Mask

Sofia woke up from her nap and the first thing she said was, "this wasn't the mask I was supposing." Then she went back to sleep.

Lucia's joke

Still thinking about Sofia's joke I posted yesterday, but then I got another funny one to think about from Lucia this morning: 

Knock knock. 

Who's there? 

Space on the air. 

Space on the air who? 

Space on the air on your head!

Joke

Who let the monkeys in the gates? Answer: outerspace 

Not knock who's there who's there

come on now

Marry xmas

Sofia said, "I'm going to marry Christmas. Christmas will be very handsome and I will be pretty." "Yes, "I said, "May you have a happy little new year."

Colors

Just got to the part of "the giver" when Jonas discovers color red, and how beautiful it is. And it gave a deepened significance to Sofia saying that she was grateful for "colors" this morning.

One hand clapping

Sofia says, "Dada, snapping is clapping with one hand," answering, unwittingly, the zen koan, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

Refocus

Sofia, just stopped

to tell me that she did it. Did what?

"concentrated on my game until my itch was gone." That's amazing! You are on the way to being the master of your world! Serious concentration needed for serious itchy skin.  

Sofia says as I put her sister on top of her

This is going to be exaborating!

Sofia says

You must have a lot of friends in San Francisco. Why do you say that? San friends Cisco

Sofia doctor

I'm the kind of doctor that comes right away when you're sick. If you're into much pain to come to me, I will come to you. I'm that kind of doctor.  If you are really really good, you can have the magic fork. Here is a medical book to read. It tells you how to be healthy. I eat three tomatoes and an apple every day to stay healthy. I'm not the kind of doctor to give you a check up I'm the one that gives you stuff to give yourself a check up at home.

Playing doctor

The girls were playing doctor and I was the patient. Lucia checked my eyes and said, "There's a rainbow in your eye." Sofia checked my ears and said, "There's thunder in your ears." Sounds about right. Then they checked my mouth. Lucia said, "there are plants in your mouth." I asked what kind of plants? Sofia said, "Christmas trees."

more

Sofia, balancing on my shoulders as I write this, says, "I was made to climb up daddies."

Lucia likes to say, "No K"

Sofia says, "I love you more than 100 men."

Gratitude

Sofia says, "I am grateful we are not models."

Stellascope

AnaLucia calls her telescope a "stellascope" 

Stella=stars

She's scoping the stars

Art Thursday

Sofia's new piece:

"This is Humpty Dumpty in a boat being taken by a wave. He is already a little cracked but doesn't know it yet."

Here is Lucia's masterpiece:

                        "a snake"

a collaboration between Sofia and I: 

"Nubby"

Art Thursday.

Pink Floyd playing live in the kitchen.

Stellascope

AnaLucia calls her telescope a "stellascope" 

Stella=stars

General program

We've started a general program for the weeks.

Music Mondays, Letter writing Tuesdays, Nature Wednesdays, Art Thursdays and Science Fridays.

For nature Wednesday last week we found 10 flowers around the neighborhood. Now I am in the process of identifying them online, more difficult than you would think. So far we have chrysanthemums, red salvia, baby's breath, morning glories and primroses.

First customer!

The girls love to play keep-shopper, where they both set up behind the counter and serve up fanciful things from their stores. they yell out, "first customer!" And that is how I know they are ready for me. This morning Lucia made me some sparkly hearts drink. She also made some "sparkly broccoli "which has a great ring to it and tasted delicious.

B music

You like all the B music, I say to Sofia. Beck, Bach, the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Beastie Boys. What about Beethoven? Do you know Beethoven? Sofia raises her arms in the air and says "DA DA DA da!"

Xmas list

Sophia says for this Christmas she wants three things. A toy mouse. ballet outfit. And a holiday set.

Pun master

Sofia, Do you think the tires on this car are ready to go to bed now?

I get it dad!

Good for the soul

"What do you want to do on this rainy day girls? Do you want to go see Bugs Bunny movies at the Museum of the Moving Image?" 

Sofia says, "Yes! We love to watch movies, even though they aren't good for the soul. "

"What? Who told you that?"

"You did."

wisdom of children

Sofia says, how come mom was so mad?

I say, I think she was losing her patience.

Sofia says, I think she was losing her manners.

Moddy

Lucia often calls me Moddy, which I take to be a mash up of mommy and daddy. A compliment!

Sofia says

Forgetter

Sofia gave me a long thin tower made out of small Legos and said, "Here's a piece of candy for you called a super jumbo forgetter, because you are always forgetting, but I have superpowers because I am the mother of all mothers."

Turnip roll ups.

Last night I was cutting turnips. I asked Sofia if she knew which vegetable was hard to turn down. She immediately, almost before I finished the sentence, answered, "turn ups."

Today Sofia asked me what I wanted to eat.  When I hesitated she said, "Do you want some roll-ups?" When I hesitated again she started rolling on the floor. She said, "get it? Roll ups?"

Outerspace

Sofia said, I wonder how big outerspace is? I told her that nobody knew. I tried to explain infinity. I said some people think that if you keep going you will come back to where you started.

The super power time of the 13 blackbirds. By Sofia

The 13 blackbirds ate some magic jumping beans and each got a special power. The first blackbird's power is that it can snatch a head off of you if you're being bad. The second blackbird's power is it is very fast flying. The third blackbird could read. The fourth blackbird could fly in loop de loops. Why the fifth one could dress up as anything it wanted too. The sixth one could turn into any shape it wanted, but it had to stay black. The seventh one could sleep in a human bed without messing it up. The eighth one could eat whatever it wanted to, even human food. The ninth one could blow bubble gum without popping it with its beak. And the bubble could last for a long time too. The 10th blackbird could draw without scribbling. The 11th blackbird could put its foot in paint and stomp it on paper. The 12th blackbird could talk. The 13th blackbird could do somersaults. The end.

My love!

Lucia stands on a chair and Sofia says, "My love! That's dangerous!"

an ear full

Sofia says her ear hurts, "because she's tired of all she hears in this world."

keep shopper

girls playing

Lucia: Right, keepshopper?

Lucia: Wait, what are you called again Sissy?

Sofia: Keepshopper

Lucia: Right, keepshopper?

Lucia joke

Knock knock

Who's there?

Bridge

Bridge who?

Bridge on your bottom

Sofia's Banksy Artsy Tartsy

Once upon a time there was slow slow tortoises, slower-than-anything-else tortoises. And then little girls came. and then the tortoises saw the girls and the girls saw the tortoises. Then they became Artsy Tartsies, because they made Artsy Gartsies. And then they found a gray card with yellow and purple on it. Then they thought the yellow would burn them and hurt their eyes because they thought it was the sun. -The End

45

    How does it feel to be 4 Sofia? 

Great! I get to go to school! How does it feel to be 45?

Great!

Yeah, and you don't even have to work!

Giggle translation

Sofia says, Dad, how do you translate this into Spanish? Then she giggled. Good Q Sofia.

Phineas and Ferb

 4 yr old Sofia loves this show as much as 45 yr old Dad.

Coverment

If we hit each other we have coverment.

Forgotten

I even forgot about you today, Dad!

No boys please

Lucia says, I don't like boys.

I say, I'm a boy.

Lucia says, I like Daddy boys.

Sofia says, you mean you like men.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL SOFIA

Sofia is waiting to go to school, so excited. She says, "I've got to practice before school."

I said what have you got to practice?

She said, Not scratching

I said how are you going to practice that?

She said I have to scratch right now and I'm not doing it.

Bach on violin

Today I turned on the radio in the car to the classical station and Sofia said, "Is that Bach on violin?"

And it was! I was impressed that she knew it was a violin and that it was Bach. Partita 2 in B minor, one of my favorites.

Sofia says

Dad why do we need to stay on the ground and why do they call it gravity?

Big day

So much happened today.

Here is small sample:

While car got safety inspection we walked to grocery store and got lunch, then 5 Below for $1 toys, giant frisbee, toothpick pinwheels, and picnic blanket w handle.

Then to guitar center to try out keyboards. Some great ones. There was a woman playing Chopin so beautifully I wanted to cry. Meanwhile Sofia was in the flow playing herself. She's ready. 

Then to children's playground in Flushing Meadows, amazing place, beautiful sounding musical instruments, massive jungle gyms, a creek. 

We stopped and did ALS challenge in the creek.

Then we played in little village. At one point I was kicking back on bus as Sofia and AnaLucia drove. A random little monster (boy) popped up in the bus' windshield and growled at the girls. Instead of being scared, The girls giggled and then both growled back at the 5-6 year old boy. The boy was startled. He tried to growl back but his power was gone. Yes!

I attribute the girl's bravery and scariness to their time in Monsters's University. They are good students. Sully and Mike would be proud.

Afterward we wandered into park and I fielded a call from Brice wondering what to do with his life. I tried to talk him into doing documentary portraits for hire. Market himself to interesting creative industry leaders. $10,000 plus travel expenses for a personal documentary portrait by a master videography artist. 1 month work; 1week prep, 2 shooting, 1 editing. Good idea I thought.

As I was talking on phone the girls wandered over to a social workers family picnic and asked for and of course received 2 giant bowls of fruit. Amazing manna from heaven.

Then off to the Hall of Science for lunch and more playing and learning.

Whew!

Now both girls are sleeping in the car as I write this and listen to Bach hour on 89.9 FM.

Sofia's banana holder in playground restroom. Hmm

Coloring in park.

Refueling

Rocket ride. 

A creek flows in Queens

Adventure Time

Nap time!

To the rescue

I asked Sofia, "Where would you fly if you had wings?"

Sofia said, "Wherever they needed a super hero."

4 course lunch

Started off with alligator juice. Spinach, banana, strawberry blended. With a green and yellow straw. We made our lunch time toast to the Florida Everglades. Then pretzels, made of bread of discarded from main entree, fried and salted, with honey mustard dip. Followed by elaborate dog and tinman sandwiches, followed by fried bananas on toast with maple syrup, bananas pineapple and cinnamon. 

Secret

Sofia says I have a secret and then whispers in my ear, sweetly, "I love you."

I told her that was so nice to hear, thank you.

Then she says she has another secret and whispers, "Poop in your mouth and in your eyes."

I believe she set me up!

AnaLucia says

When I was a kid I gre up to be a bigger kid.

Sofia confuses banksy and Shakespeare as if reincarnated

Broken Easter eggs

I asked AnaLucia what she was grateful for this morning and she said, "for cold, for broken Easter eggs and for the new light."

Business of buttons

Sofia points to all the buttons on her outfit today and  says, "Dad, I am a business of buttons."

Juice box wall of china

heart stamp

Sofia made a heart stamp out of legos. She asked if I wanted a heart stamp with love inside of it. I said yes. She stamped my heart.

I said, "Thanks, that was very helpful."

She said, "I do what I can."

Today I'm blessing hearts, says Sofia.

-Which hearts?

All the hearts in the world.

-And what does blessing hearts mean?

It means I love hearts and I want to God bless them in a prayer.

Welcome to work, mama

Says Sofia as G leaves the house in the morning

Daday

For some reason Lucia 2.5 makes her y sounds into Ay sounds. So in the morning when she is ready to get out of her crib she yells Dadday! Mommay!

Also this is the way Sofia looked when she came into our room this morning.

Forever young

I sang Dylan's "may you stay forever young" to the girls. Sofia said "I don't want to be forever young. There's lots of stuff I want to do when I grow up."

First solo bike ride for Sofia!

Bad baby finger

Lucia grabs the glasses off my face. 

Me: Please do not grab the glasses off my face! (I've already had one pair break this way.)

Lucia: It wasn't me, it was my baby finger. (She likes to blame anything "naughty" she does on her baby finger.)

I grab her baby finger and speak sternly to it, PLEASE don't grab my glasses off my face!

Lucia: it's the other baby finger.

Sofia's rainbowfull

Points to coloring book. "I'm going to call this one rainbowful"

Gnoght rip van winkle, saugarties

Around fire Sofia said "The songs are really peaceful that we're making." Lucia said, very slow and deliberate, "this is a good camping park party."

Declaration sofia

Daddy, when I grow up I don't want to be anything. I want to be everything.

Mystery solved

Mom: who pulled the eye off sparkles?

Lucia: it was a pretend monster.

Sofia: it was YOU my sister

Rainbow brain

Sofia says, Dada, there's a rainbow in your ear, a giant rainbow. It's too big to pull out."

first line of Shakespeare

Last week a book arrived in the mail from David Warne DeGraff called How To Teach Your Children Shakespeare. I took its first suggestion and had Sofia And-Lucia repeat "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows" over and over again until they had it memorized. The line is from Midsummer Night's Dream. Then I showed them pictures of wild thyme online so they would know what they were talking about. Yesterday I took them to the Highline in Chelsea. We were walking along and we noticed thyme growing next to the path. I said, "Look girls, this path we are walking down is like a river and there's wild thyme blowing on the banks." Sofia got excited and said, "Grandpa's book has come alive!"

flower olympics

Sofia: "Hey Dad, can we watch the Olympics?"
Me: "Sure, what sport do you want to watch?"
Sofia: "Picking flowers."

I feel tired in the morning and I feel awake at night

Made up song first thing in morning with Sofia

Me: I'm so tired in the morning and wide a wake at night

Sofia: I'm going to do something so I don't feel that way anymore.

Me: I'm going to cuddle with momma because she isn't feeling well.

Sofia: And momma has special powers because she is magic.

Me: and I'm going to be magic too.

Sofia says

With my amazing breath I blew the fly out of the spider web because I love animals

Sofia riding

A bike for the first time on her own, one of those little ones without pedals. Exciting new discovery.

Sofia says

Cooler than blackbird. Cooler than outer space.

Sofia still says

Wep wipes 

I suppose

You're the funnest person ever, I mean maybe. So says Sofia.

I love everybody

Says Sofia. "Even the people I don't love I love."

500 ways

Sofia says "there are 500 ways to get to the sun"

Sofia says

Come here baby I have a kiss saved in my mouth for you.

Sofia answers

That's because winter interrupted the summer

L says

I'm not a baby!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Sofia answers "because he didn't know which way to go. Because there wasn't a sign showing the way. And then he got bonked by a car." Laughs at her own joke.

There are 500

Ways to get to the sun

Says Sofia 

I asked Sofia if she wanted to write a poem with me. I asked if she knew what a poem was and she said no. I told her we should just start then. I asked her to give me a title. She said, "The Rhyming Palm". And I said, "The Rhyming...Palm? As in palm of the hand?" And she said yes. Here it is.

The Rhyming Palm

Gnaw gaw aw
    ha!
Nigh Kai
    Nigh why
Flaming flamingos
    Framing Domingo.
Fie-ing, falling
    Flamango a
       Mango
in Santa Domingo.

S says I live you more than

The end of Kiki's Delivery service

Sofia asks

What's matter? What's the matter made out of the moon?

Banksy's Side When Going Up The Mountain

One day there was two girls who only sleeped for one year. And they loved to go on the mountain side together. And then they loved to get on a surfboard and swim on the surfboard. The they loved to put a lot of chapstick on. Then they wanted to go out on a river by ourselves but they couldn't because their mother said you can't go without us because its really really really really too far to go without us. Then they loved, loved to get on their surfboards. And they loved to surf on the same board. Calendula! Then they loved to go out on the desert by themselves. Then they loved to lick their tongue. Then they loved to get on top of owl's back. Then they love to kiss the bubbles, then they pop. Then they loved to catch the bubbles and then they didn't pop. Then they loved to, um, catch butterflies on their fingers. Then they loved loved loved loved robot's ears.  Because they find robot's ears. And they're really beautiful. They drop them on the sidewalk. Every sidewalk. Then they loved to stomp around while their sisters are sleeping.

End of space

I love you all the way to the end of space. Sophia says. And sometime she says I love you this much and grabs her hand and back of her as if to say all the way around.

S says

Parentheses out of the blue parentheses You have to start telling the truth and not jokes.

Sofia says

I'm an expert kid artist

Sofia calls

The rotator painter the row pie tainer.

old man running

Sofia was riding on my shoulders today and wanted me to start running, just for fun. I demurred. She said, "Come on, Dad! Run as fast as a 45 year old man can!"

Sofia joke

Knock Knock. Who's there? Shoe. Shoe who? Shoe on your head

This morning's dance

This Morning danced to Morris Day and the Time's ice cream castles and the best of the James gang with Sofia  while AnaLucia napped. Best of times.

Marshmallow game

I gave the girls the marshmallow test and told them that they could wait one minute they would get a second one. AnaLucia  put hers in her mouth as soon as the timer started. Sofia was able to wait a minute but, in a new twist, used the minute to sculpt her marshmallow onto a flat disc. To give Lusia a second chance we play the game again. she stuck the marshmallow in her mouth about halfway through and started chewing on it. Haha. She chewed slowly but still could not last a minute. Sofia was yelling at her not to eat the marshmallow yet.

We will try again next time.

Sofia jokes

Not knock who's there? Joe. Joe who? Joe no one

Knock knock? Who's there? Joe. Joe who? Joe Steve

Sofia says

Too much ginger makes your tongue spice out

The girls

Gave me a great moment. I was reading them a book on the couch, ganesha's sweet tooth, and Sofia said she had a secret to tell me and whispered "I love you, Dad." Then Lucia said she had a secret and whispered in my other ear, "you're the best, Dad."  

Tonight's sweet potato monsters.

Africa!

Sofia says

"Baby said "amazing"! That's her first time saying it!"

Me: "That's amazing!"

Sofia, touching her finger to her chin: "Hey, that's a pun!"

Sofia asks

Is it a masterpiece yet?

Sofia asks

For bread and broth for lunch. Why? Because that's what the lady in the shoe fed her many children. So bread and broth it was.

Lucia says

Where are me?

Sofia says

We all wine about wine.

Me: we scream about ice scream

Me: we yell about yellow

Sofia: we read about redness

Sofia says

Sofia looking into the mirror and saying "dear God, can you please give me too many eyes to see? So many? Thank you, God."

Sofia says

Five minutes? That could take forever

Sofia says

Dada the sky is dictionary blue.

We're going to go on this trip just you me and God.

God isn't alive anymore. 

Yes, God is alive in you.

(Next post)

Does God hammer in your heart? Is that what makes the booming sound?

Who told you that?

No one did, I just guessed it.

Sofia asks

What are those big bumps on the bottom of trees. I don't know, I think that might be where they store their sap. What is sap? That's what trees eat. Everybody knows they eat roots, Dad.

Sofia says

Did you watch Mickey as a kid? Yes. It seems like everybody has seen it.

Lucia's joke

Sofia said, "Dad, do you have a joke as good as Lucia's?" I said, "I don't know, what's your joke, Lucia?" Lucia said, "Knock knock!" "Who's there?" I asked. "Joke!" she said. She laughed.  I laughed. "No," I said, "I don't have a better joke than that."

Sf says

God says I can wear whatever I want.

Sofia.

Bonnie getting out of car says I'm an old woman. Sofia says I'm a new woman.

Sofia says

unicorns are made of hearts

She says she got this idea from Baco

Sofia says

The adults were watching the adult shows like p town and mr peabod and the giant was a chicken.

Sofia drew some words

Medicine is love

Sofia says

Daddy, is laughing happy crying??

Sofia says

The flowers are summering up.

Sofia said

Baby, do you want to leap and jump with me?

Sofia says

Do you mind closing the door so nobody knows this is a nice person house?

Sofia says

Let's pretend this is our house and our door is open forever for anyone to come in.

Lucia magic

Lucia waved a magic wand over my head this morning and said "abracaDABRAAA!"

I asked her  what she was turning me into and she said, "a broken ceiling."

!!!

Sofia says

I'm as warm as fuzz.

Smartest girl?

Sofia said she is the smartest girl in the world. I tell her she is very smart but not the smartest girl in the world. She asked why not and I said if she was the smartest girl in the world she would know she wasn't the smartest girl in the world. This made her think.

Sofia says

I'm giving out hearts for patience

Sofia wants to know

How deep is the sky?

S asks

What is the back of the leaf called?

Sofia says

My heart is also pretty smart too. But my brain tells me most things.

girls say

Lucia says, Windows make me so happy


Sofia says "we're book readers. We're show watchers. We're everything doers.

Sofia says

Sophia says my brain is smarter than IM.

"Funny monsters with special treats"

Lucia's ear

Lucia in the car and we were listening to jazz, Brazilian jazz actually and she said this sounds like something or other. At first I thought she said grandpa and Sofia thought she said Clifford and then I listen to the music and realized that she was talking about K IPP ER. There's one emergency

Meanwhile Sophia said she did not like it when there were emergencies. Like a fire or having to take medicine because she doesn't like medicine and what other kind of emergency Hand traffic jams.

 Lusia says we like oatmeal though.

Awwww

I just put Sofia on time out for the way she was talking and she was crying and AnaLucia said sissy's crying? I said yes and she said but I love her so much. 

Grateful

This morning Sofia said she was grateful for her name so she could spell herself.

Snow tacos

Put honey on corn tortilla. Roll it into a cone shape. Toast until crisp. Take snow from backyard and add juice. Put inside taco cone.

Sofia says

There are a million days after a million nights.

Pics

Sofia separating the mateless socks

Ready for a trip

. Telescope, phones and map.

Sofia says

Santa doesn't live anywhere. That's why he's coming to town. He lives in Space.

Valentine's dinner

Geeked out dad Valentine's Day appetizers

On homemade heart-shaped plates. That is a heart-shaped section of a squash in the middle.

Snap

could you shut the door to our room? Why? To keep the cold air out. And so we can get some time to ourselves. We need a break from you.

Ok

Can you get the MonchiChi for us out of the closet?

Oh now you need me? I thought you wanted a break from me? Do you need me and want to break for me at the same time?

No, one at a time.

Sf says

Daddy we really love the world because it's our habitat.

Sofia's Banksy (ear tattoo)

Sofia told me there was a tattoo inside my ear. I asked her what it said and she replied, "Sofia's Banksy"

Breakfast spiders

Oatmeal, applesauce, grapes, veggie straws.

S stamp

Sofia gave me an S stamp as a gift this morning. I stamped my heart. I said she gave me a superpower, to be as cool as Sofia. She said, no, not as cool as Sofia, silly, as Smart as Sofia."

one of those days

Amazing day with the family.

Spent the day just hanging out. We made a fridge magnet mandala. A 4 foot diameter snowflake. Wrote a couple of songs (in open D tuning), one using Longfellow poem The Children's Hour.

At one point we were dancing to the first rolling stones record. Then they worked on their legos while I read Harold Bloom on Hamlet.

And those were just a few of the highlights.

Jose and Tina visited from Colombia for instance. In fact they are still downstairs visiting with Genevieve as I write this quick entry into the record of awesomeness.

Who could ask for anything more?

If you have anything less, how can I help?

Perfect

Oh man, sitting around listening to the electric magnetism of early stones on vinyl, while the girls make forts and I read Harold Bloom's magnificent take on Hamlet. Hard to know what more to ask for.

Even being Horatio, and taking a moment out of the moment to write this down is perfectly imperfect.

Sofia says

You are going on time out for loving us too much, mom.

Sofia says

I'm stealing all the clocks in the world.

Sofia mashup

"Won't you give this dog a bone, this old man came rolling home, as you can see."

Sofia as Sal

I asked Sofia what she was building and she said the Great Wall of China.

Watching little einsteins

Missile toads

Sofia called this dish missile toad.. A mashup pun, somewhere between Mr. toad and missle toe. 

These are two baby missile toads.

Yam, blueberries, spinach.

Sofia says

Sofia says her favorite dum dum is hop scotch.

Sarah spider

Sarah the spider said "I like to eat little girls." Sofia suggested vegetables instead, because they give you energy and make your body healthy and strong. Sarah the spider said she preferred little girls because they gave her a sense of humor. Sofia said Sarah could just ask God for a sense of humor instead. So Sarah asked God and God said no!  Sarah said to Sofia -well, that didn't work. Sofia said try again, so she did, but again God said no. Sofia asked Sarah to ask God why not and so she did. God said to Sarah, "because you are already funny." So Sofia told Sarah to ask God if she could get a sense of camera instead.

Dinner idea

Boiled large yam, cut it in half for monster body. Carrot makes a nose, chocolate chip eyes, cilantro mustache, sausage skirt. Sofia called it Tutsi gashi (after Kishi Bashi)

Snacks

A super snack called a SUPA by Sofia it's a supa cracka. it's a rice cracker with the cube of tomato and cilantro. vegan

Sofia says

To change your dreams you have to think really hard.

Review of Brooklyn Children's Museum

The Brooklyn children's museum is such a fun place to take toddlers on a day too cold for the park. Both my four and two-year-old could stay engaged here for days. Me too.

Making masks, stringing beads, making Stainglass windows, designing bedrooms, Sailing ancient wooden boats, beating on carved logs, creating soundscapes, learning dances and on and on and on.

They have one of the most elaborate block collections anywhere, and instructions (if you wish) on how to turn them into fantastic things. We made a castle inside a museum after a book we've been reading. (Have you read "the girl who lived in the castle inside the museum?" My girls love it.)

One of my personal favorite exhibits at BCM is a 19th century style cabinet of curiosities featuring many exotic wonders behind glass. There  are computers set up at the periphery where you can learn about the objects inside the giant cabinet. And pads of paper too should you wish to draw them or take notes.

(Just listened to a show today on Lapham's Quarterly podcast, about a famous cabinet of curiosities, so this was a bonus for me.)

I am writing (dictating) this review while stuck in the The Hasidic part of Williamsburg. This is the most congested traffic of our drive from Queens to the Brooklyn Children's Museum, but I don't  mind going slow through here because I am enamored with the Hasidic fashion. One more curiosity in the great cabinet.

Making masks

Pretending to be a priest

The future

starting the castle

Williamsburg, the Hasidic side

Gourd art

stainglass layout

ride home

Sofia's Banksy Art (her title)

Sofia went on a walk. Sofia knew what to do. Sofia did know what to do, really know, every time she went on a mountain walk. Sofia did not know what to do after she did know what to do on the mountain walk. Sofia knew what to do every time she went on a rainy day mountain walk day. She was a baby, but she still was a big kid. She said yes, no. She went to bed. the next morning she got balloons from the park. Then she smelled beautiful rose flowers. Red, yellow and green. Those were all the colors. She had really good smelling soap. She is going on a walk by herself. She smelled beautiful heart flowers with a stem that was orange. And then her mother didn't hear what she said after she went on a walk by herself after school.

My Sea

Sofia climbed on my back this morning and said, "Mama look at me, I'm the sea of the desert."

story time

Sofia was excited to perform a song for her grandparents and cousins, but when it came time to do it she became shy and froze.

Later as she was going to bed I told her a bed time story about a little plane that was flying just fine by itself, but when it came time to fly in front of the big planes the little plane became shy and froze and then began to nose-dive down to the ground. The other planes quickly flew down underneath her and caught her just in time. They lifted her back up to the heavens on their backs. Once she was ready to fly on her own again they let her go. She flew and was so happy to be flying again she did a loop de loop. All the planes applauded and were proud. The end.

Sofia asked me to tell her another story, a super awesome one this time.

Wasn't that one super awesome enough?

She said, yeahhh. But tell me a really really super awesome one.

           y!
         a
       a 
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So I told her the story of the blue guitar that loved to play for big crowds, but felt lonely up on stage by herself. The blue guitar went and looked for a friend to play with. She found a red drum just hanging out on the corner and playing by herself. She listened and liked what she heard.

She said, in guitar language, bwa bwa bwa. Translation: do you want to play some music with me?

The drum said, bap bap a boom bop a bippipity boppity boom. Translation: I've been hoping somebody would ask me that all day.

So they played music together and had fun. Pretty soon some people heard them play and came over to watch. A little girl in the crowd named Sofia asked if she could join their group. The guitar said, bwa bwa bwa, and the drum said, bop bap boom! Translation: Yes, we really need a singer!

Sofia sang her big mash up hit, "On the good ship lollipop goes the weasel."

The people clapped and were happy. Someone in the crowd shouted what do you call your band?

The red guitar looked at the others and said how about The Wa Wa Was.

The blue drum that's good, but I was thinking we should call it The Bee Bim Bops?

Sofia said, I love that name too, but I think we should call our band the Yo Yo Yos."

Everybody liked that idea.

Then the band went on a sold-out tour of Europe.

The end.

I asked Sofia if that was a super awesome enough story and she said yeah.

Defending her aesthetic decision

Sofia asked me to listen and then sang a song about her hands being dry that went dry dry dry dry dry dry dry dry dry dry dry dry with a little melody behind it. At the end she raised her voice to a scream. I told her I liked the song up until the end. She asked why and I said because it got a little too loud. She defended her choice by saying, that's because it had to die.

I was persuaded by her argument.

Oh yeah

The way Lucia says, oh yeah.

OH Yeaahh