Peaks and valleys

This has been a very up & down week for the Dickersons.

The up: Last Sunday, I ran my fastest ever half-marathon, 1 hour 58 minutes, smashing my goal time by 2 full minutes.  There was coffee at the finish line.  It's the first time my brother has seen me finish a race.  Things were perfect.  I felt so strong and powerful and thrilled.

The down: The next day, I came down with the flu.  For 24 full hours I was in my bed with chills and muscle aches, not enough energy to even sit upright.  It was awful and even now, a few days later, I'm living very gently to make sure I recover.

The up: Grandma and Grandpa came to visit from Chicago!  Scarlett has been talking about this nonstop, counting down the days.  We had a lovely, huge Thanksgiving with family in our newly remodeled kitchen.

The down: Scarlett is now sick, some kind of tummy virus that's different from what I had, but equally unpleasant.  She and I have done a fair amount of cuddling and watching movies, but she's missing valuable grandparent time.

Looking forward to the next up, and maybe some solid ground for a while.

Scar-ism

Listening to the Kermit version of the Rainbow Connection (as opposed to the regular band-type version we have in the car), Scarlett wrinkles up her nose and makes a funny face.  She says, "I don't think frogs are meant to sing."

After waking up from a post-sickness nap, "I'm feeling okay but not very ninja-y."

Little reader

We've been making the transition lately from the shorter picture books to chapter books.  It's been really fun, and for me especially because Scarlett and I are on book 2 of the Little House On The Prairie series, which I loved when I read them as a kid.  We are reading parts that I remember- like Laura and Mary making molasses candy out of snow. I tried to do that once when it snowed in Eugene.  Last night, Scarlett describes to me what she was picturing in her head while I read, on the pages when there were no pictures. She wonders about the white top of the covered wagon, she says.

A couple week ago, we finished Ramona and her Mother, Scarlett's first Beverly Cleary book.  The part where Beezus gets a terribile haircut... it was nostalgic because I remember reading chapter once upon a time.

We went to see the Ivy & Bean musical recently- these books were new to me, we started reading them because the play was coming.  Scarlett took to these instantly.  When we got our tickets at will call, the woman asked if Scarlett had read the books.  She nodded emphatically "Yes all ten."
In one of the books, the girls find a strange yellow rope in their neighborhood and nobody knows where it came from, but every day it gets longer and longer.  So at home, Scarlett tied some rope (white only, we don't have yellow) around one corner of her dollhouse and waited for Charlie to notice.  Because she wanted to read this book all the time, it didn't take him long.

I'm already thinking forward to the day when we're reading Harry Potter together.  

Scarlett and cousins and Aunt Sarah, reading on Thanksgiving

Starlet

Names of plays Scarlett is writing and starring in:

• The frogs in dinosaur time
• Coats come to life (“it’s like a bunch of coats jump and giggle and walk around”)
• The Knight and the Ninjas and the Pirates  (She will play the lead knight, ninja and pirate “I’ll be the main person”)

Halloween

Scarlett has been saying for months and months that she's going to be a ghost for Halloween.  Then at the last minute, she said ladybug (Esther was a ladybug) and princess (Ramona was a princess) and bunch of grapes. I have no idea where the bunch of grapes came from.  In any case, she ended up with a spooky ghost costume, did her own face paint and had Charlie give her some super realistic fake blood.  

We went trick or treating with some friends, but Scarlett got a much larger haul when she came in costume to my office, for our Halloween party.  She had entire buckets of candy dumped into her bag, "because we know mommy is going to eat a lot of your candy", they said.  Damn straight!  That's why I tell her to look for the Butterfingers, with blue writing in the yellow package. 

Picking up a pumpkin that's way too heavy for her... man, I love this kid.

Two Scarletts

Scarlett has this friend, also named Scarlett, and they are a really adorable pair.  They embody the name Scarlett in very different ways.  We took a day trip out to Hood River for the Harvest Festival last weekend- this means a lot of sampling of apples and pears, painting pumpkins, bouncy houses, and general funtimes.

Also playing in the river.

Also eating carmel apples.

On the way home they were muddy, wet, covered in carmel and exhausted.  I think that's a success.