Trendy Guy

Zane loves putting things on his head. He's quick to grab a hat on the way out the door.

Spunky

*I'm grateful she knows what to do with her time when I need just a little more sleep. :)
**A very sweet friend calls her spunky. She is.

So among the variety of things I do, I write activities to teach 5th and 6th grade students literacy skills. Of course one of those skills is comparing characters, so naturally I tend to think about my children in similar ways -- comparing their character traits to those in stories written long ago and those in recent years -- that whole silly analyzing thing I like to do. For fun.

Last week I brought up more books from the basement that were passed down through my siblings to me. As I was flipping through one of them, I caught a glimpse of the title The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. For just a split second I started to think about how maybe Vanessa has some similarities to Tom. I quickly left the thought due to some random request for something like lunch. :) While playing with friends this week, while Vanessa was skipping from one adventure to the next and coming back to drag her friends along, a comment was made "Vanessa reminds me of Tom Sawyer." I replied "Yeah. Yeah. I get what you mean."

Vanessa is Vanessa. That's for sure. I like making connections and relating things, so it's fun to think Vanessa might share some similar adventurous qualities.  I admit that some potential adventures for today's child are more concerning to me than ones I faced as a child . . . so lots of extra prayers are requested!!

A funny tale: Vanessa likes to play and hide-and-seek, in case you haven't figured that out. :) The requests are so often that we have to decline some. Tonight, before getting to work, Vanessa asked to play a quick game. I told her I'd like to do something else. A few minutes later she came back to me and asked "Do you want to play a game where a person or thing gets lost and I need to come find you?"
I replied "That sounds a lot like hide-and-seek. Is it?"
"No. There's no counting for this game, but I'll wait in the other room while you get lost. And then I'll come find you."
Zane was confused -- he still hid his eyes and counted. :) 

Happy Birthday, Tucker! (And Sweet Thoughts of Celia!)

 

~

Happy Birthday, Luke!!

"Va-Ba!"

"Va-Ba!!!!" (sometimes "Da-Ba") is what Zane yells for Vanessa. He hardly ever says it softly -- it almost always echoes through the house. He yells for her when she's upstairs in her room. He yells for her when she's not home. He yells for her when she's in the bath. He yells for her to play. He yells for her during a game of hide-and-seek.

There are many words to describe Vanessa's high energy and acute thinking, but I think Zane has really nailed it with "Va-Ba!!!!"