Mona's Story

"Once upon a time there was a stray cat and she was cute, black and had a little bit of white and everyone that saw her called her a snowball. She was so cute and not a mean cat at all, even when she scratched. One foggy year Mona went to the same house every day and she was sooo happy."

At the park across the street from B&C. Nick spun around on seats perfectly angled to keep the victim spinning. After a bit of spinning Natasha asked her Dad: "Are you fatter?"

Looking

This one was reported to Mom from preschool teacher at pick-up yesterday.

N was found crawling around on the floor looking under tables and chairs. When asked what she was looking for she replied: "My sense of humor!"

Dinosaurs

N: Mom, there were no dinosaurs left when you were born right?

Mom: Yeah, they had been gone for millions of years by the time I was born.

N: Yeah, they were here way back in the 1950's.

Su Hua

N: Hi.
Mom: Hi.
N: I'm going to pretend to be someone else. (runs away)
Mom: Where are you going?
N: (from other room) I'm at my home in China!
(Nat runs back into the kitchen) Hi! I thought I'd come over for a visit and see your town.
Mom: Welcome to our home, you can stay as long as you like, what's your name?
N: Su Hua. I'm from China. I've never seen this kitchen before.
Mom: Wow. You traveled a long way.
N: I went on a plane. It was longer than planes to Michigan.
Mom: Would you like a snack, Su Hua?
N: Yeah. I like snacks at my house in China what snacks do you have at your house?
Mom: Well, my daughter, Natasha, likes to eat yogurt with blueberries in it, does that sound good to you?
N: I've never had that before. Sounds great!
(Mom starts yogurt prep)
Mom: So tell me about where you live. Do you live in a city?
N: No. I live in the desert.
Mom: Do you have any animals?
N: Just camels. Three of them. I know a lot about camels so you can ask me any question about camels and I can tell you about them.
Dad joins in: Do camels really spit?
N: Noooo! That's not real. Most camels are really friendly.
Mom: Wow, camels in China, who knew. Do you have any brothers or sisters?
N: Nope. No Mom or Dad either.
Mom: No mom or dad? Are you a grown up or a kid.
N: I'm all grown up. I'm eight.

The tale continued and N made up an entire biography of this eight year old camel-riding Chinese orphan raised by good friends in a desert in China. She remained in character for almost three hours including going to the grocery store and commenting that everything was different "in your town" that it was in China and asking which aisle had "camel food" so that she could take it back with her. She also invited us to visit her in China which involved a "plane flight" to the back of the house and introducing her to her camels and helping her name them.

Daddy has two daddies

Nat: Did you know that Daddy has two daddies?
Mom: Yeah, I guess he does.
N: Grandpa Moon AND Grandfather. Some people have two moms, or one mom and one dad, or one mom. But Daddy has two daddies. That's unusual. Families come in all shapes and sizes. (hand on hip and head nodding galore).

Stretching

N: Wanna watch me do this stretch?

Mom: Sure.

N: If I don't stretch I'm kind of smaller.

The mark of the calendar

Mom: There, now we have it on the calendar so we won't forget.
N: Can I have that pen?
Mom: Sure, do you have something else to write down?
(N makes a big squiggly drawing in one of the squares of the calendar.)
N: There. All set. I'll try to do it in the other squares just for revelations.

Scary Whiskerland

This picture is about the legend of the scary whiskerland. It's very scary because there are lots of bats flying around and monsters are inside the castle. And there are scary whiskers and a cat that hisses at you and monsters that go roar and a king that doesn't know you. There's also the Legend of the Sillywhisker castle. Its' got some funny cows and whiskers inside it.

Big Plans

N: Mom, I have some plans.
Mom: Oh? Tell me your plans.
N: I want to skate on ice sometime.
Mom: That sounds like fun. Maybe if we visit Michigan in the winter we can skate on ice. I've never skated on ice outdoors before.
N: And I want a sleigh with horses.
Mom: Wow. That's more elaborate. I don't know about that.
N: Or a sleigh with reindeer.
Mom: Do you mean like Santa Claus?
N: Yeah. Are reindeer real?
Mom: Yes, but they can't fly in real life; that's part of the make believe story about Santa Claus.
N: Why?
Mom: That's a good question. I don't know why the reindeer have to fly in Santa Claus' story. I guess to explain how he can travel all over the world in one night.
N: Mom?
Mom: Yeah.
N: I want to live in Alaska when I grow up.
Mom: Sounds good. There are a lot of things in Alaska that you want to see. I can understand that you want to live there.
N: Are there reindeer there?
Mom: Yeah. But they're called caribou in Alaska.
N: Do people have sleighs?
Mom: I bet a lot of people do. I've only been to a small part of Alaska once and I didn't see any sleighs but I bet there are.
N: I want to go there when I'm a kid, get a house and then move there when I'm a grown-up.
Mom: Any other plans you want to tell me about while we're at it?
N: I'm taking Mona with me.

Don't go there!

Mom opens the door to the back room.

N: You can't go there!

Mom: I need to talk to gramanana for a minute.

N: You can't go there its under concerning!

Looking for pictures

N: Hey, Mom! I like your new book, let's read it together.

Mom: Let's see if we can find any pictures.

N: Yeah. Let's find pictures of anthropology nuns.

A Joke, etc.

N: If Mona gets sunburned her fur will turn pink! Ha, Ha!

---

Natasha is playing with her various toy animals.

N: Mom, lets play a game that there's a cow that needs surgery and the veterinarian has to go on hikes to get the medicine.

----

N: If I went to a museum and saw a dinosaur skeleton I would be pretty surprised!

E: Oh, yeah, what would surprise you the most.

N: Well, it's surprising to see dinosaur bones I think.

Two plays with an interlude...

(N makes a megaphone out of a rolled up piece of paper and shouts through it)

N: There's going to be a play! It's about someone guessing someone else's name!

(N dances around with four finger puppets on one hand. The characters dance for a few minutes and then she throws them into the air)

N: The play is over!

(Grandmanana and Mom applaud.)

N: It was going to be Rumplesquirtskin but they weren't into it.

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N runs into my bedroom with a pair of pants on her arms.
Mom: Why do you have pants on your arms?
N: Because roosters are NOT ALLOWED!
Mom: What do pants on your arms have to do with roosters?
N: It's to put the rooster in a soup.

---

N: There is going to be another play! There is a dark shadow and that will be Rumpleshortskin!

N dances around for awhile and then settles into her character finger puppets having a conversation.

N: Is your name Fluffernutter? No. Is your name pooposnooper? No. Is your name rumpleshortskin?
Yes! YAY!The play is over!

A Story

On Sunday morning I was working on the couch and Natasha offered to read me a book. She launched into the following story that I transcirbed as she talked. I sometimes interjected an encouraging "uh-huh" but she basically said all of the below in one sitting. Just FYI the book she was "reading" to me was a history of Nineteenth Century Christianity in the U.S. No pictures, just print. Also two notes on vocabulary "Free dance book" refers to a book of photographs of famous dancers that we own and sometimes look at. A caracal is a wild cat that lives in central Asia and Africa.

Do you want me to read you one of your books from your desk? ......There are lots of beautiful pictures. It's a free dance book. It's really amazing. (Natasha opens up the book) I learned about this in South America. See this, it's so incredible, you maybe might see some. It's incredibele at the end because there's a dog that is running through different kind of tubes and then it flies through outer space....Here's something you really like. It's a free dance book and it's called my first word phonics book. You might really like it. Some things are happening with the book. I'm fixing the book and making it into a different book. I'm making it into a a book about caracals. I've got caracal books that I already made today.

Flocker, running like the wind, etc.

N: I'm just going to put on my flocker. (Natasha takes an umbrella cover and puts it on her hand like a glove)

Mom: Flocker? What does that mean?

N: It's a little thing you wear in the rain if your hands get cold. I lost the other one, though. Why did I lose it?

Mom: I don't know. Why do you think you lost it?

N: I don't know anymore. I just lost it.

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Running down the sidewalk to the dojo with Mom, Dad, and friend, Julia.

N: We're running as fast as the wind!

Mom: We are? Wow, that's fast!

Dad: I can't feel the wind, maybe that's because we are running as fast as the wind.

N: Yes. I'm running that fast, are you mom?

Mom: I think so!

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Crawling into bed next to Mona who groans with sympathetic fatigue.

N: Oh, Mona. You have such a good life, little cat.

Water gopher ettiquette

Natasha runs through the front door.

N: The water gophers are not allowed inside the house.

Mom: Oh? Why is that?

N: Their feet are muddy and they'll track dirt all over the floor and it will take WEEKS to clean it up.

Mom: Good idea to keep them outside. Good call.

N: Yeah. AND... they are wild animals so they have to stay outside. Wild animals don't belong in the house.

Mom: That's right. Sounds good.

N: What's that water gohers? Oh, mom, I have to go feed them more, they're still hungry.

Natasha runs out the front door.

Sandwich version

N: Hey mom, did you know that I read that Goldilocks ate sandwiches at the three bears house?

Mom: Sandwiches? Not oatmeal?

N: No she ate all the sandwiches this time.

Mom: You must have read a different version of the story than we tell. There are lots of versions of that story.

N: Yeah, this was a different version. Sandwiches make versions of the story. Yeah.

Song and Dance

Here's Natasha performing an original work...

http://www.nijomu.com/blog/?p=142

Mona's Night Life

N: Mona works at night.

Mom: She does? What does she do?

N: She's an anthropologist. She digs up gold, looks at it and meows at night.