Tastes of Spring and Stick Radar

I just finished a huge bowl of strawberries and cantaloupe. Yummmmmm. Dad bought half a flat of strawberries yesterday off the freeway and Mom has been busy off loading them. We were the lucky recipients of two baskets. Two baskets of sweet red strawberries. These local ones were so much better than the barely red ones I let Emma talk me into last week at the grocery store. And the cantaloupe, while not top of the season in taste, was still delicious. Spring is here, I can taste it.

Now for stick radar. Grant has it. He has a stick radar that can hone in on the biggest stick in the area, without fail. In the front yard, he bee lines right for the biggest stick, leaving Emma to run around yelling "I want one as big as Grant's". Often, the biggest stick is bigger than him, which makes it all the more fun for him. He drags it behind him, he swings it back and forth. He never lets it go until it is time to go inside and I actually remove it from his hand.

Well yesterday in the backyard, Grant hit the jackpot of big sticks. He found a limb. He hefted it up, announced he had found it by yelling, and then dragged it over to the sliding glass door and banged on the door to be let in. With the limb. Hubs and I were just cracking up at him standing there with the limb, waiting to be let in with it. He looked shocked when Hubs told him the limb would have to stay outside. He decided to drag it all around for a while, took a break to throw some sand out of the sandbox, and then headed back for some more dragging after getting booted from the sandbox for throwing sand. It's still out in the middle of the yard, waiting for his radar to lock into it the next time we play in the backyard.

Conversations with Emma & Hubs

Hubs: Hey Emma, did you tell mom what you saw on TV last night?
Emma: A pickle.
Me: A pickle?
Hubs: The Stanford mascot. (which is a tree)
Hubs: And how do we feel about Stanford?
Emma: Bears don't like Stanford trees.
Hubs: What do Bears do to Stanford trees?
Emma: They poop on them!
Hubs: (laughing so hard he can hardly speak) Go Bears!
Emma: Go Bears!

Can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man!

I was asked to volunteer in Emma's classroom today as crowd control and photographer extradonaire because they were making a giant gingerbread man and baking him in the oven in the church kitchen. They mixed up the dough in the class (they even each got a small bite, which really is the only reason to help bake, right?), molded him into a gingerbread man, and then we all trooped down to the kitchen to slide him into the oven. We set the timer for 10 minutes, went back to the classroom to play, and then went to get him out of the oven. HE WAS GONE!! But luckily, he had left a note that said "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man. I've run off to Miss Linda's office". So off we trooped to Linda's office, and then to Becky's office, then to the school library, and finally back to our classroom, where he was resting at the table. We cut him up and enjoyed him for snack.

The kids were hilarious about this whole thing. They had read the gingerbread man story on Tuesday, and they read it again today. They loved helping to make the dough, and were very excited for the field trip to the kitchen. The looks on their faces were priceless when the teachers opened up the oven and it was GONE! Some gasped, one almost cried, several didn't know what to make of this situation. It really was one of those magical childhood moments, where you just want to bottle up the wonder and innocence and save it for when they are hardened teenagers. Kind of like Santa and the Easter Bunny.

Being back in a preschool classroom was fun too. It was reaffirming that Emma is normal, that I love preschool aged kids and the activities that you do with them, and that I'm glad to not be teaching preschool right now. I think I need to wait until my kids aren't that age anymore before I think about subbing at the school very regularly. Or at least until Emma isn't that age anymore!

Dear Assisted Living Place where Granny lives...

The kids and I really enjoy hanging out in your backyard with Granny when we come to visit. The chairs are comfy, the table is clean, there is shade and sun. And the weather has been awesome, hasn't it? I know you all work so hard to keep the landscaping so clean and weed free. And everything you've planted is beautiful.

Speaking of the landscaping, sorry about that one tree that doesn't have any blossoms left on it. I didn't think Grant was strong enough to actually shake it, much less shake all the flowers off. And it's planted pretty far back and behind several rose bushes so I had a hard time getting to him when he kept obsessively shaking it and then laughing when all the flowers fell off. It was kind of funny though, wasn't it?

Oh, and sorry too about that big bare spot of bark. I was helping Granny stand up and didn't realize Grant was carrying handfuls of the bark to the trash can. When I did realize it, and turned him away, I had NO idea he was going to run to the big plantar and start throwing the dirt all over the ground. I think I owe you a bag of dirt. And a broom. Maybe some Windex too since both kids kept banging their hands and foreheads against the glass window. The residents eating lunch seemed to be entertained by it, although something tells me your window cleaner won't be so amused.

The metal watering can you all have out for decoration really does look cute nestled among the shrubs. It's loud when Grant throws it too, isn't it? And the hinge on your gate is on nice and strong, Grant gave it several good shakes to try it out.

I hear it's suppose to rain soon, maybe we'll visit with Granny inside next week. I bet your gardener would appreciate that.

Sincerely,
Melissa

Oh these are the people in our neighborhood

In our neighborhood, in our neigh.bor.hood. Oh these are the people in our neighborhood, the people that we meet each day.

Thanks to Mr. Rogers for that little diddy.

Emma has been talking a lot about neighbors and neighborhoods, trying to understand who is a neighbor and who isn't. We see a lot of neighbors on our almost daily walks, so she is trying to sort out how you can chat with a neighbor even if you don't know their name or see them everyday. It's gotten me thinking about our neighborhood, and how differently I see it now than I did 5 years ago when we moved in.

The neighborhood was a huge draw for Hubs and I when we were shopping for houses. We couldn't afford our super desired neighborhoods, so we were getting to know new areas around town. We loved the huge developed trees, the quiet streets, the nice sized lots. We loved how unique each house was and how friendly people were to us. The first day after we moved in we both just beamed as we watched families taking bike rides down our street, couples walking their dogs, and the Ronald McDonald mobile that lives catty corner to us. We thrived on the idea of being neighbors, we had really only lived in apartments, and the year we spent in a house was very isolating rather than being inclusive.

We loved to take evening walks in the summer with Tippy, walking a huge loop through quiet tucked away neighborhoods. It was a great way for us to connect after a long day, and Tip loved the exercise. We continued the walks after Tippy died because by then I was pregnant. Now our walks included conversations about our future kid, our future life, our dreams. We walked the same huge loop and waved politely to the same neighbors.

When Emma was born, she and I started taking walks two weeks after she was born. I tucked her into the bjorn and off we went, on the same familiar huge loop around the neighborhood. Only suddenly, instead of polite waves to neighbors, people were coming over to meet her. They showered their congratulations on us, excited to see the baby they watched grow in my belly. My walks would take so much longer on some days because I was busy chatting. Suddenly I began to notice other moms out for walks with their babies. I started to notice the other young families in the outer neighborhoods. As Emma grew, she and I began to notice the dogs that barked, or the beautiful tulips that grow on the corner lot. We started to see some of our neighbors at the Farmer's Market. Older people in the neighborhood moved, and their children built new houses on the lots. Run down homes started to be remodeled (although not the dump next to us). We survived huge storms with our beautiful neighborhood trees still firmly rooted in the ground.

Emma and I continued to take walks while I was pregnant with Grant, and when he was born we were blessed with more congratulations, and more comments on how big Emma has grown. Emma would chat our neighbors up now instead of me, and it was often through her that I learned the neighbor's names. We met the neighborhood pets, we watched a pumpkin grow over the summer, we picked dandelions, and we watched a family of ducks. We saw more neighbors we knew at the Farmer's Market, with people stopping to chat with Emma about our produce selections.

Just today, I finally got the nerve to approach a young mom whose son looks the same age as Emma. She was in her yard, we've waved politely, and I finally went over to say hello. We have so much in common, and we've agreed to have some walking dates together.

All these blessings in our life and experiences that we've had because of the people in our neighborhood.

I learned a new word

Locavore. It was the New Oxford American Dictionary word of the year for 2007. A Locavore is someone who only eats local food. So like they shop at the farmer's market, eat locally butchered meat, things like that. I'm all for it, but not so much for it that I'm giving up packaged foods. Hubs would die if I did that, the boy needs his name brand foods. But I try to only buy produce and dairy from in the state - no need to encourage all that trucking to drag my food across the country when our state is soooo blessed to be so diverse in the food it can support. Plus I read once that grapes from Chile are still sprayed with DDT, and that kind of grossed me out, so I wait until the local grapes start to show up in the stores and the farmer's market. Fortunately, our local grocery store's brand name organic label is all local so our apples, milk, and beef are healthy and local. And once the weather stays nice, we'll be back shopping for produce exclusively at the farmer's market. I just can't wait. I'm so over the apples, pears, and bananas. I want peaches and cantalope and grapes and fresh corn and strawberries and yummy tomatoes. Plus I just love the ambiance of the farmer's market, it's so lovely and wholesome and supports local farmers.

Oh, and I joined freecycle and I think I may have just scored a free weedeater! I just have to talk Hubs into it. He's skeptical about a free weedeater.

And more reading

This morning Emma picked 'the', 'yes', and 'no' out of the comic pages while she was eating. Unbelievable.

And when I was running out to do an errand yesterday night, she says to me "Bye mom! Bye M-O-M-M-Y!" (shouting out the letters instead of saying the word) So of course, I said back "Bye E-M-M-A!" She thought that was hilarious.

Is it a boy/girl thing?

Or just a different kid/ different personality thing?

That is the question.

And I still haven't answered it. Obviously Emma and Grant are different - they are different kids, different birth order, and different genders. I get stuck on that gender thing over and over. I wonder if there would be as big of a difference if Grant had been a girl. I ask parent's of same gender kids how similar they are, how different they are. I know the question will never really be answered, because like I said before, aside from their gender differences, they are different people.

Here are some of the differences I've noticed:

1. Boys need their mamas in a way different from girls. Or is it because Grant is second so never ever gets my undivided attention?
2. From birth, Grant has been drawn to cars. He taught himself how to push it around while crawling. He often has one in his hand. He loves them. Emma only plays cars if someone is playing with her, and all she wants to do is roll it back and forth. No car noises come from her mouth. They do from Grant.
3. Grant climbs higher, runs faster, and takes headers onto the ground much much more than Emma. Emma realizes she has physical boundaries and has always been aware of what is too hard for her body. Grant has no such knowledge, and has the perpetual head bruises to prove it.
4. We just pulled down a batch of toys from the attic, toys that Emma started playing with when she was around this same age. One of them is that fun Parents toy that looks like a gumball machine. Emma would love to stand there and play with it over and over - putting the balls in at the top, then pushing the lever as the balls tumbled down. Grant loves to bean the balls across the room then chuck the gumball part onto the ground as hard as he can.
5. In that same box of toys is a fun pull along snail that Emma used to LOVE. She pulled that thing behind her everywhere. We used to joke that we'd always know where she is because it was always singing. Grant loves to use the string to swing the snail behind him and then send it flying across the floor.
6. Grant tries to eat dirt. Emma doesn't. That one I'm pretty sure is a gender thing since any self respecting girl is smart enough not to eat dirt.

The list goes on and on. Is it gender? Is it birth order? Is it personality differences?

I think it will never truly be answered.

Biggest Geek ever?

My eyes just welled up a it at last Thursday's comic "For Better or For Worse" when Anthony and Elizabeth decided to get engaged.

I know, a comic.

Grant's newest trick

Just this week Grant decided he knows all his body parts. He went from giggling and shaking his head no when you asked him to point to various things to actually identifying most of the body parts on his body all of a sudden. But he doesn't point to all of them. Here's what he does:

Me: Grant, where is your eye?
G: point to eye
Me: Where is your ear?
G: points to ear
Me: Where is your nose?
G: points to his nose
Me: Where is your mouth?
G: sticks his tongue out and says "blaaaaaaaaaaah"
Me: Where is your belly?
G: pats his belly with both hands like Tarzan beats his chest and giggles
Me: Where is your arm?
G: crosses his arms and pats both arms
Me: Where are your feet?
G: dances his feet and giggles

He also signs appropriately or on command: more, cheese, cracker, water, all done, and one other one I can't remember right now. And if you sign dance, he'll dance.

And Emma is starting to read. She totally picked the word 'of' off a sign in the doctor's office by pointing to it and saying: "Why does it say 'of' right here?" I about fell on the floor. What an awesome girl!!

And you think I'm crunchy

First, I promised a report on Emma's parent/ teacher conference. It was awesome! They totally get her and her intensity and they celebrate her for it. It was such a relief to hear the wonderful things that her teachers have noticed about her, and that they love about her. They had 10 pages of pictures of Emma throughout her days - outside, in the dress up area, during snack, hanging with her friends. It was yet another validation that we absolutely picked the right preschool for her. Have I shared their tagline - Childhood is a journey, not a race. Now doesn't that make you warm and fuzzy inside?

But what I really wanted to blog about today is this new blog I discovered last night: www.fakeplasticfish.com

I totally stumbled across it from the blogger.com log in page and I spent at least 2 hours reading it. People like Beth amaze me because of the dramatic life changes they are willing to undergo in the name of something they feel strongly about. I don't like plastic either, nor am I a fan of excessive packaging (amazon.com drives me nuts with their excessive packing materials). The reality is that plastic isn't our friend, and I've taken steps to decrease our use of plastic. I try to only heat food up in glass, Emma and I have stainless steel water bottles (Grant doesn't because I can't find any with a straw) that I refill from the tap, I use canvas bags when we're shopping, I cloth diaper, I made 90% of both kids baby food (thus not buying all the throwaway plastic containers), I use tupperware instead of ziploc bags every chance I get. But that's about it. And it's not like those changes were life altering. After spending so much time on her blog, I became more aware of our plastic usage and it is EVERYWHERE! But how much am I willing to change? Am I willing to start carrying pyrex with me so I can have my leftovers boxed up in those instead of carry out containers? Am I willing to stop eating frozen foods? Ordering the skin care I'm loyal too? Buying plastic toys?

I'm not sure what the answer is to those questions. Beth (the author) is one step ahead of me because of where she lives. The Bay Area is used to people like her and don't really give her a second thought. But is my town ready for me? For that matter, is Hubs ready for this? Probably not.

I think, for now, I'm going to commit to throwing less away. I'm going to freecycle or craigslist more. And I'm going to try and start buying more kid things used - Once Upon a Child or craigslist. That way at least I'm not creating new plastic.

So wonder on over and check Beth out. Be sure you follow the links at the top for her FAQ's and the list of plastic things she has stopped using. It's admirable.

What?!?!

I can't hear you ....I have a jackhammer in my ear. I'll post later when my brain isn't rattling around from the construction outside my house. I had Emma's parent/ teacher conference and I know you want to hear all about it!

Dump trucks and jackhammers and diggers - oh my!

So they are installing water meters in our neighborhood. The result has been weeks of construction on our road. There has been jackhammering, then cutting the road, and now diggers and dump trucks and all kinds of commotion.

The kids are riveted by it. We spent at least an hour out on the front lawn watching the comings and goings of the construction guys. Grant, as soon as you release him from his high chair, beelines for a particular window in Emma's room that faces the construction AND has a stuffed animal chair that is perfect for standing on so he can see out the window. He'll stand there as long as I let him. One particular highlight today was seeing a construction guy actually using the port a potty Emma has been so fascinated with. She squealed with delight when she realized he was actually opening the door and stepping in to use the bathroom.

I can't imagine the frenzy that will be our house when the construction is actually outside our house. It looks like that will be tomorrow. Stay tuned. And bring your earplugs, the jackhammer is noisy!

Octopus Mama

Emma tells me at breakfast this morning:

E: Mom, you're not an octopus mama.
Me: An octopus mama?
E: You're not one.
Me: I'm not one? (I'm wondering where this is going....)
E: You can only do two things at once cause you're not an octopus mama, you only have two arms!
Me: (I'm laughing so hard I can't respond to her so I give her a big hug instead)

Today I'm "42"

Or at least that's what Emma keeps telling everyone. She's actually saying "32" but has a hard time with that -th, so it sounds like 42. One mom in preschool said "Oh, we're the same age" so I didn't correct Emma. Didn't want to make her feel bad!

Oh, and sweetest thing ever - the first words out of Emma's mouth today was "Happy Birthday Momma". Too cute. She's been working soooo hard this week to keep my birthday present a secret. In fact, she almost spilled it today on the way home from preschool, but she stopped herself mid sentence and started randomly telling me about preschool. It was funny.

Conversations with Emma

While driving in the car today:

E: Mom, do your legs ever get tired of pedaling?
Me: When I'm riding my bike?
E: No right now.
Me: Right now? I'm riding in the car, not pedaling.
E: No you're pedaling. Pedaling to make the car go.

Then it dawns on me that we've been talking recently about how I use the pedals to make the car go. So basically, she thinks I'm up in the front pedaling my little heart out to get the car to go. A la Fred Flinstone. No wonder she told me yesterday that you have to be VERY strong to drive a car!!!

Parenting

So it's starting to sink in that this parenting thing never gets easier, the hard parts just change. I know, I know, duh Melissa. And I agree, it is quite a silly realization to come too. It has slowly been dawning on me, as I find my brain shifting from thinking about preschools to thinking about public schools. And private schools. And homeschooling. There are so many things to consider right now - do we open enroll Emma? Do we trust our local school, even though it's not the one we thought we were getting when we bought the house? Would homeschooling or private school be a better choice so the kids get lots of "extras" like art and music? Do public schools teach too much to the standardized tests? Can I survive homeschooling? Is a small private school a good choice or will it make the transition to junior high insane? And when Emma and Grant will start school is another thing to consider since they have the interesting birthdays that fall right before the cutoff. Emma will absolutely be ready for Kindergarten as an almost 5 year old, but will Grant? Too soon to tell.

We're just a few years away from sleepovers too. And drop off playdates and birthday parties. Am I ready for this? How do I equip myself to decide if a person can be trusted with my child, especially if it is a person that I meet through school, rather than the people I've been friends with for years? Emma and I are also starting to negotiate the world of her friends and my friends. She is starting to make friends with the kids in her classroom, but their moms are necessarily the moms I'd want to hang out with. And the moms I want to hang out with aren't the moms of the kids Emma seems to gravitate too. So how does that work out? No longer is Emma content to always tag along to a "playdate" that is really a momdate for me. I'm cool with meeting new people, that's for sure, it's just taking me some time to adjust to this whole thing.

Is there a manual for all this? Cause that would really help.

Teenagers

I'm so not ready for teenagers. I know I've got 10 years until official teendom, but seriously, my heart isn't ready. I'm not ready for all the independence that comes along with the teen years - driving, dances, sleepovers, COLLEGE. My heart isn't ready for my kids to be wandering around out there in the world without me. Maybe the next 10 years will toughen my heart up a little in bite sized pieces so by the time the kids are teens I'll be ready for the whole independence meal, but something tells me I won't sleep soundly until everyone is tucked in safely under my roof. Lord save my heart when Emma leaves for college. At Harvard, for free.