(3+4)/52

Perhaps this is cheating, but such is life. Here are the stories from the last two weeks.

As every parent knows too well, winter is the season of disease and school is the primary vector. Alas, Anders spent the latter part of week 3 sick at home. The fever started on Thursday.

Unlike his last big fever (roughly this time last year), this time we didn't try to control the fever with NSAIDs at all. We just monitored it to make sure that it didn't get out of control.

Average between left/right ears;
individual readings peaked above 103°.

Mostly, he slept on the couch and coughed. And coughed. Then took a nap. Then suddenly Friday night after a two hour nap, he woke up and wanted to build LEGOs. Just like that, the fever was gone.

But due to his illness - this one and a shorter one the following week - he was only able to participate in 25% of his scheduled roller skating and basketball events.

Just prior to his illness, Anders joined us for our semi-annual family outing to the dentist. Thankfully, nothing substantive to report there. Anders's 6/7-year molars are all the way through and look straight and clean. That's good news, because they are permanent!

He spends quite a lot of time talking while the hygienist is working; I'm not sure how she was able to get much done. Despite claims ahead of time that he would be brave, Anders chickened out on the X-rays again. We may have to resort to bribery next time.

Anders quote of the week, while reading National Geographic together:

Someday we should visit Afghanistan.

Hmmm... I think we'll wait and see on that one.

Since reading that issue of NG, Anders has also decided that one of his LEGO trucks is from Afghanistan.

Anders is still enamored with videos of model construction vehicles. He was overheard this week telling Grandma Donna about one of his trucks: "These hydraulics are really stiff.... it'll hold any pose," cribbing language directly from his favorite channel, CranesEtcTV.

Through YouTube's recommendation engine, Anders also discovered a series of stop animation truck videos which have become his newest obsession. He has also decided that he is going to make one.

And since I mentioned stop animation... this is the most entertaining toy construction vehicle flash mob video that we've ever seen.

Anders went on a real drawing spree this past week. He has a number of "How To Draw" books from Usborne and Ed Emberley that he really loves, and he sampled from several different sources to produce his pieces.

His first study was a series on trucks, of course.

One of nine truck drawings produced that afternoon

Next was a tour of the world. His tour included such popular stops as The Caribbean, Malibu, and the Arctic. (Malibu is another one that he learned through "Weird Things Are Everywhere.")

The Caribbean

This next one used the advanced technique of "thumbprinting."

Malibu, apparently crowded with paparazzi.

After finishing these drawing, he declared that "someday we should go to Malibu." That one seems a bit more likely than Afghanistan.

- Mike, Corinne and Anders