St. Nicholas Day Photos 2009

A day late again this year, but who's counting?

It is getting rougher and rougher to persuade these guys into serious pictures, so we go for the slightly silly look in most of these. Felicity's first fashion pic was a summer dress, which would be right up her alley, but at the last she settled on her last year's Christmas dress with no tights. Close enough. Kwam the recalcitrant did not want to dress whole hog fancy, but a white shirt and black jeans is a fairly good concession.

A very sweet shot of The Girl, which unfortunately is just a tad fuzzy.

My favorite shot of Kwamai, with a glimpse of sad Felicity whose turn it wasn't to be in the picture.

The official twosome shot.

Kwamai's silly sequence

Can't figure out how to get that third picture to line up, but oh well...


Felicity's candids: true to form she is crafting, then shopping.

Felicity Poses with Alien Friends

"Post it on the Kwamai and Felicity Show, Mama," she said.

Merry Thanksgiving!

Felicity has the decorating and holiday celebration bug. She's been asking for a while to be able to put up the Christmas tree, or at least our outside lights. When I told her it wasn't quite time yet, she asked if she could at least decorate for Thanksgiving. I did a quick online search for craft ideas, and she selected a coloring page of a pilgrim couple. She promptly added a manger with a baby and a star, colored the man brown and the woman blue and dubbed them Mary and Joseph.

Kwamai the Cub Scout

Kwamai started Cub Scouts tonight, and has been so incredibly excited about it it's not funny. There is a pack that meets at our parish, and for some reason Erol was under the impression that Kwamai's membership required Erol to attend with him every week. But this Sunday I happened to be chatting with one of the men who works with the pack and this misconception was dispelled. So Kwamai is completely psyched about participating and doing lots of fun things with them. The first thing on the schedule is to help build a float for the Steubenville Christmas parade on December 12.

Felicity Say to Me, She Says...

"Mama, I'm a whole hand."

"A whole hand?"

"Yes, because a thumb is not a finger."

She holds up the visual aid so that I finally get it. She's 4 years old.

Cat Diaries

And speaking of cats, Kwamai today decided to begin creating "The Cat Diaries." This is a series of camera-made videos chronicling the adventures of our cat Blacky. He had great fun realizing that he could talk to the camera, and it had to listen to him! Here is his very first video.

Meow

Felicity has taken to meowing a lot lately. I think because she became so verbal so early and quickly, she has now decided she can go somewhere else with her communication and simply make animal sounds for awhile instead. When she isn't meowing, I still often need her to repeat things multiple times until I understand what she is saying. Part of it is her tiny little voice. But I guess it is just her phase.

Kwamai, the ESTP

I had Kwamai take the Myers-Briggs test on line today, and his result is ESTP. Here is a portrait of what the ESTP type is like. Amazingly, it really seems to describe him to a "tee".

Look at the Butterfly we caught Today!

Felicity had her face painted at the Lebanese festival today (in Wheeling).

Composition

Kwamai is quite the composer. Just now he is developing a song with the refrain "I still feel stinky like an artichoke." At least he has progressed from bathroom issues.

Swimming, Redux

We're back at the swimming lessons, but at a different pool this time. Felicity not only was very excited and comfortable, but asked to be moved from level one to level two, as she didn't want to start over again from the very beginning. I think it helps that this pool is both outdoor and heated, so it is a more fun environment. However in the level one group there are about 25 kids! It's amazing. A friend who did the last session said there were only 5 kids then. These lessons run for four days a week for two weeks. Kwamai is in level 3 and has already been taught some new skills. The pool is in a city park with a playground, and they have three shifts of lessons each day between 9-12. So it is quite a production, and there are lots of families participating that we know. So it's a nice little social outing. Starting the day significantly earlier than usual will be interesting for these weeks, but I think it is worth the effort!

Kwam the Ninja

These are pictures which Kwamai took of himself recently as he posed with one of his lightsabers. Probably the fact that he didn't know when the picture would flash accounts a bit for the pensive looks on his face! He asked me to post them to the blog, so here they are.

Sequential Learner

Felicity is definitely a sequential learner. She adores videos that show you step-by-step how to make something or bake something or perform an experiment. We have gotten some of these from the library which come in a series called "My First (subject matter) Video."

So today I had one of those secret Mom smiles as I listened to Felicity in the bathroom as she narrated the brushing of her teeth, and then: "That concludes 'My First Toothbrushing Video.' Other titles in this series which you might like to explore include My First Cooking Video, My First Science Video, and my First Activity Video."

I've found that her fascination can help calm her down out of a fit of frustration rather quickly when she wants to do something but can't figure out how. I just tell her the first step, second step, third step, and generally she's ready to absorb what I'm telling her.

Pigs Fly

Vacation Bible School started today, and my only role this year is to drop Kwamai and Felicity off and pick them up again.

Felicity seems to have had a wonderful time.

She made this colorful flying pig (don't ask me exactly what this has to do with learning about the Trinity) as her craft. She spent half of the afternoon playing with it and other similar creatures she had previously made at home. She recounted lots of little details from the day. It was actually an hour shorter than normal today because of a funeral at the church. Kwamai's was far more interested in staying around later on to eat food at the funeral reception. (The funeral was for a former choir member, so I sang with the choir for it while they hung out with one of the teenage helpers.) I tried to explain basic funeral etiquette, that one doesn't just crash in for the food, but he had a hard time accepting my explanation since a couple of his friends were staying. Of course, they actually knew the woman. I've only been in the choir 6 months, and I wasn't even sure who the woman was (it was a few years ago that she sang).

Comfy?

I would have liked to have witnessed how this arrangement came to be this morning.