everwas

a blog by Ian Kennedy

Tag: kids

  • 500 pieces of candy in 90 minutes

    500 pieces of candy in 90 minutes

    All the kids in Alameda have the day off from school on Halloween which just makes the waiting worse. Tyler woke up early, moaning that evening was hours away. It was 5:30am – I told him sleep makes time go by faster and convinced him to get back in his bed.

    I got back from work a little early, just in time to see things in full tilt. The kids were wild with anticipation and had already taken a few walks up and down the street to check out the various displays that our neighbors had put up. Our street is really popular with the trick-or-treaters so everyone was busy getting ready and by dusk we had all put on our costumes, filled our candy bowls, and were ready for the onslaught like soldiers peering over the battlements – the calm before the storm.

    By 6:15pm the street was heaving with all manner of goblins and ghouls. Lots of Spidermen and Things this year but my favorite was the one kid dressed up like Willy Wonka. After making her rounds, Julia came to help me hand out candy to the visitors which was a big help because sometimes we had 10 or 15 people holding out their bags at once. She got into it though and took time with each one (“Here you go Mr. Spiderman.”). Whenever someone with a particularly scary costume walked up, she would pull her princess hat down over her eyes and ask me to handle it.

    We were “sold out” by 7:30 and I turned the lights out and put a sign on the door. Another year done.

  • Burning Man Puppet Show

    So Tyler & Julia are getting excited about Halloween – costumes are a big part of it. My sister also sent along some information about the Burning Man decompression party this weekend and while Izumi and I need to root around to find something interesting to wear, the kids already have their get up picked out.

    Today, Izumi helped Julia make some puppets out of Popsicle sticks and empty yogurt drink bottles. Julia showed me her handiwork when I got home and made a point of saying the red hair needs to stay down on this one as it tends to get frizzed up. I guess it’s excited.

  • The Walk to School

    Over on the work blog I’ve posted about switching jobs to work at Yahoo. I’ll be starting next week so I’m spending this week clearing the decks and getting ready. Tyler’s bummed because I will not be able to walk him to school anymore and it’s been the time of day when we get to talk about things mano-a-mano. Today, I took some pictures of what we see each day during our 10 minute walk.

  • Sack Artist

    Julia has taken to wearing an eyeshade when she goes to sleep at night. We have a couple of them from trips taken on Virgin Air. This one says “cat nap”

  • First Day of School

    First Day of School

    Tyler’s never been one to dread the classroom and despite having had only one month off for Summer because of his two months at Japanese public school (shhh, he still doesn’t know that the rest of his friends had three months off), he was eager to get back to see his friends and crack the books.

    This year Tyler is going into the 1st Grade and knowing parents have told me that this is a big step. The first few weeks are ok as they just review what they did last year. This shouldn’t be too taxing as they spend 26 weeks covering the alphabet taking an entire week to explore and savor each letter. After the review, the whip comes down and things get serious. It gets darker in the mornings and the days seem longer – the kids get tired and they have homework that actually challenges them. All this makes them cranky and even a bit sarcastic.

    We’ll see if this happens to young Tyler. I just can’t imagine a sarcastic Tyler, he’s still so wide-eyed and genuinely inquisitive. We’re going into the Labor Day Weekend and over breakfast he asked, “What does labor mean?” to which I replied that it meant “to work” and then I knew what was coming next.

    Tyler at Edison Elementary

    “Daddy, why do you have a day off work on “to work” day?”

  • Owl Hairball

    Tyler brought home a small tupperware case full of damp mouse hair and small little bones "skulls too!" Izumi almost gagged but Tyler can’t wait to show his friends. It’s definitely the coolest thing he’s gotten from Science Camp which wraps up this week.

  • Tyler keeps ’em busy

    Today I received word of Tyler’s doings in Japan. My parents took the kids for the afternoon and reported back that he’s keeping everyone on their toes. Here’s the email I received from my father.

    Dear Igor (my father’s endearing handle for me)

    First we went fishing in a shallow pond. Bamboo poles, dried octopus tied at the end of a string, no hooks. Actually, lots of action. Then we strolled through the park, Tyler leading the way. He found a badly designed water fountain which when he turned it on shot water straight up 15 feet. Lots of fun, even though everyone got soaking.

    Then we all went to Asahi-yu for a bath. Tyler loved the hot but failed to appreciate the cold. He was full of questions: How deep is it? Why does the water smell of tea? Why do they have a bath outside? Will you wash my hair? What is the hot room for? I pointed out to him that he was the only one talking in the bath and gave him a towel, which I had to remind him three times to keep with him but not take into the bath. He’ll get the hang of it.

    After we got out of the bath and got dressed, he went exploring. He decided to take a look at what was going on in the woman’s side. Tyler, the great explorer. He’s unstoppable!

    Rick

  • Spring Skiing

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    I’m catching up on my backlog of photos here but a two weekends back we headed up to Tahoe to catch the last of the snow with our neighbors who have an enormous cabin up near Donner Lake. Poor Julia couldn’t ski because the rental place didn’t have boots small enough for her but she seemed to take it in stride. Tyler and I did a few turns with him between my legs and he seemed to get the hang of it.

    It’s so nice to have the mountains so close by – only about three hours if you time the traffic right and you’re right up in some pretty fantastic scenery.

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  • O-Hashi

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    It’s been said that a girls fine motor skills advance more quickly than boys and much to Tyler’s frustration, he’s seeing that play out each evening at the dinner table. Julia has mastered the chopsticks to the point where she can pick up individual peas while her older brother is left to shoveling them into his mouth with a spoon like a common barbarian.