The best place for creative list making is in the nursing chair up in the boys sleeping room. The room is dark and quiet. Good hormones flow out of my body as Sky nurses himself to sleep. My mind works away without distraction.
Now if only I could write those ideas down without disturbing the mood of the room. Having a successful naptime each day is on the list, right?
I need to type up a few weeks worth of curriculum planning for the preschool. My class is going to the pumpkin patch soon. We will weigh and measure different sizes of pumpkins while at the patch, but the possibilities are endless regarding the activities back in the classroom. Gotta write down all that armchair brainstorming before it wanders off.
Lots of fall closure things to accomplish. Cleaning the fish tank is huge. A huge job and a huge priority. Calling for a chimney sweep is right up there also. Our house is just a rental so I can pretend like I don't see the ugly walls crying out for new paint. I oiled the cupboards and front door; I really wish I could repaint those as well. Some firewood has been dropped off, now it needs to be stacked. The chicken coop never got repainted, but it needs cleaning again. And then there is the dilemma with the lone duck. Should we keep her or eat her?
North's final tuition payment is coming due and I also need to change our health insurance plans. North and Skyler have a dentist appointment scheduled for next month, and the dogs and cats are now current on their vaccines. Yikes, how do families with with multiple kids and animals keep up? I need to be like my grandma and designate a medical month for all upkeep appointments.
I accept that I am a detailed person, but I am not an organized person. I stray, I wander. The bills get paid on time but not always on the exact day as the month prior. My children are well-fed, but their clothes are often wrinkly. I hate feeling as though I am doing sometime at the last minute, yet find myself procrastinating yet again.
Self -discipline is hard.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
North's birthday party
All set up and ready for friends to share the event. The day started off foggy, but cleared up. I am glad I snagged the canopy to use! I wanted to ask everyone to bring their own tableware in addition to a food dish to share, but I was out-voted. I settled for bringing a compost bucket and a box to hold burnable trash, in addition to a very small trash can. With no gift wrapping to discard, we walked away from the event with a very small amount of garbage. For the next party I will move toward having an even smaller footprint...
I spread out blankets for people to sit on while eating lunch. It was like a big picnic. I cooked beans and brought tortillas and pico de gallo. My friend made rice and other people brought fruit, veggies and breads. It was a tasty spread of homemade food.
Last year I made North a birthday crown on his birthday. This year I will do the same, but thought that it would be fun for the rest of the kids to make as well while at the party.
Pony ride!
This is my running partner's son. I hope she is alright with the posting this, I love his expression! He is maturing into an amazing person. I am thankful for the privilege to watch him grow.
Pinata!I think North was more into this party game then the pony and cart. He got so excited when we brought it home to stuff with treats. Before the party, I talked to him about the idea that the other kids got to hit the pinata and he would need to share all the treats inside. With it all lined out for him, he did really well sharing.
Looking for the loot.
I forgot to give Sky a chance to swing the bat. He must have been watching intently because when he realized that we were all done with it, he lurched out of my arms towards the pinata. He didn't seem to mind that it was empty and mangled.And so ends the pictures. After the pinata I realized that we needed to move onto the cake. We sang to North and ate cake and ice cream. The cake was pretty cool. North wanted to have a shark on the top.
We cleaned up, packed up and headed home. North never took a nap, but Sky rested for about an hour. Reed and the boys played in the yard and I went on a short bike ride ( I was way overstimulated from the party). We ate scrambled egg burritos and fruit and yogurt for dinner. The kids went to bed early.
And so ended our first birthday party day.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Soon I will....
...post a video of North singing his good-by song from preschool. Every night at dinner, I ask North what he did at school. He says, "we sang this song...," followed by singing the entire song. Every night he does this! Once we get through that ritual, he will then list the highlights from the morning. Many evenings after the kids' bath and bed, I find myself humming the tune. It is rather catchy.
....post pictures of the boys riding in our bike trailer. My neighbor offered to give me her trailer and coupled with a personal desire to have some solo bike riding down the coastline and through the forests, I bought a new bike. I haven't owned a bike in 10 years! I brought a bike up with me to college when I first moved up here, but have you seen the hills around this place? I just didn't have the thigh muscles after growing up in the Central Valley. I wimped out and stuck with hiking as my physical recreation. Now many years later, I am ready to tackle the landscape and join with the many bikers around here.
....relax in bed tomorrow morning! I worked an extra day this week and am exhausted. Who knew returning to work part-time would be such a juggling act? I am looking to being a stay-at-home mama tomorrow. Skyler and I will cuddle and nurse. North and I can do a project or two. My time will be my kids time.
....post pictures of the boys riding in our bike trailer. My neighbor offered to give me her trailer and coupled with a personal desire to have some solo bike riding down the coastline and through the forests, I bought a new bike. I haven't owned a bike in 10 years! I brought a bike up with me to college when I first moved up here, but have you seen the hills around this place? I just didn't have the thigh muscles after growing up in the Central Valley. I wimped out and stuck with hiking as my physical recreation. Now many years later, I am ready to tackle the landscape and join with the many bikers around here.
....relax in bed tomorrow morning! I worked an extra day this week and am exhausted. Who knew returning to work part-time would be such a juggling act? I am looking to being a stay-at-home mama tomorrow. Skyler and I will cuddle and nurse. North and I can do a project or two. My time will be my kids time.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
This and that.
North put a raisin up his nose today. And just like that, we have arrived to a new phase of childhood and parenting . I am a bit surprised, really. I thought Sky would have been the first one to try something like that.
Two kids begun their first preschool experience in my class today. They both did really well, which is a relief to me as the class as a whole has such a positive attitude that I was slightly concerned about the changing dynamic. I am still so excited to go to work each day, I love teaching. It is a bit exhausting though.
I ran with my friend Monday morning before Reed went to work. We had gotten out of our routine and it was time to begin running again. The mornings are so much darker! I hope we can get in a good number of runs before the rains begin. I have one more reason to run since I went to the grocery store and discovered that a local dairy now not only offers non-homogenized organic whole milk, but in a chocolate favor too! I really don't like buying lowfat/nonfat milk, so this is a great additional treat. All the more reason to get up early to run!
North and I put his birthday invitations into his classmates cubbies at school on Monday. He helped me match the names on the cubby to the name on the envelope. Most of the cubbies also have pictures of the child hung up so we both could put a face to a name. It was fun. But North was very adamant that he needed a letter as well. I tried to explain the hosting of the party idea and therefore not needing an invitation, but I don't think my explanation was very successful. Soon I will get a pinata from the Mexican market and round up some tables and chairs. The mini horse lady came through ( I talked her out of attending a second day of a weekend festival, hehehe) and my friend is starting work on a personalized cape that I will give as a gift.
I wasn't really into throwing big birthday parties for little kids until now. North is very much a part of our party planning so I guess the third birthday is a good place to start this party business. I feel really low key about it. Things will work out as they need to, so the stress is non-existent so far. Friends meeting at the park for a weekend potluck lunch. A pinata and a pony pulling a cart, the expense has been pretty minimal. I think we might even get home in time for naptime.
Last year at birthday time, Reed and I each gave North a book in which we wrote an inscription to North about our hopes for his upcoming year. I decided that I didn't want to start the idea with Sky on his 1st birthday, but each year after 1, for each child, we will continue the tradition. Reed found a book called, "My first bow." I haven't found a book to give to North yet. How in the world do I match a book like Reed's? North is going to love it!
I heard a baby crying and crying and crying while in Target today. The baby sounded so desperate. I went to the checkout line at the same time as the parents and I wanted to walk up to the woman to offer to hold her baby. As I tried not to watch (but was horrified all the same), she would randomly push a pacifier into his mouth, but really wasn't engaging the baby any further. While I certainly have had times that I have finished up my task before comforting my own children, I couldn't help but weep for this baby as I tried to flee the store to get away from his cries. Both parents seemed so disconnected from their newborn baby. It wasn't a slight cry either. His voice became hoarse and panicky as his parents continued to ignore the obvious cry from inside the baby bucket. Why don't people understand how important respect is during the early years of child growth? How can more people be educated as to basic baby care? Children such as this baby shouldn't be treated so inhumanely. Negativity can be stored in young brains, thus setting up the potential to repeat an abusive cycle. How will this family treat their child as he grows older? How can I help more families understand importance of this basic parenting behavior? How can I find the guts to walk up to such families?
Two kids begun their first preschool experience in my class today. They both did really well, which is a relief to me as the class as a whole has such a positive attitude that I was slightly concerned about the changing dynamic. I am still so excited to go to work each day, I love teaching. It is a bit exhausting though.
I ran with my friend Monday morning before Reed went to work. We had gotten out of our routine and it was time to begin running again. The mornings are so much darker! I hope we can get in a good number of runs before the rains begin. I have one more reason to run since I went to the grocery store and discovered that a local dairy now not only offers non-homogenized organic whole milk, but in a chocolate favor too! I really don't like buying lowfat/nonfat milk, so this is a great additional treat. All the more reason to get up early to run!
North and I put his birthday invitations into his classmates cubbies at school on Monday. He helped me match the names on the cubby to the name on the envelope. Most of the cubbies also have pictures of the child hung up so we both could put a face to a name. It was fun. But North was very adamant that he needed a letter as well. I tried to explain the hosting of the party idea and therefore not needing an invitation, but I don't think my explanation was very successful. Soon I will get a pinata from the Mexican market and round up some tables and chairs. The mini horse lady came through ( I talked her out of attending a second day of a weekend festival, hehehe) and my friend is starting work on a personalized cape that I will give as a gift.
I wasn't really into throwing big birthday parties for little kids until now. North is very much a part of our party planning so I guess the third birthday is a good place to start this party business. I feel really low key about it. Things will work out as they need to, so the stress is non-existent so far. Friends meeting at the park for a weekend potluck lunch. A pinata and a pony pulling a cart, the expense has been pretty minimal. I think we might even get home in time for naptime.
Last year at birthday time, Reed and I each gave North a book in which we wrote an inscription to North about our hopes for his upcoming year. I decided that I didn't want to start the idea with Sky on his 1st birthday, but each year after 1, for each child, we will continue the tradition. Reed found a book called, "My first bow." I haven't found a book to give to North yet. How in the world do I match a book like Reed's? North is going to love it!
I heard a baby crying and crying and crying while in Target today. The baby sounded so desperate. I went to the checkout line at the same time as the parents and I wanted to walk up to the woman to offer to hold her baby. As I tried not to watch (but was horrified all the same), she would randomly push a pacifier into his mouth, but really wasn't engaging the baby any further. While I certainly have had times that I have finished up my task before comforting my own children, I couldn't help but weep for this baby as I tried to flee the store to get away from his cries. Both parents seemed so disconnected from their newborn baby. It wasn't a slight cry either. His voice became hoarse and panicky as his parents continued to ignore the obvious cry from inside the baby bucket. Why don't people understand how important respect is during the early years of child growth? How can more people be educated as to basic baby care? Children such as this baby shouldn't be treated so inhumanely. Negativity can be stored in young brains, thus setting up the potential to repeat an abusive cycle. How will this family treat their child as he grows older? How can I help more families understand importance of this basic parenting behavior? How can I find the guts to walk up to such families?
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Skyler at 13 months
Background knowledge: Sky runs into a lot of things thus causing him to fall down to the ground. He also gets knocked down by the dogs or his brother often.
During diaper changes, I have been playing the "where's your..?" game with Skyler. He gets the nose and the toes and the belly, but when I ask him where his head is, he points and says, "Bonk".
He doesn't have a head, he has a bonk.
During diaper changes, I have been playing the "where's your..?" game with Skyler. He gets the nose and the toes and the belly, but when I ask him where his head is, he points and says, "Bonk".
He doesn't have a head, he has a bonk.
Friday, September 3, 2010
One week later
Our family is in the middle of a transition and I feel that everyone is doing great.
North has attended his preschool four days now and he still wants to go to school each morning. Reed and I haven't spent much time with North at his school. I am still amazed at how well to took to the idea of "his school" and so I haven't wanted to push the idea that the rest of us can visit at times too. But I come from a history of parent involvement. I don't really know what North does in his school day and that bugs me. Next week I plan to take more time and spend a bit of the morning together before I leave. Does he have any favorite parts of the classroom? He has mentioned the large blocks often and a frog play area, I am curious about his interests.
His preschool class has two circle times. North thinks this is great, his teacher reported that he takes the opportunity with everyone else sitting to show off some of his funny moves. He is getting the point of circle time although I know he is thinking, "What? Someone else gets to talk and share ideas?
At the school, Snack is served as free choice and isn't offered until everyone is playing outside. The first few days, he wouldn't break away from his play to eat. The result was a crazy meltdown at our house after school. I talked with his teacher about helping him "find" the snack table (a primary goal at this school is independent choice and self-sufficiency, so the teachers will never make him eat) and the week smoothed out after that.
Sky has really been enjoying his extra time with Reed. Reed had the kids for three days straight so that I could really focus on getting the Woodside classroom together in preparation for opening next week. He takes North to school, then comes home to play music with Skyler. Very often whenever Reed leaves the door to the gear room open, Sky will run inside and play Reed's guitar. To now have the music time only with Dad, not to share with brother, must feel very special to Sky.
Sky is also adjusting his naps away from a morning nap. This is a little inconvenient as the driving North to and from school causes Sky to fall asleep in the car. I turned his carseat around last week because of this. It was earlier then I had planned, but it helps a little with the car drowsiness.
Skyler also really wants to nurse to sleep when naptime or nightime arrives. Reed has had luck with a sippy cup of milk, but sometimes it only serves to wind the kid up! The first time I was gone most of the day, I came home around 3:00pm to find Sky running around the house. Two minutes at the breast and he crashed into sleep for a long time, comforted and secure. The transition to cow milk will be successful and Sky will adjust to other ways to get to sleep soon. He is older and more comfortable with change, but I feel a little sad with this new sign of toddlerhood. I am so grateful I was able to find the support in this community and my family to continue nursing. My children have flourished in so many ways, going far beyond the basic need getting the best nutrition.
I am feeling so happy with going back to work. I couldn't ask for a better child care situation, my oldest is happy in his preschol and the youngest is a strong, healthy toddler in the care of his loving parent. (And Reed picked up the house this week! I was so impressed, learning to handle the choas of the kids and washing the dishes? Who would have known?!) The second full day back, the director of Woodside and I had a solid day of preparing for a Parent Orientation meeting. I needed to take a break to nurse Sky even if it meant driving home 20 minutes one way just to see him for 15. As it was, he passed out after nursing so fast, that I was only able to nurse him on one side. I was so hard and sore when I got home at 9 that night. Most nights, I wait for him to wake in his crib before moving him into our big bed, but that night I took him to bed immediately. He barely woke up, but cleared out the milk efficiently. Score one for the co-sleeper. In fact, during those days when I did not see Skyler much during the day, it was the night parenting that was the best. Cuddling and sleeping together is one of my favorite things about parenting. Everything is perfect at night.
And now today is Friday. My plan is to leave our Fridays wide open. North will not attend school and Reed works. Today, North watched "Word World" on PBS while Sky and I enjoyed an extended nurse-n-cuddle. We all gardened in the sun. I tentatively made plans with a friend to go to the river after nap, but the wind cooled things down too quickly. Reed barbecued venison when he got home, the kids played in the empty laundry bucket while he and I lingered at the dinner table.
I know things will be rough at certain times in the upcoming year. I won't focus on that, nor will I over-analyze the prevention of periods of tension. But I have so much more wisdom after two years out of the workforce. My boundaries between work and home will be stronger. I have a beautiful family to come home to, so I will let my work energy dissipate as I make my commute.
Patience is a muscle. Little kids need lots of patience in their lives to be healthy. I have to be patient if I am going to be an effective preschool teacher. I am going back to work so that I will be stronger for my kids. I am grateful for being able to choose this path.
North has attended his preschool four days now and he still wants to go to school each morning. Reed and I haven't spent much time with North at his school. I am still amazed at how well to took to the idea of "his school" and so I haven't wanted to push the idea that the rest of us can visit at times too. But I come from a history of parent involvement. I don't really know what North does in his school day and that bugs me. Next week I plan to take more time and spend a bit of the morning together before I leave. Does he have any favorite parts of the classroom? He has mentioned the large blocks often and a frog play area, I am curious about his interests.
His preschool class has two circle times. North thinks this is great, his teacher reported that he takes the opportunity with everyone else sitting to show off some of his funny moves. He is getting the point of circle time although I know he is thinking, "What? Someone else gets to talk and share ideas?
At the school, Snack is served as free choice and isn't offered until everyone is playing outside. The first few days, he wouldn't break away from his play to eat. The result was a crazy meltdown at our house after school. I talked with his teacher about helping him "find" the snack table (a primary goal at this school is independent choice and self-sufficiency, so the teachers will never make him eat) and the week smoothed out after that.
Sky has really been enjoying his extra time with Reed. Reed had the kids for three days straight so that I could really focus on getting the Woodside classroom together in preparation for opening next week. He takes North to school, then comes home to play music with Skyler. Very often whenever Reed leaves the door to the gear room open, Sky will run inside and play Reed's guitar. To now have the music time only with Dad, not to share with brother, must feel very special to Sky.
Sky is also adjusting his naps away from a morning nap. This is a little inconvenient as the driving North to and from school causes Sky to fall asleep in the car. I turned his carseat around last week because of this. It was earlier then I had planned, but it helps a little with the car drowsiness.
Skyler also really wants to nurse to sleep when naptime or nightime arrives. Reed has had luck with a sippy cup of milk, but sometimes it only serves to wind the kid up! The first time I was gone most of the day, I came home around 3:00pm to find Sky running around the house. Two minutes at the breast and he crashed into sleep for a long time, comforted and secure. The transition to cow milk will be successful and Sky will adjust to other ways to get to sleep soon. He is older and more comfortable with change, but I feel a little sad with this new sign of toddlerhood. I am so grateful I was able to find the support in this community and my family to continue nursing. My children have flourished in so many ways, going far beyond the basic need getting the best nutrition.
I am feeling so happy with going back to work. I couldn't ask for a better child care situation, my oldest is happy in his preschol and the youngest is a strong, healthy toddler in the care of his loving parent. (And Reed picked up the house this week! I was so impressed, learning to handle the choas of the kids and washing the dishes? Who would have known?!) The second full day back, the director of Woodside and I had a solid day of preparing for a Parent Orientation meeting. I needed to take a break to nurse Sky even if it meant driving home 20 minutes one way just to see him for 15. As it was, he passed out after nursing so fast, that I was only able to nurse him on one side. I was so hard and sore when I got home at 9 that night. Most nights, I wait for him to wake in his crib before moving him into our big bed, but that night I took him to bed immediately. He barely woke up, but cleared out the milk efficiently. Score one for the co-sleeper. In fact, during those days when I did not see Skyler much during the day, it was the night parenting that was the best. Cuddling and sleeping together is one of my favorite things about parenting. Everything is perfect at night.
And now today is Friday. My plan is to leave our Fridays wide open. North will not attend school and Reed works. Today, North watched "Word World" on PBS while Sky and I enjoyed an extended nurse-n-cuddle. We all gardened in the sun. I tentatively made plans with a friend to go to the river after nap, but the wind cooled things down too quickly. Reed barbecued venison when he got home, the kids played in the empty laundry bucket while he and I lingered at the dinner table.
I know things will be rough at certain times in the upcoming year. I won't focus on that, nor will I over-analyze the prevention of periods of tension. But I have so much more wisdom after two years out of the workforce. My boundaries between work and home will be stronger. I have a beautiful family to come home to, so I will let my work energy dissipate as I make my commute.
Patience is a muscle. Little kids need lots of patience in their lives to be healthy. I have to be patient if I am going to be an effective preschool teacher. I am going back to work so that I will be stronger for my kids. I am grateful for being able to choose this path.
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