Oh, January. Where do I even start with you? We've been hit with triple the average amount of snow, which arrived every five days or so. And so commonplace have become these annoyances: where are we going to park the car? Can we get it out of the spot once we get it in? Can I get the double stroller to Thora's school and back, or do I convince her to walk the .7 mile while I carry Auric on my back? How many parking spots will we have to shovel out this week? Will the melting snow turn to ice or slush? Sadly, I don't even wonder anymore if I can run with the double stroller, since all the paths are intermittently shoveled at best, and a slushy, foot's-width path at worst.
It's really too much and we've all had it up to here! Except, there are some beautiful sights to take in, like the one above, shot while running across the Harvard (Mass Ave.) Bridge on one of my few runs this month. And there are more pretty pictures of the snow-laden trees and other quaint New England sights if you click here to see all of the photos from January.
They continue practicing the various blocks and kicks, the Star Block set, and they've added to their collection of moves crescent kicks and chun ji, a choreographed set of moves that showcase all sorts of blocks and punches. She is proud of herself with this study. It's great to have her practice discipline in a setting that also allows her to be physical in a controlled way. And her class is becoming populated with more and more of her neighborhood friends. So it's a fun place to be twice a week.
The Snow
The first big snowstorm of 2011
Thora is enjoying the snow (as evidenced in photos below). Climbing the "snow mountains"--the massive snowbanks created from neighbors digging out their cars combined with the city's snow plows--is one of her favorite activities on our walks around town.
This massive snow mountain actually doubled in size at one point.
Yes, I do try to keep my chin up and find the fun and sense of community as all the grown-ups dig out their cars, or as we share an astonished smile or sigh with other pedestrians making their way through snow and slush. And then something like this happens:
Yes, that is the rear window of our car, shattered by the weight of the snow during the first storm of 2011. What a day that was! I was moving the car from where we were lucky to find a spot prior to the storm, back to a spot in front of our place. After picking Thora up from school and walking us all home, I loaded the kids into the car and noticed that the snow seemed to bounce off the rear window as I closed the door. That was weird, I thought. Until I got into my seat and heard Thora say, "There's something wrong with the window." I looked and to my shock, there was a hole about the size of a grapefruit above her head. I got out and went to her side, checking to see if she was okay, and she was. The glass so far had fallen onto the back ledge and not on her head. But as I closed her door, the hole grew, the whole back window buckling in as easy as fabric. The hole grew as I gently closed my door, and as I drove the 3 blocks to a parking spot in front of our house. By then, the hole had opened up across the back of the window and was dropping small bits of glass on the seat between the kids' carseats. Thankfully, despite all the glass, the kids were completely unscathed. And within a day, our insurance company had sent out someone to replace the rear window. All in all, it was painless. But seriously, that's a bit much.
I try not to be too curmudgeony about the amount of snow we've had to deal with and remember that from a child's perspective, all this snow is dressing up our city to look like something totally different: the sounds are muted; the cars move slower down our snowy streets; our walks around town take on elements of adventure as Thora leads us through a narrow valley just the width of a grown-up's boot, or through a deep, icy "lake" of slushy water. I think of Thora when she occasionally drapes a blanket around herself and asks, "Do you recognize me?" as if the glamour achieved by the long, dramatic folds of the blanket can completely mask her identity ("Are you Lina Lamont?"). I try to enjoy the fun of the snow until we eventually (right?) shed our collective layers and are back to our old selves again.
We're still Dancing and Singin' in the Rain
And speaking of Lina Lamont, January has seen the continuation of Thora's love of the movie, Singin' in the Rain.
Her interest in the movie has been so intense and devoted, I wanted to broaden her appreciation for the movie. I found a pair of barely-used tap shoes on ebay for her ($10 including shipping!), and for $5, I bought a 3' x 5' piece of hardboard at Home Depot, a flexible, brown, shiny sheet of building material that makes the best portable tap floor ever! She loves it! She gets on there and just stomps and taps to her heart's content, belting out the tunes! Check out these videos here and here.
I don't know how many times we've seen the movie, but we finally sent our Netflix copy back and purchased our own. And not only does she continue to watch with rapt attention, but she loves to talk about it, day and night. She's still trying to process a lot of the motivations ("Why do the fans rip Don Lockwood's suit to rags?" or "Why does Kathy Seldon 'grab her things and bolt' after she hits Lina Lamont in the face with a cake?") and the movie within a movie is still a little tricky for her to grasp. But the song and dance numbers never fail to captivate us all (I still stop whatever I'm doing to catch "Moses Supposes" or Donald O'Connor running up the walls in "Make 'em Laugh"). And the fancy dresses of 1920's Hollywood is about the best Thora could ever hope for, particularly the over-the-top ensembles showcased in "Beautiful Girls." As our friend Paul pointed out, I'm your go-to gal if there ever was a Singin' in the Rain trivia night.
Speaking of Paul, we had a great visit with him in early January. Here he is with Auric. And together, with all their combined dimples, their adorable factor is off the charts.
Thora and Paul shared a fun game of I Spy. Paul's patience with the excitement, chaos, and tantrums that occur in our house on a seemingly hourly basis, was saintly!
Tae Kwon Do
Thora continues to practice Tae Kwon Do twice a week. And this January saw her move up to the Advanced Tigers group when she graduated from her white belt to a yellow striped belt. Below, Miss Amy is giving her her new belt.
They continue practicing the various blocks and kicks, the Star Block set, and they've added to their collection of moves crescent kicks and chun ji, a choreographed set of moves that showcase all sorts of blocks and punches. She is proud of herself with this study. It's great to have her practice discipline in a setting that also allows her to be physical in a controlled way. And her class is becoming populated with more and more of her neighborhood friends. So it's a fun place to be twice a week.
Auric, the Toddler
Auric continues to grow into a very cute, flirty boy. He's begun to exert his will in surprising ways, considering he is normally sooo easy going. The first of his tantrums have been almost cute. (Surely, I'll eat these words when he hits the "terrible twos".) His verbal ability is different than Thora's, who was such a chatterbox. But I can't say that he's behind where she was, because he seems to be attempting more difficult sounds. While he does jibberish, he also tries the harder "l" sounds, like in his friend's name, Ellie, or in the very cute, "Hellooo?" when he pretends to talk on the phone. For a glimpse at Auric, the talker, click here for a short video. I've taken a bunch of video in February, so stay tuned for more videos of our talking boy.
The photo below was taken on our first snow day, when thinking of activities to stretch throughout the whole day is critical. And so of course we started the day with one of his favorite chores, helping me with the dishwasher, or more accurately, crawling onto the open door and feeding utensils down below the bottom rack.
Auric is a climber. Within seconds he can be up on the chair at the computer table, standing on the coffee table (which is meant to be an obstacle to him pushing buttons on the dvd and dvr players) pressing buttons on the dvd and dvr players, or up a set of stairs. His climbing abilities stem from not only his strength, but his understanding that he can be very quiet, while his sister never can be, and so more often than not, I'm talking her down from the peak drama of some injustice or tantrum and that's when he strikes. What's extra amusing about it, is that his desire to climb seems less about doing something he's not supposed to, but rather for the giddiness he feels when the adult swoops across the room and scoops him up into his or her arms. He sees one of us walking towards him, gets another stair higher, or a few more random tv shows recorded, and then squeals as he is rescued from his own bad behavior.
Thora Loves Sugar
I couldn't resist including this photo, since it really gets at the heart of Thora's reaction to sugar, which is to say, she becomes possessed! She's just eaten a cupcake at her friend, Olive's, birthday party. And the sugar has just hit her blood stream. Clear the deck!
Another one of Thora's activities, gymnastics, commemorated the end of their semester with a Mini Olympics, in which all the students in the various levels showcased the skills they'd been working on over the last four months. She takes the class with her friend Zach and here they are, posing after the big show. For a look at the event, click here for the 5-minute video. I admit, it's a bit slow, as my videos go, but I've put it to some entertaining music, so just crank up the volume and rock out for 5 minutes.
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