A little pooped

We left Friday at 6:30 am for a long weekend in Massachusetts, returned at 10:30 pm Sunday night. It was a great few days full of time with family and, well, family, since that's what Karen, Brent and the kids are to us. I'm too pooped to blog about the details about the trip right now.

Yesterday I cleaned and did some pre-emptive cooking in the morning using the veggies from Evie and Jake's garden and then the kids and I spent the day with Anna and Lukas. Silke and Roger (their parents) joined us for dinner. It was a nice, long, full day.

I had a rare hour and a half alone this morning as I managed to slip out of bed without the kids waking. Got the dishes from the drying rack and dishwasher put away, sipped on my ginger-lemon-honey tonic tea, steamed/roasted some beets from Evie and Jake's garden with garlic, lemon and dill, and ate some oatmeal. (Brent cooked some Irish (therefore safely GF) quick oats for breakfast Sunday morning which reminded me I had bought some awhile back. They were fast and yummy, I'm looking forward to making some for the kids next time.)

I walked down to B. Avenue to get my haircut (not wild about it, an "in between" cut). On the walk home I stopped at the Y to get my pic taken and get an ID card, at the eye doc's to get my glasses adjusted, and at Danielle's, who wasn't home.

After lunch the kids and I drove Cap up to school and stopped at M. Park to play a game of wiffle ball (much more spacious than our yard). Yet another great gift from Mummu. There was someone playing their bagpipe the whole time we played, the sun was shining, the breeze alternated between balmy and cool, frolicking on a "Little House" type of hilly lawn, it was fantastic. (The Aliens, First and Kinder's team, won today's game 14-13. The Pink Scarves, my team, won yesterday's 1-0.)

Then we skedoodled over to the kids' first appointment with Dr.Vinny (Dr. Lu's assisting doc). Kinder turned into Massively Silly Boy and was relentless in his antics for the hour we were there. It was so unexpected, I was thrown for a loop. Vinny was unfazed, I kind of retreated in embarrassment and flummoxment. It didn't feel good since I couldn't really fully retreat being the only parent there.

First, after some initial trepidation, was practially drooling while getting his back massaged and worked on. Kinder could barely stay still during his treatment. He was much more into climbing on Vinny, spinning around in his chair, or, no joke, tipping the garbage can over spilling its contents onto the carpet.

When I asked him about it tonight as I lay down with him in the dark (my third attempt to talk to him about it), he said he was nervous and just couldn't stay still. But, he was not nervous about going back, which was good to hear.

After dinner, Kinder took a bath (I've begun having them alternate bath nights again so that they can stretch out in the tub and relax more) and First continued picking up (they are doing really well with this these days). They watched an episode of Blue's Room off a Netflix dvd (it still freaks me out to see Blue talk) and then we read "The Dancing Cow" chapter of Mary Poppins which was a lot of fun.

Cap's got a cold which is no fun, hopefully, his won't last as long as mine did. Hmmm...I look a bit pale in this pic. I think it may be due to the clots I dropped last night. I've been having a different (better in most ways) period this cycle with Dr. Lu's treatment. I was surprised to see the clots again, the likes of which I haven't seen since Sac.

Field trip

Ahhhh the weather has shifted and we're now in a trend of dry, sunny and a high of 70º.

The kids and I took the train into the city yesterday to spend the day with my parents. It almost didn't happen as First was reluctant to go. But, he changed his mind on his own (with some debate and conversation, but no coercion which felt really good).

I packed some lunch stuff, extra layers for all, grabbed my Metrocard and we were off. We walked up to the train station, it took 15 minutes, Kinder complaining semi-loudly for about the last 5.

Once we were on the train, the kids were delighted and commented on how they had forgotten how much fun it is to ride the train. They're still at an age where most conductors don't charge me for them and I scoot them under the turnstiles in the subway. So, the total cost for transportation yesterday was $13.75.

At one point we did a little lesson on directionality as First correctly figured out which way was west, north and south after discovering we were headed east. Kinder jumped in by working on left and right and I agreed with them that although left and right aren't included in the traditional foursome of north-south-east-west, that they do often denote directions.

Once at Baba and Jiji's, I made lunch for everyone. Chicken apple sausage, sautéed peppers, steamed carrots, and slices of heirloom tomato all from our farm, challah sandwich bread that Baba picked up at her farmer's market, grilled munster cheese sandwiches for Kinder, Baba and Jiji, rice with sesame seeds and Bragg's for First, and slices of Gala apples.

After lunch the kids, Jiji and I took off for Central Park. We carefully avoided a building facade that scares Kinder (the Jekyll and Hyde restaurant) and enjoyed a walk around a pond where we saw turtles sunbathing on a rock, ducks wading about, lots of interesting grasses including some that looked like giant chives, and the grand event, a beautiful and fierce hawk that swooped over our heads in pursuit of lunch (pigeon---yuck) and landed in a tree ten feet away from where we stood.

The kids had decided that they wanted to go to the zoo, something we hadn't done in over a year. It was cash only which astounded me, but luckily I was with someone with cash :-) We watched the sea lions for a long time. I got as much of a kick watching my dad with his new digital slr camera, as I did the kids following the graceful moves of the animals in the water and the rocks.

We saw the penguins being fed, the polar bear snoozing in a cool corner of his "habitat" and were treated to unusually active red pandas assiduously marking their territories by rubbing their bottoms on spots.

The kids had a snack of ices on a park bench right outside the zoo entrance and I noticed Gwyneth Paltrow strolling by with one of her kids.

Once we got back to my parents', they showed us some of their pics from their safari which were amazing. There was something incredibly majestic and powerful about how the animals looked in the wild...or their protected wild as the case may be.

Sandy came by after work and we were all treated to sushi and other yummy Japanese fare at a restaurant owned by the family of one of my mom's tea ceremony friends. Everything was delicious, but I nearly overdid it with my unassuming plate of toro, uni and ikura. So, so rich.

The kids were droopy on the ride home, but stayed awake and Cap met us at the station when we climbed off the train at 8:30. It was our second late night in a row, but felt utterly satisfying. We walked in the door and one of the kids said, "it feels so good to be home". You know that feeling that you get after a full and wonderful and not routine day? That was it.

Odds and ends

• Jamie told me her aunt (in MA) had a cold that ended with a 3 week long cough. This was my cold. The cough has been hanging around though at this point it only rears its ugly head at night and feebly at that. There's something impressive to me about stories like this...cold bugs are so cool. Another aspect of nature, really.

• Someone messed up and my parents' trip was cut short. When they arrived to Brazil from somewhere in Africa they were denied entry into the country because they did not have visas. I think their tour company assumed they were American citizens and hence the unfortunate event. So now they are back and we will see them today, all of us babysitting Ellie, and I'm going to take the kids in to the city tomorrow to see them again (before my dad leaves for Japan on Thursday).

• I switched our dishwasher soap from liquid to powder recently. An environmental move. Well, we're having problems with the powder caking up in its little receptacle before it gets released into the machine. I'm trying to dry out the soap space completely with a tissue before putting the soap in, but it doesn't always seem to help.

• I cannot wait for this wave of humidity to pass. It's been days and it really affects me by draining my energy. Today it is supposed to rain on and off throughout the day. It is somewhat cooler, around 70º, but I long for that autumn crispness that I know will be here soon.

• Having said that, I can feel that my system is tuning up thanks to Dr.Lu's work. I am stressing less about things, I am less bloated, I feel a current of energy going through me on better days, and I am able to digest dairy better (though the 2 slices of pizza with fresh garlic at 9 o'clock last night was probably not the best choice to make...but it was damn good at the time :-)

• The oven and stove are on the fritz. The landlord came by yesterday evening to check it out and I think we may be getting a new one.

• I defrosted one of our slabs of salmon that my brother brought back from Alaska to cook for dinner tonight (at his place). It looks SO good.

• I have started using a timer to help the kids and me with cleaning up. It takes my repeating myself to them out of the picture (and my frustration) and it seems to help them by making time, and the process, more concrete, less amorphous. The continuing decluttering is helping, too, I think. Also, that they are getting older.

• The fall schedule is slowly starting to come together.

Fiber Arts will be on Mondays. The kids are still very lukewarm on this...we'll see how it goes. We missed yesterday because First had a dentist appt and then we ran a bunch of errands.

We're going to try a French class for homeschoolers through a local language school on Tuesdays with Kinder.

It looks like we'll be able to have a regular time with Silke, Anna and Lukas on Wednesdays.

On Fridays, I'm going to try to make it to the homeschool park days, but also plan on doing field trip type outings. And, Kinder has drumming and movement.

Generally, we'll do our "school" like activity in the morning and go out in the afternoons.

I discovered a woodworking class at the Y that I thought First would like, but he is reluctant, wait, who am I kidding, adamant that he doesn't want to take a class. Even knowing that Owen might be interested in taking the same class, he doesn't want to do it. I've pulled off "Carpentry For Kids" from a shelf to see if he'll pick a project from it that we can do at home.

• First's appt at the dentist went very well yesterday. Dr. M talked him down like a pro (First was like a monkey hanging onto me when we got there) and smoothly walked and talked First through the procedure of getting a cavity drilled and filled getting all the tools of the trade into his little mouth along the way. We return in a couple of weeks for the real deal. He has a cavity in a baby tooth and cavities in two molars...

• Loved The Closer. Thanks to the dvr I was able to catch up on all the eps of this season when they had a marathon a couple of weeks ago.

matt pond PA

I just got us tix to go see them later on this month. When I learned we were moving back to the east coast, I was determined to see Girlyman, Matt Pond PA and Dar Williams live. One down, one soon-to-be down and that leaves Dar.

Through any window

Here's the video I was watching....

Mortal Kombat - Ben 10 Style

I was watching a video on Jenna Fischer's mySpace page (Pam form the American version of The Office) when Kinder asked if we could search "Ben 10" on YouTube.

This is one of the videos we found.

Relaxing

A quiet moment alone for First (while Professor Kinder was hard at work in his water lab).

Water, water, everywhere

Kinder loves water. This afternoon, during a bath, he filled and emptied containers, especially the big, plastic cranapple juice one, over and over again. I could see him watching, listening, feeling, as he worked a material while partially submerged in it, as intent, curious, and completely open as, I imagine, the most bright and creative scientists to be.

Earlier today, on our hike, it was throwing rocks of various sizes and weights into the deepest part of the stream. Yesterday, it was creating "tattoos" on his t-shirt as his and Lila's stop at the water fountain in the park became less about quenching thirst, and more about quenching endless hydro-possibility.

It's important to me that he, and all kids, have the chance to pursue their interests, whatever happens to be rocking their world at the moment, as much as possible. What they are learning in each moment cannot necessarily be quantified, categorized, assessed or labeled. But, the quality of this type of learning, unrushed, self-created and utterly meaningful, is something that, if you have the chance to see it, is unmistakable in its zen-ness and its profound potential for the future.

Tattoo

It seems like not so long ago when First and Kinder used to ask me to put their baby in a sling so they could carry it around while they played.

Second saturday hikes

We went on our first "second saturday hike" today. We went solo, none of the other invited families were able to join us. It was a great way for me to slow down and get back into my body. And a nice way for us to mark, as a family, our "back to school".

It was hot and sunny, but in the deeper part of the woods, the skeets were a bit of a terror. We were eventually able to find the trail that leads to the stream that Silke and Roger had told us about.

It was quiet. We saw one chipmunk and one frog. And a lot of broken glass and garbage...certain areas we came across were clearly fun hangout and cookout spots for the less ecologically conscious.

First was in his element. He loves to climb and is especially fond of clambering onto big, big rocks. He was impressed by the exposed roots of a large overturned tree and asked for this picture to be taken.


Kinder enjoyed holding Baxter's leash. He held up pretty well with the hiking (he still does not enjoy walking for any length of time) and had opportunities to stroll at his own pace, thinking his thoughts and taking in his impressions.

Week one

This week was supposed to our first week of "back to school". Despite my unschooling leanings, there is something about being "off" for the summer and re-entering the structure of a school year that appeals to me. In fact, having the summer off is what really freed me up to unschool this summer.

This is a synopsis of what happened this week:

Tuesday

• I decided not to give the kids their "back to school" presents because First decided he wanted to start school when Owen and Lukas did, on Thursday.

• Danielle and the kids were back from Maine and so I dropped them off to play while I ran some errands: picking up my glasses and touring and joining the Y.

• After lunch, the kids and I drove up to the park with Baxter and walked the paved loop.

• I made dinner from scratch for the first time in what felt like a long time. Between my shoulder strain and then my cold, I've been serving up a lot of hot dogs lately.

• I spent some time researching something for Cap (online and by phone).

Wednesday

• After breakfast, I cooked. Made one of First's faves, carrot tofu scramble for lunch and then made chicken and green beans from the farm for dinner. I also breaded and fried some eggplant from the farm.

• After lunch the kids and I walked to the park down the street with Baxter and played. We spent a lot of time watching the small school of fish in the stream.

• The kids drew a lot.

• I finally chose a read aloud book and we read the first chapter of Mary Poppins.

• I spent time online checking into the Christopherus forum (printed two articles on festivals which are being studied right now, amongst other things) and e-mailing (happy about the burst of e-mail with Wendy).

Thursday

• I went to the dentist to get two cavities filled, had a wonderfully kid-free time in the hardware store and then dropped in on Danielle to see how her kids going back to school was.

• Fed the kids lunch and baked some banana choco chip muffins to bring over to Kelly's.

• Dropped the kids off to Kelly's and Cap and I went to his and hers acupuncturist appts.

• A quick walk around the block with Bax followed by picking up sandwiches at a local Italian place and driving Cap up to work before dinner.

When I told First he was going to the dentist on Monday morning, he asked whether that would interfere with our first day of school. I told him I'd get back to him.

I'm feeling kind of vulnerable, a bit like my skin is jumpy...no, more like it's nervy. I think it's connected to seeing the acupuncturist. Despite the feeling that I'm off balance, or perhaps because of it, I am feeling some clarity.

I need to plant my feet and take a breath.

Mindreader

First and Kinder continue to make lots of books (chapter books and comic books). Often, they ask for help spelling words or writing sentences.

This morning, First asked me to write some words on a blank page. I wrote them and he launched into a 7 going on 14 admonition with plenty of righteous indignation that the letters were supposed to be much bigger.

When I tried to defend my actions and asserted that I wasn't a mind reader, he replied, "well, I'm pretty sure that you can (read my mind)"!

Baxter

This is Baxter. Normally, he lives with Takai, Lisa and Ellie, but we are dogsitting and so he's with us this week. He's been a great reason to get out of the house and spend time outdoors. Yesterday we drove up to the park and did a loop around the paved path. Today we walked to another park and watched a small school of fish darting around in the stream and hiding under the bridge.

He's also really cute and fun to have around.

Dr. Lu

I just found his organization's website. Interesting and insightful stuff. Now I know why he's so expensive.

http://www.tcmworld.org/about_us/

My new specs

Waldorf inspired

A local Waldorf homeschooler is selling her homeschooling resources to help fund school supplies for her first grader who will be starting school at a Waldorf school this week. We had met in cyberspace, but never in person. I bought her copy of Donna's Curriculum Overview for Waldorf Homeschoolers at a discount of 27% off the cover price. Plus, had it dropped off to my door which was nice because I got to meet her in person :-)

Well, I wish someone had told me long ago to get this book. I had resisted buying it because it costs $55 and I felt like it wasn't a match for me because I wasn't committing to the whole scope (through highschool) of the homeschool experience yet.

After skimming through most of the book, it seems to me that it is the logical next book to get after the Kindergarten with Your 3 to 6 Year Old book. I opted instead to get the First Grade book. It would have made more sense for me to get the Overview last fall when I felt like I wanted more than the Kindy book to mull over. The First Grade book would have been fine to get this summer, as prep for First Grade this fall.

But, who knows, stuff like this can't always be planned and follow a preordained sequence. It's possible that a year ago the Overview would not have resonated the same way...that my experiences and development in the last year have brought me to where I am and that the book is a nice bonus for the now.

So, what I like about this book:

• Donna talks about how she and her family integrated unschooling and Waldorf homeschooling in ways that make sense to me. This has been a struggle for me for the last year and for the first time, I feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel... Getting that "aha!" feeling reading parts of the book has renewed my energy.

• She presents the curriculum horizontally (by grade) and vertically (by subject). I like this method and feel like she gets to a lot of depth by talking about things in both contexts.

• She talks about penetrating the curriculum, to look deeper than the "what, when, where", to think on what it is at the core that the child should be getting from the material and then having the flexibility to individualize how your kid will meet that core lesson and truly create your own way to make that happen (the ultimate "way" may not end up being "purely" Waldorf---but the process of coming to that end being the "Waldorf" way.) This really made me think about"form", which is a critical element of Waldorf pedagogy, in a new and invigorating way.

• It has inspired me! Yesterday, sitting in the new blue chair, the sheepskin warming my back, the breeze wafting through the window onto my being, I thought a lot of thoughts (yes, I felt quite like Pooh). I copied down verses and songs for Morning, Mealtime and Closing.

I thought about what I'd like to do for foreign languages (First would like to do Japanese at home, Cap and I are pursuing putting Kinder into a French group that Holly started last year and Lila will be continuing to participate in, in addition to the Japanese---in Waldorf schools kids traditionally learn two foreign languages.)

And I thought about what I could plug into the recorder time of Donna's First Grade curriculum. I've decided to do recorder with both kids next fall when Kinder starts First Grade (delaying it for a year with First). I even posted to Donna's forum about this. I'd kept my membership up in this online forum, renewing every three months, despite remaining quite inactive in it.

So, now, after a summer of embracing unschooling, a twist of fate has brought Waldorf inspiration back into my lap. It feels good!

End of summer

It's Labor Day. Outside, there's a wind blowing through the oak and maple trees. Kinder's drawing papers were being blown about and we had to close the windows. I love this kind of cool and breezy morning.

I am being dogged by this cold/seasonal allergy. I've had an annoying cough for days (causing squirting...) and yesterday I was pooped again and spent most of the day reading Donna's Curriculum Overview or zoning out in front of the tv.

Sometime last night or this morning, in dreamtime, I remembered that I hadn't made any of the homemade tea remedy that Dr. Lu (the acupuncturist) had recommended I drink daily. I'm sipping it now. A few pieces of fresh ginger (peeled and sliced), a few squeezes of fresh lemon juice, a dollop of NJ honey, all steeped in some hot water.

I've been watching episodes of Dexter and Brotherhood on Showtime on Demand. I like both...they are like apples and oranges.

It was a relief to see that Michael C. Hall, who played David (the middle child) on Six Feet Under (a show I love), was able to pull off (in my eyes) the transition to another character, and pull together a nice ensemble cast as the lead (Dexter).

Brotherhood was mentioned in Dalton Ross' column in EW this week and so I checked it out. It takes place in Providence...it's kind of like The Wire, but in Providence, and on a much smaller scale, focusing on an Irish-American family/community.

Mmm. This tea feels very curative.

Baxter comes today for a week while Takai, Lisa and Ellie head down to Myrtle Beach for vacation.

GF breadcrumbs

Every couple of weeks I clean out the top shelf of the fridge which has somehow become the official way station of the "ears" of bread (as they are called in Japan). There are usually a dozen or so of the bags that the bread comes packaged in, with only the ends of the loaves left inside. I actually don't mind the ends of the loaves, but my boys don't like 'em.

I grab my Japanese plastic grater which comes with a fitted catching container and make breadcrumbs. (Since it's a Japanese grater, I guess technically, I am making panko :-) I just love these breadcrumbs. I feel like I am mining treasure as I whittle down the slices into crumbly bits.

I like to use them for turkey (dark meat) meatloaf and for breaded and fried yummies like chicken fingers, fish or veggies (Farmer John's summer squash from earleir this summer was heaven...)

What is that?

Kinder and I discovered the wonders of paper towel tube photography yesterday.

The toilet is dirty

...commented First last night as we were all piled into the bathroom for the nighttime routine of flossing, brushing, and peeing. Do you want to clean it? I asked. Sure, he answered. And so he did. He spent much longer brushing it than I ever do and when he was done, it looked all sparkly :-)

I love teachable moments. I think unschooling is all about living life with your kids and the teachable moments. For children truly are 'learning all the time'.