Hoop

Nick Guzzardo // Hoopcamp 2010 from Sara Janssen on Vimeo.

Fun Shorts

North's first movie: Is it a hit or miss? from Trisha Sand on Vimeo.

Skyler at Thanksgiving 2010 from Trisha Sand on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving vacation: Adventure to the Academy of Sciences

BARTing to San Fransisco. Followed by a MUNI ride to the Museum of Science in Golden Gate Park.

Becoming familiar with public transportation is a skill that I think is very important. Mingling with the masses, knowing which side of the street takes a person to what destination, having correct change: so many behaviors that I can expose my children to and thus increase their knowledge of the different worlds all around them. (And skills I myself might need more practice with!)

We could have barreled down the freeway in our isolated space-pod, but how boring is that. My boys had an adventure.

Shh.

Don't tell them it was also a learning experience.

Yikes, not the most flattering picture of my mother. I hope she forgives easily!

Same namesake; but the child grows two years older.

North and Aunt Leslie spent most their museum time together. In this picture, they are looking at the rain forest dome.

Watching the sharks feed was the first thing North recounted to Reed when asked about his trip.

Both kids were enthralled by the numerous fish tanks. We may live next to the ocean, but to have such an intimate view of the behaviors of the under-sea creature is a treat. When Sky came to his first floor-to-ceiling tank, he grabbed at the fish, tried to kiss them, yelled and chattered to anyone standing near. He was in love.

We stayed to watch the divers in the coral reef.

Thank you Josh, for taking pictures on our trip. It was such a treat to be able to travel through many modes of transportation, tracking kids, snacks and diapers, yet knowing that the memories of our great day would still be recorded without having the added concern for my own camera tacked onto the days' movements. Thank you.

Fall colors for my tummy

hachiya persimmons, cheddar cauliflower, red grapes, Jonagold apples, a leek, cranberries, green kale and purple kale, carrots, brussel sprouts, collard greens, butternut squash: all of the different types of brightly colored fall produce that made it into the grocery cart this week.

Messy art

While researching for projects to do with my preschool class, I had an epiphany. I was a typical parent of a preschooler! I have been taking the easy way out when the boys and I did projects at home. Totally confined to the kitchen and the table, some exploration, but CERTAINLY not messy.

What kind of teacher am I anyway? Messy projects are the best way to learn!

So in appreciation of a sunny autumn day, North, Skyler and I took our art outside.

We painted the plastic climber. We also painted different sized balls and rolled them down the slide.

Skyler chased the chickens for awhile.

North discovered what water does to paper plates.

The idea with the cake pan was to hold the homemade bubble solution, but the boys decided that they would rather mix paint into it.

Painting/bubble play on a November afternoon from Trisha Sand on Vimeo.

Can cleaning up can be just as much fun as the creating? It is just as important...

One last project before bathtime.

This week my preschoolers from Woodside will mix glue and shaving cream as well as drop vinegar into a sensory table of baking soda. Bring on the messy clothes!

Adventure day

I have been itching for a family bike ride since I got my bike two months ago. I can pull the boys in the bike trailer, but something was missing. The boys seemed so far away and Reed was always busy with his own plans.

Today turned out to be our big bike day.

But first North and I went on a solo adventure.

And before that, he had to have a cavity filled.

Augh! Bad Mommy! Especially because he doesn't like chocolate and we brush EVERY day. Very little juice and no candy, breastfeeding until 22 months. --- that darn dried fruit did him in!

Anyway, we go to the best pediatric dentist. We started seeing him when North turned 2. This cavity was our first voyage beyond the standard well teeth check-up.

The visit started out well. The dental assistant asked North which flavor of gas he would like to smell. I liked how she gave him control first thing into the visit. I was nervous about how North would react to the nitrous oxide gas, but the combination of oxygen to gas seemed perfect. He was calm, not giggly or silly. The dentist scraped away the bad parts of the tooth and filled it in, finishing it all up in a matter of minutes.

North sat in the chair like a champ. He was wiggly when the assistant sucked out his mouth, but he handled the rest of the procedure very well. A third women was holding his hands. Her job was to keep his hands away from his face, but as he felt so secure with his situation, I think her hand-holding added to his positive experience.

I was told not to explain too much to North about what was to happen in the office. However, he and I talked about what we were going to do after we went to the dentist' "for a little bit of work." I hope that he was thinking about eating bagels while under the knife. I know that I was able to keep my nervousness at bay because of our previous car ride chatter. In every visit, after being excused from the chair, he always chooses a red balloon. The staff is also very liberal with their toy treats and praise. I love that office.

After the dentist, North and I went to the mall for some bounce house play and then bought a Thanksgiving book and a waffle maker. We ate bagels and salad for lunch, then went on a horse and carriage ride through Old Town.

After naptime, Reed suggested a bike ride using the kid seats rather then the trailer. We loaded up the bikes, seats, and helmets. As it was about an hour or so before sunset, we drove to the Hammond Trail.

And then Skyler fell off the bike...

I was pedaling hard up the hill when I heard a loud crash. I can't even describe my emotions as I looked back to see the seat that held my child, laying on the trail behind me. Sky was upside down, covered up by the kid seat. I flew off my bike.

When first teaching preschool, I learned how check children over for injuries from an amazing teacher. Rather then move the kids out of the situation immediately, I would wait for the child move their own body parts. If the child didn't want to move their arm, then that area was to be focused on. Most importantly, I shouldn't let my excitability overcome the child's own sense of the accident. I was better able to gauge their pain level on its purest level if I wasn't influencing their emotions. I found that kids seemed calmer and were better able to move through their experience if I wasn't in the way.

So all of this helped me get through those first few moments after Skyler fell. Luckily, he was wearing a very sturdy helmet and the bike seat fully contained all of his body within the plastic frame. He scraped his hand, but no head wounds or broken bones.

We nursed beside the trail for a few moments as Reed checked over the seat and re-installed it. North hovered over his brother and gave him kisses. All four of us needed to calm down before we could resume our ride. Once we were ready, Skyler willingly got back into his seat. Yea for breastfeeding and emotional healing! Although on the ride back, I had to restrain my urge to reach back and hold onto Sky's seat.

But we made it back to the car. The boys ran through the parking lot puddles as Reed and I packed the bike stuff. Can you remember running through puddles as a child? Especially when you know you shouldn't? Both boys were so gleeful as they progressively got wetter and wetter. Sky had the biggest laugh, North ran and ran. The evening darkened past sunset.

But we all survived.

and yet more educational thoughts....

I really need to do research on Sir Ted Robinson as he has been entering my awareness from all kinds of different angles lately.



His words resonate so strongly with my hazy, not-yet gelled gut feelings about the types of formal education my children should receive.

The current cultural mindsets, the inconsistencies of cognitive stimulation; his words don't quite sum up all my own thinking regarding formal education. Rather, his speeches on education remind me to stay current on the educational choices. To make myself more educated about the philosophies and goals of the current system.

I need to keep thinking about this more. I refuse to follow the current model just to be a sheep leading more sheep. I see positive points in our current public/private school model ( and to say that a family should be loyal just because our country provides for all kids is not a positive point - when our country can provide for all EQUALLY, then I will feel pride towards our schooling.) However, I also refuse to expect and therefore educate my children, by pushing them onto the fast track into college.

I remember the summer after my senior year of high school in which I was adamant I was not going to college. For the most part my feelings were about rebellion and a personal response towards major transitions, but what if I had followed through with walking away? My life path would have been certainly been lost. I had no other goals or strengths at that time. I would have certainly floundered. That in itself was not inherently bad, but without any other positive direction being present in my life (yes, I understand that I was very fortunate to be directed into a college path), who could have said I wouldn't have turned to drugs or other life de-railers?

The point being for me is that I want my kids to choose their own adventures. Whatever way it takes they will see life for all its options. I hope that they can embrace life not as a linear path, but cobweb of choices. Some directions they will choose and then sometimes other paths will take them into opportunities to embrace and learn from.

My kids will be given the tools to succeed and fail. When they fail, I hope that I will have taught them to take a moment to look around and appreciate the space they have fallen into. And then they will stand back up again.

Divergent thinking. I am totally into that.