Friday, January 30, 2009

Guest Post - Daniel's Innermost Personal Thoughts

After much *ahem* persuasion, I offer to you a guest post written by my own husband, Daniel.

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At 6 o’ clock Sara nudged me to get up for work. Immediately, a table just like the one below popped in my head:

Things to do

Start Time

End Time

Stretch

6:00 a.m.

6:36 a.m.

Stretch

6:36 a.m.

6:37 a.m.

Take a shower

6:37 a.m.

6:53 a.m.

What struck me as odd was not the fact that I had instantly wanted to stretch for 36 minutes, but that there was a totally different type of stretching that I would do for one minute after the initial stretch. I am not even sure what would the two styles would entail, but I knew they were unique and needed to classified as such. Could the first set be preparation for a mighty “power-stretch” or a deep transidental meditation followed by “benediction” stretch? I do not know.


Thursday, January 29, 2009

If You Think It's Cold Now...














Okay. I'll admit I love snow days for the very fact that I don't have to leave the house or take the kids anywhere. Sometimes (like yesterday), Daniel even gets to stay home from work when it snows too much to drive the half hour it normally takes to get there.

But, this fondness for snow days comes from someone who is safely tucked inside my home, with the heater happily spitting out 68 degree heat all day long. The thing is, I just read this article about people a mere two hours south of us who were hit much harder by this snow and ice storm. They lost their electricity - and it might not be back on until mid-February. Two weeks or more with no heat? In 20 degree weather? That's when I would be raiding my savings account and heading to Florida, personally.

We "survived" the great wind storm of 2008 here in Ohio, after which we had no electricity at our house for a week. But, that was in September, and the weather was unusually perfect during that week. But what are the odds that we will have nice weather in February?

I don't know if you're like me, but I'm now mentally compiling a list of ways my family could eat, wash clothes, keep warm, and simply live for two weeks in February without electricity. If you are like me, then here are some more snow pictures from our house yesterday to help you imagine...

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Loss of Innocence?

So, the kid's grandma had a great idea at Christmas time. She bought a Santa suit and had the kid's grandpa come to the door dressed in the suit. He passed out presents and had the kids sit on his lap.

Despite the occasional slips such as, "Come sit on Grandpa's lap! I mean Santa!" The kids still weren't quite sure if that was in fact Santa or Hairy Grandpa (that's what they call the grandpa with - you guessed it - hair). After all, right after Santa left out the front door, Hairy Grandpa came downstairs and was very surprised to learn that he had missed Santa while he was napping.

Before this Christmas, my kids didn't even know who Santa was, really. We opted for the "put the candy in the stockings Christmas Eve" thing, with no real explanation as to how the candy got there. They sort of assumed that all Santa did was give them candy. How boring.

Then Grandma explained to the kids who Santa was one day, and they were excited to see him. So, we were sort of obligated at that point to have some presents from Santa. However, I'm sort of selfish and like the joy that comes along with buying the kids a present that I know they really wanted. I do not want to give Santa the credit for my hard shopping work!

Nonetheless, Santa came and brought a ton of gifts that Grandma had *ahem* helped him pick out. The kids were happy and believed that it was, in fact, Santa Claus himself.

Until today, when I bursted Abby's bubble.

You see, we took pictures of Santa with the kids. My laptop died at the time, so we never got the chance to show the pictures to the kids. Today I uploaded the pictures, and the kids and I sat down to look at all we had done in the past two months.

We saw the pictures of Santa. Abby told me that she had originally thought it was just Hairy Grandpa. We looked at more pictures. Santa holding Ethan, Santa holding Avery. Santa with a tattoo.

"Wait a minute!" Abby cried. "That is Hairy Grandpa! He has the same tattoos!"

*pop*

There goes that bubble.

It never pays to lie - or even fabricate - to your children, I suppose. Here are the offensive photos. The tattoo in question is on his right arm, above the glove.


Snow Day





Apparently, a five-year old Abby loves the snow. A four-year old Abby did not.
Sadly, three-year old Avery now dislikes the snow.

Two Strikes Against Me

So, I guess I haven't had much to blog about since I gave away all my kids... (See the previous post)

Just kidding! I still have all the monkeys right here. Today has also been one of those "Free Kids" kind of days, but coupled with a snow day. Yup, there's about 6 inches of snow out there preventing us from leaving the yard, and the kids are having one of those days.

Motherhood is certainly... different from everything else. If you ever wanted to work on your patience, sacrificial nature, or counting to ten skills - have a kid.

I'll post snow day pictures in a bit.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Free Kids!

I've decided to give away kids again. To those of you who have Facebook, you know I randomly like to offer my kids to anyone, for free. Coincidentally, these offers always happen when the kids are all three misbehaving.

It must be the weather, right? Yesterday it was about 15 degrees, and today it's 46 degrees. Don't you just love Ohio weather...?

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Race and Politics

Now that I've finally gotten my computer back, and AT&T has decided to give us Internet access this week, I'm happy to be back here blogging! I had a nice break, and now I can hopefully post something nearly every day.

First of all, something big happened while I was on that break - we have ourselves (if you're in the US) a black president! I'm personally very excited and happy about this for several reasons, but that's not what this post is about. What I'm wondering is, how do you make your kids appreciate the beauty in President Obama's term(s) as president? How do you teach small kids how much race controls our country, and how much this president can do for us as a racist nation? But really, should you even bring up the subject at all?

Yesterday was the presidential inauguration, and Monday was Martin Luther King's birthday. Now, I can explain to my 5 year old why we're celebrating the inauguration without mentioning race, but how do you explain what Martin Luther King did for our country without bringing up race?

When Abby asked me why she didn't have school on Monday, I told her it was because it was Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. She then (of course) asked me who that was, and if we were going to his party. I told her that he was a man who helped lots of people like other people, even though they were different. I felt like this sort of answered the question, but really left a lot unsaid.

The reason I wonder about this is simply because of a policy I have with my kids about race. I don't bring it up unless they do. I'm really interested in learning whether racism is inherited, learned, or innate. I feel like if I'm very, very careful to never point out race to my kids, then their ideas are truly their own.

And guess what? So far it looks like racism is not innate, because my kids don't notice that people are different colors. That makes me breathe easier - but isn't it scary at the same time? All this hate has been taught to us, just like math and reading?

The only time my kids have ever even hinted that they notice race is when Avery asked me in the bath tub what color he is. You see, he's very light skinned compared to Abby and Ethan. Avery takes after me in the skin department, and the other two take after Daniel. So, when Avery is in the tub with Abby and Ethan, he notices that his skin is lighter. Oh yeah - that and the fact that he is always slathered with sunblock while the other two are simply lightly coated. We usually say something like, "you get sunburned easier than Abby and Ethan."

And so, there was my little light skinned boy, taking a bath and asking me what color he is. I responded, "What color do you think you are?" He thought he was either yellow or grey. Abby told him he was skin colored, in one of those teen-agery "duh!" voices. Avery was satisified with this answer, and never asked again.

Abby has Barbies that are African American and Caucasian. She doesn't seem to notice a difference between any of the dolls. She just knows that her lone Bratz doll is somehow bad. She tells me that this doll is "mean to everyone." But that's another story...

And so I now wonder about race and my innocent little kids. What will they hear from TV and school about our new president? How often will they hear him called "Our first African American president!" - instead of simply, President Obama? Can I really ignore race in this case, when it seems to mean so much? Am I doing my kids a favor by not mentioning the importance of an African Amertican president, or a disservice?

Any opinions or advice on this subject?

Friday, January 16, 2009

200! And An Argument.

This is my 200th post! Who knew I would have so much to ramble about?

While my computer is still being repaired (thank goodness for warranties!), Daniel and I got in an argument today that just could not wait to be solved. Now this was not a knock-down kind of fight, but it was a bend over backwards, turn your elbows the wrong way kind of argument. You see, I am double-jointed. Daniel does not believe me.

Since I was a little kid, I was able to sit comfortably (and preferred to) in ways that were impossible to other people. I can touch any part of my back with my hands, I can put one hand over my shoulder and one hand under my opposite shoulder and touch them together. I can sit on my knees and lay all the way back on the floor. Gee, what more proof do you need?

Daniel says I am just flexible. *ahem* That is actually sort of the definition of double-jointed. According to Wise Geek, being double-jointed "simple means that your joints... are unusually flexible, enabling you to bend or rotate them in ways that other people find impossible and painful." I can do this. I am double-jointed.

I think Daniel is just jealous. He can never wash his own back completely without some sort of device on a stick. He can never kick himself in the face. He cannot do a proper plie, like this guy:



How sad. At least Abby has the makings for a double-jointed person. Of course, Daniel says that's just because she's a kid, and all kids are flexible. I won't even tell you how flawed that argument would be in my philosophy class.

So, is anyone else double-jointed? What can you do?

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Another Two Year Old

It's official - we have another 2 year old in our house! Ethan's birthday is today, which is good news. Too bad the "too bad list" is longer than the good news list...

  • Too bad I had such a hard time getting Ethan a birthday cake today. Yes, I should have ordered it yesterday as the bakeries suggest - but I did not. After all, what store wouldn't have a chocolate cake decorated in a non-flowery, non-pink and purple way, sitting right there in the bakery section?? Well, all of the stores in town for one. And the bakeries. I never realized before today that the cake business is geared entirely towards women. Those giant globs of icing shaped like roses are never made with men (or little boys) in mind. I actually had to leave town to get a cake with a clown on it.
  • Too bad my computer is still busted and I cannot access any pictures of little Ethan, or even add new pictures of him. You guys (or guy) will just have to imagine what he looks like today as he turns two.
  • Too bad I forget to ask the bakery people to write "Happy Birthday Ethan!" on the clown cake. I realized this on the way home. So, I wrote it on myself!
  • Too bad we no longer own a pastry bag. But! I can use a plastic baggy with the end snipped off!
  • Too bad Daniel used the very last plastic baggy we had this very morning for his lunch. Oh well, at least my mom keeps those things around. I borrowed one from her and all was well.
  • Too bad the cake now looks like a giant pigeon flew over it. You know that plastic baggy idea? It seems that sometimes the zipper-end pops open as you are piping letters from that snipped end, and frosting silently plops out onto your cake.
  • Too bad that frosting was a yucky, bird-poopish green color. Thats all I could make with the food coloring I have in my pantry.


But, at least I have a sweet little monkey baby to celebrate his birthday with. That's way more than I could have hoped for a mere 6 years ago (not to mention the two older kids!). This may be the last 2 year old birthday I ever celebrate as a mom, so I'm just going to enjoy it. I think this may be the last year I can get by with only giving him 3 presents, anyway...

Friday, January 2, 2009

Gone, Baby Gone

Yup, I've been missing for quite a few days (at least in blogger world). My computer died, so I'm going to be gone until that's fixed. Hope you guys (or.. guy) can live without me for a couple days :o)

 
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