5 years, 2 months/3 years.

Party time!  The top 5 pictures are from our neighbor Gabi.

































Connor had a great time at his party, which involved lots of kids running around and making a huge mess in our apartment, and then attacking Connor's piñata.  Will narrowly escaped getting hit by the baseball bat, and Graham KO'd the piñata.  Thank you Nana and Aunt Emily for coming and helping with another massive clean-up effort!

5 years, 2 months/3 years.

Kite-flying zen after a morning of birthday party excitement.

5 years, 2 months/3 years.

How many people/cats/stuffies can fit in an Ikea youth-sized bed?

5 years, 2 months/3 years.

After a raucous morning spent at the children's museum, I had two very serious and dedicated helpers for birthday party prep.  We stuffed the piñata, prepped goodie bags, and bought balloons and other necessities.  Connor is very excited about his t-rex piñata.

5 years, 2 months/3 years, 1 month.

Ride 'em, cowboy!

5 years, 2 months/3 years.

Graham was off school today and so tagged along to Connor's tinkergarten class, where I'm sure he had lots to share with the group.

5 years, 2 months/3 years

Graham got an icy in exchange for an excellent little league performance--he got the first force-out out of the season for his team and got a hit, which eventually led to a score!  

5 years, 2 months/3 years.

Connor and Graham spent hours today assembling and disassembling the truck Connor got for his birthday.  Thank you Grammy and Uncle David and Aunt Meghan (great minds think alike)!  There is some unfortunate confusion with the drills being multi-purpose tools (light sabers, guns, etc.) which I'm sure we will sort out quickly.

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled, "More cow bells!":

Hi all you parents,

We began our week using the hole punch and our fine motor skills to
create tambourines. Four punches per person. It's not easy. Everyone
wrote their names and decorated using crayons and markers. We shook
them, no sound. We added bells the next day, lots of sound. We talked
about what makes the sound on each of our instruments; vibration. What
part of the drum vibrates? The kazoo? The guitar? The maracas?

We shook our tambourines up, down, and all around. Some shook their hips too.

Music with Alex was filled with vibrations and sounds emanating from
the big room. In the classroom we read books, listened to a story
tape, sang songs, and jammed on our instruments.

Everyone chose two musical instruments to display and play at the art
show, in addition to their sculptures.

Please remember to take All of your artwork home when you leave the
show Saturday. The children have been anticipating taking it home and
are excited to finally get their hands on it.

We wrapped up our music unit with Ziggy Stardust face. It was a
success. There were "Ooooooooos" and "Aaaaaaaaahs" from the onlookers
as each child had their face paint and sparkles applied. Many were
excited about the lightning bolts but a few people had specific
detailed directions about what they wanted. There was one spaceship,
one person with dragon fangs, one grid, and the rest lightning bolts.
Everyone looked electric! Yes we listened to David Bowie, and a
smidgen of Prince.

We have been playing in the yard bunches. Friday we had a Venus fly
trap visit. Some children hid and waited to see it eat a fly. No luck,
but still fun. Later someone put an ant in the pot, still no tasting.

When we return from the break we will begin planting and continue
growing. We will, of course, continue to make noise with our
instruments.

Have a super week,
Therese

5 years, 2 months/3 years.

Happy third birthday, Connor!  Connor crashed Graham's baseball practice, taking over 2nd base and hoarding balls, then moved along to drawing sharks on the sidewalk and playing tug-of-war with police tape with Graham and Lily (city kids...).  After that excitement, we headed home for "kitty cat ice cream cake" with Daddy.

Connor is a ridiculous, boisterous, tough, snuggly kid who strikes up conversations with strangers everywhere we go, settles himself into new environments without the slightest trouble or request for assistance, believes that the quickest way to finish his dinner is to stuff all of it in his mouth at one time, choking concerns be damned, and finally poops in the potty consistently!  He still sleeps with his blankets stuffed in his mouth.  He rolls with the big kids and is standing up for himself more and more.  We've been working on how to hold up three fingers on one hand, and he figured it out just in time.  We love you Connor!

5 years, 2 months/2 years, 11 months.

Graham and Connor celebrated Lily's 5th birthday at her Fairy/Kitty party.  Nana was charge this weekend while Will and I went to our 10 year law school reunion--thank you so much Nana!  The boys were thrilled to spend time with you and we had a great time with our law school friends!

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled, "We've got the whole world in our hands":

Hi all,

We went around the world this week. We started the week singing
Spanish songs; La Cucaracha and Mi Cuerpo Hace Musica. Tuesday we made
Chinese ribbon sticks with which to dance. We watched a couple of
short videos to learn the technique. We all went in the big room and
wiggled, waved, and circled our ribbons. We made shapes high and low.
We danced in a row and circled the big room. It was fun and colorful.

Wednesday at drop-off everyone rushed to the table to make castanets.
We decorated our cardboard bases with pastels and added glue and
pennies to the inside. We had to wait for the glue to dry before we
could use them, which was a bit difficult for some eager, excited
people. While we waited we took turns using a plastic castanet and
made loads of different patterns.

At drop-off someone was playing the large gathering drum and noticed
if you put two small toys on the drum and then struck the drum with
the mallets, they bounce off. He placed the toys on the drum again and
we asked the other children on the carpet why the toys were falling
off. Someone exclaimed, "It's the vibration!"

Thursday was our first music with Alex from The Brooklyn Conservatory
of Music. We talked about "looking and listening" to Alex during the
class and treating the instruments gently. While half the class was
with Alex, the other half danced and made music using our castanets.
We then switched and used our maracas while we took turns dancing.

We are reminding our friends to listen to each other and to use
indoor, nice voices when asking friends to share. A lot of people have
been encouraging their friends while playing music by commenting on
others' unique patterns as well as while tackling a hard task, such as
opening a tricky lunch container.

We ended the week with a yummy (not) jam, not jelly treat. At drop off
some people were at the table cutting strawberries and blackberries,
while other people were busy using a hand mixer to make whipped cream.
A few people helped put squares of puffed pastry in the oven. While
putting the trays in the oven someone reminded us that "white fire is
the hottest." We then mixed our cut berries with a little bit of sugar
and watched the sugar "disappear" and "dissolve" as it melted to make
a yummy berry compote. (Not so much jam, not so much jelly, but a
delicious happy medium). At snack each person got to combine the puff
pastry, berry compote, and whipped cream to make a yummy flaky, berry
sandwich. Most people licked their plates clean: snack was a success!

Spring seems to finally be here (for now...) and we are spending loads
of time running, digging, exploring, swinging, climbing, touching,
smelling, and observing in the yard. We have a few constant diggers
that are baking sand cakes filled with "scary bugs" or building houses
using "steam shovels" and "bulldozers." We have a group of players who
are scripting intricate storylines filled with pirate princesses,
babies and mommies, and dragons.

Enjoy the sunny weather!
Therese and Kiera

5 years, 2 months/2 years, 11 months.

5 years, 2 months/2 years, 11 months.

Another picture for the slideshow at Lily and Graham's rehearsal dinner in 2040.  Connor photobombed Graham's at-bat practice.

5 years, 2 months/2 years, 11 months.

5 years, 1 month/2 years, 11 months.

Today was a big day...first sleepover at our place!  After some children's theater and reading in the morning, Lily and Jacob came over for the night.  They watched "Finding Nemo" (though their expressions may suggest it was actually "Silence of the Lambs"), then headed into Graham's room for a story and lights out.  Everything went pretty smoothly until around midnight, when a series of bed-wetting/nosebleeds/inexplicable crying incidents convinced us that no one (Will and I included) is quite ready for sleepovers yet.

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled, "Shake it up":

Dear everyone,

Your children worked for four days on their maracas. Several people
began Monday morning tearing newspaper into long thin strips. We
worked in groups of four to dip the strips into a glue and water
mixture and gently lay them onto balloons. We covered the balloons
thoroughly. After drying overnight, we added another layer. And then
again a third day. All work and no play, yet.

On the fourth day we gently and carefully popped the balloons
listening for the cool sound it makes when the air leaves the ball
shape. Each person got to choose which kind of seeds to put in their
maracas: red lentils, green peas, brown beans, or yellow popcorn. They
poured them in using a funnel. One more day of waiting while we
patched the holes.

Friday we shook our maracas like crazy. We shook them up, down, and
all around. We shook them while singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and
Toes. We shook them to the tune of the A, B, C's. We also shook them
and read Rap A Tap Tap Here's Bojangles - Think Of That! Again. A new
class favorite.

Outside: running and swinging and sliding. Inside: running and tricycling.

Next week we sing in Spanish. We will make our own castanets and
Chinese ribbons.

Have a musical weekend,
Therese

5 years, 1 month/2 years, 11 months.

Luda reports that Connor and Zoe have become good friends in the last month or so and have moved from parallel play to really playing together.

5 years, 1 month/2 years, 11 months.

Graham is having a great time with his pley toy subscription from Uncle Michael and Mona, though it is not always easy to convince him to mail back the lego sets so that he can get the next one.

5 years, 1 month/2 years, 11 months.

Today was definitely not the nicest day for a little league opening day parade, but we ended up having a good time warming up with hot chocolate and pastries and practicing "Home Alone" screams.  We didn't think to bring the stroller but Connor did an incredible job walking the entire time--around 25 blocks.

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled, "Kazoooooooooo":

Dear moms and dads,

Our week began slowly but surely. We painted our kazoos, the next day
adding wax paper and rubber bands. The children worked cooperatively
helping one another to hold the kazoo while the other stretched the
rubber bands. We practiced using only using our voices and listening
for vibrations. The children decided if they wanted holes in their
kazoo or not. People hummed and sang into them creating all sorts of
buzz.

Our trip to Marble Ice Cream factory was tasty. We saw two guys behind
a glass window squeezing giant plastic bags of stuff into a machine
while someone explained how they were making ice cream. Then when she
asked if anyone had any questions, someone said, "How do you make ice
cream?" The walk in freezers were...freezing. And one had a secret
trap door. The ice cream was delicious and gone quick as a wink. No
complaints. We only had a couple of meltdowns.

Dave came in and played guitar and ukulele for us. And sang! He taught
us the parts of the guitar. Someone said, "Our guitars have a body,
strings, and the hole, but no neck and head." Everyone got a turn to
strum or pick strings on his ukulele, right after we sang The Wheels
On The Bus. We went round and round. We read Music, Music For Everyone
before snacks and Rap A Tap Tap Here's Bojangles - Think Of That!
after snacks. We all chose an instrument and reread the Rap A Tap Tap
book playing the pattern in all the right places. Then we listened to
the song Mr. Bojangles about the famous tap dancer.

In the yard the children have been stopping to smell the flowers,
discovering snails, counting flowers, swinging up to the tree tops,
and making sand pies and cakes.

Kiera's high school sophomore cousin, Colin, came Friday and played
Irish songs on his snare drum. Needless to say, he was a big hit! He
told the children he started drumming when he was 18 months old. He
answered questions, the first being, "How do you play drums?" He gave
a little lesson, let the children have a turn on his drum, and then
they showed him their drums and played along.

Next week we begin making our paper mache maracas.

See you all Monday,
Therese