Headlights and Dragons

Yes, this is our life...headlights and dragons.

I think Ginger is right...if her Barbie computer had a dragon on it, Sam would want to play with it. Sam has not strayed far from his reptile fancy. His dinosaur and tortoise craze has expanded to dragons...big dragons, little dragons, good dragons, mean dragons, toy dragons, stories about dragons, drawings of dragons, dragon noises...And of course, Maya is right with him. We are presently reading Cornelia Funke's The Dragon Rider which is a lot less scary than our past attempt at a dragon story, Eragon.

The headlight adventure began at our friend Joanna's house. Maya had so much fun with their headlights and playing "safety inspector" with Eva that she just had to have a headlight of her own. So, on a shopping adventure with their "fire safety headlight master" daddy the next day, they purchased their own headlights. Stephen convinced Samuel to get the less expensive light that came with batteries, but Maya would settle for nothing less than the light that changed colors. They use their lights everyday...searching for Lester after dark, reading at night, doing safety inspections in the darkest parts of the house...I was even privileged enough to use their lights while reading to them at bedtime.

As for the headlighted dragons' parents....Stephen is busy planning a fort/playscape/treehouse for the backyard. Now, those of you who know Stephen all too well, you can just imagine what he is planning. His drawings so far consist of a treehouse with a garden window, trap door, spiral staircase, deck (with a fire pole), swings and monkey bars. I will keep everyone posted on the progress! As for me, I am almost done knitting my knitting bag; I am reading Dragonfly in Amber (sequel to Outlander); I'm constantly planning something-anywhere from month long trips to art projects to math lessons.

We also went to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum for the first time Monday. We walked the museum and saw Deep Sea 3-D at the IMAX. Wow! Maya was amazed at how her glasses magically made the within touching distance, and Samuel was a little spooked after a fish made a surprise attack at the beginning. It was a very good film and showed a lot of sea creatures that I had never seen before. The museum was also good even though we didn't get to focus on many of the exhibits, as our tour guide, Master Sam, was in quite a hurry to see it all as fast as he could.

Maya is still participating in gymnastics every Wednesday. She has been moved into the more advanced girls' group because of her ability to focus and do/attempt all of their skills. She misses being with Eva, Ginger and Lily, but I think she can focus more on gymnastics rather than trying to make the girls laugh. Samuel played his last soccer game in a full on defensive position. He was determined to not let the other team score in "his" goal. It was quite cute to see the whole field of kids hovering around the ball with Samuel hanging back to defend his goal. He did very well and blocked a lot of goals. I think he may be ready for a little more structured practice and game playing.

Thanks to Bill Nye, Samuel now knows what momentum and force is, and thanks to Blokus (highly recommended game) he is learning about strategy, spatial relations and how to win gracefully. He is reading more and his writing is becoming less phonetic. Maya is showing a lot of interest in learning to read and is starting to recognize words that "look the same, just with different lines." They both are learning the value of money, how to add up their savings and how easy it is to spend it all. Although Maya is saving up for a new bike after riding on a 16" frame all through Wal-mart. Other than that, they are both still into their imaginary play and swimming.

Until next time...