I wrote this entry offline a week ago but was for some fluky reason unable to login to my blog on IE to upload it so now I'm tying it on Firefox which I only use occasionally and it let me login finally. So here it is a week later but I'm backdating it for historical accuracy. :)
Will wonders never cease? On Sunday our trusty 10-yr-old microwave started giving off the sounds & scents of its imminent demise so we stopped using it immediately and I started looking at my busy calendar to see when I could possibly make a trip into town to buy a new one sometime this week. Monday night comes and during FHE with friends I learned of a everything-must-go ongoing sale up the road. My 2 girlfriends and I popped over there and I got us a very nice, practically new microwave for $35! Yay for a great deal and excellent timing!
Two weekends ago, I was finally getting around to planting some mango and banana trees we had purchased a couple months ago. I decided it was time to get them in the ground when I noticed that the mango tree had lost almost all its dwindling leaves. Zeth was my amazing little self-appointed helper and readily accepted the assignment to be my water boy. He dutifully helped me hose down and soften up the dirt as I dug pits to plant trees in. He totally owned the role and I was impressed with how well he understood and followed my instructions. Of course, we’re talking about a garden hose here and what little boy wouldn’t love to play with water but it actually surprised me how helpful he was with my project.
As I loaded the mango tree into the wheel barrel to transport it to its new home, every last leaf suddenly gave up and dropped to the ground. I was worried that I had waited too long and I had actually killed my now desolate looking tree. To my great relief, the very next day I noticed little bulges at the ends of each branch. A couple days later and there were leaves sprouting out of the determined appendages. I’m so relieved to see the little guy is a fighter and is giving us another chance. Someday I hope to have ripe mangoes dropping outside my kitchen window all summer long.
After planting the trees, it was time for our dogs bi-annual washing (whether they needed it or not!) :) So the kids helped me wash the doggies then we took Jackie on a walk while Buckie, who refuses to leave the backyard but doesn't like being left alone either, howled her sad "I'm so lonely cause my mom's are gone" song for the entire neighborhood to enjoy.
Zeth came down with a fever and was pretty miserable last night. As I was putting him to bed laying beside him in the dark after stories, he kept repeating over & over, “Thank you Mommy.” It was so sweet – especially coming from a kid who was obviously uncomfortable and having a hard time sleeping.
Earlier this month Zana was moved up to the ‘accelerated learning’ 2nd grade class. So she’s been doing really well apparently and was ready to be challenged a bit more. Yesterday Zana was awarded the September Super Raider for her class at the school assembly. We made way too much of a deal over it, the kind of showering of prizes I would scorn & tease other parents for yet here I am, guilty. This is the 3rd time she’s received this award in the first quarter of school so she’s 3 for 3 on being a Super Raider which is pretty cool cause it’s just 1-kid per class per month. Still, I think it was a bit too much to give her flower & candy leis, balloons, some of her favorite treats like Spam musubi, Cheetos & grape Crush. Then to top it off, we got her one of those little frou-frou pooch carrier purses with 2-stuffed little life-sized doggies in it and she got to leave school a half hour early and go home with her friends.
The pride & excitement on her face was my reward for all those nights I sit with her helping her with her homework like composing & writing her 6 vocab list sentences. It’s amazing how 6-sentences can take a kid 1.5 hours to write – but it’s worth it to see the happiness on her face for being recognized as an exemplary student. That will have to go down as another one of her ‘BEST DAYS EVER!”
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Time's Tickin
It’s really been a month?? Wow. During my last post I got a notice from Blogger that I was running out of space on my acct and to start using Piccasa or something like that for posting pictures. Don’t know why but that just kinda let the wind right out of my sails. The thought of not being to plop photos in wherever like I’m accustomed to made me not want to blog at all for a while for some reason. Also, it’s been a very busy month and I just haven’t been on my normal schedule where I find spots of time to lay down my mind on the keyboard.
Last weekend on Sept 26th I ran my first 25K race (that’s 15.53 blissful miles) and it went really well. Despite the fact that I actually believed the race course description on the web site that described the course as ‘flat, fast and fun’ and didn’t do any incline training during my 13 weeks of training so having never seen the course I was totally unprepared for the rolling hills during the first 3 miles and then the 2-mile long mountain road that inclined steadily from miles 8-10. Apparently I have much to learn about what is considered ‘flat’ to a runner. Regardless, the whole process of sticking to a set daily training schedule, firming up, feeling fit and proving to myself I was capable of running distances beyond my previous mental limits was actually fun.
I completed the race in 2:52:05 which was good enough for 416th place out of 680 finishers. Not a bad baseline to start from for whatever race I commit myself to next. A marathon doesn’t seem so insane anymore as long as I give myself enough time to train for it gradually and include hills in my routine. Maybe next year. I've gotta really focus my time & energy at work for the rest of this year. We are upgrading our university HR/Payroll system and launching a new timekeeping hardware & software over Christmas week. Fun fun.
September is a big birthday month in my world. With so many siblings and friends born in the 9th month of the year, I have a theory about the Christmas-New Year holiday season and cold winter nights, but I digress. The month starts off with my own birthday which was simple, happy and low key this year, followed a week later by Zeth who is now 2 and is acting his age in so many ways. He is definitely battling whatever demonic force overcomes kids at his age in a battle of wants and emotional volatility. Then again, I suppose being two is kinda like being a woman with PMS – you’re never 100% sure what you want for more than 5 minutes (unless there’s chocolate involved) and your reaction to that thing isn’t totally guaranteed to bring you the satisfaction you were anticipating and you reserve the right to change your mind as necessary or just be completely irritable for no apparent reason at all. So Zeth is an ordinary, conflicted, amazing, splendid two-year-old and I love him terribly.
Despite his 2-year-old demons, he is still unbearably cute and his sweetness is still heart-melting. Some of his favorite antics and lyrics lately include singing (especially ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’), pointing out the ‘moont” in the heavens - be it day or night he’s very aware of the moont, saying “Hi guys!” whenever I come home (I guess I really do say it more than I thought and now I’m one of the ‘guys’ to him), getting overly excited about football (pictures in the newspaper, throwing the football around the house, watching games, whatever), loves dousing himself in the bubble bath, starting to use his ‘potty chair’ more frequently and giving his mostly incoherant interpretation of or input about whatever book we’re reading. He has mastered the use of the words, NO and “I don’t want it” – especially when it comes to brushing his teeth. But we’re working on it and getting a tooth brush in his mouth is becoming less of a battle.
It’s been almost a year since Zeth’s first & last haircut so a couple days ago as I was cutting Ram’s hair, I was planning to give him a trim and even out his ‘fro but it’s like the gods of Sampson heard my thoughts and my old faithful clippers had some sort of electrical short and died just as I was finishing up Ram’s hair. Oh well, we’re letting the ‘fro go for a while it seems. I know I can’t cut it too short cause he has to play with someone’s hair to relax and lately he’s been pulling on his own locks more than mine gratefully. It’s his source of comfort in lieu of a blanket or something like that.
Zana was selected by her teacher as student of the month representing her class this month. So now she’s 3-for-3 in receiving this monthly award in the early part of the school year. She is an excellent reader and is excited about making sense of math. It’s fun to see her learning so quickly. She is still dancing Tahitian and takes gymnastics lessons weekly. Ram is coaching Zana’s AYSO soccer team this season which is about half-way through now. It’s been a good experience learning how to coach and spending that time volunteering for the team. Zana’s having fun playing and it hasn’t been as hard as I’d feared to keep Zeth off the field during the games as I had imagined it would be. It’s all about distractions and keeping him busy.
The local Dept/Board of Education just passed a ridiculous ratification of the current school calendar and threw in 17-furlough days from now until the end of the year to try to save money. So essentially every Friday for the rest of the academic year is a non-paid day off for everyone. What a mess the economy is making for everyone. In light of 17-new school holidays, I just want to say how grateful I am to have good friends here, especially Auntie Maeva, who we rely on heavily for day care during school holidays. In so many ways I feel like a pioneer in our community with no family nearby to fall back on for help with the kids, Maeva is a lifesaver and I can’t thank her enough for always being like a second mom for Zana.
I also can’t say how wonderful it has been to have a completely dependable daycare situation for Zeth with Aunty Mary Jo. Few things are more stressful than having to find a last minute babysitter on your way to work when your regular plan falls through as it so frequently did when Zana was younger. Mary Jo has been a God-send for us in consistently taking care of Zeth while we’re at work for the past two-years. I didn’t ever plan to be a career woman/working mom but that’s the way our life is for now so I’m just grateful that God continues to bless us in our efforts.
Last weekend on Sept 26th I ran my first 25K race (that’s 15.53 blissful miles) and it went really well. Despite the fact that I actually believed the race course description on the web site that described the course as ‘flat, fast and fun’ and didn’t do any incline training during my 13 weeks of training so having never seen the course I was totally unprepared for the rolling hills during the first 3 miles and then the 2-mile long mountain road that inclined steadily from miles 8-10. Apparently I have much to learn about what is considered ‘flat’ to a runner. Regardless, the whole process of sticking to a set daily training schedule, firming up, feeling fit and proving to myself I was capable of running distances beyond my previous mental limits was actually fun.
I completed the race in 2:52:05 which was good enough for 416th place out of 680 finishers. Not a bad baseline to start from for whatever race I commit myself to next. A marathon doesn’t seem so insane anymore as long as I give myself enough time to train for it gradually and include hills in my routine. Maybe next year. I've gotta really focus my time & energy at work for the rest of this year. We are upgrading our university HR/Payroll system and launching a new timekeeping hardware & software over Christmas week. Fun fun.
September is a big birthday month in my world. With so many siblings and friends born in the 9th month of the year, I have a theory about the Christmas-New Year holiday season and cold winter nights, but I digress. The month starts off with my own birthday which was simple, happy and low key this year, followed a week later by Zeth who is now 2 and is acting his age in so many ways. He is definitely battling whatever demonic force overcomes kids at his age in a battle of wants and emotional volatility. Then again, I suppose being two is kinda like being a woman with PMS – you’re never 100% sure what you want for more than 5 minutes (unless there’s chocolate involved) and your reaction to that thing isn’t totally guaranteed to bring you the satisfaction you were anticipating and you reserve the right to change your mind as necessary or just be completely irritable for no apparent reason at all. So Zeth is an ordinary, conflicted, amazing, splendid two-year-old and I love him terribly.
Despite his 2-year-old demons, he is still unbearably cute and his sweetness is still heart-melting. Some of his favorite antics and lyrics lately include singing (especially ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’), pointing out the ‘moont” in the heavens - be it day or night he’s very aware of the moont, saying “Hi guys!” whenever I come home (I guess I really do say it more than I thought and now I’m one of the ‘guys’ to him), getting overly excited about football (pictures in the newspaper, throwing the football around the house, watching games, whatever), loves dousing himself in the bubble bath, starting to use his ‘potty chair’ more frequently and giving his mostly incoherant interpretation of or input about whatever book we’re reading. He has mastered the use of the words, NO and “I don’t want it” – especially when it comes to brushing his teeth. But we’re working on it and getting a tooth brush in his mouth is becoming less of a battle.
It’s been almost a year since Zeth’s first & last haircut so a couple days ago as I was cutting Ram’s hair, I was planning to give him a trim and even out his ‘fro but it’s like the gods of Sampson heard my thoughts and my old faithful clippers had some sort of electrical short and died just as I was finishing up Ram’s hair. Oh well, we’re letting the ‘fro go for a while it seems. I know I can’t cut it too short cause he has to play with someone’s hair to relax and lately he’s been pulling on his own locks more than mine gratefully. It’s his source of comfort in lieu of a blanket or something like that.
Zana was selected by her teacher as student of the month representing her class this month. So now she’s 3-for-3 in receiving this monthly award in the early part of the school year. She is an excellent reader and is excited about making sense of math. It’s fun to see her learning so quickly. She is still dancing Tahitian and takes gymnastics lessons weekly. Ram is coaching Zana’s AYSO soccer team this season which is about half-way through now. It’s been a good experience learning how to coach and spending that time volunteering for the team. Zana’s having fun playing and it hasn’t been as hard as I’d feared to keep Zeth off the field during the games as I had imagined it would be. It’s all about distractions and keeping him busy.
The local Dept/Board of Education just passed a ridiculous ratification of the current school calendar and threw in 17-furlough days from now until the end of the year to try to save money. So essentially every Friday for the rest of the academic year is a non-paid day off for everyone. What a mess the economy is making for everyone. In light of 17-new school holidays, I just want to say how grateful I am to have good friends here, especially Auntie Maeva, who we rely on heavily for day care during school holidays. In so many ways I feel like a pioneer in our community with no family nearby to fall back on for help with the kids, Maeva is a lifesaver and I can’t thank her enough for always being like a second mom for Zana.
I also can’t say how wonderful it has been to have a completely dependable daycare situation for Zeth with Aunty Mary Jo. Few things are more stressful than having to find a last minute babysitter on your way to work when your regular plan falls through as it so frequently did when Zana was younger. Mary Jo has been a God-send for us in consistently taking care of Zeth while we’re at work for the past two-years. I didn’t ever plan to be a career woman/working mom but that’s the way our life is for now so I’m just grateful that God continues to bless us in our efforts.
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