Early reading, Russian festival verdict

So, things didn't go quite as envisioned (when do they, with kids).

A. Festival:
We've gone to the Russian festival in SF twice before, and enjoyed it. First time, well, it was the first, novelty of it certainly was interesting. Second time, there was a pretty good song & dance concert which both of our boys enjoyed. Third time is the charm? Not so much. The food is a highway robbery and it's ridiculously bad (come on, it's hard to botch up buckwheat & mushroom julienne). The concert which we could attend was performed by kids, which is great if you're that child's parent and mildly interesting if you're simply any parent (for a different, somewhat schadenfreudenish/apprehensive reason), but not so much in terms of artistic quality, obviously. All in all, the experience was a bit bleh. Plus, a huge blow for us: the library sale had meager selection (we bought one book, whereas the first time, we bought 30).

Verdict: kind of interesting, if you've never been; second time: skip it.

B. Early reading:
We've been skating the edges of pre-reading (in Russian) with my oldest, 3.5-yr-old L. for a while now. He's known all the capital letters for at least 6 months, he can tell the first and last letter of the word by ear, and often middle letters as well, he's able to put together two and three letter combinations when asked (we have a game), he can read with my assistance a significant number of words in headings of books and poems (we always do that, when we read a book, if we see anything written in capital letters). So, I decided to start him teaching him how to read proper, following a textbook. What a spectacular flop! Not quite sure what doesn't click. First of all, he didn't seem interested. Maybe it was just this day? Secondly, he didn't seem to get it at all. Even such obvious things as MY (moo) next to a picture of a cow. Maybe it was the context of learning a lesson? He certainly has done such easy two-letter reading before, when we're reading a book or playing a game. Or, of course, maybe he's simply not ready at all and I'm just have a strong case of "people remember successes better than failures" bias with regards to his reading successes. Or maybe it was just this day.

Verdict: try next week again.

Weekend plans, Feb.21 and 22

This is what our complete day would look like

Saturday, Feb 21
07:30-08:00 Get up, get kids dressed
08:00-08:30 Breakfast: fried eggs with scallion, with bread & milk
08:30-09:30 Go to Walgreens to make children passport photos
09:30-10:00 Drive to SMART to recycle old lightbulbs & paint (301 Carl Rd, Sunnyvale, CA 94089)
10:00-11:00 Drive to SF (2450 Sutter Street)
11:00-14:00 Enjoy the Russian festival; eat Russian food for lunch; then concert @12:15; http://www.russiancentersf.com/
14:00-15:00 Drive home
15:00-16:30 Nap time
16:30-18:00 Have kids clean the car, quick run to Trader joe's, have L. write letter to family
18:00-18:30 Prepare dinner: potatoes, meat, salad, grapes, set the table
18:30-19:00 Dinner
19:00-19:35 Sports activity; Build spaceport for astronauts
19:35-19:45 Clean up
19:40-20:00 Pjs, cartoon, teeth; put A. in bed
20:00-20:30 Read book to L., put him in bed

I won't go in as much detail (here) for Sunday. The point is really to show what kind of activities we do that you can adapt, not our specific little errands and plans.

Sunday, Feb.22
10:30-12:30 Play date
12:15-13:15 Drive home, set table, eat lunch, change into good clothing
13:15-14:00 Clean house for babysitter
14:00-15:00 Drive to Mission City Opera & Vocal
15:00-18:00 Enjoy the opera Marriage of Figaro with L. & DH.
18:00-19:00 Drive to Art-cafe Samovar, get some quick food at the store for on-the-go dinner
19:00-21:00 Concert
(the musical performances are for 3.5-yr-old L.; 2-yr-old A. gets to stay home: not ready yet).