Tsunami

Current events brought classroom learning full circle this morning as Christian sat captured by this morning's news coverage of the Japanese tsunami and impending waves destined for our coast. He just gave his 15 minute power point presentation on tsumanis Tuesday night at school, a project he was all set to do right before we went on vacation (to Hawaii- where the waves flooded the beach we played on just last week). While we were in Hawaii they tested the tsunami warning system, which he had learned all about and detailed in his report. That system was used to evacuate the very place we were staying (I don't think he would have thought it was very cool to actually be there, he's a bit more sensitive than he lets on.)

His model was a little worse for the wear by the time I photgraphed it, it had been hanging out at school for two weeks because of the snow day rescheduling. It sure is sweet that with only 8 kids in your class the teachers will reschedule projects around your family vacation (despite your terrible mother taking you out of school for a week- gasp!). I just love their Spring presentations, they take them SOOOO seriously and they are just plain adorable! This year the kids learned how to embed sound effects and videos in their slides. Eight year old boys and sound effects...hilarious!

And this is all he really was looking forward to. Dismantling his display to eat the dusty old Swedish Fish we'd hot glued to it. Boys.

Oh yeah, school started!

Why yes, I did send him off to school last week. I'm such a slacker mommy. The file of vacation and camping photos looms large, but here is the first day of Second Grade. Christian was very excited to move into the new classroom, which is just beautiful. There are 8 children in his class right now, seven boys and one Zoe :) It would be great to get a few more kids, but it's a fun group.

Tidbits of July

In no particular order, or with any relevant connections...just like the photos.
4th of July- What a dismal day. Every year since Christian was born we've gone to the neighborhood parade with our bikes all decorated and stayed for the picnic and games. This year I just didn't have it in me. The weather was so grey and drizzly. Ugh. We did head off for the fireworks and had a wonderful (and mostly dry) view. Unfortunately I had forgotten that Ashi was less than impressed with Fireworks. He spent the whole time holding the blanket in two clenched fists over his face (while I covered his ears). He wasn't visibly upset or anything. just, "I doan yike it". It was kind of sad. We did manage to get him to look at a few, "look at the big one, do you see the pretty Ashi?" "I no yike the pretty."
Then on the drive home he sat in a strange almost catatonic state, mumbling in monotone, "Yook at the big one mom. Yook at the big one." Over and over and over. I think he's scarred for life. He's sometimes very insistent, "I do it myself!" Somehow he consistently gets everything on backward. How does that work exactly?
The other day driving home I was struck by how well he's speaking these days. For being 2 1/2 with only 16 months of English exposure, he has no delays- that's for sure. From the backseat he told me, "There is a bird up on the hill." Not only a bona fide sentence, but a very detailed thought too. When I ask him things like, if he wants me to put him in the backpack, instead of simply "no", he'll say "I don't want you to put me in the back pack." Some days I find so much sand in Ashi's hair I have to drain the tub half way through the bath. Hence the new doo rag. Luckily the last month or so his hair has been easy as pie to comb. It's finally long enough to hang onto. See? Grammy was asking him if he wanted it cut, "No, doan cut my hair." We have a new routine. I have given up ever combing that whole head at once. Now we do 5-10 handfuls each bath. He gets to point to the next place on his head I comb, and we count them until we're done. It's so healthy it's combing through smooth as butter. Well, very tightly curled sand filled butter at least.
I now own a minivan. Yes, I have crossed over to the dark side. I blame it entirely on my friends and all those kids they have. I can't drive a carpool in the Accord anymore. Now if I can just get my hands on another set of flames for it, it might be easier to swallow. Nah, my life is over now. Good thing I'm not trying to cruise the

strip on Friday nights.
Ever since Christian could talk he has called Grammy and Papa's house simply Grammy's house. For some reason Ashi calls it Papa's house. Since Papa has been gone at work he has told me several times, "Papa is in Ayaska on his tugboat. Go get him mom." Wouldn't it be nice if we could buddy.

The other night Christian asked me about Santa, yes in July. Apparently one of the kids at school told him about where the presents come from at their house. Honestly I thought Christian knew. I'd been avoiding his questions about Santa for a few years now. Always turning it around, asking him what he thought, telling him how fun it is to think about Santa bringing him surprises, yada yada. Well, I flat out am not gonna lie to him- so I told him. And I think he was a little bummed. Understandably.

We've been going to a different church this summer. Cornwall is doing their kids camp with a focus on Ethiopia. The kids are learning about Ethiopia, learning some Amharic, raising money for a project... Christian of course is cool because his brother is Ethiopian, which is equivalent to being a rockstar at the moment. He's getting really competitive about their fundraising efforts. The boys are competing against the girls and I won't be surprised if he completely empties his piggy bank over the summer trying to "win". I'm starting to wonder if he has a little girlfriend there he's trying to impress.
Two weeks ago when Christian brought his Bible to church Ashi insisted on bringing his too. The next week when he'd forgotten his he had such a fit. He whined all the way and came unglued several times, "I want my Bible, I need my Bible." It was pretty cute. He didn't believe me that we'd be able to find another in his classroom. At least one of my kids still thinks I know a thing or two. This one's going to be fun at 13.
My mom keeps stealing Christian from me, or trying to at least. One time she made the mistake of trying to justify it with some lame comment about how I could get some stuff done without him underfoot. Ha! You want to be helpful you can take the Tornado for a night, not my sweet, helpful, compliant boy. Christian actually contributes around the house. So that little conversation guilted her into a night with the Ashi boy. I think Christian told me at least 15 times how nice it was to have a night "off" from his little brother. It was just...peaceful. And now it's his turn to head down to Grammy's house for some horseback riding and another night "off". And Ashi and I will have a very wonderful evening tomorrow without that stinky big brother getting in the way :)

This Kid, on the other hand...

This boy is such an easy peasy kid. He's sweet natured, thoughtful, smart, fairly compliant, predictable, goofy, flexible, easy to motivate, logical and basically just very easy to parent. I'm thinking he's even going to stay that way for the long haul (knock on wood).
Grammy tried to steal him from me yesterday, for the whole night. Luckily Grammy read into my hesitation at the idea and just hung around here to visit with the kids instead. I'm so glad too. I love Saturday mornings (and Friday nights) with this kid. We had the best day today- even though we had absolutely nothing planned.

These are photos from the Spring fundraiser at Christian's school, which I happened to be in charge of, and thankfully it was a wonderful success. Since I'm not in the classroom every week like most of the moms, I took on one BIG project and it would have really been embarrassing if it had been a total flop.

The kids all served dinner to their "guests" which turned out to be the most adorable thing ever. They took orders at their table, delivered the food using library carts and then bussed the tables clean. And they were all so serious about their jobs - adorable I say.

This is one of Christian's art pieces that was on display. I just love the art he's done this year, especially the pen and watercolor combinations and pastels, they are pretty impressive for a kid whose handwriting just became legible in the last school year. This one is a fisherman.Now if I could jest get this one to stop beating on him day in and day out we'd be getting somewhere. I swear at least once a day we have a conversation that goes like this:

C: Aaaaahhhh! (usually twice as loud and way more dramatic than necessary)

Me: Stop screaming, you're just encouraging him.

A: I bite (or hit or kick) him.

Me: Why did you do that? (Better yet, why do I bother asking?)

A: I doan know.

Me: No biting (or hitting or kicking or throwing large objects, just remembered that one). That hurts.

A: Okay.

Stir and repeat.

Ashi's Observations

Ashi was fussing in his crib one night, so I came in and told him he could come snuggle in my bed as soon as I was done with my shower. So I went in to shower...la la la...enjoying my nice hot shower. I shut the water off.
A: Mama! All done uh shower?
Me: Yes Ashi, I'm all done showering.

I go to the sink and brush my teeth. I turn off the water.

A: Mama! All done uh teeth?
Me: Yes Ashi, I'm all done with my teeth.

I proceed (towel on my head- take note) into the bedroom to get my jammies on.

A: Mama bum!

Nice, good attention to detail little buddy. Now go to sleep.

Christian's Words of Wisdom

Oh my sweet boy. I had some sort of stomach bug yesterday, and he got himself and his brother up and dressed. Fed Ashi bowls of raisins (breakfast) and changed him when he peed his pants. Then after the reinforcements came in (a.k.a Grammy and Papa) he came in to check on me and fill my water every hour or so. So sweet.

At dinnertime while I was trying to muster the energy to prepare mac 'n cheese (the kind with premade sauce- I was that pathetic still), he imparts a bit of his wisdom on me.

C: Mom, people who are poor are really rich. Because they have love, and love is worth more than anything, all you need is love, that's more valuable than anything. And so if you're poor, you can still be rich. (He slips in and out of his "well, duh" sassiness during this explanation)

This went on for several minutes more (while I tried to get the darn plasticized cheese mixed in to my lovingly prepared dinner offering), including something about how Jesus died for us because he loves us, and love is the best gift in the whole world.

I don't know where that kid came from, but I'll take ten more!

My Sweet Big Boy

I need to take a minute to brag on my awesome big kid. On Thursday he received all kinds of praise from his teacher. She made a point of telling Grammy and then me at the PTA meeting about how proud she was of him. He had an assignment that he redid twice to get it right. The second redo was because he left out a capitalization and punctuation mark. But he was so composed and diligent redoing and self correcting his work until it was his very best effort. This is a huge deal for Mr. Zippy Pants. His natural tendency is to fly through his work as fast as possible just to get it done. I'm so proud of him for working so hard to get it done right. I hate redoing the same thing 3 times- that really showed maturity for him.
Then on Friday evening, I came home from work a bit grumpy and distracted. My company had made unexpected layoffs that morning, one person with a parallel position and identical seniority to me was let go. Needless to say, it puts the rest of us on edge. Well Christian was such an amazing kiddo. I told him I was grumpy because I had a hard day. Well that little guy took it upon himself to cook us dinner! Yep, franks and beans! And they were awesome. He has such a sweet heart!
Today he spent the afternoon with some of his favorite people, Jim and his boys, while the moms got together for our soup swap (Mmm yeah!). Jim tells me that Christian was an excellent big brother the whole time. He was thoughtful, helpful, and kind to Ashi (who doesn't exactly have a track record of treating his big bro the same way). Christian takes a lot of lumps from the little resident monster- I love that he is still a caring big brother anyway!

Quote of the Day

I was asking Christian about his day at bedtime tonight. A full battery of questions, what was the funniest thing? The saddest thing? The best thing? The worst thing? And then I got to, the most exciting thing?

C: Zoe's cat is in heat!
Me: Uh, okay... What's that mean?
C: She's going to have babies.
Me: Oh, she's having kittens? Well that is exciting!

Phew! That could have been really awkward :)

The Architect

Believe it or not, this contraption is actually an obstacle course. Constructed of zoobs, those amazingly versatile little building devices that captivated his creativity several years ago and are still in regular rotation.

Not surprisingly the obstable course includes a fair amount of destruction to complete. You must chop the zoob chain, travel across the room (while being pelted by pillows) and then complete the light saber challenge.

May the force be with you young padawon (Oy vey Elizabeth, what have you done to my child?)

Overheard

While playing Chess before bed...
C: Go easy on me mom.
Me: No way, then you'll never learn anything.
C: But it's hard when you're kicking my butt.

Yeah, I might be guilty of that. But chess will take for.ever if I let it. Especially when bedtime looms. He's smart like that.

Seven

Today my first baby is seven. SEVEN!! I can hardly believe it. Every year we take his photo on the pumpkin pile at Haggen. We've gotten some strange looks over the years when we show up at 8am and leave without any pumpkins. But hey, it's a cheap backdrop.

And someone needs new pants, yet again. Size 8s! That's just crazy. We wear the same size socks now too, yikes!

Ashi's first pumpkin pile photo.

Christian chose Apple.bees for his birthday dinner, so he could use his free coupon (that's my boy!!). He's wearing the birthday crown his teacher sewed for him, it's really cute. And his teachers gave him a build-at-home Build-a-Bear. He has to sew it together himself with a little plastic needle. It's a little monkey, just like him.He was very happy with his birthday present from Grammy and Papa. Finally his very own scooter, and red to boot! He's gonna be ready to rumble at the next Ethiopian Gathering when all the kids do their scooter races.

After dinner we headed over to Coldstone for ice cream. The boys both had a coupon for a free kids cup for their birthdays. Unfortunately we still can't convince Ashi-boy to like ice cream, but in time we're confident he'll turn around and tow the line. In the meantime- I guess I'll just have to help him out with that little problem. Schucks :)

Soccer Season

This is Christian's first season of outdoor soccer, and he's picking it up quickly. Last week, also our last sunny Saturday of the season, he scored his first goal. It was a bit of a letdown in the end, the defender fell down right in front of the goal and stopped his shot with both hands, so Christian got a free kick a foot in front of the goal. But still. He needed to get one finally.

Today, in the pouring rain he made two assists- they were really nice plays. Our team is always playing without any subs, and usually down a player too. So he played the whole game on offense and up until the last 15 minutes the boys were passing rings around the other team. But eventually the little fellas hit the wall- it would be sweet to have a few more kids on the team.

Tired Much?

We've arrived at a new level of exhaustion, one in which even food cannot tempt us into conciousness. Please note the grilled cheese sandwich at lower right.

Smitten

Christian really likes one of his teachers.
He says Mrs. Rose is really nice.
So he wanted to bring her a special gift.
Something REALLY SPECIAL.
So what does a six-year-old boy choose for someone so special? What is the one gift that lets his special teacher know how much she is appreciated?

That would be a bundle of kindling.
Because kindling is so great! You can build fires with it! Everyone should have some kindling!