Big Mistake, Buddy

I got to do something wonderful today. I got to schedule an OB/GYN appointment. Yay.

Anyway, I called to make the appointment, and they scheduled me with Dr. Fu. Dr. Fu and I go way back, and when I initially saw him, several years ago, I wasn't impressed by his bedside manner. So, when the dear husband got home, I shared this little tidbit of news with him. The conversation then progressed like this:

Dear Husband: "Well, he did a fantastic job of giving birth to our daughter."

Jenny: "What?!"

Formerly Dear Husband: "I said he did a great job of giving birth to Emma."

Jenny: (long pause, during which "the look" is administered)

Husband: (nervously) "Didn't he?"

Jenny: "I kind of thought I had given birth to our daughter."

Man who lives with Jenny: "...Oh..., right, I meant... he delivered her."

Jenny: "Your wife did all of the giving birth and delivering. I would say that he caught her."

Man: "Well, he did more than that...."

(Violent look from Jenny, Man wisely decides not to press the point.)

*****
Disclaimer: I had excellent care from Dr. Fu and all of my doctors at Partners in Women's Healthcare, especially during my extended labor with Emma. Dr. Fu was really wonderful with her birth, and his bedside manner is worlds better than it was when I initially saw him. And, yes, he did more than "catch", but during the above-referenced conversation, no way was I admitting that.

The Tooth Fairy Cometh, Soon

It is official - Max has his first loose tooth!

We were dining at "Chez Meemaw et Poppy" on Labor Day, enjoying an eclectic assortment of hot dogs, spaghetti and turkey sandwiches, when I hear a howl of panic from the living room. Max is sobbing, and grabbing his mouth. I hold him, and manage (eventually) to decode the hysterical ramblings: my tooth (sob) is loose and wiggling (sob) and it is all my fault (sob). I ask him if I can feel the allegedly loose tooth, figuring that he knocked his mouth somehow and it is fine. Then I touch the tooth and it moves! I quickly cover my shock/repulsion and tell him that it is probably just time for him to lose his first tooth! How awesome! He then informs me, between louder sobs, that it is NOT time, he MADE his tooth loose by pushing his teeth together really hard!

Poor guy. He was really freaked out. After we calmed him down, I called Daddy in a quasi-panic to have him verify via The Internet that indeed, the bottom teeth fall out first. Whew.

Minivan on Mute

When I find myself alone in the minivan, I feel inexplicably lonely. The quiet consumes me, and I don't know what to do with myself or my thoughts. The silence is overpowering.

I know I should enjoy this time to myself - there is no Magic Tree House audio CD playing for the fourteenth time. There is no XM Kids Kenny Curtis Llama comedy going on, and no one is stuck in a real tall tree. No one is asking for Mommy's water cup or throwing toys on the floor or having an "emergency". No one is asking questions or telling me stories about how Mario knocked Bowser into the lava. No one is telling me not to sing because they can't hear the "real" singer. There is no Hamster Dance.

But, I guess those noises and annoyances are the sounds of my life, and as much as I throw my hands up and cry "Mommy has a headache!", most of the time I really love it, and I miss the noise, the auditory proof of my role as Mommy, when it isn't there.

Usually, when I find myself in this situation, I fill up the emptiness with:

• BBC news (world news sounds a whole lot better with a British accent, and I even find myself listening to the cricket report, though I don't understand a word), or
  
• International pop music, or iPod upbeat music, or
  
• Obsessive talking on the cell phone (using an ear piece).

Tonight, when I began to feel the loneliness, I started to panic a bit and reached for the phone, but I stopped, and just let myself drive in the quiet with my thoughts. Scary. Definitely shouldn't do that again.

Words of Wisdom

IF you let your son pee in an empty drink bottle when it is a "REAL EMERGENCY!" and you're not in a safe "pee next to the car" area... and IF this happens twice in two days... and IF you forget to throw the bottle away (or, to be more ecologically correct, empty it into the toilet or impatiens and recycle the bottle)...

PLEASE, take my advice...

do NOT use a sport-top water bottle that easily opens when a little sister inadvertently steps on it while climbing into the car. Because THEN, you will have to deal with the Moment of Horror, when your son has a third emergency the very next day and he says "Oh, Mommy, I could just go in this empty bottle here."

Next time: "stale pee versus baking soda in the minivan floor carpeting arena", or, "how to train your mother to visit the bathroom before you leave the store."

Une mémoire de Paris

I am joyful!  

I had the most wonderful surprise waiting for me in my inbox today, and I just have to share it with the e-world!

Three years ago, to celebrate turning 30, I traveled on the most fantastic trip to Paris with the "other" Jenny and two other dear friends, Nancy and Sarah. I LOVED Paris, and the entire trip was amazing, beautiful and exciting.  Each day, Jenny and I took tons of photos (and no, I haven't scrapbooked them yet, but they are in an album).  

On one of my favorite days, we explored a parisian market in the morning.  While taking in the sights, sounds and smells, we came upon the most beautiful display of fruits and vegetables, being sold by three handsome young men.  They were cheerful and charming, and we asked to take a photo of them with their colorful produce.  We promised to send them the photo, and took the email address of one of them.

However, in the excitement of returning home, I misplaced the email address.  Three years, one move and one additional child later, I was cleaning out my scrapbook supplies and I came across the paper with the email address!  I didn't know if the address would still be in use, but I took the chance, and sent off the photos, with a note en francais (thank you babelfish!) 

Today, I received a response from that cheerful and charming young man, in french, thanking me for the photos!  Email is a wonderful thing, and it is absolutely true that our world gets smaller every day!  It brought me such happiness, and a flood of wonderful memories, to get that email and know that somewhere in Paris, across an ocean, a man who speaks another language is probably sharing the photos with some friends, and laughing about the american who took his photo and sent it three years later.

What a marvelous day.  J'aime la vie!

Per Max: What Easter Is All About

Max to friend at Egg Hunt party: Do you know what Easter is all about?

Friend: noncommittal mumble

Max:  The people didn't like what Jesus was saying and they got mad at him, so they nailed him to a T.

Lifeschooling

I homeschool.  I guess that is supposed to mean that Max is "schooled at home".  But, really, that's not true.  

Max's schooling takes place everywhere - at the park, at co-operative preschool groups, in the garden, on field trips, in our amazing natural surroundings, and, yes, at home.  And, honestly, Max is experiencing learning (child-led), rather than schooling (teacher-led).  So I think I need a new term - maybe life-learning (though we all do that, don't we?)  

A new friend asked me today about what our schedule is; what we do each day for homeschooling.  I thought the answer might be interesting and helpful for those of our family and friends who think we're crazy.

Here's our loose weekly schedule for away-from-home time:

• Monday - Seminole Learning Community Co-op
  
• Tuesday - Playdate with one or more families in our circle of homeschooling friends
  
• Wednesday - once a month, our Little House Book Club, other weeks usually Confetti Club at the local library
  
• Thursday - Sometimes another co-op, often errands
  
• Friday - every other week is our Roots & Shoots group (Earth Friends), with a co-op class or field trip

We go on a LOT of field trips, with homeschooling groups and by ourselves.  Just off the top of my head over the last few months: zoo, worm farm, regular farm, marine science center, regular science center, puppet theater, refuse transfer station, emergency vet clinic, and many more.

When we're at home, we try to balance toy and game play, chores, meal planning and prep, pretend play, and "homeschool" activities.  However, we really practice "unschooling", which for us is a child-led learning approach that focuses on Max's current interests.  We do NOT have structured time each day to sit down and do schoolwork.  We don't do math from 10 to 11, and writing practice from 2 to 3.  We don't use workbooks regularly.

Instead, we do lots of experiments and hands-on learning.  We read tons of books every day.  We talk.  And talk.  And talk.

(Have a mentioned that my son is a talker?)

We do a LOT of talking.

A few weeks ago, Max's passion was mummies.  So, we made an apple mummy, we did a cool interactive online game on the mummification process, we read a book about ancient Egypt and we did a lot of pretend play (Max was usually wrapped up in something).  Then, we led a co-op on mummies, and did this awesome new pyramid excavation kit from Usborne, and read the fantastically detailed book that came with it.

Now, Max is really interested in Legos, and is making up his inventions and building them.  I really encourage this because he is learning all sorts of things through Lego - project planning, spatial visualization, geometry and other math.  Plus, he makes up elaborate story lines to go along with his creations, usually involving dialogue from one or more "characters" (more often than not, they are robots).

I still worry sometimes that we won't learn everything he needs to know, and we may get more structured once he is officially homeschooling for kindergarten, but in general, he completely amazes me with what he learns each day.

Renewed Vows of Cyber Love

We have been estranged for a while.  I thought, no feared, that we had grown apart.  Worried that perhaps our relationship would never be the same.  But, no!  My faith has been restored and our love is stronger than ever.  In fact, I can hardly sit here in my chair.  My heart is beating quickly; my fingers lovingly caress the smooth white plastic. 

I am having an affair with my iMac.

I love my computer.  I LOVE it.  But for the past couple of months, it has been acting squirrelly. Running slowly, having problems loading applications, and completely deleting my printer.  It has been frustrating, and depressing.  I spent a lot of money on this baby (albeit a few years ago) and I've been a passionate Apple user ever since.  These little performance issues had me questioning my devotion, and I started sinking ever deeper into a cycle of ignorance and denial.

I gave my computer the cold shoulder, only using it when I absolutely couldn't avoid it.  My email relationships suffered.  I double- and triple-booked my calendar by accident.  When we started having hard drive problems, I was convinced that I was going to lose some or all of my 21,000 photos (really). It was a dark time for all.  

But, I am happy to report that we've made it through this test of our commitment.  My wonderful, darling husband finally convinced me to let him buy an external hard drive, back up everything and upgrade to Apple's new Leopard operating system.  

Amazingly, once I approved the $243 expense, everything happened very quickly.  Our Lego-shaped hard drive (honestly, Aaron, your Lego obsession is inspirational) arrived Monday, and Leopard arrived Tuesday, and by the time I woke up this morning, everything was done (well, not the dishes, but he DID fix the computer, so....)  

Now, my baby is back.  Everything works smoothly and quickly, and my iMac and I are on a second honeymoon. So, expect to hear a lot more from me.  

But knock before you come in, we are getting reacquainted.