Wrapper's Delight

Grandma Randi—or Gamma, as Reed calls her—played not-so-secret Santa for Olivia and her brother before she heads out to Ohio to spend Christmas Day with her other grandchild. She kept the elves at our local toy store busy, and the kids had a great time discovering what was under all of that wrapping paper.

Flit of Foot

Take a Turn for Rehearse from chris k on Vimeo.

Watching One's Steps from chris k on Vimeo.

In the fore-shadow of the winter solstice exists the winter dance recital, a chance for the girls—and one boy—from Olivia’s dance studio to demonstrate all of the hard work they’ve put into their routines over the course of the fall session. I videotaped her troupe’s routines during the rehearsal because I spent the recital at home attending to a certain toe-tapping toddler. Adrian, Aunt Liz, and Grandma Randi were honored guests at the evening performance.

First(Grade)-Class Experience

(Photo courtesy of Olivia's first-grade teacher)

As a retired educator, my mother is quite at ease in a classroom. She spent a majority of her career doing what many would consider the impossible: getting eighth graders excited about history. And so it must have been child’s play for her to spend a couple hours as a volunteer in Olivia’s first-grade classroom.

Living High on the Hug

The only thing better than being wrapped in a warm towel after a bath is to then be wrapped in the warm embrace of your mommy.

Crate Expectations

I think it was Tony the Tiger who said “There’s CRRRR-ATE!” (Or something like that.)

Playing Her Cards Right

A collector is someone who collects things as a hobby. A hoarder is someone whose obsessive collecting goes beyond what can be considered a hobby. Olivia is someone in between.

Her collecting means a couple things: her room’s closet doors are impossible to shut, and she gets mad when she finds her drawings and writings in the recycle bin. There are, of course, upshots to her gathering ways. The main one that we notice is that her stuff gives her an outlet for her creative mind. Want to play post office? No problem – let me create the mailboxes and packages from the stack of empty boxes sitting in the art-scrap section of my closet. Can’t find Uno? Easy solution – let me put together my own version using cut-up paper and business cards I’d gathered from places I’d frequented with my family.

Little Man’s Best Friend

‘Tis the season of sharing: Reed shares a school of his goldfish crackers with his favorite four-legged friend.

The Dynamo-ic Duo

The energy expended by our kids is mindboggling. They wake up when roosters crow and resist naps, yet their movements and mouths remain tireless. So rare is it they’re holding still or playing tranquilly on the floor, that I had to document this occurrence in photographic form.

ご冥福を祈ります

The title, pronounced gomeifuku wo inorimasu, roughly translates to “rest in peace” in Japanese.

Nearly two years to the day of his cancer diagnosis, my grandfather passed away today at 3:07 p.m. Tokyo time. He was 93 years old. My dad, who flew out to Japan a week ago to provide support, reports that his dad died in his sleep peacefully.

May you continue to rest in peace, Grandpa.

Goody-Two-Shoes

If the shoe’s fit to eat, eat it.

Snow-How

Reed, for whatever reason, makes the “s” silent when saying words that begin with that letter. Spoon becomes ‘poony, socks are ‘ockies, and snow is ‘no, which is also the sound he made when I asked him if he’d like gloves to go along with his powder-blue snowsuit.

As you can see, the extreme cold biting at his fingers left him ‘uper ‘ad.

Yes, Olivia,..

...there is a Santa Claus.

And yes, Santa, there’s a six-year-old who’s eager for you to receive and read the handwritten letter detailing her good deeds and gift wishes.