Card Shark

Lily and I have been playing cards rather than video games lately. We usually play a game or two of crazy-8s, then some go fish, and usually finish with a little blackjack. She understands the basic concepts of crazy-8s, but needs to work on the strategy. The problem is that she doesn't really care about it that much.

She is getting quite good at go fish. Of course, her powers of recall are somewhat legend. The problem is that go fish with two people is not a lot of fun. It usually comes down to one card in the pile. But Lily enjoys it and it is something we can do together.

Blackjack is coming along. You may wonder why I would teach Lily how to play blackjack. Well, I suppose I could be argued out of it, but it is helping her practice her addition. Frankly, I think that it is good for the kids to understand how games of chance work. A basic understanding of probability theory will help them navigate life a bit more rationally than they otherwise would have. That, and there is a part of me that likes the story that Kate Bosworth's character told about learning blackjack from her dad in the movie "21."

A Few Pics

Here is Noah in all of his rain gear.

Lily in her sun princess regalia.

The shorn Pook.

Wheels

I had to do some research at Duke yesterday. I went after dinner and took Lily along with me for the ride. I sold it by her being able to play with my iPod touch. Of course, parking is always at a premium at a college campus. Duke has a couple of circles in the long road leading up to the chapel. I found a spot and wedged the little Civic in there. I asked someone near his car parked in a similar spot if I'd be OK and he thought I would be.

It turns out that I was in a fire lane because I got a ticket. It was just a warning ticket though. It did tell me that next time my car would be towed. This made Lily very nervous. We had to spend about 10 minutes talking about this. She wasn't quite in tears, but she did keep saying, "next time you should park where you usually do." Normally I park in the parking deck for their clinic, but it is a good 5-10 minute walk from there to the library and I didn't want to spend that kind of time with Lily in tow in the dark.

Lily's anxiety about this reminded me of the time my mom and I were driving back from the Browns' playoff game in January of 1981. Mom got a little distracted and accidentally got on I-480 W at the split near the airport. I saw the signs for Toledo and was crying because I thought we were going to end up in Toledo. She got off at the next exit (incidentally, this is where we get off to go to Uncle Chris and Aunt Krissy's house), turned around, and got us back on track for home. It was still a lot for my 7 year-old mind to comprehend though. Amanda told me that I shouldn't have mentioned towing to Lily. In retrospect I think she's right.

Better Late than Never

A while back Grandpa E gave Lily some foam balls. They're a little bit hard to describe, but you've seen them. They're a little bigger than a softball and are covered with vinyl. These in particular have a Spider=Man theme to them. One has the Spider-Man red and blue. Another has yellow and green for Doc. Oc. Lily played with them a little bit, but now Noah is really into them.

If you ever have a chance to watch Noah and he asks for his "piderman ball," you'll know what he means now. Noah is still working on the "s" to start a word. While he needs practice with that, he doesn't need a lot more practice with basic throwing a catching. It's uncanny how well he can do that. He may catch better than Lily. When he does a two-handed underhand throw he does quite well. However, what he often wants to do is throw with one hand, which he does with a Nomar Garciaparra-like whip (though left-handed and not nearly as accurately). He also likes to pat the ball into his hand like a quarterback does with a football. It's very cute to see.

First Thing

I am of the belief that what we think of first-thing in the morning tells us a little bit of who we are and what is on our minds. I've noticed a trend with Noah. It's pretty common to hear him giggling in his crib while talking about basketball.

I look forward to takin him to a high school game this year.

Parent-Teacher Conference

I met with Lily's teacher this morning. As expected, Lily is doing well and Mrs. Turner described her as a "sweetheart." Lily's main behavioral problem is that she does like to chat. She comes by that pretty honestly. I told Mrs. Turner that I usually had a desk off on my own. They have tables now and are pretty crowded, so they can't do that. The good news is that Lily gets a green dot every day for good behavior, so it's not that big of a deal.

Lily does need to improve her writing a little bit, both the mechanics of writing and communicating stories. She is pretty much where she needs to be, but it's something that could use a little work. She gets a little frustrated when she has to slow down with her writing. We'll work on it. She certainly has no lack of notebooks or pencils for writing.

I think Lily has a good teacher and will learn lots from Mrs. Turner. And hopefully Mrs. Wiggins can help her stay a little more focused at lunch time so she will actually eat the meals that Amanda packs for her.

Little Astronomer

I had to take Noah to Lowe's yesterday to get a couple of things. We went after dinner, so it was already very dark. As we got out of the van he pointed at a star and called it the moon. Fortunately we had a nice clear night, so it was easy to show him the full moon. I then explained that what he saw before was a star. Or, as he says, "tar." Hopefully he'll stop calling everything the moon. He also calls the sun "the moon." He's trying to figure it all out.

Either way, he was extremely cute in the car cart at Lowe's. It's nice that he enjoys going to the stores. Lily makes a point of saying that she doesn't want to go now.