Whale stories, by Mason

First, there's the beginner version. Translation: There was a big whale who was in trouble. And tried to go out and have a story. The end.



And then we have the advanced version. Translation attempted (if you hear something more logical in here, please let me know so I can update the translation):

A big whale in trouble and don't have a bing. And friend fish hit him. (Then what happened when the fish hit him?) Fish come and hit him. (And then what happened after the fish hit him?) And popped wood at him. (And what did the whale do?) Turned the water off in sink. (He washed it off in the sink?) Yeah. (And then were they friends?) Yeah. (And then what did they say?)? Yeah!

The end.

Haircut

It was inevitable, really. Perhaps that's why nobody was surprised when they learned Mason took the sheers to his bangs. About a week ago I noticed a slight irregularity and asked him, "did you cut your hair?" Very convincingly he said, "no." Then yesterday Cindy found the evidence: his new scissors and a little pile of hair. We think he had been grooming about one chunk a day. So, now he has no bangs. I tried to straighten them out a bit, but I'm going to get him buzzed tomorrow. In the meantime, he has a high forehead.

(Look at the picture below with Kenzie and him in his bed - you can see the split between the brows that we didn't notice at the time. Then, the video above shows the final effect.)

More reading

I know I've already posted on Kenzie reading to Mason, even posted a video on it, but I can't resist one more. Both of them take this time very seriously. (Don't mind the bruises on his legs, they fade and new ones appear.)

My Little Dude

Mason and Nathan: Spidermen

Like mother...

Let it be said that I take complete responsibility for MacKenzie's attitude. I need to because it's the only way I can live with it. In some maternal mode I am able to explain behaviors that, from any other kid, would be highly annoying. Yeah, maybe it's annoying with her too, but she is demonstrating some good life skills.

She and I were in the car this afternoon driving home from the store. I heard her talking about a sticker so I said, "Kenz, please don't put that sticker on the car door." In a very direct (and immediate) tone she told me, "Actually, mom, it's MY door. [deep breath and pause] BUT, I AM going to choose to respect you, and I will NOT put the sticker on the door."

I just said, "thank you [deep breath and pause]."

Spiraling

Follow-up

We got a note from Kenzie's teacher with some follow-up on the flicking incident. Basically, it was no big deal so we're not going to talk to Kenzie any more about it.

Here's an excerpt from her note:

"MacKenzie has a lot of potential. I like her. I like the way she talks about her emotions and recognizes them in other students. She is obviously a leader in our class. This will be a very good year for her, if she chooses to make it so."

Curriculum night

We were invited to Kenzie's school to talk about the upcoming year. On our way out the door I said to her, "We're going to chat with your teacher. Is there anything you'd like to tell us about how it's going in class? I'd hate to hear something from her that I should have heard from you."

Immediately she said, "um, yesterday wasn't a great day for me. Alexis and I got pulled into the hallway to get a talking."

I tried to get more info from her teacher today, but it wasn't the right forum. As soon as I got home Kenzie asked me, "What did DW say to you?"

I told her that we didn't talk about it, but I wanted to hear the story from her. She said, "I was bored [a consistent message we're hearing] and flicked a cube." That's about all we know now. I told Kenzie that we all make mistakes, but the important thing is that she talk with us about it. We want to hear more "real time" from her, so we'll be working on that. A couple of parents said, "oh, Kenzie's mom! We hear Kenzie's name all the time." I think she's doing well socially, which was the biggest goal for this year.

I have a note into the teacher to set up some time to talk. Trying hard to balance being "engaging" with "supportive." I definitely need more information than I'm getting!! [Homework assignment for Julie: letting go of control.]

Mud Monkey

Not so new

We've been in our new house almost 12 weeks now. We spent much of this afternoon clearing out boxes, making a dump run, and continuing to decorate. In that sense it seems like we've just moved in. Time is strange though. We also feel like we've been here forever. West Seattle feels like a distant memory. I think much of it has already faded for Mason. I was asking him today about his old room and details about the house, and he wasn't able to tell me much.

Here he is on our riding lawn mower (in his boxer shorts). Yes, I do think he's comfortable here.

Kenzie is settled into her new school. She tells me about all her friends; thankfully she's much more willing this year to share information with me. We've yet to talk to the teacher, but Kenzie says she's on the "Orange Team" with three boys. Since there are only 10 boys in the class and 5 teams, it seems like the teacher might have figured Ms. MacKenzie out pretty quickly. The boys are active and keeping Kenzie occupied, and I'm guessing she's helping keep them on track.

Oh, and she has a new "best friend" now, Olivia. I feel like I need to keep up with these things, but it's kind-of tough. I'm going to have to go back to the last blog entry on school and figure out who was last week's BFF.

One last update: church. Today we started the church school year. We took Mason to the nursery and Kenzie to the preschool, just like last year. Then it hit me, "wait! Mason's now in preschool!" So, we got him from the nursery, put him in his first "class" and left him with his sister. Then during church Cindy asked me why Kenzie was in with the little kids. Uh oh, we forgot to graduate her too! So next week she'll join the "big kids" and leave her little brother in the pre-k class. There's a reason I'm not in charge of the education program in this family.

Playing both sides

On the one hand Kenzie wants to be an adult (maybe thinks she is). She constantly keeps her brother in check, providing ample coaching 24x7. She watches his every move and either corrects or tattles if he missteps. At the same time, he amuses her greatly. Mason does things she would never do, so she is intrigued. She's drawn to his antics, but at the same time, she knows better. Thankfully, she's very honest.

She came downstairs today, with a very stern tone saying, "Mason was in the bathroom. He got a TON of suds on his hands, a TON, and then smacked them together. There are suds EVERYWHERE. He made a terrible mess."

I said, "and what was your role in this?"

She said, "I was kinda smirking."

It was true. There were suds from the top of the mirror to the floor, and everywhere in between.

Tribe Tale

On Mason's third birthday, which he shares with Grampy, Grampy was broadcast on Tribe Tales before the Cleveland/Mariners baseball game. Click here to hear the interview.

A portrait of Uncle Mike

Mason drew his first face. This one is Uncle Mike. I think it is an amazing representation, particularly of the hairline.

Below the face is Mason's signature.

Ballet lessons

Kenzie joined a ballet class that started today. There were just three girls in the class, one of which is her friend Emily. They had a lot of fun. Kenzie is shown in the middle.

Pizza night

Kenzie's new school had a "pizza night" sponsored by the PTA. Turns out they were too excited by the giant blow-up toys to eat pizza. Here they are going down the massive slide together. I took the picture from my phone so it's a little tough to see.

Three year old!

Mason celebrated his third birthday on Sunday. First thing in the morning I asked him how old he was. He said, "I'm two, but I'm turning three." I told him that today was actually his birthday and he was, in fact, three.

Without pause he looked me in the eyes and said, "can I have my cake now?" He was excited for his firetruck birthday cake! We had a firetruck theme for this mostly family party (of 60 people, 15 of which were under 10!).

He loved the cake...that is until I lit it on fire with a scary sparkler. Here's the video:



He did thoroughly enjoy the firetruck pinata. Here's a video with his shining moments:



They started out the day at the circus with Grammy and Grampy. Kenzie was totally enthralled. For as long as Mason was awake, he was too. They had a lot of fun seeing tigers, elephants, zebras...and, purportedly, goats. Kenzie insists there were goats but I have yet to verify with her grandparents.

Floating is fun!

Smarty pants

Kenzie was showing off tonight to Grammy and Grampy. She was reading a book with some new words, like "gooey" and "crunch." Cindy then asked her what was 6+6. She thought and then said, "twelve." Trying to stump her I said, "what's dos plus tres?" (since she told me earlier today that she knows more Spanish than I do.) She thought for quite a while and then said, "thirteen!"

2 + 3 = 13?

Then I realized she thought I said, "diez," or 10, not 2. So I said, "diez plus tres is thirteen, but I wanted to know, what is dos plus tres?" She replied very quickly, "oh...! dos plus tres is CINCO!" Smarty pants.

And, not far behind the Smarty Pants race is her little brother. Grampy was setting a bad example by sticking his finger in the yogurt and licking it. I told Mason "don't even think about it." He turned his head sideways, looked at me out of the corner of his eyes, and said, "I'm thinking about it."

Kindergarten!

Kenzie had her first day of kindergarten today in her new school. She said she was nervous heading into it, but her actions didn't support that. She walked into the classroom, sat down at a desk and looked at us as if to say, "see you later!" Her teacher, "DW," put her in the car after class and said, "we had a great day!" When I pulled up Kenzie was talking to a little girl about her same size. I asked her who that was and she said, "oh, that was my best friend!" "What's her name," I asked. She replied, "oh, I don't remember." But later she spelled it for me (they had name tags on): D-A-R-Y.

She talked me through the whole day (I only had to bribe her with an Italian soda from Starbucks). They started off with coloring, then played some games (Simon Says), then had Circle Time, "did some work," went to the library, and then were dismissed. She's excited to return tomorrow - I hope that lasts!

Sporty Spider

Mason loves his Halloween costume, a (way too big) Spiderman costume. Today he wore it outside until he was too sweaty to play.

Bedtime story

Whenever Mason loses bedtime privileges, his sister comes to the rescue. She tells him a "bad whale story." (She'll try to tell a good whale story, but he protests until she tells a bad whale story.) I am allowed to listen from the sidelines. At first they didn't know I had a camera, and I recorded this first video. It has no picture because it was dark. But, they are too cute so I had to interrupt and turn the lights on. She turned the ham factor up a bit, but the essence was the same.

Tree climbers

Kina took a bunch of pictures for us today in our new habitat. It's nice having a friend who is a professional photographer! Whereas we had to bribe Mason with root beer (see his expression: "hold the grin and I get pop"), Kenzie takes to modeling a little too easily. She would say three words in a sentence, freeze, smile directly into the camera, continue the sentence, freeze in a new pose, etc. Oh boy...