At our children's school, they're taught cursive writing instead of print. The teaching of cursive is going away in some educational settings, which some believe is a disservice to the children. For me, I'm glad our children are being taught cursive. I like cursive. Having to write in print is frustratingly slow.
That being said, I realized the other day that my cursive isn't correct cursive. (Nor is my typing for that matter as my fingers don't follow strict typing rules.) When I write, I do a combination of cursive and non-cursive. I thought however, I most likely could write in proper cursive if needed, which it turned out to be not true.
I was substituting at school last week. Knowing that cursive is taught there, I thought I would write two of the student's names on the drawing work they were doing. These were little toddlers, both just two, but they were interested in watching me write out their name. One was Jaxon and the other was Alex. I wrote Alex's name first and ran into a problem: how do you write a cursive x?
I figured it out on the second try, but it didn't come naturally. When I got to the fourth letter as I thought to myself, "how do I flow into an 'x'? Jason's name proved a second challenge, because I had to finish the 'x' and then move on to another letter. I decided I'd need to do more analysis of my poor cursive skills when I got home.
The next day I got out a notepad and just started writing random sentences in cursive. It didn't come naturally. It was hard. And I had bad habits. I pulled up a cursive alphabet on my phone to verify some letter connection issues I was having. I also had problems with some specific letters. It turns out I don't like waiting to cross the t's and dot the i's. I had mid-word, t-crossing strategies worked into my poor penmanship with decades of bad habit reinforcement.
I've always said I have poor penmanship. Maybe it's because I have technically poor penmanship. I'm going to have to go back to school and re-learn cursive. Perhaps as my children learn, they'll teach me too.
The Big Boy Update: Minecraft. Have you heard of the Minecraft craze? It was a few years back but it's still a big thing. Adults loved it and then children loved it. My husband made a Minecraft cake for one of our friends on the occasion of his sixth birthday. The other day during a "happy hour snow-in" impromptu party our neighbors had, a five-year-old introduced my son to Minecraft on his father's phone. My son loved it. I had been given it as a gift from Uncle Jonathan for Christmas a few years back so when we got home I downloaded it on the iPad and let my son have a go. He chopped down trees, dug holes, killed prey for food and set fire to a lot of things. He loved it—especially the setting fire to the forest part.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: "Yay, I love X!" This is a common saying of late with my daughter. She loves lots of things. If you say, "we're having chicken for dinner," she'll exclaim that she loves chicken. If you say it's time for a bath she might tell you she loves baths. It's very charming. She's a very happy child.
Fitness Update: I ran eleven miles today. It was so easy. I haven't exercised in, what, two weeks now? We did the trial marathon run and then things happened, mostly weather things, and I haven't done more than a workout or two since. The first of our marathons is in two weeks. I suppose all that rest had my body ready to exercise. More runs are in plan, hopefully long runs.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
When They're Hungry...
...they eat. My children (and I've heard children in general) are sometimes very hungry and sometimes not hungry at all. We decided to let hungry children eat and if they're not hungry, that that's okay too.
Tonight my daughter sat at the bar with her bowl of rice and Chinese food and quietly ate a full bowl, working hard to get the last bits of rice on her spoon. That was some time ago. My son hasn't even wanted us to serve his food. He may eat very little tonight or possibly none at all because he ate a big lunch.
Tomorrow my son will be hungry at breakfast; my daughter may take a few bites and then wander off to play with toys. It balances out.
They still have to eat the food choices we offer (or let them select.) They don't get to throw a tantrum and pick something unhealthy, but they don't have to finish their plates if they're full.
The Big Boy Update: My husband, watching my son wiggle in a telling way, asked: "do you have to go potty?" My son said, "no, I'm dancing to my own music."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has this little peep sound she makes when she's happy. Sometimes in the morning I'll hear her make that sound as she's coming down the stairs and I'll know it's her and not her brother that's woken up first.
Tonight my daughter sat at the bar with her bowl of rice and Chinese food and quietly ate a full bowl, working hard to get the last bits of rice on her spoon. That was some time ago. My son hasn't even wanted us to serve his food. He may eat very little tonight or possibly none at all because he ate a big lunch.
Tomorrow my son will be hungry at breakfast; my daughter may take a few bites and then wander off to play with toys. It balances out.
They still have to eat the food choices we offer (or let them select.) They don't get to throw a tantrum and pick something unhealthy, but they don't have to finish their plates if they're full.
The Big Boy Update: My husband, watching my son wiggle in a telling way, asked: "do you have to go potty?" My son said, "no, I'm dancing to my own music."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has this little peep sound she makes when she's happy. Sometimes in the morning I'll hear her make that sound as she's coming down the stairs and I'll know it's her and not her brother that's woken up first.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Snice and Row
First we had the snow that wasn't really snow. It was like ice that masqueraded as snow. My children were excited because it looked like snow and they thought it was snow, but I knew it was something altogether less fun and more hazardous. It was like snow plus ice or, "snice."
That hazardous ice from last week turned out to be a lot of fun from a sledding perspective. When it did melt, it was quick and done with. It wasn't too long until another weather front promised not only snow, but lots of it. There was to be the teaser the night before of a little more or less than an inch. It came and it was the real deal. It was soft and fluffy and fun to play with and we made snow cream and it was everything fun snow should be, only there wasn't much of it.
This too, melted, but the next day there was the promise of up to twelve inches (in some forecasts.) Forecasts of twelve inches in the south is almost always wishful thinking and the actual depth we got by morning was more like three inches. Only it was a messy three inches.
The first several hours the temperature was above freezing so the snow was more like rain plus snow or, "row." It fell down fast in big snow flake clumps and thudded into the ground. It stuck to everything and covered things with a slurpy layer of white stuff. This went on until close to midnight. I would look out the window and see how fast the precipitation was falling only to see snow descending at almost rain-like speeds. But eventually there was snow.
About that time I went to sleep. It wasn't all snow though because as I rolled over in the night I would hear precipitation hitting the house. Snow doesn't make sounds. At any rate, in the morning we had a nice covering of sticky, almost melting snow. We also had no power. Lots of people had no power and it didn't look like we were going to have power for some time so we got dressed and went out into the snow.
The sticky snow made snowballs and snowman mounds exceptionally easy. It rolled up so well it took some of the grass with it because snow that sticky just adheres to everything. We went outside and had fun playing in it.
We came inside to warm up in front of the gas fireplace because the power wasn't back on yet. Then we got a call from my running friend that they were sledding in their back yard and we should come over. We did and we sledded and made a huge snow fort/igloo thing with the crazy snow that loved nothing more than to pile together into large globs and connect to other piles of snow.
We came home and put our wet clothes in front of the fireplace because we still didn't have power. Then we got another message just before dinner saying our other neighbor was having a get together at their fire pit and to come on over. We went and had pizza and marshmallows roasted over the fire. It grew dark and we wondered if we would have power before tomorrow and then suddenly, all the houses were lit again. We all cheered, packed up and headed home.
Tomorrow most of the snow will melt, but today we made the most of the weather with friends outdoors.
The Big Boy Update: My son wet his pants for the first time in a long time today. He was so focused on the lego model he didn't take time to go. My husband said to him, "you need to practice listening to your body." My son replied, "but my body doesn't want to listen to me."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter told me, "I need carrots to make me happy." I told her by all means, she should go to the refrigerator and get some carrots in that case.
That hazardous ice from last week turned out to be a lot of fun from a sledding perspective. When it did melt, it was quick and done with. It wasn't too long until another weather front promised not only snow, but lots of it. There was to be the teaser the night before of a little more or less than an inch. It came and it was the real deal. It was soft and fluffy and fun to play with and we made snow cream and it was everything fun snow should be, only there wasn't much of it.
This too, melted, but the next day there was the promise of up to twelve inches (in some forecasts.) Forecasts of twelve inches in the south is almost always wishful thinking and the actual depth we got by morning was more like three inches. Only it was a messy three inches.
The first several hours the temperature was above freezing so the snow was more like rain plus snow or, "row." It fell down fast in big snow flake clumps and thudded into the ground. It stuck to everything and covered things with a slurpy layer of white stuff. This went on until close to midnight. I would look out the window and see how fast the precipitation was falling only to see snow descending at almost rain-like speeds. But eventually there was snow.
About that time I went to sleep. It wasn't all snow though because as I rolled over in the night I would hear precipitation hitting the house. Snow doesn't make sounds. At any rate, in the morning we had a nice covering of sticky, almost melting snow. We also had no power. Lots of people had no power and it didn't look like we were going to have power for some time so we got dressed and went out into the snow.
The sticky snow made snowballs and snowman mounds exceptionally easy. It rolled up so well it took some of the grass with it because snow that sticky just adheres to everything. We went outside and had fun playing in it.
We came inside to warm up in front of the gas fireplace because the power wasn't back on yet. Then we got a call from my running friend that they were sledding in their back yard and we should come over. We did and we sledded and made a huge snow fort/igloo thing with the crazy snow that loved nothing more than to pile together into large globs and connect to other piles of snow.
We came home and put our wet clothes in front of the fireplace because we still didn't have power. Then we got another message just before dinner saying our other neighbor was having a get together at their fire pit and to come on over. We went and had pizza and marshmallows roasted over the fire. It grew dark and we wondered if we would have power before tomorrow and then suddenly, all the houses were lit again. We all cheered, packed up and headed home.
Tomorrow most of the snow will melt, but today we made the most of the weather with friends outdoors.
The Big Boy Update: My son wet his pants for the first time in a long time today. He was so focused on the lego model he didn't take time to go. My husband said to him, "you need to practice listening to your body." My son replied, "but my body doesn't want to listen to me."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter told me, "I need carrots to make me happy." I told her by all means, she should go to the refrigerator and get some carrots in that case.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
The Piles of Paper
My husband doesn't like to do paperwork. He likes to take all the papers and pile them into a pile. Sometimes, when that pile gets tall enough and he still doesn't want to do paperwork, he starts a second pile. Eventually, the piles have to be dealt with and when those times come around, he does this spreading out, pile after pile process that eventually ends up with all the papers getting to the location they need to be file, trashed, mailed, paid, shared or shredded.
I came downstairs the other day to see the entire table covered with piles with overflowing piles on the floor and I had a flashback to being at home growing up. My father collected articles, cartoons, mail, manuals, magazines and other things and made pile after pile in our basement. Then, after the piles had gotten big enough or some tolerance level for clutter had been exceeded (or perhaps he just needed to find something,) he'd go through it all, making piles all over the desks and floor, and eventually it would all be put up somewhere in file cabinets or other locations.
As I looked at my husband doing the very same thing, I thought, "I think I've married my father."
The Big Boy and Tiny Girl Imaginary Friend Update: Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah are big friends of my children. They like to play games and the people they're rescuing or helping or going to see or playing with are commonly these two imaginary people. They don't point to them and say they're, "right over there," and they've never tried to talk to them directly or introduce them to us, but they do factor in to their playing.
The other character that's not as big, but hasn't gone away, is Pahmer. He's for some reason separate from Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah. Whereas they seem to need help or to be rescued, Pahmer seems to be one of the helpers or experts. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure Pahmer has ever met Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah, now that I think of it.
I came downstairs the other day to see the entire table covered with piles with overflowing piles on the floor and I had a flashback to being at home growing up. My father collected articles, cartoons, mail, manuals, magazines and other things and made pile after pile in our basement. Then, after the piles had gotten big enough or some tolerance level for clutter had been exceeded (or perhaps he just needed to find something,) he'd go through it all, making piles all over the desks and floor, and eventually it would all be put up somewhere in file cabinets or other locations.
As I looked at my husband doing the very same thing, I thought, "I think I've married my father."
The Big Boy and Tiny Girl Imaginary Friend Update: Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah are big friends of my children. They like to play games and the people they're rescuing or helping or going to see or playing with are commonly these two imaginary people. They don't point to them and say they're, "right over there," and they've never tried to talk to them directly or introduce them to us, but they do factor in to their playing.
The other character that's not as big, but hasn't gone away, is Pahmer. He's for some reason separate from Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah. Whereas they seem to need help or to be rescued, Pahmer seems to be one of the helpers or experts. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure Pahmer has ever met Ghi Ghi and Gah Gah, now that I think of it.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Snow Angles and Snow Cream
School was cancelled early today due to snow. We didn't get that much snow, but we got enough light, fluffy snow to go outside and have fun playing in it.
My children spent lots of time outside today with some of their friends that live in nearby houses. We have a friend staying with us who joined in the fun and took some good pictures of the children playing in the snow and making snow angles. This is the first year I think my daughter has had any fun at all in the snow; in the past I think she's been more cold than anything. I'm not sure if my son has met cold yet, because he doesn't ever seem to suffer from it.
I went out earlier in the season and bought snow gear for both children because, darn it, I wanted to get some snow and when it arrived I wanted to be prepared. We haven't had a lot of bad weather, but the snow jumpers and boots have made a big difference. The children can get dressed quickly and stay warm while they're outside. I got gear that will hopefully last for two years, which may mean a total of four inches of snow fun across the two winters given the average accumulation we get in these parts. Still, snow fun was had today, even if it wasn't very deep.
Tonight after dinner we made snow cream. It is dead easy to make and even my three-year-old and four-year-old couldn't mess it up. Scoop fluffy snow into a bowl. Add milk. Add sugar. Add vanilla. Aside from the vanilla, the proportions of everything else are very flexible. Oh, and you have to stir. I think the children liked stirring the most. Well, aside from the eating part.
The Big Boy Update: My son curls up on his chair at meals a lot lately in the fetal position. I'm not sure why he does this, but he sits back up in a minute or two and then carries on with his meal. Tonight he told us he was in, "rock mode." This may be an newly discovered Transformers transformation my son has made up.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: While my son likes to curl up in a ball at the table on his chair, my daughter likes to get up and bounce around. Or dance. I remember being a child thinking how hard it was to sit in a chair and sit still.
My children spent lots of time outside today with some of their friends that live in nearby houses. We have a friend staying with us who joined in the fun and took some good pictures of the children playing in the snow and making snow angles. This is the first year I think my daughter has had any fun at all in the snow; in the past I think she's been more cold than anything. I'm not sure if my son has met cold yet, because he doesn't ever seem to suffer from it.
I went out earlier in the season and bought snow gear for both children because, darn it, I wanted to get some snow and when it arrived I wanted to be prepared. We haven't had a lot of bad weather, but the snow jumpers and boots have made a big difference. The children can get dressed quickly and stay warm while they're outside. I got gear that will hopefully last for two years, which may mean a total of four inches of snow fun across the two winters given the average accumulation we get in these parts. Still, snow fun was had today, even if it wasn't very deep.
Tonight after dinner we made snow cream. It is dead easy to make and even my three-year-old and four-year-old couldn't mess it up. Scoop fluffy snow into a bowl. Add milk. Add sugar. Add vanilla. Aside from the vanilla, the proportions of everything else are very flexible. Oh, and you have to stir. I think the children liked stirring the most. Well, aside from the eating part.
The Big Boy Update: My son curls up on his chair at meals a lot lately in the fetal position. I'm not sure why he does this, but he sits back up in a minute or two and then carries on with his meal. Tonight he told us he was in, "rock mode." This may be an newly discovered Transformers transformation my son has made up.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: While my son likes to curl up in a ball at the table on his chair, my daughter likes to get up and bounce around. Or dance. I remember being a child thinking how hard it was to sit in a chair and sit still.
Monday, February 23, 2015
The Strange Teeth
Did I mention I got my implants put in? It's been a very long journey from losing the first tooth, #15, several years ago and then had all that fun with it's neighbor, #14, with the crown, root canal, second root canal, third root canal, root amputation and then extraction. Then there was four months of waiting to put the implant screws in and then another six months of waiting until the appliance component (the teeth) could be put on. All in all, it's been a long time since I've really been able to chew on the left side well.
Now I have a full set of teeth (or the high-tech equivalent) and it's been nice to chew all over my mouth again. But the implants feel different.
I asked my dentist about it the other night over a game of pinball. Remember the new pinball machine? My neighbor (who is also my dentist) is a pinball enthusiast so at night he, my husband and I have been seeing who can beat the other's high scores.
I asked him about the different feel. He said that a tooth with a root canal doesn't have feeling inside the tooth, but the nerves surrounding the tooth and the connective tissues that hold the tooth in place do give sensations to us when we chew. An implant has none of that so it does feel different when you chew on it.
He told me I'd get used to it. My father told me the same thing. Every day I'm noticing it a bit less. Regardless of how it feels, it is just so nice to have teeth back in spots where there was a big gap for a long time.
The Big Boy Update: My son has a Sound Book at school. It represents the letters he has "mastered" in the Montessori school work. This is more than just recognizing and saying the letter. It's a process they go through to understand the lower-case cursive version of the letter and the sound the letter makes (not the name of the letter.) His sound book contains M, A and S. When he gets further along he'll have not only letters but sound combinations of two letters.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter loves the footie pajamas. She loves to put them on and wear them before bed. Then she gets in bed and wants to take them off because, "momma, I'm so hot." We've had to change her out into non-footed sleep-wear almost every time, but it hasn't stopped her from loving the footed pajamas.
Now I have a full set of teeth (or the high-tech equivalent) and it's been nice to chew all over my mouth again. But the implants feel different.
I asked my dentist about it the other night over a game of pinball. Remember the new pinball machine? My neighbor (who is also my dentist) is a pinball enthusiast so at night he, my husband and I have been seeing who can beat the other's high scores.
I asked him about the different feel. He said that a tooth with a root canal doesn't have feeling inside the tooth, but the nerves surrounding the tooth and the connective tissues that hold the tooth in place do give sensations to us when we chew. An implant has none of that so it does feel different when you chew on it.
He told me I'd get used to it. My father told me the same thing. Every day I'm noticing it a bit less. Regardless of how it feels, it is just so nice to have teeth back in spots where there was a big gap for a long time.
The Big Boy Update: My son has a Sound Book at school. It represents the letters he has "mastered" in the Montessori school work. This is more than just recognizing and saying the letter. It's a process they go through to understand the lower-case cursive version of the letter and the sound the letter makes (not the name of the letter.) His sound book contains M, A and S. When he gets further along he'll have not only letters but sound combinations of two letters.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter loves the footie pajamas. She loves to put them on and wear them before bed. Then she gets in bed and wants to take them off because, "momma, I'm so hot." We've had to change her out into non-footed sleep-wear almost every time, but it hasn't stopped her from loving the footed pajamas.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
The Hot Air Vent
I had a flash back to my childhood yesterday when I walked into our bathroom and saw my daughter huddled around the hot air vent. She was at first sitting on it and then, when she realized it would blow her hair up all around her, she lay down on the floor and had just her face over the vent. She and I had fun playing with the vent and the hot air coming out of it together.
It brought back memories of my childhood and early, cold, winter mornings. My mother would come in and tell me it was time to get up. I remember not wanting to get out of my warm bed. I compromised by getting out of bed and climbing under the desk where the heat vent was. I would lie on top of it and try to get warm enough to muster the energy to get clothes on and come to breakfast.
Although now that I think of it, I have no idea if I got dressed before I went to breakfast or afterwards? Maybe my mother will remember. I'll have to ask her tomorrow.
The Big Boy Update: My son loves to work with legos. Ever since we realized at Christmas that he could build and be successful with the Duplo blocks we've had them out in their bedroom. They are now all over the house. "birthday cakes" are a popular project with vehicles and towers being close seconds.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter said to me the other day, "mom, you and dad are my best friends."
It brought back memories of my childhood and early, cold, winter mornings. My mother would come in and tell me it was time to get up. I remember not wanting to get out of my warm bed. I compromised by getting out of bed and climbing under the desk where the heat vent was. I would lie on top of it and try to get warm enough to muster the energy to get clothes on and come to breakfast.
Although now that I think of it, I have no idea if I got dressed before I went to breakfast or afterwards? Maybe my mother will remember. I'll have to ask her tomorrow.
The Big Boy Update: My son loves to work with legos. Ever since we realized at Christmas that he could build and be successful with the Duplo blocks we've had them out in their bedroom. They are now all over the house. "birthday cakes" are a popular project with vehicles and towers being close seconds.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter said to me the other day, "mom, you and dad are my best friends."
Saturday, February 21, 2015
The Invisible Clock That Ticks
There are so many things in my life I take for granted. There are things I use or take advantage of on an hourly basis that I don't even think about and yet if they were gone I'd notice it quickly and possibly miss it dearly.
For example, our heating units. I don't think about them overly much, but if they were to stop working during this well-below freezing weather we're having, we'd not only notice it, we'd be sad and cold. I'm grateful our heating systems work without any issues...now that I'm thinking about them.
Then let's take the clock in our bathroom. I have no idea how many times I look at that clock. It's positioned so it's easy to see from the bedroom and right in line with everything in the bathroom. In the mornings when we're getting ready for school, I'm sure I must look at the clock many times. If someone took it down for only a day, how many times would I miss it?
Last night I got in bed to go to sleep. I heard something. Something strange. It was a ticking noise. "Wait a minute," I thought, "that's the clock in the bathroom ticking." I then thought, "I don't remember it ticking." But that didn't make sense. It needed to tick to tell the time correctly. So that means it's been ticking every night and all day since it's been there. And that means my mind completely ignores the sound.
Filtering. Our brains do it so well, sometimes it surprises us. I bring this up because children's brains haven't learned to filter yet. You see this in how they notice everything; how they make connections; how they aren't in a hurry to get anywhere because they're seeing the world as it is now, not thinking about how they need to get in the car because we're going to be five minutes late to the birthday party.
But I digress in the most random of ways. At any rate, I have a clock that ticks, that I hear tick every day, that I didn't know ticked. Interesting.
The Big Boy Update: My husband made ribs for dinner tonight and my parents joined us for the meal. To make the ribs, he goes through a long process with lots of baking and basting. We all agreed it was well worth it as we sat with sticky fingers eating our dinners. The adults were discussing with the children what types of ice cream were available for those that were members of the clean plate club. There was conversation about how you didn't have to eat the bones to qualify for the clean plate club. Eventually we all were sitting in front of a bowl of ice cream. My son looked at his bowl and said, "this ice cream doesn't have any bones in it."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Today my mother was watching the children. She told my daughter she needed to go to the potty and was getting up to leave their bedroom. My daughter said to her, "wait, we have a potty in here you can use," and directed my mother to their bathroom. As my mother was getting ready to sit down on the toilet, my daughter said to her, "when you finish, you can put one of these on," and pointed to the basket of children's underpants sitting beside the toilet. Then she looked thoughtful and said, "although now I think it's a little too small for you."
Fitness Update: Two updates today. First, five miles in twenty-three degree weather—chilly! Second, I met my personal weight-loss goal from the first of the year today. This was a challenge from my mother-in-law for any of our family who wanted to take her up on the challenge. I had a smaller amount to lose, so it didn't take me that long to get there. The challenge is to lose the weight and then keep it off until the end of the year. I hear there is to be a prize.
For example, our heating units. I don't think about them overly much, but if they were to stop working during this well-below freezing weather we're having, we'd not only notice it, we'd be sad and cold. I'm grateful our heating systems work without any issues...now that I'm thinking about them.
Then let's take the clock in our bathroom. I have no idea how many times I look at that clock. It's positioned so it's easy to see from the bedroom and right in line with everything in the bathroom. In the mornings when we're getting ready for school, I'm sure I must look at the clock many times. If someone took it down for only a day, how many times would I miss it?
Last night I got in bed to go to sleep. I heard something. Something strange. It was a ticking noise. "Wait a minute," I thought, "that's the clock in the bathroom ticking." I then thought, "I don't remember it ticking." But that didn't make sense. It needed to tick to tell the time correctly. So that means it's been ticking every night and all day since it's been there. And that means my mind completely ignores the sound.
Filtering. Our brains do it so well, sometimes it surprises us. I bring this up because children's brains haven't learned to filter yet. You see this in how they notice everything; how they make connections; how they aren't in a hurry to get anywhere because they're seeing the world as it is now, not thinking about how they need to get in the car because we're going to be five minutes late to the birthday party.
But I digress in the most random of ways. At any rate, I have a clock that ticks, that I hear tick every day, that I didn't know ticked. Interesting.
The Big Boy Update: My husband made ribs for dinner tonight and my parents joined us for the meal. To make the ribs, he goes through a long process with lots of baking and basting. We all agreed it was well worth it as we sat with sticky fingers eating our dinners. The adults were discussing with the children what types of ice cream were available for those that were members of the clean plate club. There was conversation about how you didn't have to eat the bones to qualify for the clean plate club. Eventually we all were sitting in front of a bowl of ice cream. My son looked at his bowl and said, "this ice cream doesn't have any bones in it."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Today my mother was watching the children. She told my daughter she needed to go to the potty and was getting up to leave their bedroom. My daughter said to her, "wait, we have a potty in here you can use," and directed my mother to their bathroom. As my mother was getting ready to sit down on the toilet, my daughter said to her, "when you finish, you can put one of these on," and pointed to the basket of children's underpants sitting beside the toilet. Then she looked thoughtful and said, "although now I think it's a little too small for you."
Fitness Update: Two updates today. First, five miles in twenty-three degree weather—chilly! Second, I met my personal weight-loss goal from the first of the year today. This was a challenge from my mother-in-law for any of our family who wanted to take her up on the challenge. I had a smaller amount to lose, so it didn't take me that long to get there. The challenge is to lose the weight and then keep it off until the end of the year. I hear there is to be a prize.
Friday, February 20, 2015
Eighty and Seventeen
On the way to school this morning I talked to my children about where they were going after school because today was their very first visit to the dentist. I told them their dentist was named Brooke and she lived in our neighborhood and had two little girls who were a lot like them. I explained that Brooke was going to look at their teeth and count them and see if they were clean. I let them know that she was an expert and she would see if they'd been brushing the breakfast and snack and dessert off their teeth when they brushed.
My children were pretty excited about the visit. The thing they were most interested in was having the dentist count their teeth. I asked them if they knew how many teeth they had? I was immediately rewarded by the sound of both children counting out loud in muffled tones because their fingers were in their mouths feeling each tooth.
My son declared he had one-hundred teeth. I told him that sounded like a very full mouth. In the meantime, my daughter had finished counting and let us know she had seventeen teeth. With the large disparity in numbers, my son elected to re-count and came up with a confident and definitive count of eighty teeth.
After school they ate lunch in the car and we drove to the dentist's office. I had no idea how it was going to go, but they were both terrific. Not one bit of fear. There was no anxiety and if anything, an overabundance of excitement.
Their hygienist checked and cleaned their teeth and then they took some X-rays. I am going to digress at this point because there was an exciting tool I just have to mention: they had a hand-held X-ray machine that looked just like this:
I'd never seen one smaller than a room-installed contraption, so this thing was my favorite part of the visit. The hygienist said the dosage of X-rays is so low that eating a banana gave the equivalent in radiation exposure. (I haven't looked that one up for verification, but it sure is an interesting thought.)
My children sat in the dental chairs and smiled. They opened their mouths and let the hygienist clean their teeth. Brooke, their dentist, came over and looked at everything and told them they were doing a good job of brushing. Then they each received two special coins to get prizes out of a gum ball-like machine that dispensed everything but candy and gum.
We go back in six months. I think they'll look forward to seeing Brooke and their hygienist again.
The Big Boy Update: My son loved the entire experience at the dentist today. He particularly liked the machines that gave out prizes. While his sister was busy with the hygienist, he rotated the machines around and around and asked me what each of the things were. Oh, and do you remember when he fell and his tooth turned dark and then lightened later on? The X-ray showed what Brooke said they call a, "spontaneous root canal." It looks like there was damage to the nerve so the tooth filled in the nerve canal with harder material to solve the problem. She said this is great news and that the tooth is completely fine and should remain so until it falls out in a few years to make way for the permanent tooth.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was interested in everything that happened at the dentist. Her brother went first and she wanted to be right there, watching everything the hygienist did to clean his teeth. She was standing right beside him, watching every step. She was ready for her turn when it came and selected the strawberry tooth polish (her brother picked chocolate.) She was very excited to have her teeth cleaned as you can see from the picture...
My children were pretty excited about the visit. The thing they were most interested in was having the dentist count their teeth. I asked them if they knew how many teeth they had? I was immediately rewarded by the sound of both children counting out loud in muffled tones because their fingers were in their mouths feeling each tooth.
My son declared he had one-hundred teeth. I told him that sounded like a very full mouth. In the meantime, my daughter had finished counting and let us know she had seventeen teeth. With the large disparity in numbers, my son elected to re-count and came up with a confident and definitive count of eighty teeth.
After school they ate lunch in the car and we drove to the dentist's office. I had no idea how it was going to go, but they were both terrific. Not one bit of fear. There was no anxiety and if anything, an overabundance of excitement.
Their hygienist checked and cleaned their teeth and then they took some X-rays. I am going to digress at this point because there was an exciting tool I just have to mention: they had a hand-held X-ray machine that looked just like this:
I'd never seen one smaller than a room-installed contraption, so this thing was my favorite part of the visit. The hygienist said the dosage of X-rays is so low that eating a banana gave the equivalent in radiation exposure. (I haven't looked that one up for verification, but it sure is an interesting thought.)
My children sat in the dental chairs and smiled. They opened their mouths and let the hygienist clean their teeth. Brooke, their dentist, came over and looked at everything and told them they were doing a good job of brushing. Then they each received two special coins to get prizes out of a gum ball-like machine that dispensed everything but candy and gum.
We go back in six months. I think they'll look forward to seeing Brooke and their hygienist again.
The Big Boy Update: My son loved the entire experience at the dentist today. He particularly liked the machines that gave out prizes. While his sister was busy with the hygienist, he rotated the machines around and around and asked me what each of the things were. Oh, and do you remember when he fell and his tooth turned dark and then lightened later on? The X-ray showed what Brooke said they call a, "spontaneous root canal." It looks like there was damage to the nerve so the tooth filled in the nerve canal with harder material to solve the problem. She said this is great news and that the tooth is completely fine and should remain so until it falls out in a few years to make way for the permanent tooth.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter was interested in everything that happened at the dentist. Her brother went first and she wanted to be right there, watching everything the hygienist did to clean his teeth. She was standing right beside him, watching every step. She was ready for her turn when it came and selected the strawberry tooth polish (her brother picked chocolate.) She was very excited to have her teeth cleaned as you can see from the picture...
Thursday, February 19, 2015
If You Can't Spell It...
...You Can't Find It.
This rarely happens in the technology-omnipresent society we live in today. You don't really need to know how to spell anything any more. You can typo things left and right and autocorrect will do a splendid job of correcting the spelling into either the word you were intending or some other word that is most likely funny and entirely unrelated to what you wanted to say.
If you know a little something about what you're interested in, but not more than a few words or even two words that have to do with the thing you're interested in, odds are you can still find the information with ease. The text, "invertebrate s" will suggest "invertebrate species" without you even breaking a sweat. With the information at your fingertips, you can help your small child understand about the sea star with pictures and a lot of fancy words.
You don't have to spell well either. You can enter, "endop" if you have no idea how to spell "endoplasmic reticulum" and with just those five letters, you have your answer.
But...what if you have no idea how to spell the word you're looking for? Usually the search engines are superb at making suggestions. Silent letters? K or C? F or PH? Never fear, Siri will come to the rescue.
Except that I can't figure out how to spell this one four-syllable word I've been hearing in the audio book I'm listening to. It sounds foreign; it sounds complicated; it sounds like there are lots of silent letters. And yet I'm experiencing an internet spelling fail. If I figure the word out, I'll let you know.
The Big Boy Update: My son's favorite show was dropped from Netflix last week. My daughter was apparently trying to load the show up on her iPad (under 'recently watched,' she's not that advanced.) She was confused because the show wasn't loading. My son said, "daddy, tell Reese Netflix doesn't have Transformers Rescue Bots anymore."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The other morning in the car my daughter said, "mom, can you turn off the music?" I asked why and she said, "I want to make my own music." She proceeded to sing rather off key and loudly for some time.
This rarely happens in the technology-omnipresent society we live in today. You don't really need to know how to spell anything any more. You can typo things left and right and autocorrect will do a splendid job of correcting the spelling into either the word you were intending or some other word that is most likely funny and entirely unrelated to what you wanted to say.
If you know a little something about what you're interested in, but not more than a few words or even two words that have to do with the thing you're interested in, odds are you can still find the information with ease. The text, "invertebrate s" will suggest "invertebrate species" without you even breaking a sweat. With the information at your fingertips, you can help your small child understand about the sea star with pictures and a lot of fancy words.
You don't have to spell well either. You can enter, "endop" if you have no idea how to spell "endoplasmic reticulum" and with just those five letters, you have your answer.
But...what if you have no idea how to spell the word you're looking for? Usually the search engines are superb at making suggestions. Silent letters? K or C? F or PH? Never fear, Siri will come to the rescue.
Except that I can't figure out how to spell this one four-syllable word I've been hearing in the audio book I'm listening to. It sounds foreign; it sounds complicated; it sounds like there are lots of silent letters. And yet I'm experiencing an internet spelling fail. If I figure the word out, I'll let you know.
The Big Boy Update: My son's favorite show was dropped from Netflix last week. My daughter was apparently trying to load the show up on her iPad (under 'recently watched,' she's not that advanced.) She was confused because the show wasn't loading. My son said, "daddy, tell Reese Netflix doesn't have Transformers Rescue Bots anymore."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: The other morning in the car my daughter said, "mom, can you turn off the music?" I asked why and she said, "I want to make my own music." She proceeded to sing rather off key and loudly for some time.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Hey, We Have Cookies!
Did you know that person in high school, college, work life or other situation that tried to do things to "be cool" or get accepted by other people? Have you had those thoughts of, "why does she do that? People would like her just fine if she'd only be herself." I've seen children, adolescents and adults in approval-seeking behavior all my life and I've always wondered started the behavior.
I watch my two children and marvel at how dramatically different individuals they are. They are each their own person in so many different ways. One thing that's different about them is how they seek approval in a social group. My daughter doesn't seem to mind if she's included or excluded in a group. Sometimes she's wanted to play with older children and it hasn't worked out, but for the most part, how or if other people like her is not something she spends time worrying about.
My son on the other hand, seems to want to both tell people what to do, seemingly not caring what they think about him while at the same time wanting to impress those same people with how very cool he is.
It's the four-year-old's version of showing off. He has all the cool toys (or at least the ones he thinks are cool.) He is the most skilled at, well most things, if you ask him. He likes to invite his friends inside, promising them all sorts of wonders in the bonus room—even if he's been told specifically it's outside play time.
Yesterday he came in after a long time out in the snow. He was tired and hungry and I gave him a cookie and milk because, hey, cookies and milk are great when you're hungry. He knew the cookie was only for him and no one else; we discussed that point. The next thing I know, he's got the front door open and is yelling to the neighbor's kids, "hey, come in for a snack, we have cookies!"
I don't know why one child seeks approval and the other doesn't care.
The Big Boy Update: My son lined his boats up in the tub last night. I asked who had lined them up and he said he lined them up that way because it was the rainbow only, "wait, this one doesn't belong in the rainbow," he said as he pulled the pink one away from the group.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter chose a purple plate today. That's right, it wasn't a green plate. She picked purple when offered a green and a purple plate. She may be changing her favorite color.
I watch my two children and marvel at how dramatically different individuals they are. They are each their own person in so many different ways. One thing that's different about them is how they seek approval in a social group. My daughter doesn't seem to mind if she's included or excluded in a group. Sometimes she's wanted to play with older children and it hasn't worked out, but for the most part, how or if other people like her is not something she spends time worrying about.
My son on the other hand, seems to want to both tell people what to do, seemingly not caring what they think about him while at the same time wanting to impress those same people with how very cool he is.
It's the four-year-old's version of showing off. He has all the cool toys (or at least the ones he thinks are cool.) He is the most skilled at, well most things, if you ask him. He likes to invite his friends inside, promising them all sorts of wonders in the bonus room—even if he's been told specifically it's outside play time.
Yesterday he came in after a long time out in the snow. He was tired and hungry and I gave him a cookie and milk because, hey, cookies and milk are great when you're hungry. He knew the cookie was only for him and no one else; we discussed that point. The next thing I know, he's got the front door open and is yelling to the neighbor's kids, "hey, come in for a snack, we have cookies!"
I don't know why one child seeks approval and the other doesn't care.
The Big Boy Update: My son lined his boats up in the tub last night. I asked who had lined them up and he said he lined them up that way because it was the rainbow only, "wait, this one doesn't belong in the rainbow," he said as he pulled the pink one away from the group.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter chose a purple plate today. That's right, it wasn't a green plate. She picked purple when offered a green and a purple plate. She may be changing her favorite color.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Lazy Winter Days
Wow, I have been one lazy person today. Everything was cancelled due to a covering in snow and freezing rain last night. I got reminder after reminder on my phone that we were suppose to be some place, I was do do some thing or it was almost time to get ready for an event. But alas, we just hung around the house today.
The children liked playing in the snow-isn stuff. They made a small snowman with their friends. This is about a twelve-inch snowman.
The children liked playing in the snow-isn stuff. They made a small snowman with their friends. This is about a twelve-inch snowman.
I sat on the couch and watched television. I seemed to eat everything in sight too. Lazy snow days.
The Big Boy Update: My son was outside for hours today. He was playing with friends and having all sorts of fun. It was hard to get him inside.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wasn't that interested in being outside. She liked eating the snow/ice but then disliked her cold, non-mittened hand and wanted to come in.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Last Generations Facebook
Information is transferred in the most rapid of ways these days; it doesn't get much faster than the speed of light over a fiber optic cable. Information can be shared amongst friends, acquaintances, strangers and illicitly in any number of ways, with social media sites making the top of the list of means. Information travels fast these days.
This afternoon my mother came over to visit. She had an article she'd cut out of the paper. It was something interesting she'd read and thought we might find it interesting to read too. That article could have been boring. It might have been shocking. It might have been intriguing. It was one of many articles in the paper she cut it from.
When she handed it over to me I got the sudden feeling that I was experiencing the predecessor of what we call, "social media" nowadays. Her handing us this article today was like posting it on our news feed and commenting below it, "I thought you might find this interesting too."
The Big Boy Update: 17 and 71. I went to lunch with one of my friends today. I had to take my daughter to the bathroom and when I got back my friend said to me, "he just identified 17 and 71. I was writing out numbers and he told me what they were." She then proceeded to show me what she meant and he missed the next three numbers. But he knows seventeen! And seventy-one!
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter is very social. One of the ways she has been honing her social skills is to have you play a game with her. She interacts with you the whole game. She communicates with you. She asks you questions. She shares what she knows about the game (which is a lot if it's a game she's making up on the fly.) She never minds if you win at a game either. She almost prefers it so.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Television Binge
I don't watch a lot of television. It's on from time to time and my children do watch television under certain conditions, but I don't sit down and do a lot of watching myself. I have a very few shows I record and I'm usually about seven hours behind on watching them during the regular season, so it's nice to have the summer months to catch up.
There are a lot of good shows and a lot of good movies that I'm sure I would enjoy were I to sit down and watch them, but I there seem to be other things that take priority over watching television. I don't mind. I like to hear about interesting shows other people are watching and I don't mind that I most likely won't ever see the show.
Then every now and then a show catches my interest. I think the last one I remember was Lie to Me. I had heard from many people how good it was but I'd never seen it. The, one day I had some time and I watched an episode. I was intrigued. I was nearly hooked. And as fortune would have it, the show was available on Netflix so I started watching episodes.
It took me a while to realize that new shows weren't being added to Netflix because the show had been cancelled. I was three years behind on the show and yet I was sad there wouldn't ever be any more. I binged through the show in the next several weeks and then dealt with that little void feeling you get when you want more of something but there isn't any more in existence. A television show can do that. So can a great book.
Over the past six months I'd been seeing commercials for Elementary as I watched the Doctor Who episodes that came out during their very short episodic season. It looked interesting. The main character almost reminded me a bit of the lead male in Lie to Me. I set the new season up for record on the DVR to check it out.
And it was good. I did like it and I looked forward to the following-week's episode. I wanted to record prior episodes but interestingly—or perhaps strategically—the show wasn't playing any reruns. They weren't available for on-demand and there wasn't anything for free under the three streaming services we have.
My interest continued though and my husband decided to get me seasons one and two as a birthday present. Now I could see the show from the beginning and find out all the background I'd been wondering about.
I have really been enjoying watching the show, but I have this strange, "binge" feeling. I'm wrapped up mentally in the characters and the plot arcs. I want to watch more but I feel like maybe I should take a break. But...what's going to happen in the next episode? I need to know.
The good news is the binge will be over soon at the rate I'm finding forty-two minutes to watch an episode here and there. As it turns out, some birthday presents can be addicting.
The Big Boy Update: My son dislikes commercials. He will yell out, "dad! Commercials!" I don't really want him subjected to product marketing targeted at four-year-olds, but we don't want to encourage the yelling either. Maybe I should just teach him how to fast forward on the remote?
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted to get in the tub this morning. She then decided she wanted to wash her hair. She did every single step in the proper order: soak her head, apply shampoo, lather, rinse, apply conditioner, integrate into hair, rinse. Her rubbing the products in was very minimal and only the areas about her ears got any action at all, but she did the whole thing herself, including brushing her hair at the end to get out the tangles.
There are a lot of good shows and a lot of good movies that I'm sure I would enjoy were I to sit down and watch them, but I there seem to be other things that take priority over watching television. I don't mind. I like to hear about interesting shows other people are watching and I don't mind that I most likely won't ever see the show.
Then every now and then a show catches my interest. I think the last one I remember was Lie to Me. I had heard from many people how good it was but I'd never seen it. The, one day I had some time and I watched an episode. I was intrigued. I was nearly hooked. And as fortune would have it, the show was available on Netflix so I started watching episodes.
It took me a while to realize that new shows weren't being added to Netflix because the show had been cancelled. I was three years behind on the show and yet I was sad there wouldn't ever be any more. I binged through the show in the next several weeks and then dealt with that little void feeling you get when you want more of something but there isn't any more in existence. A television show can do that. So can a great book.
Over the past six months I'd been seeing commercials for Elementary as I watched the Doctor Who episodes that came out during their very short episodic season. It looked interesting. The main character almost reminded me a bit of the lead male in Lie to Me. I set the new season up for record on the DVR to check it out.
And it was good. I did like it and I looked forward to the following-week's episode. I wanted to record prior episodes but interestingly—or perhaps strategically—the show wasn't playing any reruns. They weren't available for on-demand and there wasn't anything for free under the three streaming services we have.
My interest continued though and my husband decided to get me seasons one and two as a birthday present. Now I could see the show from the beginning and find out all the background I'd been wondering about.
I have really been enjoying watching the show, but I have this strange, "binge" feeling. I'm wrapped up mentally in the characters and the plot arcs. I want to watch more but I feel like maybe I should take a break. But...what's going to happen in the next episode? I need to know.
The good news is the binge will be over soon at the rate I'm finding forty-two minutes to watch an episode here and there. As it turns out, some birthday presents can be addicting.
The Big Boy Update: My son dislikes commercials. He will yell out, "dad! Commercials!" I don't really want him subjected to product marketing targeted at four-year-olds, but we don't want to encourage the yelling either. Maybe I should just teach him how to fast forward on the remote?
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter wanted to get in the tub this morning. She then decided she wanted to wash her hair. She did every single step in the proper order: soak her head, apply shampoo, lather, rinse, apply conditioner, integrate into hair, rinse. Her rubbing the products in was very minimal and only the areas about her ears got any action at all, but she did the whole thing herself, including brushing her hair at the end to get out the tangles.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Snow on Monday, Chance of Precipitation 0%
There has been a tremendous amount of snow dumped on various areas of the country over the past several weeks. This is not a great thing if you live in those areas as it can affect your lives and livelihood. Even so, every time I hear about it on the media I feel jealousy inside.
We get snow in the south where I live, but it's never that much. What we do get causes much pandemonium, even if it's a prediction of flurries. That part of winter weather annoys me, but it doesn't keep me from wanting snow.
And yet, no sign of it on the forecast again. Or wait, did it just show the snow flake icon for Monday? Yes, it did...wait, it has the chance of precipitation at 0%.
Talk about a tease.
The Big Boy Update: My son took off the child lock on one of the doors today. I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to find out if he hadn't secretly hidden the pieces under a chair in plain sight.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: In the car driving to school I tell my daughter, "you need to blow your nose." She protests loudly, "no! There is no mucous in there!"
We get snow in the south where I live, but it's never that much. What we do get causes much pandemonium, even if it's a prediction of flurries. That part of winter weather annoys me, but it doesn't keep me from wanting snow.
And yet, no sign of it on the forecast again. Or wait, did it just show the snow flake icon for Monday? Yes, it did...wait, it has the chance of precipitation at 0%.
Talk about a tease.
The Big Boy Update: My son took off the child lock on one of the doors today. I'm not sure how long it would have taken me to find out if he hadn't secretly hidden the pieces under a chair in plain sight.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: In the car driving to school I tell my daughter, "you need to blow your nose." She protests loudly, "no! There is no mucous in there!"
Friday, February 13, 2015
Perfect is the Enemy of Good
I'm working on a long-term project with some other people. The project has been ongoing and will continue to be something I'll be working on and dedicating lots of my time to in the coming months. We've had a lot of successes with the project but I've had my share of frustrations with it as well.
I think the main center of my frustration is that we don't have a clearly defined leader. We have people that are leading certain aspects of the project. Those people have significant experience in what they do and their leadership and guidance has proven valuable. There is someone who is heading up a different area and in that area, I could not imagine a better leader. But overall, we don't have one person driving the group, leading the project with a clear and consistent vision. And that is what's been frustrating me.
There is too much to be said so let me sum up using the aphorism, "Perfect is the enemy of good." It seems like we spend time not doing things for fear that they won't be the perfect thing to do. I, personally, don't have a problem in a lack of perfection. "Less than perfect," is what I've been aiming for all my life.
The Big Boy Update: My husband came into the kitchen to find a pop tart container opened and half eaten. He said, "who got this without permission?" My son walks over, smells it and says, "it smells like Reese. Reese did it."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: We went to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch today. My daughter has an association with the bathroom in this restaurant and a certain thing. Or wait, let me back up. First, my son wanted to go to the bathroom by himself. When he headed off, my daughter decided she wanted to go by herself too. She did NOT want me to go with her; she was emphatic on that point. After my son came back and she was still gone I went to find her and she was missing. That is until I checked the men's room. I had her come wash her hands in the ladies room and then she said, "mom, I want a super cape." She wants a foot-long segment of the brown paper towel that comes out of the machine tucked into the nape of her shirt. Her cape today lasted for over an hour.
I think the main center of my frustration is that we don't have a clearly defined leader. We have people that are leading certain aspects of the project. Those people have significant experience in what they do and their leadership and guidance has proven valuable. There is someone who is heading up a different area and in that area, I could not imagine a better leader. But overall, we don't have one person driving the group, leading the project with a clear and consistent vision. And that is what's been frustrating me.
There is too much to be said so let me sum up using the aphorism, "Perfect is the enemy of good." It seems like we spend time not doing things for fear that they won't be the perfect thing to do. I, personally, don't have a problem in a lack of perfection. "Less than perfect," is what I've been aiming for all my life.
The Big Boy Update: My husband came into the kitchen to find a pop tart container opened and half eaten. He said, "who got this without permission?" My son walks over, smells it and says, "it smells like Reese. Reese did it."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: We went to one of our favorite restaurants for lunch today. My daughter has an association with the bathroom in this restaurant and a certain thing. Or wait, let me back up. First, my son wanted to go to the bathroom by himself. When he headed off, my daughter decided she wanted to go by herself too. She did NOT want me to go with her; she was emphatic on that point. After my son came back and she was still gone I went to find her and she was missing. That is until I checked the men's room. I had her come wash her hands in the ladies room and then she said, "mom, I want a super cape." She wants a foot-long segment of the brown paper towel that comes out of the machine tucked into the nape of her shirt. Her cape today lasted for over an hour.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
I Can't Think
My husband got his Valentine's present today. He's been wanting this particular type of present for a while, but it hasn't worked out. Or rather, what I mean is he hasn't found one that he liked. This has been an ongoing, multi-year, waxing and waning desire that just wasn't ever really going to go away...so I got him a pinball machine.
I did the research, I read the forums, I looked on auction sites and when I finally found the perfect pinball machine I got it for him. All right, I didn't do any of that. I didn't do any research at all. I just told my husband, "go ahead, I know you want one, I'll help rearrange the room when you pick one out."
Today it arrived, the pinball machine. He had to unbox it, screw the legs on and make sure it was all working. Now, he's playing it. It's in the basement and he's playing it and it's playing it's little repetitive music and there are the bumpers and flippers and GOOD GRIEF IT'S LOUD. It's loud and I can't think as I write this blog post. It should have taken me about three minutes to write up to here but I think I might be onwards of ten minutes now and I'm not even altogether sure what I've written. I definitely understand the need for quiet while writing now.
But it is really fun and even the children have enjoyed playing it, although they're not quite sure what they're doing. Uncle Jonathan came over to check it out and also our neighbor just came in the back door now that his children are asleep.
The Big Boy Update: We have a drawing easel. There is a white board side to the easel and a chalk board side and a wooden dowel in-between the sides for a paper roll. Also, on each side there is a tray to store paints or chalk or markers. But the easel wasn't being used to do artwork. It is now in storage, disassembled, because my son is more interested in taking it entirely apart so he can put all the long bolts in his pockets and to hide somewhere.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: A song was playing on the radio in the car this morning. I mentioned I liked the song. My daughter asked me if I had the song on my cell phone and I told her I did. She then told me, "I have that song on my cell phone too."
Fitness Update: I drove over to Uncle Jonathan's house today for us to do a greenway and around the museum run. It was a nice seven-mile run, mostly in the dark, but on roads and greenways so there was plenty of light.
I did the research, I read the forums, I looked on auction sites and when I finally found the perfect pinball machine I got it for him. All right, I didn't do any of that. I didn't do any research at all. I just told my husband, "go ahead, I know you want one, I'll help rearrange the room when you pick one out."
Today it arrived, the pinball machine. He had to unbox it, screw the legs on and make sure it was all working. Now, he's playing it. It's in the basement and he's playing it and it's playing it's little repetitive music and there are the bumpers and flippers and GOOD GRIEF IT'S LOUD. It's loud and I can't think as I write this blog post. It should have taken me about three minutes to write up to here but I think I might be onwards of ten minutes now and I'm not even altogether sure what I've written. I definitely understand the need for quiet while writing now.
But it is really fun and even the children have enjoyed playing it, although they're not quite sure what they're doing. Uncle Jonathan came over to check it out and also our neighbor just came in the back door now that his children are asleep.
The Big Boy Update: We have a drawing easel. There is a white board side to the easel and a chalk board side and a wooden dowel in-between the sides for a paper roll. Also, on each side there is a tray to store paints or chalk or markers. But the easel wasn't being used to do artwork. It is now in storage, disassembled, because my son is more interested in taking it entirely apart so he can put all the long bolts in his pockets and to hide somewhere.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: A song was playing on the radio in the car this morning. I mentioned I liked the song. My daughter asked me if I had the song on my cell phone and I told her I did. She then told me, "I have that song on my cell phone too."
Fitness Update: I drove over to Uncle Jonathan's house today for us to do a greenway and around the museum run. It was a nice seven-mile run, mostly in the dark, but on roads and greenways so there was plenty of light.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Left Hands
I'm left-handed. My mother's cousin and I were both left-handed and we were supported by our four parents as we grew up as our handedness was in the minority. I did some reading online today to see what I could find out about current and historical percentages of left-handed people and the theories and statistics on who are more likely to be left-handed.
The numbers vary, but about twelve-percent of the population is left-handed. There is thought to be some correlation of left-handed parents with left-handed offspring, but even with two left-handed parents, there's no guarantee your child's handedness will be one or the other.
My parents and my cousin's parents helped us celebrate our minority with things like notepads that said, "Left handed people are the only ones in their right minds." I think there was a t-shirt, but I'm not sure. We were made to feel special, not broken, just because we were different than most. They never asked us to write with the other hand. That's just how our parents were.
Today at lunch, I looked at my two children eating their ice cream in bowls with their left hands. My husband is the only outlier in our family. I wonder if there are notepads and t-shirts we could get for him?
The Big Boy Update: My son is left-handed. For a while I wasn't sure if he would be left or right-hand dominant, but he made a clear decision some time ago. My father-in-law predicted he'd be left-handed when he was still in a high-chair. He was right.
The Tiny Girl Chronicle: My daughter has always favored her left hand. We put things in front of both children when they were small and they made their own decision on which hand was the one they wanted to grab things with more often.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
And The Year Is...
I discovered today that the year is 2015. I have apparently been confused on this point for some time.
I was perusing IMDB this afternoon, looking up someone and I noticed that Fifty Shades of Grey was listed at the top of the site. To digress for a moment, I missed the whole Fifty Shades of Grey insanity. I didn't until today realize the spelling of the word Grey was with an 'E', which is how we spell my son, Greyson's, name. I clicked it to see who was in the movie and found two actors I didn't know and then I saw there was a trailer.
I looked and the movie wasn't coming out until 2015, so I was surprised they had a trailer already available for a movie coming out next year. After I played the trailer I noticed you could see what theaters the movie was going to be playing in on the release day of February 12th, 2015 and then I realized, "oh, it is 2015 and this movie is coming out in two days."
Then tonight I worked with my daughter to help her stamp, scribble and sticker twenty-eight cards for her friends at school for Valentine's Day. This morning in the car I told the children about their cards and how they would get to decorate them. I told them what the cards said and how their picture was on them. This afternoon I re-read the card to my daughter and helped her decorate them. Then, tonight, I showed my husband the cards and read out the caption to him under their pictures: "Happy Valentine's Day 2014." He didn't say anything. I looked at him. I looked at the cards. Then I think I may have used a four-letter word or two.
I made the cards. I printed them. I cut the sheets up to separate the cards. I stacked the cards and then I told the children about them several times, never realizing what year it was.
The Big Boy Update: My son is so good at not going to the bathroom in his pants any more. We don't ask him and he manages everything himself, without any problems, even at night. Just before I came down here to write this my son came into the master bathroom where I was helping his sister get ready for bed and said, "mom, I need some help. I pooped in my pants. And I peed in them too." He had carefully come downstairs and asked for help, instead of taking his pants off and making a bigger mess upstairs. He said he was working really hard on building something with Legos and it had happened accidentally. I was quite proud of him for coming to let me know and asking for help.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter just called Mimi on the phone. My parents are in the mountains right now and my mother told my daughter it was very cold up there. Then she asked if it was cold here. My daughter said, "no, it's not cold. I'm in my house." She then told Mimi she should come to visit her tomorrow. Mimi said she would do her best.
I was perusing IMDB this afternoon, looking up someone and I noticed that Fifty Shades of Grey was listed at the top of the site. To digress for a moment, I missed the whole Fifty Shades of Grey insanity. I didn't until today realize the spelling of the word Grey was with an 'E', which is how we spell my son, Greyson's, name. I clicked it to see who was in the movie and found two actors I didn't know and then I saw there was a trailer.
I looked and the movie wasn't coming out until 2015, so I was surprised they had a trailer already available for a movie coming out next year. After I played the trailer I noticed you could see what theaters the movie was going to be playing in on the release day of February 12th, 2015 and then I realized, "oh, it is 2015 and this movie is coming out in two days."
Then tonight I worked with my daughter to help her stamp, scribble and sticker twenty-eight cards for her friends at school for Valentine's Day. This morning in the car I told the children about their cards and how they would get to decorate them. I told them what the cards said and how their picture was on them. This afternoon I re-read the card to my daughter and helped her decorate them. Then, tonight, I showed my husband the cards and read out the caption to him under their pictures: "Happy Valentine's Day 2014." He didn't say anything. I looked at him. I looked at the cards. Then I think I may have used a four-letter word or two.
I made the cards. I printed them. I cut the sheets up to separate the cards. I stacked the cards and then I told the children about them several times, never realizing what year it was.
The Big Boy Update: My son is so good at not going to the bathroom in his pants any more. We don't ask him and he manages everything himself, without any problems, even at night. Just before I came down here to write this my son came into the master bathroom where I was helping his sister get ready for bed and said, "mom, I need some help. I pooped in my pants. And I peed in them too." He had carefully come downstairs and asked for help, instead of taking his pants off and making a bigger mess upstairs. He said he was working really hard on building something with Legos and it had happened accidentally. I was quite proud of him for coming to let me know and asking for help.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter just called Mimi on the phone. My parents are in the mountains right now and my mother told my daughter it was very cold up there. Then she asked if it was cold here. My daughter said, "no, it's not cold. I'm in my house." She then told Mimi she should come to visit her tomorrow. Mimi said she would do her best.
Monday, February 9, 2015
Valentines Cards
This year our children will participate in a Valentine's Day card swap in their classes. The past two years they were in toddler classrooms and didn't really have the maturity to grasp the concepts behind the tradition.
The teachers of each of their classes sent out specific instructions on what each child should bring for the card swap. First of all, no candy should be included in the cards because, "when candy has been distributed, the focus of the celebration has turned from friends to treats." I like this plan.
The children are suppose to make a card for each of their classmates, twenty-eight in all, and draw, put stickers on, write, stamp, etc. on each of the cards. At this point my children can't read or write but because they're in a Montessori school, the class they're in is multi-aged. Some of the older children will write names on the cards, but in our case it will be doodles and scribbles all the way.
On the day of the swap the children will put one card into each bag. The bags will be stapled shut and sent home with the children at the end of the day, to be opened and shared with their families. I'm rather looking forward to looking at all the cards.
But what should my children do? They're not going to write their names twenty-eight times and their artwork is not that impressive. Besides, they need to have the attention span to decorate twenty-eight cards and even I don't know that I personally have the patience to do that as an adult.
My husband and I decided on making cards for them to decorate. First, I cut a large red heart out of a piece of paper. Then we had them hold the heard and smile for a picture. I took the one where they were smiling the least-goofy and put the words, "Happy Valentine's Day 2014" and then the child's name in a document. And then I printed and cut up a stack for them to decorate. The picture and words took up half the 4"x8" page so there is just enough room for doodles, stamps and stickers on the remainder.
Tomorrow they're going to start making some. I wonder how many they'll get through before they decide it's not fun any more? I wonder what the other children will be making for their Valentine's cards?
The Big Boy Update: It's not poop. My son and daughter were getting into the bathtub and I saw a lot of brown somethings floating around in the filling tub. "Oh hell," I thought. (My husband fairly freaks out if poop gets anywhere.) My son said, "it's not poop." And he was right. It was mulch and dirt from a toy he'd brought inside that he decided to sneak into the tub without letting me know so I could clean it first. We got their little toy fish net and had fun scooping the bits of leaves, mulch and debris out of the tub.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: This was one of those "turn and laugh" events where a child says something so funny that the adults have to turn away and laugh because the situation isn't funny, but the words the child says make you laugh nonetheless. My mother and I were outside with both children this afternoon. I noticed my daughter had a small wet spot on her crotch, indicating she was trying very hard to hold it even though she needed to go badly. I said to her, "You need to go to the potty. Do you want to go inside on the potty or outside on the pee pee bushes?" She answered, "tomorrow."
The teachers of each of their classes sent out specific instructions on what each child should bring for the card swap. First of all, no candy should be included in the cards because, "when candy has been distributed, the focus of the celebration has turned from friends to treats." I like this plan.
The children are suppose to make a card for each of their classmates, twenty-eight in all, and draw, put stickers on, write, stamp, etc. on each of the cards. At this point my children can't read or write but because they're in a Montessori school, the class they're in is multi-aged. Some of the older children will write names on the cards, but in our case it will be doodles and scribbles all the way.
On the day of the swap the children will put one card into each bag. The bags will be stapled shut and sent home with the children at the end of the day, to be opened and shared with their families. I'm rather looking forward to looking at all the cards.
But what should my children do? They're not going to write their names twenty-eight times and their artwork is not that impressive. Besides, they need to have the attention span to decorate twenty-eight cards and even I don't know that I personally have the patience to do that as an adult.
My husband and I decided on making cards for them to decorate. First, I cut a large red heart out of a piece of paper. Then we had them hold the heard and smile for a picture. I took the one where they were smiling the least-goofy and put the words, "Happy Valentine's Day 2014" and then the child's name in a document. And then I printed and cut up a stack for them to decorate. The picture and words took up half the 4"x8" page so there is just enough room for doodles, stamps and stickers on the remainder.
Tomorrow they're going to start making some. I wonder how many they'll get through before they decide it's not fun any more? I wonder what the other children will be making for their Valentine's cards?
The Big Boy Update: It's not poop. My son and daughter were getting into the bathtub and I saw a lot of brown somethings floating around in the filling tub. "Oh hell," I thought. (My husband fairly freaks out if poop gets anywhere.) My son said, "it's not poop." And he was right. It was mulch and dirt from a toy he'd brought inside that he decided to sneak into the tub without letting me know so I could clean it first. We got their little toy fish net and had fun scooping the bits of leaves, mulch and debris out of the tub.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: This was one of those "turn and laugh" events where a child says something so funny that the adults have to turn away and laugh because the situation isn't funny, but the words the child says make you laugh nonetheless. My mother and I were outside with both children this afternoon. I noticed my daughter had a small wet spot on her crotch, indicating she was trying very hard to hold it even though she needed to go badly. I said to her, "You need to go to the potty. Do you want to go inside on the potty or outside on the pee pee bushes?" She answered, "tomorrow."
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Cross-residential Organization
Today Uncle Jonathan moved into a new house. We helped him by getting a truck and packing it in from his mother's home (where he'd been stating for two months) and then unpacking it into his new house. I had a lot of fun.
I know moving is stressful to many people, but I like it. I don't mean I want to move right now or any time in the near future, but it's always an exciting time. You go though your things and find out how much stuff you have you don't really need. You pack it up and think about the new location it will go in your next home.
I suppose it boils down to cross-residential organization. You start the organization process at your current house and then you finish it up when you get to your new house. I know you folks know how I love to organize. It's no wonder I like the whole moving process.
The Big Boy Update: My son can't sit still at a restaurant. Or at least most of the time he can't. It would be nice to have free-range restaurants, where it was socially acceptable to wander around the entire meal, circling back to your table when you're ready for that next bite.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter had a lollipop in her hand yesterday that she was not suppose to have. When I asked her about it she said, "the lolli-paper was coming off" as she re-wrapped it and then put it back into the bowl.
I know moving is stressful to many people, but I like it. I don't mean I want to move right now or any time in the near future, but it's always an exciting time. You go though your things and find out how much stuff you have you don't really need. You pack it up and think about the new location it will go in your next home.
I suppose it boils down to cross-residential organization. You start the organization process at your current house and then you finish it up when you get to your new house. I know you folks know how I love to organize. It's no wonder I like the whole moving process.
The Big Boy Update: My son can't sit still at a restaurant. Or at least most of the time he can't. It would be nice to have free-range restaurants, where it was socially acceptable to wander around the entire meal, circling back to your table when you're ready for that next bite.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter had a lollipop in her hand yesterday that she was not suppose to have. When I asked her about it she said, "the lolli-paper was coming off" as she re-wrapped it and then put it back into the bowl.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Your Body, No Your Body
My neighbor and I ran a trial marathon today in the park across the street from our neighborhood. We're six weeks out from the first of two marathons we've signed up for but I suppose we just wanted to make sure we were ready for them. It appears we are.
When you run with someone beside you for five hours—if you're doing pace math, that's slow—you have a lot of time to talk about lots of things. Today we coincidentally ran into my neighbor as she was heading out for a run and ran along with her for a few miles. We later happened upon another neighbor who is the mother to three children who sit for all of our children. We ran with her for three miles or so and then she split off. But we still had twenty-ish miles to talk.
We have never run out of things to talk about. The only time there is danger of that is when one of us is bonking so badly we can't think straight enough to talk—which has happened. Today among all the things we got to talking about was things we disliked about our bodies. It's normal to have parts or areas of your body that you don't mind and then other areas you wish were different in some way.
As she and I were talking, we both kept scoffing at the other's comments. "What do you mean you don't like your thighs? You have great looking thighs!" Or, "your upper arms don't look flabby, they look muscular and defined!" There was a lot of this going on. Eventually, we both had to laugh because we decided we'd each be much happier with the other's body because we just couldn't see what the other was unsatisfied about.
The Big Boy Update: First Circus. We took both children to the circus for the first time today. My son loved it. He loved the sights and sounds. He was fascinated with the animals and the acrobats. He loved the motorcycles that spun around in the big metal sphere. As we were leaving, he wanted to do some acrobatics on the metal bike rack. I asked him if we should put up the trapeze on the swing set so he could practice and he said yes. He was working hard on doing some hanging upside down move when it got dark and he had to go in for dinner.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Sleepy Circus. My daughter went to the circus for the first time today as well. She liked everything, although it was loud. She would do a dance from time to time with her arms when there were dancers dancing and she clapped at just the right spots. She got tired after intermission though and fell asleep across both me and her chair, face down on the seat.
Fitness Update: We ran our marathon trial run today. I ended at the longest run I've ever done by adding one extra tenth onto my prior max distance and came in at 26.4 miles.
When you run with someone beside you for five hours—if you're doing pace math, that's slow—you have a lot of time to talk about lots of things. Today we coincidentally ran into my neighbor as she was heading out for a run and ran along with her for a few miles. We later happened upon another neighbor who is the mother to three children who sit for all of our children. We ran with her for three miles or so and then she split off. But we still had twenty-ish miles to talk.
We have never run out of things to talk about. The only time there is danger of that is when one of us is bonking so badly we can't think straight enough to talk—which has happened. Today among all the things we got to talking about was things we disliked about our bodies. It's normal to have parts or areas of your body that you don't mind and then other areas you wish were different in some way.
As she and I were talking, we both kept scoffing at the other's comments. "What do you mean you don't like your thighs? You have great looking thighs!" Or, "your upper arms don't look flabby, they look muscular and defined!" There was a lot of this going on. Eventually, we both had to laugh because we decided we'd each be much happier with the other's body because we just couldn't see what the other was unsatisfied about.
The Big Boy Update: First Circus. We took both children to the circus for the first time today. My son loved it. He loved the sights and sounds. He was fascinated with the animals and the acrobats. He loved the motorcycles that spun around in the big metal sphere. As we were leaving, he wanted to do some acrobatics on the metal bike rack. I asked him if we should put up the trapeze on the swing set so he could practice and he said yes. He was working hard on doing some hanging upside down move when it got dark and he had to go in for dinner.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Sleepy Circus. My daughter went to the circus for the first time today as well. She liked everything, although it was loud. She would do a dance from time to time with her arms when there were dancers dancing and she clapped at just the right spots. She got tired after intermission though and fell asleep across both me and her chair, face down on the seat.
Fitness Update: We ran our marathon trial run today. I ended at the longest run I've ever done by adding one extra tenth onto my prior max distance and came in at 26.4 miles.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Pack It In
I'm running a marathon distance run tomorrow as part of the training we're doing for two upcoming marathon-length races. I can I say again how it's not fun eating a lot of food because you know you need to eat a lot of food? It sounds like fun, but it doesn't really pan out that way.
I don't like being uncomfortably full, but I like even less being three hours into a run a and not knowing if I can make two more hours because I'm so depleted in energy. I don't like the somnolence effect I get from eating more than I normally would that happens an hour or two after the food begins to digest.
Tomorrow I expect it will be a slow run (as all of mine are) but we'll make it. Thanks in advance to my husband and my mother for watching the children while we're out on the trails for so long.
The Big Boy Update: Kisses, Hugs and I love you's. My son hated all three. He didn't want to be kissed, disliked being hugged and would not tell you he loved you back (or at least he wouldn't tell me.) Now he's a big fan of all three. The other day out of the blue he said, "guess who I love?" I told him I didn't know and he said, "you!"
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter's hair is crazy. It takes a lot to make it look anything other than a messy wreck. We use conditioner, spray in a conditioning spray and blow dry it to calm it down. But even with all that, the fineness of her hair makes it look fly-away even with a modest elastic band to keep part of it out of her eyes—that is, when she'll keep something in her hair at all. And don't even get me started about how food is inexorably attracted to her locks.
Fitness Update: Our Ninja run team is growing. Other people that work out with out trainer are joining our team. I don't know how we'll do, but Don says he's going to prepare us in the coming months.
I don't like being uncomfortably full, but I like even less being three hours into a run a and not knowing if I can make two more hours because I'm so depleted in energy. I don't like the somnolence effect I get from eating more than I normally would that happens an hour or two after the food begins to digest.
Tomorrow I expect it will be a slow run (as all of mine are) but we'll make it. Thanks in advance to my husband and my mother for watching the children while we're out on the trails for so long.
The Big Boy Update: Kisses, Hugs and I love you's. My son hated all three. He didn't want to be kissed, disliked being hugged and would not tell you he loved you back (or at least he wouldn't tell me.) Now he's a big fan of all three. The other day out of the blue he said, "guess who I love?" I told him I didn't know and he said, "you!"
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter's hair is crazy. It takes a lot to make it look anything other than a messy wreck. We use conditioner, spray in a conditioning spray and blow dry it to calm it down. But even with all that, the fineness of her hair makes it look fly-away even with a modest elastic band to keep part of it out of her eyes—that is, when she'll keep something in her hair at all. And don't even get me started about how food is inexorably attracted to her locks.
Fitness Update: Our Ninja run team is growing. Other people that work out with out trainer are joining our team. I don't know how we'll do, but Don says he's going to prepare us in the coming months.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper Helicopter Man
Several tines now I've heard a strange sound. It's been the end of the day and my husband is upstairs getting the children tucked into their beds while I fold laundry or clean up the bedroom. I would hear this sound that sounded like water running through a pipe and making a strange sound. We have an outdoor hose bib that does this and it's not fun to hear. Only this was further away and not as loud. Then, it stopped.
A few days later I heard it again and this time I was in our bathroom. I walked around, listening to find the sound. Was it coming from the heating system below me in the crawl space? Was water running from above in my children's bathroom and we had a pipe issue? Then, like before, it stopped.
And then last night, I was walking out of my children's room, heading downstairs to clean up. My husband was going to tell one of his now much demanded, Super Helicopter Man stories to them as their last story of the night. He makes these stories up. There are multiple characters. I never get to hear them because I'm off writing this blog or cleaning up things. As I turned to go down the stairs I heard the sound again...only this time it was louder. I ran back up the stairs, now sure I knew what it was as I burst back into the room.
My husband stopped making noise and he and my children looked at me with a questioning look. "What are you saying? I've been trying to hone in on that noise for days," I asked my husband. He looked conspiratorially at my children and said, "should we show mommy?" They nodded and he then started his Super Helicopter man story again. I heard him drag out the "ooo" in "super," seeing just how long he could make the one note last.
It was impressive. Mystery solved. I laughed, left the room and went downstairs to get on the cleaning up.
The Big Boy Update: Today was my birthday. We had a birthday cupcake that my son delivered to me with a single candle in it. After he and I blew the candle out together, everyone ate cupcakes. That is, except for my son. He had a toothpick and was poking at the candle with it. He asked, "what's inside a candle?" We did that adult smile and laugh thing and said, "more candle" or something like that and then went on eating and talking. A few minutes later we suddenly realized he'd been finding out for himself with that toothpick and had gotten candle bits all over the place.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter directed dinner tonight. She happily suggested where Mimi was going to sit. She let Uncle Jonathan know where he was going to sit, she made sure I sat beside her and beside her brother at the same time and then when we were mostly all seated she engaged us all in conversation of the type only a three-year-old can manage. I looked at my dad and said, "she's cute, isn't she?"
A few days later I heard it again and this time I was in our bathroom. I walked around, listening to find the sound. Was it coming from the heating system below me in the crawl space? Was water running from above in my children's bathroom and we had a pipe issue? Then, like before, it stopped.
And then last night, I was walking out of my children's room, heading downstairs to clean up. My husband was going to tell one of his now much demanded, Super Helicopter Man stories to them as their last story of the night. He makes these stories up. There are multiple characters. I never get to hear them because I'm off writing this blog or cleaning up things. As I turned to go down the stairs I heard the sound again...only this time it was louder. I ran back up the stairs, now sure I knew what it was as I burst back into the room.
My husband stopped making noise and he and my children looked at me with a questioning look. "What are you saying? I've been trying to hone in on that noise for days," I asked my husband. He looked conspiratorially at my children and said, "should we show mommy?" They nodded and he then started his Super Helicopter man story again. I heard him drag out the "ooo" in "super," seeing just how long he could make the one note last.
It was impressive. Mystery solved. I laughed, left the room and went downstairs to get on the cleaning up.
The Big Boy Update: Today was my birthday. We had a birthday cupcake that my son delivered to me with a single candle in it. After he and I blew the candle out together, everyone ate cupcakes. That is, except for my son. He had a toothpick and was poking at the candle with it. He asked, "what's inside a candle?" We did that adult smile and laugh thing and said, "more candle" or something like that and then went on eating and talking. A few minutes later we suddenly realized he'd been finding out for himself with that toothpick and had gotten candle bits all over the place.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter directed dinner tonight. She happily suggested where Mimi was going to sit. She let Uncle Jonathan know where he was going to sit, she made sure I sat beside her and beside her brother at the same time and then when we were mostly all seated she engaged us all in conversation of the type only a three-year-old can manage. I looked at my dad and said, "she's cute, isn't she?"
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Chewing the Jerky
Today was the day. The day I'd been waiting for for months, no, longer than that, over a year. I wouldn't have told you it was a day I celebrated chewing my niehgbor's homemade venison jerky when I woke up this morning, but that's how it turned out.
I've had a long run with some tooth issues that all culminated in the delivery of two crowns and two implants this morning. I've been missing one molar since the point we got the playground for our back yard before my son was two-years-old. I remember swinging on the new swing set with a bleeding hole in my jaw and being sad about losing the tooth. Some time later I had a root canal on the tooth that was next to that missing tooth. That root canal turned into a root extraction surgery and ultimately another tooth extraction.
So then I had two missing molars on my upper left side. I didn't like to smile big for fear it would be obvious. After months of healing and bone regrowth I had implant screws put in and then after six months of waiting for the screws to integrate with the jaw I had the crowns delivered (today.) Now, I have two "teeth" on my left where there had only been metal screws or partial teeth or painful teeth before.
My right side had some temporary crowns and for three weeks I had problems with one coming off due to the situation with the tooth. It would have happened to anyone, but since my neighbor was my dentist, he just loaned me some of his tools and some temporary glue and when it came out, I'd scrape it clean, stick it in the ultrasonic cleaner and then glue it back in so the tissues would stay in place for the final crown.
For the last three weeks things have been sketchy as I avoided chewing on the side with teeth for fear of losing one or more than one temporary crown and attempting to chew on a side with the molars missing altogether. I just had to hold on while the final crowns were being built at the various labs. Then, this morning, they were all cemented in.
When I left the dentist's office I had been given the go-ahead to "chew anything." I had joked, saying I was going to go find a bison leg to chew on for dinner. Not knowing where to get bison legs, I went to Whole Foods and walked around, looking for the thing I most wanted to eat first with my new teeth. I wanted something chewy yet crunchy. I needed to see if everything worked and worked without discomfort. I found this:
I chewed on the left. I chewed on the right. I chewed on both sides at the same time, something I haven't done in a long time. Nothing hurt. Nothing was uncomfortable. Nothing felt like it was about to fall out and need re-gluing. My whole mouth was working again!
I went home and the afternoon went uneventfully. We had a collection of neighbors out in the back yard and one mentioned her father making that, "terrible venison jerky" to her mother. "What," I thought? I told them it sounded great to me. They offered to bring me some and when they did I gnawed into it and chewed the tough meat on both sides of my mouth. I was so excited about how well my teeth were performing I ate the entire bag they brought me.
What a great day.
The Big Boy Update: My children both selected corn kernels for their side dish at lunch. As they were scooping up spoonfuls and eating the corn my daughter called it, "popcorn." My son replied, "it's not called popcorn, it's called rice." A discussion ensued in which neither child seemed to care that my husband was telling them it was called corn.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter picked up a book she'd never seen before at her friend's house this afternoon. As she walked across the driveway she said, "once upon a time..." Were do they learn these things? Most books don't start with that line and yet children know it.
Fitness Update: Uncle Jonathan, Eleanor and I ran five miles in twenty-eight degree weather this morning. Three of us running and chatting and laughing in the dark must have scared at least a few neighbors in their beds.
I've had a long run with some tooth issues that all culminated in the delivery of two crowns and two implants this morning. I've been missing one molar since the point we got the playground for our back yard before my son was two-years-old. I remember swinging on the new swing set with a bleeding hole in my jaw and being sad about losing the tooth. Some time later I had a root canal on the tooth that was next to that missing tooth. That root canal turned into a root extraction surgery and ultimately another tooth extraction.
So then I had two missing molars on my upper left side. I didn't like to smile big for fear it would be obvious. After months of healing and bone regrowth I had implant screws put in and then after six months of waiting for the screws to integrate with the jaw I had the crowns delivered (today.) Now, I have two "teeth" on my left where there had only been metal screws or partial teeth or painful teeth before.
My right side had some temporary crowns and for three weeks I had problems with one coming off due to the situation with the tooth. It would have happened to anyone, but since my neighbor was my dentist, he just loaned me some of his tools and some temporary glue and when it came out, I'd scrape it clean, stick it in the ultrasonic cleaner and then glue it back in so the tissues would stay in place for the final crown.
For the last three weeks things have been sketchy as I avoided chewing on the side with teeth for fear of losing one or more than one temporary crown and attempting to chew on a side with the molars missing altogether. I just had to hold on while the final crowns were being built at the various labs. Then, this morning, they were all cemented in.
When I left the dentist's office I had been given the go-ahead to "chew anything." I had joked, saying I was going to go find a bison leg to chew on for dinner. Not knowing where to get bison legs, I went to Whole Foods and walked around, looking for the thing I most wanted to eat first with my new teeth. I wanted something chewy yet crunchy. I needed to see if everything worked and worked without discomfort. I found this:
I chewed on the left. I chewed on the right. I chewed on both sides at the same time, something I haven't done in a long time. Nothing hurt. Nothing was uncomfortable. Nothing felt like it was about to fall out and need re-gluing. My whole mouth was working again!
I went home and the afternoon went uneventfully. We had a collection of neighbors out in the back yard and one mentioned her father making that, "terrible venison jerky" to her mother. "What," I thought? I told them it sounded great to me. They offered to bring me some and when they did I gnawed into it and chewed the tough meat on both sides of my mouth. I was so excited about how well my teeth were performing I ate the entire bag they brought me.
What a great day.
The Big Boy Update: My children both selected corn kernels for their side dish at lunch. As they were scooping up spoonfuls and eating the corn my daughter called it, "popcorn." My son replied, "it's not called popcorn, it's called rice." A discussion ensued in which neither child seemed to care that my husband was telling them it was called corn.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter picked up a book she'd never seen before at her friend's house this afternoon. As she walked across the driveway she said, "once upon a time..." Were do they learn these things? Most books don't start with that line and yet children know it.
Fitness Update: Uncle Jonathan, Eleanor and I ran five miles in twenty-eight degree weather this morning. Three of us running and chatting and laughing in the dark must have scared at least a few neighbors in their beds.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Missing Words My Sentences
I've been dropping words when I write lately. An example of the type of words I've been dropping is showcased in the title of this sentence. It's clear what word is missing (in) but not clear why I decided it wasn't worth adding into the sentence. This has been happening a lot. It's been in emails. I've done it in text messages and it happens as I write these blog posts as well.
Am I saving on typing? Did some words become more expensive and I haven't found a coupon for fifty-cents off this week? I don't know. I hope my brain isn't breaking, because I need it to do all sorts of useful things. We all make typos and through the technology of autocorrect, we all make funny typos, some of which result in missing words or confusing sentences. Only this isn't the result of that.
It's like my brain found a turbo button and is going just that wee little bit faster than the part that's processing what I'm typing. For most words I'm good, but every now and again, just like when my children swing together on their swing set, things get in phase and the next short word is tossed out.
I will have to do more tests. That means I'll have to keep texting, emailing and writing blogs. How ever will find the time?
The Big Boy Update: My son got a lesson in the binomial cube yesterday. I was very excited to hear him tell us this. He didn't particularly care, but I love the math behind the binomial cube work. He told me all about the colors of the blocks this morning at breakfast and then he told me about the trinomial cube and how he would get a lesson on that when he was five. (I have the trinomial cube on my Amazon list, but apparently the mathematically-oriented item only looks exciting to me because no one has gotten if for me in two years.)
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: On the way home from school today my three-year-old daughter told us we live in North America. We were all very impressed. Then she told us, "our house is North America." I told her that was a pretty big house to live in but we were all sort of a family.
Am I saving on typing? Did some words become more expensive and I haven't found a coupon for fifty-cents off this week? I don't know. I hope my brain isn't breaking, because I need it to do all sorts of useful things. We all make typos and through the technology of autocorrect, we all make funny typos, some of which result in missing words or confusing sentences. Only this isn't the result of that.
It's like my brain found a turbo button and is going just that wee little bit faster than the part that's processing what I'm typing. For most words I'm good, but every now and again, just like when my children swing together on their swing set, things get in phase and the next short word is tossed out.
I will have to do more tests. That means I'll have to keep texting, emailing and writing blogs. How ever will find the time?
The Big Boy Update: My son got a lesson in the binomial cube yesterday. I was very excited to hear him tell us this. He didn't particularly care, but I love the math behind the binomial cube work. He told me all about the colors of the blocks this morning at breakfast and then he told me about the trinomial cube and how he would get a lesson on that when he was five. (I have the trinomial cube on my Amazon list, but apparently the mathematically-oriented item only looks exciting to me because no one has gotten if for me in two years.)
 |
| Binomial Cube |
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| Trinomial Cube |
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: On the way home from school today my three-year-old daughter told us we live in North America. We were all very impressed. Then she told us, "our house is North America." I told her that was a pretty big house to live in but we were all sort of a family.
Monday, February 2, 2015
The Stick Prediction
My husband came into the room I was in two days ago and said, "your prediction came true, now have a stick. The evidence is in my hand." I had no idea what he was talking about. None. We were both laughing as I tried to guess what it was. He told me I had been bemoaning this very thing only a few days before, saying the phrase, "I'm going to be stuck with a stick" and being very unhappy about it. We kept laughing. I still didn't know.
When he opened his hand a few minutes later, there was an orchid flower inside. Ohhhhh... How could I have forgotten—the orchid had lost its last flower. This particular plant was given to me some months ago with five flowers. I am not good with plants, and by that I mean I am not overly fond of them inside my house, where I have the responsibility to take care of them, because there is a good chance I won't take care of them well. And if that were to happen, I would feel terribly guilty for the plant and I would talk to it and tell it I was sorry and, well, it is just best that plants and I keep a wide berth.
This plant was a thank you plant for doing something easy and quick. The person who I did the favor for gave me a plant to remember the...colonoscopy by. There, I said it. This was a thank you plant for driving someone to their colonoscopy. It was a dear friend and even though I am not a plant fan, I did my best to water the plant just as the little plastic stake said it should be done.
All was well until one day two of the flowers looked droopy. But it was two days before the designated watering time. What should I do? I broke protocol and watered it in the hopes it would perk the blossoms up but the next day two of the five had dropped off. Ack.
I told my friend and she told me that the flowers would fall off and that was okay. After a period of months more flowers would come back. Oh. Ah. Okay.
I came back home and told my husband in a rather shrill voice, "they're all going to fall off and when they do it's just going to sit there for months, just being a stick. I'm going to be stuck with a stick! For a colonoscopy I didn't even get to have myself!" (Have you caught on to how much I truly and deeply love plants at this point?)
So as of a few days ago, I have a stick that needs watering that can't even hold itself up on its own. It has to have another stick tied to it to keep it upright. And it's going to continue to be a stick for months to come.
I love my friend, but next time I'm going to say no thank you to thank you plants.
The Big Boy Update: It was cold and windy this afternoon when we left soccer class. My son was in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. He told me, "I want to be in your belly again like I was when I was a baby, because it's cold outside."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: This was a conversation between my husband and my daughter this afternoon. My daughter, "Daddy could you go to the potty with me?" My husband, "Why can't you go by yourself?? My daughter, "because it's a big deal."
Fitness Update: Our trainer is going to focus on strength for us for the next several months while we train for the two marathons. We also signed up for a Ninja Run, which is one of those 5K runs that has you do various other fitness-type things throughout the course. I will most likely fall flat on my face running over some logs on the water or not be able to do a single pull-up. We shall see.
When he opened his hand a few minutes later, there was an orchid flower inside. Ohhhhh... How could I have forgotten—the orchid had lost its last flower. This particular plant was given to me some months ago with five flowers. I am not good with plants, and by that I mean I am not overly fond of them inside my house, where I have the responsibility to take care of them, because there is a good chance I won't take care of them well. And if that were to happen, I would feel terribly guilty for the plant and I would talk to it and tell it I was sorry and, well, it is just best that plants and I keep a wide berth.
This plant was a thank you plant for doing something easy and quick. The person who I did the favor for gave me a plant to remember the...colonoscopy by. There, I said it. This was a thank you plant for driving someone to their colonoscopy. It was a dear friend and even though I am not a plant fan, I did my best to water the plant just as the little plastic stake said it should be done.
All was well until one day two of the flowers looked droopy. But it was two days before the designated watering time. What should I do? I broke protocol and watered it in the hopes it would perk the blossoms up but the next day two of the five had dropped off. Ack.
I told my friend and she told me that the flowers would fall off and that was okay. After a period of months more flowers would come back. Oh. Ah. Okay.
I came back home and told my husband in a rather shrill voice, "they're all going to fall off and when they do it's just going to sit there for months, just being a stick. I'm going to be stuck with a stick! For a colonoscopy I didn't even get to have myself!" (Have you caught on to how much I truly and deeply love plants at this point?)
So as of a few days ago, I have a stick that needs watering that can't even hold itself up on its own. It has to have another stick tied to it to keep it upright. And it's going to continue to be a stick for months to come.
I love my friend, but next time I'm going to say no thank you to thank you plants.
The Big Boy Update: It was cold and windy this afternoon when we left soccer class. My son was in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. He told me, "I want to be in your belly again like I was when I was a baby, because it's cold outside."
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: This was a conversation between my husband and my daughter this afternoon. My daughter, "Daddy could you go to the potty with me?" My husband, "Why can't you go by yourself?? My daughter, "because it's a big deal."
Fitness Update: Our trainer is going to focus on strength for us for the next several months while we train for the two marathons. We also signed up for a Ninja Run, which is one of those 5K runs that has you do various other fitness-type things throughout the course. I will most likely fall flat on my face running over some logs on the water or not be able to do a single pull-up. We shall see.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
The Blush and the Scarf
My mother told me of one of her memories from childhood today. We were at the park with my two children and while they'd run off to play in the large, wooden castle, she and I say on the swings and talked about childhood memories.
I didn't realize that when my mother was a child kindergarten wasn't offered in the public school systems, so her first experience with school was first grade. Her memories are vague overall, much like many of mine, but there is one thing she remembers very clearly: her first day riding the bus to school.
My mother said she was a very shy child. She was also quite pale and petit. Walking to the bus stop to climb onto a large vehicle, leaving her mother behind was a scary thought to her. To help her get through that first day, my grandmother put some rouge on my mother's cheeks to make her look bright and happy. My mother said she felt very special and loved as they walked to the bus stop together.
Then, right before she had to get on the bus, my grandmother took her scarf from around her neck and put it on my mother's neck. My mother said she remembered how the combination of those two things gave her confidence and she stepped onto the bus to head to school.
As an adult, she said she remembered that day and the special understanding her mother had for her daughter's needs on that first day of school.
The Big Boy Update: My son needs some roughhousing time with another boy or friend or father or someone because he has had a tough time with punching hands and strong, bossy words today. He is now asleep after some running around at the park. He has two friends coming over for dinner, so maybe they'll have fun together tonight while all four parents go out to dinner together.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter played the beginnings of her first song on a musical instrument the other day. She accidentally happened on the first three notes of Frere Jaques. She tried it again and then decided to sing the rest of the song (or at least the bits she knows.)
I didn't realize that when my mother was a child kindergarten wasn't offered in the public school systems, so her first experience with school was first grade. Her memories are vague overall, much like many of mine, but there is one thing she remembers very clearly: her first day riding the bus to school.
My mother said she was a very shy child. She was also quite pale and petit. Walking to the bus stop to climb onto a large vehicle, leaving her mother behind was a scary thought to her. To help her get through that first day, my grandmother put some rouge on my mother's cheeks to make her look bright and happy. My mother said she felt very special and loved as they walked to the bus stop together.
Then, right before she had to get on the bus, my grandmother took her scarf from around her neck and put it on my mother's neck. My mother said she remembered how the combination of those two things gave her confidence and she stepped onto the bus to head to school.
As an adult, she said she remembered that day and the special understanding her mother had for her daughter's needs on that first day of school.
The Big Boy Update: My son needs some roughhousing time with another boy or friend or father or someone because he has had a tough time with punching hands and strong, bossy words today. He is now asleep after some running around at the park. He has two friends coming over for dinner, so maybe they'll have fun together tonight while all four parents go out to dinner together.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter played the beginnings of her first song on a musical instrument the other day. She accidentally happened on the first three notes of Frere Jaques. She tried it again and then decided to sing the rest of the song (or at least the bits she knows.)