Funny things

Anna and Ben went for a walk on Saturday. While out, Ben suggested that they look for a dog. Anna suggested looking for a monkey instead. "Monkey! Monkey!" Ben kindly informed her that he highly doubted that they would find any monkeys on their walk. He explained that they were not at the zoo, there would probably not be any monkeys, etc, etc.

Imagine his dismay when they turned a corner and Anna spotted a big stone gorilla on someone's driveway! "MONKEY!!!! HI MONKEY!!!" she said with a big grin.

I suspect that Ben has lost some credibility over this.
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Anna loves to go swimming. Whenever we pass the Blue Valley Recreation Centre, she loudly exclaims, "Swimming!" However, since we now only go twice a week for swim classes, she has taken to saying, "Swimming. Not today." in a rather dejected tone of voice.
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I will admit to being happy that the girls will watch tv together sometimes, thus leaving me a few minutes of peace and quiet. Anna loves the Wonder Pets. We recently figured out that she thinks the guinea pig is actually a monkey. (Hey, she thinks the Yak in her Alphabet Train is also a monkey. Who am I to dissuade her?) Anyhow, we were out at Target this morning and in a weak moment I agreed to go look at toys. "Wonder Pets!" said Anna gleefully, upon spotting a toy fly boat with 3 Wonder Pets inside.

Well after we left the toy section, Anna was very happily (and randomly) saying "Wonder Pets!" Even at the checkout she felt the need to mention it. Of course, she also had to comment on all of the fruit we were buying. She doesn't miss a thing.
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Rachel is loving her piano lessons. She has learned to play Hot Cross Buns and is quite particular about how she plays it. I played it two ways for her and asked which way she liked better. "The perfect way," she told me. Oy. She meant the legato (smooth) version. In true childlike fashion, she is also quite the egomaniac: "That was great! I did it perfect! I'm so good at this!" The thing is, she's generally right on with her self-assessments but I can't really say so all of the time!

Also related to piano, Rachel's teacher uses the "Blue Jello" system for teaching rhythm. Rachel and I have been going back and forth with different rhythms, to the point where Anna will try to join in: "Bwoo jewo, bwoo jewo!" Apparently there is something to this whole concept of immersion at a young age after all... (Please note that I've never questioned that. I did and still do question what I have seen from too many Suzuki teachers back home - not you, H!!!!!!)