Our neighbor's three-year-old was outside the other morning as Max and I were getting set to leave. He wandered over with a stick in his hand and we had the following conversation:
The Belmont Public Library had a Chinese New Year's event yesterday that I was lucky enough to spot while picking up some books Friday evening. Folks from Calvin Chin's Martial Arts Academy were there to put on a show that involved:
Max was terrified by the lion dance, but mesmerized by the rest of the show, and Kira loved the whole thing. After the lion dance, they put the lion's head off to the side, and Kira spent the rest of the show pointing at it and saying, "more! more!". Kira was also really getting into the dancing and martial arts and tried a few of her own moves. When the lantern dancers came out at the end, Kira was just about overcome with desire for the costumes -- she kept reaching out and trying to get them.
This was really the first time either of ours kids has sat through any sort of performance (this show was about an hour long). They did a great job (Kira got a bit wiggly toward the end). We should do this more often!
I've put a few pictures of the show up on Flickr.
That was some storm tonight! I got home around 5:45 or so; it wasn't terribly cold outside, it wasn't snowing, and the streets were clear. I came inside to say hello to the kids, and Max said he wanted to go outside and ride his bike and pretend to be a bus driver...
...so, we got on jackets and hats and boots, opened the door and found white-out conditions! Both kids thought that was pretty exciting. Max would open the door, make "woooooooo" surprised noises and close it quickly again; we went out and stood on the front stoop for a few minutes letting the snow blow around us and everyone thought that was great fun.
After the snow let up we did make it outside. Both kids tried using the little scooters in the snow, but it was just the wrong sort of weather...the wet snow would collect on the wheels and then freeze. Max's bike, with substantially larger wheels, worked much better, but the real fun was when we brought out the sleds. First I pulled Kira at speed around the yard, which she enjoyed tremendously, and then Max pulled Kira at substantially slower speeds around the yard.
Merriam Webster's 10th edition, which has been used for the past few years in fourth and fifth grade classrooms (for children aged nine to 10) in Menifee Union school district, has been pulled from shelves over fears that the "sexually graphic" entry [on oral sex] is "just not age appropriate", according to the area's local paper.
