Notes and nomenclature

While the girls take their afternon naps, the monkey and I have been doing a ten-minute reading lesson together most days before his hour-long rest time begins. He delights in this time and has been picking up the concepts fairly quickly. He's decided he wants to also begin writing the letters, and thus he's been putting his pencil and various scraps of paper to good use. You can see one of the recent results.

The other day we had a sweet moment when I was finishing kitchen clean-up and needed him to wait for me before we could move onto the next thing (I forget now what). "Why don't you practice your letters while you're waiting for me," I suggested. He replied: "'OK. Can you tell me what letters I need to spell: 'Dear Mom, I am glad that you are my mom'?" Which of course I did- with a gushing smile in my heart. I later remembered that this hearkened back to a Frog and Toad audio story we'd listened to in which Frog writes Toad a note with the exact same wording - except "my best friend" instead of "my mom." Lovely sentiment and noteworthy memory.

Roo has picked up quite a funny, cute habit as well in which she often speaks to me using "my Mom" rather than simply "mom." As is: "My mom, can you please help me put me shoes on?" Her big brother and I both get a kick out of this...

And the goose joins in on the communication action too! She has begun a loud, screechy effort at dialog which delights her older siblings and which - needless to say - they imitate back at her with equal volume. Rowdy but fun.

Walk at Wildwood

Family outing today to a new place called "Wildwood Park," about 20 minutes east of us. Lovely day and sweet, airy spot with beautiful views. "I can see the whole wide world from here," the Monkey said. He and Roo walked about two miles with very little complaining till nearly the end. The Goose sat happily in the backpack the whole time and didn't make a peep, though had plenty of grins for us as we ate our picnic lunch. We saw one lizard and several butterflies... but spent the whole time "looking for movement" (again, a la Monkey) in case we could perhaps sight more.

Our little traveler

It's been a big week for Miss Goose! Within just a few days she's figured out how to maneuver pretty quickly; she really gets around. Exciting days... also ones where I have to re-train myself in crawler oversight. Enjoy the short clip below.

Little swimmers

Pool time yesterday - always a delight for the big kids, and Miss Goose is getting in on the action too these days. Monkey can get around pretty well with the noodle tied around him, and Roo is coming along with her kicking and bubble-blowing skills. She's also pretty bold about going underwater. Both enjoying jumping into the water (with a little help from Dad)!

Shift and thrift

Big activity this weekend: setting up a second industrial shelf in the garage and doing a Big Reorganize. It came on the heels of some spring cleaning and eBay sales this week, both overdue. We spent three hours on the project this afternoon and got the job done; most satisfying. There is very little storage space in this house (or any on this street); odd since the house itself is ample in size. We pared down where we could, went through several boxes that had remained untouched since the move, and loaded everything up on the new shelves. We've been begun buying food in bulk for a) earthquake readiness and b) frugality... and the shelving helps greatly in organizing this. The kids enjoyed riding bikes with our neighbors during the organizing and "helping" us intermittently. Final product is well worth the effort.

There are three huge thrift stores downtown that our Yankee brood most enjoys; we often hit them on Saturdays after buying produce at the local farmer's market. At this morning's thrift store outing, we found this kids' globe- on my list for a while - a big hit already with Monkey and Roo. After our garage cleanse/reorganize, we loaded up the van and I zipped back down to the thrift strip to unload the items we cleared out of our garage. Two for two today.

Back into gear...

Quiet week on the home front last week with the Scherreis away and school vacation in Ventura, keeping things a bit slower than usual. Getting back into the groove now.

The Goose has begun eating solid foods more regularly (though messily!), which is nice to finally get done. She'll be 8 months this week! Roo is now an avid tricycle-rider, borrowing our generous neighbors' little red get-up basically daily. The monkey is learning to read and greatly enjoying our forays together into beginning reading activities. He's also an enthusiastic listener of books on CD during his hour-long 'rest times' that have taken the place of his naps... now that he no longer naps. (Bit sad for mom!) He also prefers to sleep on the floor, "camping out," than his bed. His father's son to be sure!

"Easter Mountain"

Big hit this year was the creation of an "Easter mountain" out of playdough, an activity a NH friend had successfully attempted last spring with her same-age kids. We created the mold on Thursday night by making, shaping, and baking the playdough; decorated it on good Friday and inserted pipe-cleaner "Jesus" in the tin-can tomb; and then delighted to "roll back the stone" on Easter morning to discover that Jesus was indeed no longer inside.

HF and I briefly discussed whether the tomb should be colored green and brown - to make it life-like and help it actually resemble a mountain (my notion) - or whether we should give the kids full color creative license (his). We went with the colors. The monkey and Roo really loved the whole project; the hands-on nature of it really brought the Easter concepts to life. "I wish we could post a guard in front of the tomb," said the monkey after Jesus came off the cross and was laid inside the tomb on Friday night... And so, as the idea was completely biblically accurate, we did. Pictured.

Uncle Dan, Aunt Rebecca, Noah, and baby Josephine spent the weekend with us, and we had a great time hunting Easter eggs together this morning before church. The grown-ups opted to have our Easter dinner on Saturday night so it could fully be enjoyed and appreciated in a kid-free manner. The ham was from the quarter-pig we helped our local friends raise - our first effort in preparing one. We were pleased with the results; a tasty meal. Perfect to celebrate Jesus' resurrection with good friends.

We felt a slight earthquake this afternoon on the sidewalk as we were helping our friends pack up their car... Third or so since we moved here. Getting better at identifying them!

Scenes from the sidewalk

The monkey had his first bona fide bike crash yesterday and has some road rash glory on his face and knee to prove it. He's pretty capable and bold on his bike, and the fall was a good one. He handled the blood fairly well and was fairly brave for 4-year old standards.

Other sidewalk adventures of late include joining the Scherreis with hopscotch - in which Roo demonstrated that she does indeed know her colors more than she's willing to let on (funny, stubborn girl!) - and the capturing of a baby lizard by Gretchen. A real novelty, and much interest taken all around...