Today's good stuff: I love setting the clocks back. Love it. How many times do I wish I could squeeze just one more hour out of the day? Tonight, I can! I get a huge kick out of noodling with time, even it's an artificial and arbitrary adjustment.
I have this song stuck in my head. I am a child of the 80's--I have an unfortunate mental soundtrack.
Regrettably, my partner in crime (and late-night conversation) is snoring on the couch. I'll make due with Sat night on WNKU--Grateful Dead Hour and Golden Road is good stuff on it's own (and it's a good antidote to Cher.)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Good Stuff
I am feeling a little ragged around the edges. I spent R's naptime today helping C with her Halloween costume while listening in on T's latest distraction, the audio version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. That would have been a great time on an ordinary day, but I was using a razor blade, a sewing machine, and high temp hot glue gun, all with my left hand. After smashing two of my left fingers yesterday, I am acutely aware of the importance of protecting my useful (albeit clumsy,) left hand. Costume making was an exercise in extreme concentration, careful decision making, and ultimately, frustration.
I've spent enough time over the past few weeks dwelling on the hardships. I would rather seek out the good stuff, the happy things, the every-day joys. I have read that heaven is a collection of good memories--a life well-lived and appreciated.
My good stuff for today: Toddlerisms. A toddler's grasp (and use) of language fascinates and delights me. R uses a few words that, while technically incorrect, are much more descriptive (and oddly accurate) than the correct word.
"Washer," for example. He always wants to get in the shower with me. When he sees me heading for the bathroom with an armful of clean clothes, he demands: "Me take washer with you, Mommy."
I've spent enough time over the past few weeks dwelling on the hardships. I would rather seek out the good stuff, the happy things, the every-day joys. I have read that heaven is a collection of good memories--a life well-lived and appreciated.
My good stuff for today: Toddlerisms. A toddler's grasp (and use) of language fascinates and delights me. R uses a few words that, while technically incorrect, are much more descriptive (and oddly accurate) than the correct word.
"Washer," for example. He always wants to get in the shower with me. When he sees me heading for the bathroom with an armful of clean clothes, he demands: "Me take washer with you, Mommy."
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Ancient Egypt
With T down for the count and R being his cranky self, I don't feel bad at all about turning on the tv for a while.
C and I spent some good time today at the computer. She spent some time with times table review (turns out you really need the facts down cold when it comes to factoring and reducing fractions) at Fun 4 The Brain, and worked through a National Geographic lesson on Egyptian mythology.
We've been reading a lot about ancient Egypt.
Some favorite titles:
A Place in the Sun by Jull Rubalcaba --C has been working on various styles and formats of book report writing
Life in Ancient Egypt: Religion by Kathryn Hinds
Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt: Discover How the Egyptians Lived, Played, Worked and Fought. by Nathaniel Harris
Pharaohs and Foot Soldiers: One Hundred Ancient Egyptian Jobs You Might Have Desired or Dreaded by Kristin Butcher --This is a fantastic book-T's Favorite.
Zekmet the Stone Carver by Mary Stolz --a nice fictional tale of how the Sphinx might have been conceptualized.
The Story of Writing by Carol Donoughue --We'll be keeping this one for a while (yay educator's library card!) It has chapters on cuneiform, hieroglyphics, Romans, printing, and Chinese characters.
The November National Geographic features a story on animal mummies. C and I will dig into it tomorrow.
Story of the World has instructions for the famous "mummify a chicken" activity. I'm not so keen on wasting potential food (esp. animal protein,) but we'll see. As far as I know, the girls don't know the instructions exist....
C and I spent some good time today at the computer. She spent some time with times table review (turns out you really need the facts down cold when it comes to factoring and reducing fractions) at Fun 4 The Brain, and worked through a National Geographic lesson on Egyptian mythology.
We've been reading a lot about ancient Egypt.
Some favorite titles:
A Place in the Sun by Jull Rubalcaba --C has been working on various styles and formats of book report writing
Life in Ancient Egypt: Religion by Kathryn Hinds
Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt: Discover How the Egyptians Lived, Played, Worked and Fought. by Nathaniel Harris
Pharaohs and Foot Soldiers: One Hundred Ancient Egyptian Jobs You Might Have Desired or Dreaded by Kristin Butcher --This is a fantastic book-T's Favorite.
Zekmet the Stone Carver by Mary Stolz --a nice fictional tale of how the Sphinx might have been conceptualized.
The Story of Writing by Carol Donoughue --We'll be keeping this one for a while (yay educator's library card!) It has chapters on cuneiform, hieroglyphics, Romans, printing, and Chinese characters.
The November National Geographic features a story on animal mummies. C and I will dig into it tomorrow.
Story of the World has instructions for the famous "mummify a chicken" activity. I'm not so keen on wasting potential food (esp. animal protein,) but we'll see. As far as I know, the girls don't know the instructions exist....
Chicken Pox
Maybe this is a divine sign.
Or maybe it's just a good opportunity.
At any rate, we have reached a point of enforced time at home. This is a good thing. I have had a lot of frustration with trying to maintain my usual pace without my right hand. Now, even if I wanted to, I can't.
T has the chicken pox. She erupted in blisters last night. R is cranky with a low-grade fever, but no blisters yet (C is right as rain, and chomping for stuff to do.)
With time to kill, a roaring headache and nothing on tv, T dug through the videos, and pulled out some oldie but goodies: The Land Before Time series. It's been years since we've seen them, but I found myself folding laundry and singing along to one of my favorite songs "Friends for Dinner."
R is fascinated with the dinosaurs who go "ROAR!" Yesterday he had a couple of toy T-Rex in his hand, telling D that they were "bad dinosaurs." D replied that they aren't bad, they're just hungry. He brought them to breakfast today and tried to feed them his cereal. I love it when kids put it all together--those moments are the brightest spots in my day.
Or maybe it's just a good opportunity.
At any rate, we have reached a point of enforced time at home. This is a good thing. I have had a lot of frustration with trying to maintain my usual pace without my right hand. Now, even if I wanted to, I can't.
T has the chicken pox. She erupted in blisters last night. R is cranky with a low-grade fever, but no blisters yet (C is right as rain, and chomping for stuff to do.)
With time to kill, a roaring headache and nothing on tv, T dug through the videos, and pulled out some oldie but goodies: The Land Before Time series. It's been years since we've seen them, but I found myself folding laundry and singing along to one of my favorite songs "Friends for Dinner."
R is fascinated with the dinosaurs who go "ROAR!" Yesterday he had a couple of toy T-Rex in his hand, telling D that they were "bad dinosaurs." D replied that they aren't bad, they're just hungry. He brought them to breakfast today and tried to feed them his cereal. I love it when kids put it all together--those moments are the brightest spots in my day.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Gamekeeper's Thumb
Two weeks ago I injured my thumb while playing softball.
I vacillate between thinking it was a stupid thing I did, and an acceptance that risk of injury is part of the game.
I play catcher. I like my position. I don't have many opportunities to make plays, and most of the time when there is a play, the throw is wild, or late, or the runner is really fast (otherwise they wouldn't be sneaking home,) or I'm too slow...I just don't make a lot of outs. It's sweet when I do.
Two weeks ago we were down a few runs in the 5th inning. Several runners on base, 2 outs. Wild throw to the plate. It's the catcher's responsibility to protect the runner from getting hit with a thrown ball. I take that responsibility very seriously. I positioned myself to catch the ball. Unfortunately, I had to be right in the base path to do it. I saw the collision coming. The size of the guy scared me (big guys fall hard and get hurt when they do it,) so I made a conscious decision to accept the impact and not worry about sticking the tag. In hindsight, that was probably my mistake. I let the ball get knocked loose.
The runner behind him (their pitcher) thought he'd take home too, since I was down and the ball was rolling around the backstop. I jumped up and grabbed the ball. He slid head first. I dove and planted the tag in the middle of his back. He didn't get up. The game stopped, his team gathered 'round...maybe you know the kind of moment I'm talking about. Crouching there waiting, I remembered all the other times I'd waited: when my mom got hit in the head and sustained a concussion, when my teammate tore her ACL, when my husband broke his back.... I remembered the times when it was nothing: the wind knocked out, a mild sprain, nothing at all. Standing there, holding that space, breathing and waiting--oh, those moments in life wear on my soul.
At first I was angry with him for making us wait. I thought his pride was hurt--it was a risky move & he got tagged out by his mom. Then, as he continued to lay there, I realized I couldn't feel my thumb.
I was grateful when he finally got up and the game continued. I still couldn't move my thumb, but I had feeling back, so I didn't worry too much.
It turns out I must have hit him pretty hard. I have a complete rupture of my UCL ligament & a broken bone in my right thumb. I have been in an immobilizing splint for two weeks, and I'm looking at 4 more weeks. Chances are good that I will require surgery at the 6 week mark, setting me back to zero with an estimated recovery time of 12-16wks.
I feel pretty sick about hitting someone so hard that I broke bone.
I have learned through its absence that having an opposable thumb is darned handy.
The frustrations are minor, but they add up over the course of a day.
I'm not sure how I'm going to get through this.
I vacillate between thinking it was a stupid thing I did, and an acceptance that risk of injury is part of the game.
I play catcher. I like my position. I don't have many opportunities to make plays, and most of the time when there is a play, the throw is wild, or late, or the runner is really fast (otherwise they wouldn't be sneaking home,) or I'm too slow...I just don't make a lot of outs. It's sweet when I do.
Two weeks ago we were down a few runs in the 5th inning. Several runners on base, 2 outs. Wild throw to the plate. It's the catcher's responsibility to protect the runner from getting hit with a thrown ball. I take that responsibility very seriously. I positioned myself to catch the ball. Unfortunately, I had to be right in the base path to do it. I saw the collision coming. The size of the guy scared me (big guys fall hard and get hurt when they do it,) so I made a conscious decision to accept the impact and not worry about sticking the tag. In hindsight, that was probably my mistake. I let the ball get knocked loose.
The runner behind him (their pitcher) thought he'd take home too, since I was down and the ball was rolling around the backstop. I jumped up and grabbed the ball. He slid head first. I dove and planted the tag in the middle of his back. He didn't get up. The game stopped, his team gathered 'round...maybe you know the kind of moment I'm talking about. Crouching there waiting, I remembered all the other times I'd waited: when my mom got hit in the head and sustained a concussion, when my teammate tore her ACL, when my husband broke his back.... I remembered the times when it was nothing: the wind knocked out, a mild sprain, nothing at all. Standing there, holding that space, breathing and waiting--oh, those moments in life wear on my soul.
At first I was angry with him for making us wait. I thought his pride was hurt--it was a risky move & he got tagged out by his mom. Then, as he continued to lay there, I realized I couldn't feel my thumb.
I was grateful when he finally got up and the game continued. I still couldn't move my thumb, but I had feeling back, so I didn't worry too much.
It turns out I must have hit him pretty hard. I have a complete rupture of my UCL ligament & a broken bone in my right thumb. I have been in an immobilizing splint for two weeks, and I'm looking at 4 more weeks. Chances are good that I will require surgery at the 6 week mark, setting me back to zero with an estimated recovery time of 12-16wks.
I feel pretty sick about hitting someone so hard that I broke bone.
I have learned through its absence that having an opposable thumb is darned handy.
The frustrations are minor, but they add up over the course of a day.
I'm not sure how I'm going to get through this.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Settlers of Catan
We have always been a game playing family. Before kids, D played a couple of collectible card games (drawing a late-night-blank on his favorite...Oh, it was Magic: The Gathering.) It required dodecahedron dice--serious geek territory.
We had the monopoly marathons at our rat-hole apartment. We didn't actually have a whole set--the playing pieces were hilarious. A bottle cap. A pretty rock. Random stuff. 4am on any given day, there was a racous game of Monopoly going. I'm not sure what that says about us....
We introduced our kids to games at an early age.
Both of my girls have been able to beat me at whatever permutation of Memory (we have many) since they were about four. I value the skill, but on an abstract level, I suck at it.
Mancala has always been a favorite. I can beat D 3 out of 4 games. I've played with a player I can't ever beat, but only one. I know a lot of strategies. I'm pretty good. C cleaned my clock three games straight about a week ago. As a person, I was humbled. As a parent, my ego received a huge boost.
Gobblet is another favorite. In looking for the link, I discovered an online version. Yay for my future late night internet pursuits!
I have had my eye on Settlers of Catan for several years. D bought it today. We played after dinner. Wow. My first impression is that its accolades are warranted.
I don't often let my kids win at games. I may try out simpler strategies, I may forgo sophisticated key moves, but I don't just hand them anything--there's no fun in that (and as a corollary, games like Candyland make me want to put a sharp stick in my eye.) My criteria for a good family game, a good mixed-experience level game, is that the random factor of a player who is unfamiliar with the strategy of the game can add a dimension of difficulty to the more experienced player. A built-in handicap of sorts. Uno is a classic example. Experienced players can play with novices, and everyone has fun. The novice player shakes up the strategy for a win often enough to encourage the experienced player to try out new approaches. I like that. Blokus (Yes! Another online version!) is another good example.
We've only played it once, and we had to cut it short in the interest of bedtime (work night for D,) but Settlers of Catan shows promise. I'm really excited to have this on our shelf!
We had the monopoly marathons at our rat-hole apartment. We didn't actually have a whole set--the playing pieces were hilarious. A bottle cap. A pretty rock. Random stuff. 4am on any given day, there was a racous game of Monopoly going. I'm not sure what that says about us....
We introduced our kids to games at an early age.
Both of my girls have been able to beat me at whatever permutation of Memory (we have many) since they were about four. I value the skill, but on an abstract level, I suck at it.
Mancala has always been a favorite. I can beat D 3 out of 4 games. I've played with a player I can't ever beat, but only one. I know a lot of strategies. I'm pretty good. C cleaned my clock three games straight about a week ago. As a person, I was humbled. As a parent, my ego received a huge boost.
Gobblet is another favorite. In looking for the link, I discovered an online version. Yay for my future late night internet pursuits!
I have had my eye on Settlers of Catan for several years. D bought it today. We played after dinner. Wow. My first impression is that its accolades are warranted.
I don't often let my kids win at games. I may try out simpler strategies, I may forgo sophisticated key moves, but I don't just hand them anything--there's no fun in that (and as a corollary, games like Candyland make me want to put a sharp stick in my eye.) My criteria for a good family game, a good mixed-experience level game, is that the random factor of a player who is unfamiliar with the strategy of the game can add a dimension of difficulty to the more experienced player. A built-in handicap of sorts. Uno is a classic example. Experienced players can play with novices, and everyone has fun. The novice player shakes up the strategy for a win often enough to encourage the experienced player to try out new approaches. I like that. Blokus (Yes! Another online version!) is another good example.
We've only played it once, and we had to cut it short in the interest of bedtime (work night for D,) but Settlers of Catan shows promise. I'm really excited to have this on our shelf!
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