TIGGY'S TALES: 2016

16 December 2016

Quote of the Day

"I'll love you until my bones don't exist anymore."

~ Charlotte

Quote of the Day

"I love you to the moon and back, but I'm sorry I smell like French Fries. Mwah!"

~ Charlotte

Quote of the Day

"I feel much safer when I'm wearing socks."

~ Charlotte

06 December 2016

Question of the Day

"So, where does Santa pee, when he's on his trip?"

~ Charlotte

27 November 2016

06 November 2016

Quote of the Day

"Hey Daddah, you know what I think?

When you're bald, I think you should wear a hat!"

~ Charlotte

12 September 2016

Grade 1 ~ Back to School

Charlotte had her first day back at school last week and was excited to bump into her Primary teacher, Mme. Rice.

Michelle asked, "Did you thank Mme. Rice for the post card she gave you at the end of last year?"

"Nope!"

"Why not, Tig?"

Offended, Charlotte replied, "Well, I really wanted to stop and give her a hug, but if you don't stay with your class, then you get left behind."

Quote of the Day

"Sometimes, I fart when you guys give me a hug!"

~ Charlotte

01 August 2016

Charlotte has been enjoying her first ever Summer camp this year by attending the Sports Program run by the Marshall Active Program (MAPS). In addition to structured sports in the morning and relaxed play in the afternoon, the kids have been encouraged to run the 1km lap around Sullivan’s Pond, for time, each Wednesday afternoon.

Given the fact that Charlotte has really enjoyed ‘beating the boys’ (on the first few runs at least), I decided at the last minute to enrol the both of us in the 2016 Natal Day Road Race around Dartmouth City.

Natal Day is the day the people of the province of Nova Scotia hold “birthday” parties for our province on the first Monday of August each year, which of course, for us, is a public holiday. Huge birthday cakes are prepared by some, along with other events like communal meals, parades, sporting activities (like our Road Race) and of course, the obligatory Fireworks to scare the geese on the Pond. The options for the Road Race were 2 miles (3.2 km) or 6 miles (9.6 km) so naturally, we started off with the easy option.

Charlotte was really up for it that morning as we pinned on our race bibs, and was skipping all the way to the starting line, when we rounded the corner and were confronted by a thousand people or more. Immediately, Tig’s shyness got the better of her and the gravity of the situation she had got herself into began to sink in.

A little shy at the Start, but not for long...

No matter, it was only a couple of blocks or so, before Charlotte was racing me to the next set of street lights, or the next parked car, or from the man hole cover to the stop sign; of whatever.

I started out the day thinking I would have to call in a tactical extraction from Michelle at some point along the line, and going by Charlotte’s initial reaction to the situation, a small part of me figured that the extraction point may well be before we even crossed the Start/ Finish line; but Tig got the hang of it really quick, got a major kick out of the old guy who stood at the edge of his section with the garden hose to spray down the runners, and before long the collective will to run had settled into Charlotte’s veins.

Off and racing... kinda...

Before we knew it, we were crossing the Finish line, stopping only briefly to hug Michelle who was waiting patiently on the sidelines as we entered the final leg; spurring us on to actually finish the sucker off.

Charlotte and I crossed the finish line together, having run-walked over 3 km in less than 30 minutes and she was totally elated. The energy of the moment completely got a hold of her and young Charlotte felt her first rush of satisfaction for completing a public running event.

The Dartmouth Natal Day Road Race is one of the longest running road races in North America. The event is part of the Natal Day festivities in the Halifax Regional Municipality, and first took place in 1907. Apparently, when Dartmouthian Chris Wolfe ran the Boston Marathon that year, he finished in 23^rd place, spurring the Natal Day committee of the day to add a road race to the festivities for that year. Ninety-nine years later, and we’re still running laps like headless chickens.

Charlotte might have been 551^st overall, but she was 9^th in her age group and is now part of the public record.

Good on you, Charlotte. You did it. I’m super proud of you kid.
Don't forget, next Wednesday, you've got to dig deep and beat those boys!

Love Dad, xx

07 July 2016

Quote of the Day

"Guess what: If you say something, and then count to 20, you can't even remember what you talked about."

~ Charlotte

08 June 2016

Charlotte's Grade 1 Wish List

From: Will Taylor
Sent: June 7, 2016 11:50 AM
To: Rice, Grace
Subject: Charlotte's Grade 1 Wish List

Hi Grace,

You'll get a kick out of this one, I'm sure. With the end of the school year fast approaching, there have been lots of discussions in our house about who might be in Charlotte's class for next year, Grade 1?

While I'm not entirely comfortably about the ethical connotations that this message might suggest, I did promise Charlotte that I would pass along her "Wish List" preferences to Mme. Rice (assuming for a moment that Shannon Park has the ability or desire to adjust class rosters based on the desires of a six year old)...

Nonetheless, here it is.

Top Picks for Charlotte for Grade 1:

* Zachary Rainault (aka. "Mr. Z")
* Adelynn Austin
* Julia Johnston

Additional candidates for "The Charlotte Taylor Collective":

* Gus Harvey
* Julia Johnston
* Bella Mongraw
* Nica Gow
* Payton Spruin
* Tristan Welsh
* Alex Bruce

As you can see, she has put a considerable amount of thought into it.

You should know that this little experiment in social manipulation was born of fire and ice.

Charlotte has studied her class photo at great length these past few weeks and has chaired a number of dinnertime family group conferences on the subject.

After weeks of psychological profiling and weighing up the pros and cons of who follows the rules, who uses bad words, and who pushed who, she finally developed a comprehensive three-star ranking system to build her cast of characters.

Fortunately, after numerous iterations, Charlotte eventually spotted the errors in her three-star ranking system (where everyone got a three), and adopted a more comprehensive and discriminatory five-star ranking system (like the one she saw on the Trivago advertisement).

I'm not quite sure what to make of it all, but Michelle calls it "Social Engineering: 101".

What is now clear to the Taylor family dinner-time committee, is that in all iterations, Zachary Rainault came out on top as the clear winner every time.

You might also be interested to know that Charlotte has indicated that she would love to have Mme. Rice as her teacher again next year, because "Mme. Rice is the bestest teacher in the whole wide world!" "...especially when she gives me harder work". Just as long as Mme. Rice doesn't mind climbing the stairs, because Grade 1's get to go upstairs, you know.

You were the one who taught her to write these kid's names, so I figured you would enjoy a chuckle at the clarity of thought and dogged determination of it all.

As her parents; we prefer to keep out of school decision-making and so please do not put any actual weight to this email. Instead, we simply wish to pass along the wishes of our daughter (who thankfully, cannot use email herself just yet).

From our perspective, if there is any chance that the kid can be placed with her BFF's in next year's class roster, then bonus; if not, then we view that as the just being one of the inevitabilities of life. In hitting 'send', I formally discharge our promise to a six year old that we would pass her wishes along to her teacher. We trust this email finds you in good humour and if nothing else, provides a good laugh.

Jokes aside, Michelle and I do want to thank you for all your hard work with the kids this year. Especially in keeping us so well informed and up to date with the weekly messages. Watching Charlotte's progress at the school has been really great.

With bated breath and great interest, we look forward to what the crazy kid comes up with next year, as a formidable Grade 1.

Regards,

Will Taylor
Charlotte's Dad.
--
Nova Scotia,
Canada

---------- Message ----------
From: Rice, Grace
Date: 7 June 2016 at 16:58
Subject: Re: Charlotte's Grade 1 Wish List
To: Will Taylor

Hi Will,

That's great! Haha, thank you for the laugh! I am sure that Charlotte will enjoy herself very much in grade 1! She's such a pleasure to teach and has had a great year in Primary!

Enjoy your evening,

Grace Rice
Primary French Immersion
Shannon Park Elementary