Well so much for my resolution to post once a week on the blog. So it goes. I have been doing other things. Writing feeds my soul, though, and I really want to do it more. I have found this out about myself: I like routine but I am really bad about being consistent. Is that a contradiction? Maybe not. I just haven't made a great routine for caring for myself in this way. I make sure to get some exercise and to see some friends every once in a while, to have time in the kitchen to cook beautiful meals and make nutritious concoctions but I am terrible at stopping myself to actually engage in the act of writing, even reading for that matter these days. Yikes, it's embarrassing. By the night's end, after bedtime and dishes and sometimes packing lunch (though I leave that for morning most days), I get sucked into reading email (not replying, though), perusing facebook (not posting though), watching shows on Hulu, and then yikes, it's 10 o'clock and I really should be getting to bed. But here I am, 10:12pm and I am inspired to actually fill the white space that I entitled, "Transitions" over a month ago. A lot, as one can imagine, has taken place since January. And since it's past ten and I am hoping to start a new habit of getting up early to exercise (ha, wish me luck), I am going to make it a short and sweet synopsis with the hopes of revisiting the blog very soon.
In February my sweet Adeline turned 6. In so many ways she acts and looks older than 6 and this poses new challenges for us. She is very much into fashion and pays close attention to older girls. You can imagine my reaction when she finds the short shorts at the consignment shop. I wasn't expecting to 'argue' about short shorts for another 5 years. My goodness. Adeline is an artist. She has vision that often does not match my non artistic organized mind. She has always been a spirit who needs a lot of attention. Thankfully she has a lot of mamas and aunties and grandmas to love on her and do special things with her. I have found it hard sometimes to not be enough for her, but I am so thankful for the community of family and friends we have to help. That seems natural.
We also celebrated Elliott's 4th birthday. Elliott, on a daily basis, can be utterly infuriating with his indignant and loud ways and then utterly amazing with his sweet compassion, thoughtfulness, and ability to articulate his feelings. My he has grown so much from the days of having to hover over any social interactions to ensure no physical harm was done. He is still loving all things firefighter. This year he was all decked out in his fire gear including a working kids water backpack to help Jason during some of the burns. It made his day.
In March Jason accepted a new job! Woot! This job will keep us here for the school year but then during the summer months we will head north, double woot, to a cottage on a lovely northern lake. It will be hard to be away from family and friends during the summer time but we are hoping for many visitors and surely plan to be downstate to visit. It's the best of both worlds, I think. In general though we are all stoked to spend our summer romping around the woods, playing in the water, and in general pretending we are on vacation for the entire summer! Yes!
And, this one is a big one for me. Some might remember the agonizing decision last year as to what school to send Addy to. Well, we decided on a charter school. First of all, the fact that I chose a charter school was a huge leap. I had done the research in college about them, but definitely am witnessing first hand how the charter school movement has greatly assisted the dismantling of public education. This, though, is a blog post for another time. I could go on and on.... Besides the moral and philosophical stretch we had to make about schooling we also made a very difficult environmental and family decision to drive to the other side of town, a good 25 minute commute, one way. That doesn't sound too bad but the logistics of it all were TOO MUCH for me not to mention I have issues with school. These issues also deserve their own blog to be honest so I won't go into them here. Ultimately, after much deliberation, we decided what was best for our family was to give homeschooling a try! I am so excited for this! The kids are too and we will be working together with at least two other families. Now before you get all 'NOT HOMESCHOOLING' crazy on me, remember, I was a public school teacher. I have thought this through and through and through, all the pros, all the cons. The do gooder in me wants to follow the rules and just send my kids to school but my heart tells me now is the time for me to really be with my kids, in my community making a difference and being involved in tangible, real ways. I am home. I can do this. Perhaps I will eat my words a year from now (or even next month), but I am excited to take on the challenge!
And Rose, sweet, sweet Rose. She is almost 21 months old now. I can't believe we have a walking and talking almost two year old on our hands. She is absolutely amazing, such a gift to our family of humor, generosity, sweet concern and compassion. Some of her words and sentences include:
I wnt too
I luu Irie
Mama, Dada, Elot, Adda, Nonno, Gammy, Nana
Dogdog,
I wanna see
I wnt milk pulez
Eyes, mouth, nose, ears, hair
hellooo
ella
She has so many words now I can't even believe it. Rose is very communicative both with language, facial expressions, and body language.
She loves vehicles, airplanes in the sky, trains, big trucks, lawnmowers too but she is not a super fan of the car. She loves doing whatever her big brother and sister are doing and she knows how to push their buttons already! She loves showing us her belly and finding yours. She LOVES dogs. She used to cry at the sight of cats, literally bust into tears and run away. That seems to be fading. She loves boats, had her first canoe ride a few weekends ago, and was a perfect passenger. She likes to lounge around and is so chill but is getting the two year old surge of "NO" and "NO, MINE" If you ask her to share (first) she'll often share. But don't expect her to if you try to snatch it from her. She'll give you a piece of her mind. She likes to open her mouth real wide and show us her teeth. She has used those same teeth for biting lately. Ouch. She loves caring for her babies and driving play cars around. She loves to swing but even more she loves going down the slide repeatedly. She will seriously melt your heart with her smile. Sweet Rosie. At times when she looks at me I feel as though she is comforting me, saying "I know. I've been there." It's really amazing how wise and mature she seems.
I am loving being a parent of three amazing and wonderful kids. It is entirely frustrating and tiring some days and utterly invigorating and joyful others (let's be honest, not days, moments). It is the hardest thing I have ever done and some days I wish I could go away to monetarily paid work. It is frustrating that job sharing or real part time work with affordable child care doesn't seem to be within reach. Thankfully we have a tremendous community of people who all see the benefit of really being a village together. And while the distance that separates our houses and the effort it takes to actually organize to help each other seems insurmountable, it is happening, in bits and pieces and chunks and in fits and starts. And it helps, ever so much!
Oh so many things to say. We are going to shift our blog. Archive this one, somehow, and start afresh. Not sure if it will be public or private or what it will be named at this point but will keep you posted. This is a time of transitions, new job, new schooling approach, an end of the baby era, and thus the end of the Ypsi Pop Bomb, at least for our family. We trust other awesome Ypsi folks will carry on!
