Fingerknitting

Neither Barb nor I are sure how the idea of fingerknitting came to our attention. Our family is like a tiny solar system. We mostly exist in relation to each other, our planetary bodies swinging around in accordance with Newtonian law, every one influencing the other according to his or her mass and velocity. But occasionally new things transit our orbits, like it or not: asteroids of influence, comets of ideas.

Parents hear this over and over from other parents: "I don't know how she even learned about [the Disney princesses], but all of the sudden she was obsessed!" (It might have to do with the fact that [Disney] pays many very smart people six figure incomes to ensure that your daughter becomes obsessed with [Disney princesses]. And so in that sense the analogy breaks down, as well-paid alien intelligences aren't shooting comets full of biological memes into Sol's system.

Or are they? (cf. the works of Terence McKenna.)

But I digress!

Elizabeth, one way or another, became interested in fingerknitting. I'd never even heard of it. I don't think Barb had, either. It was referenced recently in an episode of Sparkle Stories, the excellent subscription storytelling service to which we've subscribed for a year or two. But I think that was a coincidence, not the originator of the idea.

So after watching with Barb a short instructional video on YouTube, she started knitting, and knocked that ball of yarn out of Knitter's Park. She quickly knit scarves for Joey and Clara (Clara's turned out to be too small, and Clara has a ruff around the neck of her outfit anyway, so Elizabeth gave Clara's to Rusty, who is surprisingly pencil-necked). Today, one day after she started knitting, Elizabeth presented me with a beautifully knitted headband that was big enough to go around the entirety of my noggin, which must have been quite an effort. My head is big around as a blue ribbon mushmellon.

Fingerknitting. The scarf-in-progress is descending from Elizabeth's fingers down the back of her hand. It could potentially go all the way to her elbow, or beyond! 

Joey's jaunty new scarf. Being from the tropics, he was most appreciative.

Elizabeth embracing Joey after he thanked her for his gift. There's a lot of love here.

Kindergarten

Elizabeth started full-day kindergarten over a week ago. She has been doing great with all of the changes, despite a double-whammy of painful urinary tract infection and head cold. She's going to bed earlier, getting up earlier, and having to get out the door on time in the morning. But the biggest change of all is just being away from Mom for six hours per day five days per week. That's huge, but Elizabeth is embracing her new lifestyle. She likes school, for which I am very grateful.

Her best friend Lily and some of her friends from preschool were originally slated to be in her class, but the class got too big and was split into two. Lily and Elizabeth's preschool pals were all moved into the new class. But Elizabeth didn't mind! She sees Lily on the playground at recess, and that's fine. (Barb and I -- and probably Lily's parents -- are kind of glad they were split up. Their friendship and sisterly competitiveness might have proven to be a distraction in the classroom.)

Tonight we went to an open house at the school, and Elizabeth eagerly showed off her seat, her cubby, some of her artwork, and, the things she was most eager to show, the tiny toilet, sink and water fountain. Suzanne was so psyched to see the toilet that she spent 15 minutes on it conducting business while a line formed outside. She didn't care. Suzanne is unflappable.

After the open house, we went to the playground, which was Bedlam: dozens of kids ranging in age from one to probably ten were swinging, sliding, jumping, running, in all directions. Elizabeth strode into the thick of it to show off her much improved skills on the monkey rings. I was proud of her bravery -- the playground was nuts.

I really liked seeing the school. It's an old building with lots of beautiful wainscoting in the halls, and it's bright and cheerful. I only said hello to Mrs. Doss, Elizabeth's teacher (because Elizabeth was dragging me across the room to see something), but she gave a good first impression.

I think it's going to be a good year.

Here's Elizabeth sporting her new haircut and practicing her reading.

Suzanne looking very comfortable in Elizabeth's seat in Mrs. Doss's Room 2. (No wonder she's comfortable: she's still wearing her nightshirt.) 

Elizabeth's portrait of her family. Two things are notable, and might make it worth your while to click on the picture to enlarge it: her drawing is fine-lined and detailed -- no crayons here -- and her family includes not only her sister and parents, and not only Joey, Clara, Oliver and Rusty (the puppets) but Handy and Lefty (Daddy's hands, which are puppets when no puppets are around) and Fingerman (which is just Daddy's first two fingers walking around -- he doesn't talk or have a personality, so I was surprised to see Fingerman included). God only knows what Mrs. Doss thinks. 

Elizabeth's self-portrait.

Suzanne and Tinker-Toes

Bridge Pedal 2013

The prior two or three years were a zoo; a disorganized, dangerous mess of bikes. Despite the efforts of the organizers, this year was no different. Six bridges, 13 miles, and 5000 bikes getting in each other's way.

It was still a lot of fun.

First, a seemingly endless wait to get to the start line. Then, basically walking our bikes three blocks to the Hawthorne Bridge. After that the pace picked up considerably until we hit the regular bottlenecks at steep hills and tight turns where the weaker riders (including the many in the four- to six-year old range) had to dismount.

This was the last year of Elizabeth riding in the Co-Pilot seat on my bike. She's too big, so she pushes me too far forward onto the narrow, uncomfortable part of my saddle.

This was also the last year of Suzanne riding in the Bobike seat on Barb's handlebars. Her knees press against the handlebars, causing discomfort.

Our girls are growing up!

It was nice having some family time with Pat. The girls love him so.

Despite the challenges, we'll do it again next year.

The Quality of Light

Teachers Fountain in Director Park is a fun place for the kids to play, what with the shallow pool and the spurting streams and the giant rock ball that you are not supposed to stand on but everyone does.

It's also a great place for photography. The sunlight reflects off the Fox Tower's glass facade, bathing the park in an uneven and ever-shifting soft, bright glow. Mix that with the wet sheen the fountain provides and you've got some excellent ingredients for unusual portraiture.

Day Three on Long Island

Didn't do a whole lot on this day. Tides in the morning. Rocketship Park in the afternoon. It was hot and humid and we were -- or, at least, I was -- feeling a desire to get back home.

Travel will do that to you.

The girls dug a kiddie pool with Barb. The next day, after the tide had overwhelmed it, it was still there, just a shadow of its former self. Elizabeth and a new friend played around and in it, and the new friend (her name was Cadence, because, why not?) kept calling it a "kitty pool." Cadence was Elizabeth's first playmate on L.I. and it was wonderful for her. She was desperate, at that point, for another kid to play with.

The shell game was in full swing on the beach. There were tons of shells, many of which were bigger and more spiral than Barb remembered from her childhood. Elizabeth amassed a fortune in shells.  Two days later, when it came time to head to the airport, she wanted to carry all of them home in her little backpack. Unfortunately, it made the backpack weigh fifteen pounds. We told her that she could carry the shells, but only if she was committed to it, and that there was no way Mom or Dad would carry the bag for her. The other option was that Grandpa could mail the collection to her. After some soul searching, she wisely decided to let Grandpa send them to her. I'm sure they'll get here any day now.

In case you didn't know, Elizabeth loves Leo. (He's one of her classmates from pre-school.)

This is how I felt; maybe how we all felt: hot, sticky, and tired.

Barb and Suzanne at Rocketship Park.

Day Two on Long Island

Today, Aunt Beverly got out of work early and we all (including Grandpa, of course) went to Atlantis, an aquarium that has really come into its own. We went to the same place maybe three years ago with Elizabeth, and it was kind of rinky-dink, like the newly opened Portland Aquarium. But now, Atlantis has come full flower. It has a hotel and schmancy restaurant attached to it, and it has expanded significantly. I've always liked the place, but now it's earning its exorbitant entry fee.

The weather continued its mercurial pattern. When we were getting ready for lunch, there was some debate about whether to eat indoors or out. We decided on indoors, and watched as a metric ton of water fell from the sky on those outside. But then it cleared up, and we enjoyed the outside exhibits. Then it rained again, as we left.

Suzanne in her signature look: upside-down sunglasses.

Elizabeth, at 5, has mastered the art of the sunglasses.

Atlantis has added a butterfly area (lepidoptary?) and an aviary (see below).

Princess Elizabeth looking at a butterfly in flight. (You can just see a bit of its wing, top left.)

You could pay a buck to get a little cup of birdseed, which guaranteed that you'd have one of these birds sitting in the palm of your hand. Elizabeth was disappointed that we didn't pay the piper, but luckily the birds found Daddy's ball cap top button and watchband extremely alluring. At one point, I had three birds on my hat! When we put the cap on Elizabeth, the birds were all over her.

Just to prove it was really an aquarium: shark!

That afternoon, we went to Tides for a swim. The girls were absolutely thrilled by the tiny waves and the (relatively) warm water. Plus sea shells, sea glass, crabs, sea robins, and that old standby, sand.