winter pursuits

Every summer I look around at all of our games, toys, craft supplies, etc, and wonder why we have them... they sit unused and gather dust, taking up valuable closet and shelf space. And then in December and January we get cozy in here and play games and read old books and make collages, and I remember. :) We have been really enjoying these rainy weeks.

For Christmas, we gave Steve a new chess set and he taught the children to play. Sebastian has been pretty enthusiastic about it, even playing against our neighbor Nadine (they each won a game). We moved the piano up from Sebastian's cold (and lonely) bedroom downstairs into the living room, and have been rewarded with more frequent practicing and playing by both children. Seb practiced today without being reminded, a first! He is getting more and more confident in his playing, his improvising, and his sight-reading, which is fantastic.

Liesl's drawing has continued to grow and develop. She made a big mural for our front hallway with a bunny rainbow, and has recently turned her attention from drawing people to drawing castles with moats and fairy mushroom houses.

Kim gave her a sewing kit for Christmas to stitch together two felt elephants - we worked on it together and finished the pink baby one, and she was so proud. She was especially keen on demonstrating to me that she already knew, from teacher Ellie at preschool, how to use a pencil to get the stuffing into the trunk and feet.

Both kids have taken a renewed interest in cooking. Liesl has been interested for awhile now - learning to make scrambled eggs, to peel a hardboiled egg, to bake muffins and cakes, to make salads - but she's freshly keen on learning to cook things on the stove. We made split pea soup together today - I chopped and she put things into the pot and stirred - as well as stromboli. She did a great job rolling out the dough and sprinkling on the spinach, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Sebastian saw dried macaroni pasta in the bulk bins at New Seasons and asked for it - I consented on the condition that he would have to learn to cook the pasta himself. :)  He is still afraid of the stove and fire and steam, but the desire for macaroni was stronger than his fear and he successfully cooked it.

Sebastian continues to read - mostly sports books, although we've had a recent and welcome diversion into fiction about dogs - and he has become interested in learning cursive handwriting. The 3rd-graders in his blended class are learning cursive this year and he wants to join them. He was practicing his name and some other words this evening before bed.