Pedaling

Last Friday, the second day of school, didn't start well at all. I'll spare you the details, but I left the boys at the CDC looking very grim, and me feeling horrible after a huge fight.

It only got worse for me when I got to TLC with Katrina and discovered I'd forgotten Dress-Up Day. And though I'd missed a week of work already, and though today was supposed to be my big push 8-hour day, I dropped her off and quickly drove home to rummage through old Halloween costumes, hoping I'd come up with something fast and easy. And I did, two in fact: the shiny cape she had used last year, and the traffic light costume for Gabriel when he was 4 (I think). I zoomed back to preschool, where I surprised Katrina with costumes -- a choice of two, in fact. I thought she'd go for the shiny cape, but it was a no-brainer: the traffic light.

So, on with the traffic light, a quick-and-easy slip-on vest, and back to play. I'd even put fresh batteries in it to make the red, yellow and green lights work.



I was floored to discover that she can indeed pedal a tricycle! She's been holding out on us! At home, she's refused to actually pedal, instead insisting on Fred-Flintstoning her way around, but these tricycles must be too tall or something. She loves this.




Then all the kids lined up to get ready to go inside. And who, of course, has to be different, sitting way on the end all by herself, just to make a statement?


I think I'm set for Halloween for one of them!

(still catching up....weekend "news" will have to come later, not that there's much to say.)

First Day of School

Thursday, August 20 -- a new second-grader and a new kindergartner!


I'm such a dork. I got "Class Of..." T-shirts for all 3. Naturally, Katrina wouldn't cooperate for a good group photo.


Second Grade!


KINDERGARTEN!


I took the whole day off work to be there to drop them off and pick them up (different times since kindergarten is half-day). After leaving Gabriel in front of his door, Julian and I went to look for his kindergarten classroom.



Julian's new teacher! No really...she is a new teacher to the school. She left the door open for a while, apparently not yet indoctrinated to the parent-unfriendly ways of this school. (Julian's odd posture and face in this photo is because of an itchy bug bite on his back.)


Sit down and start coloring!


Kindergarten's a big deal, but so is 2nd grade.


Gabriel has the honor of getting the teacher's first admonition of the year ("quiet now!") -- and before even entering the classroom!


Team teachers. One class, two part-time teachers. Very progressive.


Julian had some of his characteristic apprehension before class, but he was overall pretty relaxed. He's not an anxious kid anyway, but I try to be sensitive to him since his tough-cookie older brother has pre-calibrated us. Kids do get anxious about the first day of school, after all. It was a little hectic picking up Julian after class, as the poor teacher had to contend with keeping the PMers in the classroom, releasing the AMers one at a time to the anxious parents, and meantime another class was parading through her classroom to get to the lunch area.

I had to laugh when another mom, who I already know because her older son was in Gabriel's 1st grade class, referred to all the parents gathered outside the classroom as the "paparazzi." So true -- we ALL had cameras!

Yay kindergarten!


8/20/09

Before school started....

I'm way behind here...unfortunately, summaries aren't my strength. I'll try anyway.

We returned from camping early, after a small sampling of a fascinating state park that is unfortunately on California's closure list. An odd characteristic of that park is that all the attractions are man-made, including a 550-foot drainage tunnel that Gabriel and I climbed through (Julian chickened out). A forest fire and rustic accommodations chased us home early, though not before we did a little gold panning in Humbug Creek. We didn't get rich -- "humbug" is a goldminer's term for a dud resource without substantial gold.

Katrina has daycare every day this month, which I took liberal use of to do bigger-kid things with the boys in the last remaining days of summer.

First I took the boys swimming at Blackberry Farm. It's different without Katrina, since then I can go swimming with the boys, and not have to stick by Katrina's side the whole time. Incredibly, I ran into a mom there I'd met once before at a 2006 Las Madres playgroup last week. I was very glad to meet her: she too has two boys at the same school (in 3rd and 5th grades), and a 2006 girl! She's in the background in this photo, with her two boys and holding her toddler girl (who's much more fun in the water than Katrina). I can't exactly say that swim lessons have entirely paid off, but at least the boys can jump in and move around in the water with some ability and confidence.


The day before the first day of school, I took the boys to -- what else -- an aircraft carrier!

First, some research on the way.


We drove to what I think is a Navy shipyard in Alameda, where the USS Hornet is docked. It served as an aircraft carrier starting in WWII, and ended its career by picking up two of the Apollo missions in the 1960s. Now it's a museum, that you can walk through to see the original aircraft carrier, but it also has many other displays -- and a flight simulator.

No idea what these boats are next to the Hornet, but they were impressive.


The USS Hornet's bow...er, stern? Now that I think about it, I'm not completely sure which end is front.


The side of an aircraft carrier.


This isn't a parking lot...it's a boat. A floating airport.


The flight deck, where planes take off and land. And not from the same place, we learned! Takeoff is from a catapult off one end of the boat, at least for jet planes. Prop planes have more lift and don't need the catapult, but still take off from the same end.


The landing runway is angled so that if a plane doesn't catch the arresting cable, it just flies off the side and tries again, instead of crashing into everything else on the flight deck.


A few planes were stored on the flight deck to view up-close.


The "island" is where air traffic control and general guidance of the carrier occurs. The docent who took us up the 5 flights of ladders to the control room said we're seeing more of the "island" than he did in 3 years of service on this carrier during the Vietnam war. (The control room was too cramped for good photos.)


After a thorough investigation of the top end, we went down to check out the digs: the kitchen, laundry, crew quarters, hospital, even a post office. The boys weren't too interested in the lower deck but stuck out a quick tour.



We went back up to the hangar deck to check out the airplanes on display while we waited for our scheduled flight simulation (an extra I paid for upon entering).


A torpedo bomber!


Then we went inside this simulator for a "flight experience." I have a hard time believing they use this to train pilots; it was OK but pretty tame, I thought. A good flight simulation should have scared the cr*p out of Julian. I think I recall from my one foray to Disneyland 15 years ago that one of the rides (Space Mountain?) was far more challenging and thrilling, with sharper visuals and faster movement. Still, for 6 bucks each, it was a kick for little boys.


A final peek off a deck on the hangar level at neighboring ships.



We squished some pennies in a machine for souvenirs -- as a scrapbooker I appreciate a nice flat embellishment -- and bought some airplane toys at the gift shop. Because of all things the boys are interested in at a museum, the biggest attraction is the gift shop.

This was a really fun outing, and the boys -- and I -- got a big kick out of it. I love doing this sort of thing with them. These outings are ones I'd want do myself anyway, but is greatly enhanced by having them there to share it with and talk about together. How much time do I have, I wonder....when does a kid get too old to want to go with his mother to military equipment museums? Fortunately there's plenty of time to take them to a WWII-era submarine in San Francisco -- that's next!

8/14/09 All day, and not even close

INTENSE work day at home -- far more than I ever do at work! I spent a ton of time shopping for things we need for camping, laundry, gathering miscellaneous things (first aid), and the whole afternoon preparing food. I'm quite certain I've gone overboard on the food, but on the plus side, I won't need to do a lot of prep at the campsite. However, I'm planning on doing a lot of grilling, but it'll be charcoal grilling on an open firepit (no wood fires allowed). Never done that before.

Our last/only camping trip, the boys thought it was all about junk food. There were commercial-sized boxes of bagged chips, and some of the other kids started their day with Doritos. There will be plenty of junk food on our trip too, but homemade junk food.

Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near ready to leave tomorrow. Clothes, camp items, kitchen items -- not even started packing. Even the food isn't completely done. I needed two full days to do this.

Well, after the boys' swim lesson tomorrow morning, I'll get right to work, and aim for a noon departure. We'd better get to the campsite in time to cook dinner, because I've planned a feast!

Today's errands included a visit to the library to get books for the trip, and for the campsite. Thanks to the very inappropriate movies I've let the boys watch with me (Midway, Saving Private Ryan), they have a lot of questions about bombs and tanks and guns. I scored in the kids' transportation section, and loaded up on books about fighter jets, aircraft carriers and submarines. And I got a few books for the boys too :-).

Despite the heaps of work remaining, I'm turning in (after I fold 3 loads of laundry that is). I can't wait for tomorrow. We're off the air until Tuesday!

8/14/09

8/13/09 Skate day, or not

A day of ice skating...or rather, would-be ice-skating.

Gabriel went to ice-skating camp.
Julian went to the CDC, which had a fieldtrip to go ice-skating.
Gabriel's ice-skating camp had a fieldtrip to go swimming.
Gabriel wanted to skip ice-skating camp to go on the ice-skating fieldtrip.
I had a Mom's Night Out to go ice-skating tonight.

Confused yet? Just imagine me the night before, trying to get straight what everyone needs in their knapsacks for the next day!

But in the end, Julian didn't skate much. Gabriel skated a lot, he said, but not with the skating lesson; instead, he's learning hockey-skating from another kid. And I didn't skate at all. All but one mom had to bail tonight, so we'll reschedule. Bummer.

I was one of the bailers, as I spent the better part of the afternoon and evening shopping madly for our upcoming camping trip. The biggest hurdle is food, and now, in my paranoia that I not offer a bang-up menu, I'm completely confident I've gone way, way overboard. It's silly, because the kids would be perfectly living on peanut butter for the weekend.

Can I just say. Peanut butter. Here we are in Silicon Valley, dense with fabulous grocery stores, awash in a culture of fresh healthy eating, and highly aware and reactive to food allergies. Many daycares and schools around here are nut-free, or at least, peanut-free. Yet the only place I can buy soynut butter now, the most obvious alternative (and not obvious at all to kids with enough jelly), is freakin' SAFEWAY! Not Trader Joe's. Not Whole Foods. But lowly Safeway, and for over $6 a jar -- more than twice what I used to buy it for at TJ's before they discontinued it for lack of demand. What is that about? I'm going to need it for a while -- both Katrina's preschool and the boys' CDC daycare are peanut-free.

Katrina herself, however, is approaching 3, when we can finally test her with peanuts. I think the odds of her having a peanut allergy are very, very low; given my complete negligence in label-reading, letting her try things with little more than a passing glance for obvious offending ingredients (oh did that soup have shrimp in it?), and no signs ever of allergic reactions.

A packed day of packing and preparing ahead tomorrow!

8/13/09

8/12/09 Last swim class

Last Water Babies swim class tonight.

I'm happy with the progress they've made, so much so that I think it's jump-started them at the far more convenient but far less competent DACA. Since I don't dare make any other schedule changes the first month of school, I un-cancelled their Saturday 8am swim classes. Working-parent guilt can't allow me to drop everything. We'll stick it out a little longer, at least while it's still warm enough to wear shorts and sandals to the lessons, anyway.

Also, Gabriel has a goal of getting his next ribbon, and my observation that his teacher is good was reinforced today by the girls behind the desk. They might say this about all the teachers, but their praise of this particular one seemed genuine. As for Julian...well, hopefully if his new (private for now) teacher learns that Julian does know how to use his arms, maybe the teacher will fast-forward a bit.

Katrina -- swim teacher Katrina that is, not sister -- actually had the boys race today. That's the way to get them moving!

Except that poor Julian is constantly competing with his snotty older brother, who never fails to put him down. But he sure makes a try for it! Julian looks more like he's trying to throw a ball than swim.

And today, Gabriel put Julian down literally as well as verbally, in the water. I'd given him a strict instruction before we even got to the swim school not to touch Julian's head in the water at all, as he'd been pulling on Julian's swim goggles and hurting him. But that didn't stop him. In playtime before the lesson, he grabbed Julian's entire head, pulled it back, and held it underwater. Julian came up coughing and looking alarmed, and I was furious. Naturally, I kicked him out of the play area, which of course led to him calling me some foul names across the pool area. Nice. Then Gabriel held Julian's head underwater again during the lesson when teacher Katrina was fetching some dive rings. Then again in playtime after the lesson, I kicked him out of the play area for another painful offense against Julian's head. I didn't even wait to hear what it was, I just saw Julian crying and kicked Gabriel out.

Putting the boys together in the same class, and the same playtime before and after class, was a huge mistake. I'll never do that again. Even when they're not threatening each other's lives, they're very annoying and distract the teacher by messing around together.


I really liked teacher Katrina, she did a good job engaging both of them, putting up with their antics, and not putting up with obnoxiousness. Antics are fine. Obnoxiousness is not.

But, as long as I'm looking for swimming trouble, it occurs to me that with this Saturday 8am lesson thing already going, why not add one more to the mix? In October, Katrina will qualify for the "novice" lessons -- 3 years old is the minimum age for a lesson without a parent in the water. As much as I love parent-tot lessons, her feeling is not mutual, and she might do better in a class without me in it -- or even in sight. So when the swim school has a schedule for October, I might try to sign her up too.

I'd like her to have a little water familiarity -- she insists on standing right at the edge of the pool. Any child falling in a pool unexpectedly is an emergency, swim lessons or not, but having some clue how to get to the side of the pool and grab the edge affects the life-or-deathness of the emergency. In Katrina's case, it's acute.

I'm happy to say that stumbling into a pool unexpectedly probably wouldn't instantly drown the boys anymore; they'd have a shot at saving themselves if they got past surprise, shock and panic. Julian's biggest drowning risk seems to be Gabriel. (I'm still really pissed about that.)

But why stop there? I've been looking into "drop-in master's" classes for myself, which I've determined are coached swim workouts. I've always assumed they're too advanced for me, but a nearby swim club does masters at different levels, and their "Group 2" description seems to fit me fine. Hmm, maybe I should look into brushing Dave up in the water too!

8/12/09

8/11/09 The reset

Yay....we managed to go OUT to dinner tonight, all of us. Old friends in town was enough to get us all to our longtime moto-friends' Tuesday night dinner. I love that the boys are old enough now to feed there, no bringing things for them (which has been true for a while)...but Katrina still needs toddler-attention. High chairs, pacifying food, getting up a lot to deal with her whims.

Still, our plan worked: I managed to persuade Katrina to have some dinner at home first (though most of our pre-dinner time at home was spent in a full-blown tantrum), arrived at the restaurant early, ordered dinner for the boys, and got my waitressing started. Dave met us there and got his dinner started, and we were well under way by the time friends arrived. Then, by the time the kids were getting socially unacceptable, Dave was ready to whisk them away, and I got to stay and chat. And Katrina loved Louise! Louise cleverly mentioned something about a pony, and Katrina lit up.

Someday, going out to dinner won't be such the scramble...or will it? The boys weren't exactly on their best behavior, but Katrina is still the one who occupies most of my attention. These times remind me again how "done" I am with the tantrumy toddler thing. "Pick up me, Mommy! Pick UP me!"

But the real reset came at work today.

Our new director scheduled 20-minute meetings with all 10 worker-bees who work under him now, to meet each of us individually and review our areas of work. 20 minutes each, back-to-back meetings -- hardly warm'n'friendly. It's something I just shouldn't wiggle out of this time, but I have been seethingly resentful that it's on the first day of school. But the day he scheduled was inconvenient for him, so he (or someone for him) rescheduled 10 other people's afternoons....to a week after the first day of school. YOOPEEE! Now I'm taking that whole day OFF so I can be there to greet both my boys after their first day of school! On paper I can't explain why that would be so important...but it really is.

8/11/09

8/10/09 The pony

I was amused today when a teacher at TLC handed me a photo of Katrina on a pony, taken last Friday. Apparently they'd brought a pony in for rides. Or at least, pictures.

Seeing her petulant position in the photo, and knowing her usual resistance to new things, I laughed and asked how big a fit she threw about being put on the pony. "Oh no!" the teacher answered, "She LOVED it! She was so excited, and couldn't wait to sit on the pony!" I was floored. Really, Katrina? She emphasized again that Katrina loved the pony. When I asked her about it, Katrina made horse sounds and said a few unintelligible, but very excited, things about the pony.

Katrina showed Gabriel the picture, and he laughed. "Did she throw a huge snit about this?" Gabriel asked, probing for a good Katrina story. He's her biggest fan after all. He too, was shocked when I told him that apparently she took right to the animal.

Little girls and love of horses. It doesn't go away. I know it well!


8/10/09

8/9/09 Fountains

Today, I had to get out. So I took the bunch to the Y. Just weights, no Zumba, as I've wrenched my back again. (Fortunately, sort of, this particular back-wrenching is exactly opposite to the usual: I can stand straight, but can't bend forward. Impact and sitting are still bad.) I took all three to watch Zumba for a few minutes after my workout, and was delighted that Katrina smiled and marvelled at it.

But also today, the kids had to get out. So I took the bunch to the fountains, which just became operational again after a hiatus last summer. I thought we might try to get books at the library too, but it got too late and they were too rowdy.

The boys had a great time.






Katrina mostly hung out watching, refusing to get near the fountains.


At one point she ventured out, but this is the closest she'd get -- with her suit on, that is. Then she insisted I put her regular clothes back on. Whatever.


It was getting to be time to go -- Gabriel pooped out long before Julian did, who pretty much didn't stop moving. I helped Gabriel dry off and dress (he can do it himself but he's slow), then started to work on Julian.

Then what do I see? Katrina suddenly found her courage. She got closer...


....and closer --


-- still closer --


-- and then right up close and personal.


Gabriel was beside himself with laughter. I let Katrina have a few more dunks, then scooted them home for some watermelon and in theory, a nap, but I'd overshot. Instead she spent the time in her room taking her clothes off and trying on pajamas.

I like nice, simple, nearby, spontaneous water fun on a hot day!

8/9/09

8/8/09 Blue Ribbon Day

This morning at swim lessons at the "old" place, we discovered that last week the teacher really was testing Julian, and he's moved up a level!

He was SO proud of his blue ribbon, he carried it with him everywhere today.

I wish I could say I could tell that he was in a different class based on the actual instruction. I did notice that he had a different teacher and was by himself, but a different teacher doesn't mean much, and attrition on summer weekend mornings must be high anyway. And once again, he was being floated on his back and pulled around, and I didn't see any actual swimming. But, he was having a great time, he liked his new teacher. I'm almost feeling bad about having cancelled their lessons; Gabriel's doing pretty well and maybe now Julian will be more challenged (though not based on what I saw today). And Saturday mornings at 8am is a surprisingly good time.

I was toying with putting the boys in a 10-week session in another swim school, since we have a little momentum going, but I think I'll stick to hard-won wisdom from the past: don't pile on multiple schedule changes. My self-imposed MWF work schedule is tentative as it is, and it's not clear how my Tuesdays and Thursdays will go as a full-time mom who has to pick up schoolchildren smackdab in the middle of toddler-nap. I'm sort of looking forward to the problem, it's more challenging than anything I face at work.

8/8/09

8/7/09 The Meeting

Since I really have little good to say about the day, I'll grumble about the worst thing.

A 20-minute meeting was scheduled for me today with a new Director at work, someone I already don't like from things I've heard, but who holds my life in his hands (at work, anyway). Given my unusual/oddball/shaky status as a part-time contractor, it's wise to keep my visibility up if I want to maintain this super-flexible position. So of course I'll attend this one-on-one meeting with the new director, taking care not to extend my hand out of habitual greeting custom, as his faith does not permit him to shake hands with women.

But the meeting is on the first day of school. I'm almost bitter about it, though ironically, to keep the flexibility I so relish, I'd better not reschedule.

Actually, it could be worse. I want to be there to pick Julian up from his class at noon on the first day, and thanks to my flexible job, I can do that. But to keep that flexible job, I have to leave around 2pm and go to the meeting. At least I'll have met my goal of greeting my brand-new kindergartner outside his class on his first day. When I get a "real" job, which is inevitable, I won't even be able to do that.

But darnit, why did he have to pick Thursday the 20th?

8/7/09

8/6/09 Pros and Cons

Pro: Katrina earned more chocolate raisins by going #2 in the toilet at preschool.

Con: Katrina pooped in her underpants seconds after putting them back on after going #1 at home.

Con: Katrina wouldn't eat any dinner because she got her raisins before dinner.

Con: Then she soiled her next pair of underpants, barely 15 minutes later. She thinks it's funny.

Pro: Boys had a great time at Roaring Camp railroad today.

Con: They're exhausted, and their usual obnoxiousness and rudeness has greatly intensified.

Pro: I'm already so mad at them that I'm putting them straight to bed after dinner.

Con: That's going to be a big fight.

Pro: I'm going out for three C's tonight: Coffee, Cheesecake, Chatter.

Con: I still have another hour of all three. Sometimes I just can't stand myself.

8/6/09