Mimic

Kai is our little mimic. If you say a new word, it's often repeated back very quickly.

Tonight our conversation went like this:
"Mummy, get out bath. Go see Daddy".
"OK, you can go see Daddy?"
"Yeah! Go play Daddy."
"You're such a little chatterbox."
"Datterbox?"
"Yes - a Chatterbox"
"Ooooh" (as if that explained everything).

Most of the time it's cute. It's not so good when you suddenly say "Darn it!" and it's repeated by a little voice.

Weekend Away

We went camping this weekend to South Whidbey Island. It was a great weekend, spent with some friends.

We played on the beach



went to the Loganberry Festival...

and on Sunday went to a Jazz concert at the Rhododendrum Gardens, where Lizzy found evidence of fairies.

In all, it was a great weekend and one we'd like to repeat this summer.

Alarm Clock

I have a great alarm clock. Every morning, without fail, it says "Hello Mommy! Out! Come on Mommy! Out!"

And I stagger out of bed, make breakfast, put on Dora the Explorer and fall asleep on the couch again. But like all good alarm clocks, 20 minutes pass and I'm woken by my alarm clock again when he says "Mommy, Dora all done. TV again?".

Family Resemblence

I got a wonderful photo in the mail the other day, which is now up on my fridge so the kids can see their cousin every day. However, the photo reminded so strongly of another photo I have in my collection that I couldn't help digging through my old photos.

Home Made

I recently decided to pull out my sewing machine again. As soon as Elizabeth saw this, she put in a request for a dress. She chose the material and the pattern. This is the end result...

And from the side...



And just to throw in a smile for you..

New Rose

The other day I bought a new rose for my garden. It's called Enchanted Evening and it's a lovely lavender rose with a beautiful scent.

As planting flowers involves digging, Kai wanted to be involved in the process. And of course, Lizzy just wanted to be outside.



I love this time of year!

Boasting

We are growing strawberries. I planted them last year, and this year they have returned with no effort on my behalf. I told Elizabeth that I'd have to call Granddad and boast to him about my bumper crop of strawberries. She very seriously told me "It's not good to boast Mum". To which I replied that sometimes it was appropriate.

So Dad, I just need to let you know that I have the most awesome crop of strawberries, and I think you'd be jealous :)

To Bring A Smile To Your Face

Today Kai & I went to the farm, and I took these videos. I can't help but smile when I see them.

Our Artist

Lizzy is our creator in the family. If she's not making a craft, she's writing something. This was her "creation" from the weekend.

Maybe it's them and not me...

Maybe I'm not as blind as I thought. I decided to take a photo of me getting the right or wrong answer on my logic game and look what decided to show up under the light of the flash.




Below it is what I'm seeing on my screen. If you play the medium difficulty, you get two logic rules to follow, like you see in the first image. I think it's them! I've been trying to get this game out for days so it's quite a relief.

Are you any good with Logic games?

Obviously I am not because I cannot work this one out for the life of me. This game is called Magic Rule. You are supposed to look for the pattern and select the correct piece from the 3 options down the bottom. I cannot work out the magic rule for this set.

These are some examples of the ones I get correct. I have put a box around the correct answer. The first one, the column on the right is blue and the column on the left is red, so I choose the red number one. The second example, the numbers have been twisted on their sides.

In these examples, it's all about the peg placement.

And these ones are all about the color.


If you can work out the answer - please tell me how you worked it out!

A Tissue

Kai has a cold and is feeling a little miserable. He comes up to me in his sad voice and says "A did-doo, a did-doo". I think he's practicing for having a man cold in years to come, as you would think that the need for a tissue was heartbreaking.

My Helper

After my shower this morning, I grabbed some clothes from my basket of clean clothes. I was about to start getting dressed when Kai walked over with a handful of folded clothes. "Away", he says and hands me the clothes. I put them away and go to get my undies out of the draw when Kai reappears. "Away".

Let's just say I got all my folded laundry away, while wearing only a towel. Isn't he so helpful.

Just a Spoonful of Sugar

Kai has been on antibiotics for the past week. He is not happy about this fact, however we have come to a compromise. After taking his medicine he gets a small chocolate easter egg. So now, twice a day, I say "Kai, it's time for your medicine" and he says "Treat?". And then he starts crying as he walks over to me, crys even more as he takes his medicine and then smiles and says "treat" again.

Ben has accused me of trying to give Kai an aversion to chocolate because he associates it with medicine. I can live with that.

A Collection of Poems

Lizzy just recently finished a segment on poetry at school. For giggles, here are some of her works.

Dad will always be cool

I was talking with the kid yesterday and the topic of being teenagers came up. I said "Perhaps when you are 14, you won't want to come with Mum because teenagers quite often don't think parents are cool."

Isaac responded "I think Dad will always be cool because he plays computer games."

So I now record this statement for posterity's sake.

Messages

Last night I found a message on my toothbrush. Lizzy had stuck a sticker on my toothbrush which read "I love you Mom". She had also left her sticker book in the bathroom, so I wrote on one of her stickers "I love you Elizabeth".

Tonight, as I was cleaning my teeth, I noticed two new messages had appeared, this time on my makeup bottles. My sticker I had written to her was now on her toothbrush.

So naturally I had to write another couple of messages tonight. I wonder which odd spot I'll find a message tomorrow.

My helper

Kai loves to help around the house. He's actually quite an organized little fellow, and will say "Way" when he wants to put his toys away. I've got to admit that it's rather nice to have a child who likes to tidy up.

On a number of occassions lately, I've gone to take out something of the kid's cup/plate cupboard, only to find that Kai has unloaded the dishwasher for me. While that is terribly sweet of him, there is a problem. They haven't been washed yet! Ah well - it is the thought that counts, isn't it?

Why Math Homework Frustrates Me

Some afternoons I feel like ripping my hair out. The reason is simple - Isaac is doing his math homework. I would say that 99% of the time Isaac knows the answer. The problem is that he is required to explain how he got that answer and that is where the problems start.

This is todays homework.

As you can probably see, he knew the answer was 24. In his head he worked out that there were 6 blocks of 10 minutes in a hour and therefore over 4 hours, there would be 24, 10 minute blocks. (6x4=24).

So when he writes down the explanation, there is one shell picked up every 10 minutes (1) and this is done 24 times. His explanation is therefore 1x24=24.

So another day passes where I tell him that he needs to write down all the steps, to show his teacher how he worked out the sum. This gets him all frustrated.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Maths is going to be easier the harder it gets.