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October 18, 2006

Silent E

Last night was another Parent night at Harmony Montessori. They talked a lot about the language materials, so we got to see the famed "blue boxes" that Ethan talks about doing, and the "green boxes" that come next. Later that night, Ethan and Jeff were talking about the blue and green boxes, and Jeff said that some of the green boxes are about silent e. Ethan said, "But I already know about silent e, don't I." and then Jeff asked him what was one word with a silent e.

Ethan said, "Suriname!"

Posted by ktingey at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2006

First taiko class

Ethan had his first kids taiko class on Sunday. It was very cute. I think he's the youngest in the class - it goes from 4-7, but it's mostly 5-7. It's actually quite a large age range. He had a good time, and I ended up assisting, which was fun. (I went to rehearsal last Thursday, which was fun... and Jeff started a class again on Sunday also. So it's back to taiko for one and all.)

Lately we've been listening to the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack in the car. Ethan's favorite keeps changing - first he just liked "Keep on the Sunny Side," and then he switched his allegiance to that one that the little kids sing. Now he likes "He's in the Jailhouse Now" because of the yodeling.

We went to get pumpkins on Saturday. Ethan picked the silliest one he could find, which looks like a two-part snowman. Linna mostly slept in the Ergo, but Ethan picked out a tiny miniature pumpkin for her.

Posted by ktingey at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)

October 09, 2006

Ethan the Gourmand

A few days ago we had something with cheese on it, I can't remember what. We were running low on groceries, so all I could find was a rind of some kind of hard Italian cheese to grate on Ethan's whatever-it-was. He said, "What kind of cheese is that, Parmigiano Reggiano?" I said yeah, maybe. Then he said, "No, that's not Parmigian Reggiano, because it doesn't have the words on it."

He is, of course, completely right.

Posted by ktingey at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2006

S'mores

Friday night we had the old Happy Zoo gang over for a potluck. It was good fun - the kids ate in the kitchen, and the grownups in the dining room. They got loud, but not destructive, and they definitely had a good time. It's amazing how much better able they are to entertain themselves now than they were a year ago. The adults actually got to converse, which was fun. It was great to see everyone again. There was an accident involving me, Will, and a giraffe, but other than that it went very smoothly.

Saturday night we had a campfire in the backyard. That is, Jeff built a fire in our clay chimney thingy (what are those thingies called again?), and we made fake s'mores. We only had miniature marshmallows, and chocolate chips. It's hard to make s'mores with that, but we got through. We also sang songs. I played the guitar - Jeff finally got me to do it. It was better than I expected, though I've forgotten 90% of what I used to know how to play. I could still figure out chords for the songs Ethan wanted to sing ("Sing something I know," he said), like his current favorite song, Old Dan Tucker. He also requested Yellow Submarine, La Bamba, and This Old Man. I did fine with those. Then I was just noodling around, but it turned out to fit a song Ethan really enjoyed singing. We ended with Twinkle Twinkle and then put the guitar away and just stared at the fire a while. Ethan said, "The fire is amazing."

He's very into the planets again now that he got a book about the night sky from Jeff's dad for his birthday. He's learned all kinds of stuff. He and Mya made a big picture of the solar system and hung it on his window. They also wrote a book called "Clan-rrrrrr!" The "n", just so you know, is silent. In it, Mya and Ethan climb up on Saturn.

Today we did some very silly dancing to They Might Be Giants, the ABC album. He loves that one, and he loved dancing. He's really a very good dancer. I can't get over the things he does. He'll imitate my moves, but he also comes up with some really good modern-dancish stuff, all on his own. His favorite song on the album is the first one, The Alphabet of Nations. He and Jeff made a chart, and he found which continent each country in the song was in. Now he wants to go to all of those places, especially Egypt for some reason. He also got very excited about Jeff's childhood coin collection (which is quite extensive), especially when Jeff would show him coins from countries in the song, like Dominica and Zimbabwe.

Anyway, Saturday we also did some gardening. Initially, the idea was that Ethan would go to Home Depot with Jeff so I could garden, but Ethan didn't like that idea. So he brought out his gloves and his pad, and helped me pick hot peppers. Then we planted the three Origanum Barbara Tingeys I had found at Portland Nursery several weeks ago. He helped me fill the pot with compost and soil, and I put the three plants in it, telling him about how they had the same name as my mom, Grandmom. Then of course he asked me again where she is. I explained that she had known him when he was younger, only one. He said, "So she won't see me when I'm four... maybe when I'm five I'll see her." Eventually I gave some pat answer like "She's in heaven."

He answered, "Well, I'd like to go to Egypt."

Posted by ktingey at 09:49 PM | Comments (0)