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The young pair has changed markedly again this year, as you can well imagine. Scarlet continues to amaze with her arithmetic ability. She already understands multiplication (sort of) and is working toward division, way ahead of what we expect of a first grader. She still enjoys school, especially reading, which she does mostly on her own.
Scarlet is completely enamoured with fairies, the small winged kind. Recently, on a trip to Purple Haze she saw several of them in the headlights as they arrived. Her mother was somewhat skeptical, but had to concede when they found a note the fairies had left by the door of the tiny house Scarlet had constructed for them.
Nico is Nico, all boy and then some. He is very competitive, especially with his sister. When we walk to school he makes sure that he is first! He loves watching Truck Videos on Linda's big screen iMac. These are actually disguised infomercials for Legos, which he also likes a lot.
Claire was adamant that both needed to be in Spanish Immersion programs. That involved mucho interaction with the San Francisco School District. Naturally, the programs were over-subscribed, forcing a lottery for the available slots. Nico was lucky and during the second week of kindergarten switched to Daniel Webster Elementary School, a nicely rennovated facility in the neighborhood.
Scarlet, spent the first week at Starr King Elementary, the same school as last year, before transferring to Leonard R Flynn Elementary in the Mission district. The Spanish Immersion class there was taught by a fabulous teacher who introduced himself in response to my question "¿Como se llama?" as "Mister Juarez." We were a bit sorry to lose him when Scarlet won the lottery and also moved to Daniel Webster in January. However, we couldn't pass up the chance to have both in the same school.
There is a real asymmetry in our two pairs of grandchildren. We see S&N almost every day, often when Nico drops in for breakfast at 6:00. We learn of our older grandchildren's exploits from time to time. Here's what we know:
Kai decided to join the swashbucklers and took up fencing, with some good results according to Charles. His footwork is really impressive. He just needs to straighten his arm more. This inspired Charles to get back into fencing again for the first time in 10 years.
Kai is now in the 7th grade at Fred T. Korematsu Middle School. It's too far to walk, so he rides his bike most days. Getting up is proving much more difficult.
He continues to play the piano with surprising excellence that we attribute to Willats genes. He frequently selects themes from video games for recitals, along with a recognizable tune. Of course, he still plays a lot of video games, mostly Minecraft, but he has branched out some with Hollow Knight and even some Fortnite.
Kiera is in 5th grade at Harding Elementary School, the same as last year. She plays the violin with, again, surprising excellence. Guess those Willats genes are dominant. Linda, who struggled with the violin as a child is amazed. "It's a very difficult instrument."
Besides the violin, Kiera takes karate classes. Somewhere, we have a video of her breaking a board with her hand. Additionally, she takes gymnastics, and Girls Garage (where she learns how to use power tools). She has gotten surprisingly good at the unicycle from her circus arts class.
Her other grandmother, Mormor, gave her a sewing machine, and she has already made a dress for herself. In her off-time she does a bit of sewing, reading, and doting on the cats. She also added two owls to her life list: burrowing owl and barn owl. She has reaffirmed her desire to be a wildlife photographer.
Both K&K went on the family Scuba Trip, which is covered in Charles and Amy's page. They also went with Linda, Claire, and S&N to LegoLand, a theme park near Carlsbad, CA, which is about what it sounds like.
Some of our favorite family photos from the year can be found in the Family Photo Album.