Bike Riding Lessons

 Born out of a desire to start doing weekend bike rides and from a realization that it was not a skill she was just going to acquire on her own (or at school) Patrick has started to teach Genevieve how to ride a bike without training wheels.  For the past month they have been going down to the park to practice (at first they tried a bit on our driveway but there wasn't enough room to really get going).

I don't have photographic evidence of it but on our last time out she was making it down the street all on her own... now she just needs to get the hang of getting going without a boost from Patrick... definite homework for Christmas break.

Science Experiment

 Evie has joined the Science Club at her school.  She has come home with strange goop (I think it was supposed to be slime), homemade lotion (which looked almost exactly like the slime), and homemade butter.  The big challenge of the club though is to prepare for the regional science fair next spring.  In September we made a special trip to the University so she could get a lab book.  (Yes I know I could have gone to the local office max too but I get 10% off and it seemed fun to make a big deal of it).  Since then we have been discussing what she could do for an experiment and then she records her ideas in the lab book.  Her first idea was to see what kind of noises would make a glass break.  Once it became clear that we wouldn't have the sort of equipment necessary to undertake that experiment she moved on to a water-based one where she was going to examine evaporation rates from cups.  I of course thought this was fabulous but her interest in it fizzled so that too was crossed out in her book.  This week she had to report to her teacher what she was going to do so it was decision day...  On the way to school she still hadn't decided and couldn't come up with an idea.  She then declared that she would like to do an experiment with something that started with M.  I suggested molds (clearly not thinking of the ramifications of growing moldy somethings in my house for the next few months) and she got very excited and proceeded to come up with the idea for her experiment.

She decided to test 3 fruits in an indoor and outdoor environment to see what types of molds would grow on each one.  Her initial hypothesis was that she would see mold in 2 days.  While all of the experiment design was ongoing the puppy was in the backyard looking cute so I figured we should share that too....

(December update.... still no mold, lots of larvae from fruit flies... going to rework the experiement with a new hypothesis and procedures...I know it is a cliff hanger and you are on the edge of your seat... so stay tuned!)

Mahjong and the Spelling Bee

This semester I have been volunteering at Evie's school most Wednesdays at lunch time as a instructor/cat wrangler for the Junior School mahjong club.  When the parent who organizes it found out I was willing (and able) to help with the club I really had no choice :)  Evie joined the club and is in love with the game, she is among a handful of 1st graders in the club and I am totally fascinated that little kids can play a game with so many seemingly strange rules.  I have even dragged my co-worker into helping me one week when the other mom wasn't able to come.  I have been traveling a lot for work and have meetings some Wednesdays so I don't always make it... but always get flack from Evie when I miss it.

In November I missed a mahjong club to go to Clarkdale for work so as "punishment" (not really) I came to her school that Friday morning to help proctor the 1st grade spelling bee.  So that it isn't a painful experience for too many of the kids (just a select few) the process is for kids to sit in the auditorium and write the first ten words on a paper.  Those who get all 10 right go up on stage for a real(er) spelling bee experience.  Evie and six other kids got all 10 words correct and went on stage.  The first three were eliminated pretty quickly, some with tears.... Having never witnessed a spelling bee before I felt kind of bad (and was glad that I could be there for Evie when her tears came...)

The bee went on and on because Evie and her 2 friends knew the whole list by heart.  The teacher decided to try the next list and all of them failed miserably (a sure sign that spelling is all about memorization and confirming what I always suspected... bad speller (like me) does not equal lack of intelligence).  So in the end (and because it was time to go to the next class) it was determined that there would be three spelling bee winners and Evie was one of them!  She was so thrilled and now treats the pencil she won with great reverence. I was happy to have missed the mahjong club that week so that I had the chance to be there for it!