Holger, Claire, Julian, and Adrian

Jack's buddy from college, Holger, and his fam are visiting us for a couple of days, and Binbin has been having the time of his life. Before their arrival on Monday evening, he confided to me that he "can't wait until Holger, Claire, Julian, and Adrian come." Since then, Binbin has been following Adrian around like a puppy, and from time to time, we hear updates about how he can't find the "other brother." We've been treated to much drumming by the the boys, and Holger and Claire treated us to a sushi feast last night.

The boys all went to the indoor climbing gym yesterday afternoon. Julian climbed on and off between reading; Adrian muscled his way to the top of many a rope; and prodded on my Adrian's heights, Binbin pushed himself higher. Binbin also thrilled to be the Adrian's photographer: love the camera, baby!

We played "old buttermaid" (i.e., old maid) last night; and Binbin's not-so-poker-face kept everyone in stitches laughing.

hobbies

Binbin has been demonstrating more active engagement in his drum lessons and in practicing (at least over the past 3 days), and so he has earned a much coveted reward: a tank model of his very own. And, it's not a snap together kind, but one that must be painstakingly painted and glued together with care. He has devoted much of his weekend time to working on it, with Baba supervising at the kitchen table.

We took a short break on Sunday afternoon to hear a concert by Whiffletree over at Two Echo. A pair of farming brothers from Maine. Check these guys out. You can say that you were a fan well before their big Hollywood break.

what we're reading

Jack:
Shop Class as Soulcraft
Thinking Institutionally
Xunzi

De-nin:
Davis' translation of Ouyang Xiu's History of the Five Dynasties
When China Rules the World
Topophilia
Fup (again)

Binbin:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Lego magazine

Also, last night we went to see the local performance of the Woodside One Wheelers, who will be performing the DC Cherry Blossom Festival. Check them out: http://www.woodsideonewheelers.org/

poem and variation #1 (or is #2 more apropos?)

Binbin is a fan of "Flamingos on the Roof," a collection of poems by Calef Brown who writes and paints in Brunswick. He's memorized the following:

Peas peek out of the pod
They ponder, they whisper, they nod
Everything is new
The sky is a dazzling blue
The wind is in the willow trees
The sun is on the sod
Peas peek out of the pod

The variation, inspired by his obsession with potty language, is:

Peas peek out of the poop
They poop, they pee, they fart
Everything is poop
The sky is a dazzling poop
The wind is in the potty
The sun in on the toilet
Peas peek out of the poop

[They say this stage will "pass," right?]

favorite things

Binbin has settled into the whole being a five-year-old thing, which means he's got a hold of physical and communication skills, but raring to get to the next new thing. Usually that involves testing boundaries, and something tells me that this is the brave new world that we'll be in until 2025.

Onto the favorite things:

new nicknames: bobbi for baba; mommy for mama
Harry Potter: finished reading books 1 and 2; cruised through movies 1, 2, and 3 in a weekend
addition flashcards (the anti-favorite is subtraction, "too hard")
"I don't like you" and "I hate you" to express frustration and anger (we all need to vent sometimes, right?)
playing star wars, ambushing parents with his light saber
playdates with Amy, Cameron, Ian, Coco
"battle" (world war ii reenactments on the computer, it's Americans against the Germans, this time let's be the Germans, disc 2 has the Russians against the Germans)
Being right (some things never change)
Eating candy
Sleeping in the buff
Sleeping in his new North Face sleeping bag
black, white, silver, and brown

Not so favorite and "I'm over it" things:

the color lime green
drum lessons
leaving the house on the weekends (playdates are an exception)


Just discovered:

images projected from a slide projector -- hey! it's like a movie!

Jedi Binbin in training

Binbin has been working hard at his jedi training. Here is just a taste of his new moves. (Sometimes jedi drop their light sabers during training.)

last day of 2009

A couple of days ago, Binbin went to see his cardiologist. She listened for his heart murmur...



Binbin was very still and cooperative, earning Dr. Hourihan's praise. Everything checked out normal, and so...



we headed to the rock climbing gym. Here climbing with Baba on belay...



Here, bouldering



All in all, Binbin did great and is looking forward to the next trip to the gym!