Not Too Cool For School

In case you didn't know, I've been going to "pre-school" I've just finished summer session, and am not looking forward to my week off until school starts officially for fall. In the meantime, here is a photo of me from school last week, generously provided by my teacher, Miss Marla.

I think that you can see that I really love to color.

Blah Blah Blah

Dad here:  Just a quick note for all of you who have not seen Penelope lately.  Mom and I are happy to announce that her vocabulary is growing exponentially (see, she told me to use that word).  In the last week or so we have heard for the first time: milk, balloon, drink, bath, down, Grandma, Dale (of "Chip and"), and the names of most of the Backyardigans (a household favorite), including Austin, Tasha, and Pablo.  It seems that seemingly out of nowhere she can roughly approximate any one of two syllable word we can throw at her.  

Read The Labels

Dad here:  I wanted to share another story with all of you.  Usually when a toddler reads to you, it is actually reciting from memory the text from a favorite book.  Clementine is always happy to "read" a big chunk of Where The Wild Things Are or Rosie The Hen.  This was something new.

Last weekend we were at Lyle and Michele's house in Oceanside celebrating summer birthdays (Happy Birthday Lyle, Julie, and Lam).  While Mom and I were sitting outside Clementine pointed to a tag hanging on a lime tree in the front yard.  It was one of those tags that tells you how to care for your new plant and it had yet to be removed.  Clementine pointed at it and announced, as though reading it: "You need to squeeze the lemons."  It took us a few seconds to realize what she had done, then we when it occurred to us that this was her version of reading, we asked her to repeat herself.  She did and we laughed, very impressed.  As you may know, there are few better motivators than the laughter of loved ones, and she beamed with pride at helping us understand this tag.   

We pointed at a nearby water bottle and asked her to tell us what it said as well.  She said with pride "You need to drink this."  This quickly became our favorite game for the afternoon.  We found anything that she might recognize as writing and she would tell us the instructions.  She read nearly everything as "you need to..." as though it were a step by step of what to do with it.  The piano song book said "You need to sing this."  The Coca-Cola sign on the cooler said "You need to buy this." (I thought that one was particularly insightful).  Writing this now, I realized that we should play this game at home more, so the next time you see Clementine ask her to read something to you.

Flights of Fancy

Dad here: Though it may break the hearts of child educators (and grandparents), we occasionally turn on the idiot box so that my sister and I can be babysat by the hypnotizing red, blues, and greens. It struck Julie and I funny that Penelope, at such a young age, had found that most comfortable childhood viewing position.

We asked Clementine if she would like to join her sister in the appropriate modelled form for viewings of Sesame Street. She obliged.


Then we realized that physical activity is important as well, so we required that they practice their future synchronized swimming routine, even while being hypnotized by Elmo.

Practice, practice, practice, so that you may participate in the 2024 Olympics, girls. (Unless you choose gymnastics, then I guess it would be 2012)

Many Thanks to Tammi, David, and Sairah

We would be remiss were we not to occasionally thank our eternally generous Aunt and Uncle, who buy us such beautiful clothes. As you can see, we are inspired by the haute couture to pretend as though we are models for Vogue and to also pretend that our couch was some fanciful set in a photographer's studio. Are these the cover girls to Vogue 2025? For the sake of our dear parents, let's hope not.

Big Shoes to Fill

... but they always forget to mention the socks.

Magic Hour

Dad here: Photographers and cinematographers call it "magic hour," because even a novice like me can get some beautiful photos of his beautiful girls.

My Goodness...

Aren't we cute?