Xavier Turns Seven!
Greetings to all and Happy Birthday to Xavier!
Xavier turns seven today! And has he been wanting today to arrive. He's been marking off days on his calendar for more than a month.
Nearly every day we get the question "How long until my birthday?"
Partly, I think, it's been being cooped up in the house since mid March.
He understood he would not be able to have friends over to celebrate with him. However, we did surprise him with a virtual party via the Zoom application. People from three different states joined us. We even surprised Xavier with his best friend, who lives only a few miles away, on the Zoom meeting.
All morning, Xavier kept asking when Aunt Chelle would arrive. He was excited to see her, and it meant the commencement of cake and presents.
Grampa Bill stopped by on his way in to work. He had a gift for Xavier. I did not think it possible after yesterday's arrival of the long-awaited firetruck, but Grampa Bill presented a gift that competed with the fire engine.
Our house is currently in a bit of an upheaval as we are remodeling a room. That, and it being so pleasant outside, we moved the party outdoors to the patio.
The Zoom party got under way. Happy Birthday was sang and candles were blown out (by Xavier, not the slight breeze that decided to start up).
Those who could and wanted to stay online watched as Xavier opened his other gifts. He got a very nice military grade compass and a children's book how to use it (he has wanted a compass these last three months).
He scored two chemistry sets and an optics experiment kit.
He also got a book on how to build various structures in Minecraft. I am certain Aunt Chelle's gift comes in at number 3 this year, behind the firetruck and RC car.
Two And A Half Year Goal
Hello everyone.
Nearly three years ago Xavier was fascinated by sprinkler systems, fire suppression systems, toilets and water treatment plants.
He watched scores of YouTube videos about them. In his watching, he discovered other videos. One of those was an elaborate setup of a fleet of Bruder fire engines putting out fires.
Bruder is a German company that makes quality to scale model toys from dump trucks to combines. Two of these toys caught Xavier's attention: a particular firetruck and a cement mixer.
That Christmas, he chose the cement mixer over the firetruck. However, he never forgot the fire engine. He spoke of it often.
In time, we gave Xavier a list of chores to do. If he did them, and did them well, he got paid. Soon, he was raking in three dollars a week.
Occasionally, we would ask what he wanted to buy with his money. Most of the time he mentioned the fire engine.
We priced the engine. The one he wanted, with the accessories he wanted, ran $85 before taxes.
He kept saving. Every so often he would dip into his savings to buy something else he wanted.
Generally, he spent some money on a Lego kit, which ran between $15 and $25 dollars.
He spent $20 on a hand-held arcade game. He insisted he wanted it no matter how much I tried to talk him out of it.
Xavier's "obsession" with Minecraft drove him to desire the newest Raspberry Pi. It has a faster processor and four times the memory as his older model. He wanted the faster, bigger memory model because the older model simply could not host Minecraft well. It lagged, it locked up after thirty minutes, it had issues rendering graphics.
The new model addressed all those problems, so he was happy to expend $30 to buy the Pi (Dad, who also wanted to test out the new model, subsidized the other $50).
The last few months, however, the firetruck returned as a significant desire. Xavier set his mind on saving up the $85.
One weekend, Xavier wanted to watch a movie which we had to rent from one of the streaming services available to us. We had already watched the movie several times, and to watch it again meant renting it again.
When told, "You watched it three times last weekend. If you want to watch it again, you need to pay the $4 out of your savings" he took pause.
After trying to argue someone else paying the $4, he finally gave in, though not at all happy about it. "I'm saving up to buy the firetruck," he complained.
After that little lesson, Xavier clamped down on spending.
Several more weeks passed and He counted his savings. $86 dollars in his jar.
We ordered the model he wanted online (Amazon.com) and he has waited not-so-patiently these last fourteen days for it to arrive.
We kept track of the order's progress. This morning, the order was loaded on the shipping truck and scheduled for delivery before 8:00 PM. Xavier checked the front porch about once on hour.
About 6:45 PM we were sitting on the couch. I looked over and said "Ding, dong" because he had not checked in nearly two hours. Sure enough, it had arrived.
No matter what presents he gets tomorrow, I do not think any of them will compete with the present he gave himself.
Helping With His Cake
Greeting to all.
As always this time of year, the house is abuzz with birthday baking activity.
This morning, Xavier was up a little earlier than expected. He popped out to my office after having some conversation with mom.
He was dressed to bake. This year, he put in an order for an Minecraft Chicken. Rebecca rose to the challenge.
There were a few "well, that didn't work" moments, but her ingenuity prevailed.
The original cake had a head that was too heavy. It was decorated with small sugar cookie tiles to make it look pixelated.
The tiles did not survive having to remove the head and plumb a new support system. We ate more of them than we should have, then tossed the rest.
Rebecca chose to do a vanilla yogurt cake this year. She found a white chocolate frosting so smooth and delicious we had to hire security to protect the frosting store from getting raided by the three of us.
The chicken has cookie wings, beak and eyes. Its waddle (extended to help support the head) is made out of marzipan, as are the egg. Holding each candle, a chocolate marzipan column.
The atmosphere in the house, especially at night when Rebecca did most of the work, filled with sugar and chocolate sweetness. I think we all gained two pounds from nothing more than inhaling the aromas.
Camping Covid-19 Style
Hello to all (from the Front Range "Foothills").
Well, perhaps this should be titled "Glamping Covid-19 Style".
Either way, this past week Xavier's school work has revolved around planning, provisioning and pulling off a camping trip.
He was given a budget to buy camping supplies and food. This got Xavier used to second grade math problems and concepts.
He had to set up a campsite, introducing him to concepts of scale and laying out a plan.
As extra credit, the students could set up their campsite (as best as possible) using pillows, tents, whatever the family had.
Xavier has wanted to go camping since last year. We never got around to it due to Rebecca's surgery. The closest camping we got to last year was an overnight (in a lodge) down at the Great Sand Dunes.
As campsites in Colorado are basically closed this year (or right now), Rebecca decided to camp in the backyard.
She and Xavier set up the camp (not according to his layout, though). They set up our "four person" tent while I dragged a "chiminea" over to the site and got a fire going inside it.
After the camp was set up, I used an air compressor to inflate the queen-sized air mattress (one of the nice things about glamping—I had access to the compressor and the 120 VAC to power it). Rebecca got the cook stove up and operational, and we cooked a meal. Later, we cooked s'mores over the fire.
As the tent might fit four people Xavier's size, it did not sleep two adults and Xavier comfortably. So, Rebecca and Xavier spent the night in the tent, while I glamped in the comfort of my own bed.
The next day, we cooked breakfast on the Coleman stove, lunch and dinner.
Xavier wanted to go fishing, so we headed one of the lakes nearby. Xavier also fished in a creek. As he fished, a beaver kit spent much time near us, staying less than twenty feet away. It did not seem bothered by us at all as it foraged for things to eat.
After another overnight in the tent (Rebecca and Xavier), we cooked and ate breakfast at the camp. Then, we broke down the campsite and packed everything away.
We "got home", unpacked and made it in time to virtual church.