It's Hard To Take Pictures of Toothless Dinosaurs

But I did eventually manage to get that toothless smile on camera. The tooth fairy is becoming very familiar with our house!

Eruption!

For Christmas Rowan received a volcano kit from Grammie Krista and Papa Gary. We just got around to making it last weekend, and it was of course a huge hit!

It was not quite the fiery explosion I was expecting from the picture on the front of the box.

In Rowan's mind however, it is perfect. Especially nice is that with just baking soda and vinegar for the lava, he can make his volcano erupt over and over again. Thanks so much, Grammie and Papa!!

Mean Old Bear

summer sunrise in Colorado

Rowan (screaming at me):

"You are mean, mean, MEAN, like a mean old bear!"

Hmmm...maybe old photos from the summer where everything looks peaceful with help give me some zen today. I hope the worst thing he ever calls me is a mean old bear. No? Well, as long as I'm looking at summer sunrises, I might as well indulge other wishful thoughts.

Dinner Questions

Rowan, last night at dinner:

"Do they speak English in Hawaii?"

I had barely finished answering this question, when it was followed by:
"How does the Easter Bunny move...or walk?"

Then, a little later (after worrying a bit, for the one thousandth time, if the Easter Bunny comes to the United States):
"Do bats hibernate or do they come out every night?"

And:
"Where is heaven?"
When I said that nobody knows he said
"Maybe the computer can tell us where heaven is."

Breaking His Mama's Heart

Rowan adores the desk that is under the new loft bed we got for him when we moved back to the States. It's almost always very messy, strewn with things like pencils, markers, coloring books, stickers, prizes from school, tooth fairy dust in a baggie, and lots and lots of airplane and train tickets that he's collected from various travelers. Every time I try and talk him into tossing a few of the tickets he protests so strongly that I can't help but relent and let him keep them.

The newest addition to his desk is the family photo we sent with him on his first day of kindergarten. It came back home this week in his Friday folder, and when he saw it he immediately wanted to put it up in his room. But he said that it made him sad to look at it because he never wants to leave us. He's been talking about going away to college off and on this past week. I'm not sure what has prompted it. Maybe Toy Story 3, which the kids got for Christmas. Maybe saying goodbye to our families after the holidays were over. Maybe something else entirely. At any rate, it's been on his mind. Yesterday morning he came quietly downstairs with his alleegah in his hand and told me again that looking at the family picture makes him so sad because he loves me so much and never wants to leave. As he leaned into my shoulder his eyes filled with tears and I'm pretty sure my heart broke.

Rowan's Holiday School Program-2010

A few weeks ago Rowan's school had their holiday program. He was a little nervous beforehand, but did really great. I found it interesting that the school did not have a Halloween party since not everyone celebrates Halloween, but that they did sing some religious songs for the holiday program. Maybe they figure that since there was a Hanukkah song in with all the others it was okay?

Little Bird

"Mama, when I jump it feels like I'm soaring like a bird!"

A Sixth Birthday Interview With Rowan

I've come across several bloggers that have a tradition of doing birthday interviews with their children. I'm hoping this is something I can maintain year to year with each of our own children, as it's such a great idea!



A couple of notes: Rowan's alleegah is his bunny (pictured in the post below), the Shinkansen song he talks about is Bullet Train by Choo Choo Soul, and the airplane book he talks about is DK Big Book of Airplanes by Caroline Bingham. We did a practice interview a few hours before this one was recorded and many of his answers changed in that short amount of time.

Rowan-Six Years Old

Happy sixth birthday to our sweet boy!

Train Party!!!

Rowan turns six tomorrow (!!!), and had his birthday party yesterday. Including our own children there ended up being thirteen kids at the party, which was quite chaotic. At least, that's how it felt to me. Ro had a great time, and it seemed like the other children did too, so I suppose we can call it a success. The kids played with Pat's electric trains (a huge hit), decorated train cakes, played games, and ran around like crazy.

A special thanks to our friend John, who took all of the above photos. In all the madness I took none, so I'm very glad John volunteered to be our party photographer!

Someone Has Lost Another Tooth!

Two Toothless Kids

Rowan and Gwenyth--September 26th, 2010

Toothless Grin!

Rowan lost his first tooth yesterday afternoon when we brushed it right out of it's spot with a toothbrush. He is both relieved and excited. It was getting pretty worrisome when during yesterday's slightly stormy and scary weather he felt like he couldn't suck on his fingers for comfort because of that extremely wiggly tooth. And he is of course very excited about the tooth fairy's visit. I hope she doesn't disappoint!

First Day of Kindergarten in the US

Rowan's first day of Kindergarten was today. He was a little nervous, but I think he kept the nervousness mostly internal. He needed a photo of his family for his classroom, so we set the camera on a chair and used a remote to take this photo at the last minute. It's printed on computer paper and sandwiched between two pieces of contact paper. Not super great, but I hoped it was better than not going with a photo at all.

Then he was off to Kindergarten! Thankfully we can still walk to school, though it was so hot today Rowan was really wishing he didn't have to.

And here he is coming out at the end of the day. As with school in Morges, I really have no idea what he did. When I forced him to tell me two things he said "eat snack" and...can't even remember the other! Whatever it was, it was equally as informative. But he said the time went by very very fast, and he seems excited to go again tomorrow.

Bug Hunting

The kids have been enjoying hunting for bugs a lot lately. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that they enjoy helping me hunt for bugs, which is not quite what I envisioned when I got them the nets and bug "houses". I really don't like bugs. I've found lady bugs pretty gross ever since my dorm room in college was invaded by swarms of lady bugs one autumn. And every time one of the grasshoppers we've got jumps I've have to work hard to suppress a squeal of disgust. Guess what the most common kind of insects are we've been finding? Yep, ladybugs and grasshoppers. Also a few roly-polys, and some sort of little hopping/flying beetle that lives in our grass. We almost caught a month/butterfly once, but it got away at the last second. Anyway, I'm really hoping with some more practice that this is something the kids can do somewhat independently!!!

Backyard Sprinkler Fun

There were no thunderstorms yesterday afternoon (somewhat unusual), so the kids spent some time in the backyard playing in the sprinklers.



For some reason Muriel is not very fond of sprinklers in our backyard, though we go to a spray park with sprinkler-like things, which she likes quite well. The sprinkler in the first two photos waves back and forth, and she would not go near it. The one in the last photo doesn't move around, so she'd play in it a bit more...but not much, as you can see from the photo.

But all three were up for popsicles afterward!

Playing Dress-up in the Backyard

Saturday Morning at Horsetooth Falls

On Saturday we were out of the house by 8:15 for a hike to Horsetooth Falls. It was a really lovely hike, and just about perfect for the kids. Short, but still long enough to feel like a real hike. The weather was a bit cooler than it has been, and there was small, clear pool at the end for wading. I think this is one we'll have to do again, especially in the spring when the falls are more of a waterfall and less of a trickle!

Colorado Train Museum

Is anyone surprised that we went to the Colorado Railroad Museum last Sunday, on our second weekend here? Or that we bought a year membership? It was a big hit with the children, so I think we'll be putting that membership to good use.

Rowan's favorite engine, though it was frustrating to have to share it with other children who wanted to play on it. Especially because he was too shy to play in there unless he was alone or with one of us. There was a rope you could pull which rang a bell on the outside of the engine.

this was through the window of an train car that held stacks and stacks of old bound copies of the Rocky Mountain News.