No, in case you were wondering, Katherine hasn’t lost the reading habit. I imagine that it helps that Dexter seeks out her lap (and overflows it) when we have nap/reading time in our house.
Nathaniel got really excited about the possibility of helping make Katherine’s birthday special, so much so that he forgot how to spell her name–but got all of the curlicues in there somehow.
When I realized that Katherine’s birthday would mean we could ditch one of the carseats in our Prius, I checked the height and weight requirements for kids outgrowing the carseats. Sydney asked, “Do we even know how tall they are?” Well, no. When I was in elementary school, there was an annual height and weight measurement, but I haven’t seen anything like that here. So, we did that today, which gave me the info I needed to fill out the “height predictor” models I remember seeing at the doctor’s office.
It didn’t surprise me that Katherine will likely be an inch or two taller than me, but I hadn’t really thought about the fact that Nathaniel may well be more than half a foot taller than me. Not only will I likely be the shortest person in our family, but Sydney may not even hold onto tallest. Forget badminton: we clearly need to get a volleyball net!
The weight checks were helpful, too, since they remind me that we need to make sure that the kids become more aware of other people and objects around them. They are no longer little things that will bounce off adults; they are quite likely to take the adult out if they’re not careful. So, grandparents beware!
The kids got a game of bird bingo, which we played as a family before leaving it to the kids so we could work outside. It was really funny and sweet to hear them reading “Splendid Fairywren” and “Pied Wagtail” out loud to each other.
As per usual in our house, our main gift to the birthday child is that he or she gets to pick the birthday menu. I probably need to set some limits on that. Both Katherine and Nathaniel made lists that, while not long, would have made for a Thanksgiving feast. We’ve ended up spreading things out over three or four days. So we’re going to enjoy having some food in the house as Sydney and I prepare for some end-of-semester hunkering down.
Erin
Alan Schmierer
That cat is filling a lot of Katherine’s lap! The table looks so pretty (great job of decorating, Nathaniel!) and the birthday girl is so pretty! Eight years old! How fun to see they are engrossed in the bird bingo! I daresay there may be a bird or two that Sydney didn’t know:)
Miss them terribly – give them lots of hugs and love from the ‘somebody in Iowa loves you” group.
Much love – the Iowa grans
Yes, Dexter hasn’t figured out that he’s really too big for Katherine’s lap. And seriously warm, too! We’ll see how the cats fare in the summer heat . . .
Bird Bingo is still going strong, and seems to be a great one for playing with several configurations of players. They also seem to make up additional games with the pieces and make long lists of their favorite birds (Katherine the list-maker leading the way).
Erin