Games that teach important life lessons

We got this great game at a garage sale. It's called, "Don't Wake Up Daddy". Every space you land on makes you push the button a certain number of times, and if Daddy wakes up, then you have to go back to bed. First one to the refrigerator wins. In the 2nd half of the video below, Alvin was one space away from sweet victory over his children when...


But here's to fun games with an educational message!

Miriam the Monkey

Miriam found the perfect set of monkey bars to practice on. Well-spaced and not too high off the ground. This is the first time she's successfully crossed on her own. The funniest part is how she always has to "wipe the grease" off her hands before she can start.

Swimming Solo?

Our swim team welcomes anyone interested to attend two weeks of pre-season practice in order to determine if they would like to join the team for the rest of the season. Miriam was delighted to be a part of something and attended every practice with enthusiasm. After 4 practices she progressed to the point in this video and that is where she still remains a week later. She is so proud of herself because, as she says, "I can swim by myself!" It seems that since the wall is not a person, it doesn't really count as helping. We're trying to convince her that there really is more to learn, but in the meantime she is happy to swim the perimeter of the pool by "herself"!

We're posting this video as a reference point. It will be fun to look back at the end of the summer and see how far she has come. You'll get the idea after the first 20 seconds. No need to watch all the way to the end unless you want to see Miriam unknowingly splash a bug out of the pool which then scurries along the wall next to her.

New Dogs Can Learn Old Tricks

Recently, my mom was sorting through her attic and found a dress that I wore as a little girl. We washed it and Miriam wore it to church today.

When we got home, I went through my scrapbook to see if I could find a picture of me wearing the same dress. This is what I found:

Miriam immediately wanted to try. We may not look much alike in appearance, but we can both do really cool tricks!

A-Tooty-Ta

Last week we attended "Cafe Pre-K" in Miriam's classroom. Alvin had the honor of being the family member that Miriam chose to sing this song with her. Sometimes it's nice not to be the favorite. :)

"Do Something Cool"

IF Miriam ever became a cheerleader, the first clip would be great to look back on someday. But given her genealogy, that's not ever going to happen.

The second clip teaches two lessons:

1. If you are speaking to your kids, make sure you specify which one you are talking to.

2. IF you ask your 2-year-old to do 'something cool' (which we weren't), make sure his definition of 'something cool' is the same as yours.

#3 celebrates 3 months

We were recently looking through our videos and realized that we didn't have any of Eliza. She must have been feeling the lack of attention, so she pulled out some tricks to show off. This past week she has started smiling, making contact with toys, and she even laughed for (or at) us!



Sidenote: When Alvin was a youth, he attended an activity where the kids were paired up, this song was played ("Baby, Baby"), and one partner had to put a big marshmallow into the other partner's mouth every time he heard the word "baby". Try it sometime!