We had neighbors when I grew up that had two sons, one was two years older and one was two years younger than I was. We did lots of things together throughout my childhood and then invariably lost touch as we each went our own ways for higher education and the start of our own lives as adults. I remember one of the last summers before the oldest son, Jeff, moved away to college and his summer job cleaning toilets.
That's right, he was going to clean toilets. And he was thrilled about it. He never struck me as a nature boy, but he had gotten a job at a large natural park in the mountains and the entirety of his duties was to keep the public restrooms clean at one of the camp sites. The best thing about this job, he told me, was that the total amount of work you had to do was low on both time and effort (or at least that's what he had heard.) He told me between the shifts of cleaning toilets, he got to spend all his time in the forest and park areas. And, as the best part he told me, he got to sleep outside, in a tent, every night.
You know how you hear something someone else is excited about and you inwardly shudder because it is so absolutely not something you would want to do or experience? That's how I felt when he told me. Toilets I had and could clean; but selecting a job where I would clean toilet after toilet, every day, all summer long, was something I would run from, not seek out.
And that sleeping outdoors thing? Sure, nature is nice, but I wasn't ever a campy person. I suppose it's because my family vacations never included camping and I wasn't born from camping stock, but either way, the thought of being away from air conditioning, television and the comforts of home seemed like punishment, not a fabulous summer job opportunity.
I haven't thought about Jeff or his younger brother, Joey, in a long time until our long car trip two days ago. We stopped at a large rest stop and as I exited the very nice, clean public bathroom area I saw the person who was coming in to clean the ladies room That's when the memorie of Jeff and his huge smile came back to me as he told me about his summer job so many years ago.
The Big Boy Update: Anything that moves. He can hone in on a vehicle faster than a cheetah that hasn't eaten in a week. Daddy got a remote controlled boat for the pool in my in-laws back yard in Florida. My son is enamored with driving it and talking about it and putting passengers and driver mini people in it, He also wants to put the control box in the water too, which would end the whole remote control component of the fun.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The curls. Her hair is growing and we've gotten to a point now where we're putting her through Baby Bow Bootcamp so that she'll leave a bow in her hair which is needed to keep the longer locks out of her eyes. Also, it's getting more curly. I expected it to get longer, I didn't expect it to develop such cute curls.
Someone Once Said: I don’t give a damn what The Oxford English Dictionary says! As long as I am head of this household, language used in it will conform to my notions of propriety!
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Totally Not Board
My life got significantly more controversial, complicated and exciting on Thursday. If I had any concerns that I might become bored without the challenge of a full-time, high-stress, hopefully high-paying job because of my recent career choice as an at-home mother of two, I can confirm there is no chance bordom will happen here. As of Thursday, I was sworn in as the newest member of my children's school's Board of Trustees.
I went to a quickly called meeting that was scheduled for two hours the day before Easter vacation began. I expected to hear that our current board director was stepping down, that I was being added and we'd hear some miscelaneous business.
Instead, I was quickly sworn in and a six-hour meeting occurred that ended only because the restaurant had been closed for some time. I came onto the board the very day we were hearing final proposals for the relocation of our school including the purchase of land and consruction plan proposals for the new site.
To say that I am impressed with the work that has been done to get us to the point we are today to this final decision would be an understatement. It has been a six-year project that must be, due to some timing constraints, decided now. And here I am, a board member for less than a day and I'm involved.
The decision has not yet been made, but we are workign over the weekend, during holiday days and coordinating with board members who are travelling to make the most informed decision for what will be a pivital decision for the future of our school.
I have also been impressed that every board member has been completely inclusive of my opinion. Many have contacted me to not only share their thoughts (in a fair and unbiased manner) but to solicit my thoughts as well.
I feel the weight of this decision. I hope we'll make the best choice given the options. Time will tell.
The Big Boy Update: After dinner tonight he walked to the potty without anyone saying anything, went, flushed it (missed a bit when he dumped it, but he got most of it), pulled his pants back up and came back out to play.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Up and Down. She knows what up and down are. She held a toy up and said, "up" and then she put it back down and said, "down." So she understands the words as well as can pronounce them. Sixteen months is an exciting time.
Someone Once Said: Correction. Not ‘steal.’ If you copy from three or more authors, it’s ‘research.’
I went to a quickly called meeting that was scheduled for two hours the day before Easter vacation began. I expected to hear that our current board director was stepping down, that I was being added and we'd hear some miscelaneous business.
Instead, I was quickly sworn in and a six-hour meeting occurred that ended only because the restaurant had been closed for some time. I came onto the board the very day we were hearing final proposals for the relocation of our school including the purchase of land and consruction plan proposals for the new site.
To say that I am impressed with the work that has been done to get us to the point we are today to this final decision would be an understatement. It has been a six-year project that must be, due to some timing constraints, decided now. And here I am, a board member for less than a day and I'm involved.
The decision has not yet been made, but we are workign over the weekend, during holiday days and coordinating with board members who are travelling to make the most informed decision for what will be a pivital decision for the future of our school.
I have also been impressed that every board member has been completely inclusive of my opinion. Many have contacted me to not only share their thoughts (in a fair and unbiased manner) but to solicit my thoughts as well.
I feel the weight of this decision. I hope we'll make the best choice given the options. Time will tell.
The Big Boy Update: After dinner tonight he walked to the potty without anyone saying anything, went, flushed it (missed a bit when he dumped it, but he got most of it), pulled his pants back up and came back out to play.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Up and Down. She knows what up and down are. She held a toy up and said, "up" and then she put it back down and said, "down." So she understands the words as well as can pronounce them. Sixteen months is an exciting time.
Someone Once Said: Correction. Not ‘steal.’ If you copy from three or more authors, it’s ‘research.’
Friday, March 29, 2013
Grandparents and Special Friends Day
Yesterday and today was Grandparents and Special Friends day at our children's school. It's a special time to invite your child's grandparents or other special friends or family to come and see what the school campus is like, visit with the staff and administration, see demonstrations and presentations by some of the students and most of all, visit with your children in their classrooms.
It's been a lot of work to put this in place, but it was fun. I helped out throughout the process but possibly the most fun was just spending time on campus talking with other family members and friends and hearing stories about their children or experiences at the school.
The staff and teachers at our school are nice. But they're also fun, and funny so standing around being bored just never happens. Wait, what? You need big tables moved out of the tent and a hundred chairs set up, stat? Sure, we're on the job. Pitching in and helping has made our school feel like a home.
The Big Boy Update: "Greyson poopie." My son wouldn't come down for dinner two nights ago no matter how much we talked about his dinner and how delicious it was and how we were going to eat it if he stayed up there and other psychological tricks that normally work but were failing completely at the time. He was on the bridge on the second floor watching us eat, not moving. When he finally came down a few minutes later, he announced, "Greyson poopie." Oh, now I understand.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Potty. She can say potty. And pee pee. And pooh. Well, at least it sounds like pooh when she says it. She is most pleased when she has produced something in said potty and can then tell you what it is.
Someone Once Said: Men need us but can just barely stand us; every now and then they have to discuss our faults. I think that’s why they shut us out.
It's been a lot of work to put this in place, but it was fun. I helped out throughout the process but possibly the most fun was just spending time on campus talking with other family members and friends and hearing stories about their children or experiences at the school.
The staff and teachers at our school are nice. But they're also fun, and funny so standing around being bored just never happens. Wait, what? You need big tables moved out of the tent and a hundred chairs set up, stat? Sure, we're on the job. Pitching in and helping has made our school feel like a home.
The Big Boy Update: "Greyson poopie." My son wouldn't come down for dinner two nights ago no matter how much we talked about his dinner and how delicious it was and how we were going to eat it if he stayed up there and other psychological tricks that normally work but were failing completely at the time. He was on the bridge on the second floor watching us eat, not moving. When he finally came down a few minutes later, he announced, "Greyson poopie." Oh, now I understand.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Potty. She can say potty. And pee pee. And pooh. Well, at least it sounds like pooh when she says it. She is most pleased when she has produced something in said potty and can then tell you what it is.
Someone Once Said: Men need us but can just barely stand us; every now and then they have to discuss our faults. I think that’s why they shut us out.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Gonna?
Is "gonna" a real word? We say it all the time. And by we, what I mean is many people, to the point of saying most of the English (or American) speaking population I know. For example, do you say, "We're going to go in just a minute". Or do you say, "We're gonna go in just a minute"?
In written form, gonna looks strange. But in casual speech, "going to" seems to get combined into the single word, "gonna." Is it slang any more so than using accepted contractions?
And what about, "hafta?" Okay, I have no idea how to even spell hafta. I could look all this up online and I'm sure I'd get a head full of what's correct, accepted or slang, but not until I finish this blog post; you know my rules.
I say, "We have to brush our teeth before bedtime." But I also say things like, "we hafta wait our turn."
I think I'm gonna hafta pay more attention to what I and others say and see if there are other words that aren't true contractions but function in the same manner that may, or may not be grammatically correct.
The Big Boy Update: Helping his sister. This morning before we went to school, not once but twice he offered to help bring his sister over. He brought her by holding her hand to get her jacket on and then he brought her back to get in the car, again holding her hand.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: So sleepy at school. Today was Grandparents and Special Friends day at school. My parents came to visit the classrooms of both children today but she was a little too tired to enjoy the visit. Tomorrow, Uncle Jonathan visits them in both classes. Maybe she'll be peppier tomorrow.
Fitness Update: Last day with our trainer before spring break and our family visit to Florida. He made us work this morning, which is good, because we needed it.
Someone Once Said: The Commodore never rejects anyone for failing; what she despises is not trying.
In written form, gonna looks strange. But in casual speech, "going to" seems to get combined into the single word, "gonna." Is it slang any more so than using accepted contractions?
And what about, "hafta?" Okay, I have no idea how to even spell hafta. I could look all this up online and I'm sure I'd get a head full of what's correct, accepted or slang, but not until I finish this blog post; you know my rules.
I say, "We have to brush our teeth before bedtime." But I also say things like, "we hafta wait our turn."
I think I'm gonna hafta pay more attention to what I and others say and see if there are other words that aren't true contractions but function in the same manner that may, or may not be grammatically correct.
The Big Boy Update: Helping his sister. This morning before we went to school, not once but twice he offered to help bring his sister over. He brought her by holding her hand to get her jacket on and then he brought her back to get in the car, again holding her hand.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: So sleepy at school. Today was Grandparents and Special Friends day at school. My parents came to visit the classrooms of both children today but she was a little too tired to enjoy the visit. Tomorrow, Uncle Jonathan visits them in both classes. Maybe she'll be peppier tomorrow.
Fitness Update: Last day with our trainer before spring break and our family visit to Florida. He made us work this morning, which is good, because we needed it.
Someone Once Said: The Commodore never rejects anyone for failing; what she despises is not trying.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Vocal Disuse
I wrote a post a while back about whistling. Ever since then I've been surprised at how much I really whistle. I seem to be whistling all day long. I like to sing though. If you're in the car with me and there's a song on I like, there's a good chance you'll be subjected to my singing, good or bad, along with the artist.
Or do I sing? I used to sing. I used to sing everything, even when there was no music on. But after a week or two of paying attention to when I whistled or sang, I found that I hardly ever sang anymore. For some reason I stopped singing and started whistling and I didn't even notice it. So I've made it a point to start singing in the car again (yes, hopefully without passengers so I won't run any friends or family off.)
I always knew the words to the songs. I would sing along. But with whistling, you don't need to know the words, only the tune. I discovered I only sort-of know the words to all the new songs. I know them enough to know what's coming next, right as it's happening, but not enough to be ready to belt that next word out just before it does happens. Also, my voice is much weaker than I remembered it.
All this happened without me even noticing the transition away from singing to whistling. I'd like to have a reasonable voice. Oh, I know I don't have a great voice. I never have and I never will. But I'd like to be able to sing along with a song and know I'm not causing people to flee from the room.
My niece is taking voice lessons. Maybe I'll ask her how that's going and see if her teacher would be willing to take on one much older, rusty singer for a few lessons of pointers.
The Big Boy Update: Somehow, with just the right timing, my son sings, "Happy birthday cake" and it sounds like that's how the song should have been sung all along. But when I try to sing it back to him, forty years of singing the song the same way and I can't get it to sound right. Sometimes though, he sings the song correctly, and it's Kyle's birthday. Kyle is his cousin and it has been Kyle's birthday for over a month now. Also, let's talk about cream. He says things like, "I see the cream," and "look at the cream," and he's pointing. At what though? OH...you mean, "crane." There is a lot of extrapolation on what a crane is in his mind. He does see cranes regularly as the concrete pouring cranes are in our neighborhood pouring foundations and footings. He insists it's a, "cream" though.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Ball. She likes balls. She just spent thirty minutes in the laundry basket putting foam and wiffle balls into the plastic golf bag and then dumping or pulling them out. When she was done with that she went over near the front entrance and lay completely down on the ground. She was talking about something or other ball but I didn't understand until I came over to see her touching the large ball-shaped area in the rug.
Fitness Update: I slept in today more than usual. I got up at 6:30, changed the already awake children and then went to the gym while daddy breakfasted them and took them to school. Don said, "This is going to be your worst day yet," to which I replied, "I'm glad I got that extra hour of sleep then." Overall, it was a hard workout, but at only four weeks in, I can already see a difference in what I can do so something must be working.
Someone Once Said: I don’t think it matters where a man eats his lunch as long as he comes home for dinner.
Or do I sing? I used to sing. I used to sing everything, even when there was no music on. But after a week or two of paying attention to when I whistled or sang, I found that I hardly ever sang anymore. For some reason I stopped singing and started whistling and I didn't even notice it. So I've made it a point to start singing in the car again (yes, hopefully without passengers so I won't run any friends or family off.)
I always knew the words to the songs. I would sing along. But with whistling, you don't need to know the words, only the tune. I discovered I only sort-of know the words to all the new songs. I know them enough to know what's coming next, right as it's happening, but not enough to be ready to belt that next word out just before it does happens. Also, my voice is much weaker than I remembered it.
All this happened without me even noticing the transition away from singing to whistling. I'd like to have a reasonable voice. Oh, I know I don't have a great voice. I never have and I never will. But I'd like to be able to sing along with a song and know I'm not causing people to flee from the room.
My niece is taking voice lessons. Maybe I'll ask her how that's going and see if her teacher would be willing to take on one much older, rusty singer for a few lessons of pointers.
The Big Boy Update: Somehow, with just the right timing, my son sings, "Happy birthday cake" and it sounds like that's how the song should have been sung all along. But when I try to sing it back to him, forty years of singing the song the same way and I can't get it to sound right. Sometimes though, he sings the song correctly, and it's Kyle's birthday. Kyle is his cousin and it has been Kyle's birthday for over a month now. Also, let's talk about cream. He says things like, "I see the cream," and "look at the cream," and he's pointing. At what though? OH...you mean, "crane." There is a lot of extrapolation on what a crane is in his mind. He does see cranes regularly as the concrete pouring cranes are in our neighborhood pouring foundations and footings. He insists it's a, "cream" though.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Ball. She likes balls. She just spent thirty minutes in the laundry basket putting foam and wiffle balls into the plastic golf bag and then dumping or pulling them out. When she was done with that she went over near the front entrance and lay completely down on the ground. She was talking about something or other ball but I didn't understand until I came over to see her touching the large ball-shaped area in the rug.
Fitness Update: I slept in today more than usual. I got up at 6:30, changed the already awake children and then went to the gym while daddy breakfasted them and took them to school. Don said, "This is going to be your worst day yet," to which I replied, "I'm glad I got that extra hour of sleep then." Overall, it was a hard workout, but at only four weeks in, I can already see a difference in what I can do so something must be working.
Someone Once Said: I don’t think it matters where a man eats his lunch as long as he comes home for dinner.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Caulking the Line
The garage is done. It's been a long time since we initially started working with our architect to get plans, have them approved and get the project started. It took longer than we anticipated due to some holdups in multiple directions. But honestly, how much of a hurry can you really be in to get an extra bay added to your garage?
One of the unexpected project lengtheners was the power to the house. And by that I mean the main line of power to the house that connected to the power box and meter on the side of the house was right where the back wall of the garage had to be. It was quite the feat getting the power moved to the new location on the back of the new wall of the garage while keeping us in power aside from a few short hours.
We delayed the completion ourselves in part too. We decided to have that epoxy coating on the floors done by someone we'd been working with throughout this process. For safety purposes, not to mention durability, we added a second clear coating to the epoxy with a non-skid abrasive factor added. Imagine a shiny, smooth-looking garage floor that has a graininess you can feel if you touch it, but otherwise sparkles.
Fast forward two weeks of parking outside of the garages and we've got a garage floor that's fun to play on for the whole family. We've spent many rainy afternoons playing with balls and tricycles and cars in there already while our cars sit out and get wet so we don't have to.
The last thing that needed to be done was some sort of caulk filling between the slab sections. When the concrete was initially poured, there was no separation between the sections. But the sections were strategically poured so that when they dried, they would separate in nice clean lines, one vertical and one horizontal. Those lines are now quarter inch expansion joints. It seemed like they were begging for some caulk to finish off the sealing job.
Caulk with a caulk gun from Lowes? What kind? Could we color match it? Would it negatively affect the epoxy coating? Would it look like crap when applied because of the depth of the cracks and our inexperience in pretty much all things caulky? Per the advice of our builder, we brought in experts.
They brought a two-part caulk they mixed on site and then the team of four workers installed it with each doing their own job to make sure it was evenly applied and finished well. We have to stay off it for a day and then it's dry. I think the color works well with the gray we already had.
You know you want to see a picture of this caulk, right? Of course you do.
The Big Boy Update: "Bye bye, momma." Today I was helping out at school in the main office. I wasn't aware, but apparently one child from each class delivers the attendance to the office once school has started. Today was my son's turn. I saw him come in the door and I immediately turned around in the hopes he wouldn't see me to avert a possibly difficult separation. He handed over the attendance and turned to leave as I was dashed around the corner. I heard him say something that ended in, "momma" and I thought I was caught. Then he was gone. The other teacher said, "Did you hear what he said?" I hadn't. As he calmly and quietly left he said, "Bye bye, momma."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Miss Mulchy. I am going downtown to wherever it is birth names are registered to rename her because Miss Mulchy sounds like a better name of late. Her ability to have huge amounts of mulch glom on to her shirt, her jacket, her pants, her socks and yes, even inside and outside of her diaper is astounding. It gets all over me while I put her in the car seat and then disseminates throughout our house once we get home.
Fitness Update: Double 5K. This morning just happened to be a 6.2 mile run, double that of a 5K. By the time I got in at 6:15AM, the twilight was just beginning. I'm looking forward to earlier sunrises soon.
Someone Once Said: Go lay an egg!
One of the unexpected project lengtheners was the power to the house. And by that I mean the main line of power to the house that connected to the power box and meter on the side of the house was right where the back wall of the garage had to be. It was quite the feat getting the power moved to the new location on the back of the new wall of the garage while keeping us in power aside from a few short hours.
We delayed the completion ourselves in part too. We decided to have that epoxy coating on the floors done by someone we'd been working with throughout this process. For safety purposes, not to mention durability, we added a second clear coating to the epoxy with a non-skid abrasive factor added. Imagine a shiny, smooth-looking garage floor that has a graininess you can feel if you touch it, but otherwise sparkles.
Fast forward two weeks of parking outside of the garages and we've got a garage floor that's fun to play on for the whole family. We've spent many rainy afternoons playing with balls and tricycles and cars in there already while our cars sit out and get wet so we don't have to.
The last thing that needed to be done was some sort of caulk filling between the slab sections. When the concrete was initially poured, there was no separation between the sections. But the sections were strategically poured so that when they dried, they would separate in nice clean lines, one vertical and one horizontal. Those lines are now quarter inch expansion joints. It seemed like they were begging for some caulk to finish off the sealing job.
Caulk with a caulk gun from Lowes? What kind? Could we color match it? Would it negatively affect the epoxy coating? Would it look like crap when applied because of the depth of the cracks and our inexperience in pretty much all things caulky? Per the advice of our builder, we brought in experts.
They brought a two-part caulk they mixed on site and then the team of four workers installed it with each doing their own job to make sure it was evenly applied and finished well. We have to stay off it for a day and then it's dry. I think the color works well with the gray we already had.
You know you want to see a picture of this caulk, right? Of course you do.
The Big Boy Update: "Bye bye, momma." Today I was helping out at school in the main office. I wasn't aware, but apparently one child from each class delivers the attendance to the office once school has started. Today was my son's turn. I saw him come in the door and I immediately turned around in the hopes he wouldn't see me to avert a possibly difficult separation. He handed over the attendance and turned to leave as I was dashed around the corner. I heard him say something that ended in, "momma" and I thought I was caught. Then he was gone. The other teacher said, "Did you hear what he said?" I hadn't. As he calmly and quietly left he said, "Bye bye, momma."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Miss Mulchy. I am going downtown to wherever it is birth names are registered to rename her because Miss Mulchy sounds like a better name of late. Her ability to have huge amounts of mulch glom on to her shirt, her jacket, her pants, her socks and yes, even inside and outside of her diaper is astounding. It gets all over me while I put her in the car seat and then disseminates throughout our house once we get home.
Fitness Update: Double 5K. This morning just happened to be a 6.2 mile run, double that of a 5K. By the time I got in at 6:15AM, the twilight was just beginning. I'm looking forward to earlier sunrises soon.
Someone Once Said: Go lay an egg!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Nine Forty Two
I got up this morning at 4:45AM to go to the gym. It's now 9:42AM. It doesn't seem like it's been five hours since I got up and I'm not sure where the time went but here it is, almost five hours later and I feel like I'm wedging in a blog post before I have to run off to do the other twenty twelve things on my list of, "Stuff to get done before leaving for Easter vacation on Friday."
Therefore, I dub this a rambly post. I shall ramble about this and that and most likely not make any meaningful points and I am certain there will be no revelations other than the clock is ticking and vacation is quickly approaching and I don't feel prepared.
But about that 4:45AM wake-up time... My neighbor and I are getting up that early because we're now tag-teaming with our husbands at the gym. That's right, our men have decided to join us, albeit at separate times, in our mission of fitness.
We have to get to the gym, work out for an hour and get back in time for the men to do the same thing. With the double drives there and back, that's three hours of time we need before the leaving for school and work at 8:00AM. So mornings just got earlier and definitely busier.
I've been eating more lately and not weighing myself as much. Today was weigh-in and before I stepped on the scale I looked in the mirror and I though overall I didn't look like I'd gained too much weight. I looked, I'm struggling for a word here, but I suppose I thought I looked reasonable and as expected and just where I should be weight-wise. And then I stood on the scale.
That damn number that pops up can still do a psychological number on you. I was trying to gain weight; I was eating extra food, right? I expected the number to be higher, but the moment the little red digits pop up my mind says, "Oh no! You gained weight! I told you you were eating too much. Now you're going to have to fix it."
The opposite reaction from my brain happens when I get an unexpected low weight, say after a long run where I've lost buckets in hydration through sweat. Sometimes those weights are too low; the kind of low I don't want to be. What happens at those times in my brain? "Oh good, I see you've been on track lately. I suppose you can have a bun for breakfast since you've been such a good girl." Honestly, is it any wonder people become anorexic when our brains are out to get us?
Fortunately, I can say that that, "little brain response" doesn't win out over the, "big logical brain" and I keep everything in perspective. Thanks big brain.
From a fitness perspective, back last year I was only exercising to facilitate weight loss, and it definitely helped at that. Now, I'm more excited about being in better shape, seeing what I can do physically more so than I am in just burning calories. Although, our trainer seems to think lots of push ups is just what I need. My arms spent much of this morning silently disagreeing with him.
The Big Boy Update: This morning there was pee in the downstairs potty. From when? I don't know. Apparently my son took initiative and went on his own and we didn't notice it yesterday evening. On the unexpected access front, he also disappeared suddenly yesterday. Had I not heard the clumping of little feet on wooden stairs I would have lost him for a good while. He had opened the door to our second floor storage, then he'd found the attic door, opened that, closed himself in in the dark and was heading upwards. I walked him back down and went for a baby door knob restrictor. Before I could get back and put it on the storage door, he was already up to the top of the attic stairs in the dark again with his sister right behind him. He was very pleased with himself.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Books. She's just hitting the cusp of book interest. Initially, toddlers like books, but when you try to read one, they close it up or flip pages and generally make it difficult for you to read. That, or they just want to get off your lap. She's been watching her brother have books read to him before bedtime and the last two nights she's let me read a book to her. We tried reading a second book, but she just wanted the first book read again. I offered some different books last night but no, she would just like that one book for now, thank you very much.
Fitness Update: The Keratin complex I had put in my hair on Friday has almost steeped for the required three days before you can wash it. At the gym this morning I had to leave my hair down while I did a lot of sweating. Three-day dirty hair with smelly chemicals in it does not help make you friends at the gym.
Someone Once Said: People who don’t respect other people’s property will do anything… and will steal anything that’s not nailed down.
Therefore, I dub this a rambly post. I shall ramble about this and that and most likely not make any meaningful points and I am certain there will be no revelations other than the clock is ticking and vacation is quickly approaching and I don't feel prepared.
But about that 4:45AM wake-up time... My neighbor and I are getting up that early because we're now tag-teaming with our husbands at the gym. That's right, our men have decided to join us, albeit at separate times, in our mission of fitness.
We have to get to the gym, work out for an hour and get back in time for the men to do the same thing. With the double drives there and back, that's three hours of time we need before the leaving for school and work at 8:00AM. So mornings just got earlier and definitely busier.
I've been eating more lately and not weighing myself as much. Today was weigh-in and before I stepped on the scale I looked in the mirror and I though overall I didn't look like I'd gained too much weight. I looked, I'm struggling for a word here, but I suppose I thought I looked reasonable and as expected and just where I should be weight-wise. And then I stood on the scale.
That damn number that pops up can still do a psychological number on you. I was trying to gain weight; I was eating extra food, right? I expected the number to be higher, but the moment the little red digits pop up my mind says, "Oh no! You gained weight! I told you you were eating too much. Now you're going to have to fix it."
The opposite reaction from my brain happens when I get an unexpected low weight, say after a long run where I've lost buckets in hydration through sweat. Sometimes those weights are too low; the kind of low I don't want to be. What happens at those times in my brain? "Oh good, I see you've been on track lately. I suppose you can have a bun for breakfast since you've been such a good girl." Honestly, is it any wonder people become anorexic when our brains are out to get us?
Fortunately, I can say that that, "little brain response" doesn't win out over the, "big logical brain" and I keep everything in perspective. Thanks big brain.
From a fitness perspective, back last year I was only exercising to facilitate weight loss, and it definitely helped at that. Now, I'm more excited about being in better shape, seeing what I can do physically more so than I am in just burning calories. Although, our trainer seems to think lots of push ups is just what I need. My arms spent much of this morning silently disagreeing with him.
The Big Boy Update: This morning there was pee in the downstairs potty. From when? I don't know. Apparently my son took initiative and went on his own and we didn't notice it yesterday evening. On the unexpected access front, he also disappeared suddenly yesterday. Had I not heard the clumping of little feet on wooden stairs I would have lost him for a good while. He had opened the door to our second floor storage, then he'd found the attic door, opened that, closed himself in in the dark and was heading upwards. I walked him back down and went for a baby door knob restrictor. Before I could get back and put it on the storage door, he was already up to the top of the attic stairs in the dark again with his sister right behind him. He was very pleased with himself.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Books. She's just hitting the cusp of book interest. Initially, toddlers like books, but when you try to read one, they close it up or flip pages and generally make it difficult for you to read. That, or they just want to get off your lap. She's been watching her brother have books read to him before bedtime and the last two nights she's let me read a book to her. We tried reading a second book, but she just wanted the first book read again. I offered some different books last night but no, she would just like that one book for now, thank you very much.
Fitness Update: The Keratin complex I had put in my hair on Friday has almost steeped for the required three days before you can wash it. At the gym this morning I had to leave my hair down while I did a lot of sweating. Three-day dirty hair with smelly chemicals in it does not help make you friends at the gym.
Someone Once Said: People who don’t respect other people’s property will do anything… and will steal anything that’s not nailed down.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
In Relative Harmony
We have a bully and a drama queen in our house. The bully is our older child, my son, and the drama queen is my daughter, who is eleven months younger. I am aware that children are ego-centric and learning how to behave with kindness and consideration of others is something we are taught, not born with. So what is a typical day like in our house of late?
Usually there are tears. Those tears come from the drama queen because as the younger sibling to a larger, more aggressive brother, she gets bowled over, taken advantage of and generally loses out on things unless we step in, intervene and enforce equality. But her brother isn't all bad. He will come over and hug her if she's truly upset. That is unless he caused it, and then he acts very busy and doesn't seem to notice she's even in the room.
But she's not completely innocent either. She will cry at the slightest insult, including things she does to herself. She seems to have an "adult proximity alert" and has been know to work her tears to their maximum advantage when adults are in range. We have upped our, "let's see how bad it really is" tolerance so that we don't over react or over-respond to her cries of "that's not fair!" or "I think that might have hurt!"
Their behaviors are markedly different when we're not around though. I have noticed this from my bed, early in the morning when two small children should be sleeping, but are, in fact, playing with toys in their play room at 6:02AM.
Our architect said he didn't like to put a bedroom over the master because you can potentially hear what happens above you. We didn't mind that so much and of late, it's been working to our advantage. We have a baby monitor, but beyond that, if they knock over a chair or fall while trying to climb something we didn't know they'd learned how to climb, we hear the thunk. We can also hear them flushing and re-flushing the toilet. This is helpful information to have so we know if we should go check to see which child decided to play in the potty or take action if the screaming is serious and there may be an injury.
But this is the interesting thing, when they're in their bedroom playing together with no adult supervision around, they get along well. There are some cries here and there, but in general, there is a relatively high level of harmony. They mess up the play room together. They borrow each others pacifiers, they get into bed together and jump up and down with glee and they seem to be friends.
So I'm always happy when I go up to see them in the mornings, although that joy can be tempered with the discovery that my son has removed his soiled diaper and has been sitting in various locations on the carpet before I arrived.
The Big Boy Update: A whole new kind of track pants. We've always liked getting him comfortable "track pants" or athletic-type pants, ideally with a nice single or double stripe down the side. Yesterday he discovered an entirely new kind of track pants. He removed the rubber tracks from his excavator and put them around his waist. He ran over to us and exclaimed he had new pants. It put a whole new twist on the meaning of "track pants."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Doc Brown and the Banana Imperative. After baths we dry her hair. When it's first dried it's straight and crazy in all directions. It's just the right length and color to remind us of Doc Brown from Back to the Future. On the food front, she is banana obsessed. She says, "banana" all the time and if you're reading her a story or looking at something with pictures, she sees bananas in everything: a grasshopper's leg, the petal on a daisy and even a brown potato.
Someone Once Said: The customs of a race are implicit in its speech.
Usually there are tears. Those tears come from the drama queen because as the younger sibling to a larger, more aggressive brother, she gets bowled over, taken advantage of and generally loses out on things unless we step in, intervene and enforce equality. But her brother isn't all bad. He will come over and hug her if she's truly upset. That is unless he caused it, and then he acts very busy and doesn't seem to notice she's even in the room.
But she's not completely innocent either. She will cry at the slightest insult, including things she does to herself. She seems to have an "adult proximity alert" and has been know to work her tears to their maximum advantage when adults are in range. We have upped our, "let's see how bad it really is" tolerance so that we don't over react or over-respond to her cries of "that's not fair!" or "I think that might have hurt!"
Their behaviors are markedly different when we're not around though. I have noticed this from my bed, early in the morning when two small children should be sleeping, but are, in fact, playing with toys in their play room at 6:02AM.
Our architect said he didn't like to put a bedroom over the master because you can potentially hear what happens above you. We didn't mind that so much and of late, it's been working to our advantage. We have a baby monitor, but beyond that, if they knock over a chair or fall while trying to climb something we didn't know they'd learned how to climb, we hear the thunk. We can also hear them flushing and re-flushing the toilet. This is helpful information to have so we know if we should go check to see which child decided to play in the potty or take action if the screaming is serious and there may be an injury.
But this is the interesting thing, when they're in their bedroom playing together with no adult supervision around, they get along well. There are some cries here and there, but in general, there is a relatively high level of harmony. They mess up the play room together. They borrow each others pacifiers, they get into bed together and jump up and down with glee and they seem to be friends.
So I'm always happy when I go up to see them in the mornings, although that joy can be tempered with the discovery that my son has removed his soiled diaper and has been sitting in various locations on the carpet before I arrived.
The Big Boy Update: A whole new kind of track pants. We've always liked getting him comfortable "track pants" or athletic-type pants, ideally with a nice single or double stripe down the side. Yesterday he discovered an entirely new kind of track pants. He removed the rubber tracks from his excavator and put them around his waist. He ran over to us and exclaimed he had new pants. It put a whole new twist on the meaning of "track pants."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Doc Brown and the Banana Imperative. After baths we dry her hair. When it's first dried it's straight and crazy in all directions. It's just the right length and color to remind us of Doc Brown from Back to the Future. On the food front, she is banana obsessed. She says, "banana" all the time and if you're reading her a story or looking at something with pictures, she sees bananas in everything: a grasshopper's leg, the petal on a daisy and even a brown potato.
Someone Once Said: The customs of a race are implicit in its speech.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Piano Paper
We went to a birthday party at a farm out in the country today. I love these parties. First, we get to see the other children from my son and daughter's classes. Second, we get to socialize with the parents, and I know I've mentioned how much I like the other families at our school. I got to watch my two-year-old go down a huge toboggan-type slide with daddy and then state that he was going to go down with Daniel next time. Daniel is three and they play together on the playground. Sure enough, these two little kids went down this football field-length slide grinning. Then they grabbed the sled and climbed up the hill so they could go again. It's so fun to see your child interacting with their friends.
There was a giant jumping pillow, twenty by forty feet of inflated, bouncing fun, an outdoor kitchen a grounded boat in a field, a crooked house and many other things adding up to a large amount of fun for everyone, including the adults. We had a lunch with birthday cupcakes for dessert and then we went around the corner and to end the party (which had been happening in rather chilly mid-forties weather) there was a fire pit roaring with sticks from the woods behind it and bags of marshmallows for toasting. Such a great ending to the party.
As we left, the birthday boy gave everyone favors. His mother had gone to a scrap exchange and put lots of things in a bag for each child. There was a note on the bags that said, "Amos loves art. Here are some things for you to do some art projects with." Every bag was different and my daughter had a hard time picking hers.
Now I've heard of these "scrap exchanges" before. I recognized the name, but I had no idea what it was. I have a much better idea now. There were bits and bobs, odds and ends in these bags from stickers to yarn to architectural diagrams on vellum to newspaper. There were shells and buttons and more than I can remember now.
Once again, I am doing my best to not look up "What is a scrap exchange" on Google until I get done writing this. But regardless of if my hunch is right or wrong, I am suddenly much more interested in these scrap exchange things.
Back to the bags. I got home and noticed something that rang a long distance bell from far off in time in the back of my head when I saw it. It was a little strip of paper that had been cut from a longer strip with colored bars in the pattern of a keyboard. I remembered I had had something like this when I was first learning to play the piano. How strange.
You would lay this long strip on the back of the keys and you could "read music" by colors. I remember it was somehow magic that I could read how to play a song from some colors on a sheet of paper.
The paper looked old too. As I looked more closely, sure enough, the piece that was in my daughter's packet happened to be the section that had the copyright and company information on it. This little yellowing sheet was from 1960. And someone had cut it up and shared it. And it had found its way to my house and I had remembered it.
The Big Boy Update: Diaper. He couldn't say, "diaper" when he first started talking. What he said sounded like, "bah-poo" and we picked up on it and we've been calling it that ever since. Sometimes, we even call it that to his sister. He's in underwear during the days now, but at night he gets put back in a bahpoo for overnight. Yesterday I said we needed to get ready for bed and put on a bahpoo and he said, "I need a diaper." I asked him what he said and he repeated himself, very clearly pronouncing the word diaper. Maybe he got tired of our baby talk.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Willing to try out words. She know what to do when you say, "Can you say aSpecificWord?" If she knows the word, and she's not otherwise distracted, she'll say it for you. If she doesn't know the word but if you repeat it several times she'll sometimes even try it. I got her to say "tractor" today this way. She also can say her brother's name. It's a pronunciation you wouldn't understand unless you knew what she was trying to say, but it's a start. She will attempt her name, but it doesn't sound remotely close at this point.
Fitness Update: Since I'm not doing much for the next three days during the Keratin Complex period where I can't wash, wet or sweat through my hair this is only related to exercising. My thumb is still bothering me from when I injured it while skiing. I thought it was a sprain, and I think it still is, but it's taking much longer to recover than I would have expected. I don't know if I should try to move it less or work it more or just treat it as normal.
Someone Once Said: I can resist anything, except temptation
There was a giant jumping pillow, twenty by forty feet of inflated, bouncing fun, an outdoor kitchen a grounded boat in a field, a crooked house and many other things adding up to a large amount of fun for everyone, including the adults. We had a lunch with birthday cupcakes for dessert and then we went around the corner and to end the party (which had been happening in rather chilly mid-forties weather) there was a fire pit roaring with sticks from the woods behind it and bags of marshmallows for toasting. Such a great ending to the party.
As we left, the birthday boy gave everyone favors. His mother had gone to a scrap exchange and put lots of things in a bag for each child. There was a note on the bags that said, "Amos loves art. Here are some things for you to do some art projects with." Every bag was different and my daughter had a hard time picking hers.
Now I've heard of these "scrap exchanges" before. I recognized the name, but I had no idea what it was. I have a much better idea now. There were bits and bobs, odds and ends in these bags from stickers to yarn to architectural diagrams on vellum to newspaper. There were shells and buttons and more than I can remember now.
Once again, I am doing my best to not look up "What is a scrap exchange" on Google until I get done writing this. But regardless of if my hunch is right or wrong, I am suddenly much more interested in these scrap exchange things.
Back to the bags. I got home and noticed something that rang a long distance bell from far off in time in the back of my head when I saw it. It was a little strip of paper that had been cut from a longer strip with colored bars in the pattern of a keyboard. I remembered I had had something like this when I was first learning to play the piano. How strange.
You would lay this long strip on the back of the keys and you could "read music" by colors. I remember it was somehow magic that I could read how to play a song from some colors on a sheet of paper.
The paper looked old too. As I looked more closely, sure enough, the piece that was in my daughter's packet happened to be the section that had the copyright and company information on it. This little yellowing sheet was from 1960. And someone had cut it up and shared it. And it had found its way to my house and I had remembered it.
The Big Boy Update: Diaper. He couldn't say, "diaper" when he first started talking. What he said sounded like, "bah-poo" and we picked up on it and we've been calling it that ever since. Sometimes, we even call it that to his sister. He's in underwear during the days now, but at night he gets put back in a bahpoo for overnight. Yesterday I said we needed to get ready for bed and put on a bahpoo and he said, "I need a diaper." I asked him what he said and he repeated himself, very clearly pronouncing the word diaper. Maybe he got tired of our baby talk.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Willing to try out words. She know what to do when you say, "Can you say aSpecificWord?" If she knows the word, and she's not otherwise distracted, she'll say it for you. If she doesn't know the word but if you repeat it several times she'll sometimes even try it. I got her to say "tractor" today this way. She also can say her brother's name. It's a pronunciation you wouldn't understand unless you knew what she was trying to say, but it's a start. She will attempt her name, but it doesn't sound remotely close at this point.
Fitness Update: Since I'm not doing much for the next three days during the Keratin Complex period where I can't wash, wet or sweat through my hair this is only related to exercising. My thumb is still bothering me from when I injured it while skiing. I thought it was a sprain, and I think it still is, but it's taking much longer to recover than I would have expected. I don't know if I should try to move it less or work it more or just treat it as normal.
Someone Once Said: I can resist anything, except temptation
Friday, March 22, 2013
Woe is Knee
Okay, that was a stretch for a post title, but I never promised quality reading or content. If you're still here, and you don't feel obliged to read these entries (like my husband probably does) then you have my thanks for sticking with me.
What was I talking about? Oh yes, the knee. My dog is having a hard time with her knee. She's not that old, only eight, but she's had a rum go of it from the start. When you buy a dog from a breeder you check into lots of things like the quality of the breed, the breeder's reputation, the price in comparison to other similar dogs, and of course, the total cute factor of your potential future dog.
If that cuteness factor is too high, you may well overlook any other qualities that might not be as stellar from the breeder. In my case, I found the one puppy on the internet I wanted. I was also satisfied with the breeder's credentials and so I bought the dog. She was flown in to our local airport and she had a first year "satisfaction guarantee from defects" return policy.
This is most likely a policy that has never been acted on because once you have bonded with your furry little puppy friend, there is no consideration put towards sending him or her back. I didn't buy a show quality dog. I bought a nice looking dog that was purported to have a good personality.
She did and does have a good personality (although she's getting quirky and cranky in her older years, but aren't we all.) What did happen was that she had knee issues. Knee issues that prevented her patella, or kneecap, from staying in place. It was out some days more than it was in it's proper position. And by "it" I mean "they" because both back knees had the same issue.
So she had not one, but two knee surgeries before she was two. She recovered well and has had many years of happy running and leg usage as a result. But recently, she's goten arthritis in one knee and it's bothering her quite a bit. She's had to be on anti-inflammatory medication for the first time in her life and we're trying to get her more exercise so that she'll build up muscles to help with the pain.
She doesn't look old. She still looks like my little girl best friend. I hope the exercise helps her because I hate to see her so uncomfortable all the time.
The Big Boy Update: Piling on the funny. He's been making us laugh lately. Two days ago at lunch he wanted a booster seat and not a high chair. Daddy asked him if he was going to be good. He responded with, "I'm going to be great." Was he? No. But it was a nice offer. This morning, I heard him in his bathroom. I heard crazy sounds and I didn't know what he was doing. It turned out he had dragged a chair to the sink and was "washing" all the Dixie paper cups in the sink. When I walked in he looked at me, smiled and said, "All the cups are washed."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: No underpants? Some days she's sent home with five pair, but recently she's only messed up two pair of underpants. Today she came home with none so maybe there is potty training progress happening at school. At home however, she can still wet through a pair in five minutes flat.
Fitness Update: Relatively hard workout today at the gym. We do a ten-minute warmup on the treadmill. I've been pushing speed and I got up to my highest pace yet today. Other than that, Hell Squats and Burpees were on the menu from our trainer this morning, making sure we were feeling the pain.
Someone Once Said: Don't try to have the last word. You might get it.
What was I talking about? Oh yes, the knee. My dog is having a hard time with her knee. She's not that old, only eight, but she's had a rum go of it from the start. When you buy a dog from a breeder you check into lots of things like the quality of the breed, the breeder's reputation, the price in comparison to other similar dogs, and of course, the total cute factor of your potential future dog.
If that cuteness factor is too high, you may well overlook any other qualities that might not be as stellar from the breeder. In my case, I found the one puppy on the internet I wanted. I was also satisfied with the breeder's credentials and so I bought the dog. She was flown in to our local airport and she had a first year "satisfaction guarantee from defects" return policy.
This is most likely a policy that has never been acted on because once you have bonded with your furry little puppy friend, there is no consideration put towards sending him or her back. I didn't buy a show quality dog. I bought a nice looking dog that was purported to have a good personality.
She did and does have a good personality (although she's getting quirky and cranky in her older years, but aren't we all.) What did happen was that she had knee issues. Knee issues that prevented her patella, or kneecap, from staying in place. It was out some days more than it was in it's proper position. And by "it" I mean "they" because both back knees had the same issue.
So she had not one, but two knee surgeries before she was two. She recovered well and has had many years of happy running and leg usage as a result. But recently, she's goten arthritis in one knee and it's bothering her quite a bit. She's had to be on anti-inflammatory medication for the first time in her life and we're trying to get her more exercise so that she'll build up muscles to help with the pain.
She doesn't look old. She still looks like my little girl best friend. I hope the exercise helps her because I hate to see her so uncomfortable all the time.
The Big Boy Update: Piling on the funny. He's been making us laugh lately. Two days ago at lunch he wanted a booster seat and not a high chair. Daddy asked him if he was going to be good. He responded with, "I'm going to be great." Was he? No. But it was a nice offer. This morning, I heard him in his bathroom. I heard crazy sounds and I didn't know what he was doing. It turned out he had dragged a chair to the sink and was "washing" all the Dixie paper cups in the sink. When I walked in he looked at me, smiled and said, "All the cups are washed."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: No underpants? Some days she's sent home with five pair, but recently she's only messed up two pair of underpants. Today she came home with none so maybe there is potty training progress happening at school. At home however, she can still wet through a pair in five minutes flat.
Fitness Update: Relatively hard workout today at the gym. We do a ten-minute warmup on the treadmill. I've been pushing speed and I got up to my highest pace yet today. Other than that, Hell Squats and Burpees were on the menu from our trainer this morning, making sure we were feeling the pain.
Someone Once Said: Don't try to have the last word. You might get it.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Socklets and Toelets
This is a story about an ex-boyfriend. He and I dated a little over twenty years ago and I have a lot of good memories from the time we were together. We kept in touch for a long time but he moved to another state and I got married and I suppose our lives got busy because I don't know where he is now or what he's doing.
He was a Marketing Director of a company that had Applebee's and Burger Kings. Most of what I know about the restaurant business today came from his knowledge and experience. He was one of those people who was completely happy with who he was. He was short, he was stocky, he wasn't the most attractive guy I'd ever dated but he had a tremendously magnetic personality.
He had, let's see, how do I say this, peculiarities. He wasn't strange, he just wanted things the way he wanted them. For instance, you couldn't turn on the faucet when the laundry was running because he said that stagnated the flow of water to the machine. He had a work car and then he had a personal car. I was amazed he ever drove his little red convertible car because the simple act of driving it would merit several hours of cleaning it, buffing it and picking all the tiny motes of dirt off the rugs.
He had his own little things he did that seemed crazy, like his socklets and toelets. That's what he called them. He liked to wear loafers for casual wear. Loafers and shorts look silly with socks. So he created socklets. All a socklet is is a sock, cut off at the middle of your foot area. Now, you can wear socks with your loafers. The sock isn't seen, because only the front half that's being covered by the loafer is "socked". The benefit is your foot doesn't get all sweaty against the leather.
Depending on the cut and type of shoe, some needed less sock than the (as he called it) standard "three-quarters socklet". That's where the toelet came in. It was a sock cut off just above the toes.
He was proud of his inventions. He'd explain their merits and no one really thought it was that crazy. I've never seen any for sale though, and definitely nothing under that name. If I ever do, I'll bet he's behind it somehow.
The Big Boy Update: So much happening. It's a busy time developmentally. First, he's in a single pair of underpants most days now. He won't initiate going to the potty, but he will go with you and he will do whatever needs to be done. The other day at a restaurant I took him in and held him as he sat on the big toilet and in no time flat he'd made a double production with no fuss. He's busy asking all sorts of questions. Of note, he asked me the other morning, "Momma, where's momma?" He likes to make connections that the rest of us don't understand, but are often funny. While we were all in the kitchen the other day getting ready for dinner my son said, "Happy birthday, Momma's butt." That one had us laughing for a good while. Oh, and this morning when I asked him to clean up the playroom while I got his sister dressed, he did. He cleaned up the whole playroom and put the bedding back on the beds. He's not always that helpful, but he got a lot of praise this morning.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The pike position and the uncomfortable baby. She likes to sleep in pike position with her face on her feet. It looks terribly uncomfortable, but it seems to work for her. She, on occasion, can't get comfortable. When this happens, she gets up in a standing pike position with her head, feet and hands on the bed and her butt in the air. She backs up until her legs and butt are resting on the bed rails. I've seen her try to stay like that in the hopes she'll be comfortable, but it never works out so she intentionally slides down until she's laying in her original position. She will repeat this over and over until she gets either tired or comfortable and falls asleep.
Fitness Update: Four miles, very dark, as an extra early run so our husbands could go to the gym so when we got done so we could relieve them from baby patrol.
Someone Once Said: Most money is simply bookkeeping.
He was a Marketing Director of a company that had Applebee's and Burger Kings. Most of what I know about the restaurant business today came from his knowledge and experience. He was one of those people who was completely happy with who he was. He was short, he was stocky, he wasn't the most attractive guy I'd ever dated but he had a tremendously magnetic personality.
He had, let's see, how do I say this, peculiarities. He wasn't strange, he just wanted things the way he wanted them. For instance, you couldn't turn on the faucet when the laundry was running because he said that stagnated the flow of water to the machine. He had a work car and then he had a personal car. I was amazed he ever drove his little red convertible car because the simple act of driving it would merit several hours of cleaning it, buffing it and picking all the tiny motes of dirt off the rugs.
He had his own little things he did that seemed crazy, like his socklets and toelets. That's what he called them. He liked to wear loafers for casual wear. Loafers and shorts look silly with socks. So he created socklets. All a socklet is is a sock, cut off at the middle of your foot area. Now, you can wear socks with your loafers. The sock isn't seen, because only the front half that's being covered by the loafer is "socked". The benefit is your foot doesn't get all sweaty against the leather.
Depending on the cut and type of shoe, some needed less sock than the (as he called it) standard "three-quarters socklet". That's where the toelet came in. It was a sock cut off just above the toes.
He was proud of his inventions. He'd explain their merits and no one really thought it was that crazy. I've never seen any for sale though, and definitely nothing under that name. If I ever do, I'll bet he's behind it somehow.
The Big Boy Update: So much happening. It's a busy time developmentally. First, he's in a single pair of underpants most days now. He won't initiate going to the potty, but he will go with you and he will do whatever needs to be done. The other day at a restaurant I took him in and held him as he sat on the big toilet and in no time flat he'd made a double production with no fuss. He's busy asking all sorts of questions. Of note, he asked me the other morning, "Momma, where's momma?" He likes to make connections that the rest of us don't understand, but are often funny. While we were all in the kitchen the other day getting ready for dinner my son said, "Happy birthday, Momma's butt." That one had us laughing for a good while. Oh, and this morning when I asked him to clean up the playroom while I got his sister dressed, he did. He cleaned up the whole playroom and put the bedding back on the beds. He's not always that helpful, but he got a lot of praise this morning.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The pike position and the uncomfortable baby. She likes to sleep in pike position with her face on her feet. It looks terribly uncomfortable, but it seems to work for her. She, on occasion, can't get comfortable. When this happens, she gets up in a standing pike position with her head, feet and hands on the bed and her butt in the air. She backs up until her legs and butt are resting on the bed rails. I've seen her try to stay like that in the hopes she'll be comfortable, but it never works out so she intentionally slides down until she's laying in her original position. She will repeat this over and over until she gets either tired or comfortable and falls asleep.
Fitness Update: Four miles, very dark, as an extra early run so our husbands could go to the gym so when we got done so we could relieve them from baby patrol.
Someone Once Said: Most money is simply bookkeeping.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
iFoul
I didn't know what I was going to write about today and then I read my sister-in-law's post and I knew exactly what I was going to write about. This post will be about some really old text messages and a good/bad/sad phone experience I had yesterday.
Years ago I bought an iPhone. I got the second iPhone version, the 3GS, that came after the initial 3G version. Ever since that time, I've purchased the next version of the iPhone whenever it's come out. I've always been pleased with my phone, although that time I killed it in the rain in the park does make me sad, but still, the iPhone is a good phone.
For the most part, I know what to do when something goes wrong to correct the situation as best I can with the tools I have at my disposal as an end-user consumer. But this time I wasn't sure if it was a hardware or a software problem I was experiencing.
A few days ago my phone started acting tired. It would get up early with me, but by mid-day it was mostly drained and it wasn't going to make it to dinner without being charged. This was unlike my iPhone who, just days before, had blared music out the speaker for two-and-a-half hours while GPS tracking my fifteen mile run. Did it catch a bug? Was it ill? Did the batter have issues?
I made an appointment with the Genius Bar at our closest Apple store after some diagnostics of my own. There was a new app I had installed someone had gifted me that was about the time things started going hinky. I removed it, terminated all apps, rebooted the phone. I cleared out lots of data on the hard drive, I backed it up on the computer and I even installed the brand new, only out for a few hours, operating system version before going to the store to prepare.
Just before I went in for the appointment, I did some benchmarks. The phone was dropping ten percent battery in an hour, and I wasn't doing anything with it like playing music. It was dropping ten percent from sitting off and being checked for a few seconds every ten minutes. Something was definitely wrong still.
When I got to the store the technician ran his own, more comprehensive "see all, know all" diagnostics and yes, there was something software-wise draining the battery. He showed me that since I'd had it at 100% charge this morning, some seven hours before, that things had been "running" actively for that same amount of time.
He said he would like to tell me more, and if I could resolve it but as I had just updated the operating system with the shiny new point release, all the logs had been wiped. The only thing that would fix it would be to completely restore the phone. And not a regular restore. Not a restore from the nice backup I had just made at home because that backup had the same issue and that wouldn't help.
I would have to restore the phone and set it up as a new phone. Then I would have to install and re-configure every app I had on it. Now I was the one feeling ill. Most of the apps and settings and configurations I could do, although it's an annoyance and a hassle. But some of that data had been there since the very first iPhone I'd ever had, that slow little white 3GS.
And that's because Apple makes it easy to migrate to a new phone. It brings over all your old configuration to the new phone. This means I had text message chains from 2009. I had people wishing us congratulations on getting married. I have two children now. That's a lot of text messages and while no, I don't go back and read them, it was something I had to mentally let go of.
I restored to an older backup first from September of last year and while that would have most likely worked okay, I decided to do the full delete, kill, wipe and start over option after the children went to bed. I felt silly mourning over some silly text messages. But then I talked to my neighbor this morning and she said she had a similar thing happen to her. She had an audio sound clip of her first child cooing on her phone. She was on a business trip way back then and that cooing sound helped her through that first mother/child separation. She moved to a new phone years later and she tried to get the sound off the phone but there were complications and she had lost the file. Her daughter is seven now. And she felt silly about it too, and yet it still meant something to her.
Back to the phone. It's shiny and reset and reconfigured now and the battery is working well. Now if I can just find time for another long run soon to really put it through its paces.
The Big Boy Update: "I need a haircut." Yes, he needed a haircut quite badly. We went yesterday afternoon to get it cut while daddy and his sister went to deliver a meal daddy had made to a family with a new baby in my son's class. I explained how we were going to a place my son liked (because making something sound fun often makes it so.) I told him how we were going to see Nana and Papa soon and that we needed to get his hair cut so he would look handsome. When we got there he walked over and stood watching two other children getting their hair cut. Then he turned to me and said, "I need a haircut." He wanted to get his hair cut. He wanted to look handsome. He kept repeating it and talking about Nana and Papa and then it was his turn to get his hair cut. And yes, he looks handsome.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Poo and Hangee. I picked my daughter up from her classroom today. Her assistant teacher told me she had learned to say both teacher's names. She said she called her, "poo" which is her best attempt at Pearl and that she says, "Hangee" how she says the other teacher's name, Angie. On the way home I asked her to say both names and she repeated each several times, smiling with a big grin because she could say their names. Speaking of new words, on the way to school today my son kept talking about truck this and truck that and he and I were counting trucks while she was quiet. I think she's had enough because suddenly she started saying, "Uck" over and over as she tried to say truck along with us.
Fitness Update: Five miles this morning in the dark. We're having to start about 5:45 to get back in time for "babies and breakfasts" as I've been calling it and the time change earlier this month means we're running in dark the whole time. But...there are hints of the day breaking just about when I get home. Soon we'll be in warmer weather and brighter mornings.
Someone Once Said: Too many facts hamper a diplomat, especially an honest one.
Years ago I bought an iPhone. I got the second iPhone version, the 3GS, that came after the initial 3G version. Ever since that time, I've purchased the next version of the iPhone whenever it's come out. I've always been pleased with my phone, although that time I killed it in the rain in the park does make me sad, but still, the iPhone is a good phone.
For the most part, I know what to do when something goes wrong to correct the situation as best I can with the tools I have at my disposal as an end-user consumer. But this time I wasn't sure if it was a hardware or a software problem I was experiencing.
A few days ago my phone started acting tired. It would get up early with me, but by mid-day it was mostly drained and it wasn't going to make it to dinner without being charged. This was unlike my iPhone who, just days before, had blared music out the speaker for two-and-a-half hours while GPS tracking my fifteen mile run. Did it catch a bug? Was it ill? Did the batter have issues?
I made an appointment with the Genius Bar at our closest Apple store after some diagnostics of my own. There was a new app I had installed someone had gifted me that was about the time things started going hinky. I removed it, terminated all apps, rebooted the phone. I cleared out lots of data on the hard drive, I backed it up on the computer and I even installed the brand new, only out for a few hours, operating system version before going to the store to prepare.
Just before I went in for the appointment, I did some benchmarks. The phone was dropping ten percent battery in an hour, and I wasn't doing anything with it like playing music. It was dropping ten percent from sitting off and being checked for a few seconds every ten minutes. Something was definitely wrong still.
When I got to the store the technician ran his own, more comprehensive "see all, know all" diagnostics and yes, there was something software-wise draining the battery. He showed me that since I'd had it at 100% charge this morning, some seven hours before, that things had been "running" actively for that same amount of time.
He said he would like to tell me more, and if I could resolve it but as I had just updated the operating system with the shiny new point release, all the logs had been wiped. The only thing that would fix it would be to completely restore the phone. And not a regular restore. Not a restore from the nice backup I had just made at home because that backup had the same issue and that wouldn't help.
I would have to restore the phone and set it up as a new phone. Then I would have to install and re-configure every app I had on it. Now I was the one feeling ill. Most of the apps and settings and configurations I could do, although it's an annoyance and a hassle. But some of that data had been there since the very first iPhone I'd ever had, that slow little white 3GS.
And that's because Apple makes it easy to migrate to a new phone. It brings over all your old configuration to the new phone. This means I had text message chains from 2009. I had people wishing us congratulations on getting married. I have two children now. That's a lot of text messages and while no, I don't go back and read them, it was something I had to mentally let go of.
I restored to an older backup first from September of last year and while that would have most likely worked okay, I decided to do the full delete, kill, wipe and start over option after the children went to bed. I felt silly mourning over some silly text messages. But then I talked to my neighbor this morning and she said she had a similar thing happen to her. She had an audio sound clip of her first child cooing on her phone. She was on a business trip way back then and that cooing sound helped her through that first mother/child separation. She moved to a new phone years later and she tried to get the sound off the phone but there were complications and she had lost the file. Her daughter is seven now. And she felt silly about it too, and yet it still meant something to her.
Back to the phone. It's shiny and reset and reconfigured now and the battery is working well. Now if I can just find time for another long run soon to really put it through its paces.
The Big Boy Update: "I need a haircut." Yes, he needed a haircut quite badly. We went yesterday afternoon to get it cut while daddy and his sister went to deliver a meal daddy had made to a family with a new baby in my son's class. I explained how we were going to a place my son liked (because making something sound fun often makes it so.) I told him how we were going to see Nana and Papa soon and that we needed to get his hair cut so he would look handsome. When we got there he walked over and stood watching two other children getting their hair cut. Then he turned to me and said, "I need a haircut." He wanted to get his hair cut. He wanted to look handsome. He kept repeating it and talking about Nana and Papa and then it was his turn to get his hair cut. And yes, he looks handsome.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Poo and Hangee. I picked my daughter up from her classroom today. Her assistant teacher told me she had learned to say both teacher's names. She said she called her, "poo" which is her best attempt at Pearl and that she says, "Hangee" how she says the other teacher's name, Angie. On the way home I asked her to say both names and she repeated each several times, smiling with a big grin because she could say their names. Speaking of new words, on the way to school today my son kept talking about truck this and truck that and he and I were counting trucks while she was quiet. I think she's had enough because suddenly she started saying, "Uck" over and over as she tried to say truck along with us.
Fitness Update: Five miles this morning in the dark. We're having to start about 5:45 to get back in time for "babies and breakfasts" as I've been calling it and the time change earlier this month means we're running in dark the whole time. But...there are hints of the day breaking just about when I get home. Soon we'll be in warmer weather and brighter mornings.
Someone Once Said: Too many facts hamper a diplomat, especially an honest one.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
For Carrots?
My brother-in-law, Bob, who is also known as, "Uncle Bob", has been a fit guy ever since I've known him. He comes to visit from time to time and he always makes our house more cheery and fun when he's in town. He likes to cook, and we like to eat. We like eating his root vegetable dishes and his soups and, wait a minute, it must be almost time for lunch because I'm thinking an awful lot about food.
At any rate, Uncle Bob has done some things in the past that I couldn't understand, or rather, wrap my head around until recently. He is a runner and has run marathons before. When you've never been a runner, the prospect of a thirty minute jog to accomplish the crazy distance of a 5K seems far out of reach. And pondering running for hours and going, on foot, over twenty-six miles is just unthinkable, un-doable, not possible. Also, those people must be crazy.
One time Uncle Bob was visiting, he ran over to the park. This is the park I now love; the park I had lived near for years and never bothered to step one foot into. I remember that day he went out for a run and came back much later. I hadn't paid attention to the time until he asked me questions about where the creek was. "Hold on here, you mean you weren't sure where you were so you just kept running until you recognized where you were? But that was an hour ago!"
I don't think I said those exact words, but that's what I was thinking. "He just kept running? Didn't he run out of energy? How did he manage to keep going? Wasn't he worried he would collapse and die out there in the wilderness?" I didn't understand. But now I do. Once you get into a cardiovascular workout, you can just keep plodding on. It's really quite remarkable.
Another time when Uncle Bob came to visit he did something else I didn't understand. He was making some soup or stock or some dish and he needed carrots and we were out. The next thing I know, he's getting out the bicycle to go up the terribly steep hill (or so it seemed to me at the time) to the grocery store. Didn't he want to take the car? No, he said biking was fine. Was this some energy conservation/green thing he was doing? And all for a few carrots?!! I don't know what his motivation was, but I think he may have decided pairing shopping with exercising would be a good idea. And I didn't get it then.
So now that I'm in my mid-life fitness crisis and I'm in much better physical shape—not to mention not being pregnant—the idea of combining exercise with another useful task sounds like a great thing. Not only that, it's a doable idea.
Yesterday, I was out of stamps. I had time before I needed to pick up the children so I decided I'd run up to the grocery store to get a book of stamps. This is that same "unfathomable distance up a gargantuan hill on a bicycle" trip Uncle Bob made some time ago. It's not an unfathomable distance any more. It's only two miles each direction. Even at my slow plodding ten minute per mile pace, that's a maximum forty-five minute trip and less distance than I run most mornings. Also, I don't mind hills anymore because we regularly run hills.
So off I went, I got the stamps, stopped in and made an appointment to get my hair cut and then ran back down the hill all the way home. Now I understand and the exercise seems fun, useful and doable. It took me a few years, but now I know Uncle Bob isn't crazy, he just enjoys exercise and staying in shape, not to mention a good multipurpose activity.
The Big Boy Update: "Too loud momma!" I think he has sensitive ears. That or there is an expectation of reasonable sound volume at school and it's a phrase they regularly use. If something loud happens (say the blender) he will tell you, "too loud momma." It's a pity he doesn't police his own volume the same way.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Where did the banana go? She likes bananas and we give them to her regularly. Yesterday she tried to get into he high chair before dinner and was wailing rather loudly so we surmised she must be hungry. I peeled a banana and for the first time didn't cut or break it up. I just stuck the whole thing on her plate. She looked at it, picked it up, looked at it some more and then I went off to do other things when she broke off a piece and put it in her mouth. I turned around two minutes later and the whole banana was gone.
Fitness Update: Four miles for stamps. Yesterday I ran for stamps. This morning it was back to the gym. We did a half-hour treadmill run to work on our speed and then did some new, tough (and fun) exercises. If the weather holds out, it's running outdoors tomorrow morning.
Someone Once Said: An elephant: A mouse built to government specifications.
At any rate, Uncle Bob has done some things in the past that I couldn't understand, or rather, wrap my head around until recently. He is a runner and has run marathons before. When you've never been a runner, the prospect of a thirty minute jog to accomplish the crazy distance of a 5K seems far out of reach. And pondering running for hours and going, on foot, over twenty-six miles is just unthinkable, un-doable, not possible. Also, those people must be crazy.
One time Uncle Bob was visiting, he ran over to the park. This is the park I now love; the park I had lived near for years and never bothered to step one foot into. I remember that day he went out for a run and came back much later. I hadn't paid attention to the time until he asked me questions about where the creek was. "Hold on here, you mean you weren't sure where you were so you just kept running until you recognized where you were? But that was an hour ago!"
I don't think I said those exact words, but that's what I was thinking. "He just kept running? Didn't he run out of energy? How did he manage to keep going? Wasn't he worried he would collapse and die out there in the wilderness?" I didn't understand. But now I do. Once you get into a cardiovascular workout, you can just keep plodding on. It's really quite remarkable.
Another time when Uncle Bob came to visit he did something else I didn't understand. He was making some soup or stock or some dish and he needed carrots and we were out. The next thing I know, he's getting out the bicycle to go up the terribly steep hill (or so it seemed to me at the time) to the grocery store. Didn't he want to take the car? No, he said biking was fine. Was this some energy conservation/green thing he was doing? And all for a few carrots?!! I don't know what his motivation was, but I think he may have decided pairing shopping with exercising would be a good idea. And I didn't get it then.
So now that I'm in my mid-life fitness crisis and I'm in much better physical shape—not to mention not being pregnant—the idea of combining exercise with another useful task sounds like a great thing. Not only that, it's a doable idea.
Yesterday, I was out of stamps. I had time before I needed to pick up the children so I decided I'd run up to the grocery store to get a book of stamps. This is that same "unfathomable distance up a gargantuan hill on a bicycle" trip Uncle Bob made some time ago. It's not an unfathomable distance any more. It's only two miles each direction. Even at my slow plodding ten minute per mile pace, that's a maximum forty-five minute trip and less distance than I run most mornings. Also, I don't mind hills anymore because we regularly run hills.
So off I went, I got the stamps, stopped in and made an appointment to get my hair cut and then ran back down the hill all the way home. Now I understand and the exercise seems fun, useful and doable. It took me a few years, but now I know Uncle Bob isn't crazy, he just enjoys exercise and staying in shape, not to mention a good multipurpose activity.
The Big Boy Update: "Too loud momma!" I think he has sensitive ears. That or there is an expectation of reasonable sound volume at school and it's a phrase they regularly use. If something loud happens (say the blender) he will tell you, "too loud momma." It's a pity he doesn't police his own volume the same way.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Where did the banana go? She likes bananas and we give them to her regularly. Yesterday she tried to get into he high chair before dinner and was wailing rather loudly so we surmised she must be hungry. I peeled a banana and for the first time didn't cut or break it up. I just stuck the whole thing on her plate. She looked at it, picked it up, looked at it some more and then I went off to do other things when she broke off a piece and put it in her mouth. I turned around two minutes later and the whole banana was gone.
Fitness Update: Four miles for stamps. Yesterday I ran for stamps. This morning it was back to the gym. We did a half-hour treadmill run to work on our speed and then did some new, tough (and fun) exercises. If the weather holds out, it's running outdoors tomorrow morning.
Someone Once Said: An elephant: A mouse built to government specifications.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Seven Thousand Calories
It's been a tough week. It's been a tough week in a way that wouldn't normally be considered tough. After starting this exercise regime with the personal trainer, I got to talking with both him and my neighbor and I decided it would be helpful if I gained a few pounds. Last week was a test. I was going to try and gain two pounds and see how it went. I was also not going to weigh myself during the week because I was suppose to be going up in weight and not knowing what was happening was probably for the best.
My plan was to overeat by seven thousand calories. A pound of body fat is the equivalent of thirty-five hundred calories. So for each pound you'd like to gain, you need to overeat by five hundred calories each day. I was targeting a two pound weight gain so I had to overeat by a thousand calories each day.
This might sound like fun. It might sound easy, but I've been working on managing my hunger level and eating appropriately-sized meals for a year now and it was difficult at times. Not weighing myself made it easier because I had no idea how things were going.
I didn't really pay attention to how much I was eating and I didn't count any calories or grams of fat or any other measurements. I just ate more. I metabolize, without exercise, about seventeen hundred calories per day. I exercised six times during the week adding on average another five hundred calories to the day's total and then I added a thousand calories on top of that. I was almost doubling my food intake every day and I was full.
When you're looking at losing weight, that thirty-five hundred calories is a lot of hunger pangs to deal with in a week's time. But it can be a little daunting to gain as well. Do you know of the delicious glazed Krispy Kreme donuts? They are two hundred calories each. That means to gain two pounds you'd need to over eat by thirty-five donuts. Go buy three dozen donuts, chuck one to the dog and then sit down and eat the rest.
Okay, don't do that. That's not a good way to gain weight and it just might turn you off to donuts for the rest of your life, but you get the picture. At today's weigh-in I did gain weight. So I accomplished my mission. This week, it's back to regular eating.
The Big Boy Update: "Watch out chicken!" It's almost that Art Linkletter: Kids Say The Darndest Things time with my son. He is starting to say things out of context that just make us laugh. On the way home from Costco yesterday he was talking about cars and trucks and other things on the road and we mentioned lunch. Suddenly he said from the back seat, "Watch out chicken!" We don't know if he was warning his future lunch or he saw something on the road. Either way, I've got to start writing these things down.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Shoes on! We went through this phase with her brother where he wanted nothing more than to take off his shoes as soon as we got in the car. He keeps his on now, and he even tells his sister, "shoes on!" when he sees her trying to take them off, but it's a daily battle. Once the shoes are off, the socks only stay on for about three seconds longer. And she flings them. If only we could get her shoes and socks back on as quickly as she takes to remove them.
Fitness Update: Back to the gym. I didn't have a reason to be dragging this morning but for some reason I was. It felt like a Monday. That, or maybe it was all the burpees he had us doing.
Someone Once Said: ‘Love’ is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
My plan was to overeat by seven thousand calories. A pound of body fat is the equivalent of thirty-five hundred calories. So for each pound you'd like to gain, you need to overeat by five hundred calories each day. I was targeting a two pound weight gain so I had to overeat by a thousand calories each day.
This might sound like fun. It might sound easy, but I've been working on managing my hunger level and eating appropriately-sized meals for a year now and it was difficult at times. Not weighing myself made it easier because I had no idea how things were going.
I didn't really pay attention to how much I was eating and I didn't count any calories or grams of fat or any other measurements. I just ate more. I metabolize, without exercise, about seventeen hundred calories per day. I exercised six times during the week adding on average another five hundred calories to the day's total and then I added a thousand calories on top of that. I was almost doubling my food intake every day and I was full.
When you're looking at losing weight, that thirty-five hundred calories is a lot of hunger pangs to deal with in a week's time. But it can be a little daunting to gain as well. Do you know of the delicious glazed Krispy Kreme donuts? They are two hundred calories each. That means to gain two pounds you'd need to over eat by thirty-five donuts. Go buy three dozen donuts, chuck one to the dog and then sit down and eat the rest.
Okay, don't do that. That's not a good way to gain weight and it just might turn you off to donuts for the rest of your life, but you get the picture. At today's weigh-in I did gain weight. So I accomplished my mission. This week, it's back to regular eating.
The Big Boy Update: "Watch out chicken!" It's almost that Art Linkletter: Kids Say The Darndest Things time with my son. He is starting to say things out of context that just make us laugh. On the way home from Costco yesterday he was talking about cars and trucks and other things on the road and we mentioned lunch. Suddenly he said from the back seat, "Watch out chicken!" We don't know if he was warning his future lunch or he saw something on the road. Either way, I've got to start writing these things down.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Shoes on! We went through this phase with her brother where he wanted nothing more than to take off his shoes as soon as we got in the car. He keeps his on now, and he even tells his sister, "shoes on!" when he sees her trying to take them off, but it's a daily battle. Once the shoes are off, the socks only stay on for about three seconds longer. And she flings them. If only we could get her shoes and socks back on as quickly as she takes to remove them.
Fitness Update: Back to the gym. I didn't have a reason to be dragging this morning but for some reason I was. It felt like a Monday. That, or maybe it was all the burpees he had us doing.
Someone Once Said: ‘Love’ is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Turk 182 And The Empty Theater
Have you ever been to the movies and been the only person in the entire theater? I've been many times when there were very few people, so few that for a while you think you're going to be all alone and then a couple or family shows up just before the lights dim and you've got company.
I've only been to a movie once in my life where I, well we, were the only people there. I went with two of my friends; I know one of the girls there with me was Michelle Martin, but I can't for the life of me remember who the other person was. I know it was a girl. Or maybe it was only Michelle and me. It definitely wasn't a boy though.
I don't know why we picked the movie Turk 182 and to this day, I don't know anyone else who has ever mentioned the movie. Perhaps the movie theater was empty because the movie wasn't that good. I was questioning my memory to such an extent that I even looked up the movie on IMDB to see if I had made it all up in my mind and yes, it was a movie. It starred some people that later went on to become fairly famous.
I remember the movie was something to do with a fireman and firefighting. I remember there was a lot of rooting for and cheering on the good guy who was having to do shady things to win the day. I don't remember what those things were, but I do remember that we did lots of cheerleading for him in the theater.
You see, if you're the only people in the whole theater, you don't have to be quiet. You're not going to disturb the other moviegoers. So we sat in the front row, and when there were things that happened that need cheering about, we jumped up and cheered. I am quite certain I did cartwheels. I loved doing cartwheels.
I've been to many movies in my life, but very few stand out when it comes to what I did when or while I was watching the movie. There was Return of The Jedi and the frozen, immobile hand, but that's another story for another day. Whether Turk 182 was a good movie or not, I don't know. But I do remember having more fun that I had had at almost any other movie in my life.
The Big Boy Update: "I want the hook." He's been asking for the hook for several days now and we just figured out what he's been asking for. We've added an epoxy surface to the garage that has also been expanded for a third bay recently. The addition and surfacing is finally complete and we've moved everything back in and reorganized the shelves in the process. One of the things we added to the shelves are these fantastic construction vehicles from Uncle Dale. These were toys from when Uncle Dale was a boy and they're metal and sturdy and they're realistic and they are very cool. As an aside, there is also a hook hanging out of the wall that used to hold a bicycle. My son can hang on it. When he was saying, "I want the hook," we thought he wanted to hang on the hook on the wall. That is not what he wanted at all. He was looking up to the shelf with the construction vehicles, specifically at the tow truck with the two hooks. He wanted Uncle Dale's trucks. He has since been hooking and towing and dragging around anything he can, "hook" in our garage.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Reese meets Reese. We went next door for a party yesterday. My daughter has a name that is currently popular for both boys and girls. She met her very first Reese yesterday. He was six months old and he was very cute. She was not that impressed. She was too busy asking for more "cracker."
Someone Once Said: All cats are not gray after midnight. Endless variety.
I've only been to a movie once in my life where I, well we, were the only people there. I went with two of my friends; I know one of the girls there with me was Michelle Martin, but I can't for the life of me remember who the other person was. I know it was a girl. Or maybe it was only Michelle and me. It definitely wasn't a boy though.
I don't know why we picked the movie Turk 182 and to this day, I don't know anyone else who has ever mentioned the movie. Perhaps the movie theater was empty because the movie wasn't that good. I was questioning my memory to such an extent that I even looked up the movie on IMDB to see if I had made it all up in my mind and yes, it was a movie. It starred some people that later went on to become fairly famous.
I remember the movie was something to do with a fireman and firefighting. I remember there was a lot of rooting for and cheering on the good guy who was having to do shady things to win the day. I don't remember what those things were, but I do remember that we did lots of cheerleading for him in the theater.
You see, if you're the only people in the whole theater, you don't have to be quiet. You're not going to disturb the other moviegoers. So we sat in the front row, and when there were things that happened that need cheering about, we jumped up and cheered. I am quite certain I did cartwheels. I loved doing cartwheels.
I've been to many movies in my life, but very few stand out when it comes to what I did when or while I was watching the movie. There was Return of The Jedi and the frozen, immobile hand, but that's another story for another day. Whether Turk 182 was a good movie or not, I don't know. But I do remember having more fun that I had had at almost any other movie in my life.
The Big Boy Update: "I want the hook." He's been asking for the hook for several days now and we just figured out what he's been asking for. We've added an epoxy surface to the garage that has also been expanded for a third bay recently. The addition and surfacing is finally complete and we've moved everything back in and reorganized the shelves in the process. One of the things we added to the shelves are these fantastic construction vehicles from Uncle Dale. These were toys from when Uncle Dale was a boy and they're metal and sturdy and they're realistic and they are very cool. As an aside, there is also a hook hanging out of the wall that used to hold a bicycle. My son can hang on it. When he was saying, "I want the hook," we thought he wanted to hang on the hook on the wall. That is not what he wanted at all. He was looking up to the shelf with the construction vehicles, specifically at the tow truck with the two hooks. He wanted Uncle Dale's trucks. He has since been hooking and towing and dragging around anything he can, "hook" in our garage.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Reese meets Reese. We went next door for a party yesterday. My daughter has a name that is currently popular for both boys and girls. She met her very first Reese yesterday. He was six months old and he was very cute. She was not that impressed. She was too busy asking for more "cracker."
Someone Once Said: All cats are not gray after midnight. Endless variety.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
If I Can't See You, You Can't See Me
When I was in possibly fifth or sixth grade I was in a play. It wasn't a children's play, it was an adult play and it was about something. It was definitely about something or other... Or at least I think it was. I was involved in it because my neighbor's mother was either directing it or was the dance coordinator or something that caused her to need to be there for all the rehearsals. You can see my memory is quite clear on the details. Clear as mud.
My neighbor's daughter and I were the best of friends. This is the same neighbor I haven't seen in years that I recently saw for her birthday celebration. She and her parents are very creative and artistic. She is still involved in theater and film and art and music and many other artistic pursuits.
There was a dual purpose to me being in this play. First, I would get a new and interesting experience of the theater. Second, I would be with my neighbor's mother and have someone to play with in the afternoons while my parents were still at work. And that was fine by me on both counts. I have good memories of the dark, dark theater and the bright, sunny steps in front that had a bicycle rack I spent quite a bit of time on, trying to turn it into a piece of gymnastics equipment.
The play part I had was very dull. I did some walking onto the stage and we sang the "Simple Gifts" song. To this day when I hear that song I flash back to sitting on the stage and being in that play.
The other part of my job, role, character was to be still. Completely still. I had to be still, with the remainder of the cast, while we did a "time freeze" and a part of the plot unfolded between two characters. For those of you who know me and are now laughing, I know, right? Me, sitting still? I was a complete failure. They could tell I was going to be terrible at the part so they stuck me behind one of the men in the play. I think that made it worse.
I could see people to the left in the audience and I could see lots of people to the right. About a fourth of the crowd was blocked by that man but I think I decided that no one could see me, so I could pick at my shoelace or play with the fringe on my costume or fidget or do all sorts of not-being-still things.
I made it to opening day, but I was not asked back to be in their next play. I wasn't surprised. I was more interested in the playground than the play at any rate.
Big Boy Update: All the socks. Two nights ago he was having a hard time settling to go to sleep. At one point I heard him calling repeatedly for daddy. When I arrived upstairs I tucked him back in and gave him one of his favorite stuffed animals. But he didn't sleep yet. Ten minutes later I hear him making all sorts of noise. When I got upstairs I stumbled over something on the floor right at the edge of his bed. He said, "I need socks" and then I realized what I was standing on. In the dark, he had gone to his sock drawer, pulled out all the pairs and put them at the edge of his bed. Then he had closed the drawer. He was then sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to get on some socks in the dark. I helped him put on socks (which he normally does not sleep in) and then he went straight to sleep.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The two minute harmonica lesson. To distract her from an uncomfortable diaper rash diaper change I brought her brother's harmonica into the room with us. The harmonica is kept on a shelf and only brought down from time to time and she's never had a chance to try it. I demonstrated how to blow on it and she tried. She said, "more" and I showed her again, using an exaggerated blowing motion. The second time she got it and was able to blow and make sounds. Also, she completely didn't notice the diaper being changed.
Fitness Update: Race Day. Uncle Jonathan and I ran in a 5K race today with the proceeds going towards scholarships at the school he attends. We ran well. I beat my best 5K time, but only by fifteen seconds. Uncle Jonathan beat me by at least fifteen seconds more.
Someone Once Said: Most neuroses can be traced to the unhealthy habit of wallowing in the troubles of five billion strangers.
My neighbor's daughter and I were the best of friends. This is the same neighbor I haven't seen in years that I recently saw for her birthday celebration. She and her parents are very creative and artistic. She is still involved in theater and film and art and music and many other artistic pursuits.
There was a dual purpose to me being in this play. First, I would get a new and interesting experience of the theater. Second, I would be with my neighbor's mother and have someone to play with in the afternoons while my parents were still at work. And that was fine by me on both counts. I have good memories of the dark, dark theater and the bright, sunny steps in front that had a bicycle rack I spent quite a bit of time on, trying to turn it into a piece of gymnastics equipment.
The play part I had was very dull. I did some walking onto the stage and we sang the "Simple Gifts" song. To this day when I hear that song I flash back to sitting on the stage and being in that play.
The other part of my job, role, character was to be still. Completely still. I had to be still, with the remainder of the cast, while we did a "time freeze" and a part of the plot unfolded between two characters. For those of you who know me and are now laughing, I know, right? Me, sitting still? I was a complete failure. They could tell I was going to be terrible at the part so they stuck me behind one of the men in the play. I think that made it worse.
I could see people to the left in the audience and I could see lots of people to the right. About a fourth of the crowd was blocked by that man but I think I decided that no one could see me, so I could pick at my shoelace or play with the fringe on my costume or fidget or do all sorts of not-being-still things.
I made it to opening day, but I was not asked back to be in their next play. I wasn't surprised. I was more interested in the playground than the play at any rate.
Big Boy Update: All the socks. Two nights ago he was having a hard time settling to go to sleep. At one point I heard him calling repeatedly for daddy. When I arrived upstairs I tucked him back in and gave him one of his favorite stuffed animals. But he didn't sleep yet. Ten minutes later I hear him making all sorts of noise. When I got upstairs I stumbled over something on the floor right at the edge of his bed. He said, "I need socks" and then I realized what I was standing on. In the dark, he had gone to his sock drawer, pulled out all the pairs and put them at the edge of his bed. Then he had closed the drawer. He was then sitting on the edge of the bed, trying to get on some socks in the dark. I helped him put on socks (which he normally does not sleep in) and then he went straight to sleep.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The two minute harmonica lesson. To distract her from an uncomfortable diaper rash diaper change I brought her brother's harmonica into the room with us. The harmonica is kept on a shelf and only brought down from time to time and she's never had a chance to try it. I demonstrated how to blow on it and she tried. She said, "more" and I showed her again, using an exaggerated blowing motion. The second time she got it and was able to blow and make sounds. Also, she completely didn't notice the diaper being changed.
Fitness Update: Race Day. Uncle Jonathan and I ran in a 5K race today with the proceeds going towards scholarships at the school he attends. We ran well. I beat my best 5K time, but only by fifteen seconds. Uncle Jonathan beat me by at least fifteen seconds more.
Someone Once Said: Most neuroses can be traced to the unhealthy habit of wallowing in the troubles of five billion strangers.
Friday, March 15, 2013
The Fleece, The Lice and the Maddening Mulch
There is no lice in this post. I promise. There is an appearance of a lice comb, which is greatly appreciated for it's ability to pick out small things between fuzzy and furry items of clothing, but that's it. This post is about mulch.
It's about mulch that was mistakenly spread in the toddler playground when it should not have been. It's about mulch that would be lovely in a flower bed, appreciated by a cold plant or tree during the winter, but is hated and reviled by all parents with toddlers that go to our school.
This mulch has fine fibers. They are needle sharp and they have a penchant for sticking into anything fleece-like, fuzzy or permeable. The good news is they only do this if you roll in the mulch. The bad news is that all toddlers roll in, tumble in, play with, dig through and bury their heads or other body parts in on a daily basis.
When you pick up your child there is a moment of worry because you're not sure if that's truly your child getting into the car or some other mulch-ridden child from her class. If you think I'm exaggerating at this point, I would like to stress that no, it's really that bad.
The mulch doesn't shake out. It doesn't brush out with a lint brush. It doesn't wash out. And while I'm on the topic of washing, let's talk about what it does in the wash. A large portion goes nowhere, stays right where it was and looks just as uncomfortable to wear and dirty at the same time as when you put it in the wash. The other portion that does wash off, washes into your clothes; your adult clothes; your nice adult clothes.
Now you have playground mulch in your dressy sweater and you have three jackets and five shirts you're not sure you're ever going to be able to wear again. Oh, and socks. Those are the worst yet. All of my adult socks are mulch magnets. It's so frustrating.
I did have one revelation. I would use the lice comb to get out to the small fibers. It works, oh, it works, if you have several hours to spare. Nothing else seems to do the job. At this point, I'm considering starting a mulch replacement fundraising drive at school because I've had it.
The Big Boy Update: "Hey Reese, there are cars down here!" That's what my son said to my daughter the other day. She was upstairs and most likely couldn't hear, but he wanted to engage her and work together. He saw some cars, went and got them and then called for his sister on the floor above to help him out. It's the first time he's tried to involve her in his play time that I've seen.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Elmo shoes. We got her some new, larger shoes. They had a pink and purple pair for the girls, but the equivalent pair for boys was adorable red and the entire shoe design was that of Elmo hugging you with his two Velcro arms that keep the shoe on. We love her new shoes. She loves her new shoes. Now, if only we could get her to keep them on in the car.
Fitness Update: Six miles with Uncle Jonathan yesterday afternoon (making for ten miles total yesterday) and then the longest, most brutal workout at the gym this morning that we've done yet. It was tough, but we did it as a group and it was fun. If you consider pain fun.
Someone Once Said: He had the arrogant humility of a man who has learned so much that he is aware of his own ignorance; he saw no point in “measurements” when he did not know what he was measuring.
It's about mulch that was mistakenly spread in the toddler playground when it should not have been. It's about mulch that would be lovely in a flower bed, appreciated by a cold plant or tree during the winter, but is hated and reviled by all parents with toddlers that go to our school.
This mulch has fine fibers. They are needle sharp and they have a penchant for sticking into anything fleece-like, fuzzy or permeable. The good news is they only do this if you roll in the mulch. The bad news is that all toddlers roll in, tumble in, play with, dig through and bury their heads or other body parts in on a daily basis.
When you pick up your child there is a moment of worry because you're not sure if that's truly your child getting into the car or some other mulch-ridden child from her class. If you think I'm exaggerating at this point, I would like to stress that no, it's really that bad.
The mulch doesn't shake out. It doesn't brush out with a lint brush. It doesn't wash out. And while I'm on the topic of washing, let's talk about what it does in the wash. A large portion goes nowhere, stays right where it was and looks just as uncomfortable to wear and dirty at the same time as when you put it in the wash. The other portion that does wash off, washes into your clothes; your adult clothes; your nice adult clothes.
Now you have playground mulch in your dressy sweater and you have three jackets and five shirts you're not sure you're ever going to be able to wear again. Oh, and socks. Those are the worst yet. All of my adult socks are mulch magnets. It's so frustrating.
I did have one revelation. I would use the lice comb to get out to the small fibers. It works, oh, it works, if you have several hours to spare. Nothing else seems to do the job. At this point, I'm considering starting a mulch replacement fundraising drive at school because I've had it.
The Big Boy Update: "Hey Reese, there are cars down here!" That's what my son said to my daughter the other day. She was upstairs and most likely couldn't hear, but he wanted to engage her and work together. He saw some cars, went and got them and then called for his sister on the floor above to help him out. It's the first time he's tried to involve her in his play time that I've seen.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Elmo shoes. We got her some new, larger shoes. They had a pink and purple pair for the girls, but the equivalent pair for boys was adorable red and the entire shoe design was that of Elmo hugging you with his two Velcro arms that keep the shoe on. We love her new shoes. She loves her new shoes. Now, if only we could get her to keep them on in the car.
Fitness Update: Six miles with Uncle Jonathan yesterday afternoon (making for ten miles total yesterday) and then the longest, most brutal workout at the gym this morning that we've done yet. It was tough, but we did it as a group and it was fun. If you consider pain fun.
Someone Once Said: He had the arrogant humility of a man who has learned so much that he is aware of his own ignorance; he saw no point in “measurements” when he did not know what he was measuring.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
The Keratin Routine Reduction
I have curly hair. More to the point, I have frizzy hair. I've never particularly liked it curly or frizzy but that's what I got and that's what I've been stuck with. Until, that is, the wonders of the keratin treatment were invented.
This is a multistage process in which the stylist first washes your hair and then applies a keratin complex slowly to all the fibers of your hair from the roots to the tips. Then you sit for some time under the head helmet dryer thing and after that she dries your hair without washing the product out. But you're not done at that point. No no, you are only getting started. When she dries it she dries it well, thoroughly, completely. And then she flat irons it.
It's the flat ironing part that takes the longest. Each run with the flat iron has only a small amount of hair and the flat iron is a special one, specific for burning that keratin directly onto and into your hair strands. It's especially hot. The flat ironing part is what takes so long. And you have never seen hair so straight.
Once the ironing is complete, the stylist's job is done but yours is just starting. No washing, wetting, sweating or going out in the rain for three days. Do not put your hair in a pony tail or it will develop memory of the band location and you will have a wump in the back of your hair for months. Do not put your hair behind your ear or it will remember that shape. Do not put sunglasses on your head to hold your hair back. Nothing but straightness and cool dryness for three days. And if you get rained on or sweat? Blow dry it immediately and get out your flat iron to straighten it back into board straight shape.
Three days later when you can finally wash it, you get to marvel as it dries because, boom the straightness returns. And it stays. It stays for months. It is super duper exciting to have this happen when you've had nothing but frizz and curl all your life. The routine I used to have pre-keratin included lots of moisturizing, adding frizz-reducing salves, leave-in conditioners, etc. And it was still frizzy.
So now I have a non-curly, non-frizzy solution. But like many things, once you start, it's hard to go back. I'm not opposed to having curly hair again, or at least for a while, but the only part that's curly now (and particularly frizzy) is the part that's grown in since the last keratin treatment. This means I have nice smooth hair for the most part, but a lovely frizzy ring framing my face.
So what do I do? I'm not certain. I am thinking about it. Apparently it's on my mind a lot because the other night I had a dream that I was going to get my hair redone because I'd had enough. Then, on the way to the salon, I decided I needed to go buy flags instead. I'm no dream expert but I think this means I haven't made up my mind yet.
The Big Boy Update: Bye bye alligator. He has a stuffed version of Rex, the tyrannosaurus from Toy Story. He insists it's an alligator. This morning as he was coming down for breakfast he said, "Bye bye alligator." Daddy told him it was a dinosaur. He said it was an alligator. Daddy explained his name was Rex and he was a dinosaur. My son said, "No, alligator. Bye bye alligator." It's hard to refute his confidence in his knowledge of animal species.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The knob culprit. I think I've determined my daughter is to blame. In our house someone is going around partially unscrewing knobs. I first suspected it was my husband, but then he said he would have selected higher up knobs to unscrew, and since that was only logical, I turned my suspicions on my son. But he was too busy playing with trucks and cars. Also, the locations of the loose knobs happen to coincide with the spots my daughter likes to spend time playing. Now I just need to catch her in the act...
Fitness Update: Four miles and time ran out this morning so I returned to prepare breakfasts and children for school. It was nice to be running outside in the crisp, dark morning air again.
Someone Once Said: There is no such thing as a humane war.
This is a multistage process in which the stylist first washes your hair and then applies a keratin complex slowly to all the fibers of your hair from the roots to the tips. Then you sit for some time under the head helmet dryer thing and after that she dries your hair without washing the product out. But you're not done at that point. No no, you are only getting started. When she dries it she dries it well, thoroughly, completely. And then she flat irons it.
It's the flat ironing part that takes the longest. Each run with the flat iron has only a small amount of hair and the flat iron is a special one, specific for burning that keratin directly onto and into your hair strands. It's especially hot. The flat ironing part is what takes so long. And you have never seen hair so straight.
Once the ironing is complete, the stylist's job is done but yours is just starting. No washing, wetting, sweating or going out in the rain for three days. Do not put your hair in a pony tail or it will develop memory of the band location and you will have a wump in the back of your hair for months. Do not put your hair behind your ear or it will remember that shape. Do not put sunglasses on your head to hold your hair back. Nothing but straightness and cool dryness for three days. And if you get rained on or sweat? Blow dry it immediately and get out your flat iron to straighten it back into board straight shape.
Three days later when you can finally wash it, you get to marvel as it dries because, boom the straightness returns. And it stays. It stays for months. It is super duper exciting to have this happen when you've had nothing but frizz and curl all your life. The routine I used to have pre-keratin included lots of moisturizing, adding frizz-reducing salves, leave-in conditioners, etc. And it was still frizzy.
So now I have a non-curly, non-frizzy solution. But like many things, once you start, it's hard to go back. I'm not opposed to having curly hair again, or at least for a while, but the only part that's curly now (and particularly frizzy) is the part that's grown in since the last keratin treatment. This means I have nice smooth hair for the most part, but a lovely frizzy ring framing my face.
So what do I do? I'm not certain. I am thinking about it. Apparently it's on my mind a lot because the other night I had a dream that I was going to get my hair redone because I'd had enough. Then, on the way to the salon, I decided I needed to go buy flags instead. I'm no dream expert but I think this means I haven't made up my mind yet.
The Big Boy Update: Bye bye alligator. He has a stuffed version of Rex, the tyrannosaurus from Toy Story. He insists it's an alligator. This morning as he was coming down for breakfast he said, "Bye bye alligator." Daddy told him it was a dinosaur. He said it was an alligator. Daddy explained his name was Rex and he was a dinosaur. My son said, "No, alligator. Bye bye alligator." It's hard to refute his confidence in his knowledge of animal species.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The knob culprit. I think I've determined my daughter is to blame. In our house someone is going around partially unscrewing knobs. I first suspected it was my husband, but then he said he would have selected higher up knobs to unscrew, and since that was only logical, I turned my suspicions on my son. But he was too busy playing with trucks and cars. Also, the locations of the loose knobs happen to coincide with the spots my daughter likes to spend time playing. Now I just need to catch her in the act...
Fitness Update: Four miles and time ran out this morning so I returned to prepare breakfasts and children for school. It was nice to be running outside in the crisp, dark morning air again.
Someone Once Said: There is no such thing as a humane war.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The Table Manners Assignment
When your child first starts to eat food sitting up with a spoon you're just thrilled when some of it goes down their throat instead of dribbling off their chin into their lap. You don't care if they're a mess--you expect them to be a mess.
Later, you expect them to be able to eat with you, out with other people, in a social situation and be able to deal with a variety of situations. Oh, and you want them to be neat and not make a mess and eat everything you put in front of them while using, "please" and "thank you." They patiently wait until the adults are done eating and never act bored. Also, you're living in a dream land because that's not how children work. Or at least that's not how mine work. I have yet to meet that perfect baby.
But we do have high expectations. We work on one thing at a time and once that's integrated and they understand and can meet our expectations, we move on to the next thing. At this point they do eat well at mostly any restaurant or cuisine. On occasion, we have to pull one outside for a few minutes to calm down, but that's usually a, "food is taking an awful long time to arrive and I just can't hold it together anymore" type of thing.
They can eat food that we put in front of them, although they have preferences for certain foods over others and there are some things they just don't have any interest in right now and that's something we need to work on as well, but that's not our next task.
At this point, we've decided table manners are the next goal. My daughter is younger, but we're going to push her along with her brother because it's easier to enforce a rule when it's consistent and the same for both children. There are a lot of points to this table manners regime we're trying to implement as being messy is so much easier than being neat.
We're working on keeping food on the plate, keeping the plate on the table, using the utensils for eating your food as opposed to playing or banging with them, not using your cup as a toy, not putting food intentionally over the edge of the table or just straight on the floor, and lastly, successfully using the utensils for their intended use.
That utensil one is hard. They can both use utensils, but not for everything and eventually they give up and just go for the hands. I think it's going to be a while before we get it down. Meals at home have been frustrating to the children as they're having to adjust to new expectations. The big question is, will my husband and I make it through without losing our tempers too often.
The Big Boy Update: Tractor Trailer. I've been working on the difference between a, "dump truck" and any other large vehicle on the road for a while now. We go to school each weekday morning and he points out things on our way. We see lots of dump trucks in our neighborhood, but not many tractor trailers. I've explained that the front part is the tractor part and the back is a trailer. He's never repeated it or even acted like he cared, but tonight he was making something with his linking logs and said, "It's a tractor trailer."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The Language Lab Studies. I've taken her twice before to a language lab to help out in their studies of how children develop language as they grow. This time was our third visit and we got to do more than just listen to bird sounds. I read her a book that was filled with pictures of children expressing all sorts of emotions. She was filmed and they'll study her reactions to happy faces, angry faces, sad faces among others. Hopefully her data will be helpful towards their studies.
Fitness Update: Back to the gym and today I think was our best day yet. I wasn't dragging from the long run on Sunday and we were able to do more exercises before he tapped us out for the day. I wonder how sore I'll be in the morning? We're hoping for a run.
Someone Once Said: If there is anything stupider than flogging yourself over something you can’t help, I’ve yet to meet it.
Later, you expect them to be able to eat with you, out with other people, in a social situation and be able to deal with a variety of situations. Oh, and you want them to be neat and not make a mess and eat everything you put in front of them while using, "please" and "thank you." They patiently wait until the adults are done eating and never act bored. Also, you're living in a dream land because that's not how children work. Or at least that's not how mine work. I have yet to meet that perfect baby.
But we do have high expectations. We work on one thing at a time and once that's integrated and they understand and can meet our expectations, we move on to the next thing. At this point they do eat well at mostly any restaurant or cuisine. On occasion, we have to pull one outside for a few minutes to calm down, but that's usually a, "food is taking an awful long time to arrive and I just can't hold it together anymore" type of thing.
They can eat food that we put in front of them, although they have preferences for certain foods over others and there are some things they just don't have any interest in right now and that's something we need to work on as well, but that's not our next task.
At this point, we've decided table manners are the next goal. My daughter is younger, but we're going to push her along with her brother because it's easier to enforce a rule when it's consistent and the same for both children. There are a lot of points to this table manners regime we're trying to implement as being messy is so much easier than being neat.
We're working on keeping food on the plate, keeping the plate on the table, using the utensils for eating your food as opposed to playing or banging with them, not using your cup as a toy, not putting food intentionally over the edge of the table or just straight on the floor, and lastly, successfully using the utensils for their intended use.
That utensil one is hard. They can both use utensils, but not for everything and eventually they give up and just go for the hands. I think it's going to be a while before we get it down. Meals at home have been frustrating to the children as they're having to adjust to new expectations. The big question is, will my husband and I make it through without losing our tempers too often.
The Big Boy Update: Tractor Trailer. I've been working on the difference between a, "dump truck" and any other large vehicle on the road for a while now. We go to school each weekday morning and he points out things on our way. We see lots of dump trucks in our neighborhood, but not many tractor trailers. I've explained that the front part is the tractor part and the back is a trailer. He's never repeated it or even acted like he cared, but tonight he was making something with his linking logs and said, "It's a tractor trailer."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The Language Lab Studies. I've taken her twice before to a language lab to help out in their studies of how children develop language as they grow. This time was our third visit and we got to do more than just listen to bird sounds. I read her a book that was filled with pictures of children expressing all sorts of emotions. She was filmed and they'll study her reactions to happy faces, angry faces, sad faces among others. Hopefully her data will be helpful towards their studies.
Fitness Update: Back to the gym and today I think was our best day yet. I wasn't dragging from the long run on Sunday and we were able to do more exercises before he tapped us out for the day. I wonder how sore I'll be in the morning? We're hoping for a run.
Someone Once Said: If there is anything stupider than flogging yourself over something you can’t help, I’ve yet to meet it.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
It's Like Babies on Acid
One day when I was a young teenager, I was out watching my then boyfriend play in a neighborhood tennis team match. It was a few streets over at their community tennis courts and he was playing well. I sat on the grass outside the court and waited for him after his match. There were some other people he knew from the neighborhood that were milling around when this one guy wandered up and started gazing at the hill of grass in the then-fading sunlight and said, "Woah! Look at all the colors!"
"What colors," I thought? He was looking at a boring mound of green grass. It was green. One of the other kids there said that he had "dropped acid" and he was "tripping." Oh, well that explains a lot. I suppose ever since that day whenever there's a situation where someone seems entranced by colors and lights (even if there's nothing there) I think back to that unknown guy and the hill of monochrome grass.
Last night we went to one of those "family fun centers" that includes go cart racing, mini golf, video games, carnival games and one heck of a maze crawl that my son thought was sheer nirvana. We went to meet one of my childhood friends for her birthday celebration. She and I haven't been in touch much at all over the past fifteen years, but through the magic of Facebook we've reconnected and that makes me very happy.
It was a Monday at five o'clock and there were very few people there. We just put the children down and let them run around. My daughter went from machine to machine and banged on the sides, gazed at the flashing lights and sat on the lit-up bases. She climbed onto the seats and tried to run down the mini-bowling alley lane lit up with black lights. Her eyes were wide open and she looked so excited and mesmerized that it reminded me of the wonder that guy seemed to be experiencing looking at that boring hill of grass back when I was a teenager. Only without the drugs. And cuter. Definitely tiny girl cuter.
My son had a good time too. He and my husband went into the seventeen layer maze crawl play land thing I don't know the name for. They were in there for a good while and I hear they had a fantastic time. In between chasing my daughter around, I spent time with my friend and her friends that were helping her celebrate her birthday. And it's at this point that I want to mention how I almost titled this post, "I like nice people" because I met several new friends last night and they were just the nicest people you could meet.
Isn't it fun to go out, meet new people and immediately feel like these are your own personal friends? You're made to feel welcome and you can just be yourself and have fun with them? I hadn't seen my friend in years, but we had a great time together. I had promised I would buy her a birthday shot and so we all went to the bar and we toasted to her birthday with a shot of tequila. Tequila is strong stuff. I am glad daddy was driving us home.
Our children were tired and the party goers were heading off to the go carts so we parted ways. It was time to get home, have baby baths and get the kids in bed. I'm glad we stopped in though to help her celebrate her birthday. I think both children had a pretty good time as well too.
The Big Boy Update: I Spy. I don't know if he's ever played the I Spy game before, but my husband taught it to him last night. He got the hang of it pretty quickly. Well, he got the hang of saying "I spy some noun I can see" part of it. They took turns spying things until it was time to go to bed.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Elmo Shoes. We got her new shoes a while back and they've been working out okay, but not as well as her first pair that are now too small. We almost bought her a pair of Elmo shoes that are technically for the boys, but are much better looking to us than the gaudy, shimmery, purple and puke pink version available for the girls. Yesterday we went back and got them. She likes them and even knows Elmo is on the front of them. Will she keep them on on the way to school though or will she try and pull them off straight away like she does her other shoes?
Someone Once Said: As with any tool, merit or demerit lies within how it is used.
"What colors," I thought? He was looking at a boring mound of green grass. It was green. One of the other kids there said that he had "dropped acid" and he was "tripping." Oh, well that explains a lot. I suppose ever since that day whenever there's a situation where someone seems entranced by colors and lights (even if there's nothing there) I think back to that unknown guy and the hill of monochrome grass.
Last night we went to one of those "family fun centers" that includes go cart racing, mini golf, video games, carnival games and one heck of a maze crawl that my son thought was sheer nirvana. We went to meet one of my childhood friends for her birthday celebration. She and I haven't been in touch much at all over the past fifteen years, but through the magic of Facebook we've reconnected and that makes me very happy.
It was a Monday at five o'clock and there were very few people there. We just put the children down and let them run around. My daughter went from machine to machine and banged on the sides, gazed at the flashing lights and sat on the lit-up bases. She climbed onto the seats and tried to run down the mini-bowling alley lane lit up with black lights. Her eyes were wide open and she looked so excited and mesmerized that it reminded me of the wonder that guy seemed to be experiencing looking at that boring hill of grass back when I was a teenager. Only without the drugs. And cuter. Definitely tiny girl cuter.
My son had a good time too. He and my husband went into the seventeen layer maze crawl play land thing I don't know the name for. They were in there for a good while and I hear they had a fantastic time. In between chasing my daughter around, I spent time with my friend and her friends that were helping her celebrate her birthday. And it's at this point that I want to mention how I almost titled this post, "I like nice people" because I met several new friends last night and they were just the nicest people you could meet.
Isn't it fun to go out, meet new people and immediately feel like these are your own personal friends? You're made to feel welcome and you can just be yourself and have fun with them? I hadn't seen my friend in years, but we had a great time together. I had promised I would buy her a birthday shot and so we all went to the bar and we toasted to her birthday with a shot of tequila. Tequila is strong stuff. I am glad daddy was driving us home.
Our children were tired and the party goers were heading off to the go carts so we parted ways. It was time to get home, have baby baths and get the kids in bed. I'm glad we stopped in though to help her celebrate her birthday. I think both children had a pretty good time as well too.
The Big Boy Update: I Spy. I don't know if he's ever played the I Spy game before, but my husband taught it to him last night. He got the hang of it pretty quickly. Well, he got the hang of saying "I spy some noun I can see" part of it. They took turns spying things until it was time to go to bed.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Elmo Shoes. We got her new shoes a while back and they've been working out okay, but not as well as her first pair that are now too small. We almost bought her a pair of Elmo shoes that are technically for the boys, but are much better looking to us than the gaudy, shimmery, purple and puke pink version available for the girls. Yesterday we went back and got them. She likes them and even knows Elmo is on the front of them. Will she keep them on on the way to school though or will she try and pull them off straight away like she does her other shoes?
Someone Once Said: As with any tool, merit or demerit lies within how it is used.
Monday, March 11, 2013
The Superparent I Never Plan On Being
You know that mom, the one who's the president of her children's PTA, feeds her children only organic, dye-free foods, never lets her kids near candy or juice, has never turned on the television, and only buys educational toys. She enrolls her children in piano and violin lessons, takes them to the art museum regularly in her hybrid vehicle that plays only classical music. At home she tutors them after school by reading to them in Spanish and Latin on subjects such as kindness and generosity and does yoga with them in the mornings while an aromatherapy machine mists lavender scents so her children will be prepared for a perfect day in a perfect world.
That's not me. I am not that super parent and I don't want to be. I like McDonalds. I like candy. Okay, I love candy. My children have had both McDonalds and candy, and cake and I remember brownies for dessert last night and probably many other, "unhealthy" food choices over their very short lives. But they do have fruit every day. My daughter used to share a banana, but now I have to give her her own one or supplement with lots of grapes because she likes her fruit. My son likes to peel and eat tangerines and he loves juicing oranges. They both had salads for dinner last night, although hot dogs were also on the menu. So our diet isn't all unhealthy.
We give our children juice. This is apparently a hot topic these days. It seems to be a bad thing to give your child juice. "There's so much added sugar!" I hear. When I was growing up there was Koolaid. And there was a lot of it going around. It had artificial dyes and lots of sugar added in and it was best friends with two other, similar drinks, named Tang and Hawaiian Punch. Some children don't drink juice, but an entire aisle, from the front of the store to the back, is lined with all manner of juices, so someone out there is drinking a lot of juice.
At school, the children are allowed to drink water whenever they're thirsty. My husband suggested we offer water between meals and give juice or milk at mealtimes. This has turned out to work well and I like that the children can drink both.
I don't buy all organic foods. It seems to be a point of pride nowadays to say you eat only organic, some people seem a little aloof because they do (or can afford to) eat only organic. We do buy some organic, but not exclusively. We focus as best we can on balanced foods across meals and better food choices where possible.
And then there's the whole "screen time" debate of late. We've been hearing since before I was born that, "television will rot your brain" and other such comments. I don't want the television (or interactive smart devices) to be a baby sitter or fulfill a large portion of my children's waking hours, but we do allow some television and device time. From a television standpoint, I don't have a problem with short periods from time to time as long as it's an educational or age-appropriate show for occasional entertainment.
In other electronic realms, my daughter only cares about Elmo calling her on my cell phone as at sixteen months she doesn't really understand the interactivity of the iPad. My son does though, so we have it hidden, only to be brought out for special occasions (or emergency distractionary purposes.) We did some tests just before our family vacation and we realized what an incredible mental draw and time suck the iPad can be. So we save it in the hopes it will keep it's magical attention holding powers and he sees it about once a week now. Can I just say though, that when I was sick, giving him that mental pacifier was a life saver.
Behaviorally, I will admit, I'm trying very hard to be that perfect parent. It's a hell of a job not to lose your temper at a child when they're doing something like climbing into the warming drawer and inviting their sibling to get in with them; but we're learning ways to address the variety of situations you seem to find yourself in as parents.
We''re trying to do the right thing as parents; we're trying to raise happy, healthy, responsible children, but I'm not going to become an obsessive super parent and turn into a person I'm not in order to do so. I suppose we'll find out in a few decades how we did.
The Big Boy Update: Smooth shopper. We were getting a bike rack at the bike store today. To keep my son occupied, I asked him to find the prettiest bike in the store. He looked around, went over to the children's bike area and then climbed around one bike to get to the teeniest bike I'd ever seen. I helped him pull it out. It had no kick stand, no pedals and no training wheels. It was very low to the ground. He got right on and started rolling it forward. It turns out it's a trainer bike that has been touted as a better way to learn to ride than training wheels. He drove his "motorcycle" as he calls it, over to daddy and we decided to get it because it's getting warm and he loves to ride vehicles around inside and out.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: "pee pee" She the whole potty process we've established. Today she had soiled her pants so I took her up and sat her on the potty. I emptied her pants into the potty and after sitting she was happy to see results (that I had previously dumped) in the potty. She took the insert, put it in the big potty, flushed and watched it go down. Then she brought the insert back, say back down, concentrated, looked at me and said, "pee pee" and sure enough, she had. I think she just wanted to dump and flush again. Also, I didn't even know she knew the words, "pee pee."
Fitness Update: 15 miles and a weak workout. Yesterday I wanted to do a fourteen mile run. I had mapped out a new route taking advantage of some of the new greenway trail they had recently opened. I added a mile to check out some of the art museum's surrounding property and got back in one tired, sore and uncomfortable piece. I need new running shoes. They're only rated for about three hundred miles running and I was well over that. My feet told me to throw that pair out when I got in. Twelve hours later I was back at the gym and I wasn't able to do as much as normal because I was still in recovery from yesterday's run but I didn't want to miss a day.
Someone Once Said: William of Occam’s Razor. It’s the name for a principal in logic; whenever two hypotheses both cover the facts, use the simpler of the two.
That's not me. I am not that super parent and I don't want to be. I like McDonalds. I like candy. Okay, I love candy. My children have had both McDonalds and candy, and cake and I remember brownies for dessert last night and probably many other, "unhealthy" food choices over their very short lives. But they do have fruit every day. My daughter used to share a banana, but now I have to give her her own one or supplement with lots of grapes because she likes her fruit. My son likes to peel and eat tangerines and he loves juicing oranges. They both had salads for dinner last night, although hot dogs were also on the menu. So our diet isn't all unhealthy.
We give our children juice. This is apparently a hot topic these days. It seems to be a bad thing to give your child juice. "There's so much added sugar!" I hear. When I was growing up there was Koolaid. And there was a lot of it going around. It had artificial dyes and lots of sugar added in and it was best friends with two other, similar drinks, named Tang and Hawaiian Punch. Some children don't drink juice, but an entire aisle, from the front of the store to the back, is lined with all manner of juices, so someone out there is drinking a lot of juice.
At school, the children are allowed to drink water whenever they're thirsty. My husband suggested we offer water between meals and give juice or milk at mealtimes. This has turned out to work well and I like that the children can drink both.
I don't buy all organic foods. It seems to be a point of pride nowadays to say you eat only organic, some people seem a little aloof because they do (or can afford to) eat only organic. We do buy some organic, but not exclusively. We focus as best we can on balanced foods across meals and better food choices where possible.
And then there's the whole "screen time" debate of late. We've been hearing since before I was born that, "television will rot your brain" and other such comments. I don't want the television (or interactive smart devices) to be a baby sitter or fulfill a large portion of my children's waking hours, but we do allow some television and device time. From a television standpoint, I don't have a problem with short periods from time to time as long as it's an educational or age-appropriate show for occasional entertainment.
In other electronic realms, my daughter only cares about Elmo calling her on my cell phone as at sixteen months she doesn't really understand the interactivity of the iPad. My son does though, so we have it hidden, only to be brought out for special occasions (or emergency distractionary purposes.) We did some tests just before our family vacation and we realized what an incredible mental draw and time suck the iPad can be. So we save it in the hopes it will keep it's magical attention holding powers and he sees it about once a week now. Can I just say though, that when I was sick, giving him that mental pacifier was a life saver.
Behaviorally, I will admit, I'm trying very hard to be that perfect parent. It's a hell of a job not to lose your temper at a child when they're doing something like climbing into the warming drawer and inviting their sibling to get in with them; but we're learning ways to address the variety of situations you seem to find yourself in as parents.
We''re trying to do the right thing as parents; we're trying to raise happy, healthy, responsible children, but I'm not going to become an obsessive super parent and turn into a person I'm not in order to do so. I suppose we'll find out in a few decades how we did.
The Big Boy Update: Smooth shopper. We were getting a bike rack at the bike store today. To keep my son occupied, I asked him to find the prettiest bike in the store. He looked around, went over to the children's bike area and then climbed around one bike to get to the teeniest bike I'd ever seen. I helped him pull it out. It had no kick stand, no pedals and no training wheels. It was very low to the ground. He got right on and started rolling it forward. It turns out it's a trainer bike that has been touted as a better way to learn to ride than training wheels. He drove his "motorcycle" as he calls it, over to daddy and we decided to get it because it's getting warm and he loves to ride vehicles around inside and out.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: "pee pee" She the whole potty process we've established. Today she had soiled her pants so I took her up and sat her on the potty. I emptied her pants into the potty and after sitting she was happy to see results (that I had previously dumped) in the potty. She took the insert, put it in the big potty, flushed and watched it go down. Then she brought the insert back, say back down, concentrated, looked at me and said, "pee pee" and sure enough, she had. I think she just wanted to dump and flush again. Also, I didn't even know she knew the words, "pee pee."
Fitness Update: 15 miles and a weak workout. Yesterday I wanted to do a fourteen mile run. I had mapped out a new route taking advantage of some of the new greenway trail they had recently opened. I added a mile to check out some of the art museum's surrounding property and got back in one tired, sore and uncomfortable piece. I need new running shoes. They're only rated for about three hundred miles running and I was well over that. My feet told me to throw that pair out when I got in. Twelve hours later I was back at the gym and I wasn't able to do as much as normal because I was still in recovery from yesterday's run but I didn't want to miss a day.
Someone Once Said: William of Occam’s Razor. It’s the name for a principal in logic; whenever two hypotheses both cover the facts, use the simpler of the two.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Thinnest Slice of Butter
When I was in college I had a friend take on the summer job of selling Cutco knives. He said he had to give us the demonstration because these knives were so amazing. We came over to his apartment later that week and sure enough, he hadn't lied, those knives were outrageous in what they did and how very well they did it.
That day, I said to myself that I would some day buy some of those knives. They were expensive, I was a college student and I didn't need fancy knives for my dorm room at any rate. I could wait for now.
Years later I had another, much younger friend who was in college and decided to sell those same knives over the summer. He wasn't a good salesman I'm sorry to say. Had I seen his demonstration the first time, I would be living in a house with dull knives today most assuredly. I didn't care though because I was already planning on buying the knives, and although he knew that, he still had the most difficult time doing his demonstration due to nerves.
So I got those knives and there has never been a doubt in my mind since that day that the only knives I want to have around are Cutco. Yes, there are other very good quality knives that most likely are similar, but not unlike supporting your favorite sports team, changing allegiances to another team (or in my case knife company) is not something I ever see happening.
I've got even more knives now because I bought more over time. I found a nice man to marry (or maybe I should say "that was willing to marry me") who also loved and owned Cutco knives. We have their flatware and we eat with them every day. The regional sales lady recognizes me at the local festivals and shows because whenever I see the Cutco booth, I always stop in, say hello, ask what new products are available and then give testimonial to any potential customers there at the time.
But this doesn't have much to do with a butter slice, does it? You know how sometimes you don't realize how much you should appreciate something until you don't have it around? At our family ski vacation I was making one of my children's usual breakfast items, buttered English muffins. I start by putting little slices of butter on the muffins and then toasting them. Because butter has lots of calories, I cut very thin slices, the kind that you can almost see through--so thin that the slice curls up as you cut down the stick.
While I was there in that beautiful rental house, using their random knives of questionable quality and sharpness, I discovered you can't do that thin slicing, calorie-saving, type of cut with any old knives. It's like the butter rebels. The other knives skip off the edge of the stick or make the slice crumble or cut at an angle so you have a thin on the top fat on the bottom slice. I tried, I wasted time, I grumbled under my breath.
I was very glad to get back home to my favorite knives. I think I even talked to the knives sitting all pretty in their wood block and told them that I was so glad to be back, cutting with my favorite knives--knives I said I'd own someday when I was just starting college.
The Big Boy Update: "All aboard the choo choo train, woo woo." This is a line from the start of a show with a very cute lady dancing and singing in a train conductor outfit. Out of the blue in the car yesterday he sang that introduction line.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Reading in the dark. The other night my husband went up to put my son to bed to find her in her bed, in the dark, looking very intently at a book she had found.
Someone Once Said: I was married before…and at first it was nice and then it was steady hell.
That day, I said to myself that I would some day buy some of those knives. They were expensive, I was a college student and I didn't need fancy knives for my dorm room at any rate. I could wait for now.
Years later I had another, much younger friend who was in college and decided to sell those same knives over the summer. He wasn't a good salesman I'm sorry to say. Had I seen his demonstration the first time, I would be living in a house with dull knives today most assuredly. I didn't care though because I was already planning on buying the knives, and although he knew that, he still had the most difficult time doing his demonstration due to nerves.
So I got those knives and there has never been a doubt in my mind since that day that the only knives I want to have around are Cutco. Yes, there are other very good quality knives that most likely are similar, but not unlike supporting your favorite sports team, changing allegiances to another team (or in my case knife company) is not something I ever see happening.
I've got even more knives now because I bought more over time. I found a nice man to marry (or maybe I should say "that was willing to marry me") who also loved and owned Cutco knives. We have their flatware and we eat with them every day. The regional sales lady recognizes me at the local festivals and shows because whenever I see the Cutco booth, I always stop in, say hello, ask what new products are available and then give testimonial to any potential customers there at the time.
But this doesn't have much to do with a butter slice, does it? You know how sometimes you don't realize how much you should appreciate something until you don't have it around? At our family ski vacation I was making one of my children's usual breakfast items, buttered English muffins. I start by putting little slices of butter on the muffins and then toasting them. Because butter has lots of calories, I cut very thin slices, the kind that you can almost see through--so thin that the slice curls up as you cut down the stick.
While I was there in that beautiful rental house, using their random knives of questionable quality and sharpness, I discovered you can't do that thin slicing, calorie-saving, type of cut with any old knives. It's like the butter rebels. The other knives skip off the edge of the stick or make the slice crumble or cut at an angle so you have a thin on the top fat on the bottom slice. I tried, I wasted time, I grumbled under my breath.
I was very glad to get back home to my favorite knives. I think I even talked to the knives sitting all pretty in their wood block and told them that I was so glad to be back, cutting with my favorite knives--knives I said I'd own someday when I was just starting college.
The Big Boy Update: "All aboard the choo choo train, woo woo." This is a line from the start of a show with a very cute lady dancing and singing in a train conductor outfit. Out of the blue in the car yesterday he sang that introduction line.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Reading in the dark. The other night my husband went up to put my son to bed to find her in her bed, in the dark, looking very intently at a book she had found.
Someone Once Said: I was married before…and at first it was nice and then it was steady hell.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
The Toy Store Maturation
We've been to the large toy and baby store many times with our children. I remember one of the first times my son was able to hold himself upright, I put him in a shopping cart and was so proud he could sit up and view his surroundings. Both children like the toy store and don't complain while we're there, but until yesterday, they were more passive family members, along for the ride.
As we were getting ready to go I told my son we were going to the toy store. He got excited. He wanted to go to a place where they had toys. He was happy to put on his jacket and when we got to the store he did his, "ABC's!" comment as he pointed to the large sign over the entrance spelling out the name of the store.
We got inside and suddenly, he was an active participant in the whole shopping process. My husband and I got our discussions and decisions done between my son's cries of excitement mingled with requests for objects. It sounded something like this:
My son, "I see the truck!"
Me, "I see the truck too."
"That's my truck."
"Is it? I didn't know you had a pink truck?"
"I want the ball. I want the big ball. I have the big ball."
"Maybe another time. We aren't shopping for balls today."
"Train! That's a train. I see the train. I see the motorcycle. I see the helicopter. I want the helicopter."
...and on and on...
He saw everything in the store. He doesn't have the filters we do that help us hone in on what we're looking for by ignoring anything that doesn't meet our current search criteria and he lets you know about everything he sees if it's something he knows the word for.
At this point it's relatively easy to tell him that we're not looking for that particular item right now and he mentally moves on quickly. Much of the time I just ignored him and he immediately found something else to ask about, want, own, hold, etc. Soon though, I fear the days of easy distraction will be over.
The Big Boy Update: The mystery Ho Ho. In addition to all the questions and requests at the toy store from above, he did ask for something that eluded me for a bit while we were in the book aisle. He was pointing and repeating, "I want the ho ho." I had no idea what a ho ho was but after offering multiple options it turns out he wanted a book from the, Jake and the Neverland Pirates Disney series. He must have seen it a few times, but I didn't think he'd paid attention. In the show they say things like "Yo ho, let's go!" and other statements with the word "ho" in it. That's the "ho ho" he was asking for. So I bought one of the books and today when I pulled it out he repeated the "ho ho" name again and sat down to tell me about the nouns in the book he knew.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Kissy. She decided to give me a kiss the other day. My cousin Rebecca taught her this a while back, and I had forgotten about it. It's very sweet, she slowly leans in to give you a very soft little baby kiss. It was so sweet I asked her to do it twice more.
Someone Once Said: Dirty linen is best kept in a cupboard.
As we were getting ready to go I told my son we were going to the toy store. He got excited. He wanted to go to a place where they had toys. He was happy to put on his jacket and when we got to the store he did his, "ABC's!" comment as he pointed to the large sign over the entrance spelling out the name of the store.
We got inside and suddenly, he was an active participant in the whole shopping process. My husband and I got our discussions and decisions done between my son's cries of excitement mingled with requests for objects. It sounded something like this:
My son, "I see the truck!"
Me, "I see the truck too."
"That's my truck."
"Is it? I didn't know you had a pink truck?"
"I want the ball. I want the big ball. I have the big ball."
"Maybe another time. We aren't shopping for balls today."
"Train! That's a train. I see the train. I see the motorcycle. I see the helicopter. I want the helicopter."
...and on and on...
He saw everything in the store. He doesn't have the filters we do that help us hone in on what we're looking for by ignoring anything that doesn't meet our current search criteria and he lets you know about everything he sees if it's something he knows the word for.
At this point it's relatively easy to tell him that we're not looking for that particular item right now and he mentally moves on quickly. Much of the time I just ignored him and he immediately found something else to ask about, want, own, hold, etc. Soon though, I fear the days of easy distraction will be over.
The Big Boy Update: The mystery Ho Ho. In addition to all the questions and requests at the toy store from above, he did ask for something that eluded me for a bit while we were in the book aisle. He was pointing and repeating, "I want the ho ho." I had no idea what a ho ho was but after offering multiple options it turns out he wanted a book from the, Jake and the Neverland Pirates Disney series. He must have seen it a few times, but I didn't think he'd paid attention. In the show they say things like "Yo ho, let's go!" and other statements with the word "ho" in it. That's the "ho ho" he was asking for. So I bought one of the books and today when I pulled it out he repeated the "ho ho" name again and sat down to tell me about the nouns in the book he knew.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Kissy. She decided to give me a kiss the other day. My cousin Rebecca taught her this a while back, and I had forgotten about it. It's very sweet, she slowly leans in to give you a very soft little baby kiss. It was so sweet I asked her to do it twice more.
Someone Once Said: Dirty linen is best kept in a cupboard.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Ceiling Wax
Puff the magic dragon lived by the sea. Remember him? There was a song and Puff was a very real dragon to me when I was a child. I haven't thought about him in a long time but something triggered that memory the other evening and I started singing the song again.
I am doing everything I can right now to not look up the song or the dragon or any details about the story (was there a story or was it just a song?) because as soon as I do, the memories I have will be modified and updated and I want to remember first. Then, I can go back and find out just how wrong or misplaced or skewed my memories were.
So there was the song, and then there was a movie that combined a cartoon drawn dragon named Pete overlaid on a normal movie. There was a boy and he could see Pete and they were at the beach and lived in a lighthouse, only Pete lived in a cave I think. There was some story, but I don't remember that part. I do remember that when I sang the Puff the Magic Dragon song, I always thought about that dragon Pete.
Back to the song though...and the lyrics and the words that were tough on a small girl who didn't understand their meaning. Puff, "frolicked in the autumn mists in a land called Honalee" if I'm remembering it correctly. Where is Honalee? And is that what the word was anyway or is that what I thought it said? There was no Wikipedia or internet for quick look up back then.
But the one thing I remember most was that there was "ceiling wax" in one of the lines. I can't remember the whole line right now and darn it, I'm going to have to go find the song when I get done writing this but enough about my degrading memories from my youth.
You know how you build a mental image of something in your mind and if you find out your mental image doesn't match the actual facts it can be hard to update that image? So there was ceiling wax and I had all kinds of ideas about why you might put wax on the ceiling and how you would apply it and what colors it might be (it was beeswax colored, obviously.)
One day I asked my mother about this mystery ceiling wax for more information only to find out that the song was talking about something called "sealing wax" and it was for closing an envelope and, well, that just made no sense. None at all. She must be wrong. I was certain of it.
It's fun to remember those innocent things from childhood; those little things that make no difference or sense and yet left a mark on you in some way. And now that I'm done writing about ceiling wax, I need to go listen to the song...
The Big Boy Update: It's ABC's! As adults we can read, or at least I hope you can if you're currently staring at this blog post. It's hard to imagine a world in which we can't read or even know that little black lines can represent thoughts and words. Children have to learn language both spoken and written. I was wearing my Luxor sweatshirt the other day when my son pointed to the Luxor word on the front of the shirt and said "ABC's!" I told him he was right and I was proud of him for knowing those were ABC letters.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Gramps soup. She is a lover of food, or should I say "cracku" as that's what she terms all things food at this point. My father made some bean soup last week and my mother brought some over for us. My son liked it, but my daughter loved it. She finished off his bowl when he had moved on to other food pursuits.
Fitness Update: Day three with our personal trainer and he worked us harder, but not for much longer. We had to do more recovery between sets. I really want to run sometime, but I'm not sure if I'll make it out tomorrow morning if the last two workouts are any indication on how I'll feel tomorrow.
Someone Once Said: All any philosopher ever comes out with is what he walked in with—except for self-deluders who prove their assumptions by their conclusions.
I am doing everything I can right now to not look up the song or the dragon or any details about the story (was there a story or was it just a song?) because as soon as I do, the memories I have will be modified and updated and I want to remember first. Then, I can go back and find out just how wrong or misplaced or skewed my memories were.
So there was the song, and then there was a movie that combined a cartoon drawn dragon named Pete overlaid on a normal movie. There was a boy and he could see Pete and they were at the beach and lived in a lighthouse, only Pete lived in a cave I think. There was some story, but I don't remember that part. I do remember that when I sang the Puff the Magic Dragon song, I always thought about that dragon Pete.
Back to the song though...and the lyrics and the words that were tough on a small girl who didn't understand their meaning. Puff, "frolicked in the autumn mists in a land called Honalee" if I'm remembering it correctly. Where is Honalee? And is that what the word was anyway or is that what I thought it said? There was no Wikipedia or internet for quick look up back then.
But the one thing I remember most was that there was "ceiling wax" in one of the lines. I can't remember the whole line right now and darn it, I'm going to have to go find the song when I get done writing this but enough about my degrading memories from my youth.
You know how you build a mental image of something in your mind and if you find out your mental image doesn't match the actual facts it can be hard to update that image? So there was ceiling wax and I had all kinds of ideas about why you might put wax on the ceiling and how you would apply it and what colors it might be (it was beeswax colored, obviously.)
One day I asked my mother about this mystery ceiling wax for more information only to find out that the song was talking about something called "sealing wax" and it was for closing an envelope and, well, that just made no sense. None at all. She must be wrong. I was certain of it.
It's fun to remember those innocent things from childhood; those little things that make no difference or sense and yet left a mark on you in some way. And now that I'm done writing about ceiling wax, I need to go listen to the song...
The Big Boy Update: It's ABC's! As adults we can read, or at least I hope you can if you're currently staring at this blog post. It's hard to imagine a world in which we can't read or even know that little black lines can represent thoughts and words. Children have to learn language both spoken and written. I was wearing my Luxor sweatshirt the other day when my son pointed to the Luxor word on the front of the shirt and said "ABC's!" I told him he was right and I was proud of him for knowing those were ABC letters.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Gramps soup. She is a lover of food, or should I say "cracku" as that's what she terms all things food at this point. My father made some bean soup last week and my mother brought some over for us. My son liked it, but my daughter loved it. She finished off his bowl when he had moved on to other food pursuits.
Fitness Update: Day three with our personal trainer and he worked us harder, but not for much longer. We had to do more recovery between sets. I really want to run sometime, but I'm not sure if I'll make it out tomorrow morning if the last two workouts are any indication on how I'll feel tomorrow.
Someone Once Said: All any philosopher ever comes out with is what he walked in with—except for self-deluders who prove their assumptions by their conclusions.