Pedalboats

Today I took you alone onto a pedalboat on Shoreline Lake. You enjoyed exploring the farside of the lake and afterwards yoy really enjoyed the hotdog and secret ice cream you got (that your sisters didn't get). I'm glad you enjoyed it... bit ill tell you a secret i really don't like pedalboats as you already know it hurts my back to pedal in them. It also hurts my knee and its tiring that im always pedaling them alone. But i do it because i know you like them. Thats part of the sacrifice people do for the ones they love. wwhn yoy have kids you might remember this as i now remember the sacrifices my parents made for my happiness as a child.

 maybe we'll go back to rowboats or kayaks in the future... 

Family Portraits

You and Marlowe seem to no longer like taking regular photos posed next to the Android plush toy to record you growth over the years (Dylan who is younger still has fun with it)... we used to do them every month, then last year slowed to every 3 months, now we might do it every 6 months. I figured it's fine since we have some many other photos and videos of you over time as well.

Hopefully in the future you won't get focused with selfie photos and videos. Remember that life it more about experiences and friends and family than it is about how it looks to other people. I feel like too many people used selfies as an aspirational construction of how they want people to think their life is like rather than how it acutally is.

Among Us

  You really like this game call Among US, in which everyone plays as astronauts on a spaceship, expect one person is an "Imposter" out to get the other ones as they try to complete tasks to fix the ship. The others have a discussion to try and identify and vote out the imposter. I hope it encourages of your problem sets and social skills.

Growing up with the Christmas tree

We picked up a Christmas tree... last year you asked for a smaller tree that you could decorate on your own without my carrying you around the tree. This year you got a slightly bigger tree, but were able to decorate it all by yourself with the help of some small Ikea children tablets as platforms.

Ready when your ready

Recently you've been asking to go to kindergarten early because you no longer like Preschool. I wory that the reasons you don't like Pre-school - the increase structure of circle time, the difficult of playing with other kids without being about to socially bond with them... will be only aggravated when you go to kindergarten. You are 4.5 years old and 6 months is a long time, I hope you grow and will be ready to handle the new challenges that await you in kindergarten - but thankfully at this school, I'll also be volunteering in your class two hours a week so I'll be there to help you a little bit (although it is very tiring to volunteer so much at Stevenson).

A Wave Return to the Ocean

Picture a wave in the ocean, you can see it... measure its height, see the light shining off of it, it's there. But then it crashes on the shore and it's gone, but the water is still there. The wave is just a different way of the water to be for a little while, but the wave returns to the ocean, where it came from where it's suppose to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1IchzbtNj0

The Giving Tree

We've been reading you the book The Giving Tree. At first it sounds like a story about a boy and a loving tree. But it is really a metaphor about how a parent give some much of themselves to their children. I hope one day after you are grown up you'll come visit me like the tree stump. You don't have to do anything. Just sit and rest a while.