She's Growing on Him

Kwamai has taken some time to warm up to Blacky, despite being the main protagonist in her joining us in the first place. Touching her has been something he's worked up to, but the other day he graduated to being able to pick her up. And then, like the rest of us, he didn't want to put her down.

Kwamai, Recycled

Felicity enjoyed her "new" outfit, despite there being nary a pink thread. And we won't tell her if you won't that they were once boy clothes. I don't think Kwamai wore the sweater more than once, and he never did like the pants.

Introducing -- Blacky!!

We have a new kitten.

Monday morning, Kwamai was playing outside and suddenly came running in the house, anxious about being chased. I poked my head out the door to see the tiniest, cutest little black kitty trundling down the driveway. I realized Kwamai's angst had come from this kitty (he's still a bit phobic about all animals), but my heart melted! We had just had a discussion around the dinner table not a week before where Erol revealed that he actually sort of liked cats. With an excitement that surprised even me, I said "Well, let's get one, then!"

Back to Monday. The cat followed Kwamai right up onto the porch and in a short minute was in my lap. Kwamai and Felicity headed off to catechesis, and Blacky (whom I had already named) sat in the yard, waiting. She became the talk of the neighborhood, and all the kids came to see her and to take turns holding her, and to come up with all sorts of reasons why Kwamai would not be able to keep her (fueled I think by jealousy, and the excitement...)

Erol came home from work, and I explained that there was this cat, she was cute, Kwamai and Felicity already loved her, and I'd heard how cats could even live outside. Erol said not much in reply (which is sort of his way, I guess!) Five minutes later, I opened the door, and -- imagine that -- in walked Blacky. Hmm. I guess she was an indoor cat now!

Long story short, we got all of her supplies the next day, got her thoroughly de-fleaed, learned she knew exactly what to do with a litter box, and that she was a bit tuckered out. She's much more playful now, loves to cuddle, and Erol even fell asleep with her nestled in the crook of his arm tonight.

We might need to get her a bright fuscia collar, though. When she sit on our black couch, you can hardly see her. By the types of teeth she has, I'm saying she's at least 8 weeks old, but she's almost small enough to hold in one hand.

"Blacky" is the most unoriginal name, but it just sprung from my lips when I first saw her. Felicity calls her "Red and Blue." Kwamai calls her "Black-Black," but also though Cesar would be a good name.

And if I thought it weren't enough that I occasionally get Kwamai and Felicity's names confused, once now when Felicity woke up in the middle of the night I called her "Cleo," the name of my cat when I was growing up.

The interesting thing to me is that the arrival of Blacky has finally made very evident to me the developmental difference between Kwamai and Felicity. She is so verbal, and so many of her interests over lap with Kwamai (although vice-versa does not always prove true) that I sometimes forget that she is only 3. But with Blacky, even though Kwamai still gets panicy when she runs to him, he understands her as a fragile creature. Felicity sees Blacky as a fun, living toy to play with. Blacky is very patient about being carried in gift bags and in general being picked up and carried everywhere (and she has not scratched anyone yet). But I need to repeatedly remind her to be gentle, to let her eat, etc. And we discovered tonight that Blacky is not too fond of Felicity's harmonica playing. She ran and hid under the china hutch!
Stay tuned for further adventures!

Social Circles

Felicity has a new neighborhood friend. Her name is Maggie; she's 4 and she lives right across the street. They are happily playing together right now. Kwamai is off to a birthday party tonight for his friend who just turned 9. It will be a bowling party. Kwamai picked out a few small gifts for him and bought them with his own money. He also did not get all itchy to buy one of the same for himself, as he did just last summer, the last time we were birthday gift shopping. He is becoming more mature by the minute.

The Gang's All Here

Here is a photo of Erol's whole extended family, taken at my mother-in-law's recent birthday party. Felicity the blond looks a bit out of place, doesn't she?

Harvest Time

We dug up our whole crop of carrots today, pictured above. The whopper of the group was the two incher on top. This is close to the size they were supposed to be. You see the tiny pea-sized carrot to its left, which is a bit more typical of the size.

Not bad for our first year of gardening.

Yes, Kwamai Actually Said...

We are on round two of exercises that Dr. Sobek has prescribed for Kwamai's vision therapy. Fortunately, we are passed the gruelling gross motor exercises like sit ups, and into repetitive left/right body crossover things. But part of the exercise is to pratice reading with a little frame window, so as to focus on only two to three words at a time. Doing this, Kwamai can read fluently, and he's even getting better at reading with expression.

But what surprised me was that tonight, after the physical exercises, I announced that it was time for the reading exercise. Kwamai said (drum roll, please)



"This is the best part!"

Too cool. :)

Um, What?

I have often found communication with Kwamai not making any sense. We just had one such exchange, so I thought I'd capture it:

Me: Why don't you help me make dinner?
Kwam: I can't. It's too hard, and besides, we don't know where it lives.

Possible translation: he was worried about a new dog roaming through the neighborhood, which is why he came in from playing, and he probably heard me say something like "why don't you take the dog back home?"

I'll just take it as proof that he has an iron-clad focus on what is going on in his head. It just doesn't involve hearing other people right now.

Felicity's Lexical Pursuits

Some time ago, Felicity received the Dick and Jane reader as a gift. From time to time we pick that book to read through before bed. And recently, I've noticed that Felicity is actually reading some of the words. We also have those magnetic poetry words on our fridge, and she can spot the word "baby," which is one she could identify from Dick and Jane. A few weeks ago we were going through some of the beginning readers friends had given us (who had retired from homeschooling first-graders). She asked if we could read them, and as I slowly read and pointed out words, she said a few of the words ahead of me. She now says she can read all the big words in Dick and Jane (meaning the huge-sized print on the title pages), and will read some of the repetitive words in the "stories". She often asks me to read words on signs or boxes, and some of her favorite games are "what starts with A" or listing rhyming words. Oh, and her other favorite game is to "match" things, so we will find piles of Bob the Builder objects or Thomas the train objects laying in piles around the house. (See, it isn't really just clothes and junk laying around; it's a taxonomist at work!)

"Shoulda Had a Camera" Moment

Felicity picked up a scarf I had in the attic, which I had draped (with a dose of wishful thinking) over a basket of photos, to keep dust off them. It was one of those sheer scarves that adorned the head of many a woman 50 years ago when they just had their hair done and had to go out on a windy day.

I showed her how I could tie it under her chin. She went to look at herself in the mirror, smiled, and without missing a beat, said "I look like an egg!"

And she did! Such a laugh I had....

Beatboxers

In the course of trying to describe for my esteemed blog readers the type of talent by which I find myself surrounded, I have, tonight, learned a new term. Beatboxing. Kwamai perhaps lead the way, but Felicity is currently the most prolific.

I have no footage of them yet, but check this out to get some small idea of what I mean. They don't do much of the "electronic" sound (thankfully!)

I have two questions racing each other for first to be asked: Where did my kids pick this up? and How has this odd childish pastime become a world-wide competitive craze?

Instruction Manuals

Note in the picture that Felicity's book has a big "3" on it. These are child development books, specific to 3- and 7-year-olds. (I actually got the 4-year-old one as well since Felicity always strikes me as being just somewhere between her age and Kwamai's.)

This scene occurred shortly after we had gotten these books home from the library. They each grabbed "their" book, presumably to read up on what they should be up to for their respective ages. I wish I had taken a movie instead of a picture, because it was such a hilarious moment. The chairs represent a school bus (Felicity's invention) and they were actually arguing over whether they were going to school or staying at home. Take a guess which child thought which! They each had their "instruction manual" and were off to learn everything they needed to know.

For the record, the books are not all that helpful, to them or to me!

Karate Monstor

Kwamai did his month of karate lessons. He has decided it wasn't really his cup of tea. I've known he isn't one easily adaptable to formal instruction, but even so I was a little surprised that he described the karate teacher as "bossy". I watched him closely during his first lesson, and he was clearly having a good time trying his hardest to show his skill. The teacher noticed, as well, mentioning something about "oh, you've done this before I can tell." But when Kwamai realized that he wasn't really free to chat with the other kids or form relationships during the lessons he no longer really got the point of why they were all together, if just to be "bossed around" by the man in the black belt, without making any tangible progress.

But, all's well that ends well. Here is Kwamai dressing up a box in his uniform (which came free with the first month's tuition, thankfully!)

He's decided he wants to pursue swimming again as he did last fall.

Tooth on the Loose

On Monday, Kwamai lost his very first tooth. He came in from playing and found his tooth much looser than it had been, and before long, out it came. It's the bottom left, the very first of his teeth to have come in (when he was a full year old).

I've read that maturity, learning-readiness, and tooth-losing all seem to occur together. This is proving very true for our Kwam.

The Harvest Begins

Last week we harvested our very first carrot. It is not a bad specimen, considering it grew in almost solid clay. We split it four ways and we all agreed it was one of the most delicious carrots any of us had ever tasted.