Art Camp. Recently we went to a fine art museum. Brigit was not fully embracing the experience, so we sat down and had a chat about art. She likes doing it but not necessarily looking at the works of others right now. In an effort to give her an opportunity to learn more about art and find other resources, I found a local museum that does art camps for a few hours a day for a week. They talk to kids about art and give them a chance to do it. I signed her on up. We will see what sparks her interest after delving into it for a week! One specific area she was interested in is pottery. During a visit to a Renaissance Festival she fell in love with the pottery and was impressed at the fact it was made by people with their hands. Unfortunately the camp does not delve into pottery. I don’t blame them. I see a pottery wheel in our future. Another thing for me to research and find resources!

IQ Concepts. Brigit was gifted a game of this name. I have never heard of it before, but the colorful beads immediately attracted Brigit. My mom sat with her for over an hour making different combinations of the attached beads and trying to figure out the challenges. I try to leave it out on the table in my strewing efforts, and Brigit picks it up occasionally and works a challenge. Really gets the brain working!

Chapter Reading. We finally finished The Hobbit! We had already watched the movies and Brigit kind of followed them, enjoying the voice of the Smaug before its demise. I asked if she wanted to continue with the saga by starting the Lord of the Rings, but she said no. She wanted a new series, because she said she likes the way one book leads to another, but was tired of the dwarves. I did some research and came up with some ideas (and legal, free ebook downloads). She picked **** next. I have never read it, unlike our previous book series, so we will both be in for a new adventure!

Sprinkler. Brigit loves swimming. She has learned from me and David, as well as structured classes from instructors. She is at the point where she has the concept down pretty well and can swim across the length of a pool, but got bored with the lessons. We have some pools readily available to us, but sometimes it is nice to just go in the back yard and get wet while the yard gets watered, so we broke out the sprinkler recently. I gotta say, I love this sprinkler! I know it was purchased because it waters all shapes of a yard, from semi-circles to squares to long skinny strips. It also gave us a chance to play around with geometry. based on the shape of the different settings and cut outs where water can get through, we would guess what the spray would look like. We also did a lot of trial and error to determine the best setting for playing in the sprinkler spray, for the benefit to the plants was cursory in this experiment. It was also convenient to take a break and slurp down messy popsicles afterwards. A good spray down with the hose took care of the colorful dribbles.

China. Every week or two we pick a country to learn about. Last week was China. We don’t have a structured approach to picking a country – often times it is looking at a world map and Brigit pointing to one. Other times there is something going on in a particular country and Brigit asks questions about it, leading to more in-depth investigations. The great part about this approach is it covers so many aspects and subjects, including government, sociology, geography, invention, cuisine, culture, conflict, and everyday life. This time it had three interesting deviations: carrier pigeons, the Great Wall of China and enchiladas. Believe it or not, carrier pigeons were first used in China. YouTube helped tremendously in how it worked, for I had not a clue. Considering Brigit’s recent interest in architecture and construction I was not surprised about her interest in the wall. Thousands of miles of wall taking thousands of years to build was not lost on her. She was interested in the pretty, lit sections as well as the crumbling, old sections that are no longer maintained. As for the enchiladas, she had a craving for them instead of the ‘authentic’ Chinese fare at a local restaurant I found. There was rice, just the Spanish version. Maybe we will have dim sum some other day. There was also discussion about the type of government currently in place in China and how it differs (and does not differ) from here in the United States. She definitely wants China on her list of places to visit.

Road trip. Brigit is an awesome road tripper. Since she was an infant we have taken long, multiple day road trips. As a baby there was a need for more ‘stuff’ during the trip. Lots of the time she would be the only one in the back seat, so we would fill a large bucket with toys and books. She would pull one out, use it until it bored her or got dropped, then pick another one. It meant a collection period when we stopped for the night – very much worth it for the peaceful traveling. There was some singing of songs and such too, but the giggles and laughing and showing of things to us from the bucket were most effective. Fast forward a few years. Now, as a five year old, she is used to entertaining herself, we still have the joy of signing songs, and there is the addition of amazing conversations. After living in Alaska she is hard pressed to be impressed by scenery sometimes, but we try by pointing things out. The Rocky Mountains are actually pretty, ya know.

Fine Art.  Long story short, she loved the impressionists but could care less about about Picasso. We visited the McNay Art Institute – a place I spent many hours growing up and after growing up. Walking through the rooms, experiencing a plethora of internationally famous artists and their work. The Institute has expanded significantly from the single building it was when I first started visiting in the 1980s. It has bigger buildings, more outreach and more activities now, compared to when it use to be a small but lively museum open free to the public. Brigit was most attentive in the section with Impressionists, and enjoyed the sculptures both inside and out. She also loved the koi pond in the beautiful gardens that make up the atrium in the middle of the original building. My mom and I were much bigger fans compared to Brigit when it came to about 80% of the exhibits. Maybe we will stick with the hands on museums set up for kids a bit longer.

Website. For the past six months Brigit has scowled at the fact she does not have her own website. Daddy has one, Mommy has one, Daddy and Mommy share one, why can’t she have one? Why not? We are still working in setting it up, but soon it will be all Brigit all the time on her own domain. Stay tuned!

Birthday Party. Every week or so Brigit decides it is the birthday of one of her toys. This week was no exception. It was Sarah the Reindeer’s turn. So far we have made and wrapped for her two presents. Decorations were made and put up, playing with how many rings need to be added to a loop chain to get the perfect amount of ‘drop’ for it. Then a cake was baked and decorated. Sarah was a bit stoic about the whole thing, but we had fun!

Renaissance Festival. Days at festivals are always long and dusty. Whether it is dry or rainy there is a layer of dirt on all bodies. Knowing this, we go without worrying about such things and the expectation of a Brigit nap on the way home. This past weekend was as expected. Brigit wanted to do they bungee bounce, the pirate ship swing and anything else that caused thrills. We ate meat on sticks and frozen fruity stuff and unfrozen fruity stuff. Brigit’s first tooth even came out in some of the frozen fruity stuff! We watched artists paint and sculptors sculpt and performers perform. Brigit walked around with her mouth half open. Not to mention a grandma, multiple great aunts, a great uncle, an aunt and some of our lovely young friends who were experiencing the festival for the first time. There was also face painting, hair braiding, turtle races, elephant riding and parade watching. I am tired just writing about it. They great thing about these festivals is that so much is going on, the cell phone reception is horrible and the creativity is overflowing. Brigit always follows the experience with a wealth of ideas and spurts of imagination. They are wonderful! A few weeks ago she spend a bunch of her money on a new toy, but set some money aside for this festival. She carefully decided what to purchase, but ended up deciding against it. It did not hurt her pocketbook to refrain, for there is so much to entertain by just watching, and having a grandma around to make purchases does not hurt either. We were inundated with spells from her new wand. She got frustrated after the tenth time she tried to stupefy my and I did not freeze. her brain was full of the world of Harry Potter from our recent chapter reading and it was fun to watch her role play as the day progressed. There is another festival in the fall, and I will be curious to see what she remembers then.

Home Care. As with any child, Brigit considers chores around the house are a bit boring, and rarely on a list of top things to do with her time. We attempted to exchange effort for funds a while back but she wanted nothing to do with it. I must note that a week later she did the chores proposed and was proud to do them without mention of compensation. Something got through so we were happy. Learning to contribute to the household is important, but not something we want to force to strongly, for a kid should be a kid. She is always up for sweeping and folding laundry or fixing things, so it is a reasonable start. As for the kitchen it is naturally contradictory to Brigit helping, what with all the high cabinets and breakables. We don’t refuse her help in the kitchen, but do so is frustrating for her so is a lesson in patience. Brigit works on putting things away and cleaning, and we have a policy of using what we have (so breaks and damage is no issue), but she still gets tired of the up and down. When she shows interest in cleaning, or learning how, we embrace it. When she wants to sit and not help she is made aware it will take longer (kinda) and makes a choice between helping and more time with us doing something else. Making choices on how time is spent is important and will be something she does all her life. Time versus money, money versus time…

Care and Feeding of Rollie Pollies. In her continued quest to provide complete habitats for anything that fits in a jar, Brigit absconded with a plastic food container, filled it with stuff from the back yard, then added rollie pollies and poop. Her uncle was not impressed with her bringing it in and putting it on the kitchen counter next to his lunch, but they were attentively cared for until released. I expect another collection of bugs soon, for Brigit is out foraging for ‘something more interesting than rollie pollies’ right now! Maybe something that does not eat poop?

Music. Since seeing the movie Momma Mia last year Brigit has been an admirer of ABBA. Multiple times each week, this one being no different, she disappeared with my phone and found their music. I soon here it blasting out of my phone and Brigit is swinging and twisting her body, singing along at the top of her voice. Like me, she seems to have an uncanny ability to remember song lyrics.Kinda funny listening to her sing lyrics she has no understanding of – unrequited love, infidelity, etc. Another interesting aspect of music is along the same vein. When we are driving around and different songs come on the radio she asks me ‘what is this song about?’ and inevitably the answer has something to do with love, hate, happiness, sadness, angst of all kinds. This week Brigit asked why all the songs are about feelings. I asked her the question back. She thought for a moment and said, ‘people think about how they feel a lot, because it is something that they cannot control’. Well, that ended up starting a long conversation. Yay pop music!