Loudmouth Social Butterfly

Our little Rose is truly the most social little girl I know... she is fascinated by meeting new people and will go out of her way to speak to anyone and everyone she bumps into.  Rosie is always "on" and always eager for conversation. There is nothing quiet or subtle about our tiny little socialite which makes running everyday errands an adventure.

Two recent Rosie incidents come to mind...

As we were walking to our car the other day Rosie spotted a shaggy, long haired dude... "I like your pretty hair..." she yelled to a fellow. Perhaps homeless, or maybe he was just really way down on his luck kind of guy who was hanging out in the drugstore parking lot.  He just looked at the two of us for a few long seconds- probably trying to make sense of us, and then answered my daughter with a drawn out "Whaaaat?" To which  Rosie in her big girl loudmouth voice replied "I SAID, I LIKE YOUR PRETTY HAIR!" 

"Oh, ok... thanks,"was his reply. My guess is that her new bestie wasn't accustomed to receiving a ton of hair compliments and wasn't sure where she was going with it.
"BYE!" she hollered back to him.
"Hey... I like your pretty hair too!"said the dude.
"Thank you!"Rosie yelled back.
I cracked up... I really think that this was the most unusual exchange of hair compliments from the two most unlikely sources, ever.
The second memorable errand involved a quick run to the craft store in hopes to find yarn hair for Jamie's created model of Sitting Bull. I found some suitable black yarn pretty quickly but Rosie took off running just as quick. I found her in the back of the store chatting up the man who works as the picture framer.
"What's your name?" she asked him.
"Dan" he replied.
"How old are you, Man?"She thought his name was Man, not Dan.
These are the two questions that she is asked the most, so this is what Rosie believe to be quality conversation.
"I'm 32, how old are you?" Dan asked.
I'm six.
A big fat lie- Henry is six, Rosie is two but she really wants to be six like Henry so she often lies about her age.
"Ok, Rosie we gotta go" I said scooping her up.
"Bye, Man!"said Rosie over my shoulder.
"Bye, Rosie!"said Dan.
"Bye, Man!"
"Bye, Rosie!"
The goodbyes between Rosie and Dan continued halfway through the store at which point Dan got on his call speaker and announced "Bye, Rosie!" as I paid for Sitting Bull's yarn hair.
To keep up with the store loudspeaker, Rosie once again called upon her loudmouth to voice her goodbyes to her new pal, Dan.
"Bye, Man!" she is now yelling at the top of her little lungs.
"Bye Rosie!" Dan wouldn't let it go... I'm guessing his supervisor wasn't anywhere in the store.
Her final goodbye to Dan was from the sidewalk in front of the store... she stuck her fuzzy little head back in the door and screamed...
"Bye, Man!"
Could we be any more obnoxious? 
Doubtful.
It seems that my not so shy little girl really enjoys having the last loud word.

Aladdin, the Musical!

One of the best parts of being a parent is getting to watch your kid have a blast... especially when the fun part comes after a lot of hard work. I love watching Mary love every moment of being on stage. She and a friend split the role of the Genie in our church youth group's performance of Aladdin over the weekend. They sang, they danced, and they both had terrific comedic timing...all so much fun to watch.
The youth group puts together a musical performance every year as a fundraiser for a summertime retreat in North Carolina. It's a requirement that the kids who go on the retreat help out with the show in some way. The  retreat has such an excellent reputation of being completely awesome that the kids don't mind working hard on the production. Many, many people... kids, leaders and parents, come together to make the show a success and it definitely shows.

I am in particular awe of our youth leader who is such an important part of the kids lives and directed the musical. It is a unique gift to be able to provide teenagers with an atmosphere where they feel comfortable within their skin and proud of the gifts that they can offer. Dave has created an environment where even the shyest of kids feels doesn't mind singing loud and proud. And the best part? Each kid really seems to understand just exactly how fortunate the are to have such an amazing leader. This appreciation was quite apparent during the spontaneous chants of "DaveDaveDave..."following the show.

 
 

They sing... they dance... yay teenagers!

  

Two Genie's and a magic carpet belt out harmony.

Spring Break Hostage

The boys joined me in my mission to kidnap Anna from college for spring break. We missed her so much and really wanted her to come home for the week. If we didn't go get her, I think there was a pretty fair chance of her accidentally finding herself on the fun Florida beaches without us. Fortunately for all of us, she was good natured about being kidnapped and a delightful hostage.  She even showed the boys her ENORMOUS inventory of Nerf weapons stashed under her bed.

"Where did you get all of these guns and bullets?!" they wanted to know...

Anna explained that the guys on her floor thought it was hilarious to leap into their room and spray them with Nerf bullets- so now, whenever that happens, Anna and her roomies grab the guns and hide them under their beds. 

As predicted, Jamie and Henry were impressed by this tactic, but couldn't imagine Anna and the other girls, stealing weapons from big tough dudes. Anna graciously allowed her little brothers to borrow her stolen guns to play with on campus... the boys were excited about this, but also a bit nervous. They would hide their gun behind their backs whenever they passed a guy who they thought might be the Nerf guns rightful owner. 

   

 

Who would have ever guessed that there would be 16 loaded Nerf guns amongst the girlie purses and pink sheets of Anna's dorm room.  How cool is that?!

 

Here are my little dudes kicking back waiting for Anna as she took care of some business. 

      

Boys in the sorority house... yippeee!

 

Aside from the Nerf guns, and of course, seeing their big sis... my guys loved riding the light rail in Charlotte to the science museum. Here they are watching and waiting for the train.

Lily Meets her Hero

 

"Dr. Irene Pepperberg is seriously, the most awesome scientist in the world."  Lily  3/5/11

Yesterday, Lily was able to meet her hero... Dr. Irene Pepperberg following a book talk at the library. 

 Ever since Lily met Harry, her beloved budgie, her plan is to be a "famous bird scientist" when she grows up. This very specific dream for her future self has allowed her exactly one personal hero... Dr. Irene Pepperberg. 

Dr. Pepperberg has spent years researching and gathering data on animal intelligence primarily through her work with a really terrific African grey parrot named Alex. Her findings were groundbreaking and she was able to prove that Alex maintained the reasoning capability of a child of 4 or 5 years old child.

Imagine that... the intelligence of a kindergartener!

Then she went on to write a New York Times best seller book about it...Alex and Me, recently chosen for the city of Cincinnati's book club which brought her to town, allowing Lily the opportunity to meet her personal icon.  Lily enjoyed Dr. Pepperberg's talk very much. She has watched her interviews and her work with Alex via the magic of many, many, You Tube videos. She even tried to replicate parts of her experiments... first with Harry, and then with Rosie. She said that Harry "seemed to have a hard time getting it" while little sis Rosie had some of the same bossy tendencies as Alex the parrot.

  

When Lily met with Dr. Pepperberg, she went completely shy, quickly handing her a fan letter card with photos of herself with Harry as well as a very cute drawing that she did of Alex. She was so nervous that she almost forgot to have her book signed... in fact, I really don't think she said one word, she just stood and smiled.

But she doesn't remember it that way at all. For Lily it was the most perfect afternoon for a junior bird girl, with high hopes to someday make it to being a "famous bird scientist."

Lily recently showed me two science-y looking photographs of brains "...look, the one on the left looks just like a human brain minus the bumps...that's a bird's brain... it really is a compliment to be called a bird brain, don't you think so?"