Video Roundup

I catch so many great moments on video by simply storing our camera in the living room on top of the bookshelf with the lens cap off.  This makes it easily to whip it out when the kids are being extra cute.

Enjoy!


One day I asked Magnus if he wanted to feed Maya.  He was more than happy to do so!

Daniel stayed at our place for a few nights.  In return we asked only for a performance.  At first, Magnus declared Daniel's playing to be "bad."  In the end, Daniel won him over:

Magnus loves substitution jokes.  This joke ran for a couple of weeks.

It's amazing to watch kids develop.

Maya likes to stow things under the TV stand so that she can skootch down and look at it.  I didn't quite capture this on video but it's pretty close:

Ditto for putting stuff into bags.  I lost my keys once this way.

Magnus' game amused Maya.  He was making a pig spin.

I let Magnus drive Maya around on the strict order that he was to be gentle and to report to me the second Maya would try to climb out.  This happened quite often.  Magnus was very diligent about reporting, too.

She does this all the time, but it's cuter with the dots. :)

What Magnus Said...

The art of explanation:

Gina: Did you like it when Daddy pretended to be asleep and you jumped on him?

Magnus: Yeah!  I jumped 3 times

Gina: 3 times!

Magnus: Yes, so I didn't vomit! <Kendrick asked him to stop jumping so that he would not get overexcited and vomit, which is what happened last time>

Driving at night:

Gina: When it's daytime, it's sunny outside

Magnus: Yeah, and when it's sunny I wear my sunglasses! <pause> It's moony outside now!

Too much pressure?

Magnus: Mommy, what's that?

Gina: The GPS said, "satellite connection lost".  Do you remember what satellite means?

Magnus: I can't remember what satellite means! <bursts into tears>

Putting the pressure on Grandpa instead:

Grandpa: Now we're in business!  Magnus, do you know what a business is?

Gina: Grandpa, why don't you explain to Magnus what a business is?

Grandpa: <tee hee>

Playing the opposite game with Tristany

Tristany: What's the opposite of high?

Magnus: Bye!

After this exchange, we hastily taught him the words; beard, mustache, and shave

Kendrick: Daddy has to go take a shower now, Magnus.

Magnus: Mommy, Daddy will have no hair!!

A conversation I have every time I do a rolling stop (often)

Magnus: Mom!  STOP at the stop sign!!

Gina: Oh did I not stop?  You're going to be a much better driver than Mommy.

Magnus: Yeah, when I get bigger and bigger, I will stop at the stop sign!

Cue world's smallest violin:

Magnus: No Dad, I'm still sad!

Kendrick: Would you like to go to the balloon store with me?  Would a balloon make you happy?

Magnus: No, a balloon will make me sadder.

Gina: Would you like to get a balloon, Magnus?

Magnus: <sigh> yeah

Every time I talk to visitors:

Magnus: Mom!  Mom!  Mom!!  I want you to pay attention to me!!!

Magnus is sharpening his arguing skills:

Gina: Magnus, Mommy has to take a shower now.

Magnus: No!!!

Gina: Magnus, I need to take a shower!  Look at my feet!  See how dirty they are? 

Magnus: Mom, you can just wash your feet.

A future in marketing?

Magnus: <reading the side of a bag> J B C!  Mom, how come they put J and not A?

A food request:

Magnus: Mom, some people like to eat meatballs

Gina: Would you like to eat meatballs?

Magnus: Yeeeah!!

A lesson in equality:

Magnus: Mom, blue and red make purple!

Gina: Yes!

Magnus: Mom, purple and blue make red!

Gina: No, purple and blue do not make red. 

Using "an" a little too often.  This is just one example:

Gina: That is a picture of...

Magnus: an strawberry!

Informing Maya cheerfully:

Magnus: Maya you are driving mommy crazy!

Kendrick was playing with Maya on the sofa:

Magnus: Maya loves her daddy

At Alexander's

Magnus and Maya had a wonderful playdate at Alexander and Izabella's place a couple of weeks ago.  Magnus had been looking forward to it the whole week, probably because of the promise of toy cars and trains.  Alexander, our gracious young host, was happy to have Magnus play with any and all of his toys.  The only catch was, he loved to prank Magnus by occasionally snatching and hiding whatever toy Magnus happened to be interested in.  This was funny for everybody except for Magnus, who eventually got over it when we went to play outside.  Maya was a little clingy, but got along well with Izabella.  She particularly liked the executive chair, and is planning to get one for her future office:

My next trick is going to mess up my hair, but it'll be good for employee morale:

Here is Magnus enjoying lunch:

And Izabella looking quizzical.  

The boys did really well when we were outside playing with the soccer ball.  Usually boys will be boys stuff:

Magnus was really testing his boundaries by the end.

I let him squish all the way home.  A fine end to a wonderful afternoon.  Tak for sidst!! :)

School Assessment 1

In Dubai, all children must be assessed prior to an offer of placement at a school.  It is such a foreign notion to us and our public school upbringing that I thought I would document part of this process.

Yesterday Magnus did his assessment at one of the three schools where we have him wait-listed.  This school is ranked "Good" by the education authority in the UAE.  A very quick overview:

Pros: Will allow Magnus to start KG1 in Sept 2013 (so he will be youngest in his class); We have several good friends with kids at this school
Cons: Most expensive school (tuition is almost double); Very far (20 minutes highway driving)

The assessment was the interesting part.  At the appointment time, they asked us to take our children to the library.  The library was set up with desks - 1 teacher per desk.  Magnus was appointed to a specific teacher, and he was seated across from her.  I sat next to Magnus.

I was not aware that I was supposed to leave him.  Nobody briefed me about this.  Halfway through the assessment the teacher whispered to me, "is there a reason why you are still here?  The assessment will be better if you are not here."  I was not very impressed with that, but it did give me the opportunity to watch the first half of the assessment.

- She asked Magnus his name, his age, and where he was from.
- She gave him a six-piece puzzle and asked him to construct it.  The puzzle pieces were all numbered.  She asked him what the numbers were randomly.
- She took out a toy with multicoloured pieces.  They were little camels that connected (the mouths would snap into the tail of the camel in front).  She asked him to connect the pieces, and in the process tested his knowledge of colours.

At this point she asked me to leave.  Magnus had aced everything up to this point.  I was a little nervous about the puzzle because he doesn't like doing puzzles at home, but he totally loved doing this elephant puzzle!

Before we left, Magnus wanted to show me what he "drawed" for me.  I used this as an excuse to go back to the assessment desk to pick up the paper he was drawing on.  I could see that the teacher had written some letters of the alphabet, mostly upper case.  But then I also saw that she had written two lower case letters.  I also saw an attempt by Magnus to write his own name.  I could see the M A and G, but the rest was not really there.  He had also scribbled some kind of drawing.  His usual mish mash of nothing in particular.

So I think he did pretty well as the assessment.  We will hear the results next week!

Afternoon At Jacob's

Magnus and Maya went to visit Jacob and Harry this afternoon.  Again I forgot my camera so I had to rely on my phone.  Here are the two big kids elbowing their way into the baby toy area.  Maya and Harry didn't seem to mind though.  Their attitudes were as casual as their dress: Harry - no pants; Maya - pardon my onesie.

The highlight for Magnus was running around with Jacob in his huge garden/backyard.  Here they are with an end-of-playdate obstacle course:

Magnus was getting really tired by the end (yes!!!):

Luckily, he didn't fall asleep in his mashed potatoes when we got home.

Now, what to do about my trampoline envy…..

Weekend Without Daddy

Kendrick took a long weekend away to a remote island in Yemen with his friends.  He is on his way back now, but it was quite a tiring period for us here in Dubai.  However, I consider this his belated Christmas present, since the only thing we got him for Christmas was a cantaloupe!

Ultimately the kids and I managed just fine, and I dragged along my playbook to record as much of the weekend as possible.  I covered three out of the four days.

Day 1:

After school I took Magnus to the skate park (see previous entry.)  Here is Magnus making a "sad" face.

Day 2:

After school, I took Magnus and Maya to the park next door to watch the sprinklers go off at three o clock.  We got early so that they could enjoy the playground for a little while.  

Magnus, who loves riding his scooter on the grass, was arguing with me about staying on the grass when the sprinklers suddenly turned on.  As Magnus ran away from the water, a little Spanish kid ran right toward the water and danced around in the spray for awhile.  

Since the afternoon was still young, Magnus, Maya and I headed over to the mall.  Maya fell asleep on the way over and missed the start of the Dubai Shopping Festival storytime.  Here is Magnus killing some time before the story:

Soon after this picture was taken, the security guard asked Magnus to stop riding his scooter.  So he lounged on the bean bag instead:




Day 3:

We spent the morning in Al Ittihad park.  Maya had a gooood nap and woke up happy.

You should be able to see her top left tooth in this shot:

After the park, we headed over to Virginie's place for lunch. Magnus wanted to watch the cars go over the speed bump first.  We decided to count twenty cars, and discovered that there are not a lot of early birds living in Virginie's apartment.

The apartments next door are very beautiful too:

Here we are having lunch at the restaurant downstairs....

And visiting her apartment for minute.  Magnus is helping Maya zip up her sweater:

That Christmas tree looks like a three hour job ;)

Then we all went to the Mall for another storytime session.   Except after a yogurt, a train ride, and a visit to the potty, we never made it for storytime.

Magnus and Maya enjoying next-gen astroturf:

I tried to stop her, but she licked it.

Merry Christmas Kendrick!!!!  We missed you!!!

Magnus at the Skate Park

This week, Magnus has decided to call me, "Mom" as often as possible.  In particular, he likes to use it to get my attention, and unfortunately it's working.  When I asked him, "who says that?" (i.e. who taught him to say that) he told me that I was the one who says it.  To whom?  Why Po-po of course.  Hmmmm….

Speaking of growing up, I took Magnus to the skate park yesterday.  There is hardly anything less exciting to Magnus than doing stuff with his scooter.  After reading a recent local magazine, I discovered that a skate park was erected less than 15 minutes away from us.  It was designed for older kids and even adults, but I thought that Magnus might appreciate a dedicated space for rolling up and down ramps.  Was I right, or was I right?  He is so excited about the "Scooter Park" that he is even willing to patiently put on his shoes (he usually prefers his crocs) and all the required safety equipment.  

When he went with his Daddy on the weekend, it was quite crowded, so I took him there yesterday before school was out so that he could have the place to himself.  He did have to share with one 15-year old (who was home-schooled) but that made the experience all the more fun.