2 and a half

Typing

Audrey busted this out on my laptop this morning. Ok, ok, I helped her with the 'y' in 'my' and the 'o' in 'favorite.' You've got to cut her some slack - she's 5.

I remember when it was fun to spell the word 'Mississippi' too.

More pancakes

I made pancakes for my girls again. Like the preceding ones, these were tasty - arguably tastier, even, since they had chocolate syrup on them. But unlike the first ones, they look like circus clowns who've just woken up from a long night of partying. The syrup work wasn't my best but, in my own defense, the bottle of Hershey's had just come from the fridge and, being rather thick and all, wouldn't stop dribbling out when I wanted.

Art

Once your kid gets close to pre-school age they start churning out massive amounts of art. If you're a parent, you know what I'm talking about. Between school and arts & crafts at home they may very well churn out 3-5 pieces per day. Sometimes more, and it adds up quickly.

What do you do with it all? You want to keep every bit of it, but is that realistic? To do so you might as well rent a storage unit, because you're going to need it. We have a giant bin that's overflowing with artwork, and our kids are only 2 and 5. Think about what it will be like 3 years from now as their productivity ramps up. We'll be on the next episode of A&E's Hoarders.

So, I launched a digital art gallery here to archive it all. (The gallery can also be accessed using the menu bar on the 2andahalf home page.) Yes, yes, I'm proud of my idea too. I thought it was a great way to store it, preserve it, and, well... feel less guility if we end up throwing some of it out. After all, there's a big difference between the quality of certain pieces, and you really can't keep it all. It's not practical. 

For example, the giant bin in our house is full. And if you look at the bin you have no idea who did what, or what the date ordering is, or whether some paper mache likeness of a cute little puppy is getting squashed beneath a bunch of finger paintings weighted down by paint that is an inch thick in spots.  

Where to put the art that comes next? Online, of course, along with the pieces that come after that. My art gallery is still a work in progress, but so far I have transformed 4 cubic feet of art into 100MB of space on a server and called it a day. (In reality what will end up happening is that we'll keep both the digital pieces and the physical pieces and end up renting a storage space as I mentioned above - look for us on a 2012 episode of Hoarders. But it's a good concept, I think.)

P.S. The art gallery is simple. TypePad has promised me to do some work to make it better, because there is so much more functionality they can bring. I hope they do.

Tree pose

I learned the other day that Grace is doing yoga as part of her pre-school class two days a week. I guess I didn't know she was doing that (or forgot, as dads sometimes do), but I think that's great at 2 1/2 years old! I didn't get to experience yoga until much later in life.

She's learning tree pose and wanted to show mommy her new skill. Tree pose, as anyone who has done yoga knows, is a balance pose where one raises one knee in order to grasp her ankle with one hand. She then places the sole of that foot on the inner thigh of the other leg, which is straight and firmly on the floor. She then places her hands in namaste or positions her arms in the air and holds the pose for 30 seconds or longer. (I've drawn two stick figures to help you - yes, I know, the artistry is amazing.)

Grace showed Suzanne her version. With a flourish of her leg more reminiscent of Michael Jackson performing Billie Jean, she performed tree pose. Her hands flapped like she was doing the wave. Satisfied, she walked off. Apparently when you're 2 1/2 you're entitled to shortcuts.

I promise you, she's quite good at downward dog.

Voicemails from your kids

Getting voicemails from my kids always makes me smile. Today Audrey left one to say thanks.

Why? Her 5th birthday arrives soon so she went out today on a special shopping excursion with Mommy. Her birthday wish? A special doll - an American Girl Doll to be specific - that's she's been talking about for a while now.

This is no ordinary doll, I learned. She has an 'official' name and it's Rebecca (Audrey usually names her dolls and stuffed animals random, made-up names like Sakoreeena or Taboolaka or Nanoona - things along those lines) and the doll has a bio and even a high-chair to sit in. According to the company's website, Rebecca's profile reads:

As a girl growing up in New York City in 1914, Rebecca celebrates treasured traditions passed down through her Russian-Jewish family. With a little creativity, Rebecca learns how to stay true to her heart as she follows her dreams in the big city.

A little cliche, but hey, movies have been made based on worse themes than this one. In any case, Audrey is in love with her doll.

But back to voicemails. What distinguishes your kid's voicemails from all the others? One, if you use Google Voice, you get to read Google's text translation. Frankly, I think Audrey left a pretty clear message and that Google has a looong way to go toward making their voice recognition software better. This has always been the case in my experience using Google Voice (I'm digressing), but this 'translation' is egregious:

Hey. I love you and 16. You hang error. Well, No. Thank you, okay the dollars. 85 please HI. How are you shortly. Okay. I have a al at David, No I don't know if you're blue, bye. But anyway, hey. It's a marriage I had HI. Why don't we have, hey man.

Terrible, right? No wonder the service is free. But on second thought, maybe Google should leave it alone. It's almost more entertaining to read the gibberish. I'm currently trying to figure out how to hang an error. 

On a more serious note, the voicemail from Audrey today is special is because it immortalizes her voice and speech at a moment in time (you've got to wait a few seconds before she gets talking):

You're welcome, Audrey. Happy (early) birthday, and it's ok that you got a second outfit for your doll.

The daddy-daughter date

My little girl wants to go on a date with Daddy. What can I say? I'm thrilled!

We've been talking about it for weeks and just haven't been able to get it scheduled (my fault, of course - her schedule is wide open and mine isn't, and she's been patiently waiting for me). She's very curious about what we'll do and where we'll go, and has lots of suggestions. First it was dinner and dancing and then it was dinner and a movie (she has obviously figured out what a date is) and then tonight it was... Michael's. As in the craft store. 

Michael's? For a moment I was stumped but then realized that's perfect. I couldn't have come up with a more genious idea myself.

Audrey loves arts and crafts, and today her preschool friend Eve told her she can get lots of "jewels" (a.k.a. colorful beads and other sparkly objects) from a store called Michael's so that she can make lots of great artwork. Now that Audrey has discovered an arts and crafts paradise (she had lots of inquiries this evening about whether I'd heard of Michael's, whether I'd been there, and what it was like), she is dying to go to there for the Daddy-Daughter date. Michael's + dinner, that is.

She wouldn't let me forget about dinner, and she wants to go to her favorite - Ted's Montanta Grill. Why Ted's? Two things. Grilled cheese, and these waxy twisty bendy colored stix they give to kids to make mini sculptures out of. Ok, I like to make sculptures out of them too. And if they didn't make your fingers so waxy I'd like them even more. But I also like the menu - good burgers.

For a moment I was concerned Michael's would close before dinner was over but I checked online and Michael's is open until 9pm Mon-Sat, so we're good. Dinner around 6:30 and Michael's around 7:30 should work fine.

How did this all come about? Here's how:

Audrey's school held a Father-Daughter dance on Feb. 12 (yes, I know that was awhile ago - please cut me some slack) and we missed it. We were headed to the mountains to go skiing that Friday evening and Audrey, who never misses a beat, asked, "Daddy, when are we going to my school dance?" I realized in that moment that the dance was the following evening and we'd be away. My mind raced while Suzanne, Audrey and Grace looked on, awaiting a reply that at once needed to be clever, well thought out and provide a satisfying answer to Audrey's seemingly innocuous but rather difficult question.

I decided to take the straight-forward approach and admit I forgot, followed by a solution that would be even more fun and attractive. "It's tomorrow night, Audrey... I'm SO sorry we're going to miss it, and I just realized that, but Mommy and Daddy wanted to take you skiing. That's fun too, right? BUT, to make up for it, Daddy would like take you on a SPECIAL date that's just for me and you, and we can go wherever you'd like. How does that sound?"

She thought hard about what she had heard, as she always does. "Do you mean we can go on a date, just me and you, and NOT Grace, and we could go wherever we want, even maybe dancing, and maybe dinner too, and it would just be us, NOT Grace, just me and Daddy, and it can be a date?"

"Yep," I said.

She beamed - all was good and the issue was resolved. I told her she could think about where we'd go and what we'd do and I'd be open to whatever she wanted.

Now it's just a question of finding an evening that works, and I'm putting pressure on myself to get the ball rolling. Hopefully this week we'll get to go.

It will be a special evening and, as I think about it, other dads should do this too! Maybe there should even be a national Daddy-Daughter Date Day. What a great opportunity to enjoy a special evening with your little girl. Don't you think?

Swim lessons

I've sometimes wondered how certain people manage to make it through childhood without learning how to swim. I was talking to someone today, for example, about how Audrey is taking two weeks of swim lessons starting Monday. He mentioned that his mother never learned how to swim. "So you could literally plop her in a lake and she'd drown?" I asked.

Ok, I didn't ask that, but I would assume it would be true. On the one hand I would think an adult human might be able to figure swimming out, just like a dog does. Dogs don't get swim lessons. Our dog Barry literally walked off the edge of a dock the first time he encountered water. He didn't understand that the ground would no longer be there. (It was fairly humorous.) He sunk at first, but his head popped back up soon enough. He looked shocked, but figured out how to dog paddle pretty quickly. Figuring out the direction to the shore was another issue but you can't expect to learn everything in a matter of seconds, can you?

On the other hand, I would think an adult who didn't know how to swim might not figure it out in real time because they would panic and flail around. Fear would take over. But the question is - how do you even get there in the first place? Swimming skills are easy to learn, widely taught, inexpensive and frankly, are essential. How, as a parent, do you manage to avoid finding a way to teach your children how to swim? How, as an adult, do you manage to avoid find a way to learn?

Admittedly I would like Audrey to have learned how to swim already because she's around water regularly. She had a breakthrough last week where she'll now enter deep water on her own and trust the floaties and/or life jacket to take over. It's a good step but she still couldn't swim on her own.

Once she learns it's a skill she'll use all her life and it will bring fun and pleasure and confidence to her. For my wife and I it will provide peace of mind (and make us proud to see our little girl swimming, too.) We may even get Grace going too - they start teaching around 1 and a half years old.

What do you think? Are swimming skills essential?

Hiding

Grace loves to hide. It's her thing right now. I don't know why. I tried to look online for the psychology behind it but if you search online for "why do kids like to hide" you get all sorts of sophisticated but wrong-headed results. A few of the top ones: "do you hide treats from your kids?," "why women hide behind their children on Facebook" and "my kids want to hide their identity." What? Where's the innocence?

Anyway, I used to hide when I was a kid. But I think I was playing hide-and-seek at age 6 or something. Actually I recall I played hide-and-seek pretty much all the way through elementary school with my neighborhood friends, but that's neither here nor there. Grace likes to hide at 1 and a half. And she'll pick a good spot and remain completely silent.

The scenario might play out like this: Grace hides behind the large speaker in the corner of our living room. We'll notice she's not around and will start calling for her and will hear nothing in response. So we'll begin thinking she must just not hear us but, as we look around, nothing. Our heart rates start to pick up a bit but we know Grace *must* be around somewhere. Still nothing. Then a slight panic. Did she escape through the front door? Is she in the street? Did she wander down the block? Our search turns into a scramble and then, suddenly, one of us eyes her. "Grace!" we exclaim, happy and relieved and confused and stressed and frustrated and angry, all at once. Meanwhile, she thinks it's quite funny.

Growing up I remember my sister went to the neighbor's house and hid behind some sort of chair, as I recall. She may have been somewhat older than Grace, but toddler at most. Hours went by and, when no one could find her, the police were called. I don't recall who found her or when, but it caused lots of gray hairs for my parents, I'm sure.

What is the psychology of hiding? Does it make one feel safe? Does it make one feel clever? Is it just fun? Thinking back to when I used to hide behind a box in our storage room for hide-and-seek, I think I felt like I had escaped from things for a moment. It was peaceful. But there was suspense about being found. So it was also fun. And then it got boring if nobody found me, which sometimes happened. And then I wanted to be found.

When Grace hides it's not all bad. Grace's and Audrey's occasional game at bed time is to hide in one of their closets. Grace will announce, "I wah hide!" and will back herself in there and close the double doors, her fingers disappearing into the closet at the last moment. Audrey will join her and tell us to go count and then find them. Somehow her knowing that we know where she and Grace are hiding doesn't matter - it's when we "find" them that's fun. They'll have broad smiles and then Grace will begin to shut the doors again, eager to hide again.

First piece of gum

Your first piece of gum is a big deal. It's a rite of passage of sorts, or so it seems.

For her 4th birthday Audrey got to chew her first piece - I believe it was Wrigley's Spearmint but am not sure. It wasn't a full piece, just half. And she chewed it so long that I'm sure she must have forgotten that gum doesn't dissolve like candy does. Clearly her her goal was two-fold: to show everyone she was chewing gum and to savor the experience of growing up. Another milestone achieved. By the time she deposited the tasteless rubbery glob into the trash it was bed time.

I've been trying to lay the groundwork to restrict gum-chewing on a regular basis - after all, stepping onto a glob of the stuff or finding some underneath the table is supposed to happen at places like carnivals and baseball games and parks, only. I don't want it to happen in our household. Nor do I want to find it embedded in rugs or couches. She chewed another piece today which means so far I've failed to restrict usage - right now I can only hope she'll be responsible about it.

That's the pleasure and the plight of being a parent - watching your kids revel in new opportunities and privileges, and worrying about what they will bring.

Beginning your day with Go Fish and ending it with Duck Duck Goose

Yesterday morning I awoke early and, when I was unable to fall back asleep, I meandered downstairs to make coffee and work for half an hour or so.

No sooner had I situated myself, though, than Audrey strolled in. When I said "good morning" I startled her - ostensibly she had the same idea I did which was to get some alone time. While the thought of my 3-year-old getting ready for the day by herself downstairs strikes me as odd, she clearly didn't expect to find me there.

"Daddy, what are you doing up?" she asked. 

"What are you doing up? It's early!" I responded. Normally she doesn't wake until 8am or so.

"Let's play Go Fish!" she announced, as if she had planned it all along.

Yes, exactly what I was conspiring to do with my morning... "Okay," I said, giving up hope for any sort of productive endeavor. "Let's play Go Fish."

We sat down at her small white table with lime green chairs and I dealt. Before I even finished doling out the cards, though, she started sandbagging. "I really don't remember how to play, Daddy." 

But as soon as she scooped her cards from the table she started laying them back down in piles that matched. I explained she needed four-of-a-kind to do that but that rule didn't sit well with her. "Here, see? I have two sharks! And two angel fish!" (The cards take a very literal approach to the game.) By the time she was done, I still held 7 cards while she showed 3.

"I guess it's your turn still," I said. "Ask me for a card." 

"Do you have a whale?"

I did, and gave her my whale card. Another match, and she was down to 2. Needless to say she won, and then convinced me to play again and won a second time. Beginning your day with a couple of victories isn't a bad way to start.

Fast-forward to bedtime - one of Audrey's favorite delay tactics is to insist on a good-natured game of Duck Duck Goose before she'll willingly go upstairs. Generally we insist that each person goes only once but she tends to prevail in that everyone goes at least twice.

"Duck. Duck. Watermelon. Apple. Horsie. Frog. Tree... Goose!" recited Audrey as she circled us, gave me a final tap on the head and then sprinted away. I get bored with it and make up alternatives to the word "duck" and Audrey has followed in my footsteps.

It was then my turn, and then Suzanne's, and then Audrey's and mine and Suzanne's again.

Thinking about this today, I appreciated that book-ending my day with Audrey's games put all the nonsense in the middle into a bit more perspective.

Boats and livestock

Ideas for things to do with kids on a weekend:

1. Regional Boat Show

2. National Western Stock Show

At the boat show it was just me and Audrey. Though it was in the Convention Center in January you might as well have been at the beach. There were enough Hawaiian shirts, flip flops, umbrellas, palm trees and drink stands, not to mention all the boats, to make it feel that way. And we got to learn cool stuff like the following:

 

I colored that one for Gracie. Audrey did one too, and we have the pictures on 2 t-shirts. Good thing too - that bit of knowledge will probably save us next time we go boating. 

In all seriousness, there was so much stuff for kids to do at the boat show that I'm sure Audrey had more fun than I did. Just climbing into, around and upon a bunch of boats would have done it but they had so much more.

And then today was the National Western Stock Show. I haven't been to something like that in a long time. It was me, Suzanne, Audrey and Grace and was hectic but fun. By hectic I mean too crowded to walk by yourself through a crowd, let alone with a stroller. There was a moment when I was pushing the girls in ours (and it's a "double-wide," as one cowboy called it at the show) through a crowd and there were literally so many people trying to go every which way that I just stopped and figured I'd be stuck there forever. It was gridlock.

By fun I mean that there is an entire complex - far too big to really get all the way through in one visit - with everything from face painting and games to a petting zoo to a climbing wall to every kind of retail you can imagine. Naturally Audrey wanted her face painted twice - once on each cheek - and I have to say the artists there did the best face painting I've ever seen. We were told they fly in from Texas each year to do the show and by the looks of the line all afternoon, they make a killing.

Then of course there was the main event - the rodeo - which Suzanne and I looked forward to but we figured the girls would last about 5 minutes. Thank goodness we were wrong - I'd say they made it for an hour and a half before Grace really broke down and we were forced to leave. 

Although at the beginning, during the opening to the show, I thought we might have to leave too. I caught on video the final moments of the kick-off and I think it nearly scared Grace straight through the roof. She was terrified, and Audrey wasn't too happy either. Not to mention the heart attack I almost had. 

The video is sideways because I'm not smart enough to use my new phone correctly but you'll know what I mean when you get to 0:22. Keep in mind you're watching it on video - if you were live multiply the sound by 100.

The symphony and what every parent should want their child to say

My mother took us to lots of plays and musicals growing up because she thought it would make us cultured. I remember going willingly only sometimes but at the end of the day I'm better off because I have an appreciation and even an affinity for that sort of thing now. (Don't tell my mother I wrote that.) Moreover, Suzanne and I are inclined to take our girls to that sort of thing too.

Audrey, in particular, has shown an appreciation for the arts and, more specifically, the stage. (Grace is still too young.) She has sung in front of a room of more than a hundred people before age 3, has been a standout angel in her school's Christmas pageants and has performed skits from Annie, Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music countless times in front of house guests in our living room. 

Speaking of Annie and The Sound of Music, the former was her first live musical and she was treated to the latter last night when the von Trapp children came to sing with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. (The von Trapps are the famous singing family portrayed in The Sound of Music.)

As they performed they shared a bit of family history with the audience, some of which you can find online and some of which you can only find here.

The von Trapp children of today are the great grandchildren of Captain von Trapp, who starred in the musical alongside Julie Andrews, who played Marie. The children's grandfather was portrayed by the young boy in the musical who announced at one point, "I'm Kurt. I'm incorrigible." 

The Sound of Music essentially takes you to the point where Captain von Trapp and Marie fall in love but doesn't tell you much about what occurred afterward. It turns out the family managed to escape Austria and the grip of the Nazis in the late 1930s and moved to Vermont, from which point the family toured the world for twenty years, singing and performing. All the family's descendants remain in Vermont today, but for the children's mother and father who live in Montana and who, incidentally, "don't sing at all," as Justin, Amanda, Melanie and Sofia informed us last night.

In fact, their parents really didn't want the children to pursue singing and performing at all initially. But when the four kids persisted, having learned the art of song from their grandfather, their parents permitted it. "Our parents don't sing," we were told, "but our father taught us the value of hard work and our mother taught us to dream big." 

It seems the von Trapp children have done pretty well within those broad guidelines - nine years of singing and performing in more than ten countries, appearances on at least eight US television shows and more than 20 foreign shows, print coverage in more than ten national or regional newspapers and magazines as well as a bunch of local ones, and more than six CDs and a DVD. And the oldest (but not the tallest, we were reminded) is now only 21 years old.

The show last night centered songs from The Sound of Music interwoven with Christmas songs and other selections such as the Rwandan national anthem (the group visited Rwanda in April 2008). Audrey appeared nonchalant but no doubt was captivated, particularly when the children sang So Long, Farewell as their encore - this was Audrey's favorite when she first saw the musical and she'd pretend to be Gretel, the youngest girl who sings the final verse. 

We were fortunate enough to be able to meet all four of the children back stage at intermission and, while Audrey appeared to be a bit shy, I think she was a little starstruck. After the performance, despite the lengthy line, Audrey insisted that we get her program signed by the performers. She wanted them to sign her own name at first so I had to explain that the point was that Justin, Amanda, Melanie and Sofia would sign their names.

As we were walking out of the concert hall a little girl in a blue coat passed us. She had just had her program signed by the children as well. As they neared the exit we heard her say to her parents, "Mom and dad, this is the best day of my life!" If only all of us could do for our kids something each day that would get them to say that.

Santa Closet, sticky window decorations and an angel

Audrey's and Grace's cousin Trever has re-named Santa, courtesy of the song "Santa Claus is coming to town." When you're 2, like Trever, I'd imagine that listening to adults speak or sing in English is kind of like an adult who knows just a bit of French listening to a fluent French-person speaking. Some words make sense and others don't and some just seem to blend together. Hence, Trever's "Santa Closet," as in "Santa Closet coming to town."

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We have these window decorations that are sticky on both sides that Grace loves to play with. Imagine really pliable and somewhat gooey stained glass that, when arranged the right way on a window, are semi-transparent in the light and form a picture. But instead of sticking them on windows Grace crumples them up and tears them into pieces and creates a trail of them around the house. 

Occasionally if you're walking in bare feet or socks you'll step on a piece - the sensation is that you've just stepped on a slimy piece of banana or avocado but then you're relieved that it's something that can't make that sort of mess. 

She'll taunt us, too, by showing us that she's going to put a piece in her mouth and, when one of us gets up to take it from her, she'll sprint the other way as fast as her little legs can take her. And sometimes she's really sweet about it and will walk up and hand us a piece and say "dank-oo" which is her latest version of "thank you."

Yesterday she was reaching for a large yellow circle on the window through an opening in the wooden window shutter. But when she reached through the shutter closed a bit and her hand got stuck. She was surprisingly content about it - when I walked down the stairs and saw her stuck there she looked back at me and just waited. So I went over and saw that her hand was stuck and moved the shutter so she could extricate herself. She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and reached out to show me her prize and said, "dank-oo." She's such a sweetheart.

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Audrey's school does a Christmas pageant each year and this year's took place last Tuesday. As I drove her to school that day I asked her what her role would be and she didn't know so I guess it just kind of comes together somehow. When I dropped her off I found out from her teacher that she could either be a shepherd or an angel. That was an easy one - angel of course.

After the pageant Suzanne called me at work to tell me I'd be cracking up when I watched the video that evening. Sure enough, when we put it on, Audrey was the stand-out. As all the other angels sat there patiently on stage, Audrey was on her feet blowing kisses to the audience. And she was waving too - like someone on a parade float waving to the crowd. THAT kind of waving. Now, baby Jesus was a real baby and did perfectly and I'm sure all eyes were on him for much of the time, but it was a close call between who the show-stealer was.

When it's cold and snowing outside, build a fort

With all the cold and snow we're dealing with for the next couple days, Audrey and I built a fort yesterday. Nothing like having your own home within a home.

Budding rock star

 

#7

This picture doesn't need much narrative. It's cute and funny on the one hand but tough, authoritative and confident on the other. That's my daughter.

 

Estes Park

Every once in awhile my wife takes Audrey and Grace up to Estes Park to see Grammy. Like today. It is a special place to Suzanne because she spent time there growing up and her family has lots of roots there. Not to mention it is beautiful. This is what you get see when you drive there from Boulder.

Watching movies

Audrey, at age 3, is getting so she'll watch movies with us now. We recently watched Wall-E and she patiently sat through most of it. Not long ago she could've cared less about animated films or cartoons - she was all about Sesame Street and Barney and couldn't sit for 5 minutes through an adult movie. But I even got her to sit through some of The Firm the other night. We can still forget about the movie theater though - my wife took her to Up! and they walked out minutes after the start because Audrey was scared. Too big a screen I guess. She'll get there.