Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Random Pics Monday
Random picture download! And bonus dancing video...
Boys sledding together...mom just puts on Yak Trax and runs, pulling them in circles. They love it.
Connor helping Haley put on socks. Haley is his little girlfriend from the neighborhood and they run at each other to hug every time they're separated more than few days.
Connor loves to do puzzles and patterns. See his awesome train made of different shapes?
A fine attempt at Connor's name!
Boys sledding together...mom just puts on Yak Trax and runs, pulling them in circles. They love it.
Connor helping Haley put on socks. Haley is his little girlfriend from the neighborhood and they run at each other to hug every time they're separated more than few days.
Connor loves to do puzzles and patterns. See his awesome train made of different shapes?
A fine attempt at Connor's name!
Alaskan Living Tidbits
Want to know a few things unique to Alaskan living? Of course you do!
- It's rude to wear your shoes inside anyone's house without express permission to do so. Most people have a tiled or wood entryway or mud room that is closed off from the house or at least set aside to control snow and gravel tracking into the house. Of course an independently heated mud room like we have is really a luxury...it helps control heat loss from the house.
- Why is controlling heat loss important? Some houses here are heated with fuel oil, some with hot water piping and some with wood fires...or a combo of those. We have long heat radiators on the exterior walls of the house that continuously pipe hot water to heat the rooms. Each floor has its own temperature control and it's a fine art to get the heat set just right...I have to fiddle with them often and we leave all the doors open at night to help equalize temps. Connor's room gets atrociously cold unless we have all the doors open and ceiling fans on to help distribute heat evenly upstairs. The base has its own heat plant for water, which means I never have to worry about losing hot water for washing and baths. We could run both showers, the dishwasher and the washer at once and never feel the difference until...
- It gets COLD here. I just glanced out my window and it's about -16 F. That's not cold by December, where temps are regularly more between -20 and -40 F. The beauty of hot water heating is that it doesn't take nearly as much energy to heat but it depends a lot on houses being well insulated and the temperature being relatively static; dramatic swings leave the system panting to catch up. Which is why we can get in thumb-screws kind of trouble for opening the window below zero...the heat gets rapidly sucked out and the pipes freeze quickly, and burst. If it has a dramatic temperature swing you lose heat quickly and it's hard to get it back. Last year we had the hot water main on our street burst and boiling water was pouring down the street. They thought they would have to evacuate everyone to billeting -- after only half an hour without hot water, our house dropped to 50. Granted it was -45 outside so it was still positively balmy inside, but I was not pleased to be worried about baby popsicles. If the temp plunges dramatically, which is rare, the heat can have a hard time keeping up. You know it got cold when you go to open the shade and the condensation from the evening's sleep is frozen solid on the windows! All you can do then is close blinds to help retain heat, put everyone in a couple sweaters and crank the heat, particularly in the entryway between the garage and house.
- No one with any sense in Alaska goes anywhere without emergency kits and extra clothes. Everyone has heard a horror story about a woman veering off the road and not being found for three days, or a family forced to walk through snow drifts until they're finally found naked and partially eaten by wolves. I'm not sure how often that happens, but I had a scary experience of my own our first winter here. I slid off the road at a hairpin curve about 1/3 of a mile from our temp apartment (we had to wait til April for a house). It was about -7...cold, but not insanely so. I had no cell phone coverage. So I bundled Connor up as best as I could, put wool socks on my hands because I forgot my gloves, and started to walk to the apartment. I was four months pregnant with Timmy and had to carry Connor a good bit because the snow drifts were too much for a two year old. We were exhausted, shaky and numb with cold by the time we got home. I vowed then and there that I would never go anywhere without better supplies and we would invest in snow tires within the week. Done and done. It was a dangerous mistake.
- There are so many COOL things about this state. I love the ubiquitous coffee huts everywhere. It seems like everywhere there's a bare patch of dirt, one springs up as if coffee hut seeds had been sown. People are also extremely friendly -- once you're accepted as part of the Fairbanks milieu, you've never met a stranger. Of course the measure is usually how many winters you've spent up here. :-) There's a very neat counterculture "Just because America does it doesn't mean we do" vibe; I admire individuality and pure cussedness. I could do without Daylight Savings, because let's face it, it's useless here. Alaska could have stood a little "screw you guys!" spirit on that, but eh. I adore the fact that calling my son's school and telling them that a stuffed musk ox fell off a truck and is blocking traffic is not only a perfect valid excuse for being late, it's accepted without comment. I think the fact that my children call any large animal - cow, deer, etc -- a moose is neat, and that they know what a moose mating call sounds like is cooler still. I like that you can enter into a spirited debate about the relative merits of snow tires, boot brands, and wool vs bamboo socks with virtually anyone and each person leaves perfectly happy, convinced their conviction that Sorels beat Baffins hands down is still intact. I love that we treasure every moment of summer in a way no temperate climate could ever do, and live outdoors. I love ravens. I love red sassy squirrels. And while I may never want to settle here (did I mention the cold?) I can appreciate the amazing spirit of this place.
- It's rude to wear your shoes inside anyone's house without express permission to do so. Most people have a tiled or wood entryway or mud room that is closed off from the house or at least set aside to control snow and gravel tracking into the house. Of course an independently heated mud room like we have is really a luxury...it helps control heat loss from the house.
- Why is controlling heat loss important? Some houses here are heated with fuel oil, some with hot water piping and some with wood fires...or a combo of those. We have long heat radiators on the exterior walls of the house that continuously pipe hot water to heat the rooms. Each floor has its own temperature control and it's a fine art to get the heat set just right...I have to fiddle with them often and we leave all the doors open at night to help equalize temps. Connor's room gets atrociously cold unless we have all the doors open and ceiling fans on to help distribute heat evenly upstairs. The base has its own heat plant for water, which means I never have to worry about losing hot water for washing and baths. We could run both showers, the dishwasher and the washer at once and never feel the difference until...
- It gets COLD here. I just glanced out my window and it's about -16 F. That's not cold by December, where temps are regularly more between -20 and -40 F. The beauty of hot water heating is that it doesn't take nearly as much energy to heat but it depends a lot on houses being well insulated and the temperature being relatively static; dramatic swings leave the system panting to catch up. Which is why we can get in thumb-screws kind of trouble for opening the window below zero...the heat gets rapidly sucked out and the pipes freeze quickly, and burst. If it has a dramatic temperature swing you lose heat quickly and it's hard to get it back. Last year we had the hot water main on our street burst and boiling water was pouring down the street. They thought they would have to evacuate everyone to billeting -- after only half an hour without hot water, our house dropped to 50. Granted it was -45 outside so it was still positively balmy inside, but I was not pleased to be worried about baby popsicles. If the temp plunges dramatically, which is rare, the heat can have a hard time keeping up. You know it got cold when you go to open the shade and the condensation from the evening's sleep is frozen solid on the windows! All you can do then is close blinds to help retain heat, put everyone in a couple sweaters and crank the heat, particularly in the entryway between the garage and house.
- No one with any sense in Alaska goes anywhere without emergency kits and extra clothes. Everyone has heard a horror story about a woman veering off the road and not being found for three days, or a family forced to walk through snow drifts until they're finally found naked and partially eaten by wolves. I'm not sure how often that happens, but I had a scary experience of my own our first winter here. I slid off the road at a hairpin curve about 1/3 of a mile from our temp apartment (we had to wait til April for a house). It was about -7...cold, but not insanely so. I had no cell phone coverage. So I bundled Connor up as best as I could, put wool socks on my hands because I forgot my gloves, and started to walk to the apartment. I was four months pregnant with Timmy and had to carry Connor a good bit because the snow drifts were too much for a two year old. We were exhausted, shaky and numb with cold by the time we got home. I vowed then and there that I would never go anywhere without better supplies and we would invest in snow tires within the week. Done and done. It was a dangerous mistake.
- There are so many COOL things about this state. I love the ubiquitous coffee huts everywhere. It seems like everywhere there's a bare patch of dirt, one springs up as if coffee hut seeds had been sown. People are also extremely friendly -- once you're accepted as part of the Fairbanks milieu, you've never met a stranger. Of course the measure is usually how many winters you've spent up here. :-) There's a very neat counterculture "Just because America does it doesn't mean we do" vibe; I admire individuality and pure cussedness. I could do without Daylight Savings, because let's face it, it's useless here. Alaska could have stood a little "screw you guys!" spirit on that, but eh. I adore the fact that calling my son's school and telling them that a stuffed musk ox fell off a truck and is blocking traffic is not only a perfect valid excuse for being late, it's accepted without comment. I think the fact that my children call any large animal - cow, deer, etc -- a moose is neat, and that they know what a moose mating call sounds like is cooler still. I like that you can enter into a spirited debate about the relative merits of snow tires, boot brands, and wool vs bamboo socks with virtually anyone and each person leaves perfectly happy, convinced their conviction that Sorels beat Baffins hands down is still intact. I love that we treasure every moment of summer in a way no temperate climate could ever do, and live outdoors. I love ravens. I love red sassy squirrels. And while I may never want to settle here (did I mention the cold?) I can appreciate the amazing spirit of this place.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
What the kids are doing
I thought I might give you a quick snapshot of what the kids have been doing developmentally lately...big changes in the boys lately!
We think Connor has been revving up for another growth spurt. Hard to believe since the child already towers over most children his age, but he's 42 1/4 inches tall as of 45 months old. But he's been eating like a teen boy and you can't keep him filled up over the past few weeks. He just joined league bowling and LOVES it. He actually does really well and is one of the few children in his league to actually hold the ball properly. His speed is improving slightly, and he managed to bowl a 70 yesterday! He asks several times a day to go "roll balls" and whenever he sees Aunt Angela's picture, he says, "Aunt Angela take me to roll balls TODAY!" Amazing that he remembers that from a year ago. His speech is getting better and better but he's still a little confused with some syntax issues, like tenses and pronouns. When he's on the phone he likes to talk about the things he can immediately see which confuses people on the other side of the conversation! He's really into maps, puzzles, painting, and reading. I'm not sure everyone would understand him when he names his continents - Antica (Antarctica), Africaca (Africa), Nort Carica (North America)...but he knows them pat! He's going to be moving to a new school class in the morning next Monday and has his first parent teacher conference on Friday.
Timmy is evolving into a little boy overnight. He decided about nine days ago that he would walk. As simple as that. He took his first steps long ago and experimented with it a bit, but mostly decided crawling was the safe and speedy way to go. Then last week, a switch flipped and he took off. Apparently the talking switch flipped too and he's picking up signs and words at a phenomenal rate. He's now attacking my computer like a Trojan Horse, so I'll have to cut this short...sigh.
We think Connor has been revving up for another growth spurt. Hard to believe since the child already towers over most children his age, but he's 42 1/4 inches tall as of 45 months old. But he's been eating like a teen boy and you can't keep him filled up over the past few weeks. He just joined league bowling and LOVES it. He actually does really well and is one of the few children in his league to actually hold the ball properly. His speed is improving slightly, and he managed to bowl a 70 yesterday! He asks several times a day to go "roll balls" and whenever he sees Aunt Angela's picture, he says, "Aunt Angela take me to roll balls TODAY!" Amazing that he remembers that from a year ago. His speech is getting better and better but he's still a little confused with some syntax issues, like tenses and pronouns. When he's on the phone he likes to talk about the things he can immediately see which confuses people on the other side of the conversation! He's really into maps, puzzles, painting, and reading. I'm not sure everyone would understand him when he names his continents - Antica (Antarctica), Africaca (Africa), Nort Carica (North America)...but he knows them pat! He's going to be moving to a new school class in the morning next Monday and has his first parent teacher conference on Friday.
Timmy is evolving into a little boy overnight. He decided about nine days ago that he would walk. As simple as that. He took his first steps long ago and experimented with it a bit, but mostly decided crawling was the safe and speedy way to go. Then last week, a switch flipped and he took off. Apparently the talking switch flipped too and he's picking up signs and words at a phenomenal rate. He's now attacking my computer like a Trojan Horse, so I'll have to cut this short...sigh.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Something to think about...
I stay up a lot at night worrying about various things, and I'm doing my best to stop. I uncovered an old Erma Bombeck book earlier, and the page fortuitously opened to this essay:
If I Had My Life to Live Over...
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the "good" living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching TV - and more while watching life.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."
There would have been more "I love yous"...more "I'm sorrys"...
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it...live it...and never give it back.
I hope I remember this more often.
If I Had My Life to Live Over...
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the "good" living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching TV - and more while watching life.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."
There would have been more "I love yous"...more "I'm sorrys"...
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute...look at it and really see it...live it...and never give it back.
I hope I remember this more often.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Fall at the Freels
Well, first of all, it finally snowed. Really snowed. Lots of wrecks today. But no Alaskan Halloween would be complete without snow suits, so there you go!
We carved pumpkins tonight, which really means Mom and Dad carved pumpkins. Connor has a positive aversion to stickiness and goopiness -- he will wash his hands four times in the course of a waffle and syrup breakfast -- so he provided direction and vector. Timmy limited his help to stepping in pumpking innards and shrieking gleefully as he toddled through the kitchen.
Here's daddy and Connor examining the autopsy. Connor picked a 35 lb pumpkin. Ahem. Mommy got the stink eye from dad on that choice.
Here's Timmy "helping". Daddy LOVES it. Just ask him. Wait til he stops twitching though.
And here's the finished results! TA DA!!!!!! Come on Halloween, we're ready!!!
We carved pumpkins tonight, which really means Mom and Dad carved pumpkins. Connor has a positive aversion to stickiness and goopiness -- he will wash his hands four times in the course of a waffle and syrup breakfast -- so he provided direction and vector. Timmy limited his help to stepping in pumpking innards and shrieking gleefully as he toddled through the kitchen.
Here's daddy and Connor examining the autopsy. Connor picked a 35 lb pumpkin. Ahem. Mommy got the stink eye from dad on that choice.
Here's Timmy "helping". Daddy LOVES it. Just ask him. Wait til he stops twitching though.
And here's the finished results! TA DA!!!!!! Come on Halloween, we're ready!!!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
School Halloween Carnival!
We hied ourselves off to the school Halloween carnival yesterday, and had a blast! I had dropped off decorations earlier in the week, and then ended up baking like a madwoman Friday night for the silent auction and cupcake walk. When the kids have to be gluten free, you can't assume there's anything safe for them to eat! So we made some gluten free brownies and Connor chose to frost them with green buttercream and decorate with M&Ms. We also made some chocolate cupcakes that he decorated with icing and nonpareils. He could actually have a cupcake then if he won the cake walk.
Timmy dressed as the world's most adorable pumpkin, and Connor was SIR Connor as a knight. I found this awesome knight costume at the base thrift store. I volunteer there every Tues night and always snap up great deals. I snagged it for $3 and then spent another $2.50 on materials for a beautiful sparkling cape. We were a little afraid of kid fracas though so he didn't wear that yesterday.
I had volunteered to run the Spider Ring Toss for an hour and had lots of fun watching 50 or so children get so excited about winning a prize. I think I made an excellent carnival barker, and had several return visitors looking for me to draw them another spider on their game card -- I ran the spider ring toss, what else would I do but draw a spider? Of course a few fairy princesses balked and I had to come up with variations. I'm afraid the "pink pincess farry" was disappointed in my unicorn rendition, but spiders were already taxing my limited artistic abilities.
Timmy got a little sensory overloaded and had to take a break outside with dad -- I don't think Charlie was disappointed to escape the five rooms of screaming stampeding preschoolers and their hovering parents. He came back in around 530, and watched Connor play in the castle maze til it was time to go home. We were so tired by then that we stopped at Wendy's to let the boys have plain hamburgers and oranges for dinner.
We don't know if it was excitement or being overtired (Timmy hasn't been sleeping well) or being overfull but Timmy ended up projectile vomiting all over me, Charlie and the bed last night when we put him down. So we had a fairly exciting 45 minutes getting everyone bathed and the bed cleaned up. Awesome news though...Connor finally stayed in his room a full three nights and earned a trip to the toy store! Okay, so solution is run the kid into the ground! Check!
Connor getting a tattoo from Mrs Campbell. Oh, Grandma Freel, this one washes off! :D
Connor playing in the bouncy castle with his best friend Carrington.
Timmy running - yes, you read that right -- running in Wendy's. I'm tired, in case you were wondering.
Timmy at the fortune telling table. I was glad I wasn't manning that one, it was tough! What do you say? "Tomorrow your parents will take you to the store and buy you anything you want"...
You KNOW Connor needed his face painted. Spiders are our favorite lately.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Timmy's birthday
Timmy turned one. I turned my back and he grew up!
It's hard to believe that a little over a year ago I was pacing the neighborhood hoping for a nice short easy labor. That's what I got, and so much more. Timmy is, in a word, a joy. I know everyone thinks that of their baby, but Timmy is a virtual magnet for smiles...he melts everyone he meets. The clerks at the grocery store wave at him, grinches grudgingly smile at him and he just loves on everyone he meets. Timmy has never met a stranger. He has the sweetest smile..he scrunches up his face and gives a beaming grin. He also has the most beautiful set of unusual dimples, and has dark golden skin -- especially next to his china doll porcelain big brother. He's so beautiful sometimes, it makes me marvel that he's mine.
That's not to say he is necessarily easy going -- he definitely has an opinion about the way life should be! Nowadays he's babbling away telling me stories and giving instructions. Really, it's my fault if I don't understand him. He took off walking this past week like he's been doing it all his life, despite steadfastly refusing to try stepping after falling badly at 9 months. He loves to play with his brother, loves to climb ladders to "help" mommy in the kitchen, and is a tornado fo energy from sun up to sun down.
Here he is opening a birthday present from mom and dad...we love this ball toy.
He got an Elmo karaoke doll. Connor had one at this age and carted it literally everywhere but it was included in the huge lead recall. Timmy couldn't care less about it, but Connor still likes it.
MMMM cake. Gluten free of course!
He got "bnnnz" (balloons) and hats for his birthday.
It's hard to believe that a little over a year ago I was pacing the neighborhood hoping for a nice short easy labor. That's what I got, and so much more. Timmy is, in a word, a joy. I know everyone thinks that of their baby, but Timmy is a virtual magnet for smiles...he melts everyone he meets. The clerks at the grocery store wave at him, grinches grudgingly smile at him and he just loves on everyone he meets. Timmy has never met a stranger. He has the sweetest smile..he scrunches up his face and gives a beaming grin. He also has the most beautiful set of unusual dimples, and has dark golden skin -- especially next to his china doll porcelain big brother. He's so beautiful sometimes, it makes me marvel that he's mine.
That's not to say he is necessarily easy going -- he definitely has an opinion about the way life should be! Nowadays he's babbling away telling me stories and giving instructions. Really, it's my fault if I don't understand him. He took off walking this past week like he's been doing it all his life, despite steadfastly refusing to try stepping after falling badly at 9 months. He loves to play with his brother, loves to climb ladders to "help" mommy in the kitchen, and is a tornado fo energy from sun up to sun down.
Here he is opening a birthday present from mom and dad...we love this ball toy.
He got an Elmo karaoke doll. Connor had one at this age and carted it literally everywhere but it was included in the huge lead recall. Timmy couldn't care less about it, but Connor still likes it.
MMMM cake. Gluten free of course!
He got "bnnnz" (balloons) and hats for his birthday.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Connor at school!
Connor started preschool at the Fairbanks Montessori Preschool in August. One of the best decisions we ever made, hands down. He LOVES school. He loves his teacher, he loves the activities, he loves the kids.
It's a school devoted solely to 3-5 year olds. Each class has a different mixture of ages, and Montessori philosophy fits in well with Connor's temperament. Montessori is, as my friend B puts it, a daily celebration of learning. Children are encouraged to ask questions, to find things they're interested in, and incorporate a love of learning into their daily lives. The activities are largely self-directed...Connor loves maps and puzzles, so often heads for those first thing when he gets in. He carefully takes a map puzzle from the shelf, places it on the table, pulls out his chair and concentrates on it to the exclusion of all else. When he's done he carefully replaces it on the shelf and moves on to another activity. The striking thing about Montessori schools is how quiet they are. The children are all calmly working and since the adults with them believe that work had inherent value regardless of the work itself, they are left in peace to learn. The teacher guides them gently to new activities, or incorporates crafts in it all. Pretty amazing. B's daughter is also in Montessori, and this incident of hers is illustrative: R asked if there were seeds in pumpkins. The director promptly hacked open a small pumpkin on her desk and asked R what she thought. R saw the seeds, was led into a discussion of growing plants, and the director proceeded to give her a bag of seeds to plant when the time was right. Montessori is always about satisfying curiosity and fostering children's innate love of learning.
I'm probably doing a poor job explaining, but the results are undeniable. Connor is reading very well, he's starting to write legible letters, he counts to 20 daily in Spanish and English, he has a fifty word Spanish vocabulary, he knows his continents, he can spell his full name and several other words besides...and most amazingly of all, he loves to do all of these things. He and I did an experiment in reversible change yesterday with ice cubes and water, and he couldn't have been happier. Did I mention he's three? I just burst with pride, and since it's my blog I can brag with impunity...muhahahahaha!
Montessori also believes in making it easy for children to function on a daily basis as part of the family, which means incorporating them into the business of the family and making it easy with kid sized tools to do so. Connor has a work display board in the book room at his level, with a boot shelf full of art supplies underneath. There's a hook to hold his apron (I sewed it for him from a "Montessori" pattern), a broom/dust pan, and a ladder to use at the counter. We have stools at every sink to allow him to get his own cup of water or wash his hands. He has a kid sized table for his work time at home -- that might be pattern work, stringing ABC beads, drawing, or working with gluten free playdough. Timmy has been included in all this too -- he too plays at the table, and loves to drink his evening water out of a little shot glass that is just his size to grasp and drink. They have some sponges cut in half to make it easy for them to clean up after themselves, and if they spill they're expected to help clean up. They both help me do laundry, they help wash dishes. That's not to say they don't make messes, but they're far less than they ever were and they're happy about helping.
We've had a few issues with Connor's diet -- mostly people not realizing how much casual contact with gluten containing items can still harm him -- but that's smoothed out a lot. I'm terribly sorry to do it, but Connor is going to be moving into the morning class in about a week. He was in the afternoon class and loves his friends and teacher, but it was eating my entire day. It takes about 35 minutes to drive there so we have to leave at 1215 to be there by 1250. I turn around and come home by 130, then Timmy naps and I run back at 315. If I move him to mornings I think he will be fresher, and Timmy and I can get errands and exercising done in the morning before picking him up. Then we can be home for lunch and rest/naps and he might actually get to play with his neighborhood friends in the afternoons.
The pictures of school are trapped on Charlie's phone so I'll have to rescue them later. Meanwhile here's a few cute pics!
Connor at the park.
Timmy playing with one of his birthday toys.
Connor and Timmy love this huge bead maze they got from Pop and Nani for Timmy's birthday. They play for hours!
It's a school devoted solely to 3-5 year olds. Each class has a different mixture of ages, and Montessori philosophy fits in well with Connor's temperament. Montessori is, as my friend B puts it, a daily celebration of learning. Children are encouraged to ask questions, to find things they're interested in, and incorporate a love of learning into their daily lives. The activities are largely self-directed...Connor loves maps and puzzles, so often heads for those first thing when he gets in. He carefully takes a map puzzle from the shelf, places it on the table, pulls out his chair and concentrates on it to the exclusion of all else. When he's done he carefully replaces it on the shelf and moves on to another activity. The striking thing about Montessori schools is how quiet they are. The children are all calmly working and since the adults with them believe that work had inherent value regardless of the work itself, they are left in peace to learn. The teacher guides them gently to new activities, or incorporates crafts in it all. Pretty amazing. B's daughter is also in Montessori, and this incident of hers is illustrative: R asked if there were seeds in pumpkins. The director promptly hacked open a small pumpkin on her desk and asked R what she thought. R saw the seeds, was led into a discussion of growing plants, and the director proceeded to give her a bag of seeds to plant when the time was right. Montessori is always about satisfying curiosity and fostering children's innate love of learning.
I'm probably doing a poor job explaining, but the results are undeniable. Connor is reading very well, he's starting to write legible letters, he counts to 20 daily in Spanish and English, he has a fifty word Spanish vocabulary, he knows his continents, he can spell his full name and several other words besides...and most amazingly of all, he loves to do all of these things. He and I did an experiment in reversible change yesterday with ice cubes and water, and he couldn't have been happier. Did I mention he's three? I just burst with pride, and since it's my blog I can brag with impunity...muhahahahaha!
Montessori also believes in making it easy for children to function on a daily basis as part of the family, which means incorporating them into the business of the family and making it easy with kid sized tools to do so. Connor has a work display board in the book room at his level, with a boot shelf full of art supplies underneath. There's a hook to hold his apron (I sewed it for him from a "Montessori" pattern), a broom/dust pan, and a ladder to use at the counter. We have stools at every sink to allow him to get his own cup of water or wash his hands. He has a kid sized table for his work time at home -- that might be pattern work, stringing ABC beads, drawing, or working with gluten free playdough. Timmy has been included in all this too -- he too plays at the table, and loves to drink his evening water out of a little shot glass that is just his size to grasp and drink. They have some sponges cut in half to make it easy for them to clean up after themselves, and if they spill they're expected to help clean up. They both help me do laundry, they help wash dishes. That's not to say they don't make messes, but they're far less than they ever were and they're happy about helping.
We've had a few issues with Connor's diet -- mostly people not realizing how much casual contact with gluten containing items can still harm him -- but that's smoothed out a lot. I'm terribly sorry to do it, but Connor is going to be moving into the morning class in about a week. He was in the afternoon class and loves his friends and teacher, but it was eating my entire day. It takes about 35 minutes to drive there so we have to leave at 1215 to be there by 1250. I turn around and come home by 130, then Timmy naps and I run back at 315. If I move him to mornings I think he will be fresher, and Timmy and I can get errands and exercising done in the morning before picking him up. Then we can be home for lunch and rest/naps and he might actually get to play with his neighborhood friends in the afternoons.
The pictures of school are trapped on Charlie's phone so I'll have to rescue them later. Meanwhile here's a few cute pics!
Connor at the park.
Timmy playing with one of his birthday toys.
Connor and Timmy love this huge bead maze they got from Pop and Nani for Timmy's birthday. They play for hours!
Ummm, so I suck?
I just realized it's been THREE months since I updated this blog.
I was trapped in the garage by a moose? I was hiking the Brooks range, gun in hand? I was cutting firewood and accidentally destroyed the DSL? What excuse will you believe?
Okay, really, it's just been insanely busy here at the Freels. Timmy turned one, Connor started preschool in Fairbanks which involves about 1.5 hours in the car a day for me and Timmy, I am the publicity editor for the spouses club, I am a La Leche League leader, not to mention the work it takes daily to clean up after and feed three strapping Alaskan men. But I promise to try to catch up on a few major events in pictures and prose, then I will resume blogging on a far more regular basis. No, really, Grandma...I promise! :D
I was trapped in the garage by a moose? I was hiking the Brooks range, gun in hand? I was cutting firewood and accidentally destroyed the DSL? What excuse will you believe?
Okay, really, it's just been insanely busy here at the Freels. Timmy turned one, Connor started preschool in Fairbanks which involves about 1.5 hours in the car a day for me and Timmy, I am the publicity editor for the spouses club, I am a La Leche League leader, not to mention the work it takes daily to clean up after and feed three strapping Alaskan men. But I promise to try to catch up on a few major events in pictures and prose, then I will resume blogging on a far more regular basis. No, really, Grandma...I promise! :D
Friday, August 21, 2009
Resurrection Bay Cruise and other sundries
It's been a VERY busy couple weeks here at the Freels. Charlie came home after eight months in Iraq on August 9th -- woo hoo! -- and we settled in to being a family again. I can't possibly catch up the whole time in prose, so you'll have to be content with lots of pictures!
Timmy got a little car as an early birthday present. He fell in love with the neighbor's toy car and spent every afternoon in their yard loving on it, so we bought him one early to enjoy while the summer lasted before moving it inside. Here he's enjoying driving it, but you can see why dad got him a haircut shortly after arriving home!
We REALLY love this car. No, really.
Wait...standby for potty break.
We took a trip to Anchorage on Wednesday and supported the economy in a truly patriotic way while enjoying some much needed catch up time. Charlie lost nearly 40 lbs in Iraq and looks amazing...here's two handsome boys in downtown Anchorage.
We took a side trip to Seward and embarked on a Resurrection Bay and Gulf of Alaska cruise with the kids. Wow.
I can see why Alaska is addictive now. We had some icky weather but still...such beautiful vistas, deep blue-green waters, adorable puffins, and distant glimpses of austere blue glaciers peeking through the fjords. Poor Connor ended up with a little seasickness but happily slept on dad's lap for a couple hours, while Timmy snoozed in mommy's sling.
Here's the family gathered on the deck of the boat...
Here's a view of Bear Glacier...you don't see many on this particular cruise because it's short and focuses mostly on wildlife, but it was perfect for us because the boys' tolerance for sea motion and boredom are less than the marathon boat expeditions required to see more.
Oh, my favorite! Puffins! These guys are so cute and little -- you picture them as penguin sized, but they're actually tiny...
Timmy showing off his new haircut!
Here's a view of the Matanuska Glacier. We drove an alternate route home to enjoy the scenic Richardson Highway. Timmy mightily disagreed with this decision about an hour from home, and punished us, but the views made it worth it!
This is just one of a thousand views on Richardson!
Timmy got a little car as an early birthday present. He fell in love with the neighbor's toy car and spent every afternoon in their yard loving on it, so we bought him one early to enjoy while the summer lasted before moving it inside. Here he's enjoying driving it, but you can see why dad got him a haircut shortly after arriving home!
We REALLY love this car. No, really.
Wait...standby for potty break.
We took a trip to Anchorage on Wednesday and supported the economy in a truly patriotic way while enjoying some much needed catch up time. Charlie lost nearly 40 lbs in Iraq and looks amazing...here's two handsome boys in downtown Anchorage.
We took a side trip to Seward and embarked on a Resurrection Bay and Gulf of Alaska cruise with the kids. Wow.
I can see why Alaska is addictive now. We had some icky weather but still...such beautiful vistas, deep blue-green waters, adorable puffins, and distant glimpses of austere blue glaciers peeking through the fjords. Poor Connor ended up with a little seasickness but happily slept on dad's lap for a couple hours, while Timmy snoozed in mommy's sling.
Here's the family gathered on the deck of the boat...
Here's a view of Bear Glacier...you don't see many on this particular cruise because it's short and focuses mostly on wildlife, but it was perfect for us because the boys' tolerance for sea motion and boredom are less than the marathon boat expeditions required to see more.
Oh, my favorite! Puffins! These guys are so cute and little -- you picture them as penguin sized, but they're actually tiny...
Timmy showing off his new haircut!
Here's a view of the Matanuska Glacier. We drove an alternate route home to enjoy the scenic Richardson Highway. Timmy mightily disagreed with this decision about an hour from home, and punished us, but the views made it worth it!
This is just one of a thousand views on Richardson!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
We bought a new car...a journey in vindication
Most people who know me know that I LOVE negotiating for cars. LOVE it. I am the terror of car salesmen everywhere. I come in armed with a book in which I have True Market Value comparisons, price breakdowns of options and labor costs, arguments all the way down to floor mats and wheel locks for why I should get things "free." I actually threatened to walk out of a Toyota delaership over $53 wheel locks and got them to discount for leaving their dealership's name printed on the car. I got my Honda Odyssey for below invoice; the Prius II helped dad negotiate still is the lowest priced I have ever heard of, and just now, I negotiated a Honda Civic Hybrid with Leather for below invoice. And I have a tasty story to go along with it...do you want to know? Oh, of course you do!
Charlie and I had agitated for awhile about buying a hybrid for him. We had bought a used Jeep when we got the Alaska assignment, thinking it would be a good off road car, but that's really the best that can be said for it. It had lots of problems and it ate gas like crazy. So when "Cash for Clunkers" came up, we looked seriously at buying a hybrid. We didn't think we'd get even $4500 on a trade in and while we could sell the car to someone else, that's a whole level of pain we didn't want to explore. C for C seemed like a handy way to upgrade mpg at a discount.
I went in armed with all my prior stuff on Saturday and negotiated a killer price, but didn't have the car or required government paperwork with me. We made an appt for Monday and I went on my happy way. At 3 pm, my salesman called and said that all C for C deals were done as of today and I needed to bring my paperwork in today to secure the car. Sigh. Okay, I knew that all the Alaska dealerships were jumpy but if it let me keep the great price, then it might be worth the pain. I packed the kids up and headed down in the Jeep -- after surprising myself with a dead squirrel curled up in Timmy's stroller, AHHHH! -- to turn in my paperwork. Because of a title snafu, the documentation LOOKED gapped for continuous registration though it really wasn't. Hence, no Cash for Clunkers program for me. Ironically, I was totally fine with that, and would have just walked away at that point with a shrug and a wave, off to research more and perhaps delay the actual buy until next year if big sweaty sales manager hadn't happened.
The sales manager was, in a word, an ass. He got snotty with me about the fact that he has to "sat-is-fy the fed'ral gov'mint" and I in turn bowed up on him and stormed out. I fumed and raged for a few minutes in the car and then got out to fuss at the visibly chagrined salesman. I channeled my inner bitch and told him in unequivocal terms that their business had wasted my time, that I was angry and would not darken the door of their business again without some immediate ego stroking and monetary satisfaction. He proposed looking at the car as a trade in, and they offered $4700 for the trade in (which was $500 above KBB value)! Woo hoo! But then my car sales BS meter rang and I said oh-so-sweetly that they were clearly throwing me a $200 sop to my ego and that I would like to see a little more off the price of the car to make me 100% satisfied -- after all, Bob's Big Boy there really HAD been terribly rude. They swallowed hard, and took another $150 off to take it all the way down to $100 under invoice price. I'm SURE they were still making a healthy chunk of change but it made me feel all toasty. As near as I can figure without knowing what unadvertised factory kickbacks they were getting, they made about 4.5% off the deal, within my acceptable range of 3-5%. Add in the trade in and my total price was well under $20k for a very nice eco friendly not-quite-luxury-but-close car. Not my best price, but not the worst, by far -- another family was there buying an EX edition of the same car, and was paying $2500 more than I was without the leather upgrades. Eek.
They jerked me around for a couple hours, going round about financing and warranties, until I gave them Connor's eating of a bag of bribery M&Ms as a deadline for getting to the point -- if we weren't signing papers and taking keys by the time he started whining for more, I was walking out sans hybrid. It was 545 for heaven's sake, and my kids have a two hour BS tolerance limit. Phenomenal for small children, but that deadline was rapidly approaching as they whined on about "protecting my investment." I think by now they recognized the dangerous glint in my eye, and they rushed to finish up and hand me keys -- they transferred car seats for me as well. I loaded the kids up in our snazzy new car and remembered to ask if they had checked the CD player as I couldn't remember if there was a CD in there or not. The salesman hopped in the Jeep to turn it on and check the player. And now here's the part that will keep me warm and chuckling through the night...
THE JEEP WOULD NOT START.
Yes!!! At last, all my praying to the vast powers of karma have paid off! I'm almost sorry to see that car go; how awesome is that? Dealership jerks me around, drives me to feeding my kids junk food for dinner with their warranty silliness and the Jeep strikes a blow for solidarity. I'm sure it just needs a new battery, but ha! It worked perfectly for me, functioned beautifully for their trade in assessment, but apparently has a anarchic streak (like its previous owner? Love you, honey!). I don't need a present for Christmas...Santa Claus came in the guise of obstreperous 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee this year.
I smiled again, sugar dripping from my ruby lips, and said simperingly to the salesman, "Can I just tell you how glad I am that YOUR company owns this car now?"
I drove away, silently chortling, vastly enjoying the smooth seamless ride of a new car. The kids and I stopped at McD's, where both refused to eat more than one bite of plain hamburger, and drove home to gorge on zucchini muffins and fruit instead before collapsing long after boys should have been abed.
I KNOW I sound absolutely snarktastic but really, you had to endure my day to truly understand how I could take that much joy in a non starting car and flabbergasted sales guy. Kids running all over the dealership, Timmy filthy and into everything, dead animals in my garage, interrupted baking, government hijinks, insulting fat guys, and pushy offers to take more of my money...all of it combined to let me revel unabashed in the ridiculous perfection of the moment.
Just a quick description...it's a 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid EXL. It has gorgeous leather seats (we're environmentally conscious but ironically lovers of leather), heated seats, iPod jacks, mpg monitors, nice stereo, cruise control, etc. On the way home we made 33 mpg even with all the stop and go...refreshing change from 12 mpg in the Jeep! It feel underpowered compared to the Jeep, but not hugely so, and the controls and steering wheel toggle switches are all the same as the Ody, so it will be easier to transition between driving the two. It's magnetic pearl color, a cross between dark grey and blue, and it's probably the only thing I wasn't sure of about the car...Charlie prefers lighter colors so the cars don't look dirty as fast, but I couldn't pass up the deal on the car, despite the darker and undeniably pretty color. Hope Charlie likes the car as much as I do! If he doesn't, guess we could always trade... :-)
Charlie and I had agitated for awhile about buying a hybrid for him. We had bought a used Jeep when we got the Alaska assignment, thinking it would be a good off road car, but that's really the best that can be said for it. It had lots of problems and it ate gas like crazy. So when "Cash for Clunkers" came up, we looked seriously at buying a hybrid. We didn't think we'd get even $4500 on a trade in and while we could sell the car to someone else, that's a whole level of pain we didn't want to explore. C for C seemed like a handy way to upgrade mpg at a discount.
I went in armed with all my prior stuff on Saturday and negotiated a killer price, but didn't have the car or required government paperwork with me. We made an appt for Monday and I went on my happy way. At 3 pm, my salesman called and said that all C for C deals were done as of today and I needed to bring my paperwork in today to secure the car. Sigh. Okay, I knew that all the Alaska dealerships were jumpy but if it let me keep the great price, then it might be worth the pain. I packed the kids up and headed down in the Jeep -- after surprising myself with a dead squirrel curled up in Timmy's stroller, AHHHH! -- to turn in my paperwork. Because of a title snafu, the documentation LOOKED gapped for continuous registration though it really wasn't. Hence, no Cash for Clunkers program for me. Ironically, I was totally fine with that, and would have just walked away at that point with a shrug and a wave, off to research more and perhaps delay the actual buy until next year if big sweaty sales manager hadn't happened.
The sales manager was, in a word, an ass. He got snotty with me about the fact that he has to "sat-is-fy the fed'ral gov'mint" and I in turn bowed up on him and stormed out. I fumed and raged for a few minutes in the car and then got out to fuss at the visibly chagrined salesman. I channeled my inner bitch and told him in unequivocal terms that their business had wasted my time, that I was angry and would not darken the door of their business again without some immediate ego stroking and monetary satisfaction. He proposed looking at the car as a trade in, and they offered $4700 for the trade in (which was $500 above KBB value)! Woo hoo! But then my car sales BS meter rang and I said oh-so-sweetly that they were clearly throwing me a $200 sop to my ego and that I would like to see a little more off the price of the car to make me 100% satisfied -- after all, Bob's Big Boy there really HAD been terribly rude. They swallowed hard, and took another $150 off to take it all the way down to $100 under invoice price. I'm SURE they were still making a healthy chunk of change but it made me feel all toasty. As near as I can figure without knowing what unadvertised factory kickbacks they were getting, they made about 4.5% off the deal, within my acceptable range of 3-5%. Add in the trade in and my total price was well under $20k for a very nice eco friendly not-quite-luxury-but-close car. Not my best price, but not the worst, by far -- another family was there buying an EX edition of the same car, and was paying $2500 more than I was without the leather upgrades. Eek.
They jerked me around for a couple hours, going round about financing and warranties, until I gave them Connor's eating of a bag of bribery M&Ms as a deadline for getting to the point -- if we weren't signing papers and taking keys by the time he started whining for more, I was walking out sans hybrid. It was 545 for heaven's sake, and my kids have a two hour BS tolerance limit. Phenomenal for small children, but that deadline was rapidly approaching as they whined on about "protecting my investment." I think by now they recognized the dangerous glint in my eye, and they rushed to finish up and hand me keys -- they transferred car seats for me as well. I loaded the kids up in our snazzy new car and remembered to ask if they had checked the CD player as I couldn't remember if there was a CD in there or not. The salesman hopped in the Jeep to turn it on and check the player. And now here's the part that will keep me warm and chuckling through the night...
THE JEEP WOULD NOT START.
Yes!!! At last, all my praying to the vast powers of karma have paid off! I'm almost sorry to see that car go; how awesome is that? Dealership jerks me around, drives me to feeding my kids junk food for dinner with their warranty silliness and the Jeep strikes a blow for solidarity. I'm sure it just needs a new battery, but ha! It worked perfectly for me, functioned beautifully for their trade in assessment, but apparently has a anarchic streak (like its previous owner? Love you, honey!). I don't need a present for Christmas...Santa Claus came in the guise of obstreperous 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee this year.
I smiled again, sugar dripping from my ruby lips, and said simperingly to the salesman, "Can I just tell you how glad I am that YOUR company owns this car now?"
I drove away, silently chortling, vastly enjoying the smooth seamless ride of a new car. The kids and I stopped at McD's, where both refused to eat more than one bite of plain hamburger, and drove home to gorge on zucchini muffins and fruit instead before collapsing long after boys should have been abed.
I KNOW I sound absolutely snarktastic but really, you had to endure my day to truly understand how I could take that much joy in a non starting car and flabbergasted sales guy. Kids running all over the dealership, Timmy filthy and into everything, dead animals in my garage, interrupted baking, government hijinks, insulting fat guys, and pushy offers to take more of my money...all of it combined to let me revel unabashed in the ridiculous perfection of the moment.
Just a quick description...it's a 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid EXL. It has gorgeous leather seats (we're environmentally conscious but ironically lovers of leather), heated seats, iPod jacks, mpg monitors, nice stereo, cruise control, etc. On the way home we made 33 mpg even with all the stop and go...refreshing change from 12 mpg in the Jeep! It feel underpowered compared to the Jeep, but not hugely so, and the controls and steering wheel toggle switches are all the same as the Ody, so it will be easier to transition between driving the two. It's magnetic pearl color, a cross between dark grey and blue, and it's probably the only thing I wasn't sure of about the car...Charlie prefers lighter colors so the cars don't look dirty as fast, but I couldn't pass up the deal on the car, despite the darker and undeniably pretty color. Hope Charlie likes the car as much as I do! If he doesn't, guess we could always trade... :-)
Monday, July 27, 2009
Connor reading
Connor has been a little frustrated by reading lately...he can read very simple books and words, but only if they follow his known phonics practice. Otherwise, he gets angry and says the words aren't "right" and refuses to read them. I backed off of teaching it some - after all, not many three year olds can read at all, so not a huge rush to have him reading Chaucer - but came back to it with some total word concept stuff and fun word games. He found an old baby book in a box that we were emptying for Timmy, and decided to read the words. To my surprise, he could read a few at sight after only a few lessons in total word pattern work! It's odd what trips him up...sweatshirt comes out clear as a bell after only one reading, but rabbit still gives him trouble. And goat is fine, but make it coat and it trips him up. I can tell he's not just talking about the pictures though, because you can hear him talk ABOUT the picture and he would almost surely reference something being a picture of a girl or boy, without saying the word dress or coat if that were indeed what he was picking up on. This is only the second time he read this book since plucking it out of the box, and I thought it might make a handy expose of his skills. We banished the easy books he was reading for the time being, for fear of boring him or frustrating him with repetitious and phonics based learning.
I'm grateful we did all the work on letters and phonics, because it did give him a nice basis for sounding things out, but this language pattern stuff has really gotten him out of his rut, and gotten him excited about trying to read for himself again. Most importantly, he wants me to read more, so we're getting a good 30 mins of reading stories a day, if not more, and he's starting bringing books to me on a regular basis. Despite what Freakonomics has to say on the subject, reading to children has incalculable value in MY book (bad pun, shoot me later!)
I'm grateful we did all the work on letters and phonics, because it did give him a nice basis for sounding things out, but this language pattern stuff has really gotten him out of his rut, and gotten him excited about trying to read for himself again. Most importantly, he wants me to read more, so we're getting a good 30 mins of reading stories a day, if not more, and he's starting bringing books to me on a regular basis. Despite what Freakonomics has to say on the subject, reading to children has incalculable value in MY book (bad pun, shoot me later!)
Sunday, July 26, 2009
EC Odyssey
I'm kind of a hippie when it comes to most of my contemporaries, I admit. I try not to fly my freak flag TOO high, but it can't be gainsaid that 9 times out of 10 my baby is slinged or Ergo'd rather than carted about via car seat or stroller, I have no issue nursing my kids til well into toddlerhood, I cram as much organic locally grown products as I can into our diets, I've outlawed almost all disposable plastic/paper products from the house and hope to do more, and cloth diaper my baby bums. No tats, no dreds, no tie dye, but I am "hippieish" at heart. One of my holdouts, however, included elimination communication.
Elimination communication is the formalized name for something that really isn't formalized at all. Some women choose not to diaper their babies from birth, and use potties and toilets instead, trusting their close and intimate knowledge of their babies to know when pottying is needed. They learn their babies' elimination signs and emphasize two way communication between parent and baby in eliminating, thereby achieving a "diaper free baby". Some people do it part time, some full time, some only occasionally -- but it did seem to result in children happily pottying at a much earlier age than most American children. Supposedly this is common in more traditional cultures, those that haven't been invaded by convenience. I scoffed when I heard people were doing this -- after all, potty training for Connor was the seventh circle of hell, I lived in the bathroom for WEEKS -- and I couldn't imagine doing that for years, and constantly toting around a ticking time bomb of baby effluvia. Oh sure, of course, my grossness tolerance level has ratcheted up to the point where I can handle still warm handfuls of poop if not with a great deal of cheerfulness, at least without a retch and grimace. But no one wants the poo rocket to ignite in a supermarket with no warning. I imagine Carrie like scenes of fountaining body fluids. I have old carpet, but not that old!
But Timmy actually convinced me to try this little bit of craziness. About three weeks ago, he got intensely interested in potty stuff. Wanting to play in the toilet, pulling paper off the roll, slapping the toilet, trying to peer intently between his older brother's legs (much to Connor's dismay -- we now squawk about needing "pivacy!"), and pulling angrily at his diaper velcro. Several times a day I'd look around for Timmy only to find a wet chinese prefold wadded in a forlorn cover, and then catch sight of a wiggly baby butt disappearing happily around the corner. All righty, that's how we're gonna play kiddo o' mine? I finally got exasperated, and plunked him on the toilet the next time I noticed him wiggling a bit and slapping the potty. I'll be damned if he didn't pee! He smiled and wiggled; I smiled and cheered. We were hooked.
We started out slow, just trying to catch the first morning pee. It was sure to come and the relief was intense for him so it made him feel good in more ways than one. It's lovely to start the day off with a cheering session. Sometimes we caught it, sometimes we didn't. No worries, no stress -- not at ALL like when we potty trained Connor. There were tears and anger on both sides by the end, after three unsuccessful tries to even achieve one pee in the pot at age 2 years 10 months. Once we consistently got the morning pee, I started leaving his diaper off more, and taking note of his reactions and usual pee times. I noticed he would not pee when held close to me without fussing and pushing to get put down. It was very easy to just put him on the pot instead of watching him pee in a diaper and then changing him. We laughed, sang, played with cool toys and got a brotherly cheering section for all his pees caught. I am matter of fact about misses. We just clean them up, say "pee goes in the pot" and go on. My rule is if I feel even a little annoyed by it or we have three misses in a row (because of distraction of his or my part) we go back in diapers for awhile til we can pay attention better. He's at such a young age that any negativity could really screw the vibe we have going here, and remarkably despite the fact that we average one miss a day, I am *almost* stress free about it all. I say almost, because hey, you people know me -- a pee splattered floor is still not my preferred state of being. As the days have gone on, it's been better and better -- he now wears a diaper for long errands and car trips, and nights, with the occasional nap diaper if I feel like he hasn't peed enough in relation to the amount of liquids he's had. As a result, I haven't had to wash a poop diaper in almost a month, and we average 2 diapers and 1 miss a day, with some long stretches of 1 diaper and no misses at all. Many times we've come back from a 3 hr errand trip to find that he's dry and eager to potty -- once we even ventured into Fred Meyer's bathroom to potty, though he did find the big industrial toilets a tad intimidating.
We had a big breakthrough today though that really excited me. Timmy was crawling around nekkid playing with construction toys, and suddenly got a little intent look on his face. I waited to see what would happen for just a moment, prepared to swoop and throw him on his potty if it had serious intent. Much to my surprise, he crawled to his little potty, slapped it twice, and then carefully stood and maneuvered his butt on to it. I straightened out his legs and helped point his willy, and he whizzed away happily, clapping for himself. WOW! At 10.5 months, he went potty by himself with little assistance! Now of course I don't expect this to reoccur on a regular basis if at all but oh the dazzling possibilities...I can actually see him being out of diapers well before 2! And after all, that's the point of EC -- teaching your child to understand their own signals, prefer cleanliness, and communicate those needs to you, all entirely possible long before 3 or 4. This way couldn't be possibly any worse than the marathon session of pottying that it took to finally reconcile Connor to the toilet in an uneasy truce. He has only in the last two months gotten truly 100% comfortable with all aspects of pottying; Timmy seems to take to it well, and he's thriving with a stressless mommy who doesn't yet hate scraping congealed fluids off diapers for washing.
The theory goes that the way we diaper kids in this country, we actually teach babies that their diaper is the appropriate place to eliminate and since most kids don't get changed the second they go, to ignore the inherent discomfort of touching their own waste. By the time they are 2, 3 or even 4, that habit is so ingrained that when we change it we're asking them to change a fundamental and personal lesson they've learned from day one. And we're asking that of them at a time where changes of any kind come as a shock to their systems. Montessori theorized that there are periods of sensitivity at which children learn certain skills more easily, and supposedly toilet learning is easiest between 12-18 months, or at approximately the time they start walking and mastering that skill. Since we are sending Connor to Montessori school in August and I am trying to incorporate some of her methods in our home life, it only makes sense to explore this as well. I'm so relieved that *I* can actually see this as a learning journey for us to take together, rather than an unpleasant race to the finish with a stubborn little toddler blocking the way to puddle free days.
The funny part is many ladies of the older generation just look a little puzzled when I talk about this -- "well, of course babies can potty train earlier! Mine were out of diapers by 18 months..." while most of my own generation look vaguely unnerved and ask if I think I'm doing psychological damage or really training myself rather than him to be tied to a potty. If they could see my happy proud little guy clapping for himself and gazing fondly at his pee filled bowl they wouldn't worry about damage. The second argument I had a hard time with myself, but really it's remarkably easy -- easier in fact than diapers. I have a Baby Bjorn little potty upstairs and a Once Upon a Potty downstairs, as he's not yet comfortable with the really big potty. He potties and we dump and wipe it out with an antibacterial wipe. Flush it away, done. I have a couple cloth diapers stashed around to mop anything untoward with some enzyme cleaner, though Timmy considerately usually waits to "miss" on tile. He has a couple of pairs of small underwear (tough to find, but Blueberry Baby in Fairbanks came to my rescue!) and he usually goes bare butt at home just for simplicity. I'm down to one small load of diapers once a week. Amazing. Simply amazing, as I expected in quiet despair to face another epic battle of wills and years of filthy diapers to wash. I do think cloth diapering helped him keep a great deal of awareness of his elimination -- they do after all feel wet and clammy next to the skin, and they are bulkier, so they slightly impede movement and frustrate an on-the-go baby. Nice incentive to switch to a nice clean potty!
I would not have believed it if I hadn't done it myself. If you're toying with the idea, please do check out The Diaper Free Baby by Peggy Loh and diaperfreebaby.org. I didn't find these til a week in to doing this, but it's filled with valuable tips that might have kept me from a few puddly problems early on! I'm so excited and happy...and even better, willing to let this take its own course and guide him as gently as I can. That's a rare feeling for me, but one that is getting easier with time. I wish I had known of this when Connor was a baby...poor guy is my experimental kid! I'll let you know how it ultimately turns out, and when my boy finally "graduates" to independent potty status!
Elimination communication is the formalized name for something that really isn't formalized at all. Some women choose not to diaper their babies from birth, and use potties and toilets instead, trusting their close and intimate knowledge of their babies to know when pottying is needed. They learn their babies' elimination signs and emphasize two way communication between parent and baby in eliminating, thereby achieving a "diaper free baby". Some people do it part time, some full time, some only occasionally -- but it did seem to result in children happily pottying at a much earlier age than most American children. Supposedly this is common in more traditional cultures, those that haven't been invaded by convenience. I scoffed when I heard people were doing this -- after all, potty training for Connor was the seventh circle of hell, I lived in the bathroom for WEEKS -- and I couldn't imagine doing that for years, and constantly toting around a ticking time bomb of baby effluvia. Oh sure, of course, my grossness tolerance level has ratcheted up to the point where I can handle still warm handfuls of poop if not with a great deal of cheerfulness, at least without a retch and grimace. But no one wants the poo rocket to ignite in a supermarket with no warning. I imagine Carrie like scenes of fountaining body fluids. I have old carpet, but not that old!
But Timmy actually convinced me to try this little bit of craziness. About three weeks ago, he got intensely interested in potty stuff. Wanting to play in the toilet, pulling paper off the roll, slapping the toilet, trying to peer intently between his older brother's legs (much to Connor's dismay -- we now squawk about needing "pivacy!"), and pulling angrily at his diaper velcro. Several times a day I'd look around for Timmy only to find a wet chinese prefold wadded in a forlorn cover, and then catch sight of a wiggly baby butt disappearing happily around the corner. All righty, that's how we're gonna play kiddo o' mine? I finally got exasperated, and plunked him on the toilet the next time I noticed him wiggling a bit and slapping the potty. I'll be damned if he didn't pee! He smiled and wiggled; I smiled and cheered. We were hooked.
We started out slow, just trying to catch the first morning pee. It was sure to come and the relief was intense for him so it made him feel good in more ways than one. It's lovely to start the day off with a cheering session. Sometimes we caught it, sometimes we didn't. No worries, no stress -- not at ALL like when we potty trained Connor. There were tears and anger on both sides by the end, after three unsuccessful tries to even achieve one pee in the pot at age 2 years 10 months. Once we consistently got the morning pee, I started leaving his diaper off more, and taking note of his reactions and usual pee times. I noticed he would not pee when held close to me without fussing and pushing to get put down. It was very easy to just put him on the pot instead of watching him pee in a diaper and then changing him. We laughed, sang, played with cool toys and got a brotherly cheering section for all his pees caught. I am matter of fact about misses. We just clean them up, say "pee goes in the pot" and go on. My rule is if I feel even a little annoyed by it or we have three misses in a row (because of distraction of his or my part) we go back in diapers for awhile til we can pay attention better. He's at such a young age that any negativity could really screw the vibe we have going here, and remarkably despite the fact that we average one miss a day, I am *almost* stress free about it all. I say almost, because hey, you people know me -- a pee splattered floor is still not my preferred state of being. As the days have gone on, it's been better and better -- he now wears a diaper for long errands and car trips, and nights, with the occasional nap diaper if I feel like he hasn't peed enough in relation to the amount of liquids he's had. As a result, I haven't had to wash a poop diaper in almost a month, and we average 2 diapers and 1 miss a day, with some long stretches of 1 diaper and no misses at all. Many times we've come back from a 3 hr errand trip to find that he's dry and eager to potty -- once we even ventured into Fred Meyer's bathroom to potty, though he did find the big industrial toilets a tad intimidating.
We had a big breakthrough today though that really excited me. Timmy was crawling around nekkid playing with construction toys, and suddenly got a little intent look on his face. I waited to see what would happen for just a moment, prepared to swoop and throw him on his potty if it had serious intent. Much to my surprise, he crawled to his little potty, slapped it twice, and then carefully stood and maneuvered his butt on to it. I straightened out his legs and helped point his willy, and he whizzed away happily, clapping for himself. WOW! At 10.5 months, he went potty by himself with little assistance! Now of course I don't expect this to reoccur on a regular basis if at all but oh the dazzling possibilities...I can actually see him being out of diapers well before 2! And after all, that's the point of EC -- teaching your child to understand their own signals, prefer cleanliness, and communicate those needs to you, all entirely possible long before 3 or 4. This way couldn't be possibly any worse than the marathon session of pottying that it took to finally reconcile Connor to the toilet in an uneasy truce. He has only in the last two months gotten truly 100% comfortable with all aspects of pottying; Timmy seems to take to it well, and he's thriving with a stressless mommy who doesn't yet hate scraping congealed fluids off diapers for washing.
The theory goes that the way we diaper kids in this country, we actually teach babies that their diaper is the appropriate place to eliminate and since most kids don't get changed the second they go, to ignore the inherent discomfort of touching their own waste. By the time they are 2, 3 or even 4, that habit is so ingrained that when we change it we're asking them to change a fundamental and personal lesson they've learned from day one. And we're asking that of them at a time where changes of any kind come as a shock to their systems. Montessori theorized that there are periods of sensitivity at which children learn certain skills more easily, and supposedly toilet learning is easiest between 12-18 months, or at approximately the time they start walking and mastering that skill. Since we are sending Connor to Montessori school in August and I am trying to incorporate some of her methods in our home life, it only makes sense to explore this as well. I'm so relieved that *I* can actually see this as a learning journey for us to take together, rather than an unpleasant race to the finish with a stubborn little toddler blocking the way to puddle free days.
The funny part is many ladies of the older generation just look a little puzzled when I talk about this -- "well, of course babies can potty train earlier! Mine were out of diapers by 18 months..." while most of my own generation look vaguely unnerved and ask if I think I'm doing psychological damage or really training myself rather than him to be tied to a potty. If they could see my happy proud little guy clapping for himself and gazing fondly at his pee filled bowl they wouldn't worry about damage. The second argument I had a hard time with myself, but really it's remarkably easy -- easier in fact than diapers. I have a Baby Bjorn little potty upstairs and a Once Upon a Potty downstairs, as he's not yet comfortable with the really big potty. He potties and we dump and wipe it out with an antibacterial wipe. Flush it away, done. I have a couple cloth diapers stashed around to mop anything untoward with some enzyme cleaner, though Timmy considerately usually waits to "miss" on tile. He has a couple of pairs of small underwear (tough to find, but Blueberry Baby in Fairbanks came to my rescue!) and he usually goes bare butt at home just for simplicity. I'm down to one small load of diapers once a week. Amazing. Simply amazing, as I expected in quiet despair to face another epic battle of wills and years of filthy diapers to wash. I do think cloth diapering helped him keep a great deal of awareness of his elimination -- they do after all feel wet and clammy next to the skin, and they are bulkier, so they slightly impede movement and frustrate an on-the-go baby. Nice incentive to switch to a nice clean potty!
I would not have believed it if I hadn't done it myself. If you're toying with the idea, please do check out The Diaper Free Baby by Peggy Loh and diaperfreebaby.org. I didn't find these til a week in to doing this, but it's filled with valuable tips that might have kept me from a few puddly problems early on! I'm so excited and happy...and even better, willing to let this take its own course and guide him as gently as I can. That's a rare feeling for me, but one that is getting easier with time. I wish I had known of this when Connor was a baby...poor guy is my experimental kid! I'll let you know how it ultimately turns out, and when my boy finally "graduates" to independent potty status!
Friday, July 17, 2009
I wash the salad, mom
Yesterday I did the veggie pick up from the CSA. I proposed making a salad to Connor...here, kiddo, let's tear the lettuce, now let's wash it...and had lots of fun making the salad clean. We sang songs and tossed it in a colander.
I went up to put Timmy to bed before C's bedtime stories, and when I came back down, Connor says, "I wash da salad mommy!" and handed me some air, like they were clean salad leaves. "Oh wow, buddy, good salad washing!" And we hie ourselves off to bed.
Today I stagger downstairs to the basement with a load of wash. The lid of the washer is closed. Huh. I always leave that open when there's no wash in it. I open it up...there is a huge head of lettuce torn to shreds and welded to the inside of the washer, complete with laundry softener ball. I peer inside -- and there comes the little proud voice behind me: "I washed da salad mommy!"
I now have water lily-scented lettuce glued to the inside of the washer drum. I sat down and laughed until I cried. Then I cried until I laughed.
Oh buddy...you DID wash the salad.
I went up to put Timmy to bed before C's bedtime stories, and when I came back down, Connor says, "I wash da salad mommy!" and handed me some air, like they were clean salad leaves. "Oh wow, buddy, good salad washing!" And we hie ourselves off to bed.
Today I stagger downstairs to the basement with a load of wash. The lid of the washer is closed. Huh. I always leave that open when there's no wash in it. I open it up...there is a huge head of lettuce torn to shreds and welded to the inside of the washer, complete with laundry softener ball. I peer inside -- and there comes the little proud voice behind me: "I washed da salad mommy!"
I now have water lily-scented lettuce glued to the inside of the washer drum. I sat down and laughed until I cried. Then I cried until I laughed.
Oh buddy...you DID wash the salad.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Munch's "The Scream", Connor-style
Connor got interested in art from watching Aunt Cara's present "The Art Show" by Classical Baby. We started looking at some of mommy's art books, and he is particularly taken with Edvard Munch (he's also a Matisse fan, but says it looks "messy"). Here he is painting some beautiful limited edition Connor surrealist works and reenacting "The Scream".
If anyone is looking for a nice series, "Classical Baby" can't be beat. When we're on long trips, the boys beg to watch one of them. Connor loves the Poetry Show too, and recites several poems from it by memory -- as a result, we've been reading a few poems with each bedtime story time. Grandma Crean sent him a book of poetry called "Flamingos on the Roof" which has proven to be a favorite; Connor says it's "silly potrie" and really, that's the best kind. Oddly enough my favorites from Shel Silverstein don't seem to capture his attention. Robert Service, Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson are real favorites though, and Christine Rossetti makes him hug himself in happiness.
Timmy loves sing songy poetry and is a huge fan of exclamation points.
Uh oh...the Connorator wants me to teach him how to nurse his space shuttle to sleep. I better go...those space shuttles can have latch problems!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Denali Trip Continued
We didn't have much time for anything Friday other than dinner and an early bedtime. The dinner made me very apprehensive...it was the first time that I took both boys out to dinner since their diagnosis, but gratefully discovered that the "Salmon Bake" restaurant had a gluten free menu. Connor had elk burgers sans bun and Timmy and I shared plank grilled salmon and roasted veggies. Mmmmmmm...
The next morning we woke early and headed down the path to Denali Bluffs hotel, and then out on to the town. What a lovely walk...I can't imagine skipping it for a rackety old bus, as the cruise crowd seemed to do.
Connor loves the smell of fireweed. It's such a fleeting ephemeral moment in Alaska that these amazing wildflowers flame in all their glory. There was yarrow, primroses, wild roses, fireweed, and lovely star-like flowers I've never seen elsewhere and fade as quickly as a whisper if picked. I made Connor leave them alone despite his earnest desire to make me a "bokay" -- it would have felt like a murder to pick these delicate lacy beauties.
We drove out to the park visitor center and watched a ranger program, then headed back for lunch. That afternoon, we rested while Timmy napped and then went to the Alpenglow restaurant downstairs. It was a much nicer restaurant than the "Bake" but they too had lots of gluten free selections. Connor enjoyed some wild rice with cranberries and pesto chicken, while Timmy and I again shared some salmon. It was the first decent salmon I've had in Alaska - most is far too done for my taste - and this was truly lovely. Bright pink sockeye, done to a turn; my mouth is watering even now. Unfortunately no gluten free desserts were available; well, they did have pudding but I didn't want to risk a cross contamination issue after such a pleasant weekend, so we got some ice cream bars and went to sit on the terrace and enjoy the view as we ate our ice cream. Connor really wanted to raft, but the age limit is 12 years...sigh. Someday, Connor!
Sunday "dawned" lovely. We hustled out the door at 7, leaving our luggage for the rail pick up, and boarded a bus for the visitors' center. Once there, we watched a short film that was, in Connor's words "Awesome! Increyable!" and sat through a junior ranger program about local fauna. We skedaddled down to the bus depot and headed to the ranger station for the sled dog demo. They still use sled dogs all winter to traverse the park -- paw power rules the Alaskan winter! Connor loved the demo, but these dogs are a closer relative of wolf than I care for and we were asked to move away because Timmy was bringing out a predatory instinct in a few dogs. I like him and want to keep him, so I deemed it prudent to follow their advice.
Here's the ranger who led the sled dog demonstration...Connor has a new hero! He loved ranger Mark.
Here they are readying the dogs. Connor got to stand on the sled once it stopped -- it goes about 20 mph starting out -- and that made his day. I could not get a picture though...too many people crowding around. I was a fair bit disgruntled, but I got a pic of the dogs which is all Connor cares about.
I preferred this dog to the others. It's a tribute to "Buck" of White Fang legend and a contribution collection point.
Caught this view of the Windy Bridge as we left with the last whimper of battery power.
The trip back was harrowing. The train was delayed by a medical emergency for 2 hours, and so we boarded after 5. We were supposed to arrive at 8, so obviously we were going to be very late. We also had switch crews in Nenana and a moose blocked the tracks for several minutes...with overtired boys and much more disgruntled tourists on the train, mommy was fraying a bit around the edges. We finally got home at 11 and crawled gratefully into bed, as I shall do now.
Hope you enjoyed!
The next morning we woke early and headed down the path to Denali Bluffs hotel, and then out on to the town. What a lovely walk...I can't imagine skipping it for a rackety old bus, as the cruise crowd seemed to do.
Connor loves the smell of fireweed. It's such a fleeting ephemeral moment in Alaska that these amazing wildflowers flame in all their glory. There was yarrow, primroses, wild roses, fireweed, and lovely star-like flowers I've never seen elsewhere and fade as quickly as a whisper if picked. I made Connor leave them alone despite his earnest desire to make me a "bokay" -- it would have felt like a murder to pick these delicate lacy beauties.
We drove out to the park visitor center and watched a ranger program, then headed back for lunch. That afternoon, we rested while Timmy napped and then went to the Alpenglow restaurant downstairs. It was a much nicer restaurant than the "Bake" but they too had lots of gluten free selections. Connor enjoyed some wild rice with cranberries and pesto chicken, while Timmy and I again shared some salmon. It was the first decent salmon I've had in Alaska - most is far too done for my taste - and this was truly lovely. Bright pink sockeye, done to a turn; my mouth is watering even now. Unfortunately no gluten free desserts were available; well, they did have pudding but I didn't want to risk a cross contamination issue after such a pleasant weekend, so we got some ice cream bars and went to sit on the terrace and enjoy the view as we ate our ice cream. Connor really wanted to raft, but the age limit is 12 years...sigh. Someday, Connor!
Sunday "dawned" lovely. We hustled out the door at 7, leaving our luggage for the rail pick up, and boarded a bus for the visitors' center. Once there, we watched a short film that was, in Connor's words "Awesome! Increyable!" and sat through a junior ranger program about local fauna. We skedaddled down to the bus depot and headed to the ranger station for the sled dog demo. They still use sled dogs all winter to traverse the park -- paw power rules the Alaskan winter! Connor loved the demo, but these dogs are a closer relative of wolf than I care for and we were asked to move away because Timmy was bringing out a predatory instinct in a few dogs. I like him and want to keep him, so I deemed it prudent to follow their advice.
Here's the ranger who led the sled dog demonstration...Connor has a new hero! He loved ranger Mark.
Here they are readying the dogs. Connor got to stand on the sled once it stopped -- it goes about 20 mph starting out -- and that made his day. I could not get a picture though...too many people crowding around. I was a fair bit disgruntled, but I got a pic of the dogs which is all Connor cares about.
I preferred this dog to the others. It's a tribute to "Buck" of White Fang legend and a contribution collection point.
Caught this view of the Windy Bridge as we left with the last whimper of battery power.
The trip back was harrowing. The train was delayed by a medical emergency for 2 hours, and so we boarded after 5. We were supposed to arrive at 8, so obviously we were going to be very late. We also had switch crews in Nenana and a moose blocked the tracks for several minutes...with overtired boys and much more disgruntled tourists on the train, mommy was fraying a bit around the edges. We finally got home at 11 and crawled gratefully into bed, as I shall do now.
Hope you enjoyed!
Standby for Timmy interruption
Here's a quick video of some decent Timmy independent walking. He does NOT like mommy to be far away unless a fire truck is handy, so this is the best I could do. I included a quick 3 sec clip at the end of what MOST of my video capture attempts look like. Unbelievably, that's the *best* of the eleventy million I shot trying to get decent "legs working as nature intended" shots. Sigh. Poor camera.
The great train adventure!
In the Interior, we occasionally get horrid heat...people are always surprised by this because it's Alaska after all! But no, indeed, we've been enduring a 2 week long heat wave with no air conditioning...the kids were aching for a change...and since this our last summer in Alaska, I thought it best to hie ourselves down to Denali this weekend.
They have a great Alaska resident discount on the railroad and combined with a military appreciation special at the Grand Denali Lodge, we lucked out like bandits. We departed early on Friday morning on a big blue and yellow Alaska train.
Here are excited happy boys to be underway on an honest to goodness train!
The views for the first few hours were for the most part uninspiring, consisting of endless marsh and taiga forest. The occasional startled moose, turning capacious rump, and fleeing into the reeds, enlivened the views a bit but the boys were not enthused until the last hour of our trip when the Nenana river came into view. The views were simply breathtaking -- because of the winding and steep nature of the track as it hugs the canyon walls, the train chugged slowly along as we drank in the vast panoramas.
Here's the view from our hotel room. We were booked at the Grand Denali, a steep 1/2 mile climb up the bluffs. But oh so worth it! We could catch shuttles from there to anywhere in town and into the park, but we chose to walk most of the time.
We have limits on pictures on here, and I've exceeded mine, as well as the baby' patience. Stand by for more!
They have a great Alaska resident discount on the railroad and combined with a military appreciation special at the Grand Denali Lodge, we lucked out like bandits. We departed early on Friday morning on a big blue and yellow Alaska train.
Here are excited happy boys to be underway on an honest to goodness train!
The views for the first few hours were for the most part uninspiring, consisting of endless marsh and taiga forest. The occasional startled moose, turning capacious rump, and fleeing into the reeds, enlivened the views a bit but the boys were not enthused until the last hour of our trip when the Nenana river came into view. The views were simply breathtaking -- because of the winding and steep nature of the track as it hugs the canyon walls, the train chugged slowly along as we drank in the vast panoramas.
Here's the view from our hotel room. We were booked at the Grand Denali, a steep 1/2 mile climb up the bluffs. But oh so worth it! We could catch shuttles from there to anywhere in town and into the park, but we chose to walk most of the time.
We have limits on pictures on here, and I've exceeded mine, as well as the baby' patience. Stand by for more!
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