Karaoke from Hell

After a day of too many work tasks and too many mom tasks, it ended with a bang.

I had a good time at PubQuiz with my mom, sister and friend Rachel, and on my way home was invited to see a friend of a friend's band as they were being filmed for a documentary. The band was Karaoke from Hell, and apparently they play every Monday night at Dante's. From 10pm-2am. The premise of the band is that they have people up and sing karaoke style fronting their live band. They have a list of hundreds of songs they can play at a drop of a hat. The band was great, and even more amazing were the people who got up to sing. A crazy variety of people including a dude who played an electric cello that had no belly to it - only the long fingerboard piece, and an old ONE ARMED biker named "Lefty" who played harmonica. The guy in the photo was a doppleganger of our friend Justin from California, and rocked hard to Ace of Spades.

It was so entertaining to watch such different and talented people come on stage and sing so well. And so much more entertaining to watch them backed by a live band. It also felt a little like breaking the rules to be out so late on a "school night."

Teach your child to read with M&Ms

DaVinci was always passionate about books. From 9 months old, looking at books has been her favorite hobby. When we started to teach her to read just before she turned three, it was easy peasy. She so desperately wanted to read that she worked really hard, and all of the hours of looking at books seemed to pay off. Within 4 or so months, she was a full on reader.

Little D has been a bit harder. He likes books and loves to be read to, but equally loves to make up stories or to be told made up stories. This is also wonderful - it is fascinating to hear what is going on in that little (well not so little) head. When either parent takes him up to bed, he asks for a "Story from your mouth" which means something we make up, typically featuring Prince D and Princess S (although in the last month, DaVince has asked to be called Madame Knight DaVinci in stories... which is totally awesome).

I love telling stories, but appreciate the power of a kid being able to read a book anytime they want. I started working with him on reading last summer and it was rough. He got tired very easily, and didn't want to stick with it and try hard. Because he does not have the same passion about books, the end prize of reading was not exciting enough for him. We had a sticker chart, and gave him a small prize every 10 reading lessons. Not enough. So we took a break.

In the last couple of months, he has become way more interested in books and letters, and so I thought I would try again, but with a new plan... Candy. Now, we put 5 M&Ms and 5 Jellybeans in a cup in front of us. As we go through the reading lesson, if Little D starts to fuss, I eat a piece of candy. Whatever is left at the end is his. The first lesson I ate two candies, the second I ate one and since then, nothing. He is excited to do the lessons, and he is very conscious of not fussing - something we could use in the rest of our interactions with him. And his reading is totally taking off. I finally believe that he may be a reader in the next few months.

I know it is not important to teach him to read this early. I know that if he goes to kindergarten not reading that he will learn (and much more quickly than now!). But I feel like teaching a child to read is like giving them a superpower, and selfishly, I like working to bestow that power onto my kids. Reading is awesome, and I can't imagine Little D having to wait 2 more years to read on his own.

PS - the book I swear by (pictured above) is "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons."

Working at Dragon Planet

Zach and I got a ton of work done this morning... From the comfort of Dragon Planet. I posted about this place on MLK day, and here we are again. With Zach in grad school and working 40 hours a week, he is constantly working or studying. I am heading into my busy season at work, so there is always more work than I can get done in my 20 hours at the office. And of course, now I have a blog to keep up on too. So, here we are, working away. I wanted to invite friends to come and play with us, to sit and chat while our kids play. But no, we decided to get work done while the kids were occupied so that we can spend the afternoon with them. Now home to unpack our new treadmill!

This one goes out to my mother

Meet the upgraded version of the kids' bikes - now with sails.

My mother is not super comfortable with our SE PDX lifestyle. She spends a lot of time worrying that something bad will happen to one of us, and then we go and do things like have them bike on the sidewalk at breakneck speed as we jog to keep up with them. I get this, and I share some of her fears, and yet... I keep them as safe as I can, and teach them to watch for cars, stop and wait for us at corners. I keep my eye out for cars coming down the road to make sure they are not pulling into a driveway. I am constantly vigilant. I know that bad things can happen even while I keep and eagle-eye out. But I also know that bad things can happen while we sit at home doing nothing at all, or while we drive in our car to a park where they can ride without fear of driveways.

And I love these rides. The kids get along and laugh, and Zach and I get to be together, admiring the strength of our kids as they make it up a steep hill, cringe as Little D careens back down the hill with his feet high off the ground. My mother knows how much we love it, and so instead of sending me articles about kids getting run over, she bought us the flags you see above. They are HUGE, and they serve three purposes: 1) They provide an interesting balance challenge for Little D as they sway in the wind and counteract his movements. 2) Flying over 6 feet high, they give a good heads-up to people passing by in cars to watch out. 3) They are a constant, not unpleasant reminder from my mother not to dare let my guard down, even for a second. My mom and dad see our kids almost every weekend, care for them while we get some adult time, and love them to death. I appreciate how important grandma and bubba are to my kids' lives, and how important the kids are to grandma and bubba's lives.

Rock N Roll

It was nice out today after school, so we stayed to play on the playground for about an hour, and I got a glimpse into DaVinci's recess antics while little D was off playing with a friend who used to go to his school. She started out by herself, rolling a small rock down a hill to some imagined target. She would adorably stick out her tongue, roll the rock, pump her fist and say "Yes!" as she ran down the hill after the rock. She was quickly joined by a couple of girls in her class who played a few rounds of Rock Roll with her. Then they all ran off to rescue a boy who was "trapped" by another boy, and then DaVinci came back to play a few more rounds by herself. I love this about her. I love that she is both easily able to play with others, but is also completely comfortable by herself. I hope she can keep both of these skills throughout her life. 

The New and Improved DaVinci

I love my daughter. There are SO MANY things that have always been awesome about her. Too many to list here. My list of not awesome things is remarkably small, and in the past month has been reduced by one major one - EATING. DaVinci has been a picky eater since starting on solid foods. She used to gag and even throw up on the slightest chunk of tomato in tomato soup. She used to chew on bites of scrambled eggs for minutes, until they expanded as they became saturated with the saliva in her mouth to the point of gagging. Difficult. She hated beans. BEANS! The girl does not want to eat meat but she won't eat beans.

And then, suddenly, like a beautiful spring day after a long grey winter, she changed. This girl of ours now eats almost anything. She will try whatever you put on her plate, and will eat a decent enough amount that we don't have to argue with her. This includes Eggs! Beans! Pasta sauce - with tomato chunks! Those of you reading this who have known DaVinci for years (which I guess is probably most/all of you) will know what an accomplishment this is. I remember a time staying with our friend Titian in California when Davinci was probably 1ish. Davinci was eating in the highchair, and started to gag on something. I paid no attention, because she always gagged on everything. Before I know it, Titian is flying across the room, flinging the highchair tray away to rescue DaVinci by giving her a baby heimlich. She moved so fast that I think Titian had her out of the chair before I could tell her that was just how DaVinci ate. Or as the Griswold's say "That's just the dog, yakking on a bone."

I am proud of all the accomplishments and developments that both of our kids achieve. But this one, the one where we just eat food? Not just our favorite, limited array of food, but whatever food is provided to us? Maybe the most useful.

Ahhh Portlandia

 I am still learning the tricks of dog ownership - for instance, I still don't know what time the switchover happens between middle school field and dog park madness. Apparently 3:45 on a Tuesday is the wrong answer. Fortunately we went and got the neighbor's dog for some backyard mini-park madness. Walking home from the dog park after an unsuccessful attempt to park the dog I spotted the "vehicle" above. So the photo is of, well, I have no idea. The barrels which serve as wheels are lined with treads, there are handlebars, a bell, what might have been part of an engine. My mysterious object comprehension ability reached max capacity well before I fully understood this crazy thing. And yes of course here it is, parked on the street 3 blocks from my house in the middle of crazy Portland. Once you live here for a certain amount of time you expect ALL of the horse hitch rings on the sidewalk to have tiny plastic horses tied to them. The place is charmingly whack-a-doodle.

In other news, the chickens love their new extended run, and Maybelle is growing back her feathers.
Also, I just discovered that one of the guys who does radiolab has a blog. I love it.

E-Adventures past and present

DaVinci is super fun to hang out with. She is wicked smart, has a great sense of humor, and can walk a good distance without complaining. One of the things we are having a great time with right now is a videogame called SimAgents on the Wii. It is a fun game with a good mix of puzzles, mini games, funny dialogue, and cute costumes. She controls the main controller, and I use the nunchuck for moving the character around. It is so much fun to spend time with her playing a game so cooperatively with her.

One of the best parts about it is that it takes me straight back to the mid 80's, playing games with my dad. We had a Tandy Computer, which at the time was very fancy. On floppy disk we got the game King's Quest (and its sequels). The game was so much fun, for many of the same reasons I like SimAgents. I clearly remember my dad laying on the floor next to the computer desk, head propped up on pillows. I was in the office chair, controlling the game. Each time you left one screen for the next (using, of course, the arrow keys... at this point there was no mouse) you had to wait about 2 minutes for the next screen to load. This was time for my dad and I to hang out. I never remember talking as much with my dad as I do during those games. We drew maps of the land to help us get around (with two minute per screen loads, you did NOT want to get lost) and only sometimes had to use the hint book - which came with a yellow marker that would make the hidden hints visible.

So many people have a gut reaction to video games, and say that they are only bad. I understand that unchecked kids can make bad decisions (as they can about almost anything). But the experience and memories I have of time spent with my dad in front of the computer, and the good times I am now sharing with my daughter are only enriching our lives. The game is one of many many things I do with my daughter, just as Kings Quest was only one of the many things I did with my dad, but it is without a doubt, a good thing.

Polygamy and far away lands

Little D and I got married today. He told me we just needed to give each other a smooch on the neck, and that he is working on our rings. What a cutie. Z says he remembers getting married to his mom too. What is it about these boys - so sweet and huggy and kissy, and then at some point during adolescence it leaves... I am sad just thinking about it. But then again, do I really want 13 year old D wishing he could marry me?  

Other than our quickie wedding, Z and I spent much of the day cleaning the house and finishing the chicken run. Our big outing of the day was a scuut bike/scooter ride to the playground. Very exciting stuff people. 

I am aching to travel and am therefore trying to plan out a few family excursions in the coming months. If we get our passports in time, we may try to head up to Canada for Spring Break. This summer I would like to do a few camping trips. But what I REALLY REALLY want is to travel to Europe. I would like to go with the kids, but know that they are not ready for a trip like I would want to do it, and it would not be worth the cost of them going (yet-eventually they will be awesome travelling companions). When we applied for the passports, Little D asked what they were for, and I told him they were our tickets to far away lands. We spent the next couple of hours talking about what kinds of lands we would visit. We talked about snorkeling, going to the desert, visiting castles, cities that you have to travel through by boat, etc. Every time we came up with a new place he added it to his mental list (which was an invisible list he put marks on and stored in his mouth). The only place that he refused to put on this list was visiting an active volcano. Can't say I blame him (although I would like to visit one). 

Chicken Run

And I thought we would have to wait months for a sunny weekend day to get the chicken run expansion built. But here we are, with a beautiful sunny January day and no other things on the agenda. It is hard to see in the photo, but there is mesh netting above the run to keep the chickens from getting out. Next free sunny weekend I would like to paint the chicken wire black to help it blend in a little better. Hopefully this will give the chickens a bigger area to hang out in so that Gertie doesn't pluck and then eat Maybelle. Now the dog can have the yard and the birds will stay in their coop and run. This also has the added bonus that there will be only one species of poop to clean out of the main yard area, and that Tashi will come inside with better breath.

Before we started the chicken project, Tashi and I went to the dog park for the very first time. We have a REALLY big off leash area 3 blocks from our house and it is awesome. Lots of super nice people and dogs, and Tashi is in heaven. Filthy, dirty heaven.

DaVinci the Time Traveller

Half of the kids in DaVinci's class walked out with these taped together "vests" today. DaVinci made them all. For anyone who wanted them. But here's the really funny part. I heard other kids saying to their parents "DaVinci made it. Its my armor." When I asked DaVinci about it in the car, she said "Well, I told people that its armor, but actually they are time travel vests. They let you blend in to any time period." I asked her why she told the kids that it was armor, and she said "Well you can't just tell everyone about time travel. Its kind of a secret. You can only tell the people you want to join in the time travel." This is what my daughter does at every recess now - time travel with a group of 6 other girls using the "Time Travel Tree," which is an actual giant oak tree that grows on their playground. The mythology of this tree grows and develops each recess - how it works, what items are useful for travelling back to the present, etc. It is incredibly complex, and DaVinci gets exasperated when I ask too many questions about it. I know they travel to the past and the future, to destinations which include Dinosaur Land, Egypt, and Cherry Blossom Land. I could not be more happy that this is what the girls at school are doing. There will be so many years of Hannah Montana (or her ilk) and other inane bothersome girl stuff that will drive me mad. But this year, for right now, this awesome group of girls have the power of time travel and are working together to make their own rules. Love love love this.

Moms are moms are moms

Little D and I spent the morning at my friend Miranda's house. She is an awesome lady, good friend, great blogger and super mom. She is a few years younger than me, and had her kids at the same ages I did, and the same age apart. Hanging out with her is like looking backwards into my life three years (although more like the movie version of my life where I am taller, thinner, and more beautiful). The experiences of raising young children are so uniting - the sleepless nights, the long (sometimes lonely) days, the loss of yourself outside of your identity as a mom. I have never had so much in common with a group of people as I do now. I see mothers with their young children and see myself. We are all so much more alike than we are different.

The other great thing about visiting Miranda is that I can get my baby fix. I don't actually want more babies myself, but I sure do need to smell a baby head every so often.

I kinda wish I hadn't.

DaVinci lost another tooth today... Well, more accurately, I may have taken a tooth. You see, it was just so wiggly, just barely hanging on. Like a piece of peeling paint, like a falling off scab, like a, well, something that you just want to hurry along. We were at a Mexican restaurant and she was eating a cheese quesadilla, using the side of her mouth to bite. I then held the quesadilla for her, gave her a bite, and then yanked it as she was chomping down. I hadn't intended to do such a thing when I put the bite to her lips, but, well, something came over me and I did it. The tooth popped right out, much to DaVinci's surprise and Z's total disgust and horror. It bled, she cried, and I felt really bad. Whoops. But two minutes later, she was admiring her tooth and excited for the tooth fairy. Z was still shuddering...

I solemnly swear, here in front of the 5 people who read this, that I will NEVER yank a tooth again. Unless I am asked nicely by the owner of the loose tooth.

My little Mountain Goats

I bought my first Groupon right after Christmas for a place called "The Circuit Gym." It is a bouldering gym, which means a place to climb without ropes. This particular place has a large kids area, with lots of easier sections to climb up. In the kids area, once you get to the top you climb over the wall onto a platform which leads to a slide you take back down. The Groupon was for a 3 week pass, and I bought one for each kid. At first, D was nervous to even do the easiest section, and needed me to climb up right behind him, touching him the whole time. Today was the last day of our passes, and as you can see here, he no longer needs my help. He was able to do five of the sections all by himself, and he was buzzing with pride.

DaVinci is AMAZING at climbing, and can do all but one of the sections by herself. The last section has an overhang, so you are climbing a wall that is leaning towards you, and even that she is able to do with only one or two "bumps" from me as she lets go with a hand to grab further up. I can visibly see the muscles in every part of her body now, and I am so proud of how much she can do. The strongest person she knows is her Uncle Andrew, and she kept showing me the scraped skin on the palms of her hands, asking excitedly if they would get tough like Andrew's. He keeps threatening us that he will take her on his adventurous climbing trips when she is 13, and it looks like his wish just might come true. 

I myself am becoming more brave as a parent, allowing my ever growing kids to climb up tall walls even though it makes me nervous. I am now constantly walking that fine line between keeping them safe and letting them grow. I'm just happy I don't have to think about riding in friends' cars yet. 

Dragon Planet

I spent the Martin Luther King holiday with seemingly every other parent and child in Portland at PlayDate PDX. It is a giant indoor play structure that is 1) knight and dragon themed and 2) totally awesome. They have a little cafe with a kid friendly menu and area where parents can sit and watch the madness. We went with our friends Sarah and her two kids and saw two other kids from our class while we were there. The big girls did a great job of leading the little boys around, although they didn't actually seem to need the help. Everyone got along fantastically and without our help. We fed them, watered them, and gave them a place to rest and the rest of the time they busied themselves within the belly of the beast. Its times like this I feel like I could have a few more kids...

In other MLK news, DaVinci spent a car ride last week explaining to me all she had learned that day about Dr Martin Luther King Jr. I LOVE hearing her explain things that I have never talked with her about, and hearing the way our expert Kindergarten teacher Jill explains the tricky topic of segregation and the civil rights movement. She did a great job, and Stella was really impressed with Dr King for his bravery. Yay public school!

In the Zone

When DaVinci started preschool, I had a 5 month old Baby D. I wasn't sleeping through the night, was the only source of food for D, and was constantly standing and swaying to keep him asleep. One of DaVinci's classmates was a sweet girl named Sophie who had a big sister in kindergarden named Isabelle. I remember watching them and their parents and thinking of what a phase they were in. I couldn't wait for the future when I had two kids I could play and joke and laugh with. Kids who were big and could do so many little things on their own, but were still little enough to think their parents are awesome and whose troubles are small.

Three years later, and we are living the life. This IS what I expected, and it is a blast. This picture was requested by D, who you can see is SO PROUD that he can swing in the big kid swing. He is funny, brave, excitable and passionate, often kind, and very giving with hugs and kisses. DaVinci is one of the greatest kids ever: smart, strong, fair and brave. and shares so many of my interests that I think we will have plenty to do together for years to come.

I often think about the phrase "The grass is always greener on the other side." I know that often we look at things and desire them without the complete picture in mind. In this case, having a 3 and 6 year old is WAY GREENER than a baby and toddler. I miss many things about those baby days, but not nearly as many as I love about the days we have now.

Roller-Fiasco

DaVinci's class had a roller skating party today, and I made the mistake of trying to be a Super Mom/wife. You see, DaVinci also has a birthday party to go to on Sunday and D had nothing special to do. As I stated previously, he has been a bit of a grump and I think that part of it might be attributed to the monotony of the month of January - the rain, the gray, being cooped up in the house... I know it can get me into a low mood. The skating party was billed as a "family party" so I thought "Great! I can bring both kids and leave Z home to do his grad school homework. Everyone wins!"

I forgot one little thing. Skating is hard.

D falls asleep on the way, there is no parking for blocks so we have to rush through the rain (me carrying the sleepy D of course) yelling at DaVinci to not step in the puddles when frankly its been raining so long and so hard at this point that the whole sidewalk (and maybe the whole city) is one big puddle. I am in a bit of a rush from the get-go because I am shuttling the kids straight from skating to my folks' house so that Z and I can go out for the night to celebrate my BDay. We get inside and the whole place is hot and steamy. I am not built for hot and steamy, so my blood pressure immediately rises. They are out of skates in the sizes we need, I lace up DaVinci's skates all the way, only to then notice that she put them on the wrong feet, etc etc etc.

Then comes the hard part. I guess I was under the mistaken impression that all skate rinks have the little plastic fisher-price skates that snap on to your shoes and then don't actually roll. In my head, I pictured D marching along in those while I held DaVinci's hands and helped her along in "big kid skates." But no, all three of us were in those classic tan high top skates with bright orange wheels. They rolled really well. Neither kid could stay upright. DaVinci was able to work it out enough to hug the wall, and even ventured out a few times into the rink to fall and fall and fall. D was completely hopeless. I took his skates off after about 5 minutes. He was happy to go in the snack room to eat and watch us as I took DaVinci a couple of times around the rink. She got better, but let's just say she is not the most coordinated child. And it was so hot. It took all of my muscles and balance to hold her flailing body upright and keep myself from falling. Did I mention I was hot? After a couple of times around we joined D for a snack, turned in our skates and hit the road.

On the plus side, D did not fuss and complain that he couldn't skate, and DaVinci had a great time. I would like to go to a skate rink again minus D to focus more on teaching DaVinci to skate. I LOVED skating as a kid (and still like it) and would love to share that with her.

Z did a great job of coordinating our night. We sat at a coffee shop and drank coffee, went to dinner at Three Doors Down, where we had a delicious meal and the best seat in the house, browsed books at Powells, and saw "The Kings Speech," which was really good. When we got home, we took a trip down memory lane and looked at the photo albums from our trips overseas before we had kids. It was great to share the memories of the places we went, make fun of Z's dorky haircuts through the ages, and to reflect on how long we have known each other, and how much of our experience is shared between us. We have now known each other for half of our lives, and have a staggering amount of history in common. The kids create so much volume in our lives and fill our days so full that it is really important to have time for just the two of us. We are able to tell complete stories without interruption, and are able to really talk and enjoy each other's company. We are really fortunate to have family in town that are so good with the kids that we can just drop them off without worry, knowing that they are being loved and appreciated (and often spoiled).

Sibling Love

For now the pox on our house seems to have lifted. Everyone is healthy again, although D is being a complete grump (he seems to work on a cycle of grump, so in a week or so he should be awesome again, at least temporarily).  My lovely sister Amie took me out for my birthday and I had such a good time. We ate dinner at La Halla, and I had my first birthday dessert - a delicious, ooey gooey baklava. Yum. After we saw an amazing documentary called Marwencol which is... well... I just tried to write a summary of the movie, and it either sounds crazy or stupid. Look it up, watch a trailer, or just trust me and go see it. Really Good.

The most important part of the night is that I had a great time with my sister. She is truly a wonderful friend and we have such a good time hanging out together. If we were not sisters, we would still be friends. This was not always the case. She is five years older than me, and growing up we did not get along. We have a running joke that if I did stand up comedy, I could do a whole routine on the horrible things she did to me as a child. I was a pesky little brat who knew how to push her buttons, and she was a tyrannical ruler. If you had told us at 11 and 16 that we would be friends as adults, I don't think either of us would have believed it. And yet, here we are, good friends who have the additional bond of a shared childhood, and a partner with which to keep fresh the memories of our past.

Besides enjoying her companionship, the other benefit of our friendship is that it gives me a great long-view of my children's interactions. As they grow I know that they will have bumps and turns in their relationships, and I imagine that they will grow apart in the space of their school years. I will try my hardest to teach them to respect and love each other throughout those years, but in the end even a discordant relationship can have a glorious ending.

Love you Aim.

Grump and a haircut...

Here is the shaggy little man getting a haircut today... Isn't he sweet? We get his hair cut at the same little hipster walk-in haircut place that we get our own hair done, and I like to think that D himself is responsible for fewer unplanned pregnancies in the Portland hipster community with every haircut he gets. He is not screaming, not throwing a fit, but being a TOTAL pain, and saying "OWWW!" every time the hairdresser touches the comb to his head. I promised him a lollipop for a job well done, and he asked if he could also get one for DaVinci (they collaborate on sweets quite well). But really, this job was NOT well done. Haircut achieved? Yes. Done in a manner I find acceptable? No... And yet, the kid gets the freaking lollipop, because to him, that is the only purpose a haircut serves. He does not care what he looks like, he does not mind constantly brushing his bangs out of the way, he only cares that the end result is a lollipop. And I almost never brush his hair, so I know it probably does hurt more than if I brushed it every day (and he may have inherited the worlds wimpiest scalp on his y chromosome). I just need to remember that next time, I should remind myself that the lollipop is the end result of any haircut, not just a good one. There is an ice cream place next door...

In other, animal related news...
Naked Cat: My oldest cat has a bald spot on her back that is getting bigger, and two vets do not really know what to do about it.

Naked Chicken: I just noticed today that one of the chickens is pecking all the feathers off the other chicken's back... Crap. I know its because they are cooped up so much now because of the dog, and that I need to make their run bigger. Here I am, keeping them enclosed for fear of Tashi killing one of them, and now it looks like they may just eat each other. Looking on the interwebs, possible solutions (aside from the already planned but yet to be executed increase in space) include vaseline or vicks vapo-rub on the pecked spot, hanging cds/cabbage/seed blocks for them to peck. I will let you know how it goes.

Dog Lesson Learned:  Let it be known that on this day I finally came to understand the ancient Chinese Proverb: "Do not wait until after rainstorm to clean up dog poop." I am also pretty sure that what I saw today is where the term "shit storm" originated.

Working from home, and slightly more birthday magic

I felt much better today and was able to get in a full day of work from home. At home, of course, because D is still recovering from being sick. This winter is the first time that D being sick isn't the worst thing to plague the entire house. Sick babies and sick toddlers are miserable for all involved. You feel terrible for them and there is not much you can do. They are mad that they feel bad and cannot settle to sleep because they are so mad/feel so bad. D has finally graduated to sick preschooler. He can be sick and mopey, uncomfortable but able to be comforted (and distracted by tv and fruit popsicles). And he can totally settle himself to sleep, even through a stuffy nose and fever.

Today D was operating at about 75%, and I was able to work with very little distraction (certainly less distraction than the average day in my office). It is a huge milestone for us, and will prevent me from falling too far behind on future sick-kid days (which based on our current rate should be sometime at the end of next week).

In other news, today was decidedly more birthday-ey.

I got a beautiful and unexpected bouquet of flowers from my wonderful friend Titian for my birthday. I am not a "flowers" girl, and there is absolutely no expectation for Z to get me flowers on any given holiday. This I think makes me appreciate flowers all the more on the rare occasions I get them, and it was a delightful surprise. And it was super funny to hear DaVinci say "Uh Mom, there's a guy at the door holding a bunch of flowers." Good thing Titian didn't get me a stripper.  "Uh Mom, there's a policeman at the door in really short-shorts with a boom box on his shoulder." Awk-ward... I was going to feature the lovely flowers as my shot for the day, but I cannot get a photo in this dreary darkness that does them justice, so I refuse.

This evening I went out to dinner with two of my friends to chat and eat food. Z always wonders what we talk about for 3 hours (in a row!) but I always feel like there is more to say. As our kids get bigger, the opportunities we have to get together come fewer and farther between and I miss the frequencies of our weekly playgroups. And as for the food, even though I had to stop at a gas station for Tums on the way to dinner to settle my stomach I was able to enjoy a few delicious items. Still no chocolate or dessert of any kind, so the birthday has not officially come to a close.

Another one bites the dust...

Now I think that rather than a game of catch, our sickness passing is more like a game of dodge-ball, and the kids and I totally suck at it and are always getting pegged.

Last night D joined us in the land of the sick, except with different symptoms. Grrr. We both felt pretty crummy all day today and DaVinci stayed home but felt better (you can't exactly send a kid back to school the day after they throw up in their classroom). By the end of the day, D was feeling well enough to have his new favorite food, chicken soup. By the way, he likes the noodles and pieces of chicken, but doesn't see the point of the "chicken water."

Oh and did I mention it is my birthday? Yeah I'm not really counting it either. I didn't feel like eating, and so had nothing containing chocolate, no candle to extinguish. It was the birthday of a parent.  I have to say that even though many many people have mocked Facebook, one of the bright points of my day was seeing all the birthday wishes from friends I have made over the last 26 years. It is such a simple gesture, even easier than an email... but it really did make me feel good on what was otherwise a pretty dreary day.

And how do I feel at 33? I feel the most like me I have ever felt. I hope that this is the adult me that I will stay into my old age. I am more confident than I have ever been -  but rather than a confidence of arrogance, it is the confidence of humility. I am finally aware of just how many people are sharing my experience (or a much harder experience) and that there are so many equally good choices and NO absolutely right choices. I feel like I can make the best choice with the information I have and that most always it is a choice that will work, and if it doesn't I can make something work. I am still young enough and strong enough to hike, crawl, climb, and play with the kids, but old enough to always be treated like an adult.

I am at this point in my life happy with my family, friends, home, and life in general... which gives me a certain sense of underlying worry that something terrible might come sweeping through and mess it all up. (thanks goes out to my mother for passing on that particular trait)

Sick... Again.

So I got super duper duper sick in the middle of the night last night and was up most of the night feeling terrible. Z got the kids off to school, and I laid zombie-like around the house until I got a call at 11:15 from DaVinci's school saying that she threw up... Yuck. Every grownup I have talked to this about feels So Bad for her (as do I), but apparently she has not hit the age of embarrassment about bodily functions yet. I think the kids at school must either feel bad for her, or think its awesome. She felt crummy, but was not at all upset about having gotten sick at school. I am really thankful for that. I am much less thankful at what feels like the constant cycle of sick that has been our last month. DaVinci, D and I seem to be passing around sickness like a game of catch, where the ball is varyingly sneezing, vomiting, coughing and/or fever. Z has remained above the fray, and has decided to hedge his bets and sleep on the couch until I have recovered. I feel like the DaVinci in particular typically has a super strong immune system, and D and I are not particularly "sickly." But for some reason this has been a really rough season for us.

Above is a pic of DaVinci laying in front of the fire to get warm and nap, when the sweet pup decided to get in on the action. Adorable.

Utopia

So, the pic is not great.. not even good. I think its funny to start this "blog a day" project in the middle of winter when our activities are low, our outdoor time is limited and our sickness is high because it makes for lots of poorly lit, poorly planned pics of our messy house with messy kids in mismatched pajamas (and in this case part of a knight's costume). I also think that is sort of the point of the blog, to catch what our time is actually like in the day-to-day, in between the amazing adventures.

The reason I chose this poor photo is that it allows me to tell you about the BEST part of our lives these days. The kids are doing the most amazing thing. Incredible. Unimaginable. They are playing. TOGETHER. A game of their own creation, with their own set of rules, that has nothing to do with us. It is a great thing about having the basement, because this cooperation is only possible when the kids are not on the same floor of the house as us.

The game pictured is "Little Paws" in which DaVinci is a prospective dog owner who adopts, bring home and trains her new dog "Little Paws," played by D. Much of the game involves her throwing pieces of dry cereal and D runs after them on all fours and eats them. Gross, but also awesome. DaVinci is always the owner in Little Paws, but lately they have also been playing Robot and I am pretty sure they take turns in the roles of robot and commander. The reason I don't KNOW how the game works is that the kids playing cooperatively together is like Santa or the Tooth Fairy. They only get along when you seem to be ignoring them.

This whole "ignoring kids in the basement" has not been an easy concept for Z. He is an AMAZING father, and considers every minute that he is home and that the kids are awake as the his time to do the kids' bidding. For many years of their lives, this was exactly what they needed. Now as they are getting older, time alone or with each other is maybe equally as important as directed play time with us. My friend Sarah calls it benign neglect, and I think there is something to it. And it also means Z and I get to do crazy things during the day like write blogs and read books!

Lost Tooth!

DaVinci lost her first baby tooth tonight at dinner!
We had a very mellow day at home today and decided to finally leave the house and hit Hopworks for dinner. When I saw DaVinci biting the pretzel from the side to avoid her loose tooth, I told her she should bite on the pretzel and let it do the work of removing the tooth. She tried to no avail and then little D pipes up - "She should bite on something harder like celery. That will probably work." You know, because he has so much experience with loose teeth at 3.5 years old. Our entrees come, we tell DaVinci to bite into the celery and sure enough, POP! the tooth comes out! She was startled and excited all at the same time. Too cute. I don't think she is ever going to fall asleep tonight because she is waiting for the tooth fairy. In the photo above, you can see the little "Tooth Fairy Pillow" I made for her awhile back. Her tooth is now safely nestled in its pocket.

I cannot believe how small the tooth she lost is... it is tiny, fragile, and nothing at all like the tooth it will be replaced by. I can't help feeling that the same transition is happening to DaVinci all over... I am excited to see how much she is growing and changing, getting stronger, smarter, funnier, more patient, kinder, but at the same time I mourn for the things we are losing, never to get back again - the lisping high voice, the chubby cheeks, pudgy legs, laughing while nursing, baby with a million sign language signs for the world around her, excited to talk about every little thing. What a constant heartache children can be, even when everything is going (mostly) beautifully...

Ear Infection Day (kinda like a Snow Day plus antibiotics minus sledding)

So after a rough night of DaVinci in a crabby mood and then crying about her ear, I sort of knew I wasn't going to have a quiet day in the office. Sure enough, in the morning her ear was still bothering her so I called off work and we headed to the Doctor's office to hear that, yes she has an ear infection. DaVinci wanted to check with the Doctor to make entirely sure that she had a DOUBLE ear infection (to compete with Little D's ear infection last year). Yes, that's right, the kids have had a total of one ear infection each including this one, and I would like to keep it that way.

I would have gotten some work done if DaVinci were feeling worse (she would be napping, watching movies, reading quietly), but it turned out that with Tylenol, she felt ok, and wanted to hang out with me. There wasn't really enough time to go back to school, and its not as if she is missing a major math test in Kindergarten, so we stayed home the whole day. 99% of the time if DaVinci doesn't have school it also means little brother D is home and she does not get enough of my undivided attention. So we started playing with her stop-motion animation kit she got for Christmas. It consists of a lot of clay, a camera on a long cord (re-used from Z's XBOX), and an amazing Klutz book that comes with free software to help you make movies. DaVinci has recently become obsessed with The Nightmare Before Christmas, and I thought this would be an awesome way to combine that love with her love of art. On Christmas Day, she was a little too overwhelmed by everything else and all the fun that was being had, so when we started on an animation using D's Christmas Playmobile toys she ened up leaving to do something else. I was at that point having so much fun that I kept going and made my own short animation (which you can see at the end of the clip above). P.S. it is AWESOME to have a kid who likes many of the same kinds of things I do, and that I can get her presents that I would get for myself if I had more time to use them!

So this video was the most productive part of our day, and when we got D home from school, even he was able to join in on the fun. Enjoy!

Puppy Kindergarten Rebels

Tashi and I just finished week 5 of a 6 week Puppy Kindergarten Class. I will pause for your laughter...

Yes, I know it sounds silly. Yes, I think the class may be featured on an upcoming episode of "Portlandia." But I am serious about having a dog who is well behaved, can be mellow in the house, is nice to all other people and dogs, etc. A dog that is a pleasure to have around. And since we have never owned dogs as adults, I wanted to get some help to jump start training. Thus - puppy kindergarten.

HOWEVER.... I am not sure I am a "puppy kindergarten" kind of person. I think that in an alternate reality, one in which I never had kids, I could have been. But not in this reality... Here I have an actual child in a class which doesn't have to have her species as a qualifier. It's not "human kindergarten," it's just kindergarten. The real kind. The class has ten dogs, 8 of which are accompanied by couples, one is a woman with a kid who hasn't been to class in weeks, and then there is me. I felt like everyone was thinking "Oh, poor dog, being raised by a single parent."

I really like Tashi a lot, love the googly eyed look she gives us just for being around, the willingness to follow commands if there are treats at stake. Buuutttt... I don't think I LUUUVV her. Some of the other dog owners (although they refer to themselves as mommy and daddy in regards to their pup I will not) have the same teary proud eyes that I get when I see DaVinci or Little D do something remarkable. When Tashi catches on to a new command, I wanna give her a high-five, a knuckle bump - "Yeah we totally nailed that one!"  She is my bro, my dude, my companion, not my child.

When the puppies all get to play together, the instructor divides the room in two so the bigger and bolder puppies can play on one side and the smaller more shy dogs can  play on the other. I have had Tashi around a lot of dogs now, mostly adult, anywhere from the neighbor's Chihuahua to a friend's Saint Bernard. Tashi does great with them all, and rarely gets the smack down telling her that she's overstepped her boundaries. Most of the other couples at puppy class hover right over the dogs while they are playing and pull them apart frantically at the first sign of what looks like puppies having fun. It is a bit overwhelming, and sometimes I get the distinct feeling that they think I am raising Cujo, even when their dog goes with wagging tail right back into the fray.

And here I go making yet another excuse about the photo - I tried to take some at puppy kindergarten, but Tashi and I were too busy hiding smokes behind the cafeteria with our leather jackets on. And sexting. (does that make me sound a little more current? I am pretty sure the rebels aren't dressing like The Fonz anymore.) The photo above was taken today, and you can see how her scruffy fur on her face is growing longer and longer. She is looking less and less like a Bernese, but also taller and taller, so not much like a terrier either. And maybe next week I will post about our child with hands for feet (see far right of photo - super freaky).

Eggs!

I have been mocking the chickens behind their backs for months now. They should have started laying in late August or September, but there were no eggs in sight. We would search the yard, seeing if they had just laid them somewhere else than their coop, but no. People would often ask about how they are doing and I was embarrassed to admit that they had failed in their primary purpose.

Finally after looking on the web and talking to other chicken minded people (bird brains?) I decided that perhaps they should be old enough to lay, but that the hours of daylight, temperature, blah blah blah let's wait and see what they do in the spring.

Then comes late November, and we get Tashi the Wonder Pup. After letting her run in the yard with the chickens a bit, and then catching her grabbing Gertie's tail and thinking Tashi had killed her, I put a stop to their sharing the yard at the same time. Now mostly the chickens stay in the coop and run, and Tashi gets the yard. If I know we are going to be gone for a number of hours with Tashi inside in her crate, I will let the chickens out to roam.

I swear not more than three weeks after getting the dog, suddenly the chickens are laying eggs. First Gertie, then Maybelle. Its as if keeping them cooped up is helping them to lay eggs. Perhaps they aren't burning as many calories running around the yard, or maybe they are not filling up on grass and rocks and are instead eating way more of their chicken pellets? Totally crazy, but there you have it. If you are wondering how I know who is laying what, it is an assumption I have made based on the color of the chickens' ears. I read that the color of their ears (a little unfeathered spot where you would think their ears would be) is the color of the eggs they lay, and I have always admired Gertie's bluish-green ear spots. Maybelle's eggs followed about a week and a half later, and are the nicest off white (my sister mockingly pointed out that one might call that color "eggshell white"). I also read that the color egg a chicken lays is the same color she was born in. I find a very lovely symmetry in that. I can't seem to take a picture that quite captures the true color of the eggs, but I put a store bought egg on the right in the photo above for comparison.

It is so nice to have backyard eggs. They do indeed taste fresher and more "real," and DaVinci loves going out to collect the eggs and is super cute as a farm girl. And Z is just happy that two of our animals are finally earning their keep. (Just wait until I give him the cat/dog hair sweater for his birthday!)

One Man's Trash...

Why, you may ask, am I showing you a pile of our recycling? Oh no, sir or madam, this is the contents of ONE DAY'S WORTH of art that DaVinci did at school today... ONE 6 HOUR PERIOD, in which I am assuming she also ate, had circle time and a couple of recesses. Most of these objects, I was informed, are "boats that really float!" Boats that in a former life were tape dispensers, glue stick boxes, coffee lids, toilet paper rolls, etc, etc, etc. I am all for re-use but it feels like these days we are just ending up with all these reused items that then become our burden to dispose of. Both of my kids are virtually dumpster divers for art supplies - today I put a throat lozenge in my mouth and Little D immediately grabbed the wrapper and said "I could make art with this!" On the one hand, there is no need to spend money on art supplies and the trash gets a second use, but then on the other hand it becomes art that is actually a piece of paper with a plastic cough drop wrapper taped to it which just means more time for me to dispose of it properly.

The whole process of dismantling DaVinci's art is very difficult for me. What is the proper length of time to keep said "art?" Often her work is three dimensional, so storage is difficult, and scanning is out of the question. She seems to like the process of creation, and then is very excited to show us her work and talk about it, but never seems to care about it after that. Mostly I recycle all the worksheets and such the day it comes home, but I am always nervous that she is going to say "Where are all my amazing boats?" and I will have to tell her that they looked more like trash than boats. We started a bin above the art supplies that we try to put art work in for a holding period just in case one of the kids ask about a recent work. That seems to fill up in a day or two. We also have a bag in the closet of "keepers" that we would like to scan and preserve... you know... the next (first) time the scanning bug hits us. It is overall way more than our little old house has room for.

I know, this is no major problem, and I don't honestly spend much of my day worrying about it. But hey, please give us a break the next time you visit and it looks like a recycling station at my house.

In unrelated news, I was SUPER sick last night and this morning with a cold and felt perfectly awful. It was amazing to see how well little D rallied when it was supposed to be a "Mama and D day" (a day which does indeed come with a theme song) and instead of needing my attention every 3 minutes, he played quietly by himself all morning. This allowed me to doze on the couch until about 10:30 (unheard of in the past) at which time I woke up feeling quite a bit better. Yay for the kids getting bigger and better all the time!

First Day of School

What can I say but that the end of vacation hit us like a slap in the face? It all started with us waking up 15 minutes later than planned because the alarm on my phone didn't go off - which when I complained, Z the tech geek says "Oh Yeah there is a problem with the latest software update and the iPhone alarm doesn't work." What could they have possibly done to screw up the alarm? Were they working on a way to stop time and then accidentally messed with the alarm clock? That would be the only reason I would find acceptable (especially if I actually could stop time with the touch of a button).

This was an especially important day, because Little D started a new school! We are super excited about this place and wanted him to start things off on the right foot. As I have said before, he feels things very strongly, and does not feel any compunction to get along just for the sake of getting along, so I am WAY more nervous about introducing him to a new place than I am to introducing DaVinci. Z rushes DaVinci off to school (late) and I rush Little D out the door to his brand new school, forgetting 1. my camera to take the all important 1st day of school shot and 2. my phone, which serves as a great "oh crap I don't have a camera" camera. We get him to his classroom, I hang out for a few minutes, drawing and playing legos with him, helping him talk to the kids and teachers. Since I know D and how much he likes to look at pics of our family and talk about what we are doing in the photos, I worried that he might feel a little uncomfortable on his first day so I wanted to make something special for him to bring. I printed out two pages with photos of our family and D doing some of his favorite things (Boardgames! Scuut Bike! Playing Knights!). He LOVED these pages, and showed them to both his teachers, and they talked about them at circle time with the whole class. It served the exact purpose I wanted it to by giving D something concrete to talk to other people about. Yay me! And.... then I left, leaving my purse behind in the classroom, because that is the kind of day it was.

When I came back to pick him up (and my purse) I realized that my wallet was also in my purse which also meant that I didn't have any money to put in the meter so I could run inside and get D. I scrounged around in the messy car, finally scraping together $0.40 for 15 min on the meter. D's teacher said his first day went well, and D had no complaints. He had a good time playing outside and had drawn a good number of pictures. Now if I can just get my act together, maybe we can BOTH have good days.

After picking him up, I took him to pick up a "Congrats on your First Day of School" Cookie - and that will have to serve as the photographic reminder of his first day of school.

To the Mountain

Anyone who spends any time around me has heard me talk about how much I love Portland. I feel so lucky to live in such a cool town with so many great things to do for both adults and kids. One of the many awesome things is that you can get up Mt Hood in 1.5 hours and play in the snow anytime between Dec-April. We decided that the best way to spend the last day of winter break was to hit the slopes for some serious sledding. The temperature was cold, but it was a clear, bright, beautifully crisp winter day and the snow was positively sparkling in the sun.

Little D, who is either SO EXCITED or SO MAD flipped the coin and decided to be awesome today. He loved sledding, never complained about snow in his face or climbing the hill again and again. We found an awesome natural snow cave under a bush and spent some time playing hibernating bear. He laughed, smiled, glowed and made me happy to be alive.

DaVinci, typically our agreeable little girl who is amenable to almost everything... Our daughter who will wade up to her waist in freezing water for way longer than anyone else I know... The girl who is a rockstar in almost every way - must have decided the day was lacking in fuss. She complained that her toes were cold (with 2 pairs of socks and snow boots). After Z gave her a pair of his socks and I got her to sled 5 times (promising her that at the end of 5 sleds her toes would NOT be cold) her toes were fine, but her chin was cold. She wasn't terrible, she wasn't throwing a fit, but after we made the effort to get up to Hood, I wanted everyone to enjoy it, dammit! Our last day of vacation! Suck it up and have fun! Yes, the bad mommy in me was thinking "I hope this girl has a fever and that is why she is being a pill." But no. Home and inside, she was back to her exuberant self. It was very odd, especially for her. I guess what I finally figured is that it is much easier to have a 6 year old who is complaining about things than a younger kid. The rest of us had a great time, and she even managed to have moments of fun between complaints. Practicing for when she is a teen, I suppose.

Dogs and Cats, living together - MASS HYSTERIA!

So we have now had a pup for over a month. Tashi is half Bernese Mountain Dog, half unknown. Everyone who sees her has an opinion about the other half, and the general consensus is some sort of terrier (I typically follow this up with a somewhat inappropriate joke about a Jack Russel convincing the Bernese to scoot over and stand next to the bench he's on).

We have never owned a dog as adults, and both of us had fairly untrained dogs growing up. So it was with more than a little anxiety that we decided we had the room, time and love for a dog in the family. I read 1 million books on how to raise the perfect pup (which brought me back to 6 years ago when I read the millions of baby books in preparation for parenthood), and haunted PetFinder on a daily basis. I have always wanted a dog when the time was right, and with me working part time and us living in a neighborhood great for dogs this seemed about as good as it was going to get.

Finally, I saw Tashi and her two sisters (at the shelter they were given the crazy names of "Islands in the Snow", "Hard Candy Christmas" and "The Gambler") on the internet and rushed to the Humane Society. She was the scruffiest looking dog of the three, but right in the middle in terms of temperament. I wanted the kids and Z to come out to meet her but DaVinci had a fever, and so I was left to make the decision on my own. I went for it, and then stood waiting to adopt her and trying to stifle the panic attack. Fortunately I ran into a woman who's daughter is in class with DaVinci and she talked me down and told me it would all be OK. I am SO happy she was there. We brought her home the day before Thanksgiving as a nine week old, 13 pound needy little pup.

She is still very much a puppy - we have to give her plenty of opportunities to pee in the yard, she gets excited to see EVERYONE and EVERY DOG and cannot help herself but to jump up on them because she is SO EXCITED TO SEE THEM!!!! In a playful mood, she uses her mouth too much. But there is so much about her that is perfect for our family. She is not phased at all by the constant NOISE in our house that primarily emanates from the Little D. That boy is almost always making very loud noises. He will also grab Tashi by the head and push her face into his belly, which she doesn't seem to mind. She will sit for anyone, lay down for Z and me, walks well on a leash when the kids aren't with me, and only barks when she is trying to get the cats to play with her. Which, crazily enough, our cat Fibonacci - who hides all day while the kids are awake - is totally into playing with the dog. And as you can see from the picture, Tibby will put up with anything if it means she gets more food. As you can see, Tashi is not very uptight about food, and doesn't mind sharing. I will try and get a better picture of her (and her scruffy mug) the next time I write about doggy antics.

We know we are in for a wild ride, and I still sometimes worry that she is going to magically turn into a complete hellion and ruin our lives, but for now we have a very cute little (and quickly growing) pup who is fitting into our lives just fine.