and then he made a sandwich

the morning was abuzz with so much talking.  there is always (always.) an incredible amount of talking around here but this morning it felt like too much. so much so that things almost felt muffled and hazy.

there was an incident involving two little boys that resulted in an all things star wars (humming theme songs included)/light saber/nerf gun ban for the foreseeable future. sweet relief.

some quick errands provided plenty of “teachable moments” to the point that by the time we got to the grocery store we were all getting tired of the fussing and correcting thus everyone was a bit on the mellow side. cue well-intentioned shopper who bestowed upon me the parental kiss of death, “oh my, i have never seen such well-behaved children at a grocery store ever!”  i gripped the shopping cart with white knuckles and braced myself for the almost absolute certainty that a full-on meltdown was about to erupt from one of them as a result of such hyperbole. but then the boys actually looked right up at me and giggled. the boys and i shared a knowing laugh, i winked at them, and (thankfully) everything was fine.

we came home. and the talking continued and got louder and louder. and there was a girl who flirted with a tantrum because her mama refused to put the rio theme song on repeat, a boy who just couldn’t sit semi-still and eat, and another boy who was a bottomless pit and kept asking for me to get up and get him more food. and as i was about to hit that point where i just wanted to put my head down and sleep for a bit, he said, “it’s ok, mom, i’ll make my own sandwich.” and he did. things got quieter and less hazy, and he was beyond proud and looked quite a bit older over there smearing pb and jelly on his bread. i smiled and told him that i thought he should take over making dinners from now on.  “sure!” he said happily.

watching

what does one do when they are emerging from a blurry weekend of migraines?  they watch things:

1. Bill Cunningham New York.  80 year old New York Times fashion photographer pedals around manhattan on a trusty bike wearing his blue jacket while taking photos of street fashion.  to me the most intriguing aspect of the documentary was the focus on the simplicity of his life and his refusal to be swayed by the money and power that could so easily have been his for the taking.

2. The Bark Side VW commercial.  for the past few weeks there is someone, at all times, humming various songs from Star Wars.  i am going mad from it.  but this just makes me laugh. very hard.

3. Buck Denver Asks…What’s in the Bible?.  we’ve only watched one episode, but omar and i laughed, the boys laughed, and we all got to learn about Catherine of Siena, Saint Jerome, the septuagint, and what the overarching story of the bible is telling us.  not bad for 30 minutes.

4. The War on Kids.  documentary #2 of the weekend (you can watch the whole thing here).  thought provoking film that aims to show how many (please note: i am completely aware that not all schools are like the schools profiled here) public schools are moving/have moved in a direction that denies students’ civil rights and seeks to control and instill fear in kids. the best parts are about the policy of zero-tolerance, drugs in schools, and the unfortunate results of much of the medication used to calm children.  what bothers me about the documentary is how it fails to offer any ideas on how to change the state of much of public schooling. what are some possible answers? it doesn’t give any.  where is the call for parents to step in and refuse to be bullied themselves? there is none.  many friends of mine who send their kids to public school are deeply committed to their children’s education and refuse to sit on the sidelines and tolerate much of the absolute crap you see here.  i felt i watched this more from the perspective of a former public school student than i did a teaching mother. much of it resonated with my experience.  i attended public schools from kindergarten through my undergraduate years. i would say i got an ok education and had 4 teachers (from elementary through high school) that i clearly remember as being excellent and many, many, many who were abysmal. and then there were some who were downright strange and wacky (like my 11th grade AP english teacher who accused me of doodling while taking notes (guilty) and tried to force me to put my head down for the rest of class). metal detectors weren’t at my high school by the time i graduated but we did have the equivalent of barney fife as our school police officer who truly made us nervous, except he actually carried a loaded weapon.

while there are some definite weaknesses here, i recommend it.

thursdays are for cleaning

thursday is cleaning day.  thursday is the day motown music blares.  winter thursdays are the days when all doors and windows are opened.  thursday is the day i lose half my supply of paper towels to the little people before i wise up and switch them to rags.  thursday is the day i realize that my pre-kid self would’ve thought three kids “cleaning” together would have been just shy of precious. this thursday is the day that i laugh at my pre-kid self and turn the music up a bit louder and am thankful that at least they’re eager. thursday is the day that nap time/quiet time is indeed quiet because of all the rambunctiousness of the morning.  thursday is the day that the floors are clean, omar notices, and i kiss him.

airports

i miss pre 9/11 airports. if you were still able to walk right up to the gate and stare out the windows, airports would make it onto our rotation of outing destinations. we went to pick omar up the other day and the boys were excited. i didn’t think they’d be able to see anything very interesting but then was happily surprised to see that omar’s concourse had a waiting area with a window overlooking the runway. i let them take pictures. they brought their pads of paper and pencils to document the event and shrieked every time an airplane came into view. they tackled their papi with hugs and kisses, were treated to hot chocolate and a cookie, and thought it was just about the best thing ever. i’ll miss these days when a quick trip to the airport and a cookie qualifies as an adventure.

carrots and spelt

ah, resolutions. truthfully, i don’t get too hung up about them.  they usually come to me in a rush the night before the new year and i figure there’s no harm in trying them out, but i don’t beat myself up if they end up not happening.  there’s always the next year.

but since much of my life at the moment is spent in the kitchen i usually take the food resolutions a bit more seriously.  usually.  remember my culinary resolution last year to cook and bake with more whole grains?  full disclosure: i tossed the bag of remaining buckwheat flour 11 months later and thought surely it hadn’t been 11 months since i used it last. it was actually closer to 12 months.  (side note: i notice that one of my 2011 resolutions was to try a new cheese each month.  how did i forget to follow through on that one?)

my eye caught the bag of spelt flour on the shelf the other day and i figured i’d give the 2011 resolution another go.  one spelt recipe down – carrot muffins from Good to the Grain.  delicious and downed by all the children.  next up: huckle buckle coffee cake.

tea, trump, deathbed, and downton

this weekend lenna continued her playtime with her new tea set.  there is a lot of, “ooh! it’s so cute!” coming from the boys and me when we see her play with it. and soon she’ll get her replacement xylophone so there can be a little music during teatime, too. xylophone #1 came to us with the addition of some termites. i had a momentary freakout thinking that the innocent looking yet tainted xylophone would lead to a tenting repeat.  here’s hoping it doesn’t.

i think one of the last things you’d find on donald trump’s new 757 airplane is a wood tea set.  i drove by the airport the other day and saw his rather large private jet and wondered, “hmm…what’s that look like inside?” a couple of clicks and here you go.  it has gold plated seat belts, a movie room, and a gold sink.  of course it does.

on the humbler end of the spectrum – deathbed music.  npr had an interesting story on Deathbed Music: The Final Works of Famous Composers.  the whole story is good but i loved the part about bach and his chorale prelude “Before Thy Throne I Stand.” i’m now on a hunt for the sheet music. just gorgeous.

the pbs-obsessed are all abuzz with the debut of the second season of Downton Abbey. last night my dad wondered how it is that british period soap operas are so interesting.  i feigned offense for a moment, but it’s true. it’s a soap opera. a good, british one. and while i wouldn’t dream of taking a “which Days of Our Lives character are you?” quiz, you know i’ll sign right up to take a “which Downton Abbey character are you?” quiz (thanks, bethany!).  i am proudly robert, earl of grantham.

a dress for lenna

it is finished.  the dress i started for lenna for her first birthday was finally slipped over her little head just in time for her 20 month birthday.  and its snug-factor is telling me it won’t last until her 2nd birthday.

i wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out once i decided to finish the skirt with fabric, but i really like it. i was also pretty certain that it would be a long, long time before i picked up knitting needles again, but the combination of seeing it on her, seeing yet another cute pattern on tora frøseth’s site, and the fact that i’m currently sitting in front of the fire wrapped in a blanket is making the desire to knit rather strong.

resolutions of the 2012 variety

go to the zoo more
grow more food
learn about herbal remedies
memorize all european and african countries AND their capitals
memorize the book of philippians
take a photo per day
read 48 books
sew clothes for myself (this dress/tunic is high on my list – everything she sews is great)
start (note i don’t say finish) Bible Reading Program for Shirkers and Slackers (thanks, margie!)
bake more (2011 was kind of a no-bake year)