I met one of you today. Totally out of the blue, too. It's not like we had e-mailed back and forth and you were going to be in town and we thought, "Hey, let's meet up and actually be those people who meet other cool folks from the Interwebz!"
No, it was totally random.
This is the first week of the 'fall' session at the swim school. I say 'fall' in quotes because when it's 107 outside, fall isn't exactly the word that comes to mind, but then again, all the trees are turning brown and losing their leaves, so maybe *I'M* the one who's got it wrong. It's entirely possible.
I'm digressing again. I do that when I get excited. My mind starts jumping around and I can't focus on anything... oh, look, SQUIRREL!
Swim school. I expected that there would be a few new kids since this was the start of the fall session, and I was both right and wrong. There were a few more kids than had been attending during the summer, but only one new kid that I could immediately recognize. I picked him out easily since he got put in M1's lane; M1 had been the only kid in that lane for the past few weeks, and I was glad to see that he'd have someone to swim with. It didn't hurt that the other kid looked to be roughly the same age as M1 (and also had red hair, which I see as a bonus).
Shortly afterward, I said hello to his mom. She seemed very nice, and we started talking. She had been sitting behind everyone, and I feel like it's weird to be turned around backward while talking, so I moved to sit a couple seats away. She gave me her contact info so we could set up a field trip sometime in the future, and then I passed on mine...
And then she - YOU - said that you read this blog! I'm not sure if it showed, but you could have knocked me over with a feather. I don't often imagine this blog having readers; I'm not The Bloggess or Pioneer Woman, and the idea of having any sort of following sometimes just makes me shrug and smile wryly. To MEET one of you... I can't wipe the stupid grin off my face. To know that you read and follow this blog is mind-boggling.
Best of all? I'll see you again soon! Thanks for making my day!
Showing posts with label moms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moms. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Monday, February 28, 2011
How I Do It
I get asked all the time, "How do you do it?" I know I'm not alone. Usually when someone asks me this, it's in the context of parenting/homeschooling. My answer is twofold. First, I'm completely anal retentive and have mad time management skills. Or so I'm told.
Moving on, the second part of my answer includes the fact that I do NOT get it all done. Ever. I am human. Even I have things I hate doing. Or won't do. Or both.
Today, though, let me walk you through a normal Monday so you can see how it gets done (or not).
6:30 a.m. - Alarm blares. Hit snooze.
6:39 a.m. - Alarm blares. Hit snooze.
6:48 a.m. - Alarm blares. This time I actually turn it off and get my rump out of bed. I stagger down the hall to M2's room, where her alarm is blaring, turn that off, and wake her up. I debate this whole 8 o'clock bedtime thing because clearly it ain't workin' if she's now sleeping through her alarm instead of getting up with it. Ponder going back to 7 because the kids would never know.
6:50-7:32 a.m. - Get dressed. Make the bed. Swap out the dirty towels in the bathroom for clean ones and start that particular load of laundry. Throw frozen strudel thingies in the toaster and pour glasses of milk for breakfast for the kids. Wake M1 up and inform him there is food (it's amazing how fast that boy can move when food is involved). Eat a container of yogurt for my own meal. Put some bunny grahams in a sack for M2's snack and set it near her backpack. Ask the kids to put their hampers in the hall so I can sort and wash their laundry today. Empty the dishwasher while loosely supervising the kids brushing their teeth (mostly this meant making sure they were quiet because Oz was working till 4:30 a.m. and needed his beauty rest). Clean the litter boxes while the kids put away their part of the dishes and put on their shoes and coats. Clip M2's pedometer onto her pants pocket. Pile everyone in the van.
7:33 a.m. - Breathe a sigh of relief that we're on our way.
7:44 a.m. - Drop M2 off at school. She didn't want to be walked in today, so I sat in the car pool lane to make sure she got to the door okay. She did. She happily gave the fist-bump greeting to the eighth grader who has taken to helping the morning monitor and wandered in.
7:55 a.m. - Make it back home. Send M1 out to release the chickens from their prison... er... coop... and bring in some stray arrows that have been sitting in the garage for a couple of weeks, attempting to stab anyone who walked past with knees at just the height of the top of a hay bale. Debate with M1 about whether he'd rather go to Lego Club or take a nap today. Lego wins. I resolve to fix coffee.
8-8:30 a.m. - Get the boy started on writing comparison sentences. Check Facebook and the news on my phone. Think about a friend of mine who has an important appointment today for a vision loss problem. Worry about her. Worry about another friend who has a broken foot and whose toes have been turning purple whenever she stands up. Wonder who is going to complete the trifecta of crappy health issues because my friend whose house has flooded and has to get new flooring thanks to the leaking fridge doesn't really count. Hers will go into another trifecta of crappy appliance issues, and someone else has already claimed slot #2 there.
8:30-8:45 a.m. - Start load of laundry #2. Start the boy on math. Boil some navy beans so I can soak them for the rest of the day and have them for dinner tonight. Say good-bye to Oz, who has arisen and is off for the day.
8:45 a.m. - Find out that the third member of the health issue trifecta is my grandfather, who is currently in the hospital and is likely to be taken to a nursing home after his release instead of back to his assisted living center. Not good. Not horribly surprising, but still not good.
8:46-9:30 a.m. - Park my carcass on the couch and browse forums while M1 finishes up math and whines about spelling, mostly dictionary practice. Explain the importance of dictionary skills in real life, not the least of which is being able to find requested books on the reserved shelf at the library. Start this post, to be edited at various times during the day.
9:32 a.m. - Start coffee. Thank heaven for whoever first peeled that particular cherry, ground up the seed inside, steeped it in water, and drank it. And the person who invented caramel macchiato creamer to go with it.
9:36-11:30 a.m. - Get coffee. Finish up on the computer while the boy finishes spelling and colors a picture for history. Set up and play a game from "Story of the World" entitled the 'Fast Tax' game. Treat the boy's asthma in between games. Wonder why he gets a rash every time he plays outside these days. After the game finishes, explain the point the game makes about why it would have been cheaper to pay the gold/salt tax and go through Ghana than to keep the extra cash and go around it. Illustrate with Legos. Find a rabbit hole. Go down it. Discuss supply and demand. Use Jerusalem as an example (Would the world's Big Three religions be fighting if there were three Jerusalems? Five?). Listen to the boy's questions about gas/oil prices and the current events in the Middle East. Bust out the globe to further illustrate and discuss the issue. Express irritation with Gadhafi. Find a bend in the rabbit hole and discuss the recent earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Inform the boy that we have relatives there, all of whom are fine. Explain the Richter scale and how much stronger a 7.0 earthquake is compared to a 6.0. Illustrate with Legos. Read e-mails bouncing back and forth from various family members concerning the status of my grandfather. Take a deep breath and head back to the living room to begin science.
11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. - Read a chapter on cloud formation and weather. Go over definitions. Perform an experiment in which the boy gets to create his own fog.
12:15-12:45 p.m. - Lunch. Fold the laundry from load #1. Pull load #2 out of the dryer. Start load #3 for the mom's group consignment sale next Monday.
12:45 p.m. - Do a quick Internet search on dragsters, how their races work, and what kind of fuel they use before...
1 p.m. - ... piling into the van to take M1 to Lego Club. He had built a dragster and wanted to know more about them before showing it off to the group.
1:15-3:00 p.m. - Lego Club.
3:10-3:20 p.m. - Fetch M2 from school and drive home. Listen to her admit that she and her classmates had spent the day making farting noises at each other. Giggle and cringe simultaneously and explain that the teacher probably does not appreciate that, no matter how much she tolerates it. Listen to M2 say "everyone does it" and take a deep breath. Ask her if 'everyone' doing it makes it polite and okay. "Yes." Ask her if everyone was hitting her, if that would be okay because 'everyone' was doing it. "Yes, because I don't care." Deep breath. Drop the issue.
3:20-4:45 p.m. - Get home. Fold and put away laundry load #2 and pull load #3 out of the laundry. Make a list of items to sell and tentative prices to be tagged later. Start simmering the beans for dinner. Start frying up the sausage to go in the beans for dinner. Send the girl to her room until she can be nice to me after she announces that she can't stand me and that Oz is the only person in the house that she likes and is nice to her. Accept her apology and pull out the violin for practice. Practice violin with the girl, prepping for her solo 'contest' on Saturday. Learn that my friend who had the ophthalmologist appointment has a detached retina. Worry. Learn that the girl who had stolen the second slot in the appliance death trifecta has probably also claimed slot #3. Be grateful it's not me.
From 4:45 on, the day was like most others. The kids played and read books. I finished dinner. We ate. Baths and bedtime for the kids. And now, here I am, parked on the computer again, watching Top Gear and getting ready to work on the cross-stitch pattern I'm attempting to finish by M2's birthday (it's going to be close).
One day, much like many others. A day in the life of me.
Moving on, the second part of my answer includes the fact that I do NOT get it all done. Ever. I am human. Even I have things I hate doing. Or won't do. Or both.
Today, though, let me walk you through a normal Monday so you can see how it gets done (or not).
6:30 a.m. - Alarm blares. Hit snooze.
6:39 a.m. - Alarm blares. Hit snooze.
6:48 a.m. - Alarm blares. This time I actually turn it off and get my rump out of bed. I stagger down the hall to M2's room, where her alarm is blaring, turn that off, and wake her up. I debate this whole 8 o'clock bedtime thing because clearly it ain't workin' if she's now sleeping through her alarm instead of getting up with it. Ponder going back to 7 because the kids would never know.
6:50-7:32 a.m. - Get dressed. Make the bed. Swap out the dirty towels in the bathroom for clean ones and start that particular load of laundry. Throw frozen strudel thingies in the toaster and pour glasses of milk for breakfast for the kids. Wake M1 up and inform him there is food (it's amazing how fast that boy can move when food is involved). Eat a container of yogurt for my own meal. Put some bunny grahams in a sack for M2's snack and set it near her backpack. Ask the kids to put their hampers in the hall so I can sort and wash their laundry today. Empty the dishwasher while loosely supervising the kids brushing their teeth (mostly this meant making sure they were quiet because Oz was working till 4:30 a.m. and needed his beauty rest). Clean the litter boxes while the kids put away their part of the dishes and put on their shoes and coats. Clip M2's pedometer onto her pants pocket. Pile everyone in the van.
7:33 a.m. - Breathe a sigh of relief that we're on our way.
7:44 a.m. - Drop M2 off at school. She didn't want to be walked in today, so I sat in the car pool lane to make sure she got to the door okay. She did. She happily gave the fist-bump greeting to the eighth grader who has taken to helping the morning monitor and wandered in.
7:55 a.m. - Make it back home. Send M1 out to release the chickens from their prison... er... coop... and bring in some stray arrows that have been sitting in the garage for a couple of weeks, attempting to stab anyone who walked past with knees at just the height of the top of a hay bale. Debate with M1 about whether he'd rather go to Lego Club or take a nap today. Lego wins. I resolve to fix coffee.
8-8:30 a.m. - Get the boy started on writing comparison sentences. Check Facebook and the news on my phone. Think about a friend of mine who has an important appointment today for a vision loss problem. Worry about her. Worry about another friend who has a broken foot and whose toes have been turning purple whenever she stands up. Wonder who is going to complete the trifecta of crappy health issues because my friend whose house has flooded and has to get new flooring thanks to the leaking fridge doesn't really count. Hers will go into another trifecta of crappy appliance issues, and someone else has already claimed slot #2 there.
8:30-8:45 a.m. - Start load of laundry #2. Start the boy on math. Boil some navy beans so I can soak them for the rest of the day and have them for dinner tonight. Say good-bye to Oz, who has arisen and is off for the day.
8:45 a.m. - Find out that the third member of the health issue trifecta is my grandfather, who is currently in the hospital and is likely to be taken to a nursing home after his release instead of back to his assisted living center. Not good. Not horribly surprising, but still not good.
8:46-9:30 a.m. - Park my carcass on the couch and browse forums while M1 finishes up math and whines about spelling, mostly dictionary practice. Explain the importance of dictionary skills in real life, not the least of which is being able to find requested books on the reserved shelf at the library. Start this post, to be edited at various times during the day.
9:32 a.m. - Start coffee. Thank heaven for whoever first peeled that particular cherry, ground up the seed inside, steeped it in water, and drank it. And the person who invented caramel macchiato creamer to go with it.
9:36-11:30 a.m. - Get coffee. Finish up on the computer while the boy finishes spelling and colors a picture for history. Set up and play a game from "Story of the World" entitled the 'Fast Tax' game. Treat the boy's asthma in between games. Wonder why he gets a rash every time he plays outside these days. After the game finishes, explain the point the game makes about why it would have been cheaper to pay the gold/salt tax and go through Ghana than to keep the extra cash and go around it. Illustrate with Legos. Find a rabbit hole. Go down it. Discuss supply and demand. Use Jerusalem as an example (Would the world's Big Three religions be fighting if there were three Jerusalems? Five?). Listen to the boy's questions about gas/oil prices and the current events in the Middle East. Bust out the globe to further illustrate and discuss the issue. Express irritation with Gadhafi. Find a bend in the rabbit hole and discuss the recent earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Inform the boy that we have relatives there, all of whom are fine. Explain the Richter scale and how much stronger a 7.0 earthquake is compared to a 6.0. Illustrate with Legos. Read e-mails bouncing back and forth from various family members concerning the status of my grandfather. Take a deep breath and head back to the living room to begin science.
11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. - Read a chapter on cloud formation and weather. Go over definitions. Perform an experiment in which the boy gets to create his own fog.
12:15-12:45 p.m. - Lunch. Fold the laundry from load #1. Pull load #2 out of the dryer. Start load #3 for the mom's group consignment sale next Monday.
12:45 p.m. - Do a quick Internet search on dragsters, how their races work, and what kind of fuel they use before...
1 p.m. - ... piling into the van to take M1 to Lego Club. He had built a dragster and wanted to know more about them before showing it off to the group.
1:15-3:00 p.m. - Lego Club.
3:10-3:20 p.m. - Fetch M2 from school and drive home. Listen to her admit that she and her classmates had spent the day making farting noises at each other. Giggle and cringe simultaneously and explain that the teacher probably does not appreciate that, no matter how much she tolerates it. Listen to M2 say "everyone does it" and take a deep breath. Ask her if 'everyone' doing it makes it polite and okay. "Yes." Ask her if everyone was hitting her, if that would be okay because 'everyone' was doing it. "Yes, because I don't care." Deep breath. Drop the issue.
3:20-4:45 p.m. - Get home. Fold and put away laundry load #2 and pull load #3 out of the laundry. Make a list of items to sell and tentative prices to be tagged later. Start simmering the beans for dinner. Start frying up the sausage to go in the beans for dinner. Send the girl to her room until she can be nice to me after she announces that she can't stand me and that Oz is the only person in the house that she likes and is nice to her. Accept her apology and pull out the violin for practice. Practice violin with the girl, prepping for her solo 'contest' on Saturday. Learn that my friend who had the ophthalmologist appointment has a detached retina. Worry. Learn that the girl who had stolen the second slot in the appliance death trifecta has probably also claimed slot #3. Be grateful it's not me.
From 4:45 on, the day was like most others. The kids played and read books. I finished dinner. We ate. Baths and bedtime for the kids. And now, here I am, parked on the computer again, watching Top Gear and getting ready to work on the cross-stitch pattern I'm attempting to finish by M2's birthday (it's going to be close).
One day, much like many others. A day in the life of me.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tea for 12 and 12 for Tea
I had one of my teas on Sunday.
I love hosting my teas. I started doing them a long time ago as an excuse to make a recipe I'm going to share below. I think one of the first ones I did was to announce my second pregnancy, and I held it on Grandparents' Day. It was fun. I held those with my family for a while, but then they sort of fell by the wayside, so I decided to invite members of my mom's group to come and attend a tea.
And attend they did.
They're a fantastic excuse to break out (bad term, probably, but oh well) the good china and silver and pretend you're all lady-like when in reality the house is bordering on absolute chaos.
Plus... DESSERT!
I always make different foods for the teas, with the exception of one. There's usually a cake, some sort of cookie or bar, and sometimes a pie.
This time I made my Pear Pie.
Now, usually when I have these teas, Oz gets annoyed because I stress out. I've gotten better with time, though I usually just barely have things ready when people arrive and so I've never had time to take photos. This time, I was way ahead of schedule.
So I took pictures!
This is what the table looked like at 1 p.m. I schedule the teas from 2-4 on Sundays so everyone can avoid lunch and dinner and just eat *my* food that day.
OK, not really. Mostly I just need time to get it all done, and if I held it earlier I'd have to fix sandwiches. And I prefer just desserts.
This is what the table looked like just before everyone arrived. I'm still missing two of my dishes, but they were in the fridge and I didn't want to put them out till people started showing up.
What are those things in the middle, you ask?
They're pavlovas.
They are why everyone really comes to my teas. It's not the tea or the cake or the cookies or even the pear pie; it's the pavlova. It does the hard sell for me.
Pavlovas are something I'd never heard of till I met Oz. They are baked meringues topped with whipped topping and fruit. The strawberry/chocolate one is very popular, so I've started making it every time and then vary the second one. For my spring tea this year I made a peach/blueberry pavlova.
Nom nom nom.
People are always asking for the recipe, too, so I've decided to post it. I love to make it more complicated than it really is, but if you have a stand mixer, it's the simplest recipe in the world (provided you can control the humidity in your kitchen and keep it below Oklahoma levels).
Make one for your family and/or friends; they'll love you for it!
-----
Pavlova
3 egg whites
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. vinegar
4 T. boiling water
1 T. cornstarch
3/4 pint whipping cream
1/4 c. sugar
Put all room-temperature ingredients into mixer. Start at medium speed and drizzle in boiling water. Turn to high and mix for 15 minutes. Turn off mixer and fold in cornstarch until thoroughly mixed. Pile mixture into a high dome on a flat tray covered with parchment. Make a depression in the center of the meringue for the filling. Bake at 275 degrees until meringue is crisp and has a hard shell, about one hour. Let it cool in the oven!!!! Beat whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form; spread over meringue. Decorate with fruit of choice.
Note: I usually throw the cornstarch into the mixer during the last 1-2 minutes of mixing. I also sprinkle some cornstarch onto the parchment paper to keep it from sticking.
I love hosting my teas. I started doing them a long time ago as an excuse to make a recipe I'm going to share below. I think one of the first ones I did was to announce my second pregnancy, and I held it on Grandparents' Day. It was fun. I held those with my family for a while, but then they sort of fell by the wayside, so I decided to invite members of my mom's group to come and attend a tea.
And attend they did.
They're a fantastic excuse to break out (bad term, probably, but oh well) the good china and silver and pretend you're all lady-like when in reality the house is bordering on absolute chaos.
Plus... DESSERT!
I always make different foods for the teas, with the exception of one. There's usually a cake, some sort of cookie or bar, and sometimes a pie.
 |
| Yes, it's smiling at you... |
Now, usually when I have these teas, Oz gets annoyed because I stress out. I've gotten better with time, though I usually just barely have things ready when people arrive and so I've never had time to take photos. This time, I was way ahead of schedule.
So I took pictures!
This is what the table looked like at 1 p.m. I schedule the teas from 2-4 on Sundays so everyone can avoid lunch and dinner and just eat *my* food that day.
OK, not really. Mostly I just need time to get it all done, and if I held it earlier I'd have to fix sandwiches. And I prefer just desserts.
This is what the table looked like just before everyone arrived. I'm still missing two of my dishes, but they were in the fridge and I didn't want to put them out till people started showing up.
What are those things in the middle, you ask?
They're pavlovas.
They are why everyone really comes to my teas. It's not the tea or the cake or the cookies or even the pear pie; it's the pavlova. It does the hard sell for me.
Pavlovas are something I'd never heard of till I met Oz. They are baked meringues topped with whipped topping and fruit. The strawberry/chocolate one is very popular, so I've started making it every time and then vary the second one. For my spring tea this year I made a peach/blueberry pavlova.
Nom nom nom.
People are always asking for the recipe, too, so I've decided to post it. I love to make it more complicated than it really is, but if you have a stand mixer, it's the simplest recipe in the world (provided you can control the humidity in your kitchen and keep it below Oklahoma levels).
Make one for your family and/or friends; they'll love you for it!
-----
Pavlova
3 egg whites
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. vinegar
4 T. boiling water
1 T. cornstarch
3/4 pint whipping cream
1/4 c. sugar
Put all room-temperature ingredients into mixer. Start at medium speed and drizzle in boiling water. Turn to high and mix for 15 minutes. Turn off mixer and fold in cornstarch until thoroughly mixed. Pile mixture into a high dome on a flat tray covered with parchment. Make a depression in the center of the meringue for the filling. Bake at 275 degrees until meringue is crisp and has a hard shell, about one hour. Let it cool in the oven!!!! Beat whipping cream and sugar until stiff peaks form; spread over meringue. Decorate with fruit of choice.
Note: I usually throw the cornstarch into the mixer during the last 1-2 minutes of mixing. I also sprinkle some cornstarch onto the parchment paper to keep it from sticking.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Great Expectations; or, Please Don't Walk On By
I had the grand idea for this post last night when I was sitting around moping and feeling like I was an awful parent who just needed to phone it in to DHS (our state equivalent of Child Protective Services) and quit.
I do know better, but PMS does nasty things to my mental state, and we've already established that I'm REALLY good at self-degradation.
Well, that and making pies.
That post tomorrow.
Anyway, the thought process was still roiling in my head this morning, so I sat down to type. And then I thought, "Well, what do I want to say? What do I want to accomplish?" I started typing a draft, of all things, to get it out.
Next thing I knew I had typed three pages and had not only flogged the dead horse so thoroughly it was no longer recognizable as a horse, I'd lost myself somewhere in the middle. I really need to follow my own 'This Should Be a Rule for Presidents' guide and make sure that nothing I type is longer than the Gettysburg Address.
Yeah, like that'll happen.
But here I go, putting words down and publishing them without thinking, which is really what I do best anyway. I'm totally a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of person.
HA!
Sorry. Those of you who know me best are probably rolling on the floor laughing at that one. I don't think I'd even know what to do if my pants started flying through the air with me in them... other than panic and maybe start planning what I'd do when I started hurtling back toward earth.
I digress. That's also what I do best.
The point I want to make here is that I'm at a place where I no longer want to talk to other parents about parenting. I'm done. I've hit a wall, so to speak, somewhere between discipline and judgment.
I'm not a harsh mom, I don't think. I'm not perfect, and I do lose it sometimes (and apologize later), but I'm not The Wicked Witch of the West, either. Consequences are fair - run in the house too many times and you'll be running a lap around the back yard, put holes in your closet with a drumstick and the drumsticks are confiscated and you help repair the damage, insult my food too many times and you can make your own, etc. Warning is given, and I make sure the kids understand where I'm coming from and that they're able to follow through. When left to their own devices, I have discovered their own punishments are remarkably similar to mine (which probably has a lot to do with nurture vs. nature, but that's another post).
Yet I have discovered that apparently according to 'THOSE' people, I'm draconian.
You know the type of people I mean, especially if your child happens to act up in public:
-- The supposedly well-meaning grandparent who eyes your screaming child and says, in all the charming goodness of his or her heart, "She looks like she needs a good spanking." Yes, because THAT has worked so well, and I'm going to do it in public!
-- The woman who has no children of her own who offers up advice like, "Can't you just talk to her?" Can't you see we're past that? Don't you think I tried??
-- The man who makes the snide remark to "himself" as you walk past, muttering, "Brat children need to be taught a lesson." So do you, sir, thanks.
-- The mom whose kids wouldn't IMAGINE acting out in public (that day) who raises an eyebrow juuuuust enough for you to notice. Makes me want to stick my tongue out in an effort to echo the maturity. I usually bite it instead.
-- The looks from people as they try to figure out why your son is crouching down as he walks down the Halloween aisle because he's petrified something is going to make noise from above him. (OK, yeah, I got nothing for this one because it IS rather unique.)
*sigh*
I know there are people out there whose children just don't do the same things my kids do. I'm happy for them!! I'm rather jealous, to be honest. I'd love to not have to worry about children dashing across the parking lot on impulse because I'm "so mean and I hate you and you've ruined my life and EVERYTHING!"
Yeesh.
My kids' behavior has nothing to do with the fact that they've both been to see a psychiatrist, either, because I *know* there are 'normal' kids out there who do similar things and whose parents dole out similar punishments, and labels have nothing to do with it. I could put a T-shirt on my kid that says, "I have [diagnosis]. What's your excuse?" but it wouldn't change the way I deal with my kids one iota, and I doubt it'd change anyone's method of reacting TO me, either. Some people just love to be all up in your business, if you know what I mean.
But I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the looks and comments like I mentioned above. I'm tired of reading about people who use similar methods of discipline and then seeing folks - sometimes 'experts' - come back and share how those methods are "wrong" and the parents are "just not listening" to their kids and "should try X" the next time. Sure, there are times we could all use a tip or two, but let's not lambast the parent for TRYING. A kind word and gentle advice goes a long way. Plus, parenting is tough enough for anyone without extraneous 'help.' It's a constant battle, a war. There are peaceful days and there are days where you swear nobody's coming out alive, starting with yourself. There are days when you seem to be training the troops and others when the troops turn on you. Tactical maneuvers are met with marshaled forces. Some battles aren't worth fighting and others aren't worth winning, but then there are the ones that can decide the war if you don't dig deep into the trenches and hang on for dear life.
I could go on and on with my metaphorical speech, but I think I've made my point. I've also gone way past my word quota.
All I ask is that the next time you see a mom struggling with her kids in the grocery store, don't walk on by. Ask if you can help. After she gets done crying and telling you her life story, she might appreciate it. And she'll definitely thank you for not judging her.
(OH, and to all you folks who commented last week about M1 and his listening issues, thank you SO much for the laughs and the tips. It was just what I needed. I wish touching and eye contact would work, but Asperger's boy dislikes touching and can't handle eye contact. I'm going to do more lists, though, because those have worked in the past. I needed reminding, and I appreciate it!!)
I do know better, but PMS does nasty things to my mental state, and we've already established that I'm REALLY good at self-degradation.
Well, that and making pies.
That post tomorrow.
Anyway, the thought process was still roiling in my head this morning, so I sat down to type. And then I thought, "Well, what do I want to say? What do I want to accomplish?" I started typing a draft, of all things, to get it out.
Next thing I knew I had typed three pages and had not only flogged the dead horse so thoroughly it was no longer recognizable as a horse, I'd lost myself somewhere in the middle. I really need to follow my own 'This Should Be a Rule for Presidents' guide and make sure that nothing I type is longer than the Gettysburg Address.
Yeah, like that'll happen.
But here I go, putting words down and publishing them without thinking, which is really what I do best anyway. I'm totally a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of person.
HA!
Sorry. Those of you who know me best are probably rolling on the floor laughing at that one. I don't think I'd even know what to do if my pants started flying through the air with me in them... other than panic and maybe start planning what I'd do when I started hurtling back toward earth.
I digress. That's also what I do best.
The point I want to make here is that I'm at a place where I no longer want to talk to other parents about parenting. I'm done. I've hit a wall, so to speak, somewhere between discipline and judgment.
I'm not a harsh mom, I don't think. I'm not perfect, and I do lose it sometimes (and apologize later), but I'm not The Wicked Witch of the West, either. Consequences are fair - run in the house too many times and you'll be running a lap around the back yard, put holes in your closet with a drumstick and the drumsticks are confiscated and you help repair the damage, insult my food too many times and you can make your own, etc. Warning is given, and I make sure the kids understand where I'm coming from and that they're able to follow through. When left to their own devices, I have discovered their own punishments are remarkably similar to mine (which probably has a lot to do with nurture vs. nature, but that's another post).
Yet I have discovered that apparently according to 'THOSE' people, I'm draconian.
You know the type of people I mean, especially if your child happens to act up in public:
-- The supposedly well-meaning grandparent who eyes your screaming child and says, in all the charming goodness of his or her heart, "She looks like she needs a good spanking." Yes, because THAT has worked so well, and I'm going to do it in public!
-- The woman who has no children of her own who offers up advice like, "Can't you just talk to her?" Can't you see we're past that? Don't you think I tried??
-- The man who makes the snide remark to "himself" as you walk past, muttering, "Brat children need to be taught a lesson." So do you, sir, thanks.
-- The mom whose kids wouldn't IMAGINE acting out in public (that day) who raises an eyebrow juuuuust enough for you to notice. Makes me want to stick my tongue out in an effort to echo the maturity. I usually bite it instead.
-- The looks from people as they try to figure out why your son is crouching down as he walks down the Halloween aisle because he's petrified something is going to make noise from above him. (OK, yeah, I got nothing for this one because it IS rather unique.)
*sigh*
I know there are people out there whose children just don't do the same things my kids do. I'm happy for them!! I'm rather jealous, to be honest. I'd love to not have to worry about children dashing across the parking lot on impulse because I'm "so mean and I hate you and you've ruined my life and EVERYTHING!"
Yeesh.
My kids' behavior has nothing to do with the fact that they've both been to see a psychiatrist, either, because I *know* there are 'normal' kids out there who do similar things and whose parents dole out similar punishments, and labels have nothing to do with it. I could put a T-shirt on my kid that says, "I have [diagnosis]. What's your excuse?" but it wouldn't change the way I deal with my kids one iota, and I doubt it'd change anyone's method of reacting TO me, either. Some people just love to be all up in your business, if you know what I mean.
But I'm tired of it. I'm tired of the looks and comments like I mentioned above. I'm tired of reading about people who use similar methods of discipline and then seeing folks - sometimes 'experts' - come back and share how those methods are "wrong" and the parents are "just not listening" to their kids and "should try X" the next time. Sure, there are times we could all use a tip or two, but let's not lambast the parent for TRYING. A kind word and gentle advice goes a long way. Plus, parenting is tough enough for anyone without extraneous 'help.' It's a constant battle, a war. There are peaceful days and there are days where you swear nobody's coming out alive, starting with yourself. There are days when you seem to be training the troops and others when the troops turn on you. Tactical maneuvers are met with marshaled forces. Some battles aren't worth fighting and others aren't worth winning, but then there are the ones that can decide the war if you don't dig deep into the trenches and hang on for dear life.
I could go on and on with my metaphorical speech, but I think I've made my point. I've also gone way past my word quota.
All I ask is that the next time you see a mom struggling with her kids in the grocery store, don't walk on by. Ask if you can help. After she gets done crying and telling you her life story, she might appreciate it. And she'll definitely thank you for not judging her.
(OH, and to all you folks who commented last week about M1 and his listening issues, thank you SO much for the laughs and the tips. It was just what I needed. I wish touching and eye contact would work, but Asperger's boy dislikes touching and can't handle eye contact. I'm going to do more lists, though, because those have worked in the past. I needed reminding, and I appreciate it!!)
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Weekend - A Confession
1. I drank wine straight from the bottle tonight. That's a first for me, mostly because I'm not really a wine person. Now, there was less than a single glass left in the bottle and I didn't feel like getting one out of the cabinet, but I realized as I was sitting on the floor petting the dog with a giant wine bottle in my hand that I was, in fact, pretty pathetic-looking.
2. The reason I drank wine straight from the bottle was because M2 ate sugar straight out of the sugar bowl, got caught red-handed, and STILL lied about it to my face, and M1 'fessed up to some shenanigans he had been up to for the last, oh, 2-3 YEARS that we just found out about. He was a man about it and accepted the responsibility and the subsequent punishment (his behavior lessened the punishment, and he knows that), but all that combined did make for a looooooong afternoon. Oh, and M2 has stuffed her bottom nightstand drawer so full of books that it no longer opens. I'm going to have to try to go through the bottom or take off the back to get them out. I suspect her hairbrush is in there, too, because it's vanished.
3. I wanted to go to the Indian Festival that was going on today, but we didn't make it. My sister was coming up to see the kids, and it sounded like the perfect activity, but when we woke up this morning and started getting ready, M2 decided she wasn't going. And while I can put my foot down about things like school or doctor's appointments, dragging a 5-year-old around a public arena while she shrieks bloody murder is probably a good way to get myself on a DHS visitation list. So I didn't fight it, and we went to the park instead. I am grateful that my sister was just up for the kids and not the festival and enjoyed herself anyway. She's cool like that.
4. I taught my kids to play dominos the RIGHT way this morning. Until I explained the rules (and I didn't get into adding the pips yet because M2 isn't there, but oooohhhh good math game for M1 later, eh??), they honestly thought dominos were only to be used to make rallies a la the movie "Robots." M2 won the first two games and M1 won the third. Nobody cried or threw a fit about losing, and nobody rubbed their winnings in. I almost cried from happiness. It was a huge triumph. Hugs were given.
5. I had people over last night. People! It was the first real, live, adult interaction for longer than five minutes that I'd had since Oz left on Tuesday. It was fantabulous, and I gorged myself on the food that was brought to share. I'm always up for food.
6. I learned today that my core muscle strength, arm strength, and balance is better than I think it is. My sister takes aerial silk lessons when she can, and she was actually impressed by the fact that I could handle some yoga positions that even she has difficulty with and was at least as flexible as she was. She said I was graceful - HA! I have all the grace of a duck out of water, but I'll take what compliments I can get.
7. I am making cinnamon rolls.
8. I had to crawl under Oz's desk yesterday to fix the home network because the firewall wasn't working after the back-up power system officially fried itself. I fixed everything. Oz was suitably impressed.
9. Tomorrow we have a birthday party to attend. I can't believe this little guy is going to be 4. I remember when his big sister was just learning to crawl!
10. Also tomorrow M2's favorite uncle, Uncle D, is probably going to swing by. M2 persuaded him she hadn't seen him in far too long, and he's a good guy like that... or a sucker. Depends how you look at it.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I'm out to finish the cinnamon rolls, but I'm sure I'll be back again soon!
2. The reason I drank wine straight from the bottle was because M2 ate sugar straight out of the sugar bowl, got caught red-handed, and STILL lied about it to my face, and M1 'fessed up to some shenanigans he had been up to for the last, oh, 2-3 YEARS that we just found out about. He was a man about it and accepted the responsibility and the subsequent punishment (his behavior lessened the punishment, and he knows that), but all that combined did make for a looooooong afternoon. Oh, and M2 has stuffed her bottom nightstand drawer so full of books that it no longer opens. I'm going to have to try to go through the bottom or take off the back to get them out. I suspect her hairbrush is in there, too, because it's vanished.
3. I wanted to go to the Indian Festival that was going on today, but we didn't make it. My sister was coming up to see the kids, and it sounded like the perfect activity, but when we woke up this morning and started getting ready, M2 decided she wasn't going. And while I can put my foot down about things like school or doctor's appointments, dragging a 5-year-old around a public arena while she shrieks bloody murder is probably a good way to get myself on a DHS visitation list. So I didn't fight it, and we went to the park instead. I am grateful that my sister was just up for the kids and not the festival and enjoyed herself anyway. She's cool like that.
4. I taught my kids to play dominos the RIGHT way this morning. Until I explained the rules (and I didn't get into adding the pips yet because M2 isn't there, but oooohhhh good math game for M1 later, eh??), they honestly thought dominos were only to be used to make rallies a la the movie "Robots." M2 won the first two games and M1 won the third. Nobody cried or threw a fit about losing, and nobody rubbed their winnings in. I almost cried from happiness. It was a huge triumph. Hugs were given.
5. I had people over last night. People! It was the first real, live, adult interaction for longer than five minutes that I'd had since Oz left on Tuesday. It was fantabulous, and I gorged myself on the food that was brought to share. I'm always up for food.
6. I learned today that my core muscle strength, arm strength, and balance is better than I think it is. My sister takes aerial silk lessons when she can, and she was actually impressed by the fact that I could handle some yoga positions that even she has difficulty with and was at least as flexible as she was. She said I was graceful - HA! I have all the grace of a duck out of water, but I'll take what compliments I can get.
7. I am making cinnamon rolls.
8. I had to crawl under Oz's desk yesterday to fix the home network because the firewall wasn't working after the back-up power system officially fried itself. I fixed everything. Oz was suitably impressed.
9. Tomorrow we have a birthday party to attend. I can't believe this little guy is going to be 4. I remember when his big sister was just learning to crawl!
10. Also tomorrow M2's favorite uncle, Uncle D, is probably going to swing by. M2 persuaded him she hadn't seen him in far too long, and he's a good guy like that... or a sucker. Depends how you look at it.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I'm out to finish the cinnamon rolls, but I'm sure I'll be back again soon!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Torture
Because I like to torture everyone with the sordid details of my life, I'm writing a blog post today. I hear the excitement now!
*cricket*
*cricket*
OK, OK, so maybe nobody's excited. Even me. My life isn't very exciting. Interesting, but not exciting. Busy, but not exciting. Stupifyingly exhausting... but not exciting.
Time to cut to the chase.
M2 is having a psychological evaluation on Monday afternoon. We go in at 3:30 p.m. Is it wrong that I'm HAPPY about this? Not excited, and still maybe a little bit nervous, but happy that I finally scheduled the appointment and might come out with a few more answers than I have now.
It's hard for me to believe that I ever thought she was the easy child, comparatively speaking. Now that M1 has settled down and is starting to listen to Oz and I when we talk about appropriate vs. inappropriate responses and is gaining maturity by the day (except that I suspect he's having another growth spurt and so he's about to outgrow the size SIX flip-flops that I got him at the beginning of summer... and his bladder grows faster than the rest of him so we have potty messes now and then... and his mouth and attitude need adjusting now and then these days...), it makes it easier for me to see how difficult M2 is to deal with.
She's never been easy to deal with when compared to most kids. Neither of my kids are easy. I'm realizing how true that is now. Many parents are amazed at how high-maintenance my munchkins are. They have both always required a lot of attention, and I'm used to that. I can handle getting down on their level to deal with issues and talking to them one on one, breaking up fights every so often, and being the mom who just CANNOT let her guard down at a playdate because if I don't know where my kids are, things can go downhill faster than an avalanche. M2 had always just seemed easier. Her tantrums were fierce - always have been - but had always been over within 45 minutes or so. I am learning now that most 3-year-olds don't have 45-minute tantrums. Whoops. Both mine did, so that was no big deal. The age of four was high-maintenance for M2, but again, it was the same way for M1, so it seemed fairly normal. He actually had more school problems at the age of 4, so I thought she would be my "normal" kid since school hadn't been a massive problem.
Wrong-O.
About the end of the school year, the mood swings stopped happening exclusively at home and started extending into school... and the library... and other public places. It had been a while since I'd seen that, and I wasn't particularly happy about the Return of the Public Tantrum. I figured that it was some sort of end-of-school-year thing and would settle down during the summer.
Wrong again.
The past two weeks have been the worst. I can't take her anywhere without a random mood shift kicking a tantrum into full swing. Today we went to a group meetup with my mom's group. This is a monthly event. M2 knows the kids there. We've been to the venue before. She knows most of the parents, even, and it was at 10 a.m. so there was no way that she was tired. Oh, and she got lunch at approximately 10:30, so she wasn't hungry, either. Didn't matter. She was running around and M1 "put his hands on" her. I did what I always do and told her to use her words and if that didn't work to refer him to me. Most days that'd be fine, and she'd run off and be happy and I wouldn't see her again till something else happened because kids this age DO tattle. I get that. But not today. Today she crawled into my lap and started her routine of fuss/cry/clamber into my lap/paw at mom/pull mom's clothes/shriek/cry some more/etc. It was baaaaad. Other moms were looking and wondering what on earth was happening. Luckily most of them had been informed enough that I think word got around, and I think most of them could see that there is a serious issue that really does need SOME sort of looking into.
Yesterday morning was equally bad. You want to know what set her off then? She got it into her head that I had told her I would play with her, which I hadn't, and I told her I'd play with her as soon as I got done with the project I was working on (making a grocery list, for heaven's sake). Not good enough. Scream/cry/fuss/beat Mama up. Well, THAT makes me want to play with her. She was pounding on my legs, so I told her - again - that it was not okay to hurt Mama and that she could go to her room till I got done and was able to play. Usually that works, even if she does try to beat down her door and destroy things while she "waits." Not yesterday! Yesterday she took her hobby horse (her usual beat-the-crap-out-of-things tool - thank God it's stuffed) and went into MY room and started beating on the furniture in there. Being in my room without permission is a no-no to begin with, and she knew that. She was deliberately being defiant, and she was nonverbal for over an hour... probably closer to an hour and a half by the time I was able to get her truly calmed down and behaving again.
Then she drew me a picture of what goes on in her head when she's being naughty. That was fascinating. She says that there's so much going on in her head that she can't talk and listen to it all at the same time, which is why she grunts at me. Scary much?? And then she started talking about more of the 'dreams' she has at night. That was just terrifying. She doesn't know the word strangle, but apparently people in her dreams die that way. She doesn't know the word impale, but that happens, too. If M1 had a dream like that, I guarantee he'd classify it as a nightmare and be in my room telling me about it pronto. For M2, this is apparently par for the course because I very rarely hear about them. She says she doesn't have "good dreams... only bad ones." I want to say surely there are some good dreams, but when I ask her about her good dreams, she says there aren't any. Yikes.
Now you see why I'm happy about scheduling a psych eval?? Even if the fits are just a phase, the dreams aren't normal. And even if the fits become her new normal, I need to be able to curb them and keep them under control. It'd help if she had some sort of currency, something I could take away or use as a tool to help her behave, but there's nothing I've been able to work out yet. If I threaten to take away her toys, she offers to bag them up and put them in the trash can. If I threaten to make her go to bed early, she says she's tired and wants to do that, anyway. If I try spanking her, she just freaks out which it makes the fit worse, so that's out. The only 'currency' she has is me, and I'm her MOTHER. I can't take ME away. I am consistent and DO follow through with what I threaten or say I will do, but it doesn't faze her. She's a stubborn little goat.
Any thoughts for her, me, M1, and Oz would be greatly appreciated over the next week. If I wind up with one kid who has an ASD issue and one kid with a conduct issue, I don't know what I'm going to do, but surely there's some study somewhere they can be part of, right????
*cricket*
*cricket*
OK, OK, so maybe nobody's excited. Even me. My life isn't very exciting. Interesting, but not exciting. Busy, but not exciting. Stupifyingly exhausting... but not exciting.
Time to cut to the chase.
M2 is having a psychological evaluation on Monday afternoon. We go in at 3:30 p.m. Is it wrong that I'm HAPPY about this? Not excited, and still maybe a little bit nervous, but happy that I finally scheduled the appointment and might come out with a few more answers than I have now.
It's hard for me to believe that I ever thought she was the easy child, comparatively speaking. Now that M1 has settled down and is starting to listen to Oz and I when we talk about appropriate vs. inappropriate responses and is gaining maturity by the day (except that I suspect he's having another growth spurt and so he's about to outgrow the size SIX flip-flops that I got him at the beginning of summer... and his bladder grows faster than the rest of him so we have potty messes now and then... and his mouth and attitude need adjusting now and then these days...), it makes it easier for me to see how difficult M2 is to deal with.
She's never been easy to deal with when compared to most kids. Neither of my kids are easy. I'm realizing how true that is now. Many parents are amazed at how high-maintenance my munchkins are. They have both always required a lot of attention, and I'm used to that. I can handle getting down on their level to deal with issues and talking to them one on one, breaking up fights every so often, and being the mom who just CANNOT let her guard down at a playdate because if I don't know where my kids are, things can go downhill faster than an avalanche. M2 had always just seemed easier. Her tantrums were fierce - always have been - but had always been over within 45 minutes or so. I am learning now that most 3-year-olds don't have 45-minute tantrums. Whoops. Both mine did, so that was no big deal. The age of four was high-maintenance for M2, but again, it was the same way for M1, so it seemed fairly normal. He actually had more school problems at the age of 4, so I thought she would be my "normal" kid since school hadn't been a massive problem.
Wrong-O.
About the end of the school year, the mood swings stopped happening exclusively at home and started extending into school... and the library... and other public places. It had been a while since I'd seen that, and I wasn't particularly happy about the Return of the Public Tantrum. I figured that it was some sort of end-of-school-year thing and would settle down during the summer.
Wrong again.
The past two weeks have been the worst. I can't take her anywhere without a random mood shift kicking a tantrum into full swing. Today we went to a group meetup with my mom's group. This is a monthly event. M2 knows the kids there. We've been to the venue before. She knows most of the parents, even, and it was at 10 a.m. so there was no way that she was tired. Oh, and she got lunch at approximately 10:30, so she wasn't hungry, either. Didn't matter. She was running around and M1 "put his hands on" her. I did what I always do and told her to use her words and if that didn't work to refer him to me. Most days that'd be fine, and she'd run off and be happy and I wouldn't see her again till something else happened because kids this age DO tattle. I get that. But not today. Today she crawled into my lap and started her routine of fuss/cry/clamber into my lap/paw at mom/pull mom's clothes/shriek/cry some more/etc. It was baaaaad. Other moms were looking and wondering what on earth was happening. Luckily most of them had been informed enough that I think word got around, and I think most of them could see that there is a serious issue that really does need SOME sort of looking into.
Yesterday morning was equally bad. You want to know what set her off then? She got it into her head that I had told her I would play with her, which I hadn't, and I told her I'd play with her as soon as I got done with the project I was working on (making a grocery list, for heaven's sake). Not good enough. Scream/cry/fuss/beat Mama up. Well, THAT makes me want to play with her. She was pounding on my legs, so I told her - again - that it was not okay to hurt Mama and that she could go to her room till I got done and was able to play. Usually that works, even if she does try to beat down her door and destroy things while she "waits." Not yesterday! Yesterday she took her hobby horse (her usual beat-the-crap-out-of-things tool - thank God it's stuffed) and went into MY room and started beating on the furniture in there. Being in my room without permission is a no-no to begin with, and she knew that. She was deliberately being defiant, and she was nonverbal for over an hour... probably closer to an hour and a half by the time I was able to get her truly calmed down and behaving again.
Then she drew me a picture of what goes on in her head when she's being naughty. That was fascinating. She says that there's so much going on in her head that she can't talk and listen to it all at the same time, which is why she grunts at me. Scary much?? And then she started talking about more of the 'dreams' she has at night. That was just terrifying. She doesn't know the word strangle, but apparently people in her dreams die that way. She doesn't know the word impale, but that happens, too. If M1 had a dream like that, I guarantee he'd classify it as a nightmare and be in my room telling me about it pronto. For M2, this is apparently par for the course because I very rarely hear about them. She says she doesn't have "good dreams... only bad ones." I want to say surely there are some good dreams, but when I ask her about her good dreams, she says there aren't any. Yikes.
Now you see why I'm happy about scheduling a psych eval?? Even if the fits are just a phase, the dreams aren't normal. And even if the fits become her new normal, I need to be able to curb them and keep them under control. It'd help if she had some sort of currency, something I could take away or use as a tool to help her behave, but there's nothing I've been able to work out yet. If I threaten to take away her toys, she offers to bag them up and put them in the trash can. If I threaten to make her go to bed early, she says she's tired and wants to do that, anyway. If I try spanking her, she just freaks out which it makes the fit worse, so that's out. The only 'currency' she has is me, and I'm her MOTHER. I can't take ME away. I am consistent and DO follow through with what I threaten or say I will do, but it doesn't faze her. She's a stubborn little goat.
Any thoughts for her, me, M1, and Oz would be greatly appreciated over the next week. If I wind up with one kid who has an ASD issue and one kid with a conduct issue, I don't know what I'm going to do, but surely there's some study somewhere they can be part of, right????
Thursday, June 24, 2010
The Scientific Method
So, because it's the middle of summer and my kids are bickering constantly and M2 has told me repeatedly that she is ready to go back to school "tomorrow," I thought I'd resurrect thoughts of formal schooling. I've had these pictures for a long time... some of them since December. The right time just hadn't come to share.
Now it has.
Towards the end of the school year, my homeschool group held a science fair. No judging - it's a small group and really, what's the point? - but each kid did their own scientific experiment and presented it to the others. M1 grew mold.
Mold, I tell you. In a dresser drawer in his room. You should have seen the other side of this piece of bread coated in sugar water. It was naaaaaaaaaaasty.
This piece didn't grow a lot... just a little around the edges where it hadn't been treated with lemon juice.
Same with this one, which is supposed to read "melted butter" but actually reads "m_ltrd ...." M1's hands were a little coated with the stuff, which then coated the bag... and the Sharpie. And Sharpie won't write on melted butter.
There's a little bit of mold around the edges of the control here, but it's hard to see.
All in all, the mold took about five days to grow. Ironically, since this was homemade bread, the three slices that were left of the loaf in my kitchen went moldy the same day the control did. At least I knew it was an accurate test. I'd rather have not known that.
Another day, it took M1's fancy to learn about molecules. Since he has only the most rudimentary understanding of the periodic table in general, I didn't get into a lot of detail, but I did find these pictures on the lovely ol' Internetz and printed them off. I figured M1 would use Legos to build these.
But I was WRONG. K'Nex apparently have much better molecule-constructing capabilities than Legos. He spent a good hour working out the details and putting them all together. It was really, really cute, and he was SO excited about it.
These are the pictures from December, obviously, as nobody in this house will be wearing long sleeves again until Jack Frost rears his ugly head. But Oz had gotten some dry ice in a package and wanted to show it to the kids. M1 had seen and played with dry ice before, but he didn't know what it really was and why it moved the way it did, and M2 hadn't seen it at all.
Scientific fascination runs deep. Deep down, in this house, we're all great big nerds.
Now it has.
Towards the end of the school year, my homeschool group held a science fair. No judging - it's a small group and really, what's the point? - but each kid did their own scientific experiment and presented it to the others. M1 grew mold.
Mold, I tell you. In a dresser drawer in his room. You should have seen the other side of this piece of bread coated in sugar water. It was naaaaaaaaaaasty.
This piece didn't grow a lot... just a little around the edges where it hadn't been treated with lemon juice.
Same with this one, which is supposed to read "melted butter" but actually reads "m_ltrd ...." M1's hands were a little coated with the stuff, which then coated the bag... and the Sharpie. And Sharpie won't write on melted butter.
There's a little bit of mold around the edges of the control here, but it's hard to see.All in all, the mold took about five days to grow. Ironically, since this was homemade bread, the three slices that were left of the loaf in my kitchen went moldy the same day the control did. At least I knew it was an accurate test. I'd rather have not known that.
Another day, it took M1's fancy to learn about molecules. Since he has only the most rudimentary understanding of the periodic table in general, I didn't get into a lot of detail, but I did find these pictures on the lovely ol' Internetz and printed them off. I figured M1 would use Legos to build these.
But I was WRONG. K'Nex apparently have much better molecule-constructing capabilities than Legos. He spent a good hour working out the details and putting them all together. It was really, really cute, and he was SO excited about it.
These are the pictures from December, obviously, as nobody in this house will be wearing long sleeves again until Jack Frost rears his ugly head. But Oz had gotten some dry ice in a package and wanted to show it to the kids. M1 had seen and played with dry ice before, but he didn't know what it really was and why it moved the way it did, and M2 hadn't seen it at all.
Scientific fascination runs deep. Deep down, in this house, we're all great big nerds.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Vignettes: Into the minds of kids
I love talking to kids. I can't help it. Most of the youngsters that I see and associate with are young enough that they don't care about whether they talk to grown-ups because we're not totally dumb yet. Yet being the operative word. My day will come. M2 is counting on it.
-----
Yesterday, we had some of my homeschooling friends over. I am grateful to have a very wonderful, caring group of ladies to be able to call associates in this wonderfully crazy adventure called homeschooling. Their kids are great, too, and since I love having any excuse for company, I was glad to be able to host.
I came into the kitchen at one point to hear M2 talking to the daughter of another lady. I'll call the daughter J. J is 9, I believe, though I'm sure someone will tell me if I'm wrong. She's very poised, considerate, well-spoken, and definitely has a strong love of learning. Her mom actually does speaking engagements, so I suppose none of this is any surprise, but I really like J and her younger brothers (and her mom). I should also note that J is quite petite and only an inch or two taller than M2. She comes by that honestly as well, but M2 doesn't realize that there's an age difference, I don't think, and it makes for a fun conversation. Let's see if I can reproduce it:
The scene: I walk into the kitchen to get some lemonade, and the girls are chatting.
M2: Mom! J has said I can come to her birthday party this year and she's going to make sure I get an invitation! Can I go???
Me: Oh? J, that's very kind of you. M2, if we get an invitation, I'm sure we'll work out a way to go.
J: It'll be [date on a weekend but during the school year].
M2: Oh. I might be in school. Mom, if I'm in school that day, can I skip???
J, looking quite confused: But... I thought you were homeschooled?
M2: No. M1 is, but I'm not. I go to private school.
J, still quite confused and looking at me now: Why can't you homeschool both of them?
Me: Well, I could, but M2 likes going to school and seeing her friends every day, and M1 likes being alone and not having other people around while he's learning, so we just do it this way because it makes everybody happy. If M2 ever wants to come home, I've told her she can. And if M1 ever decides he wants to go back to school, then we'll talk about that, too.
J: Oh, OK. [pauses, then leans forward and puts her elbows on the counter and puts her head in her hands] I wonder what it's like to go to school.
M2, doing what she does best and carpe-ing the diem: Oh, it's fun! There are centers and you can go to the science center and learn things there and there's dramatic play which is my favorite because you can pretend to cook and clean and there's blocks which is [a preschool classmate's] favorite because he likes to build things...
AAAAAnd that's when I interjected and had to explain to J that fourth grade would not, in fact, contain centers and would be much less exciting than what she was learning at home on her own terms. I think she got the idea and began expounding the virtues of the science curricula that she has. And then she moved onto the Great Debate of which animal she's going to try to talk her mom into: Lizard, Turtle, or Betta. I told her to aim for lizard. Though I don't know that J was in the room when I broke the mealworms out of their refrigerated container and half the kids thought they were the grossest things they'd ever seen. The verdict was that they'd NEVER feed their lizard THOSE. Crickets would be much, much better.
-----
Speaking of food, I like to occasionally blow M1's mind, too. He and M2 made dinner tonight. M2 "made" a pineapple upside-down cake (since she can't quite read that well yet, she helped measure, dump, mix, and put it all together), and M1 made some tostadas. I threw together some homemade refried beans (Best. Beans. EVER.) and supervised M1.
After we got done stuffing ourselves silly, M2 went to get ready for her bath with the new "farmer's market soap" that we bought this week and M1 and I sat around to chat.
Me: Thanks for making dinner, Bug-ling. You know, I could never have made dinner at your age. And certainly not at M2's age.
M1: You couldn't? Not even a quesadilla? (Quesadillas are the epitome of easy cooking for him, and he's been making them independently since he learned how to reach the 30-second button on the microwave.)
Me: Nope. Well, to be fair, at your age we didn't even have a microwave (there I go showing my age again), but even so, I couldn't have done it.
M1: But... you could have made things if you'd wanted, right? You had to have had recipes.
Me: Well, Granny had recipes, but I didn't get to cook them.
M1: But you helped mix ingredients? [Me shaking my head.] Measuring things? [Continuously.] What DID you get to do?
Me: I got to lick the beaters sometimes.
M1: That's not cooking!!!
Me: I know that. Granny just didn't really let me into the kitchen all that much.
M1: You could have peeked around the corner.
Me, laughing: I guess I could have. But our kitchen was kind of small and I was too busy pestering my sister.
M1, looking sheepish: Oh. So how did you learn to cook??
Me: I had to teach myself. When I got to be a grown-up, I had no idea how to cook. Daddy and I had to eat some really gross meals before I learned.
M1: But you're a great cook now (Little suck-up).
Me: Thank you. I just want to make sure that you know how to cook before you get to be all grown up and live on your own.
M1: Yes. I'll be a great cook someday, too, just like you. What do you want me to fix you? 'Cause I'll be able to cook everything.
M2 returned at this point to declare herself ready for bath and could she please, please, PLEASLES give herself a bath with the new soap? So I told M1 I'd think about it and answer him another time and would he please, please, PLEASLES clean up the sour cream mess that he'd made in the kitchen since cleaning is part of cooking.
-----
Yesterday, we had some of my homeschooling friends over. I am grateful to have a very wonderful, caring group of ladies to be able to call associates in this wonderfully crazy adventure called homeschooling. Their kids are great, too, and since I love having any excuse for company, I was glad to be able to host.
I came into the kitchen at one point to hear M2 talking to the daughter of another lady. I'll call the daughter J. J is 9, I believe, though I'm sure someone will tell me if I'm wrong. She's very poised, considerate, well-spoken, and definitely has a strong love of learning. Her mom actually does speaking engagements, so I suppose none of this is any surprise, but I really like J and her younger brothers (and her mom). I should also note that J is quite petite and only an inch or two taller than M2. She comes by that honestly as well, but M2 doesn't realize that there's an age difference, I don't think, and it makes for a fun conversation. Let's see if I can reproduce it:
The scene: I walk into the kitchen to get some lemonade, and the girls are chatting.
M2: Mom! J has said I can come to her birthday party this year and she's going to make sure I get an invitation! Can I go???
Me: Oh? J, that's very kind of you. M2, if we get an invitation, I'm sure we'll work out a way to go.
J: It'll be [date on a weekend but during the school year].
M2: Oh. I might be in school. Mom, if I'm in school that day, can I skip???
J, looking quite confused: But... I thought you were homeschooled?
M2: No. M1 is, but I'm not. I go to private school.
J, still quite confused and looking at me now: Why can't you homeschool both of them?
Me: Well, I could, but M2 likes going to school and seeing her friends every day, and M1 likes being alone and not having other people around while he's learning, so we just do it this way because it makes everybody happy. If M2 ever wants to come home, I've told her she can. And if M1 ever decides he wants to go back to school, then we'll talk about that, too.
J: Oh, OK. [pauses, then leans forward and puts her elbows on the counter and puts her head in her hands] I wonder what it's like to go to school.
M2, doing what she does best and carpe-ing the diem: Oh, it's fun! There are centers and you can go to the science center and learn things there and there's dramatic play which is my favorite because you can pretend to cook and clean and there's blocks which is [a preschool classmate's] favorite because he likes to build things...
AAAAAnd that's when I interjected and had to explain to J that fourth grade would not, in fact, contain centers and would be much less exciting than what she was learning at home on her own terms. I think she got the idea and began expounding the virtues of the science curricula that she has. And then she moved onto the Great Debate of which animal she's going to try to talk her mom into: Lizard, Turtle, or Betta. I told her to aim for lizard. Though I don't know that J was in the room when I broke the mealworms out of their refrigerated container and half the kids thought they were the grossest things they'd ever seen. The verdict was that they'd NEVER feed their lizard THOSE. Crickets would be much, much better.
-----
Speaking of food, I like to occasionally blow M1's mind, too. He and M2 made dinner tonight. M2 "made" a pineapple upside-down cake (since she can't quite read that well yet, she helped measure, dump, mix, and put it all together), and M1 made some tostadas. I threw together some homemade refried beans (Best. Beans. EVER.) and supervised M1.
After we got done stuffing ourselves silly, M2 went to get ready for her bath with the new "farmer's market soap" that we bought this week and M1 and I sat around to chat.
Me: Thanks for making dinner, Bug-ling. You know, I could never have made dinner at your age. And certainly not at M2's age.
M1: You couldn't? Not even a quesadilla? (Quesadillas are the epitome of easy cooking for him, and he's been making them independently since he learned how to reach the 30-second button on the microwave.)
Me: Nope. Well, to be fair, at your age we didn't even have a microwave (there I go showing my age again), but even so, I couldn't have done it.
M1: But... you could have made things if you'd wanted, right? You had to have had recipes.
Me: Well, Granny had recipes, but I didn't get to cook them.
M1: But you helped mix ingredients? [Me shaking my head.] Measuring things? [Continuously.] What DID you get to do?
Me: I got to lick the beaters sometimes.
M1: That's not cooking!!!
Me: I know that. Granny just didn't really let me into the kitchen all that much.
M1: You could have peeked around the corner.
Me, laughing: I guess I could have. But our kitchen was kind of small and I was too busy pestering my sister.
M1, looking sheepish: Oh. So how did you learn to cook??
Me: I had to teach myself. When I got to be a grown-up, I had no idea how to cook. Daddy and I had to eat some really gross meals before I learned.
M1: But you're a great cook now (Little suck-up).
Me: Thank you. I just want to make sure that you know how to cook before you get to be all grown up and live on your own.
M1: Yes. I'll be a great cook someday, too, just like you. What do you want me to fix you? 'Cause I'll be able to cook everything.
M2 returned at this point to declare herself ready for bath and could she please, please, PLEASLES give herself a bath with the new soap? So I told M1 I'd think about it and answer him another time and would he please, please, PLEASLES clean up the sour cream mess that he'd made in the kitchen since cleaning is part of cooking.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Girl time and other sage thoughts
I got to have coffee with some of my girlfriends today. Is there anything better than meeting up with a few of your best friends and having coffee and laughing so hard there are tears rolling down your face while trying to keep the conversation at coffee-shop-quiet level?
Poor M1 had to tag along, not that he came out of it half bad. He brought books along to entertain himself, borrowed my phone to play games when he got bored with reading, and then I took him to the bookstore to get the second book in the "Indian in the Cupboard" series because those are now his most favorite books in the whole wide world and the first book is almost falling apart already; he's had it two months.
Anyway, so my girlfriends and I chatted. I love these women. They really do make the world go round, and they're SOOOO funny. When stories about booger walls make you want to pee your pants with laughter (after you get done throwing up in your mouth a little bit), ur doin' it right.
It makes me wonder, though, how my crazy bunch of friends got together and how on earth we all figured out we connect so well. Sure, most of us met because we were part of the same mom's group, but we are totally different and totally alike all at the same time. We range in age from 28 to 40, and with that you have all the variations of generations - music, TV, movies, etc. - that go along with it. We tease each other mercilessly and yet share the stories that add fuel to the fire without blinking. We all have pictures of each other that could be used for blackmail because what good friends don't? Blackmail photos = friend security.
-----
See, for a long time when I was young, I didn't have a lot of friends. When my family moved from a tiny town in Southeast Kansas to a suburb in Oklahoma, I was the 'new girl.' I was smart, I was quiet, I liked to read; deadly combination in fourth grade where all the cliques are already established and getting good grades is no longer cool. Plus, I made the horrid decision to wear pigtails on my first day of school. I had no idea pigtails were 'out' by fourth grade. In a class of about 40 kids, that meant I was 'out,' too. It didn't bother me too much until middle school when people started hosting parties and I was never invited. In a class of 40, there might have been five of us on the list of people not invited. Since I had been popular in Kansas, I never quite was able to get past it. Yes, you may laugh. It's kind of pathetic. At the same time, my mom was very depressed and never made friends here herself, so I didn't have the world's best example of getting past 'how things were back then' in Kansas.
-----
In high school, I met some great folks and am still VERY happy to still be able to count some of them as great friends. After I had kids, I had to find new friends who could relate to the craziness of raising miniature versions of themselves. I have no idea how I got so lucky to find such great women.
I thought again today about how lucky I am to have these women in my life. These are the ladies who would be at my funeral right up close behind my family and would be checking on my kids forever afterwards to make sure they got raised properly. They'd be the ones providing the photos to go on the boards around the casket. And as long as they keep the blackmail photos to themselves, I won't have to haunt them later :)
Poor M1 had to tag along, not that he came out of it half bad. He brought books along to entertain himself, borrowed my phone to play games when he got bored with reading, and then I took him to the bookstore to get the second book in the "Indian in the Cupboard" series because those are now his most favorite books in the whole wide world and the first book is almost falling apart already; he's had it two months.
Anyway, so my girlfriends and I chatted. I love these women. They really do make the world go round, and they're SOOOO funny. When stories about booger walls make you want to pee your pants with laughter (after you get done throwing up in your mouth a little bit), ur doin' it right.
It makes me wonder, though, how my crazy bunch of friends got together and how on earth we all figured out we connect so well. Sure, most of us met because we were part of the same mom's group, but we are totally different and totally alike all at the same time. We range in age from 28 to 40, and with that you have all the variations of generations - music, TV, movies, etc. - that go along with it. We tease each other mercilessly and yet share the stories that add fuel to the fire without blinking. We all have pictures of each other that could be used for blackmail because what good friends don't? Blackmail photos = friend security.
-----
See, for a long time when I was young, I didn't have a lot of friends. When my family moved from a tiny town in Southeast Kansas to a suburb in Oklahoma, I was the 'new girl.' I was smart, I was quiet, I liked to read; deadly combination in fourth grade where all the cliques are already established and getting good grades is no longer cool. Plus, I made the horrid decision to wear pigtails on my first day of school. I had no idea pigtails were 'out' by fourth grade. In a class of about 40 kids, that meant I was 'out,' too. It didn't bother me too much until middle school when people started hosting parties and I was never invited. In a class of 40, there might have been five of us on the list of people not invited. Since I had been popular in Kansas, I never quite was able to get past it. Yes, you may laugh. It's kind of pathetic. At the same time, my mom was very depressed and never made friends here herself, so I didn't have the world's best example of getting past 'how things were back then' in Kansas.
-----
In high school, I met some great folks and am still VERY happy to still be able to count some of them as great friends. After I had kids, I had to find new friends who could relate to the craziness of raising miniature versions of themselves. I have no idea how I got so lucky to find such great women.
I thought again today about how lucky I am to have these women in my life. These are the ladies who would be at my funeral right up close behind my family and would be checking on my kids forever afterwards to make sure they got raised properly. They'd be the ones providing the photos to go on the boards around the casket. And as long as they keep the blackmail photos to themselves, I won't have to haunt them later :)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tea party!
I don't really have any pictures from the tea, mostly because A) I don't ever remember to take pictures and B)... OK, nope, there is no B. I'm just not a good blogger that way.
I have these teas about twice a year. Sometimes it's a Mother/Daughter event, sometimes just moms. This time it was just moms. I also have to limit it to a dozen adults because I break out the good china!
This is my great-grandmother's china. It's nearly 100 years old - will be in 2017 - and was a wedding gift to her from her family in Germany when she and two of her brothers got married on the same day in a massive triple wedding in Kansas. It's not expensive china, but it's really pretty and has survived very well, obviously. It's a setting for 12. I don't see the need for it to sit there unused in my cabinet, so I get it out for my teas. I think my great-grandmother would have liked that.
I make quite a bit of food for my teas. I always make pavlovas - usually two of them. If I didn't, I think several folks would be sorely disappointed! Everything else varies. This time I made lemon squares, snickerdoodles, a pumpkin roll (jelly roll with pumpkin in it and filled with cream cheese frosting), and a French silk pie (that Oz was QUITE upset that he wasn't getting to taste test).
Then I made a little something for each lady to take home.
The attached silverware is a knife to cut the fudge with.
I love having my teas. It's the perfect excuse for us ladies to escape on a Sunday afternoon and come vent and eat desserts together. I see why the Victorians loved it so much! I'm already thinking about having another one in September. Maybe we'll include the kids.
Then again, maybe not. :)
I have these teas about twice a year. Sometimes it's a Mother/Daughter event, sometimes just moms. This time it was just moms. I also have to limit it to a dozen adults because I break out the good china!
This is my great-grandmother's china. It's nearly 100 years old - will be in 2017 - and was a wedding gift to her from her family in Germany when she and two of her brothers got married on the same day in a massive triple wedding in Kansas. It's not expensive china, but it's really pretty and has survived very well, obviously. It's a setting for 12. I don't see the need for it to sit there unused in my cabinet, so I get it out for my teas. I think my great-grandmother would have liked that.I make quite a bit of food for my teas. I always make pavlovas - usually two of them. If I didn't, I think several folks would be sorely disappointed! Everything else varies. This time I made lemon squares, snickerdoodles, a pumpkin roll (jelly roll with pumpkin in it and filled with cream cheese frosting), and a French silk pie (that Oz was QUITE upset that he wasn't getting to taste test).
Then I made a little something for each lady to take home.
The attached silverware is a knife to cut the fudge with. I love having my teas. It's the perfect excuse for us ladies to escape on a Sunday afternoon and come vent and eat desserts together. I see why the Victorians loved it so much! I'm already thinking about having another one in September. Maybe we'll include the kids.
Then again, maybe not. :)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Just a blurb
I want March to be an active month around here, so I'm planning ahead! (A WTM-based homeschooler doing this thing called planning? Say it ain't so!)
1. I weeded out part of the garden today. Can you believe it's time to start thinking about food? Like I ever quit thinking about food. I've run the dishwasher no less than three times since Friday night and handwashed the dishes that don't fit in the dishwasher. To be fair, 1.5 of those loads came from all the Indian food, and I also made another pavlova because I saw the Valentine's picture and got a random craving.
2. I also plan to have a mom's tea on the 14th. I hope to post recipes and pictures from the tea itself. So far, the menu includes two pavlovas (pavlova? What would the plural of pavlova be? I can't NOT make these, though. They're the selling point to get people to come), cinnamon rolls, chocolate pie of some sort, lemon squares, and fresh fruit, plus tea, of course, and raspberry lemonade or hot cocoa - depending on the weather - for those who don't like tea.
3. M2's FIFTH birthday is later this month. That just blows me away. It really, really does. I cannot believe that it's been five years since she made me so sore and miserable that I couldn't walk, sleep, or otherwise function. I was never so happy as when I woke up at 4:30 a.m. three weeks before my due date with no bag packed and realized that the little brat had broken my water. Thank heaven she's cute. ;) I jest, of course, but I *was* ecstatic to finally meet her.
4. Spring Break! M2 gets two weeks off; ergo, so does M1. We're not planning any big trips, but I would like to get to a children's museum and am contemplating a trip to Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse in Enid. I think we're also going to go up to Kansas and visit my grandmother, since her birthday is also this month. She'll be 86!
5. School stuff. I don't often get around to talking about actual school stuff, but M1 has been doing some cool things. He's conducting an experiment right now involving growing bacteria in his dresser drawer (well, in muffin cups in plastic bags in the dresser drawer), and I want to get some photos of that. Plus, now that I'm digging in the garden and it's finally warming up, we can do our worm unit. I might try to get some video of him as well, or maybe a video of M2 practicing her violin.
Now that I've put all this in writing, I hereby promise to do my best to keep my word and tell you about it all.
Scout's honor.
1. I weeded out part of the garden today. Can you believe it's time to start thinking about food? Like I ever quit thinking about food. I've run the dishwasher no less than three times since Friday night and handwashed the dishes that don't fit in the dishwasher. To be fair, 1.5 of those loads came from all the Indian food, and I also made another pavlova because I saw the Valentine's picture and got a random craving.
2. I also plan to have a mom's tea on the 14th. I hope to post recipes and pictures from the tea itself. So far, the menu includes two pavlovas (pavlova? What would the plural of pavlova be? I can't NOT make these, though. They're the selling point to get people to come), cinnamon rolls, chocolate pie of some sort, lemon squares, and fresh fruit, plus tea, of course, and raspberry lemonade or hot cocoa - depending on the weather - for those who don't like tea.
3. M2's FIFTH birthday is later this month. That just blows me away. It really, really does. I cannot believe that it's been five years since she made me so sore and miserable that I couldn't walk, sleep, or otherwise function. I was never so happy as when I woke up at 4:30 a.m. three weeks before my due date with no bag packed and realized that the little brat had broken my water. Thank heaven she's cute. ;) I jest, of course, but I *was* ecstatic to finally meet her.
4. Spring Break! M2 gets two weeks off; ergo, so does M1. We're not planning any big trips, but I would like to get to a children's museum and am contemplating a trip to Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse in Enid. I think we're also going to go up to Kansas and visit my grandmother, since her birthday is also this month. She'll be 86!
5. School stuff. I don't often get around to talking about actual school stuff, but M1 has been doing some cool things. He's conducting an experiment right now involving growing bacteria in his dresser drawer (well, in muffin cups in plastic bags in the dresser drawer), and I want to get some photos of that. Plus, now that I'm digging in the garden and it's finally warming up, we can do our worm unit. I might try to get some video of him as well, or maybe a video of M2 practicing her violin.
Now that I've put all this in writing, I hereby promise to do my best to keep my word and tell you about it all.
Scout's honor.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Busy days and proud moments
I haven't posted anything for a while. It hasn't been deliberate. It's more like there hasn't been anything horribly photo-worthy! But lest you think I've been neglecting you, I wanted to post an update.
First, M1 and I went to the Elsing Museum with our homeschool group on Monday. It was a wonderful place! I'd never even heard of it till this trip got set up, but I'm so glad we went. M1 had a blast. The only thing he hated was that there were so many other people there that he didn't get to ask all the questions he wanted. I foresee many trips back, probably with M2 and/or other friends.
M2 got her progress report for the second quarter this week. All +'s, which is an improvement from earlier this year when she did, in fact, get a minus in some areas (mostly related to asking for help - my kids are fiercely independent. I wonder where they get that... hm...). I'm proud of my Bean!
M1 is almost done with his math book. He's been progressing through math at a rapid pace now that he understands the concepts. This book focuses solely on single-number addition and subtraction, and he's on lesson 24. There are 30 lessons in the book plus extra lessons on time, which we've already covered. I've already ordered the next book in the series, and he can't wait to get started on it. He's been really paying attention to his work to reach that goal and has aced his last two tests!
He's also begun working on human life science, aka anatomy. He had a lot of fun with that this week.
Don't worry. I let him stick these all over me, too.
M2 has a violin concert coming up in a couple of weeks. She's very excited and is working hard on the pieces that she'll be playing. No solos in the Suzuki method (at least at this age), but it's a big deal for her. I'm amazed that my little girl has come so far in just six months, and at the age of 4. Sure, she's probably not moving as quickly as some of the other kids, but in the two group lessons we've managed to attend, she's been by far the youngest! She takes great pride in being able to keep up with 9-year-olds.
Finally, M1 has another accomplishment that he would like everyone to know about.
He did that all by himself with his birthday BB gun today from a distance of about 8 feet. I didn't even think it was cracked till I got close. With a little practice, he's going to be a great shot!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
First, M1 and I went to the Elsing Museum with our homeschool group on Monday. It was a wonderful place! I'd never even heard of it till this trip got set up, but I'm so glad we went. M1 had a blast. The only thing he hated was that there were so many other people there that he didn't get to ask all the questions he wanted. I foresee many trips back, probably with M2 and/or other friends.
M2 got her progress report for the second quarter this week. All +'s, which is an improvement from earlier this year when she did, in fact, get a minus in some areas (mostly related to asking for help - my kids are fiercely independent. I wonder where they get that... hm...). I'm proud of my Bean!
M1 is almost done with his math book. He's been progressing through math at a rapid pace now that he understands the concepts. This book focuses solely on single-number addition and subtraction, and he's on lesson 24. There are 30 lessons in the book plus extra lessons on time, which we've already covered. I've already ordered the next book in the series, and he can't wait to get started on it. He's been really paying attention to his work to reach that goal and has aced his last two tests!
He's also begun working on human life science, aka anatomy. He had a lot of fun with that this week.
Don't worry. I let him stick these all over me, too.M2 has a violin concert coming up in a couple of weeks. She's very excited and is working hard on the pieces that she'll be playing. No solos in the Suzuki method (at least at this age), but it's a big deal for her. I'm amazed that my little girl has come so far in just six months, and at the age of 4. Sure, she's probably not moving as quickly as some of the other kids, but in the two group lessons we've managed to attend, she's been by far the youngest! She takes great pride in being able to keep up with 9-year-olds.
Finally, M1 has another accomplishment that he would like everyone to know about.
He did that all by himself with his birthday BB gun today from a distance of about 8 feet. I didn't even think it was cracked till I got close. With a little practice, he's going to be a great shot!Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
my insanely crazy week
This week has been absolutely nuts! My back and my feet are so glad it's over.
I lie... sort of... the whole week hasn't been nuts. It was just enough crazy to make it feel like the whole week was a sort of time bomb. The whole culmination was Friday.
Friday, the Day of Three Parties.
Party #1: The Preschool Party
M2's school party was Friday morning. As Homeroom Mom, I'm in charge of crafts. That means I have to come up with ideas, resources, and application of an age-appropriate (and skill-appropriate) craft for 19 3- and 4-year-olds. In this case, I decided - with the help of Google - to get some 20-oz. or 1-liter bottles and some orange paint and some of the foam sticker sheets and make bottle pumpkins where the kids shook the orange paint in each bottle and stuck on pumpkin faces. Now... sounds simple enough, right? Right. But me being me, I couldn't stop there. Nooooooooooo.... that'd be far too easy. So I painted the lids of each bottle green. And I had to cut out the eyes and noses and mouths for the kids to stick on, and of course they all had to be a little bit different. And then the lead preschool teacher found a foam pumpkin kit that I decided should be customized with each kid's name (in black glitter glue - more about that later) and turned into necklaces (which means I had to punch out holes and cut strings).
Then and only then was I finally ready for the party.
We did have fun, though.
The assistant teacher is a hoot. She's truly a riot, and the kids love her as much as I do. I'm seriously going to miss both preschool teachers next year when my kids age out. I've had one kid or another in that preschool for three years now!
This is M1 with a girl from M2's class. They get along very, very well. He and that little girl played the entire time, and when I swiped my kids for Party #2, she stood at the edge of the playground and hollered bye to him over and over and over till he had to shut the van door.
Here's another shot of that cute little girl. She's got a sweet personality. M2 likes her just as much as M1.
The owner of the farm we were visiting (which belonged to the family of a classmate) kept trying to make a scarecrow. The kids kept trying to spread the hay as far and wide as possible.
Mom and her baby. The baby is the first girl for the family and is just a doll. She hung out in that sling the whole time just contented as a clam! The lead teacher and the farm owner are chatting in the background.
The resident kid. With the teacher. It is actually a full-grown goat named Precious, and at one point she nibbled the assistant teacher's leg. She just thought it was a student tugging on her pants!
This wee girl riding on a miniature horse was one of the ones who 'adopted' me. It's so darn cute when preschool kids adopt you until you realize that there are three of them waiting for space on your lap and you've only got two legs!
Party #2: The Homeschool Party
Our homeschool group meets from 1-3 every Friday at a local community center. It's a bit of a drive for me, from my side of town, but I try to make it as often as I can because M1 really enjoys it. The Halloween party was the biggest event with the group that we've made it to so far, and we participated in a card swap... which meant making approximately 40 cards for 40 kids who attended. MAN, was it crowded.
But, again, it was fun!
Some of the moms dressed up, too, though I wasn't creative enough to come up with something in time.
Even the punch was creative! Gotta love those ice cube hands.
The kids had a costume parade. Later on, they played some games, but M2 took a nasty slip-and-fall right on that hard linoleum floor right before the games started, so we headed out early. It was tragic, and she's got a lovely bruise right beside her left eye, but she'll be all right. Look at those costumes!
After the kids and I got home, I hung out for a little bit and then headed out again for
Party #3: Girls' Night Out!
This was a wine "tasting" event where we were supposed to bring a bottle of wine that described our personality.
This is what I found. It used to hold a German Riesling, but soon I hope it'll hold some flavored oil! It also comes in green and blue, and I may have to go get those. I thought it immensely appropriate for several reasons: One, because it's a cat; two, because it was a German wine; and three, it was a rather small bottle and I'm not much of a wine drinker! It was a good wine, though, and one of the first bottles that was completely emptied.
I was the designated driver for one of the girls in the evening, though, and she got me a giftie:
Ain't it cute?
I'd share what happened at the wine party, but that'd be just wrong. Suffice it to say, I didn't get home till almost 3 a.m.
Trick-or-treating and Halloween photos to come later! Can you believe it's already November??
I lie... sort of... the whole week hasn't been nuts. It was just enough crazy to make it feel like the whole week was a sort of time bomb. The whole culmination was Friday.
Friday, the Day of Three Parties.
Party #1: The Preschool Party
M2's school party was Friday morning. As Homeroom Mom, I'm in charge of crafts. That means I have to come up with ideas, resources, and application of an age-appropriate (and skill-appropriate) craft for 19 3- and 4-year-olds. In this case, I decided - with the help of Google - to get some 20-oz. or 1-liter bottles and some orange paint and some of the foam sticker sheets and make bottle pumpkins where the kids shook the orange paint in each bottle and stuck on pumpkin faces. Now... sounds simple enough, right? Right. But me being me, I couldn't stop there. Nooooooooooo.... that'd be far too easy. So I painted the lids of each bottle green. And I had to cut out the eyes and noses and mouths for the kids to stick on, and of course they all had to be a little bit different. And then the lead preschool teacher found a foam pumpkin kit that I decided should be customized with each kid's name (in black glitter glue - more about that later) and turned into necklaces (which means I had to punch out holes and cut strings).
Then and only then was I finally ready for the party.
We did have fun, though.
The assistant teacher is a hoot. She's truly a riot, and the kids love her as much as I do. I'm seriously going to miss both preschool teachers next year when my kids age out. I've had one kid or another in that preschool for three years now!
This is M1 with a girl from M2's class. They get along very, very well. He and that little girl played the entire time, and when I swiped my kids for Party #2, she stood at the edge of the playground and hollered bye to him over and over and over till he had to shut the van door.
Here's another shot of that cute little girl. She's got a sweet personality. M2 likes her just as much as M1.
The owner of the farm we were visiting (which belonged to the family of a classmate) kept trying to make a scarecrow. The kids kept trying to spread the hay as far and wide as possible.
Mom and her baby. The baby is the first girl for the family and is just a doll. She hung out in that sling the whole time just contented as a clam! The lead teacher and the farm owner are chatting in the background.
The resident kid. With the teacher. It is actually a full-grown goat named Precious, and at one point she nibbled the assistant teacher's leg. She just thought it was a student tugging on her pants!
This wee girl riding on a miniature horse was one of the ones who 'adopted' me. It's so darn cute when preschool kids adopt you until you realize that there are three of them waiting for space on your lap and you've only got two legs!-----
So that party was what I would call a success. Then it was a quick trip home for lunch and a rest for the kids before heading toParty #2: The Homeschool Party
Our homeschool group meets from 1-3 every Friday at a local community center. It's a bit of a drive for me, from my side of town, but I try to make it as often as I can because M1 really enjoys it. The Halloween party was the biggest event with the group that we've made it to so far, and we participated in a card swap... which meant making approximately 40 cards for 40 kids who attended. MAN, was it crowded.
But, again, it was fun!
Some of the moms dressed up, too, though I wasn't creative enough to come up with something in time.
Even the punch was creative! Gotta love those ice cube hands.
The kids had a costume parade. Later on, they played some games, but M2 took a nasty slip-and-fall right on that hard linoleum floor right before the games started, so we headed out early. It was tragic, and she's got a lovely bruise right beside her left eye, but she'll be all right. Look at those costumes! After the kids and I got home, I hung out for a little bit and then headed out again for
Party #3: Girls' Night Out!
This was a wine "tasting" event where we were supposed to bring a bottle of wine that described our personality.
This is what I found. It used to hold a German Riesling, but soon I hope it'll hold some flavored oil! It also comes in green and blue, and I may have to go get those. I thought it immensely appropriate for several reasons: One, because it's a cat; two, because it was a German wine; and three, it was a rather small bottle and I'm not much of a wine drinker! It was a good wine, though, and one of the first bottles that was completely emptied. I was the designated driver for one of the girls in the evening, though, and she got me a giftie:
Ain't it cute? I'd share what happened at the wine party, but that'd be just wrong. Suffice it to say, I didn't get home till almost 3 a.m.
Trick-or-treating and Halloween photos to come later! Can you believe it's already November??
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Incredible Mutant... Children
Ok, so they're not entirely mutant, though some days their behavior makes me wonder which rock I want to go crawl under.
Anywho, so a couple of weeks ago, it was time for the annual Cleaning of the Drawers, in which we go through every article of clothing the children own and weed out anything that is too small, stained or torn beyond recognition, or otherwise unwearable in the opinion of the Grand Poobah of the Drawer Cleaning
I had known that my spawn had grown over the summer. They do that. I'm starting to think it's something in the soil. M1 hadn't grown much till I took him off his medication; now, since he's had that massive sinus infection and we've been in to see the doctor every two weeks for the last month, I am painfully aware that he's putting on a pound or two... every two weeks.
This means he's outgrown some clothes.
What it really means is that he's outgrown allll these clothes. They do not fit. Not even remotely. I tried to put a pair of 8 slim jeans on him, and they were a bit snug around the waist, and I thought that maybe we could get away with them for a few months. Then he sat down, and I think the hems down up to his mid-calves.
Into the bag they went.
I didn't think the girl's wardrobe would be as bad. I knew she had grown, but she's smaller, she's the girl, and really, she hasn't grown as much as the boy.
Or so I thought.
Clearly, I'm delusional.
The fact that she's gone from a size 10 shoe to a size 13 in the past two months should have been a clue.
This was 'before.' I had an 'after' picture, but it was too blurry to use. Just chop off everything on the left 3/4 of the picture, and you'll have roughly what was left. Two coats, two pairs of brown pants, a pair of pink overalls that she promptly declared she hated and would never wear, and two Christmas-themed shirts. That was IT.
Anywho, so a couple of weeks ago, it was time for the annual Cleaning of the Drawers, in which we go through every article of clothing the children own and weed out anything that is too small, stained or torn beyond recognition, or otherwise unwearable in the opinion of the Grand Poobah of the Drawer Cleaning
I had known that my spawn had grown over the summer. They do that. I'm starting to think it's something in the soil. M1 hadn't grown much till I took him off his medication; now, since he's had that massive sinus infection and we've been in to see the doctor every two weeks for the last month, I am painfully aware that he's putting on a pound or two... every two weeks.
This means he's outgrown some clothes.
What it really means is that he's outgrown allll these clothes. They do not fit. Not even remotely. I tried to put a pair of 8 slim jeans on him, and they were a bit snug around the waist, and I thought that maybe we could get away with them for a few months. Then he sat down, and I think the hems down up to his mid-calves.Into the bag they went.
I didn't think the girl's wardrobe would be as bad. I knew she had grown, but she's smaller, she's the girl, and really, she hasn't grown as much as the boy.
Or so I thought.
Clearly, I'm delusional.
The fact that she's gone from a size 10 shoe to a size 13 in the past two months should have been a clue.
This was 'before.' I had an 'after' picture, but it was too blurry to use. Just chop off everything on the left 3/4 of the picture, and you'll have roughly what was left. Two coats, two pairs of brown pants, a pair of pink overalls that she promptly declared she hated and would never wear, and two Christmas-themed shirts. That was IT.No, seriously. I am occasionally prone to exaggeration, I will admit, but this time I'm actually serious. The girl had no clothes whatsoever for fall and winter.
Thankfully, a few trips to the consignment shop and Penney's has gotten both wardrobes to the place where I think we can function till the word 'frost' becomes part of our vocabulary. My credit card is breathing a huge sigh of relief.
Now I just have to give the clothes to people who will need them. I can't wait till our group swap!
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