Saturday, March 24, 2007

Boarded up.

"I took off the door," George said, "to make it look older."

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

How many times do I have to tell you?

Dean and I were just clearing the table when George brought Charlotte out to the dining room.

"I made her a collar," he said, "but I think it's too tight."

He had tied a string from the lacing set around her neck. She was turning red.

Dean tackled the knot; I ran for scissors. She's fine.

But still.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Public speaking

George has joined Cloverbuds this year -- it's 4H for 5-8 year olds. We meet once a month, and many of the members are kids he has known since infancy. He likes it a lot.

February's program was public speaking. Each kid was supposed to prepare a 3-5 minute talk on a subject of their choosing. George didn't really want to think about this until a few days ahead of time, but decided that he would talk about knights and armor. "Just the basic stuff," he told me. "Nothing too confusing."

He did not want to bring props, or plan his talk, or practice, or do much of anything to prepare -- not too surprising for a five year old with no experience in public speaking.

He was very excited the night of the meeting. It was hard for him to wait for his turn.

Here's Maya talking about her bettas.

Thea showed us how to tie a shoelace.

Katelynn talked about her favorite movie.

Alex talked about her dog -- but brought a picture instead of the real thing since Lily is so big.

And here's George deciding that he wasn't quite ready, after all.

Happy Birthday to me!


Here we are at the Omniplex, in front of one of my favorite exhibits. Called the Gravitram 2, it's a machine, or an art project, or a scientific model, or something. Steel balls roll through tubes, flipping switches along the way, then head back up to the top for a different ride down. It's mesmerizing.

We had a great time there. It's a hands-on science museum with lots of very interesting, poorly maintained exhibits. Most of what we like best was working pretty well, although I wish they'd add more sand to the sand pendulum and the Chladni bells. $3 a bag at Home Depot, guys, and while you're there you could pick up some light bulbs for the black light mineral display. There is a neat new treehouse/playground/ simple machine area demonstrating levers and pulleys and swings along with lots of fun places to play. It is almost perfect (note to person who put the block area right by the catapult: BAD IDEA) and Charlotte could have spent all afternoon there.

I am wearing the shirt the kids and Dean made for me. On the front is a happy person by a yarn shop. On the back are a lot of lovely dinosaurs. I love it. (George draws me lots of yarn and yarn shops now. I find it interesting that he always draws round balls of yarn and single pointed needles, although I always use flat cakes of yarn and double points.)

There's no picture of my birthday cake, only video, but it was another Kid Creation. Dean managed to limit the quantity of sprinkles to something we're willing to eat, and the cake itself is yummy.

It was a fun weekend. I can't quite believe I'm 45, but I'll keep having birthdays if we can have this much fun celebrating them!