Omnium-gatherum
Matt Hanson’s Brain Archive
May 26, 2006
Red Fire Trucks
What little boy doesn’t like Fire Trucks? They are bright red, big, they make noise, and they have lots of moving parts. And firemen get to wear cool hats. Our neighbor Daniel is just a few months younger then Kaley and now it was his time to turn 3. Fire truck cake, fire truck pinata, and firemen hats for the kids.
Traditional birthday games need to be modified slightly for kids this age. Sharp tacks in the hands of blindfolded little ones is not a great idea - so instead there was a pin-the-fire-badge-on-the-dalmations-firemen-hat. And do we really want to give sticks to three year olds inside the house, then blindfold them, spin them around then tell them to swing it? Even without the blindfold this can cause serious unintentional damage. Instead the bottom of the pinata was home to a colorful series of strings, most of which did absolutely nothing. Daniel went first, picked the magic string out of the dozen available and yanked - showering all with candy on the first try.
The No-Sticks and No-Tacks was a good avenue to take.
May 25, 2006
Creative Movement
The activities have started. As kids it invariably starts with dance, gymnastics, or piano lessons. As they get older it becomes sports, karate, the violin, skating, or any other myriad of activities. But how do you choose what your kids should do? Should she learn foriegn languages? Should she continue with dance, or start an instrument? The fact is that with limited time and a finite budget you can’t send your kids off to do the countless number of fun activities there is to do.
Kaley has been taking a kid music class (called Music Together) since she was little, and now Maizy is doing the same thing. They both have fun, I think it’s valuable, and most importantly the music is very good - and not just for kids.
This past Winter, we decided it was time for Kaley to give Dance a try. The class, called Creative Movement, got her working on basic ballet steps, and now tap. The final dance piece the class put on for parents wasn’t exactly very active (at 3, what do you expect? They end up mostly standing there not really sure how to act in front of all these people), but most importantly she enjoys the class a lot. Perhaps she enjoys dressing up in the outfit even more then the dance class itself. I’d like to get her trying Kung Fu this next year, but maybe we’ll just start with Gymnastics.
November 12, 2006 - I added pictures from dance classes in May and the beginning of June
May 15, 2006
The Girls Together
While I have in fact taken less pictures of Maizy by herself then I had with Kaley I do take a lot of pictures of the girls together.
Push-up Pops
playing
painting
poking
in purple
My Valentines
A bit belated…
I’ve got 3 lovely girls living in my house.
Hug O’ War
I will not play at tug o’ war.
I’d rather play at hug o’ war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.Shel Silverstein
