Does Penny Have Her Own Show?

I'm a bit of a scavenger. When I see something useful-looking on the curb on trash day, I do some thorough examining and occasionally bring home some real treasures. This is how we acquired a seven foot tall cardboard box in our living room. (Thanks to the neighbors who have some kind of addiction to person-sized holiday decorations and appear to have purchased two nutcrackers that each stand 6'4".) The box arrived a little over a week ago, so Halloween was still on the kids' minds when they took crayons to decorate our new playhouse, which is big enough for everyone to fit in (even me) and requires internal lighting because it is so long.

There was something odd in the decorations that I noticed, though. Penny was kind enough to put on a jack-o'lantern for each member of the family. She also has been practicing her spelling, so each is labelled. You see Zoe with Dad, Paul on his own (much like real life), and I'm with Penny on the inside. Then there's this other pumpkin on the side, labelled "you." Who is this pumpkin for? I wonder if it's a reflection of all the "educational," participatory TV she has watched. the characters in shows always treat the viewers as though they are in the show with them. Blue will get three costumes, one for herself, one for Sprinkles and one that she hands to the camera for "you," the viewer. So the question then becomes, is Penny trying to be inclusive for when we have guests over, or does she think she has an audience out there watching her. Kinda creepy when you think about it.

 

Hilarious Halloween

 With no major weather impediments this year, we were able to enjoy a pretty exciting Halloween. It wasn't even that cold for the school's costume parade. Penny had conceded to switch to the Ariel mermaid costume for this year, but then fell back to her butterfly costume at the last minute. This is perhaps the best $8 I've spent on a costume, having now been used for three years. In the end, I felt good about the decision because there weren't many butterflies, but there were quite a lot of other Disney princesses (and two other Ariels in her classroom alone). I think there may be eight or nine princesses in this picture! Personally, I like Penny's friend Elizabeth in the Wolverine costume.

Paul was determined to be part of the parade himself this year. He followed Penny around for a while, then struck out on his own. He took center stage as the after school club did their annual performance. The kids were good sports about it, maneuvering around him as they went through their choreographed moves for Thriller, Monster Mash and other numbers. Though I wanted to get him out of the way, I figured him throwing a big tantrum in front of the whole school would be more disruptive than letting him stay in there and do a few moves of his own.

 After school, our cousins came by to join us for a little trick-or-treating. Dan had scouted a nice route that brought them by a good number of houses, but also hit some of the wildest decorations in the neighborhood. Paul, as you can see, wasn't particularly into the idea of Beggar's Night at first. Why fight to get him into a costume? He likes his frog hat - won't wear both mittens because that would prevent him from carrying his favorite school bus. Connor gave the jack-o'lantern costume another opportunity to get used. Dan and Tom went for a little role-reversal - Dan as a British footballer and Tom (British) as a doctor.

While the guys took the kids around the block, Sharon and I hung with Paul on the porch, enjoying the warm weather with some bubble blowing. This was perhaps the best way for Paul to spend the afternoon. He eventually warmed to the idea of going begging for chocolate, so when the gang returned to empty their heavy bags and go around again, he went to join them. Zoe decided she'd had enough, so she stayed with us for the second round as we got dinner ready. She missed out, apparently, as the second route uncovered an Elvis impersonator drawing quite a crowd and some seriously profitable houses.

As someone who had an awful lot of awesome homemade costumes growing up, I feel a bit like a slacker for relying on store bought costumes. However, I am at least getting lots of use out of them and they aren't dressed like every other kid out there, which does feel pretty good. Plus, they had an awesome time regardless of what they were wearing and that's really the point.

Coloring Mecca

Dan's recent vacation came with three full weekends available to do all kinds of wild and exciting family activities, so we've been living it up recently. Our first weekend, Dan recovered from night shift while enjoying the company of the two oldest. I zipped off to New Jersey for a bridal shower. Zoe...not so fond of long road trips. Alas.

The second weekend, we decided to make a day trip to the mecca of all things coloring related - the Crayola Experience. A little expensive, kind of a blatant marketing ploy, but the kids thoroughly enjoy coloring and they start charging kids at age two. We had to get in while we would only be charged for three people! Penny managed to find an attempt at an educational exhibit - here she is modeling being a photon of light. She was ricocheting from exhibit to exhibit throughout the day in the sheer delight of all the fun things she could make and do. Honestly, for the amount of craft activities in the place, it was a cheaper admission than the Children's Museum of Art in Manhattan. Paul could have spent the whole day at the coloring table - every color of crayon imaginable from metallics to fluorescents and an infinite supply of paper. He just kept coloring away while Penny went on the factory tour and any number of other activities. He's very fond of coloring, though perhaps his work doesn't resemble much to anyone else yet. Today he handed me a picture and told me it was Captain Hook's Mommy. Looks like the usual circles to me, but he had very specific intentions when he colored it.

We came away with lots of fun crayons and markers that the kids either made themselves or personalized.  Here, Paul is pushing buttons to make his own marker. The inks actually blend together in the tube over time. At least, that's what we were told. The individual colors are still visible in the markers today and we went back in October. Zoe hit her limit by 3pm or so. The older two began to get cranky around 4pm, so we were all pretty much on the same page to head home for dinner. While Dad handled some diaper changes, Penny and I zipped through the exhibit halls using up the last of our tokens to procure art tools for later (another marker, a different color crayon, a few packs of clay). The exit was a little messy as they force you to go through the gift shop to get to the exit ramp. But strapping Paul into the stroller and Zoe to my chest made it at least doable to leave the building with the two of them while Dan went round to fetch the car from the metered parking a few blocks away. I was pretty pleased with how much fun they had and being able to get in and out as a day trip with minimal meltdown action. Penny was already talking about having her next birthday party here instead of back home. Sheesh! Planning the sixth birthday before she's had her fifth. What next?!

Reading Excitement

We've got some very avid readers in our house. Bed time is a bit of a challenge since everyone wants to have three or four stories of their choosing. Tomorrow is a big day for Penny - her first reading test. I'm not really sure what to make of her literacy training. We only see sight words come home, but I've heard from other mothers that they're doing phonics in the classroom. Penny shows no evidence of phonics...she's constantly trying to guess what words are instead of sounding them out. She's really good at sounding things out when she actually tries. Unfortunately, she seems to have an allergy to homework, which makes it like pulling teeth to get her to read a story. Perhaps knowing that she can get an animated telling of the story makes it less desirable to read on her own. I think she's got a good handle on it, despite our struggles at home. We did as much studying as I could stomach. She's sick, so even a little more reluctant to do homework than usual. Let's just hope she's a good tester and the germs don't take her out tonight!

 

Paul loves story time. He even tries to have some story time during the day as well as at nap and bed time. His favorite themes are construction equipment, Cars (both the movie and vehicles in general), and books that incorporate animal noises. Every once in a while, I manage to find books with animals and vehicles, which is just golden (current fave: Dig In). He is fond of making the animal noises himself and has begun to memorize all the construction equipment names. We have an excavator in the neighborhood which we MUST visit each time we walk to or from Penny's school. "Miss eh-tay-tah boom," is a common chant as he drifts off to sleep.

He is going to be really broken up when I take his library books back next week - he has memorized at least one (Old New, Red Blue) and reads it to Zoe on occasion. At right, you can see him reading Penny's first book she memorized, Alpha Oops! H Is for Halloween. It is pretty unique as alphabet books go and it has a plot - which can't be said for many. We've checked it out so many times and I don't mind it at all. I'm wondering if Paul will learn to read a bit faster because he overhears all the practicing with Penny. Perhaps it's not a bad thing that most of his birthday presents at this point are books.

 

 Can you believe it? Little Zoe is already intrigued by the wonders of books and has perused them on occasion. I think Penny was starting to show interest in books by Zoe's age (five months already!). Zoe isn't on the floor as much, so she doesn't get as many opportunities to enjoy the books. She joins us for Fun Fridays at the public library each week and often enjoys the story telling and a book of her own to peruse. I'm sad that I just can't afford additional story time at her bed time just yet. Maybe when Penny gets her reading down more solidly, she can step in with the other two and have some fun joint story time.

 

I'm looking forward to that possibility. She really does love stories, just not the work of reading at this point. It's a tough line to walk to build her reading skills without making reading a total chore. I want her to see how awesome reading is. I really miss reading for enjoyment myself...part of why I've become a bit of a kid's book connoisseur. There's a lot of junk out there (especially in the easy reader category), but the good stuff I'll bring home again and again. Looking forward to our library trip tomorrow - apparently Robin Hood will be visiting!

 

School Is Underway

You can tell school has started full time - I have barely any time any more, it seems! The major advantage this year is full day school, which SHOULD give me a little more time during the day to get stuff done. Haven't quite figured out why that isn't working, but give me another month, and I'm sure we'll have everything squared away. Penny's in one of the two gifted and talented Kindergartens at her school. Only two of her former classmates are joining her - a lot got assigned to other schools because competition for our school is tight, apparently. The first day was a little daunting, though Penny is no longer the smallest kid in class - no growth spurt, just teenier kids! I have some hope, though, because she is eating most of her lunch and seems to be asking for a bit more at meal times. I swear sparrows eat more than her! In case you're thinking, "Whoa, that girl in the glasses is a tall Kindergartener!" she's actually one of the shepherdesses who help to corral our little darlings each morning. They have two or three older kids from the school help organize the little guys. It's funny because Penny had already made friends with one of our shepherdesses last year on the playground. She was psyched to get to see her friend every day. I'm psyched to see the school giving kids a leadership opportunity at such a young age.

Also pictured is the girl who's been a bit of a bully for Penny. A little sad, but I've got my first "I don't want to go to school any more because she's always picking on me." Penny seems to have a bit of victim mentality - doesn't retaliate in any fashion, just gets sad about it. I don't know how to counsel her on it because I don't want her physically fighting, but I don't want her to be a pushover either. For now, I've made the teacher aware and Penny and I have resolved to pray for her bully. I'm actually pretty proud of Penny because when I mentioned praying, she made a mental note (out loud) to add it to her daily prayer routine at school. This is totally on her own, obviously, because it's a public school. I'm proud of her for praying routinely!

Paul is thoroughly enjoying the daily return to the playground. We are experimenting with bringing toys to the playground these days, so he has discovered the wonders of the race car on the slide, among other things. You'd think the boy died and gone to heaven when we brought the little riding car out to the playground. He gets nowhere with it in the somewhat unkempt yard at home, so the rubber surfacing and pavement was an absolute dream. He has already altered the wear pattern on his shoes riding his little car so much over there. Of course, his joy is kept to days when we're running so late that we have to drive. We seem to have the park largely to ourselves in the morning after drop-off as everyone dashes out to do their daily chores and whatnot. I have found that if I keep him at the park until 11am and then have him walk all the way home, he's just barely tired enough to fall asleep for his 12:30 nap (which usually starts around 1:30pm). It's the only way for him to nap before pickup. He is INCREDIBLY nap resistant.

Zoe is quite the charmer at school. Everyone loves to say "hi!" and get a smile. It's hard to be just the backdrop on which she is mounted, but it does mean no one is paying attention to my uncombed hair or burpy outfit. She's on her second cold of the school year already, though, so perhaps I need to be a bit more strict about not letting anyone touch her. She gets to do a lot of people watching on our daily journeys and I'm sure she'll be raring to go tackle the playground with Paul by spring time. She's already moving a little on her tummy and tummy time lasts long enough for me to finish a task - not a big or involved task, but at least A task.

I have actually been up to something at long last. I feel like I've just been keeping up for a while, so it was nice to get some things done. For whatever reason, we've been inundated by decent coupons for Shutterfly and Snapfish, so I went on a project binge. Three photo books in nearly as many weeks, plus some Christmas gifts and I finally made some prints to document some of our remaining time abroad. I also made some prints to act as stationary. I wish I could find a permanent use for all my wildflower pics from Grenada and the U.S. Once that was all done, I managed to do the calligraphy for a wedding's invitations in a mere week. I'm quite proud of doing that without totally using up all the extra envelopes with my mistakes. Now, my garden is finally starting to really pay off in tomatoes, so I'll likely be cooking every few days just to ensure we don't waste all the yumminess. Then it's birthdays, holidays and Christmas break, so I guess there just will never be a dull moment. Gosh, but time flies and it may be hard to squeeze in some good blogging time. I'll try, though. There's just too much going on not to document and share it.

Worrisome?

He was going to talk

So...at what point do you think Mack's mommy noticed that he spent too much time with knives?

Paul seems to really enjoy bopping his head on things and singing, "Ow, oow, ooow." He'll then dash over to Zoe and pat her on the head just a little too hard, chanting the same. He seems to think it's fun, though Zoe doesn't seem to think so. I do a lot of comforting around here.

Why exactly do they make play knives? I'm definitely sticking to my policy of no toy guns.

Zoe Update

Penny offers to share Puppy for comfort frequently these days

 It occurs to me that I've said relatively little about our new arrival and how exciting she is. She is well-loved, getting plenty of attention from her siblings. While it's awfully cute, it does seem a bit dangerous on occasion as little folks don't know their own strength most of the time.There are no pics of Zoe with Paul and that is because the interaction usually requires intervention, thus precluding any shots of what is actually pretty awesome brotherly love. 

At least someone is getting sleep around here

Zoe is only sort of fond of cuddling, more with Daddy than with me. Though we did have a really nice afternoon today since the older two are having a sleepover at Nanna's.

 Zoe hasn't rolled all the way over just yet. She does seem to enjoy playing on her side during her floor time, though. If I place her on her tummy, she seems really excited about the different perspective the position provides. She gets tired, though, and gradually increases her insistence on switching activities when I leave her on her tummy too long. She doesn't get much floor time in general because it's just a little too hazardous with the older two stomping about.


Zoe is so easy-going and ready to smile. A little attention will garner such whole-hearted excitement as to make it difficult to tear oneself away. She's a big hit at family gatherings, as you can imagine, almost allowing me enough time to inhale a plate of food. I am so blessed to have three kids with such wonderful personalities and dispositions.

Zoe's First Road Trip

For Dan, night shift seems like an ideal time to  try our first road trip with little Zoe - he'd get off first thing on Friday morning and I can then drive us wherever. Somehow, he'd never been to his state's capital, so he was leaning toward a little excursion to Albany. Only two or three hours away on a turnpike, seems like an easy goal, right? Nice plan...except he couldn't really provide any help in the prep and he'd be a zombie for a bit of the trip because of the shift from being nocturnal to diurnal. His original plan was for the weekend after Zoe's baptism, but that was just not coming together since it took me the better part of the week to recover from the party and sleepover at our house. I managed to wrangle all the gear, get the laundry done, pack clothes, food and plan a little bit of what we'd do by the next weekend. After some soul-searching about the importance of a one-bedroom hotel room ($170) versus the merits of a hotwire discount, I figured the kids would be so zonked that we could get away with a studio from Hotwire ($105).

The trip up on Saturday morning (dental surgery on Friday for me moved our departure time) went pretty smoothly - on time departure, good meal break, reasonable arrival time. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the Museum of Innovation and Science. All you really need in a museum is a kitchen to make Paul thoroughly happy. Penny enjoyed some good physics exhibits. The traveling exhibit with the animatronic dinosaurs brought me back to my days as a museum docent (back in the third grade). That's where it all began - me wowing the museum staff by being the only person able to say Pachyacephalosaurus without stumbling, telling everyone everything that was cool about dinosaurs. Paul's fav was the nest of cooing hadrosaurs, while Penny was more fond of the triceratops and tyrannosaur pairing.

Sunday was a bit more of a disaster. We decided to do a driving tour of the downtown area. It felt a little like touring Courasant. Penny especially liked driving around the DMV building, which for some reason had a tunnel and curvy road that reminded Penny of Mario Cart. How do you do that in a downtown area? Only the DMV, right! The calm drive of course put Paul to sleep, so we went to a local park and Penny enjoyed the playground for a bit. It was a lovely weekend and we just enjoyed some awesome nap time, which then ran into lunch time...uh oh, the precious schedule just got thrown out the window. Lunch got moved to 2pm, then we drove home after that with everyone well-rested. NIGHTMARE! We got home at 9:30pm after quite a few disastrous breaks for stretching, eating and general sanity. I did learn how to use a swaddler inside a carseat safely. Pretty nifty skill. Wish I'd thought of it earlier in the drive, though. Overall, a good trip, with some important lessons for next time. I think there could be a next time, though. Just need to take a little more time to plan and stick to schedule a bit better.

Zoe's Baptism

We had a super awesome play date with my friend Elizabeth a couple of weekends ago when she came down for Zoe's baptism. I would share pics from the baptism, but apparently, our church actually forbids the parents from holding cameras during the ceremony. It was a very well-choreographed event - kind of had to be since Zoe was the tenth of 12 kids to be baptized that day. Wow! Quite a lot of crying, but most of it from our usually happy little chica. Note to self: don't listen to Daddy's suggestion to wake baby just to comply with choreography. In any case, we managed to calm things down with a little feeding. Not too many pics because there was a lot of jockeying for position around the font after the ceremony and EVERYONE was hungry by then.


I decided to make the shindig afterward a bit simpler since I wouldn't be able to do as much prep - our first catered party. We need a little more practice on portion sizes to order. We'll be enjoying sandwiches for a while yet. Sadly, folks seemed to duck out early, so we had a lot of leftovers. We didn't even get to bring out dessert at all - which was the one thing I had made from scratch. Maybe people had thought it was polite to leave early since Dan had to head off to night shift by 7pm or so.


Luckily, all was not lost. We had planned a fun sleepover with Zoe's godmother and her kids. My friend Elizabeth is quite the chocolate fanatic and we had a whole chocolate pie to finish together. We did (she probably believes I saved a piece for Dan). Though we didn't quite enact our plan of four kids under four years in a single bedroom, it was still a fun-filled sleepover. Zoe and Elijah seemed to get along well enough. Penny had tons of fun with Eliana. Aliyah and Paul did what one and two year olds do - sometimes it's playing together, most of the time it's just fun to watch. We enjoyed a steamy trip to the Pirate Ship Playground (reopened, but without the water on a hot day, which was a bit of a bummer).

What a super fun weekend! Can't wait to do more playdates!

Solutions for Picky Eaters

We have been struggling a bit lately with picky eaters. Penny has essentially the same three meals every day. Sure, there's a little rotation since there are three or four veggies she'll eat and there's only two meals a day where I serve veggies, but it's pretty much the same menu every time. I've settled into a rut with Paul too, which is sad because it's a little early to get him onto the picky path. It was just easy having a set menu instead of trying to come up with new finger foods all the time.

When Penny picked up one of the suggested books for the NYPL summer reading program, I found it remarkably inspirational - Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban. In the book, Frances chooses to eat bread and jam instead of her various meals. Mom, sick of having Frances leave the food she's served and thinking she's got a clever idea, then feeds Frances exclusively bread and jam for every meal. I won't ruin the ending for you...go and read the book at your local library with the kids.

In any case, the situation resonated with me and reminded me of dinners at Grandma's house. No matter what the meal, there was always a little plate piled with bread and a jar of peanut butter. If there was pot roast, hand made mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans with butter, there was a jar of peanut butter and bread; lasagna and garlic bread, some plain white slices accompanied by the familiar jar of peanut butter. I never knew why it was there, though I often enjoyed its presence. I LOVE peanut butter and would often end my meal with a little peanut butter sandwich (or a gravy sandwich if that was one of the available items). Reading the Frances story finally helped me put the pieces together. My grandmother had 10 kids in 20 years. She had no time to prepare individual meals for each of her kids as I still struggle to do. She made one meal and whoever didn't like it had that peanut butter sandwich option available to them. It's a reasonably nutritious and certainly delicious backup that works at pretty much any meal. I imagine it led to a considerable amount of sanity compared to what I'm currently putting myself through.

Since spring I have tried to feed Penny and Paul the same things more often, with mixed success. They're still calling for substitutions, which often keeps me from even sitting down to dinner before they finish. Perhaps employing some of my grandmother's ideas will help me survive a bit better.

PS: I DO feed my children things other than cakes and chocolate pies...dinner is just such a struggle most days that I don't have any pictures of it. Wish me luck!

Bit of Op Ed

Since we moved overseas, I've been avoiding the news. In England and Grenada, it was easy - we were too cheap to own TVs, so we had to seek out the news. I've never enjoyed watching the news, just felt it was a necessary evil to be able to keep up with the tragedies going on in the world. It almost cost us pretty dearly as I didn't hear or heed warnings about Hurricane Sandy until it was all the moms were talking about when we were dropping the kids off at school. Thankfully, that still gave me a day or two to prepare, but the store shelves were pretty empty looking at that point.

So, perhaps I'm a little late in developing an opinion about the Trayvon Martin case. I know WAY too little to say anything about the case or the decision really, but hearing about the circumstances brought up some pretty fierce emotions and memories of my childhood. I think the thing I found most disturbing was hearing that "Stand your ground" laws are a growing trend. The general understanding I got about these is that there is some kind of protection for people who shoot in self-defense. My worry about protecting people who shoot someone in self defense is that people are dumb. Just because you're ALLOWED to have a gun for self defense doesn't mean that it's a good idea to use one. I can picture people going out and buying guns - totally above board and well-intentioned - and keeping them someplace handy for self-defense. Do they invest in training so they know how to use the gun? Maybe. Do they store the gun safely? Maybe. Is it likely that the criminal has more experience with a gun? Probably. Do the defenders have the guts to live with themselves if they are successful in using the gun? Maybe. What happens if they shoot someone in error? Hmmm...

In my neighborhood, even the six-year-olds flashed guns occasionally. There was one kid on our block who was hospitalized because his buddy had been trying to show off a gun that had been improperly stored in the house. When I was in fourth grade, a woman was shot in our front yard. I watched from my bedroom upstairs as her car idled in the intersection, her turn signal flashing. She never quite made it to the police station behind our house before her boyfriend drove by and shot her in the face. Would being allowed to shoot him in self-defense have helped her, or would we just have had a shootout in our front yard where we as innocent bystanders would then have been more likely to catch it in the crossfire? Our neighbors certainly expected a shootout as we all watched from our windows, watching, listening, as she cried for help. My mom was at least brave enough to go out and offer her a towel to mop her face while we all waited interminably for aid to arrive. (BTW, I understand the difficult position in Detroit with nearly one hour police response times: the cops were the last to arrive on scene for this woman, even though they could likely SEE the incident from the police station behind our house. The news crew beat them there and they came from across town.)

I've lived immersed in prejudice for most of my life.  I obviously don't have an insider view on prejudice, but I've seen what it does to people. My parents probably had an uphill battle trying NOT to raise prejudiced kids in our neighborhood. I try my best not to be prejudiced, though I have definitely done things interpreted to be prejudiced and not been observant enough to notice that I was offending someone. I don't know how prejudice will affect my family specifically. I know that as we investigate where we go after residency, we have contemplated whether certain locations might have higher incidences of prejudice and so be bad places for us to move. Of course, how do we guess at how prejudiced an area is? Is that something you can measure? In most cases, I make guesses based on, well, prejudices about various parts of the country - this area is a KKK stronghold, so probably bad; the South has a history of being prejudiced, so probably bad; this area has a really diverse population according to the Census Bureau, so probably good, etc. Of course, it only takes one prejudiced person to make life miserable, or take life away.

I am by no means qualified to opine about the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case. I just know that what I've heard of it worries me. I'm worried that "Stand Your Ground" laws will encourage people to put themselves in potentially hazardous situations. I worry that prejudice will continue to breed more prejudice and the cycle can never be broken. I also wonder if I'm ready for what my kids will have to go through because of their racial background. It will make me sad when they come home and I have to explain it. They're good kids and don't deserve to be exposed to hatred. Alas...I hate listening to the news.

Refuse Reflections

 For some reason, I find the NYC Sanitation Department absolutely fascinating. It is a model of conservation and waste all at the same time. For example, I remember going home to Ohio and hearing folks marvel at how quickly NYC would dig itself out of blizzards. When we first moved here, it seemed we were having 1.5 feet of snow every other weekend for a month or so, yet kids didn't miss a day of school. How could the City sustain the reputed fleet of more than a thousand snow plows? Easy - those snow plows are actually garbage trucks. Just strap chains to the tires and plows to the front - you've got guys to staff them already and their shifts are all worked out. Good to go. Sounds amazingly efficient, until the third snow storm blows through and you suddenly realize that trash hasn't been collected in several weeks because the trucks are otherwise engaged. I guess it was at least too cold for the rats to go to town too much in the growing heaps of refuse that lined every street.

I have always been impressed by their recycling system here. It seems like they can recycle just about everything. From orange juice cartons to metal hangers, just chuck it in a blue bin or a clear bag and you're good to go. The one big exception was plastic - NYC only recycled small mouthed plastic bottles. Though everyone in NYC claimed they knew exactly what could be recycled, I found very few people actually grasped this distinction. When I was working at the museum, we incorporated a recycling sorting game into our green school program. Every group that came in was tripped up by the yogurt or takeout containers that couldn't be recycled. Everyone was convinced that since their bins said "plastic," any kind of plastic could be chucked inside and recycled. When we walked to school on recycling day, it looked like most of our neighbors suffered the same misconception about the breadth of NYC's plastic recycling program. It made me sad because I remember that Dayton recycled many kinds of plastic, even though we had a pretty sad recycling program back when I lived there.

By the way, they're not kidding that you can just put a couch on the corner and they'll pick it up. It's absolutely mind-boggling to me what that truck will just pick up. We put our box spring out last weekend - finally gave up on freecycling it or otherwise finding it a use. It was bagged (as is required due to bed bug issues in NYC), so the sanitation guy just picked it up and chucked it in the back of the truck. He hit the lever and Paul, Penny and I watched it slowly get pulled into the truck and crushed. I've seen a truck pick up what looks like an entire eviction and squish it, then carry on with their route.

In any case, I was so excited to get the pictured notice in the mail, saying that NYC now recycles all kinds of plastics - from takeout to toys to yogurt containers. How awesome! No more confusion! I'm guessing the folks who were previously sorting the recycling will either get cutbacks in their hours because they can now take everything...or they will have lots more hours as they have to sort all the different kinds of plastic. The one thing that concerns me is that their choice of image for recycling plastic toys bears a striking resemblance to Paul's current favorite toy - a red and yellow dump truck.

The new guidelines have already led to a dramatic increase in what we can shift from trash to recycling. I'm excited. I don't know if I'll increase the breadth of what I collect on our walks for recycling, though. I usually pick up recyclables from the streets as I walk Penny to and from school. When the only recyclables were small mouth bottles, I had collected about one full trash can a week through our daily jaunts to school. It was usually about a grocery bag a day along our 1.2mi round trip walk. I usually overlooked all the coffee cups, ice cream lids, etc. since they previously were just trash. There's only so much I can carry on a stroller, after all. I do wonder how much additional litter can now be recycled each week.

First Weeks Home

Well, it has been an exciting first couple of weeks home! Zoe was introduced early to MY best friend - the swing that plays some music. What a wonderful device - it rocks her to sleep many evenings. She does have an opinion as to whether she prefers to have it moving or not. She's an incredible sleeper - fairly noise tolerant, which is great when you've got older siblings chasing about the house. Her longest naps are the ones during the day still - night time is when we only sleep for 1-2 hours at a go. It's more than a little exhausting, but it does at least let me spend quality time with the older two during the day. Dan being on night shift this month facilitates the occasional daytime nap or at least some relief in refereeing the occasional spat that gets out of control.

Penny is absolutely enamored with her little sister. She's constantly tickling her face with her curly hair or saying how cute she is. Paul is also quite fond of his little sister. When he sees her, he often pokes her chest with a big smile on his face. I ask him if he likes his new baby and he gets a wide smile on his face. When she cries, he gets a little upset and sets the swing in motion for her. When I go to get her out, he'll try to lift her himself. It seems like they're taking to Zoe very well. They do tend to tear at each other when I'm busy taking care of Zoe, though. There is no end of fighting over toys, space, etc., it seems.


We've had some fun first outings already. Zoe seemed amazed by her first trip to Lowe's. She thoroughly enjoyed checking out fans and air conditioners as we escaped the ludicrously high 90 degree weather by hitting a few stores last weekend. The thermometer on the car reported 99 degrees, though the forecast was only 92 or so. Going out with all three and Daddy was a cakewalk. We could divide and conquer nicely. The main problem was that there was no room in the shopping cart for any purchases. With Zoe in a baby carrier, we had at least some room in the cart for groceries when we visited Costco. It was far less impressive, though, it seems.

This week was my first on my own with the little dears all day. It has been interesting, to be sure. Getting to school is not a certain matter, but we managed to be on time every day last week. Granted, Daddy woke up and stepped in once and Nanna came over to facilitate a nap for me one day. It also helped that we had a day off school on Thursday - random school holiday. We took that opportunity to head over to our long-missed Pirate Ship Playground. There were some permanent changes (things we had seen washed away), but no dangerous items at least. The kids were so excited to be back and able to check everything out. Zoe enjoyed a bit of respite in the baby carrier, but that made it a little hard to pick up Paul when he made a break for it out of the park. He was having such a good time pushing the stroller out toward the marina, but he just wouldn't turn back when I asked him to stay away from the parking area. A football hold until I could fasten him into the stroller was all it took to bring him back into line, but playground time was over and we headed home for lunch. Paul does have a tendency to dash off, so I'm thankful that all the parks in NYC seem to consist of layers of fences. I'm sure we'll figure out a better system eventually.

Our most recent big excursion with just me and the three little ones was Penny's graduation. The rain was a terrible inconvenience as the school wouldn't let us in until a certain time. Paul was a natural New Yorker, pushing his way through the crowd into the drier interior. Meanwhile, I politely stood in the rain, trying to balance a carseat, a backpack and an umbrella and reassure him that I was still there. Once inside, we found what seemed a less desirable seat along the outside wall where we could escape as necessary to avoid disturbing the ceremony. Zoe slept and it was Paul's nap time, so he was very cuddly throughout the entire ceremony. The ceremony was tons of fun. They danced in to the tune of "Shake, Senora" with little rattles going. They did a number of songs and a poem recitation before stepping up a little step stool and triumphantly waving a scroll in the air. Penny wasn't quite herself  - she's been feeling off all week (digestive virus of some kind, poor thing) - but I didn't want her to miss her own graduation. She passed on the cake at the reception afterward - smart girl. It's been a rough week for her at times. We have a good chance of being most of the way through this stomach bug, thankfully!

So perhaps in the week ahead we'll continue to work out our routine, improve health a bit and catch up on a bit of sleep. We'll see.

A Beautiful End to a Somewhat Traumatic Beginning

Well, it has been an action-packed couple of days. I'm sure as a result of blogging about the waiting game, I started having some contractions that very night. The midwife had told me to come in when they were 5-6 minutes apart because it is a long ride, we've got the kids to manage, I tend to be pretty fast and I needed to get antibiotic upon arrival at the hospital. When the contractions started, I waited to see how long they'd be steady because they weren't really all that impressive in strength. Once they seemed determined to hang on, I checked our respective go bags to ensure the kids had enough for two days at Nanna's, Penny had her costume for her play (and some treats for her classmates to celebrate our new arrival), and I had all my things together. Once that was all squared away, I woke up Dan and told him it was likely time to head in - probably at about 3am.

After a bit of incredulousness, Dan got up and started packing some things for himself to head out. I double-checked our inventory and loaded the car while Dan got the much heavier kids in. We headed over to Nanna's and tried to convince the kids to go back to sleep so they'd be well-rested for Penny's play and the day ahead. Eventually, they conceded and we headed over to Brooklyn.  As with Paul, my contractions miraculously stopped by the time we finished crossing the Verrazano Bridge. It's tough convincing someone to keep heading to a hospital in rush hour traffic when there are obviously no more contractions whenever he looks over.

We persevered and were at least early enough to the hospital to find some parking in the garage. They showed us right into assessment, but no particular rush to get us further than that. I mentioned that I'd had some bloody discharge and that was quickly interpreted as my water breaking, so the assumption was that I had to check in and I might as well get the antibiotic started. Eventually, the midwife came in and I was able to explain that there was no gush nor did I have that leaky squeeze bottle feeling with every contraction. I had noticed, though, that it was remarkably easy to put on and take off my shoes that morning. The membranes looked intact to the midwife, but she had a sonographer come in to check my fluid. I was running a "couple pints low," so they figured I had a high break in my membranes. Our little guest couldn't be in there long with a break in her protective layer, so we decided to start some contraction medication to get things rolling.

As with Tina's delivery, I responded pretty well to the meds and had some nice contractions going in no time. Dan hooked up my trusty TENS machine and I had a rhythmic tingle running down my spine, countering the contraction pain. Hard to believe those little sticky pads have held up through four deliveries now! After sitting in the bed for a few hours as things got under way, my tailbone was starting to kill me. The midwife was kind enough to offer an exercise ball as a seat to ease things. We reduced my tether count to just the IV and some wireless monitoring so I could escape the bed. It was an awesome choice! When things started to really get rough, I leaned on the ball and that was also incredibly comfy (well, as comfy as one can be when approaching push time). When I started having trouble telling whether I was pushing or not, we moved to the bed, though in the same position as I had been on the ball.

Apparently, there was some kind of event going on in the maternity ward there at NY Methodist. They were absolutely swamped with deliveries and my nurse and midwives were dashing between rooms to keep up with the action. As our passenger began to make her big entrance into the world, Dan tells me the midwife was frantically calling for the nurse, who had stepped out to assist with the impending birth of the kid in the neighboring room. Though I stopped pushing when ordered to minimize tearing, thus prolonging the most painful portion of the delivery process, Zoe managed to emerge for the midwife before the nurse was able to return. Dan missed seeing Zoe's entrance as well, though he was right there the whole time.

I righted myself so I could meet our awesome new addition. She was so lovely and wide awake. Just like Penny, she insisted on checking things out - would not be distracted by food and not interested in napping. Her eyes were dark and translucent as she took everything in. We congratulated each other on a smooth - nearly textbook - delivery. The contractions continued, as they are supposed to, so that my uterus could get back to its pre-pregnancy size. Dan went across the street and brought me a delicious Montecristo sandwich, which I inhaled as quickly as possible. Though I hadn't bled much in the delivery, there seemed to be a lot of clots and blood as we continued to hang out in the delivery room. We'd just change stuff and the nurse/midwife would check back in a few minutes. I got more lovely contraction medicine in an effort to tighten things up and stop the bleeding. No dice. The process continued like this longer than seemed good, though, so they brought in the doctor.  Folks started looking worried. Doubled my IV contraction medicine. Not stopping. Another shot of the other contraction medicine. Hmmm...call the surgeon, prep the OR, we've got a Code H.

The room was suddenly filled with more than a dozen people shouting a bunch of stuff, asking me about my medical history (what kind of question is, "What is your medical history?" I know he can't possibly want to know every medical thing about me. Be specific!) Thankfully, Dan had taken Zoe and started to speak in medical shorthand to the anesthesiologist. They seemed dismayed that I didn't have an epidural for easy sedation. I made sure he knew I didn't want him touching my spine. I felt so bad looking at Dan. I knew this was the thing he fears most in the world. He gets this sad face whenever he watches a movie with a little girl who was raised by a single dad. A little while ago when he was on an ICU rotation, he mentioned that he had heard an announcement that was secret code for a newborn in distress. It was then followed by his hospital's code for maternal hemorrhage. He said that even though it wasn't his unit, he was tempted to respond to the code to help out. In the delivery room this time he said he'd never told me about his fear, but I knew it was there and I felt horrible to put him through this. I didn't want to do the classic, "I love you," as I headed into the OR for fear of reminding him of all those movies he got bothered by, but all I could think of to say was "I'm sorry."

Going into the OR was like being sucked into a beehive. They insisted on asking questions while trying to put a gas mask over my face. Eventually, I think they figured out that talking to me was pretty useless and they put me out. Dan's brother had come to offer moral support, which was really nice of him. Of course, two doctors sitting outside an OR thinking of all the possible things that could be going wrong was perhaps not as comforting as one would hope. Dan said that while I was out, he popped by the nursery to visit Zoe. The nurse had put a little sticky note on her bed, "Please don't forget me. My mommy can't come up to visit yet."

Apparently, Zoe and I had been in too much of a hurry to see each other face to face - I had torn my cervix in delivery and that had caused the uncontrolled bleeding. A few quick stitches solved the problem before the bleeding got bad enough to require a transfusion. I came to in the recovery area and had a hard time staying awake. Dan was there and I was pretty weepy. I stayed for what must have been hours because there was talk about dinner and the end of visiting hours. Dan continued to stand at my side for those hours, though, and eventually followed me up to the maternity ward.

It was dark outside when we got to maternity and I was just so torn about what to do. I was weak from the blood loss and SERIOUSLY hungry. But they said I should ease my way into eating. I wanted to hold Zoe, but I was so exhausted. After going back and forth about it for a while, I finally decided to get some sleep and be better able to care for Zoe in the morning. I guzzled some juice and cookies from the nurse's station and went to sleep. When morning came, I asked to see Zoe and she stayed with me for the rest of my time in maternity (except for various tests and a brief shower). The nurses were nice - tried to help make me as comfy as possible. By the time I left, I was feeling pretty much like myself and Zoe seemed to hardly notice that anything had been awry. She's so lovely and such a good sleeper! Yet another example of how well God has looked after our little family.

Waiting Game

The waiting game is on. D day is this Friday and I've only had one contraction as far as I can tell. I usually get some warning contractions in the day or days leading up to the big event, so I guess the good news is that I'll very likely make it to see Penny's school play tomorrow. 

I was a bit worried that I'd miss the play after all our preparation for it. I am one of very few moms who made a costume. It seemed silly to spend lots of money, though, because she was less than thrilled about being a panda in the first place. I spent $8 on enough supplies to make three panda costumes (or one costume and a cute fleece baby blanket). So I figure it was a good investment. 

I am looking forward to getting my joints back to normal. Being able to roll over in bed, especially without that horrible bone grinding feeling will be so awesome. God willing, I will also lose some of the purple on my feet and legs. My right foot is easily 50% covered in veiny scariness and the whole leg is veiny or swollen from the moment I get out of bed each day, no matter what I do. It didn't totally disappear after Paul, but I'm hoping to at least lose the pain and swelling.

It has been slowly sinking in that we're waiting not just for delivery, but also a total change in our family dynamics. How will the kids respond to the new arrival? How will they act differently with each other? How am I going to get Penny to school on time still? It is an open question how I will maintain sanity through the end of the school year. She's doing really well and I'd hate to end the year on a sour note. 

Paul is becoming more independent, but chasing him around doesn't seem like fun while trying to lug around a newborn. We may end up spending a lot of time in the yard instead of the park. He's so funny as he explores, then comes back for a cuddle or to show off some spiffy new move. He's learning ladders right now, much to my chagrin. I insist on being his spotter, despite his protests. I don't want to squash his adventurous spirit by cutting back our outings or being over protective, but I'm not sure how I'll be able to catch him while cradling an infant.

Who knows, though! Maybe this one will break the mold and sleep well for me. I haven't had a newborn in summer yet, so perhaps they function differently than winter babies. We'll see! Keep the little cutie in your prayers. Can't wait to meet her!

It's Official - She's a Clever Little Dot

The NYC department of education appears to agree that Penny is a clever little dot. Back in January, she sat for a test to apply for the public school gifted and talented program. Dan was very nervous for her. He remembered his discussion with his dad back when he was five about how he'd get good grades, go to Bronx Science, Harvard, Harvard Medical, etc. He didn't want to start Penny down the same high pressure path. So he bit his nails as she skipped off with the test proctor. Penny and I had done one practice test so she'd know what kinds of questions to expect and that they'd be looking for the right answer, not the funny one or her personal opinion. I told her she was going for a test, but didn't play up what would happen one way or the other.

The nail biting continued for several months because those fill in the circles tests take SOOOO long to score. In April we were finally notified that she had done well enough to place in the gifted and talented programs in our district. I filled out the application with her current school's program as the highest preference and crossed my fingers. The application deadline passed and I got a notice that the company administering the test had miscalculated the scores. Kids had scored higher, so more kids were eligible for the program and some kids might be eligible to apply anywhere in the city.

If I were in the Department of Education, I'd be pretty pissed at this testing company because reissuing scores, contacting parents to give them an opportunity to update their applications, fielding angry parent calls, it all amounts to hassle and lost revenue. More so when we got another call saying they had to calculate a second correction to account for kids' ages. As a parent, Penny is now eligible to apply anywhere on the city, which feels nice. However, at this point, I just want to know which school she got into. I want to keep her at this school because it's familiar and ranked in the top five in the city, best public school on Staten Island. We got lucky to be zoned somewhere so awesome, and I would like to take advantage of our resources while we can. Keep our clever little dots on your prayers!

Our newest addition is scheduled to arrive sentiment next week. So far, we're both doing great, though she seems especially fond of stretching into uncomfortable positions. We're getting weekly non stress tests that include sonograms to check in on her. She's looking good and so far the sonographers have not spoiled the surprise of which names we'll get to use this time around. No, no "p" names in the running this time. The thing I'm most looking forward to is Dan's impending vacation that starts on Sunday. Yay!

New Car

Though it hasn't made the blog yet, we have been driving around in a shiny new minivan since February. Dan purchased the car while we were on Ohio - we had been shopping prior and already had narrowed our choices down. He was pretty darned proud of making the purchase of a brand new basic Chrysler Town and Country minivan a couple of thousand below invoice (about what we had hoped to pay for a new Dodge Caravan with some added features). So many bells and whistles! It's nothing like the minivan we had growing up. I was showing off to John while he was here and he totally agreed about my favorite features. All in all, I am glad we made the purchase - we never would have fit three car seats in a Civic, obviously.

So far, I'm liking the car pretty well. It is so toasty and warm with the dark exterior and black leather interior. I know it'll be a nightmare once the outside temps really start to climb, but for now I'm enjoying it. Plus, the center windows roll down! How awesome is that! It really helps circulation in the back, I'm sure. I'm also enjoying the increased mobility. I've started attending a group called Mothers of Pre-Schoolers, sort of a young moms religious support group thing that my cousin Angie recommended. Though the scheduling is rough to still get Penny to school in the afternoon, it has been nice to meet up with other moms who are looking to support each other. The city mpg is horrific, of course, so I am trying to keep my little road trips minimal. Even so, I do drive at least one part of Penny's trip to school each day. It's nice to arrive there at least once a day without being totally out of breath and cramping up. This little passenger is a bit more tiring that the others, I fear. 

I'm loving the stow and go seating. I remember growing up with mom's caravan and constantly taking a bench in or out, trying to find somewhere to store it, sitting on it in the foyer on occasion, etc. These suckers just fold away, leaving some nice room to walk around inside the car. When not folded away, there's a nice hiding spot for an emergency kit, so it's not sitting out for everyone to see as they walk by. I continue to be confused as to why it can never have more than three car seats (the LATCH system is only in the center of the back row) and how I'm supposed to actually REACH all those carseats to snap everyone in. I tried Penny in the back since she could buckle herself in, but she was so tall I had trouble seeing out the back. We might have to switch her over to the big girl-style booster seat just to lower her a bit. Of course, there's only so many seats where it can work in the car as well. Just kind of weird how restrictive these child restraints can be in where they can be used in the car. 

Penny and Paul have been thoroughly enjoying the entertainment system. Paul points to the video screen whenever we get in, hoping the trip will be long enough to merit a movie. We are using the car's on-board computer memory to help Penny practice the music for her upcoming school play. Yes, even Paul has begun to sing along with the songs about zoo animals. He adds some great lion roars and elephant trumpets at key points in their respective songs. John memorized the songs during his brief visit at spring break, so he's got some new songs to share with lost hikers and wild critters in Wyoming for his new summer gig. Dan was leading some songs around the house today and he rarely gets to ride with us, so I guess that means I'm practicing as much as the teacher recommended. 

I'm afraid there are a few elements that bug me - the MPG for starters. Ugh, gas is too expensive to actually want to drive to school each day. That dark interior is likely to kill us over the summer, so I've already stocked with tons of beach towels to cover things as necessary. There are a few too many buttons and display screens for my taste. It does have a hands-free thingy that should allow me to tell the car what to do, but I haven't gone to the effort of learning its lingo just yet. I'd also like someday to not have to listen to the movie they're watching back there, but I'm not sure how to avoid fights in the back with a remote control. Aah, parenting. So much fun. 

Swirly Sandy Update

Busily burying treasure

Saturday with no errands to run- what better time to head to the beach? It's only a few blocks away, so I feel like we should take advantage whenever possible. Problem is, Superstorm Sandy left a mess and all the beaches on our southern shore are closed for repairs. They CLAIM they'll reopen by Memorial Day, but the entire shoreline is parks and Sandy scraped them all clean.

We stopped by Wolf's Pond, where our extended family usually gets together after church for a Memorial Day picnic just to see progress. There was a parks employee blocking the entrance in his pickup with the engine running. He said they have to completely redo the landscaping for the whole park and didn't sound convinced of his own statement that the park would be ready for the holiday weekend. 

One of the other disappointed visitors clued me in to another possibility. Apparently, Great Kills, part of Gateway National Park, is open. So that's where we are today. They appear to have plenty of boats back in their marina - this is the origin of the boats that sailed into the pirate ship playground. You can see where the waves washed the sand right up over the access road. Not much for picnic facilities, but a couple of good play structures near the beach. I'm sure that if it was warmer than 65 degrees today, there would be even more crowded conditions here.

As it is, we've been here all morning and no other kids have been here. There's fishermen lining the beach and some silver-haired sunbathers reclining on the pavement. There's also plenty of walkers, bicyclists, and runners passing by regularly.  Not many trees or even tall shrubs out here on the peninsula, so I imagine it's best to come here before it's really hot. Maybe I can get a little tan on my ankles to help mask my purple network of varicose veins. 

Wave marks months after the storm?

You can still see the effects of the storm here. The little playground has wave marks in the sand around it, showing that there hasn't been much traffic here since the storm (or else the storm removed a dune that used to protect it from the tide). The little bits of play surface that peak out of the drifts of sand are places bulging with sand beneath them. One of the metal ladders has snapped off and ends in a rusty jagged stump halfway down the ladder. There are portable toilets to replace the more permanent bathrooms. So they're open here, but I think they're still doing repairs to prepare for the summer season. It's enough for us for now, though.

Elsewhere, I'm pretty sure the parks are in worse condition. The big touristy beach still has debris sorting in the parking lot. Bulldozers are moving dunes back into place. I'm pretty sure there used to be more structures, like life guard stands and things out there. And if their playgrounds are anything like the ones we've seen, I'm not even sure how you undune sand beneath a play surface. The businesses along the beach are slowly taking down their plywood as they get back in order. Contractors line the streets repairing everything from roofs, to siding, to interiors. Our neighbor across the street finally got his roof redone this week- he has had tarp covering his storm damage all this time. As far as I can tell, everyone has to completely replace their roofs because there's no way a contractor will waste their time on smaller jobs at this point. 

Ladder snapped off at the bottom

It's strange because so much seems to be business as usual, but if you look a little more closely, there are always reminders that we're still recovering from the storm - and will be for some time.