Debate: Feelings about plastic surgery

 I have to say, as a parent, I'm proud and impressed of my 13 year old. We just had a fantastic debate about plastic surgery, specifically breast enhancement. She was able to vocalize the double standard towards trans-female versus cis-female in this elective surgery. She was also able to describe her ability to support her friends but seek out reasons for the surgery and if they were for themselves or for external reasons. It was an amazing conversation, that I don't think many adults would be able to have, and certainly not so eloquently. 

Letter to the tooth fairy

Quinn has lost 4 teeth within the last month. She has been hiding them in unusual locations to test the tooth fairy. Tonight she wrote the following note. It was a tricky response to write. I think we did okay.

///////////////////////
Dear Tooth Fairy,
You give other kids 20$ bill and I get 1$ bill. I was wondering if you could give me a 20$ bill. Thank you.   Your Kid, Quinn.

//////////////
Kid Quinn,
I know it seems not even when other kids get more money. Parents set the rules for all us fairies. Thursday Tooth Fairy. P.S.  Here is what I can do:

Quinn's Creative writing

Previously we posted Quinn's creative writing... well her current job is an author. The requirements for this job were:

1. To create a first draft (which she already did on paper).
2. Transcribe it into a word processor
3. Respond to an editor (daddy) and make corrections
4. Post it to this blog

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Yellowstone’s story

I was sitting on a bench waiting for someone to need a hero. Suddenly, Yellowstone heard a car crash. BOOM! A baby cry, WAA! Then she was there, yes, Red Scarlet and her crew: Mia Moonstone, Sophie Sapphire, Strawberry Ruby, and the one and only boy Ethan Emerald.  “Come on,” Red Scarlet demanded, “she’s right there.” You see Red Scarlet needed Yellowstone because she needed one more person on her team. But Yellowstone said “NO!” Red Scarlet was furious! Then Red Scarlet said, “If you’re not with us you’re against us.” Then the fight began.  Yellowstone shot a lighting bolt; Red Scarlet shot fire. Red Scarlet’s crew said, “Why are we fighting?” Red Scarlet said to join in, but they went with Yellowstone. “With me!” she wailed. Then they ran over to Red Scarlet’s side, but it was to late. She was defeated.  Do you think that Red Scarlet learned her lesson? NO! In fact, she still robbed banks and took jewels. Meanwhile, Yellowstone was earning medals and trying to find a way to keep Red Scarlet in jail for good.  Finally, Red Scarlet was caught and was permanently in jail. Yellowstone earned her 155^th medal and, as for Red Scarlet’s crew, they became Yellowstone’s crew. And This All Happened At The Park!

Thinking about what you are thinking about

Profoundly deep thoughts from a 7-yr old: (context she is reading a book about magic, and the next chapter is about "reading minds". I tell her she could always ask me what I'm thinking, and I'll tell her). Quinn then tells me that whatever I'd say next, I'd be lying.... because I'd be thinking about what I was thinking about, so any response other than "I'm thinking about what I was thinking about" is untrue... and because of that I couldn't actually tell her what I was thinking about  originally, therefore my original statement , about just ask me , was also a lie.

*face palm*, oye vay.

Start of the Landmark Forum for Young People

So today was the start of Landmark Forum for Young People for Quinn.

Because she is only 7, and the usual age limit is 8, they have an entrance interview. The forum leader asked Quinn is she felt like she was able to fail.

"Sometimes" replied Quinn.

"When do you feel like you can fail, and when do you feel like you can't fail?"

"I can fail when I'm taking a test or something. I can't fail when I'm climbing a 12 foot pole."

The leader hands her her nametag, clearly ready for the day :)

Then she asks "Are you sure that you are 7"

Quinn's creative writing: Yellowstone's storty

On her own, without prompt, direction or assignment; Here is a story from Quinn.  I'm (Daddy) retyping this leaving the spelling and punctuation as she wrote it. She also wants it to be known that this is her first draft.

/////// Yellowstone's story ///////
I was sitting on a bench watting (waiting) for someone to need a hero. Suddenly Yellowstone herd (heard) a car crash. BOOM! A baby cry. WAA! Then she was there. There was Red Scarlet and her crew. Mia Moonstone, Sophie Sapphire, Strawberry, Ruby, and the one and only boy Ethan Emerald. Come on she demandid (demanded). She's rite (right) there said Red Scarlet. You see Red Scarlet needed Yellowstone becuase (because) she needed one more person on her team. But Yellowstone said NO! Red Scarlet was furious! She said if you are not with me you are against me and then the fight began. Yellowstone shot a lighting (lightning)  bolt. Red Scarlet shot a fire ball. Red Scarlet's crew said why are we fighting. Red Scarlet said join in and the crew joined in with Yellowstone. With me she screamed! Then they ran over to Red Scarlets side. But it was to (too) late. She was defeated. Do you think that Red Scarlet leaned (learned) her lesson? NO! In fact she still robed (robbed) banks and took jews (jewels). Mean while Yellowstone was erning (earning) melals (medals) and tiring (trying) to find a way to keep her in jail for good. Fialy (Finally) got her in jail for good and Yellowstone earned her 155 (155th) mela (medal) and as for her crew they became Yellowstone's crew.

Quinn's Quick thinking

So we had a playdate with Kiernan and Layla. Layla is about 20 month old. We were out by the pool eating dinner, and Quinn happened to swing the pool gate open really quickly, nearly hitting Layla. So we cautioned Quinn to be careful and close the door slowly.

Later that evening, Quinn was really excited to head to the pool, but the parents weren't ready. She had opened the gate, ready to run out, and we told her to close it. She wasn't listening, so we started the countdown from 5 for her to close the gate. We got all the way to zero and the gate wasn't all the way closed.

As I went up to her to extract her from the activities and send her to bed, she said, in the softest voice, that she was closing the door slowly like we had asked. She's got some quick thinking skills going on.

Swimming at Popo's

Quinn and Brock came swimming at my complex. I explained that you had to be 16 to be able to go to the pool without an adult.  Quinn says, ” If you have a one year old and a six year old, would that work?”  Always thinking outside the box.  What a kid!

Turning 7

Lots going on around Quinn's Birthday. First the cool parts. We had a Pippi Longstocking themed double party. It included the show at Main Street Theatre, a backstage tour, and meet Pippi. We created Pippi cookies with vanilla wafers and red shoe string licorice. Then, the same day, we had a pool party with Pippi brownies. We were able to use the new water slide that Popo got Quinn for her birthday. You can tell that Quinn is growing. She has been eating an incredible amount. Like we would go to dinner, she would eat a normal amount of pizza, then 2 hrs later would be famished and eat 4 waffles. (2 is her usual breakfast amount). But with this growth, I don't think her hormones are able to keep up. She has incredible mood swings, with the smallest of triggers. Not getting her waffles made fast enough leads to a response of "You hate me". The slightest provocation from Brock leads to a screaming fit. I really hope she balances out soon.

Camping

Quinn's first time tent camping was today at the Kolter campout.

We (Q and Daddy) slept in the Kolter Elementary prairie in a 4 person tent we borrowed from friend Lisa Livingston.

We slept adjacent to her "best buddy" Lucy, whose dad happens to snore. Next time we will leave much more space between our neighbors.

Q loved that the tent had a ceiling window and we were literally sleeping under the stars. The look she gave me before falling asleep, makes it all worth it!

She had no prob falling asleep, even though the temp dropped to 53 degrees by 1 am.

We were decently prepared, though I should have opted for the full air mattress, instead of just the camping pads. I'm glad that there was pizza, goldfish, ice cream, water and lemonade provided.

I even saw a wild animal :-). Apparently there is a stray cat that lives on our near campus. :-)

Quinn Loves Math

So we went to the HISD Career Fair this weekend (Quinn was a Career Consultant for her job, but that is a different story). One of the tables was a Math table. It wasn't really a career, just a "Math is cool" table.

At this table there was a wide range of math problems. Quinn impressed the facilitator.  Totally on her own and without prodding she spent about 30 minutes doing math brain teasers, most of which were "above her grade."

Some of the problems that she solved, with minimal coaching really about what the problem was asking, not the math part of it.... were

• A 3x3 grid of squares, where you count the number of squares (14 is the answer)
• Drawing a single continuous line without backtracking to draw a shape
• Solving the algebra problem for "A":   8-A = A
• There a 3 frogs. Frog A takes 7 hops. Frog B takes 5 hops less then Frog A. Frog C takes the same same number of hops as Frog A and Frog B together. How many hops did all of the frogs take. (18 is the answer)

The final problem was "on a computer game, Harry got 378 points and Devon got 1020 points. Harry got how many fewer points than Devon? 

Brock was ready to move on, but Quinn was pretty close to getting this using the math tricks that she had been learning.... 

And just for reference, she is still in the first grade. 

I'm responsible

Today was slightly chilly. I recommended to Quinn, who gets cold easily, that she might want to take her jacket. She refused. Later she said that she was cold. I offered her my sweater, but she said no, "I'm responsible". Proud parenting moment for me.

Officially sharing a room

Today starts the official sharing of Quinn's room for the kids. It was their choice. I'm expecting it to last at least a year or more. We'll see.

Outside the Box Thinker

I was teaching Quinn to play the solitaire game, Pyramid, where you lay the cards out in pyramid style: 1 at the top, 2in the next row, etc. till you have 7 cards along the bottom row. The goal is to disappear the pyramid by making 2 cards add up to 13. 5+8, 4+9, etc. I played once to show her how. She laid out the cards and played by herself (with some coaching from me) for the second game. On the third game she asked, "Can I use 3 cards?" There was a 7+5+1=13. In the many years I have played this game it never occurred to me to use more than the 2 cards to reach 13. I don't know if the rules say to use just 2 cards but I'm going to try it Quinn's way. It will add a whole new depth to the game! Oh, and she now knows immediately the numbers that add up to 13. :-)

Ear Piercing today

Quinn got her ears pierced today. She didn't cry. She said it didn't hurt. She was most surprised that the tools coming out of the autoclave, which appeared to burning hot, were indeed cold. Oh yeah, we got the piercing done at a tatoo place. We had done a lot of research, and it basically came down to, no matter where you go, you will get holes and earrings. Would you rather get the initial piercing done at a place that sells "holes" or a place that sells earrings.

Quinn chose well, recognizing that you only buy the holes once, but can buy the earrings anytime.

First Grade DRA Assessment Results

Since this blog is also my personal record for Quinn. Here is her beginning of first grade DRA assessment results "Students enter first grade reading at a DRA level of 4. At the end of first grade, students are expected to read at a DRA level of 18 with 94-96% accuracy and fluency of 60 words per minute. Individualized results: DRA Level: 18 Strengths: Literal comprehension and awesome reflections Focus Area: Accuracy

Playing at recess

Q: "I don't do anything at recess..."
Me: "What, you sit outside and stare at the wall?"
Q: "No. I only chase boys."
Me: "That sounds pretty fun."
Q: "Yeah.... it is." Said with a big smile.

Eye trick

It is pretty cool that when Quinn can move 1 eye independent of the other, it  kind of surprises the eye doctor.

God and justice

Quinn said that JJ believes in God,  I believe in God and justice. When asked what that meant, she said she didn't know

Quinn's 6th Sea Creature birthday party

Quinn's 6th Sea Creature pool party was a huge success... personally I think it was all of the details that we went to

• Poseidon's obstacle course
• Sea creature splash bowling
• recycled bottles, filled with a little bit of sand, with cute sea creatures adhered to the front and back with packing tape
• Knock them over with splash bombs
• Splash buckets with sponges
• Paint a fence with water
• Soak a ship, using melting corn starch peanuts
• Kiddie pool
• Water table
• Bubbles
• Mermaid and sharkfin towels as favors
• Food
• octopus hot dogs
• dolphin banana's (split the stem end, add a grape and draw an eye)
• Oysters (jumbo pasta shells, with meatballs )
• Cake
• 2 dozen cupcakes painted to look like water
• Octopus cupcake - dum dum + gummy worms
• Jellyfish cupcake - smushed gum drop + gummy worms
• Small fish cupcake - swedish fish
• shark cupcake - gum drop crescents
• large fish cupcake - skittles for scales, Rips for tales

Quote about brothers

While Quinn had some alone time with Popo, they were playing with Bebe (her dog) and Quinn said "It's not as much fun without Brock"

All that you say is true....

I had a very important conversation with Quinn this morning. I told her a secret that most adults don't even know. I told her everything that she says is or will be true. This came about, because yesterday that she said that "she wasn't good talking to people". I told her that because she said it, it is true. I told her that it didn't have to be, but she has to say it. I told her that she is a good helper and a good problem solver, only because she has declared that herself. If she wan't to not be good at talking to people, it was okay, but if she didn't like that quality, then all she has to do is declare it differently, and it will happen.

She was listening intently and asked several questions. I think that she got it.
One of the questions that she asked went like this.

"My friend is always mean to me".

I said, "yes, by you saying that, it is a true statement. You won't be able to see any of the times that he is nice to you, or even not mean to you. If there is a rare case that you do discover that he is nice to you, you will think that something is wrong or unusal, as you have declared the truth that he is always mean."

Quinn then revised her statement to be "he is usually mean to me, but sometimes he is not"

By Jove, I think she's got it!

P.S. She hasn't yet declared that she is good at talking to people.

Movie kiss

Last night for her goodnight kiss, Quinn closed her eyes and cocked her head, like a movie type kiss. Uh......... kinda lost on that one.

Food rules

So far here are Quinn's food rules as I have determined them to be.

Ice cream must be mixed: peach ice cream  - no good, peach and strawberry ice cream - good*. Entree's must be separate: hot dogs good, pasta good, hot dogs on top of pasta- no good. Lunches have to be finger foods, no utensils, and not messy (eliminates most leftovers, even pizza). Breakfast is limited to yogurt, cereal, pancakes or bacon; french toast, eggs, sausage, everything else is excluded. Cakes / desserts must be chocolate or have chocolate chips.



* (this is what she said, haven't tested the mixed ice cream yet)

Filibustering

Loving the in car filibustering... Quinn makes up a super long song so that Brock can't talk/interrupt.

Blown away by reading level

I went away to a conference for 3 days. When I got back Quinn was reading entire chapters from her Greek Mythology book, out loud, with less than 1 word per page that she needed help with. Wow!

Jobs this year

I've been behind at keeping up with Quinn's Jobs.

Here is a quick rundown for the year to date

2/23/13 - Librarian. Quinn categorized and organized all of her books. Age appropriate books were given to Brock, and Quinn came up with a system for finding the books on her shelf. She even created a (short lived) system, where Brock could check out books from her room.

3/5/13  - Computer Programmer. We tried to animate a flower. Quinn expected that you could draw a seed and press "go" and it would become a flower. (Sounds like some of my clients). She didn't realize that you had to draw the seed, the sprout, the seedling, the little flower, and the big flower. We lost interest before we could finish. Sigh

4/2/13 - Chef. Quinn choose the recipe and chopped all of the veggies for it. She even got to use the big chef's knife all by herself. She also made a birthday cake for Popo, all by herself, minus actually putting it in the oven.

4/20/13- Plant Operator. This one was great. She had the opportunity to spend the day with Ms Brown, Kolter's Plant Operator. Quinn got to unlock the playground gate for her friends, turn on the lights for the teachers, go into special places that no students are allowed, and replace the paper towels.

4/27/13 - Shelf Builder. Due to a power outage - refrigerator cleaning - utility room organizing, we removed a built in ironing board and added shelves for the kids paints. Quinn helped build the shelves. Mommy had her out in the garage, wearing a bright yellow swimming mask as safety goggles, helping cut strips of wood with the radial saw. Quinn did most of the drilling and screwing to get the shelves in place too.

Dr of education

When mommy becomes a Dr of education, she can fix papers if they get torn. ;-)

Choreographer Teacher

Quinn is learning a song and "dance" for a performance in April.

Last night she was trying to teach it to Brock with great success.

She was giving me instructions about when to start / stop the video.

And every couple of measures, she would show Brock the corresponding arm gestures.

Then she tell me to play the song from the beginning and they'd go through each part to that point.

It was awesome.

The only blind spot, was that Quinn was not able to recognize when Brock was done with the task and ready to move on. But hey, sometimes we parents even have a hard time with that.

Super cute.

Here is the reference video and song.

Discovery Learning works!

Yesterday we went to fly kites in the driveway - ala run really fast and have a piece of paper on a string not be on the ground. Quinn went out barefoot, and after a couple of laps, said that her feet were hurting. I asked her what her options were, and she said that we could sweep the driveway.

"Ok", I said, "but can you think of any other options, maybe any that might be faster?"

She said, that "that [putting on shoes] takes too much time."

So while I mentioned that I disagreed with her, we went to the garage to get the brooms.

The kids happily swept the driveway, and Brock and I had a great time of chase and choo-choo trains and singing Mary Poppins.

Quinn had made it through 3 sidewalk squares, when she went back inside, got her shoes and joined us in our games.

I believe I got my point across, AND Quinn got to be right.