Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Elephant in the Pool

Unlike last year's bloody battle between Beco's mom and aunt, we were treated to him putting on an incredible show of playing in the pool. This was a special highlight to our already special trip to the zoo.
As we walked up, Beco was playing ball in the yard. Before walking off, we noticed he was taking the ball to the pool. It was as if he knew we wanted to see his tricks. He even splashed us! We watched for a while -- Vanessa finally settled and was intrigued. Zane watched as much as one can expect a toddler to watch.

Zane said, while creating this post, "Mommy, I want go back to zoo see what Beco is doing."

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Tenacity

At the end of June, Vanessa found her way to the top.

Friday, July 26, 2013

Summer School

Composition
Math
Natural Sciences
Lunchtime
Numismatics (This is one of my favorites this session -- Vanessa initiated this activity by opening a restaurant -- she created a sign and an impressive menu, showing the items for sale and their price in cents and dollars.)

Physics
Library
Performing Arts
 Home Economics

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Awakened

The break from our sultry summer days leaves me feeling awakened. Autumnal days like these urge me to seek seclusion with my beloved and little ones. Since I can't always have it all, I snatch up what I can.
Tonight I snuggled up with this little guy to coerce him to sleep. Before drifting off, he kissed me multiple times and repeated softly, "Sweet dreams, Mama. I love you."  And they are, at least most of the time.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Ride and Tie

So I had this plan. When schedules allowed, I was going to provide Vanessa with an incentive to tie her shoes independently all of the time. We could practice on her new shoes, and when she got it down, she could begin wearing her new shoes anytime. Well, I woke one morning and mentioned to Vanessa our plan to practice. While I was cleaning the kitchen after breakfast and art, Vanessa ran downstairs to show me she could already tie her shoes -- her old shoes! So much for practicing. She did well, although she will get frustrated if you ask her to tie them too many times in a row. :-) I was so impressed that she insisted I email Daddy at work to tell him.
Then, we had a plan for taking her training wheels off of her bike. We put off the task until she would be able to work with her master teacher, Daddy. So when school let out for summer break, we told her once Daddy came back from Canada, we would practice. Finally, this week, we took her to the school playground, where there is a huge area of asphalt. I questioned whether I should take the camera . . . but I anticipated our already exhausted little girl to melt under her own pressure and frustration, so the camera should not be needed until at least the next attempt.  Who was I kidding?! Daddy took off the training wheels, gave her some guidance, and helped her stay upright to ride off. Within in a few minutes, the girl was riding long distances and turning circles left and right.
Of course we were proud of Zane too -- riding through the grass, trying really hard to go uphill, and for delivering water on the back of his trike.