Mean People SUCK (Week 11)

This is the lesson I taught the kids this week. Ugh. In reality I'd rather teach them, and I will and have, that we can always try to find the grain of goodness behind someones actions, and if there isn't one, get the hell away from them. But for now, in our recent situations, I've stuck with this bumper-sticker mantra. Mean People Suck.

I'm out of the house once, and Hannah needs to talk to me, so Kit shows her how to use the phone to call me. A logical thing, he knows she needs to learn this, so let's start learning. She dials the wrong number. She says 'oh I'm sorry I'm trying to get my mom'. "You're too young to be on the phone get off the phone!" harps an older woman. She finally reaches me and is in tears.

All the kids are out front playing. I'm not. They're playing street hockey, their usual thing. They know all about cars, they know about the hidden turn at the end of our street, how you need to listen for the car before you'll see it. A car they do not 'know' from the neigbourhood drives up, honks at them, and this older woman (see how nice I'm being?) yells at Leif to get inside, where is your mother, you shouldn't be on the street! In tears, my dear son APOLOGISES to her, saying he's sorry he upset her, he's doing his best to keep his sisters safe while they play. She honks and yells some more, and drives away. Leif is in tears for a long time, as I try in (in vain) to make things better. I said "what kind of person yells at little kids?". We re-visited a topic that we've touched on before, that just as many people aim to spread happiness, others aim to spread poison. They just barf their venomous thoughts all over you, and you are so stunned by their anger and rudeness you have no idea what to say. This has happened to me so often since I became a parent, and I still have no ability to deal with it. As much as I know that person is not going to 'hear' me, is not going to be open to my explanation, I still hope to be able to calmly chat with them, and not just stare dumbstruck as they lay into me.

I explained that we are like fish that are swimming upstream. That our culture promotes everyone swimming the same way: girls do this, boys do this, families do this. And when you do not swim that way, you need to work harder to keep your direction, to remember why you do what you do, and have that beacon ahead of you, guiding you through the masses.

I don't know if any of it helped. I'm not going to bring it up again, these two incidents, because I know it will just remind them of that crappy feeling. I can still recall two times when two (different) men reamed into me, and I have to distract my mind so I don't get upset and frustrated yet again. There's nothing to be done about it now. For now the lesson is simply that sadly enough, there are mean jerks out there. You need to seek out nice people, and remember that includes yourself, that you are nice and good, no matter what other losers say.

Fuck. What a lesson.


H'okay, onto to brightness, finding the light and joy.

Hannah is so very excited, want to know why?

She's on a soccer team, just like her brother. Her regular soccer classes ended last week, and she had been expressing her frustration with them, because it's always new kids each term, that they come to class knowing nothing about soccer. And so they do not know about passing, and proper play, and it frustrates her to wait for them to learn (which never happens in just one term). So I asked Steph about her joining Leif's club mid-way through the year. Sure, they'll sneak her in, she's good. And this discussion happened the weekend of team photos. So I found out her new team, took Leif's uniform off him after his photos and made it all fit Hannah. We found her team, took the pic, and got the practice schedule. Her coaches are very nice, and hopefully she'll connect with her teammates over the weeks of practices. She is so excited, did mention that? Photos to come soon.

Leif has cause for excitement as well this week, in an odd sort of way.



His first sports-related injury, woohooooo! He took a hockey stick to the face, to the tender yet hard cheekbone no less. His dear friend Taro feels awful, but both think it's pretty dang rad.


This week had the usual skating lessons and aikido, both of which the kids love, and they are really catching on. Skating is hilarious to watch, as Leif tries to be fastest, but cannot stop at all, while ever-cautious Taro comes along behind him, slow and steady, and Hannah does her best to catch up, which means falling down more than anyone. There are no tears of frustration, well, except mine because I cannot get their damned skates laced tight enough.

It has been raining for days now. If I were a believer I'd be building my ark. Instead here's a lot of indoor activity, some more suited to the inside life (World of Goo and Monopoly) some not so much (hockey and dodgeball come to mind). Hannah is 3/4 through the 3rd Harry Potter and Leif is plugging away at number 5. It is a tough read; so much Quidditch talk and it is bigger than the other books.

Among our many indoor ventures, we've had "the celebration of the coming winter with our Mandarin tea with animals" installation.



Also much role-playing has been had, with all 3 kids re-enacting the "Freeing Of Dobby" scene with Ivy as Dobby, Leif as Lucius Malfoy and Hannah as Harry Potter. Ivy calls her Mister Potter and runs from Leif shreiking "No Lucius Malfoy you're a bad guy!". It's theatre at it's bet.

Hannah and Ivy played "Overly prepared Robber on Horseback with faithful steed", as seen below.



As any good cowpoke knows, after a hard day of riding what goes down best is a nice smooth glass of water. But first, you hitch your horse up outside the saloon.



Then it was Ivy's turn as the robber. But there was no willing horse to be found.



We're slowly adding the music from Charlie Brown's Christmas to our piano playing. We're just tinkering, but it's coming along. I've found a place to buy the sheet music, so I may get into that and they'll see it and follow or not. You never know what activities will spark their interest.

Ivy's forever asking me where the Sun has gone at night and then supplying the answer herself (Japan).

All of us are struggling with a cream-cheese-on-crackers-with-red-pepper-jelly addiction. Man is it good!

I leave with Hannah's latest creation, she calls it "you know, those Chinese dogs?" I think she means a Fu dog. So this is "Fu Dog of block crayons". Only the gifted can see the dog.





C

It's not easy being green . . . (Week 10)

Kermit the Frog has it right. I've been struggling with some earthly issues lately that are taxing my brain, more than I think they should. We recently dug up and demolished our huge 2-bin compost system. It was not in a good spot (we'd already moved it once) and we had rats, again. Now every time I have to throw out an orange peel or eggshell I feel crappy for such waste. We make so much garbage! And we're a recycling and buy-less-packaging house to begin with. We buy bulk dish, laundry and hand soap, we by recycled TP, we don't use paper towels or napkins, we use cloth diapers, we recycle foam and other hard to recycle stuff. So to toss perfectly compostable food just hurts my brain every time. So I've been looking into smaller composters, worm bins, you name it. Plus, I'd like to get a cat this year, and I had no idea pets were so harsh on the planet. Or at least that there is a green way to have pets and a not-at-all green way. And the green way is going to take a lot more work. I want to get all my ducks in a row before I take in any more work. I've got a full enough plate as it is.

So one thing I looked into in this vein was having our own chickens. I know, I know. So much work and more poop! But I know a few folks who have them and there's truly, truly no smell, and it seems like it's not a huge workload to maintain it. They can eat the food scraps and sabe us money on eggs. But as I said, there's still more to learn. And where I'd put the chickens is where we could put a hockey/basketball court instead.

So we visited a neighbourhood coop:




I'll keep you posted.

Leif is great, we know that. He's working on a hockey list for who he thinks may be on Team Canada at the Olympics. He's rocking out at soccer, aikido, street hockey, Harry Potter.

But this week is about Hannah, people. She's on fire.

Hannah has pulled out our solar system model set. The planets come off their rods so we had them all mixed up. I got out a book that gives the symbols of the planets so she could figure out who goes where (we know the order but the planets have only the old symbol on the bottom, so I chose not to tell her the obvious (mars is red) and let her figure this out herself first). She nailed them all, of course.






She's been plunking away at the piano, figuring out another song from Harry Potter. I'd written the first song they learned on a sheet for them, just using the alphabet letters, not the notes format. CD#A# etc . . Then later on I saw that she had added to that sheet of paper:

"Mary Had A Little Lamb (or Twinkle Twinkle or ABC song)

BAGABBBAAABBBBAGABBB"

How awesome is that? I've put up a picture of where the notes actually fall on a sheet of music, and printed out blank music sheets, so we'll see if that ties in sometime. But otherwise, they're both learning how I did as a child, just by plunking away and memorising where your fingers go. I prefer this method to learning to read music, it's just like the rules to the english language, you can learn the language through immersion without the rules.



Hannah also pulled out this cool thing we have, it's a wooden cube magnetic mosaic thing. You can copy pictures they give you or make your own. Hard work, as you can see:



We've been more this week about giving, and about understanding what can bring us true joy and happiness, and what is just successful marketing. With Christmas approaching I'm looking around at all that they/we have, and that we have more than we need, and there's no room for the few gifts they're going to get anyway! I do not want to be a heavy blanket on their holiday joy by forcing them to donate their gift money t orphanages in Cambodia or anything like that. I do not think that forced giving is giving, and I do not think it teaches kids anything. But I DO want to ingrain in them what is truly great about Christmas and the fall/winter seasons overall. That it is the dark time of year and so we bring light into our lives by being with friends who makes us smile, connecting with family, eating tasty food and doing fun things together that we remember with fondness from years past. That if we focus solely on finding 'joy' in opening our gifts on Xmas morning, we will only end up with sadness when that short moment is over. But if we look forward to tobogganing at Beacon Hill, and family card games, and Christmas baking, and leaning carols, and stockings, and seeing all the lights . . . then we stretch out that festive feeling and find joy in every day.

This discussion was preceded with Hannah's request for another huge lego set, even more expensive than the one she wanted for her birthday. So it's time get this message out. :) Meanwhile I'm going through all of our stuff, again ,to see what can be passed on to create more space. It's amazing what we have to give away. After our chat I impishly hinted that I'm making their gifts again this year, and refuse to give them any hints. This lead Hannah to deciding to make something for Ivy, and give it to her right away. So I cut the felt pieces for her and she found a private space to get to work. We told Ivy she had to stay away for now.



And in less than an hour she'd finished this ball:



Ivy loved it!


I came across these quickie math sheets we printed for them. They got every question right, and we dropped the activity. I love seeing the difference simple maturity makes on a child's abilities. This is Hannah's sheet, full of backwards numbers.




And this is Leif's, everything in order.



But when he was 5/6, Leif wrote and spelled just like Hannah. And in the time since, we've never sat down and had him practice his letters/numbers, in a formal way. He'd just write us notes, letters to Taro, label all his art . . . and as his brain aged, his motor skills improved. That being in school and doing rote exercises over and over does not then produce a different product or outcome. Kids simply mature at diff rates, and their abilities change as they grow. Some may have clearer printing at a younger age than another, some cannot read until the are 10. But it is never for a lack of trying, nor of ability. It is rather that we have expectations that all children are like little trained seals, and they'll all perform 'well' and up to our expectations if we just work them hard enough. I fee badly when friends of ours notice or as if our kids can read, and they both can, and their child can't. But there are other things their children can do, or are interested in. And those things matter just as much. We would never expect each of us to be the same and hold the same skills as our other same-aged adult friends.

I was chatting with Hannah his week about the numbers places, that there's the 1's, the 10's, the 100's, because we were doing some Farmer Brown things and it was 60+60 which she struggled with, because it's double-digits, a whole new terrain for her. And I had the lovely surprise that the explanation I gave to Leif about this same topic was total greek to her. Well of course, she's not Leif, why would she think exactly like him? I appreciated the reminder to give my head a shake , and maybe our LC Dave can offer up some other ways that I can explain this to her.

In the meantime she figured out how she thinks she can earn some cash.



(Please give me some money). Not a chance sister.


While the issue here is party that our camera is on it's way out (and the one we covet is mucho dineiro!), the real thing is that she's just too fast! Here she is at her last soccer class, and every single shot was this blurry.



She has expressed frustration with her soccer class, because the kids do not know how to play. So Steph (her coach) has agreed to let her join Leif's soccer club, Gordon Head, and we'll get her on a team of her peers. She's so wicked good at soccer, it's great to see her so proud of herself.

And Ivy, well she's as radical as ever. Here she is with Puppy, her pal.




And here she is in full goalie gear, after diving for a save in our basement. I love this shot!



I hope this cold weather is forcing you nearer to your fire or your housemate(s) and your pets. It's time for blankets, board games and slippers (okay, beer would fit better, I'll admit it).


Kisses

C

Loot and lockdown (Week 9)

Yeah, they got loot. They did more houses this year, and discovered the traditional pillow case carryall sack, which they lugged about. It was a great night, the air crisp and cool, so many folks out in our neighbourhood, I wish we had such events more often. The rest of the year we are all cloistered in our respective houses, hardly a Hello to each other. I long for a more neighbourly-like neighbourhood. Not that I want to leave mine, I just want to revamp our whole culture.

I didn't get fab pics of Ivy, but I got some. Oh man was she cute, she looked like a bank robber more than a cat. She tricked with her good buddy Cohen, who was a puppy. Her tail was a big hit.






Later on we sorted out the loot (crap we toss and the chocolate we keep) and they dug in. By the next morning they were ready for more, though I insisted on breakfast first. I uphold an eat-it-and-get-it-gone policy, rather than encourage saving it for months. The sugar dose is so hard on the immune system why drag it out? They are always happy with this point of view.




And of course now they all have a cold. I love it when what I preach is reinforced as fact.

We skipped gymnastics this week, but did hit up the always fun aikido. Here is Leif working on his rolls.







And neither pouring rain nor darkness will keep Hannah from her soccer class, which is so great. She is developing a love for being keeper, but also has a mean kick that nets her many a goal on the other team. She looks really grown-up here doesn't she? Yeah, she is growing up, no matter how hard we try to stop her.






Skating started this week! They have been really looking forward to it. For me, it was fun to watch, they were very cautious and did EXACTLY what their instructor told them to. It was like watching baby birds learn to fly.



She's plowing through book three of Harry Potter, carrying it around with her and asking us to read it all day. She should have more time now that we're in a no-screen-time lockdown. Yeah, it happened. I confiscated the gameboy, vetoed the laptop time and gave the DVD's back to their owner. It just got so crazy, they'd watch all day and not notice the passing of time (as tv does for all of us). And yet, once I shut down the scene, they adapted just fine. Now they wake up and read, draw, do puzzles, play the piano. A balance of sorts. Tv is fun and has it's place, we just need to find that place and not let it take over.

We chatted this week about Gordon Campbell, who the children know pisses me off to no end. This week our talk was about his legislating the EMTs back to work, and ffering a 6 cent pay raise. I find it hard when we talk about things our gov't does that we disagree with, because I've also taught them that our gov't works for us, that we choose them, and that they are supposed to represent our voices. The kids will ask Why are they doing such nasty stuff? And I have nothing positive to say. That sucks. I don't want to give them rose-coloured glasses, for sure, but it'd be nice to not be so frustrated with our province so often.

On the flip side we ran into a friend of mine who is an MLA. I've told them his story, that I knew him when we worked together, and how he has worked so hard to move up the ranks of politics, that he believes he can make positive changes (and has!) and that he is someone we can trust and believe in. I just wish we lived in his riding.


Always one to follow her siblings lead, Ivy can be found in bed reading her Lego catalogue often. And falling asleep looks like this:



The rain has begun in earnest now, and with the colds and the weather, we'll be playing a lot of card games this weekend.

Kisses

C

Did I forget about this pic? (Week 8)

You know which one. The missing teeth pic!



She is so cute with this gap. I immediately showed her how she can fire bathwater through it. :)

With Hallowe'en a mere week away, a trip to the patch was necessary. They sought out the biggest and wierdest-shaped ones, and now our front steps look like the bargain bin rejects of Martha Stewart.



Hannah is back to spelling stuff at mealtime on the magnet board behind the table.
VNL is vanilla, and OLVR is Oliver. Indeed it is honey!

As if things were not going crazy with the computer scene already, the kids found kIt's old gameboy in the boxes of crap we were cleaning out of the basement. Now it's Super Mario brothers all day. I'm still leaving them on their own about it, but it ain't gonna last.

We've talked alot about our immune systems this week. I've been reading a lot about the swine flu and listening to the news on CBC about it, and of course they're curous. So we revisited what we know, about how our immune system is a huge group of knights wholl fight germs for us. But if we eat sugar we make our knights sick so they can't fight (hence why we avoid juice and other things that give us unnecessary sugars) and then we risk getting sick. I added the new info of how we have different levels of defense, just like in a castle. Castles have moats, drawbridges, etc. And we have our skin, our spit and snot, then our stomachs and digestive systems, and finally our blood. How germs seek to get into us and how they can do this (mouth/eyes/nose) and how we have knights right at that level (spit/snot)and so on through the layers of the immune system. And so washing our hands, not touching our faces/picking our noses, can help keep the germs away. We talked about the supplements we take and how each one helps the knights in a different way. We talked about seasonal flu vs. swine flu, and how I see the data and misinformation proliferating in the media. About the boy who died this week in Ontario, and how sad that is. they really listened, and incorporated that little bit more informaton into what they already know about how their bodies work.

Another big chat this week was spawned from them noticing how already stores and ads are all about Christmas. I told them how some people depend on things outside of themselves to feel happy. And so for those people, how they look, how much stuff they own and the act of buying more stuff brings them hapiness. That the holiday dinner must be perfect and they must get lots of gifts and give just the right gifts and have all the right decoratons and music and blah blah blah. Whereas other people depend on what is inside themselves for hapiness, and what is inside those around them. So when all the hype of the holidays comes, they do not get caught up, and when it is all over, they do not feel empty and sad. That it is not about what gifts you give and get, or what you wear, or how fancy or not your dinner is. It is about being with fun people, having fun times and sharing the good feelings with others. This is a concept they really get I think. How great if they can start life with this perspective, not struggle with all the must-haves crap that our culture lives on.

Happy Hauntings!


C

Paper route schmaper route (Week 7)

Who needs it? Apparently no one in this household. Leif has suddenly decided (perhaps now that he's decimated his cache) that he wants out of this form of child labour. Hannah too. So I called them up and gave them our 2 weeks notice. I'm dong my best not to cheer out loud, as I've found this past year of paper routes to be SO inconvenient. Yipeeeeeee!

So, what can I tell you? Soccer continues, aikido continues. The kids are rocking out at both. This week we went to a Hallowe'en event at our library and got a chance to test out their costumes. I say pretty awesome huh?



We went to Goldstream Park to check out the salmon run this week. We saw the salmon. Unlike last year, we saw them alive, yay! No dead, rotting carcasses being pecked at by birds. We watched them struggling upstream, me explaining to the kids the life cycle of this fish, and managing to sneak in a sigh at the plight of the parenting sacrifices involved. :)

We snapped some pics in the woods:



Leif took this one:





We saw this CRAZY spider on the fence and had to snap it's portrait. It reared up in attack position and tried to fight the camera. Note the weird spiky points on it's back, one on each side. I'd love to know what it is, but ID'ing spiders, like caterpillars, is an endless and often pointless endeavour.




For my birthday Hannah drew me a fantastic Haunted House scene (we'd been drawing together earlier in the week). See the witch up on the right? You can see her best because of her striped tights and huge shoes. Isn't it fabulous? That pile of sticks on the front steps is her creepy rocking chair.




Hannah is attacking math again. She asked me in bed how come 5+5=10, 7+7=14 and 6+6=10 also. I said let's work this out together. Her problem? She'd forgotten all about 13 she exclaimed. I love seeing her brain work. Often when she gets math stuff wrong I can tell exactly where she's missed something, and I just walk her through it, letting her figure it out for herself, and she gets it.

Hannah's swimming lessons ended this week, and she did not pass her level. She's not bummed, I told her it's a hard one and thus requires two kicks at the can to pass it. But what a simple example of how group teaching is a total waste of time. She didn't pass because of 2 things (her front and back crawl)things she would have spent an entire private lesson on with Nelly and passed no problem. But in a group the teacher simply cannot give ech child 30 minutes of her attention to really master a skill. It blows. So she's signed up for another 8 Sundays, and I'll try working with her in between to help her get it.

Hannah's spending lots of time playing Creative Machines on the computer. It's a very cool game. You have all these supplies (cannons, bows and arrows, weights, matches, hot air balloons, kites, string, see-saws, magnifying glasses, solar lights, you name it) and you use them to create machines. So the magnifying glass focuses the sun which ignites the string which lights the cannon that fires the cannonball onto the see-saw which bumps the other ball down and hits the weight which knocks the scissors which cut the string that holds the hot air balloon and it flies away. Yeah, it's way cool.

Leif's computer time is spent playing pinball or Monopoly. When he's not on the computer, Leif's reading Harry Potter, or comparing stats in his hockey magazines, or practicing his aikido rolls (no it's not sushi).


Speaking of computers, I feel a problem brewing. I've been reading about self-control and totally understand how I'm keeping the kids from realising when anything's 'enough' because I decide for them what is enough. Fine. So I've been just letting the control over screen time go for awhile, to see what happens. And you know what? they're on the computers more and more everyday. I'm not saying anything yet, but I feel I'll go against what I 'think' and end up cutting them off in the near future.




Nothing like being the warden of your house. I wear the role well. :)

C

It's not really letting go . . . (Week 6)

. . . if you expect them to 'happen' to choose what YOU want them to. :) Ah yes, a lesson I am thankfully learning again and again with these kids.

Leif has been doing his paper route for a year now, and accrued a decent wad of hard-earned cash. He once remarked that his friend is given money from relatives for birthdays, whereas he has to earn all of his. But I think the lessons he is learning are so so important. And he's learning them well before his must-fit-in-and-spend-far-too-much-on-crap teen years. So I think it's a great situation. Anyway, up until recently he pretty much never spent his money. The odd time, sure.
Then he had his eBay experience and bought Lego there. Then we were at the toy store buying a Lego set for a friend's birthday party and after picking one out Leif asked if he could choose one for himself, to buy with his own money. You know what I said right? "Of course, it's YOUR money". Hannah then asked could she spend some of her money too? (Her's has been acquired through a recent birthday gift of hard cash). So they picked out their stuff, and at home they paid me what they owed me. Fine. A week later we're headed to another Lego-lovers birthday party, and are again choosing a set for him. Once more, Leif asks to buy a set, fine, it's your money.So he picked out a set and I remarked on it's price ($150) and he said yes, that's what he wanted. Hannah then asks can she get something too? I remind her she is down to about $10 and there's nothing there for that that is worthwhile. She sulks. On our way out of the store, I (stupidly) notice the price on these cheapo Star Wars figurine sets, and remark (stupidly) to Hannah that she could afford those. She grins, studies them, and grabs one. So now she's broke, and he is down to his last $130. My father's visit and the hockey talk sparked a desire in Leif to buy goalie gear. Not the really pricey pro stuff, but the simple street hockey gear his buddy Taro has. So we head down to Sports Traders (I swear they have it all!) and we cannot find anything like his buddy's set (a simple $40 set that will get worn out fairly quickly). Leif does find a higher quality, more complete set for $140. I have big chats with him about this, about how long it took him to earn that money, who will he play all this hockey with, we talk about taxes, about how he does not have enough in his bank account, and if I loan him money I'll charge him interest, and that debt is evil business. He asks me the date, and remarks that his paper route money gets deposited on such and such date, which in this case would be one day prior. So he likely *does* have enough.

And so I let go, and let HIM decide what to do with HIS own money. What a novel concept woman! Get your hands off the steering wheel of that boy's life for goodness sake. Both kids had money, and both chose to spend all of it. This is wrong because???

It is not wrong, it is as fantastic a learning lesson as it was for him to earn it in the first place. I made all my arguments and he held his ground within that discussion. He reasoned with me on all my points, and did not let my intentions cloud his own judgement. Awesome!

And here is the fruit of his labours:



Pretty wicked huh?

And now Hannah wants her own paper route. We've agreed she needs a smaller one, and so we got on the waiting list for Leif's older route, which is nearby and half the size of Leif's current one. For now Hannah has offered to help Leif with his, for a share of the pie, but on their first day out together Hannah spent her time rooting through the FREE boxes on people's lawns and collecting acorns and chestnuts. She swears next time she'll *really* help. I'm worried when that second route does come though. :)


Speaking of Hannah, she's lost her first tooth! I will have a picture soon, but for now, man, are her teeth ever tiny, and really really close together! I'm anxious for when that huge new tooth comes in, it will look like the German Shepperd puppies with the big floppy feet.

Hannah's working on this whole learning-via-referring-to-other-things thing. I made up a calendar for her to see what day we do which activity. Then above that there is a new weekly menu thing (I loathe charts, but after this many years of being laid-back, it appears I need to try running the house like a military ship). So she'll get up and look a the dinner from the night before to figure out what day today is, and then she can look at what activity is on for today. Then she'll look at the clock to figure out how much time she has for cartons before said activity starts. And debate whether she likes what's on tonight's menu. I love watching her sort all this out for herself.

She's recently started 'doing math' as she calls it. This involves getting out her old workbook, just a lined paper book, and writing out the math equations she knows from memory. 8+8=16. 5+5=10 It's great, because it gets her writing more, and working on her numbers. She still has some backwards, and I have shown her how they resemble certain shapes and such to remind her of the correct way. But I know from Leif's similar penchant for writing certain numbers backwards at this age, it will be a long time before it sorts itself out in her head. She has also started asking for Farmer Brown questions again, so I threw some tricky ones at her this week. For example: if Farmer Brown's 2 hens lay one egg a day, how many will they have laid in a week? That is hard stuff for a little kid, but she gets it if you give her enough quiet time to think it through.

She's on the last chapter in the 2nd Harry Potter book, and is very excited to watch the movie next week for my birthday. Leif has just finished the 4th book and is happy to crack the 5th one, which I've told him involves a lot of quidditch.

I bought Leif the new Hockey news magazines and he's now deep in the stats of the teams. Which arenas hold the most, who's attendance was the highest. Who might be on the Olympic teams, why things would be different if you weren't allowed to leave your home state/province to join another team. How hockey players and pro athletes in general are paid more than people who save lives or run our country. Yes, I have to sneak my own agenda in there whenever I can. :) It is great to watch his interest fuel his learning. I think this fall we'll add internet and time zone knowledge to his bag of tricks.

I don't really want to talk about Ivy right now. She thinks not listening and instead running and hiding is funny, as is pulling on our clothes and grabbing our skin, or head-butting you in the face. We're struggling with her right now, but yes, she is still as cute as ever.

We had a big milestone this week. I left the kids. I left the kids overnight. I left them overnight AND I left the island, with no way home in an emergency (I just realised that last part right now!). I did this for the FIRST TIME EVER! 8.5 years people. And you know what?

We were all okay. I think if I dwelled on it I'd have gotten freaked out and upset, but I kept busy as did they, and we were all okay in the morning. How did I keep busy? I visited my dear friends Shona and Ryan, and I grabbed some much-needed time with far-away friends Katie and Jared, who I see very rarely. I sat on the upper ferry deck and just watched the islands go by. I browsed the gift shop. I sat in my fave coffee shop on Main Street and read my latest mystery novel. It was such a bizarre experience. I think it will continue to be weird until they are old enough for it to become normal, to be so un-interrupted so often. But I know by then I will wish they were little. Motherhood, such a mind-fuck huh?

And while I was in Vancouver I found vintage Hallowe'en reproductions. Yeah baby.




Kisses

C

There's nothing as nice . . . (Week 5)

. . . as Women's Hockey on ice.


Okay, well, it doesn't exactly sound right, but the sentiment is 100%. This week I took the kids to see the Canadian Olympic Women's Hockey team play the USA team. It was the kids first hockey game ever, and I purposely chose women's hockey a)because they are good and b)they are also about skill not fighting. And as they grow up, they'll see how shamefully little is ever mentioned of women's success in this male-dominated sport (heck all sports are dominated by men, as is their coverage and financial backing) so it seems fitting to start them off with some knowledge of how women's physical skills are equally awesome. And it was indeed awesome! Our goalie Ms. St. Pierre was incredible. Leif was in awe of how well the defended the net, one goal out of 49 shots on goal. Hannah had a harder time focusing on the game itself, and instead worked her way through a box of cookies, a tub of popcorn and some licorice, and then took pictures of her surroundings. Way to be, sister!



Speaking of hockey, this week we had our own little celebrity visit. My Dad came over for the day, and I've told the kids often of his former role as their Uncle Ashley's hockey coach. I even have pictures. So when they heard he was arriving, they suited up for some street hockey and got some pointers from the Man himself.

First a little one-on-one . . .



then some help for Ivy . . .



and finally, some shots on goal for Mr. Khabibulin . .



Although Hannah did not take a shot to the teeth, she does have her first loose tooth. Woohoooo! A great milestone is approaching (and how about that segway?). She is having a hard time with it, because the tooth is indeed loose, but it is nowhere near ready to fall out yet. So it really hurts and bleeds when she forgets and eats with it. This prompted a discussion of how much we actually use those front teeth, and how hard it is to function without them. Then I challenged her to try doing things without her thumbs, and we discussed how our bodies are made up of so many function-specific parts, and without them it can be a real struggle to learn to work without them. But it can be done young Jedi.

Speaking of Hannah and food, we did a cool little activity this week. I've been thinking about her struggle with not liking what we're having for dinner, and eating the same few things again and again. While I do not want to frame food and nourishment in terms of proteins and veg/fruit, I did need a way to convey the importance of variety and balance. Things like food pyramids are, in my opinion, useless and unrelated to real life. A pyramid? Come on. Now a rainbow, that I can get into. I've always taught them that everything needs the Sun. Our weather, the plants, and our bodies. We set our rhythms by the Sun, and just like the plants and animals, we need to eat the Sun. Plants and animals grow from the sun, and when we eat them we're eating that life energy that everything needs. So we drew a rainbow together and discussed how some parts are bigger than others. That the red is bigger than the blue, for example. And that symbolises how much we need of one thing versus another. Red=veggies, orange=fruits, yellow=protein, green=grains, blue=treats and violet=love. She drew herself in the middle, and the love others feel for her was the big violet arc around her body. Then she listed off foods she liked and I wrote them in the appropriate colour. After awhile she remarked that she seemed to have lots of things in some areas (blue and orange) and not so much in others (red and yellow). So we decided to work on those, to try new foods and things that might fit in those areas that are lacking. I think it was a pretty cool learning tool.



Do you know what happens when you blast the K'Naan around here? Things get loud and crazy.








We worked on a great fall craft this week. Chestnut spiders and webs. Here are pictures of mine and Hannah's. Leif was trying out different ways of doing his and it's still 'in production'. They look really neat and were very meditative to create. I just may make some more.





xoxo

C

"Boys and girls of every age . . . (Week 4)

. . would you like to see something strange? Come with us and you will see, in our town of Hallowe'en!"

Yes, it is here, the most wonderful time of the year (and we don't mean Christmas.) For me, it is fall and winter in it's entirety (though mosty fall). For the kids, it's Hallowe'en.

First, some context. Leif saw Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas when he was 4.5 (yes, we kept him away from any tv for all those years only to then show him the scariest stuff we could fine. Nice.) He loved it. He asked me to sing him the main song every day. I finaly had to print out the lyrics and teach it to him. Here is how the original goes.

And here is my dear boy, at 4.5, by his request making a movie of this song, with some help from the always sweet baby Hannah, then just-turned 2. Oh man, seeing it 4 years later is a heart-breaker.



Now they are both trying to teach Ivy. And so, we get pretty excited about Hallowe'en around here. Observe the clan in their new pj's on Sept 30th:



On Oct 1 the decorations went up, stage 1.



Stage 2, the outside, consisting of skeletons, tombstones and cobwebs, will be set in motion next week, if I can stall them that long. I managed to keep the nature table in a more fall-like theme, though even Ivy's plastic owl got a black-bat garland around his neck.



And talk about timing!! Guess what spooky lego parcel arrived in the mail this week? Leif's long-awaited eBay win, the Harry Potter's Sirius Black's Escape from Azkaban set.



True, capturing the essence of Gary Oldman as Sirius black is a real tough one when using the flat round head of a lego guy. But still, when I look at the silly yellow lego guy with long black hair, I see this in my mind. Works for me.

As promised, here are some shots of their pottery from Japanese Art class. They made these cool boxes with grasses pressed into the clay to make imprints:



They made wide vases with a base they'd turned on the wheel. It has a narrow opening at the top.



And here is a shot of some plates and fantasy animals they made. Imagine four-times this stuff and you get an idea of how much pottery is now all around our house.



Hannah has also been playing with beach finds with her Grandma. Here is her own beach art thing:



This week Leif got in his first game on his new team, a big deal around here. He plays for Gordon Head SC, which is the club headed up by his coach of the past 4 years. He's taken soccer classes from Steph since he was 3.5 and when it was time to move on to a team I wanted that continuity of teaching style, and Gordon Head agreed to let us into their club even though we live out of the catchment. He now has two great coaches who really know their stuff (one is a former National Coach) and he is ready to meet this next challenge in life.

Hannah is also back at soccer, and she too is being taught by Steph. She joined his classes when she was 3.5 and is now enjoying her spot in a class all on her own, as Leif has moved out of this group. It is all hers and she's loving it. She still stretches her bright orange soccer socks right up to her thighs and wears matching orange shorts. Her skill is really improving, she is now in a place where she understands the point of the game, to pass, to control the ball, to aim for the corner of the goal. It is great to watch her begin to master this.

At Wildkids Camp this week we did a community service project readying the community garden for fall, to create great soil for spring planting. We spread bonemeal and an odd tofu by-product all over a huge series of garden beds, then layered straw and wet cardboard on top. We talked about how much it costs, both in money, gas and pollution, to buy food flown in from other countries. That there is a season to each thing we eat, and buying them out of season is not logical when you look at the damage it causes, even though it can be tasty at times. It's hard, but we're working on it. This month we're going to explore what does grow here in the fall (apples!) and how we can get our vitamins in this colder season without buying things flown in from all over the globe. Those New Zealand Kiwi's beckoned, but we bought a bag of apples from BC instead.

The kids are learning so much at Aikido class. I'll explain it a bit more next time, but it involves showing respect for others, for yourself, your Sensei, the dojo . . . and they look very cool in their white Gis. (that's pronounced Gee. Picture young Jedi's).

My habit of reading before I fall asleep has now transferred to the entire family. We all lie in bed together with our various novels, board books and magazines. This is what I rolled over to see last night, in th bed that Ivy and Leif share:



And then later:




We hope your October began on a spooky note.

Love
C