There's an Aesop's Fable that goes something like this:
The sun and the wind were having an argument about who was the stronger. The wind finally saw a traveler on the road below and said to the sun that he knew how to settle the disagreement. They could see who could get the traveler to remove his coat. The sun agreed and hid behind a cloud so the wind could go first. The wind blew and blew, but the traveler only held his coat tighter. At last it was the sun's turn. The sun gently warmed the traveler, gradually making him warmer and warmer. The traveler opened up his coat and finally removed it entirely as the sun shone gently upon him.
I love this fable; I think it's my favorite of all the ones I'm familiar with. The lesson is so perfect in so many situations from parenting to politics. As a parent, sometimes you find yourself blustering at your child, but that doesn't really work. You only butt heads and set up power struggles when that happens. Instead, shine gently on your child. Let them know where they've gone wrong and correct them calmly and with firm compassion.
The lesson also holds with politics. I have a friend who is full of passion and energy and believes in many of the same causes I do. I mainly communicate with her through Facebook and she is constantly forwarding links for our causes along with strong posts about the actions we should take. That's a great thing, and I love the information and links, but it's caused her to burn out. Instead, in the future, I'm hoping she'll regroup and be more like the gentle sun, in it for the long haul. There are many fights to fight and it's going to take a lot of work to get things to change.
Anyway, that's my thought for the day. The sun and the wind....
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Friday, June 17, 2011
Slow Recovery & Update on The Wild Child
This stomach bug really wiped me out. The worst of the actual symptoms you would associate with a stomach virus (ie, tossing of the cookies) was over in about half a day. The recovery took about 5 days. It took a good 4 of those days to be able to eat again; I'm only just back to regular food. The worst part was the weakness; just like a bad fibro flare up. DH got impatient with me after a couple of days. If he couldn't see me throwing up or running a fever then I must be fine, only I wasn't. The kids needed a lot of shuttling around (the kids ALWAYS need a lot of shuttling around) and it was hard to pitch in and do my share of that. We got through it, though. One foot in front of the other, one errand at a time, dropping as much as possible and putting out only the most immediate of fires. All things considered, we managed without too many disasters. Thank goodness DH is able to work from home some of the time; that really made a difference.
But now I'm 95% better, so onward with the busy days!
The Wild Child:
The Wild Child started a special summer camp (run by the folks who did his testing) where he spends an hour every day with a reading specialist then gets to participate in some enrichment activities. I was able to speak with the reading tutor today and I was very impressed. She told me she's using the Orton-Gillingham method to get his brain going; he should do well. It's been so frustrating for him. I was taught to teach reading using whole language methods but he wasn't retaining the information presented that way. I tried sight words and he would get some of them, but the retention again just wasn't there. I know enough to do some kinesthetic work, which could have been successful, but I don't have the specialized knowledge base to go far enough with it. We had a sight word list that he reviewed over and over and over, and he would KNOW those words cold even when I mixed the list up, but when he saw them somewhere else he would blank. He also struggles with the alphabet, again something we've gone over time and again, and he does not retain it. He knows most of the letters but there are about 4 or 5 that stump him every time. He also has issues with upper and lower case; he knows upper case letters but can't match them to their lower case counterparts.
Why Test The Wild Child:
I felt a bit of panic before The Wild Child was tested whenever I thought about his struggles. I knew where he should be, even if he was a slow starter, and how he should respond to instruction, but it wasn't happening. Since The Eldest was slow to start reading then took off and leap frogged over her peers when she was 8, I tried to tell myself to relax, it would happen in time. There was one difference I couldn't ignore, however; The Eldest knew her alphabet from early on. Now that The Wild Child is almost 9 and still doesn't know all of his letters, and seems to be unable to learn despite all of my efforts, I made the decision to have him tested. I called a local children's hospital to get a recommendation and I'm happy with the group they sent me to. It's a relief in a way; there is something wrong but it can be addressed. He can learn to read if he's taught in the right way. Of course I would rather he didn't have these challenges to face, but they are part of who he is and I love him top to bottom, learning disabilities and all.
But now I'm 95% better, so onward with the busy days!
The Wild Child:
The Wild Child started a special summer camp (run by the folks who did his testing) where he spends an hour every day with a reading specialist then gets to participate in some enrichment activities. I was able to speak with the reading tutor today and I was very impressed. She told me she's using the Orton-Gillingham method to get his brain going; he should do well. It's been so frustrating for him. I was taught to teach reading using whole language methods but he wasn't retaining the information presented that way. I tried sight words and he would get some of them, but the retention again just wasn't there. I know enough to do some kinesthetic work, which could have been successful, but I don't have the specialized knowledge base to go far enough with it. We had a sight word list that he reviewed over and over and over, and he would KNOW those words cold even when I mixed the list up, but when he saw them somewhere else he would blank. He also struggles with the alphabet, again something we've gone over time and again, and he does not retain it. He knows most of the letters but there are about 4 or 5 that stump him every time. He also has issues with upper and lower case; he knows upper case letters but can't match them to their lower case counterparts.
Why Test The Wild Child:
I felt a bit of panic before The Wild Child was tested whenever I thought about his struggles. I knew where he should be, even if he was a slow starter, and how he should respond to instruction, but it wasn't happening. Since The Eldest was slow to start reading then took off and leap frogged over her peers when she was 8, I tried to tell myself to relax, it would happen in time. There was one difference I couldn't ignore, however; The Eldest knew her alphabet from early on. Now that The Wild Child is almost 9 and still doesn't know all of his letters, and seems to be unable to learn despite all of my efforts, I made the decision to have him tested. I called a local children's hospital to get a recommendation and I'm happy with the group they sent me to. It's a relief in a way; there is something wrong but it can be addressed. He can learn to read if he's taught in the right way. Of course I would rather he didn't have these challenges to face, but they are part of who he is and I love him top to bottom, learning disabilities and all.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Family Management
I've never been one to successfully use chore charts. Oh, I try, but I don't have the persistence to follow through and make them work. I think I've finally, finally hit on one that might be different. I made up a "Family Meals Kaper Chart" that assigns cooking duty for all of our lunches and dinners to different members of the family. (Thanks to Girl Scouts for teaching me about Kaper Charts, which is another way to say chore chart, but more fun.) Lunches are mostly handled by DH, like always. He likes to cook and he's pretty good at it. He eats lunch at home with us so it's worked out that he cooks it, too.
That leaves dinners. I enjoy cooking but with the fibromyalgia I find it physically difficult. I'm not good at standing, kills my back and feet, but that's what you have to do a lot of to cook. (I can walk OK, I do that every day for exercise, but standing is painful.) To really cook, there's a lot of standing to prep ingredients, standing while stirring, etc. Plus dinner is at the end of the day when my energy is basically done, so it's a hard meal to put together. Enter the Kaper Chart, which assigns two dinners per week to The Eldest and two dinners per week to Martha Jr. DH handles Saturday night and I get the two nights that are left.
So far, dinners have been really, really late (even by our night owl standards) but really, really good since both girls can cook...mostly. The Eldest is turning out to be quite adventurous in the kitchen! Tonight she made a stir fry (sans soy) with egg, veggies, peanuts, Chinese noodles (baked, not fried) and a sauce she invented served in lettuce wraps that was out of this world.
Sometimes things don't work out. Martha Jr. wanted desperately to make falafels (from the recipe I linked a few days ago) and fried pickles, of all things. I tried to gently dissuade her (it was the end of a long day and both dishes are labor intensive) but she was not to be deterred. Even though we didn't have a recipe for the pickles and had never made them before, she still wanted to make them just like the ones we get at fairs. It was a disaster! The falafels didn't work out, they didn't want to stick together for her and would NOT get brown, and the pickles... I don't even have words. That wasn't the disaster part, though, I mean, you just throw a pizza in the oven and call it a night so the food wasn't a big deal. The disaster was how upset she got about it. She broke my heart! She was so looking forward to her falafels and fried pickle dinner, and when neither of them turned out she was devastated. I was useless; I wanted to get in there and help her but I was so wiped out I just couldn't. (That long day thing.) She's so used to success whenever she tries something that it's difficult for her to cope with failure so I think this was a good lesson for her in the long run, but it sure was hard that night.
The one disaster and the timing issues aside, I am liking this new division of labor. It's good for my girls to learn responsibility and develop their cooking skills at the same time. They have even worked together on a couple of meals so they are developing teamwork skills too. The Wild Child is a little jealous; he wants to cook but he's still young yet. (I told him he can take over The Eldest's nights when she goes off to college.) I am able to recharge a little bit while they cook so I can tackle a few more chores after dinner. Win all the way around- I think this is one chore chart that will be around for a long, long time.
That leaves dinners. I enjoy cooking but with the fibromyalgia I find it physically difficult. I'm not good at standing, kills my back and feet, but that's what you have to do a lot of to cook. (I can walk OK, I do that every day for exercise, but standing is painful.) To really cook, there's a lot of standing to prep ingredients, standing while stirring, etc. Plus dinner is at the end of the day when my energy is basically done, so it's a hard meal to put together. Enter the Kaper Chart, which assigns two dinners per week to The Eldest and two dinners per week to Martha Jr. DH handles Saturday night and I get the two nights that are left.
So far, dinners have been really, really late (even by our night owl standards) but really, really good since both girls can cook...mostly. The Eldest is turning out to be quite adventurous in the kitchen! Tonight she made a stir fry (sans soy) with egg, veggies, peanuts, Chinese noodles (baked, not fried) and a sauce she invented served in lettuce wraps that was out of this world.
Sometimes things don't work out. Martha Jr. wanted desperately to make falafels (from the recipe I linked a few days ago) and fried pickles, of all things. I tried to gently dissuade her (it was the end of a long day and both dishes are labor intensive) but she was not to be deterred. Even though we didn't have a recipe for the pickles and had never made them before, she still wanted to make them just like the ones we get at fairs. It was a disaster! The falafels didn't work out, they didn't want to stick together for her and would NOT get brown, and the pickles... I don't even have words. That wasn't the disaster part, though, I mean, you just throw a pizza in the oven and call it a night so the food wasn't a big deal. The disaster was how upset she got about it. She broke my heart! She was so looking forward to her falafels and fried pickle dinner, and when neither of them turned out she was devastated. I was useless; I wanted to get in there and help her but I was so wiped out I just couldn't. (That long day thing.) She's so used to success whenever she tries something that it's difficult for her to cope with failure so I think this was a good lesson for her in the long run, but it sure was hard that night.
The one disaster and the timing issues aside, I am liking this new division of labor. It's good for my girls to learn responsibility and develop their cooking skills at the same time. They have even worked together on a couple of meals so they are developing teamwork skills too. The Wild Child is a little jealous; he wants to cook but he's still young yet. (I told him he can take over The Eldest's nights when she goes off to college.) I am able to recharge a little bit while they cook so I can tackle a few more chores after dinner. Win all the way around- I think this is one chore chart that will be around for a long, long time.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Fall in Florida and The Middle Child
It is simply gorgeous outside now and a welcome relief from our hot, rainy summer. Fall is in the air! Probably not as dramatic as fall up north, but a change nonetheless. The temperature is the same outdoors as inside with the A/C on and it's windy. (And I would LOVE to open the windows, but the wind kicks up pollen so I don't dare.) The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, has been trying to fly his kite but the wind is too strong; the string keeps breaking and taking the kite on all sorts of journeys around the neighborhood. He's managed to find it so far, but it's a matter of time before it's gone for good.
The holidays will arrive soon, kicked off with the arrival of Halloween. The kids are already excited about choosing costumes. The Middle Child, aka Martha Stewart Jr., is working on making her costume. I had to take her seriously about her passion for sewing when she came into the room where DH and I were sitting with tears glittering in her eyes, barely held back, wearing this dress she had made from scratch and BY HAND. It was a mess, of course. One sleeve was too small to get her arm through, it was all crooked, and it was too tight. I don't see how she got it on at all. Then she told us she made it all by herself with no pattern and no sewing machine. With hardly any experience with sewing other than sewing her patches on her Brownie vest. She was upset it wasn't perfect; I was amazed at what she had accomplished! I was blown away, actually. No pattern, very little experience, by hand, and it was very close to what she wanted... she is one motivated little girl. I was so openly amazed that I think it helped her to feel better that it wasn't perfect, and then the first chance I got I took her to the fabric store to buy a real pattern and more fabric. I also got in touch with a friend of mine who is an accomplished seamstress to see if she would teach Martha Jr. how to sew. She said she would (for which I will be eternally grateful) and now Martha Jr. is working on making a cape for her Halloween costume. She picked out a really pretty sparkly purple fabric and a fairly simple (as far as I could tell) pattern. She already knows what she'll wear under it (I have to take her shopping for a shirt) so she'll have a one of a kind costume this year.
Kids are so amazing!
The holidays will arrive soon, kicked off with the arrival of Halloween. The kids are already excited about choosing costumes. The Middle Child, aka Martha Stewart Jr., is working on making her costume. I had to take her seriously about her passion for sewing when she came into the room where DH and I were sitting with tears glittering in her eyes, barely held back, wearing this dress she had made from scratch and BY HAND. It was a mess, of course. One sleeve was too small to get her arm through, it was all crooked, and it was too tight. I don't see how she got it on at all. Then she told us she made it all by herself with no pattern and no sewing machine. With hardly any experience with sewing other than sewing her patches on her Brownie vest. She was upset it wasn't perfect; I was amazed at what she had accomplished! I was blown away, actually. No pattern, very little experience, by hand, and it was very close to what she wanted... she is one motivated little girl. I was so openly amazed that I think it helped her to feel better that it wasn't perfect, and then the first chance I got I took her to the fabric store to buy a real pattern and more fabric. I also got in touch with a friend of mine who is an accomplished seamstress to see if she would teach Martha Jr. how to sew. She said she would (for which I will be eternally grateful) and now Martha Jr. is working on making a cape for her Halloween costume. She picked out a really pretty sparkly purple fabric and a fairly simple (as far as I could tell) pattern. She already knows what she'll wear under it (I have to take her shopping for a shirt) so she'll have a one of a kind costume this year.
Kids are so amazing!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Milestones
The Eldest hit a new milestone today, luckily only figuratively. She's learning to drive. After over 2 years of resisting ALL parental pressure to get her learner's permit, I prevailed! (Muahahahaha.) Once she had the permit in hand I signed her up with a local driving school; her first lesson with the very brave instructor was today. From the information they gave me when I signed her up I knew she would need a little bit of time behind the wheel before her first official lesson so I took her out to an abandoned parking lot over the weekend. I jumped in the passenger seat and she drove us around and around and around, just getting a feel for the car- where the controls are located, (wipers, blinkers, that kind of thing), braking without causing whiplash, and so forth. She did well; it didn't take her long to catch on. She was making some pretty wide turns at first, but she got better by the 100,000 time around. Well, OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but we both got bored and called it quits after what FELT like 100,000 times around.
The instructor picked her up today in a VW Bug with "Student Driver" plastered all over it and put her directly in the driver's seat. (WHAT! IS HE TOTALLY CRAZY!?!) Off they went, right into traffic. I'm so glad I wasn't here; her dad saw her off. (I was at my book club meeting.) I thought there would be more parking lot time, not directly into traffic! I am so glad I found out after the fact, but I still have more gray hair now. Parenting teenagers is NOT a job for the faint of heart.
The instructor picked her up today in a VW Bug with "Student Driver" plastered all over it and put her directly in the driver's seat. (WHAT! IS HE TOTALLY CRAZY!?!) Off they went, right into traffic. I'm so glad I wasn't here; her dad saw her off. (I was at my book club meeting.) I thought there would be more parking lot time, not directly into traffic! I am so glad I found out after the fact, but I still have more gray hair now. Parenting teenagers is NOT a job for the faint of heart.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Busy Days
The school year has begun, even for homeschoolers, and we're off to the races. I set up a schedule for the little ones for academics and we're doing a good job of sticking with it so far. The Eldest is taking her college courses so I consider myself pretty much done as far as directly teaching her goes. I'm still driving her around quite a bit which takes huge chunks of time out of my days, however. I'm leading/advising two Girl Scout troops, one for The Eldest and one for The Middle Child. I've helped at two Girl Scout round ups (recruitment drives) this week, too. The round ups are a tradition; I think I've helped at almost every round up since The Eldest joined Girl Scouts, oh, 12 years or so ago. I enjoy helping at round ups, seeing all of the new girls and their parents, telling them about the fun we have in Girl Scouts, and working with other troop leaders, but I sure could have skipped it this time since I've been sick. Blech.
It's like I have this half cold that's sticking around twice as long as a regular cold. It's not as miserable as a full blown cold but I still feel lousy. Lots of sneezing, coughing, and fibro-like fatigue. I'd think it was allergies but it's contagious; The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, got it too but recovered more quickly. Now DH seems to have it; ha! He didn't think I was really sick and didn't understand how freakin' miserable I was, but NOW he gets it.
But life goes on, cold or no cold. Our summer routine is no more and we are adjusting to our new schedule. The little ones are surprising me with how they are handling their academics! I fully expected The Middle Child to sail through her work every day but she's been resistant, at least for the first few days. The Wild Child was super cooperative at first, which blew my mind, but he started fighting me again the last few days. He has a tendency to be lazy about things other people want him to do so I am trying to improve his work ethic. He is praised not for his smarts (he's very bright) but for working hard. I talk to him all the time about how our family is a team and he needs to do his part. Sometimes I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall, but then I'll see some progress, some glimmer of improvement in his behavior, and that gives me hope! I guess that's something that holds true for all parents- we hang on for those little glimmers of proof that we're doing our jobs well.
It's like I have this half cold that's sticking around twice as long as a regular cold. It's not as miserable as a full blown cold but I still feel lousy. Lots of sneezing, coughing, and fibro-like fatigue. I'd think it was allergies but it's contagious; The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, got it too but recovered more quickly. Now DH seems to have it; ha! He didn't think I was really sick and didn't understand how freakin' miserable I was, but NOW he gets it.
But life goes on, cold or no cold. Our summer routine is no more and we are adjusting to our new schedule. The little ones are surprising me with how they are handling their academics! I fully expected The Middle Child to sail through her work every day but she's been resistant, at least for the first few days. The Wild Child was super cooperative at first, which blew my mind, but he started fighting me again the last few days. He has a tendency to be lazy about things other people want him to do so I am trying to improve his work ethic. He is praised not for his smarts (he's very bright) but for working hard. I talk to him all the time about how our family is a team and he needs to do his part. Sometimes I feel like I'm beating my head against a wall, but then I'll see some progress, some glimmer of improvement in his behavior, and that gives me hope! I guess that's something that holds true for all parents- we hang on for those little glimmers of proof that we're doing our jobs well.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Krav Maga
I put The Eldest in a situation yesterday that is causing her a world of hurt today. You didn't know I was an abusive parent, did you? It's for her own good, I promise. What terrible thing did I do, you ask? I signed her up for Krav Maga, the self defense system used by the Israeli army. She took her first hour long class last night and she went for it. There was another girl, about her age, who wimped out halfway through the class but my kid stuck with it; I'm so proud. And she's so sore, poor baby; she couldn't even lift her arms after the class.
The experienced students were tough! (They invited me to stay and watch for the first class.) She was paired up with a young mom (her little boy was hanging out with The Wild Child) who obviously has been doing this a while and was kind enough to take The Eldest under her wing. That woman could pack a punch, let me tell you. I wouldn't want to be the crook that messes with her. The Eldest is far from that kind of power at this point, but if the classes can give her that, she's going.
I was anxious to get The Eldest in some sort of self defense class. I worry about her; she's going off to college next year and I won't be able to be with her and watch over her any more. I am haunted by Natalee Holloway, Jaycee Dugard, and other young women who have been kidnapped and killed, or kidnapped and abused for years. I want my children to have the skills to fight back if someone tries to do the same to one of them. I made sure they could all swim to protect them from drowning. I make them wear helmets when they ride their bikes and seat belts when they are in the car. Human predators are another hazard I need to make sure they are protected from. I know it's not foolproof. Just like good swimmers can still drown and a seat belt doesn't always mean you'll walk away from a car accident, this is not a 100% guarantee that no one will ever hurt them, but it's the best I can do.
The experienced students were tough! (They invited me to stay and watch for the first class.) She was paired up with a young mom (her little boy was hanging out with The Wild Child) who obviously has been doing this a while and was kind enough to take The Eldest under her wing. That woman could pack a punch, let me tell you. I wouldn't want to be the crook that messes with her. The Eldest is far from that kind of power at this point, but if the classes can give her that, she's going.
I was anxious to get The Eldest in some sort of self defense class. I worry about her; she's going off to college next year and I won't be able to be with her and watch over her any more. I am haunted by Natalee Holloway, Jaycee Dugard, and other young women who have been kidnapped and killed, or kidnapped and abused for years. I want my children to have the skills to fight back if someone tries to do the same to one of them. I made sure they could all swim to protect them from drowning. I make them wear helmets when they ride their bikes and seat belts when they are in the car. Human predators are another hazard I need to make sure they are protected from. I know it's not foolproof. Just like good swimmers can still drown and a seat belt doesn't always mean you'll walk away from a car accident, this is not a 100% guarantee that no one will ever hurt them, but it's the best I can do.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Birthdays, Butterflies, and CAKE
I've already written about The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, turning eight, but I didn't write about what we did that day. We celebrated by inviting our homeschooling group over to our house for swimming and socializing. I'm still sore from all the prep we had to do to get the house and yard fit for company! Here are some before and after pictures of our back yard; what a difference. It was as dramatic as any "reveal" on HGTV.
I didn't take "before" pictures but I found this one (above) from a few months ago; it shows all of the weeds around the pool and the hedges growing through the fence. The weeds got worse; this picture really doesn't show how awful things were.
Here's the "after" of the same area; no weeds, hedges under control.
Our picnic table and seating area, table washed down and toys neatly put away.
The other side of the pool. I'd love to rip out the pool (and that horrendously out of date, mismatched maroon tile) and all of the pavers and start over, but a good clean up will have to do. (I'm going to have the peach pavers pressure washed, say that 10 times fast, next week.) I wouldn't change our view!
As for the party, here's how things went down. On the Friday a week before the party, the homeschooling group moms were sitting around deciding what we were going to do next. I mentioned that The Youngest's birthday would fall on the same day as our next meeting. One of the moms said we should just have his party then, so I said wow, what a great idea, and we all wrote it in our calendars. I'm going along with my week, and about Wednesday I decide to go out and clean up the back yard a little. Toys and garbage (my kids are slobs, OK?) are all strewn about, so about an hour of work should do the trick. Then I walked out there. OMG, what a nightmare!! So much more to do than pick up a few toys! Weeds and ants. Somewhere along the line when I wasn't looking weeds and fire ants took over our back yard. I needed help and I needed it bad.
First order of business was to call for reinforcements. I called a landscaper who has done some work for us in the past to see if he would be available to help out at the last minute and thank heavens he was. I called DH and said BRING HOME AMDRO. I don't like using poisons and chemicals, but when it comes to fire ants there just isn't any other choice; they have to go. I did what I could to get rid of as many of them as possible before DH got home by pouring 8 pots of boiling water on the mounds. That may not have killed them all but there were mass casualties, let me tell you, because the bodies were an inch deep. DH finished up by sprinkling the amdro on what was left of the mounds so hopefully that got the queen/s. (The mounds were massive; they ran a good 20 feet long along the back wall of the house, around a foot high, and extended out at least a foot, more in some areas, plus two mounds out in the grass.)
After the ant situation was somewhat under control we had to deal with the weeds. As you can see in the pictures we have pavers with spaces, like little cracks, in between each block. Weeds were growing up out of every single crack! I knew we had a lot of weeds around the pool but we never seemed to have a problem with them in the high traffic areas were the kids play... in the past. The kids haven't spent as much time outside this summer (it's too darn hot) so I guess the weeds took the opportunity to GROW with no one running them over. I was absolutely dismayed. I went out there on Thursday, pulled out my little rolling gardening seat, put on my work gloves, and started pulling. (There will be no Round Up used at my home, EVER, no matter the situation.) The Middle Child helped then Alex, the landscaper, came over later. DH took most of our pool fence down which helped a lot. It gave us easier access to the weeds around the pool and it opened up the space for both the view and using the pool itself. DH also worked on the pool, cleaning out the filter and so forth, and took care of getting that spiffed up. Alex pulled weeds, including the big ones that were too tough for me, and cut back our hedges, which were growing through the fence and into our patio area. The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, and The Eldest even helped when I forced them to. We worked all day and by the time the sun was going down it was like a different yard. I still can't believe the difference! I told Alex (who really did most of the hard work) that he gave us our yard back. The Middle Child was thrilled; she walked all over and said "I can go everywhere in the yard now". (None of us liked to walk in the areas where the weeds and over grown hedges were really bad.)
I also called in help for the house. We have a wonderful housekeeper/babysitter who came to the rescue inside. She normally comes for a few hours on Tuesdays, but she made time to work again Thursday evening to get ready for the party. I was so grateful for her help. I was totally drained from working outside, especially in the heat, that I didn't have anything left for dealing with the inside of the house. (It's times like this when having fibro really sucks.) She breezed in, did her thing, and voila, the house was party ready. I totally, completely, love this woman, and I would not be able to function without her; she is a blessing to me and our family.
I picked up take out for dinner, took some Tylenol, and fell into bed. The next day, party day, I found the energy to take care of the final details and even managed to make a 1-2-3 pound cake from scratch. (It's a very quick and easy recipe from my grandmother; see below.) I delegated the homemade ice cream to DH; he also picked up the ice and the store bought cake The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, chose. (He wanted two cakes; the one from the store had frosting flames on it! It was very cool.)
The homeschoolers arrived and I'm afraid I was a little frazzled, but I think things went well. Several of the moms brought additional munchies including some grapes, raw veggies with a hummus dip, and a great quinoa salad that were all a deliciously healthy contrast to the junk food The Wild Child wanted on his party menu. (And more chips- not so healthy but they were all eaten!) Our group is so terrific; the moms are all warm, giving, supportive, and totally amazing. (In fact, I know they wouldn't have minded our weeds one bit but I wanted everything to look great for our first time hosting the group.)
A highlight of the party was the butterfly release. We found a monarch caterpillar almost 2 weeks ago that was ready to form a chrysalis so we put him in our Bugville Treehouse. He crawled to the top of the enclosure, made his silk button, and turned into a chrysalis just like he was supposed to. I didn't think there was any way he would be ready by The Wild Child's birthday, and when I checked that morning he was still a chrysalis. Ten minutes later The Middle Child yelled for me- he emerged!!! I could NOT believe it! We took the BT outside and let him hang out, pump up his wings, and get heat acclimated for a few hours, which meant release time was right in the middle of the party. He did not seem to want to come out so I had to carefully pick him up (the way they showed us at Butterfly World so that you don't damage their wings) to get him out of there, then I let him go and off he went into the world. It was so cool.
The Bugville Treehouse, which has gotten a lot of use.
The party eventually wound down and everyone went home. We gave the kids Silly Bandz for party favors. (I figured one really cool treat would work instead of a goody bag full of junky stuff; from the reactions I made the right choice!) I took to my bed for a while, but I was too sore to lay down for long so I got up and puttered around. We were going to go out to eat dinner later, we always let the birthday child choose the restaurant, but The Wild Child decided he would rather swim with his new snorkel and mask. Fine by me. I took a long hot bath, more Tylenol, and finally went to bed.
So it wiped me out, but I'm very satisfied about what we did. I am so happy to have our back yard in decent shape again. I've always said that having company over is a good excuse to do what you need to do anyway, and this was no exception. It was a lot of hard, hard, work and we never would have done it for ourselves. (Silly us.) I'm paying the price in terms of the fibro flaring up, but I'll recover, and then I'll be able to enjoy the yard, too. I have a busy week next week (appointments and such for The Eldest) but after that I should have a few weeks without much going on so I can catch my breath before the fall, when Girl Scouts and all of our regular activities pick up again.
PS: Here's a bonus for you- my grandmother's pound cake recipe:
1 - 2 - 3 Pound Cake
1 cup Crisco
2 cups sugar
3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 eggs
Milk, if needed
Cream Crisco and sugar with an electric mixer. Add vanilla. Add 2 eggs, mix well, then add one cup of flour. Alternate eggs and flour until all is used. If cake dough is too thick add a little milk until proper consistency. Pour into a well greased bundt or loaf pan. Bake at 325° until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, at least one hour.
Add mashed strawberries mixed with a little bit of sugar and some whipped topping for the best strawberry shortcake you've ever eaten.
*This is a good recipe for the shaped, 3-D cake pans. I made a teddy bear cake using this recipe once and it was perfect.
I didn't take "before" pictures but I found this one (above) from a few months ago; it shows all of the weeds around the pool and the hedges growing through the fence. The weeds got worse; this picture really doesn't show how awful things were.
Here's the "after" of the same area; no weeds, hedges under control.
Our picnic table and seating area, table washed down and toys neatly put away.
The other side of the pool. I'd love to rip out the pool (and that horrendously out of date, mismatched maroon tile) and all of the pavers and start over, but a good clean up will have to do. (I'm going to have the peach pavers pressure washed, say that 10 times fast, next week.) I wouldn't change our view!
As for the party, here's how things went down. On the Friday a week before the party, the homeschooling group moms were sitting around deciding what we were going to do next. I mentioned that The Youngest's birthday would fall on the same day as our next meeting. One of the moms said we should just have his party then, so I said wow, what a great idea, and we all wrote it in our calendars. I'm going along with my week, and about Wednesday I decide to go out and clean up the back yard a little. Toys and garbage (my kids are slobs, OK?) are all strewn about, so about an hour of work should do the trick. Then I walked out there. OMG, what a nightmare!! So much more to do than pick up a few toys! Weeds and ants. Somewhere along the line when I wasn't looking weeds and fire ants took over our back yard. I needed help and I needed it bad.
First order of business was to call for reinforcements. I called a landscaper who has done some work for us in the past to see if he would be available to help out at the last minute and thank heavens he was. I called DH and said BRING HOME AMDRO. I don't like using poisons and chemicals, but when it comes to fire ants there just isn't any other choice; they have to go. I did what I could to get rid of as many of them as possible before DH got home by pouring 8 pots of boiling water on the mounds. That may not have killed them all but there were mass casualties, let me tell you, because the bodies were an inch deep. DH finished up by sprinkling the amdro on what was left of the mounds so hopefully that got the queen/s. (The mounds were massive; they ran a good 20 feet long along the back wall of the house, around a foot high, and extended out at least a foot, more in some areas, plus two mounds out in the grass.)
After the ant situation was somewhat under control we had to deal with the weeds. As you can see in the pictures we have pavers with spaces, like little cracks, in between each block. Weeds were growing up out of every single crack! I knew we had a lot of weeds around the pool but we never seemed to have a problem with them in the high traffic areas were the kids play... in the past. The kids haven't spent as much time outside this summer (it's too darn hot) so I guess the weeds took the opportunity to GROW with no one running them over. I was absolutely dismayed. I went out there on Thursday, pulled out my little rolling gardening seat, put on my work gloves, and started pulling. (There will be no Round Up used at my home, EVER, no matter the situation.) The Middle Child helped then Alex, the landscaper, came over later. DH took most of our pool fence down which helped a lot. It gave us easier access to the weeds around the pool and it opened up the space for both the view and using the pool itself. DH also worked on the pool, cleaning out the filter and so forth, and took care of getting that spiffed up. Alex pulled weeds, including the big ones that were too tough for me, and cut back our hedges, which were growing through the fence and into our patio area. The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, and The Eldest even helped when I forced them to. We worked all day and by the time the sun was going down it was like a different yard. I still can't believe the difference! I told Alex (who really did most of the hard work) that he gave us our yard back. The Middle Child was thrilled; she walked all over and said "I can go everywhere in the yard now". (None of us liked to walk in the areas where the weeds and over grown hedges were really bad.)
I also called in help for the house. We have a wonderful housekeeper/babysitter who came to the rescue inside. She normally comes for a few hours on Tuesdays, but she made time to work again Thursday evening to get ready for the party. I was so grateful for her help. I was totally drained from working outside, especially in the heat, that I didn't have anything left for dealing with the inside of the house. (It's times like this when having fibro really sucks.) She breezed in, did her thing, and voila, the house was party ready. I totally, completely, love this woman, and I would not be able to function without her; she is a blessing to me and our family.
I picked up take out for dinner, took some Tylenol, and fell into bed. The next day, party day, I found the energy to take care of the final details and even managed to make a 1-2-3 pound cake from scratch. (It's a very quick and easy recipe from my grandmother; see below.) I delegated the homemade ice cream to DH; he also picked up the ice and the store bought cake The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, chose. (He wanted two cakes; the one from the store had frosting flames on it! It was very cool.)
The homeschoolers arrived and I'm afraid I was a little frazzled, but I think things went well. Several of the moms brought additional munchies including some grapes, raw veggies with a hummus dip, and a great quinoa salad that were all a deliciously healthy contrast to the junk food The Wild Child wanted on his party menu. (And more chips- not so healthy but they were all eaten!) Our group is so terrific; the moms are all warm, giving, supportive, and totally amazing. (In fact, I know they wouldn't have minded our weeds one bit but I wanted everything to look great for our first time hosting the group.)
A highlight of the party was the butterfly release. We found a monarch caterpillar almost 2 weeks ago that was ready to form a chrysalis so we put him in our Bugville Treehouse. He crawled to the top of the enclosure, made his silk button, and turned into a chrysalis just like he was supposed to. I didn't think there was any way he would be ready by The Wild Child's birthday, and when I checked that morning he was still a chrysalis. Ten minutes later The Middle Child yelled for me- he emerged!!! I could NOT believe it! We took the BT outside and let him hang out, pump up his wings, and get heat acclimated for a few hours, which meant release time was right in the middle of the party. He did not seem to want to come out so I had to carefully pick him up (the way they showed us at Butterfly World so that you don't damage their wings) to get him out of there, then I let him go and off he went into the world. It was so cool.
The Bugville Treehouse, which has gotten a lot of use.
The party eventually wound down and everyone went home. We gave the kids Silly Bandz for party favors. (I figured one really cool treat would work instead of a goody bag full of junky stuff; from the reactions I made the right choice!) I took to my bed for a while, but I was too sore to lay down for long so I got up and puttered around. We were going to go out to eat dinner later, we always let the birthday child choose the restaurant, but The Wild Child decided he would rather swim with his new snorkel and mask. Fine by me. I took a long hot bath, more Tylenol, and finally went to bed.
So it wiped me out, but I'm very satisfied about what we did. I am so happy to have our back yard in decent shape again. I've always said that having company over is a good excuse to do what you need to do anyway, and this was no exception. It was a lot of hard, hard, work and we never would have done it for ourselves. (Silly us.) I'm paying the price in terms of the fibro flaring up, but I'll recover, and then I'll be able to enjoy the yard, too. I have a busy week next week (appointments and such for The Eldest) but after that I should have a few weeks without much going on so I can catch my breath before the fall, when Girl Scouts and all of our regular activities pick up again.
PS: Here's a bonus for you- my grandmother's pound cake recipe:
1 - 2 - 3 Pound Cake
1 cup Crisco
2 cups sugar
3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 eggs
Milk, if needed
Cream Crisco and sugar with an electric mixer. Add vanilla. Add 2 eggs, mix well, then add one cup of flour. Alternate eggs and flour until all is used. If cake dough is too thick add a little milk until proper consistency. Pour into a well greased bundt or loaf pan. Bake at 325° until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, at least one hour.
Add mashed strawberries mixed with a little bit of sugar and some whipped topping for the best strawberry shortcake you've ever eaten.
*This is a good recipe for the shaped, 3-D cake pans. I made a teddy bear cake using this recipe once and it was perfect.
Friday, July 9, 2010
My Baby is Growing Up
My youngest turned 8 today. Eight. That's 10 years shy of 18, when he'll leave the nest. 10 years until my job as "Mom" is done. (Although of course you never stop being mom, do you? But the day to day, molding-young-minds part will be done.) 10 years is the blink of an eye, as I know since my oldest turned 17 less than two weeks ago.
Today is the day to be a little nostalgic and remember him as a baby. He was born at home, which shocked a lot of people, but it was the best decision we could have made and absolutely the right choice for our family at that time. His birthday is very close to The Eldest's; I wondered if they might share a birthday when I was pregnant with him. It turned out that he was a few days late while The Eldest had been a few days early, so their birthdays are spread out across June and July. Had they both been born on time... they both could have been born on July 2nd. Or the 4th. He was late enough that they were starting to talk about inducing, but it didn't come to that. (Whew!) He just needed a little more cooking, I suppose. He was an easy baby, too; he didn't have any trouble nursing (which was not the case with the girls) and he slept a lot. No colic, which The Eldest suffered with.
Then he started walking. At eight months. All downhill from there. No, no, no, I'm only kidding. It wasn't a downhill thing, it was more like a roller coaster. He was a mile a minute as a toddler and pre-schooler. Like The Eldest, we couldn't take him anywhere without knowing how we were going to contain him once we got there. I am unapologetic about using a harness with him when we went into crowded situations; it was for his safety since he was a runner. He would take off and not look back, just trusting us to follow him. I did follow him a few times, to see how far he would go. I always gave up before he did and hauled him back to wherever he was supposed to be. The literature says babies will keep checking when they wander and won't go too far away from their caregivers; HA!!! That's rich. The people who wrote that never spent time around my kids, that's for sure. I like to think of it as a trust issue, though; they knew we would keep them safe and not let them get lost so they felt comfortable running as far and as fast as they wanted. Given my fibromyalgia, though, it sure was tough to keep up with him.
There is one time he scared the bejeezus out of me with the running, though. We were at a pre school that offered a lot of parent/child classes. After our class one day I was talking to another mom in one of the play rooms while the kids played. The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, decided he didn't want to play in the playroom anymore and he took off. I think he was around three at the time, but he was still fast. He ran out of the playroom, down the hall, down the stairs, through the lobby, and out the front doors of the building with me chasing behind him yelling "stop, stop" all the way. (You'd think one of the other parents would have grabbed him for me; nope, they just watched him run right by.) The front doors open onto a parking lot!!!! Luckily he turned and headed down the sidewalk instead of into the parking area and I was finally able to catch him. I asked him why, WHY!?! He said he didn't like me talking to the other moms.
@#$%^$*^*#
OK, maybe growing up won't be so bad in his case.
Today is the day to be a little nostalgic and remember him as a baby. He was born at home, which shocked a lot of people, but it was the best decision we could have made and absolutely the right choice for our family at that time. His birthday is very close to The Eldest's; I wondered if they might share a birthday when I was pregnant with him. It turned out that he was a few days late while The Eldest had been a few days early, so their birthdays are spread out across June and July. Had they both been born on time... they both could have been born on July 2nd. Or the 4th. He was late enough that they were starting to talk about inducing, but it didn't come to that. (Whew!) He just needed a little more cooking, I suppose. He was an easy baby, too; he didn't have any trouble nursing (which was not the case with the girls) and he slept a lot. No colic, which The Eldest suffered with.
Then he started walking. At eight months. All downhill from there. No, no, no, I'm only kidding. It wasn't a downhill thing, it was more like a roller coaster. He was a mile a minute as a toddler and pre-schooler. Like The Eldest, we couldn't take him anywhere without knowing how we were going to contain him once we got there. I am unapologetic about using a harness with him when we went into crowded situations; it was for his safety since he was a runner. He would take off and not look back, just trusting us to follow him. I did follow him a few times, to see how far he would go. I always gave up before he did and hauled him back to wherever he was supposed to be. The literature says babies will keep checking when they wander and won't go too far away from their caregivers; HA!!! That's rich. The people who wrote that never spent time around my kids, that's for sure. I like to think of it as a trust issue, though; they knew we would keep them safe and not let them get lost so they felt comfortable running as far and as fast as they wanted. Given my fibromyalgia, though, it sure was tough to keep up with him.
There is one time he scared the bejeezus out of me with the running, though. We were at a pre school that offered a lot of parent/child classes. After our class one day I was talking to another mom in one of the play rooms while the kids played. The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, decided he didn't want to play in the playroom anymore and he took off. I think he was around three at the time, but he was still fast. He ran out of the playroom, down the hall, down the stairs, through the lobby, and out the front doors of the building with me chasing behind him yelling "stop, stop" all the way. (You'd think one of the other parents would have grabbed him for me; nope, they just watched him run right by.) The front doors open onto a parking lot!!!! Luckily he turned and headed down the sidewalk instead of into the parking area and I was finally able to catch him. I asked him why, WHY!?! He said he didn't like me talking to the other moms.
@#$%^$*^*#
OK, maybe growing up won't be so bad in his case.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Teenagers....Sheese
You'd think my teenager, The Eldest, would be anxious to get her driver's license like most teens ON THE PLANET, but NOOOOO, she has to be all unique and different and in no hurry to drive at all. Which means I have chauffeur duty in order to get her to her classes, tutors, and various activities. I took her to take the test for her learner's permit but she bombed. I keep bugging her to study and I'll take her in again but she won't do it. I finally laid down the law a couple of days ago and told her Mom's taxi service is out of business, for her anyway, when she turns 18. (Which isn't that far away.)
I'm of two minds about it, however, since car accidents are such a huge cause of teen fatalities. On the one hand it would make my life a lot easier if she could drive, but on the other hand it is a dangerous thing for her to do and I would be constantly worried. (I'm a huge worrier at the best of times.) I keep nudging her but I don't want to push too hard; if she's not ready, she's not ready.
I got her today, though. She's been jonesing for a burrito from a little Mexican place that's not too far away but it's not exactly in our neighborhood or on my regular driving routes. I pointed out that if she were driving, she could go get her own darn burrito. I think she's tempted. ;)
I'm of two minds about it, however, since car accidents are such a huge cause of teen fatalities. On the one hand it would make my life a lot easier if she could drive, but on the other hand it is a dangerous thing for her to do and I would be constantly worried. (I'm a huge worrier at the best of times.) I keep nudging her but I don't want to push too hard; if she's not ready, she's not ready.
I got her today, though. She's been jonesing for a burrito from a little Mexican place that's not too far away but it's not exactly in our neighborhood or on my regular driving routes. I pointed out that if she were driving, she could go get her own darn burrito. I think she's tempted. ;)
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Parenting
These are the nights every parent dreads. (Well, dreads is a bit strong, but it's on the right track.) The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, woke up at 5:00 am with a sick tummy followed shortly thereafter by some tossed cookies. :( He didn't have much of a fever but he felt really bad so I settled him on the couch with some crackers, ginger ale, and a wet rag to wipe his face. It's a sectional sofa so I got my pillow and settled in on the other side. Not much sleeping for me, though; I roused up with every snort and snuffle he made after he finally drifted off. He woke up for a second round a few hours later then back to sleep, then again, without the tossed cookies part, for the third time. I finally called DH at that point; I was so tired I didn't know what to do for my sweet boy. He needed some Tylenol but I didn't want him to just throw it back up. DH said "liquid Tylenol", but with the arthritis in my hands (they are really stiff in the morning) and my old eyeballs I could neither open the bottle nor see to read the proper dosage, so DH had to get up to administer the meds.
After that we all drifted off again for an hour or so but then DH and the girls had to get up for their piano recital.(The Youngest isn't in music lessons yet; he's still too wild for structured lessons right now. Soon, soon.) I was so disappointed not to be able to go to the recital but someone had to stay home with The Youngest. DH offered to let me go and he would stay home but I was a wreck from the interrupted sleep. He called me when the Middle Child performed and put it on speaker phone so I could hear her live but he thought the call disconnected halfway through so he didn't call for The Eldest. (It didn't; I heard her all the way through.) He taped it though so I got to see the video after they got home. It's not the same as being there but it's still good to see them perform. My girls are so lovely and accomplished; DH and I are very proud of them both.
The Youngest seems to be a little better today. He's eating soup and hasn't thrown up so we're optimistic that this was just a 24 hour thing. Maybe he ate something that didn't agree with him; we've been eating out a lot lately. Regardless, I'm hoping the worst is over.
After that we all drifted off again for an hour or so but then DH and the girls had to get up for their piano recital.(The Youngest isn't in music lessons yet; he's still too wild for structured lessons right now. Soon, soon.) I was so disappointed not to be able to go to the recital but someone had to stay home with The Youngest. DH offered to let me go and he would stay home but I was a wreck from the interrupted sleep. He called me when the Middle Child performed and put it on speaker phone so I could hear her live but he thought the call disconnected halfway through so he didn't call for The Eldest. (It didn't; I heard her all the way through.) He taped it though so I got to see the video after they got home. It's not the same as being there but it's still good to see them perform. My girls are so lovely and accomplished; DH and I are very proud of them both.
The Youngest seems to be a little better today. He's eating soup and hasn't thrown up so we're optimistic that this was just a 24 hour thing. Maybe he ate something that didn't agree with him; we've been eating out a lot lately. Regardless, I'm hoping the worst is over.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Laundry
Blech. I HATE doing laundry. With a family of 5 it piles up quickly so there's no way to get around it. I have to admit I can go quite a while, though! Over the years I have purchased enough clothing so that we can go a good long time between rounds.
When we are absolutely out of clean clothes, here's how it works. The kids take off their dirty clothes every night and throw them on the floor. When I'm ready to sort clothes I yell at them to pick everything up and bring it to my bathroom where I have about 10 laundry baskets all spread out. They either ignore me completely (it's amazing how The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, always has to use the potty for a good long time right when I need him to do something, but there it is) or pick up just a few things and say they are done. In exasperation, and maybe a little desperation, I go to their rooms and stand outside their doors (the younger two have rooms right next to each other) and point out what they've missed, which I can clearly see from the doorway. I never actually enter The Middle Child's room since it's hazardous. The Youngest's room isn't as bad since I cleaned it up a few weeks ago so I can go in there without risking life and limb, which I do, and round up any clothes I can find. (The Eldest is supposed to wash her own clothes in theory, but she manages to sneak her stuff into my stuff when I'm not looking.)
Then the sorting. Oh, the sorting! I have to check every pocket for foreign objects (you can ask my mom about the crayon my brother left in a pocket when we were kids; I've never forgotten that lesson!) and button and zip every pair of pants. See, open zippers ruin your clothes when the teeth rub against fabric in the washer, or so I've read. The rest is pretty easy, washer to dryer, until the folding and putting away. That's where I stall out. I use separate baskets for dirty vs. clean clothes due to pinworms (we had an outbreak several years ago; I cleared them up quickly and I think it's because I don't put clean clothes in the same baskets that hold dirty clothes- that's how those critters keep reinfecting people, I'm convinced) and I've limited myself to four of them. Clean baskets, that is. So I can only have four baskets of clean clothes sitting around at once. Can't do anymore laundry until I have some clean baskets empty! Luckily DH and The Middle Child help out with the folding every now and again 'cause I HATE that part. ~:-P
So anyway, that's what I've been up to lately. Laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. I finished almost all of the clothes and I'm down to three very large loads of towels and some sheets. Woohoo!
When we are absolutely out of clean clothes, here's how it works. The kids take off their dirty clothes every night and throw them on the floor. When I'm ready to sort clothes I yell at them to pick everything up and bring it to my bathroom where I have about 10 laundry baskets all spread out. They either ignore me completely (it's amazing how The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, always has to use the potty for a good long time right when I need him to do something, but there it is) or pick up just a few things and say they are done. In exasperation, and maybe a little desperation, I go to their rooms and stand outside their doors (the younger two have rooms right next to each other) and point out what they've missed, which I can clearly see from the doorway. I never actually enter The Middle Child's room since it's hazardous. The Youngest's room isn't as bad since I cleaned it up a few weeks ago so I can go in there without risking life and limb, which I do, and round up any clothes I can find. (The Eldest is supposed to wash her own clothes in theory, but she manages to sneak her stuff into my stuff when I'm not looking.)
Then the sorting. Oh, the sorting! I have to check every pocket for foreign objects (you can ask my mom about the crayon my brother left in a pocket when we were kids; I've never forgotten that lesson!) and button and zip every pair of pants. See, open zippers ruin your clothes when the teeth rub against fabric in the washer, or so I've read. The rest is pretty easy, washer to dryer, until the folding and putting away. That's where I stall out. I use separate baskets for dirty vs. clean clothes due to pinworms (we had an outbreak several years ago; I cleared them up quickly and I think it's because I don't put clean clothes in the same baskets that hold dirty clothes- that's how those critters keep reinfecting people, I'm convinced) and I've limited myself to four of them. Clean baskets, that is. So I can only have four baskets of clean clothes sitting around at once. Can't do anymore laundry until I have some clean baskets empty! Luckily DH and The Middle Child help out with the folding every now and again 'cause I HATE that part. ~:-P
So anyway, that's what I've been up to lately. Laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. I finished almost all of the clothes and I'm down to three very large loads of towels and some sheets. Woohoo!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
NaBloWriMo COMPLETED (Almost)
I finished the month of October with (almost) daily posts. I only missed two days and I'm very pleased with how things turned out. It was fun to try to come up with something to write about every day; it was a good creative writing exercise. Well, it was fun most days; there were a few when it was hard. The days I missed were just too busy and I barely got a chance to sit down at the computer; some days are like that, even in Australia.
So now we move on. It's November, almost time for the Middle Child's 9th birthday, then the sprint through the holidays. The holidays! Wow, the days are flying by. Sometimes I feel like I'm caught in a current in a river; there are times when I can swim and keep up with things, then other times when the current is too fast and I'm just swept along, watching life speed by and trying to keep my head above water. Guess that's a common occupational hazard for parents everywhere.
So now we move on. It's November, almost time for the Middle Child's 9th birthday, then the sprint through the holidays. The holidays! Wow, the days are flying by. Sometimes I feel like I'm caught in a current in a river; there are times when I can swim and keep up with things, then other times when the current is too fast and I'm just swept along, watching life speed by and trying to keep my head above water. Guess that's a common occupational hazard for parents everywhere.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Halloween
Some years are better than others when it comes to Halloween; this year turned out to be a good one. We hooked up with another family and walked around with them and enjoyed chatting and getting to know one another better. A few of the neighbors with kids joined up with us at various points, tagging along briefly then branching off on their own again. We met some new folks which is always a good thing. We went to an afternoon block party that is turning into a yearly tradition; we enjoy it more every time we go. They have games and activities for the kids that are so much fun. This is the one time of year when all the neighborhood kids are out and about at roughly the same time so my kids enjoy making new connections. The Eldest goes around with her friends now; yes, at 16, she still enjoys trick or treating. The weather cooperated for the most part; it was hot but it didn't rain. After Wilma a few years ago we had lovely weather but the kids had to go out early due to all the debris! This year they were able to go out when it was properly good and dark, so that aspect was fun.
They trick or treated for UNICEF and have a nice amount of change rattling around in their little orange boxes; I'll let you know how much we collected in a future post!
They trick or treated for UNICEF and have a nice amount of change rattling around in their little orange boxes; I'll let you know how much we collected in a future post!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Halloween Scares, a Little Early
I took The Middle Child and a friend of hers (I'll call her Friend for this post) to a local Safety Expo tonight. It's the kind cities have all over; the fire and police departments come out to show off their stuff, which is pretty cool, and all sorts of local vendors hand out candy or other little freebies along with their brochures for some cheap advertising. They had several bounce houses there and the girls went in one of them for a few minutes. All of a sudden the thing started to collapse on the kids! It was sheer chaos from that point; the kids all panicked and tried to get out at once. As we learned from things like the Station Nightclub fire, that's not the best way to get out of a panic inducing situation. The Middle Child managed to get out pretty quickly but Friend was still inside. I couldn't see her; the roof was on top of the kids by this point. Parents were all around the entrance trying to deal with what was going on; I tried to yell to the kids to move back but no one heard me. Finally I saw Friend's head emerge from the entry, then she got an arm out so I grabbed her under her armpits and PULLED. She came out like a cork out of a champagne bottle! I stood her up and she ran off to The Middle Child who was a little way off; I still didn't know if she was OK, but she was moving around so that was a good sign. She was making noise, too- but was she laughing or crying? I couldn't tell! I caught up to her and, huge sigh of relief, she was laughing. I, however, was NOT laughing. I approached a kid who looked like he worked for the bounce house company and asked him what happened. He said the generator that pumps the air ran out of gas. So not cool. I fussed at him and made him all defensive, then asked what company it was and he wouldn't tell me. There was another guy I'd seen him talk to earlier so I ran over to him and sweetly asked him the name of the company, which he was only too happy to tell me, then I let him have it. (I'm PMSing, OK? I don't deal well with a crisis when I'm in this state.) He had the nerve to say he was doing this as a free service for the community and he hoped I was enjoying all the free stuff they were giving out. The NERVE!! I mean, who the heck cares about a bunch of pamphlets and some candy when a kid gets hurt? He was all "well, what am I supposed to do about it? Generators run out of gas". You know what, that is unacceptable. Like I'm supposed to tell him how to safely run his business. HE is supposed to be the expert and HE is the one who is supposed to come up with ways to keep his patrons safe.
I'm still shaking I'm so mad.
I'm still shaking I'm so mad.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Pyromaniac Among Us
My son, my darling boy, tried to burn the house down today. He was engaging in that ever popular kid sport, playing with matches. No actual harm was done to anything except his finger (which is blistered on the tip) but the potential is scary beyond words. What the heck do you do for that? What consequence can you mete out to let him know how very serious his behavior was and that he is never, ever to do that again?
And then to top it off, he lied over and over to me when I confronted him with the evidence. He said he didn't have any more matches but the entire box was stashed in the garbage can in his room; he also lied about where he found them in the first place. (He got them from a cabinet over DH's computer which he KNOWS is off limits, a cabinet I thought was safe. Obviously I was wrong. Nothing is safe from that child.) I can NOT tolerate lying; one of our top family values is honesty so I am upset beyond belief at that aspect of all this.
So now I have to come up with consequences. He's missing a festival Friday night for the matches and we're probably not going to let him trick or treat on Halloween for the lying. I am heartbroken; I love taking the kids around to trick or treat. I think this is a definite case of "this is hurting me more than it's hurting you".
And then to top it off, he lied over and over to me when I confronted him with the evidence. He said he didn't have any more matches but the entire box was stashed in the garbage can in his room; he also lied about where he found them in the first place. (He got them from a cabinet over DH's computer which he KNOWS is off limits, a cabinet I thought was safe. Obviously I was wrong. Nothing is safe from that child.) I can NOT tolerate lying; one of our top family values is honesty so I am upset beyond belief at that aspect of all this.
So now I have to come up with consequences. He's missing a festival Friday night for the matches and we're probably not going to let him trick or treat on Halloween for the lying. I am heartbroken; I love taking the kids around to trick or treat. I think this is a definite case of "this is hurting me more than it's hurting you".
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The Middle Child Cooks!
The Middle Child cooked dinner for the family for the first time yesterday, almost entirely on her own. She made Pasta and Bean Soup, a vegetarian meal, which turned out perfectly. Keep in mind she's 8 years old, just so you're properly impressed. (OK, she'll be 9 next month, but still.) She's always enjoyed cooking and helping in the kitchen to the point where it's difficult to keep her out of there when I'm trying to cook. We had to teach her how to use a knife safely or else she'd cut things up anyway, risking life and limb, and especially fingers. When she cut herself trying to wash my favorite knife a few weeks ago, I sat down with her to watch the Good Eats episode on knives and cutting techniques. (I'm happy they aired that particular episode right when we needed it!) Alton Brown put a lot of emphasis on safety and demonstrated how to wash a knife by laying it against a cutting board in the sink, which is how she washes her knife now. And oh, yes, she has her own knife. The adult knives were too big for her so we found a chef's knife in a smaller size that suits her perfectly; she is so proud. She loves cutting up veggies!
She's been making scrambled eggs for a while now. That was another example of her determination to cook. She bugged me to teach her how to make scrambled eggs for the longest time but it's not something I make often so I put her off. Well, that didn't stop her. When I left her with our babysitter she asked the sitter to teach her. Our sitter is a love and has a hard time saying no to things like that, so she taught her, and for the next month she was making scrambled eggs left and right. I bought an Egg Genie, the kind that hard boils eggs, and she learned how to use it and now makes deviled eggs. She also decided she wanted to make guacamole when I had some avocados and now has that recipe down pat. Her guacamole is pretty good, too, I must say. With all of her practice on eggs and the other recipes she's learned to make on her own, she was ready for a full meal. I'm so proud!
I told her the other day she's a foodie, that's all there is to it. She likes to eat good, healthy food, (she's the least picky of my children), she likes to cook, and she likes to cook for other people. She's curious about food and recipes and wants to learn how to make new things. I'd say that's the very essence of a foodie!
PS: I'm adding Spatulatta, the kid's cooking website, to my list of websites I like in honor of The Middle Child. If you have a budding cook in your family that's a good website to check out.
She's been making scrambled eggs for a while now. That was another example of her determination to cook. She bugged me to teach her how to make scrambled eggs for the longest time but it's not something I make often so I put her off. Well, that didn't stop her. When I left her with our babysitter she asked the sitter to teach her. Our sitter is a love and has a hard time saying no to things like that, so she taught her, and for the next month she was making scrambled eggs left and right. I bought an Egg Genie, the kind that hard boils eggs, and she learned how to use it and now makes deviled eggs. She also decided she wanted to make guacamole when I had some avocados and now has that recipe down pat. Her guacamole is pretty good, too, I must say. With all of her practice on eggs and the other recipes she's learned to make on her own, she was ready for a full meal. I'm so proud!
I told her the other day she's a foodie, that's all there is to it. She likes to eat good, healthy food, (she's the least picky of my children), she likes to cook, and she likes to cook for other people. She's curious about food and recipes and wants to learn how to make new things. I'd say that's the very essence of a foodie!
PS: I'm adding Spatulatta, the kid's cooking website, to my list of websites I like in honor of The Middle Child. If you have a budding cook in your family that's a good website to check out.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Parenting
The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, was a jerk to another kid in our homeschooling group today. Sigh. I'm still not clear on the details, but it seems my son and another boy banded together to bully one of the other boys in the group, apparently taking his prescription glasses and threatening to throw them or break them or something. He sat in time out the rest of the time we were there and totally missed out on petting the horse that came by, let me tell you. There was also a serious amount of talking about the issue, much to his chagrin, and even the other boy's mom fussed at him.
Where do they get this stuff? That is so not OK, and something DH and I work on all the time with him. He's basically a sweet, tender-hearted kid but he is also impulsive and strong willed and just doesn't think about consequences. He is easily led by his peers, unfortunately, and thinks that inappropriate, sometimes mean, things are funny. (And I'm not saying he was just following the boy he banded with in this case, I don't know who had the bright idea to be mean, it's just a trait of his.) He's also quick to use his physical strength to solve his problems (he's a moose) since he's the youngest in the family; his sisters boss him around all the time and that's how he copes. It's important to kids to feel a sense of empowerment and, as the youngest child, I recognize that he feels powerless too much of the time. I do what I can to combat that by taking him out with me for occasional one to one time and giving him choices as much as possible. I want him to know that his opinions matter in our family just as much as his sisters. He is important.
On the whole he is improving; today was a definite step backwards, but hopefully something he will learn a lesson from. I was very disappointed in his behavior and saddened that he upset the other child as much as he did, then I had to figure out what the heck to do about it, which is the hardest part. Sheese.
Sometimes being the mom sucks.
Where do they get this stuff? That is so not OK, and something DH and I work on all the time with him. He's basically a sweet, tender-hearted kid but he is also impulsive and strong willed and just doesn't think about consequences. He is easily led by his peers, unfortunately, and thinks that inappropriate, sometimes mean, things are funny. (And I'm not saying he was just following the boy he banded with in this case, I don't know who had the bright idea to be mean, it's just a trait of his.) He's also quick to use his physical strength to solve his problems (he's a moose) since he's the youngest in the family; his sisters boss him around all the time and that's how he copes. It's important to kids to feel a sense of empowerment and, as the youngest child, I recognize that he feels powerless too much of the time. I do what I can to combat that by taking him out with me for occasional one to one time and giving him choices as much as possible. I want him to know that his opinions matter in our family just as much as his sisters. He is important.
On the whole he is improving; today was a definite step backwards, but hopefully something he will learn a lesson from. I was very disappointed in his behavior and saddened that he upset the other child as much as he did, then I had to figure out what the heck to do about it, which is the hardest part. Sheese.
Sometimes being the mom sucks.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
My Baby's in Kinderg...no, wait, COLLEGE!!!
The Eldest started her first college class today, which is also her first class... ever. She's been homeschooled all of her life so this is her first day of school. Oh, the jokes were flying from DH. Did I remember to give her milk money? Did I pack her lunch? You get the drift. ;)
I did help her as much as I could. I helped her pack her book bag and made sure she had a number 2 pencil, which she won't need until the first test. I gave her as many tips as I could think of for how to be successful in the class. I feel a little better about things since she's taking the same class I just finished, with the same professor. He's a people-person; very warm and caring, so I'm sure he'll look out for her as he does all of his students. I can help her get through her first class for now then she'll be on her own for the next semester, when she'll take more than one class.
The program she's in is pretty neat. It's a dual enrollment program for high school juniors and seniors where they can take college classes for credit and FOR FREE. This is open to public school students who meet certain criteria as to GPA, completed classes, and so forth. As a homeschooler, The Eldest had to take a brief placement test the college offers and that's it. The school board even covers her books! She has to return them in mint condition at the end of the semester, but she doesn't have to buy them. (I already bought the books for this class so we won't need to take advantage of that part of the program.) Oh, and I had to get a form signed by someone in the school board to take to the college to prove eligibility.
It's serving so many purposes for her. She's establishing a GPA now and can earn college credit at the same time, plus she's gaining experience with classrooms, taking notes, completing projects, and taking tests, all of which will help when she applies for her college of choice. She was getting anxious for some social interaction in addition to her Girl Scout troop so this will help out with that as well. (I gave her the option of regular high school but she said she wasn't interested, so this is a good alternative for her.)
I was pretty proud of her as she walked away from the car towards the building. I know she'll get through with flying colors, and I'm pleased DH and I were able to prepare her as much as we possibly could for this new step in her life.
PS: We took a picture of her for the scrapbook of her first day in school. :)
I did help her as much as I could. I helped her pack her book bag and made sure she had a number 2 pencil, which she won't need until the first test. I gave her as many tips as I could think of for how to be successful in the class. I feel a little better about things since she's taking the same class I just finished, with the same professor. He's a people-person; very warm and caring, so I'm sure he'll look out for her as he does all of his students. I can help her get through her first class for now then she'll be on her own for the next semester, when she'll take more than one class.
The program she's in is pretty neat. It's a dual enrollment program for high school juniors and seniors where they can take college classes for credit and FOR FREE. This is open to public school students who meet certain criteria as to GPA, completed classes, and so forth. As a homeschooler, The Eldest had to take a brief placement test the college offers and that's it. The school board even covers her books! She has to return them in mint condition at the end of the semester, but she doesn't have to buy them. (I already bought the books for this class so we won't need to take advantage of that part of the program.) Oh, and I had to get a form signed by someone in the school board to take to the college to prove eligibility.
It's serving so many purposes for her. She's establishing a GPA now and can earn college credit at the same time, plus she's gaining experience with classrooms, taking notes, completing projects, and taking tests, all of which will help when she applies for her college of choice. She was getting anxious for some social interaction in addition to her Girl Scout troop so this will help out with that as well. (I gave her the option of regular high school but she said she wasn't interested, so this is a good alternative for her.)
I was pretty proud of her as she walked away from the car towards the building. I know she'll get through with flying colors, and I'm pleased DH and I were able to prepare her as much as we possibly could for this new step in her life.
PS: We took a picture of her for the scrapbook of her first day in school. :)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Kid Parties
So I took the younger two to a party for one of their friends this weekend. DH usually has birthday party duty but he had a soccer game so it was up to me. It was a pool party at a small house in a neighborhood not too far from us. Things did not go well, at least on my end of it. We get there and go to the backyard (it's a pool party) where we are greeted at the gate by a guy with a cigarette and a beer in his hand. Great! My favorite things- beer and cigarettes at a kids' party! We're off to a terrific start. We head inside the house to deposit the present but it's not clear where it should go; someone gestures in the general direction of the living room and we see one other present there so The Middle Child puts ours next to that one before we head outside again. There's a table full of party food on the way out which looks very nice, but the kids are too excited about the pool. They jump in the pool with about a billion other kids all jumping around and screaming, and The Youngest, aka The Wild Child, immediately finds one of those giganto super soaker water guns and proceeds to squirt anyone and everyone. We're not gun people, not even water guns, so he can't resist the novelty. There are nerf bats and water noodles out there too, and I see several kids hitting each other with them. Oddly enough, there don't seem to be any other parents supervising the little darlings. I'm parked in the screen room where I have a clear view of the pool; I'm not taking my eyes off my kids. There's one other mom watching her child too so we chat a bit. Other than that, I didn't really talk to anyone. I mean, hasn't anyone heard of hosting anymore? As the host of a party, shouldn't one of the birthday child's parents, mom or dad, at least make sure each guest and their parents are greeted in some fashion? Unless the beer and cigarette guy was dad, I never was welcomed. It was the oddest thing. It's also a wonder none of the kids drowned. There was an adult in the pool when we first arrived but she quickly got out, and after that there wasn't anyone officially watching the kids. There were some other adults in the screen room but they were talking and eating and definitely not watching the kids. I was horrified, truthfully. Oh, and the adult guests! Lovely sorts- the kind with T-shirts with insults written on them. Oh, what did it say? I wish I could remember so I could share the eloquence with everyone. The guy with the insult T really made an impression on me, let me tell you! So witty and clever. He's the one who corrected a kid for calling a watermelon rind a rind. "It's not rind with a 'd', it's rine, r-i-n-e." Such genius!
Suffice to say, it was an introvert's nightmare and I couldn't wait to get out of there. The party was supposed to go from 2:00 to 4:00 but as of 4:20 the kids were still in the pool. It was crowded, it was hot, and I was miserable, so I gave the 10 minute warning; no way was I waiting around for the kids to sing Happy Birthday. We were out of there by 4:30 just as they were getting ready to beat up on the pinata, another of my favorite party activities- encourage kids to hit something with a baseball bat and then push and shove each other in a mad dash to grab candy. Let's encourage violence and greed!
The party made me realize something about myself. I'm a snob, a total snob. I can not stand ill mannered people. The guy with the rude T-shirt, setting a bad example for kids by drinking beer and smoking in front of them, lack of parental supervision... it all sets my teeth on edge. Shudder.
Suffice to say, it was an introvert's nightmare and I couldn't wait to get out of there. The party was supposed to go from 2:00 to 4:00 but as of 4:20 the kids were still in the pool. It was crowded, it was hot, and I was miserable, so I gave the 10 minute warning; no way was I waiting around for the kids to sing Happy Birthday. We were out of there by 4:30 just as they were getting ready to beat up on the pinata, another of my favorite party activities- encourage kids to hit something with a baseball bat and then push and shove each other in a mad dash to grab candy. Let's encourage violence and greed!
The party made me realize something about myself. I'm a snob, a total snob. I can not stand ill mannered people. The guy with the rude T-shirt, setting a bad example for kids by drinking beer and smoking in front of them, lack of parental supervision... it all sets my teeth on edge. Shudder.
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