January 17, 2007 - More news is some news!

The drama continues:

The other day, while at a meal -- cannot now remember whether it was lunch or dinner -- Xander held up his spoon in one hand, fork in the other and announced 'And now I SHALL CONQUER THE WORLD!'

Without a blink, standing at the sink, I replied 'No. According to the Internet site on World Conquest, you can't do that until you have finished your food -- ALL UP!'

Xander looked askance at me.

Jason, quick as a wink: 'Yeah, because if you don't eat it all up, you won't have the energy for conquering the world.'

Xander, still somewhat suspicious, looking from brother to mother: 'And then what?'

Jason, glancing at me 'And then you have to get Mom's permission. It says so in the book -- 'No world conquest without your mother's permission.''

Xander was NOT impressed. 'I'm done then.' he said 'Can I go play?' And off he went, to conquer the legos pile.

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Then, this morning, after using the toilet, he went dancing down the hall, singing something loudly. It sounded...odd. So I asked him (my mistake) what it was he was singing. He gave me his under the eyebrows grin and said 'The power of underpants is that you can take your penis out!' Seeing my face, the imp chortled and charged the rest of the way down the hall singing his risque song. Sigh. Will I never learn?

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It has been hard, though, recently, what with Tom working ungodly hours. Hard on him, no doubt -- he is tired and stressed. Hard on the boys, though, as well. The other night, after several nights of not seeing daddy before bed, Xander burst into tears. 'I want to hug my Daddy!' I suggested, without thinking to carefully, I admit, that I could be a 'pretend Daddy' and I could give him a surrogate hug. He thought about that a bit and decided that that would do. His elder brother, however, was having none of it. 'I don't WANT you to be Daddy! I want you to be Mommy and I want Daddy home!' Sigh.

Earlier, Xander had offered to 'punch Boeing in the nose' if they kept Daddy away in Singapore too long. (Both boys were worrying that Tom would be there during Christmas. Thank heavens the wasn't!) Jason explained that that wasn't feasible because Boeing was too big, too many people. Xander's response was 'line'em up!' He is occasionally terrifying.

Thank heavens for Little Boys

Oh, I know that I am getting old. My bones remind me of this constantly. The other day I was on the floor for several hours, helping Jason construct a Legos Sphinx as part of our unit on Egypt. When I stood up, I almost couldn't. Sigh. So yesterday, I decided to try stretching. I got out the Tai Chi Video that I had borrowed from the library and went through the 'Warm Up' portion. Sad to say, my muscles are so tight that I am still sore from doing it.But it is a better kind of sore, one I recognize from my running days so I will do it again... and again... and again...

But enough about me and my aches:> Time to talk about boys and about the funny things that accompany their days...

The first story involves both boys. We were sitting at the breakfast table when, for no reason that I could discern, Jason said 'I don't think Goldilocks behaved very well.' Huh? He went on to explain that he thought her behavior in going in uninvited and then using the bears' furniture and eating their food was wrong... and that running away when confronted with her behavior was even more so. Xander, who had, of course, been listening intently, allowed as how, maybe she was scared that they would be mad (which, of course, they were!) Xander does not like 'mad' -- it is the only thing, apart from death, that truly scares him. Jason allowed that that might be so but that she should've thought about that BEFORE she took their things. I suggested that part of the problem was that she was lost, hungry and scared and had gone in seeking shelter. Jason said 'She should've waited until they came home and asked.' Then he asked 'Why was she lost?' Oh, man! I had to dredge into my memory of the story... I said I thought that her parents had been working and that she had gotten bored and wandered off. Jason thought about this and then allowed as how, if it had been him, he would either have offered to help his parents OR if he couldn't do that, he'd've told them where he was going. Xander, thinking intently this whole time, allowed as how, if it had been him, he'd've had a BIG stick and played Jedis close to Mom and Dad. Jason agreed that that was probably the best solution and I just stared in astonishment. Boys.

That same day, while I was attempting to get things put away from a grocery run (Xander was exhausted, not having napped and the day was too grey and rainy for them to go out again), Jason collected his copy of Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Wicked Wedgie Woman and proceeded to read it to his brother... from cover to cover! That took about an hour or so. I was amazed and impressed with both of them. Xander sat and listened intently for most of it -- though there was one bit that he decided he didn't like and so he got up and ran about until that bit was finished. Jason just read and read. And then, when it was time for bedtime books, he volunteered to read more chapters of 'Tut, Tut' -- the second 'novel' that he is reading for the Egypt unit. I allowed as how I wasn't sure that Xander wanted that and Jason said, in that voice all avid readers will recognize, 'But I want to know what happens!' He has certainly taken to reading.

Updates on the year

(Here are the boys in the Santa Suits that their Nonna Donna made for them)

Hmm

Let me see: Mom came for Christmas. Sorry to say I was a grouch. Tom had been shipped off to Singapore for a week plus prior to her arrival (He actually returned several days after she got here) and I was at the hair pulling point. At any rate, a day or two after she got here, we took the boys to the McDonald's playspace in Issaquah (opps, almost spelled it with an 'a' -- Jason has given me grief about that in the recent past:>). The space there is large -- to quote one of the boys' friends 'it is as tall as a sky scraper!' While we were there, Mom and I sitting below while the boys played in, around and above, the following event occured... Xander, who had been charging around, came down to his grandmother and, with his hands on his hips, said 'Did you see how I stood up to that bully? I don't like bullies and I never have!' Mom was slightly confused. Then Jason came down and the story was explained. It seems that a slightly older boy got angry at Xander. I am not sure what precisely occured but it offended Xander's sense of self. Being Xander, though, he was proactive. He went down and collected a group of other children then set off in search of the boy. When Jason came on them, the kids were 'confronting the bully' with Xander in the lead. Jason intervened, explaining gently that just because someone gets mad doesn't necessaryily mean that they are a bully. Apparently this intervention took because a short while later, I saw Xander playing with the boy in question... go figure.

More recently I was informed by my successful negotiator that when I sing (in the guise of Missy Coyote) I sound 'like a sheep with discomfort' -- a bad play on words around the idea of 'distemper'... yes, he kknow what distemper is. He has heard about it via Hank the Cowdog. Amazing what one learns from the series. We are planning to do a Texas/Cowboy unit centered around the book. Should be fun, with lots of possibilities.

Right now, however we are deep in Egypt once again. Jason has become fascinated with Indiana Jones (there is a fourth movie coming out in May) and archeology. At the moment, he is building a legos 'maze' pyramid. I have found, on the web, instructions for making mud bricks (to scale) and for using them to build a scale model of the Great Pyramid at Giza. I know what our weekend project is going to be!!!

Update

December 2, 2007

It has been awhile, I see, since I last posted to this site. Well, things have a way of getting away from one.

In the last month, what has happened? Well, starting with yesterday -- it snowed! Oh what a day! I woke up early to start making the baked donuts that I had promised to Xander. I got the dough made and rising before the boys and Tom woke. When they woke, we punched down the dough, rolled it out -- both boys helped -- then cut the donuts out using cookie cutters. Then for another rising. While that was happening, Tom read and boys played legos. Finally, after 45 minutes, it was time to put them in. I bustled around the kitchen and, being a nosy sort, decided to check the donuts... when I opened the oven door it was to see that the oven was on fire and the donut sheet on the lower shelf was blackening rapidly. I was rather stunned, staring into the oven but Tom swept in and proceeded to remove the burning bits to the sink. (We had made Chocolate Zucchini Brownies that day before and some of the dough had bubbled over onto the oven floor.) While Tom was scooping and carrying fire, I happened to glance out the window and saw... snow! What a perfect counter point!

We ate the somewhat underdone/charred donuts, sopping them well in sugar and butter. They were not great but the boys were so pleased to be eating their own product that they didn't care all that much. Afterwards, of course, they HAD to go out. There wasn't really all that much snow on the ground -- more a dusting, really -- but they were so excited... and even more so when Jason came out of his room dragging his new snow suit.
'Can I wear this, please?' he asked, face shining with hope.
I looked into the brilliant blue eyes and said 'Sure, why not?'
That meant, of course, that Xander had to wear his. So we dressed them in long underwear (after a trip to the restroom for each one) and struggled them into their suits and boots. And off they went to try and make snow balls and snow angels in the dusting.

When they came in, they played for awhile before we trooped over to the library -- Jason had completed (and more!) the library's reading contest (20 minutes a day for what worked out to about 15 days) and was eligible to pick out a paperback for his very own. We collected that, and a pile of loaners before heading home for lunch... and naps. The old ones in the crowd needed that -- and I was scheduled to go get a massage at 12:30 so we wanted them resting BEFORE I left.

When naps/massage were over, we looked out and... it had snowed again! This time there was enough snow to actually build the snow man of Xander's fantasy. (In the end, he had three heads because the first two fell off under the boys' helpful ministrations). When they came in, boys had hot chocolate and mixed snacks (Pretzels, chocolate chips and marshmellows). They then played and were read to until dinner time. We had planned to try a trip out for Christmas shopping but the weather was not helpful:>

Dinner was a mixed bag -- of left overs and pigs in the blanket. Xander ate the pigs, Jason the blankets and Tom some of everything. We then had, finally, Jason's building night where everyone sat on the floor and built with legos. Tom built a monster Titan, Jason a hero Titan and Xander and I played with mini-figs... that is, he told me what to build, I built it and he demolished it...

All in all, a good and peaceful day.

Xander's Current Favorite Poem

As a part of our 'curriculum' I read a lot of poetry to the boys. This is the poem that has caught Xander's fancy and is his current favorite... I think I read it about 8 times today!

Adventures Of Isabel

Isabel met an enormous bear,

Isabel, Isabel, didn't care;

The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,

The bear's big mouth was cruel and cavernous.

The bear said, Isabel, glad to meet you,

How do, Isabel, now I'll eat you!

Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry.

Isabel didn't scream or scurry.

She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,

Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.

Once in a night as black as pitch

Isabel met a wicked old witch.

the witch's face was cross and wrinkled,

The witch's gums with teeth were sprinkled.

Ho, ho, Isabel! the old witch crowed,

I'll turn you into an ugly toad!

Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,

Isabel didn't scream or scurry,

She showed no rage and she showed no rancor,

But she turned the witch into milk and drank her.

Isabel met a hideous giant,

Isabel continued self reliant.

The giant was hairy, the giant was horrid,

He had one eye in the middle of his forhead.

Good morning, Isabel, the giant said,

I'll grind your bones to make my bread.

Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,

Isabel didn't scream or scurry.

She nibled the zwieback that she always fed off,

And when it was gone, she cut the giant's head off.

Isabel met a troublesome doctor,

He punched and he poked till he really shocked her.

The doctor's talk was of coughs and chills

And the doctor's satchel bulged with pills.

The doctor said unto Isabel,

Swallow this, it will make you well.

Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,

Isabel didn't scream or scurry.

She took those pills from the pill concocter,

And Isabel calmly cured the doctor.

Ogden Nash

Hmm... well, I guess it is right up there with Jason's first poem, Jabberwocky!

November 6

It has been awhile since I have posted anything -- time keeps getting away from me and what with the daylight savings nonsense, it is even moreso. Now the boys' sleep schedule is all messed up again with Xander going to sleep late and Jason waking up early... sigh.

But all that aside:> We had a good Halloween. On the Sunday before the big day, we went Trick or Treating on the Waterfront. Xander was Buzz Lightyear and Jason was Obi Wan Kenobi. Xander was thrilled to bits. Then on Halloween proper, Xander was Sir Rascus the Monkey, Jason was Obi Wan Kenobi, and Tom was a Knight Errant. I include pictures. I stayed home to hand out candy and to defend the house from small children who were interested in moving in:>

News: Hmm... well, Mom will be coming here for Christmas then we will be going to Arizona in February for the RenFest and a brief vacation. When he heard about the RenFest, Xander asked 'Can I take my sword and poke real knights?' Auwe! That child. It should be interesting. The way I am planning it, we will fly into Phoenix, drive to Apache Junction and spend the night in a hotel. The next morning, bright and early, we will head to the Fair. I have, perhaps foolishly, promised to make the boys outfits to wear for the openning ceremonies. Now I just have to get going on that! Maybe we will do a Knights Unit in the preceeding month, to prepare for the trip...

Other news on the travel front: Tom will be off to Wichita, KS for three days the first week of December and then again for several days the following week. He also expects to be sent back to Singapore in the summer. Sigh. We are almost accustomed to this at this point.

As for the boys, they have one last swim lesson tomorrow then Jason has the junior Olympics on Monday. After that we shall have to find other physical activities to challenge them through the winter months. I believe, but must doublecheck, that the local pool is open until Christmas. If that is the case and if the open swim times are acceptable, maybe I shall take them there to play. Most kids will be in school so the place shouldn't be too wild. Meanwhile, both boys have announced an interest in... of all things!... snow shoes. They saw them at REI, and yes, they are available in child sizes! I pointed out that we really don't get enough snow... but that hasn't fazed them.

And Jason is continuing to improve in his reading and math. I have gotten copies of a popular program called 'Singapore Math' and we shall test that out to see how he likes it. At the moment he is primarily working on memorizing addition/subtraction/multiplication patterns. It will be nice for him to be able to do his sums in his head as well as on paper.

Xander is also learning, of course, rather in his brother's wake. When Jason reads, Xander (mostly) listens -- and even if he is dancing around, he is usually following the story. He can tell you what happened and takes great delight in 'acting out' the stories that he heard -- with his own additions, of course! And when they are in the car, both boys 'reading' books, Xander will turn to Jason and ask 'what is this word'?

Madlibs also continue to be a passion with the boys. Yesterday it was Xander who requested that we do Madlibs. Why? Because he had a new adjective (one of his favorite words) and he very much wanted to use it... I need to go find more Madlibs or, better yet, I need to start creating some!

Marriage on his mind

Last night, while we were reading books, Xander looked at me with those huge brown eyes and said 'Mommy, you're beautiful. I want to marry you.' Then he got tearful and announced that he didn't want me to marry daddy. I cuddled him and laughed and said 'But if I weren't married to daddy then there wouldn't be a Xander and a Jason.' My very logical son then pointed out that since they were now here, I needn't STAY married to daddy and I could marry him. Grin. Tom just grimaced.

Later, while Tom was taking Jason to the loo, Xander and I were again talking about marriage. Xander told me 'I already married you.' I said 'Yes, and you told me that I would be a princess.' He nodded and then, in one of those lightening changes of topic told me 'And I like peanuts too. The ones with the lids.' HUH! That puts me in my place!

Namesake behavior

Sometimes I have to wonder if maybe my children spoke to me inutero. Why? Something to do with 'the naming of cats' I supposed. Well, there was a good example yesterday: Tom and Jason were playing soccer in the backyard. Xander (Alexander the Great) was outside, dressed in his armor and carrying his sword. He decided to join in the game so he charged about kicking the ball at random. I said to Tom 'I don't know whose side he is on.' Tom laughed and said 'Why, he is the forces of chaos.' At that point Tom kicked the ball towards Jason's goal. Jason charged after it only the be confronted by his little brother, sword raised, blocking his path. "BOW TO ME!" roared the conqueror. Jason (little buddha) nearly collapsed, he was laughing so hard and Tom (The Big Fish), came up behind and tapped the ball into the goal...

Twice Married

I often tell people that while Jason never read the books on Child Development and so went his own way, Xander WROTE those books. He has proved it again. The other day, while I was sitting on the couch, Xander marched up to me: 'Mommy, I will marry you. I am a prince, when you marry me, you will be a princess.Take my hand.' (I did) 'Now Stand up' (I did) 'Say 'I Do'" (I did)'Now we are married.' I laughed and turned to Tom to comment on it. Tom growled and said 'You are already married to me. You can't get married to anyone else.' Xander gave him look for look and said "I AM A PRINCE!" and that ended the discussion. Grin.

Flat Stanley

We have a visitor -- a fellow named 'Flat Stanley'. Here is an excerpt from the letter I am writing to FS's family. It describes our Sunday trip to the Pacific Science Center:>

Dear Nic and Lisa
Here I am when I first arrived at the Dean house. Jason, who is 6, and Xander, who is 3, were so very excited to meet me – and to introduce me to their cat, Papillion (Did you know that ‘Papillion’ is the French word for butterfly? HA! This cat is no butterfly, believe me! ) I was relieved to discover that she wasn’t all that interested in me. Was nervous for a moment there. Here is a picture of us. Jason is holding me up next to his cat, Papillion
This is Xander. He is 3 – he likes me a lot, can you tell?

Once they had introduced me to the cat, the boys made me some nice warm clothes – I guess that the weather has changed here and it has gotten wet and cold. Jennifer, the boys’ mother, tells me that they never even had a summer this year, only a couple of warm days and then RAIN! After they dressed me, they made me a bed (turns out that I arrived just after dinner time and everyone was getting settled for the night.) and then Jason, who is an avid reader, read me some books. Xander was very nice and polite and sat and listened with me.
After reading, Jason and Xander took bathes (They offered me a chance but I was so nice and cozy in my bed that I decided to pass. I took a quick wash in the morning.) and had snacks and night time books. One of the favorite nighttime activities here is to do ‘Mad Libs’ – those are books of sentences with words missing. You have to fill in a word (Noun, Adjective, Adverb etc) without knowing the story. Then you read the stories that result. They are really funny. I shall have to see if I can find any that I can bring back for you. I slept in Jason’s room. It was lovely, warm and dark and the only problem was that the silly cats (they have three, it turns out) insisted on knocking on the door at 5:30 am! The next morning was Sunday. We got up, I had my quick wash, and we ate home made pancakes. Then we all loaded into the car and went to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. Jason and Xander have been doing a ‘Dinosaur ‘ Unit for their homeschool and it just so happens that this month, the Science Center is playing host to a traveling exhibit of Dinosaur Fossils – From CHINA ! Can you believe it? Wow, it was cool. Wish you could see it. Here are some pictures of the exhibit – I am digging for fossils in a couple of them.:>
Oh, did I tell you? The fossils in this exhibit were found by a combined Canadian/Chinese research group!

There were a couple of exhibits that made me laugh – one was of the ‘Crichtonasaur’ – it is a dinosaur that is name d after Michael Crichton, the mad who wrote the novel ‘Jurassic Park’. That novel actually has some good lessons – like you should study and learn, for yourself, take responsibility for what you do, not just grab for the quick reward then blame others when things go wrong. . Anyway, it is a funny looking dinosaur. Here is a picture:
And then there is the re is the dinosaur for which they have only found one piece! But paleoentologists have STILL managed to build this giant skeleton , based on what they think are similar dinosaurs elsewhere. Wow!
Here I am, digging for Dinosaur eggs. I THINK that this was the nest of a saurapod… These two bones are from the same sort of Dinosaur. The little one is from a baby. The bigger one is from an adult. Do you think you will get that much bigger? Will I? These are replicas of the eggs of the Oviraptor. The name means ‘Egg thief’ because when they were first discovered, Scientists thought that the dinosaurs stole and ate other Dinosaurs eggs. THEN they found a Mama Oviraptor sitting on a nest and realized that the ‘eggs’ belonged to the raptor – they weren’t stealing and eating them, they were guarding them. This changed a lot of peoples’ ideas about dinosaurs – some species were ‘Good’ mothers and guarded their babies and even fed them! AND oviraptors are amongst the ‘bird hipped’ dinosaurs. They are ancestors to modern birds! They even had feathers, or so the scientists now think. Wow. This is a map of where they have found dinosaurs so far. After seeing the sxhibit, we went into the main building and the boys played virtual soccer and chess on a giant chessboard. By now, it was getting close to Xander’s nap time and the drive home is a bit long so we all piled back into the car and snacked on sandwiches and cheese sticks on the way home. By the time we got there, I was tired too so I went with Jason and we lay down and listened to a CD of Hank the Cowdog. Those are really funny. The man who wrote the stories (and there are lots of stories) was a cowboy for many years. He is really good at writing in the first person and in writing from a Dog’s point of view.

The rest of the day was pretty quite. After naps, the boys and I went out to their ‘tree house’ – it is not your typical tree house – they don’t have a tree to put on e in so Tom, the boys’ Dad, built this building. When it is all finished (they still have to paint it with pictures of leaves and dragons) they will move it back underneath the great huge pine tree and it will become an official ‘Under the tree tree house’! Then Tom discovered that he needed some pieces for the shitters so we went to the Hardware stores, ate Popcorn and looked at paint. When we were done there, we went for a long drive. It was neat to see the countryside. We drove through the farming country and finally ended up in a nearby town called ‘Kent’ – isn’t there are Kent in England? It was raining and raining . We stopped at a local mall (outdoors) and had dinner at a hamburger place called ‘Johnny Rockets’ – styled like a 1950s’ hamburger joint. Then we went and stood in the rain near a great huge open fire place. IT was strange, the contrast between the cold WET rain and the bright warmth of the fire. Then it was time to head home and get ready for bed.