20 Oct 2011

Nut Brown has turned into a super coloring drawing machine lately! His small motor control is very, very good for a four-year-old, and he's extremely interested in putting color on paper. The other night we were talking about rings, and he danced off to draw several pictures with crayons of rings with different arrangements of gems. Here are some done in his best style.

Lion by an orange tree

Whales above the sea

Rocket man (or alien)

Turtle

 

 

Batman with embellishments

biking

Finally, photos of us on our bikes!

Here we are on our way to Rose Pink's Saturday morning musical theater class!  Rose Pink looks nervous because she hasn't really been enjoying the class as much as she thought she might, but we have a nice 10 minute ride up to the community center by our house every Saturday morning, and Nut Brown and I play games during her 45 minute class.

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On another day I made everyone stop as we were going out for a family ride.

Nut Brown on his bike (Rose Pink's old one)

Rose Pink riding Skull - she has developed really good bike manners: she watches for cars at intersections, rides by the side of the road, and so on.  I'm so proud of her.

The boys going tandem.  This is called the 'hitchhiker biker' by the kids, and we use when we're going longer distances to help Nut Brown keep up with the rest of us.  He will ride it with 'no feet!' and occasionally with no hands, which gave me a heart attack the first time I saw him do it.

All ready!  Come on, Mom!

Where were we going?

Jim's, for ice cream cones.  Yum.

Something tells me...

Nut Brown uses the phrase Something tells me... in places where others might use 'I think...'

Something tells me I need a chair (to reach the jam in the freezer)

Something tells me I need to wash my hands.

Something tells me you forgot to give me a treat.

But he has a little lisp so when he says 'something' it sounds like, 'some-sing'.

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Another favorite phrase lately is 'Move your feet, lose your seat!' which he uses every time I make him get off my lap so I can get up for something.

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We dug out a CD player independent of the computer, and here he is listening to his favorite album: Dinosaur Rock.

19 Oct 2011

Two days after Rose Pink lost her first tooth, she lost her second, right next to it.  So now she has a double-wide gap in the bottom that she likes to stick things in, like straws and licorice and cheese sticks.  She pulled this one out herself.  Unfortunately, she swallowed the first one, and then this one got misplaced somehow (so sad!).  We have no tooth fairy at our house so the disappointment has been purely scientific - nothing to study and analyze.

16 October: dry run Halloween

We had a dry run for Halloween on Saturday night.  The zoo had a Halloween fest called the 'Zoo Boo' and we bought tickets and went.  I finished up the kids' costumes that afternoon.  Rose Pink had planned to be Catwoman but I couldn't figure out a good way to make her a Catwoman that everyone wouldn't automatically think was just a cat, so I talked her into being a 'pink Batwoman' instead.  Nut Brown is Green Lantern: felt hot-glued on black clothes, and a mask and ring Mr. Brown bought them months ago to play with.  Rose Pink had a pink Batman shirt (which is where the idea came from) and I made her cape, fuzzy fur belt, and glued more fur on her black boots.  She loved it, and I was very pleased with how well it worked out.  I'm making a matching Green Lantern costume for Mr. Brown to trick or treat in with the kids.  Jessica- I owe you big for showing me that Halloween costumes don't have to be super complicated to be fun.

The Zoo Boo was totally fun.  They had it set up very well, where the walk outside looking at jack o'lanterns and animal sculptures made out of painted pumpkins and rebar (awesome!) and collecting candy at treat stations (sponsored by a local grocery chain, oh yes) was punctuated with periodic inside activities (the haunted reptile house! temporary outside shelter for crafts!)  We all had a really great time and we may go back next year.

the paper

Rose Pink loves to read the Sunday comics, which arrive on Friday in our paper.  (? yes, really)  She takes 'her section' of the paper off and reads it thoroughly and then will ask us for help with the Mini Page on the back.  I remember my grandmother saving the Mini Page for us when we would visit.  Funny that it's still around and that kids still like it.

20 June 2011

Our fascination with 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' continues. Rose Pink produced these drawings of Appa and Toph. I put in images from the animated series for comparison.

Appa:

Toph:

Also lately the kids and Mr. Brown have been watching "Batman: The Brave & The Bold", which is a really interesting series of adventures starring the Dark Knight. Lots of superheroness happening at our house lately.

after dinner

Tonight we had pork and potatoes and roasted green beans for dinner.  After dinner, Nut Brown and Rose Pink and I went for a bike ride around the neighborhood.  They took turns deciding which way to turn at each corner.  Nut Brown is allowed to ride his bike (Rose Pink's old bike) in the street if he 'follows the rules', which means, rides by the curb and watches for cars.  He was so pleased to be out and about on his bike that he sang and talked the whole time.  He coasts by sticking his legs straight out to the side, which is really cute.  At one point he'd fallen really far behind, and when I turned back to see what was holding him up, he had stopped to get off his bike and retrieve a catalog in the street and was riding very slowly one-handed while clutching the catalog to his chest.  'Can I carry that for you, little guy?' I asked him.  'Yes,' he said.  'It's for Rose Pink.'  Rose Pink rode circles around Nut Brown and I and paused to gather a handful of leaves to throw at me.  She is so good with her bike, good at starting and stopping and watching for cars.  It was such a nice evening, it was a real pleasure to be out together.

1 October 2011

Tonight we had frozen pizza for dinner. I had told Rose Pink at the store that we'd put olives on her cheese pizza but I forgot to buy some. She was disappointed but recovered by slicing some pickles and adding them post-baking.