Birthday Bowling Batman

Here's the boy in full regalia at his bowling party!! It was a huge success with lots of screaming kids hurling balls.

Thanks to everyone who sent gifts; we are still reveling in the bounty!

Birthday Ideas!

This is Linus.

Here is my birthday list.

1. Mars Mission Lego set (I already have 7697 and 7694)
2. Indiana Jones Lego set (Dad, which one do I have at your house?)
3. Mousetrap
4. Paper Airplane Book and Paper Kit like this one.
5. Wacky Wigglers from here.
6. Baseball or soccer clothes.
7. A UFO, of course.
8. I have something like this at school and I like it.

That's it for now. We can add more later!

Thank you for thinking of me! We miss you and hope you can visit sometime.

Sporto

Chris and I took Linus to the sports store and picked out his own baseball glove, ball, bat, and shinguards for soccer.

We spent a good hour and a half playing catch and soccer in the grassy lot next to our house.

Actually, he took after me and decided that five minutes of catch was enough ("it's too hard!") and then kicked the soccer ball for a long time.

He slept with his shin guards on. He wore his shinguards to Dad's house. He wore the shinguards to school today.

He'll be doing two weeks of soccer camp and then two weeks of baseball in July and August. He seems psyched so far!

Nature Boy

Linus was with me for most of Memorial Day weekend. On Sunday we ate croissants at the farmer's market, and bought some herbs and strawberries. I took him into the grassy lot next door to our house to explore. We found a hiding spot under the tangled branches of a tree. I showed him how to suck the nectar from honeysuckle (something I did as a kid in Poughkeepsie). We found a mulberry tree and picked and ate all the ripe berries we could find. We talked about birds and the difference between butterflies and moths. After a meager lunch ("I'm full of berries and honeysuckle!") we went back to eat more mulberries, his new favorite food.

Luke came over to babysit Sunday night when I went to a friend's wedding. Linus had to show Luke the hiding spot, of course!

On Monday we hit iHop and then a local park. It has a man-made stream and rill; Linus had a great time hiking up and down the waterways, scooping up algae, finding smooth rocks. One of my students invited us to their pool for the afternoon. Linus loves to practice kicking and has even started putting his face in the water.

I find that Linus really thrives when he gets plenty of outdoor time. He definitely loves to explore. I'm currently reading The Last Child in the Woods, which talks about the nature deficiency that most children are experiencing. Luckily his school is committed to integrating nature study and activities into the curriculum -- pretty fortunate for a fairly urban setting!

That's all for now.

Photo

Luke took this photo of Linus and I as we were on our way to Mother's Day dinner. Note the excellent tie!

Quiz.

Q: "Linus, what do you know about babies?"

A: "They cry. They weigh eight pounds. They are humans."

Quote.

"Everyone knows how to run except old people and giants."