G, and I actually, really like Challah bread. I think it is the Asian taste buds. Mom brought home a loaf yesterday. G asked during dinner time “Mom, why did you buy Challah bread”? “To make french toasts, mom answered. Two minutes later, “Mom, why did you buy Challah Bread?”, “French toasts”, same answer. After the third time same question, I said to G “But we can make some straight toasts with it too!”
Finally he is happy.
Monday night we went out to dinner with M’s school friend after our school Christmas concert. We shared a lot of conversation and laughs between the two families.
Today while we were in the car, M volunteered a thought: It is good to have dinner with friends. I did not know (her friend) very well. Now I do. You can learn a lot about them with dinner.
A very keen insight.
Toyota makes a very nice hybrid minivan in Japan called the Estima. It is very much based o the Sienna and has been around for a long time. Will we soon get it in the State? This article thinks so. And I sure hope so.
M and G are playing with Lego people and animals.
G: This is the doe.
Dad: Is the the male or female deer?
G: I think it’s female.
Dad: No, isn’t it the male deer?
M: No Dad. It’s female. Remember? (singing) Doe, a deer, a female deer……
M is really very good at sports. Today we went to mini golf for the second time this year, with one of her friend. It was her first time. M was so proud of her “skill” that she insists of being the instructor for her friend. Then at the end of the 18th hold, M beats G by 1 hole and won the game! Now I know this is really going to go to her head big time. Fortunately her brother is pretty good sports about it, loosing by 1 hole. To be fair, he was careless with several easy putt and he knew it.
Some of you may know that M, at this age, still sleeps with her mother because her mother encourages it. I have tried many different way to change this behavior without any success. M is the type of child that does not response to normal carrot nor stick approaches. She is smart enough and strong will enough to get her own way, especially with her mother’s backing.
Finally, Friday, is the first night she managed to sleep the entire night on her own. How? There is one thing that she really loves to do. She is very good at Gymnastics, and she loves it. So I found the leverage. I explained: no matter how skillful a gymnist gets, she is not going to be able to be successful if she cannot even sleep by herself. So if M does not sleep like a real gymnist (by herself), there will be no need for anymore gymnastic classes.
Of course, the next morning became a special celebration. I created a certificate for her, and we talked it up all day. Now we are on the beginning of night number two. Let’s see if this last.
Both M and G headed to their second Summer camp this week. They were too young last year and I have been eager to sign them up to this camp — it is hard to describe what the camp does — they make things — hacker meets artist meet urban geeks. M is actually technically still under the minimum age, but they told me it’s ok with them if it is ok with me.
Well, a few days into the camp, and G has already “out cool” his Dad. He went geocaching — something I wanted to take them to but have not done so yet. Today, he casually told me that he made a drawdio. “You made it yourselve?” I asked. “You solder it yourself?” Yes he did. Earlier this year he did helped me stuff components to make our first picaxe controller together, but he watched me as I soldered. He helped with snipping off leads. He said this time, there were instruction on paper and he just followed the diagrams. He did put the chip in backwards he said so they will have to either fix it tomorrow or make a new one.
M also had a great time — she went fishing first day. Another first for her. I taught her how to light an LED with a button cell and she made several “toys” with LED’s with her new skill.
G is doing his usual creative morning activity — where he is the first to get up, and then quietly working on a project of his own. This morning he created a 2 1/2D landscape of a carnival ride. I noticed he didn’t put a title on the piece. So we google up some architectural plans and showed him how a architect usually label the drawing with the project’s name etc.
By chance the floor plan that I googled up is not for a normal house, but for a dormitory. G noticed it first — is this for a mansion? he asked. We focused on the bathrooms, which are clearly men’s and women’s with a lot of stalls inside. So I prompted G to look at the bathrooms and see if he can deduce what kind of building this is. After some back and forth analysis, he figured it out that it is not a home but some sort of an office. Then I pointed out the bedrooms in the plan and decided that it is some sort of boarding school.
There are many benefits of having my office next door to home. Today, G and M came back from camp, yelled “daddy” from the street and I heard them. A short conversation continue before they head into the garage. Feel like a village, except we live in the heart of Boston!
We went rock climbing tonight again. For some reason both M and G were talking about it all week last week. G sound motivated this time. Maybe he will finally get pass the free climb line?
Turned out everybody did much better. M went to the top many times, although initially she was a bit reluctant to repel down. G, after a few tries, managed to, yes, reach the top! We were all very pleased. Afterwards G commented that after he got pass the middle difficult part, it was “easier” to get to the top.