Samantha has become very interested in birds recently.  I’m not sure what brought this on but it’s very sweet.  Cheri has taken her on a few adventures to listen and look for birds.  Samantha carries around a copy of the Northern California Bird Guide and was recently given a number of bird watching guides by one of our neighbors.  The one item that really made Samantha light up was an electronic bird call guide.  It comes with plastic cards she can slide into the device, these cards have pictures of birds which line up with buttons on the device.  Pressing the button next to the bird picture plays the song for that bird.  We have already matched the Norther Screech Owl sound with the sound we hear each night in the backyard.

Yesterday Cheri observed that there are quite a few birds in our own backyard Samantha could watch and suggested that we walk around there and look for birds.  Samantha put on her rubber boots, grabbed her binoculars and bird call device and we headed out into the woods…

Samantha had never really looked at the creek behind the house and definitely never looked at our house from the back.  She called herself “explorer girl”.

An important part of being an explorer girl is the ability to find food.  The orange trees in the orchard have quite a few oranges and Samantha thought it would be nice to bring some home for a little snack.

The sour grass is blooming like crazy right now and we couldn’t resist taking a walk through it and snapping a few pictures.

We didn’t see too many new birds on our adventure but we did run into our neighbour Bill and his dog Buckthorn.   Buckthorn LOVES to dig down into animal holes.  We watched as he dug his way under one of the trees, trying to locate whatever critter it was that lives under there.  He didn’t find any animals but had a lot of fun watching him dig.

We often forget that the area behind our house is full of adventure and will be explored more during the Spring and Summer.

Stay tuned…

Samantha’s preschool class was making cars this last week while Samantha was out sick.  We didn’t get a chance to find the box needed to make the car so we weren’t sure if Samantha would have a set of wheels or not.

One of the other mothers said she could bring a box and Samantha could make-up the project on Thursday.

Most of the kids had smaller boxes they could barely fit into.  Ours was a little bigger.  When Samantha and I got to class the teacher said Samantha would be making her car or mini-van or even a bus since the box provided for Samantha was HUGE.

So big in fact that she and Molly can both ride comfortably.

The first night home with her new car, Samantha wanted to sleep in it.  She piled in blankets, books, dolls, little oranges and a flash light.   We moved the car into our bedroom, next to our bed, turned down the lights and Samantha quickly fell asleep with her legs folded up at the end of the box.

After a while we had to pour her out on to the floor so she didn’t wake up in the shape of a pretzel.  She was upset that she couldn’t spend the whole night in her car but we’re already trying to solve sleeping problems with Samantha and don’t want to throw anything new into the mix.

The biggest problem with having a car in the house is that we have a car in the house.  We never know where the car will be parked next; the middle of the kitchen, the living room, down the hall, Molly’s room, our bedroom…

Stay tuned…

This afternoon Samantha and I were looking for some adventure when Cheri suggested that we take Kobi to one of those “wash your pet” places and make the little, stinky dog less stinky.

Samantha thought that was great and got very excited about the idea of taking Kobi somewhere we could wash and blow dry him.  We ended up at The Country Pet Wash in Los Altos.

The place is set up really well.  There are about eight bath tubs lining the walls with raised platforms around the tubs and clip down hooks to make sure the dogs don’t get loose.

The people helped get the right type of shampoo and brushes ready and helped me clip Kobi in place.

Samantha made herself right at home and got to know our neighbors.  There was a couple washing their giant, black poodles, two guys were trying to wrestle three big dogs on their way home from the beach and a lady trying to tame the mane of a Bichon Frisé.  

I learned that a good brushing BEFORE the bath helps the washing process.  Samantha helped me with washing though a step-stool would have made things easier for her.  Kobi didn’t like the process one bit.  He didn’t like the tie-down, he didn’t like the tub and he REALLY didn’t like the high power blow dryer.  Samantha didn’t like the high power blow dryer much either…

After about an hour, Kobi was good and ready to leave.  He was the only dog making noises and was shaking so hard it was difficult to keep the brush on him.

We scooped up our little dog, paid our bail and headed out to the car.  I’ve never seen Kobi so happy to leave some place.

The owner of the shop was happy to have Samantha there and even suggested that the next time we visit she could sit on the bench our front and be the official greeter.

Stay tuned…

As pet fish are apt to do, our second Betta fish “Nemo” was found doing the back stroke in his little plastic bowl the other day.

Samantha gave a few tears and asked why Nemo was so sick.  We explained that he may have been old when we got him and maybe he was just really sick and needed to see the fish doctor out in the ocean.

To help Nemo with his journey to the doctor, the afterlife, Valhalla or where ever it is fish go when they die, we held a little memorial service in the bathroom and then placed him in his porcelain coffin and flushed him down.

It was a sad moment because Nemo was the first pet Samantha had gotten to know from beginning to end.  Sure she had only two weeks to bond with him, but I’m sure he held a special little place in her heart.

We told Samantha that we would get her another fish to replace Nemo and that this time, we’d make sure he was healthy before we brought him home.

Finding ourselves back at Petco, we asked for advice on a new fish selection.  We were told that Bettas were the only option since we didn’t have an aquarium with a filtration system and blah blah blah.

Now I’m not certain, but it seems to me that Petco is not really the place where trained pet experts might work.  Sure, the folks there love animals and seem to have picked up bits and pieces of knowledge along the way but we’ve been given quite varied information about how to care for our Betta.  Some said clean the whole bowl, others said only change part of the water while still others have said we need to treat the water before we put any fish in.  I think we’re going to have to experiment ourselves and may have future fish homicides in the future.  Keep your fingers crossed.

So our new fish is named “Annie”.  She’s a female betta with a striking blue body.  Her fins are not quite as ornate as Dori’s, but her color makes up for it.  We got her a new bowl too.  Nemos bowl was magnified and, ironically, really made it hard to find him among his little, plastic forest.  Besides, the other bowl was still a crime scene and or possibly haunted.

This morning, after making sure the water had neutralized long enough, we placed Annie in her new home.  She seemed quite happy, or at least as happy as a fish can get, and began eating as soon as Samantha placed the fish food in the bowl.  Come on Annie!  Don’t let us down!

So we’ll see.  I have a feeling we’re learning more about fish care and Cheri tried hard to pick a healthy winner among all the contenders.

Stay tuned…

To increase Samantha’s awareness of common things around her, we started playing a game that requires us to look for things and keep a count of them.

We started off with American Flags.  It’s amazing how many American flags one sees on just a short drive around an area.  We’ve seen as many as 10 flags between our house an my office in Los Altos.  Once we’d found the obvious ones on one of our routes, we stated looking for the hidden flags.  We’ve found mailboxes with flags painted on them, stickers in car windows, faded “We’ll Never Forget” stickers on the back of cars and our favorite ones are the ones on clothing.

The flag counting got very common and Samantha asked if we could start counting something new.  The key to this game is to make the items common enough that a good number of them can be found on a short drive yet not so common that we find one at every turn.

I suggested we look for yellow cars and Cheri suggested we count fire hydrants.  We found that not only are there a huge number of fire hydrants on our trips but they are hidden in plain sight.  I never really noticed how many fire hydrants there are on a single stretch of road.

Cheri had never taken notice of the hydrants but soon saw that they vary from city to city.  Cupertino’s hydrants are bright yellow, Sunnyvale’s hydrants or white with green caps and Mountain View sports silver hydrants.

At the end of the day Samantha had counted way more hydrants than she could keep track of.  I think the next item we pick will be blue mail boxes.

Stay tuned…

I had the day off for Presidents Day and we wanted to have an adventure somewhere the kids could experience something new and the San Francisco Zoo seemed like the perfect place to take the girls.

We left the house at 11:00 with perfect weather.  It was almost like a Spring day in Cupertino, the Sun was shining and the temperature was almost perfect.  We drove up to the city and found it was also a classic Spring day there…covered in fog with a slight breeze.

Our first challenge was parking.  The zoo’s lot was totally filled and the lots around the zoo were also completely filled. To top it off, the girls had to use the bathroom and we didn’t want to walk two miles.  We drove around the surrounding neighborhood but still didn’t find anything.  Then, out of the blue, a family came out of the zoo gates and got into their car RIGHT outside the gates.  My first thought was they were illegally parked but it was perfect.  Cheri and I gave each other high-fives and parked the car.  Samantha was even excited to have found the spot.

Since we were right outside of the gates we were in line for tickets before we knew it.  Next thing we knew we were looking at giraffes and zebras and Samantha was looking chimps. After the monkey house we made our way to chimp island and found the lazy guys lying around, scratching themselves with sticks.  This would be the theme of the day.  Lazy animals trying to keep warm.

After the chimps we found the kangaroos, koalas, polar bears and wart hogs.  The girls were really enjoying the various animals and were having a great time.

Samantha got hungry for a treat so we got her a big girl ice cream cone.  Just when I think she’s all grown up and mature she gets herself into a gooey dessert with a sticky face and fingers poking into the cone it’s very cute.  It reminds me that we still have quite a while before she’s going to be independent and that make me feel good.

Molly is starting to recognize unusual things and reacts to them in the cutest way.  Her lower lip pulls in and she lets out long, low “ohhhhh”.  She did this when she saw the kangaroos and the lions.

My other girl, Cheri, was also fun to watch when we got to the gorilla house.  She said she could spend the entire day there, watching how the gorillas make eye contact and how they sat almost perfectly still as if they were going to fall asleep.  The gorillas were all about power and strength until one of the female gorillas came over the rise with a Molly sized gorilla holding her hand, walking behind her.  All of a sudden it went from big, strong, powerful creatures to a little, cute baby.

The weather started getting colder and foggier so we decided it was time to end our visit.  We still had the petting zoo and carousel to ride but that would have to wait for another visit.

Stay tuned…

Today was Samantha’s singing class at “The Music Place” in San Jose.

This class is the result of Samantha’s singing evaluation last month. We had the choice of a group class or individual lessons and with Samantha’s help, we chose the group lessons and we agreed that it would probably make it more fun for a four year old.

We sat outside of the class today and watched Samantha perform. She really get into the songs and the dance steps.  The teach has them go over the lyrics then the song followed by the combination of the song and dance steps.  It’s really cute to watch Samantha coordinate the whole thing.

The other little girl in class hardly moved and maybe sang a few bars.  It’s almost like Samantha is getting a private lessons.  Regardless of the other girl, Samantha had a really good time and the teacher feels that she has a natural performing ability.

We also found out that her first recital will be on April 10th.  At this point I’m wondering if it’s going to be a duo or a solo performance.  Either way Samantha will belt out her songs and do her little dances.

Stay tuned…

Tonight on our drive Samantha asked me if I could play with her in her room when we got home.  She said “You can just rest and we’ll get you a cup of water and you can just rest.”  How could I do anything other than play with her?

We started off by cleaning up the little chokey chokables from the floor since Molly would be joining us.  Molly is at that stage where everything goes into her mouth unless we’re right on top of her.

Samantha wanted to play with her little Pet Shop animals.  These are fine for Molly to play with since they don’t have any little parts and their little heads seem to be fastened on really tight.

The game went this way…

I was the kid, Samantha was the mommy and Molly was my little sister.  I would go to sleep while my mommy and sister put my birthday present together.  The present was a basket full of Pet Shop toys.  The level of detail is spelled out at the beginning of the game.  Samantha said “You will be the kid and I will be the mommy.  I’m going to bring home pets that were just borned and you don’t know it and they are lost but we don’t know where they live.  I’m going to put them in a basket and you’re going to sleep and wake up and say ‘oh mommy, it’s just what I wanted for my birthday.’”  Leaves a lot to the imagination huh?

Samantha said her name was Truvaly, my name would be Kid and Molly’s name was Dump Truck.  Yep, you got that right.  Samantha wanted to name her cute, little sister Dump Truck.  I’m not sure where this comes from, but it’s not the first time Molly has played the part of D.T.

We managed to play the game about four times before Samantha didn’t want to play that game anymore.  Just as we were about to play dentist, Dump Truck ran off with the doctor tools and we decided to make dinner instead.

Not a bad way to spend a Monday night.

Stay tuned…

We received Samantha’s preschool report card the other day and were very pleased that she got 5 out 5 in every category.

Her teachers also commented on how well Samantha gets along with the other children in her class.  She also received praise on her ability to share with other children and has no problems expressing herself creatively.

The one area Samantha needs to work on is her number recognition above 20.  They were amazed that she could count as high as they asked her.  They expect up to 20 but Samantha was able count out loud way past that.  Nothing a few flash cards can’t help with.

We’ve also started the paper work for Samantha to enter kindergarten.   We realized last week that we didn’t have an official copy of Samantha’s birth  certificate.  We were able to order it online and it arrived in a few days.  I wonder how long that would have taken 20 years ago?

It feels like we have a really good grasp on Samantha’s schooling.

Stay tuned…

It has been raining here mostly non-stop for the past week.  We made it through most of the rain without much trouble.

It’s a hassle taking the kids in and out of the car when it’s pouring but that’s an easy problem to solve…don’t got out much.

Tonight Samantha came into the kitchen and said “There’s something wrong with our house!”  Normally I don’t worry too much when she says something like that because she has quite an imagination.  This time she said “There’s water dripping.”  That convinced me there was something wrong.

Turns out the old windows in our atrium have a slight leak because of the angle the water was hitting them and the fact that the wind was blowing from the North.

My biggest fear was that it was leaking from the roof, down the wall and into the window frame.  I went into the attic for a look and found it to be dry as a bone.  That was a big relief.

I put a temporary fix in place by putting some silicon caulking around the top of the window but I wasn’t able to get it the frame totally dry and silicon and water don’t mix at all.  It should be enough for now.

I hate leaving town when there’s something like this going on but since it was a small leak and I know where it’s coming in from, I’m not too worried.

Stay tuned…