2014-01-29: Celebrating Nigel's Performances

Nigel played Twinkle Variation A for his music school's recent Honors Audition, and the Twinkle Theme and Twinkle Variation A with a large group of performers at the school's recent Suzuki group recital. He had only three days to learn the Theme, and he and Dad worked very hard to get him ready to play that. He was able to do so, playing the whole theme with the group, and had no trouble keeping up with the group on Variation A.

Mom and Dad were very proud of Nigel's playing, his work in getting ready for those performances, and the family went out tonight to celebrate. Nigel chose to go to Maggie Moo's for ice cream. They read the positive comments from the teachers, and everyone enjoyed their treat. Nigel got a bowl of Cotton Candy-flavored ice cream, with his favorite candy mixed in: M&Ms.

Earlier in the evening, Mom asked Nigel if he were going to be hungry for dinner soon, or if he were still full from his recent snack. Nigel said that he was still full, and gave another great quote, saying, "Look at my stomach. It is as plump as a chipmunk!"

2014-01-26: Midnight Math: Twos

Dad and Nigel practiced counting by twos tonight, then did some multiplying by two. They went through 2 x 3 and 2 x 5, then Dad asked him what 7 x 2 was, purposely reversing the terms. Nigel spent some time thinking, and was counting on his fingers for a bit, and as he went past twenty, Dad thought perhaps he had forgotten to stop counting. When Nigel stated the answer as 21, though, Dad thought that might not just be coincidence.

He asked how Nigel had gotten to 21 and discovered he had taken 7, then added 7 to that two times (making three groups of 7, rather than only two). Dad was pretty impressed that Nigel had worked out a way to deal with having the terms reversed and had the persistence and accuracy to come to an answer like that.

2014-01-21: Violin Performances and Planetarium Visit with Mom

This was a busy day for Nigel, with two violin performances and an activity between them. First, he auditioned for the Honors Recital at his music school, playing Lightly Row. Then with a few hours to wait until the school's Suzuki group recital that evening, Mom and Nigel went to the planetarium, to avoid driving all the way home and back. Leaving the planetarium, Nigel said to Mom, "I don't know what that place was, but it sure was fun!"

That evening, the group recital kept Nigel out until after 8:00, which had him mentioning how tired he was, even before the start of the recital (7:00).

2014-01-08: I Love Salad

As if there were any doubt, Nigel was heard to say, "I love salad!" at dinner today, confirming that he is truly Mom's son. Another proud moment for Mom and Dad.

2014-01-05: Day of Playing

This morning, Nigel and Dad made a big list of things to do that day. Dad has been thinking Nigel has been feeling a bit lacking in control over his life since being out of school for three weeks now, and wanted to help him exert some control over this day.
Nigel's first order of business was to play MarioKart DoubleDash, which works really well for the two of them: Dad drives, and Nigel handles the items. They have been working their way through the game together, and completed the All-Cup Grand Prix on 100cc difficulty this morning.
After the gaming, Dad insisted on getting done a couple of his highest priorities for the day: shoveling the driveway of its inch of new snow, and dropping the Christmas tree off at Big Cottonwood Park to be disposed of. When Nigel heard the trees were going to be picked up and taken to the landfill, and that if that pickup point were already closed, he and Dad would have to go out to the landfill themselves to drop off the tree, he thought that sounded like a great idea and began lobbying for it. Nigel is very interested in learning about new things, and would very much like to go and see the landfill, as it is a new place to him.
Dad and Nigel fixed a very big rotini lunch, with Dad being surprised to be cooking again. Nigel received a kids cookbook for Christmas, and has been making several things from it. He made his "Roll-ups" later on, for dinner - a recipe he learned from Chef Pepe at school: ham and lettuce rolled up in a flour tortilla. Much to Mom and Dad's surprise, Nigel quite enjoys them, as he enjoys all the recipes from his cookbook that he has tried.
After lunch, the two of them role-played with Angry Birds Star Wars characters and stuffed animals. Nigel was playing as "The Eyes of Evil", a secret club, and kept kidnapping Dad's characters or otherwise hassling them. They also played with Nigel's Beyblade tops; all the more fun since Nigel his missing tops recently. They were able to have 3- and 4-way battles, which were notably more fun for Dad than the 2-way battles.
They went to Wandamere park in the afternoon, taking a bike and a scooter, but found too much snow for easy riding. They climbed on the dragon and slid and swung, but weren't there very long before Nigel's hands and feet got very cold, having worn his cloth mittens, bear jacket and regular shoes.
Nigel was very helpful after dinner, washing dishes and starting and sorting laundry.
During math time, which now follows story time on the evenings Dad is reading, Nigel made the connection between counting by 5s and adding 5, and extended the concept of counting by 5s to starting at 100 and going to 200. His math skills are developing nicely now that he is getting frequent practice, and Dad now has a much better idea of what to work on, encouraging him to keep up the practicing.