Preschool commencement

Annabel's last day of preschool was last Thursday. It looks to have been a festive occasion as you can see from the picture above. She was happy to be able to bring home her cupcake, which she ran to show me when got back from work on Thursday. It's a laminated paper cupcake with "Annabel - July 25th" written on it in black sharpie. I gather each of the kids had one.

Although there were no commencement speakers or caps and gowns, I must say that the milestone was not lost on me. Annabel is growing up quickly. She understands the rules, and she knows how to handle herself in most situations, sometimes in surprising ways.

This last weekend, for example. Kristin was out of town and I had the girls on my own. On Friday night I was surprised to be awakened by the sound of the sink running in the girls bathroom. I got up to investigate and found Annabel there filling her sippy cup up with water from the tap. She had unscrewed the top and set it beside the sink on a small glass shelf.

She looked up as I arrived and saw me standing in the doorway with a surprised look on my face. She explained the situation to me with a shrug.

"I ran out of water." She said.

Feel free to comment

You may not know it but at the bottom of every post there is a link that allows you to add a comment. If more of you posted your comments here instead of giving them to me directly via phone or email, I think it would make for more of a community feeling.

If you are too bashful, you can always post anonymously.

Just FYI.


No pressure.

Birthday Season

We are deep in the throes of the birthday season here. We have had one or two a week for the last few weeks and it looks like it's just heating up. Acrosports seems to be the favorite venue. It's nice because kids can burn off some of their extra energy in a wonderland of kid-oriented gym equipment before they are re-energized with pizza and birthday cake. There are trampolines, trapeze swings, climbing ropes, zip-lines and of course the perennial favorite: The big parachute!

We have had birthdays there back to back for the last few weekends. Since I am completely comfortable with the routine, I volunteered to take the kids to the party there and give Kristin a break. (also, truth be told, I have a soft-spot for the big parachute).

When it was cake time, there was one little girl who couln't have any because her mother doesn't allow her to sugar. I happened to be standing next to the mom and I asked if she has some sort of food allergy.

"No," The mother said "I just don't want to her to have sugar." There was a little indignation in her voice too, as if to say "You mean you don't care if your kids have sugar!?"

Just then one of the other parents who was passing out cake set a piece down in front of the girl. The mom literally swung into action, promptly removing the cake and scolding the parent for being so careless. Needless to say, the little girl was crushed and started crying immediately. Annabel noticed right away and came over to me.

"Why is that girl crying?" she asked.
"Because she can't have any cake." I said.

"Why not?" Annabel Asked.
"Because her mommy doesn't like to her to have sugar, and there is a lot of sugar in cake." I said.

Annabel went back to her seat and ate a few more bites of cake. Then she came back over.

"We need to get a piece of cake to take home for Mommy and Gaby." She said.

"Oh, well I'll bring my piece home and they can share it, I told her."

I don't know exactly what was going on in her mind during those few bites of cake, but I guess it was probably something like "Its sad that that girl can't have cake. I'm glad I can have cake. And then the surprising: Mommy and Gaby would be glad if they can have cake. We should bring them some".

She just has a natural tendency to empathize with people and to imagine their feelings.

Follow up: Last weekend, I had another birthday party. This time, I took Gaby and Annabel stayed with Kristin. As soon as Gaby and I got back, Annabel came running over:

"Did you bring me a piece of cake?!"

Of course it never occurred to me to bring her cake even though I took special note of her empathy the last time.

Clearly, she must get it from her mother...

Those are other books that I made that you can get

Not only is Annabel getting close to reading, but she is also writing. And not just writing her ABCs, as you might expect, but writing complete books.

I wasn't around for the first one, but Kristin says that Annabel came to her and asked for several pieces of paper. She went off and drew pictures on each of the pieces and then she back and said that she had made a book and wanted Kristin to help her put it together. She narrated the words she wanted written on each page and then she punched a hole in the corner and tied it to together with a ribbon.



The back cover is the funniest part. It has 6 little squares on it. Kristin asked her what they were and she said:

"Those are other books that I made that you can get".

She's already learned cross-promotion. I'm so proud.

Since then, she's made several books. I've helped her with a few of them and I can testify that she is very precise about what she wants written. She narrates the text word for word.

Cah Ew Cah EE Es

The big news in Annabel's life is her emerging literacy. She's been getting better with her letters for several months now and Kristin and I both knew that reading was just around the corner.

It's starting to happen now. Yesterday after dinner, Kristin asked "Do you think we should give them some C-O-O-K-I-E-S after dinner?". She spelled out cookies so that you-know-who wouldn't catch on. Annabel immediately jumped in:

"What did you spell?" She asked

Kristin looked over at me. We exchanged amazement and then Kristin said:

"If you can sound it out, I'll tell you" said Kristin.

What followed was an excruciating five minutes that frustrated us as much as it did Annabel as she tried to sound it out letter by letter. Cookies, it turns out, is a rather hard one. Finally, she got to: "Cah" "Ew" "Cah" "EE" "ESS". And with a little help she got the word and everyone had a cookie to celebrate.

For the time being, I think we can still use the tried and true "spell it out" method, but its days are clearly numbered.

An Interview with the Girls

Here are a few minutes of a recent interview I did with the girls. There are a bunch of fun things in there:

First are two of my favorite mispronunciations which might not be around for too much longer, so I'm happy to have them recorded. For Annabel, its "Francescisco" for "San Francisco" and for Gaby its "lellow" for "yellow".

You can also see the big-sister / little-sister dynamic at work with Gaby basically repeating everything that her big sister says.

I also like the distinction that Annabel makes between her "favorite" animal and her "favorite favorite" animal. And then there is Gaby's amazing answer to "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Too big for the fridge

The teachers for Annabel's preschool class are great about sending us weekly pictures of the kids. We always get to see what sorts of activities they are working on. Seeing their facial expressions and the interpersonal dynamics captures on film is always interesting.

This week, they made person-sized candles out of paper and paint for Hanukkah. Call me a crazy deluded parent if you must, but I think Annabel's is the best of the bunch. In case you can't make it out, her's is the mostly regular repeating stripe pattern on the left.

She's very proud of it as well. She brought it home earlier this week and urged us to put it up in a place of honor. We had to go with the pantry door as it is just too big for the fridge....

Mom! I'm standing on the Rock!

This was taken last weekend just after thanksgiving. We went out to Stinson Beach for the day and then up to the top of Mt. Tamalpais to see the sunset. We were watching from the pavement, but Annabel wanted to climb up a little into the trails to get a better view. She found this rock and went right over to it.    At one point, I remember her yelling to Kristin "Mom! I'm standing on the Rock!".

Annabel really enjoyed it.  Shortly after this picture was taken, she took the camera out of my hands and started shooting pictures herself.  I've collected the best of them here.  It's now very safe to say that she loves taking pictures.  Whenever she sees the camera, she is anxious to shoot at least a few.   She took a few at Stinson Beach as well. 

This is the first time we've been there since the oil spill in the bay.  The department of wildlife people were there try to collect and remove all of the oily sand.   I am happy to say that the beach is already pretty clear of visible oil and what is left is a sort of  yellowish and stinky bubble-filled eddy that has formed just outside of the surf.   Hopefully that will go away soon too.

She has had a tummy ache over the last few days and has been very lethargic.  Today she seemed to break through it and was a little happier.  We spent the afternoon at the new house which has the walls stripped down and the doors and fixtures all sitting in the garage. We spent most of the time in the Garden, and Annabel saw a hummingbird there.  I think it was one of these guys. Apparently they are very curious and will often interact with people. This one was flying up about 25 feet over the house, then dive-bombing back down to the patio just about eye level and then flying back up again.  It seemed to be having a blast. We were all very amused.

Slow lapse into a sugar coma

Halloween 2007 was another very fun night at our house. We were a costumed crew of 8 this year with Nanna, Uncle Rick, Annabel's best friend Tess and her mom Luann all joined us.



The girls were fairies. Annabel was "Purple Tinkerbell" and Gaby was "Pink Fairytopia". Tess was a princess. Kristin and I reused our Fire and Ice costumes from last week's Mystery Ball. Nanna was a witch, Luann went as Tippi Hedron from The Birds, and Uncle Rick was a Courtier.

We hit up just about every show on Columbus street and almost all of them had Candy. Gaby was giddy the entire time, electrified at the prospect of free candy. Annabel started out strong, but then started easting candy as she went and slowly lapsed into a sugar coma. By the end of the night, she was walking around in a daze.

We still have Candy left.

The Best Part of Night

Walking back home from dinner tonight a conversation between Annabel and I:

"Do you know what the best part of night is, Daddy?"
"Taking a bath?" I asked.
"No," she said.
"Reading a story?" I asked.
"No," she said.
"Cuddling up with your animals?" I asked.
"No," she said.
"Your Dreams?" asked Kristin.
"No," she said.
"We give up."
"It's the black sky!" She said, looking up. "And all the stars and twinkling dots."
"That is a good part." I said.
"Daddy?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"Look at that red star! Thats unusual!" she said.
"Oh, thats not a star. Thats a red light on top of a tower right here in San Francisco" I explained.

She thought about it for a second.

"I think its a red star." She said.


This photo is from a restaurant in Des Moines called "Teacups and Tiarras". I did not attend the luncheon, but apparently you get to pick a hat before sitting down. Some nice choices!

This year she wants to go as a fairy. Surprise!

My apologies to the faithful who have been checking this page over the last few months and finding nothing new. I'll try to post more regularly.

It's been a fun and busy few months for Annabel. Some things haven't changed a bit: Her favorite past time remains dressing up as a princess and living the fabulous life. Yesterday, for example she wanted to wear a hat to school so that she looked good for her morning tea party with her friends. Today she dressed up as princess Cleopatra, whom she discovered on a recent episode of her new favorite TV show, the Backyardigans.

She is also looking forward to Halloween. This year she wants to go as a fairy. Surprise!

In some other areas, she is progressing noticeably. She is getting more and more comfortable with technology, for example. She now regularly requests computer games as a leisure activity and sometimes prefers them to television. She can write and type her name and she often asks to borrow my cellphone to take a pictures. When we were lost in the car last week driving around downtown Des Moines, she even offered from the backseat "We can google the map on your iphone, Daddy." (I am not kidding!)

Kristin and I have been looking at schools for her over the last few weeks, and it's been an eye opening experience. So far, we've only been to three schools. They generally speak a bit about the philosophy and then introduce you to the 8th grade class as if to show the finished product. It's incredible how much the 8th graders seem like such adult and how different the schools are from each other.

It certainly makes the school decision seem absolutely huge! We've been having a look at some of the research on public vs. private and on single sex vs. coed. And as if thats not enough to think about, Annabel's birthday happens to be only one week before the cutoff for the 2008 class, so if we send her next year she will be one of the youngest in the class, and if we wait, she will be one of the oldest. Stay tuned for more on this.

Last weekend, she and Gaby were flower girls in their aunt Heather's wedding. They both loved it, but it really made an impression on Annabel. The picture above is from the wedding as are several of the ones below.





This one is from an Iowa Pumpkin Patch.

Firefly Hunting, Felix and Gelix

We've spent the last 10 days visiting Kristin's family in Iowa. Before going, Kristin had mentioned to Annabel that we would see fireflies when we went. We even got this book which talks about making firefly lanterns by catching fireflies and putting them in a jar.

In fact, it turns out that the fireflies here aren't as plentiful as they were when Kristin was growing up and it was hard to find them. About half way through the trip we still hadn't seen any. Then, on the way to the car one evening after dinner, Annabel pointed across the street and yelled out "Fireflies! I see them!" and sure enough there were a bunch of fireflies there glowing away. It's amazing that she was the first to see them, particularly given that she had only heard about them through stories. I'll bet she had been on the lookout every second we were outside at night since the trip began. Needless to say she was delighted.

Then today, she picked up an empty water bottle and asked if we could go to the backyard to collect bugs. She's wanted to look for bugs in the past, but this was the first collection request. I obliged and although the selection was meager, we did manage to coax a few ants into the bottle with the help of a green magic marker.

Annabel of course named them right away (Felix and Gelix) and made sure that I poked holes for air and that we had some food for them "in case they get hungry". She suggested chocolate chip cookies, which she was sure they would like. Here's a picture of her with her first pets.

Four!

Annabel had her fourth birthday party today at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Marin. The morning started out a bit foggy but cleared up quickly and turned into a beautiful day. There were about fifteen kids and 20 adults or so and it was a great time all around.

The princess obsession continues, with a princess cake, many princess themed gifts and a several guests arriving in royal attire. Annabel spent the first part of the morning out in the playground area digging for buried treasure. They have some cool caves and shipwreck scenes at the museum, and Annabel was fully embraced the treasure hunter role. ("Daddy, we need to find the X! That's where the treasure is!"). She then moved inside where she socialized with her friends and ate popcorn at an alarming rate, sometimes literally pushing it into her mouth with both hands. Picture below :)

Kristin and the girls made cupcakes last night to serve in addition to the princess cake, but we inadvertently left them at home in the craziness that led up to the party. At first Annabel was disappointed until she realized just how many cupcakes are now sitting in the kitchen just waiting to be eaten.

The first present that she opened was a Wonder Woman costume which she put on immediately. I asked her to give me a "super hero" look for the photo which is so hysterical that I had to include it below.

Ice cream at age 4

I was just looking through videos from our recent trip to the Monterey aquarium, and found this one of Annabel ordering ice cream.

This shows the incredible kinetic energy that she gives off when she is excited.

She also has a shimmy move that goes along with this hopping technique. No shimmy in this video unfortunately.

helping little gaby

This was a first for me. Annabel was telling her little sister tht the wedding they were to attend was going to be fun. She was really acting like a big big sister. very cute.

I floated there!

 

Annabel has recently created the character of "her lion".

It started with a phrase that she heard in school where they check hunger levels by asking "Who has a roaring lion in their tummy?"

Annabel started to use that expression at home when she was hungry. It would go something like:

"Mommy, I think my lion is roaring!"

More recently though, the lion has started to take on some invisible friend traits. She didn't think that she should have to clean the living room, for example, since it was her lion that scattered the stuffed animals.

The twist that I really like is that the lion actually lives inside of her. In fact yesterday, she opened her mouth up and asked if I could see her lion's eyes in there. Scary!

She has a very vivid imagination. Tonight for example, she was carrying around a little purple suede pouch full of fake "precious jewels". I hadn't seen it before and I asked her where she got it. This is basically how the exchange went as close to word for word as I can remember.

"Where did you get those jewels" I asked, making the jewels sound precious.

"I got this at the end of the rainbow, daddy". She said happily

"The end of the rainbow?" I asked, thinking maybe that was the name of a store or something.

"Yeah!" She said with a tone that suggested a great adventure.

"Where did you really get it?" I asked.

"At the end of the rainbow. I floated there!" She said, emphasizing the magic of floating.

"Wow, you floated there on the air?" I ask, going along with it.

"No, silly! On a leaf." She said, acting as though it should have been obvious.

"Wow, a leaf!" I said.

"And do you know what I saw?" She asked, coaxing me into the story.

"No, what?" I ask, taking the bait.

"A little birdie," she said.

"Wow, and what did he say?" I ask now fascinated to hear where this is going.

"He whispered to me: THE RAINBOW IS OVER THERE," She whispered.

"Wow, thats a good story!" I said.

"Yeah!" She said.

Okay, Ten. But Just This Once

Although Annabel does know her numbers, I've noticed her make some math mistakes in her daily life. My favorite example is her recent reply to Kristin's "It's time for bed" routine.

"Just fifteen more minutes, and then it's night-night time" says Kristin
"No Mommy!" Says Annabel "Ten more minutes!"

Kristin looks over to me, smiles and says:

"Okay, ten. But just this once!"

eeny meeny mino moe has set her free.

 

Annabel has recently discovered the joy of Eeny Meeny Miney Moe

I introduced the concept last week when I used it to break a tie between she and her sister when neither wanted to get out of the tub. It seemed like an objective way to decide.

Annabel made me do it again and a again to see if it would come up with the same answer. I didn't realize that she was testing for consistency until I noticed her surprise when it had her getting out of the tub even though it had chosen Gaby the last time.

Since then she has used it many times to help her make choices about what to eat, what to wear, even what to watch on TV. For Annabel, these choices have historically proven very difficult and can often lead to tears and once in a wile even a good old fashioned melt-down. But now, eeny meeny mino moe has set her free.

It's really funny to watch her actually apply the technique. She will saw the words and move her finger back and forth between the things, but the finger has nothing to do with the words. At the end she will just point at whatever she has chosen and say "Moe!"

We also went to her ballet class this week (it was parent's day, which only happens once a month). And I've posted a video below which I think is hysterical. Notice especially the voice of the teacher in the background. At one point, Annabel puts her toes together and you can actually hear the teacher saying "KissyToes!".

As Fun As The Ten Plagues Are...

Last week we had two passover seders and three (yes, three) separate Easter egg hunts. Annabel threw herself into it with a passion. I think it's safe to say that Annabel just naturally appreciates the fun of dressing up and going to parties. She enjoyed both celebrations, but I must say that Easter has the edge with Annabel. As fun as the ten plagues are, they really pale in comparison to the idea of finding eggs full of candy hidden by a mysterious giant bunny. (although I am proud to report that Annabel was singing Dayenu in the backseat of the car on the way home from one of the passover seders).

Of course this is the same person who told me last year that she wanted to be an Egg Hunter when she grows up. This year she was very focused during the egg hunts. I watched her reaching for an egg that was just outside of her grasp in the low branches of a tree. Other kids were there going for it as well. She ran around to the other side of the tree and on her very tiptoes managed to just reach it with her fingertips which rolled it off the tree and into her basket. She was so proud, she mentioned it several times later in the day.

"Daddy, remember the yellow egg in the tree? I tried hard and I got it!"

Inside, We Have Bones

We have a sick goldfish. It's lost most of its energy and color and it spends the day at the bottom of the tank not doing much. Apparently it has a disease called dropsy, which is usually fatal.

Annabel noticed that it wasn't acting itself lately and asked about it last Sunday afternoon. Kristin and I were both there.

"The fish is sick" said Kristin
"Is he going to be okay, Daddy?" Asked Annabel
"I hope so sweety, but he's very sick and he'll probably die" I said, not knowing how else to put it.

Annabel though about it for a second.

"We aren't going to die are we?"
Kristin came to the rescue here.
"Not yet" She said, "Now its time for your bath, lets go."

Annabel stood for another second thinking.

"Inside, we have bones." She said.