Tomorrow's Their Wedding Night

Yesterday was the wedding of friends J and L in beautiful Montecito at the posh Biltmore Four Seasons. It was a lovely occasion, full of music, laughter, dancing, glorious weather, impromptu performances, a documentary, and more -- more on that in a bit. Mima and papa graciously watched the boys, but it was a bit early for L to try to go cold turkey with a bottle, so the three of us jetted down to Santa Barbara for the weekend. On the plane, L had herself a lovely snack of cheeks of mommy.

Each morning we were there, L was up crazy early, so I tried to let Meh sleep a bit by taking the little girl for extended strolls around the downtown and all the way down to the beach. Sometimes she dozed again, other times she crowed or raspberried, but it was nice, relaxing, and peaceful. During the day, in between the ceremony rehearsal, we also got to catch up with friends (some of whom I hadn't seen since college) -- and L got to enjoy her very first dip in a warm salt-water pool overlooking the ocean at an equally luxurious beach club opposite the hotel -- she decided she liked the taste of the water and had a lolling tongue for the remainder.

The rehearsal dinner was a joyous affair, with a women's ukulele group serenading the bride and groom, followed by a few toasts; Meh had contributed immensely to my own effort in this regard, a (thankfully pre-recorded) duet performance altering the lyrics to a certain recent animated film number that the boys might have been watching on auto-repeat back in Washington even while we were at the dinner. It was appropriately silly and self-deprecating to get some applause, and the main goal of entertaining the bride and groom was (hopefully) accomplished; while I suspect I should probably pull it down at some point, for now it can be found at this link. L was a hit of the dinner, wearing the fabulous outfit you see here and smiling/cooing/screeching happily at everyone she met.

The wedding day arrived and was again just perfectly "them". The hotel had sourced a very nice babysitter so Meh and I could go to the kid-free wedding, and as a wedding party member I think I was there starting at like 9 am. The last piece of music before the ceremony itself started was the fabulous Muppets Take Manhattan's "Somebody's Getting Married". The ceremony featured multiple references back to their favorite lyrics, and the officiating rabbi had been director of my college Hillel when I was there. The reception was no less excellent, with beautifully decorated tables and a cascade of loving dedications to the happy couple: a faux documentary telling the story of their meeting that J's friend T had made (L, meh, and I had contributed a few clips remotely from Seattle), a surprise rendition of a number from "A Chorus Line" by the bride and her acting friends [they had done a recent production], first dances with the parents and in-laws, and warmth and joy all around.

The weekend was capped off with a goodbye brunch the next morning -- as if the weekend couldn't be topped, the brunch took place at the same beach club overlooking the Pacific, and as we were sitting there eating, a pod of dolphins decided to start leaping and frolicking in the waves outside. Perfect! Congratulations and mazel tov once more to J and L - more pics here!

Special guest blog

Meh and L have posted their very own blog entry for their adventure in Bulgaria -- just not here. :) Go check it out on Dunava's blog here. We've been getting a steady stream of pictures (frequently of Bulgarian vehicles) and occasional Skype calls as the dramatic time difference allows, but we're emphatically looking forward to seeing the two of them in just a few days.

And speaking of travel, the travelling parents finally overlap -- today I'm off to help celebrate close friend J's upcoming wedding with a bachelor party in Las Vegas. It's a quick weekend (I'll be back on Sunday), but will definitely miss the boys -- huge thanks to mima and papa for watching them, and looking forward to the entire family being back in the same house in four days (yay!).

Bon voyage / Довиждане!

(I like that the most appropriate English saying is French. Go figure.) The girls' Bulgarian adventure begins today! We dropped off the boys at camp/school and then it was off to the airport to drop Meh and L to begin their nearly day of flying to Sofia to start their whirlwind choir tour. Impressively, she has packed for two weeks for herself and a baby in precisely what you see in this picture - one roller bag, one backback, and the stroller. After school, the boys were asking where mommy and L were -- like, literally, where the plane was currently located. So we popped up the flight tracker and watched the little plane icon traversing Greenland during dinner. Our first day of bachelorhood concluded mostly successfully with the boys asleep and me likely to follow them pretty soon. Hoping the girls have an amazing, wonderful, and, dare I say, even maybe vacation-like experience!

You and me and the bottle makes three

Today's milestone for L (or at least for me) was that we tried, and she accepted, a bottle for the first time! Meh's women's choir was performing at Folklife, and while I'd initially pondered taking the three kids, I recalled a number of past performances where I'd had to quickly flee in the middle of the set when one or more got sad. I wasn't quite ready to try that yet with three kids solo. Ah well, we'll have to settle for the streaming edition -- congrats to Dunava on what sounds like was a solid and well-received performance!

In the government-documented milestone department, L is also the first internationally prepared kid in our family; her new passport (good, ridiculously, for a full 5 years) arrived yesterday -- one more step completed on the path to her and mommy's upcoming choir trip to Bulgaria! Still can't believe that's going to be happening, and that it's only one among a number of trips coming up this summer -- in just a few weeks the boys and I head to Michigan to visit Grandma and John as well as for my (slightly belated) 21st high school reunion.

A pattern has been developing in our weekends as we start to move from spring towards summer: the boys get too bonkers to stay home, so I take them to a local park while L (and sometimes mommy) naps. This one is still Z and O's favorite. Per the picture, yesterday O was literally climbing the walls. It's always amusing when there's another kid in their general age range there, and O has to (very shyly, and preferably with daddy company) approach the kid and find out their age and name. Once the social ice has been broken though, he's friends for life; as we were driving home yesterday, he was asking when we'd see the boy he'd met at the park again, and if he could have a playdate with him. We may need to move onto kids business cards or something (and yes, as soon as I typed this I checked -- of course those are already apparently a thing).

Birthdaze

We're deep into birthday season here; last weekend was of course mommy's, but also one of Z's bus-mates invited him to a (for me) sensory-overloading affair at Chuck E. Cheese. While I remembered the animatronic music band, I don't think I recalled that restaurant staff would intentionally rile up the kids for a countdown to the live action appearance of the mouse, literally for the last minute telling the kids to scream as loud as they could. Z did great, and he also discovered the joys of skee ball, eventually redeeming a fistful of tickets for laffy taffy. This weekend there were three more parties (alas, we only made it to two of them) for friends of the boys. Yesterday, O's friend J celebrated his fourth birthday at the School of Rock. It was great fun (and mass chaos, as one would expect) celebrating with electric guitars, keyboards, microphones, shakers, and oh so many loud drums. I felt for the teacher, who was trying to teach/explain while the kids were clearly pretty ready to just get on with the singing and dancing.

And today we had an indoor bounce house birthday party for O's school friend D; both boys were invited (and L as well!), and had a blast jumping and running -- though I really need to start to remember lighter clothes for the high energy parties, as O was a sweaty mess whenever he came to check in with me.

On the topic of L, she's started having a bit more quiet alert time especially first thing in the morning when we come downstairs. She seems to enjoy occasional tummy time along with time on her back looking up and smiling at her sheep mobile, pull toys, and her always interested/interesting brothers!

Personal space

Happy birthday to Meh! When I asked the boys a few weeks ago what they wanted to get her, O replied "flowers". Z supportively added "yes". A very nice thought; when I asked what colors we should get, O immediately replied with his favorites -- green and blue. Then he thought a moment more and added: "and also purple and pink. And also black." I took all of these suggestions (well, minus the black) to the local florist, who was a big fan of any order being transcribed from 4- and 6-year olds' instructions, and O and I got to pick them up last night on our way to meet up with Meh and Z for birthday dinner at mima and papa's house. He was very pleased with the results, though he was concerned that he couldn't see the (green) vase while it was in the box for transport. Anyway, birthday dinner was a splendid affair, with yummy food, the boys singing "Happy Birthday" (in between repeated performances of "Let it Go" and "What Does the Fox Say", of course), a tasty cake, and then capped off with a birthday present that everyone could enjoy (hopefully even mima and papa) -- a boys slumber party at their house.

I had illusions of taking Meh and L out for dessert, but we were all so tired that we just went home for a quiet evening, likely to be followed soon after by bedtime. Action packed! I will share this e-mail from mima of her conversation with O soon after we left:

Mima: Where is Owen?
O: I am in the bathroom. I want some space.
Mima: Can I come in?
O: Yes, as long as you don't talk to me.

And her little dog too

After O's school yesterday, Meh decided to introduce the boys to the MGM classic Wizard of Oz. (Z actually had a head start; as I mentioned, one of his favorite pinball machines at the museum on Saturday was the Wizard of Oz one; the spinning house and yellow bricks perhaps makes a bit more sense to him now.) Both boys were enthralled. O insists his favorite character is the witch, and he'll even do a little version of her evil laugh if you ask him. Z commented towards the end as Dorothy bids farewell to her Oz friends, "she's sad because she doesn't want to go home". It's been fabulous to hear them both singing the songs; Z's rendition of "We're Off to See the Wizard" is about as magical as a pair of ruby slippers -- I'll have to try to record it. To top it off, Meh has a copy of the original L. Frank Baum book -- we're going to start reading it to the boys, chapter by chapter, tonight! O already saw a few pictures and was wondering why they looked different than in the movie. I tried explaining that the pictures came first, but he was still concerned -- one challenge we have trying to read books to him with illustrations is that he'll immediately start asking questions about the pictures, even if the text would give him in the answer if he'd wait long enough to hear it!

Sprechstimme

While Z has always been one to recite his books, on occasions where I've tried to be silly and sing bits of the books while reading them, he's always stopped me and told me I was reading it wrong. But in the past day or so, he's suddenly taken up the call himself -- sometimes with little melodies, and sometimes just more of a lilt, but nonetheless singing some of his favorite tales. It reminds me more than anything of what in college musical history class was the 20th century avant garde technique of speak-singing, though thankfully Z prefers to stick with more traditional dominant/tonic tonal relationships and accessible rhythms rather than going full-on Schoenberg atonal on us. Anyway, here's this morning's rendition of P.D. Eastman's "Go, Dog. Go!". (Irony: the local children's theater did a musical of this same book a few years ago. Time for a revival?)

Little houses

We had a jam-packed day today, capped off with dueling holiday parties for Meh's work and mine. It has been bitter cold (well, for Seattle -- teens and 20s), and O's near-daily e-mail reminder from his teachers reminded us that the kids are still wanting to play outside and to dress appropriately. That meant hunting for lined jeans, mittens/gloves, and new hats. Alas, the local big box store was completely decimated (though we did successfully pick up a number of candies for Meh's holiday party - more on that in a bit). The boys were hungry, so (shock of shocks) we found ourselves lunching at a place that they hadn't been to in at least a day. Okay, maybe a week. Then we walked over to another store and successfully found hats, gloves (Z), and mittens (O). Success!

Friends A and J (and their son E) had invited us to come join them at a farm in the afternoon, so we headed straight there from our shopping. By the time we made it through traffic, O was conked out. So Z and Meh went into the farm while O and I hung out in the car -- but I spied Z again soon afterwards; what looked like decorative structures at the entrance are actually an array of 2/3 scale two-story play houses, and he was in love, going from house to house and checking out all of the rooms. He apparently made "snack" for mommy at a tiny kitchen table in one of them. I whispered to O that we'd arrived, and was greeted with a very happy wake up. With the bitter cold, the farm had actually gotten a roaring blaze going in their fire pit and was selling s'mores packs -- clever idea! O was delighted to eat both his and the marshmallow (actually a Peep, which as official s'mores roaster I discovered caramelizes much better) from Z's pack; Z was happy to eat just the chocolate and graham cracker, sans flame.

But wait, there's more! The farm had a bunch of animals, including the usual pigs, horses, ponies, chickens, roosters, goats, a very active herding dog, several peacocks, and even a greenhouse full of parrots and other exotic birds. And there was a virtual parking lot of kid-scale pedal-driven tractors; the boys literally jumped from one to another, pedaling once or twice and then abandoning them for the next vehicle. And, yes, there was a little train (well, a re-skinned tractor with some pre-recorded engine noises, towing a chain of wheeled cars). O was concerned that it was driving around without any kind of train tracks, but the concern went away very quickly when we went out for a ride in it - the boys were big fans, and even said hi and bye to Santa Claus (apparently the farm's owner) as we returned to our car after a chilly but very fun afternoon.

In the evening, we had the aforementioned holiday parties. Meh was awesome as always and had purchased the candies so all of the kids in attendance could make their own gingerbread houses as a craft activity. She even made a tasty frosting in piping bags that doubled as the mortar for both walls, roof, and decorative touches. My favorite were the pink peppermint thin mints, which worked perfectly for tiny little doors. The boys had a great time even if they declined most of the lovely potluck offerings. Mommy also got to sing some silly songs/carols that one of her coworkers had altered the lyrics of; O was thrilled to walk up to mommy while she was in the middle of singing, and Z talked about "mommy music" while running up and down library aisles. Soon after I ducked out for my group's own holiday dinner at a tasty Italian spot in the city. A busy day, but still a very nice one to spend almost entirely together, a rare event in our busy calendars!

Flying Turkey

We've been having a very nice time with Grandma and J visiting for the weekend. Meh departed this morning for Portland, but the boys, grandparents, and I had a full morning: first, just in time for my concert this evening, we picked up my newly tailored tuxedo (talk about delayed use of a birthday present, which Meh had picked out for me, um, nearly 12 months ago - sorry Meh, and thank you!). Then we drove onward to the boys' nirvana, I mean, the Museum of Flight. As Meh and I have independently confirmed, getting the boys into the car is usually at least a fifteen minute stall-fest -- but when I mentioned we were going to see the planes, I can confidently say that I never saw them get their shoes and jackets on quite so quickly.

While our initial route was blocked due to construction, soon enough we did successfully arrive at the museum. As we got out of the car in the parking lot, I saw a cute little prop plane coming in for a landing and pointed it out to the boys. Suddenly, on the parallel runway further from us (but still within a hundred yards), a huge military cargo transport came buzzing in for a landing -- possibly related to the upcoming presidential visit? Anyway, it was quite the sight, and the boys (and J) were already thrilled before we'd even gotten inside.

The museum itself continues to be a big win for the boys, as well as an exercise in zone defense for any adult trying to keep track of them. The boys generally wanted to go in two opposite directions, but somehow the three of us were able to get them to least stay on the same level of the museum. There was running around, climbing into many planes (that they were allowed to; O later continued to ask if he could climb into some of the other planes, even the ones that were suspended from the ceiling), and in general talking about all of their favorites. The museum also had a pre-Thanksgiving art activity that the boys enjoyed, making "turkey rockets": turkeys made from tracing their hands on paper, taped to a cone of paper, then put the cone on top of a soda bottle and squeeze the bottle to launch it. Both boys made one that we're saving for mommy tomorrow.

We crossed over to the annex containing the space shuttle simulator (well, we actually had an extended intermission on the bridge itself, watching traffic go by underneath while snacking) and adjacent to the actual airplanes, and the boys were thrilled and surprised when grandma and J bought them space shuttle toys at the little gift shop. Actually, O was at first super happy and then distressed that he had picked out a different toy than Z -- and one that didn't involve removal from a cardboard box (they still do love/obsess over their unboxing videos). I had to remind him several times that he'd made his choice, these were very generous and nice gifts, and that they should be profusely thanking grandma and J!

At last the boys' stomachs were rumbling and it was time to go grab some lunch. We headed out for the usual, but when we arrived (and had to park blocks away -- this was the mall location, and Christmas shopping is apparently already in full swing) the manager was at the door apologetically turning people away due to "computer issues". So onward to the next closest location, and after all of this, O actually declined to order or eat any lunch. I think he was both exhausted and maybe full of snacks from the museum, but it was still impressive to see him politely turn down the waiter's inquiry for a drink or food. Z meanwhile ate everything on his plate.

I forgot to mention, yesterday was the launch day for a certain video game console I've been working on for the past few years. On Wednesday there were festivities and fireworks through midnight (though as with new years, I was exhausted by 9 pm and headed home), the unveiling of a giant plaque with thousands of names on it (with a tripod-mounted spyglass since it's hung from a second floor atrium balcony), and a big posterboard that everyone signed as they picked up their very own special edition launch console. Hugely exciting to see my third (!) console ship, though the big work remains ahead for my team to help game developers hopefully make hundreds of great games for it!

Recovery weekend

Back from my last (planned) travel of 2013, it was super nice to have a family weekend together. We went to the park together, we snuggled at home together, we played on toy cars (shock of shocks), and we even got to go see our favorite local geek a cappella group give an excellent concert (bonus points: they had optional child care available at the venue; O spent most of the concert playing in their well-equipped-with-toys Sunday school playroom). Even though they're often busy and sometimes more exhausting than the work week, I wouldn't trade our family weekends for anything -- it is very good to be home!

Kid Rock

Uncle J has headed back to Texas for a visit, and some of his items are in storage at our house in the interim. O was mystified by the big black guitar case that had magically appeared ("Is it a viola?" "Whose guitar is it?"), but when his curiosity had him starting to open the case, I redirected him to Meh's own guitar. She captured the following O performance. I "think" the first song is about toy cars, but many of the lyrics and the song's title were, shall we say, left open to interpretation.

Bird is the Word

For once the title of this post isn't intended as some kind of pseudo-clever word play. Bird is the Word is Z's favorite song, and he both sings and requests it with some frequency. I made the mistake of hunting on YouTube and rediscovered the extended joke it made for on a Family Guy episode.

When the bird alone won't suffice, I often catch both boys singing Uncle B and my hit song from grandma and John's wedding. And yes, a video of the premiere performance has surfaced:

Bulls in a Glass Shop

A busy solo week gave way to a full house for the weekend; Meh returned from her trip (she had a wonderful time catching up with friends in both Houston and Fort Worth; you can read a brief reference on friends M & K's blog), and a mere 20 minutes later, Uncle B and Aunt J arrived from the east coast! They were part of the visual schedule I'd pinned to the refrigerator for Meh's trip to Texas, with two separate planes occupying the Saturday calendar box. The schedules worked out quite nicely; Meh's flight was late, theirs was early, and I was able to collect everyone in under thirty minutes. And the next morning, the boys were super happy to see both mommy back at home and Uncle B and Aunt J!
We had a very busy but fun weekend with everyone back; mommy was right back into the swing of things with a performance by her choir at the annual Northwest Folklife Festival the day after she got back. We all piled into the car and tromped down to the Seattle Center, where Meh was off for sound checks while we investigated the mob scene that is the festival. O enjoyed an elephant ear, fed to him piece by piece by Uncle B while he was up on my shoulders, while Z stuck with his standard fruit leather and crackers; both boys were pleased to later discover that the chocolate mommy had promised to bring back for them (an authentic Texas-purchased bag of M&Ms) had made it into our backpack.

We had a little bit of time to kill before the actual concert, so Uncle B and Aunt J suggested that we peek in at the very cool Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. The boys were a little wild (and about to get a nice sugar rush from aforementioned snack), and I was kind of trying to hang back with, but before I knew it, we had tickets (thank you Uncle B and Aunt J!) and were on our way into the boys' very first museum. O was kind of falling apart initially, but eventually got very interested in the glass, asking why there was a boat full of glass and talking about all of the pretty colors and which ones I liked best. Of course for me the whole experience was, um, heightened by the fact that these amazing and amazingly fragile pieces were like right there in front of you, with no fence or gate or anything. The boys in general did a very good job of keeping respectful distance -- right up until I thought we'd made it through to the last room, a stunning glass greenhouse leading into the actual outdoor gardens. O bolted -- and I mean bolted (Aunt J caught the accompanying shot) -- across the open area, right up to a rope fence in front of the last exhibit, then ducked under it and immediately turned around and looked at me for a response. *sigh* At least he knew he'd been naughty.

It was concert time! This is the time when in past years I've generally ended up hanging out outside of the actual venue with one or both kids being unhappy. Not so this time - amazingly, we got into the venue right as her group started singing and both boys had huge smiles on their faces the entire time. When mommy's group was done and filed off the stage, the audience was quiet enough to nearly universally hear and chuckle at O's innocent "Where are they?" Z was concerned to see her exit, but we caught up with her outside immediately afterwards -- a very successful concert for all involved, hooray!

O and Z: The Musical

The boys have gradually been introduced to a few live action films over the past few months, and their favorite at the moment is Annie. Special thanks to Grandma and J for sending it to O for his birthday; his interest had actually started with a mix CD that Meh had helped contribute to for a friend's baby shower a few months ago. Anyway, both boys have quickly been picking up on the tunes and lyrics, and have their favorites that they request in both the car and now on the TV. Z even has a number of new quotes in his arsenal, but the sing-along is by far my favorite:

Down the stunky roo-a-bah

It makes no sense, but "Down the stunky roo-a-bah" is the new song that Zachary and Owen will ask each other sing frequently, generally to the tune of 'London Bridge', occasionally adding a bit of swing/syncopation to the end of the phrase, and then punctuating each verse with "my... fair... [something they think is silly -- an animal, a vehicle type, a name, etc.]". In trying to decode the title's origin, I tried asking them a few pronunciation variants to see if I was just misunderstanding, but O insisted, "No, daddy, it's 'down the *stunky* woo-a-bah!'" I then asked what it meant, to which O replied, "Well, 'down a stunky' is the first name. And 'woo-a-bah' is the last name." So never mind, it all makes perfect sense now.

Gone to the Dog

Hooray for visits from Uncle B! Both boys were very much looking forward to seeing him, and had a great time once he arrived from the east coast. There was much playing, talking, dining together, and a nice family walk to the park. The weather is definitely on its way to getting colder, so Z even donned an excellent penguin hat that we'd received from Uncle B and Aunt J after a trip last year.

We got to have lunch with some mutual friends we hadn't seen in a while, at a restaurant called the Barking Dog. On the way there, O was very excited to see the dog, and while I figured it was just a name and tried to set expectations accordingly, sure enough, there was a cute little pug wagging his tail and greeting everyone as they arrived. O: "I like the doggie, he sniffed me a little bit." As an extra bonus, the restaurant had a good selection of coloring books, including a Cars themed one (score) that someone had stuck a bunch of Cars stickers into (double score); both boys were very pleased, even if O passed on the tasty-looking grilled cheese and only ate his waffle fries, while Z ignored the several pounds of pasta they served him. Ah well. Uncle B also visited an orchestra rehearsal and then attended my fall concert; it was great to have him there for support in the audience!

Alas, all too soon, the visit was over - though there was a final highlight as the boys got to drive Uncle B to the airport for his flight, and proceeded to exclaim happily as we drove past all of the planes parked at their gates. We were glad to get a weekend with Uncle B and look forward to seeing him again soon!

Mash Up

This morning, O sang:
"Old MacDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.
And on this farm he had a dog and Bingo was his name-O,
E--I--N-G-O, E--I--N-G-O, E--I--N-G-O,
and Bingo was his name-O."

The boys are right back into the swing of things from our trips, with school back on for Z and play time with friends for O. O loves accompanying Z out to (and then onto) the school bus each morning, saying hi to "Miss Vicki" when the doors open (even if Z himself doesn't always) and then climbing onto the bus and finding a seat while I buckle in Zachary. O is definitely ready for school, even if he's still got around 3 years to wait.

The travels continue -- at least for the grownups. I had a work conference this weekend at a beautiful resort in northern California; while I was mostly indoors sitting at conference tables, I did make sure Meh came with this time around (last year she hadn't been able to), and she took full advantage of their spa treatments along with some quiet uninterrupted reading time. We both got to take a few nice walks together, on one of which Meh found a giant shed snakeskin right in the middle of the path.

It was a nice opportunity to recharge a bit after our two extended summer trips with the boys. And of course we spent much of the time thinking and talking about them (I even woke up a few times with imagined/dream-induced fears that they were awake and getting into trouble elsewhere in our room) in between admiring the scenery and eating tasty food. Huge huge thanks to mima for watching the boys over the weekend. She reported in daily with great snippets of quotes from her many fine conversations with O and Z:

O: I wish I had a dog at my house.
M: What kind of dog?
O: A small red one that doesn't bark.

M: Zachary, Papa is coming to take us to breakfast!
O: There may be bananas.
Z: In Maryland?

Farewell Performance

Talk about time flying -- today was already Z's last day of preschool. In the fall he'll be an honest-to-goodness kindergartener. He got to ride the bus for the last time this year. O brought the bus driver flowers; I think he likes the bus almost as much as his big brother with the attention and stickers he gets nearly every morning -- today there was an extra surprise with bus driver C giving two matchbox cars to O! Notice the concerned look on Z's face as the bus drove away with his brother getting to play with vehicles. Indeed, when we got back from Z's class performance, the boys proceeded to fight and meltdown over the new coveted car and truck; I had to, once more, send the vehicles on holiday after a few failed mediations.

Back to Z's performance! For the past week or more, Z has been singing songs during the day that I'd either never heard him sing before, or which he hadn't shown interest in in quite some time. We correctly surmised that these would be part of the performance, which involved the kids marching in from recess (Z at first looked concerned, but then saw Meh, O, mima, and myself, and pointed at each of us, saying "It's a girl!" or "It's a boy!"), alternating between sitting and standing in a semi-circle, and cutely singing and hand-gesturing through a playlist of six or so songs. Then there was a slideshow of pictures from the schoolyear, accompanied with mildly cheesy goodbye tunes that of course had Meh's eyes watering. They then said goodbye to each child in turn, handing out portfolios of their work to give to their parents. Then snack, hugs and smiles for each of his teachers, and an end to the shortened day of school. Hypothetically there are two more days next week, but with Z starting camp, we wanted to make sure he was there for orientation and getting into the new routine with the other kids.

Meh and I reviewed the portfolio tonight, and in addition to some fun time-lapse progress (they had Z write his name every month of school, and the transition from traced to self-written is pretty remarkable!), he had made a very cute father's day card/poster for me. More pictures of Z's last school day here.

Lyricists

The boys of course love music; Z has been singing a wide range of songs lately that we suspect may be part of tomorrow's preschool graduation "performance". But we've been seeing more and more creativity in the past few weeks with music. O started by adding new verses to "Row Your Boat" ("...and if you see a car, don't forget to vroom!"). Now both of them are tagging new verses onto many of their favorites. Tonight was one of the best -- they love "How Much is That Doggie in the Window" (which they follow with an energetic "woof! woof!"), and Z has been extending it to cat, pig, cow, and a variety of other animals with corresponding noises (though still always a waggley tail). Tonight, O contributed his own new lyric: "How much is that mommy in the window, hug hug!"