Frederick and the snake

Yesterday (Thanksgiving) Frederick and I went for a post-meal stroll at, yes, For-Mar. We saw deer, and this fellow. (It was very mild. Today, on the other hand, it dropped to the twenties and snow was in the air.)

The Flint Institute of Music is Very Excited about Christmas

A Weekend in November

Simon and Frederick went for a long walk on Saturday. The day was gloomy and cool, but not terrible. Frederick poses along the way.
Frederick bored of posing along the way. Sunday was much worse--windy and cold. But again Simon and Frederick headed out, this time with Thomas tagging along. They made it to the office and Thomas decorated my message board outside my office door. [I think he thought I would be annoyed or shocked because of the effect this may have on my students, but I am going to leave it. Maybe it will keep annoying students away.]

Thomas caught in the act of messing up my office. He'll deny it, but I know he changes things around, takes things and loses things. He can't help it; he's always been that way.
Frederick enjoys watching bits of Sesame Street on YouTube.
And thus we survived another boring weekend. In retrospect, the walk may have been a bad idea, though, as Frederick woke up with a splitting headache (he claimed his eyebrow hurt--I take that to mean he had sinus pressure), promptly threw up and then passed out on the couch. And so another winter season begins...

Post-bath fun

I heard sounds from the bathroom after Frederick's bath that indicated he was having fun. "Good for him", I thought, as I worked on the computer (preparing an online Logic test, as it happens, not reading The Onion or something). "At least I know he's not making a mess, because I put away all the shampoos that he sometimes likes to make messes with." Never underestimate the mess-making ability of a Frederick:

Halloween Costumes--Another Ordeal Survived

Some weeks ago Frederick declared that he wanted to be Kermit T. Frog for Halloween. I started planning out the costume 5 or 6 weeks ago, got all the necessary fabric about a month ago, but did not have time to actually start sewing it until last week Sunday. The trick to a good costume is that the feet have to be removable if walking in them is dangerous, the hands have to be removable so that the candy container doesn't get dropped and the mask has to allow the wearer to see, breathe and talk comfortably. The night before the school Halloween dress up party, Frederick suddenly had a crisis of confidence and said he wouldn't wear the costume at school. I packed it all up in a sack for him to take anyway, but I was fairly confident he wouldn't have anything to do with it. To my surprise, Emily reported that, once he realized that ALL the kids would have costumes on, he wanted to wear his, too. Here he is in the classroom, relaxing in a rocking chair and putting on the hands.
He's all done and now just has to wait for all his classmates to get finished changing in the bathrooms. (The costume is 100% polyester fleece and is, I imagine, HOT! He looks like he is being cooked alive.)
Some of his classmates are back quickly. Emily dressed up as a cat.
Here are the rest. (Frederick can't stop staring at Clare's wig with the giant Repunzal braid.)
Here he is at Emily's, chilling in his Kermit pants and playing with Play Doh.
Thomas insisted that he was too old to dress up for Halloween but Thursday morning fell apart and begged for a costume. I told him that I would make something SIMPLE. So while he was at Philharmonia rehearsal Thursday evening I sewed question marks onto a black sweatshirt top. I'm not sure what he was, but he said that that (not knowing what he was) WAS what he was.

Halloween Excitement

Every year Emily takes Frederick to a nearby pumpkin farm to pick out pumpkins to carve for Halloween. This year they have been singing a version of Five Little Monkeys, called Five Little Pumpkins. This meant that five trips to the pumpkin farm were necessary. This day it was rather nippy out and Frederick is wearing his new winter coat.
Frederick double checks the pumpkin--it seems good.
Yes, it's a beaut. But how to design the face--happy? sad? scary?
This pumpkin gets carved on Emily's front porch during a rain storm.
This one is getting carved inside--it must have been cold outside that day.
Scary face is finished!

Trick or Treating

[Simon and I were blogging at the same time so this is out of order--these pictures should be after the Kermit pictures above.]
Halloween Trick or Treating was moved a day early in the hope that this would minimize the damage done on what is known here in Flint as "Devil's Night," the one evening a year when everyone feels free to roam through Flint and set houses on fire. It's almost 9 pm and so far no one has set this house on fire but the night is young, I suppose. Here come the mobs...
It gets pretty ridiculous. People pack up in minivans and trucks, driving in from all parts of town to raid our neighborhood of candy. (Admittedly I would, too, if I lived in any other part of this town.)
Here is a film of Thomas being overwhelmed by another mob. (It got worse after this and we were cleaned out after just about an hour.)

Frederick the Polar Bear II

Last week we went to Seven Lakes park near Fenton, and the weather was glorious:



In this last photo, Frederick is wearing no underpants (under his jeans - this IS America) and my T-shirt because he refused to settle for just paddling...


...so when we went back to Seven Lakes today, and the weather was even warmer, I stripped him down to his skivvies so he could get serious: