Quick update: Building up

So, here we are a month into kindergarten and second grade. Meggie says her favorite subject is science. Laurel still isn't sure about kindergarten and is definitely sure that she doesn't like sitting still on her square. She informs me that she really misses circle time. But she's bringing home a lot of great work and is really enjoying reading. She reads us a Scholastic level A or B reader every day. It seems to me that a lot is asked of kindergarteners these days.

Anyway. We now have swimming lessons once a week. As soon as the girls found out that their swim teacher used to be a synchronized swimmer, they added that to the list of things they want to be when they grow up. (It's a very long list.  :o) ) Meggie is working very hard on her backstroke at the moment. And Laurel is working very hard at pushing off and rocketing herself through the water while yelling, "I'm a beachball!"

We still have violin twice a week, and Meggie has a recital this Thursday. She'll be playing the theme from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. She plays it a little loud and a little fast, and her teacher told her this week that it is a piece full of mystery, so it shouldn't be played as fast or loud as possible. But Meggie said, "I added plenty of mystery," and played it again, scrubbing the strings as fast as she could. She sways and swings when she plays, as well, or stands on one foot while tapping the stand with the other. I think she is an Irish fiddler at heart.

The girls have also discovered a new hobby. They have decided that they love Lego. Pictured below is part of the Castle of Atlantis playset, which they assembled using a catalog-sized instruction booklet full of abstract diagrams that make Ikea's seem comprehensible. At one point they left the room and told me, "Keep building." I determined that I could have built two Ikea shelves in the time it took me to assemble the trap door that the king of Atlantis uses to foil the Lego sea creatures the kids had built. Meggie's Legoworld is also below. Legoworld currently consists of a girl with Rapunzel-like hair, her horse, an assortment of flowers and trees and a pond with water lilies. I have a feeling Legoworld will grow.

As do we. This week, Laurel made a family tree for a school project (I am amazed that my kindergartener is assigned projects). It was a paper cut-out of a tree, and her task was to adorn it with a fruit for each family member, present the tree to her class and explain why she picked that particular fruit. Laurel chose to make an apple tree, "because I like apples," she said. She colored her apple green and red, "because I'm growing." I colored my apple green and red, as well. Laurel said, "You're growing, too, Mommy." Yes, I'm still growing, too.