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December 2014 - Sail Away...From Your Kids

A couple of years ago our good friend Laurel proposed a crazy idea: charter a sailboat in the British Virgin Islands in honor of her 40th birthday. Aside from being able to celebrate Laurel's occasion, the idea presented a unique opportunity for us because Laurels 40th birthday is wonderfully timed mere weeks from our 10th wedding anniversary. Since we took our honeymoon in the BVI this seemed like it was meant to be. Of course, this was a no-kids vacation and we were, frankly, pretty excited about taking a vacation without children. That is, until he actual vacation arrived, and we realized what a crazy idea it really was to take a 9-day vacation away from the kids. Some tears were shed on the way to the airport, but then we transitioned into vacation mode.

All told, we spent 7 days sailing our 50-foot sailboat thoughout the islands. We spent a few hours each day sailing to that day's destination and then we spent the rest of the day snorkeling, lying on the beach, stand-up paddle boarding, and drinking painkillers, the local specialty cocktail. 

Like the champs that they are, Rod and Sue moved into our house for the week to take care of the kids. We really couldn't have done anything like this without them. Though we still feel a little guilty about our week without responsibilities--after all it's been 3 months and James is still asking "why did you leave me?!"--but we're so glad we did it. Happy 10 years to us!

December 2014 Album

November 2014

Jamesie Turns 3

This year has been a more challenging year than the first two for parenting James. Somewhere between two and three, James decided to start exerting his own opinions. Though this, I'm sure, is all positive news for the adult he will someday become, we can't help but pine away for the easier days of doe-eyed innocence and compliance. James seems to be just emerging from his collapse-on-the-floor tantrum phase (won't miss that, thank you very much) and is fully immersed in a world of questions and things that are "DUPID," a word he recently adopted in a cunning response to our request to stop using the word "stupid."

DUPID or not, James is still a sweet little muffin to us. Here's what you need to know about James at three:

1. James only stops talking to breathe and sleep. There simply aren't enough answers in the world to satiate James. 
2. At his last weigh-in, James was 36 lbs. 
3. James is currently the height on an average of a U.S. 5 year old.  Height predictors have him coming in at 6'3 as an adult.
4. James's love of muffins has evolved into a love of baking. He helps Helen in the kitchen every time she bakes.
5. Jamesie-poo is skinny everywhere but his cheeks, which are still perfect for kissing.
6. He has the exact same laugh as Ava.  One of our favorite things is to get them both laughing at the same time so we can hear their giggles in stereo.
7. James is a pretty jokey kid and can be joked out of most major meltdowns with some comical rhyming.
8. Just after he turned 3, we finally transitioned James out of his crib. Unlike other toddlers, he showed absolutely no interest in escaping but Ava was starting to injure herself dragging all 36 lbs of him over the crib bars in the morning so we felt it was time to give that boy some freedom.
9. James's third birthday brought potty training--another issue we had to force because of his lack of interest.  He may just have worn diapers to college if we hadn't stepped in.
10. This boy has a mean cowlick. It's presenting a challenge to the haircuts-at-home model Helen has instituted.
11. James eats four bowls of cereal every morning.  At this point it's an addiction.
12. Ava and James are best friends. It's the cutest! Not that they always get along, mind you, but they never stay mad very long.
13. James responds to crisis with violence. Biting, hitting, and head butting have made an unfortunate comeback. By proximity alone, Ava is the most frequent victim. Recently we heard her trying to reason with him: "James, you've gotta stop. You'll always be my brother, and I'll always be your sister, but you've gotta stop."
14. After a long-term breakup with water, James has finally found the love again. He's starting swim class in January. 
15. Ava and James spend their entire "quite time" together playing make-believe. James is always baby Fiona and Ava is always his mom, Crystal.
16. As a result, Helen has been renamed "other mama" and is none-too-pleased with the demotion. 
17. James remains an avid "reader" and stays interested throughout 70-page books.
18. Aside from cereal and other similarly-colored foods, James really doesn't like to eat anything at all.
19. Brian sings James "Clementine" as his bedtime lullaby every night.
20. As mentioned, James loves to rhyme and thinks his habit of changing the first syllable of all of his words is pretty hilarious.

James and friends

After dedicating a blog post to Ava's elementary school, it only seems fitting that we do the same for James's school. Like Ava did in her younger days, James attends ChildRoots Center for Young Children. It's a hippie-dippie school that shuns plastic toys and embraces wooden objects as "invitations to play." "Character" books and clothing are strictly forbidden--a convenient rule that has gotten us out of buying many a Disney princess dress for Ava, and one I hope will prove as useful in avoiding Marvel-comic-themed tees for James. They have no Cozy Coupes in the play yard, nor swings, nor jungle gyms. Instead they have bark chips, scooping tools, empty milk crates, planks of wood, paint, and chalk.

While most of the day is free-wheelin', James's class is moving into a few structured activities to prepare them for their transition to preschool next year. One of those is "circle time," in which the primary care providers (the lovely Ashley and Brittany) prompt the kids (or "friends", as they call them) with a question each day. Lately the class has been laser focused on muffins so this has lead to a month-long exploration of baking--each day they bring in a new ingredient and have the kids investigate and reflect on its properties. But James has been laser focused on muffins his whole life ("I'm your muffin, mama?" he asks me each day) so he started off the unit boasting an unexpected level of expertise:

Nailed it

Attaboy

ChildRoots is a self-proclaimed arts and science school so they have a unique introduction to arts through the younger years. The friends don't even get to lay eyes on traditional art materials until year three; the first two years are dedicated to introducing--in a very orderly fashion--dry and, later, wet materials for the kids to experience during sensory time. Bit by bit they advance to their first art material, blue paint, at which time they strip the kids down to their 'roos and present them with a group canvas to have at it. After three years of waiting, James was less than impressed and opted to watch the other kids go all tribal while he stood to one side and kept himself prim, proper, and unpainted. He'll stick with his books and puzzles, thank you very much.

October 2014

September 2014

Kindergarten!

This September marked the beginning of an exciting chapter for Ava: the start of elementary school. Ava attends our neighborhood school, Abernethy Elementary, which is, oddly, a mile and a half away and by all accounts not at all in our neighborhood. In fact, Abernethy is the sixth closest public elementary school to our house. Don't question us on this--we just did extensive Google research on this topic to ensure we weren't misleading you, fine readers.

Ava, along with 18 other students, is in Ms. Debi's class. As you would expect, they are currently working on their reading and writing skills. Ava has taken to creating 8-page books as a way to practice, with such interesting titles as "My Skool Feoold Trip," "The Skool Bus," and "The Prinses Book." Should you have a book idea, let us know. She would be more than happy to write one for you.

In addition to the usual kindergarten classes, Ava also has a weekly Garden class in which she learns about plants by growing food to be served in the cafeteria. She attends PE twice a week, library once a week, music twice a week, Spanish once a week, has time with her third-grade buddy once a week, and she has three recesses a day. To protect these electives, we have already had three fundraisers so far this year.

Ava is still trying to work her way up to riding the bus to school, so she currently serves as "power boost" on the tag-along bike in the morning and comes home by way of car.

With the exception of her after-care program, which she "hates," she has made the transition exceptionally well.

Ball games!

What age will James and Ava be before we regret teaching them this?

August 2014

August 2014 Album