christmas at four

 The shops around here sell gingerbread house kits for about $10.  They come with the gingerbread already cut, the frosting made, and enough candy to decorate it just like it is on the box or as you decide.  Tim always wants it to be just like it is on the box.  This is the third year that we've done this.  The first year was with the children of my friend, and Tim didn't contribute much.  This year, I put on the frosting, and he did just about everything else.  It's a good thing Paul took this photo as soon as we finished because Tim started eating it immediately after that.  He even shared it with the rest of us.

Tim was very helpful decorating the tree this year.  

We had some relatively warm weather on the 23rd and enjoyed an early evening in Old Town with GG and Gramps looking at the lights and eating ice cream.  

thanksgiving

Tim only had three days of school this week and his teachers Ms. Darlene and Miss Kelsey spent them in various activities about Thanksgiving.  

He learned about the Indians and how they helped the pilgrims survive.

 And he learned about the pilgrims and the risks that they took in coming to the New World.

Tim celebrated the day off from school by staying in his underwear until well into the afternoon.  I'm sure that most of the men who read this post can relate.

swimming lessons

Tim is taking swimming lessons this month.  He goes for forty minutes every Tuesday and Thursday.  The goal is to have him comfortable with his head under water by the end of the class.  He's been getting his head wet since our summer trips to the pool, but this class has a focus of putting his head under water to actually swim.  He's enjoying them.  One of us takes him and sits in the stadium seats above him and enjoys a little quiet time.

Jumping in the water with his class.

 I think Tim just told a dirty joke...

 Watching an errant classmate.

The pool has a slide and all kinds of water works that are turned off for lessons.

The little girl on the far right likes to chase him around the pool and give him hugs.

This was taken at the condo pool, but it's the only water shot we  have of him close up.

halloween

We put up Halloween decorations (a string of fairy lights in jack o' lanterns and a ghost banner on October 1st.  It was a little early, but Tim and I love this holiday.  We didn't carve our pumpkins until the 28th and are keeping them in the garage until Halloween night so that the squirrels and raccoons don't eat them like they did last year.  

)

 Now that I'm a working mom, I look for short cuts wherever I can.  This was a fantastic deal at $6.00 for a dozen very tasty, already made cookies, icing and candies.  Tim h helped frost the solid colored ones and he put the candies on all of them.  He helped eat them as well.  As he was making the first one, he asked who it was for and I said it was for him.  He replied, 'Oh, good.  But we should make one for Daddy, and Ookie, and Addie and Emily.  And you Mom.' So we did just that.

 As per our tradition, we went to The Farm at Lee Martinez park with Addie, Emily and Matt.  Tim decided to be buzz over a month ago and never changed his mind.  That was perfect since he already had wings and a costume.  Luke was Woody.  Addie went as Merida from the movie Brave.  Matt was a dragon.

This one of the false houses that a local business made.  The kids knock on the door and people on the other side, also dressed in costume, give them candy.

 Tim's checking out what they just gave him.  Matt and Luke followed the big kids.  

 The people on the other side of the door.

 We've reached the years of bad picture poses.

 Luke didn't want the hat on and Tim knew we wanted it on for the photo.  Luke won because he ran away.

 The barn had a kind of maze in it.

Trick or treat!

We decided to in the afternoon this year and it was the best way to do it.  At night, it's so cold the kids have to wear coats over their costumes, we can't see half of what is there, and we're all tired.  This year, we all had a great time.

horsetooth falls

Emily and Addie invited us to join them on a hike to Horsetooth Falls this morning.

 The nights have started to cool  and mornings are perfect.  Despite the hot dry summer, it was green.   

I didn't know that Flash was on the hike with us.  I'm not sure he made it home.

Tim and Luke both enjoyed throwing rocks into the pool a the bottom of the falls, which were just a trickle.

We saw some wildlife when Tim scared a garter snake from its spot near the water and it swam towards the rest of us.

dressing for bed

Tim can dress and undress himself for the most part.  It just doesn't always have the result that we'd like.

Scooby Doo has been around for a long time and has gone through at least three theme songs.  I don't know this one, and may never learn it, as Tim makes up the words as he sings.

street names and making faces

Mommy where are we going?

To GG’s house.

We’ve never been on this street before.

No, we haven’t.  It’s a short cut to Drake, the street that we usually take to go to GG’s.

What’s the name of this street.

Research.  (the street has a large bend in it, almost like turning on to a new street)

And this must be Road Street.  As we approach the stop light.  And that is Car Street because of all the cars on it.

Silence for a minute while we turn on to Drake and drive about a block.

What street is that Mommy? (all the way to GG’s house)

He really thinks he's pulling some crazy faces here.  I think it's pretty tame compared to what he'll probably be doing in six months.

fore!

learning to read

We're in no rush to teach Tim to read, but he's interested and willing.  The promise of a new toy with the mastery of each book is a big incentive.  Like potty training, we're trying to let him guide us on the skills we tackle.  This worked when he wrote his name at two, much to our surprise and pleasure.  I'm happy to help him learn to read because studies that I've read indicate that children who learn to read early have greater success at learning other things in school, and Tim has always liked books. 

I first learned of the Bob Books last summer from a woman I met at the library.   She was with her son who looked about the same age as Tim.  Tim had picked some books to take home, and we sat down next to the mother and son to look through them.  The boy told Tim that he liked one of them and then offered to read the book to Tim, which he did.  I thought maybe he'd memorized the book, but he actually read it.  I asked his mom how old he was and when she said 4, I asked how he'd learned to read.  She showed me The Bob Books, and I checked one out.  We tried a couple of times but without any interest or success.  I checked them out again when we traveled to South Africa, thinking we could try them on the long flights or layovers.  Again, no interest or success.

Last week, we tried again with great interest and success, so I bought the first set.  It's a phonetic system for learning to read and very popular right now.  There are 12 books of about 6 pages in the set. Each book focuses on two or three new sounds.  Tim has loved the ABC song from a very young age, but it doesn't do much to help with the phonetic alphabet.  It would be a real accomplishment if someone could write a song as catchy as the ABC song using phonetics.

real skis

Last summer we were 'picked up' at a bar by a couple with two young kids.  They use their son to meet what they hope are interesting people.  We were eating dinner at our local on the patio.  Tim was playing in the grass next to us and a little boy about his age joined him.  When we discovered who the parents were we chatted while the boys played.  When we left, we exchanged phone numbers.  They've become good friends in part because they boys are nearly the same age, Jonathan is about six months older than Tim.  They live nearby, which is handy.  They lived in Germany for two years, so when we all get together we reminisce about life abroad.  The reason they are mentioned here is because they let us borrow Jonathan's skis and boots and Tim had his first go on a real ski slope: Four O'Clock run at Breckenridge.


It was awesome.  I speed up, then slow down.

Instructors substitute 'french fries' for slalom and 'pizza' for snow plow, and we were quick to use their wisdom.  I won't say that Tim mastered it.  But he enjoyed the exercise and will do it again.  We hope to put him in ski school next winter.

gymnastics

Tim's been going to a gymnastics class for five weeks now.  He doesn't get very excited when we talk to him about it and he doesn't seem to look forward to it, but he enjoys it when he's there.  I hope that he'll  grow to like it.  His skills improve each week.  

There are about 20 kids in each class, ages 3-5.  They start with a group warm up: running in a large circle, stretching, and learning terms like tuck, pike and straddle.  Then they are split into three smaller groups based on ability, I think.  Each small group then goes to a section of the gym and they work on skills at each section for about 10 minutes.  It's well organized.  

Tim can do a forward roll or somersault pretty well on is own if  he's on a sloped mat.    He needs help with his backward roll, but he knows what to do with his chin and hands.  With both, he needs to work on controlling the tuck a little more, but that will come with time and practice.

Tim loves to jump off of furniture, stairs, rocks or anything else that presents a ledge and landing area.  He started to climb before he could crawl.  It has long been our hope that a class in gymnastics would give him some control of these activities so that he can minimize injuries.  Fingers crossed.

The problem may be that instead of teaching him control, he just learns new daredevil stunts. Hanging from bars is new to him, but he's already transferred this to hanging from anything he can reach.  Any day now, I'll catch him hanging like this from the bar counter.  At least it's carpeted.

Each month, the directors choose a theme.  Last month was dinosaurs and this month is insects.  In this video, Tim is supposed to cross the balance beam like a caterpillar (on his hands and feet).  On the other beams, he was a fly flapping his wings and walking tip-toe, and a bee, flapping his wings and walking backwards.

tim's harem

There are almost an equal number of boys and girls in the classes.  This is the only time he's been in a group without any other boys.  It doesn't seem to make a difference to him.  The girls fight to stand next to him in line.  And so it begins...

four years old

the birthday boy

supervising mom 

pre-party boredom

fillmore

lightning and friends

guido

luigi

finn

pre-party clean

a hint of the adult tim?

the only thing he asked me for was a blue cake

stance for 'happy birthday' song.  he refused to blow out the candles

finn has yet to be eaten but the ice cream was devoured several times over

jt and addie race cars while luke watches

addie, karsten, tim and jt playing together before the presents are opened

he wanted some help on the first couple of gifts

jt is as excited to have his gift opened as tim is to open it

i think this is when the cap gun was opened

say cheese

captain timmy

shooting cars

shooting more cars

reach for the sky

 I think Tim had a great birthday party, his first party with invited guests instead of just family.  Paul, Luke and I also had a great time.  The guests didn't know one another but became instant play mates thanks to their natures and the bonding nature of toys.  Tim shared his toys happily and the other children indulged the birthday boy just a bit.  The weather was our friend as well and they got to play outside without coats for most of the party.  On Tuesday, his actual birthday, we will open gifts from the family.