Soon, soon I am going to get it together to take and post pictures again. Or not. Right now, Sammy is sleeping in his carseat (the trip out to drop Elsa off at Farm School is usually enough to make him drop off), and Elsa and David are gone. I have two hours a week like this...alone with only baby. I should get my knitting. I should get my coffee. I should do the breakfast dishes. I should figure out what to make for dinner. It is cold and rainy here--come on spring, we are ready.
Anyway, the kids and I took an amazing trip to Boston last week to visit my parents and to do some homeschooling adventuring. The trip was a spectacular success, although flying alone with three children is not the MOST fun. The flight up was particularly hard, with a certain four year old becoming intensely upset about having to put his backpack through security, and also about having to ride to his grandparents' house in a flowered carseat. It was a lot easier (except for my own rather intense anxiety) on the trip back down.
Boston (or Hingham, the town south of Boston where I grew up and where my parents still live) was lots and lots of fun. The kids got to go sledding, because in the first days, there was snow which we did not get enough of to do. We checked out the very old graveyard and a house that was built in 1630...especially enjoying the closet behine the fireplace where slaves escaping on the Underground Railway may have hidden. We went to the beach, where we found lots of shells and other things washed up because of the Northeasters that they had up there, and talked to a guy who was using his metal detector to hunt for treasure on that beach. We got hot chocolate at the coffee shop (I have to say that the Dripolator is a better coffee shop). We went to the Boston Science Museum, an enormous museum where David spent pretty much the whole time playing in the model rocket ship. Elsa say a lightening show and looked at more exhibits. We also went to see the model train museum. I have to say, my parents really pulled out all the stops on showing us a wonderful time.
However, if you ask Elsa what she liked best, she will tell you without hesitation that she loved riding the subway. The activity on Friday was... riding the subway. We took the train in to South Station, got off, and hung out in the big depot. Elsa and David had a cupcake, and Elsa bought a Boston Celtics bear with her rabbit hutch cleaning money, I nursed the baby, and we returned. On the way back, it was rush hour, which was a little tough for David, but thrilling for Elsa as she got to hear people talking in different languages, and tried to stand up, holding the pole.
It was a really nice trip, and I am glad that I did it. I had been feeling bad about how much we have been staying home lately, It has been a combination of having, you know, a new baby, and David going through a particularly intense phase. I know his intensity is going to serve him in good stead when he gets older, but it can be hard for all of us to handle when he is still such a little package. So, I feel good about that huge adventure.
Yesterday was beautiful...today, not so much. As soon as it gets nicer, I am going to figure out how to keep the chickens out of the garden so I can plant my peas....it is nice to be home too.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
This and that...
There is a sweet little baby boy lying on the bed next to me. He is so sweet and so chunky and we love him so much. I have no pictures. I should start taking them again--Jesse takes them with his phone sometimes, but he isn't, you know, here a lot.
Things are going along. It has been a kind of cold and wet end of winter here, which is wearing me out a bit. My children have produced an absolutely enormous pile of drawings. I am trying to come up with a proper metaphor...mountain is cliche, but they can sit at the table and draw for hours. Hours. I have no idea what to do with them, either. I sort through them, and can occasionally bring myself to throw one away (Elsa, in particular, can draw the same picture over and over again).
I have lots of tidbits. A possum got into our chicken coop the other night. late. I think we were saved by our, ummm, falling apart chicken coop. I heard a big crash...I thought one of the kids had fallen out of bed...and then the sound of some angry hens. I rushed out, and the big wall of the coop had fallen off, and there was a glittery eyed possum and no hens in the coop. Goneril was clucking furiously all around the yard, and the rest of the girls were nowhere to be seen. So the wall falling off allowed them to escape, I think. Anyway, I chased the possum off and got poor Goneril back in the coop, and hunted around a little bit for the others, then went to bed, thinking we had lost them for sure. But, lo and behold, there they were, the next morning, pecking at our windows and pooping on our patio.
In one way, I felt like a real farmer, chasing predators away in the middle of the night. Mostly, though, I didn't. I felt like a complete non-farmer, as I fretted all night about our chickens...how frightened they must be, how much I was going to miss them, what a terrible chicken owner I am not to have been able to defend my chickens from all harm.
Homeschooling is going pretty well, when I am not, again, fretting about whether I am not teaching Elsa enough and causing her to miss learning everything, even though she has the most amazing breadth of knowledge...as far as I can tell, anyway. And her reading is getting better. I have completely abandoned the Waldorf style curriculum I was using, and am just making her read to me and do some phonics and handwriting workbooks, and math workbooks too, as well as just kind of talking about math. Mostly, I think it is fine and she is thriving. Sam is the sweetest, easiest baby ever, but he still requires a good bit of maintenance (even easy babies need their diaper changed--or to be held over the toilet or however one does Elimination Communication, to be nursed, to take naps and to just not be in their bouncy seats.) Elsa and David and I did some stuff about constellations and stars--we read a whole bunch of constellation tales, and I just got D'Aulaire's book of Greek Mythology and we are reading through that. It is a beautiful book. Anyway, one of the tenets of Project-Based homeschooling (which I am not really doing) is that if the kids are playing about what they are studying, they are really immersed in it. If that is the case, and I think it is, they are immersed. David now, much of the time, wants to be referred to as Zeus, the god of "Funder." Actually, he wants us to say thunder, he just can't manage it. I bought a whole bunch of peg dolls, and they have been making peg doll gods.
Which brings me to the Nature Table. We are setting it up for spring, and I am trying to reconcile my ideas to how it should be, with cute little Waldorfian things that I make to Elsa' ideas, which are many peg dolls colored by her to be the various tulip and daffodil family. Really, I know it is great that she is taking over that function, but it looks a little different than how I want it. That does seem to be a theme....
I am getting excited about the garden, although I am not sure how much I am going to be able to get done in there...trying to remind myself that Sam's babyhood is a short season, and it is going to okay if I can't do much. I do think when he gets bigger, I may try to get more serious about homesteading. There are classes that I want to take...I think that is just the way it is going to have to be for this suburban girl. I would love to be more of a do it yourselfer, but I am clueless and want some support. And when Sam gets a little bigger, it will be possible.
Things are going along. It has been a kind of cold and wet end of winter here, which is wearing me out a bit. My children have produced an absolutely enormous pile of drawings. I am trying to come up with a proper metaphor...mountain is cliche, but they can sit at the table and draw for hours. Hours. I have no idea what to do with them, either. I sort through them, and can occasionally bring myself to throw one away (Elsa, in particular, can draw the same picture over and over again).
I have lots of tidbits. A possum got into our chicken coop the other night. late. I think we were saved by our, ummm, falling apart chicken coop. I heard a big crash...I thought one of the kids had fallen out of bed...and then the sound of some angry hens. I rushed out, and the big wall of the coop had fallen off, and there was a glittery eyed possum and no hens in the coop. Goneril was clucking furiously all around the yard, and the rest of the girls were nowhere to be seen. So the wall falling off allowed them to escape, I think. Anyway, I chased the possum off and got poor Goneril back in the coop, and hunted around a little bit for the others, then went to bed, thinking we had lost them for sure. But, lo and behold, there they were, the next morning, pecking at our windows and pooping on our patio.
In one way, I felt like a real farmer, chasing predators away in the middle of the night. Mostly, though, I didn't. I felt like a complete non-farmer, as I fretted all night about our chickens...how frightened they must be, how much I was going to miss them, what a terrible chicken owner I am not to have been able to defend my chickens from all harm.
Homeschooling is going pretty well, when I am not, again, fretting about whether I am not teaching Elsa enough and causing her to miss learning everything, even though she has the most amazing breadth of knowledge...as far as I can tell, anyway. And her reading is getting better. I have completely abandoned the Waldorf style curriculum I was using, and am just making her read to me and do some phonics and handwriting workbooks, and math workbooks too, as well as just kind of talking about math. Mostly, I think it is fine and she is thriving. Sam is the sweetest, easiest baby ever, but he still requires a good bit of maintenance (even easy babies need their diaper changed--or to be held over the toilet or however one does Elimination Communication, to be nursed, to take naps and to just not be in their bouncy seats.) Elsa and David and I did some stuff about constellations and stars--we read a whole bunch of constellation tales, and I just got D'Aulaire's book of Greek Mythology and we are reading through that. It is a beautiful book. Anyway, one of the tenets of Project-Based homeschooling (which I am not really doing) is that if the kids are playing about what they are studying, they are really immersed in it. If that is the case, and I think it is, they are immersed. David now, much of the time, wants to be referred to as Zeus, the god of "Funder." Actually, he wants us to say thunder, he just can't manage it. I bought a whole bunch of peg dolls, and they have been making peg doll gods.
Which brings me to the Nature Table. We are setting it up for spring, and I am trying to reconcile my ideas to how it should be, with cute little Waldorfian things that I make to Elsa' ideas, which are many peg dolls colored by her to be the various tulip and daffodil family. Really, I know it is great that she is taking over that function, but it looks a little different than how I want it. That does seem to be a theme....
I am getting excited about the garden, although I am not sure how much I am going to be able to get done in there...trying to remind myself that Sam's babyhood is a short season, and it is going to okay if I can't do much. I do think when he gets bigger, I may try to get more serious about homesteading. There are classes that I want to take...I think that is just the way it is going to have to be for this suburban girl. I would love to be more of a do it yourselfer, but I am clueless and want some support. And when Sam gets a little bigger, it will be possible.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Then there's all three children. Aren't they cute? I think so. Although Elsa looks fourteen in that picture, which I don't like. I cut her bangs myself. Elsa is delightful and funny with Sammy. "Mama!" she will cry, happily removing all of Sammy's clothes, "Sammy's diaper is SOAKING! I have GOT to change it." Unfortunately, she is very good at removing all of his clothing, but less good at managing the rather motely assortment of cloth diapers I am using, so I end up having to redress him. Generally, the diaper is just mildly damp.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Lu-ly Lu-la
That woe is me,
Poor child for thee!
And ever morn and day,
For thy parting
Neither say nor sing
By by lul-ly lulay!
That is from the Coventry Carol. I sing it to my children every year at Christmas. Then I tell them the story of how Herod was so jealous that he ordered all young boys under three to be killed. And I tell David that I would never allow Herod's soldiers to have killed him. Or Elsa. Or Sam. Which is clearly bullshit. It is a hard and terrifying fact that we can't always protect our children from madmen. A madman came into an elementary school and shot 20 first graders, while teachers and the principal died trying to save them. By by lu-ly lulay, babies. We are heartsick.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Kids are wicked funny (at least, mine are)
Sammy is sleeping, all by himself, and Elsa is off to Adlebert Farm with David riding along, so here I am. Also, Tara, are fabulous house cleaner is here. I don't know how mamas do it without her, in particular. Anyway, I have a rare moment to sit down-I can read when I nurse, but what to do with hands free...I think I might work on David's sweater--I got these adorable fireman buttons and all I have left are the button bands--but first, I wanted to pop in here.
So, I wanted to announce that, in addition to a doll named Titty (named for a character from the book Swallows and Amazons--apparently it's a nickname for Christina--perhaps out of favor these days), there is a stick named the Vaginator. This morning, David came charging in with it, announcing that the Vaginator could cook food for me, nurse the baby, AND reduce bad policemen to dust. Only bad policemen, of course. I am thinking that the Vaginator is actually related to a veginator or something like that, also, we are not anti-policeman here, although it may have come up with regard to a discussion about Civil Rights.
Let's see, what else--we had a nice Thanksgiving with our lovely neighbor Amanda and her little girl. She took some beautiful pictures-she is quite a photographer--that I would like to post here when I am not worried that Sammy is going to wake up.
Also, our house is covered with duct tape signs, identifying all of the rooms: there is the the bach room, the lo dree room, the kichen. I find it totally thrilling that she is venturing into writing without asking for the correct spelling. She is getting a real sense of how the written word works.
We also found a new violin teacher for Elsa. It turns out that I am not at all a Tiger Mother, and Suzuki did not work for me. I was not interested in a complicated rewards chart to make Elsa practice, and sometimes I was not able to be the one to take Elsa to her lesson, or to do that without a child or two. So, this is more low key, but I am feeling successful because hey, at least I did it.
That's all folks. Hopefully I will get it together to post some Thanksgiving pictures.
So, I wanted to announce that, in addition to a doll named Titty (named for a character from the book Swallows and Amazons--apparently it's a nickname for Christina--perhaps out of favor these days), there is a stick named the Vaginator. This morning, David came charging in with it, announcing that the Vaginator could cook food for me, nurse the baby, AND reduce bad policemen to dust. Only bad policemen, of course. I am thinking that the Vaginator is actually related to a veginator or something like that, also, we are not anti-policeman here, although it may have come up with regard to a discussion about Civil Rights.
Let's see, what else--we had a nice Thanksgiving with our lovely neighbor Amanda and her little girl. She took some beautiful pictures-she is quite a photographer--that I would like to post here when I am not worried that Sammy is going to wake up.
Also, our house is covered with duct tape signs, identifying all of the rooms: there is the the bach room, the lo dree room, the kichen. I find it totally thrilling that she is venturing into writing without asking for the correct spelling. She is getting a real sense of how the written word works.
We also found a new violin teacher for Elsa. It turns out that I am not at all a Tiger Mother, and Suzuki did not work for me. I was not interested in a complicated rewards chart to make Elsa practice, and sometimes I was not able to be the one to take Elsa to her lesson, or to do that without a child or two. So, this is more low key, but I am feeling successful because hey, at least I did it.
That's all folks. Hopefully I will get it together to post some Thanksgiving pictures.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
And now we are five
Not only am I loving Samuel's tininess....I am loving how sturdy and big Elsa and David are. I keep grabbing their arms and shoulders and hands and they are so strong and delicious. There is plenty of love for all, indeed.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Pulling the Plug
Oh, am I conflicted. And nervous. But I did it. I pulled Elsa out of her school today. There is a farm/homeschool program twice a week in Fairview, and she went there today and loved it, and we decided that she is going to be homeschooled. With the caveat that if it isn't working in January, she can go to the Montessorri school in Asheville. Tomorrow we are going to work on reading word families and form drawing and making a calendar. I am excited. I am terrified. I wish I had the kind of unwavering self confidence that I was on the right path...either way. But I don't. I can see both sides of this (and many) issues. Although at this point in the political game I am pretty confident in my choice of president...but that isn't going against the grain. Most people I know prefer Obama.
Anyway, I did it...and actually, I am coming back to this a week and a half later, and I am already feeling calmer about this decision. Elsa is doing great. We get a lot done. She is learning to read, and we are hiking and being outside regularly. I am imagining that after I have had the baby (and gotten through the first few exhausting months) I will have even more energy and we will be able to do more. I do like it-it is pretty brilliant to see her figuring out how to read, and I do think it is a lot more efficient to do it at home--Elsa's memory and verbal skills had the teacher completely fooled in terms of her reading ability, and I think she was not getting much out of school. Probably the teacher would have figured it out after a while, but as her mama, I know exactly where she is at as a reader--wonderful comprehension and understanding of story structure, not a whole lot of decoding skills...which is what we can work on together.
Okay, so this is even later....October, two weeks before little man is arriving. Homeschooling seems to be working great...I wish I had more energy. Anyway, I don't want to completely abandon this blog, but I also don't want to actually write in it, or download pictures or anything, so here it is.
Anyway, I did it...and actually, I am coming back to this a week and a half later, and I am already feeling calmer about this decision. Elsa is doing great. We get a lot done. She is learning to read, and we are hiking and being outside regularly. I am imagining that after I have had the baby (and gotten through the first few exhausting months) I will have even more energy and we will be able to do more. I do like it-it is pretty brilliant to see her figuring out how to read, and I do think it is a lot more efficient to do it at home--Elsa's memory and verbal skills had the teacher completely fooled in terms of her reading ability, and I think she was not getting much out of school. Probably the teacher would have figured it out after a while, but as her mama, I know exactly where she is at as a reader--wonderful comprehension and understanding of story structure, not a whole lot of decoding skills...which is what we can work on together.
Okay, so this is even later....October, two weeks before little man is arriving. Homeschooling seems to be working great...I wish I had more energy. Anyway, I don't want to completely abandon this blog, but I also don't want to actually write in it, or download pictures or anything, so here it is.
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