Week Three Hundred and Four

Zeeke's behavior at school started getting bad again, so he & Karen implemented a new system to keep track of how each day goes (utilizing the basement door chalkboard): red sad face for a bad day, yellow expressionless for a so-so day, green smiley face for a good day, and some sort of rainbow star for a great day.  Zeeke was very proud when he broke his bad streak!  Fingers crossed!

Saturday, Steve gave Zeeke the mission of chatting up at least one of the other students at his art class and finding out their name. Unfortunately, he said everyone was too busy working and he didn't want to disturb them, but as we were leaving the building, a boy named William called out, "Hi, Zeeke!" and then the two of them played an imaginative game of superheroes (with William's little sister) for twenty minutes.  So mission accomplished!  Sort of.

Sunday, all three of us went to the Franklin Institute for the day.  We made buildings and then demolished them with the earthquake machine, watched astronauts training via virtual reality headsets, ate freeze-dried ice cream, and saw many planetarium shows.

Conversations with Zeeke:

"What are you eating, Zeeke?"
"I think it's a hashtag."

Our friend Pauline asked Zeeke to complete some well-known proverbs and his answers were pretty amusing:
1. Don't change horses... "get them harnessed."
2. Strike while the... "missile is coming at you!"
3. It's always darkest before... "it's lightest."
4. Never underestimate the power of... "sight."
5. You can lead a horse to water, but... "you can't lead a horse to air. Do you know why? Because air is all around you. There's no place where it just isn't."
6. Don't bite the hand that... "is bad."
7. No news is... "wrong news."
8. A miss is as good as a... "hit."
9. You can't teach an old dog new... "dance moves."
10. If you lie down with dogs, you'll... "lie down with cats."
11. Love all, trust... "all."
12. The pen is mightier than the... "soul. Get it, pen-soul! Pencil!"
13. An idle mind is... "nothing!"
14. Where there's smoke there's... "fire!"
15. Happy the bride who... "has a wife."
16. A penny saved is... "a quarter."
17. Two's company, three's... "already there."
18. Don't put off til tomorrow what... "you can put off today."
19. Laugh and the whole word laughs with you, cry and... "the whole world cries with you. I knew that one!"
20. There are none so blind as... "people that need to read braille."
21. Children should be seen and not... "stolen."
22. If at first you don't succeed... "you keep trying!"
23. You get out of something only what you... "think can get you out of it."
24. When the blind lead the blind... "everyone will become blind."
25. A bird in the hand... "of a tree."
26. Better late than... "still there at the end of the day."

Week Three Hundred and Three

Monday was President's Day and we headed over to Jersey to do some shopping.  After grabbing some burgers (and photos) at Weber's Drive-In, we went to the La-z-boy store to buy a new couch.  Zeeke sat in every chair in the joint and then started climbing into Ottomans and coffee tables.  He particularly liked a coffee table with a hidden storage space and spent so long happily playing inside, like he was a magician with a disappearing box trick, that we decided to buy that as well.  Afterward we hit the book store for more Yo-Kai Watch books.

Wednesday, while doing homework, Zeeke scolded Steve for mispronouncing "W" in Spanish.  "Daddy," he said, "you used to be at the front of the line, but now you're at the BACK of the line! And Mommy's at the front!"  But Steve got back in his good graces by making Google Translate's voice synthesizer say, "Sweet Baby Zeeke.  Zeeke is a sweet baby."

Thursday, we switched our cable provider and suddenly got back all the kids channels that Zeeke hasn't gotten to watch for the past couple years (including one that plays new episodes of his beloved Yo-Kai Watch).  While watching the commercials for their shows with rapt attention, Zeeke turned to Steve and asked, "Why does everything have to be 'extreme'?"

At art class on Saturday, Zeeke designed a superhero called Psychec X (sic): "The X is for darkness! But he's a hero!"  He also designed Psychec X's headquarters: "When he wants to train, he goes to The Blank Room. Another room is The Aerodynamic Robot Map Room."  (Upon further questioning, he explained that it's the robot cartographers that are aerodynamic, not the maps.)

Conversations with Zeeke:

"Daddy, if I get too hot all of my existence modules run out and I disappear forever."
"Ok, let's walk in the shade."
"That's a good idea, because all but ten of my twenty-hundred existence modules are really low."
"Phew."
"Yeah, it's actually really good, because I was about to disappear forever."
"And just so I know, if you do disappear, is there anything I can do to bring you back?"
"No, I'll be gone forever.... well, there is a way, but it's really hard!"
"I don't care how hard it is I'll do it! Tell me how!"
"Ok, well, you'll have to find the magic stone that's hidden and tap it against a rock sixty-hundred times and I'll appear back right on the other side of the rock and I'll walk around to where you are."
"All right, where do I find this magic stone?"
"Well, I don't know, but I can tell you a hint. You'll have to go to New York City where Zoe went and to Paris."
"Well, that will be a nice little vacation."
"And in each place you'll find half of the map and when you put the two halves of the map together one side needs to be in a cold place and the other side has to be where it's hot. And then the map will show you where to find the magic stone."
"All right, got it!"

Week Three Hundred and Two

Monday, after school, Karen & Zeeke took a trip to the library.

Tuesday, after school, Steve & Zeeke joined Tim & Lettie at the Pub on Passyunk East.  Hanging out in the back room, the kids drank Shirley Temples, drew pictures, played games, and put on dance recitals for the waitress (and anyone who happened to walk by).

Wednesday, Zeeke had a half day, so Steve & Zeeke went to the playground.  Zeeke rode his bike all the way there and back.  He chatted and played a little with Dashiell, one of the first graders from his school.

Saturday, at art class, he made two paintings on canvas.

Sunday, all three of us went to the art museum and spent most of the day there.  We took the kids tour of the cubism and furniture sections, designed a chair, had lunch at the cafe, created ink stamps to make postcards with, played with some cool modern art toys, and then ran around outside, exploring the new statue garden and the gazebos.

Week Three Hundred and One

About some weeks in life there isn't a lot to say.  This week Zeeke discovered Mad Libs, which required a quick lesson on the different parts of speech.  He wanted to know if "Italy" is an adverb.  Saturday, we hit an insane pot hole on the way to a Bar Mitzvah, which forced a slight change of plans.  While Karen attended alone, Steve & Zeeke salvaged the day by walking up to his art class and hitting the comic book store for an issue of Yokai Watch.  

Conversations with Zeeke:

Michael Stipe (singing): "That's me in the corner.... that's me in the spotlight...."
Zeeke (running over to Steve's laptop and craning his neck around to see the screen): "Where is he? Which corner? I want to see him!"
Steve (clueless): "What are you talking about?"
Zeeke (still looking): "He said he's in the corner!"

Week Three Hundred

Tuesday, after school, as snow flurries were starting to fall, Zeeke got a haircut.  

Wednesday, his class took a trip to the Walnut Street Theatre for "StinkyKids: The Musical."  Zeeke had a good time and had this to say about it:  "The kids weren't really stinky.  They just made some mistakes."

Friday evening the kindergarten and first grade classes in the Spanish Immersion program at his school had a potluck at the rec center.  The kids had a blast playing in the gym, sampling any food that had sugar in it, and apparently giving out free tattoos.  It was nice to meet some more of the parents of the kids he goes to school with.

On the weekend, Zeeke was feeling a little under the weather, so, we mostly just had a quiet weekend at home.  We did go to art class where Zeeke did a great self-portrait surrounded by his favorite things.  Sunday was the Superbowl, which Zeeke was very excited to watch right up until he remembered that it was a football game and decided to do something else.

Week Two Hundred and Ninety-Nine

For the past few months, Zeeke has been absolutely obsessed with something called Yo-Kai Watch.  We've been reading the manga (Japanese-style comic book), watching the cartoon, and going to McDonalds just for the Happy Meal toys, but this weekend we enabled his obsession.  Hearing that Toys"R"Us was closing stores, we grabbed Zeeke's gift card from Aunt June and let Zeeke go crazy.  Then, as he was having a grand time playing with his Yo-Kai Watch toys, Steve noticed they had game apps and put them on Zeeke's iPad.  If we never have another conversation with him that isn't about Yo-Kai, we have only ourselves to blame.

Zeeke did a lot of paintings this weeks.  At school, he painted a panda eating bamboo.  At art class on Saturday, they were painting on canvas and he got downright psychedelic.  After class, we hit the playground.

Sunday, Zeeke went to an amazing Star Wars-themed Jedi Knight birthday party for his friend Delano.  There were costumes and lightsabers and real life Jedi Knights to train them.  To say that Zeeke was an enthusiastic participant would be an understatement (see the video below).

Conversations with Zeeke:

"Daddy, in the scramble of letters that come out when you summon a yo-kai, it's not just random. It's French."
"Wow, that's weird. How do you know it's French."
"Because I know every language but French, even the ones that are just symbols. So it must be French."

Running down the street shouting:
"Ahhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhh! I am a cat! I am a cat!"
He stops suddenly and looks back at Steve:
"Sorry, Daddy, I just had to scream."
"That you're a cat."
"Yeah....."

Doing his Spanish homework:
"Daddy, what does cuca mean?"
"Hmmm.... looks like a cuca is a catterpillar.... or a woman who likes to gamble."
"I think it's probably a woman who likes to gamble. That makes the most sense."

Week Two Hundred and Ninety-Eight

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Steve & Zeeke went to the Please Touch Museum for the final day of the Daniel Tiger exhibit.  He made some cool MLK-related crafts and got a free ride on the carousel.

Tuesday, Zeeke's class went to the Museum of Art.

Thursday, after school, Zeeke was obsessed with what happens to water before it comes into our house and after it leaves, so he Y Steve watched every video they could find about water treatment plants.  Zeeke was totally obsessed.

Saturday morning, we took down the Christmas Tree.  In the afternoon, Zeeke & Karen went back to the Museum of Art.

Sunday morning, we met up with Nick & Zoe at the playground.  In the afternoon, we visited Tim, Tanya, Lettie & Winnie.  The kids played and then we ate pizza and watched the Eagles NFL playoff game.

Conversations with Zeeke:

"What was your favorite thing about going to the art musuem?"
"Oh! There was a lunch room! With two TVs!"
"Did you see any of your favorite paintings?"
"Yeah, sunflowers!"
"Van Gogh?"
"Pfft.... his name is VINCENT Van Gogh, Daddy...."

*whirring sound*
*screams*
"Daddy, the remote control car won't let me out of the kitchen!"
"Dude, you control the car. It doesn't control you."
"But I don't have the controller!"
"Well, then just turn the car off."
"I can't! I don't know where it's hiding and it always jumps out and gets me!"
"Well, the two of you are going to have to work that out. I'm not getting involved."
"Ok, Daddy..."

Talking about why he likes it when his teacher punishes him by sending him to the first grade class:
"There's good music and everybody watches me do my dance moves."

"I don't know why they call them Happy Meals. They don't make anyone happy."

Week Two Hundred and Ninety-Seven

Zeeke started a new term of art lessons at Fleisher Art Memorial this week.  This time they're focusing on drawing and painting.  For his first class, he drew "a fire bird hunting an ice bug" with water color crayons and "a magic heart parachute" with markers.  He also drew a few of his games for us to play.  His teacher Mr. Storm was very impressed with his work.

Week Two Hundred and Ninety-Six

We spent New Years Day much like the day before, hanging out at Jen & Kim's, except the kids were more tired.  The four of them had insisted on cramming into a tent in the master bedroom and not a lot of sleeping went on.   Zeeke was so zonked he actually napped.  

Wednesday was the first day back at school, but his teacher was out sick so he had a substitute.

Thursday, school was cancelled because of snow.  Zeeke had no interest in going out to play in it, so we just had a quiet day at home.

Friday was another snow day.  In the morning, we trekked up to Nick & Nadine's house for a great play date with Zoe, Sadie, Amelie & Delano.  Many paper airplanes were made.  In the afternoon, Zeeke spent a few hours building a cool K'nex airplane that he'd gotten for Christmas.

Saturday, he helped out around the house.  His favorite task was opening mail for Karen.l

Sunday, Karen & Zeeke went to Ikea with Jenn & Amelie.  The kids had a great time riding the bus together, drawing, lunching, and playing in the kids-only playroom.

Conversations with Zeeke:

"Here, Daddy, use these markers. There's so many colors! There's gray.... and another gray...."

"Daddy, there are people who have been living in space since 1887!"

"Daddy, we should make a tv show called 'Babies Are The Smartest.' It's about these really smart babies that are all named Goo Goo Gaga. Except the baby who is the smartest of all is Boo Boo Baba. And there's a grown-up who's like a hundred and isn't very smart at all and he asks the babies questions. His name is Clacky Clacky Booboo. Ugh.... all these crazy names are making my socks hurt!"

Week Two Hundred and Ninety-Five

Monday was Christmas.  Zeeke woke up and tore into the stocking by his bed and then we all went down to see if Santa had left anything else under the tree.  After we opened presents and made a big batch of butternut squash soup, we got dressed and headed over to Sarah & Mike's house for the day.  Zeeke had a great time hanging out with Riley & Bella, opening presents, and eating delicious food, then got straight to work on the huge stack of activity books he received. 

The rest of the week was a restful blur of Lego and activity books, but Sunday was New Year's Eve.  So we whipped up some Buffalo chicken dip and headed out to Jen & Kim's house for a sleepover.  Zeeke, Moira, Jack & William did a pretty good job keeping themselves entertained while the grownups conversed, drank, played games, read and napped.

Conversations with Zeeke:

"Zeeke, let's build your X-Wing Fighter!"
"I really want to work on my activity books."
"Do you think I should do a little building on the X-Wing while you do that or should I wait for you to do it?"
"I think you should wait for me to do it."
"Sigh.... yeah, I think so too."

"Should we have some pineapple, Zeeke?"
"Oh, yes, that's the best fruit of the evening."
"Yeah?"
"It's actually true. Pineapple is the super perfect fruit of the evening!"

"If the blob sees your fear, Daddy, it will dump a gallon of blobs on you. Is that disgusting?"
"Sounds like it."
"Daddy, it sees your fear. It sees a lot of fear."
"Uh oh...."