Kenzie was the bear in her class play, The Mitten. She's been practicing her line (a sneeze) for a week. Evidently it's contagious because Mason's been doing the same thing.

Chirpie was in the Scooby Doo lunch box all the time. Kenzie squealed with joy when she found her. We're happy she's back in the family, after almost two weeks of being lost. (Kenzie did not want us to photograph Chirpie naked. She ran to put her dress on her and was very upset that we wanted the photo to represent how she was found. You see the compromise here.)

I had just posted this APB on Craigslist. Thankfully I can now share the good news that our stray pup has returned. Kenzie told Grammy that we found her "just in the nick of time" and "one more night and she wouldn't have made it."

Mason was in the bathroom with the door closed for an extended period. He wasn't even a bit interrupted by the camera.

I particularly like the belly hanging over the book.

Yesterday Grampy told Kenzie that he used to like to put a pen mark straight down the line in his corduroy pants. Kenzie was perplexed as to why he would write on his own pants (as were we all). This morning it was still on her mind, to the point where she called him on the phone and asked if his mother and father were upset with him when he did that. I only heard one side of the conversation, but perhaps he wasn't 100% convincing to her that it was a bad idea.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, she wrote her name on her sheets during nap time. This is very "un-Kenzie"-like behavior. She seemed surprised to learn that we were less than impressed. As a matter of fact, she lost the privilege of having sheets on her bed until we're convinced that she can be trusted again. She was horrified. She tried to plead her case, but was sent to her room until she came out with the sheet off of her bed. Yes, not only did she lose the privilege of having sheets, she had to take them off herself. Finally, completely indignant, she came out, threw the sheets on the floor in the hall and proclaimed "I will never take my sheets off again because I will NEVER write on them again. When I get my sheets back I will never even wash them again because I will NEVER take them off."

I think the most permanent lesson learned in this is that age doesn't necessarily qualify someone to be a good role model. I only heard part of her conversation with him this evening: "My mommy was upset. Your mommy didn't get upset, I hear. Why did your mommy not get upset?"

We've been touring kindergartens trying to figure out where to put Kenzie next year. One school has really great class sizes, but might not be a good fit for her in first grade. Another school has "Spectrum" (advanced program) starting in the 1st grade, but the kindergarten isn't such a great fit and we wouldn't want to put her there if she wasn't going to get into Spectrum. Luckily today we had a conference with Ms. Janet, her preschool teacher, who has known Kenzie for two years now.

We asked Ms. Janet for an honest assessment of Kenzie, including her chances of testing into Spectrum. She went to her file cabinet and pulled out a stack of papers. She then described an exercise that they use to test kids, and just recently went through for Kenzie's class. They call it classroom Rubiks. They give an assignment to the class and evaluate their level based on how they respond.

In this case she told them to draw a story about a hospital bed, then asked each kid to describe their picture. Kids at the beginning end of the rubik may not draw anything at all, or may draw something off-topic. The next level up kids draw the object they are asked (a bed). Up from there kids can put themselves in the picture. She pulled out drawings from her pile to illustrate. One of them just had circles in all different colors. Another had a layer of squares and the child had described a hospital bed. Another had a face in a circle with the explanation "me in a bed."

The next level is when they can extrapolate, put it in context and build on a story or an event. She then pulled out Kenzie's picture. It was a hospital bed with a person in the bed with a rounded tummy, a big smile on the face. The bed had two flowers on it, red and green. She had told Ms. Janet that it was "mom in the bed, and I'm in her belly. This is when I was born."

Ms. Janet also described how Kenzie "floors her" with the detail in her writing and drawings, doing things that typical 3rd graders do. She definitely thinks we should pursue Spectrum, or else risk Kenzie being bored...which is possibly the worst thing for her. That is when she gets herself in trouble, AKA "the hitting day" that we had a couple of weeks ago.

She also noted that Kenzie has recently started trying to do other kids work for them when she finishes her own. Ms. Janet called it "mentoring the other kids" - but perhaps that is a bit too generous. She recently was busted helping one of her friends write his name on his paper when he showed signs of struggling.

Cindy called Kenzie into the kitchen. Kenzie's reply, as she sported her fuzzy pink tiara and red heart headband, "no, no! I'm Princess."

A few minutes later Kenzie was walking around with a remote control, with Nathan walking behind in a strange gallop. He looked at me and said, "she's controlling me." You're in good company, I thought.

Kenzie is pen-pals with my dear friend Kina, who lives in Portland. Kina has a good friend, Heather, who has been battling ovarian cancer. Kenzie and I have been praying for Heather for many months. Today Heather's struggle ended. Although we never met Heather, Kenzie took a strong interest in her and Kina.

When Kenzie learned of Heather's passing, she drew this picture for Kina. She gave it to me and said, "scan it so you can email it to Kina and put it on the blog." It shows Heather as an angel "who is flying down to see Kina" (in Kenzie's words). Kina has the blue hat, Kenzie is front and center. (Chirpie is now on a leash.)

I also thought it was interesting that the sun and the sky were colored (and Kina's hat), but the rest of the drawing was left monochrome. I cropped out the house nearby where I am in the upstairs window looking outward.

Kenzie finally hit the 40 pound mark (after dinner, fully clothed). Mason is gaining ground at 29.3.

The day we feared has come. Chirpie has disappeared.

Surprisingly, Kenzie has handled it very well. We haven't even heard too much about it. "Bun" the bunny seems to have slipped into the favored spot fairly easily.

Although, Kenzie was just drawing what I thought was a bee. I said, "cute bee." Her response, "No, it's a butterfly. She's upset at her mother because she took her stuffed animal away from her." Really, this is my fault?? For the record I was in Iowa at the time Lovie went MIA.

When Kenzie was about Mason's age, she and I went down to the beach to feed the seagulls. It was a very sweet time. She had a loaf of bread, carefully tore off pieces and shared it with the eager birds. (No, this was not the time that the bird drew blood from her finger...that was later.) She was amazed by the birds, looking up, watching them hover, sharing with them. She was gentle, cautious, and studious.

That was until a little boy that we didn't know butted in. All he wanted to do was chase the birds. I remember how irritated I was at the mother. She stood there smiling as her Terror disturbed our Serenity. Kenzie kept trying to feed the birds, but they were disturbed and it became too chaotic. We left with our noses held high.

Fast forward to today. I took Mason down for coffee on the waterfront. Afterward we went for a stroll on the beach. A man came by with a bag of dog food. He poured the dog food on a picnic table and left. Strange, I thought. Then I saw the birds come from all directions. They were eager and focused on their food.

That is, until Mason saw them. He went from 0 to 60 in .5 seconds, straight toward the picnic table, screaming "chase birds, chase birds, chase birds!!!" He ran in circles, up the hill, down the hill, around the table, for at least five minutes, just enthralled in the thrill of throwing his arms in the air and running after the birds. They screamed and jumped from the table to the cabana roof, to the hill, trying to find a place where they could rest and position themselves to go in for a quick bite on the table. Mason ran after as many as he could, continually screaming "Chase. Birds." He was having the time of his life.

When the food was finally gone, Mason was completely out of breath, but totally happy. I noticed some people standing nearby, maybe wondering how I could let my little Terror disturb the nice birds. Lighten up a little, I thought!

Miss Janet told Cindy today that Kenzie had a baaaad day at school today. She hit three kids. This is frustrating because she has been so good for many months now. We thought the hitting phase was behind us.

When I asked Kenzie to tell me about it, here was her account:

Kenzie: I don't really remember what happened.

Me: We can wait as long as we need to because I need to hear it [as we were sitting in the car parked in the front yard]

Kenzie: Well, I hit three kids. I hit Riley, Niko and Christa.

Me: Oh boy, that's really disappointing because I thought we didn't hit our friends. Why did you hit them? Why did you hit Riley?

Kenzie: I don't really remember. Mom, really I don't remember. Let's go on to Christa. She had a tape measure, I asked her for it, well, I took it from her, then she took it back and I hit her. Like this [as she hits herself on the shoulder]. Bam! I just hit her. Then Miss Janet said, "That's enough! No more hitting!" Then I hit Niko. He had a [?] and he told Miss Janet that I was trying to take it from him so I just hit him. Then Miss Janet said, "MacKenzie, NO HITTING!" Then I hit Riley and Miss Janet said, "You're THIS close [showing an inch] to going to the principals office."

And so the story went. We talked about it until she had tears in her eyes and I could see at least a sign of remorse. But she said, "Mom, it's okay because I wrote them a note to tell them I'm sorry." I asked her if I hit her and then wrote her a note if it would be okay. No, she didn't think that logic held.

I then asked her what her Grampy was going to think when she told him. "Oh Mom, I don't think I'm going to tell him." I told her that I thought she probably was. She said, trying the deferral tactic, "okay, but we'll just do that later."

So, we went into the house, I dialed the number and handed her the phone. I don't know what she said because she took the phone into her room, closed the door, and came out with crocodile tears streaming down her face. According to Grammy, Grampy was extremely supportive and told her that she would do better next time. It seemed to be most effective.

Here's the note I got from Grampy regarding the matter. (Grammy & Grampy had visited her school today for a "special friends" lunch, but left before the aggression began.

We had delightful time as MacKenzie’s “special friends” at her school today. She introduced us to her teacher and as we ate our delicious lunch with some of her school friends and their special friends she declared in a loud voice, “This is the funnest picnic!”

She was holding back tears the entire time I pushed her through the episode of telling me her story [on the phone]. She tried to explain to me why, but there is no why because she really doesn’t plan on doing it—she just vents. I think she is truly sorry.

She is progressing—she went from two to three—in a little over two months. How many are in that class? Is there enough time left to complete the task? It must have been the peanut butter in the sandwiches.

She was really sweet but her attention does wander when Aiden makes an appearance. After we had basically finished lunch and we were all chatting at her table, she noticed that several, mostly boys, had gathered on the stage and were free-wheeling around the stage. It didn’t take but a second for her to join the fray. By the time we were ready to leave there were about 15 on stage. They were mild by most standards.

Cindy had her write a custom note to each kid. We got a kick out of the detail that she put into the letters. "Sorry I hit you today" -- with her little curly swirled letters. Do you think the three bees on each note were symbolic, perhaps of Niko, Christa and Riley who she stung?