Sunday, December 26, 2010



I saw in the paper last week that a student from HSU would be guiding a walk through the Community forest looking for salamanders. The boys and I were on board with that idea, so Saturday morning found us gathering on a street corner near the forest with several other families.


Education at its purest from Trisha Sand on Vimeo.





Another afternoon after I came home from work, we decided to go for a bike ride out through the Arcata Bottoms and across the Mad River bridge.





It was a wonderful ride. We parked by the bridge and rode out to the beach. The dogs were with us the whole way.

North and Sky were a little excited about being out as the evening darkened. Once released from the bike seats, they could have played on the rocks for hours.

And North would have too, until he discovered he could climb up the fence.

Once he got up to the top, things got a little tricky. He was adamant that he could climb over the top and down to the bridge path. Reed and I were not OK with that idea so we were in a bit of a stand-off for a while. Finally I suggested that Reed tickle North's knees and thus cause him to let go of the fencing.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

An outing

Chores done and time for an outing!
Unfortunately I lost half of my group during the drive to the beach. The dogs were all, "why are we just sitting here, watching the surfers? Let's go!"

So I let them out of the car. And my two dogs became fast friends with all the dogs around. Bruin can be a bit embarrassing in public, however. He has a bit of an attraction to male dogs. The first chance he gets, he is up on them. He always does it out of my voice range and it does fluster me, so the behavior hasn't been corrected properly. We need the dog whisper!
Or more leash usage.

North finally woke up and started playing in the dunes. He didn't like the grass brushing up on him as we walked through the more narrower of the trails. But we pretended that we were a train as he held onto my waist and shut his eyes. It helped.

Untitled from Trisha Sand on Vimeo.




This is the best shot of Skyler from the day. I wonder if other parents have these photo struggles? On our last beach adventure, North was the one with all the bad shots. I don't know if it was his clothing colors contrasting with the ocean light, but I couldn't get anything that I liked.


Lots of sand and and a slope. Who needs a toy box?


Photo caption: Recharging. Or Car stretches. Take your pick.

Following our beach adventure, we went over to a former family of my preschool's house (what a decriptive phrase!) to watch the Lighted Trucker's Parade. The family throws a party every year and we will definitely be going back in the years to come.

Eureka Trucker Parade 2010 from Trisha Sand on Vimeo.




North learned very quickly to cover his ears with each trucks' approach. Each parade entry tried to outdo the previous truck by honking "Jingle Bells" even louder. Next year, we will bring earmuffs!

A few days prior after coming home from his own adventure, Reed brought home chantrelle mushrooms for our dinner. Most delicious.



Lots of mushrooms and butter.
We ate a little bit with white beans, chicken, rosemary and garlic. The majority of the pot went into freezer bags. Mushroom season can be too short unless you know how to freeze the harvest!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Physical growth

My second child is happy to give kisses these days. His physical expression of language is so beautiful to me. He loves to zoom hands for a favorite finger play song, he claps hands whenever applause is heard, makes a "wash hands" sign whenever we are near a sink and today he asked for medicine by sticking out his tongue and putting his finger in his mouth.

Sky is very physically intelligent as well: he kick-dribbles a ball, swings a golf club/bat, throws and rolls a ball. He climbs up into his chair as well as onto the top of the couch. He loves to turn light switches on and off whenever he can reach them. He and North play a game that North calls "Super Cars." They (loudly!) knock over the little wooden chairs and push them very fast all over the house. Sky gleefully copies his brother in whatever the action is in any given moment. If North gets attention for coughing; Skyler will loudly cough too. If North cries in frustration over an injustice, Sky will fall over, purposefully hit his head, and cry loudly.

I chose not to teach my kids sign language but rather to make our family communication strong and diverse. Will Skyler have as many words as North did at a young age? I don't know yet. The difference I see in my two boys is pretty striking already. North is very socially oriented. He needs to be part of a group, to move and make decisions based upon the group. I think North developed his verbal language skills to support those needs. Skyler, on the other hand, seems to be a bit more removed from the peer pressure. He is focused on his own explorations and movements. He learns new behaviors and actions from watching other people but then seems to turn inward to play out his own themes. It seems as though verbal language is just not where his brain is working these days.

Very interesting, this sibling stuff.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Article

I am published!

HumMums is a free parenting zine printed every few months. I wrote about parent coop preschools as the feature article. Check out the printing. I always find something new to learn when I read HumMums.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

In the defense of food: Michael Pollen

Last night Reed and I went out to see Michael Pollen speak at the university. I was pretty impressed with what I heard.

He has a great speaking style, kind of like the favorite professor meets touring book author. Which I guess sums him up as he does teach at Berkley (I felt a little jealous when I read that; I always was satisfied with my college choice, but to have opportunities to learn from cool people like that every day? ....In my next life, I guess)

Anyhow, I enjoyed his talk. He mostly reviewed his written work while also touching on the manipulation of food labeling in relation to the current malnutrition that our Western diet commonly causes. My mom is really good at reading labels on processed food packages, so I have always had a good role model when choosing my food. However as I listened to Michael Pollen talk of the decades of false nutrition claims made by large snack/junk food corporations with no governmental regulation to weed out the lies, I was more then ready to head to my grocery store to bring home only the "quiet food".

As I listened, I reflected on how grateful I feel to have such a peaceful place such as the Co-op to shop for food. I still find food packages in that store that I will avoid because of suspicious health claims, but I would say that 70-90% of the food I or Reed take home is a whole food. Food that we chop or cook. The quiet foods like kale or grapes are the true walkers, I think. I would hate to walk the noisy maze of "whole wheat white bread!" or "Fish fat in the yogurt!" in a grocery on a weekly basis. To paraphrase Michael Pollen: the United States, the most unhealthiest country in the world, has given over to the processed food producers the sole ability to determine the nutrition of our daily meal.

He also talked a bit about the twisted relationship between commercial agriculture and obesity, but mostly focused on positive behaviors that one person can do to prevent poor health in a world that screams "buy my processed food-like substance, it's good for you!" He spoke of farmers markets that accept food stamps and the relationships that developed in the two communities that were commonly isolated from one another. He reminded us of the joys of seasonal food, waiting for strawberries in June or asparagus in the early spring. A part of the American health problem derives from a misconception that we have somehow earned the right to consume whatever, whenever, in large quantities, and at the cheapest price please.

One awareness that I gained from the lecture pertained to China. I hadn't given much thought about food grown in China until Michael Pollen began to speak of a student of his who worked with and interviewed several farmers living in China. These farmers were very casual about the meaning of organic food and were often claiming organic status yet farming on soils that were heavily polluted. So once again, I will be checking labels carefully. Garbage in, garbage out.

I love that we were able to partake in this experience at the same times as a large-scale food discussion comes up within our own government. The Obama administration has begun to clean up the neglect that our kids have suffered under federally funded lunch programs as well as finally give enforcement rights to the FDA to deal with corrupt food companies who sicken people with harmful products. I think time has proven that our culture of food has failed. 1 in 3 kids are currently obese or over-weight. I think we all need a little more regulation in our lives.

When has healthy food become a luxury item?