Belated Inaugural News

Hi,

Meant to write this down days ago but life caught me a bit off guard:>
Jason, Xander and I watch the Inauguration of Barack Obama, 44 th President of the United States and the hope of this nation. Xander, who once expressed the opinion that Presidents were nothing but a lot of noise and confusion, lost interest fairly quickly but Jason was riveted. Prior to the 'show' Jason recorded, on our voice recorder, his own 'Presidential campaign speech' and his own, graceful, acknowledgement of defeat. What was striking about that 'speech' was his campaign focus -- three main points: (1)Universal Health care, (2)lower taxes and (3)All rich people should be good people, not people who kill off Polar Bears in Alaska for their own selfish interests. Grin. That last one was quintessentially Jason, don't you think? I shall have to see if I can upload the speech, which he orated with great vigor, so that those who are interested can hear it.

On a different note, a Xander story which also reflects the spirit of the person. We were at the Dojang, waiting for Xander's TKD class to begin. Xander was already in the Dojang, playing when in charged Heath, another of the students. Heath is about 5, very active, and about a head taller -- and quite a bit wider -- than Xander. He charged over to Xander and they had an exchange which ended with Xander puffing out his chest like a Bantam rooster, standing tiptoe to toe with Heath and announcing 'I am bigger than you and don't you forget it!' What astounded me was... Heath BELIEVED him! As I watched in amazement, Heath wilted and backed off. There was no aggression between them following the encounter. Indeed, they seemed to be in perfect harmony but Heath was definately deferring to Xander. Gawk. The child is truly scary.

Amazing tales continue

The boys really do make me laugh -- and at the most unexpected moments. Take for example the other night: we were curled up in their bed, reading books. Jason, shifting to a more comfortable position, inadvertently pulled my hair. I yelped. He was very apologetic but I told him not to worry about it, it was just that my hair was getting too long. He looked at me thoughtfully and asked 'Why is it getting too long?'

I replied 'Well,right now, I have neither the time nor the money to get it cut.'

He mulled that over and then said, 'Well, I am too young right now but when I

am 8, I can stay home and watch Xander and you can take my piggy bank and

go get your hair cut!'

He really is amazing.

He was at Tae Kwon Do with his dad on Saturday and he and Malia, 8, the other green belt, were practicing their Poomse. Apparently they were able to get quite a bit of conversation in while they practiced ('We talked about geography and astronomy and other stuff' Jason reported) and discovered that they had a great deal in common. Jason was quite pleased. 'Malia and I are friends' he told me happily. And then 'I really like Michaela. She is such a nice girl.' Grin. He is right, of course. She is.

And then there is Xander...

Again, it was evening. Xander was hugging me and declaring his undying love:

"Mommy, I love you more than the Moon!"

I pretended shock, 'Wow, I didn't realize that the Moon loved me!'

He gifted me with that look that children have when parents are silly.

'Mommy, the Moon CAN'T love you! It is inanimate and besides, it

can't speak so it is dumb!!!'

Ahhh....

He is also learning at an incredible rate: Jason and I were doing mental math sums where I would call out a problem and Jason would try to solve it in his head. I mix the simple with the harder to keep the frustration level down. I called out 'So what is 3 plus 2?' and before Jason could get the answer out, Xander piped up 'Oh, that is 5, of course!' Hmmm...

Today the wind is blowing like nobody's business and Jason is still asleep. He woke in the middle of the night again and finally, after an hour and a half, went back to sleep. I am debating whether to wake him now that it is nearly 8 am. We have started going to the Eastshore Unitarian Universalist Church in Factoria and the boys have really been enjoying it. But the service we attend is at 9 am and it is a bit of a drive. Still, I hate to wake him.

Jason

Everytime I think I know my children, they surprise me. Yesterday, on our way home from Tae Kwon Do, Jason said, 'I think Micheala is lonely. I think she needs a friend.' I said 'I thought she had friends, Sklyer, for example?' 'Yes,' he agreed, 'Sklyer is her friend but Skyler and all her other friends are in a different class now.' I said 'I thought that you were her friend.' 'Yes,' he said thoughtfully (with Xander piping up 'I'll be her friend!!!') 'but I think maybe she wants a friend who is... well, her own age...' I asked, 'Why do you think what you think?' He explained that at water break, while everyone else is playing, Michaela stands on the side, looking sad. I thought about it and asked 'So, you have identified a problem now, what can you do?' We discussed it a bit more and he came up with a plan. At the next meeting, before the class, Jason will talk with his friend and fellow green belt, Malia. Then, at water break, he and Malia will ask Michaela -- who is a higher belt -- to help them with their poomse and balchugee.

Jason amazes me. He has a kindness and compassion that seem to extend well beyond the normal range. He has a gift for understanding people -- for example, he noticed, while at a playmate's house, that whenever the boy was angry with his parents, he took it out on the kids he had over. Jason had been hurt by this boy's behavior and I talked with him, trying to make sure that he understood that HE was not at fault (Jason tends to take responsibility for other peoples' emotions and behaviors, sigh.) and it was at that point that he explained about M's behavior and his theory of its cause. He was not approving of M's behavior but he felt compassion for him, for his frustration and his inability to handle it. We agreed that it can be hard when you are angry or frustrated with someone who is bigger or more powerful.

Xander, of course, was quite vocal about his opinion of the situations. He is MORE than willing to be Michaela's friend -- will she like me? Jason was reassuring. 'She already likes you.' And as for M -- Xander was all set to go punch him in the nose. Jason discouraged that saying, 'M. can be nice. He just gets angry sometimes. We all do.'

I worry sometimes. Jason is so sensitive and so willing to accept responsibility for other peoples' behavior and actions. It seems that a big part of his education will be how to differentiate between what is his responsibility and what he must let go.

On the other hand, he is better than most adults in the latter. He was very upset the other day -- don't remember why. I asked him 'Do you remember what the Buddha said that cause of suffering is?' He nodded 'Suffering comes from attachment.' He breathed in and out, a hiccoughing kind of breathing but calming nonetheless. He said to himself, 'I need to let go.' He breathed for a bit more and then took an extra deep breath. 'I'm okay now.' And, amazingly enough, he was.

The new year -- 2009

Wow! Hadn't realized that I hadn't posted in that long... ah well, life has a way of getting away from me!

What has happened since Thanksgiving? Let me think: Well, Tom and Jason took the belt promotion tests at Tae Kwon Do -- Tom is now High Green and Jason is Green. There was a lot of worry for awhile since Jason didn't have the stripes he needed to test but, bless Master Lewis, he went in the last Saturday before the test and Master Lewis, noticing the absence, asked about it. Jason explained that he hadn't had the oppurtunity to try for his stripes so right there, Master Lewis tested him on all of them. He approved the stripes, telling Jason only that he needed to 'get up higher with your back kick.' Jason was thrilled -- so was Xander. When he heard, he immediately sat down and made his big Bah Bah a congratulations card.

Hmmm... and what else? Well, Christmas, of course. And it snowed and it snowed and it snowed. Tom was sent off to Texas on the 19th (I think) and it had just started. Mom arrived on the 22nd -- and had trouble getting out of the airport (which had been closed due to weather and a severe lack of de-icer for the airplanes!) but thanks to Old John, was collected and taken home. Ice and snow everywhere for more than a week shut down a lot of things -- and then, after Mom left and Tom was home, the snow went away and it rained and rained and now there are flooding problems. On Thursday last, Tom found himself stuck in a two hour traffic jam as a result of flooding on Highway 169. The police shut it down and the traffic went via Petrovitsky. Problem is, Petrovitsky is a small road with lots of stop signs -- and the police never bothered to provide any traffic control! Sigh.

What else? Mind you, I am writing this is the dark of the morning. Everyone else is asleep though I shall have to wake Tom soon. (He is planning, poor man, to work this whole Sunday.) Haven't had coffee or a shower yet so my brain is not functioning at full capacity! (LOL)

Boy stories:

1) The other day, as we were rushing off to go on a field trip to the Enumclaw city hall, a small red and white dog appeared. No collar and looking rather nervous, it approached the car. It allowed me to pet it and pick it up but I could find no clue as to where its home might be. When I put it down again, it immediately headed for the car. Jason got out and talked with it and it answered him politely and shyly and... headed for the car again! I finally figured out that the person it was interested in was Xander! I didn't know what to do. We had to leave but I didn't want it to get hit by a car. I saw that our neighbor across the way had arrived home. They seem to know many of the folks in the area so I went over and asked him. He allowed as how, no, he hadn't seen the dog around but if we had to leave, he would be happy to see what he could do to help. Gratefully I left the dog with him. But still, I keep seeing that little red and white face looking hopefully at Xander... I think the Universe may be trying to tell us something here!

2)Jason has a crush. I noticed it Thursday at Tae Kwon Do. The kids came out for a water break, Jason right behind Micheala, the older sister of his friend, Cobin. With his chin tucked to his chest and a bit of a strut to his stride, he said (deepening his voice) 'HELLO Micheala' She looked at him and smiled 'Hello Jason' but as she started to say something else, he turned towards the wall and posed! (Grin). She gave him a puzzled, rather quizzical smile and got herself some water. When she returned to the Dojang, he followed on her heels, still in that posturing pose. Later, I asked him if he 'liked' her and he said 'yes.' Tom, who hadn't been there, said 'Well, of course he likes her. He likes lots of kids in his class.' Jason and I looked at each other and I said, 'Yeah, but I think maybe Micheala is special.' Jason agreed. A while later, Tom came to me, rather puzzled and said 'Isn't he a bit young?' I said 'No. This isn't what it will be when he is 15 but it is not that unusual to like someone older...' Grin.

3)Several evenings ago we were having a discussion with Jason about authority figures. Tom asked him, 'Who should you obey?' Jason said 'Well, Mommy. And Daddy...' And a small voice piped up 'And XANDER!' We all looked at him and he gave us the sweetest, most impish smile...

4)We are back to Dinosaurs again in our studies. We started with Darwin and Evolution -- mostly because the boys had been using the words re: Pokemon and I wanted to be sure that they understood what the word meant. (Please note, my youngest said to me, very firmly when I was fussing about this: 'Mommy! Pokemon is Make Believe! The same rules don't apply!') Jason was/is fascinated and we have been reading books and watching videos on the subject. We even had the oppurtunity to go see the Lucy exhibit at the Pacific Science Center. Well, I didn't see much of it, truthfully... the boys were eager to see 'the bones' and so skipped through much of the background. They did like 'the bones' though and Xander surprised one of the docents when, at the interactive skeleton, he proceeded to put all the bones in their right location! (grin, she should've seen what he did AFTER THAT!) Xander, though, while he likes the bones part, is not so interested. He likes FOSSILS! So we are doing Dinosaurs again.

People are starting to wake now so I will continue this later.