'm sure her mom owns and did an energetic aerobics routine in time to peppy music that was more varied than I thought possible. I heard women behind me wishing they could do half as well. The crowd went wild for her! Her mom was a competitive ice skater long ago who made it as far as State trials. "A's" late father was also a competitive ice skater. She has a genetic advantage! Her physical abilities are far beyond her age so I expected her to do well and I was not disappointed.
Then it was the flag team finale, the flag team teaching some parents how to do the routine and the few brave souls trying to do it. "A" chose her dad to be taught but gave up on him half-way through and sent him back to his seat. lol
Special moments
"A" has been impatient to wait for our purple plums to get ripe. We have a lot of them this year for a "fruitless" plum tree. I've given her permission to eat the ones she can reach but have encouraged her to wait until late June when they get ripe. She has succumbed to trying them every week or two. Like me, she likes sour things. Two nights ago we both got a treat when I found two slightly squishy plums and we ate them. They're starting to get sweet near the skin and are still sour near the seed. Yum! The same night, it was warm enough that she got to stay out to watch the first night-blooming primroses open. She watched them two years ago when she was 5 and it made such an impression on her that she wrote about it in school this year when they had to write an "Observe". I think it's odd that in first grade the teachers are using incorrect terms for things. It should have been called an "Observation". But anyway, she was excited to watch the buds swelling with me. We were trying to guess which bud would open first. Her dad wanted to call her in but she called him over instead. He watched with us as the first three or four opened. It was always one we least expected that popped open next.
It's funny what kids remember. She says she remembers from two years ago, hearing a pop when the four petals open in the middle. "Oh," I told her, "That was me. I can't help it. They seem like they need to make a pop sound," and just then one popped and I made the sound. She giggled. I showed her how to do it. Then it was getting chilly and my throat was starting to get a bit raspy from the smoke that still hazes our air a little. We all went inside our houses.
Yesterday, I noticed the poppies had mostly dried up and a bunch of the seed pods had burst. Great. I was watching them and watching them to collect seeds and while I was sick they got ripe. There are still plenty that aren't ripe yet and if I hunted, I could find a few that hadn't completely popped or hadn't popped at all. "A" came to chat and started helping me harvest seeds. I found a quarter in the gutter and because she had her purse with her I handed it to her saying, "Look! A quarter! It must be your pay for this work!" She giggled, tucked it into her purse and called it a tip. lol
She helped me until her parents were ready to walk to a New York Pizza place that opened nearby. They love New York pizza. We tried it once. Um.. maybe you have to grow up on it or something to think it's wonderful. Too much bread and sauce, too little other stuff for us. It's all what you grow up with, I guess. We much prefer the kind of pizza we have here where the crust isn't all floppy.
They're such a nice family. :)
Oh, and I'm feeling much better as of yesterday. YAY!
She was going to sing at first, and I had her sing for me. I think I posted about that. She wanders from key to key with every line of the song. I loaned her my childrens Karaoke CD's to see if there was a song she could use with music to guide her and bought a CD that had two songs she wanted to try. She sang with the set for a week the new one for another week and decided the version of "On the Good Ship Lollipop" was too different to use and "Under the Sea" had backup singers that threw her off. "Instead," she said, "I'm doing a step routine my mom is teaching me." Her flag team was also going to perform with sports equipment I forget the name of. It's a sport that uses small scoop-shaped baskets on a stick.
A's Talent Show
Her after-care center was packed with parents, kids and other fans. A's babysitter for when after-care is closed was also there and saved a seat for me. Oh those little children's chairs are tiny! The show was chaos. Those caregivers have their hands full with this bunch of kids. CD's kids were going to dance or sing with were missing and had to be found. Kids simply weren't there when their names were called. Two little boys kept running through the crowd and across the "stage" the entire time. Once they started talking loudly when some girls were singing. Matthew and I both shushed them because they were next to us. It took a long time to get through the show. I was wrong about A's singing. She would have been just fine. Only two out of 15 kids that sang could carry a tune in a bucket. You could hear one of them and all of them used a microphone. The kids who sang off-key seemed to have more confidence. The "dancing" was pretty much the same choreography for all three pairs of girls who danced. All the kids were wooden in their movements. Except for the one rapping boy who was actually pretty good with "P, B and J" the singers all looked ashamed to be singing. One boy's "talent" was bouncing a tennis ball on a racquet as long as he could. We counted 15 bounces. "A" was the best solo act in the show. She used an exercise step bench I'm sure her mom owns and did an energetic aerobics routine in time to peppy music that was more varied than I thought possible. I heard women behind me wishing they could do half as well. The crowd went wild for her! Her mom was a competitive ice skater long ago who made it as far as State trials. "A's" late father was also a competitive ice skater. She has a genetic advantage! Her physical abilities are far beyond her age so I expected her to do well and I was not disappointed.
Then it was the flag team finale, the flag team teaching some parents how to do the routine and the few brave souls trying to do it. "A" chose her dad to be taught but gave up on him half-way through and sent him back to his seat. lol
Special moments
"A" has been impatient to wait for our purple plums to get ripe. We have a lot of them this year for a "fruitless" plum tree. I've given her permission to eat the ones she can reach but have encouraged her to wait until late June when they get ripe. She has succumbed to trying them every week or two. Like me, she likes sour things. Two nights ago we both got a treat when I found two slightly squishy plums and we ate them. They're starting to get sweet near the skin and are still sour near the seed. Yum! The same night, it was warm enough that she got to stay out to watch the first night-blooming primroses open. She watched them two years ago when she was 5 and it made such an impression on her that she wrote about it in school this year when they had to write an "Observe". I think it's odd that in first grade the teachers are using incorrect terms for things. It should have been called an "Observation". But anyway, she was excited to watch the buds swelling with me. We were trying to guess which bud would open first. Her dad wanted to call her in but she called him over instead. He watched with us as the first three or four opened. It was always one we least expected that popped open next.
It's funny what kids remember. She says she remembers from two years ago, hearing a pop when the four petals open in the middle. "Oh," I told her, "That was me. I can't help it. They seem like they need to make a pop sound," and just then one popped and I made the sound. She giggled. I showed her how to do it. Then it was getting chilly and my throat was starting to get a bit raspy from the smoke that still hazes our air a little. We all went inside our houses.
Yesterday, I noticed the poppies had mostly dried up and a bunch of the seed pods had burst. Great. I was watching them and watching them to collect seeds and while I was sick they got ripe. There are still plenty that aren't ripe yet and if I hunted, I could find a few that hadn't completely popped or hadn't popped at all. "A" came to chat and started helping me harvest seeds. I found a quarter in the gutter and because she had her purse with her I handed it to her saying, "Look! A quarter! It must be your pay for this work!" She giggled, tucked it into her purse and called it a tip. lol
She helped me until her parents were ready to walk to a New York Pizza place that opened nearby. They love New York pizza. We tried it once. Um.. maybe you have to grow up on it or something to think it's wonderful. Too much bread and sauce, too little other stuff for us. It's all what you grow up with, I guess. We much prefer the kind of pizza we have here where the crust isn't all floppy.
They're such a nice family. :)
Oh, and I'm feeling much better as of yesterday. YAY!
