Conversation with Keahi

After talking with another mom from PS321 while we watched the kids frolic on the shrunken bit of ice along the school fence, I felt like a schmuck of mom who doesn't send her kid to violin lessons at the conservatory or sign him up for soccer or art lessons or whatever else parents with money in the city do. So on the brief walk back the apartment, I decided to talk to Keahi to see if he felt he was lacking in some area. Of course, I wasn't going to bring up violin lessons because I know we can't afford either the lessons or even the instrument so I headed in the sports direction.
"Keahi, I know a lot of your friends do different activities after school. When it warms up a bit, would you like to join a soccer team?"
"No, mommy," he replies with a slightly confused look, "I'm going to be a scientist when I grow up."
"Okaaay. So what about right now. Don't you want to run around with the other kids and kick a ball about? Daddy loved playing soccer when he was little."
"No. I want to play tennis."
Who is this kid and what does he even know about tennis and who has he seen playing tennis--certainly not his parents.
"I think the racket might be a bit heavy for you and the net is tall and I just think it's something that older kids might do."
"Okay. Then when I'm older, I'll play tennis."
"Well, what about while you're still little? Would you like to do karate or some other martial art?" (I know at least 3 of his classmates do this every week so at least I could get names of places.)
"No. When I'm 7 or 8 I'll play tennis."
So I gave up. Later after relating all this to Iz we talked to Keahi about what music he was interested in and he got very excited about the trumpet. So now we'll be on the lookout for cheap trumpets--one for Keahi and one for Iz so he can learn and teach Keahi. And in a couple of years, apparently, we'll have to look for a tennis racket. What a funny kid.

Combating 2nd child syndrome

I realized early on that despite my good intentions I had definitely fallen victim to 2nd child syndrome--as the inflicter obviously. Poor Jarom only has several hundred pictures instead of the thousands of his older brother. And I haven't used nearly as many of his quotes either. The whole not talking for the first one and a half years also contributed to this oversight. But all joking aside, I do feel bad that I had tons of video of Keahi singing and counting and doing all sorts of dancing bear routines we parents coax our kids into doing for our entertainment. But I have almost none of Jarom. So I figured it was time to rectify the situation. Here's a video of his version of Twinkle, Twinkle, the Safety Seat song, and Rain, Rain. I wonder how many of you will be able to understand his words, but even if you can't it's still pretty adorable.

It's easy to overlook his accomplishments because of Keahi set the bar so high. But while he still isn't completely accurate with either his letters or his numbers he does know most of them including the sounds. Which is pretty good. He knows his shapes and colors and often suprises us with his funny phrases just like Keahi did at this age. Of course, if he wanted to catch up academically he'd have to sprint since he'd have to start reading simple books in the next 5 or 6 months. That ain't gonna happen. But it may not be as far a stretch as I'd been thinking. On Sunday at church after coloring for a while with Keahi and two other little kids in our row, Iz starting writing things on his page. When he pointed at J-A-R-O-M, Jarom actually said, "Jay-ar-om!" Then, with a little coaching, he sounded out cat, dog, dad, and mom. Actually, he got mom on his own. Yeah, we know who the center of his universe is. So here's me bragging about my second child. Aim spotlight here. Cuteness and brilliance abound. And now I'd better start focusing on him more.

Holiday Trip Part 5: Toledo

Because we were driving instead of flying, we were able to make a pit stop in Toledo to see Lani, Nate and the tots. We haven't seen them since Paul was only a toddler so it was great to catch up and watch all the big kids play around together. When we arrived at their place they were actually still out shopping so we kicked back in the yard and played on the swings, slide and seesaw and threw snowballs at each other. At first Jarom wasn't sold on the seesaw but then he really got into it. And Keahi got blasted by Iz several times and even got snow in his ear once. But he also got Iz pretty well--I love Iz's dramatic flair. Color me jealous that they even have a yard. With a garage. The playground equipment was just salt in the wound. Oh for wide open spaces. Then when the Roehls returned, Paul quickly snagged Keahi to show him his new video game, Monkey Ball. The boys whooped it up in the basement (another awesome house tradition) while the rest of us chatted and got reacquainted. I love all of Iz's family and I love how big that family has grown. Watching Lani and Nate interact with their kids reminded me about all the things I love about my own kids and reinforced my goal to be a better mom. All this travel with two small active boys had really worn me down but it was rejuvinating to watch them play with their cousins and feel like a bigger family.

We sampled the local favorite pizza joint--which was tasty though I'll admit to liking our neighborhood pizzaria better (loyalties, ya know). But I was overwhelmed by the massive gyros that accompanied the pizza. That's right. Gyros. Then we relaxed with distended bellies while the kids watched Star Wars. Notice their rapt attention? I wish I could inspire that kind of focus.

We only stayed the one night and had to wake up early to finish our trek back to Brooklyn, but I'm really glad we were able to visit. Iz and I are acknowledged as the worst corresponders of either family, I think, but we'll try to rectify this. Soon. Just like I'm also committed to updating this blog with details that are now 2 months old. Anyway, the Roehls rock and we're glad to call them family. . . . .and I've only realized now that I'm posting pics that we didn't take any with the grown up Roehls. Wow. You can tell where the priorities are for us parents, huh.