Scarism

"I'll try to find a way out if I ever get caught in a black hole."

Tree time

Her favorite things

Some of Scarlett's many favorite things are:

• Too-big flowery long-sleeved dresses that look like you'd wear them on the sisterwives compound
• Ninjas
• Playing ninja (as seen here with Esther, gypsy-ninjas).  She wore all black, all weekend, and carried around the sword and yelled 'EEE HIIII'

• Christmas decorations
• Christmas music
• Arnie
• Cousintime (her best thing of all)

Throwback

One year ago today...

 Scarlett looks the same to me, and she still wears that sweatshirt.

This guy hasn't aged much either:

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