June 2: Thursday Hikes

We have plans to hike every Thursday with a bunch of friends from Isaac's playgroup. Each week, it's a different trail, and they are all about 30-45 minutes away. One more reason to love where we live.

The first hike was at Green Mountain, a gorgeous park at the edge of Lakewood. We missed the group but arrived at the same time as our good friends Leanne, Jack and Josie. Isaac and Jack were happy to see each other and hiked part of the time holding hands.

Leanne's photo

Actually, the wind was blowing us around on the first part of the trail, and Isaac was about to throw a fit because we'd left his sunglasses in the car - but all was forgotten when Jack caught up to us and we rounded the curve to a quieter side of the hill. Then the boys were ready to run.


Meanwhile, Jonah said he wanted to walk...








but mostly, he just wanted to squat for a while and examine the rocks.


Sometimes I convinced him to come along, carrying the rocks...


but in the end, I had to carry him on my hip for about 2 hours so we could try to keep up. Leanne kept an eye on the big boys so they could move faster.







Leanne's photo - love this one.

It was a gorgeous trail on a gorgeous day.


We stopped for a picnic lunch, then headed back, realizing that we'd hiked a good ways. But the boys were happy, especially with rocks and dirt to play in along the way.

Leanne's photo



Jonah seemed determined to get onto the closed trail.






Jonah claims Isaac's friends as his own - he talks about them and knows them by name. He hadn't seen Jack for a while, but he quickly claimed Jack too. Whenever the big boys left his sight, he started calling him. "Daaaa-aaack!"




Brothers.


Jonah and his new buddy.


Leanne captured the trio the best with this photo. I love this. Happy boys.


Jonah, who starts conversations with strangers by saying loudly: "Highway! Down-town!" was delighted to see the Denver skyline as we came back toward the parking lot. It was a strange and beautiful juxtaposition.


The boys were exhausted by this point, as was I. But Isaac had hiked well for 2 hours - I was so proud of him! They fell asleep within minutes on the drive home...


but once I stopped the car, so quietly, they were wide awake and hungry again.


So they finished their picnic lunches in the shade of the front porch.

June 1: Silly boys in sunglasses

May 31: First Day of Camp Fun

Camp Fun is a great idea created by a mom from Isaac's preschool. She invited all the kids from her sons' classes, along with all their siblings, to meet once a week all summer long for a sort of enrichment camp.

The camp is led by a different mom or dad each week, and the schedule includes science, art, karate, music, yoga, kids' workout and much more. I'm enjoying getting to know the other moms from school much better, and Isaac and Jonah look forward to trying out something new every Tuesday morning.

The first day, a mom and a dad taught music together. First the kids made egg shakers, then they all gathered in a group to practice rhythms and rests and play with different tempos. In the picture, the dad is playing examples of different instruments on his laptop and asking the kids to describe what they sound like. I was impressed with how much meaningful knowledge he worked into a two hour session with a bunch of mostly preschoolers.

Below - Isaac taking care of Jonah.


Here's a picture of all the kids.


And our boys.


As impressed as I was with the music lesson, I think Isaac's favorite part might have been just running in this big open field.

May 30: Birthday party season

For us, and many of our friends too, it seems, June means lots of birthday parties! Three of Isaac's best friends have birthdays in early June. Luckily, this year the parties were on three consecutive weekends, so we got to go to all of them.

Landon's party was first, on Memorial Day, and he wanted to ride bikes. So all the kids brought their bikes - some tricycles, lots of striders and two-wheelers with training wheels - and Landon's family ushered the train of bikers across the street with cute little stop signs, on to an empty parking lot where the gang of kids zipped around and had the best time. There were many near misses and only a few minor collisions.

Brian, Landon's dad, took individual shots of each child. Here are ours - Isaac gleeful on his bike and Jonah not sure about riding.

May 28: Biking in Boulder

It was Saturday, yet another cool and slightly overcast day for us, so we decided to take the boys to Boulder for a bike ride at one of our very favorite trails. Jane first introduced me to Teller Farm when she was living in Boulder for the summer, and it is a showcase of Colorado beauty - cottonwood trees scraping an enormous sky, a rushing creek through prairie grass, and distant snow-capped peaks above the flat expanse of plains. I love it there.

The boys were ready to go (see Jonah above, who wanted to wear his helmet in the car for almost the entire 40-minute drive to the trail). Unfortunately, we left a little late and were getting close to lunch and naptime by the time we arrived.


But Adam got the boys in the trailer, and we set off; sometimes, we've learned, you just have to go do something fun and not miss out because you're worried about schedules.




That worked for a while...We made it across Valmont and into the second half of the trail before the boys got too cranky to go on - hungry, and hot from the layers I'd put on them while I was shivering in the chilly breeze.


Luckily, I'd brought a little food, and we had water, so we had a snack break in a beautiful spot.


Adam was pulling both boys and he still went much faster than I could...And since Jonah screamed most of the way back - hungry? tired? - I told him to just go on. At least I got to enjoy the views.

May 25: Isaac's Last Day of School

Isaac's class celebrated the last day of school with a ceremony and a potluck lunch. I'm grateful to Liz, another mom, for these pictures since I forgot my camera!

The kids made special crowns to wear, and then they had circle time like every day.




They lined up to go outside


for a story






and the ceremony, which consisted of climbing up the playset, sliding down,


and collecting the framed Polliwog graduation certificate that Teacher Sarah had prepared for each child.


Then it was time for the party.


Isaac was looking pretty tired by the time I got there.




This was a rough year for Isaac in many ways - facing a bully for the first time and the resulting blow to his confidence; a class with just 2 girls and 10 boys, most of whom turned four at the beginning of the year, almost a year before Isaac; the resulting group of older boys who wanted to play exclusive games and shooting games and who make it clear the difference a year can make, for better or worse. Four is indeed bigger, stronger, louder and more aggressive, and sensitive, innocent Isaac had a hard time playing with his older classmates. But he loved Teacher Sarah, and he was glad to be with his buddies Landon, Zack and Lulu (our neighbor).

Teacher Sarah struggled some with all the male energy in the first half of the year, but she has a real gift for teaching art and creating projects that are really fun and successful for preschoolers. Under her care, Isaac discovered that he loved painting, and he came to think of himself as an artist.


Isaac has one more year at Steele before he starts kindergart. He got into the Frog class, which will meet three afternoons a week starting in August. If you ask him, he will tell you with great pride that he will be a Frog next year.

May - June: Conversations with the Boys

May 24 - Two silly boys on the futon before bed.

* At the grocery store, Jonah always rides in the top of the cart. But lately he has started standing up and leaning over the edge when I step away. He likes to pick a random shopper, look her straight in the eye and say "DON'T FALL."

* Isaac is getting more articulate by the day. Recently he discovered my elementary-level books on different scientific topics, skinny books with pictures and text that is easily paraphrased. He was fascinated by the pictures of the inside of his body and also by the explanations of things like why the wind blows and why rain falls. I was impressed by his syntax when he held up the weather book and told me: "This book and the body book are the ones I like best because I like to watch lightning and see what's in my body."

* Jonah started talking in 3-word sentences. He has a fairly large and rich vocabulary (like the word handle!), but it was just on this day that I started hearing subject-verb-direct/indirect object and other 3-word combinations.
June 1 - he said: "Isaac eat strawberry." "More milk please." and "Tunnel fish go." (telling us that the fish in his toy was going through the "tunnel" behind the plants)
June 10 - When I took his milk away because he was intentionally spilling it, this is how he asked for it back: "Na-na drink milk." (he calls himself Na-na) So I gave it back, and he drank it, just like he'd promised.
And another observation: "Idack paying wa-wa." (Isaac playing water)
June 12 - Yesterday we were invited to Isaac's friend Zack's house for trains and dinner. All afternoon, Jonah kept saying "Go Zack's house!"

* June 2 - Jonah learned a color! We were in his room, and I distinctly heard him repeating: "Yellow...ball. Yellow...ball." I looked, and he was holding a bright yellow tennis ball. Since then, he has called several things yellow that are not, but he can also say "blue sandals" and if I say blue, he says "eyes." And he does get the yellow things right!

* June 6 - We left Jonah's yellow milk sippy at our neighbors' house after a fun and long dinner there. The next day, Rina had it in the dishwasher so we couldn't get it back yet. Jonah apparently missed it a lot because the following morning as we were coming down the stairs for breakfast, he was demanding: "Yellow milk. Yellow milk."

* I love when Jonah starts saying a new word, but it's even more exciting when he learns a concept. His two new concepts this month are "big," "new" and possession.
He points out "big book," "big dog," and "big tunnel" (the dark one where Speer passes under Broadway).
My parents bought the boys shoes when they were here, and after that, he started pointing to his feet and saying "new...sandal." This week, some new clothes came in the mail (thanks Mom!), and when I put on one of the shirts, he pointed to his chest and said "new shirt." He even pointed at Isaac and said "Idack new shirt."
Jonah also knows who everything belongs to now: "Dada wa-wa," "Idack shoes," "Na-na hat," etc.

* Jonah can also answer non yes/no questions now. Yesterday we asked him what he likes to do at Zack's house, and after a moment to think, he said "Trains...(Zack has about 4 train sets.) Through tunnel." (Jonah knows that we go through the big tunnel on Speer when we go to Zack's house.)

* Meanwhile, Isaac seems to be charging toward age 4 as his birthday approaches. He suddenly seems bigger, stronger, louder, crazier and, yes, rougher - we've heard that would happen too. He continues to amaze us too, but Jonah makes shorter, easier-to-record soundbites at this point, so those get written down more often.