The Modern Family Aesthetic: March 2009

Rock OUT!

dont have many updates accept that ak has now begun to lay some tracks for his new album titled "the snacks in-between"

you can see how many times he has spun around because of the headphone cable.

Another Ghetto Walk

for the love of god people. How many news stories is it going to take, how many two year olds have to be killed before you get it?

I see the people that posted this flyer have enough sense of how to offer a reward as they do to TRY to own a liability.

someone out there tell me WHY you would want to own this type of dog over, say...oh i dont know, one of the many thousand of other dogs out there that don't wind up on the news?

south by southwest

I went out of town for spring break to the Student Television Network Convention in Orlando Florida. It was fun, but i think T and AK had more fun rocking out at during south by. AK is really into the geetar these days. eat, sleep, guitar and repeat.

im really busy. prolly wont see any posts for a while. check out the flickr for updates.

when i came back to town we went to trudys for some dinner and then it was stright home for another akello concert!

at trudys

at home

akello playing along with sade.

we got a fan for ak'S room and it was fun to put together with him. took two hours though. its amazing how small a fan is when you buy it. i kept looking around for a seperate box with the fan blades, but no, there in there!

ak liked climbing the ladder with his screwdriver.

ak likes to serenade us as we eat our dinner. he eats first real quickly and then its on to the guitar. We asked him to write a song today for us and he made up one about yogurt. it was pretty funny.

we keep talking about babies, especially the one in mamas tummy!

Phils Icehouse

So the ATX is pretty family friendly. Only now do i realize this. but it seems that so many restaurants have a playcape attached. Very smart. central market, p terrys, and phils icehouse where we were today. i am sure there are many more that im not thinking of.

so lately ak has been in the "why" phase. you know that time when kids ask why. Usually only asks three times though, think his brain gets full at that point.

Ak has been growling at kids lateley rather that saying hi. "i roared at them daddy"
fascinating. I tell him that you can say Hi, and the other kids wont run away. "we dont roar at people ak. roaring is for lions and other animals that dont have any words. you have words." "roar!!!!!!" is his response. you should see him when he does it too. he puts all his mite into it. get all rigid and red cuss he's so tense.

whadya mean were leaving, we got here an hour ago! and we wasted thirty minutes eating!

oh, did i mention?

T working on our new herb and flower garden.

so,

If you couldn't gather from those pics last post, T is pregnant with an early June due date. I know I know. never got around to mentioning it. time flies. Its so funny, last pregnancy we took a picture of t's belly everyweek and made a flip book. This year is a bit more relaxed. We are however excited and have been talking to AK a lot about it.

We have been reading books about siblings or stories about new babies in the family. We are going to wait and see about the sex, but ak thinks its a boy, or wants a boy. He is pretty excited about having a baby brother. we will be eating dinner and he'll be eating his food and then he'll finish and start taking his plate to the counter and say, "im gonna save it, for my baby brother!"

new peach tree is starting to bloom!

Today i was trying to fix my computer and i was talking out loud while Ak was around.

"man, what is up with this computer!, why are you not working...c'mon just quit out already!"

then ak comes over and is all, "whatr you doing daddy?" "trying to update this software ak, and i cant figure out why its not working." "oh, its because i hit it with a stick."

So comments like that i dont know what to think of...is he kidding?....did he really hit it with a stick? he's done naughty stuff before and just told us straight up like it was no big deal.

I start looking the powerbook over for scrapes and bruises. hmmm....
about thirty minutes goes by and i have come back to take another crack at it again.

AK sits and watches as i trouble-shoot out loud. "hmmm, maybe i should install the discs with the screen saver disabled..." then Ak looks at me and says, "I TOLD YOU, I HIT IT WITH A STICK, REMEMBER!!!"

Then he breaks out into laughter and runs away. This from a two and a half-year old.

pizza nite

food prep with your child supports the ideals that Montessori encourages. Children have a natural desire for independence and an inspiration to do what you do.

cooking is something that we do everyday and children are most happy to be part of that experience and that responsibility of feeding the family.

Since pizza is one of ak's fave's he is naturally excited to be a part of making it.
While we were eating it, he was constantly saying, "i made that pizza dad. I made it with mama. you like it dad? its good!"

It's also very sensory. smell, touch, tasting, seeing. the more senses involved in children at this age the deeper the learning.

learning by doing is a philosophy that not only works for playing drums, or the primary classroom but is the same for young toddlers. preparing a meal with your toddler gives a lot of opportunities to enrich their vocabulary. they deepen their understanding better than just telling them or just presenting it to them in a book. Imagine trying to learn how to play the drums that way, by looking at pictures in a book.

it also lends itself to both gross motor (carrying the ingredients to the table) and fine motor (separating pepperoni) practice.

jam packed weekend

we really crammed alot in this weekend.

T is beginning to recruit for students for next year. we had an open house and t put the school together. you know i usually dont see the school in all its glory cuss she lifts the curtain on everything after i have left for work.

above is flower arranging work. This is part of the beauty and aesthetics that makes montessori so great. Flower arranging is an example of "purposeful work" the activity has an end result that serves a real world purpose. Ak will be woo-ing the ladies for sure when he grows older due to his accute flower arranging skills, im sure of it.

Saturday had me and ak at the www.ikeasaurus.com rummage sale fundraiser. go to ike's website and see how you can help this family in need. thought ak would be into the face painting, but no, here he is pointing to the car while all the action takes place behind him. "ready to go jogging daddy!".

which actually is his way to entice me to get to the trail so that as soon as we park the car and get out, he can say. "i dont want to jog, i want to ride my bike.

I now know that those days of jogging with him in the stroller are gone. now its me walking while ak rides his trike. i put a bungie cord on him to keep him from steering into oncoming traffic and to help him on the hills.

we went to zilker park after our walk. i totally forgot about this park. i hate this park. maybe it would be cool if you had a team of handlers there with you to help, but when you have a toddler who demands that you stay on the bench and watch his bike while he plays its no fun. the park is way too big. and get this...

your toddler can run over the train track via the "really cool" playground. and then..you are seperated from your child. you have to walk all the way around to the other side of the park and by then, he's already gotten into some altercation with another toddler. all you could see was parents yelling at their kids from across the train tracks telling their kids to come back. i shoulda got a picture. too busy chasing ak.

then we headed on to pick up T so that we could go to our friends birthday cookout. the food was soooo good. all from costco they said. look at the size of that burger!!
ak is having second thoughts about his taco selection. never second thoughts about cake though. he knows birthdays and cake go together.