More Vocab from Dad

Corey and Q discussing death at the dinner table.
Corey: "Well, everything dies."
Q: Not that fork.
C: Oh yes, actually it does.  As we speak, atoms are....

The following phrases are then used to talk about how everything in the world degrades over time:
Entropy
Second law of thermodynamics
glass degrades- that's the basis of radioactivity.

Vocabulary: Trope

Q: Is Tatooine a real planet?
Corey: No.
Q: Is Hoth a real planet?
Corey: No, but he was a real person.

Q's mouth gapes in astonishment.

Corey: Well, Star Wars is based upon a variety of mythological tropes.

Me: Did you just say "trope?"
Corey: Yeah.  What's wrong with trope?

I sprint to get my laptop to write this down.

Now they are going on about WWII and who the bad guys are and how Star Wars is based on that, or something or other.

Q Sorting Sight Words

Well that was fun.  When we were done, we guessed which pile had the most.
He guessed A.  I guessed W.
He was right!         A, 8, W, 7.

I added an extra sight word, "butt," to contrast with "but."
It is NEVER too early to introduce a child to homophones.

Lane is 4- Cue the Confetti!

Evite's "Design Your Own" option inspired me to design my own evite:

It was so cute that it inspired me to print my own similarly-designed invitations:

But I wanted to add a little more pizazz, so I googled some images to use. Well, the confetti available online just wasn't good enough for me....

So I spent 4 or 5 hours (I was home sick) designing my own confetti. It was amazing. I made it of little dots and tiny stars. Recall my orange-dot wedding cake; I like dots a LOT.

The Final Draft:

I think my first foray into graphic design turned out well. I used Google Drawing. On the printed copy itself, the border didn't print well, and my husband blamed Google Drawing.  I'm a big fan of the Google Universe, so I'm ok with a bit of blotchy border.

Maybe I'll design my own Christmas cards...

Only Lane

Q spotted this photo op!

Water Ballet

I love the water ballet in this Glee video. My friends Caryn and Susan and I used to make up water ballet routines in Caryn's pool.

6 Year Old Boy's Online Shopping

This started about a year ago.  He asked me how to spell "sword" and I asked why, and turns out he was shopping for swords on Amazon.  

Yesterday, when I gave him an iPad so I could sleep more, I came back to a shopping cart full of almost 500 dollars worth of Star Wars toys, including three Star Wars Lego watches, two intended as presents for friends.  

FORTUNATELY, we weren't logged into an account.  

Playing Piano at Grandma's

Playing piano at Grandma's

First Drum Lesson

His teacher says he is a fast learner!

TKD

Quinton's First Sleepover

"And by the way, Dylan's mom is kind of like a tiger when she's mad."
Quinton, in a serious, reflective admiring tone.
"Actually, she's REALLY like a tiger when she's mad."

We had this conversation driving home at 4am after I picked him up when he couldn't go back to sleep.

Quinton: A Mover, Not a Sitter

Quinton and I did Music Together classes when he was ages 1-3.  I loved the classes, and he just ran laps around the circle of the other kids who were sitting docilely on their parents' laps.  (What's up with those BORING kids?)

I don't think Quinton sang a single word of any of the songs during our 2 years of weekly classes. Meanwhile, I learned all the songs obsessively, especially the ones in Spanish, and we read/sang all the song books together as bedtime books.

Still, I persisted with the classes. My attitude was, "No way is this kid gonna ruin this for me." Kind of like, I could give in to the frustration and slight embarrassment and stop going, or I could stick it out. It just seemed better to stick it out.

Now, to this day Q has awesome pitch and good memory of songs. I'm secretly hoping he'll be on Broadway.  I mean, I highly doubt it, but I think it would be so cool to be the mom of a Broadway star.  He also does that annoying thing I that I do, which is sing the same song over and over.  I sang in college and in the Greenwich Choral Society, and I think it's one way singers get to know songs and get to practice what their voice can do. Kind of like doing drills for sports.

Yup. No way this kid is gonna avoid singing.

Nebraska 2015

We had a great trip!  

iPads occupying kids

Playing the video game his Dad made

Selfies

Texting seflies with Amy who was hiding behind a chair (hide and seek, I think)

It's so great when they can finally be useful.

Tractor ride around Kimmy's house

Fixing a flat, kids enthralled

Family Quotes, Summer

Quinton: Why aren't you skinny like old people?

Me: What do you mean

Q: You're old, like 40. So why don't you have those things that old people have?

Aug 5, dinner:
“Have you heard of anaerobic and aerobic muscles?”  —Corey, to Q, explaining why you need sleep

Me, nursing Lane at bedtime: I love to nurse you.

Lane: I love to nurse you too.

Me: Thanks.

Lane: Mom, when I get older I'll nurse you.
Me: Oh, thanks honey.  
Lane: When daddy gets older he will have nursies. 
Me: I'm not so sure about that.  

Quinton's Lack of Personal Space Boundaries is Often Funny

At the beach Sunday, Quinton was sneaking up on our friend Parker, creeping closer as he moved from object to object.  First he hid behind a pillar.  Then, a tree.  Then, his bike.  Then, a Haitian man with no shirt, holding 2 styrofoam cups.  Yes.  My child was hiding behind a person.  I watched the man looking perplexed, trying vaguely to get away from my child, but every time the man moved, so did Q.
Me to Q: "Did the man say anything to you?"
Q:  "Yeah he said, 'They saw you.'"

We had another funny incident at the doctor's office a couple months ago.  Quinton walked in, stopped directly in front of a teenage boy who had a tissue stuck up his bloody nose, stood there right in his face looking at him, then kept walking.  Me, the boy and his mother all burst out laughing.  Then when it was time to go and Quinton had to walk past the boy again, he closed his eyes.   I said, "Did you just close your eyes so you couldn't see him?"
"Yes," he said.

Summer: Swimming and Taekwondo

Taekwondo:
Lane is taking Little Dragons Taekwondo once a week.  It's actually just a private class. She's doing great.

I have, however, banned her from Saturday family class.  She fell down constantly on purpose, got in the way of the other families, and just in general prevented me from enjoying class and doing anything for Q. Maybe when she's 4 I'll try her again.

Swimming:
Quinton is swimming and riding his bike so well.  I'm excited because this means he can now do triathlons!

Quinton's swim instructor is Russian.  I can't believe my child is actually enrolled in what I jokingly called the "Bela Karolyi School of Swimming" because of how strict Mikhail is and how serious the other 2 Russian instructors are.  Now that my kid is taking lessons, I can see that the instruction is even more militant and... structured than I realized.  Bela Karolyi indeed.

But I am happy with how he's doing and how he works with his teacher.

At the beginning of the summer, at the end of a lesson, Mikhail walked over to me and without any prelude, said, "Get him snorkel."
Me: "OK."
"Side snorkel.  Not the front kind."
Me: "OK."
He walks off.

At the end of every lesson, Mikhail holds each kid over his head (like an ice skating pairs act, but in the water), then throws the kid.  Then he lets each kid step off the side of the pool and stand on his shoulders until they fall off, like a circus act.  A couple weeks ago he added a routine where stands beside the pool with the kid and says, "Wow wow wow," then shoves the kid into the pool.  The kids EAT IT UP, clamoring like puppies to be next.