Parentheticals

This week Timmy has started drawing things that look more like things than like scribbles. He usually draws people and robots, and they have faces, limbs, heads, and other body parts. Sheila was gone until Wednesday, so we volunteered to keep babysitting Petra Monday and Tuesday. It's very easy to have her when we're at home; she plays happily with our kids and doesn't take much effort. Monday we picked up Grandma Julie at the airport and went to the zoo. We always love the zoo. However, this was not the best visit the grown ups have ever had. It was very hot, and Petra would wander away constantly and didn't like to hold hands. We saw the bird show and the elephant show, though, which was great. Rea finally got invited to participate in the bird show; she gave a water bottle to a cockatoo at the beginning so he could drink it and drop it, and then the trained raven picked it up and put it in the recycle bin. Rea has always raised her hand when they asked for volunt...

In January we switched over to late church. Late church is not my favorite thing, it feels like the whole day is used up getting ready for church. Alison doesn't love it either, but at least we don't have to have two lunches. The kids seem to be adjusting OK. This week Gideon started sleeping all night long. It is a much appreciated development. He still has rough nights, and he still doesn't always sleep all night, but he does it a decent amount of the time. He is almost two and a half months old. This might be the youngest that any of our kids have slept through the night, but we aren't sure. Alison and the kids have been really regular about doing Montessori time; they've done several hours every morning this week. They are really enjoying it and learning a lot. Sara can count much better than Alison expected and is moving quickly through the Montessori math materials; it's time to start the Golden Beads. We are also doing a read aloud challenge, where bo...

This last week in summary: Monday: We celebrated Andrea's birthday. She got a kitchen set from Grandma Sumption's house and a Lynley Dodd book (We had Slinky Malinki and Hairy Mclairy already, and both were fun books, so we got her Open the door, which was fun, but the punch line was above Andrea's head (though Alison and I found it very funny)) Andrea also played with Legos for the first time. It brings back good memories to play with Legos again. Tuesday: I went to Sort tech conference. It was fun, and the classes were pretty useful. I especially enjoyed the class about the Netdurino, and look forward to figuring out some hack that I want to make. Andrea had her 2 year checkup. She is 27 lbs, 2' 10" and healthy. Wednesday: I went to Sort tech conference again. Thursday: We baby sat for the Nelsons so that they could go to the temple. It went well. Friday: We made pizza, and went to the Clark Planetarium for our date. Andrea especially enjoyed the stairs and...

As of yet the vacation has been swell. We have spent a lot of time on the beach - boogie boarding, walking, and collecting shells. We also went to the Mormon Battalion Historic Site, Balboa Park, and the Poulson's old house. Baby Andrea has started to pull to standing, and climb up stairs. We played some games (including a modified Baron Munchhausen, five crowns, and a dice stacking game.) Swee and I caught up reading Girl Genius as well as Darths and Droids. I am continuing to work on my plans for the new role playing game. I have the SRD practically completed, and am working on the world generation. I should start talking about making characters to people.