7 years, 1 month/4 years, 11 months.

Thank you for the Easter care package, Nana!  We can't wait to dig in (looks like Connor did already).

7 years, 1 month/4 years, 11 months.

First trip to Brooklyn Crab!  The boys loved the popcorn shrimp.  Graham probably doesn't remember much else about it since he spent the entire meal reading Charlotte's Web.

7 years, 1 month/4 years, 11 months.

Graham met his friend Erik's new baby brother Arthur today!  The boys were very proud of themselves for being able to hold him.

7 years, 1 month/4 years, 11 months.

Snow day! The boys are at a perfect age for sledding--big enough to bring their own sleds up the hill and just brave enough to find Prospect Park hills thrilling but doable.

7 years, 1 month/4 years, 10 months.

Snow hiking at Storm King!  The boys enthusiastically sledded down the hills on their rear ends.  We expected snow but maybe not quite this much....

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "The ants go marching":

Hi everyone,

We started our week reading How We Work and we made a list of jobs our
parents do. Children said their parents work in offices, at home, and
in Washington, DC. We read Caps For Sale and asked: Where do caps come
from?  Some answers were: the cap store, boxes in the basement, or
someone made them using needles and a machine. One person said they
knew that the caps came from a factory. We saw a picture of a factory
in How We Work.

We played in the big room and we played outside.

We sang The Ants Go Marching. Before quiet time we read The 512 Ants
On Sullivan Street, a story about ants working together to get a job
done. We watched a few minutes of How It Works and saw a video of a
Lego factory. There were many more machines than people. We watched a
few minutes of a jellybean factory too, and saw how the jellybeans are
all white before adding brilliant colors.

We read Bears 1 - 10 and saw the bears being cleaned in a washing
machine, dyed in barrels of color, and hung out to dry on something
similar to our pulley and clothes pins we used in the big room. One
person asked how they get the colors for the dye and a classmate
explained that it’s similar to dying Easter eggs.

We read Not This Bear! about a boy who was mistaken for a bear.

During movement class with Ms. Z, the children were seen running and
sitting. While people moved in the big room we practiced more cutting
with scissors. People cut triangles, squares, some teeth, and a couple
of hills. Afterward, we ran in the chilly yard and then in the toasty
big room.

Two days this week we went on obstacle courses in the big room. Each
day we looked at a map of the course before attempting it. The
children had to balance on blocks, crawl under a banana leaf blanket,
go through a hoop, crawl over bean bags, roll on mats, and swim across
a pool, all while carrying pretend food. We compared our obstacle
course map to the picture of the inside of an ant colony. Is it
similar? The children said yes!

Next week we will attempt to make pretend robots in an assembly line.
We brainstormed robot ideas with the class. They had all sorts of
ideas from talking about robot necklaces to R2D2 to real robots they
have at home, and wood robots. They said real robots are made of
metal.

We'll see,
Therese

7 years, 1 month/4 years, 10 months.

Today was Graham's stuffie celebration/PJ day at school!  He brought "Stingy," the ray he got in Mexico after meeting the real sting rays.

Al di la for dinner!  The boys enjoyed the tagliatelle al ragu (who wouldn't?!), though they weren't too interested in trying the less spaghetti-ish of the options.   

7 years, 1 month/4 years, 10 months.

A budding Lidia Bastianich helped make marinara and meatballs today.

7 years/4 years, 10 months.

Wonder when Connor will start reading some of the words on those pages.

Graham had his first piano performance practice today.  He played Ode to Joy, the Blues, and a piece from his performance book.  He did a great job and seemed to have fun doing it.  We're very proud of him!

7 years/4 years, 10 months.

Deja vu.  Apparently it's time for our quarterly trip to the ER.  Connor split his chin open at the playground and needed the services of a plastic surgeon.  He was very brave and cooperative, though, and we were out of the hospital in time for dinner.

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "Simply simple machines":

Hi Y'all,

We began our study of simple machines by hammering a nail into a piece
of wood and letting everyone try to pull it out. Try as they might, no
one managed to even loosen it. People tried pulling in different
angles and using their arms for leverage. Then we used the end of the
hammer, which someone told us was called the claw, to pull out the
nail. We defined a machine as something that makes work easier.

As another example, the children tried to pick up a teacher. They
could not using their hands and arms, however, using another type of
lever, they succeeded. (Ask your child how.) Many children wanted more
turns to experiment with the lever and got to in the big room.

Lillian’s grandmother, Julia, came back for a second visit to share
her “now” clock with us and we sat for a one-minute meditation. The
children were curious about why there were no hands on the clock.

We introduced the inclined plane as our second simple machine. One of
the children said it is also called a ramp. In the big room, we
predicted which inclined plane would send a wooden car rolling
farthest. The children predicted correctly. Everyone had turns to roll
a big heavy car and a little light car down each of our three ramps.

Jim came and played guitar and sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,
A,B,C, and Baa Baa Black Sheep. Then we sang them without the words
and noticed they all sound alike. He sang Yellow Submarine and Hey
Jude. Jim told us that they sing Hey Jude at bedtime and some children
began to look sleepy during the song. Coincidence? We asked if he
could come back at quiet time.

It was warm and sunny in our yard. The children noticed the first
spring flowers. And bees!

We looked at a picture of a wedge, read the definition, examined
scissors, and then reread a book looking for pictures of wedges. The
children were able to identify quite a few and tell why they were
wedges and why some things were not. We then used scissors, wedges, to
cut up our gloop into small pieces.

 To the excitement of many, we added our rice table to the classroom.

We talked about wheels and axles, and examined many of our big room
toys to identify their wheels and axles. We reread two books looking
for wheels and axles. Yep, they’re there. We rode and pushed our
wheels and axles around the big room, adding new street signs to
remind people of speed limits. Some children pretended to be crossing
guards and tried to enforce the new and improved street rules.

We overheard children saying, “This is a girls only” or “boys only”
game. We asked what made it for girls only? Some people said only
girls wear makeup, or dresses. We asked who likes to get face paint?
and noticed all the children do. After much discussion, we agreed
girls and boys like lots of the same kind of games.

We introduced our last two simple machines. We used a screw to fix our
rice table top which had a missing screw. We used a pulley in the big
room to clip scarves and move them from one side of the room to the
other. The clothespins were a great fine motor work out.

Connor’s grandmother came in and read a book about rocks. The class
was thrilled when she invited them to collect rocks from a box- and
even more so when they found out they could bring the rocks home. Rock
and roll!

Lillian’s grandfather came in and played his concertina for us. He
showed us how the instrument breathes and we breathed with it. He
explained the words and played an Irish love song. Some children
couldn’t contain their dancing to the music. Thankfully.

Next week, we talk about other types of machines.

Have a windy weekend,
Therese

7 years/4 years, 10 months.

I think Sam missed us while we were in Mexico.  

7 years/4 years, 10 months.

Getting in some last pool minutes before our afternoon flight back to Brooklyn.

We had such a great trip!  Dolphins, sting rays, 4 scuba dives (including a beautiful eagle ray and a night dive with giant crabs, lobsters and eels), lots of snorkeling, tons of hours in the pool, passable resort food, and plenty to drink.  Until next year, Mexico!

7 years/4 years, 10 months.

Pool day!  Inspired by some friends Graham and Connor made at the pool, we picked up fishy rings and the boys have been entertained for hours fetching them.

Meanwhile, Will and I took turns seeing "La Pantera Negra" at the movie theater across the street.  It was subtitled in Spanish...which was great except for the parts which were in Wakandan.

7 years/4 years, 10 months.

Will needed an upper body workout so spent the morning throwing kids in the air.

The boys are doing a great job learning to snorkel--they need help getting everything on but once they are rolling, they can do it.  Meanwhile, Will and I refreshed our scuba skills in preparation for the reefs around the island.

7 years/4 years, 9 months.

Today, we went to Chankanaab National Park, where we snorkeled (saw tons of beautiful fish and a little ray), spotted lots of iguanas, and swam with a dolphin!  Kathy the dolphin pushed the adults on boogie boards and by the feet, and everyone got lots of pets and kisses.  Connor was a little apprehensive about her and Graham was disappointed that he didn't get a boogie board ride, but everyone was pretty impressed once we were in the water with her!

7 years/4 years, 9 months.

First full day of vacation - we took the ferry to Playa del Carmen, saw some peccary and iguanas, explored some new pools, and came back to our resort for ice cream.   

7 years/4 years, 9 months.

Thanks to a very early morning departure from NYC, we were in Cozumel, Mexico in time for a swim before dinner!

7 years/4 years, 9 months.

Valentine's Day playground shiner.  On the upside, Graham's friends really rallied around him to help when he got hurt.

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "Loud and quiet":

Dear parents,

On Monday, Lilian’s grandmother Julia visited and talked to us about
how to breathe during meditation. We felt our tummies fill with air
and listened to our breath. We sat for about one minute. Afterwards,
everyone got a turn to ring the bell bowl using a small stick. When
asked, the children said meditation was being quiet and relaxing.

We had plenty of play time in the yard.

On Tuesday Davina joined us for circle. She and Addy showed us their
violins and played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Addy let everyone take
a turn holding and playing her violin. Davina shared too! We learned
how to place your feet for balance and that the bowstrings are made
from animal hair.

Six sleepers on Tuesday. And Thursday. Shhhhhhh.

Wednesday during movement the children were heard clapping and what
sounded like galloping across the big room. They were certainly
moving! While half the class moved in movement, the other half worked
furiously cutting and gluing valentines for family.

Puppetworks was entertaining. We learned that there was more than one
magical instrument. The children said their favorite parts were: the
crocodile, the dancing monsters, the part where someone said there was
a monster on his nose,  and when the prince and princess kissed.
During the show, someone whispered, “The Queen is evil and rudey!”
They explained that rudey means rude, rude, rude!

Upon our return from Mid-Winter Break, we will continue playing our
instruments, have more family shares, and begin learning about simple
machines.

Have a fun break!

7 years/4 years, 9 months.

Snorkel practice for our trip to Cozumel next week.  The boys got the hang of it pretty quickly.  Graham was bragging that he has an advantage because he's a mouth-breather (true).

7 year/4 years, 9 months.

This is 7!  Smart, chatty, confident, opinionated, helpful, bossy, focused, silly, toothless.  Loves hard, feels fiercely.  We love you, Graham!

6 years, 11 months/4 years, 9 months.

Graham's birthday party!  He had a Robin Hood party--games, Disney's "Robin Hood," pizza, and cake.  Graham had a great time and we all survived despite the archery and a pile of 6/7 year-olds.  Guests -- Graham, Connor, Lily, Jacob, Raleigh, Eric, Isaac, Lachlan, and Ellis.

Thank you Nana for your help on another chaotic birthday party at our place!

6 years, 11 months/4 years, 9 months.

The chickies hatched!  

Therese's e-mail of the week, entitled "Chicks and kazoos":

Dear All,

The children had many baby chick questions upon arrival Monday
morning, the main one being, “Where are the baby chicks?”

Monday and Tuesday the children made kazoos by first coloring paper
towel tubes and then painting them. We attached wax paper to the end
with rubber bands. We remembered the vibrating strings on our guitars
and attempted to use our voices to vibrate the wax paper. The children
made high and low sounds. It took some figuring out but most
succeeded. Loudly.

Tuesday we had three, four, five, then seven baby chicks! We observed
them wet in the incubator, waiting for them to fluff up as instructed
by Farmer Tom. They cheeped while we kazoo-ed. By Wednesday we had
eleven chicks. Number five, the last egg, never hatched. The children
pondered why: something happened to the baby chick and it didn’t come
out, maybe it just died because something pulled its little string
out, maybe the daddy didn’t put sperm in it, it probably just want to
go to sleep, they weren’t ready to wake up yet, and maybe it didn’t
hatch.

We reviewed our Baby Chicks Rule list. Everyone recalled how to sit,
how to pet gently, what kind of voices to use, and to wash hands after
holding them. The children were as gentle as could be, so much so,
that many of the chicks began to fall asleep in laps.

Wednesday was our first movement class with Jerzey and Ms. Z. The
children were seen doing leg stretches, arm rotations, and
sidestepping. While half the class moved in movement class the rest of
us chose between petting baby chicks or cutting with scissors.

The children named some of the baby chicks: Relaxa, Rock Climber,
Fall-y, Richard, Chicky, and Squeaky. And then, as quick as they came,
they were gone. Back to the farm.

In the big room, people have been building airplanes and bubble
blowers with blocks, acting like all kinds of animals, running like
crazy, tricycling up a storm, rolling on wheel boards, playing
basketball, and moving soft blocks to every nook and cranny of the
room. Everyone has been amazingly cooperative, helping return toys to
their proper places.

We made our first recordings on Friday. After listening to the first
two, someone suggested we name the next one Quiet. We did, and it was.

Next week, in addition to more movement with Ms. Z, we have Pajama Day
on Tuesday- yes, the children can wear pajamas to school, and a field
trip to Puppetworks! We also have one parent share and one grandparent
share scheduled.

Have a restful weekend,
Therese