Picture of This Day

Look! Lunchtime at school!

But wait. This picture was taken after school. Huh.

A couple of important facts about first grade that you should know.

1. Lunch is eaten after school.
2. There are far more important things to do during the official lunch break during the school day than eating lunch.

You see, it makes more sense to chow down after school, with a bunch of adults standing around feeling frustrated as their afternoon agendas are being subverted, than to waste valuable playtime with school friends sitting at a table and eating. And since the adults supervising lunchtime at school don't make a fuss about it...who's gonna make me? Nanny nanny poo-poo, stick your head in doo-doo.


January 31, 2011

Picture For This Day

Wendy took Kiernan to his friend Aiden's birthday party yesterday. According to most reports, he had an okay time.

You can decide for yourself whether this seems likely based on the above picture, which Wendy texted me from her phone.

I dunno. I'd say the jury's still out on this one.


January 29, 2011
Woodland Hills, CA

Picture of This Day

Impromptu chalk playdate with a couple of the neighbor boys. Just a few minutes ago.


January 29, 2011

Bonus Picture of The Day

While I was making dinner, Kiernan worked with his Nana at the computer.


January 28, 2011

Picture of This Day

The big event of this week was the Walk N Roll-A-Thon, in which Kiernan's whole school participated in a fundraiser for the music department. By "fundraiser for the music department" I mean the kids worked on this day to come up with money for their music teacher's salary. Without events like this, no salary, and no music teacher. Such is the state of education in America.

Instead of getting all up on my soapbox and ranting about money spent on wars I'll just take a deep breath and say how great the event was. It's always encouraging to see a community come together like they did today.


January 28, 2011

Survival Training

There's a movie preview playing now that shows Eric Bana teaching what I presume to be his daughter survival skills somewhere in the arctic. I close my eyes and ears during previews, so I have no idea what is actually going on or what the film is called. I only know that the little girl is charging at Eric Bana and they're fighting in the snow. I assume she's his daughter, but I suppose she could be a young Yeti.

I say all that because this is what's going on in these pictures. Only substitute Big Bear for the arctic. This is what dads do. They teach their kids survival skills. Above I'm tossing him to the wolves. Next, he strikes back.

Finally, I teach him stealth ninja skills.

Things are progressing nicely.

Picture For This Day

Sledding with Gammy over the holidays.


December 28, 2011
Big Bear, CA

Found Quotes for This Day

Every now and then I'll stumble across a little scrap of paper upon which I've written an idea or a quote, something I intended to log in one of my journals. Often these are Kiernan quotes. Things he said at bedtime or while eating dinner or while in the bathtub. When I find them I have little idea as to the context, and I consider tossing them. But I can't.

So here, with little context, are a couple of them.

QUOTE 1:

I like to trip because it makes people distracted and I jump on them.


[I've considered this, and I think it took place during a playdate with his friends Jon and Matt. I think they were strategizing.]

QUOTE 2:

Thanks for trying, but too bad your plot was foiled.


[This was definitely said to me. I was trying to trick him into doing something. I don't know what because this response was so hilarious I basically just dissolved.]

QUOTE (more accurately, DIALOGUE) 3:

Kiernan: I bet the other side of the world is just finishing breakfast.
Dad: How do you know that?
K: Because we're just finishing dinner.
D: Wow.
K: I don't know that. I'm just guessing that, Daddy.


[No context required. He just busts out with these types of things from time to time at dinner or in the car without preamble. I think this was a couple of years ago.]

Picture For This Day

He's getting into maps again, which is fun. Last couple of nights we've played an alphabet map game. We take turns going through the alphabet and naming places with the name of whatever letter comes up at our turn. The speed with which he finds these places...dizzying.

This picture taken by his sitter, Nicole.


January 24, 2011

Picture of This Day

Nana has arrived! Now she gets to watch Kiernan destroy things. Ah, boys.


January 24, 2011

Quote of This Day

This morning I heard Wendy laughing like crazy from another room where she was hanging out with Kiernan. The laughter went on for awhile, at volume, so I made my way over and asked.

Turns out they were making up knock-knock jokes, and Wendy's had gone over pretty well. Or so she thought. Until Kiernan said...

"That's not very funny, Mom."

"But you laughed at it," she replied.

"That was a pity laugh."

That was a pity laugh. This response is what elicited the laughter that called me into the room. How in the world does a six-year old come up with the term 'pity laugh'?  Why, by watching the best show in the world, Phineas and Ferb, of course.

See? The demon box is good for something.


January 23, 2011

P.S. My knock-knock joke about the recent visit of the president of China...not for this crowd apparently.

Aunt Amy Appreciation Post of This Day

In going through my inbox yesterday and today I found about a thousand comments for recent posts from my awesome* and lovely sister-in-law, Amy. Amy consistently comments on the posts here with wit and feeling and appreciation, and I wanted to send a little bit of that back this morning. Learning to be a new mom, balancing that with work and the general responsibilities of being a great Significant Other...and still she takes the time to write up little comments. It's little things like this that are big to people like me and say so much about what a wonderful woman of character Amy is.

Also, this:

Aunt Amy is not afraid to trade snowballs with the best of them. I've put up some snowball related content recently, so I thought it appropriate to go back to our visit of April of 2009 to provide a little familial link to moments like this.

So, thanks Amy.  We love and miss you bunches. And we're thinking about you all the time.


*That's right, Rance. I said 'awesome'.

Picture of This Day

Yep, another reading picture. I got this shot this morning as I prepared his lunch before school. He was so into this book that he completely tuned out all adult voices. I had to ask him many times to put on his shoes. That's okay, I like seeing this.

I mentioned in this other recent post about him reading that he got an extra book from the library because he felt he had fallen behind. It was a nice little simple thing. We went to school Thursday morning and he wanted to walk right into the library to return his book. Usually first graders just put their return books in a bin in the first grade classroom, and they can only get one book a week. I came to find out later from Wendy that in some cases the library makes exceptions.

We walked into the library to find it empty. So we turned around and headed out, only to be stopped by Miss Heidi, the librarian, from across the sidewalk. "Are you looking for me?" she asked. Then she noticed Kiernan. "Oh, Kiernan. That's right, I promised you I'd be here. Come back in!"

She let him get a new book before school and said to him, "And if you want to bring that one back and get another one tomorrow, that's fine too."

Beautiful.

Oh...here's a bonus pic from this morning:

There it is folks: The Reader's Frown. Passed down from his wonderful mom. Passed to her from hers.

Again. Beautiful.


January 21, 2011

Picture For This Day

Another picture of him waiting for his pal Jonah to show up for their playdate last weekend. Everything is weapons and superpowers right now.


January 17, 2011

The Long and the Short of It

Today after school we busied ourselves with measuring dinosaurs. Like ya do.

One of the things we do, one of the things we have to do, is modify homework so that it's challenging and interesting for Kiernan. Worksheets that ask "What number comes next?" and involve single digit addition or subtraction aren't really going to be very helpful. So, with Kiernan's teacher's blessing, we modify. Sometimes modification means creation. As it did today.

Yesterday Kiernan pulled out his huge dinosaur encyclopedia and started reading up on dinosaurs again. In short order he asked for a ruler. So I grabbed our tape measure and we started measuring out dinosaur lengths. When we got home from school today he wanted to jump back into that. So, inspired by Wendy's suggestion last night, we just made this into homework, replacing a couple of the homework packet worksheets. We spent a couple of hours measuring off dinosaur lengths and heights on the sidewalk and driveway. We marked them off with chalk and recorded them on a legal pad. Then we worked on converting feet to inches, just for fun. In this way, and others, he's starting to learn multiple step arithmetic and even some low level multiplication.

Plus it was fun to run outside and measure stuff off and write on the ground in chalk then run back inside and look at dinosaur pictures.

He loves to learn, and he's so active. It's great to get to combine those aspects of his personality.

One of the first dinosaurs we measured off was Barapasaurus, which is fifty feet long. Or fifty feet tall. Or something. I don't know. Just ask Kiernan the next time you see him.

Picture of This Day

Yes, yes. I realize I've posted this type of picture a number of times. Just imagine I'm creating a database of pictures of Kiernan reading. If you find it boring or redundant, ignore it. I won't be offended.

This captures him seconds after coming in the door. Before this he sat in the car reading for a good five to ten minutes while I brought stuff in the house and started getting ready for a short visit from Kiernan's grandparents tomorrow.

Today is Wednesday. Wednesday is Library Day for his class. He missed getting a new book last week, so he was keen on reading this one. Yes, it's a graphic novel--translation: comic book--but I don't care. I love how much he loves to read. I just love it.


January 19, 2011

Picture of This Day

This holiday weekend was just an embarrassment of playdate riches. We had two today, alone. Alas, the second one featured tardiness.  Here he is on the front lawn, waiting for his pal Jonah.

Don't worry. Jonah arrived in due time, and much hilarity ensued.


January 17, 2011

Picture For This Day

I love catching him at play. I apologize for the poor quality of this picture, but I had to totally stealth it. If Kiernan sees me taking the pic, he'll duck.

Here he is with his friend William during Sunday's playdate.  I like this because it reveals a couple of things to me. He is so proud of his Lego projects. He's showing a couple of them off to his friend. More to the point, he's cool with them as toys. This is huge to me. For to me these Lego set constructions seem impossibly fragile. Whenever he touches one of them when he is around Mom or Dad, pieces fly off and crying ensues. But with his friends...apparently anything goes. Look at his face. Do you detect even a hint of concern? No, neither do I.

So I'm happy he is proud of his Lego projects. I'm happy he is cool with playing with said projects. And I realize I'm totally getting played every time there is a Lego "disaster" when it's just me or Mom in the room.

My boy. So much smarter than his dad.


January 16, 2011

Picture For This Day

Working on a new Lego set on Christmas day. He's already knocked out most of his Lego gifts, and watching the progression as he's learned new skills and matured in less than a month is just phenomenal.

Of course, this means we have to go and buy him more Lego sets. Sigh. Not the first parents to go through this.


December 25, 2010

Picture For This Day

Entertaining his cousin Dorian as Aunt JoAnne and Uncle Mitch wait for baggage at the airport. Either that or the two cousins are working out their curling strategy for the 2030 Winter Olympic Games.  Which I predict will have to be held at the North Pole.

Hmph.  Sorry to bring the room down.


December 26, 2010
Ontario, CA

Picture of This Day

Kiernan with his new robot friend from Burger King during his day playing with his super fun sitter, Nicole.  His folks were out on a date.  Seeing The Green Hornet.

Sorry kiddo, your folks need some time to do adult things. Like going out to a stupid comic book movie.

To be fair, we did go to a very grown-up place for our late lunch. It was a French Crapperie.  Um...that is how you spell it, right?


January 15, 2011

Picture For This Day

He was really, really good at throwing snowballs.  Seriously.  This is good news for me.  He's got his mom's smarts...and his dad's arm.


December 2010
Big Bear, CA

Happy Birthday, Pop!

A pic from a couple of years ago that I stumbled across recently and saved for today, the occasion of Kiernan's Pop's Birthday.  There's still time to wish him a happy birthday, just stop by the Riverwalk Restaurant where he's having his birthday dinner--I know, that they didn't go to the Bonefish Grill threw me for a loop as well--and sing to him.  He'll love it.

Aww heck...one more Pop related picture:

Kiernan had such fun in his socks on these newly renovated floors!

Picture of This Day

I'm sure I have better shots of this, but I just cannot resist this picture, so I'm posting it.  Here Wendy captures Kiernan with the final product of his hugest Christmas present: the Lego Clone Turbo Tank that he got from Nana and Pop.  One thousand one hundred and forty-one pieces.

Yep.  You read that right.  1,141.

He got frustrated here and there.  He asked for help from time to time.  Now that I think about it, let me count up the number of times I actually had to come in and help him fit something together.  Hmm.  There was that thing with the wheels, where they couldn't fit because of an earlier issue.  And then there was fitting up the axles. I did two of those.  Also helping with the whatchamacallit...

Nevermind.  We helped with less than twenty pieces.  I think I can say that confidently.  Twenty pieces, out of 1,141.

I never got Legos before.  I do now.

Picture of This Day

Here Wendy captures Kiernan's pride at finishing construction on another of his Lego Christmas presents.  This one is the Lego Vulture Droid.  I think.  I may have that name wrong, but suffice to say that it was a present from his Great Aunt Diane, and he loves it.

Thanks Diane!


January 12, 2011

A Sebense of Hub-oh-mo-brrr

On the occasion of Kiernan's birthday party, we had a bouncy house.  Surprise!

In other news, Kiernan shared his birthday party with his friend Teddy, as he did the year before.  Teddy is one of Kiernan's friends, and the shared birthday party was a big success because Teddy's family is supercool...like he is.

Like Kiernan's mom is, too.  She had this great idea of having the two kids choose songs for a cd that would be distributed in gift-bags to the party-goers.  I'm generally a curmudgeon about these party bags.  They're usually filled with crap.  Kids come to a birthday party and leave with a bag of dollar-store crap.  I don't get it.  And I can't stand it.  But it happens at every birthday party so not doing it is impossible.

The compilation cd idea made it great. So props to my amazing wife.

All of this is to say, I've been listening to the cd in my car a lot these days.  I want to make something clear though.  I do not listen to the first track, which is "Party in the USA".  I do not.  Not at all.  And I certainly don't keep replaying it over and over and over again.  Nope.

Moving on...as it turns out, Kiernan's favorite tracks are the ones Teddy chose.  He loves listening to "What's This" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, and singing that with him in the car is...I don't know...transplendent.  The thing I'm most surprised about in the compilation is the inclusion of a Bill Cosby comedy bit about visiting the dentist.  I haven't talked to Teddy or his folks about the inclusion of this.  They are artists.  Actors.  Professional clowns.  That their son already has a love for classic comedy is beautiful.  I love that they included it.  What's most interesting to me is that this track is one of Kiernan's favorites on the cd.  I didn't expect that.

I've been nervous about letting him listen to it.  It paints dentists in a...well, certain light.  A certain stereotypical light.  The word "iron hook" is used.  Pretty sure I don't want to create ugly and painful associations with going to the dentist in my son's brain.  Especially since his dentist is really, really great, and he has no fear of going to her at all.  So far.

Whatever.  Kiernan thinks it's funny.  And I'm kind of loving his reaction to this as a part of his developing sense of humor.  I hear him in the back seat, laughing at Cosby's jokes, and most especially the sound effects.  And I hear him back there aping those sound effects.  The sounds of the patient with a novocained lip.  Kiernan's getting to be an expert at those already.

That's my boy.  Growing up so fast.  Developing a sense of humor.  And working on a repertoir of impressions.

Wow.  Just wow.

Or rather...Wbow.

Picture of This Day

Yep.  That's right.  We're living with a superhero.  With all that entails.

After school today Kiernan went home with his friend Oliver for a playdate.  The whole thing came together perfectly.  Oliver wanted a playdate.  His mom e-mailed us about said playdate days ago, suggesting Monday (today) as a good day for it.  I had to be downtown for a show today, and Wendy had several meetings.  So Oliver's mom--Gemma, who is so, so great--picked up the boys and took them home.

After fighting my way through traffic I arrived at the playdate house.  I made my way inside.  And this is what I found.  A superhero son.  So I've got that going for me.

Getting him out of that costume so we could go home and have superhero dinner and do some superhero homework...let me tell you, no mean feat.


Sherman Oaks, CA
January 10, 2011

Picture of This Day

We got back from the grocery store today and I started putting away the fridge stuff.  Kiernan went to the door and looked out, watching the kids playing across the street.  I started a mental countdown.

"Daddy?  Can I go out and play with Haven and Gustavo?"

I thought about all the stuff that still needed to be done today, and how monitoring him outside would get in the way of those things.  Then I remembered living in Churchland, VA.  Way back when.  Around third grade or so.  Going out and playing in the neighborhood with my friends.  One of them I remember, a boy a couple years older than I was with a name like Robert Burton or something like that.  Not a bad kid, but not the greatest influence.  And Mom knew that.  But she also trusted me to go out and play in the neighborhood and not lose myself.

I also remember how much joy was contained in those days.  Running around the neighborhood.  Goofing around.  Learning bad words.  Getting hit in the head with a baseball bat...Good times.

"Sure."

Shoes and socks and out the door.  Hours of play ensued.


January 9, 2011

Focus

Weird, borderline creepy pic?  Perhaps.  Out of context.  He took this of himself with his own camera when we were up at Big Bear.  He gave his cousin Dorian a camera for Christmas, and both of them broke out their cameras and went nuts taking pictures.  He loves taking pictures with that camera.

The real point of this post,however, is to talk about Lego projects, and what lessons I'm learning as I watch him work with his new toys.  Simply extraordinary.

Last night was Wendy's book club.  She has this every six weeks or so.  It rotates from house to house.  This Friday book club was at our house.  We were in a minor frenzy as we prepared for the gathering, and Kiernan was in top form.  Entertaining himself and being mostly understanding of the fact that we could not give him attention.  He relegated himself to his room to work on various projects as we readied the house for the arrival of Wendy's book friends.  Once the guests were settled and laughing comfortably in front of the fire, I joined him in his room to ready him for bed.

He was finishing his dinner in his room as he quietly worked on one of the Lego sets he received at Christmas.  These sets are truly amazing.  Far more intricate than I would have imagined.  This one, a gift from Nana and Pop, has more than eleven hundred pieces.  Kind of makes my mind spin.  Yet there he was, in the center of his room, working his way through the directions.

I came in and sat down.

"Hi Dad.  Want to help me with this?"

Well...yes.

It was such a revelation.  I don't know quite how to express it.  Watching him there, looking through all those pieces.  Consulting the manual.  Carefully snicking together the pieces.

I watched him doing it.  Occasionally helping him find the odd piece he was having trouble finding.  And I realized I was watching my boy learn and grow right before my eyes.  There he was carefully fitting together these tiny pieces.  Working out problems.  Exhibiting patience.  I was seeing it happen, right before my eyes.

Sitting there with him in his room.  Watching him concentrate.  Watching him focus.  Seeing him, right there before me, learning to be patient.

Man. Being a parent is just the best thing ever.

Picture For This Day

Getting suited up for some action on the slopes with his main man, Cousin Dorian.


December 27, 2010
Big Bear, CA

Picture For This Day

Going up against Uncle Mitch and Cousin Dorian for the Rubicon Cabin World Championships.


December 29, 2010
Big Bear, CA

Picture For This Day

Soccer with the boys at yesterday's playdate.

Julie, Matt and Jon's mom, brought along soccer balls and a couple of portable goals.  Kiernan took one look at all of this and gazed longingly beyond the fence at the play structures therein.  I gestured to the kids kicking the ball.

"I don't want to play soccer," he said to me, matter-of-factly.  "I want to play on the play structure."

Fine with me.  He shed his shoes and socks and headed into the fenced area and had a blast.  As it turned out, most of the kids did the same, eshewing soccer for running about in the sand, climbing, going down slides, and randomly tackling one another.  The portable goals joined us for a time, and then they were dragged back out to the grass as a couple of kids decided to play soccer again.  Kiernan showed no interest in that.

Until I said it was time to go and started to gather our things.

"I want to play soccer now," he informed me, as he put on his socks and shoes.

You don't say.


Balboa Park: Encino, CA
January 4, 2011

Picture of This Day

Today was an early dismissal day.  Teacher training and whatnot.  So one of the moms set up a playdate at a local park for right after school.

Fun was had.


Balboa Park: Encino, CA
January 4, 2011

Independence

Kind of a goofy picture, but I like it.  I had to shoot it surreptitiously from across the room.

We spent the last week of December in a cabin with family.  Gammy and Grance and Aunt JoAnne and Uncle Mitch and Cousin Dorian.  One of the great joys of the week was watching how Kiernan and Dorian interacted. How they played and shared and negotiated.  They are so great together.  One of Kiernan's big challenges was dealing with the time when his younger cousin would take his nap.

The picture above captures Kiernan working this out one day.  He spent most of Dorian's nap just playing with Legos.  On this day he was playing with his cousin's new Lego bulldozer.  Kiernan loved this thing...as did Dorian.  No surprise, it was Dorian's newest toy.  But Kiernan so wanted to play with it.  That bulldozer was so, so cool.  So, on this day, Dorian said Kiernan could play with the new bulldozer while Dorian was asleep.  It was just such a great negotiation.

Kiernan spent most of Dorian's nap that day playing on his own with the bulldozer and another Lego dumptruck.  The adults were on the other side of the room, reading and writing in journals and playing Angry Birds and catching naps and going for walks.  Hearing Kiernan in playtime, doing quiet voices as his cousin slept...beyond beautiful.

After an hour or so he asked me to play with him.  We went into the cabin's kitchen and played, me operating the dumptruck and Kiernan commandeering the beloved bulldozer.  I felt so good, being the good dad playing with his son.  Sharing quality time.

After fifteen/twenty minutes Kiernan asked, "Is Dorian gonna be up soon?"

Yeah, I'm a good dad.  But at this time...just a placeholder.  Oh well.  Getting him to fly on his own is the point, right?

Right.  Sigh.

Picture For This Day

Playing this weird pig tossing game with his Grance, during our recent vacation.  I love his air of concentration here.  I also have to say that I love that Rance was successful in getting Kiernan into this game.  That just makes me happy.


December 2010
Big Bear, CA

Picture of This Day

As it turns out, our boy is into Legos.  Specifically Atlantis Lego sets.  Big time.

Happy New Year.  And love to you all!


January 1, 2011