Better Vision

I have horrible eyesight, as do several members of my family. So I figured it was only a matter of time before one of my children needed glasses. As it turned out, this was the week! Natalie has never mentioned having any trouble seeing, but after the pediatrician did a vision screening on Monday, he recommended a trip to the optometrist. After a thorough eye exam, it was decided that Natalie definitely needed glasses.

We just picked them up and she seems to think they help, so that's a good start.

Have You Ever Made A Phoenix?

Well Natalie did.

For Christmas, we decided to encourage Natalie's creativity with something new and different: the LaQ Building Set. I had only seen it in the Mindware catalog, but knew it would be right up her alley. At first it was overwhelming, with so many tiny pieces...oh, and the instructions are only in Japanese. Natalie made the recommended basics like a flat strip of repeating patterns, a box and a sphere, but it took a lot of trial and error for her to begin to feel confident enough to try some of the other designs that are shown in the pamphlets. Before long, she was able to figure them out.

There was one in the pamphlet, though, that was elusive. And complicated. And she thought she could never do it.

Then, one day, she did.

I proudly present to you, Natalie's phoenix:
Here is a close-up. LaQ's are comprised of squares, triangles and various connecting pieces.
And here is what Natalie had to work from:
She's pretty amazing, I think.