Giant Robots Invade the Rancheroo

The Bacon's Already Home

2012-01-13T19:31:00.000-08:00

The chiddlers, as usual and like kids everywhere, spent the year saying hilarious shit. Yep, it's that time again; my 3rd annual shit my kids said!

(Each paragraph is a stand alone quote or conversation.)

Eli, getting himself dressed and ready for bed: "I need help getting this on!!!" David, in response: "No, you don't need to wear a spider man mask to bed."

Micah, after being asked by a stranger if he'd been a good boy and expected Santa to pay a him visit yaddda yadda yadda: "Haha! Are you joking? Santa's not real!" Stranger, aghast: "Of course Santa's real!" Micah: "No, he's not! David told me he's not!" Stranger, now addressing Eli: "You told your brother that Santa wasn't real?!" Eli and Micah, in unison: "No! David is our dad!"

Micah, in an attempt to bribe David: "If you have a glow-in-the-dark dance party with me tonight, I'll give you one orange m&m."

Me, to Micah, in a crowded restaurant: "Pleeeeeease hurry up and finish your lunch; I reeeeeeeally need to go to the bathroom." Micah, in response, at the top of his lungs: "WHY? DO YOU HAVE DIARRHEA?"

Micah, explaining what he and Eli were up to: "Well, we're shark hunters and we're really rich because everyone loves our delicious shark meat and the government has decided to print an a million dollar bill for us and they're even thinking about printing an infinity dollar bill!!!"

Eli, raving about his breakfast: "This is the best egg I've ever tasted! If I were at a restaurant, I'd totally pay, like, 40 dollars for it... or if it only cost 8 dollars, I'd give a 10 dollar tip." Well, shucks :)

Micah: "I'm growing my hair long so I can have a curly ball on the back of my head just like Sarah does!"

Eli, to me, on our descent from Table Rock: "You know what I think would be an awesome adaptation to protect us from predators?" Me: "No... what?" Him: "If we could run at the speed of light." Yup. That would do it.

My brother, Joe, to Eli during a discussion about Eli's future career as time machine inventor and operator: "Do you think you might travel back to the time of the big bang?" Eli: "I wouldn''t need to; I would just build a telescope big enough to see the big bang." Joe: "Oh really?" Eli: "Yeah, because looking up into the sky is really like looking back in time." Joe: "..."

Micah, after gushing about how much he missed me while I was away: "Wait... what does it even mean to miss someone." Me: "It's when you're sad that someone is away and you wish they were with you." Micah: "Ohhh! Well, then I didn't actually miss you at all!"

Eli, singing: "Damn!" Micah: "Are you singing Last Friday Night?" Eli, in the condescending tone he reserves just for Micah: "You know, Micah, Last Friday Night isn't the only song with the word damn in it." Micah: "Well, are you?" Eli, sheepishly: "... yeah."

Micah, reading the title of a book: "Night of the Nin...ja...s. Wait! Why does it say ninja instead of ninja?!?" Me, confused: "Er... cuz ninjas is what they're called?" Micah, laughing his ass off: "I always though they were called MINjas... hahahaha!"

And, last but not least, the quote in which Micah coins my current favorite phrase (which I now use surprisingly often): the bacon's already home. Micah, grumpily: "Why does David have to go to work!!??" Me: "To bring home the bacon." Micah, confused: "What?!? But the bacon's already home! There's some in the fridge right now!"

And with that I bring you, the chiddlers. As photographed by each other during a leisurely drive to town.

Woodshop Meets Etsy

2011-12-11T18:49:00.000-08:00

For the past 8 months, the chiddlers and I have had the privilege of studying woodshop with two very awesome teachers. It rocks. We attend class once a week and -- every class -- each come away with one toy, handmade from scratch. When I say from scratch, I really mean it. This is serious from-scratch business, yo -- no pre-cut wood here.

Generally, class starts with a little measuring and sawing.

Often followed by drilling (hands down, Micah's favorite activity a la woodshop).

Can't have a class without a lil hammering.

And, of course, screwdrivering (a mouthful, I know, but sounds better than the alternative).

The final products, in my opinion, have been nothing short of amazing.

Choo-choo by Eli; Rainbow rocket by moi; chopper by Micah

These are just a select few of the creations we've churned out over the past few months. Like I said, every week is something new and exciting. I get a little choked up in attempting to express how fun, valuable, amazing and downright awesome in every imaginable way this class has been for the three of us. The kids are crazy for it and I, well... let's just say I've actually started dreaming woodshop, concocting in my head the following weeks rainbow rockets and little toy robots. It's just so fun and so satisfying and it don't hurt none that it teaches the kids all kinds of mad skillz, particularly of the mathematical variety (logic, measurement, problem solving, oh my!). I can feel this veering in to a blog post about woodworking and how important and wonderful and amazing and, sadly, underused it is as a teaching tool for kids, but let's just leave it at that and move on to the part, as promised, where woodshop meets etsy.

Over the summer, Eli developed a wee bit of an obsession for money. Money was suddenly just. so. cool. He loved every thing about it. "I just looooove the look of paper money," he said while gazing longingly at a five dollar bill, much to the amusement of my goddaughter. But even better than admiring it's inherent beauty? Counting it. Yep, counting money is seriously the bomb. It started with the cute lil piles of change I found around the house (always adding up to exactly one dollar).

And then, one late night, things took a turn for the crazy, when he went on (what I can only describe as) a one dollar pile making bender. See for yourself:

It was out of this love for money that operation lemonade stand was born. Then, still high off his success with the OP, he asked if he could get a job. A real job. He just really wanted to make money. I offered to pay him to do odd jobs around the property, but NO, that would not suffice. He wanted a job that would allow him to contribute to the overall income of the family. Mooching exclusively off the ol' rents was apparently no longer gonna cut it. When we came up pretty blank on job ideas for a seven year old, he started making things to sell, mostly in woodshop class. I mentioned in passing that he might have better luck selling his handmade wooden toys online; that I could set up an etsy shop for him. He was all over it. Micah, of course, wanted in on the action, too, sweet as it was. And, thus Brothers Make was born.

The rest is history. It's been a blast. The thrill of each sell is off the charts (even if their only customer is my brother). They recently sold a couple ridiculously cute handmade Christmas ornaments (check 'em out here and here).

I just think it's so cool that we live in a world where kids can sell their adorable handmade art online. The only downside being that they've now started charging for pretty much everything they make. Yep, David and I have to fork out a buck or two just to hang hand drawn kiddo art on the fridge.

Amazing Wonderful Normal

2011-10-30T15:16:00.000-07:00

Since I finally have some good news to report on the health front, I figured it's time do a little bloggy CPR. Yep, time to breathe some life back into this baby!

Life is so good! I feel amazing! I think what I actually feel is simply normal. Possibly even healthy (not to get too totally carried away). But for someone who's been battling Cushing's for a decade followed by a year of panhypopituitarism, normal -- and especially healthy -- is FUCKING A-MAAAAAAAY-ZING. I have a urge to scream it from the roof tops: "Hey, ya see this chick here?! Meeeee! Yeah! I don't feel sick. Not terribly so anyways... and it's only gonna get better from here on out. YAH BABY!!!!" But since shouting from the rooftop of our smack-dab-in-the-middle-of-the-woods home would be utterly pointless and unheard, I think a little letting loose right here on the internet is in order. Say it with me people: WOOOOOOOOOLLY WOOOOOOOOOOLY!

Now, I have to admit that maintaining this state of normalness is an arduous process involving a daily drug regime that could rival the likes of most any medical patient (or raver).

Clearly for any normal person, this would be more than enough medication to get you through a day. But for is post-Cushing's panhypopitters? Nope, not so much. In addition to the candy-store of goodies pictured above, I also baste myself thrice daily with hormonal gels. And then there are the nightly injections (the butt ones are particularly riotous).

Crazy, I know, but worth it.

Life is settling in to a new fabulous wonderful normal. The chiddlers are amazingly adaptive and have weathered the last few years with unbelievable grace (and cuteness). They're sweeter and more full of love than ever and are just doing fantastically. Eli is crazy into evolutionary biology, particularly predator-prey relationships and prehistoric sea life. He adores swimming (though, not with prehistoric sea-life; in fact, he often warns that if you were to find yourself thrown back in time into the Jurassic, no matter how dangerous it seems on land, NEVER EVER GO INTO THE SEA!!!). He also loves chemistry and usually has some chemistry project going (either on our kitchen counter, in our fridge or in our freezer). Other interests include: math, astronomy, money, marketing, economic and woodshop. Also: kenkens.

Micah, my super affectionate little sweetie, has become a passionate hiker. In addition to our regular hikes around the Rancheroo, we've been tackling one very long strenuous hike per week as a family. Recently, while we were hiking Tablerock, a lovely volcanic plateau 30 minutes from the Rancheroo, Micah received a ton of praise from passers by (it's VERY steep and not generally thought of as a kid friendly climb). One particularly impressed passerby stopped Micah: "How old are you... only four, wow, you are the youngest person I've ever seen hike to the top of Tablerock!!!" To which Micah responded: "Welllll... I do eat a lot of protein" and then flexed his muscles... Arrrrrrr! As we neared the top of the trail, he so appreciated all the encouragement he received from the hikers heading down the mountain. "You're almost there!" they cheered him on. On the way down, he extended the same encouragement to next generation of climbers. "You're almost there!" he exclaimed and then watched as they melted into puddles of goo from the overwhelming cuteness. We had to ask him to put it to a rest, though, when we were almost a quarter of the way to the bottom and he was still doling out the you're-almost-theres.

Other Micah odds and ends: he's crazy for phonics and in the past week has surprised David and I with how much he's able to read (a lot!). He's loves to bead, is learning french, loves everything math, and bursts out into song and dance every chance he gets (which, as it turns out, is often). His favorite expression is "Don't let the cat out of the bag."

Speaking of letting the cat out of the bag! I think I should do just that (sorry, Micah). Yahhh see; we've got news! We're planning to move! Not immediately, because we have some pretty major travel we want to do first, but sometime in the nearish future, we're planning to leave our property (anyone in the market for a Rancheroo?), so we can move to a different part of the valley. It's been a hard decision and, in many ways, a sad one, but, as much as we adore our property, we've developed absolutely no connection with our closest town. I won't go to into the details, but suffice it to say that the town just plain sucks, errr... I mean, it doesn't suit our needs or personalities. On the other hand, we're quite charmed with another nearby town (about 45 mins from where we currently live) so we've decided to make the move out that way. We'll find another place in the woods, of course. And don't worry; it won't really be like giving up our Rancheroo, just moving on to a new one (we're even planning to call the new place Rancheroo Take 2). Everyone I've told so far has expressed surprise and sadness about our plan to leave this amazing property. I have to say that it's a pretty freakin' awesome feeling to know that so many of our close friends and family have fallen just as in love with this place as we have. In your honor, we promise that Rancheroo Take 2 will be equally epic! And near a town that doesn't totally suck!

We're all pretty stoked. Micah liked the idea of moving to a new house but was emphatic that we continue living in the woods. Eli agreed completely but had to admit that the city did offer some lure to him: "I would be the richest kid on the planet if I lived in the city!" Not following his logic, I asked what the fuck he was talking about (maybe not quite in those words). "Well," he explained, "think of all the costumers I'd have for my lemonade stand!!!"

So yeah; life is good.

Thank you to everyone who helped us through the fucked up shithead of a nightmare that was Cushing's. They say it takes a village to raise children. Well, apparently it takes a network of friends an family, scattered about the US and Canada, to raise children when their mother is in the throes of battling a hormone-secreting pituitary adenoma.

I truly cannot express how grateful we are for the outpouring of love and support we received. You all rock my world.

A Tale of Two Hundred Soaps

2011-08-27T00:46:00.000-07:00

In the past few months, I've whipped up over 200 bars of soap. I know! So much soap! I've actually been making soap for years -- David (hubby) and I took a class while I was preggers with Eli (8 years ago!) and have since enjoyed making ridiculously yummy soap on a limited basis. Just a few batches a year. Nothing crazy fancy; enough that we never need to buy it and have a little left over for gifts.

Things on the soap front took a turn for the serious about a year ago. As I was recovering from my various brain surgeries, I discovered that soaping tutorials (yay youtube!) were a lovely & relaxing way to spend my time. In particular, I'm became crazy gaga for Soap Queen TV, a series of soap making tutorials by the very talented and experienced Anne-Marie of Brambleberry (which also happens to be my favorite place to buy soap making supplies).

Turns out that in addition to being damn fun, watching these tutorials turned me into a darn fine soap maker.

Six months ago, after dozens of friends insisted that my soaps were professional enough to sell, I opened shop. Serendipitously, around that time, my brother and his super rad ladyfriend got engaged (yay!) ... and clearly, they needed 200 bars of soap as wedding favors for their guests. The rest is history, and it's been months of mad soaping around here!

A lil sample of the madness:
Organic Lavender Divine. This cold process baby smells as good as it looks.

Rainbow soap! A very time consuming and detailed melt & pour project. While working on it, I swore that I'd never do it again (SO time consuming) but when I saw the final product, I was won over. Who doesn't love sparkly soap rainbows?!?

Four Flowers. Named for its fragrance. Scented with the essential and fragrance oils of four flowers: lilac, lavender, jasmine & saffron.

Strawberry Cake soap. Smells just like it sounds. Yum.

Green Tea soap. Again, smells just like it sounds. Double yum.

I also discovered that soap making is a great way to express my inner math nerd. Pi soap! Yay!

During one particularly silly evening, bordering on delirium (wheeeeeeeh!), I thought it'd be fun to make a soap that looks exactly like strawberry lemonade (it was!)

It was so popular with the chiddlers that they decided to make another just like it, only this time less soapy, more drinkable:

Eli loved the drink just as much as it's soapy predecessor and it quickly became the prototype for his latest obsession: Operation Lemonade Stand. Yep, he now sells these beauties at the playgroup for 50 cents a pop.

Shit My Kids Said (And Did) In 2010

2011-01-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

My kids regularly say funny shit. It's awesome. Hands down, it's my favorite thing about hanging out with young children. They're outrageously funny with little to no effort at all. I love kids.

With no further ado, I present the 2nd annual Shit My Kids Said.

(Each is a stand alone quote or conversation...)

Eli, when asked if he was excited about our impending trip to Texas: "Yeah! Sarah gets to get her tumor out and there's gonna be A SWIMMING POOL AT OUR HOTEL!!!"

Micah, in a not uncommon fit of nerdiness: "What comes before A? Are there negative letters?"

Eli: "I'd love to eat nothing but peanut butter chips for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday, but can't cuz I would get sick and die."

Eli muses further re: nutrition and human resilience: "I wonder if I could survive on just jellybeans and candied cherries if I took a vitamin everyday..."

Micah, on the not-so-pleasant things in life: "Eli hates blackberry prickles; Sarah hates Cushing's; David hates weeds. And I... I hate gloves that don't fit me and all kinds of stupid stuff."

Eli, the kid with the very endearing trait of loving fresh fruit more than anything else: "Try not to use all the peaches in the pie!"

Eli and his friend Alix, wielding a squirt gun and a giant net: "Does anyone know where the cat's hiding?"

Micah to his pop: "No seriously, David-- it's your bedtime. Go eat your bedtime snack."

David, to Micah as he "hides" to escape bedtime: "I can still see you when you're covering your eyes. It's extremely cute, but I can still see you." (Okay, so that was a daddy quote and not a chiddler one, but how sweet and cute is that?)

Me, to Micah at the grocery store: "Please don't call me a boobie head so loudly in public." Micah, in response: "I'm not calling you a boobie head; I'm just saying that you have a BOOBIE ON YOUR HEAD."

Micah: "I'm afraid that's not quite enough. I need A WHOLE BAG of cookies."

Eli, to David, re: the bear who rearranged our garbage late one night: "Why didn't you sneak up behind it and hit it over the head with a pot?" (Yeah, David. Sheesh. Why didn't ya?)

Micah: "Could megalodon survive on land?" Eli: "No." Micah: "It could only survive in the sea?" Eli: "Right." Micah: "It couldn't survive on land cuz it didn't have any legs?" Eli: "No, that's not why. It's because it had no lungs... only gills." (Not particularly funny, I know, but I couldn't resist-- mama loves her little geeks.)

Eli to Micah, about how David is the smartest person ever... "Way smarter than Sarah even." (BALLZ.)

Eli shares the secret to eternal cuteness: "I'm gonna be even cuter when I grow up... cuz I'm gonna wear bunny ears all the time!"

Micah, telling me about his time machine: "We were in the time when bacteria was the only life on earth and then we traveled back even further... to the BIG BANG!!!"

Eli, eating a BBQ steak on the deck with his bare hands & teeth: "I'm eating like a caveman!"

David, to Micah: "What do you want for a bedtime snack?" Micah: "Cream cheese off toast." David, confused: "Ummm, you mean just a chunk of cream cheese?" Micah: "Yah!!!"

Eli: "I would never punch my parents... unless they hit me or Micah with a stick." (I was actually glad to know that he'd punch ANYONE who hit him or Micah with a stick.)

Eli: "I'm gonna be a farmer when I grow up. I'll kill chickens and cows for people to eat and I'll share my food with everyone who is good. But no bad guys will be allowed to eat it... no bad guys or giant rat creatures."

Me, to Micah: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Micah: "A nose on a nose floating on a floating butt."

Micah, looking for any and every excuse to delay sleep: "I don't want my door half closed; I want it a quarter closed!" (This first happened towards the beginning of the year when we were still charmed by such a cute and nerdy excuse for evading sleep. We, thus, responded in a kind and compassionate manner. But now that he's made the same or some similarly ridiculous excuse almost every night for the past year, we just get exasperated and yell back: "Fine! A quarter close it yourself and go to sleep... ya nerd!!!")

Eli: "What if you stuck a banana inside a chicken with no head!? Would that taste good?" (This one comes from David, so I have no idea what sort of context we're talking. I think I'll keep it that way.)

Micah, to me: "I was trying to start my video game, but I accidentally checked your email!"

Me, to Eli: "What would you like for lunch?" Eli: "Donuts" Me: "We don't have any donuts." Eli: "How about cake? Do we have any cake?" Me: "Nope" Eli: "Cookies?" Me: "Nope" Eli: "Pie?" Me: "Nope, were all out." Eli: "Okay, I guess I'll have some carrots."

Micah: "Hey David, how do you spell spider barbecue?"

Eli, to me: "Is there anything as gross as a walking talking fart?"

Micah, peeking up at the sky on a cloudy day: "I can't see the sun anywhere!" Eli, in response: "Oh, just keep a look out for A GIANT BALL OF FIRE in the sky. You'll see it eventually."

Eli: "Popsicle starts with P." Micah: "No it doesn't-- it starts with pop!"

I'll leave you with a story from this past summer. We spent several nights of stargazing on a blanket next to our house. Micah spotted his first shooting star (!!!). Eli -- in hopes of one upping his bro -- claimed to have witnessed "a giant sparkly green ball of gas zooming all around the planet." Micah thought Eli's claim was hilarious but -- not to be outdone-- claimed that he could feel the earth spinning beneath him. Sigh. Stargazing with the chiddlers. Sigh.

Well, that's it for last year. If you're itching to get a head start on this year's hilarity, check this out.

Title withheld so as not to ruin the tone

2010-04-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

Eli wrote (and by wrote, I mean dictated) a story that he's very keen to share with you all. He's super excited about the prospect of online publishing, but, like any five year old with superhero values, is also a bit distressed that it could fall into the wrong hands... into the hands of bad guys. This story, you see, is intended for only the good guys among you. As he explains: "Bad guys should not read my story until they stop being bad and start being good." So, to all you bad guys out there, please read no further. Go devise some crazy plot for world domination or just plain ol' blow something up, but for the love of peace, justice and all else that is good in the eyes of my five year old, please do not read any further.

As for the rest of you, read on.

Chapter 1: Giant reptiles
Once upon a time, an early form of life evolved in the sea: bacteria. Eventually, Dimetrodon evolved on land. It was the biggest reptile of its time and ate any creature that couldn't get away on time. The next day, dinosaurs evolved. They were the biggest reptiles of them all. But they weren't the only giant reptiles of that time -- huge pterosaurs ruled the sky and marine reptiles harvested the ocean. Liopleurodon was a giant marine reptile which ate dinosaurs and sharks. A huge meteor slammed into the earth and marked the end of the dinosaurs.

Chapter 2: Giant birds and horses the size of cats
This is about what happens next. This is a world where birds eat horses. Giant birds catch tiny horses and break their necks. The birds aren't the only ones that eat horses. Ambulocetus is an ambush predator. It lives in the water and pops out to eat horses. It's a walking whale.

Chapter 3: Walking whales become the true masters of the sea
This whale hunted other whales. On land there were giant turtles.

Chapter 4: The ice age
Humans evolved and the earth turned cold. Mammals had gotten more and more successful and smart until they were the biggest, largest, most spectacular animals on the planet. There were giant mammoths which were huge mammals. They were hunted and driven off cliffs by neanderthals, who are humans but a different kind of human from us. 65 million years before this, the giant sharks were the old monsters of the sea. Now there was another monster of the sea... the whale.

The End

Shortly after composing it, he decided it was not, in fact, complete, and asked me to add this chapter:

Chapter 5: The eyes of the storm
There was a giant storm that had eyes and big shark teeth and it smelled gross because there were big fat monsters in it.

The End

Phew. Saved by the twist ending. He'd fare well as a Hollywood screenwriter.

His story does have a title, but I've held back for fear that it would distract from the serious tone. It's called "A Flying Ass." A bit much, I know, but it's his story, not mine. I suppose I should just be pleased that he recognizes the importance of grabbing the audience's attention. "A Flying Ass" it is.

The impetus for his interest in evolution, by the way, is Walking With Prehistoric Animals, a very cool series we've been watching on netflix. As usual, the kid is obsessed. I'm pretty sure he pulled several lines verbatim from the series.

In other news, our baby chicks arrive tomorrow, Eli's two front bottom adult teeth have fully grown in, David continues to make pies, and Micah sings incessantly (he's good, too!). Three year old musical performance video coming soon. Wait! I know just what you need! More videos of my kids!

3 Years Ago Today

2010-03-16T20:32:00.001-07:00

The story of Micah’s birth begins with my final prenatal appointment. My braxton-hicks were especially intense that day, and though I'd been having them for months, I was confident that something different was going on; something more... labor-y. My doctor agreed: I was 4 cm dilated and she thought the baby was making its move. Yippeeeeeeeeeeee! To get things jump started, she offered to sweep my membranes. I happily accepted. Half an hour later, on my way home with David and Eli, I knew, without doubt, that my baby was on the way. Sure, I'd been having contractions in some capacity for months, but these were different... the real thing, for sure! Yipeeeeeeeee yipeeeeeeeeeeee!

We arrived back at the Rancheroo to a home-cooked dinner courtesy of Elaine, my mother in law, who had flown over the border and across the continent to help care for Eli. It was delicious! "Yummy yummy yummy" as Eli would say (then and now). After dinner, David and I took advantage of the last hour of light and headed out for a walk. Our land is steep, so we took it nice and slow. Still, it was strenuous going for a 40 week pregnant lady and my contractions intensified BIG TIME. Fortunately, since we live at the Rancheroo (aka in the middle of the woods), we were surrounded by trees. Boy can they ever come in handy when you're in labor. Seriously! Who needs one of those fancy lean-on-when-you're-in-labor bar thingies when you've got 100ft Ponderosa pines! During each contraction, I gripped the nearest towering giant with my every ounce of strength; David applied pressure to my lower back. As the sky turned dark, we returned home and, shortly thereafter, my contractions slowed. I knew that I was still a long ways from meeting my baby, so I tried to sleep, an attempt, unfortunately, thwarted by night of continuous and painful contractions.

In the morning I called the amazing Sheryl, my prenatal yoga instructor and doula, and brought her up to speed on my progress. We agreed that she would head over at noon. In the meantime, I decided to lie down, and by the grace of some cosmic randomness, dozed off for a few hours.

Upon waking, my contractions picked right back up and I was super happy to see that Sheryl had arrived. For a few hours we just hung out — the whole lot of us: David, Eli, Sheryl, Elaine and I. It was fun! Sheryl and I were invited into the room of a certain young chef and he cooked up a storm in his little kitchen. We were served a stellar imaginary meal of strawberry tea and eggs. Yummy yummy yummy!

After a few hours, though, he wanted to head outside, so he and Elaine were off to the playground. David and I took the opportunity for another walk in the woods, this time with Sheryl.

And so begins one of my two favorite parts of the labor. It was a gorgeous day; what seemed like the first of spring. The earliest wildflowers were a' bloom, the butterflies a' flutter, our garden was lush and blooming and the air was unbelievably perfect, fresh and warm. It was crazy bright out and the trees literally seemed to be glowing. Despite the pain of the continued contractions, I felt blissed out of my tree. A bit high on labor pain and lack of sleep, perhaps? Absolutely! I remember feeling a rush of immense excitement at the prospect of meeting my babe and especially for him or her to come home to our amazing Rancheroo. I envisioned myself in the very near future, baby on my back, hiking, planting, and just generally loving life in the woods with two little ones.

The blissed out hike also had the effect of hastening my contractions, so we returned home to time them. 3 to 4 minutes apart! Yipeeeeeee yipeeeee yipeeeeeee! An hour later, we made our way to the hospital, where I was admitted to the triage area (for monitoring and possible admittance). The transition from laboring freely and comfortably at home to being strapped down and surrounded by unfriendly and overly busy nurses was not good... and they wouldn’t even let Sheryl come in the triage area. They did eventually admit me (I was 7 cm dilated), but the monitoring showed some dips in the baby’s heartrate following my contractions, which worried my doctor. She wanted to break my bag of waters to make sure it wasn’t meconium stained, and to put a scalp monitor on the baby's head to keep closer tabs on the heart rate. Ugh! We agreed that she could break my bag, but convinced her to skip the scalp monitor if the water was clear. She did and it was (yeah!) and I was encouraged to labor freely again. Phew.

My hospital birthing room had a sweet jacuzzi tub (which I had been looking forward to for months) so I was pretty stoked to jump on in. Sheryl double-checked with nurses to make sure it was okay (since my bag of waters had already broken). They said yes, and even let me smell it up with my essential oils. Yummy yummy yummy! Next thing I knew (and here begins my other favorite part of labor), Eli was running into the bathroom: “I wanna take a bath with you, Mama!” I remember feeling a little unsure about the whole laboring-in-a-tub-full-of-toddler-pee-with-my-bag-of-waters-no-longer-intact thing, but, miraculously, the nurses okayed it. Good thing cuz we had a BLAST! The contractions were still intense and painful, but I was able to relax... and keep the severity of the pain under wraps for Eli's sake. He enjoyed pouring water over my head, which was heavenly. We giggled. We splashed. We laughed hysterically.

Eli soon tired, (it was already 8:30 p.m.; well past his bedtime) and Elaine made the call to take him home, even though it meant that they would almost certainly miss the actual birth. As it turns out the timing was perfect -- it was shortly thereafter that the intensity of the labor really picked up and I'm not entirely sure it would have been appropriate for Eli to witness me in that state.

David and Sheryl continued to offer unrelenting support and I labored in every position imaginable. The doctors and nurses came in to monitor and check baby’s heartbeat every so often. My doctor encouraged me to try laboring in the positions that were the most uncomfortable claiming that it would help the baby make its way down the birth canal. She even had me try laboring on my back while she and the nurse did some crazy maneuvering with my knees, but for the most part I was free to labor as I pleased.

By 11pm, the pain in my back was excruciating. I was discouraged and certain that I had been in labor forever. The contractions had been less than two minutes apart for an hour and I could not get comfortable even between the contractions. I was at a loss and had no idea what to do with myself. I remember feeling like I wanted to throw myself at a wall (I didn't, thankfully) or scream and curse up a storm (I didn't, but should have). Mostly, I was exhausted and just wanted to be done.

As it turns out, I was closer than I knew. Next thing I remember, I was being monitored again and they wanted me on my back. Baby’s heartbeat was dipping during the contractions, which is normal, but it stayed low even between the contractions. My doc was obviously worried. She told me she thought the baby was “taxed." This made perfect sense to me at the time. I had been laboring for what seemed like forever. I felt incredibly taxed -- of course the baby was too! She checked my cervix: only 8-9 cm dilated and the baby was still very high. She then explained that despite the fact that I wasn’t really ready, that my baby needed to come out right away. She wanted me to start pushing while she manually open my cervix the last little bit. Holy f@*k!

So, crazy as it is, that’s what we did. It took me a few very scary and discouraging contractions before I figured out the whole pushing thing, but once I got it, I could literally feel my baby sliding down my birth canal... and quickly! The contractions came on so fierce: pain beyond anything I can describe. But with each push, there was an amazing flush of relief. Everyone was gathered around and within minutes I could feel my baby crowning! Oh heck yeah! Sheryl thoughtfully asked if I'd like a mirror to see or to reach down and touch. I said no! I was so focused on one and only one thing: pushing my baby out! Then, within moments, it happened. Instant relief and overwhelming joy. David leaned in to whisper: “It’s a boy!” and I laughed. It was all I could do to keep myself from bursting open with joy. My baby was on my belly.

And, then, one month later:

Staggering Awesomeness

2010-02-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

If you've noticed a little something fishy around these parts, it's that I split this blog in two -- YAZAM! -- just like that. From here on out, I'll be blogging about Cushing's disease over here. Click on over to continue following my health saga (jug pissin' & golf ball sinusitus and other such TMI). If, on the other hand, you're only here for chiddler and rancheroo news, well then, you're in exactly the right place.

Important bloggidy overhaul now sorted; it's update time, baby! Things, here in Rancheroo space/time, are great on average... but with a very high standard deviation. We're enjoying all kinds of wintery goodness (and, no, I'm not *only* referring to the continuous influx of David's pipin' hot pies). Winter in the Rogue Valley is just awesome. Think spectacular lush evergreen forest and lovely mild weather. It's freakin' rocks!

Okay, so here we are... at that predictable part of the update where I inevitably go on & on about how staggeringly awesome our garden is... but, nopers, not this time. It's our first year sans winter garden. I know! It's so weird to be buying greens from the store! We're also chickenless (chicken-free?), so, as you might imagine, Rancheroo life has been unusually mellow (and by that, I mean, compared to what it'd be like if I'd just had brain surgery and we were still raising our own food). It's nice! We're hoping to get back into the groove on both fronts come spring (contingent, of course, on my health status), but for now we're loving the break.

Speaking of impending springitude, Micah -- still cute as can be -- is currently obsessed with it. Wish I could tell you that he's excitedly gearing up for spring planting, but nope, not so much. In his toddler mind, spring is equated with one and only one splendor: the re-opening of our local train park. It's winter closure is clearly some terrible & heartless joke devised to ruin his life, but for now, he begrudgingly satisfies his train fetish with youtube videos. OMG does he adore these videos.

Internet surfing and online gaming in general continue to rule his heart. On the gaming front, he was, until recently, limited to nickjr and starfall (both designed for kids who can't necessarily properly operate a mouse), but he's now a proficient mouser (mousanator?). Yep, he learned to "drag" with the trackpad... using two hands, with his tongue sticking out and brow furrowed in concentration. It's dang cute. He's also getting the keyboard thing down, thanks to one of his favorite games: Magic School Bus Voyage to the Volcano. Not exactly the sort of thing you'd expect to inspire a kid to learn to type, I know, but to log in, you have to type your name. He's been playing it since Christmas and had been logging in as "MMMM" or "MMIIIIC" (he refuses to accept help), but can now type his full name. Well pretty darn close, anyways: "MICCAH" was his latest attempt. Proud and super excited, he called me in to see, but then, frustrated by the imperfect outcome, he explained: "It keeps making me type two Cs!"

He still loves letters and numbers, reading and counting, nerding and geeking. He recognizes numbers up into the twenties now (maybe higher?) and is, as of last week, especially fond of picking out the number 20. He spotted it on a speed sign today while we were driving through town. I was impressed (!)... and I slowed down.

He's also crazy into jigsaw puzzles and loves solving complicated ones (60 pieces). He is remarkably patient and applies a brute force strategy to solving them -- he just picks up pieces and tries them until they fit. And he can actually do it! No joke! 60 piece jigsaws!

Okay, enough about the young prince, and on to big brother, Eli, who, despite the occasional ridiculous argument, Micah is completely gaga over. Eli likes Micah a whole lot too but, let's be honest, nothing compares to The Solar System. Especially, Jupiter. And its awesome volcanically active moon, Io. Oh, and let us not forget that giant ball of fire in the sky, The Sun. Also exciting are all kinds of astronomical delights beyond our mere solar system: the expanding universe, black holes, the big bang. Seriously! This stuff gets him fired up like nothing else. He's memorized all the names and locations of planets, moons, etc (!) and can identify them in maps (by relative position) and pictures (by color, size and other features). Mostly, though, he's into the superlatives: the hottest, the biggest, the farthest away, the oldest, etc. He's particularly delighted when he asks a question that we can't answer, or better yet, that nobody can. His current life ambitions are to invent something that travels faster than the speed of light and some way to live on the sun.

He's also still way into books of all sorts and continues to learn to read by some combination of memory and magic. He enjoys messing around with phonics, but I think not in the typical learning to read sort of way. Instead, he memorizes how to spell/read a word after seeing it once. I wonder if it's possible to completely learn to read this way: memorizing all the commonly words in the English language? He seems to be heading in that direction. But for now it's all about practicality. He reads well enough for his own purposes, basically to navigate effortlessly online, read signs out and about, etc. He has little interest reading books to himself, but when I'm reading to him, he likes to read chapter titles and a sentence here or there. David and I half expect him to up and start reading to himself any day, but we've been thinking that for a year now, so who knows :) He has an endless attention span for being read to and especially loves illustrated non-fiction up to and including encyclopedia entries (he actually had us read the volcano entry as his bedtime story for several weeks straight). Fiction-wise, he tends to prefer the silly end of the spectrum: Roald Dahl, Captain Underpants, and so on. He's especially fond of the sudden, grisly fates that always seem to fall upon unpleasant characters in Roald Dahl books: "hahahaha, the crocodile got sizzled up like a sausage!" Nice.

Both kids have a curiosity that knows no bounds and I've resigned myself to the feeling like I can't possibly keep up with their ever changing interests, obsessions and general desire to know everything. I feel constantly as though I'm not doing enough to feed their minds -- the nerdy discussions are near continuous yet their questions just keep coming. In the last week, we've tackled/studied/learned everything there is to know about: the human body (Micah is particularly fond of the cardiovascular system, Eli of the brain), Triassic era mammal-like reptiles (have you met the delightfully hideous Lystrosaurus?), dinosaurs (Allosaurus being the big hit of the week thanks to this amazing video), fractions, negative numbers, the magnificent Sequoia Sempervirens (Eli thinks it's so cool that other tree species can actually take root and grow right in their canopy... and that their trunks are sometimes big enough to drive through), magnetism (he learned that the earth is a giant magnet and has been passionate about it since), and, of course, astronomy, astronomy and more astronomy.

Educational videos, in particular, have become a huge part of their pursuit to know everything and, every day, I thank the intergods for our netflix account. They're especially fond of national geographic style nature shows, which I have to admit, I have a huge soft spot for. On the menu last week was planet earth and this series. Both astoundingly cool. They just leave me with this feeling of holy crap this is some amazing world -- wondrous and fragile and brutal and staggering in it's awesomeness... ya know?

Shit My Kids Said in 2009

2010-01-01T15:40:00.000-08:00

Good mom that I am, I kept a detailed list of the silliest stuff that came out of my kids' mouths this year. Each is a stand alone quote or conversation...

Eli, watching volcano videos on youtube: "Sarah, can you find me a video of a toddler walking next to an erupting volcano?"

Micah: "I just want to be naked and watch movies."

Micah: "What if I ate a tornado... then would I explode?"

Eli: "Does clobbering someone mean the same thing as kicking someone's ass?"

Micah: "Oh shit that's good pie!" Eli: "Don't say that Micah; uncle Josh says only grown-ups are allowed to say shit." Micah: "David, are you a grown-up?" David: "Shit yeah!"

Eli: "No, I'm not dressed up as batman. I'm dressed up as buzz lightyear dressed up as batman."

Micah, explaining why he and Eli were hiding beneath a blanket, screaming bloody murder: "It's just a robot... but he's got a HUGE lance!"

Eli, watching a video of a robot attacking a tank with a sword: "Hey Sarah, look-- the robot is pruning that tank!"

Eli: "I don't need a kleenex; my shirt is so great for just wiping the boogers right up."

Micah, when asked why he was running in circles, pickle in hand: "I'm doing the pickle party dance to get away from the walking trees!"

Eli, defending the plight of the misunderstood: "People think that zombies are bad cuz they eat people's brains. But they're not! Brains are just what they need to eat!"

Micah, pointing to a capital letter Q: "What letter is that?" Me: "It's a Q." Micah: "No, it's an uppercase Q!"

Eli: "Do you think I'm old enough butcher a turkey?" David: "Hmmm..." Eli: "How about a chicken-- I'm certainly old enough for that!"

Eli: "Sarah, I love you infinity times two. Two whole forevers!"

Micah: "I spy with my little eye something that's a hot dog!"

Eli, to Micah: "I'm gonna kick your ASS." Micah, in response: "No! I don't have an ass!"

Micah, studying the forest from our living room window: "Why do we always see deer and not hippos?"

Eli, muttering to himself, during some elaborate pie baking imaginary play: "Gee, that's funny-- my frog pie has eyes!" and to Micah a few minutes later "Would you like a bite of my frog pie's butt?"

Micah: "I want a chocolate pony!"

Eli, after listening to me sing some annoying children's song that I had stuck in my head: "You know, you can't just keep singing that song forever, cuz eventually you're gonna die."

Micah, explaining why he climbed into the tub and turned on the tap while fully clothed: "I have a huge poop and need-a-get it cleaned up."

Eli, to David: "If you could live forever, would you just keep making pies forever and ever?"

Micah: "Hi David, how are you?" David: "I'm okay." Micah: "No you're not. You're *good*."

David, to Micah: "Love you." Micah: "No you love coffee."

Micah: "Let's play I spy. I'll go first. I spy with my li'l eye something that is pink. I'll give you a hint. It's on the robot butterfly!"

Eli: "I chewed the giant mean robot's face off so that he couldn't grow new legs"

Micah, acting out a favorite scene from Toy Story 2, to David: "I AM YOUR FATHER!!!!"

Micah: "Eli why are you coming in this room?" Eli: "I'm here to EXPLODE YOU!"

Eli: "Mushrooms eat people when they die." David: "?" Eli: "They eat compost. Living things decompose when they die. People are alive."

I'll leave you with a recent conversation between Micah and I, prompted by the volcano obsession currently sweeping the RaancheroOoo...

Micah: "Sarah, is Mars da planet dat we're on?"
Me: "No."
Him: "Is earf da planet dat were on?"
Me: "Yes."
Him: "Oh! I like being on earf, cuz I like all the volcanoes on earf!"
Me: "Yeah..."
Him: "There're no volcanoes on Jupiter"
Me: "Nope."
Him: "And I wouldn't like being on Jupiter, cuz it's a gas planet and I would just fall right through!"

Happy New Year!

My blog may be sorely neglected but my kids sure are cute

2009-12-20T22:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Solstice! I love you all! (Real blog post coming soon...)

My name is two and a half!

2009-10-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

I've been a little slow to schlep this post from brain to blog, but here goes: Micah is two and a half! Whoohooo! In traditional A-Lowe style, we celebrated with a wicked yummy half cake, which, as per the half birthday boy's request, was chocolate with more chocolate and cherries. I wish I'd snapped a pic, but it was devoured (omnomnom) before I thought to. If you'd like to picture it, though, just imagine a perfectly circular chocolate cake. Now (using a little jedi mind kung-fu), cut it in half. Voila! Doesn't matter how you slice it (hah!) -- twas deeeelish! Micah still talks about it most days: "Hey Seeerah, how old am I? ... And what did you make for my birfday?"

Speaking of Micah... and talking -- wowee, does the kid ever have a lot to say. He's crazy non-stop talker boy and regularly stops strangers in their tracks with his mad language skillz. I've become accustomed to answering the age old: "Damn, he's a good talker... how old is he?" I've even had several people try to persuade me that he can't possibly be two and a half with such mad skillz. (Only, I don't think anyone actually used the phrase "mad skillz." Lame.) Anyhoo, yes, he's a fabulously verbal kid. Brilliant brilliant brilliant!

For all his precociousness, he is, in many ways, just your typical unstoppable and adorable toddler. He loves to run, jump, climb, to splash in the kiddie pool and defeat the bad guys who invade his turf, to play video games and surf youtube for hours on end... Okay, so maybe the last two aren't exactly your typical toddler variety antics, but they *are* awesome and hilarious. He's a self-sufficient computer user and plays kideo games like a pro. Just yesterday, he figured out how to use bookmarks to start up his favorite games (lucky for him since typing is one thing he can't do). His current game of choice is Widget's build a robot. It's a puzzley one, where you drag chunks of dismembered robots to their appropriate spots and it is, unsurprisingly (given its current popularity amongst A-Lowe chiddlers), also the inspiration for his and Eli's Hallowe'en costumes. Micah's gonna be "a driving robot" (he calls anything with wheels "driving"... the first time he saw a roller skate: "Look, a driving boot!"). And what's Eli going to be, you're surely wondering? Why everyone's favorite chicken bot robot: robo-cluck 3000! We're starting on the costumes any day now... wish us luck!

Other toddler odds and ends: he loves to paint, draw, "write" and spell, and, for now, these four things are actually one pastime, which he charmingly calls "art." Yesterday he drew a "robot with 100 legs." In truth, I drew the legless bot and he just added the appendages (and there weren't actually 100 of them, but who's counting?). He also loves to arrange letters to spell familiar things (he sight reads quite a few words). He whipped up this masterpiece all on his own:

I think it's a bit of a fluke that his name turned out so orderly and perfect; most of his spellings contain errors (though he is very careful not to arrange letters backwards -- I've even seen him correct Eli on this front). He just makes mistakes when he gets excited: the word will start out just fine and then veer off into craziness. When he spelled my name the other day, it turned out something like this: SAR1GNR16TY7!!!!! He also enjoys tracing letters and writes a few on his own (so far I, T, O and L... whoohoo! He's well on his way to writing ROTFL!).

It's hard to talk about Micah without talking about Eli. They're bestest buds and do most everything together. Triking, swinging, slaying robots, devising elaborate plans to defeat evildoers everywhere, saving each other form the SUPER-evil tape measure monster. It's *really* cool. Don't worry, though, I'm not deluding myself into thinking that they'll surely be best friends for life. Believe you me, I've seen the other side. But for now I'm gonna enjoy every wee second of it.

I'll leave you with a heartwarming story of the two of them: they often incorporate video games into their imaginary play -- it's hard to convey the sheer geekiness of it all, but basically they play out the precise and elaborate details of their favorite video games. It's not uncommon for me to hear, for example: "Okay, we've defeated the huge flying boss; on to the next level!" Last week, they were going at it, as per usual, when I overheard this:

Eli: "OH NO, you lost that level! Would you like to continue, click yes or no."
Micah: "I clicked on Y-E-S, yes!"

Cute, eh? Only not quite as cute as this (sorry, this really is my last point!). I recently took a stroll down memory lane through old pics and videos (something I seem to do often around their bdays) and found this, possibly my fave ever video of the chiddlers:

Taken almost a year ago! Micah is 19 months and Eli almost 4.5. And *this* is why I love taking videos of the chiddlers. They both look and sound so different-- it's so easy to forget how quickly they change, but there it is! Crazy!

Okay, that's it. For real.

Xoxoxo

(p.s. the title of this post was inspired by this.)

Toast!

2009-08-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Eli makes toast. Yep, it's his latest greatest talent! He generally prepares it with cream cheese and jam, but has been know to put other toppings to the test (it's all over, I reckon, as soon as he discovers nutella). He's super psyched about his up and coming ability to make his own food, but since it's still is a little limited in scope, pretty much lives on toast. Well, that and ice water, which he also loves to get on his own and, for some reason, thinks is a gift straight from the heavens. (Could be the 95-and-up weather we've had for most of the last few months...)

Anyhoo, last night, we overheard him chattering away as he concocted his greatest yet culinary masterpiece (a toasted english muffin with cream cheese and jam): "This cream cheese is so hard to spread!" and then a minute or so later: "OOPS! That's was too much jam... oh well!" He then took the finished product to the table, where he proceeded to dig in. That's when we heard this: "Oh. My. God." and then this: "Yum! This is so good." and then: "Sarah, you have got to try it!" I happily accepted, of course, but was in the middle of solving an exceptionally difficult kenken, so after a good bit of negotiation, convinced him to deliver it straight to my lap. He walked on over, with the painstaking caution of someone carrying a box of fine china. It was then that I got my first proper view of the "toast," which elicited my very own: "Oh. My. God."

On his plate was one toasted intact english muffin (whole, not cut in half as is traditional) topped with 3 large blobs of cream cheese (arranged in a surprisingly perfect triangle!) and swimming in a soup of blackberry jam. After recovering from hysterical laughter, I did try a bite and you know what? Pretty darn tasty!

I'm always charmed by the imperfect creations that children come up with when they're given the opportunity to do so (without the critical eye of a grown-up advising them exactly how things ought to be done). I love it, for example, when kids dress themselves. I mean, really, is there anything more adorable than a 5-year-old in a too-tight batman shirt, long red cape, shorts on backwards and mismatched socks? I think not! Welllll... except maybe a 2-year-old riding his trike, naked except for a grossly oversized pair of shoes and his mom's hot pink raglan shirt wrapped like a turban around his head.

A GIANT BIG Update in Two Parts

2009-08-04T14:54:00.000-07:00

Part 1: The Chiddlywinkles

As most of you know, my kids are a wee bit inclined towards the obsessive. When they get excited about something they get *really* excited about it, want to do it repeatedly, study it deeply, know everything there is to know about it, etc, etc. Well, last week Eli acquired a shiny new one (obsession that is): going to the movies! The whole thang was spurred, at least in part, by the heatwave. Yep, *that* heatwave, the crazyass one that made it pretty much unbearable to be outdoors for more than a few minutes at a time. I am not, BTW, a wuss when it comes to summer weather. 95 degrees and sunny as hell? Bring it on. But last week was ridiculous -- the temps topped 105 most days and got up to 109 (or some such craziness) on two separate occasions. Yeah. It was brutal. So in a desperate attempt to keep the kids unbored while stuck indoors, the air-conditioned theater offered sweet refuge, a home away from home. For both the chiddlers, but especially for Eli, this made quite an impression... to say the least. It's now the first thing he asks about upon waking ("Are we going to the theater today?!?") and as he dozes off late at night ("Any new movies coming out tomorrow?"). Unfortunately, it's been a bit trying for me to indulge this particular obsession. Turns out I'm not the type to see the same kids movie more than twice in one week, guinea pig spy thriller included, unfortunately for Eli. You see, Eli thinks G-Force is a gift straight from the heavens and would happily watch it 6 trillion times in a row. He's keen to sort out, understand and memorize the subtle plot nuances (something he does with pretty much all his fave movies and books) and apparently seeing it twice wasn't quite enough. Remember were talking guinea pig espionage. Pretty heady stuff. Anywho, I'm pretty sure that, by societal standards, he's not old enough to be dropped off at the theater by himself (though, admittedly, I'm tempted) and I'm *very* sure that I'm not seeing G-Force a third time. Sooooo. Anyone wanna take my kid to the movies? No seriously. Please help a mama out here.

The ol' guinea pig flick definitely wooed and wowed little Micah as well. Mostly, I reckon, cuz it was his first ever trip to the theater (though the microwave-turned-robot didn't hurt either). We got to the theater a few minutes into the previews and, as he caught his first glimpse of a full size movie screen, he shrieked: "Look Sarah, a *GIANT BIG* movie!!!" Fellow theater goers were, fortunately, amused and not annoyed :) And now, whenever he and Eli discuss the movie (often), he refers to it as the *GIANT BIG* movie... "Hey Eli, what was your favorite part of the *GIANT BIG* movie?" or "*My* favorite part of the *GIANT BIG* movie was the guinea pig in the microwave that turned into a robot!" And so on :)

He's a cutie that one. And to prove it: one more charming Micah story. But first a little backstory (to catch you up on how things roll here at the Rancheroo). I'm big into allowing my kids food independence, meaning that I let them eat whatever they want whenever they want it (Yeah. I know. It's crazy radical in a culture where it's generally assumed that parents control their child's every move). The way this plays out in our home is that they basically graze all day long. David's cool with this, except that family mealtime is super important to him, so we've come to the compromise that they can graze as much as they like, until about 4pm, at which point I put all the food away, in hopes that they'll be hungie for din-din and join us at least for a few minutes at the dinner table.

Okay, so this is really cute. A few nights back, Micah and I spent the better part of the pre-dinner hour hanging out in the garden and he was way *way* stoked that the tomatoes had finally turned red. He immediately went to stripping the vines and horking out like a crazyperson. Somehow, I just couldn't find it in me to stop him, to say: "No Micah, don't eat those mouthwateringly scrumptidilyumptious tomatoes; you're gonna spoil your appetite!" So I let him go for it and he went on to devour every ripe tomato (there were half a dozen or more biguns), all the while waxing poetic about his new favorite veggie. By dinnertime, he was covered head to toe in tomato juice, dancing around, singing about his new found love. Check him out:

See! What a cutie!

On that note, I'll leave you with a few adorable random chiddler quotes...

Eli, after watching me get my ass kicked at Age of War: "How come David always wins at videos games and you always lose?"

Micah, acting out his favorite scene from Toy Story 2, to David: "I AM YOUR FATHER!"

Eli, defending the plight of the misunderstood: "People think that zombies are bad cuz they eat people's brains. But they're not! Brains are just what they need to eat!"

And last but not least, one that's likely to melt your heart into a *GIANT BIG* puddle o' goo...

Eli: "Hey Sarah, I'm hungry. Could you run up to the garden and pick me some vegetables?"

Okay, that last one was a lead in to Part 2 of the update. Coming soon. Until then, a picture of my purdy house as viewed from the garden. Just cuz.

Video Games Are Awesome And So Are My Kids

2009-07-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

My kids like to ride zebras and crocodiles. To race itty-bitty bright red sport cars and turbo prop airplanes. To build gigantic metal robots (complete with chainsaw arms and laser beam eyes!) and create nonsense words from random strings of letters. Believe it or not, though equally colorful and featuring many of the same themes, I'm not referring to their imaginary play. Instead, all this is made possible through the wonders of modern technology. Yep: video games!

It always surprises me how resistant many parents are to letting kids play video games. The prevailing cultural view seems to be that video games are an unhealthy, non-educational waste of time. Sure they're okay in moderation, but kids should generally be doing more important things: school, homework, team sports and other such sensible activities. So, yeah, it’s alright to let your kids play a few games here or there, but they should be watched closely, heavily managed, discouraged even. As a culture, we tend to lump our childrens' activities into educational or non-educational; sedentary or non-sedentary. And since video games are considered non-educational and sedentary, they should be strictly limited.

I so disagree with this attitude. I can (and will!) give you all kinds of super compelling arguments in favor of video games, but mostly I just don't see what the big deal is. Video games rot your brain? I don't buy it. I think kids learn from everything they do, and yes this includes "screen time," be it watching television, surfing the Internet, or playing a favorite video games... like, oh, say, Age of War.

Ahem. Yeah. So about that whole Age of War thing :) This game is awesome! For one thing: it’s hella fun. For another: it’s an amazing educational tool. (Seriously! It's even meta-educational-- as Eli played it and learned all kinds of good stuff, I was simutaneously educated in the value of video games!) He discovered it while messing around on the internet when he was four and a half. After playing for a few short minutes, he was smitten and after a few more, obsessed. And this obssesion, which lasted a little over a month, squelched any and all lingering doubt in my mind about the merits of video games. Sure he'd already played many a video game, but none had inspired such unequivocal devotion, such fodder for his imaginary play… such an explosion of his math skills!

I don’t mean to insinuate that Age of War is intended as an educational game. It’s not. It’s meant to be fun, plain and simple. The object of the game is to defeat the enemy base. You start out with lowly cavemen soldiers, who wield clubs and slingshots as weapons. Some of the cavemen are also riding enormous green fictional reptiles, which Eli endearingly refers to as "guys riding huge crocodiles." As the game progresses, you accumulate money (by killing your opponent’s troops), which you can use to buy more troops (reptilian and otherwise). You have to be careful, though -- you need to balance these offenses with defenses, which also cost a pretty penny. And once you've spent a certain amount of money, you can "evolve" (I use air quotes here, because as a biology geek, I’m compelled to point out this very loose definition of the word evolve). After the first stage, your cavemen evolve into knights and the green fictional beasts into horses (which Eli think are robots and zebras). Eventually, after a few more stages, you really do evolve into robots. But instead of horses, they have hover tanks. Oh yeah!

Sounds fun, eh? It actually is. And tricky too. Far more challenging than any video game Eli had previously tackled. At first he couldn't beat it. He continued, however, to play passionately and eventually invited me to join in on the fun (in hopes that I could show him how to win, I reckon). I played with him once and, much to his disappointment, was unable to do any better. Fortunately, David, swept in and, after watching us play for about 2 minutes, explained exactly what he thought we needed to do to win. We tried it. It worked.

Eli was quick to swipe David's strategy and, within 48 hours, was playing the game from start to finish on his own. Honestly, I was pretty much floored by the whole thing. It is by no means a kid’s game and I thought, for sure, way over his head. It never occurred to me that -- even with input from pop-genius -- he could learn to complete the game on his own.

This game did anything but rot Eli’s brain. On the contrary, he learned an immense amount from mastering it. His brain grew by leaps and bounds, neural connections were made, and so on and so forth. He learned strategy. And logic. Not to mention patience! (To give you an idea, it takes him at least 30 minutes to finish one game. And he completed it many many times.) And let's not forget the most important: he had fun! He loved playing and I loved how much he loved it. As is always the case with young children who pursue something deeply, his interest and joy were infectious (and hilarious!)

For me, this is evidence enough that video games have become an awesome part of Eli's development. But, just in case you're still not convinced, I'm gonna get you where it counts. I mean no one, not even the most skeptical curmudgeon, can deny the importance of a kid learning math, right? Well, as he navigated his way through this game, something unexpected happened on the periphery: his math skills exploded. You see, as mentioned, it costs money to build up the offences and defenses. So, if, for example, a soldier costs 5 bucks, Eli needs to understand that he needs at least that much money to buy one and at least 10 bucks to buy two, etc. This requires that he recognize numbers, understand the larger number principle, and have at least minimal command of addition and subtraction. Okay, so you're thinking no big deal, easy enough. And, in fact, Eli—a lifelong fan of any and everything math—has been doing all this for a while; by 3.5 years he loved to recognize and point out numbers 0-100 (which he saw everywhere) and could intuitively add and subtract simple numbers. But here's the thing: in Age of War, he needed to recognize and understand numbers much bigger than anything he'd previously encountered. Like in to the 100s, 10,000s, 100,000s and beyond. This is the first game that challenged him on this front and it’s been a hoot to watch him differentiate between numbers like 20,000 and 200,000 and 2,000,000. Also exciting: his renewed interest in math has snowballed into near math mania around here. He’s started picking up simple multiplication, talking about big numbers (the bigger the better, really), and a whole lot about the concept of infinity...!!!

Apparently all this video game madness is contagious. Little bro is also cashing in on the fun (and learning; let’s not forget learning!) After a frustrating few months of dutifully standing by (well, sitting next to) as Eli played, offering advice and encouragement, Micah is now surfing the Internet and playing simple games on his own. He taught himself to operate a mouse by simple trial and error and is currently enamored with Starfall.com, which I originally sought out for Eli, in an attempt to keep him challenged on the learning to read front. Eli dabbled in it and still does, but Micah has really taken off. He was already very into recognizing and pointing out all the upper- and lower-case letters of the alpahabet, but is now recognizing simple words. The first one he learned to read (other than his and Eli’s names) was "robot"...!!! What can I say? This makes me smile. And again, it looks like video games are becoming important to him.

When I speak to the importance, I'm not trying to insinuate that I think my kids could not live without video games. I don't and they could. The catastrophe would be short lived were video games to disappear from their lives, and they would be fine had they never discovered ‘em in the first place. And though Eli would do his darnedest to convince you otherwise: no, video games are not one of life's basic necessities. But my kids are fortunate to have access to them for exactly what they are: a fantastic tool.

As an unschooling parent, I am always on the prowl for tools like this -- seeking out new ways for my kids to interact with and see the world. As I see it, that’s my job: to expose them to all kinds of things and activities — be it a new book, a trip to the science center, playground or library, a pile of rocks to count and sort (or chuck at trees), an afternoon in the garden or mucking around the woods, a trip to the movie theatre, or a video game. I don't teach them anything, I just support their interests and answer their questions. And if I hadn't been paying close attention -- and wasn't of the mindset that learning happens all the time -- it’d have been easy for me to dismiss their interest in video games, and in particular Eli's obsession with Age of War, as a waste of time. To have been put off by the violence and grumbled that he was playing so much. But instead I chose to follow his lead and, as is almost always the case with interests he chooses to pursue deeply, I have been pleasantly surprised -- blown away even — by the indisputable value of it.

This unschooling model works super well for my kids. Despite the distinct lack of school in their lives, they’re both learning to read, to mess around with math, to generally make sense of the world around them. And they're having a blast to boot! It really pleases me to witness this endless thirst for knowledge and, in particular, their interest in things like math and reading, subjects that are traditonally thought to require formal instruction. I think because it gives me the nerve to say what I already knew: "See! Formal teaching really isn't necessary -- children really do learn all the time, even the academic stuff!" For my kids, this "academic" learning seems to happen in one of two ways: either they find something interesting in and of itself and study it (this is how Micah taught himself letter recognition and Eli early reading) or it becomes relevant, necessary even, in order to do something else (like, say, when Eli needed to majorly sharpen his math chops in order to kick ass at Age of War).

To be honest, this is one of the greatest joys of parenting for me. I love to watch them grow on their own terms, by their own drive. They never cease to amaze me by the always fascinating (though sometimes odd. Eli's current infatuation? Brain eating zombies) interests that they choose to pursue. I fully expect to be amazed for many years to come and look forward to watching as they pick up new interests. Irish dancing? Alchemy? Lacrosse? Woodworking? Sculpture? More video games? Who knows. I sure as hell don’t. But I look forward to being dazzled.

This is what passes for yoga around here

2009-06-13T21:56:00.000-07:00

Ooops. Meant to post this video of the kideos eons ago. It's way outdated now... but still as charming as ever. Enjoy:

Pics from Eli's superfun superhero party coming soon.

Yeah, my life rocks

2009-06-11T01:56:00.000-07:00

A strawberry and broccoli picking expedition turns photogenic:

Batman: Protector of Tomatoes and Snapdragons Everywhere

2009-06-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

I've managed to let almost two months pass without even a hint of bloggy garden goodness. Sorry folks! I hope this'll make up for it...

At the risk of sounding all "my petunia is prettier than your petunia," our garden is looking really *really* good right now. Our tomato plants are knee high and flowering. (One particularly ambitious specimen, clearly headed for mutant proportions, has already sprouted a near full-sized green tomato. I know! Like, WTF? But also: cool!) The potato plants rival the tomatoes in height and have also started to flower. The sweet peas, which outgrew their trellis a few weeks back, are now threatening to take it down. Oh, and, as evidenced by the second last photo in this post (sorry peeps, you're gonna have to scroll), our roses are in full bloom and daisies about to pop. Last but not least, our blueberries started turning blue... just today! Whoohooooo!

So, yes, our plants are coming along nicely, doing just what you'd expect of the second coolest kingdom (sorry plants, as much as I love y'all, you're just not quite up there with the protozoans): lounging in the sun, soaking up the rays, and courtesy of the very important, but grossly underappreciated xylem and phloem, water and sugars are being dispatched to their appropriate places.

We're also harvesting up a storm! And as of yesterday, are picking several pints of strawberries (slightly under ripe, so as to outsmart the little critters) daily. Also currently on the straight-from-the-garden menu: green onions, broccoli, leafy greens, sugar snap peas and herbs aplenty. Plus my current preferred garden delicacy... artichokes:

These, btw, are an awesome multipurpose plant. We've settled into the habit of eating only half of the flowers each year, allowing the others to open and do their thang.

Ooh and looky here at this lovely homegrown bouquet picked and arranged by one multi-talented Larkinator (quite an accomplished artiste, she is-- seriously check out her mad beading skillZ):

It's funny, one of my favorite things about growing flowers is the continuous influx of bouquets (for our home and friends). Yet this year, I've totally neglected my flower picking duties. Yep, it took a 4.5 year old to remind me of this simple joy. Thanks Larkin!

I'll leave you with a few more photos. Because every garden needs it's very own super hero (to, you know, protect it from *EVIL*.. and stuff):

Fighting crime and picking strawberries go hand in hand:

Roses, daisies, snapdragons, etc:

Okay, that's all I've got for ya, except this, which is totally unrelated, but look how cute:

"That's a uppercase H; that's a lowercase h!"

2009-06-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

As of last week (yep, like 6 days ago!), Micah is a fully competent internet user. His current online obsession? Letters! Check him out:

The Evolution of a Superhero Obsession

2009-05-30T16:21:00.000-07:00

1 month ago: Eli watches his first ever superhero movie (Batman) and thinks it's the *coolest shit ever*.

3 weeks ago: He watches the same movie another 1,000,000 times (thanks Hamsders!).

2 weeks ago: He discovers an online Batman video game -- costarring lesser known superheroes "blue beetle," "red tornado" and "green arrow" -- which he plays 10,000,000 times (not including offline re-enactments).

1 week ago: Courtesy of the infinitely wise Aunt Brynna, he learns the details of all the superheroes with whom she is familiar (including Spiderman, Superman, and Wonder Woman). The phrase "Fighting crime" enters his vocabulary. A lot.

Today: He talks and thinks near continuously about superheroes: creating intricate and highly inventive scenarios involving both Batman and Superman (with a little Spidey, Wonder Woman and Darth Vader action thrown in), engaging us in endless discussions about the relative powers and weaknesses of each, parading about in his Batman costume, surfing the Internet for any and everything to do with superheroes.

Tomorrow: ?!?

Book Review: "The Sissy Duckling"

2009-05-02T11:32:00.000-07:00

Okay peeps, I promised to use this blog, in part, for book reviews, so here goes... It's Sarah's Super Silly (though Sometimes Serious) Story Synopsis! I'll be doing mostly adult fiction (not *that* kind of adult fiction; get your mind out of the gutter!), likely heavy on the sci-fi (since that's what I read), but my recent forays into literature (sci-fi and otherwise) have left me uninspired, so I'll be kicking it off with a newly favorite kid's book: Harvey Fierstein's "The Sissy Duckling."

(In case you're dying to hear more about my aforementioned forays, I just finished Peter Handke's "A Sorrow Beyond Dreams" which caught my eye because it was introduced by Jeffrey Eugenides, the brilliant author of "Middlesex." Plus with a name like "A Sorrow Beyond...," I was hopeful for something profound, possibly even something that'd make me weep, but instead just found it dull. And before that, I finally got around to reading "The Diamond Age," which I very much enjoyed right up until the weird and abrupt ending. Something about information transmitted via one big orgy? WTF?!?)

Anyhoo, so yeah, back the "The Sissy Duckling." This book is awesome. It's got everything you could hope for in a kid's book:

Engaging story, well written and well told. Check.
Cute illustrations. Check.
Challenges gender stereotypes. Oh, hell yes, CHECK!
Will likely make you bawl your eyes out the first few times you read it. Check.

It's the story of Elmer, a super cool young ducky boy, who sports a hot-pink floral backpack, and loves to decorate cookies and stage elaborate puppet shows. He's a super charming character: sassy and resourceful and smart... if only his father and the other ducks could see it. But no, instead they see a boy duck who's different from all the other boy ducks. In fact, there's not "a single other little boy duckling who liked to do ANY of the stuff that Elmer did. Not one." So they dub him a sissy.

It's super well written and heartbreaking to read (have I mentioned that I was reduced to a weeping puddle of goo the first dozen times I read it?), but, thankfully, it's got a happy ending-- Elmer rises to near stardom when he (*spoiler alert*) uses his kickass homemaking skills to become the first duck EVER to survive the winter without flying south!

Sounds awesome, eh? I'm actually not generally a fan of kids books that go out of their way to make a point. I prefer stories to morals. But color this an exception. Partially cuz it's got something super poignant and important to say. And because the "point" is impeccably woven into an engaging and funny story.

One of my favorite parts is when, at the end, Elmer goes out into the big wide world and realizes that there are, in fact, other ducks like him. Lots of em!

It's supposedly written for kids aged 5 - 8, but both my kids (2 and almost 5) love it. So I'm gonna say 2 - 8 :) Depends on the 2 year old. And the 8 year old for that matter. Funny that.

And, yes, the author is *the* Harvey Fierstein.

It's Lego Mania!

2009-05-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

Micah's Lego party was a smashing success and I've got the pictures to prove it! Check 'em out here.

I spent the better part of the week concocting all kinds of Lego-stuffs -- including a quaint and colorful house complete with rooftop garden, a robot-airplane (or was it an airplane-robot?), a rocket, two front-end loaders, and a dinosaur with light up eyes (Truth be told, I can only take credit for the head. David assembled the rest of it. But, OMG, the head! *Was* *really* *cool.* Think rows and rows of little pointy teeth. And did I mention the light up eyes?!?) -- only to have them all destroyed within minutes of reaching the playground. Aww well. Such is the transient nature of Lego, I suppose. Plus, Micah had the *time of his life* watching and helping me put it all together, so it's all good.

Thanks to everyone who came out to help us celebrate! Micah is absolutely crazy for all the gifts (I'll letcha know when the new-toy buzz wears off, but given the quantity and caliber of loot aquired, I'd venture at least a week...) and spent the afternoon playing his harp and harmonica, working on his puzzle, messing around with his finger paints. He also asked me to assemble his new clone walker (thanks Hamsders!), which I was more than happy to do. I'd actually been eyeing that particular kit for a while and we even gifted it to our nephew earlier this year. So I was super stoked to add it to our collection. Plus, it was relatively easy to assemble :) Micah was *thrilled* with the way it turned out and spent a good 30 minutes carrying it around, chattering away to himself: "Look at my new robot! And look what else! Two more robots are sitting in the robot! Awesome!"

Speaking of, he also received his very own *ROBOT BACKPACK* from the Hannas. When first unveiled, I was so awed by it's beauty that I failed to consider it origins. It was only later that I thought to wonder where they got it. It looks handmade, so I figured that Felicia scored it on etsy or some such. And then it hit me: OMG! She made it! Duh! Cuz she's Felicia and she's amazing like that. Check it out:

See what I mean? Amazing.

Happy bday little Micah! You are one unbelievably cool two year old and I am so very grateful to be your parent.

Sibling rivalry. It doesn't just happen to other people's kids.

2009-04-19T09:55:00.000-07:00

Micah is all about spy robots and butterflies, monster cats and purple ducks, flying bagels and teeeny tiny dinosaurs with razor sharp teeth. He's super imaginative and loves to narrate elaborate and highly inventive scenarios (which, incidentally, often involve a robot wielding an ax). I think it's awesome. I've been gaga about him from the start, but this brings the ol' parental awe to a whole new level. He's an amazingly verbal, smart, creative kid (And hilarious!! Did I mention hilarious?!?). Turns out Eli, however, is not so gung-ho about the whole thing. You might even say that this particular development drives him APE-SHIT-BAT-SHIT crazy. I think, because, as the older sib who's been guiding the imaginary play for years, he's accustomed to being the one in charge, the one who directs the flow of play, the one who bosses Micah around, the one who gets to use the baby as a prop. So these days, when he sees Micah getting his ax-wielding groove on, he's quick to step in, demanding command of the play. Case in point, a little story from last week:

Micah, playing outdoors, holding a vaguely ax-shaped piece of trash: "Watch out you robot. I'm gonna ax you."

Eli: "No, Micah!!!! That's not an ax; it's a gun. Let me show you."

Micah: "No, Eli. Leave me alone! I'm playing by myself."

Eli refused to back down and trailed uncomfortably close to Micah, purposely preventing him from carrying out his play.

Micah: "Eli!! Stop following me!"

Eli: "No!"

Walking on tiptoes, arms raised above his head, Eli then proceeded to very dramatically follow Micah around. And to top it off, he started chanting, "Follow, follow, follow, follow..." Just in case Micah hadn't noticed, I reckon.

They sorted it out pretty quickly and I have no real point here; just wanted to share this story and express something like: "*Sigh.* Having two kids is INSANE sometimes." I'm certainly not looking to offer any advice on how to deal with sibling rivalry. Other than, for the love of GAWD, those of you with just one bundle of joy, please *please* quit while you're ahead. And if you insist on having another (or more... gasp!), quick grab yourself a copy of "Siblings Without Rivalry" cuz for serious it's, like, amazing and *saves my shit* on a regular basis. Best 5 bucks I've ever spent (actually scored it free at the Book Exchange... but still!). Okay, I'm officially rambling and you all know that I'm mostly joking and actually love being the parent of two such brilliant and charming chiddlywinks and think you should go forth and make as many babies as you damn well please, right?

Micah the space lego man was designed by the amazing Teri Strelchun. Cool, eh?

Spring in the Garden and munchkins munching greens

2009-04-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

Our afternoons, these spring days, generally proceed as follows: shortly after Micah wakes up from his nap, he and Eli race (racing being their current preferred way of getting around) up to the garden, armed with two kid-sized chairs and two bowls of dip. They then pick a handful each of sorrel, park themselves in their chairs and *hork the fuck out.* After devouring his handful, Eli often moves on to broccoli then kale then lettuce, all of which Micah eschews for more sorrel.

They both love picking and eating greens from the garden, but let's be honest: the real key here is The Magic Dip (they actually stick their faces in their bowls to sop up the last leeeeetle bit). For those who are interested, the ingredients are: yogurt (plain, unsweetened), agave, flax oil, ground-up walnuts, vanilla. Eli describes it as "pretty yogurty."

So on to the garden details:

What we're harvesting: Broccoli! Also: sorrel, lettuce, arugula, green onions, herbs. But mostly broccoli :) We snack on it regularly, and yesterday, had it (steamed, with cheese sauce) for dinner. Deelish.

What we've planted in the past week: More broccoli (what can I say? apparently we're fans), peas, chard, cabbage, onions, potatoes, spinach. Oooh ooh, flowers too! Glads, dahlias, lilies, petunias, verbena, snapdragons.

Well that's about it. The big summer garden (tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, way more flowers, etc.) goes in soon. Maybe in the next few weeks.

How about you? What are you planting (both literal and figurative responses are welcome)?

Chiddler update

2009-04-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

Yep yep. That time again! I think I'll make it a quicky (haha, yeah right...).

Micah, now two years old (!), is full-fledged unstoppable walloping force o' toddler! He's funny and charming and *loves* to make people laugh. Some of his favorite ways to do so include: saying things deliberately wrong ("No, I don't want mac 'n cheese -- I want back 'n cheese!"), randomly inserting "pee", "poop" or "fart" into the conversation ("A, B, C, D, E, F, poo, HAHAHAHHAHA"), which makes me very happy and proud, and cracking jokes about letters. Yup. You heard me. Letters:

Micah: "D makes a buh-skah sound!"
David: "So then D-T-T-I spells biscotti?"
Me: (pees myself)

He loves to sing, mostly nonsense songs (last night he busted out with this: "You have three nipples... three nipples. Yeah yeah yeah!") but also loves to sing the alphabet and other familiar tunes. He's been really into letters and numbers for some time and recently taught himself to recognize all (yes ALL!!!) the upper- and lower-case letters. And numbers zero through nine! He's also curious about spelling -- though he persistently reads the letters of each word backwards. When we walked by the "Sarah Lane" street sign on our hike the other day, he muttered to himself: "H-A-R-A-S spells Sarah" :)

He received one of these for his birthday (It's fridge magnets on crack! Seriously, imagine the fridge magnets of your childhood crossed with a GIANT ROBOT) and now knows the sound associated with each letter. (The sound quality is terrible though, so he's a little mixed up: "An x makes a *crackling noise* sound!")

On another hike, riding on his pop's shoulders, he had the following stream of consciousness: "You have eyes and a mouth and ears and your name is David. Sarah has eyes and a mouth and ears and his name is Sarah. Eli has eyes and a mouth and ears and his name is Eli. I have eyes and a mouth and ears and my name is Micah. Fury cat has eyes and a mouth and ears and his name is Mr. Fury Cat. The tree... the tree has no eyes, and the tree has no mouth, and the tree has no ears. What is his name?"

Other toddler odds and ends: he is completely disinterested in the potty. He loves to eat the food that he loves to eat -- these days: bananas, red peppers, cherry tomatoes, bread, chocolate, beans, cold medicine ("I'm thirsty for my medicine Sarah!") -- but anything new is highly suspect. He loves any and everything to do with art (finger painting, scribbling, playdough, working with scissors and glue, dumping a container of paint-tinted water all over the table and then sopping it up with construction paper...). He's totally fearless and not in the least bit obedient. Saying "Please don't touch that, it's poison oak" has no bearing on whether he'll grab the plant. Fortunately, no harm done (so far...).

He and Eli love each other to bits and are best friends. Micah's first three sentences when he wakes up are: 1. "Get me out of my crib," 2. "I have a big poop... change it," and 3. "Where's Eli?!?." And Eli's first thought when he's a little bored is inevitably: "Where's Micah?" This is not to say that they get along all the time -- on the contrary, they fight a lot. But they are (slowly) learning to cope more smoothly, and David and I are (slowly) feeling more confident that, left to their own devices, they will sort out their differences without any life-threatening consequences.

Speaking of Eli: holy beejeeeeesus, the kid is almost 5!!! He's still into much the same... and by this I mean he's very *very* into messing around with computer games :) Until recently, he was pretty much game (haha. get it. GAME) for anything, but has become pickier. Turns out he doesn't like the ones in which a protagonist can "die", or where there's a time limit. "David, let's play another game, this one is stressing me out," he squealed the other day, covering his eyes :) Currently topping his list of faves: desktop tower defense, indestructo tank and the "robot smashing game." He's also way into movies. His favorites being... honestly, whatever's available :P Not so picky on that front.

He continues to pick up reading by some combination of magic and memory. He has little interest in "sounding out" words, yet can quite handily navigate websites (or boss us around: "No, David, click on 'menu' not 'continue'") and read simple books (last week he read aloud a few pages of "A Fly Went By"!!). And he's been spending quite a bit of his computer time practicing his literacy skills at starfall.com, which is fast becoming one of his favorite websites.

He's still a total math nerd, especially now that he's discovered that arithmetic goes hand in hand with M&Ms. Well, hippy M&Ms... but still: he's suddenly asking to play "math games" a whole lot :) He's particularly keen to improve his subtraction chops (so to speak).

Eli: "Hey Sarah, I wonder what ten minus ten is-- I think it's zero, but I'm not quite sure. I guess I'll just eat these ten M&Ms and then we'll see!" :)

He also loves to incorporate math into his imaginary play. Yesterday, in the sand box:

Eli: "David is this a troll bridge? Yes?"
David: "Yes."
Eli: "Well, how much is the troll?"
David: "Six dollars." (would *you* correct him?)
Eli: "Well, I only have more than that. I only have eight dollars."
David: (takes pretend money) "Okay, how much should I give you back?"
Eli: "Um, two dollars!"

He still loves to be outdoors, especially if he feels like he's participating in some grown-up activity -- either going for a jog with me or working in the garden or woods with David. He loves to cook and eat ("Hey David, I can eat pie even when I'm not hungry!") and he's super excited about the railroad park reopening next week (aren't we all?!?).

Well, that's about it. I could go on, but I won't :) Thanks for being updated.