Sozlet stories

What can this mean, soz?
Could she be considering whether there really is a tooth fairy or not?

I'd guess it means that she's not a mercenary child.

Or she could be scared silly of witchcraft or having her DNA misused?

What is this business at the pool? I read back and found nothing. Do I need to come to Ohio and do some a$$-kicking? (Now, that I think about it; I'm not sure I could resist another excuse to go to O-Hi-O.

I still have two mouthsful of teeth in a box. The owners are getting pretty long in the tooth now. My baby turns 30 tomorrow. Never knew what to do with them. I'd heard of people making necklaces, but that seems creepy.

Ha! Totally. Sozlet suggested a bracelet. Hmmm...

O'Bill, the pool stuff was from another thread:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=77367

I appreciate the protective, honorary uncle reaction though! :-) If you do make it to Ohio, would love to see ya.

Oh and the fact that she wants to keep the teeth is less about the tooth fairy I think than that she just wants 'em. She likes them, they're cool, they're her teeth. More interesting than money.

Hey, I wonder if that's how the whole tooth fairy thing came about in the first place? Kids wanting to keep their teeth and parents finding it kinda icky and trying to get the kids to be OK with throwing them out. (Parents who do the tooth fairy thing, what do you do with the teeth once they're exchanged for $$?)

My baby teeth - well, not all of them, but a few) were kept in an envelope. Other envelopes had locks of my hair with ribbon. I threw them out as an adult. I still, even approaching a hundred, have some brown hair, I guess I should save a snip while the getting's good, not for anyone else, but just for me as a graying amusement. Ain't as glossy as it used to be though. Estrogen, the key shinemaker (I think).

My mother had her hair bobbed sometime around 1920; the hair was held by wires. I played with that long swath of hair as a child - no, not four, but maybe at nine.. - and wore it as a fancy 'french' twist when I was about twenty. Had trouble parting with it when she died. Finally threw it out about a decade ago when it had taken a decided turn for the worse, composition-wise.

Yes, that's it. Exactly. They're part of HER.

I would imagine that's precisely why the tooth fairy story was invented.

Careful what you wish for. I'm guessing it's only a matter of time.

Sounds like you're handling everything perfect to this no kid-having ignorant fool. If they were to get mad, they'd only prove you right.

As an experiment with say at least 2 dozen test subjects: I've interrupted conversations to tell a person A. (usually a new person) he/she shouldn't believe anything person B. says... because he/she is a chronic liar...
Honest persons B. laugh or are at least bemused. Liars usually get mad. Not overtly, but you can see it in their eyes. This experiment stands up to repetition.

I googled "History of Tooth Fairy" and found:

http://azaz.essortment.com/teethfairieshi_rird.htm

There are other sites, too, but this isn't a day for lingering in any one place.

Alexis said the other day when I was wearing my new bathingsuit "mommy, i see your breasts" (side note: nothing uhm...unseemly, I promise, it's a regular bathingsuit but she was looking at me from the my head down, because i was laying on the sofa)

So I said, big deal.
She says "i have some too"
I said, "hahaha not really, not yet you don't"
She looks inside her bathing suit looking for (i presume) her little mosquito bites and screams "AHHHHHHHHHHH WHERE DID THEY GO???"

hahahahahahahahaah (after pulling on her chest skin for a few seconds she'd 'found them' and relaxed)

:-D


I'm doing a long-overdue art clean-up/ organization, found this transcription among her art, not sure when it dates from:

Caterpillar, caterpillar, won't you come with me
I know just the right place for you to stay for me
Winter's passing, you'll be sleeping
After winter's maybe over
You can be a butterfly clover

Lovely.

To be honest, I'm beginning to feel a little queasy when I imagine her in school. Unless your local school is much better than most German schools at dealing with highly gifted children, Sozlet is going to be terminally bored. Either that, or she'll jump classes and become a social outcast among her classmates. (I think I remember saying you you wouldn't let her do that though.) Sure, many parents would happily trade this problem for theirs, but it's still difficult. Here's hoping that your local school can handle gifted children.

Me too!

Kindergarten has started, and has been interesting. It's definitely culture shock compared to preschool. I really loved her preschool -- it wasn't Montessori per se but similar ideas. Very child-centered and open -- kids basically showed up and hung out doing interesting things together for a couple of hours. I think I mentioned here how sozlet completely organized a class-wide play -- she was the director and an actor, but she got everyone involved. Pretty much all of classtime was devoted to this play, with the teachers involved and helping too -- sets, costumes, props, storyline, etc., etc. The teachers not only tolerated it but thought it was great.

Kindergarten is WAY more regimented and limited. I had a long talk with her last night, some of what I learned was a little depressing, though she's still very gung-ho about kindergarten in general. It started by asking her who she played with/ talked to the most. Evidently she just doesn't have much time to play or talk to ANYONE. She sits at a table with 3 other kids -- she was friends with one of them already, she's become fast friends with another, and the third is kind of prissy and snooty from what I've seen and sozlet says they don't talk to each other very much.

Sozlet also immediately connected with a girl who sits at another table, and evidently they don't have much time to hang out together. There is some play time, but even that is by "stations" -- your table goes to some play area, plays for a limited time, then moves to the next. The rest of the day is super scheduled and regimented -- music, gym, "journal time" (I love journals, as a pedagogy, though), circle time, etc., etc. Especially disturbing is that so far they've had no -- NO -- recess to speak of. Recess is supposed to be right before we pick them up, but they almost always just come straight out, building to parents, do not stop at recess. It sounds like that part might be temporary, until school is more established -- allowing more transition time at the beginning at the expense of recess. Not certain about that.

I asked her if it was OK to talk in the halls -- that was something that really bothered me about a thing she went to in another school district this summer, she got in trouble for talking quietly to a friend in the hallways as they went from one activity to another, they were supposed to be silent-silent. Hmmph. She said yeah, it's OK to do it sometimes, but you have to be pretty quiet. I guess that makes sense, they don't want to be disruptive to other classes as they pass. Better than silent-silent.

Then there's "swallowing a bubble," though. That's what the teacher tells them if they're talking when they're not supposed to. "Can you please swallow a bubble?" That means puffing your cheeks out and holding your mouth shut. Hmm.

I understand that they're in kindergarten to learn and that there are standards that have to be met (there are! in kindergarten! ugh) and that it's also preparation for regular school, and this will all probably be fine. Overall she loves school, and that's the most important part. AND there's a class bunny rabbit that people will get to take home on the weekends. Whoo-hoo!

I like their attitude. Are there Montessori, Sudbury, and similar schools in Columbus? Would you be interested in sending her there?


Sounds more like boot camp than kindergarten: "No talking except in the line of duty! That's ten push-ups for you, private Thomas. C'mon, let's see it!"


Cool! I hope she soon gets the chance to be one of the bunny-sitters.

I know there are Montessori preschools 'cause I looked into them (EXPENSIVE, and decided that the one we chose [which was much cheaper] looked good, which it was), not sure about schools. Probably.

We moved here in large part because this school district is so good, though -- I won't say exactly where in the rankings 'cause it gives info about exactly where we live, but it's way up there. And not just rankings, lots of word of mouth type recommendations too. I do think it will work out well and that a lot of it is just beginning-of-school adjustments and the fact that they have these stupid standards that they have to fulfill. The school itself, as a whole, seems fabulous, and moms of older kids I've talked to have raved about it. And they (the school) have been trumpeting some funding they got for their gifted programs (which they have).

Plus, I can always supplement sozlet's education at home.


Minor note -- yesterday sozlet was asking me to show her all of my earrings. She complained that one pair was tarnished, and I decided to show her a trick with toothpaste (we were in the bathroom already), works great to clean silver. She thought that was fabulous and wanted to do it herself. So we spent the next hour or so polishing silver jewelry, side by side, just hanging out and chatting a bit. It was nice.

Sounds great. All the best!

This is some of the art I recently sorted through. She drew it after going to a summer festival and listening to a really good Beatles cover band, who did "Yellow Submarine", which she LOVED.