Shitty days

I'd say that more than 90% of the time I am a positive person. I believe that positivity brings good things into my life. There is the very rare day however that no matter how I spin it, it was just a shitty day. I was very sick today, the kids were still sick today and it sucked. I think we have the swine flu. Andy said that if I had the swine flu I would be sick in bed all day and I had to laugh. I certainly would have been in bed today if I had a choice. Incredibly kids even when sick are still all about playing, fighting, making noise, having fun, crying, etc. And they require more care when sick. And they don't take care of themselves no matter how sick their mommy is. I lost it a few times today. I yelled. I cried. I never imagined before becoming a mother how low it could bring me. At my very lowest today I kicked them out of the house after they were jumping from the end table onto the couch where I was laying and shivering. I laid down on the hardwood floor with a pillow so I could still see them. I saw the UPS guy enter the yard with a concerned look on his face as he noticed two very young children in a big yard on the lake with no supervision. I sat up and he saw me and his face turned to fear. I said,"I am very sick" and he said, "I'll just leave these here". He dropped the packages and left very quickly, obviously fearful of catching whatever it is that would cause a normal woman to lay on the floor like that.

There was one high point today however. R., after weeks of removing her diapers, screaming and fighting when we try to diaper her, asking to be put on and off various potties in the house numerous times everyday, and eventually just peeing on the floor went pee-pee on the potty!!!! Yay!!! I think she'll be very eager to potty learn now that she has the idea. She makes it very clear how she feels about diapers. She will sometimes ask for one, poop in it and then ask to be changed. She has spent a lot of time with a bare booty because I would just rather let her run around naked than wrestle her into a diaper several times every day. T. started potty learning at about the same age and was completely learned by about 2 1/2. It is a process and hopefully one we will enjoy. T. is very bothered by R. being half naked and sometimes gets irritated and adamant that she has to wear a diaper. We try to tell him that he learned to use the potty the same way and he tries to be patient.

I am off to bed now. Tomorrow will be better.

Sick day/ Rainy day fun time

Bringing this little rainy day gem down from the top shelf of the closet saved our sick day today. Marble run!

A few nice pics

While Andy says these did not make the Greatest Hits file, here are some nice newish pics.

Daily Rhythms

The Waldorf theory of learning puts a lot of emphasis on daily rhythms, structuring the young child's day alternating periods of contraction or focus with periods of expansion or freewill. I try to pay attention to our need for these rhythms. The days I do best with this I find that our learning is more focused and child-led and our free times are argument free and pleasant. Wednesday we had a particularly good day. Here is what our rhythm was like Wednesday:

6am up and out of bed! Into the shower. Dressed and ready for our day by 7. Contraction.
7am vitamins, made coffee, lunch for daddy, drank oj (with cod liver oil) ...... kids played nicely while I made oatmeal, unloaded the dishwasher and put a load of towels in the washer. Expansion.
8am breakfast. Lots of talk about what was in store for us that day. Contraction. More freeplay while I cleaned up the kitchen, decided what was for dinner and checked my email.
9am. Normally school starts for us at 9 but S. was sick and so was R. Low fever, nothing too terrible. Outside we went. Watered our star fruit tree and garden, gathered acorns and bark for our nature table, dug some holes on the beach, looked for black ants for our ant farm without any luck. Contraction.
10:30 snack. Black bean hummus with naan and carrots. R. eats hers strait off a spoon which makes mommy very happy.
11am Rest time. R. sleeps for about an hour and a half. T. watches some Sesame Street while I catch up on a few things, clean the kitchen again, switch the laundry, facebook. Then we stuff a few cloves into kumquats.
12:30pm R is up early. This time change has affected naptime. We make spinach smoothies and hop into the stroller for a nice long walk. We walk toward downtown looking at fallen leaves and flowers, searching for pinecones. We wander into the Habitat for Humanity thrift store, the St. Vincent dePaul thrift store and a used book store. While out I realize R. has developed a cough and is congested in her lungs. We walk back home. In all, about a 2 1/2 mile walk. Not bad! We talk a lot about opposites. "What's the opposite of car, mommy?" "Well, the opposite of fast car is slow car!" "That's silly!"
2:30pm We get home and directly into a steamy hot shower and bath. We watch the plastic bathtub fish swirl with the jets. We paint eachother with water and a paintbrush. I steam up the bathroom really well and we play in the shower and when they are sick of that we play on the bathroom floor. The steam is good for all of us. Expansion.
3:30pm Playtime. T. and R. play nicely (contraction) while I start dinner, fold laundry and pick up.
5pm Daddy is home and mommy is ready to relax! That won't come for a couple more hours still. No formal lessons today but still a day rich in learning and interaction.

Creating Holiday Traditions- Kumquat Pomanders

Seems wasteful to me to let all those Kumquats just rot on the ground. Of course I'll make some marmalade out of the ripe ones we pick off the tree and I think Andy is probably hoping for some kind of key lime-esque pie but there are so many fruits that just fall off the tree and rot there. A lot of my energy lately has been spent trying to figure out how to make the holidays more enjoyable and more meaningful to our family this year. Every year we enjoy the holidays but the enjoyment is always accompanied by stress. We also want to put more meaning into the holidays beyond eating and buying. We are not religious people and so I would like for our holidays to encompass many celebrations. I know that when we land on the right attitude and traditions it will just feel right. Until then, we are slowly adding activities that will say "Festivus" to us.

One thing that has been a real hit lately is this kumquat pomander activity. Displayed on an end table in the living room, it smells absolutely wonderful and each time I walk by I am tempted to just poke a few holes and stuff just a few cloves. T. has enjoyed this activity with me at rest time so much that today he said in absolute satisfaction, "I love you from poking holes in kumquats and doing projects like this". I knew what he meant and my heart just melted. This is definitely an activity we will be enjoying during the holidays for many years. And if you are reading this, don't be surprised if you start receiving kumquat pomander stuffed sacks for the holidays!

Obama Obama Bo Bama Banana Fanna Fo Fama.....

We thought we were going to have a chance to meet Obama. Turns out all we got was to watch his motorcade roll through Arcadia. Oh well, we tried. How I would love a picture of Obama with my babies! We were there in support though. He's not very popular in Arcadia. Also in the photo are our home school-mates.

Here are some current pictures of the little ones taken by hubby A.