Noteworthy

On the way to school this morning, Claire was being particularly argumentative.  Don was driving.  I was mainly arguing with Claire.  Margot was unusually quiet.  Then she handed me this (which will immediately take its place in the annals of Wiest-ette notes):

Spy Notes 2.0

Jane, taking after her sister before her, has made her first foray into spying - in this case, on her friend Eric.

This note details the key observations that our spy made concerning Eric's location and conduct.  (I do feel compelled to note that the part about Zoe hitting Eric is blatantly false.)

We Love to Spell

Receiving this "story" from Jane made me realize that I am going to be really sad when all of my kids actually know how to spell.  For those of you who (undoubtedly due to your own academic shortcomings) can't read read the text, it says, "The grih was not hape th it was crmis ev." 

Did that help?  No?  Ok, here's the translation:  "The Grinch was not happy that it was Christmas Eve." 

At the rate she's going, I'm sure that Jane will soon be penning spy notes and seeking written revenge for things like Margot's false claims that she (Jane) mistreated circus animals.

The Littlest Speller

Jane, now four-and-a-half, is developing a fascination with spelling. Like her sisters before her, she fervently believes that if her word makes sense phoenetically, it's correct. According to her, the list pictured here reads as follows:

-Renee
-Lindsay
-Melissa
-Mom
-library
-book

Not too shabby . . . now we can just sit back and wait for the next round of anonymous notes to start rolling in.

Lesson (Not) Learned - Part II

Fashionista in a cabbage-leaf hat

Several of you have asked if Claire ever executed a follow up prank.  She did.  I learned of it when I went to get myself a glass of orange juice - and did a double-take because the juice looked sort of weird and greenish.  I then noticed that the milk also looked wrong (it was a bright, sort of kelly green), and that the water pitcher was full of something looked like water - except for the fact that it was dark red . . . You get the drift.

My mother (unwisely, in my view) chose to support this new obsession  while we were on vacation in Michigan.  I know this because I overheard her say things like, "Jane, what color do you want in your milk?" and "Margot, does that lemonade look orange enough?"  Thanks, Mom!


p.s.  Thanks for the many notes (complaints?) about the appalling shortage of blog posts in July and August - and, yes, Legia, this includes you, even though you sent yours via a third party.  :)  I've truly been in summer mode, but will try to get back on my game.

Non-Mystery Notes

Margot's note-writing has progressed by leaps and bounds.  She's moved from the mystery notes (which tended to be both anonymous and nearly incomprehensible) to the slightly more targeted spy notes, to a new, clearly-articulated sort of warning/menacing note.

Key improvements include an identifiable target audience (i.e., anyone standing outside Margot's door), the correct spelling of 50% of the words, and the incorrect (yet completely readable) misspelling of the rest of the words.

Mystery Notes Take a New Turn

In keeping with the Wiest-ette tradition, this note was "anonymously" left for me after Margot got in trouble tonight.  When I thanked her for the apology, she exclaimed, "How did you know it was from me??" 

She then followed up with a sort of read-aloud/ad-libbed presentation, which consisted of the following:  "Mommy - you're the best mom ever.  I love you.  You're intelligent.  You work hard to keep us healthy.  You make good biscuits.  I like when you sing us a lullaby.  You're a good mom.  I love you so, so much."

Geez.  Maybe I should put her in time-out more often.

Spy Notes

Margot has supplemented her mystery notes with a new set of notes, which include her real-time recording of various events taking place at 9 Park Lane. Margot apparently now spies on the rest of us, and then records what she's observed. As with the mystery notes, translation is often required - not only to interpret the words themselves, but also to establish the proper context.

The above note contains a relatively detailed recitation of the activities of the subject (Jane), as observed by the spy (Margot). Yet, absent explanation, the significance of this document as a "spy note" might not be clear. For example, an uninformed reader may foolishly assume that a "spy" should be hidden from the view of her subject. Not so! In fact, the opposite is true: as this note demonstrates, it is entirely possible to spy on someone while sitting together in the the same room. The trick, apparently, is to pretend to play with the subject - soon enough she will be lulled into performing some noteworthy act (such as lying down and muttering.)

Return of the Mystery Notes

It appears that Margot, like Claire, ended up developing the mystery note bug - with a slight twist - namely, that Margot's mystery notes are incomprehensible to virtually all readers.  The above note was left on my desk several months ago. It was written in the heyday of Margot's phonetic spelling phase, and it chronicles some relatively extreme allegations of Jane's various offenses against "circus pets" (a/k/a "srkes pas"), along with recommended punishments (including that Jane not be allowed to "kim to the srkes.")

Despite her inability to spell correctly, Margot nonetheless became a prolific mystery note writer. She was never bothered by the fact that almost all of her notes required extensive translation (by her) before we could "read" them. In the months since she produced this gem, she's actually become quite a good speller - and she remains completely fearless when putting pen to paper. That she's learned to spell is, of course, great. But it's not nearly as funny. I was thus unreasonably heartened by receiving a note recently that said, "My mom and dad are MEEN MEEN MEEN MEEN MEEN MEEN."

Mystery Notes

Mysterious Correspondence

Claire has recently taken to leaving small notes around the house, and then exclaiming in amazement at the discovery that "someone" has left a mysterious letter. Sometimes the notes have no particular recipients, and sometimes there is a clear target audience. The two items at the left, although from an "unknown" author, were addressed to Margot. The first one relates to the differing powers of various Polly Pockets dolls ("Animal Girl" being a sort of superhero-esque Polly Pocket creation of Claire's). Margot's "girls," of course, have inferior powers to Claire's Animal Girl. The second note . . . well, we are not really sure what to make of the second note.