Baltimore (and Xaye) reads!

On Friday, Xaye and I went to the Central Library's storytime. After it finished, the storyteller told us that we would see photographers throughout the library taking pictures of the patrons. The library is doing a new ad campign and is using "regular" people for the photos. Anyone that was interested in getting their picture taken could go up to the photographer and sign up. I wasn't opposed to getting my picture taken, but my time on the meter was almost up, so I was going to pass on the opportunity. As I was leaving, a photographer's assistant came up to me and invited Xaye and I to get our pictures taken. He said it would really help out, because they rarely get father/sons in the library and that was exactly the demographic they wanted to target. I agreed to hang out for a while for some shots. As we waited, I got a book for us to read. The photographer saw us reading the book and came over to us. He said it was a perfect shot, just like we were, no need to pose or anything. It also helped that Xaye was in a really good mood and smiling the entire time. So if you see us on the side of a bus in the near future, you know why.

I said "NO"

Which is Xaye's new favorite word. He says it in response to EVERYTHING. We are trying to saturate him with 'yes', 'vote green' and 'would you like ice with that', but all he says is "NO".

Hungry? "NO". Ready for bathtime? "NO?". Read any good books lately? "NO". Will you be saying "NO" again soon? "NO".

What a refreshing conversation. Thanks for the clarity, Xaye.

"NO".

Music Together

Once again, Xaye and I are in music class. This similar to the other class, except it is for kids 9 mos to 5 years. Luckily, most of the kids in Xaye's class are around his age. Today was the first day of the class and Xaye loves it. In case you didn't know he loves music and this class has just the right amount of music and movement to keep him entertained for the entire time. I cannot describe how happy he gets when he gets to play the instruments and bang on the drums while getting to watch everyone else do the same thing. On top of that there are a couple of Xaye's friends in the class.

SightSpeed

Yesterday, we had our first successful webcam test. Using sightspeed, a video chat program, Xaye's granparents were able to spend a few minutes interacting with him face to face over the Internet. It seems to be a pretty good service, although not perfect. There was a lot of echo, and the video quality was not consistently clear. However, Xaye was abled to watch and hear Bubbe sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider without any difficulty.

Anyone that wants to communicate with Xaye through the webcam, download Sightspeed, and contact me.