New baby on the way. So, I need to get back in practice of blogging.
Now let's see, what are the pseudonyms again? Ariel, Francis and Johann. I'll have to pick a pseudonym for the baby. I don't think Thrice is going to cut it. Maybe I should pick a name that Ariel likes that I don't. Then it'll get taken off the table... We'll see how vicious the naming discussion gets.
mwz
Monday, June 07, 2010
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Halloween 2
This is being posted way late.
On Halloween, we went out trick-or-treating.
We made some modifications to Johann's robot costume to shorten it up. Unfortunately, when he was trying to get up a step it was obvious that we had not done enough. I wound up cutting slits up the front to allow the cardboard to bend with his legs. This made him happier in his costume.
We completely abandoned the robot helmet in favor of a stocking cap with some lights attached by Velcro. It wasn't as cool as the robot head but it was more functional.
Even still, I don't think Johann really liked being in the costume. His mobility was hindered, the hard sleeves made it so he couldn't touch his hands together and it made it really hard to carry him from house to house.
But we went out. Arial's mom was visiting and she was nice enough to hand out candy while we went out (that way no one had cause to egg our house).
Trick or treating was a lot of fun (when the people with lights on where home). A lot of the houses we went to had stairs to climb to get to the door. That was hard for both Johann and Frances because of their costumes (Frances had a long dress-like thing that she was afraid to trip on). Some of the nicer people sat at the bottom of the stairs giving out candy.
After about 40 minutes, Johann grew tired and asked to go home. Arial took him, while Frances and I stayed out for a bit longer. Frances was a trooper but there was this one house that had spooky music and skulls on the stairs. We started up the stairs and she became to scared and wanted to leave. I thought that was fine. It was actually pretty spooky.
The next house they just had one of those bowls with a motion sensitive hand that "grabs" at you. Frances didn't want to get the candy because she was still spooked. I encouraged her to get some and she did. I thought she was very brave.
After that we went home and the kids had fun eating candy.
While we were out, I saw a happy little kid about Johann's age dressed as a cowboy. That meant a cowboy hat and a neckerchief. There's a lesson in that.
mwz
On Halloween, we went out trick-or-treating.
We made some modifications to Johann's robot costume to shorten it up. Unfortunately, when he was trying to get up a step it was obvious that we had not done enough. I wound up cutting slits up the front to allow the cardboard to bend with his legs. This made him happier in his costume.
We completely abandoned the robot helmet in favor of a stocking cap with some lights attached by Velcro. It wasn't as cool as the robot head but it was more functional.
Even still, I don't think Johann really liked being in the costume. His mobility was hindered, the hard sleeves made it so he couldn't touch his hands together and it made it really hard to carry him from house to house.
But we went out. Arial's mom was visiting and she was nice enough to hand out candy while we went out (that way no one had cause to egg our house).
Trick or treating was a lot of fun (when the people with lights on where home). A lot of the houses we went to had stairs to climb to get to the door. That was hard for both Johann and Frances because of their costumes (Frances had a long dress-like thing that she was afraid to trip on). Some of the nicer people sat at the bottom of the stairs giving out candy.
After about 40 minutes, Johann grew tired and asked to go home. Arial took him, while Frances and I stayed out for a bit longer. Frances was a trooper but there was this one house that had spooky music and skulls on the stairs. We started up the stairs and she became to scared and wanted to leave. I thought that was fine. It was actually pretty spooky.
The next house they just had one of those bowls with a motion sensitive hand that "grabs" at you. Frances didn't want to get the candy because she was still spooked. I encouraged her to get some and she did. I thought she was very brave.
After that we went home and the kids had fun eating candy.
While we were out, I saw a happy little kid about Johann's age dressed as a cowboy. That meant a cowboy hat and a neckerchief. There's a lesson in that.
mwz
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Halloween 1
This is being posted extremely late. Sorry.
The Sunday before Halloween we went to a Halloween carnival at the local rec center. Frances went as a butterfly and Johann was a robot. Arial made a pretty skirt thing for the torso of Frances' costume. With wings and antennae, she looked very cute.
I had a hand in Johann's costume. We spray painted some boxes silver and then I hot-glued on various electronic components. It looked pretty cool although there were some issues. His mobility was hindered because the torso was a little too long. Even more worrisome was that the helmet was relatively heavy and we had a tough time keeping it on his head (it was a box that was way bigger than his head, it fit more like a space helmet than a hat). We wound up using little sticky Velcro tabs to attach it to the torso.
Before the carnival, there is a "parade" where the kids walk to the carnival. We thought that would be fun. What we didn't think of was the wind.
We parked at the start of the parade (about a quarter mile from the rec center) and got the kids into their costumes. People seemed to like Johann's costume even though he could barely walk. The parade started (going in the opposite direction as the rec center). Johann and I quickly fell behind but soon Arial and Frances came back to us and declared it too windy to do a parade.
Arial suggested we take the kids out of their costumes and drive to the rec center. I stupidly said that we should just walk. It didn't seem that far but what I didn't count on was the wind.
Like I mentioned before, Johann couldn't walk very fast and the wind was quite cold. I needed to pick Johann up and carry him but there was really no place to grab him with his costume in the way.
I gave the helmet to Arial and the fan on the back promptly broke off (a sign of things to come). Then, I scooped Johann up and lay him across my arms. That began a long, cold, tiring journey to the rec center.
I had given him my stocking cap since he didn't have his helmet to keep warm. It managed to blow off his head. Arial had to come back and get it. From then on Johann was concerned that the wind would blow off his hat.
We finally got to the rec center. Some of the electronics were coming off but nothing too bad. However one of the shoulder straps was broken and the glue on the Velcro sticky tabs pulled off. I think that caused by a combination of the cold affecting the glue and spray-paint separating from the cardboard.
After finally getting in and giving up on the helmet (which didn't have anything holding it on his head since the Velcro fell off) we went into the carnival.
They had a bunch of stations where the kids would do something like "pin the nose on the felt jack-o-lantern" and then get a small prize. Both kids had fun with that although Johann seemed a bit bewildered when some stranger put a blindfold on him and spun him around.
They both enjoyed the ball throwing events while the "fishing" (put a string over a divider and someone clips candy to it) is always a bit strange.
Eventually, Johann became really tired and tired of having his mobility hampered. So, we took him out of his costume. I took it back to the car and the wind threatened to tear it apart even more. Stupid wind.
Arial and I didn't really have that great of a time because we were kicking ourselves for trying to do the parade. But I think the kids had fun (or at least an experience), so I guess it was worth it.
We needed to make major costume modifications before trick or treating.
mwz
The Sunday before Halloween we went to a Halloween carnival at the local rec center. Frances went as a butterfly and Johann was a robot. Arial made a pretty skirt thing for the torso of Frances' costume. With wings and antennae, she looked very cute.
I had a hand in Johann's costume. We spray painted some boxes silver and then I hot-glued on various electronic components. It looked pretty cool although there were some issues. His mobility was hindered because the torso was a little too long. Even more worrisome was that the helmet was relatively heavy and we had a tough time keeping it on his head (it was a box that was way bigger than his head, it fit more like a space helmet than a hat). We wound up using little sticky Velcro tabs to attach it to the torso.
Before the carnival, there is a "parade" where the kids walk to the carnival. We thought that would be fun. What we didn't think of was the wind.
We parked at the start of the parade (about a quarter mile from the rec center) and got the kids into their costumes. People seemed to like Johann's costume even though he could barely walk. The parade started (going in the opposite direction as the rec center). Johann and I quickly fell behind but soon Arial and Frances came back to us and declared it too windy to do a parade.
Arial suggested we take the kids out of their costumes and drive to the rec center. I stupidly said that we should just walk. It didn't seem that far but what I didn't count on was the wind.
Like I mentioned before, Johann couldn't walk very fast and the wind was quite cold. I needed to pick Johann up and carry him but there was really no place to grab him with his costume in the way.
I gave the helmet to Arial and the fan on the back promptly broke off (a sign of things to come). Then, I scooped Johann up and lay him across my arms. That began a long, cold, tiring journey to the rec center.
I had given him my stocking cap since he didn't have his helmet to keep warm. It managed to blow off his head. Arial had to come back and get it. From then on Johann was concerned that the wind would blow off his hat.
We finally got to the rec center. Some of the electronics were coming off but nothing too bad. However one of the shoulder straps was broken and the glue on the Velcro sticky tabs pulled off. I think that caused by a combination of the cold affecting the glue and spray-paint separating from the cardboard.
After finally getting in and giving up on the helmet (which didn't have anything holding it on his head since the Velcro fell off) we went into the carnival.
They had a bunch of stations where the kids would do something like "pin the nose on the felt jack-o-lantern" and then get a small prize. Both kids had fun with that although Johann seemed a bit bewildered when some stranger put a blindfold on him and spun him around.
They both enjoyed the ball throwing events while the "fishing" (put a string over a divider and someone clips candy to it) is always a bit strange.
Eventually, Johann became really tired and tired of having his mobility hampered. So, we took him out of his costume. I took it back to the car and the wind threatened to tear it apart even more. Stupid wind.
Arial and I didn't really have that great of a time because we were kicking ourselves for trying to do the parade. But I think the kids had fun (or at least an experience), so I guess it was worth it.
We needed to make major costume modifications before trick or treating.
mwz
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Teddy Bear
The other day, Johann was playing with my old teddy bear. I told him how that was my teddy bear when I was a kid. He went and found his bear and told me "This is a daddy bear and this is a baby bear".
Then, at bed time, we had to go looking for the bears. Johann had been playing with them together, so that's how we found them. On the way back to his room, Johann went into our room and put my teddy bear on the bed, presumably so that I could have it when I went to sleep.
I thought that was very considerate.
mwz
Then, at bed time, we had to go looking for the bears. Johann had been playing with them together, so that's how we found them. On the way back to his room, Johann went into our room and put my teddy bear on the bed, presumably so that I could have it when I went to sleep.
I thought that was very considerate.
mwz
Monday, October 27, 2008
Checkers
The other day, I taught Frances how to play checkers. She picked up on the rules quickly. Even though she is still getting the hang of the strategy, still she periodically surprises me with a really good move.
We have been playing every now and then. We've started handicapping the game by starting me with fewer pieces. Frances is fairly competitive that way as long as I tell her when pieces are in jeopardy of being jumped.
Frances really likes to get kings or princesses as she calls them. It's an exciting event when she gets one. The second game we played, she looked sad said, "I didn't get any kings" (she hadn't started calling them princesses yet). So, the next game I made sure she got at least one king. It makes her happy. Now that we are handicapping though, she can get her own princesses.
The only downside to the games are that Frances has the attention span of a four year old. I have to keep her on task the whole time.
On the whole, it is a lot of fun to play with her. I just feel a little bad
because Johann wants to play too but he is to young yet.
mwz
We have been playing every now and then. We've started handicapping the game by starting me with fewer pieces. Frances is fairly competitive that way as long as I tell her when pieces are in jeopardy of being jumped.
Frances really likes to get kings or princesses as she calls them. It's an exciting event when she gets one. The second game we played, she looked sad said, "I didn't get any kings" (she hadn't started calling them princesses yet). So, the next game I made sure she got at least one king. It makes her happy. Now that we are handicapping though, she can get her own princesses.
The only downside to the games are that Frances has the attention span of a four year old. I have to keep her on task the whole time.
On the whole, it is a lot of fun to play with her. I just feel a little bad
because Johann wants to play too but he is to young yet.
mwz
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Soccer
Francis has been playing soccer again this fall. The last few games she has been playing really well. She runs all over the place and has had several drives with the ball. I've been so proud.
Finally, this week Francis scored a goal after being so close several times. She has had instances where a teammate has kicked the ball in after she dribbled it all the way to the goal and then last week she drove it down and then a girl from the other team kicked it in.
But this week she stole an inbound kick and took it right to the goal. She hesitated a bit in front of the goal but there was no one near by so she kicked it in.
During this whole thing, Johann plays on the sidelines. Either Arial or I will kick a ball around with him for some of time but he usually watches some of the game. He is very good about the whole thing (until the team gets snacks and he doesn't but Francis usually shares something with him).
All in all, soccer has been fun. The next thing she is signed up for is tennis. :)
mwz
Finally, this week Francis scored a goal after being so close several times. She has had instances where a teammate has kicked the ball in after she dribbled it all the way to the goal and then last week she drove it down and then a girl from the other team kicked it in.
But this week she stole an inbound kick and took it right to the goal. She hesitated a bit in front of the goal but there was no one near by so she kicked it in.
During this whole thing, Johann plays on the sidelines. Either Arial or I will kick a ball around with him for some of time but he usually watches some of the game. He is very good about the whole thing (until the team gets snacks and he doesn't but Francis usually shares something with him).
All in all, soccer has been fun. The next thing she is signed up for is tennis. :)
mwz
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)