"she faded into that newborn crowd / like a warning of what could be lost"

[larryhammer]

TBD is four years + four months old. Not as much noted down this month because life.

Achievements unlocked this last month: concentration-style games, a magnifying glass, twist-ties, recognizably writing own name (by copying letters from a model), rock paper scissors, camping, scrambling eggs.

Apparently Lunchbox Squarepants is the official headcanon name. Other media recently consumed eagerly include Paw Patrol, Space Racers, and Dinosaur Train -- as well as several Mandarin learning games, in part because we allow extra screen time for those. Which we do because TBD has started weekly Mandarin lessons at the local Chinese Cultural Center. As well as biweekly Hebrew school. Added to the occasional First Day School at Quaker Meeting, we have very full Sundays -- we'll see if this works out.

The camping trip was greatly enjoyed, as was hiking a mile without having to be carried (though we had to talk them into finishing the last 100 meters). TBD was disappointed we didn't do it again the next, holiday weekend. We're hoping this Friday night -- it's clear getting up the mountain is good for TBD, in many ways.

Lots of work at school and home on writing and drawing skills -- copying letters is only the start. One key skill I noticed: when coloring in an area, trying to color along the edge instead of stopping a line from crossing it.

Another key development: TBD is starting to volunteer more details about things that happen when we're not around.

Speaking of which, there's a few bits of talking, talking:

(while playing at camping, a campfire story was needed:)
"Once upon a time it was Halloween, and there were a lot of monsters, and a lot of ghosties, and a lot of zombies, and a lot of robots, and it was very spooooky. They all went out in the street, scaring people, and they went trick-or-treating because there were people inside, the end."

"If you smush a bug by accident, that's okay?"
"It's okay. It's good to try not to, but it happens."
"Mommy, you be the bug."

"Rock, paper, scissors, poop!"

"I wish we had a baby. Because I get lonely here."


Because sometimes, alas, the grownups have other things to do than play.

---L.

Subject quote from "St. Stephen's Cross," Vienna Teng.

Comments

[sovay]

"Rock, paper, scissors, poop!"

I assume poop beats everything.

[larryhammer]

We got derailed into debating what's the handsign.

[oracne]

Does poop beat Spock?

[larryhammer]

We haven't introduced lizard or Spock because motor skills. Plus we're still policing getting the sign out at the same time as others.

[cmcmck]

:o)

Gotta love kids!

[larryhammer]

:-)

[sartorias]

Oh, the poop age!

What a delightful kid!

[larryhammer]

We've been at the poop age for a lonnnng time now. Our house is a running poop joke.

[thistleingrey]

Take good care of bugs! And humans.

[larryhammer]

We do! Take care of bugs, that is. Unless ones in the house are real nuisance bugs, they get evicted instead of squashed. We even put off clearing the back yard when a horde of hornworms appeared, and put one of the biggest ones in a bug box with weeds and a bed of dirt. A couple days later,it disappeared under the dirt -- and two weeks later a sphinx moth appeared. We watched that a while then set it free that evening. Very cool.

[thistleingrey]

Of course!--sorry, didn't mean it as a challenge. That's lovely about the moth in particular. Reason has had to make do with watching a neighbor's bees run out of energy mere meters from their hive, and with generic spiders that spin in our endless juniper: neither can be adopted temporarily. (The bees were a good intro to the concept of death a few years ago, but I'm sure we could have done without that. It's not clear whether some other neighbors spray pesticides or whether the problem is something else, but those are some awfully fatigued bees. They make enough honey even so for the neighbor household to share with adjacent households once a year.)

[mrissa]

A friend with a child of similar age was completely baffled to have Papa Troll requested. Then "Papa Troll with dogs," which again sounded great to my fantasy reading dog loving friend but...what? Eventually Paw Patrol was determined, but it took Quite Some Time.

[larryhammer]

Given the near- and not-so-near-misses pronouncing words learned secondhand, I can imagine! TBD first referred to Frozen as Ogla.

[branna]

Paw Patrol and Dinosaur Train are favorites here, as is Team UmiZoomi. Also Restaurant to Another World and to a lesser extent Great British Baking Show.

Also, it never occurred to me that Hebrew school could start that early!

[larryhammer]

UmiZoomi hasn't taken here -- nor has Octonauts, which I sometimes think TBD confuses it with.

As far as I can tell, no actual Hebrew is being learned, at least in TBD's pre-kindergarten group -- it's basically preschool activities with some introductory cultural background. Since there's only a couple regularly appearing kids, there's talk of merging it up into the kindergarten room. TBD accepts it, but prefers Tot Shabbat, the early, little-friendly Friday-night service held roughly once a month (opening song: "If it's Shabbat and you know it, clap your hands...").

---L.