September
2007
Making their Parents Proud
Lately the boys have been doing some fun things that have made both Mike and I proud, mostly because they are things that we are interested in! 
A few weeks ago when Mike was putting Drew to bed, Bran and I were doing puzzles. Bran gathered up all the puzzles and then started tapping on them. He told me it was his computer. He was working like daddy. So we’ve been sending off pretend emails to grandma, nana and papa. Eventually we’ll get to the real thing, but I’m not quite ready to confuse them over when they’re allowed to touch the computer and when they’re not.
Mike started teaching the boys to play Carcasonne not too long ago. The version of the game is very basic. The boys have to take turns taking tiles out of the bag, they have to lay a tile next to another tile, they may not pick up any of the tiles already on the table! This was been working fairly well, although it’s not a simple as you would think! But it’s music to his ears when his little boys run up to him asking “play a game daddy?”
For my part the boys have taken a real interest in music. They love to listen to music and whenever I have Itunes running on the computer they want to come to the table and just watch the screen and listen to the music (even though the only thing on the screen is a photo album cover). Getting to watch the visualizer is a real treat. They especially like listening to Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, Appalachian Spring, and Hoe Down. During Fanfare, whenever the trumpets start playing they yell “trumpets, yay!” Bran is always asking where the flutes are so we wait for the next song to hear the flutes. They also like listening for the elbow (aka the oboe, they even point to their elbows!) Sometimes when I’m trying to get them into the kitchen (either from watching a video or just being distracted with play) all I have to do is put on Fanfare for the Common man, and they literally come running! Dan got the boys the CDs, “Classics for Children with Arthur Fiedler” and Peter and the Wolf. They’re awesome and the boys are starting to listen to those as well.
The other day Drew learned how to play a note on his plastic flutaphone. He can put his right finger over the first hole and take it on and off. He gets so excited that he starts jumping up and down and running for a high five. I wish I could get a video of it!
The boys are also starting to really enjoy swimming. Drew is especially taking to it (although Bran did awesome at lessons today). And often doesn’t mind going under when he jumps off the wall. The boys throw their boats out into the water then jump off into our arms and swim to the boat. Drew really gets his legs going and I think he could almost swim without me holding him if he didn’t panic a little bit when his head goes under. We’ve had fun going to the pool in Becky’s building. This Saturday we start another round of swim lessons. I’ve noticed one problem that Bran might have with moving to the next level which is where they really start to put their faces under and that’s that he can never keep his mouth closed! The boy is a mouth breather and I can’t get him to hold his breath, or even keep his lips together to go under. The instructor suggested that we practice humming. I think he’ll get there pretty soon.
Becky if you read this…when we were telling the boys about going to swim lessons Bran kept saying, “going swimming with Becky!” So now they are learning that our Saturday lessons are with other kids in a class so to distinguish in their minds, Bran keeps saying “going swimming with other kids”. Now hear around the house, “going swimming with Becky” and “going swimming with other kids” usually made in the form of a question so we will tell them which one they are doing!
You must have Aaron Copeland’s “The Music of America” CD — I have all of those songs on there…and Peter & the Wolf is fantastic too.
Jonathan (and now Noah) have really enjoyed having their own computer keyboard – we had one that a couple keys stopped working, so Heather cut the cable and wrote “Jonathan’s keyboard” in marker on the top.
They also enjoy writing emails to grandparents, and there hasn’t been too much confusion with understanding that they can only touch the keyboard when we are there.
Jonathan recently has started playing a computer game or two, though his favorite is a paint program that came with Debian, and so has sound effects and rubber stamp things. It was the first time he had used the trackball and mouse button (he does it two handed, since his hand isn’t big enough to click and drag at the same time. He also has enjoyed a tablet PC I brought home from work, with a touch screen. Though it did confuse him for a while, since the only computer he had used was a touch screen, he was pretty disappointed in “regular” computers, where stuffing his finger into the monitor didn’t do anything, and people didn’t like him smearing his finger on the display….
Thanks for the tip Jon. Maybe I’ll start letting them use the keyboard (under my supervision of course) on our the old computer that we let them watch videos on. They can send some real emails to their grandma and nana/papa. Do you have any recommendations for good children’s computer games? We’ve started playing memory which works well for them on the computer because they have to be patient and can’t pick up all the cards.