An "oldie"

 

Big Kid, Little Kid

 

 

I can kinda see both the big kid and the little kid in these pictures. *sniff*

Happy Third Birthday, Naomi!

with her new "looking glass." She loves magnifying glasses for some reason. Now she has her own.

with one of her new books. This book caught my eye because of the Asian girl on the cover. Then I saw that it's about the ship-origami-story that Gung-Gung tells and I decided to buy it. Then I saw that it's signed by a local author. THEN I saw that it's by someone we know!

trying out the buzzle. It laughs at you if the wand touches the wire. Naomi is very dextrous, so I was pretty sure she'd enjoy it. The wire bends to make it more challenging. It seems popular with all ages.

The kids love decorating cakes, so we got Poh-Poh and Gung-Gung to order a blank one. They didn't really catch on to the idea of sprinkles. You are forgiven for thinking that the kids wrote the greeting. That was my handiwork. It's harder than it looks, okay?

Giving Kevin the stink-eye.

Ahhhhh!

Our birthday picnic turned out really well. It was great that the Hos and Chwang/Harrises could make it on short notice. The rain threatened but never really came, although I'm told it sprinkled around the time we were loading into our car. And the scorching heat broke, so it was more or less comfortable. Even the ice cream cake survived.

Hack

I've been using this Trekker for about four years and I've just now come up with an idea for making it more comfortable to carry the diaper bag at the same time. D'oh!

No child was awoken during the taking of these photos.
Colour-coordination is a coincidence, I swear.

If I could bottle it ...

Of course, time cannot be bottled. But if I could bottle it, here are some of the things I'd try to bottle:

When John nurses, he also smooths my skin with a wide, dimpled hand. The palm is impossibly warm and soft. He'll search all around to find any square of skin - my chin, my finger, my side. His loves to run his hand back and forth along my arm as far as he can reach.

Naomi asked me to rock her to sleep the other day. Her head lay heavily on me, with her soft, smooth cheek pressed firmly into my upper arm. Her fingers rested gently on the Curious George hard-cover that was tucked under the entire length of her arm. Her body curled just enough that we still fit together, despite her ever-lengthening limbs and the narrow chair.

Adam retains an endearing wide-eyed eagerness. His face lights up when he sees me. He is generous with hugs and "I love you"s. The other day, he performed a spontaneous, lively, and skillful telling of The Three Little Pigs and he directed Dion as he improvised an accompaniment on the guitar.

Johnny!

Oooh. Uncle Yan is gooooood. very good.

Easter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Fifth Birthday, Adam!

 

  

(gilding the lily, no?)

 

 

 

We even had a real birthday party with most of his friends from daycare. We won't be repeating the extravagance, but it was necessary this year to invite the whole class because there was almost a slip up in which Adam demonstrated that he'd failed to understand the lesson of how to make sure no one feels excluded even though actually they are excluded. Our place was clearly too small to house the whole party, so we rented a party room at our local cinema.
We played hot potato, which was not a crowd-pleaser.
We did the limbo, which was a crowd-pleaser.
We ate cake, which was not a crowd-pleaser. HUH?!? One girl told me she likes "normal cake, not cake with fruit on it." What can I say? Adam wanted an apple slice pattern on his cake. Ah well.
We watched a movie, The Lorax, which was a huge crowd-pleaser.
But not a Naomi-pleaser. Dion had to take her home because the dark theater, full of strangers, was just too much for her to handle at naptime.

Adam and Naomi

 

 

 

 

 

Adam at Play

Adam's play has really evolved. He's quite ready for lots of "big kid" toys like:

Lego

He got a few sets for Christmas, which was great. He could, for the most part, even follow the instructions and do all the construction with just a little help from Mom or Dad.

Lite Brite

Another hit from Christmas. Lite Brite is even better than when I was a kid. The pegs stay in really well, so we're not finding them all over the house and then half the fun for Adam is that he gets to remove the pieces with pliers.

Quadrilla marble run,

which he shares quite nicely with Naomi and with the many adults who also like playing. Notice the construction paper funnel. That was Adam's idea.

recombinations of toys.

Here, he has taped some cardboard strips and train tracks to the pantry. 

and then combined those with off-the-shelf marble run components.

Arts and Crafts

To my surprise, Adam is also showing quite an interest in arts and crafts, which is, I think being well-encouraged at school, even though it's not really our thing. Part of our weekday routine is that, before I open the apartment door on our way home from the daycare pickup, I ask Adam and Naomi what they plan to do after tidying their shoes and washing their hands. I have found it very helpful for each of them to have a constructive activity in mind, otherwise they default to antagonising each other as soon as I have turned my attention (away from them) to preparing dinner. Anyway. Often, Adam has a craft in mind. Like the day he asked to decorate paper eggs. And why not? It took me all of two minutes to cut up some cardboard from the recycling box and plop a bin of markers on the table. It kept both Naomi and Adam occupied while dinner shaped up. 

Arts and crafts are also popular whenever there is a special occasion. Because special occasions call for decorations, which I have to say is quite delightful. I often have more fun than I expected when I get involved to "help." I can't figure out where the pics are but we made a pretty kick-ass mixed-media Chinese New Year decoration. I should also take a picture of the mixed-media ocean-side forest that bedecks the wall above his pillow.

Adam is also really into board games and card games - notably War, Uno, Snakes and Ladders,

checkers

on a home-made board, and 

chess

on the upgrade home-made board. We have a real one but this one is labelled for quick set-up. Adam often plays solo - generating helpmates in which black trounces white. He also enjoys solving and creating simple chess puzzles. The interest in chess is of great delight to Gung-Gung. 

 Of course, 

reading

- any time, anywhere. This is at a party, for example. I've also seen him reading at the daycare playground. He didn't actually mention it until months after the fact, but he even received his class's literacy award at a school assembly, where they presented a literacy award, a citizenship award, and a leadership award for each class. Very serious about reading. 

very serious about reading.

and now about writing, which was a spectator event until a couple of months ago. Luckily, the writing is usually in appropriate locations like on paper and chalkboards. Which isn't to say we don't find writing all over the house. It's just that he's taped little notes all over the place, labelling things like the finish line for races.

We do play outside too, but it's rare that I have my camera at hand because I've usually got all three kiddos with me. Earlier in the season, Adam tried riding his bike without training wheels. But he wanted them back on right away. He just finished up two 13-week sessions of skating lessons, so I think Dion is hoping he'll try hockey next year. He is signed up for soccer for the first time this summer.