Channel Sam

3 October 2010 Evolution of a Cyclist

Oct 3, 2010

Today Sam tried out her first pedal bike. After several cautious starts, and a few rests, then some more cautious starts, AC let go of the bike. And she stayed up! Then they did it all over again. And again. Each time Sam rode by herself for a little longer before braking. I wish I could have captured on camera the …

2 October 2010 All of the Fingers on One Hand

Oct 2, 2010

Happy 5th Birthday, Sam!

1 October 2010 Ducklings 5

Oct 1, 2010

The day before her fifth birthday Sam reached a milestone: she completed her first swim class without a parent in the water with her! She was extremely nervous about this. I was extremely nervous about her being extremely nervous. But once she got in the water she was fine. And for once I got to take pictures instead …

The Disappearing Alphabet

Oct 1, 2010

I love Richard Wilbur’s poetry and I especially appreciate his collection for kids: The Disappearing Alphabet. Here is Wilbur on what would happen if there were no letter J: If, all at once, there were no letter J, A cloud of big blue birds might fly away, And though they’d been an angry, raucous crew, I think that I …

28 September 2010 Skipping Demonstration

Sep 28, 2010

The gymnastics instructor asks Sam to demonstrate proper skipping to the rest of the class.

26 September 2010 The Wardrobe

Sep 26, 2010

An old cardboard moving box + a lot of parcel tape + AC’s ingenuity = one Wardrobe to Narnia! Here it is a few hours later: Yes, I know, it’s very subtle. Unlike C.S. Lewis’s wardrobe, ours lets you know up front that you’re entering another world. The real mystery of our wardrobe is whether or not it will withstand …

24 September 2010 Leaf Lady

Sep 24, 2010

Autumn

Sep 24, 2010

It’s not Fall in the UK, it’s Autumn. And Autumn has been asserting its arrival in the UK long before yesterday’s equinox. Now there’s no pretending that it’s still summer. Even in the occasional sunny air there’s a new crispness. The light in the morning is different, brighter, and at the end of the day it recedes …

23 September 2010 George’s Marvellous Medicine

Sep 23, 2010

Yes with two LLs apparently. That’s how they spell it here. I learned that the hard way when I had trouble finding a copy of Roald Dahl’s story in the online library catalog. (We never did manage to get a hard copy of the book. Instead I downloaded a free pdf version, converted it to an epub, and we read it on my …

22 September 2010 The White Board, One Week Later

Sep 22, 2010