Creative Clio

It's no secret that Clio is a prolific budding artist.  Lately, she's gotten really creative about inventing projects.
There have been lots and lots of output in the "paper doll" category.

I think she made these guys at school.



At home, she supersized the idea.  Meet "Crismas."  Crismas has red jeweled eyes and sparkly buttons on her dress.  (Her arms are propped behind the chair to keep her upright -- or oh-so-laid-back, depending on how you look at it.)  Unfortunatelu, Crismas lost her shoes to the vacuum cleaner.

These little ghosts got stuffed with cotton in the middle to make them fat and puffy.

She made this family of kings from that foam paper.

All of these projects were of her invention and created of her initiative (and, truthfully, with very little parental oversight.)  I am constantly amazed by the little treasures we find all over the house.

Easter Dresses

Eleri is still in the dresses-only-dresses phase, and holidays are a real bonanza if this is your inclination.  This year, my mom gave her not one but TWO Easter dresses, and she wears them every chance she gets.  While Clio has moved on to mostly leggings and t-shirts, she still relishes a super-pretty gown, and I wonder how many years she'll want to wear the full skirts and formal fabrics of little girl Easter dresses.  (Sometimes I think fashion is genetic, and if I am any indication, we've got many years to go--hooray!)

I have to say, I love Clio's glasses, love that she coordinates the different pairs with her outfits, and that we are all used to them now.  But every once in a while, we get a picture like this one.

It makes me miss her face.  Is that strange?  She looks so same-but-different to me like this.  I think, too, she got them at a time when she was just outgrowing the very last vestiges of "toddler"  (5T  to 6 makes sense to me all of a sudden--why 5 is the last "toddler" year).  In a way, it feels like this growing up happened behind her glasses, and when she takes them off like this, it's as if the growing was instant.

The desire to categorize

It happens all the time, and yet I am always charmed by the desire children have to organize their world.
In this case, the toys get lined up by color.

Also, you know I love when Dave picks up the camera.  The photos are always far superior to mine, and I love to see what he sees.

A picture's worth a thousand words

I'm so glad Grandma and Grandpa took some pictures while they were here for Spring Break--I never seem to bother anymore, since this photo expresses Clio's enduring feelings on being photographed.

Clio Grace, reader extraordinaire

At her conferences back in November, Clio's teachers set me up for this big surprise.  At first, the way they were leading into it, I got really nervous, wondered what was wrong, what my girl had done.  In the end, it was good news:  Clio was testing at a 2nd grade reading level.

I think they were disappointed by my lack of surprise and jubilation.  We knew it already: Clio is a really amazingly good reader.  This is likely because she loves stories.  Because we read to her a lot from the very beginning.  Because she has good teachers.  Because she is--has always been--really really verbal.

Lately, though, her reading ability seems to have just shot forward, and whatever reading level she may now be at, I find myself impressed.  I think the turning point came when I found her reading the Gift of the Magi.  She is reading chapter books like Junie B Jones and Ivy and Bean.  I often find her reading in bed.

I was the same way, and I love that this is something passed on from me.

On Facebook, Lately

I recently realized that as my posts go from essays to snippets, more and more are landing on facebook instead of here.  So I'm doing that weird, uniquely modern thing of posting facebook status updates to the blog.  I just love all these littlest bits and pieces.

January 19
latest Eleri-isms: she would like to have a "forest field" (force field) and does not like when we get stuck in the "jelly jam" (traffic jam.) Love this age.

February 17
The girls are watching Dora for movie night. Dora: "does a lizard live in the desert or in the snow?" Eleri: "snow." Dora: "that's right, desert!" Eleri: "they're wrong." (Repeat with each question posed.)

February 18
sent the girls outside to play for 10 minutes to get some fresh air while the weather is still in the 40s. They are sitting on the deck, WAILING, in stereo. WAILING.

The girls are back inside, and all the little dolls and animals and small things are out playing. Clio says "all of the kids are watching TV, and all of the grownups are in a meeting!" I asked her what the meeting is about, but she doesn't know.

February 23
Eleri, age 3: "Delicioso is Spanish for 'yummy'"

March 8
Clio: "Liar, liar, pacifier." Me: "Don't you mean liar, liar, pants on fire?" Clio: "no. PA-CI-FI-ER."

Also, Eleri's Barbie is doing yoga. Apparently there is only one yoga mat, and all the (little plastic) animals were sent invitations to the yoga class, but some of them haven't received theirs in the mail yet.

March 11
Just found a little card that Clio made. The outside says "OPNE" with a heart and an arrow pointing to the inside. Inside says "Little bit spicy." I swear. Can't make this stuff up.

March 13
the girls are drawing mazes with sidewalk chalk. Clio's "leads to the sun" and Eleri "wanted hers to lead to an alien." Just one more way these girls are so, so different.

Discovery in reading

I love listening to Clio read right now.  While she is reading some books that are quite big for her age (Ivy and Bean, Junie B. Jones, The Gift of the Magi), the process can still sometimes be halting and slow.  This morning she was reading one of her science readers ("freak out!" I think).  To listen to her read a sentence is to hear the process of comprehension in action.

"Bush

babies

can

leap

20

feet..."

"WOW!  Mom, bush babies can leap 20 feet through the air!"

We take for granted the ability to read full sentences at a scan.  Sometimes, when I get to the end of a book I have loved especially well, I cover the words with my hands so I will not jump ahead and read the very last one out of order.  Clio still gets to read that way, every sentence, all the time.