Thursday, November 22, 2012

Elizabeth House


I can't even keep up with this girl any longer. This is her latest art. Yep, a 4-year-old had the patience and skill to glue walls upright and even attach a mirror (that's the yellow oval) to her house's interior.

She's rocketing beyond me already.

Dang!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Super Reader Suzanne

Suzanne is better at entertaining herself than Elizabeth -- because she has to be, with an older sister who demands a lot of attention.
 
One thing she likes to do is pick up a book and "read." She leafs through the book and chatters a story that probably makes perfect sense to anyone to whom it is intelligible (which at this point is just Suzanne)  Which isn't to say that she doesn't speak clearly and command a large vocabulary. She does. It's just that her reading isn't quite as understandable as her speech.

Is there something wrong with this picture?

Not at all!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Surrey With a Fringe


After years of thinking about it, we finally went down to the waterfront and rented the four-wheeled pedal car they call a surrey. It was twenty bucks for an hour, and well worth it. The thing was exciting and fun to drive (breaking on a downhill gave an especial thrill!), and the kids liked being up front to enjoy the view.

I felt like a tourist in my own town.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

The Children's Museum

The Wheeler-Kay-Cohens recommended the Chagall installation at the Children's Museum, so we we went for it. It was definitely worth the trip. The museum is always cool, but with the addition of Chagall, it was better yet. (I'll take Marc Chagall over Clifford the Big Red Dog nine days out of ten.) The best part of the interactive painting exhibit was the simplest: painting! Elizabeth straddled the straddling easel and busted out an awesome tree painting. Daddy and Suzanne collaborated on an abstract piece in brown, purple, and blue.

Elizabeth painting, Chagall-style. Tell me that's not awesome!

Suzanne loved the water current table. One could put in the blue or yellow barriers to direct the flow of the stream, then loose an armada of ducks. It was surprising and super fun. Designed correctly, the stream would send ducks around crazy corners, send them upstream, avoid backwaters, and all sorts of other interesting hydrodynamic peculiarities.

Admiral Suzanne.

Elizabeth exploring the twilight area, playing with translucent Lego blocks on a light table.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Layla's Birthday

We got to Layla's party just in time for Elizabeth to participate in the organized activities. In this picture the kids are learning the rules from the "coach" at the Playground Gym.






Saturday, November 3, 2012

We love worms!


Kids Table

I love the kids table!  Especially when it's full of friends.


Hard at Work, Playing

Elizabeth works very hard at drawing, and is getting better all the time. She did this picture today as a gift for our visitors Joshi and Billi and Jennifer. It shows Joshi and Elizabeth with Billi standing on their heads. Suzanne stands to the side.

Her focus on drawing is also nice for me and Barb, because (sometimes, but not always) she'll spend fifteen or twenty minutes absorbed by her work, which gives us a chance to do other things.

Last Gasp of Summer

Sunset the first night.   It's been a good summer, but certainly more constrained than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic...