We've had others ask us why we care about Star Wars so much. If you have to ask . . . . nevermind. It's just something we totally built up to the kids, from our childhod memories, and then we let them watch all 6 episodes (in their original 4-6, 1-3 order, don't fear) 45 times each, so they are as into it as we are. Actually, they are way more into it than we ever were, but it works for us so that's that. So in that light . . .
The kids were given a Star Wars cookbook for Christmas (Wookie Cookies and other feasts of the Force) and I immediately thought "living skills, perfect!". Our first foray into the book was making Boba-Fettucine for dinner. Observe:
While the pasta cooked and sauce bubbled, the kids set the table for a Star Wars feast.
MMmmmmmmmmm good! As we sat muching and slurping our galaxy pasta, Hannah had the brilliant idea to make our own Star Wars game. Cool. but what? On our holiday, we played about a hundred games of the old-skool classic Clue. So that seemed like the perfect fit. Murder, weapons, cool 'rooms' and weirdly-named characters. Perfect!
Kit took charge of making the game board while I dug out the incomplete decks of cards (see why I kept these??)to glue Star Was stuff onto. Hannah got to work drawing the rooms for the board (the cantina, Uncle Owen's Farm) and Leif rooted around in the lego to come up with models of our characters to move around the board. Behold our finished product:
It was great and now we have our own 'Clue' to play (the original is at Grandma's house).
Hannah had a new experience this past week. At her weekly music class, a new student joined in for the day. His name is Noah. Usually when I go t pick Hannah up she is dressed and ready at the door. Not because she hates her class or wishes she were at home, but because fo her, the class is over, why hang around playing? Hannah is, shall we say, aloof with her peers. the really sweet, kind kids in her class save a seat for her, or ask to be her partner, and she's just kind of, well, okay about it. She does not reciprocate their enthusiasm. And the bitchy kids she steers clear of (smart kid). But when I went to pick her up last week, she was not waiting for me. She was building blocks with this new child. Then they were rolling across the floor. Then they tried walking like crabs. When she saw me she ran up to me and said "that's my friend Noah, can he come over to play?". She NEVER SAYS THIS. Never. After talking to Noah's mom and their teacher I learned that Noah never says that either and they'd been thick as theives all morning. Hannah asked to be moved to Noah's regular day (Thursday) so they'd be together, and that's a day she'd get more complex music instruction anyway, so it works all around. She's trying it out this week and if it's a good fit we'll make the switch.
Hannah's reading is just leaping ahead of me, I can't keep up. While we awaited our flight at the airport, she asked why does that plane say "Hawaiian" when we're in Hawaii. What's with the extra letters? At home she reads to Ivy regularly, by sounding out the first letters of a word and using that to guess (along with the pictures) what the words say. Nice technique. For just tuning in to this reading gig, I think she's doing great.
Our trip to Hawaii, and subsequent flight home to the cold, foggy climate we know and love, had Hannah asking about the difference. Once we got home we hauled out the big globe and turned out the lights and had Leif stand on a chair to be the Sun, flashlight in hand. And she got it. She could see how the hot sun at the equator was not as close to us up North. We also talked about the earth's own rotation on it's axis and how this gives us sunrise and sunset, and why when grandma and grandpa were away in Turkey, they got up when I went to bed. She could see it and we related how the Sun 'starts' in Japan, hence their flag, and that's just after it's set for our bedtime the night before. We tried to show her the seasons but it became to hard with the model set up we had, and she just got confused (as did we). I know we can mimic it using fruit and pins and pencils, which we may do. But there's also a simple model at the science store of the earth and the sun. I think it has our moon also. That may be a useful option.
Now that Hannah's mastered World of Goo, Kit has turned her on to Inkball. It involves blocking a ball's path to force it into one of two or three holes (like golf) using the mouse. Bigtime hand-eye coordination. She rocks at it, beginner level.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InkBall
I introduced Louis Armstrong to Hannah this week and she's hooked. She lies beside the stereo and skips back and forth to her favorite tracks.
Leif is happy to be home with his usual stuff. He's back to building with lego for hours and creating stuff in the yard with Hannah.
I've had some lengthy discussions with Leif this week. We talked about the art in our livingroom. He really likes a painting I bought a few years back. It's oil paint and done in such a style that from far away it is a grove of trees by the river, but when you get close-up it's just slashes of paint, dabs here and there. this lead to a discussion of the other art in the room (Van Gogh and Emily Carr). I explained how painting with oils is different than watercolours or acrylics. He proclaimed he wanted to be an artist. We talked about how the Van Gogh (and Carr) are copies of the original, which is a museum. He asked why it's there, why is it worth so much, why don't they sell it?
We talked about the economy, what that word means. I explained it as being similar to the word society being descriptive of how we get along, how we live, that economy is about how we spend and earn, where our money comes from and goes. We discussed the real estate problem and the mortgage issue in the states, how the banks got greedy. He has a sense concept of the erm interest because we're going to get a bank account soon and I explained why they'll give him interest if he leaves his money there a long time, how they earn money through interest on loans, etc. He pointed out how we're lucky to be able to afford to have me home with him, how others have a harder road.
Next week is bank accounts, Leif's latest art and Hannah's words. Promise.
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