Highlights
- Calan attends his first voice recital and the Nutcracker ballet
- Calan plays in his first violin recital and does his first voice-over job
- Fall school workshops and Flag football season ends
- Gran and Grandpa visit for the holidays
Calan
‘Tis the season for everything Christmas and capping off another year. As usual, December was filled with getting ready for Christmas and the holiday break and of course, winding down the year. For school, Calan attended his last River Oaks workshops for the fall semester. Flag football practices finished up, and our last Saturday morning game at Pitts Ranch Park took place. Calan got a special acknowledgement and certificate from Coach Jose afterwards for being the “Best Huddler”, in recognition of his enthusiastic and boisterous “ready, set, hikes” during practices and games.
Calan also went with Mama to Westlake to watch her end-of-year winter recital. It was a chance for him to wear his new suit and watch some of his favorite Chistmas songs be performed. A couple weeks later, Calan went on a special trip to the Civic Arts Plaza to watch his first performance of The Nutcracker, where it snowed in the audience. He enjoyed the show, but was most interested in meeting all the girl performers and posing for pictures after the show outside the theatre door.
Calan worked harder than ever this fall practicing violin, going to lessons and classes with the group from Ms. Diana’s studio. The dedication paid off as he was able to play in his first recital.Looking sharp in his new suit, he
One other fun thing Calan experience for the first time this month was recording a voice-over for a small holiday video card that Semtech wanted to send out to customers. With a Dr. Seuss like poem, Calan practiced his lines, adding his own special spirit and emotion when it came time for the official recording – see video.
Notable quotes this month:
Reading a book with Calan and Evan, we looked at a page filled with a busy nature scene in it. Pointing out some of the animals, we noticed a couple frogs playing in a pond. Calan said, “Uhoh, that frog fell of his lillypad…” Then, as we turned the page he followed with “Such is the life of a frog.” Not something you’re accustomed to hearing from a five-year-old. Later we found out he’d heard this “Such is the life of…” from the classic Rudolph movie he’d seen recently.
“No-kay”
Evan
Evan had fun this month getting to run around and “socialize” at Calan’s football practices. He still continues to have no fear when he spots a group of girls or friendly dogs walking by. He usually gravitates to both with utmost curiosity.
Evan is also getting faster and faster when he runs. He’s also figured out out to walk up stairs while holding onto a railing. It’s also been fun watching him respond to requests such as “go get your milk” or another item you might not think he understands. His favorite activity to do upon verbal prompt is “brushing teeth”. For whatever reason, he loves to hold his toothbrush and chomp down on it. At first, we thought it was teething but he actually gets the brush going in motion, as if he’s brushing. A good habit to learn early!
This month and Christmas wouldn’t be complete without the arrival of Gran and Grandpa a few days before Christmas. The kids were really excited for them to come. They arrived on a fun night, with Uncle Joe visiting for a family music jam. We were able to get a few music nights in with Uncle Joe earlier in the month and the Rodriquez clan one night.
Some of the highlights during the “Grands” visit included a day-trip to the Natural History Museum, playing a new game called Bananagrams, testing out the new lights and video equipment with Heidi and Grandpa we got for the upcoming Las Vegas trip, doing a grown-up outing to see “The Big Short”, shooting hoops with the whole family in the backyard, various trips to the park, a Long Beach outing where Calan tested out of Brazil nuts, and of course opening presents before and during Christmas.