William's Wonder Years

Schedule based on Monsters Math School Time

2012-02-19T12:40:00.002-05:00

7am wake up
800 school for Andres M-W, 836 R, F.
They do calendar at first.
Dance or Art or Science
Writing
11am. Lunch
Recess
Writing
Math
Snack
School ends around 3
Then they go to Grandma's to play, watch TV, and try to get some homework done.
6 is dinner
7 is homework
9 is time to be in bed

we came up with this after reading Monsters Math School Time by Grace Maccarone

Moving my blog to my other blog

2012-02-01T10:26:00.000-05:00

I think I've created a solid record of my boys here, my experiences parenting two wonderful boys. I'm thinking of integrating the content into my blog about my spiritual practice, in the effort to integrate the different parts of my life. So if you want to follow that blog, it's here: going for refuge.

I'm going to leave up this solid record.

Favorite superheroes

2012-01-21T13:22:00.003-05:00

William:
1. Spiderman
2. Batman
3. Wolverine
4. Thor
5. Green Lantern

Andres:
1. Torch (Fantastic 4)
2. Ice Man (Wolverine)
3. Robin
4. Cyclops (X-Men)
5. Venom (Spiderman)

I asked the boys after I saw this list.

Andres' 6th birthday at school

2011-12-19T17:41:00.001-05:00

OK, so it was a while ago

Wow

2011-08-26T09:44:00.000-04:00

So I'm watching X Men cartoon with my boys.

Dad said, "you know what my super power is?"

William said, "what?"

"laying on the couch reading."

William said, "you know what your other power is? Boring people with your Buddhist talk."

Wow

update

2011-08-17T08:27:00.000-04:00

William dreamt there was a pool inside my apartment. I asked him if it was a deep pool and he said, "I can swim in deep water, daddy."

Both of them have learned so much in swimming. Thank you Diana for signing them up for lessons and taking them swimming.

Andres can do cartwheels now too. He said Camilo taught him.

can't remember it all, stressed out from work

2011-08-07T16:20:00.000-04:00

William has sometimes been a sass-squatch, back sassing at times.

The other day in the park he said to a kid, "I've got mad skills that you don't know about."

At Cliff's yesterday he said, when I asked him to turn down the volume on the game he was playing, "You've got volume, I've got volume."

William put his hands through my chest hair and called me a werewolf.

He said something like he's doing "man's business" when he was putting on his sandals, which made Alyssa laugh.

I can't remember the dreams William had, but one was that he went under water and he saw Atlantis. Another was that a shark bit off his hand. Needless to say we had a good time at the beach yesterday, and William is turning into a bit of a fish.

Poor Andres tripped and fell, and salt water got into his mouth, so he was a bit off the beach for a little while, but he had fun and later was dunking his head and later at swimming lessons he was dunking his head without holding onto the side, so he's made some really good progress too.

We made pizza again, but William wasn't into it. Supposedly he told his mom that he's going to take care of the baby while his wife cooks.

The boys are going to New Jersey to spend time with some cousins tomorrow, so I won't see them for a while. They're also going to Florida for a trip, too, at the end of summer.

William's Aniken tail is three fourths down his back.

We've watched Avatar, and Spiderman Unlimited on Netflix. Now we're watching Spectacular Spiderman

New Star Wars Lego Ships Play

2011-07-26T21:42:00.001-04:00

William's deam

2011-07-24T08:03:00.000-04:00

William had a dream that there was only junk food. I don't know which one, whether people got better or not, skinny or fat.

dreams

2011-07-23T09:23:00.000-04:00

William dreamed that, "food eats people. Corn, onions, apples, chicken and roast beef." Did you know roast beef is cows? "It was cooked and ate people. This woman was trying to cook the roast beef, but then the roast beef ate her head off."

"This man was, "curse these carrots," there was a whole army. His son had a collection of army guns and they shot carrots, and the carrots ate his body all over the place."

Was that really your dream?

"Yes."

"The woman was mommy and the man was daddy." "The food only at the mommies and daddies because they were bigger."

"They just cured the babies."

Andres, "I had 2 bad dreams and 3 good dreams."

Adventures is cooking with small children

2011-07-23T09:18:00.000-04:00

I got a family cook book in the mail, because with my mother's leadership, I'm trying to cook more with my children, ages 7 and 5. So I skimmed Lynn Fredericks' book and she says, "don't worry about the mess." OK, I'll try. She gives a rationalization, but making my brain work that way might not work, I'll admit there is so much more than rationality.

So William promptly cracks an egg onto my rug. Yeesh. Andres has actually had practice opening eggs, so when it was his turn he did better, so actually that just shows that experience does matter, and that William will improve just like Andres the younger one, has.

We made an egg sandwich for Andres, which he later disavowed, "it's too bumpy." I thought he didn't like the grainy bread I got, but I think he didn't like the yoke. I'll ask him next time if he wants egg whites only. I just asked him, he said he doesn't like the yoke. I told him that's probably healthier in the long run.

I remember in nutritional science class in college, when I learned that your body makes cholesterol, and that the amount your body takes in is correlated to the amount you make, but there is not direct causation. Less cholesterol doesn't exactly translate to less production the same way as your intake. But that they're related is enough, you do what you have to to decrease it whether it's direct causation or related.

They liked stirring the pancake mix. I used to get the kind that didn't need egg and milk, but I wanted to do that. So that's why William was cracking an egg, he wanted pancakes. So we got the mixing going and pouring more milk into the mix. Andres wants to pour, and while I'm pretty scared of that, I let him mix some in. They fought to mix the stuff. Cute but not cute. I don't like the fighting, I think that's the most stressful part of parenting for me at the moment.

I think I was OK in teaching them to cook a little today. They really got into it, and I'm glad I didn't freak out. I gain confidence as they gain confidence.

Favorite photos from Santa Fe

2011-07-20T07:51:00.000-04:00

From William's Wonder Years

William's dream

2011-07-20T07:26:00.002-04:00

"All lizards came to me and I could control them."

William's Dream

2011-07-13T09:27:00.000-04:00

"We got sucked into a big hole, and chewed up and then spit out in this big ocean that took us 5 hours to get home." How were you sucked into the hole? "Paddling too much we got sucked in." We are going on a raft trip on the Rio Grande today.

One a few days ago was that the world was just robots.

Old video of William, which is very cute

2011-07-13T00:13:00.001-04:00

Glamma's magic carrots

2011-07-12T20:16:00.002-04:00

cut carrots up, put on low heat with butter and honey.

William quote

2011-07-12T14:58:00.001-04:00

"Visitors and Andres smell after 3 days."

Cooking with Glamma

2011-07-12T14:53:00.000-04:00

From William's Wonder Years

Jamie Oliver's TED talk on his food revolution

2011-07-12T09:07:00.000-04:00

And a bonus: do kids know what fresh food looks like?

William quote

2011-07-11T23:33:00.002-04:00

"See andres, when people get older they like food and eat for like 10 hours," said William.

evolving rules

2011-07-11T16:36:00.000-04:00

Santa Fe rules for William and Andres

1. Eat fruits and vegetables every day.
2. Use "please" and "thank you".
3. Balls and sports equipment outside.
4. Shut the door when you come in and out.
5. Brush your teeth twice a day.
6. Write in your journal and read every day.
7. Start going to bed at 8pm.
8. Napkin in lap at dinner time, no playing at dinner table.
9. Look both ways before crossing the street.

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:27:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:26:00.003-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:26:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:26:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:26:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:25:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:25:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:25:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:24:00.004-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:24:00.003-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:24:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:24:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:24:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:23:00.003-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:23:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:23:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:23:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:22:00.004-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:22:00.003-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:22:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:22:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:22:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:21:00.003-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:21:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:21:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:21:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:20:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:20:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:19:00.003-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:19:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:19:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:19:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:18:00.004-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:18:00.003-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:18:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:18:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:18:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:17:00.004-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:17:00.003-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:17:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:17:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:17:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:16:00.003-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:16:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:16:00.001-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:16:00.000-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:15:00.002-04:00

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:15:00.001-04:00

"I don't want to play any more, I want to earth bend" Photos!

2011-07-10T11:15:00.000-04:00

He watches Avatar: The Last Airbender, and wanted to earth bend. He said, "I don't want to play any more, I want to earth bend."

William's Wonder Years

2011-07-10T11:14:00.000-04:00

This isn't weird at all, is it?

2011-07-10T08:18:00.000-04:00

"This isn't weird at all, is it?" is what William kept saying in the big bathtub that he, his brother Andres and I were in with him.

William woke up laughing and he was telling me something about Grandma and the bathtub, but I couldn't really understand what he was saying and I didn't want to wake him up further to ask.

New York to Santa Fe

2011-07-09T19:46:00.001-04:00

The boys traveled well, I think they're experienced travelers and old enough not to be quite the handful.

Andres slept on the Dallas leg and William slept on the Albuquerque leg. I didn't give Andres his Dramamine because they wouldn't eat in Dallas. There was a bit of a dust up because I won a game of Uno. Andres had a bit of a snit for a while. And refused second attempts to eat. So I didn't give him the Dramamine. So of course in the turbulance into Albuquerque he chucked, and then after we landed, the complementary diet coke was coming out his nose, and then later in the drive to Santa Fe he hurled some more. But instead of going out when we came, we played some soccer, and tossed the football around that I bought in Dallas (people told Andres that he had a good arm), and William went grocery shopping with Glamma. Glamma wants to teach the boys cooking, and generally go more into food. They got to roast their hotdogs on the grill.

William tried swordfish, and went back for seconds, at Whole Foods.

They didn't watch any TV yesterday.

Dream

2011-07-06T09:04:00.000-04:00

William had a dream there were no "bad words", swear words. People would just say, "come on".

dreams

2011-06-27T10:42:00.000-04:00

William had a dream that letters and numbers were mixed up in the alphabet.

Andres said he kicked the soccer ball up to heaven. Above the clouds. It's real dad. We watch movies and Andres says after like 45 minutes, "that's not real." Andres has had some difficulties distinguishing fiction and subjectivity from real and objective at times.

So I had a great weekend with the boys. Last time ice skating until September. Now they're taking swimming lessons. No Sunday school till September too. No soccer, but Andres likes to kick the soccer ball around, and William does sometimes too.

We look forward to a week in Santa Fe coming up.

Andres finished Kindergarden

2011-06-27T10:39:00.000-04:00

From William's Wonder Years

Natasia graduated Middle school, too

From William's Wonder Years

Magical, magical me!

2011-06-23T12:45:00.001-04:00

Do yo think William likes my phone?

2011-06-22T10:37:00.005-04:00

William sad,"when you die dad, can I have your phone?"

No Qs dream

2011-06-10T20:10:00.001-04:00

William had a dream that there were no Qs.

cool cats

2011-06-02T10:41:00.000-04:00

From William's Wonder Years

Playing Othello

2011-05-26T09:09:00.000-04:00

From William's Wonder Years

Compassion

2011-05-17T18:42:00.000-04:00

William came running, "they killed him.". He was upset and crying. The other boys had found a caterpillar, and killed it. I was happy that William had compassion for the living being.

He had a catapillar on his neck later. I took it outside so it could live. William was freaked out by it. He said, "are we going to tell Mom my dirty little secret?". Where did he get that phrase from?

Real motion

2011-05-15T10:08:00.001-04:00

Andres in motion

2011-05-15T10:06:00.001-04:00

From William's Wonder Years

soccer practice videos

2011-05-14T13:57:00.000-04:00

Andres scores on coach:

William doesn't get scored on:

Andres scores again:

William:

Larger game, goal didn't count:

skating videos

2011-05-14T13:54:00.000-04:00

William

Andres

bunch of videos from the park on Friday April 22nd, 2011

2011-04-23T08:12:00.000-04:00

Here are three older ones from the weekend before, April 2011

Click on this line to watch a video of their new lego thing.

Happy Birthday William

2011-04-15T11:33:00.000-04:00

William turned 7 yesterday. I think he's a fine boy and I'm so proud of how he's developing and I'm so curious about how he's going to develop further.

I was driving them back to their mother's place Tuesday night and I apologized for being a little cranky, I'd not had enough sleep. William said, "It's OK dad, I just like to see you." He's so sweet.

I loved the look on his face when he was the lego ninjago dsi game I gave him, he was excited and happy. I gave him and his brother 4 presents each, and the presents will keep rolling. Upcoming is a birthday weekend.

He's doing really well in school, he's a reader, who sounds things out and expands his ability. I think I posted a photo of him walking and reading here, he liked to read so much he was walking and reading. He's kind to people, and thoughtful. I'll never forget the story of his encouraging others in Kindergarten. They were preparing for a show and people were nervous and he complimented someone, gave them encouragement and it shifted the whole energy of the room. I love to see him running around and his curiosity about the world.

The day he was born, I remember my ear stopped up, I couldn't hear out of my left ear. I remember the scare when his mother's heart rate didn't come up, after the Cesarean, and the nurse was afraid she was bleeding. She was OK, but it was scary for a moment there. I remember Diana's face when they were performing the Cesarean on her, she was so excited. I remember being lucky, not finding a job for 6 months and spending day after day with him. I remember how happy she was to hold him, how happy I was to hold him. The wonder of it all. The nurses kept saying, "this is your first child?" like you wouldn't be so into it after that. I remember Andres as well, and look forward to his birthday to reminisce.

I love you William. Happy Birthday. I write this blog as a document of your childhood. I hope you like it when you get older.

reading and walking

2011-04-04T12:55:00.001-04:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

International Fashion Show

2011-04-03T10:32:00.000-04:00

Andres had a performance, that included a song, a fashion show and dance.

William said his family was from Ecuador and USA, but Andres' teacher said he could only say one, so he didn't say USA.

Unfortunately Andres is in the back, so you can't really see him.

Reading

2011-04-03T08:21:00.002-04:00

William tries to sound things out and tries to read things he doesn't know now, I think that's so cool, because he's going to get better at reading because of this. I'm so impressed with my boys. Andres is starting to read too. William woke up Saturday morning and said, "I can spell photography". Then he said, "take off the y and add er and you get photographer."

football

2011-04-02T11:00:00.001-04:00

William doesn't like soccer so far. His body language is slumpy and he said, "I'm the worst player ever." At least he tries. One little girl won't do it, though she insisted on putting on a jersey. I get frustrated when the kids don't listen to the kind focused coaches. Andres is into it more but is younger and will just stop playing and ask me if we can buy lego.

They do like the shin guards I got them.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

softly and tenderly

2011-03-24T23:59:00.001-04:00

William is in goal on right side

2011-03-19T13:42:00.002-04:00

Goal

2011-03-19T13:39:00.004-04:00

Andres scored 2 goals in his game.

William kicking ball

2011-03-19T13:37:00.000-04:00

This is their second week of soccer indoors.

melancholy

2011-03-19T13:23:00.000-04:00

William said he felt "melonkely", so later I asked him what he meant. And then he said with a kind of tiredness, "it's melancholy daddy."

William 3/19/11

2011-03-19T08:27:00.001-04:00

He wakes up happy

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

Parent / teacher night

2011-03-15T21:07:00.000-04:00

The science teacher says William fidgets, but can pay attention. Andres can't pay attention when he's talking. I asked Andres about that and he says he tells others to "shush" when they talk to him, but they don't do that with him, and he needs their help. I told him to take responsibility for his actions.

Andres' teacher says I can come and read a book to the class, have it video taped and get a copy of it and the book. Sounds like fun. Andres fall asleep sometimes in school, and his sleep issues make it hard for him. He's going to be evaluated. Sometimes when I sleep next to him, I think, "breath, please!" He's trying to breath through his nose, and it's stuffed. He's improving on his writing.

William's teacher was happy with him. He's reading on almost a 2nd grade level, and doing good work. They're talking about authors as mentors.

The boys were very excited playing with Isaih and Camilo, Urpe and Kori, and others. Then their cousins came, Emma and AJ and baby Caleb. The boys had a lot of energy, and I bought them some books.

William reading 3/8/11

2011-03-09T08:45:00.001-05:00