The Georgous

Of all the things, 4 and 5 year olds get up to in the school yard…

G: Do you know what Mrs Thomas said the other day?
Me: No, what did she say?
G: She said, “Everyone must keep their tongues in their own mouth and NOT touch other people’s tongues with their own tongue!”
Me: Oh…why did she have to say that?
G: Because they were touching other people’s tongues with their own tongue.
Me: !!!

And just after the swimming award we have been issued with a Primary Ballet exam notice…

Now Georgia has not always been very keen on going to ballet.
Although she is a natural dancer with a completely natural sense of rhythm, she has on many occasions moaned and groaned (yes there has even been tears) about going to ballet.

However, once she’s in, she loves it, and she comes out asking to come back again. (You know the saying, children know what they want not what they need?)

So anyway, realising she has to do these Ballet exams, her first reaction is.

G: No, I don’t want to do them
Me: Are you sure? You’ll get a certificate just like the one for swimming…
G: Really ? (her eyes opening wide, at the thought)
Me: Yeah sure.
G: Oh, OK then.

So there we are….Primary Ballet exam – bring it on!!!

This morning as we were getting ready for school, we had this conversation.

G: James said that all the Hard Readingers have to go to the front.
Me: What is Hard Readingers? And where is ‘front’?
G: Hard Readingers are the people who read hard books, loh (Hokkien accent). We have to go to the front at Assembly.
Me: OIC.

So apparently, Georgia is a Hard Readinger. I suppose if they knew, she would also be a Hard Math-er, Hard Cello-er, Hard Writer (that one’s correct ;)) and we would be Hard Demanders!

You know how it is, you try to do about 5 (gazillion!) things at once, limited by having only one pair of eyes. As Georgia was trying to get me to watch her attempt skating she half shouts at me

G: Mum, look at me!
Me: Ok (My eyes still glued to the browser on my phone! – Haven’t they said iPhones are evil?!)
G: Mum, look at me now!
Me: Mmmm…ok (not yet looking)
G: I tell you, PUT AWAY THAT PHONE, it is NOT IMPORTANT. It’s much more important to look at me, not at the phone!

So what do you think I did next? 🙂

Georgia has been trying and trying (top marks for persistence) to get us to give her some money for tuck (malaysian equivalent: canteen snacks). I’m at pains to do that, purely because it costs 40p for a snack which might otherwise cost 10p.

My take on that is that, if she needed a lesson in spending money, she could do it without ‘donating’ to the school.

Having said that, this morning, at 6.30am when her little voice piped out, “Please can I have tuck?” She was quite shocked, when I said “Yes”.

And then she tried a little bit more:

G: So you’ll give me money for tuck?

Me: Uh huh.

G: How about if you give me ALL your money?

Me: What would I do then? I need money too.

G: You can go and work and get some more money.

Me: How about if you start doing some work too, and then you can get some money too?

G: (thought for a while and then said) OK, I can work too.

Me: OK. You could draw and write some stories and we could sell those stories?

G: Oh no! … I want to just do work like you. Just e-mail and all that….

Ssshhh…the secret’s out now. I get paid to just email! 😉

Georgia asked an interesting question today, one which we were not quite sure how to approach or answer.

As we were eating our mid-morning snack, she casually asked:

G: Is God white?

Me: Do you mean, like paper white or like a person who is fair?

G: Paper-white…(she replies without hesitation)

Me: (At this point wondering if we should try first to approach a ‘concept’ of God) Well…

Then Dad says: God is all colours.

….And that seems to satisfy her, for now.

From our last visit to the local library, I picked up a couple of audio books that I thought we might all enjoy especially during our car journeys.

We are really audio book virgins, never have we ever had anything other than music in the car (OK even the times tables CD  was in tunes!).

Roald Dahl’s Matilda, read by Miriam Margolyes, was simply fascinating. We actually sat in the car after arriving home, just to listen to a bit more of the story. Read more »

This morning, at 5 am, (!)  Georgia squeezed in next to me. As I willed her back to sleep, her little voice pipes out:

G: Mum, when’s Easter?
(I can see her thinking chocolate, easter eggs, holiday!)
Me: It will be soon, but do you know, now is the time called Lent?
G: (huffily) I know that already.
Me: And do you know what Lent is about? (pause…but no response comes) It’s about giving up things.
G (without skipping a beat!) : Ok! I can give up work and Cello practise!

Obviously I explained to her that Lent was about giving up things you really like or love, and her reasoning was,
G: (adamantly) But I do really like writing!

Overheard Georgia on the phone with Mama (grandma) yesterday…

G: Do you know what day it is today?

G: It’s Burnt Wednesday or something like that…

Then to me, “Mum, what day is it? Like Burnt Wednesday or something?”

Can you guess what she meant?