Monkey explains her goodbye note/family portrait to her Nama.

Monkey moments…

It occurs to me that I haven’t posted many Monkey moments lately. Here I hope to remedy that and catch you all up on the doings of our dear girl.

School:
Monkey had her very first lunch detention, two days of it, for a really minor infraction, one for misunderstanding her teacher and going to the wrong area of the room instead of the right one, and the other for forgetting her first lunch detention and going to recess. She was crushed and came home sad and upset. After a generous helping of ice cream in a cone, and a discussion of how proud I am of her for her hard work in school, she felt better. She said “I hope Ms. Diamond forgets.” However, I spoke with her about how proud Ms. Diamond would be if Monkey reminded her about the lunch detention. She did, and came home bursting with pride because her sentence was reduced to one day, because she was responsible enough to remind Ms. Diamond about the detention. (Thankfully she and I were on the same page as far as rewarding that kind of responsibility goes. Don’t you love it when other adults enforce your messages without any prompting?)

She was once again given a good citizenship award this week, which the school gives out to children who lead the class and help out the other students. This is her third time, so we are still very proud, but the luster is beginning to wear off, even for her. The first one was presented with an excited “Look what I got mommy!!” and a long explanation of it meaning and process, but this one was presented with a “I got the good citizenship award again mom. Here.” as she tossed it on my desk and ran into the kitchen for a snack.

Bag sick:
Lee was shopping with Monkey in Costco and noticed large hardsided suitcases. He told Monkey they looked big enough for her to fit in and we would save a lot of money if we could fly her out to Denver in one of the cases. She looked it over and said “No Dad, that’s not a good idea, I might get bag sick.”

Irony:
Today we were cleaning the family room and she was running around in circles in the center of the room with a balloon yelling. We asked her repeatedly to stop because it was making us quite mad. Then Lee asked her to pick a few things up off the floor of her room so he could vacuum it. She came back into the room with earplugs and asked if she could borrow them. When asked why she responded with “I am so tired. I want to lie down and take a nap, and you guys are too noisy.”

Monkey on pain:
“It hurts so much, it hurts like a dog eating an alligator.”

How much does Monkey like her brother? Here are a few of the things she has said about him lately:
“Mom, I think I am falling in love with him.”
“Mom, I think I am going to Marry my brother. He is so cute!”
“Otter is finally here, he is the best brother ever!”
Mom: “Monkey, I know Otter is a little boring right now, but he will be more fun as he gets older.”
Monkey:”He’s not boring Mom! He is really fun!”

Sibling moments:
Today, while holding her little brother, Monkey was given several full on smiles and Agoos. She was so happy to have him interacting with her, and he was so happy to be held by her!
This afternoon, while Otter was resting on my shoulder, and Monkey was standing behind me and talking to him, he puckered up his little baby mouth and gave her a kiss! She was so pleased to be included in the Otter kiss club!

Monkey moments:
Lee took Monkey to the park to run off some energy the other day, here are the photos of said energy release.
Monkey on the Balance Beam:



Monkey crosses the Great Divide:

Hopefully anyone feeling deprived of Monkey stories feels more caught up now. I have been meaning to post them for a while, but baby, and sleep deprivation, have prevented me.

Congratulations to those who passed the Colorado Bar Exam and commisseration for those who did not pass. I love you all, regardless of which category you fall in, and beleive in you.