Undeniable logic

We were all watching "Prince Caspian" together and Gwenchik understandably tended to cover her eyes and ears during the battle scenes.
Gwen: Tell me when Peter wins the fight with the bad guy.
Me: I am not sure he actually does, he is already wounded and the bad guy is not really playing fair...
Gwen: Of course he does, because he is listed in the next movie in the series.

Professional conversation

My friend Ksenia is staying with us for the holidays. Gwenchik wanted to know what exactly Ksenia does for a living. The way Ksenia explained internal audit consulting:
Ksenia: I visit different companies and I just give them advise....
Gwen: And people actually PAY for this?

Low present expectations

We got this really cool present for Gwenchik and I couldn't resist and asked if we could give it to her before Santa flies in.
Gwen: You didn't get me a math book as a present, did you?
Me: ?
Gwen: Well, OF COURSE, I would be happy with the book... but mom, what kind of parents give a math book to their child for a holiday! When I grow up and have kids, I will never give books that you need to learn from as presents!
......
What does it say about us as parents if our child automatically expects getting a math book as a present? Of course we didn't dissuade her from her erroneous notion, but it was nice that even though she was disappointed, she still tried to pretend that she was happy with the present, just to please us. She is really sweet and I can't wait to see her face once she actually gets her present. :)

Santa presents

Gwen: At school everyone knows that there is really no Santa and all the presents are bought by parents, which is kind of sad.
Me: Well, of course parents buy presents as it is a holiday, but Santa brings some too.
Gwen: Than why no one ever seen him? How can he really exist?
Me: He is a magical being, you know. So the entire point is to appear ONLY when everyone is asleep or not around.
Gwen: Ha, so no one really knows the truth, right? Do not tell anyone, but that means that I will get more than one present, right? You, Dad, Santa -- as least three.....

Motherland

As we are walking home from school Gwenchik proudly recounts her Spanish class geography lesson. They had a giant map on the wall with all the continents in Spanish.

Gwen: In school everyone knows that I am Russian. Actually  ---  the only Russian, I think.

Me: Yes

Gwen: So everyone was wondering what was that huge orange blob on the map -- and I was like, "oh, that is Russia -- pais mas grande del mundo!" Now EVERYONE is envious of me. 

Monopoly

Gwenchik begged me to play "Monopoly" with her for a long time as I am not a fan of the game. As she is losing and finally lands on one of my streets with a hotel on:

Gwen: I can't believe it. You wouldn't help your ONLY daughter!
Me: Well, you can mortgage your railroads or streets and I can help you calculate...
Gwen: YOUR ONLY daughter and you want to charge ME rent!
Me: It's a game, as you well know. Do you want me to give in?
Gwen: No. But when I grow up and have a daughter I will not WIN in "Monopoly" against her. I always, always win against Dad, as he doesn't know how to play. Why, why, why do you win in the game you do not even like?

Shorting money

At this point, from her birthday presents and several summer yard sales Gwenchik has about $200 in cash. About a week ago when her grandmother came to pick her up  and realized that she forgot her wallet Gwenchik generously offered the money that she has to grandma.

Gwenchik brings her new wallet that she got for her birthday and pulls out her riches -- $200. However all the dollar bills look weird -- much shorter than normal.
George: What is wrong with the dollar bills?
Gwen: Well, when I took the money from the envelope and transferred it into my new wallet the bills just wouldn't fit, so I cut the sides off. You see how nicely they fit now?

Reality-fiction

Lately Gwenchik likes writing -- in her diary, in numerous notebooks spread all over the house. As we driving to math class Gwenchik is reading aloud her new short story about a girl named Gwen and her dragon.
Gwen: ... girl named Gwen and her birthday was in September, when she turned 8 years old.
Me: So this is a story about you?
Gwen: Well sort of, but not really. It is like reality-fiction genre.

Yellow belt!

Today Gwenchik got her yellow belt! Quite unexpectedly, as the testing was set for middle of December -- so we are very proud of her. I suspect that for the next belt she would need to break a board.

Nice to be a girl

Walking around Central Sq in Cambridge ...
Gwen: It is nice to be a girl.
Me: Why do you think so?
Gwen: Girls can wear skirts or pants, their hair long or short and any jewelry and NOT  look weird.

Kids

Gwen: When I grow up I do not want to have kids.
Me: Why?
Gwen: It is painful for them to be born and than they do not really listen to their parents... so what is the point anyways?

Death

Today died Betta fish that Gwenchik got for her birthday. She cried, and cried, and cried... she felt responsible as she sort of neglected it, though, I suspect that the fish was, unfortunately sick, to begin with.

Life and fun

Gwenchik was working on a math problem and George explained that she really needs to solve it first before going to a Halloween city festival, as math is more important that festivals.
Gwen: But festivals are fun. What is the point of living if you do not have fun? Don't I only live once?

What good is an uncle?

When Gwenchik was really young, we were trying to discourage her sticking out her tongue at everyone everywhere and agreed that she could only do it to her uncle Roddy, but to him as much as she wanted to. He would visit once or twice a month and she would stick out her tongue, but for the rest of the time she would have to hold it in.

Today Gwenchik was reading comments left by her uncle.

Gwen: Next summer I should go to Russia to visit my grandparents and my uncle. Lately I feel like sticking out my tongue, but I can't. I can't stick it out at you, because you will get upset; I can't at school, because this is inappropriate. So my only recourse is my uncle and he is far away in Russia.

The judgment of Paris

I was cutting George's hair this morning.
Gwen: Why are you cutting Dad's hair?
Me: I like it when he wears it short, it looks neater.
Gwen: But why does he have to cut it? Only because you like it that way? I like him with longer hair. And now that winter is coming it is better to have longer hair, isn't it?
George: I want the hair cut that your Mom likes.
Gwen: That is not fair. You should listen to the person who spends more time with you and has to look at you more. And that person is me!  You drive me to school in the morning and when you get home from work you play board games with me -- all you do with Mom is sleep and how does that count?

Why kids lie...

Gwenchik saw a chapter in the book "Nurtureshock: the new thinking about children" a chapter heading "why kids lie" and was surprised that people write books about it.
Gwen: Isn't that obvious?
Me: Do you know why?
Gwen: Of, course. Firstly, they lie not to get caught doing something bad; secondly, kids lie to not upset their parents; and thirdly, kids lie because they think that they can get away with it. Why is the book so thick?

Always 30 years

Gwen: How come in your diary you write pages and pages of stuff and I only wrote four sentences?
Me: Well, I started writing when I was your age, around eight years old, and now I am thirty eight, so I had many more years to learn how to write in my diary.
Gwen: So you will ALWAYS be thirty years older than me? That is a bit sad....

Risk taking

We went to the ocean during high tide while on the Cape. Gwenchik rushed down to the water rolling up her pants as she ran along.
Me: Gwenchik, please be careful and watch out for waves.
Gwen: I do not want to. I LIKE taking risks, because it is an adventure. I need more adventures in my life! Also you are here so nothing can happen to me, right?
........
8 years old -- needs adventure???

Beloved Munchkin

Well, Munchkin is our game of choice now. After our first tournament, there is a lot of improvement -- she doesn't get upset, actually reads the cards and starts to strategize! Played two games yesterday and two today. Each day she won one game, so she is very satisfied :)

Overflowing day

Gwenchik did her math homework in the morning, than went to Tae Kwon Do to test for a green stripe on her belt (she got it) and off to MIT to celebrate with Mexican food. Than we lucked out and managed to bike along the Charles river for 2 hours before it started to rain. Back home we organized our first kid-friendly board game  of "Munchkin".

Every Saturday seems to be overflowing with activities, so tomorrow just math and recovery time :)

Secret language

At her Tae Kwon Do class at the end of sparring partners have to bow to each other and say "kamsamida"
Gwen: Mom, I think I am the only one who knows that "kamsamida" means "thank you" in Korean (she picked up a few Korean words from our movies and travels)
Me: Isn't it great to understand another language?
Gwen: Well, actually I do not like when people understand Russian, because than I no longer have my "secret language". And it is so nice to be able to have secrets and only share with chosen few -- makes me feel spacial.
.....
Ahh, in a short time she would probably want the opposite, to blend in, so it is nice that she appreciates knowing another language right now.

Birthday party behind us

Gwenchik's 8th birthday celebrations are over now. This year she had three of her friends for a sleepover (they only settled down around 11:30 pm) and next day another 14 or so friends for a lunch party. The weather refused to cooperate (second time in 8 years, so can't really complain) so our plans for the outdoor party with "capture the flag" theme failed miserably.
Friday evening I came up with about 10 games we could play indoors and it turned out to be a blast. We didn't even manager to play all of them before kids had to leave... It is so stressful, but I love these parties as I get to feel like a kid again :)

Birthday girl!

As it is became a tradition, we woke Gwenchik this morning by bringing presents to her bedroom. The sleepy head as usual started to protest and demand another 5 minutes, but jumped right up when she realized that it is her birthday and time to unwrap the presents.
This year she really wanted a betta fish and have been asking for it for a few weeks now. And yesterday she reminded that we should definitely wrap her fish up, as it is, after all a present and a surprise (well the  kids logic these days...)

Gwen: Oh, my presents!!! Where is my surprise wrapped fish?
......
She said that she was afraid till the last minute that we would not get her another live creature --- we do have two cats already, after all  :)

Pizza

We are planning the upcoming birthday party, while chewing on a nice caramelized onion pizza from Trader Joe's.
Gwen: Mom, for my birthday we should get cheese and pepperoni pizza only... you know, most of the kids out there do not appreciate nice pizza. I do, but I want to keep it a secret to stay cool.

Full day

Today we barely stayed home and Gwenchik loved it! Went biking along Charles River in the morning and than wandered around MixFest at Esplanade. Bikes on the rack and off to Union Sq for a lovely festival of accordion music among the local crowd. Directly from there to a friend's house with lot of kids.

Got home around 9pm, totally exhausted, but Gwenchik wanted a repeat for Sunday.
Thank God for math class Sunday morning :)

Crush update

As we are walking back from school, Gwenchik just gives me one word answers to all the questions about how her day went. Such a difference from just a few days ago. So I prodded about her crush (he sits right next to her).

Gwen: Well, he is no longer as fun and interesting as he used to be. I remember last year he was so much fun, but now that he is sitting next to me he is kind of average... and I think he is starting to mix with the bad boys in class.
....
Oh, the disillusionment comes so fast.

Ms. President 2

While we are studying Spanish, which we haven't touched in over a year, Gwenchik is surprised that she remembers so many words.

Gwen: Wow, I guess Spanish is not that hard. Presidency, here I come!

Ms. President

Gwen: You know that I can actually became an American president, because I was born here.

Me: Yes you can. But it is really hard to become a president -- you have to learn a lot of things and study really hard.

Gwen: Well, I already know Russian, which is hard. So when I become a president and could actually talk to the Russian president without a translator.

Me: It is great that you know Russian, but you really need to learn Spanish as it is becoming the second most spoken language in America.

Gwen: No, Spanish is way too hard. Ok, I better be a doctor.

First day at school

My God, Gwenchik is already in third grade! She got up really early today to prepare for the first day at school -- uniform, braids and to come up with the "cool list" for the intro circle.

Me: You went to Toronto this summer.

Gwen: Everyone goes to Canada, what's cool about that?

George: You have two cats, one of which has six toes.

Gwen: Wow, that is actually cool.

.....

Me: Your Dad works for Google.

Gwen: Oh, I forgot -- Google is really cool!

New class, old crush

Today we stopped by the school for a brief introduction to the teacher. She looked pretty strict, so Gwenchik is worried. And her friend from last year is in another class, so future didn't look all that rosy. However, she read her class list and realized that her all time crush is in HER class.

For the next three days all we talked about if he would like her or not; how to behave as, of course, she can't just like him or play with him and playdate is out of the question..... Oh, the angst.

And all the discussions were away from Dad, as obviously he is a boy and wouldn't understand this :)

Hurricane Irene

Gwenchik helped prepare for the hurricane Irene --- flashlight, bottled water and snacks. Two days later

Gwen: The news lied! Not once did we have a power outage. When is the next hurricane?

Lemonade stand

We joined in on our friend's yard sale a few weeks ago, where the biggest draw turned out to be a lemonade stand for 25 cents. Gwenchik got quite good at being both persistent and cute to drum up business. Her marketing techniques were so great, that the girls managed to sell $3 plus worth of lemonade in about 2 hours with not much foot traffic.

Gwenchik was a bit disappointed as she was planning how to spend her millions on her way to yard sale and $3 is nowhere near a million, even she understands.

So we are now having our own yard sale tomorrow, mainly so she she can set up her stand. And she thinks that she can do better than $3, now that she knows how :)

Cat logic

One of our two cats is getting old and slowly losing her hearing.

Gwen: Poor Riska, she is old now, can barely hear and might die.

Me: Do not say it out loud as she might get upset.

Gwen: Well, she can't hear well anyways ...

Wheelchair travel in the future

Gwen: When you get really old and wrinkly then I will buy you a wheelchair and we will travel to China and Vietnam.

Me: Well, it is not that easy to travel in a wheelchair.

Gwen: Why not? You get free parking!

Importance of context

Gwenchik and I were walking our neighbor's dog, who was willing to do tricks for treats, which he loudly and enthusiastically chewed down.

Me: This dog reminds me of our favorite pig, who would gleefully chew down apples (in our house pigs are sort of semi-sacred animals treated with high respect, which is a long story)

Gwen: Yes, he does!

....

As we were returning the dog, Gwenchik happily explained to our neighbors that her mom compared their favorite dog to a pig. Well I had to go into a long-winded explanation to ease the awkward situation. Gwenchik was surprised that not everyone was as appreciative of the pigs as we are. Not sure what the neighbors think...

Let's talk about sex

As we were talking home from school, Gwenchik asked

Gwen: What is sex?

Me: Why do you ask?

Gwen: Everyone at school says that it is disgusting.

Me: Well it is not. It is a physical expression of love -- for example when people hug or kiss...

Gwen: Yes, they were right, it is disgusting! Do not tell me anymore.

.....

Hmm, when do you start talking to your kids about sex?

Learning to program

Gwenchik decided that she wants to program and George taught her how to make her first simple web page.

Gwen: Mom, look this is my first webpage.

Me: That is great! George it is wonderful that you are teaching our 7 year old!

Gwen: No he doesn't! He is just telling me what to do, that is all!

Millionaire dream

Gwenchik read somewhere about kids entrepreneurs, who made lot of money even before graduating high school.

Gwen: Wow, it looks easy. So what do you think I should do to became a millionaire?

Me: The only thing I can think of is programming cool apps for iPhone.

Gwen: Hmmm, but how will I get all my money? Will they know it is me? If yes, let's start today....

Taxes

Gwenchik's discussion about government leads to:

Gwen: Everyone pays taxes so we can policemen and fireman, right? Do policemen and firemen also pay taxes?

Grandma: Yes, of course.

Gwen: Now that is ridiculous! Are they paying for themselves? Just give them less money....

Coming of age

We were discussing about when Gwenchik would be old enough to get her OWN cell phone... and decided that the appropriate time would be when she "comes off age".

Gwen: So how old I need to be in the US

Me: Not sure, probably 18. I think it is actually 14 in Russia and 19 in Korea.

Gwen: Ok, than we have to move to Russia --- 14 is so much sooner!!!!

Korean feast

Lately I have had an obsession in all things Korean -- movies, kdramas, food. And it is starting to permiate to the rest of the family...

When we were in Toronto for New Year holidays we stopped at this beaten up restaurant with the most amazing Korean food. George and Gwenchik loved all the dishes! And we deiscussed about getting a Korean cookbook from the library and try cooking something easy.

Yesterday, George and Gwenchik slaved away for several hours in secret and surprised me with a phenomenal Korean dinned including bibimbap!!!!

Life

Gwenchik and I watched a wonderful Iranian movie "Children of heaven" -- about a 9 year old boy and his 7 year old sister and their adventures over a lost pair of shoes.

The movie was an eye-opener for my sever year old. The wonder of how Gwenchik couldn't comprehend that they only had one pair of shoes; that the boy enters the competition because he really want to win sneaker for his sister; the poverty;the way the children take the responsibility and try to resolve the problem without involving adults.... she was surprised and a bit shocked. And asked me mid movie -- is this a modern fairytale --- life can't be THAT bad.