the sleppys

The sun is setting earlier, so the children are in bed by 8pm. Venus comes out in the morning, and it’s cool enough outside to want to go see it. If we go out early enough we can see Orion just above us. We go for a walk after our morning television shows. The heat isn’t as tormenting as it was a few weeks ago. When I come home early from work, we have enough sunlight to play in the backyard under the shade of a 50 foot tall Royal Poinciana.

It has been raining acracklin’ and thunderstorming lately. The air is humid, so the compost bin is too wet. We need more dead and dry stuff in it. The fruits and vegetables that Dad has been juicing ends up in the compost bin, but all that is orange, yellow, and red – fibers that still have life. Our rainwater collection is full. We have been blessed with a small pond in the dark corner of our backyard. Dad opened a forgotten bin, and out jumped a small frog. Taking a closer look, he found five other frogs gripping to the textured paint that was sprayed on the inside walls a few years ago. Apparently, they have been living there since they were eggs. We didn’t catch the frog that jumped out. Two other frogs worked their ways to freedom. I worried about them because frogs need water. Heavy rains that came that night, so puddles that were formed. They’ll be okay: There is a canal in every direction.

I printed out the state’s standards for Kindergarten in English, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Without a curriculum, I end up giving Ty lessons that are too advanced even for his brainy self. Now I have goals (i.e. knows the effect of sun and shade upon the same object). I can do that. And I can guide a child to learn that. Today in Math we measured the height of objects using nonstandard concrete materials. “How many apples tall is this book?” “How many bottles tall is the refrigerator?” He had a little bit of trouble at first because he’s only ever measured using standard materials such as tape measure and measuring cups. Ty is stubborn to try a new concept, but he understands it quickly and makes it work for him.

Now he has to use the computer to play some math games at PBS Kids:
Help Curious George Calculate How Tall

Taylor has been waking up at 5am, asking to be let out of her crib. I would ignore her, but she’s too loud. (In the middle of some nights, she stirs a little too loudly but goes right back to sleep). But lately, it’s like she’s ready to start her day. I go in and give her a bottle of water. I tell her that it’s still time for sleep, but she shakes her head and says, “Out.” Most mornings, I take her out, walk with her around the house, pour water in her bottle while she stands with me in the kitchen, and lead her back to her crib. She’s usually tired by then. Some mornings, I just give in and nurse her on the couch. This morning, I wanted sleep. I went to bed too late the night before, so I required one more REM cycle. I took her out – just like she had asked – and went back to sleep. She didn’t cry. I heard her telling me to “Up” while she stood next to my bed, but I ignored her. She fell asleep on some blankets where she was standing. I guess she’s the next one to sleep in our room.

Ty started sleeping in our room, on a futon mattress on the floor, when he was 18 months. He would wake from night terrors and run into the living room, screaming. Kyle was never one to sleep with us. He gets out of bed at night and walks himself to the couch, however. Ty stopped sleeping in our room when we moved, two weeks after he turned three. Now I find him on the couch with Kyle when I get up in the morning.

Sleeping through the night is nonexistent in my home. Well, that’s not true. Every once in a while, when I’m really, really good, I get to sleep without interruption.

1 tablespoon powdered cocoa
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
2 slices bread

Mix cocoa and honey in small bowl until creamy, like melted chocolate. Stir in peanut butter. Taste it. Taste it again. Take a spoonful. Eat the whole thing by yourself while your children watch. Give the two boys the slices of bread.

-OR-

Mix cocoa and honey in small bowl until creamy, like melted chocolate. Stir in peanut butter until mixed well; will look like mud. Make a sandwich with the bread. Be sure to save a little bit for yourself because the stuff is really good!

This morning, the kids and I went to McDonald’s – again – for our fun, air conditioned time. My friend, uh… Blaire… called me earlier in the week to set up a playdate, so we agreed to meet up at the Mickey D’s with our children. Well, she has only one girl who turns five early next year whose name is… uh, Karen.

I’ve never been on a playdate before. It’s not like being on a romantic date. We ate Egg McMuffins and drank coffee while keeping the children under control and their voices down. We sat at the Play Land™ tables, and the children ran up and down the huge plastic tubes. Ty and Karen came down after a while and told me that Taylor was eating garbage. Garbage? Ugh. I climbed in the tubes to catch Taylor. There was more space to crawl from the last time I was in there – of course, I was eight and a half months preggs that time, and Kyle had gotten lost up there. In the middle of one tube, Taylor was spitting out some pecans that some nasty mother’s nasty kid had left behind. Plastic eating utensils were strewn all over the place. Good grief. I asked Ty to get me some napkins. Waiting for him was a complete disaster: A new child’s face kept appearing, followed by its small body, squeezing itself between me and the side of the tube. I kept hold of Taylor’s hand so that she wouldn’t get away; I had to clean her face, too. I was finally delivered the napkins and did a quick clean-up of the area. I thought it would be a good idea to clean-up any other garbage in the tubes. I felt like roughage. Gross. I went down the slide and threw the garbage away. Playdates are nothing like romantic dates.

I don’t think we’ll be visiting McDonald’s anytime soon.

Karen started getting tired, so Blair said that they were going to go. Someone said something about a park, and I heard a great commotion of whoops and hoorays. Huh? It’s past noon! I’m not going to any park!

After picking up bottles of water at the house, we arrived at the park before 12:30pm. No sign of Blair and Karen, so I thought that they might have needed directions. She called me to tell me that Karen decided to stay at the house when they went to pick up water. It must be nice blowing people off. She sounded pretty unbothered by it. Then again, she probably feels the deepest guilt. It burns her throat. But maybe not. You’d think that people know their kids enough to anticipate a need for a rest. I can understand the fear of a tantrum at the park. I can’t understand agreeing to something that you have no intention of fulfilling.

ANYway….. Ty quickly acquainted himself with a group of older children who were trying to spin on some slanted spinning circle. He later played in the sand, pretending to be a bulldozer. Then he made a forest of twigs and leaves and pretend that a pebble was a car. Kyle and Taylor rode the tri-seesaw. I couldn’t sit on the third end because I would have put everyone off balance. So I sat on the center platform and swayed the crazy thing back and forth. Kyle pretended to be Link riding Epona. Taylor started singing “The Wells Fargo Wagon.” So the three of us sang.

And sang.

We sang seven the songs from The Music Man. We sang “Do-Re-Mi.” The other kids in the playground were looking at us, smiling. Parents were staring at us. But I sing well, so I know that their staring was not because we sounded bad.

We sang the Little Einsteins theme. Some kids were trying to sing along. We sang it again, but I sang the “dum daddle dum” parts of the orchestra. We got tired of singing and sat on the benches. Kids didn’t stop coming up to us, smiling, waving, asking for autographs (just kidding!), and trying to be friendly in general. Next time we go to the park, we’ll take our musical instruments and put on a concert.

Happy September!
Please forgive me. No posts in over a week.

On with the show!

On Thursday, Dad had to get busy with pencil pushing and paper filing, so I took the kids on a field trip to the library. Dad gave me two dollars (which was the only money that we had in the house, and we had to keep the money in the bank IN THE BANK!) to do some shopping, dining, and overall fun stuff. I got to keep the change.

We went upstairs to the grown-up section of the library, where I never take the kids, but I really wanted to see a book on gnomes. The three of them loved,

.·:*¨¨*:·. *LOVED* .·:*¨¨*:·.
looking through the glass wall of the second floor onto the street and the mall opposite the library. We spent 20 minutes quietly commenting on how tiny the cars are and whispering to each other, “Hey! We have that car!”

Downstairs, in the children’s section, Taylor, Ty, and I looked through the gnome book and a book on Arthurian romance while Kyle sucked his thumb and stared at the ceiling over by the picture books. A pair of tween boys came in and walked straight to the 500 section. They were really quiet, speaking in whispers, and finally made their selections when their, I suppose, mother told them it was time to go. They are really late for school. It’s almost 11 o’clock, I thought. But I am often asked by strangers, when we are out and about, if preschool had been cancelled.

With two whole dollars, I had a lot of options on how to feed the children their lunch. Of course, we went to McDonald’s because they have dollar cheeseburgers and a free “big slide”. It was very quiet being the only people at the Play Land™. We didn’t go in until we finished sharing two burgers, which curbed the hunger for the next couple of hours. I discovered that it is impossible to get hungry children to eat if there is a slide right next to them. When I started feeling hunger pangs again (I wasn’t running around), I thought it would be time to go. Kyle announced that he had to use the bathroom just as he was (accidentally) relieving himself. *sigh* It was time to go home anyway, so, hey, no big whoop.

When I was young, my mom used to take us outings very similar to this one. My brothers and I would have such a great and marvelous time with only my mom (family outings that included my dad were a bit different, more formal). We still had to maintain our composure and politesse, but we were allowed to get our feet dirty and our faces wet. I hope that these outings will put a happy imprint on the children’s memories.

On Friday, Ty kept asking me to ask Dad to give me money so that we can go on a field trip again. Today, Dad obliged, and we did the same thing: up the stairs to look out the glass wall, down to the children’s section to read “Highlights for Children” magazine, and to McDonald’s for burgers and slide. There were more people around and traffic was heavier because it’s the weekend, but it makes the kids so happy to play with other children. I don’t like too much socializing in the library: I’m from the Old School of Thought whose library motto is “Shhhh.” But at the park or the McDonald’s slide, it’s a different atmosphere with different rules.

Today, some bigger kids went to the slide after we had been there for over an hour. Yep, that means that it’s time to go.

Left to right: Ty, Kyle, Ronald McDonald.

We are advocates of barefootedness but not in restaurants. The children are without shoes because it’s in the rules of the Play Land™.