tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-226172132024-03-06T23:40:24.397-06:00Who knew?Exploring life, family, fun, gardening, politics, environmentalism, cooking, and things we didn't know.Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.comBlogger327125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-67354554750025861862012-04-10T11:39:00.000-05:002012-04-10T11:39:31.281-05:00The News That's The News.As mentioned previously, 2012 is moving right along whether I'm ready for it or not. Astrid is exhibiting the regression in toilet training that we knew she would with her mama pregnant. Odin will be welcomed to our world in the second half of May, and No. 1 and her family are enjoying their new house which is halfway between the homes of both sets of grandparents. We visited them there last Tuesday afternoon as tornados raced through North Texas. None of us encountered any damage, even the Darwin Award candidates who drove through them. <br /><br />
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We left the Easter egg, Easter dinner, etc. to No. 1's in-laws; their Christian status makes them the logical candidates and I don't even want to support the concept of an Easter bunny. Holidays make for nice pictures, though. <br /><br />
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No. 2 has also been experiencing some fairly significant life changes. She's still going to nursing school and working as a bartender, but she tried out a Groupon trapeze lesson and got hooked on it.</div>
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This resulted ultimately in a new boyfriend and participation in an amateur circus. I could use some tips from her on stretching the hours in a day. <br /></div>
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Two of my favorite pics are these: <br /></div>
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No. 2 was Astrid's age when I started her in gymnastics (along with No.1 and No. 3). She absolutely LOVED it, and I'll never forget her first day and how she took me aside after we got home to say, "That man (the coach) made me spin around a bar." It sounded like a complaint until she said, "When can I go again?" She was good at gymnastics ... good enough that the gym coach wanted her to join the team and compete. That would mean practice 5 days/week and I didn't think gymnastics more important than softball, scouts, music lessons and all the other things that make for well-rounded childhoods. Besides, I had two other kids to think about and competitions require dedication to the one child's one activity with a future of maybe the Olympic games followed by underwear salesperson. So, I said, "No" to a gymnastic future for her. Heh. </div>
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-44666525454610672272012-03-27T13:27:00.000-05:002012-03-27T13:27:23.880-05:00Summer is here already, and I'm not ready.I started some tomatoes and peppers in February, but I recently killed them accidentally and really should have started them in December or January because they should be in the ground by now. It's steadily been in the70s and 80s around here and I don't think it's going back to winter temps this year. I've started some new seeds, but they'll probably be ready for the REALLY hot part of summer which looks like it could come this year starting in May. <br />
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So, Astrid and I started the day after Em borrowed a lawn mower to make some sense of the backyard. We really need to buy a lawnmower, but that's supposed to be Em's area and I don't want to nag. I pulled up all the stuff I bought and laid down last summer to keep the grasses out of the garden beds and dileanate a border before Em mowed. All it did was get caught in the mower and the grasses grew right into it. We don't have "weird trash collection", so I'm not sure yet what to do with it. We also don't have a truck to drive it to the dump and Em doesn't sound willing to spend any money this year hiring someone to help with this kindof stuff. <br />
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The peas Astrid planted in the raised bed last fall have started fruiting and a few were even bulging enough for her to try fresh peas. <br />
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Of course, her sand and water table were exposed to winter's dirt and bird poop, so washing was in order after an initial appraisal. <br />
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After all this, it was time for a bath and some inside activities. <br /></div>
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-61699909718730806852012-03-13T13:12:00.000-05:002012-03-13T13:12:12.906-05:00I've stopped washing my hair.It started out with the dandruff problem that kept recurring and how I was so annoyed that I'd wash my hair with the dandruff shampoo and almost immediately my scalp would start to itch. Following that, I read that to have healthy hair you should just stop doing things to it. Then, I got tired of feeling guilty if I didn't wash my hair often enough and thought about how Europeans don't feel guilty when they don't shower as much as Americans, so why should I always be worried about stupid stuff like this? THEN, I noticed how NOT washing my hair seemed to stop the itching. I still worried about whether it would stink like dirty hair, though, but I asked Em to sniff my hair and he said it didn't smell like anything. <br />
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So, I'm gonna see how long this will last. It's not as though I have oily hair (Mine is dry), so my concern was really about whether it would stink, and I think that took me back to the days when I smoked. Since I don't smoke anymore and haven't for about 8 years now, what might cause my hair<br />
to stink? I don't go to bars or other smoke-filled rooms (as though there are even bars where smoking is allowed these days).<br /><br />
My maternal grandmother had hair even longer than mine and she rarely washed it ... perhaps once/year. I like having long hair, but I don't like washing it and I don't like having an itchy scalp. Seems to me my grandmother had a solution to the problem. <br /><br />
I'll keep you informed of any progress.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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I couldn't help but notice, as well, how different my birthday gifts were from the others she received. She got tons of fun stuff, while I got her a child-sized rake so she could help her dad rake leaves, a fold-up step stool so she could reach what she can't reach without it, a crank flash-light so she could "read" her books before bed at night (without ever needing to replace batteries or bulbs) and two books on nature. <br /><br />
She also got lots of kitchen-like stuff for pretend cooking, tea parties, etc. She doesn't have so much of that over here. She has two small cups with saucers and a plate (all glass). She had TWO plates, but one broke after she dropped it on the rock foyer floor. [I have a few more small plates like that, but I want her to spend some time noticing the gap in the settings so the concept of "glass breaks when dropped on rock" is absorbed.] For the most, her play areas here are carpeted, so her glass stuff doesn't break if dropped. Sometimes she "pretend" cooks food we've made out of play dough, but mostly she helps with the real thing.<br /><br />
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This past week she helped make crockpot pea soup before helping to make Valentine's Day cookies. My hope was to roll and cut cookies, but I used the cake-mix cookie recipe with a strawberry mix and the dough never got "unsticky" enough no matter how much flour I added. <br /><br />
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I need to get her an apron that covers more of her body, but until I do No. 1 seems to understand why I frequently suggest that she dress her in crap clothes when she comes here. <br /><br />
Cookie-making dish washing went to a new dimension when she learned about the sink spray. <br /><br />
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She ate so much strawberry dough that even with a bath she was pretty much bouncing off the walls when No. 1 came to get her.<br /><br />
I find cleaning up after baking or messy experiments invigorating, but I found myself angry this week when Astrid took out a rubber-like puzzle kit, didn't bother to try and work any of it and left it on the floor for me to put away. That was the first time I felt anger with Astrid and I expressed it both to Astrid and No. 1. The source of the anger was less that Astrid had taken something from the shelf and just thrown it on the floor than the difficulty involved with putting all the pieces back into the package. No. 1 suggested that I put the pieces in another package. I felt that defeated the purpose of a "toddler travel tote", but today I repackaged the pieces and put the original box up for when someone besides me travels with her, because there's no room in my relationship with Astrid for anger.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-53262846993545934932012-02-18T10:31:00.000-06:002012-02-18T12:05:44.991-06:00Astrid 2nd Birthday.Astrid's birthday party this year was held last Saturday at the home of her dad's parents. I am SO glad I volunteered THEM, because between all the people and all the gifts, *I* was pretty overwhelmed. I picked just a few of the pics and videos out of hundreds, not because they were representative of the day, but because *I* liked them. Em's birthday was just two days after this party, so he was included in the event. <br />
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-25972363067164917262012-02-07T14:12:00.000-06:002012-02-07T14:12:55.433-06:00Today is Astrid's 2nd Birthday, so we're moving on to year 3!We only have Astrid on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday normally; this week we'll miss Friday because another set of grandparents is coming to town to attend her birthday party on Saturday and I'm sure they'll want to spend as much time with her as they can. <br /><br />
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I'm thinking of her third year and anticipating the fun we'll have. She knows the alphabet pretty well now, knows colors and shapes except for the most unusual; Em and I hadn't heard of the quatrefoil before I bought a clock shape-sorter. She talks in complete sentences and we have conversations. I called to wish her a happy birthday and she said, "Mormor, I'm two!" We've moved on to small jigsaw puzzles already, but we do them together. No. 1 once chided her for refusing my help with a yogurt cup, saying, "Astrid, there are still times when you need a little help.", and now when she needs help she says, "Help!" and I say things like, "This one is hard because the ... " <br />
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I'm not sure she's ready yet, but I'll give some new reading material a try this next year like "Classic Myths To Read Aloud", "Aesops Fables", "Book of Greek Myths" and "Bible Stories For the Young". We'll also keep discussing time (calendar, clock, days of the week) and begin geography with continents of the world. She MAY begin reading this year OR ... <br /><br />
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she may decide to take the whole year off and wait for her little brother to get old enough to join her. <br /><br />
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Birthday pics will come after Saturday. Her party this year is being held at the home of daddy's parents. <br /><br />
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In other news, the next-door neighbor of "daddy" died and daddy's parents are looking forward to No. 1 and her family living next-door. Daddy doesn't really think it's a good idea (Who WOULD?), but doesn't want to hurt the feelings of his parents. This is where I a) wonder why my kids don't seem to mind hurting MY feelings and b) am grateful that my kids have grown to be independent enough to think for themselves. <br /><br />
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Em and I had so much fun taking the night bus to an Oklahoma casino last week that we're going to do it again THIS week. <br /><br />
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How's life with you?<br />
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-39821081777340681862012-02-04T14:22:00.000-06:002012-02-04T14:22:20.667-06:00What Breast ancer IS and is NOT.<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZwpSwm_4as&feature=share">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZwpSwm_4as&feature=share</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-33901299548726615852012-02-02T18:16:00.000-06:002012-02-02T18:16:07.589-06:00Ring toss, stickers, and bubbles.Had an extraordinary day thrift-store shopping this week. Don't know if I mentioned it previously or not, but I absolutely HATE new games. Where they were once created of metal or wood with glass marbles (that enabled me to break the glass door on my parents' bookcase), the new ones have cheap cardboard boards and plastic "marbles". I say this after buying a new "Hi-Ho Cherry-O" game that *I* broke within minutes. <br /><br />
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Picked up chinese checkers, parcheesi, monopoly junior and an extra-large version of JAX. <br /><br />
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Got a few other things that I didn't have ... like basters (think tub toys) and spaghetti measuring devices (think bubble wands). Also got a few rubber finger puppets that Astrid can use in the tub and a ring-toss game. <br /><br />
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There's no one in this household who doesn't need to improve on the ring-toss game, so I (temporarily ... until we improve) left it in the main living room. <br /><br />
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Astrid is spending more time playing independently now and I was a bit torn on whether I should interfere with her. Each day she's here, I leave a sticker exercise for her. <br /><br />
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She's not old enough to have the coordination for perfection, but I find it necessary (to feed MY internal OCD tendencies) to point out that the mitten stickers are more appropriate for the child's hands than the tree branches. <br /></div>
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Of course she has no experience with mittens, so I'm back to the "which comes first?" argument. <br /></div>
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I think tomorrow's session will include a lesson on how our country's mathematical choice is the Arabic base 10 and how we have no other numbers besides 0 through 9. She's fond of reciting "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, twelve". Paying attention to her independent play, I also noticed that she's confused regarding some alphabetic symbols. At first, I didn't want to interfere with her notions, but now feel that (as her teacher) I should gently point out these mistakes. <br /></div>
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It doesn't look like I could handle an unschooling situation well. </div>
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-83487304982433499062012-02-01T15:15:00.002-06:002012-02-01T15:15:50.389-06:00Wordless Wednesday ... sorta.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-25024156802393499352012-01-28T17:34:00.000-06:002012-01-28T17:34:33.992-06:00Two is the first of many "awkward" ages.There's been a lot written about the "terrible" twos, and I'd admit that there's a little something to all the fuss, but it's hardly the worst period in one's life. It's more the culmination of independent thought that's been building for 6 months or more. There aren't even any hormones involved (as in puberty and menopause). So, it came as no surprise to me that Astrid showed up one morning in a mood previously reflected by "I don't want to go ; I want to go back to bed!" <br /><br />
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I had paints ready for her that day, and there certainly wasn't any need to eat breakfast BEFORE doing the sticker exercise that I always leave on the little table in my office for her, so I suggested that dad just leave her when she chose to do the sticker exercise before breakfast. That was about a week ago and I think she's done the sticker exercise every day since before choosing to eat. <br /><br />
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Painting is a great way to "expel the demons", and I suspect the famous painters of old had their share of demons to expel. <br /><br />
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I didn't even bother to don her paint smock -- this new paint washes out readily anyway --- and I pulled a chair over so she could sit while painting. When she was done painting (using both brush and hands) the demons had been expelled and she was once again happy and (what most of us notice more) compliant. We had more fun together that day than usual. <br /><br />
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Tomorrow is another painting day. I try to fit one in each week even with the added time-waste of a Mickey Mouse video. I also try and fit in a bath play period once/week because we have a huge bathroom tub in our master bathroom that we never use. <br /><br /> Until now, we'd been adhering to recommendations that children under two years old watch zero TV/videos. Somehow she learned of Mickey Mouse, though, so I started searching out free MM club videos. <br /><br />
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Local weather has been pretty spring-like lately, so we've been taking walks each time she's here, as well. Last Friday we had magnets I'd ordered, so I tied two of them to pencils and we "fished" for objects on our walk. She caught a pretty big screw.<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-27025095241457453162012-01-04T14:13:00.002-06:002012-01-04T14:13:56.685-06:00Wordless Wednesday.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-60904474841426629812012-01-01T13:17:00.000-06:002012-01-01T13:59:12.429-06:002012 begins.As usual, Em and I fell asleep before the new year; we don't even TRY anymore to stay up. I got a wall calendar sometime last month that's kindof a do-it-yourself, start whenever you want thing designed with kids in mind, so I started it and have been jotting down little references on the days. For instance, today is not JUST New Years Day, but also Dad's Birthday (Astrid's dad). The calendar came with lots of stickers for holidays and family/school related things, so I'll use those as well as write in "made cake-mix cookies" the recipe for which should really get some attention because I thought the cookies ruled. Em loves cookies and I learned about <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Cake-Mix-Cookies">using cake mixes</a> because I had tons of coupons for cake mixes and we couldn't eat all those cakes before the cake mixes expired. Also, we rarely have any all-purpose flour on hand as we grind our own whole wheat flour for most baking purposes.<br />
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So, I've started Astrid's introduction to the concept of time with the calendar, a short video song "Days of the Week" and the globe spinning one revolution each day, etc. She'll take from it what she can at this age. I'm also introducing her to the <a href="http://www.learningbooks.net/whydolchwords.html#lists">Dolch</a> sight-reading words before we get into phonics. Right now, we're working on the pre-primer list and will include some nouns before moving to the next list. She won't be two years old until Feb 7, but she's a quick study and already toilet-trained. While my three kids were reading at 3 years, they toilet-trained more in the third year than the second, so that time-consuming learning hurdle is behind her with expectations of some set-backs due to the new baby. <br />
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Some might consider it a bad idea to have any kind of "structured" education at this age, but the human mind is never again as receptive as it is during the first 6 years, so I like to toss out as much material as possible with the thought that "what sticks sticks". A (to me) interesting question was introduced at <a href="http://www.strocel.com/">Amber Strocel's blog</a> on whether boredom should be addressed in young children. You'll definitely want to check out her site if only to listen to the beautiful music used to background the slide show of their 2011. I pretty much dedicate myself to Astrid in the hours during the week when she's here and I introduce lots of learning activities hoping that she'll have an interest in one of them. If she shows no interest, I move on to the next activity and/or take clues from her. If she brings me a book, we read. If she brings me the play-dough, we make stuff. If she wants to go outside and the weather is decent, we go outside. If the weather sucks, she learns about weather. She seems content to do whatever. <br /><br />
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Here she is starting on breakfast (the first event of our days together). <br /><br />
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Here she is washing the dishes we dirtied making the cake-mix cookies. At one point I thought she might have lost interest and tried to take her down from the stool, but she said, "No! I help wash dishes." Probably never again in her life will she enjoy washing dishes as much as she does now. <br /><br />
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Here she is just relaxing in her favorite dress-up hat while eating one of those cookies.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-8254818647230521552011-12-24T12:55:00.001-06:002011-12-24T13:30:36.779-06:00Christmas, Santa Claus and non-Christians.I don't believe that there's a god, let alone a god who had a son born in a manger to a virgin, but I really hate to influence children (including my own) by stating that aloud. So far, I don't think that any of my children are Christian, although that could change and I wouldn't care at all if it did. Belief systems, in my opinion, are personal. I don't want to sway you from yours and I sure don't want you to sway me from mine.<br />
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Christmas and the gift-giving tradition born out of it, however, presents a dilemma for non-believers who don't want to engage in the hypocrisy associated with so many Christians. Children are too new to the world to deal with belief/non-belief systems out of the norm, and as No. 1 has reminded me too many times to count as I asked her how she always seemed to end up with Christian boyfriends, "The US is 85% Christian". <br /><br />
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So, when my kids were little way back in the day, I pretended that there was a Santa Claus. BIG MISTAKE! No. 1 would say things like, "Why would Santa think I would want something like this?"<br />
GULP! <br /><br />
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As the years went by, I think the kids just enjoyed getting gifts and the fun associated with opening the gifts even if the gifts weren't what they wanted. <br /><br />
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Somewhere along the line, I stopped pretending. The kids were grown and aware of my non-belief, Em's a non-believer as well, and there were/are other venues for everyone. Then came Astrid. <br /><br />
I fancy myself her teacher in these early preschool years, although No. 1 and husband are doing an excellent job at ensuring appropriate development, as well. It's my intent to teach her bible stories along with Aesop's fables and Greek/Roman mythologies. She's a bit young for that now, IMO, but is totally smitten with Frosty the Snowman. We watch a 3-minute Frosty video every visit THREE times. So far, she's not asked about Santa (who appears at the end of the video with Frosty), but I suspect I'll suggest to her that Santa is "the spirit of Christmas" if (and ONLY if) it comes up. <div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-54904588442774056152011-12-20T10:24:00.001-06:002011-12-20T10:24:28.118-06:00Cooking With Small Children.Astrid LOVES to cook (unlike her mother). She'll pretend to cook if I don't have a cooking exercise planned for her. She won't be 2 years old until Feb 7, 2012, so I'm still leary of her impetuousness when it comes to the stovetop. I read today (on the internet) that anyone with a brain would realize that small children shouldn't be allowed to use the stovetop. I'm more of the opinion that small children should be taught how to use a stovetop safely, so (for now) she's still watching me flip the pancake while she wears the oven mitts, but I expect her to be safely flipping the pancake under my supervision within say a year if I still have the pleasure of watching her three times/week after her family moves. <br /> <br />
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No. 1's inlaws want to buy them a house in their neighborhood before the new baby is born. This would mean a nice house in a nice neighborhood with a good public school. It would also mean a longer drive to bring Astrid here. <br /><br />
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So far, we've made cookies, pudding, and pancakes (from mixes). We've also made play dough (from koolaid) and we'll make jello this week. We haven't yet made anything from scratch and we haven't yet made anything that requires electricity to mix. She came early yesterday so No. 1 could make a prenatal appointment, so I figured she wouldn't be so hungry that she couldn't help make her own pancake. <br /><br />
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What are your thoughts on cooking with young children? If you have children, how old were they before you allowed them to use the stovetop?</div>
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-22797907634530181872011-12-06T18:54:00.001-06:002011-12-06T18:55:03.617-06:00No. 2 visits yet again and creeates a video of Astrid.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwSDsbRJeYzAu7PDtO8SylQA76zY3Y6CVSpjSG4VALWKBvYVMua0FelorKrBaTVlgp9RGzeYOVMEAE' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-8803488760005376262011-12-03T10:59:00.001-06:002011-12-03T11:13:57.581-06:00Occupy Dallas - October, 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCcZwuIc7fEb4yNx_dXsy4jEfbUrHyALjnSz3NYqL51Mr_vW8EOs_Dn-ke3rshJwpRdc2QesTW0hsvuDbpbds0CJKlvPzoAbjfi8NW_Z5bzq9GWROaCI3rHd4QI4eIlIu2Qgy/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXCcZwuIc7fEb4yNx_dXsy4jEfbUrHyALjnSz3NYqL51Mr_vW8EOs_Dn-ke3rshJwpRdc2QesTW0hsvuDbpbds0CJKlvPzoAbjfi8NW_Z5bzq9GWROaCI3rHd4QI4eIlIu2Qgy/s400/001.JPG" /></a></div><br />
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Another Occupy sympathizer and I went to downtown Dallas October 5th for a march from Pike's Park to the Federal Reserve Bank building. It was a few hours of effort on our part. That last pic is the sign I made to carry. <br><br><br />
We weren't the only old people there by any means, but the crowd was mainly young people. Unlike the last protest marches in which I engaged (probably in the early 1970s), the emphasis here was on respect. We were told by the organizers, "You WILL be nice. You WILL respect the police." Just in case, we were given the number of an attorney to get us out of jail, but the crowd was quite respectful and I don't think there were any arrests that day. Since that day, Occupy set up permanent digs, the police got tired of them and ran them off. Last I heard, folks were working in two-hour shifts to maintain a presence around the clock every day. Dallas has never been a "feel free to use our bathrooms" town, so two hours is pretty standard fare with the getting to and getting home adding to bathroom-free time.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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<!-- END DO NOT MODIFY --></div>Oldnovicehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17714134603537886606noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22617213.post-34824493457361711642011-12-01T11:59:00.001-06:002011-12-01T12:27:05.817-06:00No. 2 is coming this weekend,so I figured it's about time I posted the pics from No. 2's October visit. Jetblue has been having some airline flight sales that were just too cheap to ignore. <br />
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I broke my camera the night I took the above pics and just this week got a replacement working. I'm thinking that before No. 2 arrives on Saturday I'll post some pics from Occupy Dallas. I support Occupy as much as I support breastfeeding in public, but I don't tend to post much on my politics (outside of the sidebar).<br />
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She'll be 2 years old at the beginning of February and is already long past the "put everything into the mouth" stage. She also seems to understand and heed things like, "This is the only cabinet you can go into." The others are off-limits (due to aforementioned dangerous, poisonous, etc.). <br />
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<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFO2XZQgrGvBQziCkmIg9Q_IP567s1FGpwE3QnvupQRXK3r2HikEjyHwY85RLW5PlhDJHAa7ShscDizXX4Lw-E_6qRSuvP5OLEbhZ1UiuqSY8lF-lK27tYL541bucuS8Lwnl9u/s1600/img_0112.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFO2XZQgrGvBQziCkmIg9Q_IP567s1FGpwE3QnvupQRXK3r2HikEjyHwY85RLW5PlhDJHAa7ShscDizXX4Lw-E_6qRSuvP5OLEbhZ1UiuqSY8lF-lK27tYL541bucuS8Lwnl9u/s320/img_0112.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680471313017618114" /></a> <br />
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There's the time spent researching and preparing materials for activities and the time spent cleaning up after activities. THIS one was particularly messy and Who Knew food coloring stained skin and nails? <br />
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There's the time spent day-dreaming about how I can help her "become all that she can be", the time spent reading reviews on books and materials important to childhood, the time spent ordering them, unpacking them, listening to Em complain, "What did you buy NOW?". Have I mentioned that No. 1 will be having her No. 2 in May of 2012?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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As my dad used to say, "It's getting harder and harder to maintain my 39 status." <br><br>
Anyway, happiest to ya, darlin', as you go to your voice lesson and work at Frankie's. <br><br>
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No. 1 doesn't garden or bake, so Astrid's experiences in these things come on my watch, which is still M-W-F from (roughly) 11-2. Her swimming experience is mostly while she's here, too, simply because our housing development has a pool, but No. 1 joins us for that. She's quite good at swimming now with the exception of remembering to keep her mouth shut, as she loves to laugh at the fun of it all. <br><br>
I got all the baking stuff laid out before she came, set out an egg and a stick of butter to warm up, and pulled over to the island the two stools that typically stand at the counter between the kitchen and living room. I removed their "hats" to provide more friction. <br><br>
We had fun. She was very interested in the process, using her Paula Deen utensils to beat the egg and mix the butter, egg and batter. Of course everything got tasted individually first and she finished up the mixing with her hands (which I do myself on occasion). <br><br>
She's one of those bakers who likes to eat the dough as much as the cookies. I was a little worried about that (as well as the raw egg), but it turns out that both <a href="http://travelated.com/baking-myths-or-what-my-mama-taught-me">are myths</a> unless the egg is "bad", which we'd probably notice. <br><br>
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Since it's WAY too hot to bake, I used the convection oven's bake feature and small pans. I was afraid to let Astrid near the hot pans, so laid out the cookies on cooling racks where she could test each for proper temperature by giving them a lick. <br><br><div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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Step 1: Wash the window boxes. Astrid LOVES any activity that involves washing (or water). <br><br>
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She got them "squeaky" clean. <br><br>
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Step 2: Add soil. <br><br>
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Step 3: Add seeds. <br><br>
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Step 4: Water. <br><br>
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Local stores didn't get seed starter in time to do peppers and tomatoes this year, so I chose to order transplants from <a href="http://www.seedsavers.org/">Seed Savers Exchange</a>. <br><br>
I ordered 12 tomatoes and 6 peppers. My very first planting this morning was a Mexico Midget tomato ... which BROKE while transplanting. Quite the send-off to the day. I left the plant in the ground and left room for it to continue to grow as though garden fairies would bless my intent. <br> <br>
I ordered 6 tomatoes I thought I wanted and ordered a surprise 6 as well. Oddly enough, I didn't get any duplicates ... meaning I broke my ONLY Mexico Midget. For peppers, I ordered a surprise 6, too. <br>
I have one raised bed this year and space around the fences for gardening purposes. I hired Ken to help me clean up last year's mess and dig in the raised bed. Em helped me amend the soil along the fences. <br><br>
I bought some heirloom seeds which included round carrots, long red carrots, patty-pan squash, AKA early white bush scallop squash and a few other things. The garden will only have patty-pan squash this year in the squash family. I'm just not into the squash bug problems and these things don't seem to suffer from them. <br><br>
Spent some $$ on red tomato towers from <a href="http://www.gardeners.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Gardeners-Site/default/Home-Show?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=Google&utm_term=gardeners_supply_company&SC=XNET8219&gclid=CMm5ovn5_qcCFcKd7Qody024Hw">Gardener's Supply Company</a> and also bought some red recycled rubber edging for everything so Em doesn't have to trim and can just mow the grass in the yard. These things should last as long as I last. <br><br>
STILL using some seeds that Diane sent me through the years, too. Thanks, Diane! <br><br>
Pictures will be coming in future gardening posts. I have high hopes for this year.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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She started off by showing Grandpa Blue "her" room. <br><br>
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No. 1 was looking exceptionally cute, I thought. <br><br>
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She helped open the birthday gifts while daddy took pictures. The popper was my gift to Astrid. Em made it clear that it was to go home with her, but that was the plan all along. <br><br>
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We had lunch before dessert and most everyone wore silly hats. As expected, Astrid didn't like the feel of the hat. <br><br>
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Ba Ba Blue (her other grandmother) made a lovely centerpiece that was also fun to play with. <br><br>
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Took me two days to get the cupcakes right (never trust a recipe!), but they came out tasty and even pretty good looking after some research. With healthier eating/less sugar in mind, I made whole wheat carrot cupcakes with a whipped cream/cream cheese frosting. Ba Ba Blue brought ice cream which Astrid thought much too cold to eat. She thought the cupcake was fun, though, and even good enough to eat. <br><br>
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We did a little reading of one of the new books, but there was SO MUCH TO DO and so little time. <br><br>
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Grandpa Blue helped out with new puzzles and other toys. <br><br>
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She's a lucky girl with two sets of grandparents who love her and regularly spend time with her. <br><br>
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Never thought I was the type, but I'm really enjoying this gig as Mormor. <br><br><div class="blogger-post-footer"><!-- Start Bravenet.com Service Code -->
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Yesterday was 72 degrees outside and Astrid enjoyed playing in the fallen leaves. Having sprained my ankle early last month, I hadn't even noticed the leaves changing color. Children have a way of directing our attention to the important stuff in life. <br><br>
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