Scary spiders, liquid nitrogen, etc.

Went into Sam's classroom to do a liquid nitrogen demo a week ago last Friday. The kids loved it. And the welding supply place where I get it gave me MUCH more than the 8 liters I asked for. (They don't really measure it--they just guess, tapping on the side of the Dewar as they fill it up.) Frozen all sorts of things for the kids, and I think they actually learned the few basic things you can impart with lN2.

A kind woman at church gave Sam a remote-controlled tarantula. How cool is that?

I think this picture needs no caption. Yet, here I am, writing one.

This is just the sort of activity that makes Saturday mornings fly by.

Saturday, after the nap, we went to the Play Museum. This time we went into the butterfly garden. Josh is old enough not to endanger the animals. In fact, we was nervous about the butterflies, who happily meandered about at Josh-eye-level.

Sam was not nervous about the butterflies.

This is an Indian Dead Leaf butterfly. If it opens you can see the interior of its wings is a bright, gorgeous pattern.

At the PM Sam and I went off to their video-game and pinball exhibit.

 

 

Here's Sam playing one of the two pieces he wrote a couple of weeks ago. He'll play one of them a week from Wednesday at an evening talent show at work.

 

 

There will be a big presentation a week from Friday at Montessori. Josh's class, the Crabapple Room class, will perform this piece. :-)

Cousin Katie and Aunt Ruth visit

Two weeks ago saw the end to an excellent visit by Aunt Ruth and Cousin Katie.

They don't do it justice, but here are some photos...

 

AR, CK, Susan, any fun stories to add?

 

Okay, this has nothing to do with AR and CK in particular. This is Josh doing his best imitation of Sisyphus at the UMCA.

Josh and Sam during our trip to the Play Museum

AR teaching Josh to sew on our NEW SEWING MACHINE. Oops--not supposed to mention that lest it prevent Mom and Amy from hemming things for us.  :-) AR, btw, has sworn off hemming.

 

AR in front of the train table. AR spent many, many hours at the train table making some pretty impressive train complexes. In fact, AR spent more time at the train table than Josh did. I know how hard that is to resist.

AR also coached Sam in making a truly delicious dessert involving cherries and sugar and cake mix. Yum.

J and CK hanging out.

AR's birthday gift to Josh was huge, majestic teepee. Josh was so thrilled the first night as he was put down to sleep that was what he talked about. I am sure he dreamed about it. The idea of something which is HIS and not SAM'S was intoxicating. He still sprints there when trying to escape his parents. :-)  She also gave both boys little lanterns to use inside.

Josh, blowing out his candles.

 

This is just a view of the frozen Genesee river from a month ago. We've had a thaw since, though you wouldn't know it from the half a foot of snow we got overnight.

During the storm we had while AR & CK were here Sam and I went out and played I the snow.

...and dug a tunnel through one of the snow banks

 

AR, who does after all work at a museum, brought with her a special glue which outshines a hot glue gun when it comes to mounting rocks on display board... oh, and also the extremely cool rocks, which she gave to Sam. Cool!

I am not sure what's going on here, but they both look happy, which is good enough for me.

Oh, and AR taught Sam (and gave Sam) Monopoly. Bless her heart.

 

This is Sam at his first piano recital, playing one of his pieces. Since then he's written two short songs, one of which he'll play at a little school talent show this Wednesday.

 

Sam after the recital


 

If you thought the last post was random, just wait til you read this one!

 

Susan says, "Some toddler's grandma made them for everyone, I think because they were going to read cat in the hat":

 

 Josh, overcome by ennui:

Josh know exactly how to eat olives:

Sam with school chum Zach at a recent playdate:

You know, I can't recall why he was wearing a bucket on his head:

Below are some posts from Susan to facebook, for those who don't sit around all day watching for Susan's posts. Enjoy!

 

***

 

Sam is reading to us from a chapter called "Very Bad Riddles."

Q: What's red and not there?
A: No tomato.

This actually made me laugh very hard.

 

***

 

Yesterday:
Me: What did you have for a snack at Montessori today, Josh?
Josh: Snow plows.
Me: Snow plows?
Josh: Snow plows.

Today:
Me: How does spaghetti sound for lunch today, Josh?
Josh: NO. I want robots.

I'm starting to worry that he has an iron deficiency.

 

***

 

Me: Yes, I *know* you're almost going to miss the bus. That's why I've been nagging you for the past fifteen minutes.
Sam: What's "nagging"?
Me: That's when you tell someone to do something over and over and over in a really annoying way.
Sam: Well. That's not very nice.

Point missed.

 

***

 

Sam: Say something to me, Mom. Say anything.
Me: What?
Sam: Just say anything.
Me: Nine times nine is eighty-one.
Sam: Rats! I'm trying to see if I can NOT hear you even when I know you're talking to me.
Me: Um, I'm pretty sure you do that all the time, Sam.
Sam: Say something else. I want to try again.
Me: Eight times nine is seventy-two.
Sam: MAN this is hard.

 

***

 

I'm enjoying Sam's enjoyment of piano so much! Right now he loves the A minor scale because it's creepy and sounds Egyptian. 

 

***

 

Last night Josh and I were outside and he looked up and saw the moon. "Oh, the moon!" he said. "It's cucumber! Cucumber moon!"

I guess he thought it looked like a giant white slice of cucumber (his favorite veggie). But doesn't it sound like a good old southern expression? "There's going to be a cucumber moon tonight, Ma..."

 

Been a while since I've posted, and I'm afraid this is a random assortment.

 

The week before last was February break for the local schools. (This week of break actually goes back to the energy crisis in the 70s, when the schools decided to trade a week of school in the winter, when it's expensive to heat, for one in June, when it's not.) Somewhere in there I took off an afternoon, picked up six liters of liquid nitrogen from a welding supply store, and ran through some demos I plan to do in Sam's class later this month. Then we all went to the science museum, which has a new exhibit which has only the theme of mathematics. It included some bicycles with square wheels, and a floor of the right shape to allow the bikes to remain level:

 

 

This shot dates back a few weeks to an Aunt Amy visit, during which she played with Lincoln Logs with Josh:

 

 Here are three shots from last Friday's piano lesson. Josh and I found an empty classroom we could play in. What a treat! Josh found plenty to do with the chairs, music stands, and Steinways which filled the room. Also managed to find a good place to hide when I suggested he might need a diaper change:

 I have never thought of using the chalk from the chalkboard to draw on the music stands. Great idea! Worst thing that happens is a little chalk dust on some sheet music, and really, who's going to notice that?  (This is the sort of thing Susan would surely prevent, which is a great example of the rich diversity in parenting styles Josh enjoys.)

 This is the view out one of the tall, fourth-storey window. Yes, there's some snow; yes, there are lots of we-are-really-in-the-city-aren't-we building. But the truly delightful thing is that at 6 pm the sun hasn't set. That's progress.

Here's a photo through the window of Howard Spindler's office, where he is giving Sam his lesson. Howard's a very patient man who has a really knack for encouraging and motivating.

 Recently Sam started playing again with a collectable of his, the "Trash Packs." They are cute little rubbery guys with names like "Awful Pie" and "Rancid Steak." Here they are lined up on the piano:

Susan says: A 3D representation of the keys used in the theme of Star Wars, as plotted with Trash Packs. John Cage would've done something like this, had he had access to Trash Packs.

Okay, that's all I've got. I am sure other things are happening, but it's after 12:34 so they'll have to wait until the next post...