Inspired by the World Cup

I am a lucky woman. I only lose my husband to sports once every four years - when the World Cup comes around. In recognition of the recent soccer frenzy that has overtaken our home, I present to you a short pictorial history of our childrens' forays into soccer this spring.

She ran.

And ran.

Until she figured out that the goalie didn't have to run so much. Then she asked to play that position all the time. I didn't take pictures. It wasn't nearly as fun to watch when she just stood there.
She also made some friends and figured out that playing a team sport means you have to actually be part of a team - stay focused, keep going, skip all the water breaks. It was a very good experience for her and her coach was fantastic.

This one, on the other hand, didn't run so much:
The 3-4 year age group just sort of walked around near the ball, looking at each other, maybe trying to kick it. After 4 years of us telling Kev not to kick, not to push, etc., I think it was hard for him to switch to the mindset that it was ok to really go after the ball, to kick it even if someone else wanted to, too, etc. He liked the uniform way more than the game. Running on a field after a ball? No thanks.
Running at Disney because you found two leaves and you just wanted to? Absolutely! (I know it's unrelated, but I like the picture.)

But at the end of the season he got a medal which means the whole experience was worth it if you're 4.

Young Author: Kev

At Kev's school this summer, the kids are studying a different author each week. In the spirit of learning about authors and in the hopes of capturing some of Kev's wild imagination before he grows out of this stage, I gave Kev a primary composition book about a month ago. I don't think these existed when I was a kid, so I'm in love with them. Each page has a big space on the top for drawing, followed by lines on the bottom for writing. In this case, Kev draws a picture and writes his name, then I draw tracing dots for the title for him to trace over. Then he dictates to me what to write. What he says, goes. Nothing suggested, nothing added, nothing corrected. I punctuate based on his inflection.

We're stuck on animals. Still. Some of these creatures are made up, but do not tell him that. Massive tantrums ensue. Also, someone please alert the World Wildlife Federation, a new species of gorilla has been discovered.

It's fascinating how his mind works. A sample:
Title: Woolly Mammoth

Text: Manny said, "Poofy!" Woolly mammoths love each other. Some people really love them. They are brown and furry. A moopsetherium can save woolly mammoths.

Title: Gorilla

Text: Pleebee gorillas sure can scare other gorillas. They live in the rainforest. They can jump very high. They can scare people. They eat nates. They are very funny.

Background: This is the cool animal if you're 4 and highly imaginative. Do not, even for a second, think about suggesting that this animal isn't real. Because it is. If you're 4. And highly imaginative. And if, by any chance, you can find a plastic figurine of this made-up, completely pretend, does-not-exist-but-Kev-still thinks-it-should-be-a-figurine, then you, dear Friend, are a rock star.

Title: Moopsetherium

Text: Moopsetheriums are really big. The ones with polka dots are smaller than the ones with stripes. The dots change into stripes. They can run faster than a horse. They gallop really fast.

Title: Peelow

Text: Peelows don't have any body. Peelows don't have any toes. Peelows don't have thighs. Peelows live, probably, in the snow. Peelows don't have hands, they just have a head.

Title: Nates

Text: Nates are a little bigger than an ant. Nates are very slow. Nates use their tail to hit fire. Nates can eat marshmallows. Nates can scare dodo birds.

***

There you have it. The writings of Kev. Look out Eric Carle. Look out Jan Brett. There's a new kid on the block and he's got some serious style.

The Gupta Genes Coming Through

Being a former teacher and Christine Hounsell's daughter makes me not want to waste a summer. (My Mom always had us doing schoolwork over the summer.) The kids can't lose everything they've learned over the past year. Practice, practice, practice! And so I spend the month of April assembling a binder for Amiya with activities, puzzles, worksheets and projects to reinforce the skills she learned the previous school year. This is the third year that we're doing this and we have it down - one math activity every day, one reading and/or dictation, one creative thinking and sometimes a science experiment thrown in - all of those can be completed in twenty minutes if she puts her mind to it. Plus she's got her daily chores, some sort of physical activity and a fun thing, too. Her weekly assignment sheet looks like this:

I know this sounds lame and like the kiddo would hate it, but it's quite the opposite. We weren't slated to start until Monday, but she was driving me a bit nuts today and wanted to get going. She's already worked through Wednesday.

Not to be outdone, Kev wanted a piece of the school action this summer, too. So he's got his own binder complete with tracing sheets, letter beads and a composition book for him to draw animals and write about them. (You'll be seeing some of those pages soon - they are too fun!)

Here's how they looked about thirty minutes after I let them crack their binders:

See? They love it. It's pretty evident that I'm not forcing them.

And I quote, "Mom, can we get back to work now? No more pictures."

So yeah, I think the fact that we do these things during the summer is from the Hounsell side of the family - my Mom was super-organized this way and so I am, too. But the fact that the kids love to do it - that's gotta be from the Guptas because I don't remember Uncle Andy or Uncle Mikey ever chompin' at the bit to do their summer enrichment.

What would you do - oo - oo....

...for a Klondike bar?

Our local grocery chain was having a good sale on Klondike bars a few weeks ago, so we got a couple packs. They were, no surprise, a big hit. Both kids love them and now we hear regularly, "What would you do-oo-oo for a Klondike bar?"

Amiya gets it, telling us she'd clean her room or do all the laundry. Kev was not quite there yet - usually his answer was that he'd feed an elephant peanuts or tickle a woolly mammoth. Today he got it though:

Today he answered that he would eat all his lunch without complaining. That is really and truly a big feat. Until we realized that lunch today was his favorite meal in the world: chickpeas, cauliflower, yogurt and chapati. (Gobi, chana, raita and chapati.) He never complains about that meal. What a con man!

Summer Vacation

Today is the very first day of summer vacation. I am more excited than the chicky, I think. We have big plans and we have little plans and sometimes, like this morning, we have no plans. So we are listening to Cab Calloway, we are baking cookies, we are making chana, and we are gearing up for a refresher game of cribbage.



She looks like this right now, ready for two pool parties this afternoon:

We made our first summer trip to the library yesterday after a pool party - we are stocked up and should be good until at least tomorrow.

Next week is to be filled with lots of gymnastics, lots of swimming, lots of reading and lots and lots of creative projects! I LOVE summer vacation - so excited to have time to just goof around!

This is what we're doing today...

I know, I know. And I'm just going to ignore it so don't bother saying it. We have been slammed, slammed, slammed since coming home from India (which was a pretty exhausting trip in and of itself) and the blog just hasn't been important to us. More specifically, to me. Today is the first day in for.e.ver that we do not have soccer, swimming, homework, or another commitment driving our schedule. Amiya is doing this:

And Kev is doing this:

(Although he is in his bedroom, not on the couch. I'm not going to risk waking a sleeping dragon.)

I am blogging to appease another dragon (who lives (albeit for just a few more weeks) in the great north). But one day, friends, the blog will be back. Maybe tomorrow even. We'll have to see.

Word Wall

Please read this as if you were Japanese and upside down. (Thus from the bottom right to the top left.) If that's too tricky, just trust Kev when he tells us that this says, "I love Princess Jasmine, Didi, Buzz Lightyear and Mommy and Daddy." That's right, he's making words. Nonsense words, but who cares!?!?

As an aside, please note how sparkly clean my tile looks. That's a first.

Cherub Cheek

Really, there are no words for the sweetness that is Kev.

When he grows up...

...he tells us he is going to be a zookeeper so he can feed the elephants. I'm not sure if he knows that the zookeepers also have to deal with what comes out the other end, but we can save that for a bit older.

Anyway, here's our little zookeeper practicing his zookeeping skills. From front to back, the big cat exhibit, the hippo exhibit, the Buzz Lightyear exhibit and the cast of the movie Aladdin exhibit. It would seem he's hoping to work for Disney, no?

Our Very Own Olympian - For Real This Time!

While the world was watching Whistler (<- mad alliteration skillz there, Amiya would be proud!), Amiya was reading her little heart out. The second grade ather school had a contest to encourage the kids to read. Simple enough - for every 15 books you read, you advance a medal level. 15 for bronze, 30 for silver, 45 for gold. After 45, no more medals (except if you are a Russian prima donna, then you are allowed to award yourself platinum), but you then are competing against your classmates for most books read.

In the period of 12 days of the competition, Amiya read 72 books. Some were chapter books and 5 chapters equalled one book, some were picture books. But all the chicky did was read. And read. And read some more. So much so that her blog about reading is on hiatus - no time to write, only time to read!

Because we are going to be out of town on the day of the awards ceremony, her teacher had her come up to class at the end of the day and announced in front of her entire class that Amiya read the most books and got a special award.

Amiya was very excited - she didn't think she had won.

Can you see the surprise on her face here? That's because not only did she get a certificate, but she also got a homework pass for one free assignment. That's right. One free assignment. That about made Amiya's day. Anything to get out of homework!

And finally, with her certificate by the classroom's Olympic poster. The medals aren't in yet, so she'll get hers when she's back, but really, that's just gravy when a homework coupon is in the equation, right?

Citizen of the Month

These pics are just eye candy for a proud Mommy.

Amiya was Citizen of the Month this month for her class. We're proud of her, but we'd be proud of her anyway. She's a good little kid.

Listening to the opening remarks and very happy to be there.
Getting her ribbon pinned on by the Principal.

Birthday, Part II: Princess Jasmine Proves Dream Do Come True

The day after Kev's party, we headed over to Disney. Because we were redeeming our Give a Day, Get a Day vouchers, we all got buttons to wear to make it known that we were volunteers. In addition, Kev got a birthday button - imagine the delight!

Our first stop, The Magic Carpet ride, of course!

After that, a short wait in line to see Princess Jasmine. Kev was beside himself in anticipation. But when the time came to go see PJ herself, overwhelmed with elation, Kev was unable to make eye contact or even muster the courage to walk forward. We helped, of course, while every grown-up around smiled at his antics.

Aladdin was a bit taken aback that Kev wasn't there for him - it would seem boys gravitate towards him, girls towards Jasmine. Anyway, once it all got sorted that Kev was there for Jasmine and Aladdin was just gravy, it was all good.

The standard pose.

Then, the surprise:

Oh.

Words cannot express.

But lipstick can!!!

We were not able to wash his face until several days later.

After being smooched by PJ, we ambled over to a store selling trinkets and dolls with PJ emblazoned upon them. Kev bought himself a PJ doll with a gift card a friend had given him for his birthday.

Since this day, PJ has rarely left his side.

An analogy to illustrate how strong the love is:

PJ:Kevalin :: Lamb:Mary

We've even been awoken in the middle of the night because PJ has escaped Kev's loving grasp.

We also got to see Woody and Jessie. Kev, hand on heart, is pining for his PJ, not taking an oath.

At the end of the day, two exhausted kiddos. We'd walked a lot, rode a lot, held hands a lot and laughed a lot. The walk to the car was excruciating for Kev and he fell asleep within two seconds of being on the road.

A great birthday for our little man! (And a great birthday for the rest of us, too!)

Birthday Part I

Somebody just turned 4. Can't even believe it. Weren't we just here?

Anyway, it was a Buzz Lightyear theme - although I have been informed that if he could have changed it, Princess Jasmine would beat out Buzz.

We had a very sweet party for Kev - a bounce house (his one request), a rocket craft, a Mr. Potato Head table and some army guys in a sand box. Very preschoolish and (with the exception of the bounce house) very inexpensive. The kids bounced, had lunch and bounced some more.

We have no more than 3 pictures of the party - that's the only thing that didn't turn out like I wanted - I forgot to take pictures!

So, here's the two that are worth sharing:

Our two little Space Rangers. Both in Toy Story attire - before the party, pre-bouncing.

Kev, with his cake. Again, pre-bouncing.

Here's what Kev's cake looked like up close and personal. Please don't mind the wonky fondant work on the left or the sloping cake. The moon's lack of gravity really messed with my perfect work. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The cake was made to be like a samoa Girl Scout cookie - and it tasted just like it. The grown-ups had this cake. Leftovers were sent packing - no need for those in our house!




These were the cupcakes for the kids. They were vanilla (from a box) with vanilla frosting (from a tub). That's what the kids like, so why stress over homemade? Plus cupcakes make easy work of feeding a million Space Rangers quickly.
These were the cookies in the goody bags. I have recently discovered flickr groups of cookie decorators - so the ideas are fresh and fabulous - these are based off of CeRae's design.

This is post-party. Things always get a little dicey post party, don't they?

The day of his actual birthday, Kev decorated his own little teeny-tiny cake so we could sing after dinner.


Opening his present from us - a Zambi elephant. Love at first sight!

Tomorrow: Birthday, Part II: Princess Jasmine proves Dreams Do Come True

Unofficial Science Fair

So, yesterday I told you how the science fair bug has bitten my little chicky and my rooster, too. So much so, in fact, that this past weekend they played science fair the entire day on Saturday. We were issued tickets (hair rubber bands) and could not attend if we misplaced them. We were given stern warnings about being on time - science waits for no parent. This was serious business.

Vinay and I arrived at the ticketing window with hair rubber bands in place. We were granted admission to the fair.

There was just one exhibit: a towering marble run. The hypothesis was unclear and the experimental methods murky. Thankfully no human or animal subjects were harmed in the conducting of said experiment.

Once the marble run was complete, it became clear that what was disguised as science, was truly just a desperate attempt to get us to attend yet another dance performance.
Here, Kev dancing in his usual 'walk-very-quickly' way. The music: Frosty the Snowman.

And then Primary Investigator Amiya, dancing around the marble run totem. Musical selection: Frosty the Snowman.

Somehow, I don't think this experiment is going to garner her a ribbon.

Official Science Fair

Amiya's teacher this year has been very strong in science - something that Vinay appreciates. The concepts that are being taught are not always concrete, but the students seem to have a good grasp of the abstract - not always easy with mixed ability levels, elementary school science supplies and an educational climate that focuses on testing the Rs instead of a broad-scope curriculum. So, in a nutshell, yeah for science and yeah for Amiya's teacher this year.

Amiya's class and her neighboring class conducted an experiment this year to determine which shape aluminum foil boat would hold the most weights - diamond, rectangle or triangle. The students went through the scientific method and then presented their results with text, graphs and graphics.

The work was strong enough to earn a spot in the regional science fair. So, off the Guptas went one Thursday evening to the Sun Dome at USF to check it out.

Here, our budding scientist in front of the class' display:


We had many conversations as we were walking around - Vinay's conversations with Amiya focused on the science used, the questions posed, the ideas probed. My conversations with Amiya focused on the presentations - this one has too many colors, this one is messy, this one is lined up nicely, this one is typed. Of the two topics, Amiya will struggle far more with presentation than she will with science. And since doing well at this event seems to mean a lot to Amiya, she's going to have to think about that.

Because her class did well enough to make it to regionals, they were all invited to the awards ceremony that evening. As a group, they went up on stage to get their class ribbon.

Somehow, Amiya led the charge and got to hold the ribbon while walking across the stage. I hop she didn't elbow her way in there - it's awfully hard to curb your enthusiasm when getting a big fancy ribbon.

So the science bug has bitten my chicky. And my little rooster, too. More on that tomorrow.

In the Spirit of the Olympic Games

I present to you, seven future Olympians.

These are the kids who came to our house for an Opening Ceremony party - we played Olympic bingo, colored shirts with the mascots, had an Olympics inspired meal and watched 14% of the Opening Ceremony. It'd be great if the cermony would start at the time NBC advertised it to start. However, as there was plenty of popcorn in the house, the kids weathered the delay nicely.

Please be prepared for the Olympics in 2022. You are seeing future medalists - there will surely be gold medals in giggling, laughing, running, creating havoc and inducing chaos.

Disney or Bust

I never really knew what that saying meant - probably still don't. But, it seems appropriate after our day yesterday.

Rewind to Friday. Amiya had a pajama party for the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. It was a lot of fun and a lot of chaos. I may post some pictures so you can share in the merriment, but first I've got to see if the other parents are ok with their kids being chez cyber Gupta. Regardless, Amiya conned me into staying up to watch ALL of the ceremony on Friday night. Such a mistake on my part - we were up until midnight and it was, sadly, very anti-climactic. Don't get me wrong - I thought the opening ceremony itself was very, very nice. None of the grandeur of Beijing's - and it was perfectly Canadian. But I sort of felt like for it to match Amiya's level of excitement, the cauldron would have had to be in our living room with Wayne Gretzky standing on our rug. I digress. Suffice it to say, it was a very, very late night and a very, very short sleep.




Mere hours after falling asleep after the torch on Friday night, Vinay suggested in front of the kids that we go to Disney. Right then. At that very moment. Did I already say it was in front of the kids??? Guess who skipped right on by that section in parenting 101?



So, with an hour's notice, off we went to DisneyWorld.



I should give some back story, in an effort to be fair to Vinay:



1. He is brilliant and very crowd-savvy. He reasoned (probably correctly) that a great number of tourists from the Midwest and the East Coast would be snowed in, so numbers would be down. He also thought that since it is flippin' freezin' in Florida, a lot of the Florida residents wouldn't go, too. So, less people at Disney means a better day at Disney.



2. Three of the four Guptas have participated in the Give a Day, Get a Day program. Vinay read to kids at the Boys and Girls Club, Amiya and I made blankets for earthquake survivors in Haiti.

Therefore, 3 of 4 Guptas have a free ticket to a day at a Disney park. Being Florida residents, means we can upgrade that ticket to a 4 day pass for a very, very small amount. So, we were planning on buying a 4 day ticket for Kev, upping our to 4 day passes and spending 4 random days at Disney for a very, very, very small amount. The only catch is that the tickets have to be used by May. So, Vinay wasn't crazy to think we should go while the going is good.

Except that he was crazy because A. he asked in front of the kids and B. it is cold out. No kidding all the Florida residents stayed home. It is cold out. Lemme say it again. It is cold out.

On our way to Orlando, it became abundantly clear that Amiya's very, very late bedtime + incurable nasal congestion were going to make for a very sick chick if she spent the day out of doors. So, Mommy played the role of bad cop and said, "Ixnay on the isneyDay." Much unhappiness ensued, especially from Kev who repeated about 4 million times his desire to go ride on the tea cups.

So. Disney or bust?

Bust.

But we did hang out in Orlando for the afternoon - we had lunch at IHOP. Maybe the stickiest IHOP ever, but ah, do the kids love it. What's not to love about 4 flavors of pancake syrup, right?

And then we headed over to Downtown Disney which is nothing more than a lot of toys in various stores, coupled with statues of random Disney characters and a heavenly-smelling Ghirardelli shop. We walked around for a bit, ducking into stores when it was too cold or too windy. Window-shopping and explaining to Amiya (several times) that although the LEGO Taj Mahal kit is exciting and looks really cool and "yes, you're right, it would be appropriate since you're half-Indian," it's $379.00 price tag is a little more than we were going to spend. After much sulking, a ride on the merry-go-round seemed to buoy her spirits:

Kev was in heaven. Many times.

There was Buzz:

And an elephant:


And Mr. Potato Head:

The cool thing about one of the stores is that if you wander inside, there is a table full of Mr. Potato Head parts. The kids loved playing with it and now Mr. Potato Head at our house is enjoying a resurgence of popularity. It's quite a Valentine's gift to see your three year old bring the spud over with a wonky face and proclaim "It's YOU Mommy!" Gee, thanks Buddy.

Anyway, despite not making it to the park itself, we still had fun. So our bust wasn't all bust, I guess?