mathmom's blog

Luke is helping me to decorate for Halloween. He painted some old plastic bottles and tupperware black (with ink from the dot-a-dot marker) and buried them partway in the garden. I think I appreciate it, but I'm not sure yet...

Ella's latest story: "We split it 50-0" It was a hot July morning and my brother was trying to get me to eat an egg he had fried on the sidewalk.... Wish I knew what happened next... =)

If all our biking trips go as well as they did today, we may never get up on wheels again. It started with me actually getting on my bike to ride with Ella, Amanda and Luke just in our neighborhood. I planned a 1 mile ride around the block---no problem, right? Amanda was high on riding her 2 wheeler, Luke had said at Grandma's that he loved going for bike rides. Ella was on her scooter, ready to have fun and encourage. Well, it turns out that the smallest, least steep hills in our neighborhood are larger than the ones on the trail in WI. Amanda would stop her bike when it got hard, and having stopped, couldn't get going again. Luke wouldn't actually push down on the pedals, it seemed, or at least he would push down on both pedals at the same time... I got off the bike and coached him up the hill: "Stand on this foot. No, THIS foot. Now the other. Keep looking ahead. Don't stop! Switch feet!" I had to physically lift up his other foot, or he...

Ella now has glasses. She sees fine out of one eye, but the other eye needs correction. What that means is that often she'll take off her glasses---when she's sweaty, when they're uncomfortable, when they are inconvenient. Yesterday, as we were packing, I noticed that she didn't have her glasses on. "Could you find them please?" I asked, thinking that this was a reasonable request. What followed was actually a pretty thorough (and needed) cleaning up of all the toys all through the house. We put away the books, picked up all the craft sticks and tinker toys, cleared all the plastic animals off the window sill, put back most of the National Geographics ... All we got was a cleaner house. Ella cleaned out her suitcase, which she said was not useful because she won't put her glasses just anywhere---she only puts her glasses "on tables, or bookshelves, or desks or windowsills or things like that." We did eventually find the glasses in the crack...

For the kids' cousin's birthday, we planned an outing to the local swimming pool. When we got there, however, it was closed due to contamination, so we needed a plan b. We were already in swimming suits and it was hot (well, hot for WI), so we decided to put the sprinkler on. My sister-in-law had the great idea of water balloons. We found them at the 2nd store we tried ($1 for 250). Grandma had laid in a supply of squirt guns (Grandma is always prepared). It was a great plan! There was running through the sprinkler. There was putting water down the slide for a "water slide". The water from the hose was very very cold, but that seemed to make it more fun. After filling what seemed like hundreds (actually a few dozen) water balloons, there was a water balloon fight where no one got very wet: I recommended filling the balloons less full, and they didn't break on the people, only when they hit the ground. There were squirt gun wars. My favorite was the bucket....

It is all in the presentation. Luke is perfectly capable of getting dressed by himself. He is perfectly capable of finding clothes to wear in his dresser---not always appropriate clothes, but that's ok with me. Unfortunately, lately he's been complaining that he needs help and could I come help him? Pleeeeeaasseeeeee mommy? The other day I was doing too many things getting ready to go, and this was one thing too many. In exasperation, I said, "Luke, your clothes are playing hide and seek in your dresser drawer. Can you go find them? First, close your eyes and count to 10." I really didn't expect much, but he stopped right where he was, put his head down and counted to 10. "Now say, 'Ready or not, here I come!'" He yelled, "Ready or not here I come!" and raced up the stairs. A few minutes later he came running down the stairs. "Mommy, mommy, I found my clothes! I found where they were hiding!" I wonder how long I...

This summer I had 2 goals for my children (I know, making goals for your children is incredibly arrogant, but I made them anyway). I wanted Luke to learn to swim and Amanda to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. Well, Luke is not doing so well in the swimming department, but Amanda has ditched the training wheels. I actually removed the training wheels from her bike a few months ago, but she has responded by not riding her bike. For the past few weeks we've been visiting Grandma and Grandpa, where everyone rides bikes. I asked Michael to test Amanda and help her learn to ride without training wheels. He came back and said that Amanda was capable of riding without them, but she wanted them on. Apparently she was afraid of falling. The problem is that training wheels really interfere with riding fast and without falling. We would ride down the long sidewalk near GM and GP's house, and she'd be stuck with Luke, while the big kids were riding fast and furiou...

Ella feels that there aren't enough limericks yet in the world, and wants to contribute. A sensitive young man from Crete Was rather disturbed by the heat; He stood on his hands Upon the hot sands To keep from burning his feet.

Luke woke up this morning very unhappy. First he was sad because Alex (?) had given him his dinosaur jammies and he didn't like them. Then he was sad because people kept telling him that he was going to be a daddy when he was grown up, but you change into a daddy as you are growing up. Then he was upset because the melty -bead circle he had made and left on the floor had lost a bead. Then he wanted to wear "firework pants" that don't actually exist. I looked at Michael. "I think he's sick." So I asked him if his throat hurt. He thought it did. Michael felt his lymph nodes. They were swollen. I gave him a motrin , and he's now playing happily and not complaining so much. I think there is another prescription for antibiotics in our future...

Luke is in general a very friendly boy. He'll tell anyone who will listen about the time he and Anakin killed Darth Vader (he doesn't have a full grip on the Star Wars story) or about the house he is building in New York City. He loves kids his own age, older kids, adults, grandparents, dogs, cats, fish... you name it. There is only one group right now that he is not friendly to, and that is babies. Perhaps we warned him to be careful of babies too often (don't let the baby grab your fork!) or perhaps he doesn't like how they get all the attention. I think he has also been the victim of some aggressive babies in the child care center at the gym who were trying to take his toys, or who hit him, or who the adults favored over him. Regardless, if you've got someone from newborn to about 3 years (pretty much anyone visibly younger than him is a baby) he's a bit wary. This comes up in strange ways as we look forward to the visit of his 18 month old cousin, A. ...

Our entire family has been feeling off and on sick over the past few weeks. Ella was laid out for 1-2 days, but then seemed to get over it. Unfortunately, after she got over it, Michael was hit over the head for a few days---flat on his back. He finally got over it enough to go get a strep test, it came back positive and we got him some antibiotics. The Monday after Michael started taking antibiotics, Ella was sick again---a stomach bug, it seemed, but she only seemed to be sick about 1/4 of the time. The rest of the time she was wrestling with her siblings and running through the sprinkler, and so on. Finally at the end of the day, Ella felt sick again and Michael made me promise to take her for a strep test, even though I was sure there was a more benign explanation. I called and made the appointment, thinking all the time that this was a waste of time and I had other things to do. Ella really seemed to be fine. I had some other questions for the doctor, so I made an appointm...

Last night I heard Luke crying, and I went in to see him. I was a bit slower than usual, having been pretty deeply asleep, and I got into his room just as he was stopping crying and getting back into bed. He looked up and told me, "It's alright. I don't need you anymore." I was a bit taken aback, but I tucked him in and he started whimpering again. I asked if he had had a bad dream and he told me it was a "SO bad dream. Actually it was a good dream. I dreamed I lost all my friends. But then I found Ribbity and Froggie on the floor," (and here he pointed to the floor) "and I found Hopper over here, so it was a good dream." I think that what happened was that he lost his friends, woke up when he couldn't find them in his sleep, and started crying. But being the problem solving boy that he is, he got up, found his friends, and got back into bed just as I arrived. Luke then complained that he was cold. I got his quilt and snuggled a littl...

Amanda and Luke have taken ancient cell phones (about 10 years old, I think) and are "playing" video games on them. Luke is playing "Star Wars," where he plays Luke Skywalker and fights hundreds of bad guys and kills them. Amanda is playing "Dragon World," where some mean dragons have stolen Toothless, and you play Hiccup trying to rescue them. Whenever you make progress, there is a short video you get to watch with Toothless doing funny things to the dragons who captured him. Can you please tell me where they get these ideas? As far as I know, Amanda's only contact with video games is 1) playing with the screen savers on my phone, 2) playing PBS kids games, and 3) watching one of her friends play for about 15 minutes every week while she's being carpooled. I'm not sure Luke has ever held a hand held video game aside from the screen savers we play on my phone. It sure makes me more resolved not to buy a DS or other game for them, though...

Today, Luke decided that the lettuce was ready to be harvested. He found a bowl, let himself through the fence into the garden, removed every single leaf from one lettuce plant, and proudly brought the lettuce back to the house for lunch.

Today, Luke decided that the trash can in his room was too full. Entirely on his own initiative, he tied a double knot in the bag, removed it from the trash can, carried it outside, climbed on the pile of boxes in the recycling bin next to the (tall) wheelie trash bin, disposed of the full trash bag, found a new trash bag in the closet, and re-lined his trash can. (Wait until we tell his girlfriends about this!) Also on his own initiative, he decided to make crinkle cookies. He found a bowl, "remembered" that a cup of water was required ( all of Luke's recipes start with a cup of water), measured it and added it to the bowl, remembered (correctly, this time) that 4 half-cups of sugar were required, got the sugar out of the cupboard above the counter, and added the 4 half-cups of sugar (all we had left!) to the water. So close! And yet, not quite close enough. Off to the store to buy more sugar...

This afternoon, Luke got hungry. So without any help from anyone else, he got out Michael's birthday pie (strawberry, of course). He then got out the pie server from the drawer, got out Amanda's can of soy whipped cream, added "just a little bit" as he says, and ate the last piece of pie. It's hard to know what to do with this type of initiative. On the one hand, he was hungry and he solved the problem, quite elegantly and completely, with no help from anyone. He paid careful attention to the correct way to eat pie, down to the server and the whipped soy stuff, which he put back in the fridge when he was done. He cleared his dish when he was done. On the other hand, I do kind of wish he would ask before doing things of this sort... I guess you can't win. Strawberry Glace pie, from Better Homes and Gardens cookbook Baked pie shell 8 cups berries 2/3 c water 2/3 c sugar 2 Tbsp corn starch Wash and hull strawberries. Take out 1 cup berries, set the rest as...

Whenever I try to make dinner for some particular time, it ends up being served half an hour later. This is very frustrating. It is the more frustrating because as a mathematician, you would think I could figure this out. If f(t) is the time dinner is actually served at when the input is the time I am aiming for, then f(t)=t+30 minutes. So if I want the time I serve dinner at to be a particular time, I should just aim 30 minutes earlier: f(t-30)=t. But there is some subtle paradox I am having trouble with: the input has to be the time I'm trying to serve dinner at, so I can't plan for the output to be the time I'd like to have dinner. This analysis doesn't even include helpful children, making the calculation even trickier. Ah, the paradoxes of everyday life. It's a good thing I have my degree in math, or I'd never be able to analyze this... =)

Amanda has taken to doing math before bed instead of reading stories. I'm not sure I understand, but I do enjoy---we've looked at addition, subtraction, multiplication, roman numerals, symmetry, and so on. If you have any ideas for what to cover next, I'd love to hear them! One night I decided to look at math in music---specifically, some patterns in the violin piece she's been practicing. I told her that we would be doing music math that night, and she said skeptically, " Ooookaaaay ..." She seemed to enjoy the subject. But afterward, she said that she was a bit surprised. "I thought that by math music, you meant something like 'One violin plus one violin equals one banjo, and one banjo plus one banjo equals one guitar!" I guess I know what she thinks of banjos... =)

Froggie went missing for a few days last week---actually only 3 days. We cleaned up the house completely, looked in all the unlikely places we'd found Froggie before (in the tablecloth/napkin basket in the dining room, in the sleeping bag stored in our closet, underneath all the sinks, behind and under the couches...) We finally found him in Luke's room, under the pillow of the seat of his rocking chair. Fortunately, I hadn't yet purchased the one I found on ebay for a ridiculous price. The most difficult thing about the whole episode (aside from cleaning the house, including the drawers in the bathrooms, the closets, etc.) was how much Luke missed and needed Froggie. He spent much more time sitting on my lap. He refused to say that Froggie was lost, but just"on vacation." At the beach. He told me every day that we needed to go to the beach. One day, as he was sitting on my lap, he told me "Froggie is on vacation. He's trying and trying and tryin...

The other day, Amanda made a beautiful collage of Loveland with hearts, rainbows, foam glitter stars, and a happy picture of Amanda. Apparently, it was a picture of "putting joy back together." At the bottom of the page, Amanda had glued a plain strip of black paper, on which she had written "unloved land." At dinner that night, when I was admiring the picture, Ella complained that Amanda put her into unloved land. "That's not very nice, Amanda," I said. Amanda explained that Loveland was for people who were calm and peaceful (and smug, apparently). "I'm calm and peaceful," said Amanda, "and you're not." I was about to try to rescue the situation somehow, when Ella stood up, banged the table, and said loudly, "I am too calm and peaceful!" Amanda smiled. Fortunately for our family, there is room for calm and excitable people in the world. Fortunately for me, Michael came home that minute, so I was spared any ...

One of the hazards of going to a liturgical church where the pastors wear long white robes (are they albs?) is that my kids seem to get the pastors confused with Jesus. I can see what the problem is---the pictures of the kids have seen of Jesus show him wearing quite similar garments. I think I've already explained about Amanda's confusion, but she seems to have gotten over it. Now it's Luke's turn. I spent some time explaining to Luke how the outfits show the pastor's job in the church, but that the pastors aren't Jesus, and the rest of the time they wear other outfits. Luke responded, "They have other outfits to wear on other days at church!" "Really? What are they like?" I asked. "Like a unicorn outfit! Or maybe a shark outfit!" What do you think? It would certainly make Monday morning more exciting at the church =) It makes me smile every time I think of it.

Today we watched the space shuttle Discovery take off---live, but via computer. I still remember sitting in class watching the first one take off (or maybe not the first one---the teachers might have worried that something would go wrong). The whole school stopped, there were cheers, and everyone wanted to be an astronaut. I'm still not sure where I watched it---there almost certainly weren't enough TVs to go around, but the gym doesn't sound feasible. Probably we went down the hall to watch with another class. I remember when Challenger was destroyed: launches were routine enough that school didn't stop for them, but exciting enough that they still put TVs in the hall for us all to see. I was near the home ec classroom, and I remember talking to my sewing teacher, although I'm not sure I understood what was going on. Today as we were watching, I wondered what kind of space flight my kids would live to see. Luke watched with glowing eyes: "It's takin...

I found Luke grinding salt into a bowl. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Making winter," was the answer. He brought the bowl of salt into the kitchen. "Now we have to microwave it. The salt will puff up and turn into snow!" Now he's asking to add sugar, and that is how you make winter. Or maybe you put the salt outside and freeze it... Hmmm.

Typically my girls don't play pretend with bad guys, but for a long time Amanda was a superhero who fought them every day, and Luke is "Luke Skywalker ," whose claim to fame is killing bad guys. I am decidedly ambivalent, but I do admit that when I try to intervene, the games get less exciting. The bad guys usually apologize and are forgiven, a common scenario for the pint size badness in our house (tearing someone's paper, playing with someone's toys, hitting someone). It is not as satisfactory for the big size crimes of the pretend bad guys. They've watched and read plenty of stories with bad guys who die horrible deaths---think of Hansel and Gretel. So is it OK to push someone into an oven? Is it OK to pretend to push someone into an oven? What if you are acting out Hansel and Gretel? It makes me cringe to see my kids pretending to kill anyone, even a bad guy. But I haven't found a good solution. Of course, there is the logical solution of the...

Luke just turned 4, and we had a family birthday party for him. There were presents and a cake with candles. He has apparently gotten over the worst of his fear of fire, since his eyes were glowing happily when we lit the candles, and he didn't protest when we moved the cake closer to him so that he could actually blow out the candles instead of blowing across the table. I think he doesn't remember previous birthdays, since he keeps saying "This is my first birthday party!" We do correct him, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. He does love to help me bake, and he was very clear about what kind of cake he wanted. "Blueberry chocolate chip," he told me on the playground earlier today. I'm not surprised, since he's fascinated by blueberries, although his sisters both don't like them. So this afternoon I went to my favorite search engine and looked for vegan blueberry cake. (I realize I should have planned ahead. In my defense, I ...

Luke, bringing a box of kleenex: "Could you please wipe the tears out of my eyes so that I can talk not baby talk? ... Thank you, now I can talk not baby talk!"

Ella and I (Michael) built an air film bearing hovercraft , at her specific request and sole instigation. This is surprisingly easy. The hard part is to get the right tension on the skirt. It can hold an adult. The whole family tried it (serially, not simultaneously). It's hard to really get the idea from a still image, though; it really takes a movie .

Today at ski school, when asked his name, Luke responded "Luke Skywalker !" He often gives alternate names when asked---once one of his Sunday School teachers approached me and said, "His name is Luke, right? Because he keeps saying his name is Colin, but his sister insists he's Luke." I knew that Luke and ski school would get along when they wrote "Luke Skywalker " on his nametag and offered him a light saber. "I already have one," he responded. He did in fact have fun skiing, riding the magic carpet, turning (in one direction, not the other) and charming the counselors. Amanda moved from the magic carpet in the morning to the blues in the afternoon. And Ella might or might not have gone down a black slope ("It says 'experts only', so I must be an expert!") but it's hard to tell whether it was today or last year. Tomorrow ski school again, so that I can work on writing a syllabus!

The other day I had to give Luke a bath by himself---Amanda was still eating, I think. He got in the bath, looked around and sighed. "I need some friends," he said. We call toys our friends sometimes, so I got him a few toys. He appreciated the toys, but repeated his request for friends. I was getting a little exasperated, so I asked him, "What kind of friends do you want?" "Sister friends! I need some sisters in the bath with me!" It is funny that he doesn't want to take a bath alone, which I think stems from the fact that since he was 9 months old I figured it was more efficient to wash two kids at a time than one. But also it is very sweet that he calls his sisters his friends. Hopefully that will remain for a long, long time.

We're finally taking down the Christmas decorations. There are a few other die hards in our neighborhood with their lights still up, but we're one of the last. This year I didn't have to decorate the tree at all---thanks to having a shorter tree, the kids took care of it after Michael put the lights up. Each child put their favorite ornaments in their designated area---the glass ones were all up high, the preschool made ornaments with pictures were all down low. When I took the ornaments down today, I found a number of interesting decorations: spun fiberfill a toy car a necklace rocks scraps of paper shoelaces branches from outdoor pine trees I'm glad we have an eclectic tree---I never noticed.