From the Mouths of (Our) Babes

We're likely the last family to post a pic, which we were asked to do probably the second week of school! They have been discussing families, and though on the "family wall" it looks like EVERYONE has two kids and two parents, I know part of the discussion is about how families can be so many different things. They are also discussing faces and traits, and Avery has had fun describing and drawing himself and the family. These were just taken at Storm King last week. We have a million crazy ones, and in none of them can you see my eyes, and none really captured Avery the right way...but these are sort of cute. I love the second one, so perhaps that is what we'll go with. There is just something mature about Avery's expression. And the background is simply ... wow. I don't even remember the day being THAT gorgeous!

From yesterday (due to some issues downloading--we need a better connection, and I hate Verizon!!!!) Haven't downloaded pics from the camera for a while because it takes too long on our new camera. However, decided this eve that I was missing all the great shots. So I am going to post slowly, so as not to overwhelm. Avery's been taking up photography lately and has done a fabulous job of taking pictures. I love the angle and perspective and the freedom of all of his shots. He seems to like .... well, looking up (obvious), close ups, and art. So this eve (or, maybe, last), I thought I'd start on those from today and then take us back. We went to the Rodin museum, with photos posted from the phone earlier today. Avery loved working his way through the little workbook they created for kids to explore the museum. It had him looking at the faces of the sculptures to read the emotions, and taught about how one of the sculptures, a head, was created in a studio that had...

I just love the recent artwork Avery is toting home. The wire sculpture is on display at school. The collage will be on our wall, like a kite, very soon. Our little artiste.

We were just talking about the holidays, and Avery was listening in. He remarked joyfully, "You mean we're going to have another Christmas?!!!!!???" Then, later, he inquired, "Can I have another birthday, too?"

I just find this hilarious.

Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Cookies Take a gingerbread cookie. Make it wet. Stick chocolate chips in it. That's it. Oatmeal Cookies How you make an oatmeal cookie is wet sugar. When the sugar is wet, put oatmeal in it. You put it in the oven and watch it cook. Make sure it doesn't get burnt!!! Clearly, we need to bake more.

A long, long time ago, before Finn could really talk (which happened really, really early), I bought him a book about a snowman. There's a boy, and he builds the snowman, and it joins him on all of these adventures. And then it melts. Finn didn't have many words at the time, but he did know how to express his feelings. The book is mostly pictures, so he could get it without words. But after "reading" it, Finn simply said, "Sad." So recently, a bird in Avery's class, I think it was named "Lemon" also died a peaceful death. Avery told me that they read a story by Margaret Wise Brown about kids who find a dead bird in the forest and they bury it. And then they buried Lemon in a heart shaped box, with a towel. He told me "Matthew wrote, "I miss you,' on a piece of paper and they put it in the box." Then, as a class, they buried the bird. I asked Avery how he felt about this, and he simply stated, "All living thi...

Avery just asked if I might get him something to eat. When asked what he might like, he responded, with conviction, "NOT a banana." Then, he paused and has not elaborated. I've asked several times. This was 20 minutes ago. Perhaps hunger has passed.

One of Avery's teachers reported today that he asked, during their lunch time, to tell the class a story he made up. He stood on a chair, and told a story about planes and the moon and robots---that was entirely made up! His teacher said he did a fabulous job, adding all sorts of fun details and voices and used his hands to express important points. And he was SO PROUD after doing so! Last night, during back to school night, we were told that the school begins to encourage public speaking, even at this early age. Such a good skill to work on at age 4, when you are entirely unafraid. It simply makes it a natural thing to do, and takes the scariness away just a little. I am not sure if this is true, but I think this might have been his first public speaking practice! I wish we had a video. We are so proud of him.

I work from home many days. Sometimes I have to remain very quiet when Avery arrives home from his day of school and being out with Hopie, so that I can finish my workday. Today, when he arrived home with Hopie, they were singing. She was downstairs humming the tune to "The Lion Sleeps" (I think that is the name of the song). Avery came upstairs to go to the bathroom. He yelled down, "Hopie! I know what you are singing!" Then, he began, at the top of his lungs, "In the jungle, the lion's jungle, the lion sleeps toniiiiihhhhhhhiiiiight!!!!" Then they began to do rounds, all while Avery was up on the toilet. She was down there doing some operatic humming of the song, and when she stopped, from the bathroom, he yelled, "A weeemawopppa! weeemawappa! wemmawappa! weemawappa!" Oh, it's so so so cute!!!!! I can't make a sound because he'll know I am here.

So Avery had a really huge melt down yesterday leaving Sashee and Pop Tom's. It was out of nowhere (it seemed) and he was throwing shoes, screaming these awful shrieking screams and generally full of discontent. We left, and he refused to wear shoes or a jacket, and was upset by EVERYTHING. To express his feelings, he was having a hard time. He reached deep into the depths of his four year old "bad word" vocabulary. He called us, "poopy mommy" and, "poopy daddy". When that did not get a rise, he resorted to, "pee pee mommy", etc. Still nothing. He sat on a step outside a 7-11, screaming and drawing attention. He searched for a word that would help--- "YOU ARE A DIAPER!!!" That was the ultimate of bad/dirty words...a diaper! He eventually calmed down when we arrived home, got him in pajamas, fed him Teriyaki vegetables, and got ready for bed. He was then fine, like, "What? Nothing happened. What walk home? Oh, wa...

...we're searching. Aren't they lovely? Wouldn't they be perfect on a winter eve in our tiny city patio?