Snippets From The Week: The April 28, 2012 Edition

It's a well-known fact around here that the Suz talks in order to think. I frequently have to sequester her away in her room so the introverts can do their long division in peace. One day the Suz was doing a workbook page of her own, talking and talking and talking her way through each step. She kept moving to different parts of the house, trying to find a place "quiet" enough to get her work done. She finally hollered out to the rest of us, "WILL ALL OF YOU BE QUIET?! I'M TRYING TO FOCUS-TRATE!!!"

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Back when the Zig was just a squishy-squashy toddler, he called the "conveyor belt" at the grocery store a "conveyder belt." I corrected him several times back then, but for whatever reason the word stuck. Now it's too cute and I refuse to correct it because if I don't correct it I'll still have my witty-bitty toddler boy, right?! RIGHT?!

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One game the Suz and I like to play is "Memory." I usually pick about 16-20 cards from the pile to make the game more manageable for both of us. We've played it enough times that she knows the routine of picking out a pile of sets, and then setting them out in a grid. Recently she set the game up herself, all while I gave her instructions from the next room. I sat down to play and after a few minutes thought, "Wow. This game is more challenging than usual." Campers and I soon realized that we were playing Memory with a whole pile of cards missing their match. Good times.

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I've been teaching the Suz to read for several months now. Each time she sounds out a word, she feels the need to tell me a story about that word. Now, had I asked the boys to do the same, they would have protested with placards and pouts. But the Suz, you know, always relates everything back to her world and the people therein. Examples.

"N--e--c--k. Neck! Like Neck who lives next door to us!"   [Nick]

"A--r--e. Are! Are friends came today! Oh! That's not right?! Okay! Oh! It's are! In one are we'll go to the park!" [Our, hour]

Before I get a chance to correct her, she's off on a tangent about the neighbor boy and his dog and I'll bet we're going to the park today because it's so sunny, yeeessssss!!!

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Campers: "I love candy, aaaall kinds of candy. Even candy that has gone past its exclamation point, like..."

*he explodes into a fit of giggles*

"Oops, I mean, expiration date..."

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Suz, running out of the bathroom:  "Mooommmm! Is comp'ny comin'? Cuz I see you cleaned the toilets!"

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I had a Scott Joplin song playing and the Suz was happily dancing around to the ragtime tune. She came up to me and asked what the name of the song was, and I said, "Maple Leaf Rag." She replied, "Oh! Make Believe! Like the people in my radio!!!"

Yes. Just like that.

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Snippets From The Week: The April 14, 2012 Edition

A regular theme of the Suz's life is "practicing self-control." Bless her heart, she's quick to move now and not think later. Same goes for her speech, no surprise. I never knew that parenting my complete and total opposite was going to take me to my wit's end and back, and this is where my mother laughs loudest, as she is laughing last.

I digress. 

We were walking up and down hills and up and down hills all around San Francisco, which required a firm grip on the Suz's hand--especially when going downhill. She has but two speeds: fast, and asleep. I had to give her speech after speech about what would happen if I let her walk downhill by herself, and let me assure you, the speech included such theatrical phrases as "slamming into a car" and "bloody mess."  

This past week, when we were walking in downtown Portland, Suz took on a mild hill of her own, walking all deliberately and exaggerating how careful she could be. She eventually shouted back at me, "Look, Mom! I'm self-controlling!"

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Our cat is one of the most long-suffering felines I've yet to know. Bless his heart. It's a household rule that we don't trap the poor thing in the kitchen cupboards, and you guessed it, we had to make that guideline after the cat had been put in a cabinet that was then shut tight. 

I caught the Suz sticking the cat in one of the kitchen cupboards and trapping him there, so I said, "Hey! No putting the cat in the cabinets!" To which she replied very matter-of-factly, "But I've got to cook him in my oven!"

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I had each of the kids dictate to me their memories of San Francisco so I could print them out and keep them as memorabilia. Well, it was also a school writing assignment, but I didn't tell the boys that. Ha! I win again.

Anyway, I let the Suz loose to talk her fool head off about whatever she wanted to talk about. She finally got tired after I'd typed two full pages. (Two full pages!) This was her take on Alcatraz, and I quote her, word for word:

"One time all five of us had headphones and we were in the room where the guys were in their cages. That's where they were sleeping, eating, going potty, washing their hands, and sitting down. Those were the bad guys that were there a long time ago. Now they are out of their cages. Plus, I don't like bad guys cuz they'll shoot us and kill us and I'll be sad the rest of my life cuz I'll never see my mom again. But the good part of the story is I'm still with you and the bad guys are gone cuz they took them away in the 1940s." [1963 is the actual date the prison closed down. She was no doubt pulling a date out at random.]

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And from Ziggy's report on San Francisco:

"We got to go to the Transamerica Pyramid, but not in it because it's an office. We were like 50 steps away from it and Mom couldn't find it, so I said, 'Mom. It's right there.'"

[It's true. I couldn't find the building and it was just around the corner from where we were. Then once we were standing right next to the this very tall and highly-recognizable skyscraper, we started asking for directions to the Transamerica Pyramid, thinking we were SO FUNNY. Giddy was more like it.]

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Campers latest game he likes to play is "the anagram game." For example, he walks around the house mumbling, "steak is an anagram of stake." [short pause] "Ropes. Hmm, ropes. Prose is an anagram of ropes." He alternates this verbal whatnot with the old standby, "Look at the time what does it say, 2:48, 8 divided by 4 is 2." And on and on, and on and on, all day and I'm guessing, all night. What a goof. What is he ever going to turn out to be?!

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We took the subway from downtown San Francisco when heading back to the airport. It's a 30-minute ride, and while I was attempting to find my Quiet Happy Place, the Suz was chatting up the lady beside her. Suz went on and on about how she had to get shots, "here! and here! and here! and here!" Bless the lady's heart, she was giving Suz every non-verbal clue to say, "SHUTSKY UPSKY, I AM DONE WITH THE TALKING." But, like her true extroverted self, Suz just read that as a challenge and chose to fill the silence with even more details about her thrilling five-year-old life, and when that got old she did what all talkative people do best: she over-shared. Next thing I heard out of her mouth was, "When my mom was little she got shots IN HER BUTT!"

That got the lady's attention. Chalk one point up for the Suz; minus fifty points for the Ma who apparently hasn't told her girl enough not to share that story with the public.

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Re-Entry From Our Travels

I told the kids we'd take it easy with school the week we got back from San Francisco. I mean, for all intents and purposes, our week in San Francisco was far more educational than some of our days at home. But I digress. We needed time to decompress and make sense of all that we did on our trip. 

While making plans to check out the Wells Fargo museum in San Fran, I discovered that there was a Wells Fargo museum in my very own city that somehow, somehow I'd never even heard of. I informed the kids that we'd have to check the place out to see how it compared to the one in San Francisco. 

So on our first day "back to school," I told the kids we'd visit the local museum the next time the frozen yogurt place nearby had their double-punch day. I mean, doesn't everybody plan their outings around food?! Of course! Ten minutes later, I saw on Facebook that double-punch day was that very day, and that's all the motivation we needed to get our work done in the morning.

The Wells Fargo museums are well done, and require about an hour to take in the exhibits. I love that these places are generally staffed by people who love their jobs and love to answer questions. We had the place to ourselves and learned all sorts of things that tie in with our current studies in history. 

Oh, and for those who are wondering--the museums are similar, but by no means identical. Each has local history incorporated with the main theme of Wells Fargo and their stagecoach experience.

We did end our afternoon out with a stop by our favorite fro-yo place in town, which definitely helped with our re-entry into Normal Life. Yay, museums and treats!

I Left My Heart In San Francisco

Since moving to the Pacific Northwest, it's been on My Bucket List to go to San Francisco. Much to our delight, Pa was approved to attend a conference there just last week, and we got to tag along for the ride. I already had a file several papers thick on things to do in San Francisco, so I was well on my way to creating an itinerary for our week-long stay. There are a few things in the city we missed, but we covered as many bases as we could while we were there. 

San Francisco is indeed a very charming city. It has a similar feel to the Pacific Northwest, but it also has these fun add-ons like the Golden Gate Bridge (HELLO, THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE), cable cars, the crookedest street, Alcatraz, and the list goes on and on. Add to that a whole bucket full of interesting history, and the city is a TREAT to visit. No surprise, then, that everywhere we went, we bumped into people from all over the world. 

I uploaded 118 pictures to my Facebook account, complete with captions and such, so I'll just refer you to there if you haven't seen the album already.

Needless to say, we all loved San Francisco and feel so fortunate that we got to spend so much time there. Yay for marking an item off the bucket list!

Snippets From The Week: The March 17, 2012 Edition

Pa and I have a few favorite cereals that we eat after the kids go to bed. I know. Livin' it up. We happen to keep these boxes on the top shelf of the top cupboard in the kitchen. Out of the kids' reach, if you will.

Couple of days ago, I saw the Zig climbing all over the kitchen cabinets like a monkey, hanging on an open cupboard door and desperately trying to reach the peanut butter cheerios. All the while he was muttering to me, "Why do you put the cereal waaaay up here? I can't reach it! This is not a very safe place to keep the cheerios."

Dang it. Now I gotta find a different hiding spot.

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The Suz came running up to me (as she has just two speeds: running, and asleep) and started telling me a story, which was the standard shouting-slash-doesn't-know-when-to-stop story: "Mom! I went up to your room! And I knocked! And there was my bruther! And he was playing Legos! And I walked in and he said 'get out'! And then I came down the stairs and saw you!"

To which Cam replied by shouting through the heat vent in the floor, "TMD! TMD! TOO! MANY! DETAILS!!!"

Like mother, like son -- I finally asked the Suz, "Was there a point to this story?" And she, of course, said quite happily, "No!"

[I am totally gonna start a group called Introverts Anonymous. And I'll have meetings by myself and invite no one besides myself.  NO ONE!!!]

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Suz, looking at a picture of Zig with a dum-dum sucker in his mouth: "Mom! He has a CIRCLE in his mouth!"

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Snippets From The Week: The March 10, 2012 Edition

The girl and I were self-checking our books out at the library, all the while she was chatting to herself. "I have eight books. I am checking them out myself! Wait! I will count them! 1-2-3-4-5, oh wait, gotta start again, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8! Now I will put them in my bag! Hey where's my bag? Oh there it is! I'll put my books in my bag!" The whole time this stream of consciousness was going on, an Asian lady was beside us, watching the show. She finally asked, "Is she your daughter?" And I said, "Yes, she's adopted from China." And before I could get another word in edgewise, the Suz shouted out for all to hear, "MY MOM'S TEACHING ME TO SPEAK ENGLISH!!!!!"

And aren't I doing a great job.

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I got after the Suz for playing with her glasses. Her reply? "Oh, that's right! They're so expensible!" 

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The boys spent part of one afternoon seeing how many times and how fast they could say "Uncle Andy's Undies." And giggling like a couple of goofballs at their attempts.

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Back when the Suz was having such a hard time learning her colors, I started her on the Signing Time videos. She loved them, of course, because they mix learning with movement and songs. So when it came time for her to learn her letters and her numbers, I was sure to put the ABC / 123 DVD on repeat and voila, she was signing and singing her facts with ease.

Fast-forward a year or two, when the Suz is learning to add. She worked very hard one day to come up with 6 + 1, with her answer being "4." Took me a long time to figure out how she could be so far off on what (to me) seemed like a pretty simple problem. And then I realized she was using her "sign language fingers" to add--in sign language, the number "6" is the middle three fingers raised on one hand. So, three fingers ("six") plus one finger equals, YOU GUESSED IT, "FOUR."

Huh. Who else but the Suz would take me down such an interesting path with math?

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I was doing a little tracking of our field trip group's outings over the past four years, and as part of that, this random conversation came up:

Me: Do you guys remember the trip to the art place where you made crafts out of scrap materials?

Boys: No.

Me: Oh, you know, you made magnets and name badges and stuff like that.

Boys: No.

Me: I stayed home with the group of little kids and you rode with your friends so-and-so, remember?

Boys: Nope.

Me: That's when your friend so-and-so got carsick and puked out the window.

Boys: OH!!! WE REMEMBER THAT TRIP!!!

Yep. Makin' memories.

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We were talking one lunchtime about the ladies we know who are pregnant. From the Suz, "When someone's fat, that means there's a baby inside!"

To which I replied, "Do NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT say that the next time we're out and about."

Which means she absolutely will.

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During piano lesson:

Me: Well, you got the notes right on that song but why'd you skip all the rests?

Campers: It saves time.

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Snippets From The Week: The March 3, 2012 Edition

We finally took Ollie to get his first round of immunizations. Not bad for having the cat around for seven months, eh? We went to a clinic, which meant we still paid a bunch for the shots, but got to wait in line for a long time, too! Suz was off shopping with Pa while Ollie got his shots done, so she missed The Show. (After all, she equates "getting shots" with "Armageddon.") Her first words once she saw the cat were, "Did Ollie get his shots? Cuz I don't see any Band-Aids!"

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Suz: "Mom! Campers and I THINKED up a new game!"

Campers: "It's not, "thinked," it's "THUNK."

Me: "THOUGHT! It's THOUGHT!!!"

Campers: "I know. I just like to drive you crazy."

Me: *BIG SIGH*

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We have a scripture CD with a song to the verse, "Keep your tongue from e-e-vil," and the Suz has been listening to it all week. She's got the verse memorized, but too bad the words aren't right. The two most recent versions are, "Keep yo-self from me and you," followed by "Stick your tongue for me and you."

And for "Honor your father and mother," she's memorized (and sings at high volume), "I know your father and mother."

See? We are so on the ball.

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Kids sat down to dinner where there was a big bowl of cole slaw on the table. Suz hollers out, "Oh, yum! Slimy Joe!" (I assume she was thinking of sloppy joe, which we weren't having at all.)

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Thanks to the girl's gymnastics class and the kids being caged up inside, they've started doing somersaults all through the house. Over and over and over again, mostly on the couch. I can stand the noise and chaos for a few minutes before I, well, calmly ask them to do something else. *cough cough* The boys were able to trick me for a while, though, as they started saying to each other, "Hey! Let's go do our winter peppers!" It took me a while. Yes it did. Finally I realized they were speaking in code: winter peppers = summer salts. Huh. Score one for the kids.

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Snippets From The Week: The February 25, 2012 Edition

The Suz was looking at a picture of herself where her belly was sticking out. She said, "Good thing my NICKELS weren't showing!" [referring to her chest, of course]

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I've been working with the Suz for weeks now on understanding what a "vowel" is. One of her workbook lessons from this week had several short words where she had to circle the vowel. She did all right until I said, "Okay. In the word 'I,' what is the vowel?" And you know what she shouted with a great deal of confidence? "U!"

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When it's misty outside, the Suz says it's "soggy." And when she's eating cereal, she doesn't want it to get "foggy."

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Campers was at the entrance to the room I was in, opening and closing the door multiple times. He said, "Mom? I can't believe you've not told me to stop." So I said, "Well, it's still early in the day when I have a nerve or two left. My real beauty shows up later on." He replied, "I think you mean The Beast."

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Right before lunch one day I hollered out, "Campers! Say prayer." And once we all got settled and quiet, he said just one word, "Prayer." To which I replied, "Okay! Let's eat."

[I laughed. Boy did I laugh. Yet Campers knows this is a one-time joke. I figure lightening up and letting go are things I should do more often.]

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Japanese Gardens

There are some Japanese Gardens in town. A whole five acres of them, Pa told me. We have not visited them before, primarily because of the cost. There are usually a couple of "free days" a year, but they always, always fall when it's cold and sopping wet outside. Well, this year it fell on a day when Pa had off of work, and it was cold and sopping wet outside. But nothing will stop me from saving thirty bucks and finally getting to see the gardens. Nothing. I am a Pacific Northwesterner; the rain makes me grow.

We covered the grounds in about an hour. We were pretty much traveling at Kid Speed, with some acceleration added in due to the rain. I figured--I wasn't paying a thing and felt I got my money's worth for sure.

Well, seriously, we did enjoy the gardens, the peaceful zen-like gardens. We had to silence our cell phones as we entered. Too bad we couldn't put a silencer on the Suz, as she treats nearly every outing like it's a contest for who can be the Loudest and the Busiest. She wins again!

Library Art Day - Eric Carle

I took the kids to the homeschool class at the library again where they study the style of an illustrator and then make a craft along that theme. This week's illustrator was Eric Carle, author of the infamous The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, and The Very Quiet Cricket. 

Did you know that Eric Carle would paint tissue paper, let it dry, paint it a different shade, let it dry, and then cut out shapes from the tissue paper to make his illustrations? I thought that was fascinating. I have read his books for years and could never quite figure out how he accomplished his art. 

The kids were given scraps of paper, in all different patterns and colors, and were told to cut out shapes to make a collage. Campers made a dolphin coming out of the water...

Ziggy made a night scene, complete with a boy peeking out of the window in the house...

And the Suz (with a lot of help from Ma and the Brown Bear book) made a duck...

I know. I did a craft and it was awesome. Mark it down. Doubt it will happen again.