Quote from a Starbucks cup

I read this quote on my Starbucks cup this morning....

The Way I See It #273
"All children need a laptop. Not a computer, but a human laptop. Moms, dads, grannies and grandpas, aunts, uncles - someone to hold them, read to them, teach them. Loved ones who will embrace them and pass o the experience, rituals and knowledge of a hundred previous generations. Loved ones who will pass to the next generation their expectations of them, their hopes, and their dreams."
- General Colin L. Powell

Going on a treasure hunt

Nicholas likes to go on treasure hunts. He has a cool pirate toy that he got for his birthday. It looks like a treasure chest but the top and bottom separate into two pieces. The bottom piece has a compartment to put the treasure in. This is the piece that gets hidden. Then Nicholas takes the top part with him as he walks around looking for the hidden treasure. The top piece acts like a geiger counter to let him know when he is getting closer to the treasure. It has a lighted "X" that flashes blue when he is "cold" or far from the treasure, yellow as he gets closer, and then red when he is "hot" or near the treasure. It also beeps faster as he gets closer. Nicholas is pretty good at the game but he also got caught peeking as I was trying to hide the bottom piece!


Treasure found!

Nicholas also likes to hide the treasure and let me find it. However, he doesn't have much patience with me. As I'm just starting to walk around, he excitedly shouts, "No, go that way!" and points to the table. For the sake of the game, I try to ignore him and show him that I'm letting the toy tell me where to go. But alas, he can't stand it anymore and he goes over to the table and points underneath it and says, "Here it is!"

Harvest

The other day Nicholas asked me what the word "harvest" means. I explained that we are harvesting when we pick ripe fruits and vegetables from their trees and plants. This morning Nicholas was checking on his vegetables and said that he needed to harvest some. He picked a bell pepper and several of his yellow pear tomatoes from the plant that Mrs. Deb gave him. He just loves his yellow tomatoes! They are the perfect size for him to just pop the whole thing in his mouth. It's so easy to get him to eat his vegetables when he takes pride in growing them himself!

We have to go rescue Kimberly's cow!

While I was washing dishes in the kitchen, Nicholas was keeping himself occupied in the living room which is decorated with a western theme. I'm not sure how he reached it but Nicholas managed to get down an old lasso that we have on the fireplace mantle. He started yelling, "Quick! We have to go rescue Kimberly's cow! It's running away!" Kimberly is a 10 year old girl next door that Nicholas loves to play with. And, as far as I know, she does not own a cow! Nicholas ran to the front door and wanted me to let him go lasso this cow. I explained that he couldn't go get the cow because he had taken his pants off and he wasn't going in the front yard in just his Spiderman underwear. He was fine with that answer and started practicing his lasso technique. He has never been taught how to lasso nor can I think of a time that he has even seen a lasso being used but he's was doing a pretty good job with it.

Eventually he had to experiment with lassoing himself!

Harmonica man

Nicholas' friend, Diana, just got her own bounce house for her back yard. Her mommy invited us and some other friends over to play in it this morning. Nicholas loves bounce houses but for some reason he was drawn more to Diana'a harmonica than anything else. He played it all morning long. He played it in the bounce house. He played it on the swings. He played it on the slide. He played it inside while eating a snack. He was kind enough to share it with Diana when she wanted to play it too but I overheard him tell her, "Ok, but this is the last time!" He has always loved musical instruments but, then again, he loves anything that makes noise!



Nicholas has already completed levels 1 and 2 of the three year old swim class. Each level is a 10 day course that meets M-F for 2 weeks. By the end of level 2 he was able to swim 3/4 of the way across the width of the pool while lifting his head to take a breath. He could also float on his back with the instructor's hand supporting his head and climb out of the pool independently. He is currently half way through level 3. He can now swim the complete width of the pool, float on his back independently and dive from a sitting position at the edge of the pool. Today he learned a good safety technique - rolling over onto his back by himself. The instructor had him swim half way across the pool, roll over and float on his back, then continue swimming to the other end of the pool. I love that they teach safety techniques as well as basic swimming strokes. This technique is good in case he gets tired while swimming, he will know that he can always roll over unto his back to take a break and breathe safely until he has the energy to finish swimming to the side of the pool.

I'm so amazed that Nicholas has learned so much in such a short amount of time. He loves going to swim class and it's such an important skill to know. Since the class is in an indoor heated pool, I'm thinking about continuing his swim lessons through the fall but switching him over to a 16 week class that meets just once a week. This would help him keep learning even after our pool at home is too cold to swim in. Otherwise, he will likely forget a lot of these skills by next summer.

Oobleck!

When Daddy was a little boy, his mom would read a Dr. Seuss book to him by the name of "Bartholomew and the Oobleck". I love Dr. Seuss books but I had not heard of this book until Grandmother Chance read it to Nicholas on one of our trips to Baton Rouge. The story is about a king who is tired of the same old rain, sun, snow, and fog that comes down from the sky. He asks his magicians to create something new in the sky. They created Oobleck which is green and not quite a liquid but not quite a solid. It is also very sticky. Everyone in the kingdom gets stuck in the gooey stuff until the king finally admits that he was sorry for the problems and it was his fault. I recently saw the book at a store and had to get it. We sat outside and read it today.

I happened to find a "recipe" for Oobleck online so we made some after we read the story. It is just 2 parts cornstarch and 1 part water with green food coloring. Nicholas enjoyed measuring the cornstarch and then playing with it! It really is a wonderful texture, very silky and soft. Then he poured the green water into the bowl and eewwww - we had Oobleck!

This Oobleck is just so much fun to play with. If you scoop it in your hands it will ooze between your fingers as a very slippery liquid. But if you squeeze it, it will feel more like a solid and may even crack. We put our hands in it and we stirred it with spoons.



We even put our feet in it. When Nicholas tried to pull a foot out of the Oobleck he found that it was stuck and he really had to pull to get it out. He thought that was so funny! There was green Oobleck everywhere and it was great!


Fortunately, our Oobleck rinses clean with water! I chased Nicholas around the yard with the water hose until he was Oobleck-free.

The Wiggly Play Center

We carpooled with our friends Mrs. Deb and Emma Rae to the Wiggly Play Center in Frisco where we met up with Lukas, Reese and their mommies. The Wiggly Play Center has a huge multi-level indoor adventure playground with several slides, tunnels, and even a rope swing. There was also a bounce house as well as lots of little cars to drive around in. After a long time of playing, Nicholas finally slowed down long enough to eat some lunch. He ordered a fruit salad and chicken nuggets. I was glad to see that all of their food is either baked or grilled - nothing is fried! As we waited for our order, I explained to Nicholas why we had a sign with a number on it. He enjoyed hearing me explain that when our food was ready, the man would put it on a tray and walk out into the dining area, look around the room and say, in Mommy's silly voice, "Now where is number 5? I have all of this food for number 5. If I can't see number 5 then I might have to eat all of this food myself!" Of course, he enjoyed the story so Mommy had to repeat is several times. Thankfully the food actually arrived soon and Nicholas ate quickly so he could get back to playing.


I was very proud of Nicholas. His friend Emma Rae was crying in the multi-level playground. I tried to call to her to come out but she just kept crying. I went in to pick her up and bring her to her mom. As I was coming out with her I saw Nicholas and Emma Rae's mom walking towards us. Mrs. Deb said that Nicholas came to get her and said, "Emma Rae needs you. C'mon!" and he led her over to where we were. He did that completely on his own. I'm so proud of him for getting help for his friend and for being bright enough to bring her mom over to her.

Here's a picture of Nicholas with his friends Reese and Emma Rae. It's wonderful that they play so well together and have such a good time. Of course, everyone has fun playing dress up!

We left the Wiggly Play Center and went to U.S. Toy and Constructive Playthings so that Mrs. Deb could do some shopping for Emma Rae's birthday party. This store was incredible. They had puppets, costumes, cheap toys but also lots of educational toys that make learning fun. Mommy wanted to buy everything in the store but fortunately Nicholas and Emma Rae kept me so busy as they ran up and down each aisle testing everything that I didn't have time to buy anything myself.

We love our friends!