Last night at bedtime, one of the books I read to Holden is this sweet story called "I Love You More" (which was given to "Baby Holden" from his Great Aunt Diane and Great Uncle Ken!). In the story, the young son asks: "Mommy, just how much do you love me?" To that, the mom replies with a series of answers like, "I love you higher than the highest bird ever flew" and "I love you taller than the tallest tree ever grew." She finishes with, "I love you more than anything in the whole wide world."
When she's done, she asks her son, "So, just how much do you love me?" The boy equals her answers, telling his mom, "I love you quieter than the the quietest caterpillar ever creeped" and "I love you further than the furtherst frog ever leaped."
At the end of the book, here was the conversation that ensued:
Holden: "Is that how much you love me?"
Mom: "More. Is that how much you love me?"
Holden: "Well ... I like you a lot."
Mom: (Laughing) "So, you're not into anything serious and you just want to be friends?"
Holden: (Nods)
We turn off the light and lay down in the dark to sing our songs. Holden sighs really loud and says, "Mom, I love you."
Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Holiday Photo Shoot Outtakes
To get a photo for this year's Holiday Card, we teamed up with the Messingers on Santa Monica Beach for what turned out to be a lovely sunset. Lucky us. And with four adults, three high-end digital cameras and a good deal of photography knowledge between us, it was still quite a challenge to coral the kids and get them looking in the same general direction at the same time. I met Kevin there, and literally saw steam coming from his ears just from his first five minutes of the effort. We didn't have high hopes, but we ended up getting some nice shots, and having a fun time playing in the sand.
Happy Holidays everyone!
Thanks to our recent black and white photography class, Kevin did a little experimenting with some of the shots. For comparison:
Hallie and Holden, best buds:
We had a winner:
Thanks to our recent black and white photography class, Kevin did a little experimenting with some of the shots. For comparison:
Hallie and Holden, best buds:
We had a winner:
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Ho Ho Holden Sings Christmas' Classics
Southwood Pre-School put on a wonderful Holiday Show, with each of the older kids' rooms doing its own mix of Christmas songs. Holden practiced hard for weeks, and joined the Red Room in singing Jingle Bells, Up on the Housetop, Frosty the Snowman and Feliz Navidad. Holden's teachers worked a lot with him to keep him from shouting and going too fast. He did great - we could hear him, but he didn't overpower his friends and kept their pace.
At the end of Frosty, this is the hand movements as Frosty goes away. The words are "thumpty, thump, thump" but I've grinned for weeks as Holden sings, "S'tumpty, stump, stump."
Holden with his teachers, Miss Myra and Miss Isabel.
At the end of Frosty, this is the hand movements as Frosty goes away. The words are "thumpty, thump, thump" but I've grinned for weeks as Holden sings, "S'tumpty, stump, stump."
Holden with his teachers, Miss Myra and Miss Isabel.
The Sirens Sounded for Nicholas
Like most little boys, our friend Nicholas is obsessed with fire trucks and firemen. For his 3rd birthday party a couple weeks ago, his parents got him a very cool surprise: a fire truck with two firemen! The retired fire truck (not sure about the firemen) came to the party and gave all the kids (and parents) a ride around the neighborhood. It was a wonderful surprise for Nicholas and all the kids.
The party left an impression with Riley who still mentions it several times a day. "Riiiide. Fire truck. Birthday pahty."
Happy birthday, Nicholas!
The party left an impression with Riley who still mentions it several times a day. "Riiiide. Fire truck. Birthday pahty."
Happy birthday, Nicholas!
Not At All Traumatic
Santa Claus visited Southwood Pre-School this week. Considering most kids find the whole sit on the lap of a big, red and furry stranger thing to be scary, Holden and Riley didn't bat an eye. Most the kids also did great, too. We'd only ever tried to get Holden on Santa's lap once before, about two Christmases ago, with no luck. Our little Jew boys were troopers!
Holden was given the Toys R Us catalog a few weeks ago and told to pick three things. While his choices continually change, the one toy he's remained sure about is a Lego Airplane - a way too big model with a gazillion little pieces that we're pretty unsure about. When Santa asked what he wanted, he said it loud and clear: "Lego Airplane." Sigh.
Riley waited very patiently for his turn with Santa Claus. I'm not sure what he said when Santa asked him what he wanted. It sounded like, "Paper Craft." But I think he actually said, "Candy Cane" because he was so delighted with the one Santa just handed him.
Holden was given the Toys R Us catalog a few weeks ago and told to pick three things. While his choices continually change, the one toy he's remained sure about is a Lego Airplane - a way too big model with a gazillion little pieces that we're pretty unsure about. When Santa asked what he wanted, he said it loud and clear: "Lego Airplane." Sigh.
Riley waited very patiently for his turn with Santa Claus. I'm not sure what he said when Santa asked him what he wanted. It sounded like, "Paper Craft." But I think he actually said, "Candy Cane" because he was so delighted with the one Santa just handed him.
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
"Oblahoma"
Picking the kids up from school this evening, I ran into a set of twins from Holden's class. They saw me and said, "Holden's mom!" Upon hearing that, their mother, whom I've neve met before, said, "Ohhhh! Holden's mom. You went to Oklahoma."
That's how excited Holden, and, to an extent, Riley were about our Thanksgiving weekend trip to Oklahoma City, where Grandpa Steve's family gathers every year to hang out, eat and watch football. And as lovely and wonderful as it was to see the family, in all honesty, the kids were really most excited about flying in an airplane.
Holden has often confided that, when he has an opportunity to wish, it's that he can fly in a plane. Weeks before our trip, we started talking more about it. The anticipation grew so much that, during one discussion about flying to Oklahoma on the way home from school, Riley started to cry when we turned on to our street. He just kept crying, "Fly Oblahoma todaaaaay!"
That's how excited Holden, and, to an extent, Riley were about our Thanksgiving weekend trip to Oklahoma City, where Grandpa Steve's family gathers every year to hang out, eat and watch football. And as lovely and wonderful as it was to see the family, in all honesty, the kids were really most excited about flying in an airplane.
Holden has often confided that, when he has an opportunity to wish, it's that he can fly in a plane. Weeks before our trip, we started talking more about it. The anticipation grew so much that, during one discussion about flying to Oklahoma on the way home from school, Riley started to cry when we turned on to our street. He just kept crying, "Fly Oblahoma todaaaaay!"They did great on both legs of our plane trip, and didn't fail to charm the family. We met cousins, aunts and uncles we didn't know we had, and some who it was nice to spend time with again. We traveled far, but didn't really get out much but for journeys to restaurants during the three-day visit. We were even on our own for Thanksgiving dinner, which we had at TGI Friday's. The hotel was nice, though, and we had a good time hanging with the fam.
The only real stress of the weekend, like most our travels, involved nap and bed times. The first night was complicated by the fact that the hotel ran out of cribs. We put Riley and Holden down together in one bed, where they eventually fell asleep after about a half-hour of giggling, squirming and tickling. Unfortunately, a couple hours later, Riley began falling out of bed. We put him in our bed, where he did his best violent tornado impersonation for several hours before finally settling down just before dawn. The hotel's complimentary coffee bar came in real handy that day.
More photos of all the family are available at Kevin's new photography Web site (still under construction), which you can find here. If you want to download any of the photos for yourself, go to ftp://kevinnix.net and type in user name: ftp51170631-0 and password: Oklahoma.
The only real stress of the weekend, like most our travels, involved nap and bed times. The first night was complicated by the fact that the hotel ran out of cribs. We put Riley and Holden down together in one bed, where they eventually fell asleep after about a half-hour of giggling, squirming and tickling. Unfortunately, a couple hours later, Riley began falling out of bed. We put him in our bed, where he did his best violent tornado impersonation for several hours before finally settling down just before dawn. The hotel's complimentary coffee bar came in real handy that day.
More photos of all the family are available at Kevin's new photography Web site (still under construction), which you can find here. If you want to download any of the photos for yourself, go to ftp://kevinnix.net and type in user name: ftp51170631-0 and password: Oklahoma.
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