Los Angeles, California: DT went out of town for Trustee meetings, so I decided to hop on the shuttle plane to Los Angeles to see the grandkids. We had let September slip by (knee surgery!) without seeing them. I was afraid they would not remember me. They did, but their growth and change is so evident after six weeks apart.
Leo is reading so well. I put him to bed the other night and he read to me, instead of the usual vice-versa.
Leo, taking selfies with my phone - savvy six-year-old
Leo played a record for me on the Victrola he received on his birthday in August.
Leo reading Go. Dog. Go! to meWhile he was reading to me, I noticed a little gold sticker on the back cover of the book:
It was from a bookstore on Chung Shan North Road (pretty much the only Chinese characters I can still read on this sticker) in Taipei... from the bookstore where I purchased this book for his mother sometime in 1985-86 while we were living in Taiwan. There were several other titles with the same sticker: Hop On Pop and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish on his bookshelf. I bet they were all purchased on the same day.Not only was I here to see the grandkids, there was a project I had neglected to complete before we took the motorhome north for the summer: organizing Lisa's spice drawer. Her collection of spices was out of control, messy, chaotic and contained spices possibly purchased while she was in college. Months ago I had measured her spice drawer, counted her spices and purged anything ready to explode. Next I ordered 4 ounce jelly jars, Chalk Tops (Mason jar tops painted with chalkboard paint - they come in regular and wide mouth; this job required regular size) and a water-proof chalk pen. Then, well, nothing happened. I never finished the job. Lisa recently un-baby-proofed much of the kitchen and moved things around to make her kitchen tasks easier and stated it was time for me finish my task.
So I did:
Leo was in school all day today and Lucy was in school until 1p. Lisa and I fetched Lucy and took her for ice cream.
Lucy is still very sweet, but is showing a little spunk. No idea where she gets this... ha... ha... ha...Lisa and Lenny celebrated their wedding anniversary tonight by going out to dinner - they had a free built-in babysitter after all. I fed the kids dinner, and, after baths, we watched 101 Dalmatians and popped some corn. Embarrassed to say this was the first time I had seen the film. (Leo and Lucy loved the part where Cruella deVil fell in the vat of molasses and the pig sty.)
Until my next update, I remain, your it's way past their bedtime correspondent.