Random Moments

I haven't blogged much lately, but we've been busy.  The little girls and I enjoyed an outing to Novaks Gym.  It kind of makes me wish I could put Lainey in a class at a nearby gym (so far the distance and price are a sufficient deterrent).

The girls and I spent part of President's Day at Mt. Vernon (cuz it's free on Pres Day).  It was my first time doing anything related to presidents on their holiday and despite the crowds it was quite nice.  We bypassed the home and spent all our time in the museum.  I noticed that Liz was particularly interested about reading about slavery.  On the way home she said that one of the many reasons she's glad that slavery ended is that some of the kids in her class wouldn't exist today if it was still going on because they are bi-racial.  She knows what rape is, but somehow it didn't occur to her that it was a regular part of the slave system and I didn't want to enlighten her in front of her little sisters.

 

I feel like we've been broaching some sensitive topics lately.  A few days ago Lainey asked me about the "Twin Towers."  At first I thought she was taking about something she'd seen in a cartoon, then I realized that she was remembering the 9/11 discussion I had with Lizzie a couple months ago (in the car, I stupidly thought Lainey wasn't listening).   I explained it to Laines then tried to talk about tolerance.  I used the examples of favorite colors and asked Alaina if it would okay for someone to be mean to her because she liked pink and they didn't.  The conversation progressed, then at the end Lainey wanted to know the terrorists favorite colors.

Last month I read Anne Frank's diary for my book club.  Since I was leading the discussion I went ahead a read a couple books of commentary and background as well.  Liz started reading over my shoulder when I was reading about Otto Frank's experience in the camps and post liberation.  Naturally she was interested (and horrified) so now she is reading Anne's diary and we are planning a trip to the Holocaust museum.

A couple weeks ago Liz and I enjoyed a meal/show at Medieval Times with her fellow Girl Scouts.  I had gone with my family in Florida when I was 12 so it had been quite a while. Drew was doing ski patrol so the little girls hung out with our friends for the afternoon.  Ellie had so much fun that she didn't want to leave.  I had to drag her out of the house and she kept trying to reenter.  Finally, as I was carrying her (kicking and crying) to the car she yelled, "You're not my mom!" (right when someone was walking by, naturally) and insisted that her mom was actually "the other mom in the house."

 Finally, we survived Girl Scout's Thinking Day.  Liz has been in Scouts for four years now and this was her third thinking day, but it was the first time I attended.  It was cute and I liked that she learned a bit about the country her troop presented, Philippines. She pictured below next to her troop's swaps.