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!