live from sublurbia

For more Works for me Wednesday tips, see: http://wearethatfamily.com/features/works-for-me-wednesday/

---

I’ve been working for years to have a “good” wakeup routine. When it comes to the morning I’m very minimalist, slarging out at the last possible moment and slinging my way into life, usually dressed for the day by the end of the commute (if not the beginning).

Kids can’t do it that way. They need stability, routine, and mine need time to wake up and process the day. Luckily they can dress themselves, mostly, so we do a little planning out and finally got our morning routine more routined.

1. Pick out your clothes the night before, be ready for them. For the eldest it’s just making sure he has something, for the youngest, each piece is chose and put in a small basket with handles.

2. Set wakeup music. I’m very lazy efficient, so I burned a CD of kids music interspersed with the kids’ own voices and my voice reminding them it’s wakeup time. It’s set to go off about 30 min before breakfast every morning, to give them time to slarge down the stairs. I’m also lazy efficient enough to have bought a CD/alarm at Target that can be set only to ring M-F. Go me!

3. Have the ones who pick lunch figure out if they need a packed lunch the night before, so they can pack it themselves the night before. Now to get them to take it every day and bring the containers back …

No Comments »

I found this from my “only child” days … just before gall bladder surgery and the conception of our youngest child … so glad we had this and other great days back during his last days as an “only” …

---

I’ve spent the last few days becoming re-acquainted with my son. Who has exploded verbally again, of course. Who is missing his daddy terribly, and stuck on his mommy permanently. I’d been down with the flu, and his dad was out of town.

I don’t mind, except for the difficulty in getting him down at night. My mom popped in to lend a hand; except for the tissue boxes in the recycle bin, the place almost looks … normal.

We went to the park Thursday, I got a good photo of him on the slide, and we had fun running around, up and down the ‘mountains’ there. Those little hills are just Wolfie sized; he can feel and see his accomplishment and loves to direct my play as well.

Friday I put him back in daycare after my pre-surgery appointment at the doctor’s office . Everyone at the office was impressed with his manners and behavior. He was just being his usual self in a new place – drinking it all in solemnly. A bribe of milk, graham crackers, and a rare treat, “holding tight” with Mommy didn’t hurt, either.

A while back, perhaps ten or so months ago, he started watching one of those serial kid shows, one episode with a scene where the main players are being sucked into a whirlpool and must “hold on tight” with all of their “viking might”. While singing a clever little tune about the whole escapade. Shortly thereafter, Wolfie and I began to have a few battles of our own as he began to test the universe and the bending of it to his will. This included a dislike of my placing him on my hip and strapping him in place with a sling.

Ever desperate resourceful, I dragged the tune out of my memory, sang the “hold on tight” part, and made up lyrics for the rest. A connection was born. His slings were now his “hold tights” and they were very calming objects to have, even when we weren’t using them to “hold on tight”. Continue Reading »

No Comments »

_{WFMW hosted here!}

---

And I know I drive the hub nuts when I hit sport-option and click click click six jillion incrementally differing pictures of the kids. But it’s just pixels! And hard drive space. And sometimes you can make a cute animated gif!

Be that as it may, we don’t have plastered formal looks in our photos from the days of wet-plate photography, and usually a lot of blurry kids moving to and fro. But if you take enough pictures, eventually everyone is smiling and you can fix it in post-production (digitally melding all the smiling faces into one shot).

The trick is getting enough pictures. I do it with the handwashing song, converted into the cheesey song. Continue Reading »

No Comments »

STOMP!

I’ve found a few stories here and there for the kids, to expand our reading horizons. Though I’ve been careful to pick games and toys that reflect our family diversity, I’ve neglected, a bit, our book diversity. One good thing about the internet, though, is that there are tons of things out there. All kinds of the old tales that I grew up with, Little Three Eyes, and more. Older tales, a lot of which need quite a bit of explaining – some not so much.

One I’ve found that I can’t wait to introduce to the kids: a modern tale published last year by Tor. I’m glad to see it online; I can read it freely to my kids. But it’s had a side benefit – it has introduced me to an author I otherwise might not have heard of. So more pennies in her pocket from me, sometime soon. Click the link – I highly recommend the story for all ages.

No Comments »

Writing that out is such a shock. My eldest is right. There aren’t a lot out there in his Super Hero genre that isn’t cookie-cutter white. We watched The Golden Blaze a few times on Netflix instant play, and The Incredibles have Frozone but the comics we’ve read with him that are age-appropriate are rather homogeneous.

His comment came from a spelunking trip into our little library: a discard from a public library called Seven Chinese Brothers. It’s beautifully illustrated, and just his reading speed. He loved the themes of the brothers trading places to help each other, how they played on their strengths, and worked together.

But his comment really said a lot to me – we need to bring more of the color of his real world into his reading life.

No Comments »

“My name is Maria Isabel” by Alma Flor Ada.

It’s interesting reading this, having had my name changed from Lorena to Lorenzo by some of my teachers growing up, and having it mangled in various ways.

And while an e-book works for me, on the digital screen – while I appreciate not cluttering up my shelves with even more books – it’s just not there yet for kids. There is no “kid tough digital book” yet.

The iPad is pretty delicate from my handling of it. Computer screens – eh. My kids and I were talking about the precursor to Magna Doodles, the Wax Tablet, and it really made me amazed at how far things have come.

Maybe that’s what we need, a Magna Doodle with a usb port and some way to scribe the words on the page electrostatically. Probably more fragile than the iPad. :P

But it’s a good read about fitting in, not just in a new school and town, but somewhat in a culture of change. Maria Isabel has to find a way to assert herself and sort out why she feels what she feels – and why she wants to assert herself. It’s aimed at seven to ten year olds – but I think a younger child could have it read and explained as well, especially if the child has or will have a similar experience of change.

I didn’t read this book growing up; aside from being the “wrong” age group at publishing time, our older library collection had stories of The Little Peppers or other East-Coast kids showing their Yankee gumption and spirit living in the 20s and 40s or late 1800s. Not a lot in the way of cultural role models.

I’m glad to see this book out there – and changing to match more of who is reading and who they are – and want to be.

1 Comment »

I’ve got books on the brain. Been reading up a storm, with the kids, on my own, fiction, non-fiction, even just went through Pride and Prejudice to go through the zombie version next. :)

Not sure about what I want to do with all these thoughts on books. Expanding my kid’s library; some retail, some shared around, some discount stores, online, trading among friends and family. Luckily my oldest doesn’t read this blog yet, and has no idea I got a big batch of Magic Tree House books coming from a gently used source.

He is, however, excited about the contest they’re running, and has been peppering me with story ideas for weeks. Took a while to get across to him that it was a contest and he’s not guaranteed to get a tree house …

I like the idea of stories coming together, and being used to grow things. Whether it’s fan fic, zombie editions, or extribulum. And how to get books to people. Just … thinking.

No Comments »

The plagues of the year have descended upon our house. Flu, not shared (yay!) allergies (everyone), and some weird random virus for my youngest. Took her in for consultation on day two of the fever, and day eight, still in phone contact with the office. I love this office.

First of all, they are great record keepers and only have a couple of doctors. Which is great, because I’ll see one or the other (usually the one we met at the local taco shop), and because they kept better records than me, despite my experience going through this several times already.

I’ve cleaned up barf, poop, diarrhea, bloody noses, worms, parasites, and all kinds of fun and disgusting things having to do with children (and adults!!) and the lovely germs of life. I’ve slept in chairs, half in and out of hospital cribs, on cars and planes and busses, under blankets and curled up on the floor. I’ve used apple sauce and candy to get medicine into kids, bribed for shots and blood draws with ice cream, and saved my own blood work up so we could have a mommy/kid bonding time with matching blood draws.

Until a few nights ago, I’ve never been called on to round up bees. And fire flies. Continue Reading »

1 Comment »

Some days I really am annoyed by the existence of the Home Owner’s Association. I had to go over hill and over dale trying to get my roof tiles approved (an infinitesimal shade of difference from the originals, no longer available), and even then it took fourty forevers.

But there has to be some kind of benefit, right? They got a few roofs fixed (finally) but not much else. And some of my fellow owners are, frankly, weird. We had hot rods screeching through the neighborhood one night, leaving rubber tire marks on the road. Someone wanted to sue … someone … and make that someone pay to clean it up. Never mind that it wears off eventually, it was harshing their property values (granted, this was at the height of the insane property bubble).

My management company was pretty useful when our electrical box and light poles were hit with gang-like graffiti. Neighbor called, reported it to the cops, reported it to the HOA, reported it to the electric company. Eventually the electric company totally cleaned and repainted the box, even removing the ugly old pile of cement the builder had left on there (that I’d jokingly threatened to paint green to match the box). if I’d known they’d do that much I would have graffitied and reported it myself (kidding). Continue Reading »

3 Comments »

So far I’ve uncovered:

6 size 1 disposable diapers from my eldest’s short time in disposables

1 flannel 2T jacket

Size 0 left shoe, worn once for pictures

Information about recycling at our old home

A packet of unopened crayons suitable for school this year

Lots of random unsharpened pencils from various goody bags over the years

A peanut M and M that looks like a Teenage Mutant Ninja turtle

Can’t wait until school starts; with the kids out of the house I’ll probably find even more.

2 Comments »