Home Improvement

The truth is, there's very little in the way of home improvement going on around here...unless you count the bi-weekly sorting of clutter that happens before the house cleaners come every other week. So, Smunch decided to take matters into his own hands.

After visiting many parks in his oh-so-varied life, he realized that there was something missing from our home. He duly procured some pens and paper and created his own remedy to our poor skills as homeowners.

He started with the bathroom next to the kitchen/family room.


















His mission accomplished, he moved on to the hallway bathroom where he noted the need for "separate, but equal" facilities.













The master bathroom presented a special problem. After all, Mommy and Daddy share the bedroom, so it'd be sort of cruel to make either of them go find a different toilet in the middle of the night. But Smunch had it all figured out.

Rewards for Good Behavior

Yes. These are my running shoes. I even bought them for running...oh, sometime around the turn of the century. I had a brief little period of trying to make jogging fun. I failed. These shoes are not well worn. I wear them sometimes when I get on our elliptical trainer, but in the interest of complete disclosure here, I haven't visited the ol' elliptical trainer in more than a month now. I'll get back to it. I will.

On a topic that sounds completely unrelated (I'll get back to that), the frequency of Smuch's speech therapy is truly oppressive. He doesn't seem to mind it and his stuttering is currently "in remission"...if you can call it that. It's not gone, by a long shot, but it's so reduced that I remember how crazy he drives me with his incessant questions. He can't talk nearly as much when the words don't come out easily! Obviously, it's not the time to quit therapy. On Mondays Daddy and I both got with him to see his stuttering specialist for 45 minutes and on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, he sees the therapist at his school. On Tuesdays, he goes for 30 minutes. On Wednesdays it's just 15 minutes. And, of course, I refuse to get to school in any way other than under my own power. It's so close to the house that it's just ludicrous to bother strapping the kids in and fighting to find a parking spot.

Anyway, I realized after our first Tuesday visit that 30 minutes doesn't even give me a reasonable amount of time to walk home (with Mam in tow) and go back again. It just means Mam gets to watch 10 minutes of Dragon Tales and then gets all pissed off because we have to leave again already and its not over yet. I figured I could go get coffee, but that would involve driving since Starbucks is just a wee bit too far to walk there and back in 30 minutes...at least when you include the time required for the Barista to work her magic. Still not willing to waste the gas and energy strapping and unstrapping. Not even for Starbucks.

BUT, I own running shoes. And wait, I own a jogging stroller too. It has never once been used for jogging, but it's been a terrific hiking stroller. That doesn't mean it can't be used for jogging though! Ah. I think I've found my solution.

So, today I dropped Smunch off with the therapist with Mam strapped in the jogging stroller. Then I jogged to Starbucks. And I did. I jogged all the way there, which suggests I'm in slightly better shape than I'd imagined, at least. Before you even think about being impressed though, you'll need to know that it probably took me five minutes to get to Starbucks, jogging very slowly. I ordered my coffee, caved and got Mam a "petite vanilla scone" and chocolate milk and then walked most of the way back to school, self-medicating most of the way. I could have jogged back, but why risk sloshing even an ounce of that precious liquid out of the cup?

This could become a habit! But don't count on seeing me at Starbucks on Wednesdays. I don't think 15 minutes will ever be long enough for more than walk around the block...or a jog around a longer block...one that doesn't make it all the way to Starbucks!

Introducing...the Green Geckos

When we picked up Smunch's first AYSO soccer uniform a few weeks ago, I was somwhat stunned by the color. And OH what a color it is! I explained to Smunch that unlike with Little League, the teams get to pick their own names in soccer and that the name is usually related to the color of their uniforms. He gamely suggested "The Stems". Hmmm. Not bad.

Fortunately, the team chose to be called the Green Geckos, which is a whole lot cuter, although not nearly as original. Since the uniforms are one-size-fits-all, Smunch is guaranteed to be swimming in his. I'm pretty sure he could pull those shocking green socks right up to his hips if he wanted to.

As you might expect, a bunch of kindergarteners playing soccer is a lot like watching an ant swarm. Fortunately, AYSO is merciful enough that there are no weekday practices for the under 6 (U6) crowd. It's 90 minutes on Saturday afternoon...40 minutes of practice followed by a 40-minute game. That also means that all of the 24 U6 teams play at the same time, at the same school, on little mini fields with five players a side. It's quite a scene.

I don't think they technically keep score at these games, but naturally, we did. The Geckos tied with the Silver Bullets (who are PC-ly represented by a bullet train) by a score of 6-6. And Smunch even scored a goal! He was so proud...and so were we. He's still the littlest guy on the team and he's often distracted, but he's a fiesty little dude. And he had a great time. Yay!

Soccer!

Saturday marked the first real day of soccer for both Mam and Smunch. For Mam, it was a new experience entirely. So, in typical Mam fashion, she embraced it with gusto and became one of a beehive-worth of new and enthusiastic little soccer players in her Kids Love Soccer class.
I didn't think this was necessarily guaranteed. I had intended to sign her up for soccer with My Sarah, but there was a miscommunication and Sarah ended up in the later class. Not only that, but I found out when we arrived that Mam's new best friend from preschool, Riley, was in Sarah's class as well. I thought Mam might just implode if she had to see both of her very best friends in the whole wide world in a different class together.

But it wasn't really an issue. She had a blast at soccer and then we hung around at the park for a little while until the next class was over. She played with Riley until Riley went home and then went back to see My Sarah. They played, kindly including Smunch, until Sarah's brother was done with his class.

Saturdays are going to be fun this fall...and all about soccer. As you'll see in the next post, Saturday afternoons are reserved for AYSO, featuring some very brightly clad kindergarteners!

A Different Kind of Toy Store

It's another day for a marathon of blog updating. It hasn't been the most eventful week and a half, but we're long overdue and it's certainly not as though *nothing* happened. For instance, on Friday, I took the kids to the dentist. That's pretty exciting, huh? Given whatever difficulties I have with either child at home, it's a little surprising just how easy they are with the dentist thing. I give some credit to the dentist and his staff, of course. They're great. It's a pediatric practice, so I guess I should expect them to be good with kids, but this is the second one we've been to and they're definitely not all created equal.

Pediatric dentistry, at least around here, seems to be a ridiculous circus in a lot of ways, these days. I arrive with my two small children, teeth freshly brushed as they so seldom are in the morning. I depart with an armload of new toothbrushes, floss, tiaras, bouncy balls, magic wands, stickers and pencils...as well as the "shades" they give the kids to protect their eyes from the bright examination light.


And, naturally, this being...well, now...there are televisions mounted in the ceiling and each child gets a pair of ear phones. I haven't got the slightest idea how they know when to open their mouths. (They certainly don't know when to keep them shut, normally.) Going to the dentist for preventative maintenance seems to have become a full-on multi-media experience. I guess it's no great wonder that the kids leave with a look of, "That was it? I didn't even get to finish the movie!"

Ummmm...

So, I just dropped Mam off at preschool...roughly an hour after dropping Smunch off at kindergarten. This happened on Friday too, but I was really busy getting ready for camping and Daddy came home to help me out, so I wasn't home by myself.

It's quiet here. Very, very quiet. I don't have any work to do today...not the paying variety anyway. So...huh. I could...like nap, or shop, or do nothing at all. This is very strange...

Camping - Take 2

You may recall that I tried a little camping experiment with the kids back in July. It was in the backyard and it wasn't altogether successful. I'd already registered with my Las Madres group to go camping at the beach this month. You can imagine what sorts of scenarios were playing through my mind as I packed for the trip.

Fortunately, I managed to talk Daddy into joining us at the last minute. I'm sure I could have managed the two kids by myself, but it wouldn't have been very fun. It meant I had to go out and buy a new tent. And it meant that when I got home with the new tent and it turned out to be a used tent, I had to order another one online and returned the supposed new tent. Still, it was a very small price to pay for the help I got. In the end, no one looked more surprised to see Daddy on the campground than he looked himself.

And, except for the fact that the new tent was a bear to set up...leading to a bent pole...and a pain in the butt to try and zip closed...leading to a broken zipper...the trip went really, really well. It went so well, in fact, that Smunch woke up on Saturday morning and loudly declared, "I LOVE CAMPING!!"

Really, though, they both had a blast. The campground was dirty and dusty, so they were absolutely filthy most of the time. I suspect some of their clothes will never come clean again. But it was completely worth sacrificing a few ill-fitting clothes anyway.

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we all headed down to the beach. It was foggy and pretty cold in the campground. Fortunately, the beach was warmer. I tried, but failed to convince the kids that they should put on their swim suits before we left. And, although I foresaw exactly what was to happen when we got there, I didn't bring the aforementioned swim suits with me. In typical fashion, Mam ended up soaked in the surf. Daddy actually remarked, "Look! There's a little dry spot in the middle of her back!" Nice.

She ended up huddled in a towel, shivering, with Daddy feeding her Goldfish crackers. Both kids had a great time though.














Unfortunately, it wasn't any warmer at the campground when we got back. In fact, I think it was getting colder. Sometime after lunch, the fog finally burned off, but the wind came up and it seemed colder still. We spent a while in the tent, which was very nice inside, despite the door not closing. We later headed back down to the beach, which was absolutely beautiful in the sunshine. The kids collected sand dollars, inspected sand crabs, seaweed and washed up jellyfish and Smuch dug a trench...so that the water would flow up the beach. This time, both kids ended up in their swimsuits. I wasn't dumb enough to leave those behind a second time.

The sun was starting to go down by the time we left, which meant it was lovely lighting for photographs. And, of course, I took a ton of them, but there were far too many to post here.

This was one of my favorites though. Mam, sans glasses, just happy to be running around like a maniac on the beach and thrilled with her new sand dollar collection. I wish I'd gotten a comparable photo of Smunch, but he had his nose to the grindstone with that trench.








By 5:30 or so, it was getting late enough that we were worried we'd miss dinner if we stuck around too much longer. Knowing how little I was able to help out with dinner, I kinda wish we'd stayed for the sunset, but the photo turned out pretty anyway. It was another evening of hanging out by the campfire and eating s'mores. It was much warmer in the campground with the wind gone and it was a nice evening.


Unlike our backyard camping experience, the kids were pretty good about going to sleep in the tent, especially after a full day of beachcombing and walking around. Mam brought some of her "amials" with her...thank goodness. They made good company after Daddy and I both sneaked out of the tent to go hang out at the campfire.

This morning, we just packed up and came home. I'm hoping it was enough fun that Daddy will consider going with us again. Of course, now we don't have a tent. That POS went right back to the store it came from as soon as we got home!

Another First Day

It used to feel like after my kids started walking and talking, they were sort of out of "firsts" to record, but I was so wrong. Especially lately, it seems like the firsts just keep piling up. And these days I'm more of a participant and teacher than I used to be. Even though those first smiles and first steps were precious and beautiful, I was a mere onlooker. I loved those times, but I'm having so much more fun now!

Wednesday was Mam's first day of preschool. She went to preschool last year, so this shouldn't seem like such a big deal, but this is a new school for her. Smunch went there last year, so it's familiar for her and for me, it's only a 5 minute drive instead of the 15-20 minute drive we had last year. So we're both happy. If Mam looks a little uncertain in this photo, it's because she took a header into the sign the first time I asked her to pose or me. I'd had to console her for quite a while before getting this one.

A parent is required to attend the entire first day of school with their child at this particular preschool and naturally, that job fell to me. It gave me a nice opportunity to document the occasion and witness Mam's unadulterated joy at being in school with her new best friend...getting to sing, paint, play with sand, roll out play dough, listen to stories, ride bikes and share a snack with her new classmates. Prior to this day, we went to a little playdate in the park where she met a little girl named Riley. The two stuck to each other like glue at the park. The first day of school was no different.

At one point, she looked at me and said, "It's my first day of school! I love it!" Holy cow. I wish enthusiasm could be bottled and sold!

Friday was her first day of school all by herself. She seemed just a smidgen anxious about it before she said, "If I feel lonely, I'll go play with Riley." When I dropped her off on Friday and said "O.K., you can go on in," she walked through the door and out the back door to the playground without even looking back.

No tears, but no hugs and kisses either. I didn't know what to do with her at home, but I kinda miss her already!

The Meaning of Friendship

Tiny Toes

This is a very late addition to the blog, but I just couldn't resist now that I've got YouTube all figured out. Back in July, Mam went to her very first ballet workshop here in town. It was a three-day workshop for 90 minutes each day. Mam absolutely loved it. This is the video of her recital performance on the last day of class.

Adding levity

Yesterday was Back to School night at Smunch's school. It was kind of fun to join everyone else in the school community and learn a little more about what the kids do. On the other hand, I was kind of blown away by just how busy they keep them. It made me a little tense about just how much is expected of these little guys. Then again, maybe I haven't been expecting enough of my firstborn.

The coup-de-grace of the evening was when Smunch's teacher told us that yesterday was the first day she'd really seen him smiling and laughing...and that he barely stuttered at all during that time. It was because they combined his class with the morning class yesterday and his buddy, Jay, is in the morning class. They were playing together.

But the lingering feeling I had from that conversation was that my child isn't happy enough. And in the back of my mind I see strangers putting the pieces together without any knowledge...an unhappy child who stutters must have a miserable home life and terrible, abusive parents. I know...you'll have to indulge my paranoia a little bit there.

So, today, when the thermometer was up over 90 again, I decided to make sure we did something fun and unexpected. While Smunch was at school, I took Mam to the drug store and bought some squirt guns. I've never been a fan of squirt guns, just for the fact that they're guns, but I figure I've put it off long enough and these are really about the water, not about hurting people.

These weren't little puny water guns either. I bought two great big ones and an assortment of smaller ones...thanks to the 75% off sale at Rite Aid. I had a full arsenal.

I filled them up with water and put them in a bag before heading to pick Smunch up at school. Halfway there, I realized that taking any sort of guns near the kindergarten was probably a bad plan and I stashed them in a bush.

When I picked Smunch up, he told me he'd used the potty at school (this has been an issue) and asked if he could have a treat. Uh, sure. I left it over there across the street for you.


So, of course, he was looking for something the whole way back...and Mam had seen me stash the bag anyway. We had a terrific water fight all the way home...and it lasted for a good while after that too.

Total Eclipse

If you're out here on the West Coast of the United States, you may know there was a full lunar eclipse this morning at 3:37am. My mom was always fascinated by stuff like this and she often woke us up to see cool celestial events. I wasn't actually crazy enough to set my alarm for the wee hours of the morning. My husband already thinks I'm insane. I didn't need to wake him up at some ridiculous hour just to prove it...at least not by alarm clock.

Secretly, I told my brain to wake me up, just so I could see it. My brain isn't too bad at these things. I woke up at 3:40am. And I got up, waking husband in the process, to go take a peak at the moon. By that time, it was a faint brownish object in the sky. When I went to sleep, it had been lighting up in the entire yard, it was so bright.

I thought about waking Smunch up. You don't get to see these things all that often. I decided against it and got back in bed. But I got up again. I was too hot anyway and I wanted to see the part where the bright silver moon peaks itself out around the edge of the shadow again. That part is cool. I decided to see how easy it was to wake Smunch up. I bent down and said, "Smunchy, do you want to go see the moon?" He grunted. Sounds like 'yes' to me!

I woke him up a little more. He was game. I carried him out the front door into the driveway and pointed out the moon. "Oh, uh-huh." He talked a little, but I don't really remember what he said. I didn't realize until later that he hadn't stuttered once. I let him go in. He virtually ran back to his bed. "Goodnight, mom!"

Proof positive. Stuttering is all about the phase of the moon.

Homework

I don't really know what they were talking about when they told us at kindergarten orientation that they really don't give kindergarteners homework. Is that something they tell us because they know we're scared they'll be pushing our precious little children too hard? Do they know the whole idea of kindergarten is overwhelming to parents who haven't been there before and they figure the thought of homework just might kill us? It might, I suppose.

Last week, Smunch got his first two homework assignments. And they were definitely homework. I learned a lot from the first one though. He was supposed to go through magazines, papers, etc. find words he could "read" and cut them out and paste them. Considering that Smunch truly cannot read, he really does recognize a wide variety of words, especially when you add logos or a particular font to the letters.

A Little Bit of Nature

I'm doing a little more blog catch-up today. And nothing much to say about kindergarten. The monster that was Smunch after 3-1/2 hours at kindergarten has gone into hibernation for a bit, thankfully. He's happy when I pick him up. He really seems to be enjoying it.

On Saturday, the kids were playing out in the front yard. It's fairly enclosed and we have a really quiet street, so they get sort of minimal supervision out there. Mam came in saying that she'd found a baby squirrel. In fact, she and Smunch were collecting a pile of acorns for said squirrel.

I was making dinner and I usually suspect that they don't know what they're talking about, but a squirrel that doesn't just run away is sort of unusual, so I went out to check. They had indeed found a baby squirrel. It was hopping around on the lawn, looking fairly unconcerned about the commotion...or the acorns, which it was far too young to eat. It appeared to be trying to lick water of the blades of grass in the lawn.



After spending two years feeling orphaned squirrels at Wildlife Rescue, I didn't have a lot of fondness for the rascaly, squirmy critters with long teeth and claws, but this little guy really was kinda cute and I now know enough about rescuing wild animals that I felt comfortble picking him up and putting him in a box. We left him outside for a while to see if his mom would come back to get him. Nope. As far as I could tell, this squirrel just fell from the sky. There wasn't another of his species anywhere in sight.

So we worked on rehydrating him. He seemed healthy and fiesty. Not particularly friendly, but I figure that's a good sign. We kept him overnight and then drove him down to Wildlife Rescue on Sunday morning.

It was kind of a fun little adventure. I'd love to have been able to have him released at our house, but I've got a pretty good idea how the organization over there functions. They're undoubtedly overrun with orphaned squirrels right now. The one we submitted for care is better off with some squirrel buddies and with people who've got the right food and equipment to take care of him, but he's just another squirrel...just like he would've been hopping across our yard as an adult.

What a Circus!

Today, Daddy and I took Smunch and Mam to see their very first circus. And, as good parents, we took them not to just any circus, but to "The Greatest Show on Earth". For years now, I've been sort of tacitly opposed to the circus. I'm not a member of PETA or anything, but I prefer to see animals in something approaching their native habitat...and the big top seems a far cry from that. San Jose Mercury columnist Mike Cassidy summed up my own feelings about the circus excellently in his recent column on the circus. I feel grateful that someone out there feels much the way I do. Although honestly, I can see many animals as having human qualities and needing to be treated as such. After all, I'd argue that my kids are animals. In fact, for most of today, they've been quite beastly. In that state, I'm not sure if they are really treated better than circus elephants.

But I digress.

Although they were obnoxious, the kids couldn't wait to go to the circus. I'm not sure what they expected, but it was going to be exciting. The circus has changed a lot since I was a kid. Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey performed today at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. No big top, no straw, no dirt. I didn't even see any popcorn. We had cushy seats in the 10th row with tickets that looked like they'd been printed by TicketMaster. But it was quite a spectacle with lights, loud music and a terrific singing ringmaster.

They had some pre-show entertainment where you could go down on the floor and watch some of the performers from a safe distance. Mam, up on my shoulders, seemed fairly non-plussed by the whole thing.










They had free clown noses for everyone. And thank goodness because nothing else was even close to free. We didn't bother with a program at $15 a pop. It looked like most of the souvenirs were in the $10-$20 range. Didn't bother with those either. A clown nose seems like a perfect souvenir! After all, the tickets weren't free either.

Smunch loved the circus. He gasped and cheered at all the right places. He was enthusiastic and riveted. It was fun to see. He said his favorite act was the one with the little dogs who jumped over people.

Mam, well, I'm not really sure she was thrilled with the spectacle. Mam quotes of the day were:

"When is it time to go home?"
"We've been watching this for hours!"
"But we only saw a show!" (while resisting being led from the building after the show)

I think the only thing that really impressed her was when they shot confetti at the crowd, which she dutifully picked up and stuffed in the pockets of her dress (because she must have pockets at all times, just in case an opportunity like this comes up) during intermission.

The elephants and tigers did some impressive work. But I couldn't help feeling that they really didn't belong there. The tigers, in particular, seemed unhappy. I don't know what a happy tiger would look like exactly, but they certainly didn't delight in performing. They peed on the floor a lot. At best, I think that's got to be a sign of distain.

But there were acrobats and contortionists, lots of clowns, the "wheel of steel", the cute dog act and even a couple of human cannon balls. It was fun, it was colorful and if it hadn't been necessary to buy food, I would have said it was worth the money.

I couldn't help being a little relieved when neither kid said the elephants or the tigers were their favorite act. And when we were faced with the demonstrators from PETA on the way out the door shouting, "Make this the last time you go to the circus!", I didn't take one of their flyers. But a tiny little voice in my head said, "Yeah, O.K., maybe I will." After all, I can always shell out even more money for Cirque du Soleil, right?