12/27/08 Birthday Playdate

Today we had what started out as a "Hi, Helen!" playdate, that I hijacked into a birthday celebration for Julian.

Julian hadn't asked a peep about a birthday party. I'm amazed; many kids count down the minutes until their birthday party. But I just couldn't get one organized in time; I'd have had to plan it mid-November, and it was too busy a time dealing with remodeling. I might have pulled it off had it not been for the extra challenge of post-holiday timing.

So turning a playdate that Helen, visiting from San Diego, had motivated to catch up with her 2004 Las Madres friends into a "birthday playdate" was the best I could do. The timing was good, at least, it's not often Julian will get birthday parties so close to his real birthday. Next year, he'll get to choose his own partygoers and I won't be so tied up with life that I can't plan a party ahead of time. Fortunately, for most kids, "birthday party" mostly means "cake," and that, I was able to do.

As it turns out, it was a group of The Usual Suspects, a nice-sized group of longtime friends. Helen showed up looking tanned and fit, as she's training for a marathon next month.

Left to right: Sonia, Stefanie, Me, Helen, Betsy.

Interestingly, all of us are double-boy moms; that is, all of us have two boys close in age without siblings inbetween. 4 out of 5 of us had those two boys first; two of us prepended and appended not-very-girly-girl girls. All of our 2004 "babies" are boys.

I had fun preparing for this playdate/party, despite the slight schizophrenia between the two events. I didn't want anyone to feel obligated to bring gifts or be on time or other formalities that occur with "parties," though I did feel the least I should do is provide some lunch, something hostesses don't usually do for "playdates." We had a nice time hanging out, and everyone was very forgiving that I turned a playdate into a semi-party.

We caught up and yakked, the kids played (though Julian mostly followed Gabriel and Gina), and then the payoff: cake! Which suffered a serious lack of decorative inspiration, and I just copied what I did yesterday, plus an inscription.


Julian put on a good face, but I wasn't sure he had that great a time. Poor kid; he just doesn't know my friend's kids that well. I really will do better next year. I have a lousy record for 5-year-old birthday parties, though this was a terrific playdate!

Helen is unbelievable. After an hour, the family room was carpeted with toys that had occupied now-empty shelves. But this is how she insisted on leaving it.

The playdate was definitely the highlight of the day. Being parents to Gabriel and Katrina definitely wasn't. They were both nothing short of unbearable today.

Katrina cried angrily during the Happy Birthday singing, because she wanted THE CAKE! You can see her in the corner of this photo, crying and reaching for the cake, the little brat. Lucas' reaction (the little boy sitting next to her) attests to the volume level.

Then she insisted on getting the '5' candle, and threw a fit until she eventually, somehow got it.

She held off the demanding impossibleness for much of the playdate, but was exceptionally demanding, difficult to please, and extremely, obnoxiously bossy this afternoon after her nap. She's also picked up a very nasty habit from her brothers: threatening to punch me ("I'm going to PUNCH you, Mom!"), and then doing so, though the actual force behind the punch is more like a tap. Still, it's the thought that counts. By 6:15pm, Dave and I were counting the minutes until we could put the little firestorm to bed.

Then her oldest brother picked up where she left off, getting into his new semi-hysterical obnoxious giggling mode where all he does is is be destructive and laugh at everything, especially being told to stop. The only way to break him out of it is to do something severe enough to make him cry, but that can often backfire and make him angry, escalating the situation. Once again, Dave and I were suffering every minute until we could get him out of our sight. Gabriel has really been acting out lately, making us very nervous. We know well from past experience what his "phases" are like.

Julian was much better overall, but Gabriel completely hyped him up and we only got through the bedtime process by separating them as much as possible.

I focused on the positives of the day by finally, finally catching up on my food blog. It's been two months since I posted! I often stage food-blog posts, by uploading photos and putting in links to recipes, but I just haven't had the chance to really write them out. It's fun, it's like writing mini-articles, with a beginning and an end. It helps ground me, and makes me feel like a grownup. I really like learning to cook and entertain. This is something that everyone in every aspect of my life -- friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances -- will enjoy.

Now, I'd better get planning Gabriel's birthday party -- I'm already behind.

12/27/08

12/26/08 FIVE!

My boy is 5 today!

Julian obliged me with a photo, to show off his new Gap shirt from Bonne Maman and Papa Paul. A little big, but he didn't mind.


We went out to dinner early at Outback, and somehow inbetween Katrina's nonstop demands and my shrinking from frequent glances from neighboring tables, Julian asked me softly, "Are they going to make me a cake here?"

Poor kid. I hadn't said much about his birthday, but I did bake two cakes today and had some butter softening up for frosting. I was a little behind though, so as soon as we got home from the restaurant, I whipped up the frosting and very quickly decorated it. Then I "surprised" him (sort of) with the cake and singing, and we did a family birthday.

(A family birthday that was interrupted by us all getting tired of Katrina constantly demanding something and being on the verge of throwing a tantrum because those were not "MY PREZ-INTS! MY PREZ-INTS! MY PREZ-INTS!")

Julian was very happy with everything he got, ignoring Gabriel's disparaging remarks about getting books for gifts. (The little jerk; he got some books this year that he loves.)


It's not lost on me that this day might have been a real milestone for me as a mother. Five is a real threshhold, when there's no remnants left at all of toddlerhood, with school looming in the near future. Someday I will experience my youngest child turning 5. I look forward to that, though I know perhaps I might not be as happy about that as I think I will be. Indeed, Katrina insulates me from any melancholy I might have about Julian growing up. But she also keeps one of my feet in the tantrum-diaper-nap-unreasonable-toddler world, when the other foot is now squarely in little-kid world.

I am so proud and so head-over-heels in love with my sweet, precious, thoughtful, imaginative, playful, goofy, singy, genuine, happy five-year-old boy!

12/26/08

12/25/08 Merry Xmas!

We're weird. We don't get up at the crack of dawn to open presents, and our kids don't bug us to. Maybe we should, because we never finished opening them today.

One tradition we started some years ago will contribute to this materialism sloth: leaving one unwrapped gift per child under the tree, so they can jump right in Christmas morning to play with something. This year that worked against us, since the items in question required some help unpackaging, and one child insisted on asking permission first (guess who), but we did get to snooze late and make a late breakfast.

I made pancakes from a Cook's Illustrated recipe (technique, really) that I've made before, and I'm beaming proud and happy to say that Dave loves them. The kids, eh, they like pancakes period, they're not discriminating. But Dave is a tough audience, and he really likes these ultra-fluffy buttermilk pancakes. It makes me feel like a real cook when I can make a very standard dish (pancakes) and make it exceptional.

We had to get everybody outside; the boys were bouncing off the walls, so I concocted a weak excuse to go to the jobsite. We all trucked over there to measure a thing or two, pick up mail, check out test-paint...and really, just wander around. Dave and I both like doing that; it helps us see the space as a home, rather than a jobsite, and we always come away with ideas. And future punchlist items.

Despite the ideal photographic conditions and a good selection of backgrounds (despite the construction dust), Katrina wouldn't cooperate with a photo. "NO PICTURE! NO PICTURE! NO PICTURE!!"

The boys point out their favorite colors. This is a good spot in the house to test-paint colors for all different rooms, since it's lit (our house has no electricity right now), but without direct sun.


Back at The Ranch, it was finally time to open some gifts. I made up another new "tradition" this year that will expedite things: whoever's turn is next to open a gift has to throw away the wrapping of the last person's gift that was just opened!

I didn't take photos of everything, but the kids loved their gifts. Julian said, of a book of 101 Science Experiments from Aunt Stephanie, "I'm going to do all these ess-periments and then I'll be a real scientist!" Gabriel got so involved with a robot toy from Bonne Maman that he refused to open any gifts after that! So thank you Aunt Stephanie and Aunt Laura, for those lovely still-wrapped parcels for Gabriel. Leave it to Gabriel to find a new angle to gift-un-wrapping.

Katrina went about methodically pulling out each alphabetic puzzle piece from this book, loudly reciting the object's name for each piece.

Even though this was supposed to be a lighter year, there was no shortage of bounty and a sense of plentifulness. The kids loved everything, and I'm sure Dave and I will too when we get around to opening them!! Thank you all!

I was reeling from a horrible headache today, so took a nap in the late afternoon. As it turns out, that caused me to miss a phone call from my East Coast family, one I wasn't expecting at all or I'd have instructed Dave to wake me up. This is one of those consequences of living with a "migraineur" -- when they say they need a nap, they really mean it, so it didn't occur to him to wake me. I'm heartbroken I missed the call. It's Christmas! Damn these headaches.

Then I kicked into gear with one of my new favorite parts of the day: cooking. I should have prepared most of this yesterday, but...oh well. Still, with a huge late-afternoon scramble, I managed to get everyone seated at 6:30pm. Our dinner menu:

Stovetop-roasted chicken with lemon & herb sauce
Sauteed green beans with herbs
Mashed potatos
Ciabatta stuffing with chestnuts and pancetta

The first two items came from Cook's Illustrated, a very special issue to me. I just got subscribed to CI by donating to a local public radio station, and the first issue I got happened to be one that Laura & Ryan used for our fabulous Thanksgiving feast. In fact, the sauteed green beans were the same ones that Ryan made, though he did a better job of it (crisper). I'm not a big stuffing fan, but Dave is, and I'd saved the stuffing recipe from a Giada di Laurentiis show for a year. But it was my favorite item of all, it was so tasty.

I really had fun making Christmas dinner, though I was mindful of the many times my poor mother was trying to enjoy Christmas morning with us and zooming out again and again to check something in the kitchen. I "solved" that accidentally by serving Christmas dinner at dinnertime, instead of late-lunch-time, but that has its consequences too.

Then the kids got to indulge in their decoration efforts, by tearing apart the gingerbread house, and eating the cookies they'd decorated. Every year we do a gingerbread house or cookies, I feel like we just managed to squeak it in -- they're not established as traditions yet. But the boys are getting old enough to remember stuff like this, and it seems we eke it out somehow every year. So maybe these will be new traditions. That would be nice for me if they remember decorating Gingerbread houses and Christmas cookies as part of the holiday. Next year though, I'll make the gingerbread house.

First they had to endure a group photo. Katrina, clearly, was quite miffed at having to sit in my lap. But I love this picture because of the boys' expressions: Gabriel in the classic kid-fake-smile, Julian in his usual face-making mode (and oh, those lips!).


A cookie improved her attitude.


Time to take apart the gingerbread house! I think the boys had more fun making it than eating it. The cookies were much more popular for actually eating. Phew. Nice to know I can compete with a $8.99 kit from Target.




I was intrigued when a longtime friend from many years ago, who's still single (ladies alert -- I know Boston's Most Eligible Bachelor!), asked me what I was doing for Christmas. That question, until fairly recently, was a perfectly normal one. That's what you ask young adults who've moved away from their origin families. But once again in my life, where and who I spend Christmas with is a given.

And now if you'll all excuse me from this Christmas glow, I have a birthday cake to make.

12/25/08

12/24/08 A Colorful Christmas Eve

I spent a lot of time with the boys today. First, they accompanied me to the jobsite house and "helped" me test-paint and measure closets. Gabriel helped me by writing down all the closet measurements as I called them out. He takes his job very seriously, even tucking the pencil behind his ear like a real carpenter.

When I paint a test patch on the wall, their job is to take a dry brush and smooth the edges so there are no streaks. There are now patches of color all over the house! I think I have it down-pat now. The theory of using a 50% strength formula of the main color in the halls didn't work at all, so I had to try another color. Looks like the entire new part of the house, except one bathroom, will be some or other shade of muted green. I like getting the boys' opinions on all the colors, too, and though I have to keep a close eye on them and immediately nip any running games that get started, it's much more fun having them there with me.

Later, we decorated cookies. I'd made the dough two days ago and only today got around to cutting out and baking the cookies, then we decorated them after dinner. I have a system now, in which I ice a cookie, then set the wet cookie on a tray, where they sprinkle away to their hearts' content. Normally I'm very open to letting them do everything themselves, but a bowlful of drippy icing...I think I'll handle that one myself for a while.


They had a great time. Gabriel tried again and again to get perfect red stripes on candy-cane cookies. Julian's cookies were random and creative. A nice summary of their personalities as seen through Christmas cookies.

Katrina was in better shape today overall, and other than a showy dinner tantrum, she was pretty good. Tonight's tantrum was partly sparked by foolishness and stubbornness on my part. Foolishness because the cookie-baking project was in full swing -- and full view -- when she came into the kitchen, and she wanted a COOKIE, not dinner. Stubbornness because even my under-the-weather baby is not getting a cookie for dinner, not first, anyway. I finally got her to eat by quietly asking Gabriel to put the bowl of turkey burger in front of her instead of me. She has nothing to prove to him, so she calmly accepted it. When I gave it to her, she dumped it on the floor angrily, earning her one of her first at-home timeouts.

Time to go play... I mean, wait for Santa!

12/24/08

12/23/08 Christmas Eve Eve

Incredibly, I went to work today. I was absorbed in an interesting problem -- a refreshing change for once! -- when the Director walked around and kicked everyone out, around 1pm. "Go home! Be with your families!" He was right, of course. Dave was home with Katrina, who had a temperature last night and isn't eating well, but was overall in a decent mood today.

I got Katrina up from her nap today, and found her playing quietly in the crib with her baby doll. "I put diper on da baby, Mommy!" Katrina lifted the baby by the ankles as I do with her to change her. Then, "It *smells*, Mommy!" Hmmmm...maybe if the "baby" potty-trains, she'll consider the idea for herself.

I'm looking forward to a down day with the whole family home tomorrow. I think. That's a nice-sounding fantasy, but the boys have been increasingly out of control lately and Gabriel has started really acting out. My affection for a cute 2-year-old toddler suddenly skyrockets!

12/23/08

12/22/08 Rejuvenation

I love Rejuvenation. It's store, catalog and Web site that features new "old" house parts. They started out as a salvage place, and still have a huge warehouse store in Portland that Dave and I visited in 2002. Their print catalogs are full of amusing little anecdotes and bios on longtime loyal employees, and their Web site is excellent.

I had to laugh today when I went to Rejuvenation's page for doorbell buttons, where it has a little diddy called Saved By The Bell. They're very understanding: "By the time customers are choosing Door and Cabinet Hardware, they're are a bit tired....With their projects nearing an end, these folks are burning through their hell bent phase."

We're not really nearing an end, but I did buy a doorbell button today. Getting one thing crossed off my to-do list is definitely rejuvenating!

12/22/08

12/21/08 Pancake Breakfast

Today I took The Three to a long-standing annual social event put on by some longtime motorcycle friends. We join together for a pancake breakfast at a friend's house before going to the annual motorcycle show, but lots of people never make it to the show anymore. I'm among them.

I braved it with all three alone, hoping to get in a few conversations with old friends. And that basically worked. This sort of thing is much easier now that the boys are older. I gave them a stern talking-to ahead of time about wrestling, fighting, running, and jumping, though Julian got away with some furniture gymnastics. Other than some fake-clinginess (holding onto my legs and asking to be picked up, something she NEVER does at home), Katrina was pretty forgiving. No major fits at least, phew.

It helped that I invested the effort to go to Borders yesterday to get some new books for the grownup breakfast.

Felipe happily engages Katrina in a show-n-tell.

In some ways, she's easy at these things because she's not a super-curious toddler who gets into everything. In other ways, she's hard, because even if she doesn't show it, I know she's a time bomb that can make life very unpleasant for anyone within a mile's earshot if something doesn't go Exactly Her way. Fortunately, she kept the lid on and made a liar out of me.

I had a brief flash of an artistic moment here -- stripes! It was better before Julian adjusted his position, he'd been right against Gabriel.

We made a graceful exit before things got too out of control.

Back at the ranch house, Katrina is testing Uncle Ronan's footsteps in graffiti art. I spent 20 minutes tonight Goo-Gone-ing and scrubbing the fridge, floor and a few walls. No more crayons in baby's reach!


It rained this afternoon, sapping the few faint flickers of motivation I had to take the kids anywhere after Katrina's nap. I was quite happy to stay at home, give them an early dinner, and have an overall peaceable evening.

12/21/08

12/20/08 Light Show

Silicon Valley might not have snow for Christmas (usually), but we do have some really creative people who take their Christmas lights very seriously. Or not seriously at all, as these folks appear to have terrific fun with it. Two houses next to each other set up some serious lights, and then broadcast music over a radio frequency, and you can enjoy the lights moving around along with Christmas music. Their Web site is also very interesting and entertaining: synchronized music-light show.

We went last year, but Katrina was young and grumpy and rear-facing and couldn't see the lights from the car. So I took the kids tonight after dinner, and this time they could all see it. The boys' jaws were dropped, they were fascinated and thrilled.


The music you hear is on my car radio. That's Katrina in the background making some or other comment.

One thing about this single-parentness -- the kids spend a lot more time all together. I haven't decided if that's a good thing or not yet. Dave will return Monday night. That's definitly a good thing.

12/20/08

12/19/08 Parties

A day of class parties!

Even though I take Fridays off work to handle remodeling things, I turned down an offer to have a countertop installed today (instead of Monday when I'll have to take off work), because both boys' classes had holiday parties today. Some things are just too important.

I was surprised at how few moms attended Gabriel's class party. Burnout, perhaps. The very very active "room moms" organized an adorable craft, in which kids decorate a "tree" made out of an ice-cream-cone turned upside down onto a bed of "snow" (frosting), smear green frosting on the tree, and then stick "ornaments" (candy) on it. I wound up helping lots of the kids with this, and I had a great time. I really like interacting with the other kids and talking to them, and finding little ways of making them laugh or smile. They all call me "Gabriel's Mom" (ironically I have one of the hardest Mom names to pronounce) and I love that.

It's always interesting to see how different kids go about creative tasks. Many have real artistic bents, never Gabriel's strength. So I was very surprised that one of my favorites was Gabriel's. It was certainly the neatest, and that's saying a lot, since the frosting medium doesn't lend itself well to precise work.


Gabriel's class and teacher. There are two other Caucasian faces in his class, but don't be fooled, those two are more foreign than most of the others, with parents recently immigrated from Quebec and Finland. Only in Cupertino!


Next, on to Julian's school party. They start with a surprisingly well-run school-wide set of group songs. Not easy to get this many kids to stand and sing and gesture together! The teachers do a great job preparing the kids.

It was difficult to get pictures, but I couldn't resist snapping even a crummy one from a distance. Julian is very sincere about his group singing.


Then the party part. The kids had fruit and lots of cookies and a candy cane.


Gabriel scammed himself a spot at the table and started chowing down the sweets.

It must be the red shirts, but I got asked again a question I get asked with surprisingly frequency, "Are they twins?"

At the last party, Julian was the last one left at the table. This dubious distinction was met by another Doudna family representative this time!


Tonight we all drove Dave to the airport, to head for the Midwest to attend a funeral in Illinois. "Ill-ANNOY?!" Katrina asked sincerely, not realizing she was making a pretty good joke. Especially given the news from that state these days.

So I get to play single parent until Monday night. That means streamlining operations around here. One bath fits all.


Fortunately, I had some help with the washing duties.


After putting the brood to bed, I went online and bought a toilet paper holder on eBay, saving $30 to $60, depending on what you believe about its actual original price. That's what my grownup time has come to, shopping for bathroom accessories. My kid time helping first-graders spread frosting was far more rewarding.

12/19/08

The Feminist

I was reading Katrina a book tonight about The Gingerbread Man, and she pointed to a drawing of an old couple sitting on a bench. "What's THAT?!" she shouted, putting her finger on the old lady. It wasn't the best drawing.

"A lady," I answered.

"No!" she said with authority. "Issa WOMAN!"

12/18/08 The Apple of my....what?!

This evening when the kids got home, Gabriel inexplicably opened his lunch bag, and started eating his leftover lunch. Normally I don't allow any snacks before dinner, even fruit, but he got a hold of it before I saw, and it wasn't worth the fight.

And then it started another one. Katrina saw Gabriel's apple and started one of her usual insistent fits. Nothing else would do. She had to have an apple.

Well, the boys might be old enough to relax that no-snack rule, but Katrina's too young to enforce it, so I gave her a small apple, just to calm her. I wasn't about to take on apple fights with both my fighters!

I've never handed her a solid piece of fruit before, so I was surprised when she tackled the apple with aplomb. She applied her laser-focus and tiny baby teeth and buzzed through it like a caterpillar on a leaf.


A few minutes later, I was shocked to see her hold up -- a stem. A stem! That's all that was left! I've never seen anyone do such a job on an apple before!


I guess I'm done cutting up fruit.

12/18/08

12/17/08 Gabriel-proofing

Whoever invented the wetness alarm had kids like Gabriel in mind. Some alarms have different sounds or buzz frequencies, intended the kids don't get used to them and sleep through. They're not easy to shut off, and aren't that easy to take off.

But that didn't stop Gabriel last night from turning off the alarm, removing it, changing his pajamas, and getting right back into bed (with a wet sheet, ick). I went into the boys' room to take them to the bathroom around 1am, but I was 10 minutes too late. He'd already put his wet pajamas in the laundry basket and ditched the alarm onto the floor. One thing about Gabriel, he'll tell you to the minute when he woke up. After he wet the bed, that is.

Spending half my day dealing with remodeling issues is becoming the new norm. Yesterday I left work to meet with a Corian fabricator, answer numerous questions from the carpenter, painter and tilesetter. Before I left work, I was on the phone several times (not good). Today I had to drive to Redwood City to get Corian samples (the guy yesterday forgot to bring them, arrgh), then ended up leaving work again to bring beadboard and cap samples to the carpenter, and spent a good half hour working with him on how high and where to put things. The details are coming fast and furious.

The tile has been the biggest time-sink and source of angst and countless decisions and problems. Many times I've asked myself: why I can't point to a tile pattern in 5 minutes? Why can't I use one size in the whole bathroom? Why can't I use the same tile in all the bathrooms? Why didn't we do a one-piece pre-fab shower and skip the tile altogether? Why can't I just be normal?

I had my answer today looking at the nearly-done bathrooms: because that would take all the fun out of it!

Bath 1. This onyx border is beautiful; varied and full of life. Natural stone is my favorite.


Bath 2. It's great when someone else pulls you out of your comfort zone. Some of my favorite things I'd never have thought to choose myself. Ceramic? Glass? I love it. This floor is perhaps my favorite in the whole house.


Bath 3. This glass border is great -- I was nervous at first; colored glass against faux-stone porcelain is punchy and trendy, but I love it now. This bathroom is filled with strange angles and transitions; the tile guys did a LOT of cutting. This will be where the vast majority of child and smelly-teenager bathing will occur, so I wanted low-maintenance porcelain 12x12s in here. It has a shower now, which it didn't before.

That vanity -- and the order sheet -- is cherry with a glaze, can you tell? I see "espresso." I never wanted it that dark. One of thousands of things I have to get over.

A huge bright spot in childrearing has just flooded our house, like the sun pushing through after a powerful thunderstorm blowing through Montana. Katrina! She's been adorable lately, full of joyful observations, games, songs, roaring laughter and enthusiastic cheer. So much like her brother...it consumes me with pride and shaking fear at the same time. When they decide to unleash their power from the Dark Side, it's ugly. But when they direct their shining lights strength toward good causes and happy intentions, it's Utopia.

12/17/08

The Artist

Katrina got over a quickly escalating bath tantrum tonight when I showed her a little bath gel thing in the shape of a purple crayon. She liked it so much that she delayed the tantrum until it came time to get out and abandon the soapy implement, at which point she tried to bite me.

She was very funny pretending to draw in the bath with the faulty gel dispenser. "I want to color the SQUARES -- Mommy!" (tile squares on the wall). She often punctuates a sentence with a name. "It's PUH-TLE! (purple).

She scribbled a bit, then paused to admire her imaginary work. "Wow -- that's BOOH-tih-full!!" Yes, you certainly are.

12/16/08 The life cycle

Tonight I got a call from a long-lost friend -- not mine, but one of Dave's. Actually, the wife of Dave's childhood friend Michael, and the daughter-in-law of Michael's parents, who'd mentored Dave in high school. Both just died, the father today. On top of it, Michael's brother died earlier this year. A devastating time for that family. Dave is Dallas on business, and the kids were scaring up an unbelievable racket, so I couldn't talk long.

I pondered this news for a few moments as I skittered around the kitchen, trying not to ruin anything while serving Katrina's every whim and demand. Five minutes later, the phone rang again. A pregnant friend had her baby today!

It's very rare to get phone calls in the evening. But to get one about death immediately followed by one about birth is an eerie coincidence.

12/16/08

12/15/08 The Birthday Card

Julian got a beautiful hand-drawn birthday card today! He loved it and immediately set about to studying it.

I caught him just after he'd read who it was from and got him to repeat that. His smile is priceless (ok ok to me anyway, but I am his mother!)

Incredibly, he hasn't said much about his birthday, even though the subject comes up a fair amount in the context of Christmas. But when he saw this card, he said joyfully, "My BIRTHDAY!!"

Thank you Bonne Maman and Papa Paul! So nice to have artists and musicians in the family.

I heard an interesting little tidbit today, from a most unexpected source...I was chatting with Tonya when I was picking up Katrina, and she said, "So, how did Gabriel feel about being sent to the office last Friday?"

B O O M.

Office?!!!

"Ohhh, you didn't know?"

No, we wouldn't know, 'cause neither he nor his teacher said anything about it!! But Susan, who runs Running Club, saw that Gabriel, usually her most fervent customer, was missing fron Running Club on Friday. She asked Gabriel's teacher, who shook her head in frustration and didn't want to talk about it, but did explain that Gabriel was having his lunch in the office. Susan mentioned it to Tonya, and Tonya only naturally assumed I knew. And I should have.

As it happened, Sunday night, Dave commented that we need to start reading his Friday Folder on Fridays, because this one had comments that Gabriel is starting to lose "free time" and recess time because of his frequent disrupting the class (talking loudly, humming, laughing). So we confronted him Sunday night, intervention-style, unaware of the Friday office visit -- and the little stinker didn't 'fess up to that major event.

Being sent to the Principal's office is supposed to be a very big deal, especially for a first-grader, so we're really surprised his teacher didn't tell us. She probably figures she can handle it, but I'm not sure she knows what she's up against. Unfortunately, this major trump card apparently didn't faze Gabriel.

Dave and I intended to confront him about it tonight, but he got saved by the bell. At the tail end of dinner, our lights flickered and then went off completely. They went back on, then off, then back on again, just long enough for me to find some flashlights. Then they went off for good.

Katrina was shocked into silence for a few seconds, then right away started to cry. It's really dark here with no power! But as soon as I had a flashlight on and was able to find candles, she was fascinated and thrilled by the new turn of events. The boys were beside themselves with excitement to find their headlamps and really make use of them. Tonight was a pick-up-for-the-cleaners night, and incredibly, the power outage made the usual drudgerous chores of putting away toys by candlelight fun!

We had such frequent power outages at home that I had a whole box dedicated to the event, with candles and flashlights, but since we've moved, that box has been scattered and lost. Still, I dug up a few glowsticks left over from -- get this -- Burning Man '99 -- and discovered that they made great nightlights in each room, allowing us to navigate the house easily. Given all the power outages we lived with, I can't believe we never thought of this before. Glowsticks will become a permanent fixture in my next "Power Outage" box.

I had some shopping to do anyway, so drove out and was able to check out the situation. The major road connecting us to the rest of the world was completely closed in one direction, and I could see numerous emergency vehicles a ways down. The power was out for at least a mile. The major road was still closed when I returned around 10pm, but our power was back on.

With my computer up again, I sent a lengthy note to Gabriel's teacher asking her what happened on Friday, please tell us about these events, and perhaps most importantly....why is he doing this? What's going on?

The power outage caused us to skip baths, homework and a stern talking-to, but that Get Out of Jail Free card expires tomorrow!

12/15/08

12/14/08 Party time!

Today I took all three to another Las Madres holiday party -- one that was far, far too big to be at anyone's house! It was held at a nearby high school, in a community room with a fenced outdoor play area, perfect for groups of 35 families.

I'm delighted and thrilled and relieved to say that Katrina was in much, much better shape today. Playing outside with other kids, other kids' toys, and occasionally, her brothers, made a world of difference.

Gabriel and Julian leaped right into a soccer game.


Katrina and Dylan did a little running together, which is amusing since Katrina still doesn't run very well and Dylan is a lot faster.


Julian found a way around my instructions not to shove Katrina flying down a slope on a tricycle she can't stop. "Look Ma, one hand!"

Katrina found a far superior tricyle playmate, except this one flew down slopes as fast as she could herself, and quickly left her new little fan behind.

I finally was able to coax Katrina indoors (it was chilly outside!), where she reluctantly shared a seat with Julian. Besides, it was time for the musical entertainment to start!

Andy Z is a popular kids' entertainer around here. It's nice to see that he easily engages very very young toddlers and first-graders alike. Lots of kids know his songs well and were singing along.


I wanted to clap along with everyone else, but Katrina decided this was the time for a power trip and a moment of appearances. She insisted on sitting in my lap, wouldn't let me clap, sing, rock, or take pictures, or even stand up. "Sit back DOWN, MommY!" she'd demand. She even started biting me at one point. Still, I have enough working-mom-guilt that I mostly gave in to her apparent demands for attention, which I think were really just trying to control me. Eh, she needed to do that at that moment, OK.

I was very surprised to see Julian with his hand raised at the conclusion of the entertainment, even though it wasn't really a Q&A format. Andy Z had said something about St. Nick being on his way, and Julian finally pushed through and announced, "St. Nick is Santa!"

Despite Katrina's little performance during the show, overall we had a terrific time. And then Katrina was downright delightful for the rest of the day. This evening, she played happily and joyfully, interacting with us from time to time, but other times cheerfully doing her own thing, for well over an hour.

The biting thing though....not good. She bit Dave tonight when she disapproved of the bath ending, and bit me today, several times. Not in anger exactly, but not just for fun either. More like, experimenting to see what will happen.

On the other hand, an adorable new habit that's started a few days ago is singing -- a lot. Sometimes it's a line or two from known songs, other times she talks in song. I'm sorry to say that her older brother does this too -- in class, a lot. Gabriel's teacher commented in hs Friday Folder that he's now losing free time and recess time for talking loudly, humming and distracting the rest of the class.

Overall a good Christmas weekend, with yesterday's tantrum transgression forgiven.

12/14/08