Rock Band!

So, last year for Ayyam'i'Ha (a Baha'i Celebration) my brother, Darin, bought us a fabulously fun game, called Rock Band.  There's a guitar, microphone and full set of drums.  You use these instruments as your controllers to play the video game.

To the right, you'll see our band's new lead drummer - Big Mal!

Seen here, on lead guitar, is Daddy-O.  Wielding the camera (so not in the shot) is our lead vocalist, the T (that's me!)  Counting the two dogs on back up vocals, that is our complete band!

For this jam session, we were jamming out to "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi.

Rock on!

Yellow & Blue Make . . . . .

 . . . A really fun mess!

We tried finger painting for the first time a few months ago, but discovered that Malcolm mostly tried to eat the paints.  So we put such explorations on hold, until recently.

In an attempt to convince Malcolm that we did not put him the bath to torture him (an erroneous belief of which he was, until recently, entirely convinced!), we decided to put him in the empty tub with some finger paints.  

Yellow and blue, to be specific.  Well!  Turns out this is more fun then sneezing!  (Also a Malcolm favorite!)  As you can see by the picture, he quickly discovered that mixing them together would produce green.  And that green paint could go all sorts of fun places!

The best thing to do with green paint turned out to be smearing it thickly on his hands, then clapping in delight!  If you look carefully at the first picture, you'll see the excellent paint splatter all over his face (and mine, and Matthew's, and the bathroom floor, and walls, and ceiling . . . )

Well, when green turned out to be such fun, we had to add some more colors!  He mixed and explored to his heart's content. And our delight!

He decided that his hair could use a bit of conditioning, so gave himself a "purple rinse."  The best part of it - while he rubbed paint into his hair, he kept saying "Nice, Nice!"  He learned this phrase long ago.  After bathtime, we rub oil into his hair and scalp (more on Black hair care in a later post).  At first he would wiggle and struggle to get away, until we started letting him put the oil in his own hair, and wield the comb/brush himself.  He loved that!  He'd oil his hair, brush it, then pat it, saying "Nice, Nice!" We always tell him how handsome he is, and how nice his hair is.  I guess he latched onto the phrase! 

So, there he was, rubbing in the paint, "Nice, Nice!"

To finish off the grand adventure, we celebrated with a few High-Fives!

Hooray for our little Picasso!

Chattanooga Aquarium

A couple weeks ago, we enjoyed the wonderful opportunity to meet up with some friends at the Chattanooga Aquarium.

There, Malcolm explored many amazing things  . . . .  like flowers . . . . 

 . . .  and butterflies!

(but he showed no interest in the fish.  Go figure.)

We shared lots of giggles and hugs, and rediscovered the world around us through the wonderment in our child's eyes.

Want to know what the best part was?  So do I!  But Malcolm and Dada insist that it's a secret!

Matthew's Blog

Good Morning, All.

No pictures today, but more soon, I promise.  Just wanted to let all our readers know that Matthew has started a companion blog to this one.  (For those not blog-savvy, that means Matthew's made a webpage like this one!)  He loves to talk about all sorts of stuff from politics to gaming.  Check it out by visiting:  http://www.docmage.blogspot.com

First Day of School

School starts really early here, in Georgia.  The first day of school for most districts was August 11th!  Malcolm's new school, Scottdale Child Development Center, also started then.  In the month since, the whole family fell in love with our new school.  

As you can see from the pictures, his school includes uniforms!  Navy or khaki bottoms, and polo shirts in white, navy, or light blue.  In winter, he can wear turtlenecks in the same colors.  White socks, with black or brown shoes, complete the outfit.  Most schools down here have uniforms, at least through middle school, so all the stores carry uniform basics -- but not in itty-bitty Malcolm sizes!  We found shorts/pants for him, but ended up ordering shirts off the internet.

Malcolm has two main teachers, Miss Brown and Miss Malcolm, who take such loving care of him.  In addition to the important social skills (sharing toys, taking turns, playing with peers), and school readiness skills (following directions, sitting for circle time), he's also getting lots of daily practice with many skills -- eating with utensils, singing songs, the ABCs and counting.  They practice colors, shapes, puzzle . . .  I could go on and on.

His teachers even provide so many of the wonderful details that are usually so hard to come by in a school/daycare setting -- like having the kids wash hands before every meal, and after every diaper change.  They help Malcolm brush his teeth after lunch, and put on sunscreen and bug-spray everyday before playing outside.

Malcolm's not just learning, though  . . .   As most of our readers may know, we've been teaching Malcolm sign language (ASL) since birth.  He now uses about 150 signs (some more than others).  I recently heard from his teachers that he's teaching the other kids in his class to sign as well!  This week, he taught them the sign for "boy" (his current favorite sign).

Way to go, Professor Malcolm!

Mad Scientist Monday

As you may know, I spent the summer volunteering at a summer program for kids (age 6-12) down in College Park, GA.  This is one of the most under-served communities in all of Atlanta.  The kids are amazing, and I miss spending my days with them, now that they've started back to school.

A few weeks ago, just before the summer program ended, Matthew came to join us for the day, along with a bag full of science supplies (much thanks to Matthew's boss, Dr. Ford, for the generous supplies!)

The kids loved having "Dr. Matthew" visit, and share some fun science experiments.

We explored various sensory related experiments, measuring nerve cell density (shown here), light and color, and the mixing of various powders (flour, corn starch, baking soda, powdered sugar) with various liquids (water, mineral oil, and vinegar).

As I am sure you can imagine, mixing the vinegar and baking soda together quickly became everyone's favorite experiment.

Thank you, Dr. Matthew!

Yummy Yummy Yogurt

Learning to eat with a spoon or fork can prove quite challenging to the under-two crowd.

Some foods are far too yummy, and utensils must fall to the wayside in favor of more effective methods.

On the upside, however, Malcolm now sports a kickin' beard to match Daddy's.  (sort of)