The Atchison Clan

New October pictures

Dad — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:47:39 +0000

Finally got the rest of the pictures from October up. They’re the ones from the piano recital and Halloween. November should be ready soon.

Enjoy!

October pictures

Pardon me

Dad — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:17:17 +0000

The scene: Sitting at the table eating dinner

Hannah: *hiccup* Pardon me. *pause* I just said pardon. That’s what old people say.
Jessie and I burst out laughing.
Jessie: Well, Papaw says it so I think you’re right.

Halloween Piano Recital

Dad — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 02:26:08 +0000

Hannah played her first piano recital! She was really excited about it. She did a great job! Have a look at the video.

Halloween Piano Recital

Musical Saturday

Dad — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:59:57 +0000

Hannah started piano lessons in September and has been loving them. She’s even still excited about practicing. I hope that sticks around a while. She’s even so eager about music, she drew her own music staff on paper this morning and wrote a song called Halloween Bones. Then I told her that we could print some blank music sheets for her and her face lit up. So she took that and wrote another song called Saturday Morning. She’s in composing her song right now to see how the notes sound when she plays them.

-Dad

Here she is composing at her keyboard.

Danny Dinosaur, Book 1 in a new series

Mom — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 23:39:45 +0000

Hannah has started first grade, and it is becoming increasingly obvious that while we have always thought she was different and special and not necessarily like other kids, this is actually true and not just the rose-colored glasses of parenthood talking. As exhibit A, I give you the full text of “Danny Dinosaur,” a new original work by our budding author. She wrote and illustrated the book at school.

Danny was a dinosaur. He was thinking what fun it would be to see a shark. So Danny decided to take a walk until he came to the river. There he saw a cartoxerina! He was happy. The end.

(I am pretty sure cartoxerina is supposed to be Cretoxyrhina which is, in fact, a prehistoric shark. It is from the Cretaceous period, same as T. Rexes like Danny. Lucky Danny.)

And here is the teaser copy from the back cover (I am not making this up):
Sharks! Danny the Dinosaur goes to the river. Does Danny ever get to see a shark? Or will he meet a triceratops and get doomed? Find out in Danny Dinosaur!

As I type, Book 2 in the series, Danny Goes Swimming, is in progress. Hannah thinks it’s very funny because obviously Danny’s arms would be too short to actually swim.

Mom

Wolves

Dad — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:17:42 +0000

Hannah has been reading a lot about different animals in some books that she has. Her favorite seems to be the one about wolves. She’s been pretending to be a wolf pup for the last few days. Since I’m working from home and trying to find things to keep her busy until school starts, I thought I’d show her how to make a wolf den with a blanket and the couch.

After a while, she was looking a bit bored so I thought I would take a break and play with her a bit. I crawled into her den and she didn’t like that at all. Apparently I’m a hunter, not a wolf.

Me: “I think I’ll crawl into your den to have a look around.”
Hannah: “Dad no! You can’t go in there! It’s my den.”
Me: “But I thought I was a wolf too”
Hannah: “No, you’re a hunter.”
Me: “Okay, I guess I’ll just hang out in here then.”
Hannah: “I marked my territory in there! That means keep out!”

At this point I can’t do or say anything because I’m laughing so hard. After recovering, I managed to climb out of the den and she was much happier.

-Dad

The Kraken

Dad — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:10:46 +0000

It is becoming increasingly difficult to impress Hannah with things that I know.

Hannah: Dad, what’s your favorite animal that doesn’t exist?
Me: Definitely dragons
Hannah: My favorite is a sea monster.
Me (thinking I’d impress her with something she didn’t know): You know, in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, there’s a giant sea monster called a kraken! It’s huge!
Hannah: Actually krakens are more like squid.
Me, stunned: How do you know about krakens??
Hannah: I read about them in a book about sea creatures. It was in the section about legendary sea creatures.

Outwitted

Mom — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:23:19 +0000

The scene: Hannah and I have just come home from school. She wants a snack.

Me: Hannah, there’s one snicker doodle left. Do you want that?

Hannah, very sweetly: No thanks, Mom. You can have it.

Me: Wow, thanks! That’s very nice of you. (eats the cookie) So, what would you like for a snack?

Hannah, grinning: All I can think about is ice cream!

Me: Well, maybe you can have some ice cream after dinner.

Hannah: Why? Cookies are a treat, too!

Me: (sigh) So what kind of ice cream do you want?

New glasses

Dad — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 02:40:03 +0000

Hannah has now officially joined the world of corrective eyewear people. She just got her first pair of glasses this evening. She looks really grown up wearing them!

Yogurt’s Friends Trip

Dad — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 22:59:36 +0000

Hannah and I have been scanning the new GeekDad book that we got for Christmas to find some cool projects to do. Hannah found one about making a cartoon so she grabbed some stuffed animals and came up with a story. She did the entire story herself. I helped her with taking the pictures and with the app we used to put all the panels together. So now we have a cool comic with her stuffed animals.

I had a lot of fun watching her put the comic together. I just wonder what I might have created if Comic Life would have been out when I was Hannah’s age. I drew a few comics myself the old-fashioned way and stapled it all together.

- Dad