Swimming

The boys have been very hard at work learning how to swim. This summer I saw this program being offered, and dismissed it as something we couldn't afford. Then we went to cape cod and there was one child there who i knew had learned to swim this way, and his mother was so at ease, and he was so comfortable in the water. When we got home, there was a group class for two year olds and so i enrolled Milo and went to the first class. It surprised me, he was like a barnacle, and deeply afraid of the water. (I was in the water with him) He had every arm leg hand knees holding onto me, and refused to face outward. he was scared beyond belief of the water, and yet there were two kids who were doing the lessons swimming through the water to their mom and to their instructor... I woke up in the night, wondering how this could work, with him clinging to me, and us meeting weekly for 30 minutes. It felt like a setup- for him and me to be frustrated and unsuccessful. AND on top of that was Rowan! He was just as afraid in deep water. So the grandparents (THANK YOU) gifted money, and we came up with the rest, and you would not believe how these kids have changed. There's a video of each of them, and here they are, hanging out floating in the water. five weeks later. the premise is survival first, so they learn to float, rest and then swim, rest, etc. so that they are safe waiting for help, even if they can't swim far enough to get to safety. Today Rowan was in the deep water with all his clothes on, one of the tests the teacher uses, because, if a kid is going to fall in the water, it's probably not going to be in a swim suit. Anyway. the lessons are four days a week for ten minutes, which logistically is really something... and for six weeks. It is hard work for the kids, and they can have a really hard time. Both boys have dealt with it differently, and that has been interesting, getting to know how they respond to new tasks and being challenged. Here's Milo:
As kids will, they are using play the rest of the day to process their lessons. Both have little babies that they are teaching to swim, and our kitchen floor has been transformed into a pool so that we have milo sprawled out resting in starfish, flipping over and "swimming" to the wall! it is so cool to watch. Their babies are great swimmers, and they have knowledgeable teachers. :) The bath has also become a lot... sloshier... with them trying to do all these tricks in such a small space! and here's Rowan:


So we're on our way to a different experience in the water. I am really glad these boys have gotten this chance to interact this way with the water, in such a safe environment. I think their teacher is awesome.
And Rowan and a boy he goes to preschool with have bonded and that is very cool too.

October

We are entering the beginning of school decisions. Which in some places is incredibly easy. There is a school. You send your child to it. This isn't the way it is in Denver, especially with the choice system that is place. Parents apply at schools (including their HOME SCHOOL) and then get put into a lottery system if there are more applicants than spots. (Usually the case around our house.) This isn't the case for the older grades (first and up) but is the case for the preschool programs that our boys could go to.
I am now at a place where I know nothing about a job I might have (because I don't have it yet!) and the hours and such. Plus, the logistics of two kids at different places makes it difficult to figure out, and of course the money question.
My friends have their kids mainly at two schools, near our house.

We are starting school tours next week, and I have enlisted George to see this all through his eyes so that we can make the best plan for our family and the boys.

I have re-written this post four times. It is a tricky subject and so personal, and maybe I'll change my mind about all this in a year or two. It's hard to know which of my opinions will stick after I've been through the process of a school year. I do know that whatever I choose, Rowan and Milo are robust learners, and they will be fine, so I'm shooting for being reasonable, and not too reactionary as you may have known me to be... ;)

I have tried my best to give these kids space for free play, and materials to help them explore the world. I think that unscheduled time is increasingly what we are missing as a society, and I have tried to resist organized sports and organized everything for these guys at least for a few years. Yet, at what point does it matter to make space for spontaneous play when noone else is, and when all reunions with others are scheduled weeks in advance? Part of what almost everyone remembers about being a kid is having unstructured time with OTHER KIDS and when every child is in sports, art, music, at whatever activity, and in school, it is hard to know what is better for our boys-- Adult-directed activities, or solo activities.
I write this as Rowan and Milo are role playing and building in a fort on the couch, and constructing some other world where "oh no!" and other exclamations are emanating from the play.

It just keeps snowing, there is so much of it! we're probably at two feet now. Happy snow day!

You can't cut apples

AND blog, and so now that I'm here, because I just read this great thing that I want to share (this is my latest attempt at a post-many go unfinished and unpublished when I finally just shut down the computer at night) so the apples are sitting in the sink asking... WHO will cut us up to make applesauce while your hands are clicking away?
At the very least, you can talk to your kids while cutting apples, but you really cannot blog. It results in incoherent, abandonded posts, and unfinished thoughts.

So here I am after way too long and it's not because I don't have anything to say, I guess sometimes I wonder what anyone cares about reading. A part of me feels (as I just saw in Julie and Julia) that blogging is more than a bit narcissistic, and that the assumption that you want to know what is happening in my life
(our lives) is faulty at best. I also wonder about whoever is reading. Do I get to talk to you in real life or IRL as they say? Is this the only way we communicate, and is that good enough? I love comments, but then I'm unsure, do I then comment BACK? It seems like a sort of stilted conversation, with pauses that are too long, and the person on the receiving end keeping their thoughts to themselves.
And sometimes, I really wouldn't comment myself, and generally don't. But hey. enough of this.
We had a great summer. It's fall. There was a frost threat last night, and so I cut down half the basil plants, and covered half. NO FROST. but now I have to make pesto today. :)
I read in the Funny Times (one of my top three favorite publications)a great interview with "The World's Worst Mother" and she created this fantastic blog. Please read it. It is antidote to our fear-ridden times and supportive of parents in unconventional and refreshing ways.
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/

Aside from that. Well, it's hard to imagine, especially for anyone who has known me longer than four years, but my life has been driven by what is being harvested. I put up jam (grape, strawberry, raspberry) and salsa and am now working on apple sauce. We have 22 quarts of whole tomatoes, and I'd like that many more. I did grape juice, which I can't say I love, but better than buying my apple juice from CHINA which is what happened to me the last (and I mean that) time I bought Cascadian Farms apple juice concentrate.
I have confidence that there are organic trees in my HEMISPHERE that may be able to produce some apples, so that's out. Yeesh. China is now the third largest producer of Organic, and now I can't trust that label at all. Plus, when organic means fruity pebbles but organic fruity pebbles, the word is MEANINGLESS. It has lost all relevance to me.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/organic/china40105.cfm
http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/whole-foods-organic-food-from-china/

I think I'll go and cut apples, see what happens when I type instead of process my own food! you shouldn't let me on here!
For good measure, the boys are amazing. I started them in swim lessons this week, and they are doing well, but it is hard work for them. Here is the program they are using if you're interested. It's amazing to watch and truly worth the money.
http://www.infantaquatics.com/

Milo has started talking, but unlike is brother who enunciated each word, and was precocious with speech, he's got different habits: he doesn't have a t, d, th that i can see, and says those sounds with the back of his mouth... so Two is goo, etc.
It makes it harder for us to understand him, but I am sure he'll take his time, and then that will change too. other things he says are very clear, and Rowan is really his best translator for us all.
Milo is generally fearless, funny and open hearted. He loves his big brother so much, and will hug and kiss him. He will also attempt to scratch his eyes out though if he gets teased, so it seems just like a genuine sibling relationship to me!
G is traveling a lot more for work, and still trying to have a normal life with us, but as everyone with kids knows-- life is more than full when they are around.
We as always, feel incredibly blessed, and grateful for our safe home and healthy loved ones.
My book club is such fun and so interesting and I feel so happy to have just one class this fall. I'm in the home stretch here, and have only a few more things to do. (comps, practicum, and one more class.)
And applesauce. So off I go to fill the slow cooker and our house with wonderful smells.
I'll include a picture or two of the boys.

What a wacky summer. I'm glad we got in all that fun at the beginning because it got a little un-fun when classes started up. Milo's second birthday was a bright spot, along with a visit from Nonna and Nonno.
G and Nonno got right to it, ripped off our decrepit (sp?) crumbling roof and re-roofed the whole thing, while dodging the fairly frequent rain interspersed with roasting high nineties.
The boys have been growing and changing so quickly. Milo all of a sudden decided to start talking and repeating and saying a lot, so it's gotten even louder around here. I confess to yelling my head off repeatedly because I cannot stand them using the couch as trampoline and diving board and cannot get them to stop. Go ahead, call me what you want. It makes me so insane to think about a trip to the ER, yet they are just like the waves in the ocean, they have to chase eachother while screaming, they have to jump like banshees and they are driven to kicking balls around the house, despite my best efforts to contain, redirect or place limits on the area where said activities are done. *sigh*

So, when these crazy-making things aren't happening, and when all of the bedding is not in the living room for some mysterious purpose, our life is sometimes calm. Which is to say, not much. :)

In my less crazy moments, or you could say, MORE crazy moments I am so thrilled to see these happy healthy robust and precocious boys. I have found Milo snuggled up with Rowan in the top bunk sleeping together, which makes me so happy and they really do play well together most of the time when they aren't TRYING to make the other one crazy.

We've had lots of rain around here, for some reason, including highs in the fifties, yep--late July. The boys had a great day in the rain which started normally enough on Wed. Rowan likes to put his sweatshirt on backwards and his raincoat on forwards, so that he can protect his face from the rain, so that's what you see in the pic of them checking on the chickens. Then... well, I have no idea, but you see that the skin is at least as effective as a rain jacket there!

what summer brought

So you see below the fruits of the season, har har, and the boys growing and changing. Milo is talking a lot more, and turns TWO years old this week. They amaze and amuse us constantly.
They're racing in a fast car with helmets on there, in that picture, one morning with George. Not to mention the strawberry inspired art while I was jamming a dozen (YEAH) half pints of monroe goodness.
School is screeching back into high gear, so what am i doing? well, recording our new chickens etc. Only fitting, right?

I realized I need to put a new section on the side, Boy books. It's my new thing. Now what to do with these boys, now that babyhood is fast slipping away? how can that already be happening? Milo is in underpants full time, Goodbye diapers! that was really fast. How amazingly speedy.

We have four new hens at our house, and they deliver fresh eggs almost every day. Cabot would like to have a few minutes alone with them, so that he could DEVOUR them, but Rowan is so worried about it, it'll never happen.

Our garden is going gangbusters after miraculously avoiding all the hailstorms, and soaking up our rainy june. Too bad I planted so poorly, no beans came up, and the peas didn't even go in until after mothers day. oh well. next year. next year it's gonna be HUGE! next year we will be humming a graduation tune for me, and looking around at kindergarten for Rowan. *shudder*

I think I'll enjoy the now. now... now... !

SUMMER fruit

Moving on

from the last and very stressful quarter... The fun has begun!

Finished up the spring quarter and handed over the responsibilities of payment coordinator at Rowan's preschool I feel so FREE!!! We hopped in the car after shucking those responsibilities and took a road trip to the verdant and lovely Cascade IA.
Stopping with our dear friends in Manhattan (KS) was really fun and tasty too. A few choice pictures here, and hopefully I'll get a slideshow together to embed.



We have four confused hens pecking around their new home as of yesterday, and the boys love watching them. We're hoping for eggs soon.