Values

Last night at dinner we had the following conversation:

Elena - Mom, can we make that rice thingy? For breakfast again, it was so good!
(She is referring to a rice porridge that I bought back from GSA in Minneapolis. It was Mahnomin wild rice hand gathered in canoes smothered in heavy cream -ok, maybe not so native, maple syrup, toasted nuts, and dried fruit - get your own here: http://www.hellskitcheninc.com/all-items/porridge-kit/ )

Mom - That wild rice is actually hard to find, and pretty expensive.

Elena - They don't have it at Echo Hill? I've seen it.

Dad - yeah, but not the native kind, it's different.

Mom - It would be really cool to take a trip to Minnesota and see them harvest it and learn about rice. That would be cool! (to Jake) We should do that for sabbatical...we should travel all over visiting sustainable food sites.

Dad - and how are we going to pay for this?

Mom - we could get a full bright? Or write a book and get an advance! (spoke with authority, like one of us has ever written a book, let alone gotten an advance). Then we could rent the house to who ever is our replacements and....(extensive external mental planning)...maybe we should start saving now!

Dad - So....we either save for the kids college or go on sabbatical.

Elena - Mom, which one would you pick.

Mom - (looks away with guilt...)

Elena - You should save for college. I want to go to college.

Egan - I want a monkey riding a pony.

And there you have it folks....

2012

The grace that Egan picked out of the box for dinner tonight...


No longer forward nor behind
I look for hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.
- John Whittier


An appropriate blessing to start 2012.

We slept through the official start of the new year, tired from our December travels. Woke up and make pumpkin-ginger-cinnamon scones (times two for coffee hour at church), listened to lovely music during the New Years service, then explored a new greenway/park on the way back to Kutztown and had a picnic, home to do some cooking, dinner was (excepting olive oil, wine, salt, etc) entirely from our garden or nearby - roasted chicken with our onions, carrots, garlic, and fresh herbs, our sweet potatoes with local honey, and greens from the cold frames, house is relatively clean, kids are relatively clean, and now to bed on time. Good start to the year.

Egan turns three

For a lot of the year, it seemed like Egan was suspended it time, as our little baby. But over the last few months his transition to a little boy has become more dramatic.

Egan careened through the year literally and figuratively. One of the most exciting things about this year has been our new nanny, Rachelle, and our 2-3 day a week nanny-share with Corine. Corine is 6 months younger (and 5 lbs heaver and 2 inches taller!) than Egan and the daughter of one of the biology faculty who started with Jake and I. Rachelle and Egan have a very special and close relationship. He loves to see her arrive and she has an excitement for adventures (like running after the recycling truck to chase it down the next alley and going down the 'big slide' at the 'big park') along with the usual trips to the library and around town. Egan and Corine are good buddies. They love to play together (with the expected 2-3 year old tiffs) and Egan often asks if 'Corine come today?' Their favorite past time is loading up the stroller and push cart with all types of toys and running around in a circle while playing the recorders. If you can call it 'playing the recorder.' It's true, we can't pay Rachelle enough. She has tried to hide the recorders (somehow we have 4 - please note do not buy us anymore!) but if they can't find the recorders they improvise by yelling, banging cymbals, or playing the musical cards from Grandpa Dwaine.

Aside from running in a circle making noise, one of Egan's other favorite things to do it sit quietly and read. He loves to have his stories. He listens to stories for probably a couple of hours a day between Jake and I, Rachelle, and his private storytime coordinator, Elena. He prefers anything about trucks, trains, or vehicles. He also loves the whole 'If you give a ____ and _____ series (like if you give a mouse a cookie)', a book about some ill mannered but charming wolves called 'The Scallywags,' and anything by Mo Willems. In the summer he also really enjoyed hearing chapters from Stuart Little that Elena was reading this summer. He loves the library - he likes story time, but loves his book check out time. Elena has even secured special permission from the librarian to bring an extra book home for Egan each week and she carefully selects something for him each time.

Egan still loves trucks. It's like that boy was born at home on purpose to ride in an ambulance as his first activity. He knows all kinds of truck names (and by association so do we, Rachelle, and Elena). I now know facinating truck facts like how many baffles are in your standard tanker truck and in detail how they apply paint to a fire truck. When Egan sees a truck, he never says 'truck' he says, 'ladder truck,' 'bucket truck,' or (and this is my favorite) 'impact hammer!'

Egan's play has really developed over the past year. He is very much into imaginative play. Unlike his sister, who preferred to BE the play (ie, be the doctor, play waitress), Egan prefers to be object oriented. He will line up animals like a farm, his trains talk to each other, the people driving trucks and load stuff up. He is able to play on his own for long periods of time (up to 30 minutes is standard when he's in the right mood) in this way. He also still like to play with the kitchen - talking to himself as he enters his own world. Egan has little interest in arts and crafts or drawing and writing. In the last few months, he has become more interested in playing with stickers, but mostly he only likes drawing when it means he can spend time with Corine or Elena. He does not often seek out his crayons and paper (always out on the small table in the dining room) out. He is more likely to rip up the paper and carefully insert it into the 'paper' section of his playmobile recycling truck.

Egan's language has exploded. He now speaks in paragraphs and can keep up with Elena (which is saying something!) when he puts his mind to it. It seems hard to believe that a year ago I was worried because he wasn’t talking. Now he has taken off like a rocket. He loves to talk on the phone or skype with his grandparents.

This summer, Egan’s parents finally moved him out of his crib into his big boy bed. He loves to cuddle in there and have his stories and play. He still uses a paci, but only at nap and night time. He is mildly aware of potty training stuff, but not really that interested. We’ve started with some stickers, but nothing more. He still takes a ~1.5 hour nap every day and that little boy loves to sleep in! He goes to bed at 8pm and will sleep until 7 or 8 on the weekends when we aren’t up. He likes his morning cuddles and isn’t exactly at his most perky first thing in the morning. But he is a big cuddle bear...he loves his time with snuggles whenever he can get it - Mom, Dad, Sister, his perfect morning is stories and cuddles from each person. This makes getting out the door for work a little challenging, but it is very sweet.

He has started to experience the tantrums and frustration of getting older. Sometimes it is hard to wait for things. He has less patience for things like dinner time and waiting for blessing (or waiting for anything) than I recall Elena at this age...but he isn’t in daycare, so that makes a difference.

Egan’s year of adventures included Nana, Big Opa, and Brayden at Thanksgiving. Christmas was in Austin and full of lots of adventures. The summer included a repeat trip to Mexico...where swimming lessons paid off and he waded into the ocean enjoying the warm water and playing in the elaborate sand castles that Poppa built for him. Then it was up to the lake for a week, enjoying Red Camp. Elena stayed behind, so Egan got to be an only child for two weeks in August. A big part of the year was having Auntie Jo nearby in Philly to visit on weekends and kitty sitting Isis her cat.

With a sense of adventure, virtually no fear, and a very loving heart, Egan is running full speed into 3 years old!

Elena is 7!

Elena has cruised through her 7th year. It was a busy summer. In May, right after her birthday, we flew to Scotland for a trip to celebrate Richard & Dinny’s 40th wedding anniversary. She had a great time and was in her element traveling and being by the sea. Then, after school ended, Gram & little opa came to visit.

First grade is going great for Elena. At first she was very apprehensive about starting 1st grade. Leaving her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Patton, was very hard. She loved Mrs. Patton (really we all did). Elena visits Mrs. Patton almost every day on the way out of school - their close relationship continues. But after her initial apprehension passed, she really settled into 1st grade. In the beginning, the change from the creativity and freedom on kindergarten to the increased structure of 1st grade was difficult. But as the school year continued, the chance to work on projects, be in reading groups, and have a math buddy made up for some of that change. Mrs. Stump developed some interesting projects, like making a poster about an animal (Elena picked the ostrich). Elena really grew with her reading during 1st grade. She is reading books like the Clementine to herself. She still really enjoys being read to and we are almost finished with the Laura Engalls Wilder series. Elena is adding ‘doubles facts’ (like 12 + 32) on paper and can do a fair amount of problems in her head. She enjoys math and is allowed to play extra math games with another little boy in class when they finish their work early. She is ‘second best’ in math, almost always losing to Dennis, but relishes when she can outwit him or finish more quickly. Her writing has become more expressive and complex. She wrote several long, complicated stories throughout the year. Her spelling was very good (unlike her mother) and her handwriting was a struggle (like her mother!). We appreciated the high standard, especially in reading/writing, that Mrs. Stump held Elena too. Each reporting period the bar has been raised.

Elena got to be close friends with several kids over the year, including Sophia and Lexi. She also have become good buddies with Dennis. Dennis is from China, so Elena can help him with some words and, as mentioned above, Dennis gives her a run for her money at math. Mrs. Stump reports that Elena moves between the different ‘groups’ of kids with ease and doesn’t seem to have one specific set of friends. Elena has also stood her ground with regard to some hard teasing by the class ‘cool kids’ and we are proud of her for how she handled that situation (see the blog entry on Nellie Olson). For all of her desire to be with friends, she still craves some isolation and alone time. When she doesn’t get it, she get upset and can start to have some anxiety come back.

Elena is very into making ‘big plans’ like opening up a flower shop from the garden she will plant, or saving up all her money to buy a swing set, or starting a bake shop. She will talk about these kinds of things for hours. As always, she favors role playing games (especially when she can be the authority figure) and will play teacher to imaginary students in her room for hours. With her friends, they often play school, hospital, or restaurant. We were able to channel some of these ‘big plans’ into Odessey of the Mind - a competition when students use creative problem solving. This year she participated in the non-competitive primary division and had a very good time.

Emotionally this has been a much calmer year for Elena. The anxiety that accompanied her last year, following our move to Kutztown, has been under control. She has worked hard, and so have we, on helping her express her feelings in constructive ways. Elena can still struggle with being overwhelmed, but this happens less and less now. Physically, Elena has become a little more adventuresome and outgoing. She has continued with swimming lessons through the year (taking a break in the fall) and is now able to swim about 10 meters by herself. She exhibits confidence in the water now. She spends her days often running around the back lot with Kelly and Zeb and Cailyn. It seems along time ago that she was timid and wouldn’t go off and explore on her own. She remains very verbally expressive and still has an exuberant flamboyance when dressing. Mainstream fashion has yet to make an impression.

It is apparent through her writing and introductions that one of the primary ways that Elena identifies herself right now is as a sister. She and Egan remain extremely close. He calls her ‘sister’ and she calls him ‘brother’ or ‘buddy.’ While he does annoy her; and she bosses him, for the most part they are very loving. She will patiently read him stories time and time again. They like to cuddle and also play games, like matching or Operation together. She will help him when he needs something opened or fixed.

The year started for Elena with a family trip (including Jake’s parents) to Scotland. And I was reminded that embedded into her being is that 2 year experience of traveling when we lived in the Netherlands. Given how much she can be upset by small changes at home, it is amazing how much she embraces traveling. Being in Scotland with her was a great joy. We took a family of 4 vacation to Mexico in the summer as well...to truly relax and celebrate our first year in Kutztown. Elena, fresh from her swim lessons, floated for hours in the calm ocean waves. Christmas meant a chance to return to Austin to see Gram and little opa and have a warm holiday.

It is dangerous to make predictions about your child...I don’t want to imprint my own desires (except that she is happy) onto the life in front of her. That being said, I have two predictions about Elena. One, she will live by the sea. In Scotland, she would sit on the rocky beaches and watch the waves with the cold wind of the North Sea whipping in her face. In Mexico, she floated in the warm water and I wondered if, like her father and I, this was the first time in over a year she had truly relaxed and let go. She will beg to go to the beach for vacation. The second thing I predict is that if she chooses to get married one day, she will wear pink cowboy boots.

Until then, she moves forward into her next year...7 is supposed to be a lucky number!

Another start to the new year...

Once again, we'll try again to be better about updating our blog! Let's see how long this lasts this time. Per last year, I'll start by posting Elena and Egan's birthday letters, which I wrote for their birthday in 2011.

Hook'em

Egan is ready for summer...in his longhorn digs!



And he is showing off his latest skill - jumping off the ground with both feet. He plays bunny, jumping all over the house.

Sandbox

One of our late winter/early spring projects was to make the yard a little more kid friendly. We've got lots of space, but not much play stuff. And with no fence, it is easy for Egan to 'get away.' So we decided to build a sandbox for the kids and put up a partial temporary fence. Partial in that it wraps around the side of the house were you can't see from the kitchen window and prevents Egan (theoretically) from running into the front.

First the sandbox went in...Before that could happen - I had to move a whole suite of bulbs that were planted by the original owners. You can't really tell in this picture, but it was bitterly cold that day! So much for spring.


Jake made the sandbox out of a whole sheet of plywood for a lid with 1x12 sides.



The inaugural dump of sand.



Almost full and very popular!