Reflecting, Projecting, Protecting

MICROMAN: Straight out of the gate this a.m. (that would be before 6 a.m.) CJ was begging to use the new microscope MPA acquired as part of its headmaster's 44th birthday. Since it's a non powered model, requiring sunlight to run, I told him he was going to have to wait awhile ... Once the sun finally peeked up over Queen Anne Hill, we gave it a whirl. With no luck. I was doing something wrong. And before I knew it, it was time to rush off to music. Unfortunately, the science lesson would have to wait. And wait they did - until their dad got home and got the thing working. CJ was underwhelmed at first. He was expecting to see cartoony, mustachioed germs squiggling around on the slides. A fiber of cotton is significantly less enthralling. ... So, Christian put a hair on a slide and the kids were a bit more interested in that (because they could relate to what a normal hair looks like, so by contrast a super magnified hair was of interest). Next, Christian thought to swipe some saliva on a slide and THAT, my friends, was very interesting. Or, "amazing!" as Annabelle exclaimed. You could see individual cells, and since we've done some cell exploration, they were jazzed to see actual ones close up. Cool!

THE SOUND OF MUSIC: Friday is music morning and this a.m. when I went to pick the kids up from their session, the teacher was letting everyone have a turn trying to play a cornet. What a neat opportunity to not just see and hear the music, but to get to hold that big brass instrument and try to make it sing. The kids quickly learned that it's much harder to get a cornet to produce a note than it is a recorder. Fresh from their newfound realization of/appreciation for the instrument, once home I scoured YouTube for some cornet music. I found a lovely song, but made the mistake of letting the kids see the video that went along with, which for most of the song did not really go with the music, so it was distracting. So we moved along to a real treasure - a 1920s ragtime recording featuring the Halfway house Orchestra. How great that this music is preserved.

TAKE ME TO YOUR BALL GAME: On the way to the store to get fixins for Bee's birthday cake, CJ and Annabelle played out what wound up being a comedy routine in the backseat. Annabelle was wearing a headband with baseballs on springs and she took on the character of an alien who had just arrived on Earth, and the alien was trying to learn the game of baseball from Coach, played by CJ. Coach was telling Alien how to play, and when he's telling her the simplest things, like "grab a bat" she would come back in a robotic, monotone voice and say things like, "Do you mean that black thing flying around in the sky?" To which befuddled Coach responded, "No, you don't bat with a crow. ..." Of course Alien would have to clarify, "No, I mean the black thing that flies and uses echolocation." Another highlight was when Coach told Alien to go sit in the dugout and Alien asked for a shovel, so she could start digging. High comedy, I tell you. If my other camera weren't broken, I'd film them and embed it here and put it on YouTube.



DISCO DUCKS: By consulting the History Channel, I learned that Disco Duck topped the charts today in 1976. (That's right, 33 years ago. Now doesn't that make ME feel old?) Anyway, knowing the kids have heard and like the song, I shared the news with then and then served as DJ for a mini Disco Duck-a-thon, during which certain members of the family who shall remain nameless shook their tailfeathers.

HEARTBREAKER: This a.m. I (along with a few other parents) received an email from the parent of a child CJ and Annabelle went to preschool with. The emailer's child had started kindergarten at a local public school this September and things aren't all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. He reports it has been "kind of tough," that his child is losing weight, and that no one at the school has told them how/when/what special ed services the child is receiving. He closes with, "I hope you guys have better experience(s) than us. " Heh, yeah, well, not exactly.

I had to write him back, of course. My opening:

It breaks my heart to read your email, and it takes me right back to CJ's
kindergarten experience. In fact, the email reads like I could have written
it one year ago, when CJ was about a month into his kindergarten experience
which was, I think it's safe to say, the worst year of my life.

I went on to share with him some of the trials and tribulations we/CJ experienced (them losing him on the first day of school, the near-daily physical attacks, the lovely special ed assistant who, with a smile, predicted none of the kids in the inclusion program would ever live independently). You know, those kinds of things. ...

After the email I wrote, I'm sure this parent thinks I'm insane (I've never even really had a conversation with him before - we've just smiled and nodded at open houses and birthday parties) and I hope I didn't scare the bejesus out of the guy. That said, there are some VERY legitimate reasons to be alarmed about kindergarten gone wrong and I swear I felt a moral obligation to share our experience, because who knows. If things go just bad enough, you could wind up with a 6 year old with post-traumatic-stress-disorder related to his or her kindergarten experience. Or so I'm told. ...

I tried to end on a positive note, by including a list of resources, as well as "the moral to my story:

• Trust your gut. If you think something's wrong, find out what that something is and be like a dog with a bone until that "something" gets fixed or eliminated


• Listen to your child. Take everything they say seriously and listen for messages they're trying to send you, even if they don't quite know how to tell you


• Be on the scene. A lot. Frankly, if someone had told me this stuff was going on at CJ's school, I don't think I would have believed them. I saw it for myself and I still can't hardly believe it ...

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS: Here's a scene from today. CJ and Annabelle spontaneously counting and sorting and making patterns, just because it's fun. : )

MPA Headmaster's 44

BRAVEHEART: Right out of the gate this a.m. CJ was voicing his doubt that he'd ever be able to swim with his face in the water. Clearly, he was still reeling to a degree after his experience at the Ballard pool last night, where he couldn't go down the slide because he wasn't able to pass the solo/no flotation device swim test. So, we talked a bit about all of the really had things he's already accomplished in his life, like learning how to talk, how to walk, how to read, how to play really hard video games, etc. He mulled it over for awhile, silently, as is his style. About an hour later, out of nowhere he pops off at me, 'You have to get rid of your fear of clowns." I laughed and told him some things are non-negotiable and that clowns are MUCH MUCH scarier than putting one's face down in the water. : ) Of course this was challenged by Mr. CJ, who announced tonight that he wants to be a clown for Halloween.

TABLE TIME: For whatever reason, CJ & Annabelle's hearts and heads really weren't into worksheets today. Not sure why. Maybe it was because we were doing them an hour or so earlier than usual, trying to squeeze table time and a shower in before ballet. The work was nothing that taxing and they were both plenty rested. So, we just limped through one math worksheet apiece and called it good. Tomorrow is a new day. : )

SPLISH SPLASH: As the kids emerged from a shower this a.m. I realized I'd never played "Splish Splash" for them. So, I cued it up and they were, of course, interested in the infectious song. Incredibly, I even managed to find a Nintendo/Mario-related version for them.

IN THE VILLAGE: We headed to Magnolia at 10 for Bee's ballet, and then CJ and I were off to the library, per usual. The place might as well be called "Blockbuster" or "Netflix," because CJ sees it almost entirely as a repository of DVDs.

COMING ALONG: Though Bee had just finished ballet and CJ and I had just walked to the library, Kirby needed her PE time, so we took a stroll to the park to see what they'd accomplished between yesterday and today. It was fun to compare what we'd seen yesterday with the progress at the present. We also speculated about what the finished product would look like based on what we saw. Then the kids and Kirby played pretend soccer and we did some leaf hunting and gathering on the way home.

HOME AGAIN: Once back to the house, I thought it would be good to combine snack time with craft time. I popped some popcorn (which led to us talking about corn, of course). While it was popping, I had them stand by the microwave and "pop" along with it. while it was and cut out some cardboard templates of ghosts for them. They traced the templates on white paper, and then glued the paper to the cardboard. Then, they glued popcorn to the paper while The Popcorn Song was playing in the background. The frenetic pace of that music really got them going!

SAM AGAIN: This afternoon, we read another chapter of the Sam book, and Sam is starting to walk and talk. It's pretty cute and cleverly written and the kids are enjoying being "inside" the head of a baby and hearing his thought process.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME:
It didn't take Annabelle long this a.m. to deduce that today was my birthday. She pulled out her calendar to confirm it and bingo, true 'nuff. So we had a nice dinner at Aqua Verde Paddle Club (which Christian and I have been interested in since we watched Rachel Ray visit it back when we lived in Felida). I got so many nice presents, including gorgeous flowers from the family in Siletz (thank you!) and the musical Barack Obama card was a huge hit with me and the kids (thank you Vancouver!).

BEDTIME STORIES

This evening the kids watched a video I found for them at the library today. It's from Scholastic's Storybook Treasures series, and you really can't go wrong selecting a title from this line. Tonight's screening was "Pete's a Pizza" by William Steig. The disc contains 7 other stories, all with a read-along feature, so the words show on the bottom of the screen. The kids were absolutely rapt for all seven stories. CJ's favorite was "The Great White Man-Eating Shark," while Annabelle favored the classic "The Five Chinese Brothers." Really great stuff that promotes a love of literacy.

Slippery Slope

CHEATER CHEATER? Before 9 a.m., Magnolia Preparatory Academy was embroiled in an ethical quagmire. CJ has been working and working to try to beat this one portion of one of his Nintendo games. It involved some characters flashing on a screen ridiculously (in my opinion) quickly, and you had to tell the "boss" of that level how many of the characters you saw. Sounds simple enough, but there were multiple characters with minor variations and the glimpse of them really wasn't long enough to count them all, let alone pick out subtle variances and count the "right" ones. Oh, and the little buggers were MOVING. Anyway, CJ was trying and trying and trying and couldn't (no surprise) do it. He asked me for help and I tried, but I can't do the impossible ... I asked him if he could pause the game/freeze the screen so we could count them. He'd already tried that (of course) and it wouldn't work (when you pause the game, the character screen is covered) . Since my camera is rarely more than a few feet away from me, I wondered aloud if I could take a photo of the screen with the characters, then he could pause the game, we could look at the photo and then he could answer the question. He wanted to give it a go and so we did. And it worked. Grinning from ear to ear, he said, "So, did you think of a way to cheat?" Um, ouch. Hmm, well, yes, I guess I did, son. ... Yikes. And so the joy of victory was indeed, a bit tainted. And so we talked. About cheating and troubleshooting and being creative and coming up with workarounds. And how sometimes/usually cheating is a bad Bad BAD thing. But it's complicated, isn't it? The world has more shades of gray than black and white. And being a Trekker/Trekkie, I couldn't help but think about the Kobayashi Maru. I, for one, think Capt. James T. Kirk was to be commended for changing the rules, so to speak, so that he overcame an "unwinnable" situation. Complicated stuff.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: We got out our calendars today for the first time in a few days. IMHO, it is actually good to skip a couple of days between calendar sessions because then the kids really have to think about what day it is (instead of just knowing it's the next day after the X we drew the day before). The kids zeroed in on today's date with little delay, and spontaneously noted important days past and those yet to come, and the fact that yoga was yesterday and ballet is tomorrow.

MOOD MUSIC: While the kids worked on math and language arts worksheets, I found some music that seemed to fit the day. Today, the oppressive rain drove my choices. I led with "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head." The kids' favorite part of the song was an odd musical interlude - a circusy sounding break, where in the movie Paul Newman is clowning around on his bicycle, trying to impress Katherine Ross. The kids just loved the song and asked me to play it three times. (On the other hand, the song left me feeling a bit sentimental. Newman and Redford were both so young and beautiful in the video/movie, which I loved kid.) Next up was "I Love a Rainy Night" (which took me right back to the elementary school bus). incredibly, I happened to find a video for the song that used Club Penguin animation. Talk about when worlds collide! CJ asked to see an "original" version - so I found Eddie Rabbitt singing it at Branson.

Often, the kids become interested in the music I find to the point of distraction - singing and dancing in and around their seats. I'm trying to decide how I feel about this. Am I breeding/fostering ADHD types, or creativity or both? Dunno. But here's Annabelle doing her math today listing to "I Live a Rainy Night."

Interestingly, by the time CJ & Annabelle finished their writing and math worksheets, the sun was shining brightly, so we decided to take advantage of it.

PARK PROGRESS: We used the short sun break to get a little vitamin D and exercise. We walked Kirby to the park and checked out construction progress there. There were two crews of workers - one pouring concrete pathways, another piecing together the play structure. I bet the place is done within 2-3 weeks - if we get decent weather! Speaking of which, good thing we walked when we did. The skies absolutely opened up not 20 minutes after our return (Here Comes that Rainy Day Feeling Again!). (Gee, hope the hard rain didn't wash out all that fresh cement at the park!)

SCARY STORIES: While CeeJ & Bee ate their lunchtime Frankenstein yogurt (the monster's mug is on the plastic tub this month), I read them a trio of Halloween-y books. Though I didn't plan it this way, all of the books ended up being about being brave in the face of things (or people) that seem scary on the surface. (I have to think that must be a common theme of Halloween books.) One of the books was lame (IMHO, Whoooo's Haunting the Teeny Tiny Ghost), one was average at best (Louanne Pig in Witch Lady) and one was very clever (The Little Bit Scary People). We read the clever one twice, and CJ wanted to make up his own Little Bit Scary People.

SECOND TO LAST SESSION: Wednesday afternoon means Befriended for CJ. He was thrilled today when I told him that he graduates next week. Truth be told, he really doesn't look forward to attending. We talked briefly about how oftentimes in life we have to do things we don't want to, but it's important to see things through to the end.

BACK IN THE SWIM: Swimming was a regular and favorite activity of Christian and the kids this summer, but the outdoor pool here in Magnolia closed after Labor Day. The trio got back into the drink tonight at the Ballard (indoor) pool, but they were disappointed to discover that Parks & Rec pool has different rules and that only bonafide swimmers can go down the slide (in Magnolia, kids can wear floatation devices and go down). Despite the disappointment, the kids got a good watery workout, and I'm sure they'll go back for more.

OVERHEARD: This afternoon Annabelle asked me to put a dandelion she'd picked in her hair. I handed her a mirror and went to fetch a barrette. From the bathroom, I hear Annabelle kissing the mirror and whispering, "Oh my god, you do look good." (Yes, that's a direct quote.) Hysterical. After I stick the flower in her hair, she glances at her reflection and declares, "Gorgeous!" (And humble, too, might I add.)

Farm Flashbacks

WRITE ON: I had the kids list 10 words that reminded them of their field trip we took to Foster's Farm in Arlington on Monday. While they wrote, I played a great song "That's How a Pumpkin Grows" by Brian Vogan. For additional musical inspiration we listened to "Knock, Knock, Trick-or-Treat" and "I'm Just a Ghost."

CORNY CLASSROOM: Since the kids spent a very memorable part of Monday surrounded by corn stalks, I thought we'd learn a bit more about the crop. Fortunately, the fine folks at the Kentucky Corn Growers Association put together some educational resources. The site says it's geared for for fourth and fifth graders, but there were certainly parts CJ and Annabelle could use. We did worksheets identifying the parts of a corn plant and parts of a corn kernel, and we read about the history of corn in what is now the United States. We learned that corn is believed to have been developed 7000 years ago by natives in central Mexico and that pilgrims would not have survived the harsh winter of 1621 if not for the corn crop that Native Americans taught them how to grow (including the advice that you plant 5 kernels with 5 herring, for fertilizer). The corn history was followed by a pop quiz, the details of which the kids had a bit of trouble with. I think it was because the history contained so much info that was new/foreign to them.

PICKING AND GRINNING: I thought it would be fun for the kids to hear "Jimmy Crack Corn," an an old Civil War era tune. I used to sing/hum that incessantly as a kid. Anyuway, I found a nice version sung and played on banjo by Brad Sondahl. Upon seeing it, Annabelle said, "He looks like my Bops!" Interestingly, according to the Kentucky Corn Growers, the song really isn't about corn at all. Rather, "Jimmy" is sleeping, and "cracking corn" means snoring. Who knew?

CHAPTER ONE: We started a new read aloud chapter book today, All About Sam by Lois Lowry. In researching a book to read to the kids, I found that teachers repeatedly reported this title a favorite of their students. The story is told from the perspective of a little boy named Sam, all the way from the day of his birth through preschool. Following Chapter 1, the kids both wanted to hear another chapter. So far, so good. ...
LET'S GET PHYSICAL: As usual, the kids got a good amount of PE today. Late this a.m. CJ decided he wanted to do sack races, so we rounded up pillow cases and off they hopped. They did several heats, and it was a good cardio workout. They also helped me walk the dog this afternoon, they both bounced on the mini trampoline indoors for several minutes, and had their weekly hour-long yoga class this afternoon.

NOW WE'RE COOKING: I decided we should carry our corn theme on through dinnertime, so before yoga we hit the grocery store for corn on the cob, corn chips, corn muffin mix and last but not least, candy corn. (At the store, Annabelle was telling any/everyone within earshot, 'We're learning about corn!') Once back home, the kids helped mix up and pour the muffin mix into tins, and I showed them how to find the ingredients label on packages. There, they found that whole corn was the number one ingredient in the baked Scoops chips, and corn meal was in the top 3 of the muffin mix. Of course, corn on the cob was 100 percent corn, and yes, even the candy "corn" had some corn product in it - in the form of corn syrup. During dinner, the kids referenced their worksheets and IDed the parts of the corn kernel using the real specimen. Nice!

MINI MARTHA: At least a couple of times a day, Annabelle will undertake an artsy project of her own volition/direction. Today, she found some bubblewrap and decided she needed to fashion a raincoat for a small stuffed dog. Somewhere she found a yogurt container cap and crafted it into a jaunty rain hat, all by herself. She also rounded up craft sticks and pipe cleaners and stated on a giraffe project tonight. She's very creative and motivated when it comes to crafting, which I think is terrific.

The Great Pumpkins

It's Monday so that means FIELD TRIP!!!

This week's destinations - a farm in Arlington, WA for Halloween-y fun, and a trip further north, to Bellingham, WA, to check out Ceej & Bee's big bro Kennedy's new digs. But first, in preparation for the field trip, on Sunday night the kids watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Man, that Lucy is even meaner than I remembered. ...

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF NORWEGIAN ROYALTY: On our road trip, we stopped at a rest stop just south of Exit 208. There, we were surprised to find an historic landmark - a stump of a Western Red Cedar. Over 20 feet in diameter, the tree used to be 200 feet tall and was believed to be more than 1000 years old. Discovered by early settlers, this tree was killed in a fire in 1893. In 1916, its top was removed and Paul Wangsmo and Ole Rodway, who cut it into three spines. In 1922, Ole Reinseth and Slim Husby used horse teams to drag it 150 yards north and set it on a concrete base. In 1939, the stump was pieced together and placed along old Highway 99. On May 27, Crown Norwegian Prince Olav and Princess Martha drove through the stump. In 1971, the stump was moved to its present resting place where we found it today, on Oct. 12, 2009. What a cool surprise at an unassuming rest stop.


FARM FUN: Next stop, Foster's Farm in picturesque Arlington, WA. (It's interesting how quickly it goes from ultra urban to very rural not too far north of Seattle. ...) Foster's was just a couple of minutes off I-5. We were the only visitors at 10 on a mid-October morning. First we checked out the produce out front (pumpkins and other squash in all sorts of interesting shapes and sizes). The kids each picked a pumpkin. CJ quickly opted for a 'classic' model - orange and round and a bit too big for him to carry. Annabelle was a bit pickier, and finally decided on a bumpy yellow squash.

Next, we made our way to Foster's small farm animal display, where CJ and Annabelle got to see some chickens and goats (including one who would pull on a rope to fetch treats you put in a can for him).

The kids also explored a small hay maze - preparation for the acres-large cornfield maze that awaited.

We were the only ones in the acres-large cornfield maze. It was quiet and pleasant and like it was made for only us. :) There were supposedly 16 Curious George related signs hidden within the maze. The proprietor warned us that hooligans had torn some down and as we wandered path after path after path, it was clear that was the case. (What was weird, however, is that we found one of the 'unique' markers - Curious George sees the Rabbits - twice. Um, doubt hooligans recreated and planted a marker in the maze ...)

Anyway, we let the kids take the lead and let them take turns deciding which way to go at crossroads. We didn't feel the need to make sure we found all of the markers and saw all of the maze. Today was all about fun. (Tomorrow we'll talk about the parts of of corn and different kids of corn and ways to prepare it and its role as a food in our land.) Although a couple of times the kids did talk about getting lost in the maze and what we'd do and we did semi-jokingly talk about how we'd be able to survive in the maze, eating the ears of corn we found, using the stalks and husks to build a hut and so on.

Thankfully ;) we made it out of the maze alive. From there it back to I5 and northward, to Bellingham. We went to check out Ken's new place. A nice old house - good bones, good light, great space. In fact, I think I might be jealous. But I digress. We all went to the Puget Sound waterfront where we enjoyed the views and sunshine. The kids played around on a play structure that was a big ship - a pirate ship in their minds - and Kirby attracted lots of attention.

From there it was on to Boundary Bay brewpub for a late lunch, and then back to Ken's for a jam session playing Rock Band, The Beatles edition on XBox 360. Here's a shot of Annabelle singing "Helter Skelter."