art

For most of his preschool year, Sam didn't seem to like to paint, or color, or do most any kind of art. Art was almost always one of the activity options, but Sam would choose to build or model or just about anything else. Other kids' cubbies would be stuffed with colorings and paintings and drawings, but Sam rarely had any in his when I picked him up-- and when I did my parent-help shifts, I could rarely convince him to do whatever art project was available. Then for some reason in late summer he started painting when it was an option. I didn't get to see most of these as he did them because they disappeared into his "portfolio"... which we then received at the end of the preschool year. Here's one of the paintings:



We put all our favorites on the wall:



When he started kindergarten, Sam started painting right away. Here's an oogabooga monster:


And a slug carrying grapes in the rain (black slug, purple grapes, purple rain):



We had markers and crayons here, but no Sam-friendly paint (well, we have some fingerpaints, but neither Sam nor I really like finger painting... the smell, the mess, the ooky hands). So the other night when J. was heading to an office supply store for a binder, I asked him to pick up a set of watercolors for a rainy day. Today was that rainy day. Sam painted 10 watercolors, and is still going now with the markers (only because I stopped putting pieces of paper in front of him)... I think he's drawn about 15 spiders to decorate with for halloween. Here are some highlights. I don't even need to tell you what most of these are, but the brown one is an owl, and the abstract one is people dancing at a party. (Note too the stripe of blue sky in almost every one.)











I don't know if it's because his fine motor control finally got good enough that he's not frustrated by his efforts, or because we went so wild over the portfolio full of recent paintings, but it's like a painting bonanza around here (he did mention today that he likes to make me happy by painting, so we had to have a whole carefully-casual conversation about how I hope he paints because he wants to, not because it makes me happy, though if it makes him happy to paint then that makes me happy too; he said it makes him happy AND it makes me happy).

He's also declared that in addition to being a paleontologist, he will be an artist when he grows up. He can paint the bones that he digs up, he says with the "I've got it!" tone we hear a lot around here these days.

Also: first group piano lesson yesterday. Teaching 4 4-year-olds to play piano is a bit like herding cats, but he had fun and I think it will be a nice non-stressful way to get an introduction to making music. And: he's actually liking swimming classes this fall, as opposed to protesting about them and then just sort of going through them. Which is good, because swimming is the only non-negotiable lesson, at least until he can keep his head above water on his own for a minute or so (safety issue; soccer, gymnastics, piano, whatever-- it's all negotiable and dependent on his interest and motivation, just not swimming).

Nothing about the Bean this post; she's getting more sociable and filling out, and the swing we bought through Craig's List is a lifesaver... she will happily nap in it for hours at a time, which allows me to, you know, do a few dishes even if J. isn't home, and also to paint with Sam.

Happy New Year to those who are celebrating (and atoning).

chins and sibling love

She's got chins!



The sibling love, it continues...

Five weeks, or the first real two-kid post

Well... it's been 5 weeks of parenting two, and we're settling in-- and celebrating by inaugurating a new blog. I can't even keep up with one (Sam's old blog), so there was no chance of keeping up with two, so instead of adding Frida to Sam's, I figured we'd document them both here. (Frida's initial blog was really just to add her name info to the birth announcement email we sent, so I won't be updating that any more.)

First order of business: Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who helped us get through the first crazy month: to our parents for bringing/cooking/buying us food, doing our dishes, landscaping our garden, holding Frida, taking Sam to the aquarium and the Science Museum and minigolfing (twice!) and reading him books and giving him gifts and making him feel loved; to our siblings for staying with Sam while we were at the hospital welcoming Frida into the outside world, for playing with Sam and doing our dishes and bringing us food, for bringing and sending lovely newborn girl clothes and soothing Frida so I could nap; to our friends in town for watching Sam and playing with him, for cooking us food, for assorted lovely gifts and flowers and toys; to our more distant friends and family for gifts and phone calls and good wishes. We are so grateful to you all! (And also: it's so kind of all of you to remember Sam-- we lost count of the "big brother gifts" he got, and I can't imagine he felt under-gifted at all.)

Second order of business: Some pictures! I'll update with text some time... no promises, given that I can make big plans and not be able to even make a dent in my list because F. won't let me put her down without screeching (errands that can be run on foot are the only way to deal with this); other times she sleeps and sleeps, but I'm so tired from being up with her that I can't function enough to be any kind of productive. But we have photos, so here are some highlights...


FridaBean asleep in my lap, end of August (so about 2 weeks old). She is happy on a lap, on a chest, in the sling, in the ergo... basically anywhere in contact with a human.



Sam made a neato design around the Bean (early September).



Sam was pretty wiped out after his second full day of kindergarten (especially since we then hung out at the newly redesigned and amazingly cool Cambridge Common park, with Uncle Markus, for a couple of hours, then had barbecue-- Uncle M. requested it because he can't get good BBQ in Tokyo-- all together with Uncle Dan and Aunt Sara).




Sam loves to hold Frida, and she finds him totally fascinating.



First (real) bath, earlier this week at one month old:



Apple picking yesterday (us and the entire rest of New England, from what we could tell):







Sam dancing around with his harmonica. Frida was transfixed.