Talking to Myself Again

Games Night

Our friend Ann hosted a games night last weekend. That's right – we actually left the house and spent time with other adults!

Well, Dawn spent time with other adults, playing a game called Apples to Apples. I mainly spent the night downstairs playing pool with Lando.

I've no idea why Lando looks so forlorn here. I doubt it was anything Maddie said!

Notice Lando's shirt? That's right – Super Mario Brothers! Yes, he is a Nintendo child! He wins races in Mario Kart fairly regularly now and has actually made it through the first level (1-1) of Super Mario Bros. Wii. Lando and I spent most of the evening downstairs playing pool. Lando has enhanced the game of pool with his own custom rules, most of them taken from Nintendo games, including obstacles and boss monsters.

Also, notice the cat with the jack-o-lantern body in Lando's hands? That's Pumpkin. Notice the lack of Giraffe in Lando's hands? After 5 years at the top of the totem pole, Giraffe has finally been displaced by Pumpkin as the toy that Lando carries with him everywhere! We're not sure why, but perhaps it's because Lando's hands are now large enough that Giraffe's long-suffering neck was too skinny to be a comfortable fit. Whatever the reason, Pumpkin is now top cat!

Can you say "cute overload"? That's Anna on the left (Ann's daughter) and Maddie on the right (daughter of Donna, who is providing the lap for this meeting of toddler minds).

Aww!

Look! It's Cute Thing 1 and Cute Thing 2!

And that concludes this installment of "Little Kids Being Cute Just by Existing"!

Family Portrait

I'm not sure whether we've ever taken a real "family photo". Lando needed one for a preschool project, so we decided the fireplace would make a nice backdrop.

Lando is standing on the fireplace hearth; he's tall, but he's not that tall!

After we took this photo, Lando was sick, so he didn't go to preschool. Then there were 2 days when preschool was closed for a workshop and parent-teacher conferences. So it wasn't until more than a week later that we were finally able to get this photo to his teachers. I haven't seen the result yet.

Speaking of parent-teacher conferences, we met with Lando's teacher, Mrs. House, to find out how Lando is doing. The short version is he's doing great! She did say that he doesn't like to dance, which was no surprise to us. Whenever the kids are asked to perform something like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" or "I'm a Little Teapot" (or whatever it is the kids do these days), he doesn't want to do it. We've noticed the same thing at Funshop, as well as at the preschool holiday shows where the kids put on a performance.

So far, despite his high energy level and friendly nature, he is not interested in being a showman!

Artist in Residence

Here's Lando demonstrating his artistic talents in the area of painting. (This was actually from 2 weeks ago. I'm a little behind!)

Front Yard Winter Wonderland

Snow + hill + preschooler = sledding + snowman building = winter fun!

New camcorder + new video editing software + me = video.

We've had lots of snow this winter, but most of it has not been good for playing in. It's either been bitterly cold or deposited on top of sleet. However, on Valentine's Day the temperatures were near freezing, the earlier snow packed well, and the falling snow made everything even more magical. The music, "Walking in the Air" by George Winston, seemed appropriate.

(Note to myself: Ten years from now, when my surly teenage son barely even grunts at me, remember to watch this video.)

Snow Tennis

On Sunday evening, Lando declared that he wanted us to take him to the tennis courts next to Funshop (in Lincoln Park) so that we could play tennis. The high that day was 48°F. Strangely enough, we weren't especially eager to do this.

However, we would be going to Funshop on Monday to pick up the materials for the new session (which will begin on Feb 4), so I told him that we could play a bit of tennis then. True, it would be cold, but I knew that he would only want to play for about 5 minutes anyway.

I was wrong.

Worse than that, not only was it much colder (well below freezing) and dark, but we also had ice, snow, and wind to go with it. Perfect tennis weather!

I'm not sure how long we were out there, but it was at least 30 minutes, perhaps more. Long enough for Dawn to go inside the Funshop building, complete all of the necessary activities, then come back out and join us for a bit more tennis.

Lando plays tennis on our Nintendo Wii regularly. One of the activities involves hitting a tennis ball at a wall, so Lando wanted to be sure to do that. Incidentally, he's actually using a badminton racket, because he prefers it over (heavier) tennis rackets. Perhaps this will be a new trend in tennis!

One advantage to playing tennis at night in the middle of a snow/ice storm is that you don't have to wait for an open court. You have your choice of any of them. Or, if you prefer, all of them!

Lando originally was playing behind the backcourt, just like he's seen tennis players do on TV (and on the Wii). Luckily I was able to convince him that he was better off playing a little closer to the net.

"Lando, Mommy's frozen solid, so we should probably go home now."

The Greening of the Bedroom

We decided to start painting the master bedroom the other day. Lando, of course, wanted to help.

He's recently gotten into the habit of jumping in front of the camera and making funny faces whenever I take a picture.

Another funny face from Lando. I have a feeling we're going to be seeing quite a few of these for awhile.

Finally, the taping of the trim is done. It's time to paint! Lando has the basic technique down -- stick brush in paint, rub brush on wall, repeat. He could use some practice, though.

Hey! I think he's getting better already! A little.

Keep going!

"Hey, Lando, you missed a spot!"

The wall is painted! At long last, we finally have at least one bedroom wall that isn't some shade of white!

Yes, there are 3 more walls to paint in this room. The others generally will require patching a few holes first. This one had no holes, and we had moved the dresser out of the way while vacuuming, so on the spur of the moment we decided to paint it.

It seems like when we plan to work on a home improvement project on a particular date, something comes up and we don't get around to it. The stuff that we get done tends to be things that we decide to do on the spur of the moment. I've no idea why.

P.S. The painting of the flower is by Dawn's mom. It looks really nice, at least when it doesn't have a teddy bear's head in front of it. Oh, and the purple yip yip alien next to the teddy bear was crocheted by Dawn. If you don't remember what a yip yip alien is, here's a video to refresh your memory.

Video from the Swimming Pool Birthday Party

About a month ago, I posted about the swimming pool birthday party that Lando went to. The video editing software I was using kept crashing on me, so I wasn't able to get any video posted.

I finally got new software today (Sony Vegas Platinum Pro), which actually allowed me to edit and render video without crashing! So here it is, in all its underwhelming not-worth-the-wait glory: Lando at a swimming pool birthday party!

Someday, when I actually learn what I'm doing with this software (and have several hours of free time available to me each day) I might make videos with a bit more polish. For now, this will have to do.

This was only the second time Lando had been in a pool, so it took him awhile before he worked up the courage to actually get into the water. Once he did, however, he had a great time! Perhaps we should look into swimming lessons soon.

The Making of a Hyena Droid Bomber -- With a 5-Year-Old

Lando received a Toys R Us gift card for Christmas from his Grandma Lois, so he went on a shopping spree a few days after Christmas. One of the things he bought was a nifty Star Wars Lego set, the Hyena Droid Bomber. It's 232 pieces. Ages 7-12. Lando is 5, so guess who got to had to put it together?

A pile of Lego pieces waiting to be assembled!

While I was following the step-by-step instructions, Lando was thinking outside the box and making his own creation. (You know — like we used to do before every Lego set came with the One True Way® to assemble the pieces.)

Lando's creation is actually pretty good! (The lights in the background are our Christmas tree.)

Halfway there!

Lando makes some "special modifications" to his ship.

The hat makes all the difference!

Finished! And it only took 2 hours and 12 minutes! Admittedly that includes some assistance from Lando, some tracking down of pieces that mysteriously ended up in the other room, some breaks to respond to "Dad! Look at me!" requests, etc.

In any case, I have no illusions about how long this spaceship will look like this before it is cannibalized to create something else. Which is the whole point of Legos, of course!

We Survived the Birthday Party!

Lando celebrated his 5th birthday with a party at the bowling alley! Here's a quick photo.

Yes, that's him in the pink hat. Dawn crocheted the hat to donate to a project that distributes hats and gloves to kids that need them, but Lando declared that he wanted it. I guess Dawn will have to crochet another one!

When little kids are bowling, they can roll the ball down a ramp (rather than trying to heave it down the lane themselves), and bumpers are raised to prevent the ball from going into the gutters.

Here's Lando demonstrating how to use the ramp (while Luca and Isabella discuss the finer points of the game).

Unfortunately, the bowling alley was down to just one ramp. The others had broken over the years, and when they looked into getting more, they found that they cost $240. They're pretty sure that they can make something themselves for far less than that!

Anyway, since there was just one ramp, our friend Patty helped us out tremendously by moving the ramp between the 3 lanes, making sure that everyone was able to use it. (Thanks, Patty!)

Of course, sometimes you just don't want to wait for the ramp. That's when Lando employed the classic "squat and shove" method for propelling the ball toward the pins. (His friend Sarah employed the classic "sit nearby and wait to bowl" method.)

He bowled a 74, which isn't bad, but I think his follow through could use a little bit of work.

We invited 15 kids, including those from preschool and Funshop which we had determined he played with the most. It was pretty chaotic, as you can imagine, but we had some great help from the other parents and everyone seemed to have a wonderful time!

I took some video of bowling, unwrapping presents, and blowing out candles on the cake. I'll try to get something posted soon!

Happy Birthday, Lando! You're Sick!

Yes, Orlando was born 5 years ago today! A little before 2 in the morning, if I remember right. After hours of induced labor that wasn't going anywhere, the doctor finally gave in to the inevitable and did a C-section. (Want to feel useless? Try standing in what was going to be the delivery room while they wheel your wife into the operating room to prep her for surgery.)

Here's what he looked like on that day.

He looks pissed, doesn't he? Well, he eventually cheered up!

So today he's officially a 5-year-old! Unfortunately, he's also a sick 5-year-old. Dawn took him to the doctor, but they say he's not contagious. Hopefully he'll feel better by Saturday, because that's when he's having a birthday party!

We let him open a couple of presents today: A castle from us, a horse and wagon from his Grandma Lois and Grandpa Noel. He also had a couple of sugar cookies as a "cake".

Saturday will be the big event -- 16 kids at a bowling alley! I'll definitely get pictures and video!

P.S. They did not start work on the septic system today. High winds meant that they didn't want to venture out on the highway with a bunch of construction equipment on a trailer. Hopefully they'll start tomorrow!