1.10 or, Air, Land and Sea

Dear Miriam,

This month, you got almost a whole new wardrobe.  Grandma got tired of taking you for walks and having to tell everyone that you weren't a boy.  She said you had to stop wearing Corbin's hand-me-down shirts.  So we did some shopping at the New Year's sales and now you have girl shirts.  Not, of course, in time for family portraits, which will tell you all you need to know about your mother's fashion sense, right there.

It was the month of going to aquariums for us.  We went down to the Cabrillo Aquarium twice, once just for fun and once to go to their Annual Whale Fiesta.  You had a lot of fun chasing sea gulls on the beach.  Then we went inside to look at some of the exhibits.  You always like seeing the big lobsters and crabs, and looking at the big fish in the kelp forest.  In the Exploration Center, you like walking through the mud tunnel and seeing the animals down in the mud.

Then on MLK Day, we drove down to the Birch Aquarium and met up with Uncle Alex and Aunt Lena for the afternoon.  I had thought that we could eat a picnic lunch there and then go through the exhibits, and then you would nap on the way home.  The drive down went well, but you were too distracted to eat much lunch.  You were disappointed that I wouldn't let you climb on all of the exhibits, and even when we found the children's area, it was all designed for kids older than you.  We found a little area with toy starfish in it, but you got mad when I wouldn't let you put the fake starfish in the real exhibits.  By the time we were supposed to watch them feed the tide pool tanks, you were so upset that you just cried and cried.  I finally just took you to the gift shop and bought you a starfish to take home and put in our bathtub.  The only part of my plan that worked out well for you was that you slept all the way home.

This month you got interested in flying kites.  I'm not sure why.  We do have an actual little red kite, but it's never quite windy enough at the house to fly it.  Instead, we made some kites out of plastic shopping bags.  You had fun running back and forth in the driveway with yours.  It makes me laugh sometimes, the things that we find to make into toys, but I hope that it encourages you to think creatively.

The month ended with us celebrating Chinese New Year.  We went up to Santa Monica to see a Dragon Dance and some other performances.  We drove up much too early in the day, though, and ended up having way too much time to wait.  We had been hoping that you would fall asleep on the way there, but you ended up staying awake and getting more and more cranky.  You finally fell asleep on my shoulder and then you slept so hard that you almost missed the Dragon Dance itself.

You are talking more and more now.  Most of the time, someone can figure out what you're saying, but there are other times that I am totally mystified.  You're still in a very repetitive phase, so sometimes you come out with things that you've heard somewhere but which make no sense in a different context.  One day we were playing with your dinosaur and you told me he was, "Oh, so sad."  Other times, you repeat something you've heard but it's in the perfect context.  Once, you spilled some juice from a juice box and said, "Oh, my goodness!"  That one made me laugh.

You still love playing with your animals and watching DVDs.  You like to play in the sandbox and in the dirt.  Lately, you've started playing with the Playmobil people and even building with Legos (which impressed Grandma a lot).  You love playing with Corbin's toys.  Whatever he's playing with, or whatever toys are in his room, that's what you want to play with.  You're a very typical younger sister, that way.  I have started moving some of the books from his room into your room, as he gets too old for them.  It makes me wonder which toys you'll simply skip over in your quest to be just like your big brother.  I know that for many years to come, you will measure yourself against Corbin.  I hope that you always know that we love you for who you are, just your very own self.

Love,
Mom



Cabrillo Aquarium:

With Mom and dinosaur:

In Arrow's crate:

At the Year of the Horse celebration--elementary school students had made horse sculptures:

4.11 or, The In-Between Month

Dear Corbin,

For the boring month in-between Christmas and your birthday, January was busy and fun.  We started off by having our first ever family portraits taken.  You did a good job sitting still and smiling for the actual pictures, but waiting around afterward was pretty boring.  That's the downfall of advancing technology.  You used to wait weeks for your portraits to be developed, so after they were taken you just went home.  Now it only takes 20 minutes for the digital files to be ready, but you end up spending those 20 minutes hanging out in a department store.  Sometimes modern conveniences only fool you into thinking they are convenient.  The pictures turned out to be quite nice, though, so it was worth the trouble.

Even though there wasn't a formal occasion for gifts, you still acquired a new favorite toy.  We watched the movie How to Train Your Dragon together.  A couple of days later, you counted out your piggy bank to put the money into your savings account.  I'm not sure how it happened, but you and Grandma made the deal that you could take some of your money and buy a toy from HtTYD.  So you and I took some rolls of quarters to the bank, changed them into dollars, and went to Toys R Us.  It was the first time that you were shopping for something for yourself, with your own money.  I made you count out the dollar bills and do the whole exchange with the sales person.  You don't often see me using cash, so I thought it was a good opportunity to emphasize that you don't always have to swipe a card.  Although, by the time you're buying things routinely, you'll probably be looking in a retinal scanner.  Anyway, Toothless the Dragon came home with us and has been a favorite toy ever since.

Toothless had to come with us when we drove down to the Birch Aquarium on MLK Day.  You were off of school and your Dad and Uncle Alex were off of work, so we thought it was a good day for a little trip.  Dad and I had been to the aquarium a long time ago, so long that we can't quite remember when it was.  So it was nice to go back and see it again.  You enjoyed looking at some of the fish.  You had more fun in the children's area, floating boats down the water tables.  You also liked the tide pools.  We had planned to be there on an afternoon when they fed the tide pool tanks, so that was pretty cool.  You and Dad got to see that, but poor Miriam was overtired and terribly unhappy, so she and I had already headed out to the car.  When you all followed, you took the chance to show off Toothless to Uncle Alex and Aunt Lena.  It was nice to see them--that's definitely one of the best parts about living here now.  When we were leaving, we drove past part of the UC San Diego campus.  I told you that you could go to college there, and do your laundry at your uncle's house.  You thought that was a fine idea.

We also went down to the Cabrillo Aquarium twice this month.  Once, just to have a fun visit, and a second time to go to their annual Whale Fiesta.  The California coastline is part of the migratory path of the gray whales.  The aquarium was doing some fun activities, like building a life sized gray whale out of sand on the beach.  You and I built a volcano, of course.  Then you made a whale and dolphin mobile and did some scrimshaw, which I thought was pretty nifty.  One of these years, we'll go whale watching.  I went once when I was a kid and really enjoyed it.

The weather is still warm and dry, which is great for playing at the park, but terrible for the environment, of course.  It also seems to be terrible for your shoes.  For some reason, all of your shoes are wearing out at the same time.  It makes me wonder if those are going to be the most expensive part of your wardrobe now.  Instead of buying all new winter clothing every year, we'll be buying you new pairs of shoes every six months.


This month ended with Back to School Night, followed by Chinese New Year.  In Minneapolis, students did not attend Back to School Night, so when I walked into your classroom and saw several of your classmates, I was rather dismayed.  It's not the first time that we've been lucky to live so close to your preschool--it only took me five minutes to come and get you and bring you back with me.  Your teacher gave us a piece of paper which mentioned two activities that you wanted to show us on your own, and then one activity that you would demonstrate to the group. You showed us Equilateral Triangles and the Teen Number Board.  Then for the group, you did the Sandpaper Letters.  It was nice to see what you're doing, and what other students are doing.  The number of mornings that you tell us that you hate school have not decreased, so I keep hoping that as you learn more skills, you'll enjoy school more

For Chinese New Year, we went up to Santa Monica, where they were having a Dragon Dance.  I thought we wanted to get there early enough to see some other performances, but it ended up being much too early.  We walked up and down the whole Promenade, and then spent a long time playing in the children's area of the food court.  You did get to make a paper dragon, which you took to school for your next sharing day.  Dad was able to meet us for the actual Dragon Dance, so you had a good view from his shoulders.  You even got to touch the dragon, which is good luck.  The day before CNY, we had this conversation:

[I told you that you couldn't play a computer game just now because I was applying for a job.]
You:  I hope your next job is in China.  I love China.
Me:  I think you just love Chinese food.
You:  Oh, yeah!

It would please me if you were able to enjoy your Chinese heritage, if only through your love of fried rice.

Love,
Mom



Shades:

At Cabrillo for fun:

At the Whale Fiesta:

School work--the Teen Board:

Equilateral Triangles: