Good Clean Fun ... err, Sort Of

Day dreamerScribbling awayDigging into the finger paintsSammy's hands in motion

Whee ... this is fun!Can I stroke your hair?Gasp ... we're out of periwinkle?!?Johnny body painting Do you like my evening gloves? And goatee?Waiting to be hosed down

I bought a little Fisher Price activity table today and the boys were thrilled to have a place to draw and paint and even eat a snack. This was Sammy's first experience with finger painting and he loved it! Amazingly, Sammy never tried to taste it, although he did scratch his face at the end which smeared a little paint across his mouth. I took them directly out the back door and hosed them down and refilled the kiddie pool which they thought was as fun as the painting itself.

Houston Symphony 2006-2007

Oh the excitement and the promise of beautiful music to lift my heart, soothe my soul and strum the heartstrings of my emotions. What's this, you ask? Well, I just treated myself to a number of classical concerts at the Houston Symphony for this upcoming season. I actually purchased tickets for 4 performances myself, and through the wonderful generosity of my good friend Anna, I have plans to attend 2 additional concerts as well! It was extremely difficult to pick my 4 favorites of all the pieces that are being performed in the upcoming year, but I finally decided on the following:

Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade - (listen to samples)
Anyone remember Dougray Scott's portrayal of Sultan Shahryar in the TV miniseries of 1,001 Arabian Nights about 6 years ago? Well, he and Mili Avital who played Scheherazade seemed to have some on-screen and perhaps off-screen chemistry ... ahem. I remember one particular line Scheherazade said to Shahryar after he had told her a story of what an awful dark person he was and then asked her who she saw when she looked into his eyes and she said "I see me, my love, looking back at you." I thought that was such a sweet way to evade the question and reassure him at the same time. This performance date also includes Shostakovich: Festive Overture, Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto #3 and Prokofiev: Piano Concerto #1. This is a great line up and was the fastest selling concert (save Yo-Yo Ma). I'm sure it will be outstanding!

Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto - (listen to samples)
I have always loved piano, and Beethoven's are some of my favorite pieces. The only song that I can play on the piano is Fur Elise by Beethoven. This piece is not one with which I am intimately familiar, however, it is reminiscent of many other Beethoven piano pieces that I love. This performance also includes: Stucky: Son et luminiere and Schumann: Symphony #1, Spring.

Hilary Hahn and Peer Gynt - (listen to samples)
I have always loved the Peer Gynt suites by Grieg. Some of my favorites include: Ase's death (you know, the bad prince from Little Einstein's ... at least I think), Anitra's dance (I can't help but dance around to this one) and Solvejg's song (this is my very favorite Grieg song when sung with the vocals). These pieces evoke such strong memories of my college days. Also being performed this night are Korgold's Violin Concerto and Borodin's Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor. Did I mention that my wonderful friend Anna is taking me to see this one? Yay!

Yo-Yo Ma - (listen to samples)
I have only recently been able to name the instrument that is my favorite, and it is the cello. My friend Anna helped me to figure this out, as I wasn't sure if it was a bass or what. The low, grinding, almost crunchy sounds that come from the cello seem to vibrate within me as if someone were playing the strings of my soul itself. That probably sounds pretty weird, but it's a rather visceral experience for me. How could I miss a performance of my favorite instrument played by the best cellist in the world? I couldn't!! Anna and I will have to bring tissue for the nose bleeds we may get in our seats, but I wouldn't miss it! Yippee! Being performed this night are Dukas: Fanfare from La Peri, Debussy: Jeux, Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Dvorak: Cello Concerto.

Brahms German Requiem - (listen to samples)
Oh my ... I don't know which I am more excited about, Yo-Yo Ma on cello, or Brahms German Requiem. Aside from piano and cello, my other favorite instrument is the voice. What better medium to convey human emotion and passion than a human voice? I absolutely love this kind of singing and was thrilled to hear from my opera singing friend Dan Buchanan that he is also performing this piece next month. I'm all over that! This music stirs me beyond mere emotions and I can hardly believe I am lucky enough to get to hear it live. God is so good to me!

Joshua Bell's Brahms - (listen to samples) - (listen to samples)
Finally, although I would gladly have paid to see this one, my friend Anna plans to take me to this one as well. The violin takes you through a journey that is full of sweet longing and lively, playful dancing with that lovely crunchy grinding and tender singing of strings. Being played are Brahms' Violin Concerto and Brahms' Symphony #2.

Okay, so I am WAY looking forward to this season's performances.

Sweet Boys

Sammy and Johnny were having a sweet moment earlier today ... one of many lately ... yay! Later in the day Johnny was stroking Sammy's hair while he nursed and Sammy kept smiling up at Johnny and closing his eyes. Sammy rarely nurses with his eyes closed, so I gathered he was truly enjoying Johnny's soft caresses. I can't tell you how my heart melted. I will say that the boys seem to have gotten past their first rough spot and enjoy each other's company a lot these days. I'm sure there will be ups and downs as far as how they feel about each other, and I'll enjoy these kind of days immensely!

Cicada Killer Wasp

Burrowing in the dirtMajestic beast
Mad as a hornet
Markings on her back

I was tentatively curious to discover an ominous looking burrow dug in the dirt right outside our back door and rather alarmed when I saw this beast of a wasp crawl out of the hole. From antenna tip to the end of her egg laying apparatus, she measured about two inches long and was about as fat around as my ring finger. Enormous! I snuck up close to get some photos as she seemed fully engrossed in digging her hole and didn't seem acknowledge my presense at all. After figuring out that this is a Cicada Killer Wasp, which is a rather beneficial and non-aggressive wasp, I decided not to kill it but just to cover up the burrow and relocate her out of our back yard. The female will sting if provoked, and since her burrow was immediately outside our back door, I couldn't risk having Sammy pick her up or step on her.

So, I trapped this gigantic insect in a jelly jar and by the end of the night I was too tired to go very far, so Keith suggested I just toss her out the front door. It was rather comical as I came up with a plan, which included a lot of standing out front and debating. There was a surprise visit from a rather friendly neighborhood cat which complicated matters. I didn't want the cat to think I was playing fetch and go pounce on the wasp ... who was definitely "provoked" by this point having sat in a jar for awhile. Keith and I were saying "why don't you do it?" "I don't want to do it ... you do it" and so forth. Finally I just decided to loosen the lid and throw the entire jar lid and all across our front lawn and run like hell inside. I'm hoping the cat followed suit and didn't try to play with this woman scorned.

Knowing the Cicada Killer Wasp isn't really aggressive and kills the Cicada bugs (whose song I like, but drives Keith crazy) we just didn't have the hearts to kill this rather majestic beast of a wasp.

Sam-A-Lam

Sammy trying to get water from the dispenser

Wielding a spoon like a pro

All done!

Zoom in to see that trouble molar ... ewww!

Sammy is showing more and more desire to do "big people" tasks and eat "big people" foods. Luckily he sprouted three molars about two weeks ago and has been struggling to get the fourth one through. I won't go into the gory details about the trauma of the last molar coming through, but suffice it to say Sammy has had more than the ordinary teething issues with a couple of his teeth.

Sammy still isn't verbalizing much, I'm guessing he chose to focus on motor skills first, as did Johnny. However, he is getting better at "signing" to get his point across. Last night Sammy was fussing and I asked him "what is it Sammy?" at he patted his mouth with his hand and ran into the kitchen, opened the cabinet door, pulled out a baby food meal and showed it to me. Then he proceeded to mow through two entire baby dinners back to back. I think this kid has a hollow leg ... he often eats more than Johnny does. Sammy really has a great attitude about eating and has a wide range of foods he likes. Luckily, on occassion he has influenced Johnny into trying something new and discovering he likes it too ... yay! Sammy definitely wants to eat what we are eating and points at my plate insistently until I let him try everything. I still give him a fair amount of baby food meals though, as he seems to get tired of chewing before he gets full. When he finally does get his fill, Sammy throws his arms up in the air and says "All done!" So cute! Sammy does very well with a spoon and fork and has a strong preference to feed himself. I encourage this enthusiastically, even if it ends up with a mess and a bath afterwards.

I took Sammy to get a new pair of sneakers the other day and found that the shoes he had been wearing were way too small! Luckily he rarely had them on, but when we took a walk down the street the other day he kept sitting down and taking his shoes off. I got the message. So, he is now the proud owner of a new pair of size 5 1/2 wide sneakers.

Sammy started waving a while back ... also totally darling. He does the Miss America kind of side to side wave with open fingers rather than the typical finger flap kids often do. He says "bye!" as he waves although it comes out like a long musical "eye!"

Curious Musings of a Four Year Old

Johnny looking disgusted

Sammy finally spotted me with the camera

Making waves with Maya

Sams feeding himself

Johnny and his new school teacher

It's true, I don't generally post very introspective, thought-provoking or profound writings in my blog, but rather just report on the current happenings of our kids for the benefit of long distance friends and relatives. Mine is a blog with a "keep in touch" purpose and not much more. Lately I've been inspired by some friend's blogs to delve a little deeper into the psyche ... okay the psyche of a four year old. LOL! So, it's not that much of a departure from my usual ramblings, but here goes.

I've been reading books on developmental stages of children trying to get some insight into what Johnny can really grasp intellectually at this age and from my own observations, I will say Johnny definitely seems to be curious about the physical "construction" of the world around him. His questions of late prove challenging to answer at a level that I think he'll comprehend. Much of the time his incessant "why?" seems to be out of habit or just for the sake of extending the dialogue, but it has left me very curious about what level of explanation he can really undersand. A sample (as well as I can remember it from earlier this week):

J: Mama, why can I not see air?
M: Well honey, the pieces that make up air are so small you can't see them with just your eyes.
J: What happens if I could see air?
M: Sometimes we can, if it has enough moisture/water in it or dust.
J: Why's I can't see air all the time?
M: If we could see air, then we wouldn't be able to see anything else around us. If I could see all the air between you and me, then it would block my view and I couldn't see you.
J: Why's I can feel air then?
M: Good question, I guess it's because our skin is sensitive to the feeling of the little pieces that make up the air called molecules that are too small for our eyes to see.
J: Why does air feel hot or cold sometimes?
M: Well, when I mist you with the hose outside and then the breeze blows, it feels cool on your skin because the water is evaporating from your skin into the air which takes some of the heat away and makes it feel cool.
J: What happens if water wasn't wet?
M: Uh, what?
J: What happens if water wasn't wet?
M: Let's see, well I guess it would be dry then (okay, how do you answer stuff like this?)
J: Why's every time water stays together in one piece?
M: Uh, remember those teeny tiny pieces I told you about earlier called molecules? They hang onto each other pretty tight in water so they stick together in clumps, but you can still easily separate them by scooping out some water with a cup or something.
J: Why does water stay lying on the ground and why doesn't it float up into the air?
M: Well, that's called gravity. The Earth has gravity that keeps things sitting on the ground.
J: What happens if we didn't have gravity?
M: We'd float off up into the sky.
J: No I wouldn't, I'd just run into a building and I wouldn't float away.
M: Well honey, without gravity, the building would float away too, so that wouldn't work.
J: Why does my ball float on top of the water?
M: Water is heavier than air so the heavy water sinks to the bottom and the light air floats up to the top.
J: What happens if water was lighter and floated to the top?
M: Well, sometimes it can, if it's frozen like an ice cube ... then it will float.
J: Why? (okay clearly I asked for this one)
M: Well when the water turns to ice, the teeny tiny molecules that are stuck together push farther apart and so it becomes lighter ... does that make sense?
J: No.

I don't want to insult his intelligence ... or more accurately, his comprehension level, so I try to explain things to the best of my ability without using cutesy baby words and trite answers. I don't know how much he is actually grasping but I'd rather explain to him about sugar turning into bacteria on his teeth and eating through the enamel than tell him there are sugar bugs living in his mouth. Personally that would freak me out to think there were bugs in my mouth. I sometimes wonder if I'm making a mistake by not engaging Johnny in all the typical fantasies of youth like Santa Claus or pretending magic is real, etc. We always make sure he knows what is real and what is pretend and he still seems to have a pretty good imagination for make believe play ... although typically his fantasy play is still based on fairly realistic situations, like being in a different character role rather than being able to breath underwater and talk to winged dragons. I guess we'll leave that stuff to McCaffrey. LOL!