It's Wild Here

updates

K: nursing less (plugged duct/infection to show for that), talking more, daddy-love all the time, can spend long periods at the kitchen sink playing, never forgets his vitamin.

R: scared of the dark and shadows, enjoying the Baha'i children's class - he does so well in situations like this - so compliant and joiner-y, but in a cooperative, contributing way, very different from at home, where we still experience daily surprises. Learning letters, is remarkably quick to understand simple arithmetic, has had a cold for weeeeeks.  Will not blow his nose ever. Planning to be Jedi for Halloween.

JJ: writing a 4-page story for school, starting a tumbling class at X YMCA with his friend E, spending a lot of other time with same seemingly-best friend, although he assures me his "group" at school consists of about 14 friends :-) 

J: still struggling with sleep, working with AR weekly on amazing sculptures, worked last weekend at her studio for the studio tour, maintaining As and Bs.

J and JJ's team finished in 2nd place in rec league soccer this fall - it was SO close! They tied and went into penalty kicks. Great to see the brothers on the same team again - it's been years since they happened to be in the same age groupings for soccer.

E: traveling more than we'd all like, seems to be weathering the financial situation at work, enjoying participating at the Baha'i Center, listening to Marshall Rosenberg, watching the bizarre foods and fighting shows, cleared out our shed (yay!).  

A: injured back, trying out a new meal routine - repetitive but much easier to maintain, enjoying the NVC group and Threshold Choir, absolutely cannot keep up with laundry, setting goals to hang curtains and art by J's birthday, planning to offer some community service in the form of computer help for seniors, considering whether to homeschool with R next year - kindergarten age.

Spinning/knitting: still working on red sweater, spinning about every other day for 20-30 min. Finished these bullseye mittens a couple weeks ago - yes, the color combo is just as horrid in person.

Remember this post ?  Well, so much for the softening effect of pansies. R can't remember their name but calls them "those angry flowers."

And in case we haven't discussed enough layers of meaning within the whole gargoyle issue, here is what I discovered today in the mouth of our fierce guardian.

And speaking of fierce. I don't usually discuss TV much here, but for those of you who watch Lost, I have a few words about the finale: 
Sayid and Sawyer:  serious badass - don't you think?   

Jeremiah

Jeremiah: spelling/vocab, final pages of Harry Potter, trampoline trampoline trampoline... wrestling with Ryan, "babysitting" Ryan for pay when mother's helper cancelled, enjoying Heroes, The Office, Spongebob and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Playdate with Nathan. 

you know you're watching too much reality tv when...

You have a dream of a model walking down a runway in a dress that's deliberately layered with fruit cobbler.

(that would be project runway and top chef)

OK, enough of humiliating myself...

thanks Dr. Phil for more of the same

Denny Crane!

So, one of our favorite shows was on Tuesday, concluding a three-episode storyline about a teen who may or may not have murdered a woman, and who was in love and physically involved with his mother (evan inserts loud SQUICK here).  OK, fine, plenty to work with in that plot. I was loving the bizarre dwarf-loving, suit-tailoring weirdness of James Spader and William Shatner, when suddenly the mother announces that she'd homeschooled the kid.

In my lifetime, I'd like to see some tv reference to home education that isn't part of a freak show. Believe it or not, most of us are normal. Boring even.

(Of course, Jamie's been walking around all day calling me "governer," in an english accent, so I may need to rethink this rant.)

"Save the Cheerleader, Save the World"

"I have a message for you":

Evan and the big boys and I are watching Heroes, and we love it. You can watch the last episode at nbc.com, and also get a 2-minute catchup video so you can pick up the storyline.

jon stewart

How about Jimmy Dean?

Confession

It pains me to admit, but I did watch The View once or twice a week. Well,  no longer. I will follow the suggestion of the Cow Goddess. Off to the website to send them so breastfeedback.

terrifying

One of Kellen's favorite places is on a blanket on his and Ryan's dresser. We use that as a changing table, and he enjoys the window, or the altitude, or the energy of the old dresser... I have no idea what it is, but he is always happy up there.  So we often take time there, talking and smiling, and Ryan pulls up a stool or chair to join me.

Today, just as I was about to take them out, Ryan took a wrong step and fell off his perch. He wasn't hurt, but had grasped the blanket to catch himself, pulling Kellen completely off the top of the dresser. He fell, completely head-first, toward the floor. I caught him by ONE ankle when he was inches from hitting.

My heart was pounding; it was all done in a split second, and I just couldn't believe how lucky we were.  It took a good half hour for me to stop clutching them and breathe at a normal rate. In hindsight, knowing everyone's fine, I feel a bit like a combination of Wonder Woman and The Flash.  Or, if you watch that dreadful "So You Want To Be A Superhero," you are familiar with Fat Momma. I could be her.