Football

Ana has joined an under 4's team at the YMCA. And guess who is their coach? Ugghhh! I didn't really want to do it but no-one else stepped forward and the YMCA put out a plea for anyone to step up and do it, regardless of football knowledge or coaching experience, at which point I figured I really ought to volunteer. James is the assistant coach. I'm sure he calls himself joint coach, but we all know that is never gonna be the case! ;-) Their team name is The Beavers. I kid you not. Gooooooo Beavers!

So anyway, Ana has not taken well to Mummy being the coach. She sat out and cried the whole first practice. Second practice was a little better, she played for about 10 min before walking off pouting. By practice number 3 we got a good 15 mins participation! So we are getting there.

This morning was our first match. We made a great start, taking an early 3-0 lead while the other team seemed to have no idea what was going on, but then my team got a little distracted and at one point I only had one kid left on the field! So I think we ended up losing. We don't keep score, so I don't know for sure. Obviously if we were winning I would have kept score in my head, so I assume the fact I don't know means we lost!

The little guy on the right, Dylan, is my superstar. He has amazing natural talent! I call him Dylan Beckham and he loves it! I have a girl called Hartleigh who also has good skills and a little boy Hudson who is a little powerhouse. I called him a superstar at practice one day and his Mum emailed to let me know that Hudson had told everyone he met all week long that his soccer coach called him a superstar. So now his name is Hudson-Superstar. Ana would be good if she would ever play. I have two more who did not co-operate for the picture. Evan and Ashton. Evan is great, but gets upset if he doesn't get the ball, and Ashton is the only kid less enthusiastic than Ana! That poor kid never wants to join in at all!

Dylan Beckham takes off.....

He shoots.....

He scores!!!!!!!

Gooooooo Beavers!

First dentist visit

Ana was very well behaved at her first dentist visit this week. Especially considering the fact we were waiting forever to get seen! We went to a Children's dental center and it was a madhouse. It was also very Little Shop of Horrors-ish. They had one room with about 10 kids lying on tables in various drugged states. Horrendous! I almost made a dash for it!

Luckily Ana's visit went well. They were very thorough. They took x-rays, and we could see her adult teeth waiting above her baby teeth. I didn't realize she already had those! Cool! Then the dentist checked her teeth out. Then she went to a hygienist for cleaning, flossing, and fluoride treatment. I had no idea they did all this to kids. I'm pretty sure that never happened to me in the UK (no English teeth jokes please). No wonder Americans all look like this!

Here is our souvenir picture. Awwww, brave girl!

Little mispronunciations.... I just love these!

"Mummy, you look radishing today"

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the string"

"You are in big truffle"

Ana Monster

Ana walked in and announced "I am am monster and I'm here to eat your babies. Rarrhhh"

Not feeling like getting chased around the house for the umpteenth time I said "What do you look like monster?"

She launched into such a vivid description of her appearance I decided I just had to sketch what she was telling me (with her approval of course).

Behold - the Ana Monster!!! Such imagination!

So we have a red faced monster with three eyes and crazy yellow hair, a big "wibbly" pink body, 8 green legs, and 10 blue arms shaped like diamonds with black, red, orange, and green sharp nails! Yikes!!

I really shouldn't laugh at this, right?

Yesterday I took Ana to an event at the Montessori school with Monica and Lucas. They had a great time, making things out of recyclable materials, decorating their own flowerpot and planting a flower after learning all about composting, etc. At one point a teacher was sat down showing the kids pictures of animals and there was a picture much like this one of a mare nursing a foal.

Teacher: What animal do we see here?

Kids: A HORSE. Horse goes "neighhhhh...."

Teacher: Very good, a horse. Do you see the baby horse?

Kids: Yes

Teacher: What is the baby horse doing

ANA: SNIFFING HIS MAMA'S BUTT!!! Ha ha ha ha

Teacher: . . .