Skating

First off, this post, too, will be a videopalooza.  Settle in, Fans.  The bambini have begun learning to ice skate at the "skate school" at St. Louis Park Rec Center.  (It's almost a life skill up here in the Great White North.)   Joe has been roller skating a few times, as recently as the week between this past Christmas and the end of his winter break.  You can see a brief clip of him flying around the rink with these white contraptions they have for beginning skaters who want them--and Joe does (though he probably would be fine without it)--here.   He's in green.  That's Graham next to him in the orange!  (Bonus footage of Julie--whose first roller skates had a Garfield decal on them and yellow wheels and laces--skating here.)

So Joe has been very comfortable on ice skates and loves being out on the ice.  Clara is also comfortable, but is not quite as light on her blades yet.  They spent most of the first class learning how to get back up after falling down, though in this clip of the end of this past class where the instructors had the kids pick up blocks, Clara embraced another way of getting around the ice when you've fallen down.  But in this other clip from the middle of class, you can see both bambini up and on their skates and--skating!  They are to the left of the frame at the start; Joe is helping Birdie up.

Winter Gala 2015, the End of an Era

Fans, this past week, we marked the end of an era.  We attended our last Winter Gala (now "Winter Concert"; also known as "Winter Event") put on by the pre-schoolers of the KinderCare.  The inaugural Winter Gala in 2010 was conceived when Joe was the Toddler B room with Ms. Krystal and Ms. Nicole.  Longtime Fans will recall this was when Joe and his classmates pinged about the performance space in the St. Louis Park Rec Center, orbiting around the valiant Ms. Krystal like so many electrons around, as Little Red Caboose played in the background.  Joe pumped his arm, blowing that train horn for all he was worth.  No one was surprised when, the next year, children ranging from 15 months to 18 months were not included in the program.

But the two-year-olds were!  This next year was the year that Joe, searching in vein for us in the darkened theater, began crying before his class's performance even started and was whisked to Julie who had made her way to the side of the stage.  No one was surprised when next year, children who were not yet three were not included in the program.

Joe performed as a part of the Preschool A room in January of 2012 and then the Pre-K room in December of 2012, and then passed the torch to Clara who first appeared in the Winter Gala in January of 2014 as a member of the Preschool B classroom.

In her farewell Gala performance, Birdie took the stage (in the cafeteria of the St. Louis Park Middle School) with her Pre-K classmates to sing Let It Snow (a winter-themed play on Frozen's Let it Go) and Pre-K Lead Teacher Mr. Mark's stand-by original chant.  You can view the performance of Let It Snow here,  and of the original chant, here.  Our Birdie is fifth from the left (or stage right, if you like).  She was composed throughout, but deployed some dramatic emotion to great effect in Let It Snow.  Pay attention, in particular, after the pick-up 1:30 in, and again at the close, 2:30 in. Her class's performance as enhanced by some lighting design work which you will notice at the start of Let It Snow.

In the bambini's collective tenure at KinderCare, we have attended all five of its Galas, including both in the double Gala year of 2012.  January 2016 just won't be the same.

Star Bright

You cannot see it, Brigade, but Our Birdie was wearing a shirt with stars all over it.

There is a children's bookstore in St. Paul where Julie took Clara two consecutive weekends in early December--we have been meaning to report--for author reading and book signing events.  The first Saturday, Clara was the only child present, so she got an intimate reading from Alison McGhee of McGhee's latest for children, Star Bright: A Christmas Story, which retells the story of Christ's birth in modern, accessible language.  Then, McGhee signed Clara's copy.

Julie had forgotten that the main character in one of McGhee's books for older readers, Shadow Baby, is named Clara. So, McGhee too still more special notice of Our Clara, and then was charmed by Birdie, who held her own with this adult (and relative stranger) with aplomb. Julie was charmed because McGhee, of whose work she has long been a fan,* was charmed. Julie even tweeted her first (instead of just following) and Alison--surely Julie can call her Alison?!?!--tweeted back! Alison wrote, "It was my pleasure to meet you and the lovely Clara yesterday! What a treat to have a one-on-one reading. :)"  A treat indeed.

Afterward, the Birds walked down the block and had more treats: brownies and water (Clara) and ice tea (Julie, and Clara--a few sips). Stars, bright, in eyes, all the way round.

The following weekend we saw Kate DiCamillo, author of the Mercy Watson series, the first chapter books Our Hero read on his own. Dicamillo is perhaps better known for other works or even her current role as the national children's literature ambassador or some such. She is, also, incidentally, friends with Alison McGhee! DiCamillo and Alison (!) both live in the Twin Cities. Julie believes that Alison is the friend who likes toast "with a great deal of butter," as Mercy Watson does (and really, probably, everyone?).  Joe was too sick to go (this would be the weekend of the onslaught of the cold the became the ear infection the following weekend), but the Birds went. If you want to know the truth, Fans, it was a wee bit miserable. Not because of DiCamillo! She seems like good fun. But she is well known and it was the day of an annual holiday street fair so it was quite crowded  in the independent children's bookseller. But the Birds heard DiCamillo read and had a book signed for Clara, and for Joe. Then, they walked down the block and had sweet treats, water, and iced tea again.

In spite of the crowds, it was lovely.

*McGhee is a local author who gained national attention when Shadow Baby was selected by the Today show for its book club, back when every show on TV was making like Oprah and launching a book club. It also won the Pulitzer Prize. Julie loved that book and everything else McGhee has written that she's read, which is almost everything, especially her novels for older readers. Here ends the unabashed plug for (the talented--and lovely!) Alison McGhee.

Watch Words

This notice of an overdue book from the library at Joe's school arrived the week before the winter break. We thought you might also be amused by the book's title, Fans.

The Letter Game

Also from the entertainment files, while at the Grandparents Trump's, we played several rounds of The Letter Game around the dinner table. Longtime Fans may recognize this game as the one in which players in turn name words beginning with the letter selected by one of the players.  (When you hang with dorks you must roll like a dork!)  It is fun to hear the bambini's respectively emerging vocabularies. Someone--Joe or Clara--picked V, a groan-inducing letter that proved a surprisingly rich vein. (Oh no they didn't! Oh yes, we did, Fans. We did.)