Family Visit

Is it all the kids of this generation, or is my grandson truly as amazing as he seems to me? Five years old. His vocabulary astounds me. His imagination soars. He talks on and on, making up stories, songs, games. Sometimes, when I start to explain something to him, when it seems to me that a five year old would require such explanation, he gives me that quizzical look of his, and sometimes says something like, "Or why not......" some other logical way to accomplish whatever it is. He does things like handling his mother's camera like a pro. And I'm sure he knows more about computers than I do. (Not that I know much.)



He is a ball of energy of course. That is common to most five year olds. His curiosity is endless. He seems to me to be wise beyond his years, almost always polite and compassionate and capable of quick, sensible decisions. When he meets a situation unfamiliar to him, he turns to his parents and asks quite clearly what he needs to know.


Those parents have much to do with it if course, along with the Montessori pre-school he's been attending for some time, where they teach their little charges self-sufficiency and responsibility, among other things.
I was very impressed on Saturday when we visited the local Alpaca Farm. The animals are usually a little shy and standoffish, but not with Isaac. They seemed as interested in him as he was in them, and accepted his offerings of grass through the fence. He was delighted by this.
This one leaned down to get a good look at him.





Of course, there is the occasional melt-down, as with any child. But Isaac is almost always a very happy little boy and a pleasure to have around


I'm very proud of my daughter, as I am of all of our children. I'm sure Ralph would be very pleased with them too. After all, he had a whole lot to do with raising them. Our other grandchildren were pretty wonderful too, but in the present world of technology and new things happening every day, this one of our youngest daughter's surprises me all the time.

A Legos Birthday

Since my grandson and family were to be away over his birthday last month, I sent him a gift certificate for Legos. When they got home again, they ordered what he wanted from the catalog, and he has been waiting for them every since.

Now Kitty tells me that he told her that they were coming. He said that he had seen a delivery truck go by, and he could see through it and knew they were there, but the truck had to deliver things to other people first. They would arrive later. Sure enough, in the afternoon, they were delivered. Guess you didn't know my grandson has X-ray vision, did you?

Kit promised to send me pictures when he starts building!

Webcams, Change in Weather, Isaac

First, thanks to Michelle for a lead to eagle and owl webcams. They look great. I love watching and waiting for the eggs to hatch and the chicks to grow.
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Really happy to report we had nothing but rain over night. There was a little melting of snow as a result. This morning they are telling us things about "flurries" and "showers", so I'm hoping for the best, and feel much better about it.
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My daughter posted more
pictures of Isaac, taken in California. I guess she's showing them before going on to those of their their New England trip. I'm enjoying the sunny photos at the pool, including his current love - his best friend's little sister.















The pipe cleaner man is his portrait of his dad.







Of course I'm also looking forward to the new ones to come. Especially those of his fifth birthday.



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Oh boy! Here's the first pic.



It's the first time he has ever seen snow actually falling.

We're All Thankful for the Internet

Several people have expressed their thankfulness for the internet in the past few days. I have to join them in that sentiment. Blogging has certainly become a very large part of my life in the past two years, and blogging friends have come to mean so much to me. My computer has become my lifeline, as I have become less able to get out and do the things I used to do.


And I could not resist showing you another reason we have to be thankful for modern technology. Recently my son-in-law had to take a business trip to Taiwan. Life without Daddy at home is stressful for Isaac and his mom. But here is how they coped. Isn't that great?



All of us can talk about the good old days when we were young, and how we didn't have modern conveniences. But just think of today's children! Will they ever be able to understand how we managed to get along without such things? Their eyes grow wide and full of doubt just talking about the days before television. Now this?



I can remember watching the Saturday matinee, with serials like Buck Rogers, and thinking how silly the ideas were in those outlandish movies with their robots and such. Kids today would just snicker at such totally unsophisticated things.







But even today, kids do enjoy swings and rings and slides - and climbing trees. Thank God for that!

T-Rex

Before we let go of Halloween and put it away until next year, I must show you my grandson's costume. He is crazy for dinosaurs, and was determined to be T-Rex for Halloween. They bought the head, but made the rest themselves. He didn't go trick or treating, but went to two parties - one on Friday, and one on Saturday. His mom posted pictures on Flickr last night.




Here he is, roaring loudly and ferociously.











The clown made him a balloon snake.














I think one of the best features of the costume was the feet.






Meanwhile, back on the east coast, we don't get too many trick or treaters on our street. I had six tiny ones who arrived before dark. They were absolutely adorable. A bit later, I had two more, but they were big, high school agers, who neither spoke nor smiled - just held out their bags for candy. That's no fun at all. But the cute little ones made up for it.

Where Did the Little Boy Go?

Kitty just posted more pictures on Flickr. I could not believe what I was seeing. I had commented to my family last time she posted pictures of Isaac, how. up until that point every picture of him looked so exactly like his mother at the same age, it was hard to tell who was which. A week or so later, every picture of him looked exactly like his father instead.



And now she has posted pictures after he had another haircut. I'm sure you remember, because so many of you commented on it, his very long, wavy, blond hair. The haircut he got a little while ago made him look very different, but still just like Kitty.



This time I think he looks like a completely different boy. And so much more grown up! No more grandbaby. I guess I have to get used to this.






Short hair or long, I don't think he will ever comb it. He's much too busy to bother with such things as that.
Maybe that's why he almost always wears a baseball cap.







Wow! He's almost five years old. Just four more months until his birthday.


Hmmmmm. Now that I look at it more closely, I guess he does still look like his mother. But his expressions are more and more like his father's. I guess that's pretty natural, isn't it?

Halloween Preview

The California contingent visited Earthbound Farm about a month ago. Isaac had insisted on decorating for Halloween very, very early, and decided he wanted to dress as T-Rex when the big day arrives. Kitty sent me pictures of the pumpkin choosing of course. I thought she might post some herself, but so far she hasn't, so I'm going to share.







It's become their tradition to choose pumpkins at Earthbound every year, and I have a whole series of pictures of Isaac among the squash there. They also enjoy the corn maze. Previous years they have sent videos of Isaac wandering through it. This year he and a friend went running through so fast, there wasn't time for a video.









Bert and Ernie are the result of Mike and Isaac's carving this year. I showed them on my Mellow Yellow earlier.


Pretty cute, huh?







Here at home I haven't done a whole lot of decorating, but I do have this.

My Grandson

Been thinking of my youngest grandchild. It's been a while since his last visit, and the latest pictures my daughter has sent to me make me so aware how fast he is growing up. I am very grateful that she does take lots of pictures such as these, and posts them on Flickr, so I can always know how he looks and what he is doing 3000 miles away.




I told you all about the Day In the Life of Isaac picture book they sent me not long ago. I really treasure that. He is becoming so grown up these days. I'm told he is doing very well, balancing and pedaling his two wheeler.





They ended the summer with a mini vacation to Emandal Farm.







While there they enjoyed swimming in the river, admiring the fantastic scenery, and sometimes helping out on the farm itself - picking vegetables (which seems to have been his favorite occupation)










helping to care for some of the animals (Do you think he enjoyed the baby chicks?)













and he even helped to make pickles. They took some of those home with them.






And now he's headed back to pre-school and his friends. In a few more months he will be celebrating his fifth birthday! So grown up! Then comes the big decision - how and where he will enter first grade. Home schooling? Maybe. And where? In California? They may be re-locating. Big changes coming in his young life.
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Mellow Yellow Monday #14

As always, Drowsey Monkey is hosting Mellow Yellow Monday for us.


Two weekends ago, my family was visiting from California. My daughter was pushing her shopping cart in the super market, and it was full of my grandson, Isaac. I thought the background colors were beautiful.





My grandson also enjoyed examining some of the Easter eggs that I have acquired over the years.





I hope that all my readers who celebrate this holiday have or had a very beautiful day!

The Birthday Boy

On Friday, Isaac turned four. At his Montessori pre-school they celebrated in their traditional way. His dad supplied the birthday cake - by request, a giraffe cake this year. His classmates made him a paper crown. And he walked around the circle four times. The candle in the center represents the sun. The months circle it. The birthday child starts beside the month he/she was born. When he reaches the starting point, he is one, and he shows the class pictures of himself at that age. Around he goes, and pictures are shown of each age. Four trips around the sun this year! Then he blows out the candle.


The family opted to forego the big party at home this time in favor of getting together with their good friends whom they don't see as often as they would like. Isaac loves the twins, so he was all in favor of this. On Saturday they all went roller skating. It was the first time for all three children. From the looks of the pictures they sent me, they all had a really great time. There was a brief class first, then on to the practice floor before taking the plunge onto the main skating rink. They only fell a few times, but since there were three of them, usually holding hands, even the tumbles turned out to be fun. I have a feeling the adults had just as good a time. The picture on the left is Maya, Cassi, Isaac, the twins' parents and Isaac's dad. The double trio is the moms and one dad and in back, and Maya, Cassi and Isaac in the lead. The girls are a few months younger than Isaac, but they are shooting up so tall! These are the girls he used to refer to as "the babies", and helped Mama take care of from time to time.

They rode the tiny merry-go-round and played some video games as well as skating. Then on to ice cream! Isaac told me on the phone later that he had a special flavor of ice cream, called "birthday cake", and it was all different colors.


Then they headed for Friendly Park where they did what comes naturally to most children.


I think it's pretty safe to say that my grandson enjoyed his birthday very, very much this year. At least that's how it sounded to me when we spoke on the phone.




Of course, there were presents too. the girls gave him a tool box, so he can help his dad build things. His mom tells me he has already written his thank you notes. When he was printing mine, she told him there are eleven letters in my last name. That seemed a bit much for him, so he wrote it to "G-mom 11". That's fine with his g-mom. I can't recall my kids being able to print everyone's name when they were four.


I really love this last picture. Click to enlarge.

Indulge Me - I'm a Grandmom

OK - I just had to do it. This picture was on my daughter's blog today, and I just had to print it here too. This is my grandson.


The mask is left over from the Peace March that was held in their town on Monday, which was, of course, Martin Luther King Day. She has some pictures from the march, and if she doesn't get around to posting them, I just might do that too.


Sorry. I just happen to think he's cute, even behind a mask.

Thematic Photographic - New

Hello, and Happy New Year!

Appropriately enough, Carmi's theme this week is New. If you go to Written, Inc. you will no doubt find lots of pictures on the theme. As for me, the first picture that popped into my mind was this one of my grandson, back in 2005.


Then I thought of one my daughter sent to me just this week. Same boy. Only now he is NEW to ice skating.



I can't claim to have taken either one, since they are on the west coast, and I on the east coast. I just thought they were appropriate.

Breather Between Holidays

I guess you could call it a breather. I still feel as if I'm going...going...going...

Hope everyone of you had as wonderful a holiday as I had. Those who celebrate Kwanzaa are still going with it. The rest of us are trying to sit back and gather our strength for the next one I suppose.



Santa was good to me. He even put a wonderful Air Lingus plane in my stocking. He always remembers to put a plane of some kind in my stocking. He knows I love to fly. This one lights up and makes the sound of a take-off. Well - we must have our toys at Christmas.



Among my other gifts was a beautiful new hummingbird feeder for next spring. I never had one like this before. I'll be interested to see which feeder they are attracted to.





Of course, we have pictures from California, where Isaac was visited by St. Nick as well. I think Mom and Dad were a little pleased that the Postal Service did not manage to get all the east coast gifts from various aunts and uncles to him in time. He had plenty without them, and it gives a little breather before the arrival of a new batch of toys . Some did arrive in time. (Mine did!) But Santa also brought him a track and toy cars and trucks, and a big wheel and a number of other things.




I had to laugh at this one though. This is his dad, happily playing with the tiny dog I had sent his son.











They did not spend all of their time at home. They took advantage of some sunshine between rain storms - Yes, even in usually sunny Monterey - and went over to Pacific Grove for some fresh air. Isaac spent some time on the beach.







And some time just sitting in a tree, enjoying Monterey Bay.

















Meanwhile, back at my son's house critters were part of the festivities as well as people. This pair would be Leo (cat) and Eli (dog). They get along pretty well most of the time.



But they are not alone. There is also Murph, seen here with a small child.





Murph does not confine himself to visiting toddlers. He likes to climb over adults as well. Ruth normally looks much prettier than this. She was in the midst of a story about yet another cat, illustrating its expression of...what, I'm not quite sure, when Murph decided to pay her a visit, resulting in what I find to be the amusing picture of the week.









Say, remember when I showed you my "Dr. Seuss plant"? It was my mandevilla, brought in out of the cold, which decided to go crazy in my living room. Then I was crazy enough to decorate it for Christmas. Twelve days ago, on the 16th, it looked like this.



Now it looks like this.




Here's a close up of its curly top .
What do you think? Will it eventually take over the living room? Will the new year find me hacking my way out with a machete? Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion to this adventure.