Sven's Computer

We bought Sven a portable DVD player, so he could watch movies, while we were travelling. A couple of months ago, Sven started calling his player "my computer", as it looks almost like a laptop.

Recently, a friend of mine gave me some pre-school games to encourage reading, e.g. introduction to phonics. Sven saw them and wanted to play. But I told him we needed a computer. Erik thought he might be able to give Sven an old laptop, but it wasn't ready yet. So, we told Sven that he had to wait until we had a computer ready for him.

On Monday, when I got home from work, I discovered that a hopeful little boy had taken a computer game off of my desk, and had inserted it into his DVD player. Of course, nothing happened, as the CD was expecting a Windows operating system.

Jacob Lawrence

We have a Jacob Lawrence Bumbershoot poster handing on our wall. Yesterday, I brought out a Jacob Lawrence book about Harriet Tubman to read to Sven. Sven looked at the cover of the book and said "that's the same as in our living room!" and pointed at the Bumbershoot poster. Lawrence's unique style is even evident to young children.

Despite the serious subject matter, Sven liked the book so much I had to read it twice in a row.

Darfa Bader update

Recently Sven was playing Star Wars with Erik. The 38" tall Darfa Bader told the 6'1" tall Erik that he was Yoda.

I'm Sorry

Sven has learned that saying "I'm sorry" makes everybody happy and the tension in the air quickly dissapates. 9 months ago, he had a very hard time saying I'm sorry if he did something by accident. But now, he says "I'm sorry" at any sign of trouble :)

Yesterday, we were taking a bath together, and he offered to rinse my face. So, I closed my eyes, and the next thing I knew I had a huge amount of water up my nose. As I sputtered and tried to blow the water out, Sven looked concerned and said "I'm sorry."

A few days ago, he stepped on a box and ripped the wrapping paper. After we cautioned him to be more careful, he turned around to inspect the damage and said "I'm sorry, I didn't realize."

Its Winter Again!

On Monday night, Sven said it looks like Winter out there, as we were driving home. And indeed, it did look like Winter - it was dark, damp, and the trees looked very bare. Then Sven said "its not Winter - no snow!" Erik and I, almost in unison, responded "well, .... Seattle Winter's don't always get snow."

The next morning, I woke up to find snow on the ground! When I showed Sven the snow outside, he smiled and said "It's Winter again!"

Am I your Sweetie Pie?

Sven is looking forward to Valentine's Day. Yesterday he came home from Day Care and wanted to make Valentines for his friends.

Last night he found an old Valentine under his bed from last year. He picked it up, handed it to me and said "Am I your Sweetie Pie?" I had to give him a big hug and kiss for being so cute!

Is it Summer Yet?

This year, we didn't get a chance to see Erik's parents at Christmas. So, Sven started asking when we were going to see FaFa and Granma. I told him that FaFa and Granma were going to visit Seattle this Summer. When Sven asked when Summer was going to arrive, I explained that when the days are sunnier and longer, that's Summer.

One morning, in the middle of the wettest January in history (January 2006 had 28 straight days of rain) Sven said to me "Its a sunny day today. FaFa and Granma and coming." Looking out the window at the cold wet weather, I had to explain that Summer was still a few months away.

How does one explain seasons to a child?