Zac's workplace and Pullen Park

On Sunday morning, we all piled in the van and headed towards Pullen Park. Since the kids' daycare was on the way, we pulled in just to show Cam the building, even although it was closed and empty. As soon as we pulled in the parking lot, Simon's face crumpled and he kept saying, "I don't want to go here!" He must have felt like we had tricked him by saying we were going to Pullen Park and were instead going to drop him off at school. We had to get back on the road quickly because he was in tears.

The next stop was Zac's office building, which Simon tolerated, although he kept reminding us we should go to Pullen Park. Zac showed everyone his office and the lab that he helps keep running.

Then, we finally got to Pullen Park and Alice headed right for the tire swing, where she again made some new friends. Simon was still feeling sick and didn't want to do anything, not even swing, so we just sat on a bench and watched the train go around the park.

Simon didn't even want to go on a boat ride, despite Boats Float! being his favorite book right now. But Alice was undeterred and went on to navigate the high seas without her first mate.

Simon did want to go on the carousel, at least.

After the carousel, we started to go around the pond and Alice asked, as she always does, to go on the paddle boats. She's been asking to do this for at least a year and I always said no because it was too hot, or Simon was too little, or Alice was too wiggly. But when she asked today and I tried to say no, she used her lawyerly skills and made a good case. She said it was not too hot and and Simon was big enough and she could sit still. (As it turns out, she was only right about only two of the three things.) So I agreed that today was the perfect day for a paddle boat ride.  The only problem was that only four people were allowed on the boat, so Zac and Cam took the kids while I followed along the shore and documented the journey around the pond. Simon did a great job sitting still and only got whiny for a minute or two in the middle. Alice, meanwhile, could not sit still and kept climbing from the front to the back and twisting all around.

That night, we sadly dropped Grandma Cam back off at the airport after a great visit.

Paleo Paluza with Grandma Cam

On Saturday, the science museum was having their annual Paleo Paluza (formerly known as the fossil fair).  Simon was pretty sick and fussy, so I stayed home with him while Zac, Cam and Alice went downtown to the science museum.

Selfie with a sick Simon

From the looks of things, they had a great time exploring the museum and all the special booths that were set up.

In the afternoon, Cam made a big pot of chicken and dumplings (because Simon loved it when we were at her house before.) We had a good supper while I was regaled with tales from the science museum.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Simon, side 1

On Friday morning, we had parent-teacher conferences at the kids' daycare. We had Simon's conference first, and the teachers had nothing but kind things to say about him. One funny story was that apparently they taught Simon to shout, "Mine!" when another kid grabs something from him. Perhaps its a feature of being a second child that he was a little more passive. I do remember when he started screaming at Alice "That's mine! I want it!" when she would grab something from him, but hadn't realized that they taught or encouraged him to do that. This is why I think daycare is really good, because the kids pick up on stuff (mostly good) that we wouldn't necessarily think to teach them.

Simon, side 2

I'm always skeptical of all the praise for the kid though, because we're paying them, and what parents would send their child to a school where the teachers criticized their kid? I always think a big part of their training is probably how to always say things in a positive way, so as to never offend any parents. One awkward thing is that I always want to know how Simon compares to other children. Not in a competitive sort of way, but just to have a reference point. We can only compare him to Alice, but she wasn't exactly normal, so it's hard to get a sense of his development. Simon is still in the room one step up from the baby room, and he's the oldest in the class now, so we hope he'll move up to the next room soon, so he can start to learn some new things.

After Simon's conference, we had to wait in the hall for a few minutes before Alice's conference. We were chatting with Ms. Georgiana, the head of the school, and she was saying how she thinks Simon is smarter than Alice because he's the only kid in the school who can pronounce her name correctly. She also said that when Alice moved up to the big class, she had told the teachers that Alice was handful, but that they would love her. It is so nice to feel like the teachers really appreciate the qualities of our kids and know them so well.

Alice, side 1

With that in mind, we went to meet with Alice's teachers. They said she was learning to read and progressing very well. Then they started to scare us, by saying how bored she would be in Kindergarten, because she would already know how to read by then, and that it might lead to behavior problems. I hadn't really started the process of looking into Kindergarten's yet, so this was a big wake-up call, that it's really just right around the corner.

Alice, side 2

They had a few other stories to share. They wanted us to know that Alice tells them everything. This does worry me, because she is not always accurate (case in point: the other day, she ran and tattled to Zac that I had called her "poopy girl" when in fact I had called her "monkey girl"). Since we often know the truth and see how she misrepresents it, it makes me worry what people think when I'm not there to tell the real story. They seemed to want to share a particular story that bothered them. They said that one day at lunch, Alice had announced, "My mommy told me only three people can touch my vagina: myself, my doctor, and my mommy!" The teachers were mortified that she was talking about this at the table and that other kids were then asking what a vagina was. While I agree it was poor timing on Alice's part, I'm not going to refrain from teaching her important things like that just out of fear that she'll bring it up at lunch. Besides, I was actually proud that she had gotten it right. In my mind, I also had a brief flashback to my time in Namibia working with the HIV/AIDS club to create "peer educators." I could totally see Alice doing that. 

Her teachers had another, less embarrassing, story to share. Apparently, one day Alice was not trying her hardest at her work (Exhibit A) and so Ms. Marta, in a moment of creative genius, just gently took Alice by the hand and took her down to spend some time in the baby room. The message was that if she didn't want to do work, that was the room for her.

Ms. Marta said Alice understood the lesson, and the next day worked much harder (Exhibit B). I like that they really understand Alice, and that she almost always responds to a lesson, if you can figure out how to get her to understand. I just hope her Kindergarten teacher is good at figuring out how to deal with Alice!

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Grandma Cam's Visit

Zac and the kids picked up Grandma Cam up at the airport on Wednesday night.  The kids' daycare was closed Friday, so it seemed like a good time for a four-day visit. The kids warmed up right away, and she did a great job taking care of them all day Thursday and Friday while we were at work. She took them to the neighborhood park on both days.

Alice's drawing of Zac

Slow Motion Rainbow Twirls

Zac made this cool slow-motion video of Alice playing with her rainbow ribbon. It's always fun in these slow-motion videos to see how happy she is.

Tap Shoes

One day, I showed Alice a video of a tap dancer. Then, she somehow remembered that she had a pair of hand-me-down tap shoes that were too big up in the attic. I thought they might fit by now, so I went up and rummaged through a shoe bag and found them. Alice was beyond delighted. She tapped all over our kitchen floor.

Unfortunately for her and luckily for us, although the shoes are numerically the right size, they were actually a tad too small and pinched her feet, giving her blisters. Here she is on day two, tapping by holding her heels out of the shoes so they don't hurt her feet.

By day three, she was pretty much done. I was secretly happy that the shoes did not have a long life span.

Fall train ride

We made our second annual visit to the New Hope Valley Railway, located about 25 minutes away. We invited Grayson's family to join us, and the kids had a lot of fun together, as always. We got there early and had some time to walk on the railroad tracks and watch the miniature trains, before taking our own train ride.

Alice and Simon check out the G-scale trains

Simon checks out the life-size trains

Alice, Simon, and some other random kid make music with the hardware Alice found next to the tracks

Simon loved watching the steam engine couple to the passenger cars

Literacy at the library

I took Alice with me to the library on this rainy morning, and they had some teenagers volunteering at a table doing little literacy lessons with kids. Alice had a lot of fun making words with the magnets on a cookie sheet. I was still browsing for books, so I'm not sure how much help she had with these words.

Playing with princesses

How Alice plays with the princesses:

 How Simon plays with the princesses:

Synchronized bouncing

Simon figured out a new way to bounce on the couch, and has been practicing his new trick for a couple of days.

Banana cutting work

One of Alice's new favorite activities is using a butter knife to dice a banana. She calls it "making banana soup" and she puts all the bits in a bowl and then eats it with a spoon. Basically, it's a good way to let her practice some knife skills without too much risk of injury. And it keeps her busy for nearly ten minutes.