mathmom's blog

Yesterday we went to the "Raleigh on Ice" outdoor ice skating rink. In case you hadn't noticed, it is usually above freezing in NC, so a rink either has to be indoors or have massive refrigeration. Except in this case, it is made of "green" plastic (no huge energy expenditure for freezing it, so I guess it's green...) Eleanor was completely convinced that the whole experience would be horrible, before we even set out. I had a hard time convincing her that while it might be horrible, we had to try it first. It turns out that she was more right than wrong. Skating on a plastic sheet is more slippery than ice, so your feet slide out from under you. It is also bumpy, since the "rink" is made by 3x5 (or so) sheets of plastic. These combined made for some spectacular falls. Luke actually did fine, despite having boots that were 2 sizes too big for him. He gamely walked ans slid around the outside of the rink. I was supposed to have skates on, b

Yesterday when Michael and I came downstairs, Amanda was already down, standing in the middle of the kitchen thinking. She seemed glad to see us and pleased that she had come downstairs first. She asked, "What if it's a dream that I came downstairs first and you weren't here yet?" I gave her a hug and she said it could still be a dream that I hugged her. Later that day she stopped Luke from banging on the table during lunch. We try to keep the kids from disciplining each other, so I told her that it wasn't her job. "I want to practice being a grown up so I can grow up!" I asked what other things grownups do, and she said that they gave kids timeouts. Hmm, maybe I was a bit grumpy yesterday...

Luke has very interesting ways to use words these days. He talks a lot about a "car-bus", for example. My favorite habit is the following (I don't even know what to call it): popsicle-stick means popsicle, spider-web means spider, and pumpkin-seed means pumpkin. As in, "There's a hungry spider-web crawling up you, mama!" And, "I made this pumpkin-seed for you!" and "I'd like a popsicle-stick for dessert." No amount of correction seems to get through. By the time he's in college, I believe he'll have figured it out.

Last night we were singing through our Christmas Carol book. Actually, mostly I sing and Amanda dances. She looked at the picture of the angels on "Away in a manger" and said, "I like the angels. They're like big fairies!"

When Eleanor was younger (although not that much younger) I would say good night to her with the old poem: Good night! Sleep Tight! Don't let the bedbugs bite! But if they do, take your shoe, And beat them till they're black and blue! She thought it was pretty funny, and Eleanor made up more verses: Take a pot, and boil them till they're red and hot! Take your bed and squish them till they're good and dead! In all those years, she never wanted to know what a bedbug was, or if she really had to be worried about them. I had been hesitating to say the poem to Amanda. I'm not even sure that I knew why, except that my vague misgivings were confirmed the other night when I told Amanda the poem. "Mom, what's a bedbug? Are they real? Do we have bedbugs? If we did, would we really use our shoe? Can they climb under our sheets? How do you get rid of them?" I answered as best I could---we don't have any, they're real, we'd wash the sheets in r

This weekend was Apple Festival up at Lutherock . We had a good time as always---just getting out of the weekend grind of errands and to-do lists is refreshing, not to mention driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway, hiking up and down trails through woods changing colors, meeting new people and old friends. Here are some highlights: Luke turns out to be incredibly afraid of fire, including fire in fireplaces. This was a problem this weekend, since the temperature in the morning was around 40 degrees, (although it got up to about 65 degrees during the day). When Michael lit a fire in the fireplace of the lodge where we were staying, Luke stood screaming at the door to the outside 3 rooms away, "I go out! I go out! Fire hot! It burns! Don't touch!" After about 20 minutes, he was able to sit in daddy's lap in the same room as the fire, but he was clearly still worried. I guess he got the message about fire, but perhaps I should have moderated it a bit. We did not tak

At dinner today, Luke disappeared for a minute or two. He was in the kitchen, so I didn't think he was getting up to too much trouble, but he was out of our view. After a minute or two of ominous quiet, I got worried and got up to see what he was doing. Luke had opened up the box with the pantry moth traps in them---a piece of cardboard with extremely sticky stuff on the inside (see picture above---my first foray into putting pictures in blogs!). He had taken the two traps out of the box, and slid them on his feet. He was coming very proudly across the floor to show us his new footwear. I learned in that moment that it is possible to find your child side- splittingly amusing and incredibly annoying at the same time. He was so proud. He was so cute in those little traps. They were very hard to get off his feet! But he had been very naughty. One of the rules is that you can't laugh in these situations---it just rewards naughtiness. On the other hand, yelling uncontroll

A friend of mine gave some advice about children. "They're like sheepdogs," she said, "They need a job, or else they get destructive." So yesterday when I was trying to finish up the Moroccan Chicken Crockpot recipe for the church potluck today, and Luke was opening all the drawers and cupboards in the kitchen, taking various foods out of the pantry and generally hanging on my pant leg, I decided to give Luke a job. I noticed the window cleaning fluid on the counter, so I gave Luke the spray bottle. "Here. Please clean the windows!" " Otay ," answered Luke. He went over and started spraying the windows. "You have to wipe it all clean after you spray, Luke," I said, intending to get him a paper towel or two. " Otay ," said Luke---and when I looked up again he had found a kleenex . Problem solved. He happily cleaned windows (actually one window) for about 10 minutes, when I was finished with the recipe. This morn

Amanda is fascinated by the motorcycles she sees on the road. "Mom, that was a motorcycle! I'm going to get one when I'm older. Maybe when I'm a mom." I ask how she's going to carry her children. She thinks for a few seconds. "I could carry them in a backpack."

Eleanor went to her first sleepover last weekend. I wrote earlier about the "sleep over" she and Amanda had in Eleanor's closet, but this was at a friend's house across town. The sleepover had a "Star Wars" theme. Earlier that day our family had actually gone to the Durham Museum of Life and Science and seen people in costume as Star Wars characters---various storm troopers, bounty hunters, a very impressive looking imperial general... So Eleanor was prepared. She also gathered the two books she had about Star Wars (both gifts =) to read before bed. After the pool party, the kids went to the friend's house and watched Star Wars in the media room. Eleanor watched much of it standing in the doorway (she wouldn't go out) repeating to herself, "I have to remember it's not real. It's just pretend." This is the way I prefer to watch suspenseful movies (although I internalize my rational voice) so I sympathize. I remember watchin

This summer we went on vacation, and I have blogged about NY but never about the trip to Wisconsin. Dr. Dan has some notes about Isabelle's broken ribs and subsequent recovery. I'll try to tell about some of our experiences, but who knows... One of the things we did was go to the " Waterpark Of America," or WOA ! It really should be pronounced like that, I believe. We went there last year as well, but this year we had a larger adult to children ratio, including one adult who stayed out of the water and kept track of our towels and some seats---a very useful addition. Just like last year, Luke managed to fall asleep on Daddy's lap as they toured around the "lazy river". I think that I'm too exciting---I really love the lazy river, but Luke refused to fall asleep on my lap, so I had to go around by myself. Eleanor would go around and around tube hopping whenever she got tired of being in one place. It was a relief not to have to worry about he

....pation. The rule in our house during the school year is that the kids get dressed before they come downstairs. I explained to Luke that he had to get dressed, because today is his second day of school. He didn't seem outwardly excited, but as he was coming down the stairs he said, "I go in car!" Yes, after breakfast, I explained. He repeated himself a few times---why say something once when you can say it 10 times? I turned away to make breakfast and I heard the garage door unlock. Luke was trying to get into the car, but was stymied by the fact that the doors were closed. Michael had to talk Luke back into the house. I don't know what he said, but Luke did eventually come in and eat toast. Interestingly enough, I cut his toast into 4 triangles today. I'm not sure how much he had thought about triangles before, but he repeated the word (giangle!) and repeated counting the sides with me. I asked him how many triangles he had, and he counted them by him

Potty training. Underwear. Poop. On the floor. I'm sure many of you have your own stories, and I don't need to go into the details. Those of you who don't have your own stories, be thankful. I am thinking that potty training is going to end soon...

Free pink lemonade now costs $100.

The other day Amanda filled old ziploc bags with water and a few sunflower seeds from our recently departed sunflower. Then she went out to the driveway. "Free Lemonade! Free Lemonade!" she yelled. I went out to support her in this pretend play. "I'd like some free lemonade," I said. She gave me a bag, and then said, "That will be 3 dollars." I tried to explain to her the concept of free. "I'll give it to you for 1 dollar, then." The concept of "free" didn't seem to get through. Fortunately she accepted pretend money, although I talked her down to 50 cents. Luke soon demanded his own ziploc bag full of water. He also stood in the driveway selling the free lemonade, although he was not very clear about what he was supposed to charge. I'm afraid we have a marketing genius here: not only does Amanda charge for free services, but she recruits other people to sell for her too. Perhaps she has a future in Tupperwa

Yesterday morning at breakfast, Eleanor was lamenting the fact that we don't have any pets you can hold in your hand. I think she was thinking about guinea pigs or hamsters. After breakfast we went outside to clear away the weeds from the sidewalks, and the kids found a few worms and poked the worms with sticks. Amanda picked one up and you could almost see Eleanor's mind turning---here was a pet you could hold! She raced inside for a place to put her worm. She filled a small Tupperware with dirt and leaves, and put the worm in its new habitat. She made one for her sister's worm as well. Then they went upstairs to play with their new pets. I didn't see them for an hour or two. I found out later that they gave the worms baths, watched them swim, tried to get them out of the water, played with them on the bathroom counters, and in general touched them a lot. Amanda's died pretty soon after it was brought inside. Eleanor's was looking dried out, shorter,

We have been bringing Luke in from the nursery to the church service during communion for the past few weeks. We get to take him up to the front during communion, and the pastor who is giving out the bread usually gives him a blessing. Today he must have been hungry, since he was very interested in the bread. "The body of Christ, broken for you," said the pastor, and Luke said (very politely) "Want Christ please!" I maneuvered his hand away from the paten (the plate that holds the bread) so that the bread wasn't dumped on the floor---I know that Anglicans don't believe in transubstantiation but it wouldn't have been good to have the bread all over the gym floor. I got the wine (we dip the bread into the wine) and Luke reached back to the bread and explained himself again, "Want Christ!" I carried him back to our seat, and he was wriggling the whole time saying loudly, "Want Christ! Want Christ! Want Christ!" I thought the who

Luke has taken the plunge for potty training. He's been more and more interested in sitting on the potty chairs we've gotten out. A few weeks ago he started insisting on going to the bathroom with us at church and restaurants. Since it's hard to pull a diaper back up, we figured it would be better to try underwear. We bought train underwear and made a big deal out of them. Unfortunately, after using the potty chair once he decided he didn't want a diaper on anymore...my sister solved the problem by suggesting a pull up inside and underwear outside (that's why they gave her the fancy degree, right?). He's been really amazing, keeping dry for long periods of time, even on trips doing errands. He prefers the toilet to the potty chairs, which I suspect is because he is in part trying to imitate his big sisters. He has only suggested using the bathroom once (mostly I tell him to go). A few nights ago, he woke up crying. Michael figured out that Luke wanted t

Saturday morning, I heard Eleanor get up at about 6:45, and I decided to catch her on her way downstairs. But when I got out of bed, she had already gone down the stairs. When I arrived in the kitchen, I saw her back through the porch door, headed outside. I made sure she wasn't still in pajamas, and waited. I figured she was looking for froggy (I had offered a large reward of 50 cents if she found froggy). But she didn't come back, and didn't come back... About 15 minutes later she showed up with a bucket full of weeds from the lawn. We pay 25 cents per pound of weeds, and she had decided to earn her quarter. It wasn't full yet, so she went back outside. After an hour of pulling weeds in the early morning (she said she went early in the morning before it got too hot) she earned her quarter. I am still impressed. Of course, the next day when she wanted to earn some money, she asked if there was anything she could do---besides pulling weeds. She's figured o

One of the best tips I've received for helping kids to learn to get to sleep by themselves is to introduce them to a "lovey" as soon as is reasonable---preferably one that smells like Mama. With Eleanor I was afraid to do this until she could roll around, with Amanda we brought "Baa" into her bed much earlier, but with Luke we gave him " Froggy " as soon as I was reasonably confident he wouldn't roll into it and not be able to roll back. He is a pretty good sleeper, and I'm sure Froggy helped him sleep. Even now, he really wants Froggy whenever he's in his crib. Now that Luke is older, sometimes he and Froggy have pretend conversations, Froggy sometimes does things that Luke is doing (get dressed, eat breakfast, slide down the slide). Froggy is a "good friend." Another good tip I've received is to buy a replacement friend as soon as the chosen stuffed animal becomes obvious. Unfortunately for us, Luke chose a stuffe

Well, Eleanor finally lost the tooth that has been hanging crookedly out of her mouth for weeks (months) now. And she lost one of her bottom teeth, too, with much less fuss. Yesterday she started complaining that her bottom loose tooth hurt a lot. She cried, wiggled, and suddenly she stuck her fingers in and pulled it out! She then made a model of the tooth out of air dry clay, complete with red marker where the blood was when it came out, small wrinkles, a "crack," and so on. She was very excited about the tooth fairy coming to see her---she lost the tooth a couple of times, but finally found it again and put it under her pillow. Unfortunately the tooth fairy must have been tired, because she forgot to stop by our house last night. We joked that she was just waiting so that she could pick up 2 teeth at once. Well, as Eleanor was going to bed, she was wiggling her tooth. It wasn't coming out, but she clearly wanted it to come out, so she finally asked Daddy to give

When we got home after 2 weeks on vacation, we had 2 ripe tomatoes! Yay ! They were very yummy, especially with basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar . If I can prevent the blight from killing the tomato plant, (and the deer from eating the tomatoes) we might have more in the next few days. The rest of the house was less productive. The lawn was a jungle, the sunflower had died. The fish were alive, but the water had gotten dangerously low because of evaporation---almost below the level of the pump, which would have been bad. The yellow fish appears to have broken something, she's a bit misshapen now (a humpback? I don't know). The ants found their way under the kitchen table. There are moths living in our pantry. I haven't checked the compost pile, which I need to do tomorrow. Things tend to disintegrate when you're gone, but they're slowly coming together again. Everything except for the laundry to be folded pile, which is glowering at me and reproachin

I have previously posted about the advantages to flying a small (6 seater ) airplane to the places you want to go, instead of flying commercial. One serious disadvantage is weather*. We wanted to leave from the Lindon NJ airport early in the morning, so we could fly to Dayton OH and see the Air Force museum. We got up in time, got a taxi to the subway to the train station, even got to the airport in time. But then the storms, which I had hoped would blow over by then, got rolling. There was lightning and thunder. Lots of it, all around the area. We had a 6 hour wait in the Lindon airport, which is not a bad place, but not really interesting for 6 hours. The kids watched more Spongebob than I hope they will see for the next 10 years. When the weather finally started clearing up and we got into the plane, we had to wait on the ground for clearance to take off after other delayed airplanes (since Lindon is about 6 miles away from Newark, and we didn't want to risk losing Michael

We had a wonderful time in NY. We stayed on the Upper East Side, not too far from Central Park and pretty close to a useful subway line. Here's what we did, besides visiting family: Walked a lot. Ask Eleanor how much she walked: Amanda and Luke traded off being carried and riding in the stroller, both of which are not options for a 7 year old. "A few blocks" seems much longer when your legs are short. Rode the subway. When I asked Amanda what her favorite part of the trip was, this is her answer. I think it made an impression on Luke, too: in the subway stations, when we were leaving, he continued to suggest that we "Get on that train!" Walked and climbed in Central Park. I was not prepared for how big Central Park is, nor for how big the rocks are. I was told that they flattened the rest of Manhattan for buildings, but they left the huge rocks in Central Park. Good choice. We saw the Alice in Wonderland statue, among other landmarks. Went to the Intre

I packed very carefully for the trip---some suitcases for our trip to NYC, some for the trip to WI, carefully choosing which items of clothing go in which suitcases. We tried to pack really light (it involved washing three times over 2 weeks) and I carefully chose which shoes we took on the trip. Eleanor only has 2 pairs of shoes that fit: crocs and slip on keds . Amanda left the mocs at home, brought crocs and her "shiny shoes". Luke has more potential pairs, since he has a number of "upstream" boys giving him shoes. He brought crocs (Amanda's old ones, with new jibbits ) and tennis shoes, and wore the crocs in the plane. On the flight to NJ, Luke was doing his imitation of a monkey, climbing all over the cabin ("Nap? What's a nap?") As we were exiting the airplane we noticed that he had lost one of his crocs . We looked around, couldn't find it, and resolved to find a shoe for him in Manhattan. (I could have gotten out the pair o

So (if you were wondering, which you weren't) I was on vacation for the past few weeks. We saw New York City (mostly Manhattan, a bit of Lindon NJ), Menomonie WI, and the Twin Cities. I'll post a few excerpts, but not a big travelogue---that's too much work!

One of the commentators said in my last garden post something like "I want to be a gardener." Well, that's where I am. I was in despair for a while about the gardens. The wildflower garden had zilch coming up. My dwarf sunflower was half eaten by a deer. The pumpkins were attacked by little silver bugs. I watched them wilt in front of me, the wilting moving out from the center of the plant until they were all gone. One little gourd had started to grow---the parent in me found this very disturbing somehow. The rose had stopped blooming. The tomatoes had stopped progressing. Here what has developed since. I've purchased an anti-fungal spray called "SAFE" for the tomato, which I have diagnosed with "Early Blight." All the anti-fungal, anti-insect sprays on the market are called some variation of safe, which ironically doesn't make me feel any safer. I actually recognized the bug that killed our pumpkins (a whitefly) from the picture on

Last Sunday is a perfect example of why I hate allergies. It started in Sunday school, when we had a monthly "feast" that involved Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I brought round crackers for Amanda---pretty good, but no substitute for doughnuts. Then after church we had a celebration of the end of setting up and tearing down chairs every week (we meet in a school, and are soon going to move to our own building). There was a skit, a folding chair throwing contest (Amanda did pretty well) and...a cake. Of course made with milk and eggs, because who would serve a vegan cake at a general celebration (to include everyone, it would have to be gluten free as well). Amanda separated herself from the cake by going out to the playground by herself. We went out to lunch after the celebration to our great Greek restaurant. While we were deciding where to go, Amanda voted for the Greek restaurant, saying something like, "Gyros is sooooo yummy." She ate an entire grown up serv

I've gotten to put Amanda to sleep quite a lot lately while Michael gets Luke into his crib. Here's what we do: We have a written "check list" of things to do to put Amanda to sleep. She's starting to be able to read, and it is great to ask her what comes next on the list instead of having me continually nag her about it. The list also helps when Michael is putting Amanda to bed. It involves things like putting on heavy duty lotion ( Theraplex emollient , for those who are interested), brushing teeth and hair, finding clothes for the next day, and so on. We go through the check list while Luke is having stories read to him "In Mana's oom !" I guess stories are more fun in your sister's room, I don't know. This means that I usually don't read stories separately to Amanda anymore. After Luke goes off to bed and we have finished our list, we get into bed to "play fairies." This is something special for Mama, since Daddy fl

I told Eleanor that today was the anniversary of the lunar landing. After hearing a few news items about it, she decided to celebrate by making "Moon shaped pretzels". Ok , I thought, this doesn't sound dangerous even though I had no idea what she had in mind. She made them almost all by herself using her grandma's recipe for buns. I was quite impressed by her measuring and mixing---the yeast/sugar mix overflowing the bowl it was in caused a bit of a commotion, but otherwise it was all under her own steam. I wouldn't let her measure for a cake, but bread recipes are notoriously forgiving.* She kneaded (" knedded ") the dough, made it into small "moons" (balls) and put them on a cookie sheet. She really really didn't want to let them rise, so I neglected to turn on the oven until after the moons were complete. Moms are allowed to help that way. After baking them she melted the margarine (she thought 2 minutes was about right---I had he

The other day Eleanor was trying to be funny, and when Michael mentioned "hamburgers," she came back with "Yummy yamburgers !?!?" Michael thought about it and decided that it would be a good idea to grill sweet potatoes. After consulting The Joy of Cooking , I peeled and sliced some sweet potatoes lengthwise into about 3/4 inch thick slices. I steamed them (always put the steamer into a pot of water that is already boiling) for 6 minutes, until the fork went in, but the slices weren't falling apart. We cooled them a little (the JOC recommends until room temperature) and Michael coated them in oil. They actually absorbed a good bit. We then very unscientifically grilled them until they were done---I think we would have been better off setting a timer, since some were a bit blackened. The JOC recommends 5-6 minutes (I don't remember if that is each side or total time). The verdict: Michael and I liked them very much. Eleanor liked them since we le

Today after church we held a folding chair throwing contest.* There were 2 categories: under 16 and everyone else. Amanda obviously figured out that she was under 16, so she walked right up to the line. A 12 year old boy had gotten there first, so we shooed Amanda out of the way, but as soon as he finished, Amanda walked right back up and stood, ready to receive her chair. The person who was running the contest was a bit perplexed, and asked if she needed help. She didn't think so, but I stood next to her. Unfortunately, Luke took that as a sign that he should help out too. I think I was most concerned that Amanda and Luke not get hurt, since the contest involved throwing the chair backwards over your head, but it wasn't a problem since the contest organizer gave the chair a little extra "boost". Not a bad throw for a 4 year old! Eleanor followed quickly and gave her chair a good throw---she didn't quite reach the 12 year old's mark, but it was defini

The other day Luke was having a temper tantrum about something (maybe me not giving him a lollipop for breakfast) and after he calmed down, he touched his face. "Water! In my eyes!" It was a revelation. The next day it started raining. "Water! From the sky!" I told him it was called rain. He got down off his chair and tried to lead me out the door. "Come on mama! Turn off the rain!" I wouldn't have done it if I could---we needed the rain. Soon after that we all went outside to play in the puddles. It went well except for the lightning and thunder, which sent Amanda and Eleanor screaming into the house for fun, and which seemed to actually scare poor Luke... When he asks for a book to be read, he says "read the book," but it comes out sounding like "eat the boot!" His favorite words these days are "I did it!" which are pronounced "I deed eet !" One thing I don't want to hear when he is doing som

Amanda and Eleanor are having a sleep over---in Eleanor's closet. Eleanor is sleeping on the thermarest, Amanda is sleeping on the beanbag (it doesn't even look comfortable!). They've been wanting to do this for quite some time, and I finally couldn't put it off any longer. We'll see how they sleep---good so far =)

It is very frustrating to be 2. Michael and I have been teaching Luke about closing doors and turning off lights---both good habits. He really enjoys opening the refrigerator door. He knows how to turn out the light. But when I try to get him to shut the refrigerator door, he screams, "Turn out the light!" He keeps getting in the way of the door so that he can push the little button. As far as I know, he's trying to turn off the light before we shut the door, and the fact that it keeps coming back on when we move him out of the way so we can shut the door drives him crazy. He doesn't believe us that the light goes out when the door is shut, and after all, how do we know ourselves? We've never seen it, we use logic. But this makes any attempt to shut the door a battle, unless I sneak over there without him seeing.

Eleanor is took a DIY (do it yourself) craft summer class. As soon as I saw the description, I knew it was just right for her, especially since it was taught by one of her beloved kindergarten teachers. In the class she made many things, including: a hat a water bottle holder a ring a bracelet a lunchbox a pencil holder a school bag many other things... The crown jewel was a "checkers board" made from a metal cookie sheet, with pink and purple squares hot glued down to them, with foam markers hot glued to magnets for the pieces. There were only rules for 7 across, and about 10 down, so it's not the standard game but still fun. My favorite was when Eleanor came home from the first day of camp. "I got to use a hot glue gun! I only hurt myself once! Or maybe a few times. Do we have a hot glue gun?" (I answer yes.) "Can I use it?" This week she's in a "keyboarding" camp (not a "typing" camp", apparently). They have

So if I don't even cook the gruel (oat bran) that my middle daughter eats for breakfast, does that make me a cruel mother? She asked for dry oat bran and salt this morning for breakfast...

I haven't written about the gardens for a while, so here's a small update. We planted pumpkins in the back garden. We started the seeds in little cups and then transplanted them into a newly weeded garden with "soil conditioner". They have taken off, and are now almost as big as Eleanor. No blossoms yet, but humongous leaves that threaten to take over the garden. It's very rewarding. Michael managed to hook up a spigot to our irrigation system, so the hose now reaches all of the plants (we've got two dwarf plants that didn't get enough water in the beginning) and also we don't get charged sewer fees for watering the plants, a great improvement. I also started a compost pile. I really don't know what I'm doing, but through reading I've come to the conclusion that contrary to popular opinion, compost doesn't just happen, it has to be engineered. However, nature keeps working and something is happening in that compost pile. In the

Eleanor just tied 6 plastic grocery bags together with a ribbon and made a "parachute". She tied one of our small plastic toys to the end of the ribbon, threw it over the railing, and watched as it floated slowly to the ground. She then untied the toy and threw it over the railing alone, and it fell very fast! She's unwilling right now to tie heavier things to the parachute to see what the weight limits are. But I'm still proud =)

The book Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram has two rabbits competing to see which one loves the other more. I don't like the book---it doesn't seem to me that the big rabbit always has to prove that he loves the little one more---but it is fun to play a game with your kids to describe how much we love each other. Eleanor and I came up with a new one recently: I love you more than reading. The best part is that Eleanor and I feel the same way about reading, and we each know that "more than reading" is quite a compliment.

I've been trying to get the kids to do chores around the house---it's "good for them" (TM) and I know that it's easier to get them to help out now than later. Today I asked Amanda to help take out the garbage and recycling. We took the trash bag and recycling out to the bins. Amanda dumped one of the recycling containers in to the bin, I dumped the other one in, and then I went inside to get a last piece of garbage for the trash bag. By the time I got back, Amanda looked at me proudly with the empty trash bag in her hands. "All the trash is in the trash bin!" I managed to get the garbage back into the bag, and Amanda and I had a little talk about recycling. She was just trying to help, I know. Isn't there some easier way to teach them? I am constantly amazed by how much Luke likes to help out, and how competent he is. When he clears his dish, he doesn't just take the dish to the counter, he scrapes the excess food off into the trash and

Scott Simon is my all time favorite radio host, and his commentaries on Saturday Weekend Editions are my favorite minutes of radio all week (when I get to hear them). I especially enjoyed this commentary about his wife's job as a stay at home mom, and how he contributes---I felt as though he'd been watching my life. My favorite line: "She has four minutes a day to herself and eats only Cheerios that fall on the floor." I also like the recognition that there is no vacation from being a parent. Hope you like it!

We love going to the park near our house. There is a playground with shade. There are birds. There is a pond. There are walking paths. There are turtles, fish, ducks and geese. My biggest problem with the last set is that for many children, the highlight of coming to the park is feeding the animals. They love to go onto the bridge and dump crackers and bread and whatever into the pond and see what eats it. It seems harmless enough, except that there are big signs at either end of the bridge saying "DON'T FEED THE WILDLIFE!" The pond gets messed up since the animals don't eat the algae. The animals get messed up from eating human food. The geese don't migrate. And the guests at the park are bothered by pushy ducks who chase you along the paths if you don't bring food. (Ever since I watched "The Birds" I've had a bit of a bird phobia...) I admit that I once liked to feed the turtles. It is very convenient that they hear footsteps on th

Ever since the day I sent Eleanor and Amanda to school without their shoes (kind teachers let them wear dress up shoes, if I recall correctly) I have tried to find a way to make sure that we don't forget necessary things when we leave the house. My solution has been to use a checklist: a short list that includes the things we would be really sad if we forgot. The checklist has to be automatic to function, or something gets left at home, so I find myself repeating it out loud as the kids are getting into the car: "Shoes! Jackets! Drinks! Bags! Snacks!" The other day as I was getting into the car, I heard Luke start to yell out, "Shoes! Snacks!" I think he gets it.

Amanda came downstairs glowing this morning. "I am so excited! I just had the bestest dream ever!" Of course I was curious, so I asked her what was so good about it. "I got to see my cousin Anders!" I guess they had a good time!

Tonight, when it came time to read to Luke, he tried something new. I asked him to choose a story, and he brought Froggie down to the pile of books and had Froggie choose a story (while making appropriate frog speech noises). I then sat down in the rocking chair, but I was promptly told "NO!" so I got up. Luke and Froggie sat in the chair, Froggie on one side of Luke, and Luke opened up the book and "read" it to Froggie , complete with appropriate noises when he got to the "fluffy baby penguin." Then it was time to turn off lights. I turned off the wall switch, Luke turned off "his" table lamp, and I led him across the room back to the rocking chair for singing. Again I was told "no!" and Luke got into the chair, cuddled Froggie , and made singing noises. He kept telling me, "go!" and tried to push me away. I thought about going, but Luke really can't get himself into the crib =) We prayed, complete with Luke

Michael came into our bedroom the other day with the kids. He had Luke hanging off one arm, Amanda off the other, and Eleanor sitting on his shoulders. "It's a Daddy trophy!" said Amanda, who has learned about what a trophy is supposed to look like from the gym where she has gymnastics. I did not tell her that it was also called a " loving cup ."

For Michael's birthday, I decided to make split pea soup, one of his favorites. The kids hate it, but they were willing to sacrifice to please their Daddy. I knew that I could only ask so much of them. To Eleanor, I gave a bowl with only peas in it---no noticeable carrots or ham. To Amanda I gave a bowl with a minimum of peas, and lots of carrots. Luke got more soup than his sisters combined, but I added an ice cube. Eleanor proceeded to take every last small piece of onion, ham, parsley and carrot out of her broth and put it on her plate. She then ate all the peas and 6 cold carrots. What was most amazing was her restraint in talking about it. She even managed a "yummy!" to encourage her brother to eat the soup---she's starting to realize that she can think what she wants, but if she makes gross noises and complains at the table, encouraging her brother to imitate, her mother will be unhappy. She then cleared her dish, without being prompted. Her circumspect

On the way to pick up Eleanor today, Luke started screaming something at the top of his lungs. Amanda complained, "My head hurts. My ears hurt." After listening for a minute or two, I thought I figured out what he was saying. "Luke, are you saying meat balls?" "Meat Balls!" he screamed happily. "Purple Meat Balls!" He continued for about 10 minutes, during which the question in my mind progressed from "What?" to "Why?" to "Would you please stop now!" If you understand, I'd appreciate a clue.

I forgot to list a number of other accomplishments Luke has been working on. Yesterday he plugged in my iron, and pretended to iron the carpeting. He didn't manage to turn on the iron (and a light helpfully turns on when it is plugged in, so he didn't feel the need to turn it on, but it was still more accomplishment than I needed. He has learned to spit out things he drinks. He has not learned to spit alone, but if he is tired of drinking his milk he'll fill his mouth up and spit all over the floor, laughing hysterically. Someone please tell me this is a stage! I have been trying to keep my reaction low key ("we don't do that. Clean it up, please!") instead of yelling and spanking him, but it definitely does not come easily. His imagination is fun to watch. This morning he took hold of the climbing rope, pulled it away from the wall and said "fly kite!" So he and I pretended to fly a kite for a while. He carries around a little toy doggie , a

Since I last blogged (a long time ago!) Luke has: learned to pedal the tricycle on a gentle downward or flat area (still can't go up) done 2 somersaults been making his own grammar rules (feets! it's exciting: he's not just imitating us, he's learning about language) opened the refrigerator and freezer doors countless times many other things Definitely hard to keep up with.

As I was putting Amanda to bed tonight, she mentioned she had seen Tinkerbell on TV, making the letters "D V D" with pixie dust, which is apparently also spelling dust. I asked Amanda if she knew how to spell "Dad." "D, O, D, O," she answered. "That doesn't spell Dad. That spells..." Then I realized what it spelled and started trying not to laugh. "It has a silent 'O' in it," Amanda explained.

Why is it that when I am tired and at the end of my rope, the kids seem to act up much more than usual? Or is it that when I am tired, I don't have the resources to keep them in line, manage their moods, notice trouble and head it off before it snowballs. Probably the problem is me---when I am tired, every disobedience is an affront, every accident is a catastrophe, every responsibility is a burden. So here's to less blog reading and more sleep tonight, a quick way to being a better parent.

Luke is now tall enough to ring the doorbell. This helps when he lets himself outside and then wants to get back in. He rang, I came to the door, and he looked proudly at me and said, " ning ning ." In case any of you are wondering what Luke sounds like, he sounds an awful lot like Amanda. When he is talking to his stuffed animals ( Froggy , Hopper and Ribbity ) he sounds just like Blue from "Blue's Clues." I don't know where he gets that from---neither Eleanor or Amanda talk for their stuffed animals like that.

Eleanor's grandparents put her to bed last night, which means that some things went differently. They wanted to watch "Dancing with the stars," so Eleanor got into her PJs before the usual time, so she would be able to watch with them. "I don't usually get to watch TV after 5 o'clock," she says (although Word Girl is on at 5). She got to watch "a quiz show where you get money by answering questions." It was on "the ABC channel." She didn't understand most of it, she said, but she did get the question about Star Wars. She thought that there was a lot of money involved...maybe 16 million dollars? or maybe 16,000. I think probably Jeopardy was a bigger highlight than the dancing, since she didn't mention dancing. But I think that the biggest fun was sitting with her grandparents, spending time with them doing something that her parents don't let her do. And I'm fine with that. As long as she doesn't want to

The other day I opened Luke's window for a little bit, noticed that the screen was out, and closed it. Luke was watching intently from his crib, so I explained that he should never stick anything out the window, he should be very careful near open windows or he could fall out and hurt himself. (We actually have a friend whose 2 year old child fell out a window. The child is fine now.) Today I sang "How much is that doggie in the window" for Luke. He liked the song, but the second time I came to the chorus he started yelling: "Stop! Doggie ! Stop! Window! Stop!"* I think he was afraid that the doggie was going to fall out the window. Tonight I sang "Jesus loves me" and he said "Stop! Jesus, doggie , stop! Window!" I can't wait until he can speak in sentences, it should be fun. Bonus Luke story: This morning I was trying to get a diaper on a very squirmy Luke. For fun, I asked if his froggy blanket needed a diaper change. &

At Eleanor's birthday party , Amanda got fed up pretty quickly with our preparations. There was a playground, so she wandered down to play by herself. Then I think she got confused about which way our shelter was (it's not one of the ones we usually see at the park) so she went down the path, looking for our birthday party. Meanwhile, we finished with the preparations (Michael was hanging up balloons, I was setting out table cloths and such) and Michael went with the first few kids down to the playground. I thought Amanda was with him, he thought she was with me. Neither of us knew something was wrong until we saw her walking up to the playground, cowboy hat in hand, with a strange parent. "Is this your child?" I think what happened was she didn't find our shelter, but found another shelter where there was another birthday party. One of the parents figured out what was going on, and looked for another birthday party at the park. She knew our names, and she

Eleanor celebrated her birthday last weekend. We had the party at the park, the same one we had her 3rd birthday party. We decided on the park because she wanted to invite her whole class, I didn't want to spend lots of money at at "venue" (which we have done many times before, but for smaller groups) and we didn't have room or activities for 22 kids plus parents plus siblings at our house. They have a great playground at the park, so some of the time could be spent playing... but I knew from experience with Eleanor that a playground only keeps 7 year olds occupied for so long before they get bored. So, hearkening back to my childhood parties, we had bubbles and chalk (I was only missing the paper bags to put them in--we had purple plastic goody bags). We had big bubble makers, pipes, lots of little wands, and lots of bubble juice, most of which was used up. I think I'm going to have to learn how to make bubble juice. The other activity we had was a picture

This is (apparently) the Pythagorean theorem sung in Swedish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuqF45MLYFQ It makes me wish I knew some Swedish. It seems to involve the proof, not just the theorem (which would make for a shorter song). I can't find out anything else about it. I can't quite read the letters on the diagram they're using, which might make more sense. And now back to your regularly scheduled kid stories.

Sticky things I have had to wipe off Luke's face, mouth, hands, and everything else today: lip gloss chocolate soy nut butter caramel chocolate syrup ketchup candy cane I am taken aback by how Luke eats with his whole body, not just his mouth---I picked a piece of candy cane from behind his ear, just now. Most of those things were authorized (not the lip gloss or the chocolate syrup), so it's not like he was getting into things he shouldn't. He's just very messy. In other news, yesterday Luke saw a teenager walking across the street in front of us. The teenager spit on the ground. I didn't think much of it until a few minutes later, when I saw Luke bending down, trying to spit. He kept it up at dinner tonight, which earned him a few time outs. More than once the time out was almost done when he spit again, starting the time out over. Ugh. Keep in mind that whatever you are doing, the toddler is watching...

Michael was reading Luke a book which involves looking for elephants all over the world. Amanda and I were sitting nearby. "Elephants don't live in the sea!" said Michael. Amanda, out of the blue, says "But sea elephants do!" Me, after a few seconds, "What?"

Chanson at Letters from a Broad has a post which includes of one of her parenting successes , involving the benedictory smile of a Swiss cashier. I've had some of those public recognitions of good parenting, and I always try to point out to parents when their kids are doing particularly well (especially when the parents look harried). Sometimes, though, the success doesn't look like a success to outsiders. Last week we took the kids to our favorite Greek restaurant. We have been getting gyros for Amanda for a few years now (dairy, egg and nut free!), and we have typically gotten one plate of gyros for Amanda and Luke to share. We get it with french fries, and Amanda is "rewarded" for eating the meat by getting to eat as many french fries as she can (she needs all the calories she can get). Luke's idea, smart boy that he is, is that he doesn't need to eat anything other than the french fries. This week we had had enough of this, and instead of letting Luke

The other day I was looking over our "lawn" (the weeds are sometimes the only thing that make it look green...) and I noticed little red sprouts, about 4 inches high, peeking over the grass. "That's odd," I thought, and went to pick one up. There was an acorn attached. Looking at the rest of the lawn, I began to notice more and more of these sprouts popping up all over my lawn. Oh no, I thought, they're oak trees... You should understand that last fall our oak trees decided to re-forest all of central North Carolina single-handedly, and dropped a record crop of acorns. My inlaws were visiting while the acorns were falling, and we took thousands of them off the lawn. I thought that the squirrels would take care of the rest, but aparantly they were not doing their job. So now we have hundreds of little oak tree sprouts growing in our lawn, and it turns out to be my job to remove them. Amanda considers it her personal job to remove all the wild garlic gr

Michael and I were upstairs, and he was working on part of his presentation for the trip he was leaving on that day. Suddenly, we hear thumping coming up the stairs. "Daddy! Mom!" It was Eleanor. She arrived breathless in the room. "Luke learned how to use the printer and now he's printing lots of copies!" Michael went downstairs to retrieve the presentation he had just printed off, trying not to laugh. I think it says something about Luke that both his sisters thought he could figure out how to print "lots of copies" on the printer.

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child! (Apologies to Shakespeare!) Luke managed to find a black sharpie permanent marker in the living room. I hadn't realized it was there, as it was in a box with lots of other things in it. He proceeded to write on many things. He wrote: on the cabinets on the floor on the train tracks on the coffee table on the tan leather couch (of course, not the dark green one that we don't like as much) on the angel food cake pan Where was I while all this was happening? Blissfully unaware, making very delicious cinnamon-apple bread with my daughters. Or criminally negligent, depending on how guilty I am feeling at the moment. It took about 5 minutes, so I guess I shouldn't feel too bad. People say "House-proof the baby, don't baby-proof the house." I have seen it argued that kids who don't ordinarily get exposed to dangerous things can't handle it when they are exposed to those dangerous