A Summer To Play Soccer

The goose spent a week during June honing her soccer skills at one of the Vermont Voltage Soccer Academy day camps. Every morning we would stuff the soccer essentials into her soccer bag. The soccer essentials consisted of: shin guards, cleats, soccer ball, sunscreen. Hydration is also essential. During soccer week I stuffed my refrigerator with Gatorade, apple juice boxes, pre chilled Nalgene bottles full of water, oranges and bananas. I thought I have done a terrific job. Surely I had remembered all the soccer essentials. Little did I know that when you are a six year old female soccer player, it is essential that you carry the Gatorade, apple juice boxes, Nalgene bottles full of water, oranges and bananas in a Tinkerbell lunch box. Apparently Tinkerbell is the patron fairy of soccer players. Bet you didn’t know that.

A Summer For Dancing.

Both girls are taking dancing lessons this summer. This is the first dance class for The Rascal, she is enjoying a combination pre-ballet and gymnastics class. It was a very happy day for her when I told her that we were going to the studio for HER dance class. She has endured three long years of sitting next to me in the waiting area watching through the two way mirrors as her sister danced her way through ballet class, tap class, bop and hop class… Well those days are over Miss Rascal, you are now one of the dancers. She needs to have me attend the class with her to provide her with the extra hands on instruction she needs and occasionally she, being the visual learner that she is, needs me to actually demonstrate the ballet position or gymnastic configuration on which the class is working. I can just imagine what a treat it is to watch this frumpy, out of shape, forty something, stay at home mom sashay around the room with a bunch of dainty little pigtailed four year olds. Oh the things we do for our kids.

When I approached the owner of the studio about having The Rascal start lessons, I knew that the answer might be no. The studio is privately owned and the owner may feel that she would not be able to accommodate The Rascal’s needs. Not to mention the fact that having a frumpy, out of shape, forty something, stay at home mom plodding around the studio amongst the dainty little pigtailed four year olds may not work for the instructor. I had devised a Plan B incase the answer was no. Plan B was to contact the YMCA or The Flynn Theater in Burlington, two organizations that would have access to better resources for accommodating special needs students. I didn’t need plan B. The owner of the studio was very supportive. She and the instructor were more than willing to make the necessary accommodations so The Rascal can experience the joy of dancing.




















The Goose is a more seasoned dancer. She has been a student in three pre-ballet gymnastics classes, during this past school year she joined a tap class and worked very hard with her classmates for a wonderful performance earlier this month. She did a spectacular job this year in that tap dancing class. I have a new found respect for anyone who can tap dance. It is not easy. It is both physically and mentally demanding. I am very proud of my Goose. She showed a degree of dedication to her tap dancing far beyond her six years.
Here she is in her costume before the performance.




This summer she is taking a bop and hop class. All of these dance classes fit in well with her plan to grow up and be a rock star.

Good Boy

His name is Mowgli.

He is a very good boy.

KICK A$$ BLOGGER AWARD

Kelly over at Where There’s A Will has passed on The Kick A$$ Blogger award to me. Thank you Kelly, I am fully aware that with only 8 blog entries over the course of the past 9 months the award that I really deserve is The Lazy A$$ Blogger award but you are a nice lady and you have passed this on to me. I am honored.

OK now. Let’s see if I can follow the rules. I am to mention MammaDawg who created this award. Then I am to pass this award onto 5 other bloggers.

The bloggers on whom I wish to bestow this honor are:

Tricia at Unringing The Bell. Check out her 31 for 21 Challenge. That’s for those who are not a Lazy A$$ blogger like myself.

Nick McGivney at Our Jacob. I like Nick because he once told me that my blog lacked twee. I detest twee and I like Nick because he noticed that my blog lacked it.

Tom at Narrowridge. He’s a passionate guy whose blog does kick a$$.

Annie at Annie’s Porch. Annie is the woman who holds Tom up. She kicks a$$.

Last but not least, my a$$ kickin’ friend Elbog at Bittersweet.

Some of you may have already received this award. If you have……tough nuggies! You got it again.

My name is Katherine but you may call me Dick.

Speech is an area of significant delay for The Rascal. She is not able to say her own name. This bothers me but doesn’t seem to bother her in the least. When we ask her what her name is she will answer “Mommy” or “Daddy” or “Eee ewww” (the name she calls the dog) and laugh like a drunken sailor.

Before The Goose was able to pronounce her little sister’s name “Katherine” she called her “Kaki”. I tried to resurrect this nickname for Katherine The Rascal.

“Hello little girl. Is your name Kaki? Why yes it is. Here is Kaki. Your name is Kaki. Can you say Kaki.”

Katherine responded with a huge smile and enthusiastic nodding of the head, tapped her chest and said as clear as a bell “Dick”.

I know what you are thinking and you’re wrong. Dick’s hearing is perfectly normal.

August Update

The girls have been horsing around a lot this summer. We found a wonderful organization where both girls can take riding lessons. The Champlain Adaptive Mounted Program in So. Hero, Vermont is an organization made up of some amazing people. They make it possible for both of the girls to take their riding lessons together. I am so thankful to these good people that I have been volunteering on Saturday mornings. I am learning to groom and tack up the horses and I get to be one of the side walkers for some of the riders when they take their lessons. It's a lot of fun and I am enjoying learning about and working with the horses.

The Rascal rides on Casper.

And The Goose rides on Simon.

I like Simon. He is a very old, gentlemanly Morgan. A Yankee horse.

There have been a few art projects this summer.

And what is summer without bike riding?

It is August in Vermont. The days are warm, the nights are not. Autumn is on it's way.

All In Good Time

I was on the road to cockiness with respect to the analytical skills of The Goose, my five year old. Sometimes in the evening when I am working around the kitchen preparing dinner, she will get her “math game”. Her math game consists of plastic cups that once held yogurt and a pile of colored Popsicle sticks; the kind you buy at the dollar store for craft projects. She lines her math game up in front of her at her place at the table and awaits my quiz questions. I ask her “what is nine divided by three?” and she will count out nine Popsicle sticks and line up three yogurt cups then systematically distribute the nine sticks into the three cups and come up with the correct answer.

Surely this is very advanced for a five year old who has not yet started Kindergarten. Oh yes my daughter has a gift for analytical thinking. Math and science are her strengths. I am full of pride. My daughter takes after me. Before I became a stay at home mom I worked in a research lab performing experiments on the cellular and molecular level. She’s going to be a scientist just like her mom! Yes sir she a chip off the old block. I’m puffed up and full of pride.

Yesterday, when I went to The Goose’s pre-school to pick her up at the end of the school day she was wearing a necklace made from colorful plastic beads and wire. She was very proud of the necklace and I commented on how beautiful it was and asked her if she had made it all by herself. She assured me she had made it all by her self and it took her all morning. She told me it was very hard work and she tried to count all the beads on the necklace once she finished it but there were more than one hundred beads and she couldn’t count that high. I asked her how high she was able to count before she had to quit. She reported that she had counted as high as one trillion sixty eight but then she had to stop.

Well, maybe there are a few things she has to learn before she fills out the application to MIT. I’m walking around with a little less puff.