Life Cycle

Nicholas today:
I think after I'm a grandpa then I'll be God.

The Seatbelt Song

At school this week they have been talking about why it is important to use a booster seat or carseat and where a seat belt.  Nicholas' rendition of their new song absolutely cracked us up.  He isn't singing so much as acting, with gusto!

From 2013 February

Blogger still won't work properly with video links, so click here to go to the February album and select the last image.

Piano

Months and months ago Joe put masking tape on the keys of our keyboard and wrote out the letters for "Twinkle Twinkle." It was a brilliant idea (hey, why have a 18 year old keyboard if you can't put tape on it?) but Nicholas wasn't really up for sticking with it and instead just hit whichever keys he wanted when "playing the piano." This weekend, however, I noticed that he was carefully putting music up and using his finger to "follow along" in the music while playing.

Now, what he played bore no relationship to what the notes were, but since he wanted to play the music, I decided to give it a try. I have an old book of Lion King music from middle school (when I bought the keyboard he is playing, by the way) that I remembered had the letters written inside the notes. And Nicholas loves Lion King, so perfect! So I got that out and showed him the correlation.  He thought that was pretty cool and went at it. 

He ran into some problems, though, because he only had labels on one octave.  So I put additional pieces of tape on and explained which ones were the high ones and which were the low.  And he got it!  He carefully chooses which C, D, and E to use based on the music.  (He then was very upset because there is one song that has a high A and our keyboard doesn't go that high.)  We then had to deal with flats because this book labels them at each note rather than just at the beginning of the line.  Nicholas can find the correct key for the flats, but if you ask him, it isn't a flat, it tells you to go "below" the letter.  Hey, it was the best way I could think of to explain why the note had what looked like a letter "b" next to it!  He wasn't playing any songs with sharps, so we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

And so here is a video of Nicholas playing the piano.  It doesn't sound like much since he has no rhythm, but he is playing the correct notes.  My favorite part, however, is that he switches from saying the name of the note to using its phonics sound.  You can tell what mode we've been in this house recently.

From 2013 February

If the video won't play, click the 2013 February link above and select the image of him at the piano.

Cultural Cues

Nicholas is apparently getting pretty good at picking up the cues on the way American culture works. Yesterday in the car, we had the following conversation about why he won't have school tomorrow:

Me: "Monday is a holiday known as Presidents' Day."
N: "Oh, we should watch the game."

Because of course every holiday involves a game that should be watched.

Almost Ready

Nicholas is getting thisclose to learning how to read. He's been playing with my new iPad, and using several kids' apps that work on phonics (he loves them, I swear). And tonight in the bath he requested his "bath letters," basically a bunch of foam letters that when wet stick to the side of the tub. He always spells his name first, but tonight we tried a few animals to see how he'd do. Nt quite there, but really really close. He even got "zebra" with some help. He could say what sound each letter makes, and just needs help to put the whole thing together.

Building a Snowman

I admit it, I was really annoyed that Nicholas didn't have school today for a professional development day.  It is bad enough that they are closed for Presidents' Day, but how am I supposed to get my work done when they create a 4-day weekend and my workload remains the same?

But it turns out that today was a gorgeous 50+ degree day with bright sun and very little wind.  Beautiful!  So after he spent the morning at our office and then he and I had lunch at home, I decided to take advantage of weather that didn't make me dread being in the snow to let him build the snowman he had been asking about for a week. 

It turns out that 50 degree weather is perfect for building a snowman.  Not only could I tolerate actually being outside for the hour it took us, but the snow had gotten wet enough that we could easily pack it.  (It had actually gotten really dense with all the settling and melting this week, which was fine for building the snowman, but made adding food for accents a bit tricky.)

And so he and I had a blast!  And I carefully chose a spot to build near a metal box that doubled as a camera stand, so I actually have some pictures!  I am way too impressed with myself, but that is how low the bar has fallen.

From 2013 February

From 2013 February

From 2013 February

From 2013 February

From 2013 February

From 2013 February

Our finished product:

From 2013 February

A baby carrot for the nose, grape tomatoes for the eyes, actual grapes for the button, and sticks for the mouth and arms. And of course a scarf. All of that except for the mouth stick were Nicholas' ideas. He wanted to use a row of grapes for the mouth but it had been so tricky to get all the other pieces on that I wanted to simplify. The hat was my artistic contribution. I know.

Bragging and the Cat

Nicholas' drawing has gotten much better while we weren't looking.  I knew he had been working on his spelling and writing and that they had improved, but I didn't know his drawing had improved in sophistication.

Here is what he brought home today:

From 2013 February

And his name on the back:

From 2013 February

When we asked him about his drawing he explained that C A T is how you spell cat and that it was a picture of a cat walking and him holding a leash so the cat could walk.

I personally don't see the leash, but otherwise am incredibly impressed.  Of course I have absolutely no training in child development, so for all I know he is a year behind.  But he is ahead of where he was a few months ago and so I say again, I am impressed.

Also, cats going for walks on a leash?  Love it.

Nemo and Snow

What is better when you are a little kid than a massive snow storm?  One named after your favorite Disney character of course!  I think this whole naming storms thing is silly, but if they were all named after Disney characters it would take a little bit of the sting out of it.

We got a little over 2 feet of snow here, mostly Friday afternoon and overnight.  Yesterday there was really no going outside so we kept busy in the house. We did 4 loads of laundry, made chili in the crockpot, made a kaleidoscope using a kit, read an entire Magic TreeHouse book cover to cover in one sitting, gave Nicholas a bubble bath, worked on spelling animal names, and played some card games and Chutes and Ladders.  And somehow Joe and I also managed to actually get the necessary Friday work done.  I really have no idea how the day went so smoothly.

By 10am this morning the sun was shining and everyone was out shoveling and playing.  There are really aggravating things about living in a complex during snow storms (clearing out a spot well and then having to park in a spot full of snow if you dare go to the store, for one), but one really great thing is the rare sense of communty.  We talk to our neighbors more when everyone is out clearing off cars than any other time.  And today we played with a bunch of the kids as well.  And having our best friends in the state live in the same building is really great on days like today!

The first time out Nicholas got sick of helping after about 5 minutes and so he and I played with the other moms and kids who were out for half an hour and then went inside when he lost his mind over being cold and tired.  But when we went back out in the late afternoon he had snapped into grown-up Nicholas mode and was a super-duper big helper.  After we had completely cleaned out one spot and gotten the other car dug out enough to move, Joe went to the grocery store  The plan was to just leave that spot as it was and see if the backhoe came around and cleaned it out and if not park back in it and deal.  But Nicholas so desperately wanted to keep working that he and I completely cleaned that other spot out as well while Joe was gone.

Overall, our snow weekend is going very well.  I have no idea what tomorrow looks like, but we've had a good time so far.

There are a ton of pictures of the storm and Nicholas playing and working in it in the January album, but here are a few highlights:

From 2013 January

From 2013 January

From 2013 January

From 2013 January

From 2013 January

From 2013 January

From 2013 January

This last one is a fort one of our neighbors built.  We had nothign to do with the construction, but Nicholas thought it was cool.

If Only

There have been a lot of nasty stomach bugs going around our work and Nicholas' school, so we're a little on edge expecting to get hit.  And since Nicholas very rarely mentions it when he doesn't feel well (remember the sagas with ear infections that went undiagnosed?), I have taken to asking him if his stomach hurts when he seems quiet or a little off, just trying to see if we're headed down that road.  And he has apparently gotten annoyed with me.

So now his response is (with attitude), "Mom, I told you already.  My stomach is going to feel good for the rest of my life.  It is never going to hurt."

If only saying so made it true.

Worn In

S: I'm going to sleep in tomorrow.
N: Why?
S: Because I'm worn out.
N: And after you sleep you'll be worn in.

Can't argue with that logic.