Outing Part: Granny and Jiichan

Granny: The kids couldn't decide whether to go bowling or to putters. Venice slightly wanted to go bowling and Xander to putters. I said okay, how will we decide this?  Xander said, since we might fight, he wanted to not go anywhere...Venice was easily persuaded. Venice was reading, so I got some 'magic cards' and Xander and I practiced magic tricks.  He did some that he already knew and asked if I was impressed - before I answered he told me Casey was impressed.  I said I was impressed...I asked him if my being impressed or Casey's being impressed was better.  He chose Casey...sad Granny, can't compete. lol.

Jiichan: It's fun to watch the kids decide as a group and resolve so no one feels their input isn't considered - When all 4 are present Casey almost always says "he doesn't care..." and often Xander will follow suit - It matters a lot to Venice and Teiya where we go, and whose place is chosen to go to - After a number of weeks when this took a very long time to decide, it now doesn't take too long and mainly it's Venice and Teiya who make the decision - Then, it's who rides with whom that needs to be decided - Again it doesn't matter to Casey who he rides with, and mostly all 3 others want to ride with Casey so it's decision time again with who rides with him on the way and who on the way home....Like with the decision on destination, Venice and Teiya have come to be the deciders, and they've worked out between them so that one of them rides with Casey out and the other on the way in - Xander also wants to ride with Casey, and he does get his turn, tho I'm not exactly clear how he gets a turn - recently Venice and Teiya since Casey and Teiya were going to be gone over the next 2 weeks decided that Venice would ride one way with Teiya and one with Casey, and Xander would also ride one way with Casey and on the return with Teiya, this way they could each "say goodbye" to their cousins - Very sweet...!

Granny: Xander went out with Jiichan to throw the ball up against the garage. Venice and I worked on her blanket.  I gave Venice a piece of knitting to just learn on and practice knitting.  I cast on the stitches for the blanket and began to knit away.  Then Xander and Jiichan started playing with water so Venice was lured outside.  She watered plants and Xander shot the water into the sky...to see how far it would go.  

Jiichan: Xander had discovered throwing the ball against the garage door a couple of weeks ago when we chose to stay at home instead of going out - He loves doing this, and throws himself into it, and figures out whether the ball will come back to him depending on where he throws it - Literally throws himself into it, and the look on his face as he chases to ball down is priceless....This time, as he had done once before, threw the ball a little too high and it hit on the roof and settled into the drain - He looked at me and said we need to get the ladder - Yes, Xander, we do, and the look of anticipation on his face is again priceless - I get the ladder, hold it as he climbs up and plucks the ball out of the drain, and climbs down again - I say we'll leave the ladder against the outside of the garage in case this happens again - Xander loves this - I'd gotten a bit winded from throwing the ball and chasing it down, so sat down with a bag of chips in the shade and Xander came and sat down in the other Maurie Jacob's chair and foar a good 10 minutes we sat there and chatted - Mainly Xander chatted about being excited and can't wait to get home, and when I asked why he said he was waiting for package containing "Portal 2" which is supposed to come today - I asked how he knew and he said because he'd checked in the morning and it was "in Springfield this morning" so should be here this afternoon - He described to me about what the game was, and because I'd asked him since this was Portal 2 did he already have Portal 1, but he said no, as it was only for PCs, and Portal 2 was for both PCs and MACs - Oh....As for the water part, he wanted to wet the driveway down and proceeded to do so, working meticulously to cover it all - by this time Venice came out, so he gave her a turn with the hose, and even directed her to cover some of the driveway that was still somewhat dry - Venice completed this, and then with a twinkle in her eye started spraying the stream closer and closer to my feet, which I'd stuck out in front of me as I reclined in my Jiichan Maurie Jacob's chair - she was teasing me that she was going to wet my feet, and started spraying my socks - they got awfully wet, but I didn't move them - She continued til they were soaking wet, and then I got up slowly and started chasing her, grabbed the hose and started wetting her bare legs - of course she screamed, and said this wasn't fair as she only set my socks - I teased her that it was pay-back time, and she screamed and ran across the lawn....Later she got the hose back and said she wanted to fool Granny into thinking it was raining, and directed the stream onto the living room window where Granny was sitting inside knitting....Did I say my socks were soaking wet...?

Granny: Then inside for ice cream, rootbeer floats oreos...We played a few games of spoons.  Very funny as when one time it was my turn to deal, the others quietly stole the spoons.  I didn't notice and started to play and they all laughed and laughed.  


Jiichan: This was sooooo funny - When Granny finally got what was happening, her hysterical laffter was funnier than the trick we'd played on her - Took her a while go compose herself she was laffing so hard...! 




Granny: They tried the same trick on Jiichan almost got him. Then Xander and I started a card game of war.  Venice decided that she and Jiichan should play and that the two winners would then play each other.  Xander and I played and played, altho I was heroic, he beat me..

Venice and Jiichan played and she won.  

Jiichan: She beat me pretty handily...!

Granny: Then she and Xander began to play...they were in high hilarity.  Xander couldn't get over mixing two decks of cards, Venice devised a system of laying out her cards in a preplan method of playing them.  Xander copied her and then when Venice had a huge line of cards, she shouted out, "This is really fun"....Xander got all excited and they moved into an imaginary game of war using the cards.  Jiichan was sitting and nodding and nodding, 

Jiichan: Well, I was checking something on my not-so-smart phone and was nodding in agreement at what I saw - well, actually I didn't really see what was on my phone's face as my eyes kept closing - embarrassing...

Granny: so I pointed to him and Venice finally looked and then Xander...but as soon as they got quiet, Jiichan woke up...go figure.

Jiichan: It was the "sound of silence" that woke me up...

Granny: It was a few minutes before going, and Venice asked if she could play minecraft...then a few minutes later at 4:55 Xander asked to play also....so we said...it is very late and your mom will be here soon....they said okay....

Diana came, the day was over, they were great.

- Granny

Jiichan: It was a great day...

Jiichan... 

Morro Bay Memories

Yesterday, on one of his rest periods sitting on the bench beside me at the park, Xander and I discussed Morro Bay. He felt it was a good place to go, but sometimes boring. Then he asked me if I thot it was boring and I said sometimes, people ran out of things to talk about and it was boring. Then he said he liked the beach. I said there are several beaches, one where the water is quiet and the other part where the water is rough and I reminded him that he likes to run in the waves...then he said he remembered fishing with Jiichan. He knew they hadn't caught any, but he liked it...then he said it was a good thing we have a firepit because you could cook the fish, if you caught any. Then, he leaned over me and spoke to Gordon. He said, do you remember fishing with me Jiichan? I remember fishing with you (he sounded like an old man remembering his past)....Jiichan said he remembered, and Xander relaxed back and smiled. He was so happy.
Granny

April Outing Part 2

Hey Guys,

Re: Casey's comment about "that's the Christian God..." - This was in the car on the way home - I didn't hear how they got onto the subject, but Venice had said something about God and that was Casey's response - the conversation then shifted to another topic...

When the kids were walking along the dirt/muddy path near the river at Skinner Butte Park, I finally came down because they were drawn to the water's edge way too much for our comfort - The water was swift, tho just slightly slower along the river's edge - But the drop-off was steep most of the times, and it looked really cold - The air temp was probably in the low 50s, but the river is snow run-off so it's going to be way colder....Both Granny and I admonished them about safety and how cold the water was and how you'd go into shock just from the temp, and that could/would affect your ability to swim - Casey muttered sotto voce that "nothing bad's going to happen..." He kept saying that every time we commented about the swift moving waters and the slipper slopes...

Being there with them along the muddy pathway I was able to keep them corralled more, much to Casey's consternation - He grumbled, but didn't disobey me when I called them back onto the pathway, tho he kept mumbling "Nothing bad's going to happen..." After we'd sort of run out of energy and they were ready to return to Skinner Butte Park proper I was walking with Casey back to the bathrooms and told him that I thought it was good for him to think outside the box and push his own limits back there when we kept pulling them back from the water's edge - I said that was because of our life experiences, but his thinking was in part a good thing because it would stretch him....But, I added that the other half of this was his making sure he had the skills and abilities to meet various possible emergencies - I told him that he wasn't yet a good swimmer, and the cold shock could immobilize him - I added that where they were wanting to walk was precarious with slippery muddy slopes and tangled roots, which could trip them or a slip could throw them into the water - so it was necessary to have developed skills to know where you could walk safely, and that because of life experiences I knew more about those kind of things - in any cases, I told him he would need to develop such skills to go along with his pushing the envelope to insure his own safety...

Casey was quiet thru this, and didn't have any comments when I asked if it made sense to him....I reassured him that Granny and I were concerned with their safety, that's all...

Silence...

Jiichan...

Cheese-Its Scrabble

For last week's outing we actually stayed here - We had gotten a box of Scrabble Cheese-Its, regular cheese-its with letters stamped on them, and a Scrabble square on the back of the package - A cute idea for kids to play with words as a learning experience...

WELL - On the front of the package were several words, one of which was "F-U-N" - Venice came up to me with a couple of Cheese-Its in her hand with 2 Cheese-It letters laid on top of the words on the box, a "C" covering the "N" of "F-U-N" followed by a "K"....Venice was beaming and grinning widely with a sly chuckle...

I tried not to make a major crime out of so as not to emphasis this too much and thus embue it with a lot of emotional energy, but had a little talk with her about it being not good language and we shouldn't be using it in our home - She said "ok" and left still grinning widely...

I don't know what if anything she said to Casey, Xander, and Teiya about the word - Maybe Casey knows the word, and who knows with Xander and Teiya...

Jiichan...

Venice update

Before we left her school, she showed me a parent consent paper for her to participate in an after school program, and initially she was excited about starting - I read the info on the paper, and it was to start yesterday at 1:30, and run thru March some time - she wanted to start right then, and wanted me to call her Mom to get permission - I said we had an activity already set for the day, and she should talk with her parents about the program first - she fussed for a bit, then said she needed to go tell the teacher that she wouldn't be starting "today" - and ran off....in a few minutes she returned, and looking dejected said she didn't want to participate in the program - I asked why, and she said because it looked "boring" and she didn't know anyone in the program, and would feel funny - she crammed the paper into the pocket of her backpack, and we went on our way...

On the way home from Michael's Venice told me about some math she was doing, something about "extended functions" (I think), and gave me an example = you take a number, like 79 - you write it on paper with 79 and an equal sign to the right - you put 70 with a plus sign to the right and a 9 at the end...

I said you could also write it this way = 79 = 35 + 35 + 9....She said no, that isn't right - I said that was the way I learned it - and she said without missing a step, "you learned it in the olden times...!" - Again in the face of such wisdom pearls coming out of the mouths of babes, I nearly had an accident...! - Funny...!


Jiichan...

Outing report...

Hey,

At Putter's we started out as a whole group, 6 of us - the regs say only 5 in a group playing the course, but the woman said since there weren't many people we could go as a group....This didn't last more than the first hole, as it took all 6 of us a very long time to play the hole - was always confusing who was to put next....Of course, the first thing to decide was whether we use the rules of play, or use our own modified rules - Venice was clear, we use our modified rules...

So - starting on the 2nd hole, I went with Casey and Venice, and Granny played with Xander & Teiya....this moved things along much faster, at least for my group - by the time we played the 9th hole, half way thru the course, we were so far ahead the trailing group had played maybe 5 holes - Granny and I switched anyway, and Venice was "disappointed" - Why do we get Granny now...? - I said that she and I had discussed it, and felt that it was to the benefit of everyone to experience being with Granny and with me - oh, but with a sour sort of face - while she didn't say it, Venice felt it was "unfair"...

It was clear that Xander and Teiya needed a lot of help and tips on how to strike the ball - I'd watched Granny working very hard with the 2 of them, so I continued the "training" helping with their stance, the way they addressed the ball (as in, "how do you do, ball..." - just kidding), holding the putter, and how hard to hit the ball....Well, it was like trying to stand up a piece of cooked spaghetti - each time they'd "forget" the instructions....Teiya kept coming at the ball from the left-hand side, tho she admitted she was right-handed - after awhile, she got into the swing of it (hahaha) but kept just tapping the ball and it would dribble a couple of feet down the fairway and stop - I'd have her do it over again, then she'd hit it harder and it would be fine - but, on the next hole, we'd go thru the same routine....Xander was better at it, but he also had a hard time getting the club face to be in the right direction....About the 11th hole, Teiya asked if we could "skip" this hole as she was tired - but, she was ready to take on the next hole....Then around hole 16 she said again that she was tired, and could we skip this hole - I said fine, but Xander didn't want to skip it, so Teiya skipped it, and Xander played the hole....Atone point Xander while waiting his turn stuck the putter's head in a crack between a couple of bricks lining the edge of the green, and it got stuck - I hadn't noticed this, but all of a sudden here he comes over to me tears streaming down his face and silently crying - I hugged him, and asked what had happened - he showed me his putter stuck in the crack between the bricks, and he tugged on it and it wouldn't come out - more tears....I grabbed the handle and jiggled it back and forth and after some effort it came loose - Xander took the club, and wiping tears moved on to take his turn - he was fine after that, and didn't stick the putter into any cracks around the course...

Xander found a white ball about mid-way around the course that someone had left there - I pocketed it, and said we'd return it at the end....Xander asked me who had won between him and Teiya, so I tallied it up - when I told the two that they'd both gotten a score of 79, they seemed fine with that...

As we were progressing thru the holes, Teiya asked me if she could hit her ball into the water hazards - I said no, not deliberately, and asked why she wanted to do that - she wanted to retrieve her ball with the nets provided at various of the water hazards - she accidentally hit one into the creek, so did have an opportunity to scoop it out with the net, and was a happy camper for it...

More as, or if, I remember it...

Jiichan...

Pottery Quarter Outing

Hey Guys,

Here's a recap of a trip I took Xander and Teiya on yesterday - it was their day to go to the Pottery Quarter for a day with clay and paints...

On the way over they're talking a blue streak in the back seat, and they're talking about pretending various things - Teiya says to Xander, "Let's pretend we're on a roller coaster..." - to which Xander says with a little trepidation in his voice, "I don't want to pretend we're on a roller coaster...!" - to which Teiya says, "Ok, let's pretend we're on a roller coaster and pretend we're not afraid..." - to which Xander says, "Ok..."

Later, still on our way to Pottery Quarter, still talking a mile a minute - Teiya is chattering, and at one point Xander says deadpan, "I'm pretending I understand what you're saying..." LOL...

At one point I say something to the two of them, and they react and we start kidding each other - they're dishing it out as much as I am - then after a while, Xander says, "Stop...! - You're annoying me...!" - Ok...

On the way back we're talking about something, and I ask if they know how to find out about something, and neither knew - I said you could "Google" it - Teiya asked "What's Google...?" - I told her that it's a way to search for something on the internet, on the computer - she thinks for a while, and then says that Casey wants to put Google poop on his computer...! - I asked Teiya what that was, and she just laffed hysterically, as did Xander...

At the Pottery Quarter, both were quite disciplined and needed little supervision - surprised me, as I'd anticipated needing to corral and herd them around their painting projects - they'd both been there before, and seemed quite comfortable with the procedures - First we looked for a project for them to do, which took a bit of time as the possibilities are enormous - once they'd settled on projects, they wanted to get their paints - they each grabbed a handful, so I told them they couldn't open more than 2 or 3 at a time, which they didn't - I had to open and squeeze a couple of them for them, as some of the bottles were pretty old and the paints inside a little hard - they each picked brushes, and I explained how to wet their pieces and then paint them - I encouraged them to paint over their colors at least a second time, or the finished colors would be faint and pastelly - they did a good job, even painting on the bottoms a bit - I had been painting on a plate myself, and at one point was putting tiny dots around the rim of the plate with a special bottle, and Teiya got excited about putting little dots on her piece - I helped her do that, and she put 3 dots on it...! - I asked if she wanted more dots, and she said, no, she had enuff....then, she changed her mind and asked me to put some blue and yellow dots around the edges, so I did...

Both spent a long time doing their designs and painting - they worked hard, and chattered all thru/out - at the end, they were done, and were ready to go, but I had them help clean up - "Why...?" to which I said because we had made the mess with water and dropped paint, and we should always clean up after ourselves - "oh, ok..."

Then we departed for McDonald's and a treat, where Teiya ran into a very friendly girl about her age who asked her if she could be her (Teiya's) best friend....Teiya said, "Ok..." - but the girl had to leave with her dad - I asked Teiya if she knew the girl's name, and she said, no...

It was a great day...! - and full of laffs...!

Jiichan...

Wednesday Outing Stories

I picked Venice up at Parker, and as is usual, at least in the couple of times now I've picked her up, she and Elijah play this game of tag as they're released by their teacher - Elijah is slightly taller than Venice, and lanky and athletic looking - but, in their chasing of one another, Venice is the more accomplished runner - She can catch him in their game of tag, but outruns him when he's "it" - he doesn't seem to mind, but it is clear who is the better athlete and runner....This takes about 10 mins, and then I tell her it's time to go - AWWWWW...!

On the way over to Crest to pick Casey up, Venice is in the back seat chattering away about stuff - she mentions that it is now October, and I'd said we could go to Chuck-e-Cheese in October, so we should do that today - then she laments the fact that we've been going out with all 4 of the kids, and she wishes we'd go back to a 2-kid outing like before - well, she corrects herself and says not like before when Xander and Teiya didn't get to go out, too, but at least to outings with just 2 of them, Venice and Casey - she didn't want Xander and Teiya to miss out on any Jiichan outings....Then, she remembered that it wasn't Chuck-e-Cheese that I'd said we couldn't go to til Oct, but the pottery place...! - Oh, yeah, we should go to the pottery place today....I told her that we were going to a park today because the weather was still nice, and the indoor outings were for when the weather got too cold or rainy - but, she said, "You said we could go in Oct, so why not...?" Next week it will be Nov...! - I said that what I meant was that Oct was the earliest we could go to the pottery place (because of the costs) - oh...

I explained to Venice before we got to Crest that Granny and I had changed some of the particulars about our Weds outings - that we would no longer go to ColdStone or Ben&Jerry's because neither really clean their ice cream scoops between servings, and with so many of the offerings containing peanuts and others, it was just too dangerous and so we weren't going to go to them from now on....When we got to Crest, Venice alerted Casey to this change - Initially, Casey didn't say anything...

On our way to Amazon Park the two are talking, and Casey gets out his lunchbox and begins finishing his lunch - Venice asks him if he'd share some of his lunch - Casey agrees, and gives her what apparently is a graham cracker - she asks, Is this a graham cracker, and Casey says, yes, and she takes a bite, and says, yes it is....Some more talk about stuff, and Venice asks if Casey would share some more of his lunch, but this time he says, no....Casey asks, why don't you get your lunch and finish it...? - Venice says that she doesn't ever have a good lunch, so no, she thinks not....I asked her what her favorite thing in a lunch is, and she says that she never eats anything for lunch - I tell her that maybe when it comes to a treat for today, maybe she could eat that same thing, nothing - without blinking an eye, she says that she may have exaggerated a little bit there...

At Amazon Park Venice and Casey tore off and pretty much did their own thing, while Granny and I got our old-people's chairs and sat on the lawn watching Xander and Teiya - they, too, pretty much did their own thing, and only occasionally came to us for something, like to leave a jacket because it was getting warm, or getting a drink of water....For the most part, Venice and Casey played together, and Xander and Teiya played together - Often on our outings Teiya would tag along with V & C, and the 3 would play whatever, and Xander would sort of do his own thing and wile away the time on his own - not so much, today, as they stayed separated in their pairings for most of the time - then, toward the end, Teiya hooked onto the older kids, and Xander for a short time did his own thing, and then came by us to tell us he was ready to go home, now - by this time, it had gotten cold to the bone-chilling degree that we were fine with leaving, and gave the kids a 10 min warning...

In the car on the way home, Casey asked if adults could sue...! - Curious, that - I said they could, and what was he thinking - he said that we adults should sue Ben&Jerry's to force them to wash their ice cream scoops more thoroughly, so we could go back to them for our treats...! - Venice wanted to know what suing was, and Casey tried to explain it to her - he said it means you can take someone to court to make them do something....I said that there were all kinds of suits - that as Casey said, the courts, if you won, could make someone do something you wanted - the courts could fine someone for having done something wrong....Venice thought it was a good idea to sue Ben&Jerry's AND Cold Stone...

More as I remember stuff...

Jiichan...

Can You Make a 4 Leaf Clover?

Hi Guys,

Well, today's conversation in the car on the way home was very interesting...

Venice asked if it was easy to find 4 leaf clovers - simple enuff question, right...? - Casey didn't know - I said that clover leaf patterns came usually in 3 petals, and that occasionally one comes with 4 petals - 3 was the "normal" pattern, and 4 petals was more rare....Oh...

Casey asked if you could alter the DNA of the 3 petal clover to make a 4 leaf clover so it was more available - I said I thot so - then, would it be the normal clover...? - I said I didn't know...

Casey = could you change the DNA to give a turtle the legs of a heron...?!! - Hmmm, WOW...! - Where did that one come from...? I said I don't know, but I don't think so....why not...? - Hmmm - well, for one thing the legs of a heron would probably not support the weight of a turtle, so it's survival wouldn't be assured....why not...? - I said the way evolution works is that a creature adapts to its environment, and the ones that survive are the ones that make changes that suit it best to survive, and a turtle with the thin legs of a heron would have trouble supporting the weight of its shell - if it had difficulty walking, it would be susceptible to predators....also, I said I think that some changes or adaptations aren't likely to allow the creature to survive, because the changes don't give it enuff of an advantage against its environment and predators....

Casey = well could you give a turtle the legs of an elephant...? - Hmmm - well, those legs would certainly be strong enuff to support the weight of a turtle - but, again, I'm not sure that a turtle with the legs of an elephant would survive, again for the same reasons I said before - the legs would be more than enuff to support the weight of the shell, but because they would be so huge in relation to the rest of the turtle, that adaptation would work against the turtle's surviva....

Venice = could you change the DNA so butterfly wings would grow on an elephant...? - I don't think so....Why not...? - well, I don't think that DNA can be used across different species - and, even if it could, wings on an elephant wouldn't be an adaptation that would serve an elephant....Venice = well, what about butterfly wings on a human...? - I don't think it would work scientifically - and, even if it did, the wings of a butterfly would be so flimsy that it wouldn't work to help a human fly....Casey = yeah, the weight would be too much...

Jiichan = Venice you sound like you're interested in science - do you think you would ever become a scientist...? - No, I'm not interested in becoming a scientist....I want to become a dancer, then a dance teacher, then a - and she listed a half dozen professions....Casey said he might consider becoming a scientist...

Casey = science is getting so that people will soon live to be 120 years old....Venice = You and I will probably live to be 110 years old - and Jiichan will live to be 120 years old - It's more likely that you'll live longer than I will...

Jiichan = How did we get on this subject...? - Venice = it's my fault, I asked about making a 4 leaf clover out of a 3 leaf clover...! - Jiichan = no, it's not your fault - there's nothing wrong about your question, it was a very good question....Do you know what the stupidest question is...? - Venice and Casey = No, what...? - Jiichan = It's a question that you don't ask....Venice = but what's the question...? - I don't understand....I couldn't explain it - it was too esoteric...

Jiichan...

Jiichan's Outing

A couple of cute things from yesterday...

On the way over to Crest with Venice, I mention that I'd forgotten to bring a book, and Venice asks why - I said that she and Casey get along so well that on our outings that I often don't have to pay any attention, that they play together very well - yeah, she says, we like to play together - I say, yes, you do, and that wasn't always the case - I said that when they were younger they sometimes didn't get along, and parents or grandparents would have to help them play cooperatively - Venice said she didn't remember any of those times, and I said that was ok, it was better left in the past anyway - the point was that now when we go out on Jiichan outings I often just sit there and they play, and I could use a book to read to pass my time, and while I'd thought of it for today I'd forgotten to get a book....as it turned out, before we left Creat, Venice and Casey wanted to play on the school's play structures for a while, so they did for about 30 minutes - could have used a book to read while I waited...! - At least the weather was warm enuff...

At Crest play structures, Venice tells me that yesterday some boy tried to kiss her - I asked her what she did, and did he kiss her - she said no, he didn't....I asked what did he do, and she leaned forward and pursed her lips and said he did this - and what did you do, I asked, and she leaned back and kind of screwed up her face and said, eeeyyewww...! - I didn't get the boy's name - sorry about that - I won't be on any investigative team from SVU very soon...

In the car on our way to Chuck-e-cheese Venice and Casey are talking about how amazing the body is - Casey says he knows where every organ is in the body, so I tell him I have a trick question - where is the "mind" - he says it's in the brain, and Venice concurs - she then adds did you know that when your eyes see something your brain sees it in the back of the brain right here, and she points to the back of her head - I applaud this and respond that that is correct, and good that she knows that - I ask if she knows what that region of the brain is called, and she pauses and hmmmms and says, yes, I do - I forget the name, but it begins with an "o" - I'm impressed...! - yup, I say, it's called the occipital lobe, and she says, yes that's it...! - I'm really impressed, and asked her where she learned that, and she says she learned it reading something somewhere....so, then back to the question I asked of Casey of the location of the mind - he says it's the brain, and Venice agrees....I asked if you opened up the skull and looked at the brain, where would you find the mind - they both didn't know, but thought it was still the brain - I said, no, it was a trick question - that the mind refers more to how the brain works, and not a specific organ or part of the brain - hmmmm, says Casey, oh, says Venice...

At Chuck-e-cheese Venice at times seemed down, sort of sad - I asked her if she was sad or unhappy, and she complained about the games not giving her more tickets - and on 2 separate machines she put her token in and the machine didn't work - I had to get the manager to come over and get the machine to work, or at least give Venice her token back - twice that happened for her, and once on another machine for Casey - and then, at the very end when the kids were putting their tickets into the ticket cruncher to tally up their take, the machine wouldn't print out Casey's receipt for 113 tickets, so again I had to get the manager to come and fix the machine - well, this problem with the machines, plus Venice's perception that she wasn't getting as many tickets from each turn on a given machine was making her sad - it wasn't fair or right that she gets only 2 tickets - I took her aside and told her that this was the nature of these machines, that they sometimes give you lots of tickets, and sometimes they don't, and it is chance and you can't always expect that you'll get a lot of tickets from a given token - she thought that was a bad thing, and didn't give up her feeling bad....there were several instances that Casey got huge long strings of tickets, and this didn't help cheer Venice up - well, as it turned out Venice ended up "earning" 115 tickets while Casey only got 113, which did cheer her up at the end...

On the way back from Chuck-e-cheese Venice announced that she taught school today - Casey was impressed and asked her how it went - she said it went ok....I asked her what she thought about teaching her class, and she said it was really tough - I asked her what made it tough, and she said there were too many kids...! - I asked her what she taught her classmates, and she said I taught them how to make clouds - Hmmm, how did you do that...? - Well, you take a piece of paper, and some cotton, and some glue - you put some glue on the paper, and put pieces of cotton on the glue, and you've got clouds...!

Great...!!!

It was otherwise a quiet tho fun day of playing games at C-e-c...

Jiichan...

Holidays with Granny and Jiichan

So Xander and Venice cut out shapes for cookies. I knew I was going to be gone, so I had purchased sugar cookie dough. Well, it tastes a lot better than my recipe, as Venice quickly noticed when she nibbled on the bits and pieces...They made reindeer, trees, snowmen and stars....While I baked them, they played with the car set Xander had brought. Also Venice helped light some candles for atmosphere.

But.....this dough was different in another way and it puffed up and out...so the shapes of all but the tree were mangled. Fortunately the kids didn't care....After Casey and Teiya arrived we divided the cookies up and they all decorated them. Casey and Venice are most inventive and care about what they are doing. For Xander and Teiya, it is all about getting enuf icing on the cookie so they can put the jimmies on...and eat them. They worked hard on these misshapen creatures.

We also did the volcano as I had replenished my supply of food colors. We had 3 pretty good 'blows'.....the kids still seem pretty fascinated with the volcano....It can only do 3 blows at any one time...then I dump the stuff out that is in it and it is good to go for 3 more.

Teiya came to me in the middle of the day asking for rice (this is her secret code for wanting treats, specifically M&M's) I gave her a bowl which she downed and then asked with a smile for a treat. Since I didn't have any M&M's, I gave her a few chocolate chips which she was fine with.

Casey and Venice watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer....Venice handled the remote and fast forwarded thru the commercials.
I think that Venice and Xander watched the Grinch earlier....

Towards the end of the day, Venice and Casey were playing with all the small creatures, angels, and carolers that I have as decoration and making up their stories together....Teiya played the piana (note, every song she plays is in perfect rhythm altho the notes are not exactly right....She played and commanded Xander to dance....and he did.....round and round, foot up in the air, joyfully. For whatever reason, he and Teiya felt that the pretend groceries and plastic foods that we have had to be part of the dancing....Then Xander played and she danced. She leaped and spun and Xander plunked away. Later I read the Star Wars cutout book to Xander and Teiya. Xander was totally involved in the book and tried to see all the different parts. Teiya was mildly interested, but she did know the characters and Xander was just learning them. He went thru the book several times. Teiya got bored and went over to Casey and Venice and asked them if she could play with them. They incorporated her easily into their game of pretend. One of the pages of the book has a cutout of several groupings of various figures and they are numbered. So he would find number 1 and read who they were....the numbers were not normal numbers but he could figure out the 1 to 7 that was there and then he began counting them in spanish.

a nice day was had by all
Granny

Grandkids Play Together...

Just a quick report of one touching incident involving Teiya, but more widely, Venice, Casey, and Xander...

First, just to say that when Venice and Casey and I left Crest School when I picked him up for our outing, the two again had a difficult time deciding where they wanted to go - Amazon Park was one place, but then Venice started pushing for someplace "inside" as it was too hot...! - The "inside" meant a paying place, such as Emerald Lanes for bowling, or Chuck-E-Cheese, or the like - I told her that it was still summer, and the weather was so nice, we wouldn't be doing anything inside till the weather got colder...

Well, this didn't stop Venice - she tried thinking of another place indoors that didn't involve spending any money, while Casey was content with going to Amazon Park - the two couldn't agree...

Venice continued to push for someplace indoors, and I finally suggested that we could go to Granny & Jiichan's house and they could play indoors downstairs in the basement - the two loved the idea, so we headed home - I was on a chip purchasing errand for snacks for our evening with our friends, the Colemans, so we went first to Market of Choice, and then home...

Granny was surprised that we were coming so early, but the explanation explained it all...

So - at one point, the 4 kids were playing downstairs, and Venice and Casey, as the older ones, were given "responsibility" for "supervising" the younger ones - Granny had instructed Xander and Teiya that they were to obey and mind Venice and Casey if anything came up...

Then, at one point Venice and Casey come to the back door, and Venice explain that Xander had hit her, and she had this most innocent look on her face - I asked if she'd done anything to provoke him, and she said, no, she hadn't...

I thot for a moment whether I needed to go down and get Xander's side of the story, or should I just tell Venice to deal with it....I decided to go down and try with everyone there to figure out what happened, and try to ameliorate the situation...

On the way down, I could hear Teiya crying, so decided that it was a good thing I'd decided to come down...

When I entered the basement, Xander was happily running around babbling and singing - Teiya was sitting on the ledge of the upper area, crying - I picked her up, and asked what had happened...

She said that Xander had told her she wasn't Teiya...! - Sniffsniff....I asked her again, as I didn't understand what she meant, but she only repeated what she'd said the first time - I asked Xander if he'd said to Teiya that she wasn't Teiya, and he said no, he hadn't said that, that he said she wasn't Xander...! - Major puzzlement on my part, as nothing either of them said made any sense...

I asked Teiya if he'd said that she wasn't Xander, and she said yes - I said I didn't understand, as she isn't Xander, so why did that upset her...? - Teiya wasn't able to explain...

Then I thot that maybe it had to do with Venice's comment when she and Casey came up to tell me that Xander had hit her, that she had left Teiya in charge of Xander...!

I asked Teiya if Xander had done anything to her to make her cry, but she said no - I asked if when Venice told her that she was in charge of Xander, did she know what that meant, and she said no....I asked if not knowing what that meant made her unhappy, and she nodded yes - and, Teiya further said that when Venice told her, she talked really loud, and that made her unhappy, too...

So - mystery solved...! - When Venice and Casey left the basement to come up to make her criminal report, she left Teiya in charge of Xander, and not knowing what that meant, made Teiya unhappy enuff to cry...

Don't you just love it...?!

Gordon...

Jiichan's

Hi Guys,

These two are simply great - I could essentially drop them off someplace and come back in 4 hours, and they'd be fine finding something to occupy themselves...

Before we could leave Crest School from picking Casey up, they had to discuss where we would go for the outing - it always is a big deal, as tho the world's survival rested on their final decision....they started out first deciding they'd just stay at the Crest School play structure to eat their lunches, but as we were heading to the structures, Casey suggested we go to Venice's school and her play structures for lunch - they decided that would be a good idea...

As we walked back to my car, they started exploring other options, Chuck-e-Cheese being one, "because we'd not been there in over 2 months...!" - the magical time lag between paying events - that was dropped for bowling, again because we'd not been there for several months - by the time we got to the car, they were still deliberating on where we should go, and when I asked if they still wanted to go to Venice's school for lunch, they said they were still deciding...!

Everyone got buckled up, I started the car, and Venice suggested we go to Amazon Park, and they could eat their lunches on the dinosaur - Casey agreed that'd be a good idea - but when I started the car moving, Venice said they'd not decided yet - then she corrected herself, and said she'd not made up her mind yet - I reminded her that she'd suggested Amazon Park, but she said that it was only a suggestion for them to think about, and she'd not made a final decidion of what she wanted to do today...! - So, I shut the car off...

Venice mumbled "Amazon Park..." - "bowling..." - "Amazon Park" - then, she said that it should be Amazon Park, because it has a lot of shade, and they wouldn't need sun screen - Casey agreed...

On the way, Venice asked if we could stop at Ben&Jerry's so she could get a shake for her treat - Casey liked the idea so he could get a cone to take to the park....we stopped at the mall, and went in to B&J's - Venice got a shake, and Casey got a dish instead, because he wanted to carry it over to Amazon Park - when we got our ice cream, and as we were leaving heading for the car, Casey asked if we could just sit here and eat our ice cream - I said fine, and they proceeded to play on the low concrete wall around the walkway and tables outside all the little shops there - we spent maybe 40 mins while they climbed the low walls and "tight-rope walked" along the wall, stopping periodically to eat their ice cream or drink the shake....Casey's ice cream melted, and spilled over the edges because the sun was so hot and he wasn't eating it fast enuff....at first he said he didn't think he could eat all the ice cream, but I told him to eat as much as he could - after I'd helped him with my eating a couple of spoonfuls, he did finish it all....I finally suggested we go over to Amazon Park, mainly because there wasn't much shade where we were, and I was tired being in the hot sun - reluctantly they agreed, they were happy just to stay playing on the wall as their play structure...

When we arrived at Amazon Park, the two of them headed for the dinosaur, and started their lunches - they interrupted lunch when they packed everything up and went over to the tower and fire engine structure - they opened their lunches on the top of the tower, and between bites, climbed on the structure, and went over to the fire engine and climbed that, and at one point even climbed over the wire fence separating the play structure area and the surrounding grassy areas and bike paths - then, they climbed back over, and resumed their play...

At one point Casey told us a joke that Tori had put in his lunch = "What did you say after eating a Wookie...? - Mmmmm, chewy...!" - I'm not sure Venice got it, her not knowing that much about Star Wars, but she did laff - Casey roared with laughter...! - I told him I thot it was pretty funny...

It took the two of them the whole afternoon to finish their lunches, and I think they finally did - at least I think they did - one time during all this, they left their lunch boxes open near the empty wading pool, and they were visited by about 4 big black birds - they didn't seem to find anything of interest, tho they did poke around a bit - I couldn't tell if the birds actually ate anything or not - the wading pool has been empty for a long time, and in fact I don't recall any time I'd been there when there was water in the pool - it didnt' matter - the two found twigs, leaves, pebbles, and who knows what else, and made up some game involving all these things - they didn't need any play strucrtures, as they made up a whole story and activity around the things they found right there - they played at this for nearly an hour...

At no time was there any tension between the two that I could see or hear - they get along famously, and seem to genuinely like each other - they play off each other's strengths, and don't seem put off or feeling put down for not having skills the other has - Venice is clearly the more athletic, with excellent small and gross motor skills - Casey is less so, but even he has improved in his climbing and running skills - he seems willing to try to climb or do anything in a physical way, and does a fair job of keeping up with Venice....Venice is the one with the huge imagination, and she usually starts any of their discussions of what the plot or story line will be - Casey contributes, and seems to hold his own with adding things from his own imagination - they play off each other quite well...

Venice doesn't have the depth of knowledge about Star Wars that Casey has, but that doesn't seem to bother her - She typically doesn't bring it up, it being Casey who does - if she doesn't know something that Casey is talking about, and "stuff" about Star Wars comes pouring out of him like a flood, she just says so, and he explains it to her - she's seen the Star Wars display at McDonald's, so she has some familiarity with the characters - when Casey describes one of them, she remembers "him" from the display....Casey also brings up a lot of things that Venice has never had interest in, they being something scientific, or something esoteric that only Casey would be interested in, but of late she seems to be catching up in terms of things scientific herself - anyway, the two can carry on a conversation about something scientific, something to do with Star Wars, something about faeries, about goblins and dragons and Jack Frost, and whether any of it is something real or imaginary, something that could never be, or something only possible in the future - as I say, they get along famously, and I'm just along for the ride - well, a driver on their ride...

They don't seem to be much aware of other kids around them when they're together - sometimes another kid near their age will be playing near them or will come up and try to enter into whatever they're doing, and will usually be the one to begin some exchange, and I'm usually not near enuff to hear their conversations - they may play together for a while, then the other kid will be off, leaving the two of them and they return to whatever they were doing seemingly without missing a step...

Yesterday they were playing on the fire engine, when a child, maybe 24 months old came up, cautiously because they were whirlwinds on the fire engine - Venice and Casey are climbing on, rushing around, and jumping around and off of the fire enjine, so the little girl is way intimidated - she touches the back of the fire engine, then backs off, and as her mom comes up tells loud enuff that I hear her that the two kids, Venice and Casey, told her she couldn't go on the fire engine - I'd not heard or seen either of them say anything to the girl, and in fact they seemed more oblivious of her as tho she weren't there, but I told Venice and Casey that they couldn't tell the girl she couldn't get on the structure, and Venice said she'd not said anything to her - the girl's mom said it was all right, neither of the two said anything to the little girl, that she just made that up...

I did tell Venice and Casey that they still needed to be conscious of littler kids around them, and to make sure they weren't too overwhelming for them - Casey and Venice said "We know...!"

The two were very reluctant to leave the park - I'd given them a headsup of 20 mins, then 15, then 10, and then 2 - that it was then time to leave...."Awwwww...!" - When they had to go back to the tower for their lunch boxes, they took the long circuitous route climbing on every play structure between were we were and the tower - and, they followed the same long-way path back to where I was....they dragged their heels getting into the car, and even once we were on our way, Venice wondered if we Casey to could play at her house before going home - "Pleeeeaaasssseeeee...!" - Venice said to Casey that they should talk to their Moms and see if he could have a sleep over tonite, and they should really try to convince their Moms about it....I told Venice that we didn't have enuff time for Casey to play at her house right now, because his Mom would be picking him up at 5:00, and we were going to just get to our house by that time - "Awwww....! Pleeeasssseeee...!"

So when I dropped Venice off, she was sad that she had to leave Casey, and we talked about a sleep over at Granny and Jiichan's sometime soon - that didn't help her right at that moment...

So that was the day - I never know where we're going for our outings, but I'm going to have to rememger to take a book to read or something...

Jiichan...

Words of Wisdom

Hey Guys,

While driving around Weds Casey and Venice are talking in the back seat - I love listening to them talk because for now at least they're unself-conscious and darling...

Casey: I like Star Wars because you can learn so much from watching it...
Venice: Yeah...
Jiichan: Like what, Casey...?
Casey: That money isn't the most important thing...!
Jiichan: How did you learn that from Star Wars...?
Casey: Han Solo is only interested in money. But he comes back to help out his friends...!
Venice: I love High School Musical II, and I learn a lot from that, too...
Jiichan: Like what...?
Venice: There's this one girl who likes to boss everyone around, and that's not nice...!

I just love it...!!!

Jiichan...

Scouting Outing

On out scouting adventure, Xander was pretty excited thru/out - he chattered in the back seat, asking about the Delta Pond Park, and I told him I knew little about it, but that we were going to explore it and see if it would work for fishing sometime in the future...

He said it was very far away, and I said it was maybe 15 minutes as the car drove - I told him it was actually very close, and he seemed to like that...

He said he liked to fish - I asked if he'd fished before, and he said yes, as he almost always does to questions...

When we got to the area around the ponds on Goodpasture Island Rd., I couldn't find a place where we could enter the park area - there isn't one apparently....I drove around it a couple of times, going in both directions, and found nothing to say a park was there....there is one parking area, with maybe 20 parking spots just off Goodpasture, but when we stopped there and got out of the car, the sidewalk along the edge of the pond there stopped just past the parking lot - obviously there isn't a pathway along the pond, or around or into the park area, if there is an actual park there...

There was a sign put up by the Eugene Parks Dept, describing some development plans for the pond area, but nothing on it said anything about the area as an existing park - it gave a woman's name and phone number, and said if there were any questions about the projected development to call her - I did, finding that she is with the Eugene Parks Dept and in charge of parks, and left my name and phone number and asked her to call me - Xander asked me why I called someone, and I explained what the sign said - I said when she calls me, I'll call him and tell him what she said about the area and if there is anyplace we can go fishing - he was pleased with that...

We ran into an older African-American woman, maybe in her 80s walking along with a rolling walker - she said her name was Alice, and she comes here to feed the ducks - she asked me to throw a muffin along the edge of the pond, which I did, and she whooted like a goose to call her friendly denizens - she said she comes all the time, and lives in a home for seniors in the complex alongside the pond - she didn't know where you could go fishing around here, except that she sees people coming from farther along Goodpasture with fish...

Xander didn't seem unhappy that we didn't find the Delta Ponds Park - he just seemed to appreciate that we went on a scouting adventure looking for it...

It was an abortive scouting trip, but Xander wasn't disappointed, so that makes it just fine with me...

Jiichan...

Jiichan's Outing

We hadn't gotten into the car at Casey's school, and the two were talking about where we'd go today - they usually wait til they're strapped into their car seats and I'm pulling away from the school before they talk about where we're going....this time they thot Chuck-E-Cheese, then, no - McDonald's, then, no - the Science Factory, but that, too, was no....then they thot maybe Granny&Jiichan's basement - well, maybe, cuz they hadn't been there for a while - in the end, they said no to the basement...

Venice said she was hungry and asked where we were going for our treat, and I said I didn't have anything specific in mind, but we could go to Ben&Jerry's after wherever we went - they both thot McDonald's was the place to go, so I said ok....Casey said that it wouldn't be a regular Jiichan outing if we didn't have a treat...!

Then, Venice remembered that she needed to be home by 5:00, and I said I knew that and would be keeping track of our time....she then said that we could go to our favorite place for outdoors since it was such a nice day, and we could keep the other places for times when it was cold or rainy - Casey agreed - Venice asked if we could go to Skinner Butte Park and play, and then end up going to McDonald's for our treat afterwards - I said I didn't know if we'd have time to do that, that I was concerned that we wouldn't have time after Skinner Butte - Casey said why not go to McDonald's first, and then go to the park - Venice chimed in that we could go there, eat our ice cream, not play on the structure, and then go to the park, and that would give us enuff time for both....I suggested that if we did that, they could take their cones with them in the car, and we could drive to the park and eat ice cream at the park, thus saving time and giving them more time at the park - they both thot that was the greatest idea...! - on the way to McDonald's Casey said this was the best outing ever...!!!

At Skinner Butte they pretty much played by themselves while I watched - they play so well together, and there's a pretty even give and take between the two....at one point I didn't see them from where I was sitting, and waited thinking I'd see them come running around the play structure - they didn't, and it had been maybe 20 mins or so - maybe less, but I was anxious not seeing them, so it felt like that long....so, I went looking for them - I found them lazying in a big open mesh tube, just curled up in the bottom of it, drinking their root beers and talking - pretty cool, that...

The two of them are getting very athletic around all the structures - both climb without much fear, and sometimes it scares me where they climb - Casey is getting to the point where he's Venice's equal in where he climbs, getting more athletic....they both are like monkeys, and at times cause me to catch my breath - I try to stay close enuff so that I can scream if I think they're getting beyond their capabilities, but far enuff away that I don't stifle them in their explorations - I know, that probably scares hell out of the parents to hear this - sorry about that - I do love to see them carefree and unself-consciously enjoying themselves, and each other...

It was a very good day...!

Jiichan...

Xander Outing

Xander was quietly excited with going with me and Casey today - in the car on the way to pick Casey up after school, he was alert and talkative - really, he chattered, mostly about going on a Jiichan outing...

When we picked Casey up, as I was pulling away from Crest, Casey commented that today's outing was unusual because he's not used to being in the car with a three year old, he's used to being with six year olds...! - Xander didn't respond to this, tho when I asked him what he thot about being with us he said he was glad to be going on a Jiichan outing...

Casey presented the case to Xander for us to go to the Science Factory, and Xander was excited just hearing about it - Casey explained it was a place where there was a lot of science exhibits, and it was near the University's stadium - on the way down Jefferson, he asked me where the stadium was, and I explained it was across the Ferry Street Bridge near the duck ponds, where we'd fed the ducks that one time....Xander was in part in awe just being in the car traveling with us...

At the Science Factory the two played sometimes together with one of the interactive exhibits, with Casey understanding some of the point of the exhibit, Xander without a clue but being enthralled by the flashing lights and bouncing balls and whirling whistles....at other times, it was like parallel play, with Casey doing his thing with an exhibit, Xander playing with something else, and in those times, neither seemed aware of the other, and only somewhat aware of me and my presence, tho in this Xander being new to the setting was moreso than Casey...

Casey did spend about 20 mins in the little puppet theatre sitting on the floor playing with the hand puppets, while Xander was elsewhere - one puppet especially, an oyster with wobbly eyes, held his attention for a long while....both were into the one section of exhibits where there were machines that blew and sucked air moving plastic balls and tennis balls thru pneumatic tubes, depositing the balls in various places with them bouncing off of various types of materials - in a way these were mesmerizing, and Xander loved pushing the buttons to activate them, again and again and again and again...

We were there for maybe 90 mins, non-stop - Xander asked about all the machines we worked with, wanting to know what they did and why...! - Sometimes Casey was there, so he explained the point of the exhibit - other times, I explained - mostly Xander didn't understand them, as they were more complicated than he could grasp - that didn't matter, as he was caught up in the bright lights, the bouncing balls, the whirling whistling mechanisms, the iguana, the cars rolling down an inclined plane, and the toddler's area with toys more to his style and liking....just before we left there was one exhibit that intrigued Xander - a rug padded sound-proofed closet with a closed-circuit TV where you'd go in and shout and scream, and the machine recorded the decibels of your noise-making - the closed-circuit TV was to insure that you could see what was going on inside at all times, to avoid a child freaking out....I don't know how loud anyone else could scream, but Xander scored a 92.5 in decibels for his yelling - I did have him cover his ears when he screamed, as there was a warning that above a certain level there could be ear discomfort - cautious me, I had him cover his ears before he screamed...

Around 3:45 I ushered the two out, and we headed for McDonald's with the play structure out on 11th - a bit of traveling, but not more than our usual outings - there, Xander ordered a chocolate sundae, Casey a cone, and we shared a medium order of fries - Xander ate a lot of fries, and maybe 1/2 of his sundae - Casey and I share part of his sundae when he ran out of room...

It was a successful outing, and both Casey and Xander had a ball, Casey in a fun return to a place that he likes, and Xander with the discovery of a new and exciting place, a place he said on the way home he wanted to return to...

Xander was exhausted by the time I dropped him off - Casey, too, was tired - it had been a nice but long day...

Jiichan...

A Letter From Jiichan

Well, I have to say - I loved breakfast this morning, not so much for the food, tho, Paul, the eggs were fantastic, but more because I was a bit weep-eyed with watching Casey & Venice interacting all morning - Venice feeding Casey *Os* - Casey telling Venice to *get down* & *Get out* - Venice climbing on the airplane in back of Casey & their brief interactions there - Venice sitting on the little pink chair in front of the bookcase sifting thru the books & *reading* to herself - Casey doing the same - Casey doing stuff with *UncleChris* & Venice with *AuntyTori* - it reminded me of Lacy&Taylor doing their duet the nite before, which had me in tears too...

It is sooo much more exciting to watch them now, now that their more verbal & now that they're more connected & bonded...! - I LOVE IT...!!!

Sniff...

Jiichan...

A Letter From Jiichan

Jiichan's response to when I revealed I was pregnant again:

Di - I can't tell you how happy your question - "How would you feel about sharing your birthday with another granchild...?" - made me feel yesterday...! - My immediate tears told the whole story...! - well, almost, as I teared up again this morning as I thot about it again....I suspect I will tear up and comment for the next couple of months about what I am feeling as the news settles in more and more....I AM SOOOOO HAPPY FOR YOU TWO - and, I look forward to the addition to your family...

Chris - I'm sorry you weren't there when Di made the announcement - missed you, and would have loved to share the moment with you there - there will be times, like the next time we're up, to share it again and again....see you soon...

Love to you both...

Jiichan...