1700 hours

The current research shows that a child needs to read, or be read to, for 1700 hours between birth and age five. That amounts to 55.89 minutes per day. We are well on track to meet or exceed that goal but, to be sure, we went to the library yesterday and loaded up on more books. Here is a photo of me working on the train puzzle at the library.

I picked out so many books that my mom could hardly carry the bag. I have a lot of books about garbage trucks.

One of my favorite books right now is called A Dazzling Display of Dogs by Betsy Franco. Even though I had not read that book for months, I remembered the poem about Baloo (mostly because this is something my dog would do, minus the racing away part).

Baloo got out!

Baloo got out!

Baloo raced out the gate.

He went inside Ms. Johnston's house and this is what he ate:

Some popcorn

and and apple,

a cupcake

and a steak.

A teddy bear,

a grapefruit peel,

a green organic shake.

Some coffee grounds,

the cat food,

a taco

and some peas,

an apricot,

a homemade tart,

and some moldy cheddar cheese.

I hear Ms. Johnston yelling. I guess we're all too late. Baloo got out! Baloo got out! He'll have a bellyache!

goodbye Baby Bjorn

Yesterday we parted with our beloved Baby Bjorn. I have been too heavy and too wiggly to ride in it for some time now anyhow and we are starting to clean out the house since Trinity is moving away.

We do not even remember our final journey with the Baby Bjorn. We got excellent use of it. The Baby Bjorn really is the best invention ever. Otherwise, how do mothers shop, work, clean, or do anything while keeping the baby happy and engaged?

This photo was taken at Whole Foods in November of 2009. I see that my mom was buying handsoap (of course) and peanut butter and what else? Now we buy handsoap by the gallon.

winter in Texas

While the northwest is enjoying snow snow and more snow, we had another beautiful sunny day. 79 degrees. I even picked a daisy in my yard today. If it could stay like this all year long, Texas would certainly be tolerable. We don't like to think that our months and months of 100+ degree days will start before we know it.

I am still afflicted with a nasty cold that I caught last week at the bouncy place so we just stayed home and played in the yard again. And I missed school yesterday. The upcoming week will be quite busy. We have been invited for a picnic at the firehall where Sadie's dad works (not Sadie the cat, but my girlfriend from music class). I am also going to my dad's work to try the bus simulator. And what else? School, music, and a variety of other activities.

the second haircut

To prepare for picture day at preschool on Tuesday, I got my haircut again today. It was just a trim but here is how handsome I look. I love going to the hair salon because they have the best selection of toys. Plus there is a gelato shop next door. Getting a haircut is almost as great as going to the dentist.

I still haven't decided what to wear for picture day but I have narrowed down my choices.

this sure is a fun day

I was unreasonably late for my second day of preschool. There was terrible traffic so it took us two hours to get there instead of just one. Part way to school when it seemed like we would never ever get there, I said to my mom in my most mopey voice "this sure is a fun day."

Luckily, my teacher lives somewhere near me so she, too, was quite late. And she knew that I wasn't just pulling a "dog ate my homework" trick on her.

The children were sweet when I arrived and quite excited to see me. One of the boys came out into the hallway to share his art supplies with me and took me by the hand. There is another boy in my class who has taken me under his wing and likes to feed me and hold my drink for me at lunch. When my mom came to pick me up, another boy took me by the hand and brought me out of the classroom.

I am quickly becoming the shining star of the class. My advanced verbal skills make the teachers take special interest in me.

This photo is me getting home from school.

All in all, it really was a fun day. I even kissed my girlfriend at music class.

the first day

Today was my first day of preschool. Aside from having to wake up early and spend an unhealthy amount of time in rush hour traffic, everything went perfectly well. I participated in the program actively and only had two bouts of moping. no tears though.

Here is a photo that my mom took through the window just before it was time to leave (all the parents do that, supposedly). Since you probably cannot tell me and my twin apart, I am the one furthest from the camera. This is us during story time. I have two good friends already: Enzo and Jonas. Nicholas might be in love with my mom.

At the end of the morning, I asked the teacher "do you want to come to my house?"

Thanks for calling to ask me how my day went, Terese. I wasn't in the mood to chat on the phone once I got up from my long nap mostly because my mom got my favorite book from the library. We can talk tomorrow if I am not too busy reading.

thundercloud

Here is my Thundercloud masterpiece.

Even in the midst of this drought, I have become obsessed with thunder and lightning. I enjoy telling stories about going outside at night and hearing the thundercloud.

My story goes something like this:

It was night and I went outside and there was a thundercloud. It sounds like (insert rumbling crackling noise). And it was night.

preschool

Next week, I will begin preschool. I visited the school for one hour today and I will go there again on Thursday.

Today's visit went well. I mostly played with the trains. They have a nice assortment of cars and trucks. Their playground is spectacular and well-equipped. Everything is just the perfect size for me. They spend a minimum of one hour per day outside on the playground.

The only thing I didn't like about my visit was that it appeared to the teacher as though I took a toy away from a girl when I first got there. What really happened was that the girl set it on the table and a boy came along and took it away. I then asked the boy if I could have it and I handed it directly back to the girl. All the teacher saw was the little girl crying and me handing the toy to her so I did look guilty. In time, the teacher will know that I am too nice to take toys away from other children . . . especially girls.

Once I start attending, it will be every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:00am until 1:00pm. Before I join the school though, my mom has hundreds of pages of forms to fill out. The school wants to know everything about me including my medical history (perfect, thanks to my diet and my rigorous exercise regime), the medical history of every single person in my family (including what illnesses they have had, age of onset, treatments, and medications etc), and my opinions and preferences about this and that (and I do have lots of opinions). This application process is more grueling than enrolling in university!

I will be fully enrolled just in time for school photos.

65

Today is my grandmother's birthday and I should have had cake. To make matters worse, the Seahawks lost. What kind of birthday present is that?

All week I had been practicing the Happy Birthday song but I didn't talk on the phone today. I will sing tomorrow when I call my grandmother.

Here is a photo of us on the ferry in November en route to Seattle. I am telling her something quite serious. Moments before this photo was taken, I was crawling on the table and generally acting crazy and probably NOT impressing my grandmother!

I had the opportunity to play with my grandmother a lot during my vacation. She is fun to play with. I even taught her how to play football and soccer. She also had the pleasure of watching me carry hundreds of rocks, one by one, from one bucket to another. We swam. She is a good swimmer. We have plans to go swimming, swimming, and more swimming again soon when we help my sister move to Seattle.

Speaking of Seattle, when my mom asked if I am excited about Trinity moving (I am NOT, by the way), I said "she has rainboots. And she has a reindeer."

Happy birthday, grandma. I owe you a cake. and some cocoa. And what about cookies?

DISCLAIMER: My sister really doesn't have a reindeer.