Last night, we went to Apple Land Station.
For reference, we love Apple Land Station. We went several times in the fall to go apple picking, and we got our pie pumpkins for $1.50 (would have been $5 in the store) and our jack-o-lantern for $5 (as it was a 30+ pound pumpkin, it would have cost an arm and a leg in the store). I got a whole lot of wonderful applesauce and canned apples from visiting there, and when I found they sold live trees, I was thrilled. I've had so much good experience with them, I absolutely want to stick with them for whatever we can.
Anyhow, we went to Apple Land Station. We paid about $10 more for our tree than we would have buying a tree from in front of the grocery store. However, we also got to support a local tree grower, and our favorite local farm. Plus, we got a lesson in tree choosing, the primary reason to go with a fir tree as opposed to a spruce or a pine, he taught basic tree care and maintenance, pounded it out, took off the bottom inch of the tree, and hoisted it then tied it to the car for us. All the while, we chatted about the canning and baking I do, how I found the farm for trees, the ecological impact of artificial versus real trees, how real trees aren't as big a Bad Thing as people seem to think, considering that the farmers grow the trees with the express purpose of selling them, and that for each tree cut down, a new tree is planted. By the time we left with our beautiful balsam fir tree on our car, we had made an almost friend. As in, he hugged LP and I, and shook Skeeve's hand as we left, and I feel like I should send a thank-you card.
Anyhow, much traffic later, we had a tree in our living room, and in our new tree-stand. It didn't take much work at all to get it in the stand and secured, nor to keep it standing up straight. We got it watered right away, and then put our lights on. Once that was done, we plugged it in, then sat down with LP to work on ornaments. This year, LP is making our ornaments. I cut out construction paper circles and stars, and he's coloring them. Then we'll save one at the end of the year, laminate it, and put it up next year along with a new batch of drawn ornaments. I may make a mitten for the tree, if I can get the rest of the garland mitts done.
Either way, we have a beautiful tree, it's half decorated, but it is ours, and it is beautiful. When LP woke this morning, we came downstairs and the first thing he asked me was "Lights on onna tree?" Every chance he gets, if the lights are off, he asks to turn them on. It is a beautiful tree, I love it, LP loves it, even Skeeve is kinda happy with it, which for Skeeve and a tree? Big Deal. I'm so excited, and it's been a very long time since I've been excited for the holidays.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
A very busy day.
Today was a very busy day!
We got up, and had to wake LP to get into the car (I know, sleeping babies and the lie-ing of them) so we could head out for an hour's drive to a theater that had Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I playing - with a Reel Babies program. Reel Babies is a program that is only in place at specific theaters, but it's no low lights, less volume, and plus a microwave, change table, swing, exersaucer, all that stuff. It's designed for parents who are going to be at the theater with their little kids. So we went off to the movies! The three of us went, we got popcorn, a Bucket O' Coke, a KitKat, and a bag of Nibs for LP. Our out of pocket cost on the whole thing? $2.68. Two dollars and sixty-eight cents. I love gift cards!
Anyhow, we had lunch in the car, where I found out that LP? Not a big fan of the peanut butter. Go figure. Anyhow, we drove home, got a hole punch on the way, and then I drew and cut out some construction paper stars and circles for ornaments. LP will color them tomorrow, and we'll hang them right on the tree. I'm very excited. Now, the other fun things we have are a three-car train and a Lego house-front. These will go on/around train tracks under our tree. The idea is that each year, we get a new piece of scenery or train to go in a special Christmas tree track. LP will still have his regular trains and tracks, but these will be the Christmas Special editions. I'm really rather looking forward to it. I think we have enough track to make it all work. ^_^
Now, the rest of today was eaten up in visiting downtown. We went down to the train crossing, and the Holiday Train was coming! The entire block was blocked off, and we were able to see the train coming and LP got to see the train, the lights, and then the train having some trouble. We're not sure what went on, but it took about twenty minutes from the time the train came into view for the show to start - one of the boxcars opened up and they had a band, and Santa, and lights and music and speeches... LP was not fond of the speeches, but he did like the music! We had a great time, and while we never would have gone without LP, we still enjoyed ourselves. It's an event that seems to be geared to the kids, but with enough oomph to it that the parents still enjoy it, and there were a fair number of people there without kids, so I expect it's a tradition to a lot of people. We loved it, and will, without hesitation, be going next year. The only thing I think we'd do differently is break out the Cadillac stroller and get one of those tarp or cover or whatever things for it. The wind was bitter cold once we were out of the shelter of the crowd, and wrapping LP in a fleece blanket didn't seem to do a heckuva lot for him. Poor kiddo. At least we had fun!
We got up, and had to wake LP to get into the car (I know, sleeping babies and the lie-ing of them) so we could head out for an hour's drive to a theater that had Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I playing - with a Reel Babies program. Reel Babies is a program that is only in place at specific theaters, but it's no low lights, less volume, and plus a microwave, change table, swing, exersaucer, all that stuff. It's designed for parents who are going to be at the theater with their little kids. So we went off to the movies! The three of us went, we got popcorn, a Bucket O' Coke, a KitKat, and a bag of Nibs for LP. Our out of pocket cost on the whole thing? $2.68. Two dollars and sixty-eight cents. I love gift cards!
Anyhow, we had lunch in the car, where I found out that LP? Not a big fan of the peanut butter. Go figure. Anyhow, we drove home, got a hole punch on the way, and then I drew and cut out some construction paper stars and circles for ornaments. LP will color them tomorrow, and we'll hang them right on the tree. I'm very excited. Now, the other fun things we have are a three-car train and a Lego house-front. These will go on/around train tracks under our tree. The idea is that each year, we get a new piece of scenery or train to go in a special Christmas tree track. LP will still have his regular trains and tracks, but these will be the Christmas Special editions. I'm really rather looking forward to it. I think we have enough track to make it all work. ^_^
Now, the rest of today was eaten up in visiting downtown. We went down to the train crossing, and the Holiday Train was coming! The entire block was blocked off, and we were able to see the train coming and LP got to see the train, the lights, and then the train having some trouble. We're not sure what went on, but it took about twenty minutes from the time the train came into view for the show to start - one of the boxcars opened up and they had a band, and Santa, and lights and music and speeches... LP was not fond of the speeches, but he did like the music! We had a great time, and while we never would have gone without LP, we still enjoyed ourselves. It's an event that seems to be geared to the kids, but with enough oomph to it that the parents still enjoy it, and there were a fair number of people there without kids, so I expect it's a tradition to a lot of people. We loved it, and will, without hesitation, be going next year. The only thing I think we'd do differently is break out the Cadillac stroller and get one of those tarp or cover or whatever things for it. The wind was bitter cold once we were out of the shelter of the crowd, and wrapping LP in a fleece blanket didn't seem to do a heckuva lot for him. Poor kiddo. At least we had fun!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
So close, and yet...
Sigh. Made it all the way to the very end of November, only to fall off the posting wagon on the 28th. With only three days to complete the NaBloPoMo. Sigh. Maybe next year. At least it's been a busy knitting time, so it's not like I've completely slacked off - I've been busy assembling a monster and baby, and trying to get Christmas started... Ah well. What can you do, right? Maybe next year...
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Thinking forward to Christmas.
With Thanksgiving in the behind, I find myself thinking more and more about Christmas. I've been trying to not get too excited, not get any plans set, not get my hopes up. I mean, we might be here, we might be in Chicago, we just don't know, and likely won't until so close to the date that it will be almost too late - almost too late to go, and almost certainly too late to do a proper holiday if we stay. So now it's a little like rock and hard place. Do we plan to have Christmas here, and if we go to Chicago, it's a wonderful gift? Do we plan to have Christmas in Chicago and if it doesn't happen, settle for a makeshift, slapdash holiday here?
If it were just me, I wouldn't even think about it. If it were just Skeeve and me, we might chat it out a bit, and then likely just have a slapdash holiday anyway. But we have LP to think of, now, too. Christmas isn't so magic for the big folks. It really isn't. It's mostly stress, trying to sort out what hours need to be swapped, and how much of what we want to do is affordable or feasible, or... These things are what tend to make up Christmas for us bigs. The littles... Oh, Christmas is a wonderful, joyful time of magic, where the world is made of crystal and diamonds, trees are lit up like jewels at night, the music is special, and then... There is Santa. Oh, Santa, and presents, and decorations and crafts, and... Oh, it's a very exciting and wonderful time.
I would hate to get the house all decorated for the holiday, the plans all made, and then bail. It's, if nothing else, a lot of work! But at the same time, if we just play wait-and-see, are we taking the magic of this Christmas away from LP? If we don't have a tree until within a week of Christmas, if we don't have lights, or make ornaments, or cookies, or have the decorations, or a train under the tree... Is it something that's actually fair to him, or just something that's convenient - if we get word that I can travel. If I can't travel, the holiday isn't even half what it could have been for him. If I can, we have a lot of decorations to look at before the holiday, and to take down after, but we won't even see them during. Though, really, now that it's written out... It seems to me that missing the day here isn't even such a big deal if it means preserving the magic of the holidays for my baby. He may not remember it in ten years, but it is something that he will remember for the next year or two, which is enough to build a foundation for his Happy Holiday Memories, isn't it?
If it were just me, I wouldn't even think about it. If it were just Skeeve and me, we might chat it out a bit, and then likely just have a slapdash holiday anyway. But we have LP to think of, now, too. Christmas isn't so magic for the big folks. It really isn't. It's mostly stress, trying to sort out what hours need to be swapped, and how much of what we want to do is affordable or feasible, or... These things are what tend to make up Christmas for us bigs. The littles... Oh, Christmas is a wonderful, joyful time of magic, where the world is made of crystal and diamonds, trees are lit up like jewels at night, the music is special, and then... There is Santa. Oh, Santa, and presents, and decorations and crafts, and... Oh, it's a very exciting and wonderful time.
I would hate to get the house all decorated for the holiday, the plans all made, and then bail. It's, if nothing else, a lot of work! But at the same time, if we just play wait-and-see, are we taking the magic of this Christmas away from LP? If we don't have a tree until within a week of Christmas, if we don't have lights, or make ornaments, or cookies, or have the decorations, or a train under the tree... Is it something that's actually fair to him, or just something that's convenient - if we get word that I can travel. If I can't travel, the holiday isn't even half what it could have been for him. If I can, we have a lot of decorations to look at before the holiday, and to take down after, but we won't even see them during. Though, really, now that it's written out... It seems to me that missing the day here isn't even such a big deal if it means preserving the magic of the holidays for my baby. He may not remember it in ten years, but it is something that he will remember for the next year or two, which is enough to build a foundation for his Happy Holiday Memories, isn't it?
Friday, November 26, 2010
Oh, vtech.
I love them, I hate them. That just seems to be how it works.
We went out to ToysRUs last night to see if they had anything going for Black Friday, as I got all kinds of emails this past week telling me they would, despite being in Canada. We got there just before the advertised opening time (10:00pm), and found them just about to close. So we went in and took a look around - mostly to ask if they were planning to have anything sale-riffic for today. We actually talk to a manager, which wasn't the plan, but she was on the floor, so okay. She tells us they don't know anything about the sales in advance, so she can't say, but what she can say is that if we purchase something, and it goes on sale before Christmas, bring in the receipt and they'd refund the difference between what we paid and the new sale price. So we picked up the MobiGo, and walked out with it. Naturally, it was paid for. ^_^
Anyhow, I'm checking the ToysRUs Canadian website for something for LP's wishlist, and decide to look up the local sale papers. The closest TRU has nothing. The new one (with their Grand Opening tomorrow!) had the MobiGo for $20 off. Sweet! So, LP goes down for a nap and I go out to take the receipt BACK to the store we were at yesterday, and claim the $22 (taxes, too!). In the severely unlikely event that the MobiGo goes even more on sale before Christmas, we can use the same receipt to again claim the difference.
SWEET, and WAY TO GO, TOYS'R'US!
Tonight, I decide to set up the MobiGo, as LP is occupied with Sesame Street, and I had nothing more pressing to do (also read, I was bored). So I download the software to my Netbook, as we're likely to travel with the MobiGo, and not likely to travel with the desktop PCs. I get the software installed and launch it. Turns out that vtech, in their incredible wisdom, programed their software entirely in Flash. What this means is that it is specified to a minimum resolution and has no scrolling ability. So, my widescreen monitor displays the width of the launch screen just dandy, but the height (as in, top-to-bottom)? No. It cuts off at the bottom of the screen. I can't scroll down to see the remainder of the screen, so the software on the laptop is effectively useless. Sigh. And so. Over to the desktop I go, and install it there. Thoroughly inconvenient, but at least it gets done.
So, once the adult side is set up, I turned on the MobiGo, and the first thing it asks for is the child's name. Aww, it's got it set up to say welcome to the child by name! Anyhow, I go to plug in LP's name, so it will say "Welcome, [Little Prince]!" when he turns it on. This is another problem. The software only allows eight characters for the child's name. LP's name has nine. Sigh. So, we decided to drop part of his name, and are going for a non-traditional nickname thing - ala Topher Grace.
The game the system comes with is a compilation of six small games. There's a same/different game, one that makes use of the QWERTY keyboard for ABCs, a "what comes next" game for numbers, a follow-instructions game (tracing lines), a basic logic game, and a music game. I tested them on "Easy" and I think that after a few times playing with a little guidance, he'll absolutely understand what's going on, and how to play the games. I'm thinking this will be one of the better gifts we'll be able to get for him for a fairly long while. It will last for several years, and it will have more challenge for him as he gets older. I'm pretty pleased. Now to wait the, what, 29 days (?) to give it to him...
We went out to ToysRUs last night to see if they had anything going for Black Friday, as I got all kinds of emails this past week telling me they would, despite being in Canada. We got there just before the advertised opening time (10:00pm), and found them just about to close. So we went in and took a look around - mostly to ask if they were planning to have anything sale-riffic for today. We actually talk to a manager, which wasn't the plan, but she was on the floor, so okay. She tells us they don't know anything about the sales in advance, so she can't say, but what she can say is that if we purchase something, and it goes on sale before Christmas, bring in the receipt and they'd refund the difference between what we paid and the new sale price. So we picked up the MobiGo, and walked out with it. Naturally, it was paid for. ^_^
Anyhow, I'm checking the ToysRUs Canadian website for something for LP's wishlist, and decide to look up the local sale papers. The closest TRU has nothing. The new one (with their Grand Opening tomorrow!) had the MobiGo for $20 off. Sweet! So, LP goes down for a nap and I go out to take the receipt BACK to the store we were at yesterday, and claim the $22 (taxes, too!). In the severely unlikely event that the MobiGo goes even more on sale before Christmas, we can use the same receipt to again claim the difference.
SWEET, and WAY TO GO, TOYS'R'US!
Tonight, I decide to set up the MobiGo, as LP is occupied with Sesame Street, and I had nothing more pressing to do (also read, I was bored). So I download the software to my Netbook, as we're likely to travel with the MobiGo, and not likely to travel with the desktop PCs. I get the software installed and launch it. Turns out that vtech, in their incredible wisdom, programed their software entirely in Flash. What this means is that it is specified to a minimum resolution and has no scrolling ability. So, my widescreen monitor displays the width of the launch screen just dandy, but the height (as in, top-to-bottom)? No. It cuts off at the bottom of the screen. I can't scroll down to see the remainder of the screen, so the software on the laptop is effectively useless. Sigh. And so. Over to the desktop I go, and install it there. Thoroughly inconvenient, but at least it gets done.
So, once the adult side is set up, I turned on the MobiGo, and the first thing it asks for is the child's name. Aww, it's got it set up to say welcome to the child by name! Anyhow, I go to plug in LP's name, so it will say "Welcome, [Little Prince]!" when he turns it on. This is another problem. The software only allows eight characters for the child's name. LP's name has nine. Sigh. So, we decided to drop part of his name, and are going for a non-traditional nickname thing - ala Topher Grace.
The game the system comes with is a compilation of six small games. There's a same/different game, one that makes use of the QWERTY keyboard for ABCs, a "what comes next" game for numbers, a follow-instructions game (tracing lines), a basic logic game, and a music game. I tested them on "Easy" and I think that after a few times playing with a little guidance, he'll absolutely understand what's going on, and how to play the games. I'm thinking this will be one of the better gifts we'll be able to get for him for a fairly long while. It will last for several years, and it will have more challenge for him as he gets older. I'm pretty pleased. Now to wait the, what, 29 days (?) to give it to him...
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Thanksgiving
Today is Thanksgiving. I have found that no matter where you live, when you grow up with Thanksgiving being the 4th Thursday in November... well, it always will be.
Truth be told, despite all the grousing that comes with being poor and being held bureaucratically captive in a foreign country, I have a lot to be thankful for.
I mean, I have a place to live that is warm and dry on this cold, rainy night.
I am thankful to have a bed, no matter how old it may be, that keeps us from sleeping on the ground.
I am thankful to have power and heat, running water and food in our fridge.
I am thankful to have clothes to wear, a good winter coat, and shoes.
I am thankful to have my various entertainments (internet, DVDs, books)
Truth be told, despite all the grousing that comes with being poor and being held bureaucratically captive in a foreign country, I have a lot to be thankful for.
I mean, I have a place to live that is warm and dry on this cold, rainy night.
I am thankful to have a bed, no matter how old it may be, that keeps us from sleeping on the ground.
I am thankful to have power and heat, running water and food in our fridge.
I am thankful to have clothes to wear, a good winter coat, and shoes.
I am thankful to have my various entertainments (internet, DVDs, books)
I am thankful for my darling husband (who made me eggs over easy and bacon while I did bird-prep)
I am thankful for my sweet, funny, helpful son, who has brought more to my life than I ever thought possible.
I am thankful for my parents, who travel all over just to see us, and who are there for me whenever I need them (Hooray Hammie and Bubba!).
I am thankful for my brothers. While we rarely talk to each other, I know that they are there, and they know the same (More power to Unca Fiss and Unca Dzimmy!).
I am thankful for friends. While I only have a very few of them, they are good friends, and that means a lot.
I am thankful Skeeve has a job. While it's not a good job, it is a good enough job to keep us afloat.
I am thankful for the food we have today, and for the fact of the matter that we had it all in the house and didn't have to face the public looking for the last few things.
I am thankful for my family. While they are far away, and I haven't seen most of them in over a year, it never seems to matter, and they miss us as much as we miss them.
I am thankful for my sweet, funny, helpful son, who has brought more to my life than I ever thought possible.
I am thankful for my parents, who travel all over just to see us, and who are there for me whenever I need them (Hooray Hammie and Bubba!).
I am thankful for my brothers. While we rarely talk to each other, I know that they are there, and they know the same (More power to Unca Fiss and Unca Dzimmy!).
I am thankful for friends. While I only have a very few of them, they are good friends, and that means a lot.
I am thankful Skeeve has a job. While it's not a good job, it is a good enough job to keep us afloat.
I am thankful for the food we have today, and for the fact of the matter that we had it all in the house and didn't have to face the public looking for the last few things.
I am thankful for my family. While they are far away, and I haven't seen most of them in over a year, it never seems to matter, and they miss us as much as we miss them.
I may not have a heckuva lot in the grand scheme of things... but the things I do have are the important ones. The things that no matter how much money you have, you can't buy. And for that, I am unendingly thankful.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
A challenge
Today has been a challenge.
We slept in, which was nice, but I woke up with a splitting headache, which (quite naturally) meant that LP spent a large part of the day screeching about things - with joy, with laughter, with sadness, with excitement... nothing too trivial to be screeched about.
My headache cleared up, and then Skeeve came down with it. So, while I'm feeling better, he is stressed, worn down, headachey, cranky, irritable, and has no idea why. This has made our house ever so much fun to be in.
I've been prepping for Thanksgiving all day. I have stuffing mostly made, the turkey is thawed and panned, the pie filling is thawing, and in general, I've been busy-bee. Particularly since in the meantime, I've also been trying to get some more knitting done. I really want to finish some of this knitting quickly, but I'm kinda not feeling it tonight, and I'm not sure why. But, there you go.
I also got the USB-cell batteries charged up for LP's MobiGo, which will be nice. I'm thinking that maybe we'll put the VReader on his Christmas list. It would be nice for him, I think, particularly (again) for car rides. Really, though, I think that's about the end of it. Not a lot is happening here, but it sure does feel busy.
Either way, while I do tend to grouse a lot, I have an awful lot to be thankful for.
We slept in, which was nice, but I woke up with a splitting headache, which (quite naturally) meant that LP spent a large part of the day screeching about things - with joy, with laughter, with sadness, with excitement... nothing too trivial to be screeched about.
My headache cleared up, and then Skeeve came down with it. So, while I'm feeling better, he is stressed, worn down, headachey, cranky, irritable, and has no idea why. This has made our house ever so much fun to be in.
I've been prepping for Thanksgiving all day. I have stuffing mostly made, the turkey is thawed and panned, the pie filling is thawing, and in general, I've been busy-bee. Particularly since in the meantime, I've also been trying to get some more knitting done. I really want to finish some of this knitting quickly, but I'm kinda not feeling it tonight, and I'm not sure why. But, there you go.
I also got the USB-cell batteries charged up for LP's MobiGo, which will be nice. I'm thinking that maybe we'll put the VReader on his Christmas list. It would be nice for him, I think, particularly (again) for car rides. Really, though, I think that's about the end of it. Not a lot is happening here, but it sure does feel busy.
Either way, while I do tend to grouse a lot, I have an awful lot to be thankful for.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Oye
Another Tuesday down.
Company came and left.
I'm about halfway through a monster body. My striping is pretty crap, though.
Orange chicken in the crock pot was a Big Win.
I hope to finish the monster soon and get a few more mittens done before the week is out.
Photos on Thursday - family ones for holiday cards.
Thanksgiving, too.
Absolutely exhausted. Up far too late. See everyone tomorrow.
Company came and left.
I'm about halfway through a monster body. My striping is pretty crap, though.
Orange chicken in the crock pot was a Big Win.
I hope to finish the monster soon and get a few more mittens done before the week is out.
Photos on Thursday - family ones for holiday cards.
Thanksgiving, too.
Absolutely exhausted. Up far too late. See everyone tomorrow.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Kind of a Whirlwind.
This morning was lovely. LP was chatty and understandable, and cute - I gotted da bawl, Mommy... Frow da bawl onna da fwoor, Mommy! - I watched Buffy and knitted, and LP got to watch Cars, too.
The afternoon needed a do-over, as my two hour napper only slept for an hour, and woke up correspondingly... active. This evening has been full of flapping, flailing, throwing, flinging, and hitting. No good for anyone.
I did, however, manage to not eat my son, and also finish a teeny garland-mitten and the first leg of his knitted monster. Holy MAN was that hard. Not the striping or the round or whatever, but the start up. You start with six stitches, then double them to 12, then double them to 24. It was a little maddening, trying to keep track of everything, when the needles I had available were a long circular for magic loop, or my grandmother's aluminum double pointeds. Either a lot of cable, or very slippery. GAH. However, I got one leg done... and there's only one more to go. Plus arms. And then the baby. Oh, my. Oh-my-oh-my. At least tomorrow's gaming that I'm not playing in, so I can work some more... We'll see how it goes. ^_^
The afternoon needed a do-over, as my two hour napper only slept for an hour, and woke up correspondingly... active. This evening has been full of flapping, flailing, throwing, flinging, and hitting. No good for anyone.
I did, however, manage to not eat my son, and also finish a teeny garland-mitten and the first leg of his knitted monster. Holy MAN was that hard. Not the striping or the round or whatever, but the start up. You start with six stitches, then double them to 12, then double them to 24. It was a little maddening, trying to keep track of everything, when the needles I had available were a long circular for magic loop, or my grandmother's aluminum double pointeds. Either a lot of cable, or very slippery. GAH. However, I got one leg done... and there's only one more to go. Plus arms. And then the baby. Oh, my. Oh-my-oh-my. At least tomorrow's gaming that I'm not playing in, so I can work some more... We'll see how it goes. ^_^
A Good Day!
Skeeve forgot his lunch, but that aside, it's been a really good day. I got up and Skeeve had done the tidying, I got a load of wash in, and got a couple photos of LP's hat. I also found my knitting cable, and was able to start trying to figure out the Magic Loop.
We watched Sesame Street, brought Skeeve some lunch, LP took a good nap, I finished the first mitten in my garland, we had a yummy dinner, got new USB rechargeable batteries for LP's MobiGo, and I got to watch some more Buffy. I've since started on my second mitten, LP is being very cute and not at all destructive tonight, and it's just generally... pleasant. Loving it.
~~~~~~
And again with the posting and not hitting 'publish'. One of these days, I'll put in a reminder that says "Hey, it's the end of the day - did you click publish? 9.9;;;
We watched Sesame Street, brought Skeeve some lunch, LP took a good nap, I finished the first mitten in my garland, we had a yummy dinner, got new USB rechargeable batteries for LP's MobiGo, and I got to watch some more Buffy. I've since started on my second mitten, LP is being very cute and not at all destructive tonight, and it's just generally... pleasant. Loving it.
~~~~~~
And again with the posting and not hitting 'publish'. One of these days, I'll put in a reminder that says "Hey, it's the end of the day - did you click publish? 9.9;;;
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Chasing around thoughts.
So, I've finished the Roar, Dinosaur hat. I'll post a picture here and to Ravelry as soon as I can get a good photo taken. The body of the hat itself is the same color as his coat. The ribbed band and the spikes are the same color as his mittens.
So I was all set to go ahead and start on the mitten garland. The problem is that I can't find my 24" cables for my circular needles. I don't have the right size double pointeds, and I only have a 16" cable for the needles I have. I could do magic loop, and learn it, just to do this, which would be cool. But, I need to get at least 24" circulars for it. So I need to find my other cables, but I have no idea where they are. Ugh. So that's tomorrow's project.
In the meantime, LP and I had another darned decent day, full of playing and laughing and running and stuff... until tonight. After dinner, it turned into LP Destroys Everything. He's pulled down all the books, all the puzzles, all the blankets, everything off the table, everything. And once again, I'm "That Mom." The mom who yells, who gets angry, who gets frustrated, who just wants to lock herself in her room until sometime when LP is in the 7-10 range. Every day is like this. This burnout. The yelling. The frustration. It's gotten to the point that I've been thinking about maybe putting LP into a daycare/preschool program for a couple hours a couple days a week. The local rates are looking like about $50/day, plus the incidentals of changes of clothes, shoes, diapers and wipes. At the rate the days are going, I may start looking into the feasibility of sliding scale rates based on income. 'Cause there's really only so much of the burnout I can take, and LP deserves better than That Mom.
So I was all set to go ahead and start on the mitten garland. The problem is that I can't find my 24" cables for my circular needles. I don't have the right size double pointeds, and I only have a 16" cable for the needles I have. I could do magic loop, and learn it, just to do this, which would be cool. But, I need to get at least 24" circulars for it. So I need to find my other cables, but I have no idea where they are. Ugh. So that's tomorrow's project.
In the meantime, LP and I had another darned decent day, full of playing and laughing and running and stuff... until tonight. After dinner, it turned into LP Destroys Everything. He's pulled down all the books, all the puzzles, all the blankets, everything off the table, everything. And once again, I'm "That Mom." The mom who yells, who gets angry, who gets frustrated, who just wants to lock herself in her room until sometime when LP is in the 7-10 range. Every day is like this. This burnout. The yelling. The frustration. It's gotten to the point that I've been thinking about maybe putting LP into a daycare/preschool program for a couple hours a couple days a week. The local rates are looking like about $50/day, plus the incidentals of changes of clothes, shoes, diapers and wipes. At the rate the days are going, I may start looking into the feasibility of sliding scale rates based on income. 'Cause there's really only so much of the burnout I can take, and LP deserves better than That Mom.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Not what I'd hoped.
279
So we went to the toy sale today. We came out with nothing. Depressingly, there was not a lot of quality toys available for the toddler set. I could buy him (more) PlayDoh, or stickers, or any number of flimsy plastic toys, or colored pencils or markers. But durable, good quality toys for 2-5 year olds (particularly boys!) were in a very short supply. So we got nothing.
We went over to Toys'R'Us, figuring that we have the cash in hand, and this is supposed to be a Big Christmas Toy this year, so... Yeah. We get to the store, and there's not a single MobiGo there. Not aside from the display unit, anyhow - and that's the whole demo thing. So we browse, look around, and leave with nothing - except information. Apparently, a ten minute drive from us, there is a brand new TRU/BRU side-by-side store that is *just* opening up. So we head over, and holy COW! It's bright and shiny, and there's a display of twenty or more of these MobiGo units, as well as of the V.Readers. So, we're looking at probably heading back over there sometime soon to pick up the game. Of course, the markup at the store took us from a $50-$60 toy to a now $70-$80 toy, which is just out of our range. So we wait, and hope that another day brings something better. If nothing else, we have a GST/HST check coming at the beginning of next month that'll cover anything more or less we need to deal with, as well as the fabric for the rest of the projects.
So today, all in all, was a wash. Nothing at the toy sale, nothing at the local toy store, and the store that did have what we wanted had a high enough price point that we still came home empty-handed. Blah.
Oh, well. Another day tomorrow!
So we went to the toy sale today. We came out with nothing. Depressingly, there was not a lot of quality toys available for the toddler set. I could buy him (more) PlayDoh, or stickers, or any number of flimsy plastic toys, or colored pencils or markers. But durable, good quality toys for 2-5 year olds (particularly boys!) were in a very short supply. So we got nothing.
We went over to Toys'R'Us, figuring that we have the cash in hand, and this is supposed to be a Big Christmas Toy this year, so... Yeah. We get to the store, and there's not a single MobiGo there. Not aside from the display unit, anyhow - and that's the whole demo thing. So we browse, look around, and leave with nothing - except information. Apparently, a ten minute drive from us, there is a brand new TRU/BRU side-by-side store that is *just* opening up. So we head over, and holy COW! It's bright and shiny, and there's a display of twenty or more of these MobiGo units, as well as of the V.Readers. So, we're looking at probably heading back over there sometime soon to pick up the game. Of course, the markup at the store took us from a $50-$60 toy to a now $70-$80 toy, which is just out of our range. So we wait, and hope that another day brings something better. If nothing else, we have a GST/HST check coming at the beginning of next month that'll cover anything more or less we need to deal with, as well as the fabric for the rest of the projects.
So today, all in all, was a wash. Nothing at the toy sale, nothing at the local toy store, and the store that did have what we wanted had a high enough price point that we still came home empty-handed. Blah.
Oh, well. Another day tomorrow!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Catching up, and Too Long.
I finally got back in touch with an old friend. As I recall, the last time we were in much contact was last winter. Far Too Long. I'm astounded with how big his kids are, how beautiful his daughters and how handsome his son. They're brilliant, and have these infectious smiles, and I can't believe it's been this long.
It's really nice to get caught up again, even if it is only for a short time. There's a certain amount of hoping happening here, too - that the immigration stuff will be finished soon, and we can travel, and actually sit down with friends and chat about life. Even if it's at a local bounce house or something.
I'm living the life of the geeky squee this week. Between the arrival of my EeePC and getting up to watching Once More, With Feeling (Buffy!), I'm just full of geekery-squeeful joy. And I'm verbing words again. Which is to say, words that are not verbs? I'm making them verbs again. And odd adjectives - see 'geekery-squeeful' for reference. ^_^
I've finished one of the points for LP's hat. The rest of them will (hopefully) be following shortly, as they're a right pain in the tuckus to knit up - they're twenty stitches in the round, so it's double pointed needles, as I'm still not doing well with the magic loop, and I don't want to botch this. I need it too soon - like in two-ish weeks - so I'm trying to not mess around too much. Once I get onto my actual Christmas Day gift knitting... Then I'll be able to do more with magic loop, as I've got the time to frog a project out and start over if I need to. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get everything together soonish.
Anyhow! Not much else happening in our little world, just the usual craziness, the dairy detox, the knitting and the upcoming toy fair. I kind of like it that way, though I wish there was an impending trip to Chicago coming as well as the other things.
It's really nice to get caught up again, even if it is only for a short time. There's a certain amount of hoping happening here, too - that the immigration stuff will be finished soon, and we can travel, and actually sit down with friends and chat about life. Even if it's at a local bounce house or something.
I'm living the life of the geeky squee this week. Between the arrival of my EeePC and getting up to watching Once More, With Feeling (Buffy!), I'm just full of geekery-squeeful joy. And I'm verbing words again. Which is to say, words that are not verbs? I'm making them verbs again. And odd adjectives - see 'geekery-squeeful' for reference. ^_^
I've finished one of the points for LP's hat. The rest of them will (hopefully) be following shortly, as they're a right pain in the tuckus to knit up - they're twenty stitches in the round, so it's double pointed needles, as I'm still not doing well with the magic loop, and I don't want to botch this. I need it too soon - like in two-ish weeks - so I'm trying to not mess around too much. Once I get onto my actual Christmas Day gift knitting... Then I'll be able to do more with magic loop, as I've got the time to frog a project out and start over if I need to. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get everything together soonish.
Anyhow! Not much else happening in our little world, just the usual craziness, the dairy detox, the knitting and the upcoming toy fair. I kind of like it that way, though I wish there was an impending trip to Chicago coming as well as the other things.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Gym's out for... um... Winter?
Today was the last of the park district's gym classes for LP. Tots In Motion, it was called. It took very nearly the entirety of the class, but we've found something he's good at. He can walk a line, and he can twirl to his right.
A lot of the class, I suspect, is designed for kids older than the advertised age group. They seem to think that LP should be able to follow lengthy instructions, no repeating, and across activities - that is, this station, you walk around and between the cones, the next station, you hop from one hoop to the next... over five activities. And when he can't do that, it makes things a little difficult, especially for the Prince of Lack of Attention Span.
Over the course of the winter, we're going to work on his hopping and jumping, as well as the other little things - go and stop, counting steps, things like that. He's able to do these things, but not to the degree that he's "supposed" to for his classes, and I'd like to see him better able to keep up with the other kids when we pick up Music and Movement in January.
In other news, we may be having another visitor coming soon. I'm hopeful, and we'll see how it goes.
A lot of the class, I suspect, is designed for kids older than the advertised age group. They seem to think that LP should be able to follow lengthy instructions, no repeating, and across activities - that is, this station, you walk around and between the cones, the next station, you hop from one hoop to the next... over five activities. And when he can't do that, it makes things a little difficult, especially for the Prince of Lack of Attention Span.
Over the course of the winter, we're going to work on his hopping and jumping, as well as the other little things - go and stop, counting steps, things like that. He's able to do these things, but not to the degree that he's "supposed" to for his classes, and I'd like to see him better able to keep up with the other kids when we pick up Music and Movement in January.
In other news, we may be having another visitor coming soon. I'm hopeful, and we'll see how it goes.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Research, and the little boy it's done for.
So, I've spent the last while looking over handheld games for LP. I was originally pulled to LeapFrog's offering - the Leapster Explorer. It's pretty cool looking, green and white and great graphics, even with the ability to hook it up to my PC and view his use trends - what he's playing, how often, how he's doing at it, and what his improvements look like. However, the downsides? It has a load of built-in advertising. It's only real built-in game is essentially a 'buy stuff for your pet' game, that once you've used up your starting 'cash'... well, you can only get more by playing more games - which Mom and Dad have to purchase. Hm. This is an issue, especially since we only really get a very limited time in which to afford more new games. Also, there's some concern with the instillation of rampant consumerism at a very early age, but I'm thinking it might be a better lesson of saving/spending than OMG, BUY IT ALL!!!! So, yeah.
So I look into a more... I suppose it's "us"... offering. VTech has a handheld they call the Mobi-Go. Now, it's not got the stylus of the Explorer, but it does have the touch screen, and the Mobi-Go also has a flip-up QWERTY keyboard. The reviews have the biggest drawback being the need to re-download the downloadable games after each shut-down of the system. Irritating, yes, but it's not directly marketing to my son, so I'm alright with that. Particularly as VTech has, in the past, been good to us. I look at the VTech toys in the house (there are two or three active at any given point), and realize the Mobi-Go has another side benefit - I've developed an inherent ability to tune them out. They all sound the same to me, and are reduced to background noise. The Mobi-Go has all the benefits of the Explorer (plus several "starter" games), and I'm seeing none of the drawbacks. I'm pretty cool with that.
The other 'outsider' contender in this game is the VTech VReader - it's essentially a preschooler Kindle. I'm not entirely sure what I think of this, as I barely use my own ereader. And for the same reason as I can see a problem here - I hate the notion that I need to buy a book twice in order to have a copy both on my shelf and in my iPod. Why the hell can I not format shift them for free? Seriously, I need to buy a $20 book for my house, and then pay another $15 to put it on the iPod (and now VReader)? Please.
It looks like we're leaning to the Mobi-Go, now that I've gotten Skeeve's input and he's looked them over, read the reviews and thought about it. It doesn't hurt that the Big Toy Sale for next week will have VTech toys, but not LeapFrog ones, and there's a potential to pick up the Mobi-Go for significantly on-sale. I'm not sure if a handheld would be a "from Mommy and Daddy" gift or a Santa one, but we'll have to see.
I have zero worries about the age setups on the toys. The Mobi-Go is 3+, the Explorer is 4+. The skills they're starting with, though, are things like letter and number identification - these are skills that LP has, and has had, for a significant period of time. I'm looking for an interesting and fun way to bring them together for him, and it seems that having something Just Like Daddy might be the way to go.
In other news, the stegosaurus hat is on its way to completion, though I have a dire need for my double pointed needles. Once that's done, I just wait on my yarn from KnitPicks to get here, and I can start the mitten garland. I'm very excited. Maybe I'll put a piece of felt sushi in the mittens as well as candies and other little trinkets... Hm. So many wonderful craft ideas, so little time and focus. ^_^
So I look into a more... I suppose it's "us"... offering. VTech has a handheld they call the Mobi-Go. Now, it's not got the stylus of the Explorer, but it does have the touch screen, and the Mobi-Go also has a flip-up QWERTY keyboard. The reviews have the biggest drawback being the need to re-download the downloadable games after each shut-down of the system. Irritating, yes, but it's not directly marketing to my son, so I'm alright with that. Particularly as VTech has, in the past, been good to us. I look at the VTech toys in the house (there are two or three active at any given point), and realize the Mobi-Go has another side benefit - I've developed an inherent ability to tune them out. They all sound the same to me, and are reduced to background noise. The Mobi-Go has all the benefits of the Explorer (plus several "starter" games), and I'm seeing none of the drawbacks. I'm pretty cool with that.
The other 'outsider' contender in this game is the VTech VReader - it's essentially a preschooler Kindle. I'm not entirely sure what I think of this, as I barely use my own ereader. And for the same reason as I can see a problem here - I hate the notion that I need to buy a book twice in order to have a copy both on my shelf and in my iPod. Why the hell can I not format shift them for free? Seriously, I need to buy a $20 book for my house, and then pay another $15 to put it on the iPod (and now VReader)? Please.
It looks like we're leaning to the Mobi-Go, now that I've gotten Skeeve's input and he's looked them over, read the reviews and thought about it. It doesn't hurt that the Big Toy Sale for next week will have VTech toys, but not LeapFrog ones, and there's a potential to pick up the Mobi-Go for significantly on-sale. I'm not sure if a handheld would be a "from Mommy and Daddy" gift or a Santa one, but we'll have to see.
I have zero worries about the age setups on the toys. The Mobi-Go is 3+, the Explorer is 4+. The skills they're starting with, though, are things like letter and number identification - these are skills that LP has, and has had, for a significant period of time. I'm looking for an interesting and fun way to bring them together for him, and it seems that having something Just Like Daddy might be the way to go.
In other news, the stegosaurus hat is on its way to completion, though I have a dire need for my double pointed needles. Once that's done, I just wait on my yarn from KnitPicks to get here, and I can start the mitten garland. I'm very excited. Maybe I'll put a piece of felt sushi in the mittens as well as candies and other little trinkets... Hm. So many wonderful craft ideas, so little time and focus. ^_^
Monday, November 15, 2010
Another day down...
Today was a little strange. No early breakfast, no running around...
I got up with LP this morning, we had some breakfast, we sat around and played a little with his cars and T-Rex, and I got a fair amount of knitting done. At the rate I'm going, I'll have his hat all knitted up in no time, and the garland too. Thank goodness. There's a lot of knitting to do, and only a little time to do it in.
Upcoming? The Samko Toy show. I'm not sure we'll actually buy things, but I'm looking at getting him a Leapster Explorer, and if they have them at a significant discount? Sweet. Very sweet. We'll have to see. I also want Skeeve to look at the thing at the store before we decide anything. There's something in the reviews about direct advertising, and I want to see what and how directly advertising it is before I decide to go ahead with the buy.
It's, apparently, very much time to be thinking about Christmas. As that seems to be the primary focus of my thoughts and activities... There we go.
I got up with LP this morning, we had some breakfast, we sat around and played a little with his cars and T-Rex, and I got a fair amount of knitting done. At the rate I'm going, I'll have his hat all knitted up in no time, and the garland too. Thank goodness. There's a lot of knitting to do, and only a little time to do it in.
Upcoming? The Samko Toy show. I'm not sure we'll actually buy things, but I'm looking at getting him a Leapster Explorer, and if they have them at a significant discount? Sweet. Very sweet. We'll have to see. I also want Skeeve to look at the thing at the store before we decide anything. There's something in the reviews about direct advertising, and I want to see what and how directly advertising it is before I decide to go ahead with the buy.
It's, apparently, very much time to be thinking about Christmas. As that seems to be the primary focus of my thoughts and activities... There we go.
Hello, Goodbye.
Hammie and Bubba left today. The weeks leading up to their visits always take forever, but then they're over in a heartbeat.
We said our goodbyes, and then LP spent the rest of the day triggering off of dairy, and then I fed him pizza. I figure if he's triggering anyway, and I don't want to cook... Well, why not.
Long day. Time to go to bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I can't believe I forgot to actually click "publish." Sigh. Apparently a very long day, indeed.
We said our goodbyes, and then LP spent the rest of the day triggering off of dairy, and then I fed him pizza. I figure if he's triggering anyway, and I don't want to cook... Well, why not.
Long day. Time to go to bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I can't believe I forgot to actually click "publish." Sigh. Apparently a very long day, indeed.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Oh, dinner.
So we were going to go out for a very nice dinner tonight, to a local Yum, Steak restaurant. We've had a gift card kicking around here for about two years, so I figure that when Hammie and Bubba are in town is a good time to use it, right? Yeah! So we get there, and the wait for a table for four-and-a-high-chair is two hours long. Yeah. So, we wait for the folks to turn up, inform them of this, and head back to turn in our pager and go for dinner elsewhere.
So we go to Kelsey's. It's a moderately priced family bar and grill type place. Thinking Bennigan's, but without the Irish. Anyhow, we get a table within 10 minutes, and LP is a fussy little monkey. Going through the HALTT stuff, I realize he's hungry, thirsty, and potentially tired of waiting. So, ten minutes versus two hours is wonderful. We order, and know full well we're likely going to have cross-contamination issues, as we usually do in restaurants. But we soldier on. We get dinner. We get dessert. We come home and set up a printer. And now we hit the point where we would have been seated for about 35 minutes at Yum, Steak place. Wow.
I may not eat for a week. Oh. Emm. Gee. I am beyond stuffed, and it didn't hit me until it was time to get up - I had to grab the diaper bag (and many fallen-soldier french fries) from the floor, and WHOOM. Thoroughly stuffed, and while it was totally worth it, I'm going to be paying for it for a week.
So we go to Kelsey's. It's a moderately priced family bar and grill type place. Thinking Bennigan's, but without the Irish. Anyhow, we get a table within 10 minutes, and LP is a fussy little monkey. Going through the HALTT stuff, I realize he's hungry, thirsty, and potentially tired of waiting. So, ten minutes versus two hours is wonderful. We order, and know full well we're likely going to have cross-contamination issues, as we usually do in restaurants. But we soldier on. We get dinner. We get dessert. We come home and set up a printer. And now we hit the point where we would have been seated for about 35 minutes at Yum, Steak place. Wow.
I may not eat for a week. Oh. Emm. Gee. I am beyond stuffed, and it didn't hit me until it was time to get up - I had to grab the diaper bag (and many fallen-soldier french fries) from the floor, and WHOOM. Thoroughly stuffed, and while it was totally worth it, I'm going to be paying for it for a week.
Friday, November 12, 2010
It has been a forever-long day!
We were all up before 7. LP has had no nap. He is finally down for the night. Oye.
My blogging point of interest? Every time my EeePC hibernates, it disables the mouse. That's right, every single time. And every single time I have to try to remember how to re-enable it. Sadly, this means no time for blogging, as I am instead using the time to a) re-enable the mouse, and b) figure out how to make the machine stop disabling it in the first place. Sheesh. I still have software to download and install, people! XD
My blogging point of interest? Every time my EeePC hibernates, it disables the mouse. That's right, every single time. And every single time I have to try to remember how to re-enable it. Sadly, this means no time for blogging, as I am instead using the time to a) re-enable the mouse, and b) figure out how to make the machine stop disabling it in the first place. Sheesh. I still have software to download and install, people! XD
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Watching the oldies again...
So for starters, I'm updating from a new EeePC. I am thrilled. I don't think I can explain exactly how full of geeky squee I am right now. It's a beautiful new compy that will fit in my diaper bag even with everything else in there already.
In addition to bringing my new compy, Hammie and Bubba came with a myriad of gifts for the Little Prince. Not least among them were a new Lightning McQueen hoodie from Uncle Fritz and a T-Rex from Uncle Jimmy. And a soccer ball, too. Now, in addition to these wonderful things for LP, there are a few things that are supposed to be for LP, but really... they're for us parents, too. First of all, there's the second box of Sesame Street Old School. Just in time, 'cause we were really starting to get a little down on the first five episodes. It's kind of sad, as it's also only one episode per season, and I was really hoping to find boxed sets of seasons. Ah, well. However... also? Also, the other DVD that came in was... Toy Story. The first one. The start of the era. Now LP is only moderately interested in the movie, but I am loving every second of it. What's better than the near continual references to the general Pixar properties? I mean, obviously the Lightyear thing, but also the Dinoco, and all the old things I barely remember from when I last saw the movie. It's amazing. It's like seeing it for the first time all over again, and it's just amazing.
I never really realized just how much went into the design of these movies, or how much carries over from one to the next. It's just incredible, and I'm once again reminded exactly why it is I need to work at Pixar someday. ^_^
All in all, this has been a wonderful gift - just Toy Story, not including any of the other things that have come into the house, though everything has been a blessing. I can't even express how wonderful it is to have people around us that really care. It makes all the difference. All the difference in the world.
This disjointed entry brought to you by Toy Story on the TV, which is far more distracting than it seems like it should be. ^_^
In addition to bringing my new compy, Hammie and Bubba came with a myriad of gifts for the Little Prince. Not least among them were a new Lightning McQueen hoodie from Uncle Fritz and a T-Rex from Uncle Jimmy. And a soccer ball, too. Now, in addition to these wonderful things for LP, there are a few things that are supposed to be for LP, but really... they're for us parents, too. First of all, there's the second box of Sesame Street Old School. Just in time, 'cause we were really starting to get a little down on the first five episodes. It's kind of sad, as it's also only one episode per season, and I was really hoping to find boxed sets of seasons. Ah, well. However... also? Also, the other DVD that came in was... Toy Story. The first one. The start of the era. Now LP is only moderately interested in the movie, but I am loving every second of it. What's better than the near continual references to the general Pixar properties? I mean, obviously the Lightyear thing, but also the Dinoco, and all the old things I barely remember from when I last saw the movie. It's amazing. It's like seeing it for the first time all over again, and it's just amazing.
I never really realized just how much went into the design of these movies, or how much carries over from one to the next. It's just incredible, and I'm once again reminded exactly why it is I need to work at Pixar someday. ^_^
All in all, this has been a wonderful gift - just Toy Story, not including any of the other things that have come into the house, though everything has been a blessing. I can't even express how wonderful it is to have people around us that really care. It makes all the difference. All the difference in the world.
This disjointed entry brought to you by Toy Story on the TV, which is far more distracting than it seems like it should be. ^_^
T-1h and counting...
Hammie and Bubba are almost here. They called around noon and said they were in Port Huron. I figure 10-15 minutes to get to the border, and it could be anywhere between 5 and 35 minutes for the crossing (they just got their Nexxus cards!), and then it's an hour and a half to two hours to here. They could be here in as little as half an hour. YIKES!
We've been busy all morning. Like, seriously busy. I refilled the flour (we keep about 20# in the kitchen at all times), and refilled the baking flour (this is straight up white flour, our usual bin is 50/50 white and wheat), filled up the sugar, started a loaf of bread, cleaned the counters, the stovetop, and then swept the floors - again. ^_^ We had breakfast, then I scrubbed a toilet, vacuumed the stairs, and settled LP in with some Sesame Street so we could get the nitty gritty done. No, it's not to Mom's standard. But, I'm not her, so my idea of clean is distinctly different than hers. ^_^ So nyah!
Now... I'm about to change and dress a baby, Skeeve is feeding cats and changing litter, then taking out the garbage, and then... we're done. Done, and ready, just waiting for Hammie and Bubba.
I'm thinking I'm going to make a list of things I want to blog about, 'cause it seems every time I sit down, I forget everything and am left posting a terribly bland update about cleaning. o.o;;
We've been busy all morning. Like, seriously busy. I refilled the flour (we keep about 20# in the kitchen at all times), and refilled the baking flour (this is straight up white flour, our usual bin is 50/50 white and wheat), filled up the sugar, started a loaf of bread, cleaned the counters, the stovetop, and then swept the floors - again. ^_^ We had breakfast, then I scrubbed a toilet, vacuumed the stairs, and settled LP in with some Sesame Street so we could get the nitty gritty done. No, it's not to Mom's standard. But, I'm not her, so my idea of clean is distinctly different than hers. ^_^ So nyah!
Now... I'm about to change and dress a baby, Skeeve is feeding cats and changing litter, then taking out the garbage, and then... we're done. Done, and ready, just waiting for Hammie and Bubba.
I'm thinking I'm going to make a list of things I want to blog about, 'cause it seems every time I sit down, I forget everything and am left posting a terribly bland update about cleaning. o.o;;
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
One Day.
It is amazing the change one day will make.
Granted, for me this is small scale. I see what happens in my own life, but I'm sure there are bigger implications.
Hell, one day was the difference between kicks and stretches and peeing all the time and awkwardness... and suddenly carrying a child in my arms. o.o;;
I suppose that's how I really ought to look at it... In terms of the positive. It seems that for now, though, I'm stuck in a bit of a negative. I'm not caring for it much, but I'm not sure how to reframe it.
I've spent quite a while trying to get the house into shape for my folks to visit. I've been scrubbing, reorganizing, cleaning, tidying... generally trying to bring the house up to a standard I know full well I can never meet. I just don't have the space or the time.
What makes it worse, I think, is that no matter what I've done in the course of a day, by 10:00 every night, it has almost all been undone. Every floor I've washed has something ground back into it. Every time I vacuum, someone gives LP a big chunk of bread... in the living room. Every time I clean a surface, within 20 minutes it's cluttered again. And then the toys. Oh, the toys. I clean them twice daily, and LP helps me clean them an additional time. And yet, there is a mountain of puzzles, books, and train tracks heaped on the living room floor. And cars and Legos and balls in the dining room. And toy pots and pans in the kitchen. And I still need to vacuum. Oye.
I'm thinking that as a part of NaBloPoMo, I really ought to look into how to frame these things more positively. How to turn it all around and have a positive message at the end of the day. So I'm not coming out of it going "well, my kid is a natural disaster, and he runs like a muppet, but at least he's cute." I'm thinking that's going to be my big project. With any luck, it'll help stave off the negative posts. ^_^
Granted, for me this is small scale. I see what happens in my own life, but I'm sure there are bigger implications.
Hell, one day was the difference between kicks and stretches and peeing all the time and awkwardness... and suddenly carrying a child in my arms. o.o;;
I suppose that's how I really ought to look at it... In terms of the positive. It seems that for now, though, I'm stuck in a bit of a negative. I'm not caring for it much, but I'm not sure how to reframe it.
I've spent quite a while trying to get the house into shape for my folks to visit. I've been scrubbing, reorganizing, cleaning, tidying... generally trying to bring the house up to a standard I know full well I can never meet. I just don't have the space or the time.
What makes it worse, I think, is that no matter what I've done in the course of a day, by 10:00 every night, it has almost all been undone. Every floor I've washed has something ground back into it. Every time I vacuum, someone gives LP a big chunk of bread... in the living room. Every time I clean a surface, within 20 minutes it's cluttered again. And then the toys. Oh, the toys. I clean them twice daily, and LP helps me clean them an additional time. And yet, there is a mountain of puzzles, books, and train tracks heaped on the living room floor. And cars and Legos and balls in the dining room. And toy pots and pans in the kitchen. And I still need to vacuum. Oye.
I'm thinking that as a part of NaBloPoMo, I really ought to look into how to frame these things more positively. How to turn it all around and have a positive message at the end of the day. So I'm not coming out of it going "well, my kid is a natural disaster, and he runs like a muppet, but at least he's cute." I'm thinking that's going to be my big project. With any luck, it'll help stave off the negative posts. ^_^
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
In which we are boring.
Ordinarily, we would have a house full of people over to play RPGs on Tuesdays. Today was supposed to be Mutants and Masterminds, but one of our guys had a psych paper to finish, and the other, upon hearing of the psych paper of the first, bowed out due to migraine. At 5:00. When I'm making dinner for everyone for 7:00/7:30. GAH. Psych paper guy bowed out around 11:30 this morning. I'm cool with that. But FIVE? Sheesh, guys. So, 7:00 comes around, and we're having dinner, and the only guy to show turns up. We're directing him to the kitchen to eat his weight in spaghetti and meatballs, and then... figure out what to do for the night.
The guys watch Sonny Chiba in Legend of Eight Samurai, and I begin my neurotic cleaning of the house. I scrubbed the bathroom yesterday, did all the mirrors and windows today, and this evening cleaned and scrubbed the dining room and kitchen floors, as well as washing all the towels and throw rugs, my tea kettles and the stovetop. It's been a busy night.
I also sat down and watched a pair of videos from knittinghelp.com. The first is Magic Loop knitting, and the second was three-needle bind-off. I'll need these for my Daphne and Delilah project, the mitten advent garland, and a project for Skeeve. Three needle bind-off should be no problem. It's the Magic Loop that looks a little daunting. Now, I have my lovely Adopt-A-Mom Mentoregging me on encouraging me to try it, so I'm going to give it a whirl, but it seems that it might just be easier to use double pointed needles. Of course, I was the one who was SURE that DPNs would result in the loss of an eye, so... Hard to say. I'm sure this will be an interesting learning experience.
Also, I am reminded today of why it is that animals in the wild tend to eat their young. Every time I cleaned something, LP came along almost immediately behind me and destroyed it. This includes every time I'd give him a treat - a cookie? Devoured, then a chocolate chip or two ground into the linoleum and the carpeting. A banana? Smashed into the table, thrown across the room, and then mushed into a pile of paperwork he had to climb onto the couch, then the table (with the banana, mind you!) to reach. I think I've hit my limit of good parenting for today. Time for bed. Before I eat my young.
The guys watch Sonny Chiba in Legend of Eight Samurai, and I begin my neurotic cleaning of the house. I scrubbed the bathroom yesterday, did all the mirrors and windows today, and this evening cleaned and scrubbed the dining room and kitchen floors, as well as washing all the towels and throw rugs, my tea kettles and the stovetop. It's been a busy night.
I also sat down and watched a pair of videos from knittinghelp.com. The first is Magic Loop knitting, and the second was three-needle bind-off. I'll need these for my Daphne and Delilah project, the mitten advent garland, and a project for Skeeve. Three needle bind-off should be no problem. It's the Magic Loop that looks a little daunting. Now, I have my lovely Adopt-A-Mom Mentor
Also, I am reminded today of why it is that animals in the wild tend to eat their young. Every time I cleaned something, LP came along almost immediately behind me and destroyed it. This includes every time I'd give him a treat - a cookie? Devoured, then a chocolate chip or two ground into the linoleum and the carpeting. A banana? Smashed into the table, thrown across the room, and then mushed into a pile of paperwork he had to climb onto the couch, then the table (with the banana, mind you!) to reach. I think I've hit my limit of good parenting for today. Time for bed. Before I eat my young.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Crafts galore!
Well, it seems that now that I've finished the blitz of sewing that was Hallowe'en, I get to start on the blitz of sewing and crafting that is Christmas. I have NONE of it done, but I have plans. Oh, I have plans.
In the hopper for LP, I have plans for a Daphne-and-Delilah mother/baby monster set. I'm also planning a stegosaurus hat for him (it's all about the dinosaurs right now!), a set of felt food, a pair of pajamas, a bean bag chair, and potentially a hoodie (if I can get the fabric for it!).
For Skeeve, I have another four projects, two sewing and two knit, that I'm not mentioning because I'm not sure if he lurks around here, and I don't want to spoil his surprises.
For the house, I'm now planning an advent-style garland. It's little mittens on a cord, one for each day from December first to Christmas. They're about 4.5" long, so should knit fast, but... ACK! This is a LOT of projects. And if my paperwork comes through in time for me to be able to travel for Christmas, I'll have to scrap some of it for a lack of time, lack of funds, and lack of focus (it'll take a few precious days to plan the travel, and a fair amount of the precious moneys to get there). All in all, though, it looks like a Very Craftsy Christmas. And a very busy season for me. o.o;;;
In the hopper for LP, I have plans for a Daphne-and-Delilah mother/baby monster set. I'm also planning a stegosaurus hat for him (it's all about the dinosaurs right now!), a set of felt food, a pair of pajamas, a bean bag chair, and potentially a hoodie (if I can get the fabric for it!).
For Skeeve, I have another four projects, two sewing and two knit, that I'm not mentioning because I'm not sure if he lurks around here, and I don't want to spoil his surprises.
For the house, I'm now planning an advent-style garland. It's little mittens on a cord, one for each day from December first to Christmas. They're about 4.5" long, so should knit fast, but... ACK! This is a LOT of projects. And if my paperwork comes through in time for me to be able to travel for Christmas, I'll have to scrap some of it for a lack of time, lack of funds, and lack of focus (it'll take a few precious days to plan the travel, and a fair amount of the precious moneys to get there). All in all, though, it looks like a Very Craftsy Christmas. And a very busy season for me. o.o;;;
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Short but... Sweet?
Today can be summed up with two simple exclamations:
1) The Plague of Blue Bottle Flies continues with another half-dozen in the basement. Hopefully, this will be the last of them.
2) Daylight Saving Time - Borking kids' sleeping habits since 1895. This is disgusting. LP was up before 8 this morning, after not going to bed until after midnight. Then took almost a three hour nap - which I had to wake him from in order to pick Skeeve up at work.
Sheesh. Long day, but it's over now. Thank goodness. ^_^
1) The Plague of Blue Bottle Flies continues with another half-dozen in the basement. Hopefully, this will be the last of them.
2) Daylight Saving Time - Borking kids' sleeping habits since 1895. This is disgusting. LP was up before 8 this morning, after not going to bed until after midnight. Then took almost a three hour nap - which I had to wake him from in order to pick Skeeve up at work.
Sheesh. Long day, but it's over now. Thank goodness. ^_^
Saturday, November 6, 2010
I said a plague, didn't I?
So we sprayed. For a solid week, we sprayed the house every day with an industrial insect killer. Disgusting. Yesterday was the first day we didn't have to spray. Mercifully. It's done.
I put LP down for a nap this afternoon, and while I was heavily irritated with our neighbor children, there was nothing else out of the norm. I go upstairs tonight to put the laundry up, and what do I find? Great Big Bottle Flies. HUGE. Like, half-inch flies. And there were a half dozen of them. Just in the last four hours. There were none, then there were six. Having just been reveling in the fly-free zone we'd created, I did what I usually would. Yelled at the flies. Because they're going to get an earful and fly out of the house, right? Nope. Then I sprayed them. In under a minute, I have six fly carcasses in my house, and I'll have to vacuum them up, 'cause I'm sure as hell not picking 'em up by hand. EW.
This is just WRONG. WRONG, I TELL YOU, WRONG. There is NO reason we should be having plagues of flies! EW! You'd think I never clean. Of course this happens right before my parents are coming to visit, meaning I've gotta get rid of flies as well as get the rest of the house CLEAN and probably dusted, too. x.x;; No, I'm not a champion housekeeper, but I'm better than PLAGUES OF FLIES! EW!
I've finally picked up How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. It's a joint parenting book - with exercises and everything. So I read through (and did the exercises for) chapters one and two, and have passed it over to Skeeve to read. The next chapter is Alternatives To Punishment, so I'm hoping this will be another keeper. ^_^ I have a few keepers, and I love them, but they're limited-ly practical. They're books I can loan out because I know what they say, and don't need to refer to them. I'm thinking that this book? Not a loaner. I've already gone through Helping Children Deal With Their Feelings, and Engaging Cooperation. It's been a fabulous read so far, and it's showing at least a little of my neurosis that Skeeve isn't diving straight into it. I'm trying not to tell him that, though. It's not like it's his fault I'm weird.
LP has been watching Sesame Street today. He has the Learning About Letters DVD, and also the first set of Sesame Street Old School. He saw an episode of it today, then came up to me and said "Moh sesee see pease!" Repeatedly. So he's watched a lot of Sesame Street today, but since it's vaguely educational, I'm kind of okay with it. Lazy parenting day, I suppose.
Sadly, that's the excitement of the day. A 'new' book, flies and Sesame Street. Hey, I'll take it, though. Nice and calm. I like it that way.
I put LP down for a nap this afternoon, and while I was heavily irritated with our neighbor children, there was nothing else out of the norm. I go upstairs tonight to put the laundry up, and what do I find? Great Big Bottle Flies. HUGE. Like, half-inch flies. And there were a half dozen of them. Just in the last four hours. There were none, then there were six. Having just been reveling in the fly-free zone we'd created, I did what I usually would. Yelled at the flies. Because they're going to get an earful and fly out of the house, right? Nope. Then I sprayed them. In under a minute, I have six fly carcasses in my house, and I'll have to vacuum them up, 'cause I'm sure as hell not picking 'em up by hand. EW.
This is just WRONG. WRONG, I TELL YOU, WRONG. There is NO reason we should be having plagues of flies! EW! You'd think I never clean. Of course this happens right before my parents are coming to visit, meaning I've gotta get rid of flies as well as get the rest of the house CLEAN and probably dusted, too. x.x;; No, I'm not a champion housekeeper, but I'm better than PLAGUES OF FLIES! EW!
I've finally picked up How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk. It's a joint parenting book - with exercises and everything. So I read through (and did the exercises for) chapters one and two, and have passed it over to Skeeve to read. The next chapter is Alternatives To Punishment, so I'm hoping this will be another keeper. ^_^ I have a few keepers, and I love them, but they're limited-ly practical. They're books I can loan out because I know what they say, and don't need to refer to them. I'm thinking that this book? Not a loaner. I've already gone through Helping Children Deal With Their Feelings, and Engaging Cooperation. It's been a fabulous read so far, and it's showing at least a little of my neurosis that Skeeve isn't diving straight into it. I'm trying not to tell him that, though. It's not like it's his fault I'm weird.
LP has been watching Sesame Street today. He has the Learning About Letters DVD, and also the first set of Sesame Street Old School. He saw an episode of it today, then came up to me and said "Moh sesee see pease!" Repeatedly. So he's watched a lot of Sesame Street today, but since it's vaguely educational, I'm kind of okay with it. Lazy parenting day, I suppose.
Sadly, that's the excitement of the day. A 'new' book, flies and Sesame Street. Hey, I'll take it, though. Nice and calm. I like it that way.
Friday, November 5, 2010
In which I am feeling more myself.
We had our Make The Connection playgroup this morning, and one of the moms there was one that was in the program last night. I see her every Wednesday (the kiddies have gym together) and Friday (Playgroup), so seeing her on a Thursday was just kind of funny. Turns out that while I was the one genuinely pissed off about how I was treated, she was pissed off because of the general philosophy (what's the point of time-out for the kid if time-out for the toy works better and can be done on top of the fridge?) and the fact that we essentially went in to spend the evening watching a woman who couldn't figure out a DVD player try to show us a DVD. Apparently, being 25 minutes late meant I missed about five minutes of material... and twenty of her trying to sort out "play" and "fast forward." So no real loss there. Also, I wasn't the only one disappointed in the format or discussion. I'm kind of fine with that.
Anyhow, today I started thinking more about Christmas. Specifically, the crafts we're going to be making for LP for his Christmas. The plan, thus far, is fairly... um... crowded. This year I'm making him a pair of Christmas Pajamas (as in, the pajamas he opens on Christmas Eve so that he looks all sharp and cute for photos in the morning), I'm looking into making him a bean bag chair, and instead of a St. Nicholas stocking, he gets a new hat every year (this year I'm making him a dinosaur hat to match his coat and mitts!)... and in the hat this year is felt food. I'm also thinking of maybe stealing a page from a friend's book and making him a "Daphne and Delilah" set from dangercrafts. This is a LOT of crafting. And I don't have a whole lot of time to get on it if I want to get it all done. Happily, I'm a quick stitch, so the knit hat will be done in just a day or two, and the monsters would be a couple days more. The bean bag chair wouldn't be hard to do, nor the pajamas, but it's when you put it all together that it starts looking like "I have to finish HOW FAST?!?!"
I think that for now, I'm going to make up a supply list. Then I'm going to set the whole thing aside until after Hammie and Bubba come to visit, and then I'll worry about what's getting done when. Though... I could start the felt sandwich box set now... I have all the pieces....
Anyhow, today I started thinking more about Christmas. Specifically, the crafts we're going to be making for LP for his Christmas. The plan, thus far, is fairly... um... crowded. This year I'm making him a pair of Christmas Pajamas (as in, the pajamas he opens on Christmas Eve so that he looks all sharp and cute for photos in the morning), I'm looking into making him a bean bag chair, and instead of a St. Nicholas stocking, he gets a new hat every year (this year I'm making him a dinosaur hat to match his coat and mitts!)... and in the hat this year is felt food. I'm also thinking of maybe stealing a page from a friend's book and making him a "Daphne and Delilah" set from dangercrafts. This is a LOT of crafting. And I don't have a whole lot of time to get on it if I want to get it all done. Happily, I'm a quick stitch, so the knit hat will be done in just a day or two, and the monsters would be a couple days more. The bean bag chair wouldn't be hard to do, nor the pajamas, but it's when you put it all together that it starts looking like "I have to finish HOW FAST?!?!"
I think that for now, I'm going to make up a supply list. Then I'm going to set the whole thing aside until after Hammie and Bubba come to visit, and then I'll worry about what's getting done when. Though... I could start the felt sandwich box set now... I have all the pieces....
Thursday, November 4, 2010
I spent 45 minutes looking for parking for THIS?!?
Despite the tremendous urge to blog all day long - we've been cleaning, you see, the kind of heavy-duty cleaning that means we clean for 15 minutes, rest for 15 minutes for well over 3 hours, and boy howdy if that doesn't inspire all kinds of bloggy ideas - I waited. I wanted to wait until after this class I had tonight, so I could share the awesome.
See, I went to a park district class tonight titled "The Power of Positive Parenting." On the surface, seems like a pretty cool deal, it's an hour and a half of class with nobody needing a diaper bag, and on a topic I'm likely to really resonate with. See, I'm all about the positive in parenting. My Big Parenting Guidebooks are things like:
Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn
Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen
and various pieces of The Sears Parenting Library by Bill and Martha Sears.
So I'm used to being off the beaten track. I subscribe to positive parenting, taking children seriously, and gentle/positive discipline. Positive Parenting Class? Sign me up! Sure, it's likely to be a 101 level class, but hey! Whatever! I get to feel like I really belong! Sweet!
Well, I rolled into class at 7:25, having spent the first 25 minutes of class, and the 20 before that, looking for somewhere to park my car in the downtown core after dark. They were watching a video, so I tried to be unobtrusive... but they'd locked the door. x.x;; Sheesh. But, yeah. I came into a section on avoiding poor behavior - the notion that spending a few quality minutes with your child is more valuable that a lot of both-of-you-are-bored ones, and that perhaps giving in to that grocery store tantrum just to get the child to stop pitching it would be a bad idea. Okay, cool! I can manage this! Stuff I know, sure, but hey, it's pretty basic, so still all cool.
Then we get into strategies to encourage 'good' behavior. I say 'good' as I have a whole philosophy attached to why that (and 'bad,' as the corollary) is not a good word to attach to a child in any respect. Praise. Oh, it's all about praise. And what isn't about praise is about rewards - physical, tangible rewards like stickers, or gathering enough stamps to go on an outing.
These are decent strategies, sure, if the alternative is beating your kid with a broom. My opinion is simply that your children are very much like visiting foreign dignitaries. They don't know the language, customs, rules or expectations. And as I wouldn't bribe a dignitary with candy to behave appropriately, I don't do it with my child either. We explain why things are the way they are, what the expectations are, and why. Whining is not met with a "Use Your Pleasant Voice" behavior chart, but simply "I don't like it when you whine. It makes me much less likely to listen to you. If you use your pleasant voice, I will listen better." I do not lavish praise on LP when he does something I like. If he hugs us, we say thank you, and express our genuine feelings. If he says 'bless you' or 'thank you' we thank him for being so polite, and then move on. Much as Skeeve and I do with each other. If I sneeze, and Skeeve says bless you, I don't spend ten minutes telling him what a gentleman he is, or how much I appreciate his blessing, or what have you. I say thank you, smile, and move on. We're raising a little person, not training a dog here.
Alright, so I'm twitching, but figuring it'll get better. Or maybe there's something I can take from it somewhere.
Until it starts in on managing 'misbehavior.' Sigh. So many things wrong here. If Skeeve spills his drink all over the floor, and doesn't pick it up... I get irritable. I clean it when I find it, and I grouse about it to him later. He would apologize, and we would move on. If LP spills his drink all over the floor, and doesn't pick it up, I'm to insist that he stop whatever he is doing and clean it up right now. If he doesn't, I'm to sit him in a corner until he is "ready" to be "compliant." Odd how the only difference here is the age of the male in question. Why not just do the same? And if LP decides to come help me clean it up, thank him with a hug and a smile - much like I would if he were his father? Because that's right. LP is a child. This means he is inherently incapable of learning by my example, and must be forced to do what I want when I want him to.
And then they advocate Time-Out for temper tantrums. Oh, man why didn't I leave two sections ago? So now, when my child has an outburst of emotion too big for him, it's my job to sit him in a corner and tell him that until he can stuff it in and behave like nothing's wrong, even if something IS wrong he's stuck there? This just isn't right. And that's not even getting into the psychology inherent in the theories of Love Withdrawal attached to Time-Out as a philosophy.
So I say something. And then I find out I'm in a room divided between parents of 'older' children and daycare workers. I say that I don't think it's appropriate to stick my child somewhere away from me because I decided their emotion is inconvenient for me. And then... Oh, my favorite part. "And how old are your children?" I really need to come up with a way to answer this that completely doesn't. Because as soon as it comes out that I have one child, and he is "only" two, my opinion is worthy of nothing more than vague derision and the "she'll see" whispering behind hands. Nothing, and let me repeat that, NOTHING, pisses me off more than telling me I don't get to have an opinion because I'm not as much a parent as someone else. I'm not telling people what to do in their own house. I waited, quite conscientiously, I might add, for the question to be raised about our personal opinions on Time-Out before I said anything. What happened tonight was that I went to a seminar on The Power of Positive Parenting and came out with the sure knowledge that because I'm not "enough" or "the right" parent, my thoughts, opinions and research are worth positively nothing.
And I spent 45 minutes looking for parking for the privilege.
See, I went to a park district class tonight titled "The Power of Positive Parenting." On the surface, seems like a pretty cool deal, it's an hour and a half of class with nobody needing a diaper bag, and on a topic I'm likely to really resonate with. See, I'm all about the positive in parenting. My Big Parenting Guidebooks are things like:
Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn
Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen
and various pieces of The Sears Parenting Library by Bill and Martha Sears.
So I'm used to being off the beaten track. I subscribe to positive parenting, taking children seriously, and gentle/positive discipline. Positive Parenting Class? Sign me up! Sure, it's likely to be a 101 level class, but hey! Whatever! I get to feel like I really belong! Sweet!
Well, I rolled into class at 7:25, having spent the first 25 minutes of class, and the 20 before that, looking for somewhere to park my car in the downtown core after dark. They were watching a video, so I tried to be unobtrusive... but they'd locked the door. x.x;; Sheesh. But, yeah. I came into a section on avoiding poor behavior - the notion that spending a few quality minutes with your child is more valuable that a lot of both-of-you-are-bored ones, and that perhaps giving in to that grocery store tantrum just to get the child to stop pitching it would be a bad idea. Okay, cool! I can manage this! Stuff I know, sure, but hey, it's pretty basic, so still all cool.
Then we get into strategies to encourage 'good' behavior. I say 'good' as I have a whole philosophy attached to why that (and 'bad,' as the corollary) is not a good word to attach to a child in any respect. Praise. Oh, it's all about praise. And what isn't about praise is about rewards - physical, tangible rewards like stickers, or gathering enough stamps to go on an outing.
These are decent strategies, sure, if the alternative is beating your kid with a broom. My opinion is simply that your children are very much like visiting foreign dignitaries. They don't know the language, customs, rules or expectations. And as I wouldn't bribe a dignitary with candy to behave appropriately, I don't do it with my child either. We explain why things are the way they are, what the expectations are, and why. Whining is not met with a "Use Your Pleasant Voice" behavior chart, but simply "I don't like it when you whine. It makes me much less likely to listen to you. If you use your pleasant voice, I will listen better." I do not lavish praise on LP when he does something I like. If he hugs us, we say thank you, and express our genuine feelings. If he says 'bless you' or 'thank you' we thank him for being so polite, and then move on. Much as Skeeve and I do with each other. If I sneeze, and Skeeve says bless you, I don't spend ten minutes telling him what a gentleman he is, or how much I appreciate his blessing, or what have you. I say thank you, smile, and move on. We're raising a little person, not training a dog here.
Alright, so I'm twitching, but figuring it'll get better. Or maybe there's something I can take from it somewhere.
Until it starts in on managing 'misbehavior.' Sigh. So many things wrong here. If Skeeve spills his drink all over the floor, and doesn't pick it up... I get irritable. I clean it when I find it, and I grouse about it to him later. He would apologize, and we would move on. If LP spills his drink all over the floor, and doesn't pick it up, I'm to insist that he stop whatever he is doing and clean it up right now. If he doesn't, I'm to sit him in a corner until he is "ready" to be "compliant." Odd how the only difference here is the age of the male in question. Why not just do the same? And if LP decides to come help me clean it up, thank him with a hug and a smile - much like I would if he were his father? Because that's right. LP is a child. This means he is inherently incapable of learning by my example, and must be forced to do what I want when I want him to.
And then they advocate Time-Out for temper tantrums. Oh, man why didn't I leave two sections ago? So now, when my child has an outburst of emotion too big for him, it's my job to sit him in a corner and tell him that until he can stuff it in and behave like nothing's wrong, even if something IS wrong he's stuck there? This just isn't right. And that's not even getting into the psychology inherent in the theories of Love Withdrawal attached to Time-Out as a philosophy.
So I say something. And then I find out I'm in a room divided between parents of 'older' children and daycare workers. I say that I don't think it's appropriate to stick my child somewhere away from me because I decided their emotion is inconvenient for me. And then... Oh, my favorite part. "And how old are your children?" I really need to come up with a way to answer this that completely doesn't. Because as soon as it comes out that I have one child, and he is "only" two, my opinion is worthy of nothing more than vague derision and the "she'll see" whispering behind hands. Nothing, and let me repeat that, NOTHING, pisses me off more than telling me I don't get to have an opinion because I'm not as much a parent as someone else. I'm not telling people what to do in their own house. I waited, quite conscientiously, I might add, for the question to be raised about our personal opinions on Time-Out before I said anything. What happened tonight was that I went to a seminar on The Power of Positive Parenting and came out with the sure knowledge that because I'm not "enough" or "the right" parent, my thoughts, opinions and research are worth positively nothing.
And I spent 45 minutes looking for parking for the privilege.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Bug Spray and Mayonnaise.
It occurs to me that I forgot to mention why it is we're spraying for bugs. The general philosophy in our house is that bug spray is heavily toxic and has no place in our house - where we live, eat and breathe. However, we've been dealing with cycles of fruit flies since April. APRIL. As in, over six months now. Apple cider vinegar didn't work, neither did beer. We cleaned the house top to bottom every week for a month. We scraped, scrubbed, scoured, and shined, but to no avail. Then we got FLIES. On top of fruit flies, we had regular flies. At one point, we had FIFTEEN FLIES in the living room, and a horde of fruit flies in the kitchen. Nothing was getting rid of them. Then the weather turned, and we figured that would kill them all pretty quick, since we don't turn the heat on until usually the end of November. Nope. A week of effing cold and we still had a biblical-level plague going on in here. That's when I made my decision. We'd had an exterminator out, but he couldn't figure out where they were coming from or why, either. Also, it took two weeks to get him here in the first place, and I'm still waiting for the rental company to return my calls about their maintenance guarantee - but since we've paid them, they don't care, and are refusing to return my calls. Well done, Jerkstores, and we'll see how many people I refer to you. >.<;; Anyhow. The exterminator brought a Heavy Duty Industrial bug spray. This was in May. I'm finally fed up enough to use it. Every day, we empty our kitchen and move the contents into other rooms. I put up baby gates, and spray the kitchen. We go out for at least an hour, then come home and open up the house. We let it air out, then go about our lives. Except for the part where every day I'm scrubbing the kitchen so that LP doesn't get into any of the spray. Boy, isn't THIS a convenient thing? x.x;; Sheesh. However. On Friday (first use day), I saw a whopping two flies flying in the house at the end of the day. On Saturday, I vacuumed up six more that had keeled on the carpet. Sunday? Nothing. Same Monday, yesterday, and so far today. Because of the nature of fruit flies, we have to finish spraying every day for a week - just to make sure we get the flies, the eggs, and any larvae. It's like a life-cycle science lesson in my house, and LP is too young to get it. Ah, well.
Last night was also mayonnaise making. It looked like it was going really well! I had a handle on this, sure! Eight eggs and three cups of oil later, I have a passable-but-thin mayo. The first batch never, and I mean NEVER, congealed properly. That was six egg yolks down the... tubes? Something. The second batch was hand-blender off of YouTube. It came out better than the first, but still not anywhere near admirably. I have to figure out how to make this work, as apparently there is nothing better than real, home made mayonnaise. And yet, here we are, and the best I have is fairly runny mayo-esque glop. It's tasty, sure, but it's not the right consistency. And apparently, everyone makes it differently, so there's no right way to do it, and what is right for one person? Totally wrong for another. Sigh. Makes getting tips hard, too. Oye. At least my pumpkin chili turned out well, and I'm able to do other things well. XD I don't like not being able to do this, though, so I expect to go through a bunch of eggs trying. Probably should have picked up an extra dozen while I was at the store. Whoops.
Last night was also mayonnaise making. It looked like it was going really well! I had a handle on this, sure! Eight eggs and three cups of oil later, I have a passable-but-thin mayo. The first batch never, and I mean NEVER, congealed properly. That was six egg yolks down the... tubes? Something. The second batch was hand-blender off of YouTube. It came out better than the first, but still not anywhere near admirably. I have to figure out how to make this work, as apparently there is nothing better than real, home made mayonnaise. And yet, here we are, and the best I have is fairly runny mayo-esque glop. It's tasty, sure, but it's not the right consistency. And apparently, everyone makes it differently, so there's no right way to do it, and what is right for one person? Totally wrong for another. Sigh. Makes getting tips hard, too. Oye. At least my pumpkin chili turned out well, and I'm able to do other things well. XD I don't like not being able to do this, though, so I expect to go through a bunch of eggs trying. Probably should have picked up an extra dozen while I was at the store. Whoops.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Another day!
Today is... full.
We've already cleaned the house, sprayed for stupid flying insects, and gone grocery shopping. Now LP is down for a nap, and I've cleaned the stovetop and put on pumpkin chili for tonight's dinner. Next up is putting away the groceries, and then the making of mayonnaise. Some folks tell me OMG, IT'S HARD, STAY AWAY!!!! and other folks tell me IT'S SO EASY, AND THE BEST TASTING EVER!!! so... I figure to try for myself and see.
LP seems to be getting mostly the hang of the vtech toy. I've found out where his confusion comes in. He wants to look and push. But the instructions say "find the capital "C"" and he doesn't know his lowercase, so a lot of the time the letters confuse him. If he listens, or I say "push the button with the 'c'!" then he can do it no problem. So it's both focus and understanding, likely, though not understanding the way I was worrying. So no big. We're debating a LeapFrog Leapster Explorer for his "big" holiday gift this year. Have to see how things shake out, though.
At this point... I've still got a LOT of cleaning to do, and an hour or so to do it in before I'm supposed to go pick Skeeve up from work. Let me tell you, this whole bus pass issue? Irritating. See, a M-F bus pass costs $69. This would be ideal for us, and if we spent it, would get Skeeve to and from work with $4 less cost, and no driving for us. But, Skeeve works F-Tu, so that's out. Instead, we have the option of an "unlimited" pass, which will get him to and from work those same five days... for $81, because it includes the weekend. Factoring in gas, it's actually cheaper for him to take the bus in, and have us pick him up. It's a pain, and it's putting a big wrench in my general daily plan (LP naps from 3-5-ish, which means I'm pulling him out of bed, changing him and running to the car), and... Ugh. It would be much simpler if we could just get the stupid pass. But no. That would be easy. Stupid LTC.
I think that's all I've got for now. I'm on my way to get some more work done while LP is sleeping so that we can have a decently clean house when our gamers arrive at around 7:00. @_@ Way too much going on.
We've already cleaned the house, sprayed for stupid flying insects, and gone grocery shopping. Now LP is down for a nap, and I've cleaned the stovetop and put on pumpkin chili for tonight's dinner. Next up is putting away the groceries, and then the making of mayonnaise. Some folks tell me OMG, IT'S HARD, STAY AWAY!!!! and other folks tell me IT'S SO EASY, AND THE BEST TASTING EVER!!! so... I figure to try for myself and see.
LP seems to be getting mostly the hang of the vtech toy. I've found out where his confusion comes in. He wants to look and push. But the instructions say "find the capital "C"" and he doesn't know his lowercase, so a lot of the time the letters confuse him. If he listens, or I say "push the button with the 'c'!" then he can do it no problem. So it's both focus and understanding, likely, though not understanding the way I was worrying. So no big. We're debating a LeapFrog Leapster Explorer for his "big" holiday gift this year. Have to see how things shake out, though.
At this point... I've still got a LOT of cleaning to do, and an hour or so to do it in before I'm supposed to go pick Skeeve up from work. Let me tell you, this whole bus pass issue? Irritating. See, a M-F bus pass costs $69. This would be ideal for us, and if we spent it, would get Skeeve to and from work with $4 less cost, and no driving for us. But, Skeeve works F-Tu, so that's out. Instead, we have the option of an "unlimited" pass, which will get him to and from work those same five days... for $81, because it includes the weekend. Factoring in gas, it's actually cheaper for him to take the bus in, and have us pick him up. It's a pain, and it's putting a big wrench in my general daily plan (LP naps from 3-5-ish, which means I'm pulling him out of bed, changing him and running to the car), and... Ugh. It would be much simpler if we could just get the stupid pass. But no. That would be easy. Stupid LTC.
I think that's all I've got for now. I'm on my way to get some more work done while LP is sleeping so that we can have a decently clean house when our gamers arrive at around 7:00. @_@ Way too much going on.
Monday, November 1, 2010
The strange things kids do...
A few months ago, we got LP a vtech "laptop." Specifically, this one. Has a little mouse, the keys for all the letters and numbers, isn't it cute.
Well, LP already knows all his letters and most of his numbers, so we sat down with an "identify the..." game (find the 'C'!) to get him going. Imagine my absolute astonishment as he went on to be completely unable to play the game. Like "find the 'C'!" resulted in him pushing the F, then the P, then the Q - after which it changes to another letter for 'try again.' I am completely stunned. And I have no idea why the child who can *easily* find the 'C' for me when I sit down and ask him to (even if he has to run into another room and demolish three puzzles to find a 'C') can't seem to find it when it's sitting in front of him.
Right now, I'm operating on the theory that perhaps it's because the toy is new to him again and he has to push ALL THE BUTTONS RIGHT NOW-NOW-NOW!!!! It seems a reasonable enough theory, particularly since he can ID the letters in several contexts (including on my qwerty keyboard!)... and yet. o.O;;
Anyhow, I've got a couple photos to share. ^_^
In extra Hallowe'en-y news... Yesterday we picked Skeeve up from work, and then came straight home to carve our pumpkin. Turns out, our pumpkin was about six feet thick. Okay, really more like two inches, but still. HUGE. So we carved a basic Jack-o-Lantern face into it, then I had to scrape away parts of the inside to let the light through! Craziness. Anyhow, we had our big meal of chili, and then LP and I went out Trick-or-Treating while Skeeve stayed home to greet any ToTers who came to our house. We went to about 7 houses, and LP's little bucket was FULL of all kinds of wonderful things he can't have... and nibs. So he got to eat his nibs, and the rest of the candy got combined with our leftover candy, and we had quite a dairy-riffic haul! Also, we had a whopping 20 visitors. That's it. All night. Oye. Nobody came after 7:30, and when LP and I went out ourselves, I found out why. Usually townhouse complexes are the best place to ToT, 'cause all the houses are crammed into small spaces. We went to seven houses, yes, but they were the ONLY seven houses lit up out of the 20 or so we walked by. What's the point of coming in to the complex if barely 1/3 of the houses are lit and giving candy? Sheesh.
Anyhow, after ToT, we noticed the little boy across the back was just getting home, so we ran inside and nabbed up the crayon roll we (I!) made for him, and went over. Once we'd delivered our present, we came home and warmed up. I made butterbeer, which turned out... interesting. It was a little off what one might expect, but still very tasty - even though it had to be substituted for dairy. YUM. Today, however, we poured the last half of said butterbeer for dinner-drinks. Oh. My. God. It was wonderful. I cannot stress enough how much better this was actually fully chilled. Bliss.
Last night, after we went to bed, the Sugar Sprites visited our house. They took away all the candy, and left LP a felt-board dinosaur play set, a crayon roll of his own, and a Cars coloring book! This was the best thing EVER. LP was thrilled about his gifts, and we don't have to deal with a sugar-high, dairy-laden little boy. BEST IDEA EVER GANKED.
At this point, that's pretty much all we have. I'm hoping to update more, though, so... Here's hoping I can come up with more things to say! XD
Well, LP already knows all his letters and most of his numbers, so we sat down with an "identify the..." game (find the 'C'!) to get him going. Imagine my absolute astonishment as he went on to be completely unable to play the game. Like "find the 'C'!" resulted in him pushing the F, then the P, then the Q - after which it changes to another letter for 'try again.' I am completely stunned. And I have no idea why the child who can *easily* find the 'C' for me when I sit down and ask him to (even if he has to run into another room and demolish three puzzles to find a 'C') can't seem to find it when it's sitting in front of him.
Right now, I'm operating on the theory that perhaps it's because the toy is new to him again and he has to push ALL THE BUTTONS RIGHT NOW-NOW-NOW!!!! It seems a reasonable enough theory, particularly since he can ID the letters in several contexts (including on my qwerty keyboard!)... and yet. o.O;;
Anyhow, I've got a couple photos to share. ^_^
In extra Hallowe'en-y news... Yesterday we picked Skeeve up from work, and then came straight home to carve our pumpkin. Turns out, our pumpkin was about six feet thick. Okay, really more like two inches, but still. HUGE. So we carved a basic Jack-o-Lantern face into it, then I had to scrape away parts of the inside to let the light through! Craziness. Anyhow, we had our big meal of chili, and then LP and I went out Trick-or-Treating while Skeeve stayed home to greet any ToTers who came to our house. We went to about 7 houses, and LP's little bucket was FULL of all kinds of wonderful things he can't have... and nibs. So he got to eat his nibs, and the rest of the candy got combined with our leftover candy, and we had quite a dairy-riffic haul! Also, we had a whopping 20 visitors. That's it. All night. Oye. Nobody came after 7:30, and when LP and I went out ourselves, I found out why. Usually townhouse complexes are the best place to ToT, 'cause all the houses are crammed into small spaces. We went to seven houses, yes, but they were the ONLY seven houses lit up out of the 20 or so we walked by. What's the point of coming in to the complex if barely 1/3 of the houses are lit and giving candy? Sheesh.
Anyhow, after ToT, we noticed the little boy across the back was just getting home, so we ran inside and nabbed up the crayon roll we (I!) made for him, and went over. Once we'd delivered our present, we came home and warmed up. I made butterbeer, which turned out... interesting. It was a little off what one might expect, but still very tasty - even though it had to be substituted for dairy. YUM. Today, however, we poured the last half of said butterbeer for dinner-drinks. Oh. My. God. It was wonderful. I cannot stress enough how much better this was actually fully chilled. Bliss.
Last night, after we went to bed, the Sugar Sprites visited our house. They took away all the candy, and left LP a felt-board dinosaur play set, a crayon roll of his own, and a Cars coloring book! This was the best thing EVER. LP was thrilled about his gifts, and we don't have to deal with a sugar-high, dairy-laden little boy. BEST IDEA EVER GANKED.
At this point, that's pretty much all we have. I'm hoping to update more, though, so... Here's hoping I can come up with more things to say! XD
Thursday, October 28, 2010
It's beginning to look a lot like...
Christmas cards! ^_^
It seems early, but in our house, we not only need to look at the cards and get them done, but we're also usually looking at both inbound and outbound international shipping. That, inevitably, takes forever.
This year, we're looking at Shutterfly's 2010 Holiday Card Collection. They've got a whole bunch of cute designs for their cards, both in Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, which makes me happy. They also have an offering I don't think I've ever seen before:
The Christmas card letter. As in, don't print out the letter and include it, but put it right on the card.
Now, normally, I'm not a fan of the Holiday Newsletter. At least, not aside from the odd sense of voyeurism from reading about what people I only barely remember anymore are doing with their lives. But, the bonus here is that there isn't enough room to get truly outrageously wordy. It's actually pretty clever. Not my speed, as I'm horribly wordy and won't fit in there, but it's really a neat idea, and if the two-page letters we've been known to see are any indication? Something like this is SO needed.
Now, they also offer the more traditional foldover cards, which I appreciate, but... no. If you're anything like me, writing out personal messages on the inside of that many cards is insanely time consuming, and after the first five or so, you forget what cute, original ideas you wanted to write in each card.
However, for us? We're looking at this card right here:
It's cute. It's simple. It's classic, and has that splash of color that is just so categorically ME. I'm absolutely digging it. Now, even better, it's printed on sustainably forested stock, so not only are we getting a cute card, but we're not decimating the planet to do it. I'm all about it. Next stop is to take a picture that would be a good holiday photo!
Now. While I'm browsing, sure enough, I run across a few other neat things:
The ability to create your own mailing labels. As in making cute labels for Christmas and Hanukkah, sure, but also for general-purpose and just... fun. Pretty sweet.
Turning your photos into your own calendar. Dang if that's not cute. And a potential gift for my mother, who adores photos of LP no matter what form they take.
They also offer both party invitations and baby shower invitations.
Cute as can be, right? We haven't used Shutterfly before, and I'm anxious to jump in and try them this year - I'll keep you posted on how it goes, and most of you will see the results. Which reminds me, if I don't already have it, DROP ME AN ADDRESS. I want to send out cards, and I don't want to miss you. ^_^
In the interest of being honest, I am participating in Shutterfly's 50 Free Holiday Card Promotion - I blog, they comp me 50 free cards. To blog for yourself, visit http://bit.ly/sfly2010
It seems early, but in our house, we not only need to look at the cards and get them done, but we're also usually looking at both inbound and outbound international shipping. That, inevitably, takes forever.
This year, we're looking at Shutterfly's 2010 Holiday Card Collection. They've got a whole bunch of cute designs for their cards, both in Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, which makes me happy. They also have an offering I don't think I've ever seen before:
Now, normally, I'm not a fan of the Holiday Newsletter. At least, not aside from the odd sense of voyeurism from reading about what people I only barely remember anymore are doing with their lives. But, the bonus here is that there isn't enough room to get truly outrageously wordy. It's actually pretty clever. Not my speed, as I'm horribly wordy and won't fit in there, but it's really a neat idea, and if the two-page letters we've been known to see are any indication? Something like this is SO needed.
Now, they also offer the more traditional foldover cards, which I appreciate, but... no. If you're anything like me, writing out personal messages on the inside of that many cards is insanely time consuming, and after the first five or so, you forget what cute, original ideas you wanted to write in each card.
However, for us? We're looking at this card right here:
It's cute. It's simple. It's classic, and has that splash of color that is just so categorically ME. I'm absolutely digging it. Now, even better, it's printed on sustainably forested stock, so not only are we getting a cute card, but we're not decimating the planet to do it. I'm all about it. Next stop is to take a picture that would be a good holiday photo!
Now. While I'm browsing, sure enough, I run across a few other neat things:
The ability to create your own mailing labels. As in making cute labels for Christmas and Hanukkah, sure, but also for general-purpose and just... fun. Pretty sweet.
Turning your photos into your own calendar. Dang if that's not cute. And a potential gift for my mother, who adores photos of LP no matter what form they take.
They also offer both party invitations and baby shower invitations.
Cute as can be, right? We haven't used Shutterfly before, and I'm anxious to jump in and try them this year - I'll keep you posted on how it goes, and most of you will see the results. Which reminds me, if I don't already have it, DROP ME AN ADDRESS. I want to send out cards, and I don't want to miss you. ^_^
In the interest of being honest, I am participating in Shutterfly's 50 Free Holiday Card Promotion - I blog, they comp me 50 free cards. To blog for yourself, visit http://bit.ly/sfly2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
I wish I had more to say.
Depressingly, I really don't.
Hammie and Big Guy are coming to visit us in three weeks.
LP is going to be Black Mage for Hallowe'en. His costume, aside from the final hem, is ready.
I will be the corresponding White Mage. My robe is done, I just need to get the triangle accents planned and affixed. I might also need new shoes - for height. Not sure yet.
Skeeve will... well, he's planning to be Skeeve. As in, a character he plays, not himself. ^_^ I'm hoping to be able to pop out tomorrow and pick up the necessary materials for his costume. We'll see how that goes. But, as my costume was *supposed* to cost about $100, and after some fine bargain shopping only came out to $40+tax and patterns... We have some wiggle room to get the right fabrics at the Hallowe'en sale prices. For him, I need to make a purple cape and black tunic. I'd make a hat, but I don't think I have the skill that requires this year. Maybe next year.
LP is picking up language like a madman. Of course, enough of it is garbled that I can't for the life of me sort out what he's saying, but he sure is trying! I'm very excited for him.
Our overnight diapers are a catastrophe. LP has been waking up in the mornings in hysterics because he pees in the morning, and the instant it hits the diaper it starts to *burn.* NO GOOD. So, after having that happen once, and then happen again even though we'd put a second diaper inside the big diaper... He's in disposables. At least until the rash clears up. As soon as I figure out how to fix the issue, we'll be back in cloth full time, but... For now, it's curative disposables+cream, and then moving to day-cloth and night-sposies. We have to do *something* for the poor guy, and I'm not willing to sacrifice his butt in an endless attempt to see if maybe this did it. ;.;
That seems to be the bulk of it. The behavior issues (the ones where LP is completely incapable of following any sort of directions) seem to be entirely diet related. We're straightening that out once again, and hoping for the best.
Anyhow. It's late, and I'm boring, so we're off to bed. ^_^
Hammie and Big Guy are coming to visit us in three weeks.
LP is going to be Black Mage for Hallowe'en. His costume, aside from the final hem, is ready.
I will be the corresponding White Mage. My robe is done, I just need to get the triangle accents planned and affixed. I might also need new shoes - for height. Not sure yet.
Skeeve will... well, he's planning to be Skeeve. As in, a character he plays, not himself. ^_^ I'm hoping to be able to pop out tomorrow and pick up the necessary materials for his costume. We'll see how that goes. But, as my costume was *supposed* to cost about $100, and after some fine bargain shopping only came out to $40+tax and patterns... We have some wiggle room to get the right fabrics at the Hallowe'en sale prices. For him, I need to make a purple cape and black tunic. I'd make a hat, but I don't think I have the skill that requires this year. Maybe next year.
LP is picking up language like a madman. Of course, enough of it is garbled that I can't for the life of me sort out what he's saying, but he sure is trying! I'm very excited for him.
Our overnight diapers are a catastrophe. LP has been waking up in the mornings in hysterics because he pees in the morning, and the instant it hits the diaper it starts to *burn.* NO GOOD. So, after having that happen once, and then happen again even though we'd put a second diaper inside the big diaper... He's in disposables. At least until the rash clears up. As soon as I figure out how to fix the issue, we'll be back in cloth full time, but... For now, it's curative disposables+cream, and then moving to day-cloth and night-sposies. We have to do *something* for the poor guy, and I'm not willing to sacrifice his butt in an endless attempt to see if maybe this did it. ;.;
That seems to be the bulk of it. The behavior issues (the ones where LP is completely incapable of following any sort of directions) seem to be entirely diet related. We're straightening that out once again, and hoping for the best.
Anyhow. It's late, and I'm boring, so we're off to bed. ^_^
Thursday, October 7, 2010
While I'm Feeling the Updateness.
So, LP and I are in a class on Fridays, it's offered through the Ontario Early Years Centre in conjunction with the Park District. In general, it's a class about stuff I already know - how to treat your toddler like a human being and not a very oddly shaped dog.
They gave out CDs at the first class, full of the irritating kinds of songs that people figure toddlers love, that parents hate, and that sanctimonious folks feel we should adore singing to our toddlers lest they turn out to be ax murderers because nobody sang One Potato, Two Potato to them. Needless to say, I have issues with their choice in music, and their determination to ruin the good musical sense I've been trying to put into my kid (lest I find myself driving six hours to Chicago with only "Fifteen Three Year Olds Massacre Your Favorite Hits!" in my CD player).
I also, however, have issues with what their lyrics are, and what they've DONE to some of these little rhymes. Humpty Dumpty, for example, now has music. It also goes like this:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
So he climbed - back - up - on - the - wall.
Okay, first, the longstanding issue: how in the HELL are horses supposed to reassemble a busted eggshell? I mean, really?!? But then, the last line. No, we couldn't leave Mother Goose alone. Nope, now we have Humpty Dumpty hauling his busted-ass, unglued, in-pieces self BACK up onto the wall. Um, he's BROKEN. UNFIXABLE. WHAT THE HELL, GUYS?!?!
Now, there are a few things they do that with, and I usually just sing right over 'em. I'm not teaching LP the busted version of these things if I can help it. XD
But, more insidious, are songs like You Are You. It sounds like a pretty decent general thing, right? I mean, you're you, I'm me, it's all good. But take a look at the first verse:
You are you
And I am me
On a journey of discovery
You're just a child
It's up to me
To help you be who you are meant to be
I have two Big, Fat problems with this. First and foremost, the line "You're just a child." It's right. LP is just a child. And I'm just a grown up. Could they possibly be any more dismissive of his ability to do what's right and best in any given situation? He's "just" a child, so I have to... NO. Great big NO. So we sing this song, and I reword it. I remove the stupid, dismissive "just" and expand the contraction. "You are a child." He is, and by dint of this, it is the job of his parents to help guide him through things. It's a statement of fact, no value judgement attached. The secondary problem I have is this "you are meant to be" crap. Who am I to know anything at all about who he's meant to be? I mean, if it were up to me, he'd be meant to be a doctor, or a nuclear physicist, or a part-time lawyer who is also a Work At Home Dad. How can I help him be who he's meant to be if I don't know what that is? Apparently, it's one of those God Given Parent Skills. It was lesson two in the manual you get when you have kids, you see. Sheesh. So... I reword it (I feel like Tim Allen here - So I rewired it!), making the change to "To help you learn who you are meant to be." This, I feel, is much more indicative of the nature of the parent/child relationship. He is just as important as I am in this, and it is not my job to come in as Grand Poo-bah Know It All and rain all over his little parade. It's my job to help him along the way, teach him the ropes, and help him sort out the things he likes, the things he doesn't, and what he wants to do.
Yeah, ridiculous to be this irritated at songs for a two-year-old, right? But why is that? Why is it okay to be pissed at songs that dismiss women, or dismiss violence, or dismiss families... but not ones that dismiss children, no matter their age? Children are people too, you know.
They gave out CDs at the first class, full of the irritating kinds of songs that people figure toddlers love, that parents hate, and that sanctimonious folks feel we should adore singing to our toddlers lest they turn out to be ax murderers because nobody sang One Potato, Two Potato to them. Needless to say, I have issues with their choice in music, and their determination to ruin the good musical sense I've been trying to put into my kid (lest I find myself driving six hours to Chicago with only "Fifteen Three Year Olds Massacre Your Favorite Hits!" in my CD player).
I also, however, have issues with what their lyrics are, and what they've DONE to some of these little rhymes. Humpty Dumpty, for example, now has music. It also goes like this:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
So he climbed - back - up - on - the - wall.
Okay, first, the longstanding issue: how in the HELL are horses supposed to reassemble a busted eggshell? I mean, really?!? But then, the last line. No, we couldn't leave Mother Goose alone. Nope, now we have Humpty Dumpty hauling his busted-ass, unglued, in-pieces self BACK up onto the wall. Um, he's BROKEN. UNFIXABLE. WHAT THE HELL, GUYS?!?!
Now, there are a few things they do that with, and I usually just sing right over 'em. I'm not teaching LP the busted version of these things if I can help it. XD
But, more insidious, are songs like You Are You. It sounds like a pretty decent general thing, right? I mean, you're you, I'm me, it's all good. But take a look at the first verse:
You are you
And I am me
On a journey of discovery
You're just a child
It's up to me
To help you be who you are meant to be
I have two Big, Fat problems with this. First and foremost, the line "You're just a child." It's right. LP is just a child. And I'm just a grown up. Could they possibly be any more dismissive of his ability to do what's right and best in any given situation? He's "just" a child, so I have to... NO. Great big NO. So we sing this song, and I reword it. I remove the stupid, dismissive "just" and expand the contraction. "You are a child." He is, and by dint of this, it is the job of his parents to help guide him through things. It's a statement of fact, no value judgement attached. The secondary problem I have is this "you are meant to be" crap. Who am I to know anything at all about who he's meant to be? I mean, if it were up to me, he'd be meant to be a doctor, or a nuclear physicist, or a part-time lawyer who is also a Work At Home Dad. How can I help him be who he's meant to be if I don't know what that is? Apparently, it's one of those God Given Parent Skills. It was lesson two in the manual you get when you have kids, you see. Sheesh. So... I reword it (I feel like Tim Allen here - So I rewired it!), making the change to "To help you learn who you are meant to be." This, I feel, is much more indicative of the nature of the parent/child relationship. He is just as important as I am in this, and it is not my job to come in as Grand Poo-bah Know It All and rain all over his little parade. It's my job to help him along the way, teach him the ropes, and help him sort out the things he likes, the things he doesn't, and what he wants to do.
Yeah, ridiculous to be this irritated at songs for a two-year-old, right? But why is that? Why is it okay to be pissed at songs that dismiss women, or dismiss violence, or dismiss families... but not ones that dismiss children, no matter their age? Children are people too, you know.
The last time.
You know, this is the last time I listen to anyone who says "oh, my kids outgrew their allergy by two, I'm sure he's fine!" Or anything else that implies LP should be eating dairy.
We've been reintroducing him to dairy again over the last week or two. While most of the worrisome symptoms seem to be on their way out, it's still not worth it.
No, he's not getting hives anymore. No, he's not having horrid poop issues anymore. No, he's not having breathing/congestion trouble anymore.
What he has instead is a vast inability to be himself. In the last two weeks, he has completely lost all ability to focus on a single task. He has lost all ability to follow simple directions. He has lost a fair amount of speech clarity. He has gone from being sweet and nice to a boy who beats on the people who live with him, or "aggressively shares" with the people who don't (I have a car. You can play with it. Take it. NO, TAKE IT. YOU WILL TAKE THIS CAR IF I HAVE TO POUND IT INTO YOUR FLESH TO MAKE YOU!!!!!). I've had enough. I've had so enough, in fact, that I'm recommitting to being utterly dairy free until this little boy is old enough to tell me how he feels, and what is happening in his little body. That might be a year, that might be three, I don't care. I WANT MY LITTLE BOY BACK.
In vaguely related news, I've been looking at fall baking! It should be wonderful, and I'm looking forward to it - I'm also automatically subbing out dairy-based ingredients as I transcribe recipes. This way, not only do I get the recipes I want, but I don't know off the top of my head that they've been subbed. That's just how they're written, you see. ^_^ I can deal with that.
I've also been wandering around Facebook. As a result, I've tracked down a couple blogs I've been meaning to follow, and a couple I didn't know were there. I'm pretty happy about that.
Next tasks? I have to fix my photo widget to actually use recent photos and not the ones from a year or more ago. I have to get dinner fully thawed. I also have to make a grocery list, and see what I can do about getting the house in a decent order.
Hammie and Big Guy are coming to see us soon! We're very excited. We're also thinking about maybe doing a second Thanksgiving when they are here, just so we can have Thanksgiving dinner together. I say a second Thanksgiving because Canadian Thanksgiving is on Monday! Holy COW, that's pretty early-seeming! I suppose it makes a measure of sense and all, but DANG!
We've been reintroducing him to dairy again over the last week or two. While most of the worrisome symptoms seem to be on their way out, it's still not worth it.
No, he's not getting hives anymore. No, he's not having horrid poop issues anymore. No, he's not having breathing/congestion trouble anymore.
What he has instead is a vast inability to be himself. In the last two weeks, he has completely lost all ability to focus on a single task. He has lost all ability to follow simple directions. He has lost a fair amount of speech clarity. He has gone from being sweet and nice to a boy who beats on the people who live with him, or "aggressively shares" with the people who don't (I have a car. You can play with it. Take it. NO, TAKE IT. YOU WILL TAKE THIS CAR IF I HAVE TO POUND IT INTO YOUR FLESH TO MAKE YOU!!!!!). I've had enough. I've had so enough, in fact, that I'm recommitting to being utterly dairy free until this little boy is old enough to tell me how he feels, and what is happening in his little body. That might be a year, that might be three, I don't care. I WANT MY LITTLE BOY BACK.
In vaguely related news, I've been looking at fall baking! It should be wonderful, and I'm looking forward to it - I'm also automatically subbing out dairy-based ingredients as I transcribe recipes. This way, not only do I get the recipes I want, but I don't know off the top of my head that they've been subbed. That's just how they're written, you see. ^_^ I can deal with that.
I've also been wandering around Facebook. As a result, I've tracked down a couple blogs I've been meaning to follow, and a couple I didn't know were there. I'm pretty happy about that.
Next tasks? I have to fix my photo widget to actually use recent photos and not the ones from a year or more ago. I have to get dinner fully thawed. I also have to make a grocery list, and see what I can do about getting the house in a decent order.
Hammie and Big Guy are coming to see us soon! We're very excited. We're also thinking about maybe doing a second Thanksgiving when they are here, just so we can have Thanksgiving dinner together. I say a second Thanksgiving because Canadian Thanksgiving is on Monday! Holy COW, that's pretty early-seeming! I suppose it makes a measure of sense and all, but DANG!
Monday, August 9, 2010
A second letter to a Little Prince.
Yesterday, you started the day at one year old. You finished it as a two year old. It doesn't feel like it's been two full years since you came to our arms.
You are a wonder. You are a joy. You are a sweetheart, a charmer, and one of the most laid back children I've ever had the privilege to know. You are perpetually happy, you blow kisses, and have a smile for everyone you meet.
In the last year we've watched you change so much. You still love to cuddle, and to nurse, but you also love to run, jump and play pretend. You make the tastiest soup I've ever had - even if it is served in a colander. You've started talking to us. You learned to sign, we learned to help you by taking dairy out of your diet. You gained an attention span, and you drink more water than anyone I've ever known. EVER. Today alone you went through at least five eight-ounce sippy cups of water. You make faces, smile and wave, you eat like you have a hollow leg, and you're learning how to treat other people. You have a love of all things that move, including buses, cars and now trains. You know your letters, and the sounds that many of them make. You picked up a good dozen more words in the last three days.
Your speech is garbled, and a lot of times it's unclear. But it doesn't matter. You're genuine, you're helpful, and you try so very hard.
I look at you now, and can only just barely see the teeny baby I held in my arms, and smuggled into my hospital bed two years ago tonight. You are my joy, and my treasure, and everything I could ever hope to have in a son. Two years ago tonight, you were exactly the same to me, but now... there is so much more to you. We still sleep together, side by side, but tonight Daddy will join us, and we will read The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh before we sleep. We all sleep a little better knowing that we are all safe and together, all within arm's reach, and all full of love for each other.
This has been a hard year for me. You've changed so very much, and I needed to change to keep up with you. I've had more time to think about how you came into the world, and I've been able to forgive myself for how poorly it went. I forever hope you will forgive me as well. I am still not all better, but every day, and every genuine, spontaneous kiss from a small boy helps heal the craziness inside my heart and head. You are the best thing that could have ever happened to me, and I love you more than life. You are a blessing. You always have been, and you always will be. I'm so excited to see what this next year brings to us, and so grateful to be on the journey with you.
All my love,
Mommy.
You are a wonder. You are a joy. You are a sweetheart, a charmer, and one of the most laid back children I've ever had the privilege to know. You are perpetually happy, you blow kisses, and have a smile for everyone you meet.
In the last year we've watched you change so much. You still love to cuddle, and to nurse, but you also love to run, jump and play pretend. You make the tastiest soup I've ever had - even if it is served in a colander. You've started talking to us. You learned to sign, we learned to help you by taking dairy out of your diet. You gained an attention span, and you drink more water than anyone I've ever known. EVER. Today alone you went through at least five eight-ounce sippy cups of water. You make faces, smile and wave, you eat like you have a hollow leg, and you're learning how to treat other people. You have a love of all things that move, including buses, cars and now trains. You know your letters, and the sounds that many of them make. You picked up a good dozen more words in the last three days.
Your speech is garbled, and a lot of times it's unclear. But it doesn't matter. You're genuine, you're helpful, and you try so very hard.
I look at you now, and can only just barely see the teeny baby I held in my arms, and smuggled into my hospital bed two years ago tonight. You are my joy, and my treasure, and everything I could ever hope to have in a son. Two years ago tonight, you were exactly the same to me, but now... there is so much more to you. We still sleep together, side by side, but tonight Daddy will join us, and we will read The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh before we sleep. We all sleep a little better knowing that we are all safe and together, all within arm's reach, and all full of love for each other.
This has been a hard year for me. You've changed so very much, and I needed to change to keep up with you. I've had more time to think about how you came into the world, and I've been able to forgive myself for how poorly it went. I forever hope you will forgive me as well. I am still not all better, but every day, and every genuine, spontaneous kiss from a small boy helps heal the craziness inside my heart and head. You are the best thing that could have ever happened to me, and I love you more than life. You are a blessing. You always have been, and you always will be. I'm so excited to see what this next year brings to us, and so grateful to be on the journey with you.
All my love,
Mommy.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Interesting. Very interesting.
So, I was clicking through links on a Food Allergy Carnival today (hosted by Rational Jenn), and happened to click through a link from Katie at A New Fit (entitled "Allergy Testing," you see where my interest came into play). In it, she summarizes her experience with Skin Prick Testing (SPT), I read it over, and my jaw hit the floor. It occurred to me how my child could have so many and varied reactions to dairy and yet test negatively. Here is Katie's synopsis:
When LP had his SPT done, the doctor distractedly listened to my synopsis of LP's reactions. He glanced at the records I had meticulously kept for months for all of about ten seconds, then asked me a few questions - all of which were covered in the records - and then nodded. He focused almost exclusively on LP's poor tolerance of soy formula, and paid no attention to my accounts of his spitting up in volumes over an ounce at an episode, multiple times daily, and to the fact that it continued across his liquid-diet-only days into his solid-food-days as well. He wrote off all behavioral changes (including things like the head-banging and biting), and generally made a show of not paying attention to anything I had to say beyond the sentence the words were in.
Next up, the nurse / doctor did not mark him up at all. As in, not a single pen mark showing where anything was.
There were pinpricks. This is true. The pinpricks were preceded by swabs of individual allergens.
Twenty minutes?!? WOW. No. When we went in, LP was poked, the allergist wiped the swab liquids away (all at once, which STILL strikes me as a massive cross-contamination issue), then came in after ten minutes (tops), told me that the only positive indicator was the one designed to be positive, had me put LP's shirt back on, and within ten minutes had us on our way. So, when they should have been reading the test, LP and I were on our way out to the car. By the time we made the 1.5+ hour trek back home, his back was clear (including the histimine area), but he was showing all the hallmarks of a dairy reaction.
Isn't it interesting how something like this happened? How without even doing the test properly, the doctor not only felt it appropriate to re-introduce dairy as a major component of LP's diet, but also to insist that I am a poor parent for not allowing him to have eaten it all along?
Amazing. Just amazing. Eventually, we will have additional testing done. It will have to wait for now, and in the meantime, we are functioning as though we have a positive confirmation diagnosis as allergic, but I suddenly understand, in some measure, how it is that my child, with his myriad and multi-systemic reactions came up as "not allergic."
After meeting with the doctor and going over my allergy history he decided it would be best to have a full allergy panel skin test done. I hadn't been tested for environmental allergies (pollen, trees, grasses, weeds, etc.) since high school so it seemed like a good idea. For those of you who have had the prick test done before, you know what this entails. But for everyone else, the process is as follows:
- the nurse marks up your back with a pen
- the nurse then pricks you with small needles (today I was lucky enough to have about 60 of those pricks)
- You lay on your stomach for 20 minutes while everything "settles in"
- The doctor then comes in to read your test
When LP had his SPT done, the doctor distractedly listened to my synopsis of LP's reactions. He glanced at the records I had meticulously kept for months for all of about ten seconds, then asked me a few questions - all of which were covered in the records - and then nodded. He focused almost exclusively on LP's poor tolerance of soy formula, and paid no attention to my accounts of his spitting up in volumes over an ounce at an episode, multiple times daily, and to the fact that it continued across his liquid-diet-only days into his solid-food-days as well. He wrote off all behavioral changes (including things like the head-banging and biting), and generally made a show of not paying attention to anything I had to say beyond the sentence the words were in.
Next up, the nurse / doctor did not mark him up at all. As in, not a single pen mark showing where anything was.
There were pinpricks. This is true. The pinpricks were preceded by swabs of individual allergens.
Twenty minutes?!? WOW. No. When we went in, LP was poked, the allergist wiped the swab liquids away (all at once, which STILL strikes me as a massive cross-contamination issue), then came in after ten minutes (tops), told me that the only positive indicator was the one designed to be positive, had me put LP's shirt back on, and within ten minutes had us on our way. So, when they should have been reading the test, LP and I were on our way out to the car. By the time we made the 1.5+ hour trek back home, his back was clear (including the histimine area), but he was showing all the hallmarks of a dairy reaction.
Isn't it interesting how something like this happened? How without even doing the test properly, the doctor not only felt it appropriate to re-introduce dairy as a major component of LP's diet, but also to insist that I am a poor parent for not allowing him to have eaten it all along?
Amazing. Just amazing. Eventually, we will have additional testing done. It will have to wait for now, and in the meantime, we are functioning as though we have a positive confirmation diagnosis as allergic, but I suddenly understand, in some measure, how it is that my child, with his myriad and multi-systemic reactions came up as "not allergic."
Monday, July 26, 2010
Love.
Today is a wonderful "milestone" day.
Today, LP asked for something he wanted, and meant it. He asked for nursies and a nap. He has nursed, and is now sleeping. He also asked to have his diaper changed.
I did a basic assessment prior to starting anything. LP knows 22 letters to mastery. He is missing "A," "G," and "M" to mastery, though he has some idea what those letters are. He has no clue about "C" and "T" he has, but I didn't ask him about it, so I'm a day behind in the marking. x.x;; Sheesh.
I am making pizza for dinner. I'm looking forward to it. ^_^
I also heard LP say something quite clearly. Something I've never heard him say before. Today, my baby boy looked at me, smiled, and said "I love you."
Some days, being mommy is the best job in the whole world. Even when you have to change the dirty diapers.
Today, LP asked for something he wanted, and meant it. He asked for nursies and a nap. He has nursed, and is now sleeping. He also asked to have his diaper changed.
I did a basic assessment prior to starting anything. LP knows 22 letters to mastery. He is missing "A," "G," and "M" to mastery, though he has some idea what those letters are. He has no clue about "C" and "T" he has, but I didn't ask him about it, so I'm a day behind in the marking. x.x;; Sheesh.
I am making pizza for dinner. I'm looking forward to it. ^_^
I also heard LP say something quite clearly. Something I've never heard him say before. Today, my baby boy looked at me, smiled, and said "I love you."
Some days, being mommy is the best job in the whole world. Even when you have to change the dirty diapers.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Learning!
Well, it looks like I'm going to have to alter the plans I'd made for LP for the next "school" year. I was planning to do a new letter with him each week, a color every month, shapes along the way, and run with it from there. At this point, he can identify rectangles and squares, circles, triangles, and pentagons. He knows several letter sounds, off the top of my head, this is R, K, D, O and "umbrella." Yes, he brings me the U and tells me "uh-bella." He recognizes red, yellow, purple and blue on sight, has a vague understanding of pink and orange, and is having a devil of a time with green (he keeps identifying it as red, or choosing red when asked to find green). By the time the "school" year starts, he may well have a handle on a much more significant number of letters, and hopefully have a few more colors as well. This does, however, kind of scrap the slow-and-easy approach I was going for. The speed with which he picked this up is astounding - my parents left here about 10 days ago. I bought LP an ABC puzzle about two days after that. This is a basic 26 piece peg puzzle that has pictures under the letters. He now picks up those earlier mentioned letters and brings them to me, with an appropriate sound - rrrrr for "R", kye for "K", duckie/doggie for "D" and ah for "O" (yes, the short O sound). So in something like a week, LP has picked up four or five letters and their sounds. This child astounds me at every opportunity, and i think we may wind up covering each letter and a few words that start with that letter each week instead of just the letters, and focus on numbers and red/green much more than I'd planned. I was so worried about pushing him, that I was expecting too much too fast, and suddenly? I find that he is already knowing more than I'd planned, and I'm probably actually very far behind because I spent too much time trying to make sure he was ready, and not focusing on what I wanted him to be ready FOR. 9.9;;; Well, now we make up for lost time, and see if we can get his talking (expressive) up to his listening (receptive). 'Cause right now, I can understand him about half the time. Anyone else? Good luck, man. Good luck. XD
Thursday, June 10, 2010
A moment of DUH.
Did'ja know? Little kids are supposed to be able to stick stickers, fold paper, scribble-with-direction and use safety scissors. Apparently, this is news to me.
I've been feeling like I'm sheltering LP way too much. As if, on the principle of letting my little boy BE a little boy, I'm actually stifling his growth. So we're doing more "school." It's really a mock school thing, because he doesn't have to do it, and if he's not interested, he's not interested, but... I needed some kind of kick in the pants on this. It's just not right that my trying to delay his growing up is actually killing his skills before he acquires them.
We're now, over the summer, anyhow, doing the exercises from Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready (this week is matching bowls/pots with their lids). We're catching up on exercises we've missed (like fingerpaints and two-piece jigsaw puzzles). And I'm adding in both BOB Book read-alouds, and the very early Kumon workbooks. The ones that are "Hey! Scribble here!" or "Hey! Fold this!" stuff like that. Nothing with actual reading or computation, but skills he probably ought to have, and I've been neglecting. He's proving absolutely capable of doing these things, and it leads me to wonder what else he's capable of that I haven't been letting him do. ;.; It's a step in the right direction. I don't want to push him, but I also don't want to stifle him.
Depressingly, my life has consisted of about two things for the last month - LP's education/skill-building, and my little backyard garden.
My little garden has carrots, radishes, lettuce, two green pepper plants and four tomato plants in it. I suppose we'll see what makes it, and what gets choked out. Hopefully nothing, but... We'll have to see. I also suspect that we will have to deal with slugs and with things eating my plants, but... one thing at a time, right? At least the plants are planted. ^_^
I've been feeling like I'm sheltering LP way too much. As if, on the principle of letting my little boy BE a little boy, I'm actually stifling his growth. So we're doing more "school." It's really a mock school thing, because he doesn't have to do it, and if he's not interested, he's not interested, but... I needed some kind of kick in the pants on this. It's just not right that my trying to delay his growing up is actually killing his skills before he acquires them.
We're now, over the summer, anyhow, doing the exercises from Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready (this week is matching bowls/pots with their lids). We're catching up on exercises we've missed (like fingerpaints and two-piece jigsaw puzzles). And I'm adding in both BOB Book read-alouds, and the very early Kumon workbooks. The ones that are "Hey! Scribble here!" or "Hey! Fold this!" stuff like that. Nothing with actual reading or computation, but skills he probably ought to have, and I've been neglecting. He's proving absolutely capable of doing these things, and it leads me to wonder what else he's capable of that I haven't been letting him do. ;.; It's a step in the right direction. I don't want to push him, but I also don't want to stifle him.
Depressingly, my life has consisted of about two things for the last month - LP's education/skill-building, and my little backyard garden.
My little garden has carrots, radishes, lettuce, two green pepper plants and four tomato plants in it. I suppose we'll see what makes it, and what gets choked out. Hopefully nothing, but... We'll have to see. I also suspect that we will have to deal with slugs and with things eating my plants, but... one thing at a time, right? At least the plants are planted. ^_^
Monday, June 7, 2010
For Reference.
Miquon Math: http://www.keypress.com/Documents/miquon/MiquonOrderForm.pdf
(three teacher's guides, orange and red books, and cuisenaire rods {provided mine never turn up})
Explode The Code: http://www.barnesandnoble.com
(Get Ready for the Code, Get Set for the Code, Go for the Code)
Handwriting Without Tears: http://shopping.hwtears.com/category/prek
(Get Set For School, Pre-K Teacher's Guide, Slate Chalkboard, Pre-K Wall Cards)
(three teacher's guides, orange and red books, and cuisenaire rods {provided mine never turn up})
Explode The Code: http://www.barnesandnoble.com
(Get Ready for the Code, Get Set for the Code, Go for the Code)
Handwriting Without Tears: http://shopping.hwtears.com/category/prek
(Get Set For School, Pre-K Teacher's Guide, Slate Chalkboard, Pre-K Wall Cards)
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Thinking School-y Thoughts.
I've spent the last two days making a plan for 2010-2011.
It is primarily made up of TotSchooling, the basic exercises from Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready, a monthly study of colors, and a weekly study of letters and themes. It's pretty blatantly ripped off of other people's ideas, but it does come from homeschooling families with a lot more experience than I have, and covers the things I want to see. I would like, in the next "school" year, for LP to learn:
Letters, Aa-Zz, and a partial awareness of the phonemes.
Numbers, 1-10, counting 1-10. *Possibly* skip counting by 2 or 5.
Basic Box-Of-Crayons colors.
Basic shapes.
An awareness of seasonal changes (snow in winter, heat in summer, etc)
In all truth, it simultaneously seems like an awful lot, and not much at all.
I've set up shop around the idea of a 36-week school "year." There are breaks for fall, winter, spring, and summer. There are two weeks allotted for vacation. There are several "free" weeks as well. Things like TotBooks and the Slow and Steady exercises will continue through the summer months as well. I'm hoping that setting up even a mild structure will help me going into the years where he is *actually* schooling.
I've also taken advantage of Evernote to help me keep track of the what's-the-what of our agenda. When it gets more specific, and he's covering things in "real" subjects, I'll have to see if it's possible to use spreadsheets in the program, but for now it works. I'm happy about that. And curiosity being what it is... I looked. On a cursory glance, it does not seem to support spreadsheets, but there is the ability to upload files to your notebook, which means that I can create spreadsheets and upload them, to be visible wherever I am. I can handle that. ^_^
All in all... pretty successful. Now to shoot for implementation...
It is primarily made up of TotSchooling, the basic exercises from Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready, a monthly study of colors, and a weekly study of letters and themes. It's pretty blatantly ripped off of other people's ideas, but it does come from homeschooling families with a lot more experience than I have, and covers the things I want to see. I would like, in the next "school" year, for LP to learn:
Letters, Aa-Zz, and a partial awareness of the phonemes.
Numbers, 1-10, counting 1-10. *Possibly* skip counting by 2 or 5.
Basic Box-Of-Crayons colors.
Basic shapes.
An awareness of seasonal changes (snow in winter, heat in summer, etc)
In all truth, it simultaneously seems like an awful lot, and not much at all.
I've set up shop around the idea of a 36-week school "year." There are breaks for fall, winter, spring, and summer. There are two weeks allotted for vacation. There are several "free" weeks as well. Things like TotBooks and the Slow and Steady exercises will continue through the summer months as well. I'm hoping that setting up even a mild structure will help me going into the years where he is *actually* schooling.
I've also taken advantage of Evernote to help me keep track of the what's-the-what of our agenda. When it gets more specific, and he's covering things in "real" subjects, I'll have to see if it's possible to use spreadsheets in the program, but for now it works. I'm happy about that. And curiosity being what it is... I looked. On a cursory glance, it does not seem to support spreadsheets, but there is the ability to upload files to your notebook, which means that I can create spreadsheets and upload them, to be visible wherever I am. I can handle that. ^_^
All in all... pretty successful. Now to shoot for implementation...
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