Every so often a package arrives in some strange recycled box and I realize that Tom has bought yet another old toy instrument off eBay. This week it was this tiny electronic keyboard. He let the kids play with it this morning, and before we knew it, we were being treated to an impromptu jam session with Neko on the big piano and Shep on the tiny one.
Tom did the N and K, Neko did the E and O. And the mysterious Y and T. Above, Neko is hopping like a frog.
(No comments on the dirty carpet, please.)
“Does Snoopy talk or bark?”
Good lord, I have no idea. What does he do?
(Five minutes later.)
“I want to go into outer space so I can figure out what’s in it.”
It’s official. She’s starting to out-think us.
On May 1st I secretly made a promise to myself that I would try to blog every day in May. Of course, I didn’t tell anyone because then people would be all like, “Um, you missed May 23rd.”
But I didn’t. Yay, me!
Tom got up early and made muffins. While I was scurrying around doing morning stuff, Neko decided we should bring the leftovers to playgroup. Tom got her a box and she packaged them up with tape. Then Tom helped her sound out the word “muffins” one letter at a time while she wrote them. Then she added the number ten at the end because she said there were 10 muffins.
Okay, there weren’t ten muffins and she reversed her one and zero, but it’s so exciting to see her make this huge leap in knowledge. A month ago she had no interest in reading and writing, and now she’s regularly telling us what letter words start with…and usually she’s right.
At 18 months, when she only spoke six words, I never would have thought we’d be here now.
I didn’t take a single photo today, so it seemed like a good time to post one from 5/11 that my dad sent me of Alex and Ellery. I have a feeling this scene may be repeated sometime in college.
We went to the museum today, and were pleasantly surprised to discover it was virtually empty. We have ben encountering end-of-year trips everywhere we go these days, so I’m getting used to crushing in among hoards of unruly pre-teens. But today? Blissfully empty.
Neko got to sit and play with an old favorite, the magnetic animals, without anyone trying to take them away from her. She likes to put them together all crazy like the Mixed Up Chameleon.
Shep is just thrilled to not be battling others to play. He ran around in circles for a while, and then finally sat down to play. He’s beginning to pretend, and was pointing to these big, round crayons telling me that one was the mommy, one was the daddy and one was the baby.
And I could have left him in the ball area until next Monday. That magic tube of air that shoots the ball up into the air was totally mezmerizing, and now that he’s grown a few inches, he can do it all by himself.
Hooray for having a little personal space!
After sitting in our cabinet for years, collecting dust, Tom finally broke out the bread machine. And, lo and behold, making bread was easy. And delicious.
Paul and Amy and their daughter, Anna, came down for Memorial Day. She’s deliciously cute and Neko had a great time trying to tell her exactly what to do.
Today Ralph from Ralph’s World was at the zoo. Neko was beside herself with excitement, but became insanely shy when she actually got to meet him. We had to go through the line before and after the show to get the one good picture we got, where you’ll notice she is clinging to my leg for dear life.
Ralph is always a good show, and I think we like him even a little more because he seems like the kind of guy we would hang out with. Plus, his shows here are special because his dad is a local, so he always brings him up on stage to sing some song that they used to sing in the car on their way to family vacations.
Neko got to hold Ellery on her lap for a good portion of the show, and even though I had visions of her infant head crashing on the concrete, I let it continue because Neko was so very proud and she was doing such a good job.
But you’ll notice my arm in the corner of the frame, ready to perform a lifesaving maneuver. Just in case.