My last "From the Mouths of Babes" post highlighted a couple things Jack said. This one is devoted to Malynn.
Malynn has started saying some things hinting at the curious, analytical, busy mind she has!
One of the first things that caught our attention was when she said, "I want to cut my finger and see inside." Of course our initial reaction to her comment was, "No, no, you don't want to cut your finger; that would hurt!" Well, that reaction made her feel bad, and we instantly realized it was not really about the physical aspect and all about the curious theoretical aspect. She recovered from feeling badly when we shifted the conversation to talking about how things like x-rays can help us see inside our body. She liked that.
We look at the moon and talk about it a lot in our house. We love finding it in the sky, watching it "follow" us when we're driving at night, and knowing the full moon can give us a little extra energy to control. A couple days ago Malynn announced, "I want to draw a face on the moon." I knew right away she meant a face on the real moon. I thought for a moment and decided to say, "I don't think anyone has ever done that before, but I bet you could figure out how to do it. Maybe with lasers; lasers can shoot all the way to the moon." I knew I was on the right track with that response when she just settled back in her chair and was obviously chewing over this new idea.
I finally decided I had to get this post written when today Malynn held up this ball and said, "I want to get inside this ball some day." (I love the little "some day" clause she added!) I looked her right in the eye with a big smile and said, "Malynn, you think of the most amazing ideas. I know you will figure out how to do that some day. Do you think you could make yourself smaller or make the ball bigger?"
Aunt Christine and Kurt Daddy allowed us to impose a little family-style birthday dinner for Christine, turning a normal quiet night at their house into a joyfully noisy one. I missed Christine's birthday while we were away for the weekend and recruited Kurt's help to pull off a special evening in her honor on Monday night. Malynn said we needed balloons and Jack said we needed candles, so I made sure we had both! There was playing, pizza, gift opening, salad, Happy Birthday singing, banana muffins, more playing, and...
...S'mores!! (Great idea Kurt!)
The kids waited patiently while Kurt got the fire going and whittled skewers!
Everyone was proud to show their special treat to the camera.
(Silly Daddy!)
I almost got all three standing together...
...but gooey marshmallow is a priority!
Happy Birthday my friend!
Who knew back in 2000 when we first realized we were kindred spirits that we would end up here -sharing birthday dinner evenings and watching our kids play together. Here's to the next 13 years of friendship and beyond!
(BTW, I LOVE this picture! Sweetness is simply beaming from Evan's face as he sits in the arms of one of the very best mommas I know!)
We've been reading Jan Brett's Annie and the Wild Animals every night while the kids are in the bath tub. I actually don't remember how the routine got started, and you'd think I would since it's a little unusual! But every night when we say, "Okay it's bubble time." Inevitably, one of the kids says, "And you read da Annie story Mom." And we do. :) A couple adorable things happen when I read this book while my children are settled in up to their elbows in suds. 1) The first line is "It had been snowing for days." And Malynn always adds, "and days, and days, and days, and days." 2) Annie's cat runs away and we see in one of the story board pictures where she has climbed up a tree. When we get to said picture, Jack always says, "I think that lion kitty [referring to the wildcat who arrives later in the story] chased Annie's Belle kitty [currently all other kitties are "Belle kitties"] up a tree." To which I reply, "I think so." in a slight whisper voice, prompting Jack's return whisper of, "I think so, too." Since Annie's cat runs away, she decides to make corn cakes to leave at the edge of the wood to see if any small, cuddly animals turn up for her to have as a new pet. Of course, all sorts of huge, snarling, and grumpy animals appear instead. One ordinary evening the kids had the extraordinary idea of making their own corn cakes to leave at the edge of the wood. With a Grand visit just around the corner, it became another "in the kitchen" project with her. (Thanks Grand!)
Jack and Malynn thought whipped egg whites were pretty awesome!
Once the "soft peaks" were folded in, it was time for the mixture to hit the griddle! Sizzle, sizzle!
The mix made the perfect number: two for the kids to set out for the wild animals and enough extra for each of us to have one with dinner. As we headed outside to leave our corn cakes at the edge of the wood, Daddy said, "I wish we could leave the corn cakes at the edge of someone else's wood." Ha!
The kids each picked their special spot and were absolutely certain the corn cakes would get eaten while they were asleep that night.
They were right; we made some wild animal's night!
And when Malynn walked out with me to inspect in the morning she confirmed...
Daddy had the idea to try out bowling! Neither of us have been in years, the kids weren't entirely sure what bowling even was, and we weren't confident that the bowling alley would have duck pins or at least ramps and bumpers to accommodate little kids. We threw caution to the wind and got there right when they opened. On the way, we talked about getting bowling shoes.
So that was the first exciting step!
Right away we learned bowling alleys are big, bowling balls are heavy, and you're not suppose to go dancing down the lanes. :)
After Daddy and Mommy showed 'em how it was done, Jack was up first.
Ready...
Set...
...BOWL!!!
Next it was Malynn's turn!
She was SO excited watching her ball head toward all those pins!
We all made it through a whole game, which was a feat for a Mommy with a bad back, a Daddy with a bum elbow, and two 2-year-olds who insisted on carrying their own balls over to the ramp each time!
Last night we made our Valentine's pockets and delivered our Valentine's to each other. We even got a special Valentine in the mail!
The next morning we had lots of fun opening the cards and saving them back in our pockets! Melody brought the kids a little bag of treats, and our pockets were the perfect spot to save them until it was time to pick an "after lunch" or "after dinner" treat. Then, when the mail arrived, we had a whole box from Samma & Papa. We read about getting Valentine's in the mail and the kids have been mailing letters with Grand lately, so getting our own Valentine's in the mail two days in a row was special. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
I simply have to get a few of the latest reading behaviors documented. The researcher in me laments not making it a priority to take observational notes every time my children have any sort of engagement with literacy. However, the mommy in me still has her hands full cleaning up Cheerios and Play Dough, so c'est la vie. This post will have to do. :)
Around Christmas time Malynn really took to a handful of little books we have in our winter collection. She expressed that they were "her size" and became particularly attached to one, Tale of the Christmas Mouse. She had to have it with her at nap and bed time for weeks! Malynn didn't even ask us to read the entire story to her much, she just wanted to study it. She would flip through the pages and talk about the pictures at first. Then she started asking us, "What does this one say?" and we would read only a page or two at a time. The first page she mastered was the one with the line "I hear him creep." Malynn would find that page and proudly announce, "I hear him creep." This was a fantastic new step in matching memorized text to the pictures for her pretend reading!
The next step I noticed happened with the book, My Great-Aunt Arizona. Both kids have taken to that story; it has been a favorite for months now, which is tough on Mommy and Daddy because it's hard for either of us to get through it without choking up -every time! (It's a special story.) Anyways, first Jack and Malynn wanted to start helping to hold the book, particularly holding the pages down on either side. This seemed to have prompted their interest in turning the pages. Their eagerness to turn the pages led to the following progression of comments in response: "Wait, I'm still reading the words on this page." "I'll tell you when to turn the page." "Here, I'll point to where I'm reading and you turn the page when I get to the end (plus little side coaching about where the "end" was)." Subsequently, when I wouldn't point to the words, I started getting questions like, "Where are
you reading Mommy?" "You reading over here now?" I've been just facinated by how their interest in turning pages has been a tipping point for their desire to track text! So cool!
In the weeks to follow, their interest in tracking text has been confirmed in two awesome ways: 1) Both kids on occasion will now stick out there pointer finger and say something like, "Now you make me point to the words." And they'll do it for a full page with several lines of text! 2) Malynn and Jack are searching for things within the text beyond individual letters. Their interest in finding periods and question marks has been rekindled, and Jack asked for help finding the word for characters in The Gruffalo. We found "mouse" because we know capital M so well, and then Jack said, "Where's the one [word] for this guy [pointing to the Gruffalo]?" This stuff is like candy for me!!!
About the same time Malynn "read" a whole book! It was a George bath book, My Little Boat. She was sitting on the potty and I had just read it to her. She wanted me to read it again, and I declined her request -can't remember why. So, she said, "Ok, I'll read it to you." and preceded to open the book and read the appropriate memorized lines for each page! I must have asked her to do it again a least 5 times!
Okay, so do you remember when Jack and Malynn were learning to roll over? Jack was working on it and working on it and finally got it. Malynn showed no interest up to this point, but then a couple days later just popped over! Well this time the tables were turned. Malynn worked on her pretend reading with Silly Sally, and Tale of the Christmas Mouse, and My Little Boat. Then, seemingly out of the blue, we got the book This Car from the library on Saturday, read it to Jack a handful of times, and then Jack did this...
Merely thinking about how proud I am of both of you, Malynn and Jack, for all the amazing steps you keep taking with reading and writing, gives me a lump in my throat. We don't have mandatory reading time, or flash cards, or anything obsessive going on. We just love going to the library to find books about characters and topics we love. We love snuggling up on the couch with a blanket across all our laps and working our way through a stack of books. We never go down for naps or bedtime without sharing a few of our favorite stories. We love our ABCDs puzzles.We love drawing on the easel with pencils, markers, crayons, and paint, and we get really excited when we make a shape or or a letter we recognize. We love putting things on the grocery list or adding to the note to Mel each morning. We love getting a free magazine from outside restaurants to "read" on the way home in the car. We love noticing letters we know on signs, trucks, and cereal boxes. I don't know what you will do with your reading and writing when you are older, but it gives me peace in my heart to know that difficulties with reading and writing will not hold you back from what ever it is you decide you want to do.
There was a rowing alumni event near Grand and Ottar's house, so Mommy and Daddy capitalized on the opportunity to have a night out with free babysitting and give us all (especially the kids) a fun visit with Grand & Ottar!
I remember writing about attending this event last year, and all the same sentiments hold true. Our connection with college rowing and the kindred spirits we met there are bonds that know not the boundaries of time and space. We know that many people never find even a little bit of this in their lives, so we are always thankful to have so much in ours!
We arrived to Grand & Ottar's house in time to enjoy some delicious stew supplied by the one and only Grand. And, appropriately so, Ottar was in charge of dessert and helped the kids make their first ever 'smores!!
Jack was the first customer. He seemed a little uncertain about it, but knew anything made with marshmallow, chocolate, and graham crackers had to be worth a try. The 'smore did not disappoint!
Malynn was eager to finish up her lunch and get her own 'smore.
Thanks for such a special treat Ottar.
Grand and Ottar and Amita (who of course came to get a little dose of Jack and Malynn time too) were on duty for the whole evening. They were prepared. The kids had asked to make cupcakes with Grand, so she had it all ready as an evening activity. And Amita got this great documentation of it all!
Cracking an egg together! -Super cute!
I love Jack's focus as he's pouring and Malynn's reaction as she watching. :)
I didn't abandon the penguin snack Jack and Malynn were suppose to make at Whole Foods when they had to leave early -mainly because they didn't abandon it and kept asking when they were going to make it. The gal who runs the story/snack activity had sent the kids home with most of the food items we needed. I just had to figure out how to craft them into something resembling a penguin. I went back to the new Story/Snack blog I discovered and, low and behold, it was there!
Step 1: Cut a large circle of bread and cover it with vanilla yogurt.
Step 2: Cut another large circle of bread, slice that in half, and cover the halves with yogurt died black.
Step 3: Assemble the bread halves to look like wings, add a round chocolate cookie for the head, and use yogurt to stick yogurt covered raisins on for eyes.
Step 4: Use a cute little candy to add feet and a beak.
Step 5: Enjoy! (Caution: Yogurt died black will be evidenced in stools the next day!)
