The Joy of "Songing"

Friday night was Girls' Night Out - Daisy Girl Scouts, that is! We intrepidly struck out for our first activity as a troop, and it was an unqualified success. Well, except for the fact that I forgot to bring a camera and one girl left her Daisy tunic behind. Not bad for an outing that kept my girls up later than their regular bedtimes.

We were invited to an area Daisy-Brownie Singalong hosted by a Junior GS troop. These girls did a fantastic job of picking the songs, organizing the event, and bringing the snacks. They had a wide assortment of goodies, from fruit to cupcakes to a chocolate fountain. The girls dipped marshmallows and strawberries for a gourmet treat.

So here's how it went: when we first got there, it was very chaotic. They had asked to limit the number of adults there so parents were asked not to attend. That meant, my co-leader Cynthia and I were the only ones representing our troop, and she is the Brownie troop leader, so she had other concerns. I had a parent drive, but she dropped them off so that it was a GS event. (Thanks, Marianne!) We managed to stay together as a troop while about a 150 other girls were all cramming themselves into the door of the school cafeteria.

Our girls sat down as a troop, and the organizing girls came over and told them to sit in the front since they were the littlest. It turns out, we were the only Daisy troop there! I have since found out that we are the only Daisy troop in Redwood City.

A young adult led the songs, which were of the "repeat after me" variety - you know, the leader sings one line and the girls repeat it back. It was the perfect setup for anyone new to the songs. Most of the songs required the girls to stand up and act them out. My girls were right in the front where all the action was, and I could see from where I was in the back they were all participating enthusiastically.

After an hour of singing (!), they announced it was snack time and that they would call the girls up by troop to help themselves to the buffet o' sweets. The first troop to be called was troop 16. Unfortunately, none of my girls knew that was us. We only got our troop number recently and we hadn't had a meeting since the number was assigned. The older girls quickly figured out that meant the Daisy troop since Brownie troops have more digits, and they trotted over to the treats happily. Everyone likes to go first, no matter how little you are.

It took a half hour for all the troops to get their snacks, so my girls were getting restless from an intense ten minutes of ingesting sugar and 20 minutes of waiting. We got together, made a Daisy circle with our hands, and played some games while we were waiting. I asked Annie and Wini to help me clean up the plates and cups, and soon all the Daisies were circulating through the Brownies looking for plates to clean up. They did an excellent job, and had so much fun helping out the older girls. In fact, when asked what her favorite part of the night was, Wini said, "Cleaning up the garbage!"

The girls got back to singing for the last half hour, and there were some signs of weariness. Clare relaxed in the lap of her older sister Bridget, and Chloe was bracing her head on her hand, looking sleepy. Some of the Brownies sitting near the back gave up paying attention and just stretched out on the linoleum floor. It's not just my kid that has a bed time of 8:00!

As we broke up for the night, one of the girls pointed out that some of the Brownies had spilled lemonade and tracked it all over, but had left without cleaning up. Like jackrabbits, they jumped up to clean it with napkins from the snack table. I'll never forget the mental image of all my Daisies on their hands and knees, wiping up the mess without being asked - a mess they hadn't even made. Great job, troop 16!

The girls were required to fill out an evaluation in order to get their activity patch, but most of them are too young to read and write quickly. Bridget McElligott jumped in to help Cynthia and I quiz the Daisies and fill out the form for them. The most popular response to the question, "What was your favorite part of the singalong?" was predictable: the FOOD!

Claire Z. had my favorite response. She told me her favorite part was the "songing." "The singing?" I asked, thinking she had just mispronounced it. She shook her head. "No," she said in an adults sure are slow voice. "The songing. You know, when you sing and do the moving at the same time."

That's not a bad way to describe it.

The Stanford...Blackberries?

We trotted down to Maples Pavillion to watch the much-lauded Stanford Women's Gymnastic team host a meet against San Jose State, Sacramento State, and U.C. Davis. Despite being a young team of mostly freshmen and sophomores, the women did not disappoint. Tabitha Yim was a clear standout, but all the women were impressive. Sacramento State had some excellent women on the beam, but they were less confident on the bars.

Taking a kindergardener to a gymnastics meet is bound to be filled with five-year-old questions and comments. Wini plunged right in, naming the teams and declaring the "Blackberries" to be her favorite. The leotards spoke volumes about these schools. San Jose was in pedantic sky blue and yellow, with a juvenile-looking wave design on the chest. Sacramento State wore glittery greenish-gold, and we deduced from the two cheerleaders in the stands that green and gold are their school colors - colors that haven't looked good on any athlete, playing for any team. Ever.

U.C. Davis wore expensive-looking velvet leotards in midnight blue, but overall they looked overdesigned and oddly modest with long sleeves and some sort of fussy, strappy neckline. Stanford went the posh route, ditching any attempt to wear ye olde Stanford red and opting for sleek, shiny black. From the front, they looked like a simple black leotard, but from the back, yowza! Held together by one strap at the shoulder, the back of their leotards plunged in a big way. It made for easy back muscle spotting, but I was perpetually worried that a load-bearing seam would give at a critical moment.

But enough of being superficial! We had a great day watching some fine gymnasts, and we hollered crazily when the big screen demanded it. We shouted for a shirt, and got none (although a kid a few rows down did). Nick and I exchanged incredulous glances when they announced it was "pizza time" and ushers made their way through the stands with sliced pies. Luckily, they didn't start chucking slices at the crowd, they picked one person and placed the whole box in his lap. Whew! No splattered cheese to ruin the day.

Daisies!

I've been a girl scout troop leader for, oh, two months now. They're a great group of girls - the perfect mix of rowdiness and sweetness. The GS organization puts a lot of emphasis on getting the girls to plan and decide how to tackle a problem, organize a ceremony, or plan an activity. This was a little difficult for me at first - I mean, these are kindergardeners! I fully expected to have to lead them along in whatever direction I was planning myself.

They have really surprised me. We have a ceremony coming up, and I found that asking them what we should do about it came up with all the right answers. One girl went right to the heart of the matter and said we should ask the parents to bring treats. The next thought we could make decorations, and someone said that parents like to hear songs. It was like they were reading my notes! Another girl wanted to know how we would invite them, and before long we were making invitations.

At that point, I asked who knew what a ceremony was, and was met with blank faces. After I explained a little bit, they were even more ready to discuss plans. One chipped in that it sounded like a play where the words are written down a sheet and they memorize them. "That means we should practice!" another girl exclaimed. And so, we practiced, then made invitations, then made decorations - and it was all their idea. Good going, Daisy Troop 16!

Of course, there's a surprise or two. Like the choice of song...Jinglebells.

Glowball Whirled Peas

The kindergarden teacher stopped me when I was picking up my daughter today. Just yesterday, she had stopped me because Wini had received a "blue card" - the kindergarden equivalent of being a hair's breadth from being sent to the principal. So I admit I cringed a little, wondering what my daughter had chosen to make a stink about today.

As it turns out, her card was green today, the kindergarden equivalent of managing to make it through the day without being a brat child. So, okay. What then?

Mrs. B related what had happened: she was telling the kids about Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. She told them about his "I Have a Dream" speech and explained some of the concepts in kindergarden terms. Wini listened to all this, and when Mrs. B was done, she stood up and said, "That's called global world peace, Mrs. B."

Mrs B. told me that she'd never have a student tell her that before. "I was stopped in my tracks!" she laughed. I was simultaneously proud but puzzled - as much as I'd like the kindergarden teacher to think we sit around discussing global, well, anything, we really don't. But I did remember eventually that sometime last month Wini read the phrase "world peace" somewhere (a bumper sticker? a sign at a museum? I can't remember) and I explained to her what peace meant when she asked. At the time, she listened as I rambled on with no comment, and I figured it went over her head. Apparently not.

Here's the future Peacenik:


What's a great way to stay cold and chilly in the winter? Wait, what? That's for the mom, at least. Wini is having a great time ice skating, while skate-challenged mom watches from sidelines. Only a week ago she had to hold the wall to make it around the rink, so watching her race another boy and win tonight was kind of fun (sorry Max).

We were kicking ourselves that we didn't have our video camera. Some of the more advanced girls were practicing their heel-toe "fishies" (as Wini calls them - I have no idea what the official name is), where you sort of make ovals without lifting your feet to propel yourself along. They had set up a line of orange cones on the ice and were doing fishies around each cone.

Wini went over to join them, but ran into a little snag: she's not as tall as the big girls, and although she was doing great fishies, she didn't have the clearance the older, long-legged girls do. So many of the cones ended up tipped over. She figured out that if she pulled up her pants as high as she could she could barely make it over the cone. It's a good thing they were skating down the cone line away from us, or she might have noticed all the parents watching and laughing.

Spage Age Technology Benefits My Cats

My 15 year-old Siamese has been stuck to me like glue this winter, so I finally wised up and got her a new cat bed with a warming panel. According to the label, it uses "space age technology" to reflect her body heat right back at her. Whatever, it was an instant hit with Kiwi and Nutmeg.



I got two fleecy cat beds with a sheepskin bottom, and one warming pad (they're pricey, and Nut is well-insulated.) I put the pad in the cat bed so that Kiwi would have walls, which she loves. She hopped up and gave it a try, not moving for about two hours like a dedicated kitty scientist.



Nut loved her new bed, too. She carried her little catnip mermaid up so she could have a good night friend.



Even the terrifying five-year-old couldn't make Kiwi budge.



Nut gave vocal approval.



But wait! When Kiwi hopped down, Nut became suspicious and had to investigate. Hmmm, is Kiwi's bed better than mine?



I guess I'll be getting another warming pad.

The Vomit Express

It's raining buckets here, so we went to a showing of The Polar Express. It was playing at the Tech Museum's IMAX theater. I haven't seen an IMAX movie in about ten years, but it was rated G and involves a train, so it had to be good, right?

Wrong! This theater was like a large sphere. Before it started we thought maybe it was used for planetarium shows and the picture would be on the curved wall facing us. No, it was above our heads and you had to sit back and awkwardly crane your neck to see anything. The chairs didn't tip back one whit.

Maybe a regular IMAX movie (those nature specials) wouldn't be so bad, but a CG kids movie is filled with swooping shots of runaway trains and crazy elf antics. Anytime anything scary happened (a kid chasing his ticket on the top of the train, a crusty ghost hobo cackling at the boy, the train skidding across a frozen lake with no tracks nor brakes) the soundtrack was so loud Wini would plug her ears and hide her head. You could hear lots of kids crying and screaming over the mega-loud music.

Luckily for Wini, the movie gets happier when the train reaches the North Pole. I had a different problem, though. The swooping camera was so realistic I had serious motion sickness from about five minutes into the film. Even when there was a quiet, still moment that I could watch, the picture was so ginormous (imagine a 20-foot high nose on the face of the main character in a typical close-up) that it made my eyes water just trying to focus. And those shots were wedged between nausea-inducing scenes of wild slides and careening trains. I had to cover my eyes with my scarf and just listen to the story, all the while squeezing Wini's hand and telling her it would work out all right in the end.

If there hadn't been a whole row of folks on either side of us blocking us in - and the seats were so steep it gave me vertigo to look down - I'm sure we would have crawled out before the end. As it was, I was scared that if I tried to step over someone's feet and I'd topple down the precipice.

And couldn't they hire even one more actor? Why did Tom Hanks have to voice every character over the age of 12?

The movie showing after ours? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. They ought to put barf bags on every seat.