2014 Summer: Goo-gooey Baa-baas

Nigel's latest saying: "goo-gooey baa-baas". Used to describe someone in the family, as in "Kelly is so goo-gooey baa-baa", or "my goo-gooey baa-baas" (referring usually to Mom). Other times it might be "daddy baa-baa", which might get a "Nigely baa-baa" in return.

2014-07-27: Dividing by 10

Nigel and Dad talked about place values and dividing by 10 tonight during Midnight Math. Dad proposed the question: What is 50,000 divided by 10?, and they talked through what that meant.

2014-07-27: Baby Quail

Nigel says baby quail are as cute as the pigs in Minecraft, which is high praise coming from him, as his eyes usually tear up when talking about those pigs.

2014-07-26: Multiplying and Dividing by 10

Nigel and Dad talked about multiplying and dividing by 10 tonight.

2014-07-14: Dividing 10

Tonight, in Midnight Math, Dad started things off by asking how to use rods to find the center of another rod. He demonstrated this with a 2 rod and two 1 rods. He then asked Nigel to show him how to do the same thing with a 10 rod. Nigel got out a bunch of 1 rods and counted five on each end until they met in the center.

They then talked about averages with temperature and a thermometer, and said that an average is the middle. Dad asked what the middle is. Nigel replied, "The center." Dad asked what the center means, and provided the definition that the middle or center of something is the place where there is the same amount on each side of that place.

Dad next asked how many units to the middle of ten. "Five" was Nigel's answer.

Dad: If we divide 10 into two equal parts, how many will be in each part?

Nigel: Five.

Dad: That is the same as asking what is 10 divided by 2. What is 10 divided into five parts?

Nigel went for the red 2 rods to find out. A great guess.

2014-07-06: Heal Up, Dad!

Dad severely sprained his ankle back in April, and has been going through a very long, slow recovery since. He has, however, signed up to coach Nigel's soccer team again this fall. Nigel told Dad today his ankle needs to be healed in time to coach the first week of the season. Dad said he would do his best to comply.

Editor's notes: Dad wouldn't be able to run again until August, but was able to play soccer again at the very end of August, and was back in action in time to coach Nigel's team right from the start, much to everyone's satisfaction.

2014-06-28: F-16

The family went with Aunt Blaire to an air show at Hill Air Force Base today. Nigel, on seeing (and hearing!) an F-16 jet for the first time: "Count me in for flying one of those some day!"