LL, and yes ROW

Lessons Learned

• Apples and almonds are good for memory. Note to self: remember to buy more apples and almonds.
• I am not a good nurse, especially to someone who has been out of town for three weeks, only to come home and get sick and do nothing but sleep and watch movies for three days. I'm working on it.
• No matter how hard I try to get used to having dinner without Brian, there is no mistaking that family dinners are just more fun with him around. This is how dinner usually goes when he is not around:

"How was your day?"

"Fine."

"Anything exciting hap--Paris, can you sit down and eat?"

"Where is the milk?"

"I forgot to put it on the table, can you go get it?"

"Tritan set the table, he's supposed to get it."

"Hurry and eat, you have to get bathed tonight."

"I took a shower 2 days ago."

"Well, you need another one, you stink."

"I don't like this."

"It's chicken. Everyone likes chicken."

"I don't like this chicken."

"Fine. Whatever. Just don't come running to me when you're hungry...And take A BATH!" As they run from the table as fast as possible from the detritus.

This is how dinner goes when Brian is around:

"Remember that time Dad when I was in the garage helping you with the lawn mower and I drank the gas?"

"What?! You never drank gas!"

"Yes. You were busy with the lawnmower and I was just a little kid and I thought there was apple juice in the red bucket and I took the hose and I drank it--glug glug glug glug--and then you turned around and were about to put gas in the lawnmower and you picked up the can and said 'WHAT?! I just filled this up!' and I just sat and laughed and laughed." Paris tells us this story while completely pantomiming the whole thing, complete with scratching his head when he quotes Dad and holding his ribs while telling us how much he laughed.

"Paris, that did not happen."

"Yeah, well I told my friend Ryan and he thought it was hilarious."

"Paris, you can't drink gas. You would die." We overemphasize this fact so that he won't actually think this is a feasible trick.

"Yeah, you would explode." Tritan interjects his vast knowledge picked up on Wickipedia.

"Well, you wouldn't explode. But you would die." We try not sugarcoat anything in our house.

Paris shrugs his shoulders. "Well, Ryan will be in high school before he figures that out."

Recipe of the Week

Speaking of dinner, I finally found a good crock pot recipe. It is Knife and Fork Barbecued Brisket Sandwiches. Everyone loved them. I substituted apple juice for the beer and only added one tablespoon brown sugar to offset the sweetness of the juice.

Mommy's Little Helper

I mopped the entry way yesterday morning and then got distracted with the entropy that is my store room. After 30 min. juggling toilet paper, stacking jam, and trying to rotate cans, I came back downstairs to see Apollo mopping the kitchen. Hey, who said Superman doesn't make housecalls?

Tritan After the Dentist

So Tritan had caps put on his teeth yesterday. He has enamal hypoplasia, which means the enamel on his teeth didn't form right. I had that problem as a kid, and had caps put on, too. Plus, some of his cousins on Brian's side of the family have it too, so I guess that's two counts against him.
Because the enamel didn't form right, he is more prone to cavities and decay. When he was 4, he had 2 root canals! Since then, he's had multiple fillings, and now the white amalgam fillings he has caused part of his tooth to crack and sheer away. He just woke up one morning and felt the rough edges with his tongue. As can be expected with someone with so many "bad" trips to the dentist, he hates going and it causes him a lot of anxiety. He didn't even tell me about his chipped tooth until he had an "incident" at school. We were worried that school had taken a turn for the worst again (he had a hard year adjusting last year), when he finally fessed up that he was worried about his tooth and nervous about having to have more dental work done.
Because he is so anxious we opted to give him an extra dose of "relaxing medicine" with the gas before his teeth were capped. He got pretty tired but didn't do anything crazy (did you see David After the Dentist on You-Tube?). Afterwards, he said he was glad he opted for the extra medicine, cause it made everything seem like a dream.
Actually, I was told that all the kids had problems with their enamel 3 years ago, but because they got flouride treatments regularly, and I bought the ACT flouride rinse, they don't seem to have the same problems. I don't know if it is because of that or if they are just lucky, but I wish I had started taking Tritan to the dentist when he was younger.

LL, no ROW

Lessons Learned

• Apollo is 38" and 40 pounds. He is small, but growing steadily along the 5-6 percentile. The dr. said I should be careful he isn't treated as someone younger than he is. That's definitely something I need to try to work on.
• There is an x-ray you can have done which tells you your bone-age. For instance, if Apollo's bone-age is 5 years, 3 months than he will always be small. But if his bone-age is younger, he may grow to a more average height. I think I'll forego the test for now.
• Query: Should you tell your kid he is getting shots before the nurse comes in with the needles? I usually tell the kids as we are waiting for the nurse to get the shots ready. Unless, they ask earlier. Like, if I say we are going to the dr. and they ask, "Am I going to have to get a shot?" I 'll say yes. Either way, they are pretty tense when the nurse walks in. The nurse and the dr. both usually use euphamisms or big words like "I'll see that the nurse has immunizations ready" instead of "shots" or "I'll come back in to get you ready for kindergarden". They always seem dissappointed when it's apparent I've already explained what exactly is going to happen (they are usually already crying). They may be crying but they're not hysterical when the nurse reveals not 1 but 3 shots, shocked that "getting ready for kindergarden" means getting poked. I think telling them what is going to happen and how many shots they are going to have is kinder than springing it on them. Am I right? Or am I just prolonging the agony?
• No ROW again this week because again Brian was gone. I think the best meal we had was waffles from the whole wheat Krusteaz mix with bacon and eggs. I did try to be thrifty/resourceful and make chili from scratch. I even soaked the beans! BTW--1 cup dried beans=2 c. cooked beans and a can of beans=~2 c. I doubled the recipe so I ended up with 2 vats of chili. Unfortunately, the kids think it is too spicy and Brian thought it was too bland, so I froze the rest and hopefully if we eat a little here and there, it'll get eaten up. It took me 2 days to make so I pretty dissappointed. All of my efforts of cooking big to eat fast later seem to be back-firing.

Tenderfoot

Sunday Tritan was part of a Court of Honor for Boy Scouts and received his Tenderfoot. I got a pin, but honestly it all goes to Brian and Tritan. (I'm not even sure what he had to do to be a Tenderfoot.) Honestly, it's great that Brian is Tritan's 11-year-old scout master. He isn't always able to be there because he is out of town but he always tries to make it when he is in town--which isn't an easy feat. I think it's been a good experience to spend more time together. Tritan sure seems to be more excited about scouts this year. Next weekend they are going on a Klondike Derby (whatever that is) with the older scouts. (I'm just glad that as a woman I cannot be roped into camping in FEBRUARY!!)

Valentine's Day Dance

Our ward had a Valentine's Day Dance. Here are some pictures of Athena doing the macarana, and Apollo doing the Charleston with two different girls. He's such a lady's man, that Apollo!

We bought a camera this weekend, too. So more visuals forthcoming!

Hope you all had a happy Valentines Day!

LL, no ROW

Lessons Learned

• Athena purports that there is a "special" bean in every can of beans. Whoever gets the so-called "Queen Bean" is lucky for the day. When we opened up a can of black beans for Mexican Soup, lo and behold, there was a black bean that was much darker than the rest. I got the "Queen Bean" in my bowl, so I guess I'm lucky!
• I have recieved some e-mails claiming that Guardasil can have some scary side effects. I also heard this on NPR. It was a report of a decision the courts made against claimants who blamed autism on vaccinations. The story was pretty convincing that the link between vaccines and autisim is small to none.
• I have also received a barrage of e-mail about the (apparently) inevitable flu pandemic. While they all say, I don't want to scare you...they then proceed to scare the crap out of me. I am not a proponent of Chicken Little-ism but I have decided being prepared wouldn't hurt. If you haven't recieved these links yet, this is to the church website and here is the government site. I don't want to scare you, but....
• Finally, I was linked to segullah from smartmamma's blog which Courtney's blog said I should check out. Anyway, Segullah is a magazine written by and for LDS women. Their feature article in the fall issue was Harvesting Happiness by Wendy Ulrich, PhD. It was all about how we can choose to be happy and gave some concrete ways to do this--as well as ones I hadn't heard of before. My favorite quote is "Happiness is more like planting annuals than perennials. We can’t just plant the seeds of happiness once and expect a perpetual harvest."

Whew! Lots of learning but sadly, no Recipe of the Week. Brian was out of town, and so there was a lot of substandard menus this week. The best meal was a Margherita Pizza from Franco's, our new favorite diner (every Jersian has a diner). Come visit us and we'll take you there!

Coach Paulie

I visit the bus stop 3 times a day. Most days we are in a hurry or it is cold (read: anything below 40*--yes, I am a wimp) so we take the car. But it has been such nice weather (65* one day!) that lately Apollo and I have forsaken the car and walked to the bus stop.
Apollo has no sense of time or urgency and will gladly take a half hour to walk the .25 miles. He picks up sticks, chases cats, balances on landscaping railroad ties.
"Hurry, the bus will be there," I urge him. He ignores me. At this point we've only gotten as far as next door.
"If you don't hurry, the bus will leave and you won't get to go to school," I finally threaten him. That finally works and he takes off running. I run slightly behind him, in case he slows down or stops--which he doesn't. He runs the whole way at full throttle. Part of me is very impressed and am already dreaming of high school cross country meets.
But now we are at the corner and he sits down on the curb to rest. "Wow, you are so fast," I say to him.
"Yeah," he replies, "you slow."
Then he proceeds to get up and demonstrate: "You need to use your arms more, like this" and he runs in slow motion and points to his elbow "you see?"
Then he continues, "You need to move your legs like this:" and again he runs in slow motion only this time he kicks his bottom with his feet.
"Now you try" he commands and we commence running 1m races--from this crack in the asphalt to that one. Only he always takes off slightly before he says "go" and it is hard to make up ground in a 1m race, so he usually wins. Until he throws a race. "Good job, Mom, you won," he says, slightly patronizingly. "Thanks, cheater," I point out.
Finally, the bus comes.
When I walk to pick him up 3 hours later, we amble home slowly. This time I let him pick up sticks, chase squirrels, jump off ledges.
I can't wait for spring.

Valentine Rules

Undoubtedly, Paris' teacher covered the rules of classroom Valentine exchange: about how you need to be equitable with everyone in the class, and not give just one person something special or neglect to give something to someone. Well, this is how Paris' brain works: He wants to sign his Valentine to a *special* girl "Your Secret Admirer". He really wants to do this. So, to be fair with everyone, he decides to sign "Your Secret Admirer" on all 24 Valentines. Of course, Paris, who hates to write, gets tired of writing this on every single card, but now he is stuck. He can't sign something else because then they wouldn't all be the same. So he remedies this conundrum by crossing out all the "Your Secret Admirer"s and and then colors in the entire block where you're supposed to put your name. So now 24 kids are going to get a Valentine From: red box. Whatever. They are done and in the bag.

...and she's out!

Athena was sick with a fever this weekend but she was well enough to go to school Monday. She went to jazz as usual and everything seemed fine. But this morning she woke up all pale, and clammy, saying she felt like she was going to throw up. I've seen her like this before--when she's that pale she usually passes out. I made her lie down on the bathroom floor and sure enough she passed out--her body got all twitchy,too, this time. I think it's just a sugar imbalance and usually some rest and juice gets her back on her feet. She was back to normal this afternoon. (Paris said she was lucky to be able to miss 2 whole days of school and Athena said, "No, it's not. It's just boring after awhile.") Brian gets cold and clammy sometimes too, but he never passes out. Those of you with knowledge or experience, is this just low blood sugar or should I take her to the dr.?

A beginning

Today has been a gloriously wonderful day.
Maybe it's because it's the third sunny day in a row after a cold, dark winter.
Maybe it's because I just read Practical Magic, watched The Lives of Others and PBS' new Sense and Sensibility on Masterpiece Theater--all incredibly uplifting, satisfactory pieces of art.
But I think it's because I got a call at 7:45 this morning.
It was Brian--in New Mexico.
"I just got done working out," he said. He cleared his throat from the phlegm that comes when you've just exerted yourself. "I can't believe I got up at 5 to work out." (It's 2 hours earlier there). "For you," he added, sort of accusatory. He probably meant it to be a good-hearted jab, but they were the sweetest words I've heard in a long time.
Brian got up early and exercised. For me.

Let me start at the beginning. This is Our Mythology after all, so we should have an Origin Tale. Well, this isn't The beginning but it is A beginning:

Once upon a time, there was a princess who fell under the spell of a Not So Nice Man. He hypnotized her with his smooth, creamy voice that reminded her of hot chocolate and the smell of pine. He was a short man with a big ego; he was also not very good looking, so he used his powers to slowly erase the princess' senses so she would not be tempted to look at anyone but him. First, he removed color: red, then blue, orange, then yellow, til all that was left was a grey green haze like the color of bad odors and quiet desperation. The grey green permeated everywhere so that even the food tasted like overcooked pasta and she had to add black pepper and jalapenos to everything she ate. Then he took over her memories so that she couldn't remember life before him and therefore would never wish to leave.
But one day, a prince saw the princess at a friends house and felt the sadness she always carried with her. He went down to a fresh mountain stream and gathered purple tulips that grew wild there, for everyone knows flowers that bloom from hard, ugly bulbs after lying dormant all winter carry with them magic more powerful than any other. He sent the tulips to the princess with a note of good cheer and at the end he signed it "You're the best".
The princess was amazed at the flowers. She could not remember seeing anything so lovely as those purple tulips, and then she realized it had been such a long time since she had noticed the color purple. She read the note and almost cried. No one, except maybe her parents, had told her she was the best. At least, not for a very long time.
She put the tulips in a vase on the kitchen table just as Not So Nice Man walked in. He didn't notice the flowers since he never noticed things that were delicate and beautiful. He demanded a tuna fish sandwich and sat across the table from the princess after she made it for him, smacking his lips with relish. The princess noticed that the smell of fish was so strong. Her stomach churned and she squirmed in her chair. Maybe it was the contrast with the perfume from the flowers, but as she watched the Not So Nice Man chewing, chomping on that sandwich, she realized the reeking odor was from him. She saw his jaws crushing, tearing at the dead fish sandwich and realized what a monster he really was. At last the spell was broken, and the princess could not love the Not So Nice Man anymore. It was even hard to look at him, now that the world was in color again.
So the prince and the princess became friends. And the world seemed to jump out at the princess into a new dimension. He was so handsome, and funny, and strong. He made her feel beautiful and smart and witty. But she was wary--after all, she knew that in a 3-D theater people wearing funny glasses would reach out, expecting to feel what their eyes told them were right in front of them, and would end up grabbing air and looking like fools.
But the prince was always there. And when he was there, she found rainbows in puddles, and fast food tasted like fine cusine, and when they danced they became part of the music. So the princess pleaded, "Don't ever leave me" and the prince promised that he would always be there.
When they got married on a snowy day in January, all the princess cared about was the simple ceremony that would seal them together for time and all eternity. After that, the line of guests that waited to meet them and the goldfish centerpieces and purple flowers for their reception was just icing on the lemon cake. Now that they were sealed they would always be together.
Except, except what if something separated them here on earth? They were so madly in love that even 15 years after they were married and had 4 darling children, the idea that either one would stray was laughable. But Time, and Health, and Accidents were always lurking like a dark cloud that the princess just could not shake.
The prince worked very late hours and traveled often all over the land. Whenever the prince would come home from a trip, the princess' shoulders would drop and she realized she had been walking around with her shoulders up around her ears. When the prince would come home, the princess would sigh deeply and realize her shallow breaths had gotten shallower and farther apart while he was gone. A thousand worries and pressures suddenly vanished with the sound of his step at the door. The princess realized that she was only ever truly, truly happy when they were together.
And so, she fought Time by doing everything together that they could on the weekends. Even picking up milk. And she fought Accidents by trying to get the prince to slow down when he drove and to pay attention to brake lights. And she fought Health by nagging the prince to take better care of himself. Because everyday with the prince was better than a thousand days without him.
But the prince didn't like to do things that weren't his idea. He loved spending time with his family on the weekends. And when it came to driving, well, he happened to be a very capable driver despite his love for speed and short stops. But giving up good food and exercising were not a priority. He worked hard and he deserved a good meal and some relaxation.
But he could see how much it meant to the princess so he got out of bed an hour early, and worked out. Just for her.
And the princess knew she had won one more day from Health for her and the prince to be together.

LL and ROW

Yes, I am already using acronyms. Because I think I will have a weekly lessons learned and recipe of the week most weeks. The first because, as a stay at home mom, I sometimes wonder if the bleach in all the cleaning products is slowly leeching out my brain and it's nice to acknowledge that I am still learning stuff all the time. The second because, as a experimental cook, I cook different things all the time and can never remember what was good.

Lessons Learned

• Hail is made by ice particles being continually blown back up to the top of the cloud and adding another layer of ice, again and again, until gravity becomes stronger than the wind. You can tell how many times a piece of hail was blown back up to the top of the cloud by cutting said piece of hail in half crosswise and counting the layers of ice you see. Cool, huh?



• Auroa Borealis is made from solar wind from the sun. Our earth has an iron core that creates a magnetic shield that blocks most of these solar flares from colliding with earth, except in the most northern and southern poles. There, the solar wind comes close enough to heat the atmosphere so much that the elements in the atmosphere give off light and color:

• To remove a removable tattoo on your son's forehead (yes, don't ask)--you don't want to use soap or oil or it will get in his eyes; it's a sensitive spot so you can't scrub too much, but it's been there for 5 days and really people are wondering if you ever bathe your child--take a piece of scotch tape, put it sticky side down on the tattoo, gently rub and pull--no more tattoo!


• Athena likes choir so much, she refused to have the nurse call me, even though she had a fever, because choir practice was after school and she didn't want to miss it.

Recipe of the Week

I made this after Fun Saturday. I have learned from experience that if I don't have something quick and easy for dinner after Fun Saturday we usually give in to exhaustion and pick up fast food. This is from a Women's Day magazine that had quick and easy dinner ideas:

Put 1 TB olive oil, 1 TB butter in a skillet. Add peeled large shrimp and a cup or so of sugar snap peas, some salt and pepper to taste. Cook 3 min. Add halved grape tomatoes and minced garlic; cook til shrimp are done. Serve with garlic bread.

It was really good and so easy. I keep a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer--most bags come deveined nowadays. Put them in a colander under running cold water and by the time you have the tomatoes halved, they are thawed enough to pull the shells off. Shrimp are the easiest protein to cook--just cook until they turn pink, then they're done. And my kids love shrimp.

Ask, and you'll probably get it

Paris and Athena are both having expanders put in at the orthodontist. Today they had molds taken of their teeth.

The hygienist that helped Paris came out to gush at what a good patient he was, and that, just for him, he could choose 2 colors for his expander. Then she found out he had a sister and so she thought it only fair that she get to choose 2 colors, too. This was all done very hush, hush, because, really, they don't do this for everybody. How Paris talked her into it is beyond me. He was also able to pick 2 different flavors for his molding compound ("Hey, I only got one!" Athena complains) and got an extra "Tiki" buck (the orthodontist's reward system) just because he asked for it. "Sure, Paris. We're really not supposed to do this but...he's so cute, you know," she says to me as I stand there looking perplexed and a bit wary. I mean, what happened back there anyway? Is she trying to pay him off? Maybe I should start looking for chipped teeth or maybe he swallowed some of the molding compound?

Really, I don't think anything bad happened. This sort of stuff happens all the time, especially to Paris. He comes home with books that other mothers have bought him at the book fair, treats and trinkets that other kids just had to give him, comes back from the vending machine with treats that complete strangers have bought him. Many times I try to make him give it back, but often I have no idea who gave him this stuff or how he convinced them to give it to him in the first place. Sometimes I am terrified to think of what he must say, and the elaborate detail he must put into the lies to get pretty much whatever he wants. But truthfully, I think he just asks.

I operate under the assumption that most people do not want to give or help you with anything. That neighbor is really rolling her eyes when you ask to borrow an egg again; the church member resents you when you ask her to help out on a committee; that stranger is definitely going to say no when you ask them if they can jump your car. My husband, and apparently my son, have a different point of view. They think that most people want to help. Brian has no qualms calling for last minute help, borrowing any and (sometimes) everything from the neighbors, or simply asking for what he wants from an extra discount, to fringe benefits--and people usually say yes!

The thing is, I have to admit that my husband (and son) are right. (Did I just put that in writing?!) Apparently, most people do want to help or give you stuff. I know I'm usually flattered when people ask for my help. I don't mind when people want to borrow stuff. And learning to ask for what you need is a good skill to have (I have another son who has a hard time asking for anything). So I'll try to teach him that not everything in life is easy or free, that you have to work for what you want, without impinging on his perspective that people are kind and giving.

Through the Wardrobe

Fun Saturday
Saturday was Fun Saturday! I have to designate a Saturday every once in awhile as Fun Saturday or else it would be all Home Depot and Costco all the time. Plus, we always buy the Family memberships to the museums around here and I like to get my money's worth!
Paris had a friend he wanted to get together with all week and the only available day for both of them was Saturday so we had an extra kid. What surprised me was that this was a gal pal ("not a girlfriend, Mom"). She turned out to be Paris' doppelganger--albeit a female one, with long dark hair: she talked incessently, teased Paris and Apollo, and kept up with Paris' ability to be everywhere at once. She attatched herself to Athena later on, and Paris ruefully stated, "You're my playdate, but all you do is talk to Athena." "Yeah, well she's more fun," his friend said, "but we can wrestle later if you want." How old are these kids? (Needless to say, there was no wrestling later.)



Chronicles of Narnia
Anyway, we ended up going to the Franklin Institute and their Chronicles of Narnia exihibit. I am always amazed at the science they are able to pull from kids' favorite books/movies. Harry Potter was kind've obvious, what with "magic" and "potions". Star Wars was pretty logical too, with space exploration and futuristic inventions. But I was amazed at the science they were able to pull from Narnia. There was weather and man's effects on it (the endless winter in Narnia); how animals "talk" to us (talking animal characters); physics with catapults and arches (wars and castles); history (WWII); even the theory of relativity (time passing at two different speeds in Narnia vs. earth). They had a frozen waterfall, animal's burrows, and multiple props and costumes from the movie (most interesting fact: the White Witch's icicle crown grows smaller as her power diminishes). Check out the highlights here


The rest of the day
We went to a show on the "Chronicles of Weather" where they created a cloud, a tornado, and even thunder (heating a balloon filled with hydrogen makes quite a thunderclap when it pops). We went to the planetarium and watched collisions that happen in space. Then we spent the rest of the time watching the kids climb through a gigantic heart, learn the physics of sports, and explore the mechanics of trains.
Besides the sad fact that our camera finally died (sorry there's no pics), it definitely was Fun Saturday! I guess next Saturday will be Shopping Saturday to pick out a new camera....

Speed Racer

The lights are hot. The track is set. The cars are lined up, their paint jobs shiny, their wheels still dripping with graphite. The Cub Scout Pinewood Derby was held Wednesday. There was amazingly little drama. The parents even behaved themselves! : )

Paris did fine--he won about about as much as he lost. But he got a trophy and that was really all he could ask for.

Really I think Paris enjoyed making the car more than anything. He and Brian worked on it almost every weekend for the past month. We even used his enthusiasm to motivate him to do better in school. We told him he needed 5 A's to race on Wednesday. He had 4 by Tuesday night, but we woke Wednesday morning to a snow day. He quickly remedied the situation by proposing to practice multiplication in place of the 5th A. Lo and behold, he got an A on his weekly multiplication test when he went back to school.