Our little skier

Our son started skiing four days ago.

He has made it to the bottom of the beginners' hill 24.5 times. The half occurred when he turned left into the line of skiers side-stepping up the hill and decided to go back up for another run rather than complete that one.

He can snowplow to a stop, which in my opinion, is the most critical skill. Most times, he can get back up when he falls. And in his last two days of ski camp, he has managed to stay up during the majority of his runs.

He hasn't mastered turning through the cones yet, often ending up at a standstill with his skis headed across the hill. Once there, he hasn't grasped the concept of pointing his skis back down the hill to get started skiing again. But he's working on that.

As parents, my husband and I help him gear up, give him pointers on form, and wait in the cold at the bottom of the hill to catch him or any runaway skiers and stop them from skiing out onto the creek.

Once he shows his instructors that he can turn through the cones and snowplow to a stop, they'll pair him up with a ski cadet to ride the ski lift up and come down the big hill.

My son doesn't seem to be too eager for that although today I watched him quietly sizing up the ski lift. I can tell that day will come too soon for Mom.

Simple winter pleasures

Sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows and eating fresh-baked gingerbread cookies after digging out from the snowstorm. Yum!

Looking forward to January slowdown

My 5-year-old son's social calendar is much busier than mine.

The ramp-up started just before Halloween, with a friend's costumed birthday party and ride on a hay wagon. Next came trick-or-treating, though he had to miss his pre-school's Halloween party because of swimming lessons.

His birthday featured three events: a party at pre-school with his classmates, dinner of his choice on his actual birthday with Mom and Dad, then a party at home that weekend with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and assorted friends.

The Thanksgiving feast was held at grandma and grandpa's. I had to bake pumpkin pies. Not to be outdone, my son had to bake and decorate turkey- and leaf-shaped sugar cookies.

As one of Judah Maccabee's brothers in the Hanukkah play, he threw rocks at and fought with swords against Greek soldiers.

He sang beach songs in two holiday concerts at pre-school and dreidle songs in a concert at our synagogue's Hanukkah dinner.

In between the musical events, we took gifts to nursing home residents and lit candles for eight nights. At his request, our first night's dinner was applesauce and potato latkes. He grated all of the potatoes.

Following that was another friend's birthday party, this time in an arcade. Imagine a bunch of 5-year-old boys playing ski ball, air hockey and video driving games for the first time.

Now it's ski camp and participating in relatives' Christmas festivities that were delayed by the snowstorm.

And he's not even in school full-time or organized sports -- yet.

More best books for children

My son and I just finished reading Return to the Hundred Acre Wood.

Eighty years after A.A. Milne's classics were written, author David Benedictus picks up the story of Winnie the Pooh with Christopher Robin's return from school for summer vacation. All of the classic characters are there plus a new one, an otter named Lottie.

The book is remarkably well done, although the chapters seem to be a bit longer than in the original stories. It has catchy little Pooh hums and misspelled words in Milne style.

My son seemed most impressed by "Chapter Six in which Owl becomes an author, and then unbecomes one." I, however, was most moved by "Chapter Ten in which a Harvest Festival is held in the Forest and Christopher Robin springs a surprise." But then I cry at the end of The House at Pooh Corner, too.

This is a book we will need to buy and add to our collection.

Some other recent best books we found at the library:

• A bad case of stripes (David Shannon)
• Anatole and the Piano (Eve Titus)
• Cat You Better Come Home (Garrison Keillor)
• The Jar of Fools: Eight Hanukkah Stories from Chelm (Eric A. Kimmel)