Monday, November 3, 2014

September 2014

Social butterflies
—Lawson the BFF: Thanks to my new fitness blogging gig, Lukas and I are at AVAC several mornings a week, which means we see a lot more of Annika’s friend Niamh’s younger brother Lawson (because that’s where their mom works out too). Lawson is nearly a year older than Lukas, but the two of them get along like a house afire — every time I see them, they’re bombing around like maniacs, jumping off of stuff, flying “Iwon Man” around, etc. Lukas loves to go to the “new, new gym” to see “Wawson,” which is just the cutest thing ever! 
—Epic weekend: Other people have jam-packed weekends all the time, but we always prefer not to … but sometimes, a jam-packed weekend happens anyway. One this month started on Friday afternoon with a playdate with Cayli (her pal from last year, who is now her best friend in Mrs. Casey’s class), transitioning into an evening with the cousins (while Aunt A. & Uncle P. were on a date night), in which most of the time was dedicated to poetry and songs about farts. The next day, we took a family trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk; we got there earlier than last time, and had the place practically to ourselves for awhile — the kids just rode rides nonstop, and Annika even went on the kiddie roller coaster with me (which she found terrifying but said she wanted to do again next time). Then on Sunday, we went to the Almaden Art and Wine Festival, walking over to the park with the jogging stroller nice and early. Annika & Lukas both went nuts in the bouncy houses — ever braver about the bigger, taller slides and such — and Lukas spent about an hour at the Little Gym area (with gymnastics equipment, springboards, wedges, balance beams, etc.). I’ll be getting him into a Little Gym class as soon as he’s old enough to do it without my participation (after his birthday). Afterward, we went home, had lunch, and spent the rest of the day in the pool — a relaxing end to a nonstop weekend.
—Jason’s party: Annika’s friend Jason Lee invited her to his birthday party, which was at a wall-climbing facility in downtown San Jose. I thought she might like climbing, and she was pretty keen to try it, but when her turn came, she got about three feet up the wall, and declared herself done. She didn’t like the “height,” and I think it was also a little harder than she thought it would be to find the toeholds; even though she was in harness with an experienced belayer, she didn’t feel stable. Some of the kids were the same, but some just scampered to the ceiling (e.g. Vilma — it was nuts!). Annika tried again, this time getting about 18 inches up the wall before calling it for good. I was proud of her for trying it that second time, even though it terrified her, and for knowing when she had reached her limit — that takes guts, too! She spent the rest of the time running around the place with her buddies, so it ended up being a fun time anyway.
—Fall break week: At the end of the month, school was out for a week. We had no plans to go anywhere, so we did a mix of fun, local things: A group playdate at Alana's (us, Vilma’s fam, and Alana’s), to which Annika brought a set of SpyPhones, customized for each kid; a family trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which both kids LOVED (and which ended in them getting souvenirs: a shark truck for Lukas and a giant plush hammerhead shark — soon named Emily — for Annika; her little buddy Brianna's birthday party, a Friday-evening drop-off affair which Lukas pretty much crashed for the first 15 minutes (the little brother is a pal of his from school pick-up; they both like Yo Gabba Gabba!, Spider-Man, and cars of all kinds). 
School and extracurriculars
—Mad Science: Annika wanted to do this after-school thing called Mad Science, especially because the current 8-week class is NASA-branded and space themed. They’re learning about planets, stars, space travel, rockets, space stations, the whole bit, and Annika loves it! That’s my little explorer/engineer!
—Piano: Another after-school class, in which an outfit called Joyful Melodies brings a bunch of keyboards and teaches a group piano lesson. She wanted to do it, so we signed her up — and then found out both Vilma and Niamh are in it, too! This is great all around — I’m not sure how much piano she’s learning (most of her stories tend to involve the antics of a 4th-grader named Victor), but she loves it, and it’s on Tuesdays so I don’t have that weird early-release thing to contend with (she walks over to the classroom it’s in with Vilma, making her pick-up time the usual 3:00), plus Lukas gets to play with “Wawson" and Vaatu while we wait for class to end.
—One rainy day: The three-year drought continues, but one glorious day, it rained — and the kids both ran around acting like my friend April Marks (from Daly City) did during that first snow our freshman year at Columbia — yelling, laughing, shrieking, singing little made-up songs … all the kids at Annika’s school were doing the same, busting out their umbrellas and their rain boots (LOL) for the slightly-more-than-a-drizzle rain.
—Volunteering in her class: I signed up to volunteer in Annika’s class, and since there were so many people who wanted to do it, I am assigned to every other Monday morning. I put Lukas in KidsPark, this drop-in daycare place near the mall (recommended by several friends who’d used it), then went to school with her. Volunteering in Mr. Ford’s class was like trying to keep the train from going off the tracks over the ravine, but Mrs. Casey is another thing altogether — she has a list (printed!) of what do to, and whom to call to the back to work on what, and little examples set out … it was organized and efficient and amazing, an altogether pleasant and productive experience. I love to be in there and get to observe the way the class is run, and what they’re learning — and Annika is WORLDS better about letting me go when I need to go; I think this is the biggest difference. She likes to be there, so she’s not so upset when I’m not there. It is awesome, to know how much better she feels.
—Summer’s end: Though the days are still blazing, blistering hot, the nights are getting cool, and it’s taking longer and becoming more expensive to heat the pool. So the weekend of the 26th & 27th was the last pool weekend of the year. We swam and swam, then pulled all the pool toys out, rolled up the rugs, and bid the season a fond farewell.
—What’s Annika Reading: Right now, she is obsessed with these Thea Stilton books; titles like “The Secret of the Snow” are about this group of … mice, I think? that go on implausible adventures. The text is sprinkled with font and color changes for emphasis, and frankly they seem kind of … insubstantial, but she likes them and so does Vilma, so they’re staying.
Medical Matters
—Allergist visit: Since it’s been nearly two years since Lukas got his allergy diagnosis, I took him in to see if anything had changed; we’ve been feeding him bread that has milk in it (they said baked milk could help him get over it), and although I’ve kept him from straight-up eating egg or milk products, I’ve been MUCH less careful about casual contact, and he hasn’t had any real reactions in a long time — maybe a welt or two, several minutes after contact, which would fade on its own without the help of Benadryl. So I was expecting to find that he was less allergic now. But … the welts from the skin test were actually bigger this time. Booo! The doc said it might be because his immune system is stronger and fights harder, so I’m gonna believe that for now, and keep increasing his exposure just a little at a time, since he really does seem to be losing his sensitivity.
—Dentist: We went to the kids’ dentist again, and both kids are cavity-free, yay! He did say that we would probably look into orthodonture for Annika in about a year; nothing crazy is happening, but he said that there is some crowding, and that if we do it in two phases, we can actually help shape her mouth as she grows, and the results would be better and more permanent. 
TV Time & Other Entertainments
Peppa Pig:
Step aside, Dora, pups, et. al. — Peppa Pig is here! Also here: her little brother George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig, plus a cast of characters including Susie Sheep, Zoe Zebra, Rebecca Rabbit, Ellie Elephant, Pedro Pony, etc. It is this hilarious British animated show for kids, featuring short little vignettes about things like jumping in muddy puddles, going on a picnic with the family, having International Day at school, etc. It really is cute, and what’s even cuter is the Britishisms (or just pronunciations) that both of the kids (especially Lukas) have picked up — hearing him say “Yes, please!” or “I just love playing caahhs!” or either of them saying “Ready, steady, go!” with British accents is just hysterical. The Pig family giggle a lot together — contagious!
—America’s Got Talent (aka to Lukas, Merican Tawent) and The Voice: Daddy and the kids love to watch these shows together! I could take or leave them, especially The Voice, but the three of them could watch all day long.
—Another homemade tech toy: Annika, annoyed that her cousins have those little handheld game consoles and she doesn’t (“IT’S NOT FAIR!”), just made her own out of cardboard, with a taped-together hinge and an attached “stylist” (stylus) for verisimilitude. She “plays” it sometimes, shushing us as if it’s real and she's going to miss a sound effect.
—Sailing the cardboard seas, riding on a mythical beast: Inspired by a Dora and Friends episode, Annika (with Daddy’s and my help) spent a couple of weekends building a pirate ship out of cardboard — it’s huge, it has a mast and a sail (which she colored), there are portholes and an anchor … amazing. The two kids spend at least part of nearly every afternoon fighting over who gets to be in it, so — successful build. She also made her own stick unicorn out of a wrapping-paper roll and some carefully shaped and taped paper with an embroidery thread mane. 

The Quotable Lukas
—“ac-tu-awwy …"
Him about to correct you or explain something
—“ka-zert" = dessert
—“I was bewy nice to dat one kid,” he tells me, of his experience at the “new, new gym” (AVAC).
—“speed bumper” = his term for speed bump

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