Quick Voice Update

Yesterday, one of A's teachers -- who, through a combination of vacations and circumstance hadn't seen A for about three weeks -- just about fell on the floor when he spoke to her across a large room. "Wow! A, I can really hear your voice!" she said, adding that normally she had to be standing next to him to hear him.

Birthday Four - The Sword in the Stone

Whew. We finished the party and we're all pretty much exhausted. It was lots of fun.


A has been Really Excited about the party for the last five days. He and M spoke about it instead of falling asleep. And this morning, in a Shade of Christmas to come, A woke us up at 5:30 to talk about his party some more.
















A said he wanted a "Sword in the Stone" party. So... we invited folks to dress in medieval clothing and to perform a magic trick. M and I worked on the party over the week. I drew a knight on some butcher paper and made some construction paper shields for a game of "Pin the Shield on the Knight." M worked really hard on the yard and yard furniture & procured a tent. M watched A while I made a "Joy of Cooking" cake batter. M and A went shopping for party favors. M painted a dragon and a castle for a kind of croquet game.














A, of course, was ready for his nap at 11 AM when the first guests arrived. But he perked up. Grandma J and Grandpa H came, as did Aunt M and Uncle L. And the W's, J and S, and KB also came. Just the right number of kids from pre-school showed up, and for once, A wasn't the only child at his own birthday. All of the kids were great: kind, encouraging, and fun.







M and I split up duties: I played the harp inside and greeted the guests while M hosted in the backyard. The magic tricks were a big hit. We had buffet sandwiches, then A decided it was time for cupcakes. All of them had little cocktail swords sticking in them. A slightly anvil shaped cake had a larger sword with 4 candles. (I was going to make the 4 candles into swords, but it would have been too much like serving my child a "Four of Swords" Tarot birthday cake... which would have been a little odd symbolically.














After cupcakes, it was time for the Pin the Shield game. Everyone took turns, and my Mom handed out medals (with color co-coordinated ribbons) once the shields were on. There was some milling about and then M decided to read "Caps for Sale," staring me as the cap peddler and the kids as the monkeys.

Once all the kids had left, A pretty much crashed, leaving the adults to trade stories. And clean.

Photos from the Haircut

At last, here are some photos of A's haircut. He'd whacked off a hamster-sized chunk a while back. It's kind of hard to see in this photo, but not only were his bangs extra high, most of his hair was on the right side of his head. He looked like some 80's actress.






M was pretty good about prepping A for the hair cutting. We went to a "professional." We lost the white-gold curls, and his hair is much shorter now.







He looks much more like a little boy now, and less like a knight's squire.

Pre-Birthday Party

A is very excited about his birthday party tomorrow.  We've invited his pre-school class.  The theme is "The Sword in the Stone," and folks are invited to dress up (as much as they'd like to be) and to perform a magic trick. 

I made cupcakes (and a small cake) and M got some plastic cocktail swords to stick into them.  Tomorrow morning I need to make a quick cardboard sword for the bigger cake.  

What strikes me as weird is that there's no Knights of the Round Table stuff at our local Party Store.  I guess Malory and the Winchester Manuscripts aren't inspiring...

Pictures soon.

Quick Update

Last weekend was fun.  We hiked a local peak and A made it up to the top all by himself.  The hike was 1.7 miles and I want to say about 500 to 800 feet up.

We also went kiyaking with a friend.  A sat with her and she paddled.  We saw a sailboat in the distance, but it sailed away before we could get close.

Today... A hacked off a hunk of his hair about the size of a small hamster. His preschool teachers were very apologetic.  A said he wanted to look like another classmate who recently got a haircut.  He sort of has a bad mullet, and looks like he could play a lady-in-waiting for a play.    

Repose with Stick

May is coming along nicely. As you can see, A has found a stick. His favorite thing to do is sword fight, much to the mortality of a certain tomato plant.

We're hearing a lot more of A's voice lately, mostly at home. When he's in public he still whispers. Last night he had a long and audible conversation with M, so we're hopeful that he'll be speaking with his friends in pre-school just in time for the Summer break.

Banging Lids

A has been putting himself to bed for his afternoon nap the last few days.

Right now he's banging two pot lids together. M is more tolerant of this; I have closed the door to our room as I type this.