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| 3/17/2004 | Today was St. Patrick's Day and Michele from the day care organized a party at Chuck E. Cheese for all the kids. Ry was really excited when her friend Ashley showed up, and they ran around and played together. Daddy really likes to play all the games at Chuck E. Cheese too, and between us (me and Ry), we collected 700 tickets from all the games. That meant that Ryanne got to go on a shopping spree at the toy counter. She got a purse, and some gooey stuff (like Slime), and a top and two packages of Sweet Tarts. That's a fine evening at Chuck E. Cheese. |
| 3/16/2004 | The other night we were talking about the wedding preparations, and my mom asked Ana if I needed to get baptized before I could be married in the Catholic church. Ana said that she didn't know, but she thought it was up to the individual priest. My mom said that she was hoping that she, and Ryanne, and me could all get baptized together. All of a sudden, Ry pipes up from the other side of the table, and says "Great idea Mimi. I'd love to get baptized in the Dallas Cowboys Church!" I'm actually getting through to her. |
| 2/2/2004 | From my mom.... Ry has been trying to think what she would call Ana after Ana and Fred get married. We talked about this a lot lately, and discarded most names, but Ry liked the sound of Mamana, a combination of Mama and Ana. She said it over and over, and then said "I'm sure Mamana will just love me to call her that!" After the wedding, and after our Mexican meal tonite, Ry was ready for bed. She was headed upstairs, and stopped on the stair and sort of hugged herself and said "This is the best most exciting day of my whole life, because my daddy got married up to Ana today, and I got my new mother now!" I was reading Ry a story tonite in her bed, and her bed creaks a lot. I commented that it was a very noisy bed, and Ry said "Yes, I know, but it's a very old bed. I think we got it in 2003, so that's very old, isn't it Mimi?" I guess old is relative to a 5 year old, whose bed is as old as 20% of her life. |
| 1/21/2004 | We took Ry to Glendale Glitters on Saturday night. It was the last night, so there was a bunch of extra stuff there like hot air balloons, and bands and stuff. It was packed, so it wasn't very much fun. All the lines were so long that we didn't get to do much. The Arizona Cardinals cheerleaders were there signing autographs, and they had their mascot with them too. On a side note, Ana asked me if the mascot (which is a huge red bird) was a robin. Ummmm....Nope.....It's a cardinal - as in Arizona Cardinals.... Anyway, we stand in this line to get autographs from these girls, and when we get up there, they are all sweet, and they asked Ryanne if she wanted to be cheerleader when she grows up. "No. I want to be a principal." she said. I don't think the cheerleaders were accustomed to little girls not wanting to be cheerleaders. |
| 1/21/2004 | A not so funny story from my mom.... Ry was beside herself with excitement for Daddy's birthday today. We went to a revolving restaurant which fascinated her (made Daddy seasick). She was so excited about the cake, which she picked out, and decorated with pumpkins, a Canadian flag, about 8 Bugs Bunnies, and candles plus a sparkler, all on a 6 inch cake. She gave Daddy a card which said she was glad he was her dad, so he could buy her cute outfits or something like that, and she shrieked with glee when it got the desired sneer/smirk/eye roll from Fred. |
| 1/21/2004 | We were driving in the car and Ry told me that she wants to be a prinicpal when she grows up. "That's sounds like a good idea." I said. "Why do you think that you would like to be a prinicpal?" I asked. "Well, I want to just sit around in my office all day do a little paperwork." she said. "I think that your prinicipal does more than that." I said. "No. I've seen her in there. That's all she does." It's hard to argue with that. |
| 1/21/2004 | Another story from my mom.... Ry had her bath and went to sleep here tonite, and Fred came and picked her up after she was asleep. After we read our story, and sang "You are my sunshine", like we always do, Ryanne wanted to tell me about her day, and have me tell her about my day. She had a very fun day, and said she'd like it if every day could be lots of fun, with no work for the adults and no school for her. (I agree!) However, we had a nice discussion about how it was even better to have fun after we finished our work/school, and we'd get bored if we just had fun every day all day. I don't think she believed me, and I'm not sure I believe myself. |
| 1/21/2004 | A story from my mom... When Ry was getting dressed for her dad's birthday party, she put on her pink tights, black and red dress, her pearls, one of my evening bags, (red) and insisted on leaving her pink scrunchy in her hair. She then went in to Papa, and twirled for him saying "Don't I look darling?" |
| 1/6/2004 | A whole bunch of stories from my mom over the holidays... Ryanne had a new outfit from her mother that was all unrelieved black. Black dress, black sweater, black tights and black shoes. (I thought she looked like a little Hutterite girl, and tried to get her to wear some jewellery, but she wouldn't) Anyhow, there must have been something about the outfit that she felt uncomfortable with, because she put on a show after church, that was a Vampire show. I asked what a vampire show was, and she told us that it was when you wear all black, and you scare people in the show. The dress had long batwing sleeves which she waved around to scare us with. Ryanne's cousin Kelsey was here for Christmas from Vancouver. The girls are only 2 months apart in age, and had a ball together. It was interesting to have 2 little girls whispering together, wearing dressup clothes, playing games and make believe, etc. and the conversations we overheard were sometimes quite hilarious. The 2 compared their parents' divorces and current living arrangements, and custody problems, and then went on to clothes, school, boy, and girlfriend conversations. It was fun to have them both here. Also here were Kelsey's sister Jenny and Jenny's boyfriend Lawrence from Drumheller. The 2 little girls loved them and insisted on having Jenny bath them, do their hair etc. They hung on Lawrence and made him carry them when they got tired, and fought over who would get to sit in the back seat with him whenever we went anywhere. He was very good natured about it all. Santa brought Ryanne a Disney Magic Kingdom. This is an exact replica of Disneyland, complete with little moving rides, a Mickey Mouse parade, princesses etc. She was very excited about it at first, and after playing with it for about 2 hours, and figuring out the whole thing, she said "Mimi, I thought this toy would be more exciting than it is." That's the way with lots of things, Ry, and good marketing wins again! All through Christmas holidays, Ry was running around singing "All I want for Chrithmuth ith my two front teeth" Her bottom teeth are coming in, as are her six year old molars. Kelsey was quite miffed that she is 2 months older than Ry and hasn't lost any teeth yet, nor is she cutting any molars. This made Ry sing the song even more. Another thing Ryanne got for Xmas was a pair of high heeled glass slippers. They come with double sided sticky tape on them, and you press jewels and glitter all over them and all over whatever clothes you are wearing, and the furniture, floors, bed etc. but they sure are beautiful, even if the vacuum has to come out every time you wear them! Mimi and Papa are technopeasants, and Fred often has to help us out with the technical machinery around the house. One of the things we got is a plasma TV over the fireplace. Whenever we had company over the holidays, we wanted to play Chirstmas music on the stereo, and have scenery on the TV from a DVD. It's quite relaxing to have the waves on the beach, and looks like a moving painting. Mimi was having trouble getting the whole thing to work right, when Ry came over and said "Oh Mimi, you know you can't do this. Let me do it for you." And she did. I hate it that I now have two generations lording it over me in the tech dept. |
| 12/15/2003 | Another story from my mom.... Ryanne was so excited over Fred and Ana getting engaged, that she told everyone about it at church. When one person said she would now have a stepmother, she bristled and said her Ana wasn't going to be a stepmother, but a seond Mom. |
| 12/15/2003 | Well, the big news from the weekend is that Ana and I got engaged. I spent some time talking to Ryanne about it beforehand, and she was really excited. She couldn't wait for it to happen, but she did a really good job of keeping it a secret. She helped me propose by drawing pictures for a book that I gave to Ana. It was the history of our relationship, and Ry drew pictures of us on our first date, and a mariachi band when we were in Mexico, and stuff like that. Her drawings were incredible. She really made it great. Then at the party on Saturday night, she was so happy, and she was stuck to Ana like glue all night long. It was very cute. Saturday night when I was putting her to bed, I asked her if she was happy that Daddy was getting married. "Yes", she said. "Why are you happy?" I asked. "Because you won't have to braid my hair anymore. Ana can do it now." There was a long thoughtful pause, and she added "You can still do it once in a while though, because you need to practice." "Thanks Ry." I said. |
| 12/15/2003 | On Friday night, I dropped off my mom, and Ryand Ana at the elephant church to see the Christmas play. I had to go a couple of years ago, and I don't think I could stand to watch it again. Here's a recap from my mom.... We went to the living Nativity pageant at a huge church that seats about 3000 people. The show is way over the top, with flying angels overhead, and live animals, and even a live baby Jesus. The Magi arrive on 2 camels and an elephant. The church is next to the care facility where Siti lived for 3 years. She told the story that she saw an elephant outside her balcony, and was afriad to tell anyone about it because she thought they'd think she was seeing things. It turned out it was the elephant for the pageant, so ever since then, we call this church the Elephant Church. Anyhow, as the show reaches it's high point with the singing Christmas tree singing the Hallelujah Chorus, the angels overhead, and the camels and elephant approaching the stage, Ryanne was so excited that she said "This is so exciting-- it's just like one big Christmas present!" I think that's the original reason for the season, isn't it? |
| 12/10/2003 | My mom sent me this story last night. I went to the school today because I had promised Ryanne that I would take her Christmas shopping today. The school had set up tables of stuff that appealed to kids (highest price was $10. and most things were $2. or less) and no adults were allowed except the teachers who were helping the kids add up their choices to make sure they didn't overspend. She was quite excited and I watched her pick up/consider stuff that we all covet, like colored sidewalk chalk, erasers, scented candles, small ornaments and other assorted future garage sale stuff, and then she settled on three small things for a dollar each. She wouldn't show them to me, because one of them was for me, but she needed $3. to pay. I gave her a $5, and her little face fell. She said, "Mimi, then I can only get one" I said "No, you can get 3", but she said "But you only have one dollar, Mimi" I convinced her to take the five to the checkout and she was delighted to get $2. back, and wanted to go buy more stuff! She said nobody gave her an allowance this week, so the $2. could be her allowance. I told her that Mimi doesn't do allowance, and to talk to Daddy. We have to work on this money stuff. Thanks mom. Just in case she didn't already think of me as a bank, it's good for you to reinforce that. |
| 12/9/2003 | Ryanne just called me. She lost her second tooth yesterday, and the tooth fairy left her a gold dollar. She now has no bottom teeth in front. She is going to start to look like a jack-o-lantern. |
| 12/5/2003 | One of my "friends", Laura, was at Target and saw this Barbie Christmas Tree and she bought it for Ryanne. However, she bought the tree more to torture me than to do something nice for Ryanne. The tree is hideous, and Ryanne loves it. Two nights ago, when we got home, I told her that she had to go straight upstairs and into the bathtub, and she said "OK, but first I have to hug my tree." Then last night, we were at Target getting some other things, and we had to get the tiara tree topper, and the Barbie tree skirt. She begged for the Barbie lights, which are also pink, as well, but I stood firm. I suppose that means I'll be getting the lights today or tomorrow. I would just like to point out to Laura that she is going to be having a daughter in March, and there will be some payback. Justice may not be swift, but it will be more than fair. |
| 12/5/2003 | Another couple of stories from my mom.... I picked Ryanne up from school and she told me she was very tired. I asked why and she told me "You know, Mimi, they torture us like a horse at school." I asked what that meant and she said it meant that she had to work hard all day. I asked what torture meant and she said it was just making you work hard. The next day she said the same thing, so I asked her if someone else had said this and she was repeating it. She said no, that she had made up that saying all by herself. Today I asked if she had got tortured like a horse today, and she said no, today was a good day. I told her everyone has torture days and everyone has good days, and she said she likes the good days better. Don't we all! We bought little things at the dollar store today for the kids who won't have any Christmas presents. We buy white socks and fill them with little toys, pencils, notepads etc. and then the church hands them out. When I was a kid, we called it white gift Sunday because we were supposed to wrap the gifts in white paper-- I never did know why. Today, as we were stuffing the socks, I called them white gifts and Ryanne piped up "Mimi these ones are white sock gifts" We haven't quite mastered the idea of giving to those who are less fortunate, because after we bought all the sock stuff, Ryanne wanted a present for herself. I tried to tell her that wasn't the idea here, but she said "Well, I was good, and helped you do all this white sock stuff, and so I should get a gift too. I'm only getting 3 things from Santa" I reminded her that she would also get gifts from grandparents, parents, friends, cousins etc. but in her mind those don't count in the "staying even" dep't. |
| 12/5/2003 | In case there was any doubt about it....and there wasn't....kids get spoiled by their grandparents. I would like to point out that I had her back at Mimi's before bedtime. However, she was pretty cute in the Santa hat, and the jammies. This story is from my mom..... Ryanne got to stay out a little later than usual tonight as she and Daddy went out to buy a tree. She has been wanting to have a sleepover here ever since we moved into our new house and tonite was the first opprotunity to do so. She was prancing around in Santa pyjamas, and a Santa hat, singing "It's way past my bedtime but I think I'll just sneak awake for a while longer" |
| 12/2/2003 | I'm really not feeling so good today. I think I'm getting a sinus infection. Anyway it's quite painful to talk. I was in the car with my parents, and they were asking me work questions. I told them that it hurt to talk, and I'd rather talk about it later. Ryanne pipes up from the backseat "Maybe if we say 'I love you Dad', or you could say 'I love you Fred' he will feel better." No question about it. I felt better instantly. |
| 11/24/2003 | I had to give Ryanne some money on Saturday morning to go Christmas shopping. My mom took her to a craft fair, and she bought presents for everyone. It's cute because she's so concerned about making sure that everyone else is happy. She did a fine job, and got presents for a lot of people with her $20. |
| 11/20/2003 | Wow! What a huge momentous day yesterday..... I got a call at work yesterday afternoon from Ryanne. She was really excited when she called. "Dad! I lost my tooth today in Spanish!" "Cool! That is so exciting. Did you save it?" I asked. "Yup. They gave me a necklace at school, so I'm wearing it around my neck right now.". They actually had a little plastic tooth shaped box that she was wearing around her neck, but she had so much tape on it that it just looked like a ball of tape. Anyway, she was very proud. "Did it hurt when it came out?" I asked. "No. I was just playing with it, and it just popped right out. There was a little bit of blood, but it didn't hurt at all." she said. "Good for you baby. You're tough." I said. We talked a little bit more, and then I told her that I would see her after work. I hung up the phone, and then I realized that I had no idea how the tooth fairy works. I think I got a quarter when I was a kid. With the current rate of inflation, I was thinking that the tooth fairy might have to leave a Lexus under Ryanne's pillow. Luckily, one of my co-workers told me about a movie called Toothless which explains the whole thing, and it even shows the tooth fairy turning the teeth into silver dollars. I rented it, and then "the tooth fairy" had to go to about 5 different banks last night to get a silver dollar. Actually, the tooth fairy's dad had to go get one. Anyway, me and Ry and Mimi and Papa sat on the couch and watched the movie before Ry went to bed last night. Ry was telling me that you could already see the new tooth coming in, and if you looked really, really hard you could see a tiny white speck that may be a new tooth. It could also be a hunk of cheesecake, but if she wants it to be a tooth, it's a tooth. This morning, when I went to get her up to take her to daycare, I woke her up, and asked her if she saw the tooth fairy. She said no, but when she looked under her pillow, there was a silver dollar just like in the movie. She was so excited. As I was carrying her down to the car she said "I guess this tooth fairy is like the Easter Bunny and Santa, and she only comes when you're sleeping." Yup. It's kind of like the Easter Bunny and Santa. |
| 11/10/2003 | OK, I finally got my heart re-started after reading this note from my mom. Someone better let Frankie know that I'm looking for him.... Ry started out the school year with a boyfriend named Frankie. Then Frankie decided he liked Rachel, and Ry liked Nick. Now it seems that Frankie and Ry are back together. Anyhow, yesterday Ry said that Frankie wanted to kiss her, but she said No. (Cue: Daddy clapping) Today she told me he followed her around the playground asking her to kiss him, but she still said No. I asked what Frankie said when she wouldn't kiss him. The answer: "He said 'bummer' and walked away" She also said that she was trying to whistle at one point, and Frankie thought it looked like she wanted to kiss him, and bumped up against her, and "we bonked together our heads, and it sort of looked like we were kissing, but we weren't, because the only boys I kiss are Daddy and Papa" These playground antics are making a prematurely old man out of Daddy. |
| 11/3/2003 | There are always lots of catalogs at this time of year for early Christmas shoppers. Two of kids' toys arrived yesterday, and Ry was soon busy with a pen, going thru them circling every item for girls, so she could take the catalog to show Santa what she wants. My mom tried to point out that Santa maybe has to save some stuff for other little kids, and maybe she wouldn't get all this stuff. She patiently pointed out that she might not get everything, but the more she circled, the more Santa was likely to bring! When she was done, I looked at the catalog, and she had circled pretty much every item that was for girls. Somehow I don't think Santa is going to be that generous this year..... |
| 11/3/2003 | A couple of stories from my mom... We were at the Children's Symphony and it had a cowboy theme. They played the William Tell Overture, which is much better known as the theme from the Lone Ranger. Ry has never seen the Lone Ranger on TV, but was quick to tell everyone the old riddle about "Where does the Lone Ranger take his garbage? To the dump, to the dump, to the dump dump dump..." Also at the symphony were trick ropers and Native Indian dancers. Ry's class had been taking about Native Americans this past week, and I had taken a Kachina dancer doll in to show the kids. These dancers were dressed like the doll I had shown, so Ry was quite interested in them. They were doing the hoop dance where they intertwine about 100 hoops around their arms, head and legs without tripping and falling, and I asked her how she thought they could do that without falling. I hoped she would say because they practice a lot, but with all the disdain of a 5 year old explanation, she said "Mimi they are professionals, that's why!" |
| 11/3/2003 | Ryanne went for Halloween as Ariel. She even had the hair. She had a great time, and amazingly enough didn't eat that much candy. She also had a Halloween party at school, and another one in Mimi and Papa's neighborhood. That's a lot of partying for one day. She was sound asleep around 8:15. |
| 10/29/2003 | OK, first a little background. My friend Gary had a birthday a while ago (his birthday is actuall two days after Ryanne's), and his girlfriend threw a surprise party where we were all supposed to wear funny hats, and then give the hats to Gary as a gift. Fast forward to last night....Ry calls me at work, and says "Dad, tomorrow is crazy hat day at school. Do you have a crazy hat I can wear?" I called up Gary to see if we could go over there and borrow one of his. It was pretty funny because he has a whole room full of those styrofoam heads with all these goofy hats on them. Ryanne had to try them all on. Did she pick the one that Ana wore? No, too scary. Did she pick the one that daddy wore? No, too crazy. She picked the purple pimp hat. It's purple velvet, and it has leopard trim, and a big green feather in it. I feel like I should be driving her to school in a big pink De Ville. |
| 10/27/2003 | Ryanne was telling me about she did at school today. "Dad, guess what I wrote in my journal today?" she asked. "What, Ry?" "Well we had to write 'My Dad can _____' and I wrote fix computers." she said. "That's right baby." I said, and we high-fived. "I drew you in jean shorts at your office with some wires coming out of a computer, and you were using some tweezers to fix it. Not the kind of tweezers you use on your eyebrows, but work tweezers." I don't think I have ever worn jean shorts to work, but it's interesting to hear what she thinks I do for a living. No, I can't fix your computer if there are wires hanging out of it. |
| 10/14/2003 | Ry's class sent home some more homework last night. They made another book. It was called "I used to be a..." and they would take a shape and turn it into something else. For example, one of the girls had a circle on the page, and it said "I used to be a circle, but now I am a princess." and she drew hair, and eyes and stuff on the circle so it would look like a princess. These books are really cute. My favorite is the kid who drew something that looked like a bus, and his was "I used to be a rectangle, but now I am a paddy wagon.". I really hope that child has a parent who is a police officer. I'm going to have to make sure that Ry doesn't hang around with that kid too much. Here is Ry's homework. |
| 10/14/2003 | When I got home from work last night, Ry was completely wired. She was so excited that she couldn't sit still to tell me everything that was going on. The most exciting thing was that she has a loose tooth. Another sign that my baby is growing up, but I'm learning to deal with these little things much better. She was so excited that she told everyone. She told the cashier at Kohl's, and the cashier at Safeway, and anyone else who would listen. Then she had to show me about 200 times. "Look dad. Watch my tooth wiggle!!!" |
| 10/14/2003 | Ry went to Daisies yesterday after school to check it out. She loved it. Apparently the uniforms are fine too. She has the Girl Scout pledge almost memorized already, and she already got a badge for going to to pumpkin farm last weekend. Well, she's very happy, and Daddy has to shell out some more money for a uniform, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm not complaining though. There are worse things I could spend my money on than Girl Scouts. |
| 10/13/2003 | So after all that, I asked Ry why she didn't want to go to Daisies, and she said that she had seen the uniforms, and she didn't like them. It must be so hard to be a fashion diva at 5. I convinced her to go once, and check it out. Maybe they have different uniforms that she will like. |
| 10/13/2003 | Ry has been talking about joining Daisies for quite a while now. My mom decided to get some information on it. I'll let her tell the rest of the story.... We are trying to teach Ryanne to sound out words and she actually knows how to read a lot. Transferring that to writing may be more of a challenge. Yeterday I was talking on the phone to a Girl Scout leader who leads a group of Daisies. Daisies are the youngest Girl Scouts, and start in kindergarten. This group meets a Ryanne's school every second Monday. Anyhow as I was talking to the leader, Ry was whining that she didn't want to go to Daisies, despite talking about joining for some time. She finally handed me a note while I was still talking, and it said NO I AMN GWEN, followed by a large period. I translated this phonetically to be No I am not going., but it's not bad for someone who can't read or write yet. And we'll talk about Daisies another day. |
| 10/8/2003 | Another funny story from my mom... Ryanne had her little friend Becca over for play time yesterday. Ry apparently knows how to play kiddie Monopoly, but the version we have is (adult) Calgary Monopoly. She and Becca laid out the game, distributed the money etc. and then I overheard this conversation: "Becca can you read these cards?" "No, I can't read yet." "Well, sound it out!" "No I can't" "Well, then we'll just have to go do something else" This not being able to read sure puts a cramp in things! |
| 10/7/2003 | A story from my mom about church... For some reason, Ryanne didn't want to go to Sunday school but wanted to sit in the choir with me for church. When this has happened before, I would usually find someone I knew in the first couple of rows for her to sit with, and she is very quiet, and watches me and waves at me. Today tho, the ladies who sit near me (both grammas) said it would be OK for her to sit with us in the loft. Ry loved it, & was quite well behaved. I gave her my pencil and paper to write on. Now picture this: each time there is a prayer, she put her hands together up near her face to pray. But not wanting to lose her pencil, each time we prayed, she put it behind her ear! Sort of reminded me of the time at Grammy Ev's funeral that Jidi, during the prayers, was busily writing down the hymn numbers from the board so he could play those numbers at the track later! |
| 10/6/2003 | We went to the pumpkin farm yesterday. We tried a new pumpkin farm this year, it's called Schnepf Farms. They did a really nice job, and we will definitely go back next year. They had pig races, and a corn maze, and a petting zoo, and a bike thing where Papa and I had to pedal and Ry got to ride through the trees, and a train ride, and, of course, a pumpkin patch. They also had a great bakery. Daddy likes pie. OK, here are the pictures. We took them with Mimi's phone camera, so the quality is not the best, but you get the idea.... Ry pretending to ride the school bus. Ry pretending to ride the pumpkin truck. Ry sitting on a big pile of pumpkins. Ry riding the carousel. Ry, Mimi, and Papa as farm animals. I took this one, so I take the blame for the poor quality (but only because Mimi won't let me blame her camera). Mimi is the sheep, Ry is the black cow, and Papa is the Jersey cow. Ry on the train. |
| 10/6/2003 | We went out for dinner on Saturday night to Joe's Crab Shack. They have a huge area where you wait for a table, and it's conveniently next to the gift shop. Anyway, we were walking through the gift shop looking at stuff, and Ryanne was wearing her Princess Aurora costume because I couldn't get it off of her all day. Side Note - The Aurora costume is filthy, and I went to wash it, and it says dry clean only. I have to dry clean dress up clothes? Daddy needs to check the labels better next time. So we were standing in the gift shop, and some guy walked up to Ryanne and said "Excuse me miss, are you Princess Aurora?" Ryanne just started beaming, and said "Yes. I am." "Wow." said the man. "It's a real pleasure to meet you. I've never met a real princess before." "I know." she said. She really thinks she's a princess. Now is not a good time to remind me about the rock star thing. Just keep it to yourself. |
| 10/6/2003 | On Friday, I had Ry in the car, and she was complaining that one of her friends had "real makeup" and she just had "baby makeup". "You have real makeup, sweetie. It's just in Princess containers. I guess you could call it Princess makeup." I said trying to make her feel better. "Well, I'm not sure I want to be a princess anymore." she said. Suddenly, I was filled with dread, "What do you want to be?" "Well, I think I'd like to be a Rock Star." she said. I don't know how I didn't crash the car. I'm just going to pretend she didn't say that, and maybe it will go away. |
| 10/1/2003 | When Ana's niece Pugs was here in July, she and Ryanne got along just great. Pugs was giving her hugs, and the two of them were playing at dinner. I finally got this picture scanned in. It's Ry and Pugs at dinner. |
| 10/1/2003 | I know that I've talked about this before, but Ryanne can read. A few months ago I bought a book of kids rhymes that was labelled as a First Reader or something like that. She tried to read it back then, and got frustrated, but she's been doing really well at school, so we got the book out for a bedtime story last night. The first rhyme was - I saw you in the street I saw you in a tree I saw you in the bathtub Whoops! Pardon Me! She needed a little bit of help, but she was able to sound out all the words and read the whole thing. Afterwards, I said "Ry, that was really impressive, I'm really proud of you. You read the whole thing. Good for you." She was just beaming. "I can read, daddy." she said. "Yes you can." I said. "But there's one thing that we need to talk about. Remember how Mimi told you that Daddy couldn't read until he was in first grade? Well, you're only in kindegarten, and you can already read. I have a problem with that. You're not allowed to be smarter than your dad." I was laughing, and tickling her when I said the last part. She started shrieking with laughter, and said "Sorry dad. I'm smarter than you, and that's just the way it's going to be." It's only going to get worse for me, but I'm awfully proud. |
| 9/30/2003 | Ryanne's class did a project called "If I had a dinosaur". The kids each had to draw a picture of what they would do if they had a pet dinosaur. They made it into a book, and they sent it home for the parents to see. It was so cute. This is Ryanne's. |
| 9/30/2003 | This is the first day of school. The sun was very bright in our eyes. She's holding the very same finger puppet that I took to school on my first day of school. I guess he has to go back in a book for another 25 or 30 years. |
| 9/30/2003 | I posted about this when it happened, but I finally got the pictures back, and got them scanned. When were in Mexico over the July 4th long weekend, we went to the beach, and Ry buried me in the sand. Have a look at what she did to my chest. I couldn't tell what she had done, but there were all these college kids walking by saying "Very nice!" and I had no idea what was going on. |
| 9/30/2003 | Ryanne made a ginger bread house for Hallowe'en last night. Yes, that's black icing all over her shirt, and all over her face, but the ginger bread house is very cute. In a related story, daddy learned how to pre-soak laundry to remove black icing stains from a pink shirt. |
| 9/29/2003 | Ryanne has been calling herself Kate for quite some time now, and I finally got the explanation tonight. "Why do you want to be called Kate?" I asked. "Because I don't like my real name." she said. "Why not?" "Well, there isn't a good nickname for Ryanne." she said with her best pouty face. "What about Ry?" I asked. "Yah, but then the kids at school call me 'Rhinocerous'" she said. "OK, here's what you do. When they call you that, you laugh, and say 'That's funny. I'm Ryanne the Rhinocerous', and they will stop teasing you about that." I said. "OK. I'll do it on the outside, but on the inside I still don't like to be called Rhinocerous." she said. |
| 9/25/2003 | Ryanne was telling me what she did in school today, and apparently they were learning about Vikings. I told her that she should know a lot about Vikings because she is one. I had to explain that Papa's family was from Norway, and the Norwegians were Vikings. "Really?" she asked. "Yup." I said. "Is that why I'm so sneaky?" she asked. Ummmm....I didn't know that Vikings were sneaky. I guess she would know. She is studying them. |
| 9/24/2003 | Tonight at dinner Ryanne was explaining to Papa how the traffic light system works at school. You start with a green light for good behavior, and if you do something kind of bad, you get a yellow light, and if you do something really bad, you get a red light. When you get a red light, they send a note to your parents, and your parents have to sign it and return it. Ryanne looks at Papa and says "It's a hard life being 5." I wish my life was that hard. |
| 9/22/2003 | It's really hard to go see Ry during the day at school because she doesn't want you to leave. Two Fridays ago, when I dropped her off in the morning, she wouldn't let go of me until the bell rang, and then there were some tears before I was allowed to leave. My mom had a similar experience today... It's dinosaur week at Ryanne's school, so at lunch time I took over some articles I had written on the Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, and some dinosaur bones and petrified wood and petrified mushrooms for the kids to look at. They were having their pizza day lunch and Ry wanted me to eat with her. She introduced me to all her girlfriends and a couple of boyfriends, and then offered to take me and show me all around her school. The tour consisted of her home room, the library, the playground, and the office, all of which are a total of about 40 feet away from each other, in a circle. Sensing that I was about to go, she grabbed my hand and dragged me over to see the only thing I hadn't yet seen-- the separate boys' and girls' bathrooms! |
| 9/22/2003 | A funny update from my mom. Let's hope that she is cured... This morning, Ryanne wanted to read another Junie B. Jones story. Junie is also in kindergarten, and is always in trouble of some kind. The one we read this morning was called Junie B. Jones is a Beauty Shop Guy. You can tell where this one is going, after Ry about her cut her own hair, can't you? This time Junie B. cuts her dog's hair, and gets in trouble. So she decides she has had enough experience to try cutting her own hair. She has trouble getting it even, so of course she decides to wear both a hat and a ski mask to school, and is very embarassed. She ends up getting her hair all cut very short at the beauty shop. Ryanne was holding her breath and saying things like "She's really going to get a time out for this" and "She's going to look very bad, isn't she, Mimi?" I think we've cured the hair cutting thing after seeing how short Junie B's hair had to be cut to make up for her cutting it crooked herself. |
| 9/22/2003 | Well I guess it's a good thing that her timing is good. We got the birthday pictures taken on Friday evening, and then on Sunday evening, Ryanne decided to give herself a haircut. She only cut off a few chunks, so it's nothing serious. When Ana asked her why she did it, she said that there was nothing else to cut. Boredom and scissors don't go very well together. |
| 9/20/2003 | We got Ryanne's picture taken for her birthday. Here they are... Picture 1 Picture 2 Picture 3 Picture 4 |
| 9/17/2003 | Ryanne has decided that she wants to be a cheerleader. Last night at dinner, we had to go through one million renditions of "Give me an M!" "M!" "Give me an I!" "I!" "Give me an M!" "M!" "Give me an I!" "I!" "What's it spell?!?!" "Mimi!" we had to say in unison. For every question she asks, she has to jump up in the air, and thrust her hands up. We had to do "Mimi", "Papa", "Dad", "Daddy", "Ana" and "Ryanne", and we had to do each one about 20 times. I guess the spelling practice is worth it, and she was so cute that I probably could have done it another 20 times too. |
| 9/17/2003 | Ryanne and I were in the car last night, and we had the following conversation.... "Hey, Ry...How is Nick?" I asked. "He's good." she said. "Is he still your boyfriend?" "Yup." she said. "What does it mean for him to be your boyfriend?" I asked. I hope she couldn't sense the fear and dread in my voice. "Well, we don't kiss if that's what you mean." she said. At this point there was some screeching tires, and the sounds of me giving myself CPR. Once I got my heart started again, I said "That's good to know. Does he call you his girlfriend?" "No. I don't think so." she said. "Does he know that you're his girlfriend?" I asked. "I'm not sure." she said. "Well, did you ask him to be your boyfriend?" "Not really." she said. "Then how is he supposed to know that he's your boyfriend?" I asked. "Dad!" she said with her You are such an idiot voice. "He's not supposed to know." "Oh." OK, that's much better. I think I'm a little more comfortable with this boyfriend thing now, and I apologize for threatening to break the legs of these little boys. |
| 9/15/2003 | Apparently, Frankie is gone. Ryanne now tells my mom that Nick is her new boyfriend. I can't keep track of all these little kids. |