Imp Reader

Here's one more picture from the book area in Kiernan's classroom today. I love this because he looks so impish. He's playing a game with one of the little girls in his class, Nicole. She keeps running up behind the bookshelves and peeking up over them at Kiernan, surprising him. I'm sure his look speaks for itself.

Making a guest appearance are [the ubiquitous] Guinea Pig, and Meow Meow Kitty Cat.

Rites of School Pickup

We are now into Pap-Pap, Day Two. Dad and I have arrived at school to pick up Kiernan. This is generally my favorite part of any day, that moment when the teacher calls for Kiernan to come out of the classroom, and he peers around the doorway and sees me. Then he smiles and with a war cry comes running into my arms.

This moment is a bit different with Pap-Pap here, as Kiernan only has eyes for him. I'm definitely second fiddle. But that's okay, because getting to watch Kiernan's face as he charges for his grandfather is fantastic. All these little moments you never really consider when you decide to become a parent are just staggering.

Before we can leave the school we generally must read a book or two. Almost every day we do this, and I insist that Kiernan ask his teacher, Teacher Stephanie, if this is okay. She invariably says we can, and we go back in and read for a bit. This time Pap-Pap got to read a couple of books to Kiernan.

I'm sure this is obvious by now, but the pictures here show Kiernan and Pap-Pap in his classroom, in the little book/library area, reading.

Atonement

Okay. Not atonement really. Just an apology. Sorry I've been away for so many months. I let updates go by the wayside while working on some other projects, and as I got behind, I'd get further behind, then I'd think about how far behind I was and get paralyzed by how much catching up I had to do. So, then, I'd fall even further behind.

Ridiculous.

Luckily a couple of things happened to get me back on track. A few of you dear readers clamored for me to get moving. And my dad came into town. With Dad in town I just decided to jump back in and start giving updates of what Kiernan is up to right now, and not worry about catching you all up on all the stuff you've missed. As I find nifty pictures of the last few months, I'm sure I'll post them and we can catch up that way.

In the meantime, please do enjoy once again getting fresh news about Kiernan, and don't hesitate to let me know what you think in the comments.

Finally, by way of atonement, I shall post an embarrassing picture of myself from this Christmas, taken midway through the morning before I've had a chance to curl my hair or put on makeup. I've also got a ribbon on my head and a weird necklace on my neck*, which is crucial when posting a picture designed to make amends to a bunch of readers you have wronged.

Thanks for your patience, kind readers.



*Calling the necklace 'weird' is not actually fair. Or nice. It was a gift for somebody after all. A gift I immediately swiped and took to wearing. So it's not weird, per se, just weird for me to be wearing it.

Spacial Relationships

Kiernan is up from his nap and has picked up where he left off with Pap-Pap. Now that the letters have been written and the capitals circled, he has moved on to drawing all of the planets on the map. Reciting, drawing, writing and singing about the planets of our solar system is his new thing. Thanks mainly to his babysitter, Melissa, Kiernan can recite all of the planets in order--forwards and backwards. He loves to spend untold amounts of time drawing the planets and singing about them.

For awhile, Pluto was Kiernan's favorite planet. I did not have the heart to tell him that Pluto had been downgraded--I think scientists have now labeled Pluto a "Hobbit Planet"...but I could be wrong about that--because he liked it so much. So little and so far out there, all alone. Luckily his mom handled that task. I was thoroughly unhelpful, instead insisting that beyond Pluto was the Tenth Planet, Planet Goofy. At first Kiernan looked at me with a serious and confused sort of look, but he quickly got past this and just shook his head whenever I'd bring it up. He's lived with me for more than three years now. He knows the score.

One day, though, he just decided, out of the blue, that Planet Goofy was the Tenth Planet after all. Eventually other characters got to be planets too. In the picture to the left, Pap-Pap is pointing out Planet Donald. As my dad said, "You can tell that's Planet Donald. It's the one with the beak."

After this Pap-Pap went off to the restroom and I sat down to play a bit. Kiernan got a sneaky look in his eye, put the cap on his pen, and moved over to me. He touched the pen to my foot, tickling me.

"Did you do that?" I asked.

Kiernan shook his head.

"Who tickled my foot?"

"Um...a silver-tongued lizard," he replied.

"Wow," I said. "Where did that lizard come from?"

"Alabama."

So there you have it. The new game Pap-Pap and Kiernan made up before his nap--called "It Wasn't Me" and detailed in this post--is still being played after his nap. It is now an official game.

Blaming the Giraffe

Kiernan's Pap-Pap is visiting, making this a good day to get back on the blogging horse. More on that later. Maybe.

Pap-Pap, my dad, got into town yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, and Kiernan was unbelievably excited. It was so cool to see him expressing this in the days leading up to his grandfather's visit. Monday afternoon after school he was really talking about it, asking why Pap-Pap could not be at our house on that day, or as he has taken to saying, "this day", as in, "Why can't Pap-Pap come to our house this day?" I love the way he talks, picking up little language idiosyncrasies from the world around him and weaving them into his everyday speech.

When he went down for his nap on Monday, he asked again when Pap-Pap was going to arrive. I again answered that he was flying into town on Tuesday. Kiernan took a pretty good nap, and when he awoke he called that he was done sleeping. I went in to get him, peeking carefully into his room. He looked at me with skepticism for a moment, then a huge smile broke out over his face and his eyes lit up. "Pap-Pap! Is Pap-Pap here?" He was so excited. Sometimes he takes awhile to wake up after his nap, needing to be cuddled and reluctant to be cheered up. I really have no idea where this wake-up grogginess comes from; I'm always instantly rarin' to go when I'm awakened in the morning...yep...no pre-coffee grumpiness from me. Never. No sirree. At any rate, he had no trouble waking up this time.

Sometimes when he awakens from a nap he is confused about what day it is, thinking that because he went to sleep and then later woke up, it must therefore be the next day. This was the case after Monday's nap. It was touching to see him so jazzed about his Pap-Pap's visit. Sadly, I had to go ahead and crush that excitement by informing him that it was still Monday. This did not go over so well.

On Tuesday, however, when he went down for his nap, he did so with the certainty that his Pap-Pap would definitely be there when he woke up. As he prepared for sleep, he whispered to his mom, "I'm going to dream about Pap-Pap!" Beautiful.

When he woke up, and my dad was there to greet him, his face once again lit up. He was positively beaming, getting up and jumping into Pap-Pap's arms. For the rest of the day they were essentially inseparable. Anything that was normally my job was relegated to Pap-Pap.

In these pictures, the two of them are playing a game Pap-Pap has decided to call, "It Wasn't Me". From what I can gather, Pap-Pap tickles one of Kiernan's feet while Kiernan is doing something else (in this case he was writing the letters of the alphabet over and over again on the enormous map pictured in that second picture, after having circled the capitals of all the states on the map). When Kiernan looks at him and laughs, Pap-Pap says, "It wasn't me." Kiernan asks, "Who was it?" Then Pap-Pap comes up with a story. One of them that I heard when I was eavesdropping involved a giraffe that had escaped from the zoo and somehow ended up in the neighbor's yard. It had such a long neck it could reach all the way over the fence and across the yard and tickle Kiernan foot with its tongue.

It is amazing how long this game went on. At one point a kangaroo hopped over the other fence and the joey in its pouch reached down and tickled Kiernan's foot.

Great stuff.