school 2009 (1 photo), by Stephen Bell

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not so bad after all

Child Whisperer

There's an article in the New York Times that suggest that parents looking for guidance beyond super nannies, look to the Dog Whisperer.

DaddyCast, a podcast, talks about how to apply the Dog Whisperer lessons to children.

if you want to be free, be free

There's a commercial that reminded me of this song, and I've been singing it to the boys when we walk home from Abuela's.



Here are the lyrics:

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are

And if you want to live high, live high
And if you want to live low, live low
'Cause there's a million ways to go
You know that there are

Chorus:
You can do what you want
The opportunity's on
And if you can find a new way
You can do it today
You can make it all true
And you can make it undo
You see ah ah ah
It's easy ah ah ah
You only need to know

Well if you want to say yes, say yes
And if you want to say no, say no
'Cause there's a million ways to go
You know that there are

And if you want to be me, be me
And if you want to be you, be you
'Cause there's a million things to do
You know that there are

Chorus

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are
You know that there are

10\17\09 (233 photos), by Stephen Bell

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

odds and ends

Here's an interesting article from the NY Times, about talking to your children.

We went on a hike last weekend, it was wonderful. Here's some pictures on facebook. They did a good job.

a day

We spent the day at an aquarium in Riverhead. Harry came along with his brood, plus Joseph. It was a nice place, though I'm done before we leave. I admire Harry's continuing to be open and playful, ditto for Diana. I liked the Parana feeding frenzy.

My favorite part was listing to the boys blather in the back seat on the ride home, and in their bedroom while they awaited their mother coming out of the bathroom to put them to bed. They have a silly patter.

Yesterday I somehow subtracted one from the address of a museum we were looking for, and thus we didn't find it. We went to Katz's, and then to Thompkins Square, where they have a superb park for children.

I lived in the East Village for many years, but it seems after being away for quite a while that many of the business have changed. My favorite breakfast spot was gone, among other changes. While I had difficulty recovering from the lost museum debacle, Diana had fun, and everyone else seemed to.

Indy Indy Jones

Happy birthday AJ (9), Natasia (12) and Erin (1). We spent the weekend celebrating their birthdays.

We watched Raiders of the Lost Arc, and William calls him "Indy Indy Jones". I say "Indy Anna" and he says, "no, Indy Indy Jones".

William woke us up Sunday with the question, "What's the movie where the man is trying to kill the pig?" Diana said, "mumble mumble mumble". William said, "why are you talking like that?" I said, "She's sleeping." We finally got him the answer, Charlotte's Web.

My idea of having one big bash for all the July birthdays and one big bash for the August birthdays wasn't so well received. Nope, we've got to have a bunch of birthdays.

I want to put a list of the cousins in the U.S.A. birthdays ( (from oldest to youngest): Josh, Katie 21 (June 8, 1988), Will and Bart 22 (July 28, 1987) (all in their early 20's), Joseph 16 (August 19th) Oliver 14 (October), Venus 14 (June 29th), Brian 12 (Feb. 8), Natasia 12 (August 7th), Robyn 10 (January 4th), AJ 9 (Aug. 4th), Emma 5 (April 2nd), Braxton 5 (April 4) William 5 (April 14), Nicole 5 (July 14), Andres 3 (Sept 23), Christian 3 (Oct. 21st), Gavin 2 (April 10) Ariana 2 (Aug 30), Breana 2 (Jan. 6th), Sebastian 1 (January 12), Ashton (April 4), Erin 1 (July 21st), Eric Jr. 1 (August 2nd) Sasha (Oct. 21) Dylan (June 25th). Also Alex, and her sister, who's birthdays I don't know, plus another one on the way. Twenty six cousins, twenty seven upcoming.

So where's the next child coming from in Diana's family?

That list chronologically through the year (of the ones I know):
Robyn 10 (January 4th, 1999)
Breana 2 (Jan. 6th, 2007)
Sebastian 1 (January 12, 2008)
Brian 12 (Feb. 8, 1997)
Emma 5 (April 2nd, 2004)
Braxton 5 (April 4, 2004)
Ashton (April 4, 2008)
William 5 (April 14, 2004)
Katie 21 (June 8, 1988)
Dylan (June 25th, 2009)
Venus 14 (June 29th, 1995)
Nicole 5 (July 14, 2004)
Erin 1 (July 21st, 2008)
Will and Bart 22 (July 28, 1987)
Eric Jr. 1 (August 2nd, 2008)
AJ 9 (Aug. 4th, 2000)
Natasia 12 (August 7th, 1997)
Joseph 16 (August 19th, 1993)
Ariana 2 (Aug 30, 2008)
Andres 3 (Sept 23, 2005)
Oliver 14 (October 1995)

Nobody in March, Nov. or Dec.

Coxsackie & Croup

Andres had Coxackie last week and Croup this week. Both are viral and you can't really do anything about them, except to monitor to make sure it doesn't take a turn for the worse. He missed 4 days last week, he'll miss 2 days this week. Poor lamb is lethargic. He gets so reactionary at the doctor's office, but the doctor is kind.

William has left the garden. He covers up sometimes, he feels self conscious when he's naked at home. Not nude. He didn't just offer his hand to cross the street the other day. Diana says he's resisting holding hands crossing the street. He's into lego star wars, spiderman, x-men and other heroes of the cartoon and movie world.

I'm collecting artwork photos on facebook:

For William

For Andres

12 years

a message from his teacher

when i grow up I want to be a Jedi Warrior

That's some artwork by William from preschool

William the preschool graduate

Sorry, haven't been blogging. I suppose it takes a real commitment, and well, I prefer to blog about the spiritual life more at times. The boys continue to develop wonderfully. Right now William is into lego star wars, and the amateur movies on YouTube. The one below also combines music with a favorite artist, Weird Al Yankovich.

Sullivan Island Trip

Highlights of the trip going down: Andres woke up at 4am, on the drive down, and started singing “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt”. He announced North Carolina so all could wake up. We drove down from Queens in New York City to Sullivan Island South Carolina, outside of Charleston. We stopped for breakfast, and made it in 13 hours.

The beach was really good for kids, not too wavy and it took a long time to get deep. We went to the beach most days, and the boys did very well there. There are beautiful para boards flying around, I counted 13 last night. Will and Bart have a kite that mimics the action, and William got a chance to fly it some. They dig holes, wreck castles others make, and splash about. There’s a little kind of inland lake that they swim in too. The tide goes up and we have to move our chairs. I think William sat staring out into the ocean for a while, while I read, and Andres and Diana played in the surf.

I particularly enjoyed teaching my cousins to meditate. We go up to the 3rd floor porch in the shade and do mindfulness of breathing and metta for 20 minutes, with the birds chirping, people running by.

We have the second floor of a house, with AC, internet connection, DVD player, 4 rooms and 2 bathrooms, a nice kitchen, dinning room and living room. There is a screened in porch and a high deck. Di gave us the king sized bed, so the boys can sleep between us. Wes was here, and left Saturday. Celeste and Katie left Monday. Bevery and Dennis arrived Monday, with beach bikes.

I brought down the DS that Diana gave me, and the adults are competing for the best brain age. William and Andres are playing Star Wars, Mario Brothers and drawing. We watched Wall-E last night. We’ve all been having interesting dreams, but Diana got the worst of it, when she woke up to Andres slapping her in a dream. They have been rough housing with Will and Bart.

We went to the Middleton Place, which is an old estate outside of Charleston, which was a central showcase for the Middleton family in the 17th and 18th Century. It was pretty awesome, but much was lost on the boys. We chatted with the blacksmith, who educated me. I didn’t know Charleston was the biggest ports in those days and that rice was the cash crop of those times. Thinking about it, we get Carolina brand rice. I thought the south was all about cotton, but that wasn’t until the cotton gin was invented and could produce the quantities that made it feasible. He also talked about how the Union soldiers burnt and looted much of the south, and that Lincoln was complicit with that—he quoted a general’s journal, not Sherman’s, but another general, I forget. So I also felt kind of guilty about living in the north. I asked if there was any kind of Marshall Plan after the Civil War and he said no. He said Mississippi was a wealthy state before the Civil War. I felt bad for the south and the devastation after the Civil War, even though I vaguely remember a weird documentary called Sherman’s March, which wasn’t much about that, but did reference the devastation.

Miscellaneous activity: I went for a bike ride to the edge of Sullivan Island nearest Charleston. Dennis did a knife show, of his artistry. Andres has gotten lots of mosquito bites, and William too.

We went to the the Low Country Children’s Museum in Charleston. I really liked it. The boys seemed to like it. There was a castle room, with costumes and a crown and throne where Andres really liked the dragon cape and hood. There’s a puppet show area.

They had an art area that was well stocked with markers, glue, scissors, and magazines, colored paper and glitter. They had a room where you roll golf balls through a bunch of cool things. They had a water room, where there was a stream and you could race boats, and rain, with all kinds of watery educational things. Then there was a fishing boat that you could fish off of. Then they had a fake grocery store. The boys had a lot of fun and then they wanted to go back after we had lunch at Juanita Greenberg’s, who’s motto is “Oye vey, ole”.

I woke up Thursday morning to the sound of water. Andres had his underwear off and was sprinkling himself. Diana thinks he was having a dream that he was going to the bathroom, and therefore took off his pajamas and underwear.

Thursday we went to the Aquarium. The boys went through it in a couple of hours. I took lots of photos on my phone camera that I sent to facebook. Andres liked the snakes and William liked the sharks. They played with the snakes and action figures at Momma Brown’s BBQ that night.

Friday morning I went with Di, Will and Bart to the beach to see the dogs. Dogs are allowed on Sullivan Beach till 10am. We tossed the Frisbee around. There are jelly fish and other detritus on the low tide beach. We went to the beach later, and had a jolly old time on our last full day at the beach. I particularly loved watching the parasail boarders, who zoomed back and forth across the area before the sandbar. I loved playing Frisbee with Will and Bart, diving for the Frisbee. A little girl was being swept away in the current, not out to see, but away from the sand bar, and Will and Bart saved her.

Will and Bart were very nice to the boys and William and Andres absolutely loved playing with them. Di was a wonderful and generous host.

The drive to Annapolis was better in that it was 4-5 hours shorter than hoofing it all the way to NYC. Also we went in daytime, which helped me keep awake. The boys really enjoyed hanging out with Gretchen, Georgia and Kalamazoo. We had a lovely dinner and then ice crème. Gretchen knows the sweets store guy, and he gave the boys some free chocolate. They gave them free cookies at breakfast, so people are very nice to the boys. They’re at the park now, I came home to shower and use some free Annapolis wifi. Anyway, I’ll post this. I assume we’ll get home OK tonight and back to school, work and whatnot tomorrow.

boys

Sorry I haven't written in a while, my faithful readers.

I thought this was funny. One thing that is lost in a rapidly changing society is that wisdom can not accumulate. I wonder whether what I know is relevant to what the boys need to know. The world can't change that much, maybe the changes are superficial and technological, and all you need for the technology is a spirit of interest and perhaps skepticism that the technology actually improves things.

In a way I'm jealous of Diana, being able to spend time with the boys. I go to work on Monday and I miss my boys, even though I struggle at times on the weekend, feeling overwhelmed.

We were supposed to have a party for William yesterday, but the weather forecast canceled it. When the clouds parted, I took the boys to the park. We had some pizza, and they ran around some. Then we went to the other end of the park and played in the mud, with one of the older boys who is nice to the boys.

Friday night we watched The Tale of Despereaux. William watches intently, while Andres squirms and tries to find something else to do and snuggle with us on the couch. Saturday night Andres fell asleep while we were watching X-Men, which is almost not appropriate for William and Andres. William is so interested in superheroes.

We've gotten Netflicks and I have one DVD for the boys and one for Diana and I. William wanted to send back Despereaux, and get a Star Wars: Clone Wars DVD. I've gotten terrible sleep this week, watching In Treatment and Weeds. Which makes me realize that at this point, not being well rested can no longer be blamed on the boys. I've set my alarm to try and contain my staying up for entertainment. I'm also read Cartwheels In A Sari, about growing up in the Sri Chimnoy cult.

William informed Diana that he believes in God, is not a Buddhist. I suppose I wish it was otherwise, but I really need to support my son's spiritual path. I think I said to him, he can choose his own path, and that it's good to explore all of them when he's young. Diana says Sunday school starts for his age next year. We went to a christening and there was a good preacher. I respected his intensity, even though it's not my tradition.

There was a BBQ in the parking lot, after the park, on Saturday, and the boys began playing with a little girl who is on the t-ball team, the Lugnuts. I called Diana to spell me relief, and she kindly came outside. I watched almost 2 episodes of In Treatment, which I find interesting. They came back in a huff, William wasn't following directions and spiraled into a delusional state of threats and accusations that got to Diana.

This morning I don't want to turn on the TV. Usually they watch TV in the morning, but I want to make Sunday a no TV morning. William went off in a huff when I told him watching YouTube was the same thing as watching TV. Andres woke up and snuggled, and played with lego and cars. Now Andres is asking to see the Spiderman video set to Weird Al Yankovich. I want to catch up on my google reader, the blogs I'm following.

photos

Someone lost the charger for our camera, so we haven't been able to charge up our camera, to take photos. I take photos with my phone and send them to facebook, which you can see here.

My wonderful boy is 5

William is 5!

My wonderful little boy has turned 5 today.

Here's a photo of him in his baseball outfit, on Facebook.

Manha Manha

I found this on a cool post on Mental Floss.

D and the boys at the science museum

update

The boys celebrated Ashton's birthday with the whole family. Here's a dark grainy photo I took with my cell phone.

Their fish died.

Vajramati took a photo in India for William

They're posing

The boys are starting to pose for photographs. I've captured it on cell phone photos that I sent to Facebook. Click on the links to see the photos for those of you who are not on Facebook, and havne't seen the photos.

My boys are posing with hand gestures like gang members, except they hold up the peace sign.

I'm not sure where William got this idea.

Andres being slick.

Peace brother.

And in a final non sequitur note, on the day I was born, Groovin' by The Young Rascals, was the hit single. For William it was Yeah! by Usher featuring Ludacris & Lil Jon. For Andres it was "Gold Digger" by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx. For Diana it was "(They Long to Be) Close to You" by The Carpenters.

William's wish list

I spent a few minutes coming up with some of the things William likes for his upcoming birthday April 14, a month away! William will be 5! I can't believe it.



Other virtue of a wish list is that there are no duplicates this way.

Weird Al's Spiderman

The boys like this video. They like Spiderman and the song, they don't know the original Billy Joel Song.



They also like the original Spiderman theme song:

Snow Day

The boy's school was canceled. I thought, like many weather reports that the threat was exaggerated for attention. But now, the snow is pretty deep outside, and city schools are closed. We called up our school and it's closed.

the merriment

The boys have been watching some Spiderman shows from 1967, the year I was born. William's obsessions and interest went from Thomas to dinosaurs to Spiderman and superheroes.

William uses the phrase, "oh the merriment!" He got it from Spongebob.

I've heard the phrases, "I want to watch Calliou," and, "I want ice cream," about 30 times today from Andres. He's a persistent little bugger sometimes.

I was really proud that Andres accepted his brother winning a game he really likes, Brown Bear - Panda Bear, what do you see, which is based on a story by Eric Carl. He's really into puzzles, especially his Lighting McQueen puzzle Zane and Bridget gave him for Valentine's Day, and a Veggie Tales puzzle that their mommy bought them.

I'm not blogging so much because work and school are draining me. The boys have had the week off from school. They slept over at Josephine's and Aida and Natasia's to get out of our house and mix it up. We enjoyed Sebastian's birthday party last week. Josephine gave the boys some old costumes. Along with old clothes throughout the years and other cast offs that we really appreciate.

Valentine's Day

The boys made excellent art projects and cards for Valentine's Day. Zane and Bridget sent some excellent presents for the boys. Diana and I are going out for a movie and dinner, which we haven't done for ages.

I haven't been writing a lot because I've been busy with work and school, and indeed parenting. Last weekend the boys went to the Central Park Zoo. They liked the web play thing.

Play

Psychology Today has an interesting article on play.

I notice the boys play spontaneously. I remember William used to want me to get him started with trains, but disliked if I went on further, he wanted the story to go his way.

The article suggests adult interference ruins child play. I'm not sure if that's really true, I think if you're aware, awake and sensitive, then you might be good at entering children's play. Perhaps it's a cautionary tale, to be careful and don't assume you know what is best.

Ears

Happy birthday yesterday for Sebastian. They cut a cake for Sebastian at Abuela's. The party is this weekend.

I got up early yesterday and drove "Gali's boy" to the airport. Carlos Alejandro and Jorge Washington went back to Ecuador after a visit to the USA.

I was sitting on the toilet. What's the big emergency? William has to tell me that Andres has big ears. Then Andres has to show me his ears. When I got out I measured them. We were watching Sid The Science Kid, and they had a show on measurement. So I got out the ruler. Andres' ears are 5.5 cm long. So is William's.

William doesn't feel well, so he's not going to school today.

Last weekend they had a play date with their cousins Nicole and Christian, also with Erin and Joseph.