The kids have been playing together a lot lately. Either Jack's reached an age he's willing to play with Kate, or she's reached an age where he likes playing with her; either way, they've invented a whole bunch of games which they readily play at random moments in the morning, afternoon or evening.
Castle. As best I can figure it, this game consists of pulling all the pillows, blankets, and stuffed toys off their beds and building a Stonehenge-like structure in the center of the living room. They also evidently need to wear costumes; Kate puts on one of her princess costumes, while Jack has been an astronaut, The Flash, and Captain Rex from what I've seen. (Regardless of costume, Kate refers to him as either "Knight" or "Prince.") Oh yeah, he also wears a Jets football helmet, which looks pretty interesting with The Flash costume, which he wore for Halloween. Three years ago. It's a little snug. Once the castle is built, they generally abandon it and go do something else, but for that 15 minutes of assembly, they play together quite nicely.
Lions. As the name suggests, they go around on their hands and knees roaring and growling. Sometimes it's a quick trip from "Castle" to "Lions," introduced to me by one of my children sinking their teeth into my ankle through my sock. This game typically takes less time to play than "Castle," probably because crawling around roaring and growling isn't as much fun as dragging half of their bedrooms down and building a tent in the living room.
Baby. I don't think I fully understand this game, since I'm not sure either one actually pretends to be a baby at this point. I've heard Kate ask to play "Baby" and I've heard Jack say OK, but the next thing I know someone is biting my ankle or clawing at me again and I know they're revisiting "Lions."
Spies. I think this is Jack's favorite game to play (well, next to "Castle"), but he knows not to ask Kate too often or she'll stick out her lip and go play with her dollies or something. I think the gist of this game is that they sneak around the house with weapons they've made out of cardboard (a sword, a spear, a frightening-looking raygun...actually, the spear is the most frightening-looking because it's an awfully jagged shard of cardboard) trying to follow me without being seen, as I apparently am Bad Guy. Sometimes this happens when I'm in the kitchen making pasta or something, and I turn around and they're there brandishing weapons at me, then when I turn and see them they say, "Run! Bad Guy sees us!" and scurry for the next room, bumping into each other and stuff. I am not, incidentally, supposed to actually engage the enemy or anything. You know, because they're not supposed to be seen. Because they're spies.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
kate at the grocery store
I park the car and go to get Kate out. She's holding her Cinderella art pad and the special marker for it. I try to unbuckle her as she maintains a death grip on it, then take it out of her hands so I can get her out of the seat. You can color on the way home, I say, and she's OK with that.
(I should probably mention at this point that I had to work to talk her into wearing ordinary clothes for the store and not her Princess dress with a tiara and wand, which is the outfit of choice of late. She did wear it to Jack's pickup at school later that afternoon. I briefly considered my Spider-man outfit, but decided against it.)
We get the pricing gun, because she loves the pricing gun. I like it too, more or less, because the checkout line is a whole lot faster when everything has already been scanned. On the downside, we spend an epic amount of the time in the fruit and vegetable area, trying to weigh things and print out stickers and scan things and keep Kate from picking her lollipop stick up off the bottom of the cart, yes we went through the drive thru at the bank first and she had a lollipop at 10:30 in the morning, sue me.
Kate asked if we could go by the deli and get turkey. She likes to do this because the deli guy usually lets us try a slice, which she takes and greatly enjoys. If I make her a turkey sandwich at home, of course, she picks at it and barely touches the turkey, but I admit it does taste much better at the deli. So we got turkey.
Spent too much time picking out meat, leading to Kate wanting to ride in the cart. So I moved stuff out of the way, and put her in. Five minutes later she would want out. We cruised through the cereal aisle and she gestured wildly ("I LOVE this cereal! I LOVE that!") at every colorful cereal, most of which I'm fairly certain she has never tried. A similar story at the chips aisle. She saw Cheez balls and said, "I love those!" then remembered that Grandpa had brought buy a jug of Cheez balls the size of a Winnebago last weekend -- it will still be here when you visit, Robin.
Got Kate's yogurt, and she helpfully reminded me to get Jack's yogurt, which is different. Very thoughtful of her.
Checked out and headed home. Do you want a turkey sandwich when we get home Kate, I asked.
"No. Peanut butter and jelly."
(I should probably mention at this point that I had to work to talk her into wearing ordinary clothes for the store and not her Princess dress with a tiara and wand, which is the outfit of choice of late. She did wear it to Jack's pickup at school later that afternoon. I briefly considered my Spider-man outfit, but decided against it.)
We get the pricing gun, because she loves the pricing gun. I like it too, more or less, because the checkout line is a whole lot faster when everything has already been scanned. On the downside, we spend an epic amount of the time in the fruit and vegetable area, trying to weigh things and print out stickers and scan things and keep Kate from picking her lollipop stick up off the bottom of the cart, yes we went through the drive thru at the bank first and she had a lollipop at 10:30 in the morning, sue me.
Kate asked if we could go by the deli and get turkey. She likes to do this because the deli guy usually lets us try a slice, which she takes and greatly enjoys. If I make her a turkey sandwich at home, of course, she picks at it and barely touches the turkey, but I admit it does taste much better at the deli. So we got turkey.
Spent too much time picking out meat, leading to Kate wanting to ride in the cart. So I moved stuff out of the way, and put her in. Five minutes later she would want out. We cruised through the cereal aisle and she gestured wildly ("I LOVE this cereal! I LOVE that!") at every colorful cereal, most of which I'm fairly certain she has never tried. A similar story at the chips aisle. She saw Cheez balls and said, "I love those!" then remembered that Grandpa had brought buy a jug of Cheez balls the size of a Winnebago last weekend -- it will still be here when you visit, Robin.
Got Kate's yogurt, and she helpfully reminded me to get Jack's yogurt, which is different. Very thoughtful of her.
Checked out and headed home. Do you want a turkey sandwich when we get home Kate, I asked.
"No. Peanut butter and jelly."
Monday, January 09, 2012
Jack at day, Kate at night
Jack had a half day today. First we had lunch, then he read while I worked, then he wanted to play the Wii games, so we did.
Then we went upstairs to check out a couple of the games he'd received for his birthday, Pictureka and Story Cubes. The first one was a picture search game he got from a school friend, the second from Aunt Robin. First we did Story Cubes, where you threw nine dice with different pictures down, then told a story that linked all nine pictures together. Jack was immediately into it. He wanted to get the question mark, since that way he could end a story with "To be continued....?" When he finally got it, that was the highlight of the game. Later, he played it with Emily and it was going to be they would take turns telling stories, as we did, but instead he told one, then said, OH wait! I just thought of another one! He ended up telling 3 to her 1.
Pictureka involved turning cards and finding different things. I think he was most interested in the hourglass timer. I can't remember the game we played as kids that had an hourglass timer. Liar's Dice? Mebbe.
We played the games for more than an hour and cracked each other up with our stories. I know we also laughed playing the Wii (mostly because I'm so inept at Mario Kart, and my character, Donkey Kong, gets all upset, which makes us both laugh), but I think he might have had more fun with those tiny cubes.
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Put Kate to bed tonight. She really paid attention to the stories, "When Will I be Big," and "Ladybug Girl." Sometimes she's only half into them, tonight she really paid attention. "Who's that guy?" Willoughby. (Next page.) "And who's HE?" Uh, that's Willoughby in a different shirt.
I sang songs and she asked me to sleep a little, so I did, and I told her to tell me when to leave. We lay there for a good 5-10 minutes, and then I said, Good night. She looked at me, drowsy I think, and said, "I didn't say to leave." I said, I know, but it's time. She nodded, slowly, but understandingly, I think anyway, and hugged me goodnight.
Then we went upstairs to check out a couple of the games he'd received for his birthday, Pictureka and Story Cubes. The first one was a picture search game he got from a school friend, the second from Aunt Robin. First we did Story Cubes, where you threw nine dice with different pictures down, then told a story that linked all nine pictures together. Jack was immediately into it. He wanted to get the question mark, since that way he could end a story with "To be continued....?" When he finally got it, that was the highlight of the game. Later, he played it with Emily and it was going to be they would take turns telling stories, as we did, but instead he told one, then said, OH wait! I just thought of another one! He ended up telling 3 to her 1.
Pictureka involved turning cards and finding different things. I think he was most interested in the hourglass timer. I can't remember the game we played as kids that had an hourglass timer. Liar's Dice? Mebbe.
We played the games for more than an hour and cracked each other up with our stories. I know we also laughed playing the Wii (mostly because I'm so inept at Mario Kart, and my character, Donkey Kong, gets all upset, which makes us both laugh), but I think he might have had more fun with those tiny cubes.
_______________________________________________
Put Kate to bed tonight. She really paid attention to the stories, "When Will I be Big," and "Ladybug Girl." Sometimes she's only half into them, tonight she really paid attention. "Who's that guy?" Willoughby. (Next page.) "And who's HE?" Uh, that's Willoughby in a different shirt.
I sang songs and she asked me to sleep a little, so I did, and I told her to tell me when to leave. We lay there for a good 5-10 minutes, and then I said, Good night. She looked at me, drowsy I think, and said, "I didn't say to leave." I said, I know, but it's time. She nodded, slowly, but understandingly, I think anyway, and hugged me goodnight.
Friday, January 06, 2012
Seven tomorrow
When he really likes something, he takes the time to draw and color a picture of it, like a recent "Tom and Jerry" sketch he did.
A scrap of paper and a pencil is a game - tic tac toe, hangman, a maze, "how are these two monsters different."
He brought home an extra penguin cutout from school to do with Kate. He made her a Santa note with a happy Santa in the picture.
We throw the football.around the backyard, and he can really throw, but his favorite part is running back kickoffs, and the big smile when he knows I can't catch him.
He loves the same Encyclopedia Brown books I loved when I was a kid.
I could write for hours, but it's his birthday tomorrow and I need some rest.
A scrap of paper and a pencil is a game - tic tac toe, hangman, a maze, "how are these two monsters different."
He brought home an extra penguin cutout from school to do with Kate. He made her a Santa note with a happy Santa in the picture.
We throw the football.around the backyard, and he can really throw, but his favorite part is running back kickoffs, and the big smile when he knows I can't catch him.
He loves the same Encyclopedia Brown books I loved when I was a kid.
I could write for hours, but it's his birthday tomorrow and I need some rest.
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