Wrapping up and getting started

With the first of many holiday weekends drawing to a close Calvin is conked out early in bed while Jon and I sit here on the couch relaxing amidst a hazard of decorations that are half up and half still in boxes or strewn around the floor. We had a whirlwind of a weekend that started with the traditional events of Thursday and Friday, and continued right into the weekend with a crazy football game, another great family dinner, more shopping, more decorating, and a local model train show.

The game was great fun. It was the last game, and thus the last tailgate, of the season, so we had a great time with good friends we won't see as often until next fall. And, after many seasons of questionable football, it was fun to finally win the big one, and even more fun to be at the game with family when we did so. I'm still hoarse today from all the yelling.

Calvin's love for trains is still going strong. We haven't been to a show in several months, but the train spread out all over the floor in our front room was evidence enough. At the show this weekend he enjoyed the HO displays, but he was also seriously intrigued by the Lego train display. We spent a lot of time there, and some more time on our own when we got home.

Tomorrow we get started on gift making and preparing the house for Sinterklaas Avond, which we'll celebrate a day early next Sunday. Plus there's swimming, there's the homeschool group gathering, there's a Christmas party at the old school house...it promises to be a great week. Busy, but great.

Sunny Tuesday

Our days now start closer to seven in the morning rather than eight, a blessing in disguise thanks to the time change. I really love the extra hour in the morning, but does that mean I can force myself to get up on a regular basis? No, but that time change sure works wonders. Calvin started his day at the piano, and being earlier means he can spend that time with his dad, which is great since piano is something they like to do together. I started my day with coffee and a crossword. 

By nine we were busy researching mammoths—woolly mammoths, to be specific—and the next thing we knew it was almost noon. That's a lot to learn about woolly mammoths, plus I made him one out of felt (the population on the downstairs Cenozoic timeline is growing) while he filled out an animal report form on the fuzzy guy. The boy has a thing for mammoths these days. Along with penguins and indricotheres and...

In looking for more information on woolly mammoths we came across a great online guide to the La Brea Tar Pits, and that entertained us for quite a bit longer.

We watched Becoming Human (ep. 3) over lunch, then wandered outside to rake leaves, toss the football (he's getting pretty good), and pester the cat through the window. Plus we found some confused raspberries on our bush.

Pirate play and creativity, more prehistoric mammals on the felt line, and after dinner he read to me before bed because we can't seem to find the book that I had been reading to him. Where is that black hole in the house?

Michigan Stadium out of Legos

About a week ago Calvin asked to run a search on the iPad. He was searching for instructions on how to make the Michigan football stadium out of Legos. This morning, after having looked at some other examples, he made his own. He has plans to add scoreboards and boxes in the near future. I'm liking this concept to research to carry through process.

Saturday gameday

Photo bombed by the jumbo-tron

The wave

Reading in the third quarter? In his defense, it wasn't really a stellar game.

Football Saturday

The awe of your first game—walking through those gates with all those people, up a small slope, then through a short tunnel to come out nearly at the top of the biggest college football stadium in the world, the ground gaping open before you to drop to a field of green, and maize and blue clad people swarming in to fill all those seats—that awe was Calvin's today.

We have never really pushed football on him, but because I love watching Michigan play he's been exposed to the game over the years. He has seen them play on TV and has been to almost every tailgate with our friends and family since he was born. Then this year he asked to go to a game, and my parents were able to arrange that fun (thanks to my aunt and uncle who sit next to them and were not using their tickets this week, so thanks go to all of the above).

Calvin enjoyed the crowd, asked questions about the game, and seemed to love singing the various team songs. He went home after half time because the game was slightly dull, because three hours of sitting can be a lot for a five year old (and my mom so I could stay with my dad), and because the band had already played, and that was the perfect day for him. I didn't need him to stay for the whole game—I didn't need him to be there at all—but there is great joy in sharing the things that you love with your child, especially when they seem to enjoy them as well.