Free Time

So this post is to document a number of kids' antics. I write these things and then think back to a conversation I had back when Allison was doing the counselor / play therapy and I lamented that it was challenging to leave her alone any time. The woman (helpfully?) told me that I should "remind her of the rules of the room before you leave" and I thought to myself that I could never possibly come up with enough rules to cover the things she could come up with. Plus, two years later, she now has a willing accomplice.....

Monday - I get up and go to meet my friend at Fox for early morning exercise (it's our week off boot camp). Brian goes into the shower and the kids are playing nicely in their rooms. Brian comes out of the shower and the kids are nicely discussing what they wanted for a morning show. During the time between those two points - they had decided to have an "egg and spoon race" in the kitchen with about 8-9 raw eggs. Allison says "if you drop one and it cracks, you just get another."

Last week (and Brian and I calculated later than this could have been in the span of no more than 15 minutes) between when Brian left and it was time to take Jacob to summer school - Allison had created a spiderweb with two whole containers of dental floss in my room and then completely "painted" her hand in fingernail polish.

Getting Local

There are many great things about June. It's finally warm, school is out, and the farmer's market is open. We've enjoyed getting closer to our food supply. Two weekends ago, the farmer's market opened for the year. We also went and picked two flat of strawberries at a local farm. They mostly ended up frozen, as I wasn't really up for making jam and syrup this year.



This past Saturday we hit the farmer's market again (and found some wonderful rum cake). On Sunday we had Breakfast on the Farm in Poy Sippi, WI. They had a great breakfast of pancakes, hash browns, ham, and cheese. There was also a small petting zoo and you could tour the dairy barn. I learned that dairy cows can calf anytime of the year and that the mama cow gets two months "off" before the birth of her calf. The kids got to climb in a pen with a very weary baby cow, and pet a huge rabbit.

In need of a tape recorder

Sometimes I wish I had a tape recorder to keep track of the things the kids say - particularly Jacob. Today in the car it was this:

"Only boys can be pirates. Boys are awesome, and girls are pretty, and pirates are cool. So that's why only boys can be pirates."

Or the other day when the bath water was not sufficiently deep:

"the amount of water in this tub is called 'too low'."

Boot camp

Boot camp is kicking my butt. I signed up this summer for the YMCA Boot Camp, Tu-Th mornings at 6am. Two of my friends signed up too - so, you know, we couldn't hit the snooze button and decide for another hour of sleep. This week is the third week, and I am clearly much more out of shape than I care to admit. I probably am benefiting greatly from going. But - good grief - next YMCA session, I'm going to find myself a nice water aerobics class.

Brownie Scout

Allison had her "bridging ceremony" from daisy scouts to brownies last week. The girls walked over a bridge and then all together said the girl scout pledge - which has changed only a little since I was in girl scouts. Then there was an ice cream sundae building party. Allison's sundae had chocolate sauce, M&Ms, gummy bears, marshmallows, chocolate chips, and strawberries on it. I suspect there was some ice cream in the bowl too - but that's really an assumption.

Hartman Creek

Last weekend, we went camping at Hartman Creek. We found a place to paddle to and get ice cream. We also fished for very, very small fish. Brian caught two. I caught none. The kids wanted to be on "Dad's team."

Summer school quasi-dropout

Allison and Jacob started summer school on Monday. Jacob was signed up for this "Get Ready for Kindergarten" plan which was the full three hour time slot. I figured that I'd sign Allison up for three hours too (though the older kids go in one-hour increments). Jacob is so far having fun and meeting lots of kids who like superheroes and cars, though he doesn't know the kids names yet.

Allison's start has been rockier. She was signed up for Theater, Nature Detectives, and Primary Games (like kickball). She wanted Theater and Games - but the Nature one seemed to fit in the middle and we thought she might like it. Well, day one and neither Theater nor Games seemed to go well, the Nature one I guess did go well, but Allison was still not interested. The Games instructor even called me at home on Monday afternoon for a lengthy discussion on the issues. I got the impression (actually, I was told straight out) that this lady was the teacher and she was to be obeyed, and I needed to tell Allison that it was a privilege for her to be there. Well, a few minutes into this conversation and I knew there would be problems the whole time. Take two people (Allison and this lady) who both like to have control over a situation - and you don't get good things out of the other side.

On the one hand - the teacher is correct to have the authority over her class. On the other hand - if she is so hard-nosed that she can't find a way to be the adult and find a compromise in a confrontation with a 7-yr old on day 1, what can I expect on day 5 or 10?

So Allison is going to do just Theater (which apparently went much better on the second day). Hopefully, perhaps having just the one class to handle will work for her.

Employed

I've delayed this post - so many readers already know that I have a new job. I'm now an Assistant Professor of Engineering with a split appointment for UW Online and UW Fox. This means no more geology, I'll be teaching freshman and sophomore engineering students things like statics, dynamics, mechanics of materials and computer drafting.

On the upside - it's a tenure track position at a higher salary than I could earn as an IAS. On the downside - I'm afraid now that "everything matters" and I'll have to up my professional development (publishing and the like), and all my preps will be new courses for me this year.

So, it'll be interesting. It should be fun. I'm trying to figure out how to spend my summer getting ready, but probably won't know how it'll go until I start in the fall.

Jacob's birthday

Happy Birthday to Jacob. He had a good day - topped off with cake (the yellow is supposed to be the bat symbol - fortunately I think he's still young enough that cake is simply cake - even if it's lopsided and poorly decorated). Also - Allison created the "candle blow-out challenge" by placing the candles all around the outside of the cake.



Jacob is in his soccer garb because he had a game tonight. He enjoyed his gifts, a few of them he got a little early, but it's a little more fun to be with someone when you open a gift from them rather than saving them until the proper date.



Here are a few pictures from Jacob's birthday party. We had it at the YMCA - the first party that we've had not at our house. I'm very sold on this plan.



We had two inflatables - the caterpillar and an obstacle course. The grand plan was to have the kids play, then eat cake, and then play some more. It worked pretty well. Notably - I lost EVERY obstacle course race I did - to Dominic, Cyndi, and Brian.



Here are the party-goers (so that some of you can put names to the faces Jacob is always talking about). Front row: Allison, Dominic, Jacob, Sam, Matt, and Kaden. Back row: Josh and Andy.

Opening Day

This morning was opening day for the Miracle League. It was pretty amazing how many people dedicated time and energy to building the field and starting the league. Here is Allison with her friend Melanie (they aren't on the same team - I was hoping Allison would be on the Cubs, Brian was hoping for the Cardinals).



And this is Allison with her buddy Hannah. Each player has a buddy on the field with them. Hannah babysits for us, so they know each other. I figured Allison would be enthusiastic to play with Hannah - more so than someone she didn't know. Hannah was kind enough to think it was a good idea too.

Allison Douglas - Second Grader

Yesterday was Allison's last day of first grade. They went for a whopping 90 minutes, and it was pouring rain the whole time (hence the lack of the "final day of school pick-up photo." Her report card had come home the other day and - frankly - looked a lot like her winter report card. She was doing well in math, fine in reading, science, social studies, music, and PE, and could stand for some improvement in writing and art and organization (gee - wonder where that apple came from).

I don't have any wonderful reflections on the first grade year. Allison did not seem to particularly like or dislike her teachers (she still wants to be one when she grows up). We didn't hear much about her classroom teacher at all. She loved speech with Melanie on Wednesdays and cooking lunch on Fridays. She started to really read things - a point which I sometimes forget about and start to read directions or something for her. Of all her accomplishments, I find reading to be the most fascinating. It amazes me when Wii instructions pop up on the TV screen and she reads them and makes the appropriate adjustments. It saddens me a little that she no longer relies on us to be the "interpreters" of the world.

Allison has also learned to jump rope, to count money, and to hit a baseball. She still loves skirts and dresses, still loves pink, and has discovered the Berenstain Bears. She sometimes pretends she has a little sister named Lola, and develops great play schemes with Jacob.

We shall enjoy our summer, and here's to 2nd grade!

Memorial Day Weekend

The posts are all a little behind. We had a good Memorial Day weekend. Grandpa and Grandma came up from Springfield and hung out with us for a few days. We took a hike at 1000 Islands.



The chipmunks were not afraid (you can see one just running under the boardwalk).



Jacob also liked his soccer skills kit. I think we'll enjoy setting this up all summer in various forms of an obstacle course.



We also got to swim in the pool because the weather was beautiful, and we ate lunch at the kids favorite "Bela's," which isn't really Bela's anymore - it's Aspen Coffee Shop (not nearly as good), which the kids occasionally call "Addison's."