It’s wedding time! Last night, Bryan’s mom arrived, and I’m delighted that she’s going to be staying with us until Tuesday. Joe; Maretta & Kyle; Heather, Michael, & baby Evelyn; and Aunt Julie, Kevin, and their baby also are coming into town today. Yay!!
Yesterday, Terry and I visited a pumpkin patch and a flower shop, and we purchased a van-full of pumpkins and glorious fall mums for wedding decorations.
Today’s weather is a bit cold, rainy, and dreary. Makes me glad that the Lussier Center has a good indoor option for the wedding ceremony!
Just wait until you see the adorable Godzilla costume Granny made for Andrew, and the great jumper and dress-up skirt she made for Sylvie!
Imagine for a moment that you’re in the grocery store, walking down the cereal aisle, contemplating your breakfast selection. As you meander along, you are startled to see in front of you, on the ground, body curled tightly around a box of cereal, a little boy. He’s maybe four years old. Cute, with blond, curly hair. He’s obviously very committed to this cereal box. The boy’s mother seems to be less committed to this cereal box and appears to be trying to reason with him from nearby. You can see immediately that this isn’t going anywhere fast. So you give the mom a quick smile, steer around the boy-on-the ground, and continue on your way.
I didn’t realize the potential humor in this situation until I retold it to Bryan this evening. Now I wish I’d pulled out my camera and snapped a few pictures.
As we were picking up our O’s and granola at Woodman’s today, Andrew scooted away and came back clutching a box of Fruity Pebbles to his chest. His eyes were big and bright. He. Wanted. Them.
I told him that they did indeed look cool, but that we weren’t getting them.
Andrew clutched them closer to his breast and declared his adoration, his NEED for this cereal.
I told him to put the box back because it was under no circumstances coming home with us.
Andrew calmly lay down on the ground and curled his body around the box in the fetal position.
I explained to Andrew-on-the-ground that the cereal he had picked wasn’t healthy and wouldn’t help him grow big and strong and that we don’t bring un-healthy foods into our home (note to self: chocolate chips are healthy).
The Andrew/cereal box shape on the floor didn’t move. People navigated their shopping carts around him.
It’s a quiet Friday morning here in the Dotzour home. Bryan made me coffee, and I’m finishing up my cup of latte while Andrew is watching a little PBS. We’ve had morning activities every day this week, so today we’re taking it slow. Andrew’s come up with the idea that on Fridays we’ll go to Bryan’s office and have lunch with him, so we’re going to start that tradition today.
Sylvia, who has no interest in the television, is bringing me dollies to put to “nigh nigh.” That’s great with me. Pediatricians recommend no television before age two.
Sid the Science Kid and his gang
Our favorite PBS shows are Sesame Street, Sid the Science Kid, and Super Why. Sid the Science Kid is a cute show about a kid who loves learning about how the world works. He makes lots of hypotheses and does experiments. Good stuff! Andrew loves Super Why…a show that helps teach kids things from letter recognition to reading easy words to rhyming to reading and spelling. It’s perfectly suited to Andrew’s current interest (obsession) with beginning reading. Although, come to think of it, we haven’t seen either of these shows most of the summer.
This morning we turned on the television set a bit before Sesame Street started, and we saw a new show called Dinosaur Train. It made me smile and laugh enough that I thought I’d share it with you. We’ve been watching (sigh) The Land Before Time VIII recently, and while there’s nothing wrong with it, I’m not really a fan. Dinosaur Train was particularly fun because it dealt with similar themes about friendship and life-lessons, but it was much nerdier and made me laugh.
The show follows a young T. rex who is best friends with a (not really a dino) Pteranodon and is being raised by her family. The two of them have silly adventures, and they talk a lot about what different dinos ate and what that meant about how they lived. Sort of paleontology for four-year-olds. One thing I thought was cool was that there’s a train that runs through several time tunnels from the Cretaceous to the Triassic and Jurassic periods. They take the train to the different periods to meet new dinosaurs and to learn about them.
Andrew goes to a simply wonderful preschool. It’s a non-profit, parent cooperative, and it’s very play-oriented and low-key and loving. Since school started, Andrew’s been riding his bike to school (since it’s a block from our house!), and he’s once again LOVING it.
I think Monona Grove Nursery School is so great that I joined the board of directors this summer. Being the treasurer has been a lot of work, but it feels so rewarding to be helping to run a school that is doing so many great things for so many kids.
As a not-for-profit organization, the school relies on fund-raisers as well as student tuition to make ends meet. Would you, lovely reader, consider supporting this great organization either with a donation of $10 (or more!) or with a purchase of one of several tasty items? I’d really appreciate it!
Information of the sale items are below. Or if you prefer to donate with a check that’s perfect too! The last day to submit your order is September 30.
Oh, and by the way, those butter braids are gooooooood. We just pulled our last one out of the freezer a few weeks ago, and boy, what a great weekend-morning treat!
Illustrations by Garth Williams (he also did the Little House books)
Andrew and I finished reading Stuart Little this afternoon. For those of you who haven’t read this great book or who don’t remember the plot, the book ends with Stuart (a mouse) heading north to search for his missing friend, a lovely brown bird named Margalo.
As we turned the last page, there’s a pictures of Stuart driving north in his cute little car, and the last line is, “But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction.”
Andrew paused and said, “What happens then??” I told him that since the book ended, we’d have to write his own ending. So we pulled out a pad of paper, and he wrote out, “Stuart finds Margalo.” So sweet. Such a wonderfully sweet boy!
Earlier in the book, we ran across a line that had been one my mom quoted. I read it out loud to Andrew a couple times, and I thought I’d share it with you! In this chapter, Stuart (a mouse, remember) has taken on the job of substitute teaching a class of school children.
Everyone’s eyes lit up with excitement to see such a small and good-looking teacher, so appropriately dressed.
After some humorous preliminaries, they get down to business. Stuart announces that the world gets into a lot of trouble because it has no chairman.
“I would like to be Chairman of the world myself.”
“You’re too small,” said Mary Bendix.
“Oh, fish feathers,” said Stuart. “Size has nothing to do with it. It’s temperament and ability that count. The Chairman has to have ability and he must know what’s important. How many of you know what’s important?”
Up went all the hands
“Very good,” said Stuart . . . . “Henry Rackmeyer, you tell us what is important.”
“A shaft of sunlight at the end of a dark afternoon, a note in music, and the way the back of a baby’s neck smells if its mother keeps it tidy,” answered Henry.”
“Correct,” said Stuart. “Those are the important things. You forgot one thing though. Mary Bendix, what did Henry Rackmeyer forget?”
“He forgot ice cream with chocolate sauce on it,” said Mary quickly.
“Exactly,” said Stuart. “Ice cream is important.”
Mom often quoted E.B. White as saying that one of the most important things in life is the way a baby’s neck smells if its mother keeps it tidy. I agree.
This past weekend was just stunningly beautiful. The last few weeks have been incredible. Dry, warm, blue-skies, lots of flowers…we’re just soaking it all in.
On Saturday, we took a family walk to our neighborhood park (which we call the Yellow Slide Park, for obvious reasons). Andrew rode his bike while Sylvia happily went along in the stroller. The oak trees have been dropping their acorns, so I hunted around for acorns and the kids had a blast playing on all the equipment. I’m going to post some pics below, but there’s lots more from that outing in the gallery!
I love those pictures of the kids together. I get so few of them when they’re actually in the same frame!
Sylvia was having fun walking on the balance beam (with Daddy’s help).
There was swinging silliness…
And note Sylvia’s miss-matched shoes. She got help getting dressed from her brother…
Andrew (and Sylvia too) are pretty agile, active, coordinated kids. Andrew has recently been playing a game where he does a running somersault onto the air mattress in the back yard. For your viewing pleasure, here’s his act:
Here’s our read-aloud of the week. I am loving reading Andrew chapter books!
PS. If you can’t see the picture for some reason, it’s Stuart Little.
In other news, my clematis on the front porch is just breaking into bloom. It’s really grown big this year. Look at how much of the porch it covers!
Last winter and spring, Andrew was smitten…obsessed one might even say…with learning his letters. He spent lots of time writing letters and copying words on his easel. He went through workbooks at a furious pace. Then over the summer, the passion faded, and nary a letter has been seen. It’s all fine with me! Whatever interests a youngster at the moment is a good thing to explore.
While he hasn’t been writing, Andrew has been working on reading. When we were at Carleton for my 10th reunion in June, we picked up a book by Mo Willems called Are You Ready to Play Outside?
Thanks to my friend Mandee for introducing me to the world of Mo Willems, we are now good friends with Knuffle Bunny and the Pigeon. The Elephant and Piggy books are a series of early reader book, and Andrew loves them. He devours them. And I think they’re pretty great too.
It’s really amazing for me to watch Andrew’s reading skills growing as he learns more vocabulary and increases his confidence.
Here’s a video I took of Andrew a couple weeks ago. We’re in the library parking lot. Andrew wanted to start reading a book right away (but he wanted me there to help when he gets stuck. Sometimes he gets a little panicky when he gets stuck on a word). So I video taped him. Enjoy!
As we were picking up our O’s and granola at Woodman’s today, Andrew scooted away and came back clutching a box of Fruity Pebbles to his chest. His eyes were big and bright. He. Wanted. Them.
