I sat down to show Kenzie how to draw Santa. Mine looked a little "rough" but generally was a jolly guy with a beard. In a rather patronizing way Kenzie told me I did a good job, grabbed the pen from me and inked this dude. Then she addressed it to me. Check out the scarf and the button on his jacket. No, mine didn't have that detail (or the tongue behind the teeth).

Every night we still get a picture from Kenzie. I love them a lot. She shows some interesting spelling techniques and usually some insight into what is top-of-mind for her. The last few nights have had something to do with Christmas. Tonight's said,

"Ama & Mommy
i hope you
have fun at llrwth. [Leavenworth]
And i hope you
have fun at Christmas"

It has God on a cloud looking down at a girl, say "hi." She is saying, "We have new kittys God."



This one was from today's nap. Most of it said, "Ama, I hop [hope] you have a rily [really] happy Christmas." But I particularly liked this picture in a corner. It is Chirpie holding a spoon behind a table saying, "I'm eating my foob [food]. Go away."

I've had several folks ask me whether Kenzie believes in Santa this year. If you recall, each year I've scooted around the issue. I don't want to directly lie to her, but don't want to rob her of a childhood fantasy if she's so inclined. So far, it's more of the same. I've asked her a couple of questions about Santa and she neither confirms nor denies. At times I think she is really buying into it. Other times I think she is just playing the game with the rest of us--she looks at me with that "wink wink" in her eye. Mason, on the other hand, has bought the jolly lie completely. Anyone who gives him a present is nothing to be questioned.

Here Kenzie, on our way home tonight, offers us a little tune about Santa.

And check out the crazy cat face, yikes.

Kenzie drew this for Mason because he was on the computer playing an Elmo game. She thought he would like it.

Mason's not quite ready to recite the alphabet by himself, so I asked Kenzie to very quietly coach him through it. She tried, she really tried...

Here's Mason's first (recognizable) drawing of a happy face.

Better late than never. The black Spiderman is Nathan.

On his birthday in September, Mason started to stutter a bit. We started to get concerned -- even talked to his doctor (who wasn't concerned). Some words are very drawn out, repeating the same syllable up to ten or more times. We don't want to embarrass or call too much attention to it, so we try to be patient. In the last couple of months, he's gone through phases of extreme stuttering to no stuttering, with no decipherable pattern.

I started paying a little closer attention. It seems that he stutters the most when he's talking loud or when there are a lot of people around. I wondered if this might be his way of holding the spotlight. I'm still not sure, but do know that when he's relaxed, he doesn't stutter at all. I also think it became a habit.

Yesterday a new pattern emerged. No stuttering...but nonstop talking. We were in the car for over an hour and he did not stop talking even once. I am not kidding. Cindy and I were about ready to tranquilize him. He went from one subject to another, and then onto something else. It was cute for a while, but then, oh my sore ears, enough already. To make matters worse, he insists on audience feedback. He's not just talking to himself. He wants his listeners to repeat back what he said, or, at a minimum, give him a "yes Mason." He is not deterred by talking us to utter exhaustion. This morning, this new disturbing pattern continued. All day long, as long as his eyes were open, so was his mouth.

I'm glad the stuttering seems to be subsiding, but could there be hope for the non-stop talking?

The kids and I went to see Chicken Little today at the Kirkland Performing Arts Theater. They both enjoyed it. Kenzie was transfixed the whole show; Mason was for about 20 minutes before he started getting squirmy. At the end of the show they raised the house lights and took questions from the audience. Almost immediately, and surprising me, Kenzie's hand shot straight into the air (in the auditorium with about 200 people). The emcee didn't see her immediately, so she popped out of her chair, standing as tall as she could. Soon the emcee came over to her to take her question. By this time Mason was following suit with his hand raised to the sky. Kenzie spoke out, "how old is Chicken Little?" While the actress on stage answered her, Mason waited as long as he could with his hand raised high, eventually taking matters into his own hands when he was ignored. In his loudest voice (which is quite loud) and looking straight at the lady with the microphone, he said, "we have new kitties." And when that didn't get a response he held up three fingers and said, "I'm THREE."

Here are some updated drawings from Kenzie. This first one is a picture of Grampy when he was playing baseball. (The "OX" isn't "ox" - it's for hugs and kisses, XOXO.)



Every night Kenzie goes to her room at bedtime and writes us a note. Typically it says, "Mommy and Ama, I love you very much," (or, like last night, "very mach") or something like that. This is one of my favorites, which she wrote a couple of nights ago after being too rough with Izzy:



But before she goes to bed, she has school time at the whiteboard. Cindy gives her sentences and she write the words to practice her spelling and penmanship. She loves this time of the night. Seriously!!



And, it's not just Kenzie...here's Mason's exercise. Cindy drew the dots and he connected the lines to form squares and rectangles.

Kenzie, Olivia, and Mia at the community Halloween party: