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Vacation

Maya's has no school for the next week because of Spring vacation, hopefully she'll find something to occupy herself. Zaheeda is finally feeling well again after her flu and is looking forward to a weekend of relaxing with no screaming kids.

Colbert Report Kid

iPod + Colbert

Easter Comic

Mariam sent this for Maya. It is kind of like something Maya would do although she'd never put paper down to keep the floor from getting paint all over on it.

Spring Fever

Walk Pictures Movie

This movie is of some pictures from one of our walks last week.

Dodo

Last night Maya had a strange homework assignment. This assignment in and of itself seemed pretty odd, especially when Maya mentioned her team was Team Dodo and she needed to come up with a good cheer to sing while climbing a volcano.

Now of course I had a couple questions right off the bat - first being, why is her team called Team Dodo? Isn't that like being put on Team Moron, Team Simpleton or Team Kucinich 2008? What happened to that whole build up children's self-esteem thing? Did that all go out of fashion in the 90's? Secondly, why would anyone climb a volcano anyway, that doesn't even make sense - you'd have to be a total dodo to climb a volcano, wouldn't you?

Well, she didn't have any clear answers and I didn't want belabor the point - after all, what kind of answer is considered a 'good one' when asking a member of Team Dodo why she needs a cheer to sing while climbing a volcano? Really....

So this is what we came up with :

We are The Dodos
We climb Volcanoes
People ask what we know
'Cause we are The Dodos

From a global perspective, I wonder if the children in India have this kind of homework? New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman in his book The World is Flat contends we have entered a dynamic age of globalization where traditional barriers to entry have been removed, and todays generation of young Americans will be competing side by side with those from the far reaches of the globe. Now I don't know if the answer is in a policy of 'no dodos left behind' or something else, but I do know that a generation of kids who often literally don't know the world isn't flat are not going to fare well against those who do.

It's tough trying to raise a kid not to be a dodo these days.

Brown hair, Brown Eyes, Brown Shorts

Bike Ride

Hot day. Zaheeda is sick. Maya fell down and skinned her knee in gym glass today but she's okay.

Swinging in the trees

Swinging in the trees like a common monkey.

Color Swarm

Maya & Zaheeda

Heavy Metal is for the Brilliant

Article about the correlation between heavy metal music and brilliant children.

We all new this already though didn't we? :-)

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go make Maya listen to the Ramones.

Maya's genealogy

as determined by her Grandma:
1/8 German, 1/16 English, 1/16 Irish, 3/16 Swedish, 1/16 Nor., 1/2 Indian. No wonder she loves fractions!

Based on these numbers we can assume the half Indian part will mean she will be unfairly undercutting U.S. labor particularly in the high tech field. Being that she is only half Indian though I guess we can assume she'll only be working part-time.

Maya is my name

Big Time Minneapolis

Foreboding image of Minneapolis at dusk - home to WCCO News and The Hard Rock Cafe.

Andantino

Andantino Video

Violin and Computer Art

She has a violin lesson this afternoon and then tonight she will be working on some art projects with this new graphics application call Tux Paint. We just downloaded it last night and she did some pretty cool designs. I like it because it's something I can hold over her head to get her to practice - "No computer until you practice," I say. Parenting is all about leverage.

Exploring Fort Snelling

Tonight we went for a walk (bike ride for Maya) and explored around Fort Snelling. As many times as we've been by there, it really looks different in the Spring when all the greenery is gone. Here are a few pictures:

Minuet 1

Minuet 1 video

Minuet 3

This is the first time the group had ever played this together and that is why there is kind of a break in the middle where the advanced kids played their part and then Maya's group came back in, but overall we thought they did a pretty good job.

Minuet 3 movie

Violin Play-in

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!! The play-in is finally over and Maya did a great job. Here are a couple pictures - we'll have some video in the next couple days.

Grandparents

Maya's grandparents are coming over this afternoon and will be attending her violin performance on Saturday. We should have some pictures and maybe a new movie.

Maya's writing

Maya had done this writing on the computer where she was trying to include her weekly spelling words. I don't quite know what to make of it, it's a bit Kafkaesque.

frogs I leaped out and into a fountain then I sneaked out and then I repair a swing then I crawled all the way home on the sidewalk.

More computer art

Maya calls this one "Soom"

Bike in the mud

Here she is riding in the mud with her new tights on - fortunately for her, one of her two parents is very understanding when it comes to these kinds of things.

Fish

Another potato painting. This one looked a lot better before it dried - maybe the starch from the potato faded the colors.

New Art

This painting, although at first glance seems rather plain, is until you realize it's painted entirely with a potato as a brush. As far as we know there is no one else around doing this kind of potato art, (or potatoe art as Dan Quayle calls it). Maya should contact the NEA, and it'll only be a matter of time for the grant money to start rolling in.

Maya and Guitar

Maya playing her guitar while wearing her bike helmet to abstain from head injuries. This may seem a little silly, but as proof that it works, we can confirm she has yet to sustain any head trauma while playing.

Coral Snake

Maya did this painting on the computer last night of a coral snake... It is very big, especially in relation to to the coconut tree

Early Release Day

Maya had an early release day from school today and since it was a balmy 42 degreess this afternoon we went for a walk. Last week we walked to see all the snow fall and this week we walked to see it start to melt.

Practice, practice

Last night Maya did about an hour and half of practicing in preparation for the concert in a couple weeks. We have been doing lots of review so that she can whip right through the old pieces with no difficulty. Our hope is that she will play perfectly and thus not shame and embarrass the family.

another Tuesday

Violin this afternoon and not much else going on.

Ikea and practice

Tonight we had to run to Ikea to pick up a few odds and ends - then it was back home, a shower and about an hour violin practice for Maya. After practicing I loaded up the iPod with Jack and Annie audio books and she went right to bed listening to stories.

Sunday with nothing to do

This morning Maya was outside playing for a bit while I worked on shoveling some of the snow off the roof. Zaheeda has been inside cleaning and doing research online as to what is causing the dryer to make this god-awful thumping sound. She thinks she has discovered that a belt needs to be replaced to solve the problem, however my opinion is to leave it alone and maybe the sound will just go away - it's all about positive thinking.

Maya is spending the rest of the day listening to these Jack and Annie audio books from the library and doing art projects.

The Curly Violinist

Stripes

If you look at this picture long enough you will start to get a headache.

more snow...

It was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who said, "Into each life some rain must fall." Well, I guess it would stand to reason then that if it's below freezing some snow must fall as well...