2013-12: Beardy, Goo-Goos and Other Cuddling

Nigel enjoys touching and snuggling, and is almost always moving when snuggling. He still likes playing with Dad's beard, now having nicknamed it "Beardy". He enthusiastically calls Mom "Goo-Goos" (and sometimes Dad, too).

He and his good friend from school, Crosby, can get pretty huggy sometimes, too. Crosby has a backpack with the red Angry Birds character on it, which he calls "Red". Nigel has a jacket with a bear face on the hood, which he calls "Beary". They also give Red and Beary loving attention, with pats and hugs.

2013-11-24: Ackbar's Pizza Store

Nigel got a number of Lego kits for his birthday, as well as some Angry Birds Star Wars characters (small finger puppets in the shape of birds dressed as Star Wars characters). He was very interested in playing pretend games with these characters, and they were tending toward fighting, as that is what has been represented to Nigel those characters do.

Dad wanted to change the story to something peaceful, and to encourage more sensitivity, and was asking some questions about what else they could play. Nigel came up with the idea for a Lego house kit to be Ackbar's pizza store, where all the characters would come to get pizza and drinks. Dad thought this was such a neat idea. Ackbar was given a glass to hold, and always held it up as if to cheer people. All the characters were excited to go to the pizza store. Dad and Nigel had a lot of fun over the next few days playing out many scenarios with the Legos and Angry Birds, but many featured the pizza store, and always, it was Ackbar's.

2013-11-23: Nigel's 5th Birthday Party

Nigel wanted to have his birthday party at the ice rink again this year. Kids from his class were invited, along with family and neighborhood friends. Dad spent much of the time helping kids around the ice, often along with Grandpa. Mom kept things rolling around the food tables and among the non-skaters.

Nigel's classmate Kaden plays hockey there at the arena and was a great skater. He was already at the facility, with Nigel getting to watch the end of one of his games. Kaden's dad coaches his team and also helped kids skating around. Some of the group skated all the way through the public session. Sometimes a chain of five people were skating together, and all the kids seemed to really enjoy their time. In addition to Kaden, Helena and Nigel's best friend, Crosby, attended from his school. From the neighborhood, Ashton, Nic and Alyssa came, and all the Black family, Grandpa and Grandma M. and Grammy were there.

Nigel had requested an Angry Birds Star Wars cake, with Pluto represented (the dwarf-planet). Mom came through in typical fashion, with small rubber Angry Birds Star Wars figures positioned on a planetary outer-space cake.

2013-11-22: Mining Play

Nigel has been featuring mining lately in a lot of his play. Iron and gemstones seem to be his interests, and he frequently has superheroes doing the mining. Mom and Dad have no clue where this has come from.
Nigel is also very fixated on the idea of powers of the elements (water, fire, lightning, ice, etc.), and of each one having a "nemesis", as he puts it. He is a bit unclear which element is the nemesis of which.

2013-11-08: Spelling Long A Words

Nigel has been getting assigned groups of spelling words each week at school. This week's words feature long A sounds:
sail
play
lake
stay
wait
take
came
rain
safe
late

It has been fun to work with him on getting the right long A spelling with the right word. He got 100% on his test of these on Friday.

2013-11-01: Commutative Property

Nigel and Dad were working on math today with the Cuisenaire rods. Dad demonstrated the commutative property, and Nigel picked it up pretty quickly. Both were excited about that achievement.

2013-10: Frankula Berry

Nigel has been excited to eat monster cereals. He refers to Franken Berry as "Frankula Berry".

2013-10: Reading Upside-down

Dad has caught Nigel reading upside-down lately, and wanted to see if that were something he could do in general. This evening, he turned Nigel's book upside-down and asked if Nigel could still read it. Words and sentences were a bit slower, but similarly readable to him. Numbers were not heavily affected, either, with the exception of reversing 6s and 9s (unsurprisingly).

2013-10-20: Slippery Snails

Nigel, Dad and Uncle Matt continued their new tradition of Sunday hiking with Rocky Mouth waterfall this afternoon. There are some steep parts of that trail, and Nigel was having some trouble with his "Twinkle Toes" shoes slipping. Those shoes don't have much tread on the bottom, but Nigel really likes wearing them because they are easy for him to take off and put on by himself, and they are very colorful and sparkly and pink, not to mention that they light up when he steps. Nigel described the rocks as being "as slippery as the bottom of a snail" under those shoes.

2013-10: Art Stand

Nigel has really taken to the idea of setting up a stand in the front of the house to sell things to passers-by. His idea today was to have an art stand, and he prepared two works for sale. One was a drawing, and the other a rendition of the alphabet.
A man driving home stopped to see the stand, and Nigel began negotiating a sale with him. The man was more interested in the rendition of the alphabet, and finally agreed to purchase it for $2.
Many congratulations to Nigel on the sale of his first piece of artwork!

2013-09-22: Counting by Twos to One Hundred

Dad asked Nigel if he wanted to do counting by fives or by twos tonight for math (which they spend 5-10 minutes doing after storytime these days). Nigel said he wanted to count by twos all the way to one hundred. Counting to one hundred is a feat Nigel has been proud to demonstrate lately, asking to do so for both Mom and Dad recently.
Dad counted with him through the twenties, then let Nigel do the rest all by himself, which he did with only minimal prompting. Quite the feat!

2013-09-18: Gaining Energy

Heading down the slope toward State Street while going to school this morning, Nigel asked Dad, "Are we gaining energy going down this hill? Is the car going faster?"

2013-09-12: Bedtime Math Again

Nigel: Dad, can we pleeease do bedtime math again?

2013-09-03: Un-correct

A quote from Nigel today: "Dad, you're doing a pretty goodo job of being un-correct."

2013-09-03: Sunrise

With the sun rising later in the morning, the family is often getting up before sunrise. Dad called Nigel to look out at this morning's beautiful sunrise, and Nigel's comment on it was, "Hunh. Blue and orange at the same time. I've never seen anything like it. Never seen anything like it."

2013-09: Nigel's Favorite Songs

Nigel really enjoys music. Some of his current favorite songs:

• Jungle Love, Steve Miller Band
• Who Let the Dogs Out?, Baha Men
• Scatman and Scatman's World, Scatman
• Minimum Wage, by They Might Be Giants
• The MarioKart 64 soundtrack

He also enjoys "kids songs", which include a wide gamut of songs for younger children.

2013-09: Reading Test

Nigel tested into his school's level "K" in reading. Their levels begin with "AA", generally for pre-Kindergarten kids, and go through the alphabet to "Z". "K" is a 2nd grade level. One other child in the class that is around Nigel's age also tested at that level.

2013-08-31: My Brain Can Tell Me Stories

The family worked together to put up the new garage door opener this evening, but time was growing late and it was time for Nigel to start getting ready for bed. (The family calls that doing his special steps: a reference to a TV show called Special Agent Oso, in which a secret agent bear seems to be able to boil any task down to three special steps. Brushing teeth, going to the bathroom, and putting on pajamas are Nigel's three special steps.)

Tonight, Nigel decided, he wanted to stay outside and keep helping, rather than go inside to get ready for storytime. Mom said that would be okay, but he would have to give up his bedtime stories for the night to do so. Later on, while being tucked in, Nigel told Mom, with an air of cleverness, "I'll tell you a secret if you promise not to tell anyone. Sometimes my brain can tell me stories."

2013-08-31: Demolition Party at Roosevelt

Grandpa and Grandma M. have been preparing to remodel their house on Roosevelt. The family joined the Blacks and Grandpa and Grandma M. at their house for a demolition party. It was quite the unusual affair! Everyone was invited to paint on the walls, and all the kids took advantage. Grandpa and Grandma had seeded the walls with drawings and a poem, and while some of the kids started by coloring in Grandma's lovely outlines, others went straight into their own creations.

After eating and covering over all the food, Uncle Kerry was quick to pick up a hammer and start demolishing the plaster wall separating (what was) the dining room from the living room. Dad helped with his feet, kicking sections out in both directions. Much dust and an enormous mess were created in the mayhem.

2013-08-29: Cheating at Raz Kids and Bedtime Math

Nigel has discovered easier ways to complete some of his reading assignments at school and the questions in Bedtime Math. The reading assignments in Raz Kids end with multiple-choice questions about the assigned book. Nigel discovered he could pick one answer, submit it, then just pick another answer immediately to try that one, and repeat this until he had them all correct. Very clever of him. With Bedtime Math, he found he could look down at the bottom of the page and just read off the answers, despite their being printed upside-down. Clever, indeed, and only sixes and nines caused him difficulty in reading upside-down, which really speaks to his reading abilities. It was reversing a six to a nine that gave Mom the necessary clue to what he was doing.

2013-08-18: Hiking Little Cottonwood Canyon with Uncle Matt

It has become a tradition to go hiking when getting together with Uncle Matt. This week Dad picked Little Cottonwood Canyon, hoping to hike to the abandoned building ruins. They didn't last that far, but saw an old mill and a fabulous sandy area, where they stopped to play for a while. The sand was fabulously fine, and a large "pyramid" was built to commemorate the site. On the way back down, Uncle Matt introduced Nigel to the Cornholio character and they both posed in character for a picture.

2013-08-10: Nigel and Dad Day

Nigel and Dad had a fun day out today. They started with a violin lesson with Mr. Hofer, then Nigel really wanted to visit the Main Downtown library, so they headed that way, and proceeded to explore the building. They spent some time down in the children's section, of course, and Nigel suggested they go out the basement doors to where a fountain is. Neither of them had been out there, and it turned out to be a small courtyard with an emergency-only exit. Dad had been concerned with getting back into the building, figuring it was an exit-only area, but Nigel's presumption that they could get back in the doors they went out proved correct.

While looking in from that courtyard, Dad spotted a strange-looking staircase jutting out over the children's section that he had never been on, and requested they try to find and use it. It turned out to go from the 1st to the 2nd level, and to be the only thing protruding into the atrium over the children's section. An interesting architectural peculiarity. It was quite exposed, and Nigel, being quite timid about heights, was pretty scared to go out on the staircase, only being convinced by Dad's offer of holding hands.

Venturing ever-higher, they discovered a beehive being kept up on the roof of the library, then walked down the roofline walkway. The doors at the bottom of that walkway were propped open. Nigel asked to walk back up, and Dad acquiesced. Much to his surprise, they were able to go back through the turnstile and into the roof garden, then back into the library! Dad remembered trying to go back through that same turnstile years earlier with Nigel, only to find it a one-way conveyance.

After the library, they both were getting quite hungry, but Dad really wanted to take another look at the new 500Ls the Fiat dealership had. They ended up sitting in a couple of cars and driving one of them. Dad was pleased with the car, and Nigel particularly appreciated the backup camera that activated when in reverse. Dad has been wanting to replace his Saab 9-3 for a while now, and has been researching diligently, testing the patience of a number of salesmen. Nigel said he wants to tell Mom he thinks they should sell the 9-3 and get a Jeep Wrangler, referencing Mom and Dad's disastrous experience with such a vehicle on their honeymoon, the story of which Nigel has heard many times. Nigel has really picked up on the idea of friendly teasing.

Following that affair, everyone was so hungry they headed straight home, and spent the remainder of the day playing around the house.

 

2013/08/03-06: Colter Bay Trip

Nigel, Mom and Dad went to Colter Bay and Yellowstone with Grammy. The station wagon was very full, with the canoe, paddles, life jackets and sleeping bags on the roof, and the back stuffed full of suitcases and other such items. The trip was filled with driving, but was memorable more for all the things they did when out of the car.

Upon arriving at the campground, Dad went into the hotel check-in lodge by himself. Nigel was busy playing a Mario game on Gramm's Nintendo hand-held, as he had been for hours at this point. Dad came back out after a minute to report meeting the strangest person in there. He was tall, well-muscled, very green of skin, very angry and growly, with strange protrusions on his back, and all he said was, "Your princess is in another castle." At the tent village check-in, Nigel got out with Dad, and they met Cheyenne, whom they dubbed Princess Cheyenne.

This was Nigel's first introduction to Colter Bay's tent cabins, and he immediately began exploring and climbing on or in everything, including the bunks and the bear box. Mom and Dad were concerned with him falling off his bunk in the middle of the night, and had happened to bring an air mattress along, so Dad spent a good deal of breath blowing up said mattress and placed it right below Nigel's bunk (bottom bunk, to be sure). Nigel was very excited about the idea of falling out of bed onto that air mattress, and that night, while supposedly asleep, he rolled right out of bed onto it, then woke up laughing. Everyone was highly amused.

Nigel became well acquainted with Grammy's game system on the long drives into and through Yellowstone on their second full day of the trip, and with the shows brought on the iPad. The long drives brought them to some interesting sites, stopping to see hot pots and geysers, Old Faithful, ice falls at Mammoth Springs, and the Continental Divide (several times), but did not bring many views of wildlife. Coming back from Mammoth, Nigel fell asleep and missed seing two bison close-up, one of which was ambling along the side of the highway, with a ranger escorting it in his vehicle. The family climbed out at the next pull-out to get a look and some pictures. Just a couple of miles down the road, they drove past a second bison standing nearly right next to the road, with some very foolish tourists seeing how close they dared get for the sake of a great photo. There wasn't a good pull-out, and the family didn't stop here, but did get a picture while driving by, as traffic had slowed to a crawl. They wondered if the previous bison would actually encounter this one, as it was heading its way, and probably only 20 minutes distant.

On the first full day of the vacation, they sorted out getting a permit to put the canoe in the water (two trips too and from Jenny or String Lake and a couple of hours later), and spent the day at String Lake, a family favorite, toodling around in the boat, and swimming, and jumping off the big rock, in Dad's case. While taking Nigel on a tour around the lake, Mom and Dad found a beaver dam and a huge island of lily pads. The lake was quite busy, but fun as ever. Nigel tossed the water football around with whomever he could, and once caught the ball on the back of his neck, while trying to dodge out of its way. Nigel also made a point of squirting everyone possible with cold lake water, much to their bemusement.

They all noted the Triangle X ranch, where Rama (and Leslie) had worked. Deer wandered through the campsite. Mom went running a couple of times out onto a nearby island that the resort has built a causeway out to. She brought the family out there one evening for a walk. They saw a small group of pronghorn antelope, and toward the end of the walk, heard a loud, deep grunting sound just up ahead of them. That sound brought a prompt end to the walk, with everyone turning around and walking quickly away. Soon afterward, everyone was laughing about the scariness of it, and Nigel threw a few rocks and sticks into the bay.

Marshmallows were roasted, naturally. Nigel likes his to stay white, just showing his to the fire, but not allowing them to become well acquainted. At dinner at the resort's restaurant, the night they elected to make that choice, Nigel asked for "fruit fries" for dinner.

Another great quote from Nigel: "Is that hot springs hot enough to kill me?"

A memorable driving moment: Dad was remarking on being tired, and Nigel told everyone, "This is what I do to wake up when I'm about to fall asleep," and promptly poured his bottle of water onto his sandaled feet. Sadly, Mom and Dad first yelled at him to stop, it taking a few such hollers for him to end the stream of water pouring down onto the carpet, but everyone was soon laughing. It was really a funny moment, regardless of the (relatively minor) mess.

On the drive back home, they stopped for a couple of hours in Idaho Falls, to see Keith and Sharee, and Kristen stopped by with their kids, to play with Nigel. 

2013-08: "Mushi"

When Nigel is feeling sentimental and cuddly, his word to indicate that is "mushi". No one seems to know where this has come from, but he almost always says it while hugging or cuddling with loved ones.

Yes, Nigel's hugs and cuddles are still constant wiggle-fests. :)

2013-07: Bedtime Math

Dad has been wanting to introduce math as a regular part of bedtime, along with reading, which has been a smashing success, but has felt a bit stuck not knowing how to go about that. Grandpa had an idea to help, and sent over a book called Bedtime Math. Nigel has been devouring it, and they have been doing a new article (with accompanying problems) each night.
Nigel answers the "Wee Ones" questions by himself, typically, then Dad encourages him to help with the "Little Kids" questions, and sometimes even with the "Big Kids" questions. The Wee Ones typically consist of addition with small numbers, with occasional subtraction or multiple addition problems. Nigel now coasts through the addition, and understands the questions in story format well enough to jump straight to figuring out the answer, fingers going while Dad is still reading the question! Dad has been impressed by how many aspects of the Little Kids questions Nigel has been able to help with, and even gives him full credit for completing a couple of them by himself.
It has been very satisfying for Dad to see Nigel's arithmetic skills progress, and to finally be making some good progress in an area he had struggled to gain traction in up to this point.

2013-07-28: Hiking to Donut Falls with Uncle Matt

Dad and Nigel picked up Uncle Matt to go hiking today. Dad chose Donut Falls as the destination, and they headed up. Nigel felt the hike was a bit long, but kept the pace. He played with a fishing pole-like cat toy on the way up, using it as a bow. At the top, everyone crossed the river and walked up the waterfall a little way, then headed back down.

Nigel had fun walking through the water, but had a tough hike down. First, he was stung by a bee or wasp when he stuck his finger into a flower. This resulted in several minutes of crying while waiting for the pain to fade. Dad advised him to stick that finger into the river and hold it until the pain receded, but that didn't seem to help much. After that, Nigel took to walking with his hurt hand inside his jacket pocket, which may have contributed to his falling flat on his face on a log just a few minutes later. He was not a happy hiker.

Heading home, Dad asked Nigel and Uncle Matt to pick dinner, and Nigel suggested hot dogs, interestingly enough. They got some dogs at the store and went home for dinner and a good MarioKart session. Nigel certainly enjoyed that part of the day, but harbored some bad feelings toward the hike.

2013-07-10: Teaching Aunt Blaire How to Make Popcorn

Aunt Blaire came over tonight to babysit Nigel while Mom and Dad had a date night. They tried to make popcorn and watch a movie, but Blaire was a bit stumped by the popcorn maker. Nigel tried to explain (correctly) how to use it, but it took confirmation from Mom to convince her.

After it had cooked, Blaire asked Nigel about putting butter on the corn. Nigel's response was, "Traditionally, we don't have butter on our popcorn." Blaire was quite amused.

2013-07-09: Dad Playing Keeper

Dad has been playing soccer semi-formally with a couple of different groups. He really enjoyed last night's game, serving a left-footed cross perfectly across the goal right to the foot of the opposite wingman, who one-touched it into the net; then playing keeper the second half and stopping several good chances. It was an exciting game, and Dad's adrenaline levels were up, even running a bit short of breath playing in the goal, let alone when out on the field.

Dad has often been playing defense, where being in the right place is typically more important than good footwork, but has started easing his way forward more and more, getting more touches on the ball as he goes. He is disappointed in how much of his ball control he has lost, but quite pleased that his crosses, with either foot, are excellent (perhaps even better than when he was younger), and shots with the inside of either foot are well-placed, too.

The previous week, he scored a great goal in the first half, running onto a similar ball as this week's left-footed cross, but was a bit ahead of the defense in this case and used the inside of his left foot to place the ball right into the far side of the net as the keeper leaned toward the near post.

2013-07-07: Stop Teasing Taylor

Nigel was really struck by tonight's story: Stop Teasing Taylor. Written about a boy whose family doesn't have much money, and has to wear older, worn-out clothing to school, and the experience his class goes through. Their school year begins with some of the kids teasing Taylor, who is defended by his friend, but still cries from the meanness. Taylor and his friend talk to their teacher about this situation, and she begins helping all the kids to come together as a group, "Tree People", as in a story she tells the class. By the end of the book, the students have resolved the matter, and have come to appreciate one another, and the teasing has stopped.

Nigel was welling up with tears during the story and the discussion that followed (as was Dad). They talked about how the kids at Dancing Moose all come from families with enough money to pay to send them there, but that at the next school he attends, it is likely that some kids will have very little. Nigel demonstrated great empathy when he said he wanted to take his money jar to school to share with the kids who don't have as much money. Dad was quite inspired by this simple resolution to a great problem, and felt quite humbled to witness such pure kindness.

2013-07-04: Milk-less

A quote from Nigel: "My cup is milk-less."

2013-06-30: Tour de France

The family has been watching the Tour de France this year, in keeping with tradition, often during breakfast. Nigel has been more interested, too, and remembered a bit about it from last year. He recalled the polka dot jersey, but thought it had its own team (which he declared his favorite).

After the first week or so, he has caught on to the different jerseys, and the different teams, and how all of that relates together. He still likes the polka dot jersey, and his favorite teams are Team Sky (favored to win); Euskatel Euskadi, because they are Spanish and he likes their orange jerseys; and Movistar, because they also are Spanish. Learning Spanish has given Nigel a strong affinity for things related to the language or its parent country.

Great quote from Nigel about the event: "I don't think I will ride in the Tour de France. It it just too long for me. I can only ride for two-and-a-half seconds."

2013-06-27: Mom's Baking Classes

Mom has been taking a few long-sought after baking classes, at Orson Gygi. She has just finished her second cake decorating class, focusing on buttercream icing and chocolate flowers. Her yellow roses are gorgeous, and have earned a place on the mantel in the living room, where they go quite well with the other decorations. That Mom made them herself is usually left unsaid, and likely no one would ever guess.

Nigel had asked her to make this cake pink, for him, and when he awoke and saw it on the counter, his reaction went like this: "Where's the pink? It's sort of pink. It has my name on it!" Mom had written his name in very fancy cursive on top, but Nigel was still able to recognize it. He did ask how she made it look so fancy, though, quite impressed.

2013-06-25: Canoeing at Blackridge Reservoir

The whole family went canoeing at a new reservoir in Herriman today, taking Alyssa and Nic from down the street, and meeting a playgroup there. Dad was excited to get the canoe back out on the water; Alyssa and Nic were anxious to get out of the house and do something entertaining, as their mom was spending the week out of town and their dad was at work that day; Nigel was excited to play, as usual; and Mom was happy to spend some time recreating with the family.

The reservoir turned out to be well suited to the activity: quite small, and with a reasonable beach. There was a lot of plant growth in the wading area, but not unusably so. The size made it quite reasonable to take a small group of kids all the way around on a jaunt, teasing the swimmers (like Alyssa) while out and about. Nigel favored the squirt gun for teasing Alyssa, and she was a good sport about it. Dad tried paddling the canoe with her hanging onto the back, and discovered it was not just a little but enormously harder to make progress that way.

Alyssa spent hours floating and swimming around and playing with the older members of the playgroup or just other kids there, and was hardly seen on the beach. Nic and Nigel played in the sand some, and a bit of frisbee. Dad mostly paddled the canoe around, with Nigel probably the most common occupant, but eventually getting around a dozen different kids turns, which was very satisfying to him.

Mom actually didn't get a turn out in the canoe, disappointingly for her; the family had to leave to get dad to soccer before she had a turn to venture out. She occupied herself mainly with talking with the other moms, and somewhat with playing with Nigel and Nic.

While on the drive down, everyone was awake and talkative, on the way home, people seemed quite drained (expectedly), and Nigel slept for about half the drive. Nic and Alyssa seemed close to falling asleep, too, and Dad would have been glad for a catnap himself.

2013-06-23: Grandpa's Special Spaghetti Sauce

Dad enjoys making his own spaghetti sauce from time to time. That has become more common lately, and Nigel's eating habits have expanded to include it in his requests. While they were eating tonight, Nigel asked if Dad liked eating Grandpa's Special Spaghetti Sauce when he was growing up.

2013-06-22: Jeff's Birthday Celebration at Boondocks

Dad's friend Jeff wanted to celebrate his birthday by going to Boondocks (an amusement facility) to play. Nigel went with Dad, and met Michael, Jeff, Daniele and Olivia there.

It was a very fun event: go-karts, mini-golf and bumper boats were the main activities. Nigel was able to ride with Dad in a go-kart, and helped to steer sometimes. Though very loud, and with a fairly long line to wait in, Nigel really liked the karting.

On the golf course, Nigel was very excited, and was frequently walking across the course, which made the grown-ups cringe. Amazingly, though, he only once actually impeded a ball, despite coming within inches of them numerous times and usually not seeing them coming. When he did see balls coming, he liked to stand in front of them and jump out of the way at the last second. The 18th hole was special. When a ball was hit into the target, an enormous fireball spouted from a statue, hot enough to feel standing on the ground twenty feet away. When a ball missed the target, a silly voice was heard, and water squirted out of the statue. The first time this happened, Nigel had just missed and Michael had stepped up for his turn, just in time to get squirted! Everyone laughed soundly.

The bumper boats made certain everyone got wet. Soaked, even. Armed with squirt gun and throttle controls, each boat trundled around a pool chasing and retreating from others in shameless attempts to squirt without being squirted. Everyone managed plenty of squirting and very little avoiding being squirted. All were drenched afterward, with the exception of Dad, who was dry on the side where Nigel had been huddled against him, and Nigel, who spent much of the time huddled under Dad's arm, and was fairly well shielded.

An attempt was made at laser tag, but the line was long (and slow) enough to push things back too late for Dad and Nigel, so they substituted a few arcade racing games and headed for bed. They brought home some extra arcade tokens, and Nigel has been noticing them and asking when they can go back.

2013-06-20: Telling Time and Making Rod Equations

Nigel has been wanting to learn how to tell time, and he and Dad spent some time working on that today. Dad got a clock for Nigel that was easily disassembled, and made number plates with both the hour and minute numbers printed, with the minutes printed in red and the minute hand painted red to match. (The hours are printed blue, to distinguish them.) They spent some time moving the hands of the clock to different times and leaning what time each corresponded to.

Another learning activity they engaged in today was building addition equations out of rods. They wrote the mathematical symbols (+ and =) on a dry erase board, and placed rods of appropriate length in place of the digits.

2013-06-16: Canoe Inauguration at Utah Lake

Dad has been wanting a canoe for quite some time now, and this seemed to be the year to finally make that happen. He and Nigel picked it up a couple of Sundays earlier, while Mom was at work, and made no immediate mention of the acquisition. The canoe was well-used, and the hull and gunwhales were still in good condition, but the wood yoke and thwart had aged considerably on their sun-facing sides. The paddles were also suffering from a lack of varnish in some places, and were a bit rough to handle as a result.

Dad spent the subsequent weeks sanding down and applying layers of varnish to all the wood, finishing up just last night in his quest to have everything in tip-top shape for today's inauguration of the vessel. He did a bit of research on hauling the boat with the wagon, but it turned out to be a bit trickier than he might have expected. All the way down to the lake, something--probably a metal buckle against the boat's hull--rattled loudly and incessantly while at freeway speeds, and drove Mom and Dad a bit crazy. Lacking a point to tie the front of the canoe to, Dad had fed one anchor rope through the front windows of the car, and he and Mom held the rope taught and used it to steer the boat's nose through the wind, as it had a tendency to get pushed to the side at high speeds. That was the noisiest drive anyone in the family had taken in a long, long time. Fortunately for him, Nigel slept through most of it.

Dad had chosen Vineyard Beach at Utah Lake as their destination (see http://utahlake.gov/25-easy-access-points-to-utah-lake/ for more info), and it turned out to be pretty nice. Not much shade and hot sand, so the canopy that Grandpa and Grandma M. brought was just the thing, but the water was warm and shallow, and only moderately crowded, mostly by a row of motorboats anchored a short way out.

Dad and Grandpa took Nigel out initially, and Mom came out with Dad after that. The sand at the canopy was awfully dry for sand castles, but a few buckets of water later, Nigel was able to build a few things.

Pictures here: https://plus.google.com/photos/117123055300743953540/albums/5892125606325065937

After leaving the beach, everyone went down to the Blacks' house to see their family at dinner. Nigel and the girls had a great time playing together, as they always do, and it was nice for Mom and Dad to visit with everyone.

2013-06: Starting with the Kindergarten Class

Nigel's preschool teacher these past two years, Miss Shanny, is not teaching during the summer, leaving the family with a decision to make about where to put Nigel. Mom and Dad have felt he is ready for a Kindergarten curriculum, and Miss Shanny agreed, though all of them are a bit concerned about longer days and the different pace of work. He has expressed boredom with the works in that preschool room, though, so making a change seems necessary. Miss Shanny and Miss Ally are sad to see him leave her class, as they both have really appreciated Nigel's lively and intelligent personality, but recognize that it is time for him to move onward.

Dad has really wanted to see Nigel start with a kindergarten curriculum during the summer, and Dancing Moose was flexible enough to try that, despite his young age. As Mom and Dad wanted Nigel to be in the dual-language Spanish-English kindergarten class, and Miss Janet, the Spanish teacher in that class, would be teaching a group of kindergarteners during the summer, that seemed to be the place.

This kindergarten class does full days, rather than the half-days he has been used to, and Nigel has often come home worn out. That said, he is encountering learning materials that are much better suited to his age, and it has been really satisfying to see his progress with them. Nigel has been doing really well adapting to these new challenges, and seems to be enjoying them.

Mom and Dad are looking forward to the fall, with the more formalized curriculum, extra physical activity time, and more structure in the routine. Yoga, tae-kwon-do, zumba, music and theatre time, hooray!

2013-06-10: Camping at Goblin Valley

The family went camping at Goblin Valley this past weekend, a bit later in the season than Mom and Dad would have liked, but Mom found good ways to manage the heat, and everyone had a great time.

Nigel spent much of the trip playing with the grandkids in a neighboring campsite, who coincidentally chose many of the same activities at the same times as our family. We went to the Valley of the Goblins on Saturday evening, and so did they. We hiked Little Wild Horse canyon Sunday morning, and they arrived not long after us. This worked out wonderfully for us, and probably well for them, as Nigel had kids to play with essentially the entire trip, and they really played well together.

It was remarkable to see how much more energy Nigel had when hiking with those kids. Prior to their arrival, the hike was a bit drudgerous, and it seemed we might not make it up to the narrows portion (two Goblin Valley trips in a row!). Once he saw Peter and the rest of the Christensens, though, he scampered up, down and around the trail with as much vigor and energy as anyone, and easily made it to the narrows and most of the way back without running low.

The kids climbed up the walls through and around the narrows portion, which was very neat to go through (highly recommended, kids or not). While hiking, the grandparents explained that they always bring cousins, not siblings. Siblings squabble, they said, but cousins play. Good advice, and Mom and Dad paid close attention to pick up as many good tips as possible.

One adventure the family had, away from the other kids, was a trip into the Valley of the Goblins on Sunday evening. The family played hide-and-seek, and Mom was surprised by just how much more brave Nigel was this year, and how much further he was willing to go from Mom and Dad. Even with a pretty good idea of which direction to go, it took Mom or Dad a few minutes to find the hiding pair. When getting bored of hide-and-seek, Nigel headed out across the valley, heading north-east, and found a lovely sandy wash. We all played in the sand for a good hour, and Nigel got over both his fear of ants and his desire to squish them, possibly for good.

Dad found an ant in the sand and let it crawl over his fingers. He called it his "ant friend". Nigel was immediately entranced, and would hardly let the ant leave his body for the next twenty minutes, at least. When finding the ant to have escaped him, he would chase it down and insist it crawl back onto his hand, calling it his "ant friend". Nigel was sad to leave his friend there in the sandy wash, but Mom and Dad insisted that was his home, and we could come back and visit him again. Since that time, Nigel has been very mindful of ants crawling around, and asks Mom and Dad to be careful not to step on them.

When with the other kids, they took turns riding Nigel's bike around the campground, hiked up into the surrounding hills and formations, and generally ran amok. A good time was had by all, and Nigel wanted to arrange to get together with them for play dates. Trying to arrange play dates with someone is Nigel's sign of approval.

After leaving the campground, Dad tried unsuccessfully to take the family back to I-70 by way of a dirt road winding around Temple Mountain. After only a couple of miles, the complaints from the remainder of the family prompted an about-face and a return to highway 24. :(

2013-06-04: More Nigel Sayings

Dad laughed today when Nigel replied, "That sounds reasonable."

2013-05-28: Jury Recital

Nigel played at his music school's jury recital today, and did a very good job. These past few weeks have been spent practicing Twinkle intensely to get it ready for this event on short notice.

Nigel has only just learned the full song, having worked on the rhythm since the beginning of lessong and the first line of the song for some time now. Despite that, and the stresses of pushing to add speed and steadiness to his tempo and fingering, he has brought the piece to a jury-ready level.

Mom and Dad brought him down to the Salt Lake Recital Hall, where they waited for his turn, Nigel dressed in a shirt and tie. They didn't have long to wait before Nigel was called to come up and perform (his first jury recital!). He responded well to the situation, and spoke clearly when saying his name and what he would play.

Mom and Dad were particularly proud of his work, and of the way he presented himself this day. It was very fun to watch him and see all he is becoming. Events of significance, like this one, really do well to highlight his development.

2013-05-27: Homesmobile

Nigel has dubbed RVs "homesmobiles"

2013-05-19: Butterflies Graduation

Nigel graduated from the Butterflies pre-school group into the Sacred Travels program today. He went up in front of the congregation to receive an award from the DRE, Trista Emmer. He was also recognized in the printed program, along with the other children who were graduating.

2013-05-13: Busy but Productive Day for Mom and Nigel

Nigel went to pre-school this morning, then Mom brought him home and they started working. They were very busy beavers!
By 2:30, they had come home, had lunch, practiced writing (see images), listened to Suzuki, practiced violin and started rest time.

2013-05-11: Busy Mother's Day

Mom ran her first 10k this morning! Congratulations to her on all her hard work!

Nigel and Dad were on-hand to see her finish, as she came down from Big Cottonwood canyon. So were Nigel's friends Devin and Ray, as their mom, Ashley, ran the race with Mom. They were faster than expected, and Dad barely got them there in time.

After the race, it was off to get a present and head to Josh's birthday party, at Jungle Jim's. Dad was really pushing things to squeeze that in before violin lesson, and the visit didn't end well, with the family needing to leave before Nigel was ready to go, and still ending up being late to the lesson. Everyone got lessons that day, on violin, time management, and staying calm in the face of great grumpiness.

Following violin lesson, Mom and Dad took Nigel to get signed up for soccer in the Fall. Dad signed up to coach, as has become the tradition.

2013-05-05: Invented Terms

Dad made bread and milk for a snack today. Nigel dubbed it "breadotine", presumably after Ovaltine.
Nigel's pet word these days is "smackle-tackle", and he uses it particularly when he wants to express a non-specific emotional reaction, like when he has been tickled.

2013-05-04: Park City with Grandpa and Grandma M.

Nigel is very excited to go to Park City to swim and bead with Grandma and Grandpa. He has voluntarily put on his swimsuit before violin practice this morning.

2013-04-05: Black Socks

Breakfast is an unfailing tradition in the family. Cereal is only rarely pre-empted by oatmeal or pancakes, and a wide selection is typically available. Nigel's runaway favorite is Life, with Oatmeal Squares perhaps second favorite (aside from sugar cereals*, that is).

Dad often turns on songs in the mornings during breakfast, and Nigel's latest favorite is Black Socks, sung by Bill Harley (highly recommended). He laughs hysterically each time the performers say, "WHAT?!" Over and over that gets played.

*Dad has classified sugar cereals as being those that have at least 10g of sugar per serving. That round number has worked surprisingly well, though Raisin Bran is a disappointing casualty of the rule, and rarely gets eaten now, because of its high sugar content.

2012-2013: Indoor Soccer

This is being recorded much belatedly, so it will be quite lacking in detail, but be worth mentioning anyway. Dad has coached Nigel's indoor soccer team for two years now. Nigel has seemed to enjoy the soccer, though more the practice time than actual game time. (The same can be said about most of the kids on the team.) Dad has worked hard to keep things fun and engaging for all the kids, playing lots of different games with them during practice time, such as:

• Ball Rescue: The balls are stacked into a pile, then the kids released from the other side of the court to rescue them and take them to the goal, where they will be safe, using only their feet.
• Soccer Bowling: Balls are placed onto cones (the cones with round cut-outs on top). The kids stand some distance away with other balls at their feet, then try to knock the standing balls off the cones by kicking their ball into them.
• Score on the Coach: The coach stands in the goal and acts as though nothing will get past him. The kids all try to get their balls past him, and he sees to it that most of their attempts are successful, and at least one attempt from each child is.

Dad found a screaming deal on a bunch of cheap size 3 balls and got enough that all the kids on the team can have one, plus have enough others for games like soccer bowling, and keep a ball at everyone's feet as much as possible. Dad has been reading some about soccer education and discussing coaching with his boss, Joel, who is a coach trainer with quite a few years of coaching under his belt. He has learned that at this age, the most valuable ways to develop soccer players are to get them to handle soccer balls as much as possible, and most importantly, to enjoy playing soccer, whatever that may mean to them! Dad has made keeping things fun his top priority, with foot-on-ball time a close second.

2013-03-31: Easter and Singing Dad's Carousel Song

Mom made sweet rolls for Easter, using Grandma M.'s recipe. She was nervous about not getting a long-held family tradition right, but they were really good! That Mom, she is a good baker.

Nigel has been singing a lot of songs lately, including, Take Me Out to the Ballgame and Dad's Carousel Song (words below). Dad's Carousel Song is infectious, and Mom and Dad have both been caught singing it, as well. Dad's Forest Song has not caught on quite so well.

2013-03-25: Sick Friends Again

Nigel's stuffed friends are sick again, all throwing up. When this happens, Mom and Dad take it right in stride, expressing dismay and sympathy. The family gets out as many kitchen bowls as necessary for the friends to use, and they end up all around Nigel's bed, next to groups of the friends.

Nigel has been taking particularly good care of Baby Sarah, "Because she is my baby!".

2013-03-23: Mom's 5k

For the better part of a year, now, Mom has been working with a trainer, Ivan, on general fitness. She has really noticed dramatic improvements in her abilities to run, hike, bike and just play. Her strength and endurance are hugely improved, and perhaps the largest benefit has come in the near-complete elimination of knee pain for her, even when exercising. Of course, side effects of changes in her body composition have been dramatic, as well.

Ivan has a real talent for keeping things interesting and motivating, and Mom's competitive nature dovetails very well with his style. Dad looks forward to hearing the stories from each week's training session report. They usually begin with something along the lines of "That man is going to be the death of me".

This past couple of months, they have worked particularly on running, toward Mom's goal of completing a half marathon, targeting the Park City event in August. Today brought one of the fruits of all that labor: Mom's completion of her first 5k race! She ran the Running of the Leopards race, from This is the Place State Park down to East High School. Mom's knees had bothered her somewhat during the earliest weeks of training, but have improved enough for this event to be doable without discomfort until afterward, and manageable then.

The whole family is very proud of all Mom's work, as is Ivan. Dad and Nigel cheered Mom on at around the halfway point of the race, before having to leave to get to Nigel's soccer game. Grandpa and Grandma M. saw her off at the start, and also managed to make it to the finish in time to see her cross the line. Aunt Blaire came down and met Mom after the race to congratulate her, and all the rest of Mom's family sent congratulatory messages.

After the race, Mom came over to Nigel's (indoor) soccer game, which Dad was coaching, and Grandpa and Grandma M. decided to do so, as well. After the game, Nigel and Dad presented Mom with a medal they had made for her: gold, with a pink number five on the front (Nigel's choice of color, of course), and a striped ribbon to go around her neck. It was a very proud day for the family.

2013-03: Nigel's Music

Nigel's teachers at pre-school have noticed that he is often humming or singing music to himself while he works. Miss Shanny said she has been told that this is more common among gifted boys, in particular.

Mom and Dad have noticed Nigel singing often, as well, though perhaps not as much as he used to.

2013-03-10: Biking the Jordan River Parkway

Dad and Nigel went out for a big adventure today, taking their bikes to the Jordan River Parkway for a ride. Rather than his yellow run bike, Dad persuaded Nigel to bring his white-and-pink pedal bike, to encourage him to practice a bit more with it.

Nigel had fun riding, especially over a section of unpaved trail, which he said was very bumpy, no doubt due to the small size of his wheels. (It looked to Dad like a very bumpy ride, indeed.) The hills also illustrated the difference in perspective a child Nigel's age faces. What seemed to Dad like the slightest uphill gradient was a major undertaking for Nigel, and the downhills sent him coasting at speeds that certainly terrified Dad, despite Nigel wearing gloves and a helmet, and may even have frightened Nigel briefly.

After riding what must have been more than a quarter-mile, they stopped to throw sticks into the river. This game lasted at least half an hour, with the memorable quote from Nigel, "Dad, the Jordan River is the perfect place for throwing dead and dormant plants, isn't it?"

The ride back had most of the downhills, and went surprisingly fast, given the time it took to get to the stopping point. Dad has estimated the whole ride as having been more than a mile long, from the parking lot at 5400 S up to the bridge at about 5000 S, then turning around and heading back on the paved trail.

2013-03-03: Reading Signs

Nigel is now reading signs when going about, and asks questions about or comments on them frequently. Yesterday, he asked why a catering van said "Special Occasions", and this morning he asked why a delivery truck said "Fight" (it actually said "Freight", which led to a discussion of what freight is).

Nigel is discovering more and more about the world around him all the time, and is using his reading abilities now to find many things for himself.

2013-03-01: "Why, Daddy" and More Place Values

One of Dad's favorite things to hear from Nigel is, "Why, Daddy?" At least the first few dozen times each day. After that, he occasionally has to remind himself how much he enjoyed those other times. ;)
Nigel's preschool teacher mentioned that Nigel was teaching other kids about thousands at school today. All the questions Nigel asks are really valuable, and it is great to see how quickly he is learning new things.

2013-02-09: Toe Brain

Nigel has been asking questions about surgery, upon hearing Mom mention it a number of times. He says he would like to have surgery, to see what it is like, as he has never had it. Mom asked him what he would have surgery on, and he replied he would have surgery on his toe brain.

Mom asked what a toe brain was, and he said his toe brain comes up with all the ideas, then sends them up to his brain, and if his brain decides it is a good idea, poof, out it comes (meaning out of his mouth).

2013-02-05: Cauliflower

Dad felt like a real winner tonight when Nigel was convinced to try a bite of cauliflower, then had the following conversation with Mom.

Nigel: "Mom, can we have something with cauliflower for dinner tomorrow night?"

Mom: "Sure"

Nigel, enthusiastically: "Yeah!!!"

2013-01: To Build a Monster Truck

Nigel says he wants to build a monster truck, "To go as fast as a jolly-pilly-lollypop."

2013-01-30: Nigel Reading Hundreds

Nigel and Dad have been working on place-values. Nigel now reads numbers in the hundreds pretty well.

2013-01-28: Snow Plows

Dad really likes driving around in the snow, especially when it involves sliding. Nigel enjoys that, too, and they have talked about how the snow tires in the 9-5 car grip much better and slide much less in the snow than the all-season tires in the 9-3 car.

Dad and Nigel went sledding in Liberty Park one evening during a great snow storm, and on the way out, they were slaloming back and forth on the wide, flat, empty parking loop that encircles the park, having a great time. The next day, Mom and Nigel had the following conversation.

Mom: Look, Nigel. A snow plow.

Nigel: Now Dad can't have fun in the snow. He likes to slide around. We should put up a no plows sign.

2013-01-27: Build a Store to Get Money

Nigel told Dad today he wants to build a store to get money. He wants to sell all kinds of things, like waffle makers, and put it in the driveway, and build it on wheels, so we can move it out of the way when we want to drive somewhere, and he wants to do this when he is older, like 17 or 19, and work in it on Saturdays, our family days, because we have lots of time to do things then.

During this story, Dad was trying to keep up taking notes. The words just seemed to flow out of Nigel, as they usually do when he is telling a story or talking about something he is very interested in.

2013-01-26: 1st Violin Recital

Nigel has been taking violin lessons from Jakob Hofer, at Gifted Music School, since the beginning of Fall, and has just gotten to perform in his first recital. Nigel was very excited when, after months of practicing with a box violin, he got a real violin for his birthday. Mom and Dad marvelled at how small the 1/32-scale instrument was, but it fit him just right.
Now, just a couple of months later, he played Ant Song (a plucking song) at Mr. Hofer's class recital. Nigel gave a great performance, not hesitating to walk straight up on stage, and bravely going straight into the song he has practiced so many times. His rendition of Ant Song was clear, and his bows before and after playing were excellent: serious and careful. It was clear that he took the event seriously, and wanted to do a good job.
Grammy, Grandma M. and Grandpa were on hand to see him perform, along with Mom and Dad, of course. All were very proud of the hard work Nigel has put in to come so far along with his music in such a short time.

2013-01-14: Reading "James Goes Buzz"

Nigel's reading has been progressing steadily, and tonight, during the bedtime reading, Dad asked him to pick one of the stories from his Thomas early reader book for his turn.

Nigel chose "James Goes Buzz", and read the book almost entirely by himself. "James Goes Buzz" is a Level 2 book, according to its rating system.

2013-01-13: Olivia's Blessing

Nigel and Dad attended the baby blessing of Olivia, Jeff and Daniele's daughter today. Nigel was very curious about this event, and asked many questions (as is usual for him). Sadly, Jeff, who was giving the blessing, spoke quietly enough that Nigel couldn't make out very many of the words he said, so Dad gave him a summation afterward. They talked a good bit about baby blessings, what they are and why they occur.

A couple of months later, when talking about babies, Nigel mentioned baby blessings, though he didn't remember the word.

2013-01-11: Michael and Jennifer's Wedding

The family went down to Temple Square today for Michael and Jennifer's wedding, held at the LDS Salt Lake Temple. It was cold and snowy, and the family only lasted so long outside before going in. Jennifer looked much colder, however, in her dress and cloak.

Nigel enjoyed taking pictures, particularly of "the castle" (the temple). The family ate lunch with the wedding party, at The Garden restaurant across from the temple.

2013-01-07: When I Grow Up

Nigel has talked many times about what he wants to be when he grows up. His answer typically follows this general form:

"On Sundays, I want to be a... . On Mondays, I want to be a... . On Tuesdays, I want to be a... ."

He usually has two to four things he wants to be, and almost always wants to be a nurse at Mom's hospital on one of the first days. Doctor, astronaut and builder appear on his list frequently, and computer fixer sometimes, though he doesn't really understand just what it is Dad does.

Today, while on the way to school, he and Dad were talking about what Uncle Brian does for work (he is a carpenter, specializing in commercial framing). Nigel said he wants to build a monster truck when he grows up, figuring that because big trucks are larger, they also go faster than cars. He wants his monster truck to go 102 miles per hour, "As fast as a jolly-pilly-lollypop!"

2013-01-06: Swimming Lessons

Nigel has been itching to start soccer and swimming lessons, asking about both and when they will be starting again. Indoor soccer begins in February, but he was disappointed to hear that swimming lessons won't begin until Summer.