some things we have seen/done--(so much to relate, so little time, such a sore wrist!)
1. a man playing a manolin on the ferry to vermont
2. echo aquarium, again. ava likes the weather reporting station where she can be on tv.
3. a cancelled flight
4. a plea for help
5. a lot of help and a mad dash for the flight to detroit.
6. a short plane ride--ava on the opposite side of the aisle, like a big person
7. a quick layover (no water)
8. a long plane ride--cinderella, a sleeping carter, a potty run with sleeping carter, and a 40-minute unbelievably beautiful lightning show on the left side of the plane (in the distance) that was more compelling than cinderella could ever hope to be. and far more educational.
9. a very late night.
10. playgrounds and pools and yoga and a 3D movie (i learned i cannot handle 3d)
11. sea world! shamu, acrobats, dolphins (no comment), whales, playgrounds, frozen lemonade, popcorn, sea lions, seals, an otter and a walrus!
12. a peaceful night in a hotel. amazing.
13. sea world again! feeding and petting the dolphins, saw the sharks, penguins, shamu again, and lo and behold ava was big enough to go on the big-kid rollercoaster. mom rejoiced, we did it, and then, per her request, we did it again.
14. animal safari drive through. lots of running and galloping. unusual. a baby donkey. the cutest thing i have ever seen in my life.
15. yoga. nature center.
16. yoga. nature center.
17. yoga. nature center.
18. geothermal pool.
19. children's museum.
20. sitting in an anthill (ava)
21. anoles
22. organic burger drive throughs
23. macrobiotic food at casa with a playground on the side.
24. conquering the monkey bars.
25. exhausted kids.
26. exhausted grandma.
27. pretty darn grateful mama.
Friday, April 18, 2008
so...the illness has cycled through ava and myself. it has been a superb week.
it has not been that bad. we managed to get out yesterday and today, and even this morning, when we were all just resting, we had a fun time after ava discovered her beading supplies. she wanted to do some, and then carter wanted to do it, and he even managed to get a few on. given that they are, at most, 2mm wide, and usually only 1mm in diameter, i found this pretty impressive. we have resolved to go get more (larger) beads tomorrow.
carter is astonishingly little boy-ish. i think he grew in the past month or so. there is something very different about him.
as for ava, it is obvious that she is almost 5, and that she has grown, but nevertheless i was dumbfounded when we dragged out her sundresses and the one that was huge on her last year is now above her knees. i bought it with the intention of using it again this summer. i did not think that she would grow six inches! (ok, that is an exaggeration, but not much). i can still use it, but barely. it kills me to buy new summer clothes when the season lasts all of 3 days around here.
speaking of, the ice is not out yet. it is on some lakes, but not ours. soon.
it has not been that bad. we managed to get out yesterday and today, and even this morning, when we were all just resting, we had a fun time after ava discovered her beading supplies. she wanted to do some, and then carter wanted to do it, and he even managed to get a few on. given that they are, at most, 2mm wide, and usually only 1mm in diameter, i found this pretty impressive. we have resolved to go get more (larger) beads tomorrow.
carter is astonishingly little boy-ish. i think he grew in the past month or so. there is something very different about him.
as for ava, it is obvious that she is almost 5, and that she has grown, but nevertheless i was dumbfounded when we dragged out her sundresses and the one that was huge on her last year is now above her knees. i bought it with the intention of using it again this summer. i did not think that she would grow six inches! (ok, that is an exaggeration, but not much). i can still use it, but barely. it kills me to buy new summer clothes when the season lasts all of 3 days around here.
speaking of, the ice is not out yet. it is on some lakes, but not ours. soon.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
hmmmm...."hey, mom! can we go to ven and jerry's?!" (that is not a typo). "sure! you guys did a great job riding arond the lake and it is a beautiful day--perfect for ice cream!"
uh, hello? mom? sugar? not doing it?
oops.
the benefit: ava' s behavior was just fine.
i suppose there are lots of reasons to eliminate sugar, but clearly the association between behavior and sugar is dubious in this case.
carter has pedaled around the lake 2ce, and ava has gone 4x in 3 days. how great.
(carter gets a little push, but his little legs keep going around and around and around!)
carter is finally starting to sing. very interesting.
he is more of a little boy now. able to really articulate complicated thoughts and feelings.
what is interesting is that if he has been genuinely hurt or genuinely scared, often he will get very quiet, silently crying huge tears that well up and finally drop off, and if you hold him, he will very quietly sob. not always--sometimes (like when ava plays "huge scary monster-animal") he will scream at the top of his lungs in terror, and sometimes when hurt he will let out a primal wail, but it is more and more common for him to hide his hurt--only showing me or dad. the other day while i was cooking, he was in the living room with dad and ava--he hurt his lip on his sippy cup and just got up and walked out of the room. i did not even hear him until he was holding onto my leg, very quietly saying "mommy...i hurt my lip..."
it makes you absolutely melt.
uh, hello? mom? sugar? not doing it?
oops.
the benefit: ava' s behavior was just fine.
i suppose there are lots of reasons to eliminate sugar, but clearly the association between behavior and sugar is dubious in this case.
carter has pedaled around the lake 2ce, and ava has gone 4x in 3 days. how great.
(carter gets a little push, but his little legs keep going around and around and around!)
carter is finally starting to sing. very interesting.
he is more of a little boy now. able to really articulate complicated thoughts and feelings.
what is interesting is that if he has been genuinely hurt or genuinely scared, often he will get very quiet, silently crying huge tears that well up and finally drop off, and if you hold him, he will very quietly sob. not always--sometimes (like when ava plays "huge scary monster-animal") he will scream at the top of his lungs in terror, and sometimes when hurt he will let out a primal wail, but it is more and more common for him to hide his hurt--only showing me or dad. the other day while i was cooking, he was in the living room with dad and ava--he hurt his lip on his sippy cup and just got up and walked out of the room. i did not even hear him until he was holding onto my leg, very quietly saying "mommy...i hurt my lip..."
it makes you absolutely melt.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
uh, yeah. nothing like announcing that you are going to get the kids off sugar and then waking up to fresh donuts from the grocery store. and yogurt smoothies. guess 11 pm is not a good time to initiate that discussion.
so, that question about bees hibernating? well, it is complicated. honeybees overwinter, basically huddling together in a football-sized clump (shudder...), keeping each other warm. this, apparently, is the reason they make so much honey--they need to eat in the winter too. i knew this at some point--like when i was 10 and a die-hard Ranger Rick fan, but had forgotten. however, yellowjackets and bumblebees do not overwinter--they all die, save for the queen, who does hibernate. upon waking, she lays a ton of eggs and gets a whole new colony. we looked al this up and had a very long, very engaged discussion about bees--so engaged that i let the dinner hour completely pass us by. get this: bees have a little notch on their front legs that cleans their antennae. AND bees sleep! is that not the cutest thing ever?
it was really nice--after so many days of skiing and skating and this-ing and that-ing, including this morning, it was so pleasant to sit down at the dining room table with 2 huge pads of paper and the computer and talk about bees. carter was also somewhat interested. he loved having his pen and paper, and he declared happily that he drew a 2! and a 4! and an N! -- i had to practically leap across the table to get ava to stop telling him that, no, he really did not draw a 2--i kept loudly talking over her, saying "wow, carter, that is GREAT! isn't that GREAT AVA?" as if she would get the subtext. he is suddenly very very interested in numbers and letters. he always has been quietly interested, but now he wants to talk about them. a lot.
he is also asking really perceptive questions, and carries on a running dialogue about all of his favorite characters--mary poppins, snow white, cinderella are all people who need routine rescuing, and he absolutely insists upon being called Diego, and that Ava is Alicia. This is after watching 'GO Diego GO' perhaps 5 times. Diego is Dora's cousin, and he is an animal rescuer--as is his sister Alicia, and his parents are animal scientists. Carter is constantly off to rescue a baby humpback whale or a baby chinchilla or perhaps some baby condors. To the uninitiated, it is very disconcerting to have a 2.5 year-old suddenly talk about chinchillas.
but once you know the story, and are prepared to have it embellished with all the other stories he is reading/watching, you can sort of piece together the narrative.
2 days ago, ava, carter and i all went out to The BarkEater for a pony ride on Precious, the cutest pony in the universe. ava loved it, carter enjoyed the mud puddles. he jumped in one paticularly deep one and then "fell" in it, and then came running at me yelling "here comes dirty man!"
ava was completely engrossed in her pony, and was very pleased that carter preferred the puddles to the horses. i assume we will be returning.
so, that question about bees hibernating? well, it is complicated. honeybees overwinter, basically huddling together in a football-sized clump (shudder...), keeping each other warm. this, apparently, is the reason they make so much honey--they need to eat in the winter too. i knew this at some point--like when i was 10 and a die-hard Ranger Rick fan, but had forgotten. however, yellowjackets and bumblebees do not overwinter--they all die, save for the queen, who does hibernate. upon waking, she lays a ton of eggs and gets a whole new colony. we looked al this up and had a very long, very engaged discussion about bees--so engaged that i let the dinner hour completely pass us by. get this: bees have a little notch on their front legs that cleans their antennae. AND bees sleep! is that not the cutest thing ever?
it was really nice--after so many days of skiing and skating and this-ing and that-ing, including this morning, it was so pleasant to sit down at the dining room table with 2 huge pads of paper and the computer and talk about bees. carter was also somewhat interested. he loved having his pen and paper, and he declared happily that he drew a 2! and a 4! and an N! -- i had to practically leap across the table to get ava to stop telling him that, no, he really did not draw a 2--i kept loudly talking over her, saying "wow, carter, that is GREAT! isn't that GREAT AVA?" as if she would get the subtext. he is suddenly very very interested in numbers and letters. he always has been quietly interested, but now he wants to talk about them. a lot.
he is also asking really perceptive questions, and carries on a running dialogue about all of his favorite characters--mary poppins, snow white, cinderella are all people who need routine rescuing, and he absolutely insists upon being called Diego, and that Ava is Alicia. This is after watching 'GO Diego GO' perhaps 5 times. Diego is Dora's cousin, and he is an animal rescuer--as is his sister Alicia, and his parents are animal scientists. Carter is constantly off to rescue a baby humpback whale or a baby chinchilla or perhaps some baby condors. To the uninitiated, it is very disconcerting to have a 2.5 year-old suddenly talk about chinchillas.
but once you know the story, and are prepared to have it embellished with all the other stories he is reading/watching, you can sort of piece together the narrative.
2 days ago, ava, carter and i all went out to The BarkEater for a pony ride on Precious, the cutest pony in the universe. ava loved it, carter enjoyed the mud puddles. he jumped in one paticularly deep one and then "fell" in it, and then came running at me yelling "here comes dirty man!"
ava was completely engrossed in her pony, and was very pleased that carter preferred the puddles to the horses. i assume we will be returning.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
so, i have this habit of identifying a potentially lethal ingredient in food/products/toys, and going on a wholesale purge. this summer, obviously, was the lead debacle, earlier in the year i had a panic attack regarding the carcinogens in our bath and body products (since toned down a bit, given ava's penchant for nail polish), i have avoided trans-fats for a while now--years, i think, we eat as organically as possible, and now the kids even know to ask if something has high-fructose corn syrup in it.
i was actually very proud of myself when, after reading an interesting article on the metabolism of high-fructose corn syrup, i decided to make sure it was not in our food, and when i raided the pantry, i only had to get rid of one or two things: rice krispies and some sort of nabisco product. the things i was worried about (pasta sauce, etc) turned out to be ok. hooray for paul newman.
however, in the past few weeks, ava has had some "ants in the pants" issues. make that a whole colony of ants in her pants. given that all of her other idiosyncrasies that drive me nuts tend to resolve over the course of a few weeks, i assume that this will too, but on the other hand, it is not really new. just more of it. basically, it is super-hyperness. but really annoying, and potentially dangerous if you are 2 and a half years old and have the dumb luck to be in her way as she careens through a doorway.
so, tonight, after a very very tough evening that took all of my patience, and then some, after she had finally settled down, instead of "talking" to her about it (which usually results in the most random explanations from her that indicate she has no idea as to why i am not happy--i mean, why wouldn't i think she was funny?), i thought and thought and thought and thought, and finally, despite there not being a very consistent correlation, perhaps before giving her another lecture about kindness and thoughtfulness blah blah blah, i would simply see if it might just be something she was consuming. like sugar. now, ava does not really eat that much sugar. she has been known to say "no thanks" to a starburst. but there are some things that she really loves. ice cream, creamsicles, and tonight she discovered the wonders of cheesecake.
of course, it could also be red dye # something, or blue or yellow, and it could be wheat, or corn, or none of those things, but you have to start somewhere, right? it is not inconceivable--she currently has a nasty red burn-like thing on the back of her hand from the foaming soap i bought after caving to the pleasepleasepleasepleasepleases -- i mean, hey, it's not sugar! turns out, that sensitivity that has characterized ava since she was born? yeah. soap that comes all foamy out of the nose of a plastic hippopotomus is just not a good idea.
so, sugar. i talked to her about it, and she was actually open to the idea. if you think about it, with this explanation, she saves face, and i was careful to remind her of all the wonderful things that have nothing to do with sugar.
this is going to be hard with carter, and i have not solved that issue yet. i still dispense little sweets to him when stuck somewhere (the car) with nothing to alleviate his distress.
but we are going to try. and with that resolution, i went to the kitchen this evening, after they had fallen asleep to get rid of the sugar. and you know what? i only threw a handful of things away. 2 ice-pops that were not all-fruit, and some lingering jellybeans, and some petrified gum. i hid the very expensive organic ginger-lemon cookies, since i could not justify throwing them away, and i put the gummy bears up high, for the same reason. i did not get rid of 2 mixes -- one for brownies, and one for sugar cookies, because they will last through this experiment, and she doesn't eat them anyway. and i only had to throw away one thing made with white flour too.
i have to say, i was proud. everyone thinks i am a super-sugar fiend, because i have a chocolate addiction, but i only eat one or 2 small chocolates a day. my pantry and my refrigerator were on the honor roll. this is also helped by the fact that ava does not really like typical kids fare--baked goods, sweet breakfasts, etc.
and i am not going to totally deny her either--in my opinion, that could create a monster who shovels sugary sweets into her mouth at every opportunity sans mom. so, we will just do it ourselves--no reason why we cannot make our own ice pops (other than the fact that it is completely impossible to find functioning ice-pop molds), and yogurt pops, and other sweet things using non-refined white sugar.
we'll see how it goes. worst case scenario? in 6 months, i will be trying to figure out how to wean her off salt and vinegar potato chips...
and if sugar is not the culprit? hmmmmm....i don't know.
i was actually very proud of myself when, after reading an interesting article on the metabolism of high-fructose corn syrup, i decided to make sure it was not in our food, and when i raided the pantry, i only had to get rid of one or two things: rice krispies and some sort of nabisco product. the things i was worried about (pasta sauce, etc) turned out to be ok. hooray for paul newman.
however, in the past few weeks, ava has had some "ants in the pants" issues. make that a whole colony of ants in her pants. given that all of her other idiosyncrasies that drive me nuts tend to resolve over the course of a few weeks, i assume that this will too, but on the other hand, it is not really new. just more of it. basically, it is super-hyperness. but really annoying, and potentially dangerous if you are 2 and a half years old and have the dumb luck to be in her way as she careens through a doorway.
so, tonight, after a very very tough evening that took all of my patience, and then some, after she had finally settled down, instead of "talking" to her about it (which usually results in the most random explanations from her that indicate she has no idea as to why i am not happy--i mean, why wouldn't i think she was funny?), i thought and thought and thought and thought, and finally, despite there not being a very consistent correlation, perhaps before giving her another lecture about kindness and thoughtfulness blah blah blah, i would simply see if it might just be something she was consuming. like sugar. now, ava does not really eat that much sugar. she has been known to say "no thanks" to a starburst. but there are some things that she really loves. ice cream, creamsicles, and tonight she discovered the wonders of cheesecake.
of course, it could also be red dye # something, or blue or yellow, and it could be wheat, or corn, or none of those things, but you have to start somewhere, right? it is not inconceivable--she currently has a nasty red burn-like thing on the back of her hand from the foaming soap i bought after caving to the pleasepleasepleasepleasepleases -- i mean, hey, it's not sugar! turns out, that sensitivity that has characterized ava since she was born? yeah. soap that comes all foamy out of the nose of a plastic hippopotomus is just not a good idea.
so, sugar. i talked to her about it, and she was actually open to the idea. if you think about it, with this explanation, she saves face, and i was careful to remind her of all the wonderful things that have nothing to do with sugar.
this is going to be hard with carter, and i have not solved that issue yet. i still dispense little sweets to him when stuck somewhere (the car) with nothing to alleviate his distress.
but we are going to try. and with that resolution, i went to the kitchen this evening, after they had fallen asleep to get rid of the sugar. and you know what? i only threw a handful of things away. 2 ice-pops that were not all-fruit, and some lingering jellybeans, and some petrified gum. i hid the very expensive organic ginger-lemon cookies, since i could not justify throwing them away, and i put the gummy bears up high, for the same reason. i did not get rid of 2 mixes -- one for brownies, and one for sugar cookies, because they will last through this experiment, and she doesn't eat them anyway. and i only had to throw away one thing made with white flour too.
i have to say, i was proud. everyone thinks i am a super-sugar fiend, because i have a chocolate addiction, but i only eat one or 2 small chocolates a day. my pantry and my refrigerator were on the honor roll. this is also helped by the fact that ava does not really like typical kids fare--baked goods, sweet breakfasts, etc.
and i am not going to totally deny her either--in my opinion, that could create a monster who shovels sugary sweets into her mouth at every opportunity sans mom. so, we will just do it ourselves--no reason why we cannot make our own ice pops (other than the fact that it is completely impossible to find functioning ice-pop molds), and yogurt pops, and other sweet things using non-refined white sugar.
we'll see how it goes. worst case scenario? in 6 months, i will be trying to figure out how to wean her off salt and vinegar potato chips...
and if sugar is not the culprit? hmmmmm....i don't know.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
the last 2 nights, ava has been up from 12 midnight or so to 3 am or so. the first night was really hard because i had not yet fallen asleep when she first awoke. thus i was up til 3. the noise outside our window was horrible, and it was a very rough night. the following night, i did fall asleep before she woke up, so got at least one hour in. but after she falls back asleep, carter starts stirring at 4:30. he usually goes back to sleep, then wakes an hour later, falls back asleep, wakes an hour later, etc. it makes actually sleeping very hard. in short, i have had no sleep. it really stinks.
despite that, we have had several fun days. we are plowing through playdoh. and now i don't bother to clean it up until 1 minute before bedtime. "mommy! no! not clean up my PLAYDOH!still playing with it! making cheese! want some?" and he does the same thing with his drawings--he makes drawings for people then refuses to declare them finished-"mommy! no! can't go! have to make this drawing for daddy. it's not finished yet..." and he proceeds to layer color upon color on his drawing. having lived with ava's minimalism for at least a year now, this is a nice change of pace. and it seems to be inspiring her. she was so upset one day when we went downstairs to deliver a picture he had drawn--she suddenly realized that he had beat her to the punch and she was empty handed. so in a fit of desperation, she grabbed a coaster so that she would have something to give to dad as a surprise too.
she still mis-uses words to comic effect. i don't know what she thinks "talented" means, but she appears to use it as a stand-in for "overwhelmed" -- "i was SO TALENTED with all that noise in the grocery store!" -- but she says it with such seriousness, i can't bring myself to correct her overtly.
today she asked me if bees hibernate. uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........hhmmmmmmmmmmm.......i think some do? not sure? perhaps some migrate? let's look it up when we get home!
we went to the barkeater today--a local riding place--mostly trail rides, but the people could not have been nicer, and now the kids have a place to go to ride. and maybe mom...
despite that, we have had several fun days. we are plowing through playdoh. and now i don't bother to clean it up until 1 minute before bedtime. "mommy! no! not clean up my PLAYDOH!still playing with it! making cheese! want some?" and he does the same thing with his drawings--he makes drawings for people then refuses to declare them finished-"mommy! no! can't go! have to make this drawing for daddy. it's not finished yet..." and he proceeds to layer color upon color on his drawing. having lived with ava's minimalism for at least a year now, this is a nice change of pace. and it seems to be inspiring her. she was so upset one day when we went downstairs to deliver a picture he had drawn--she suddenly realized that he had beat her to the punch and she was empty handed. so in a fit of desperation, she grabbed a coaster so that she would have something to give to dad as a surprise too.
she still mis-uses words to comic effect. i don't know what she thinks "talented" means, but she appears to use it as a stand-in for "overwhelmed" -- "i was SO TALENTED with all that noise in the grocery store!" -- but she says it with such seriousness, i can't bring myself to correct her overtly.
today she asked me if bees hibernate. uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........hhmmmmmmmmmmm.......i think some do? not sure? perhaps some migrate? let's look it up when we get home!
we went to the barkeater today--a local riding place--mostly trail rides, but the people could not have been nicer, and now the kids have a place to go to ride. and maybe mom...
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