Central Park

Central Park
Originally uploaded by sravacitta

Andres school photo for Kindergarden

ch1
Originally uploaded by sravacitta

pie

I was reading William and Andres Harold and the Magic Crayon Friday night. Harold drew 19 pies to eat. Andres said, "This one is apple, this one is cherry, this one is pumpkin and this one is tomato."

Tomato pie?

Yes.

It is a fruit.

beautiful boy

So I've been reluctant to write here because I don't really want to look at my separation with Diana, but I think this is a nice story.

I had a stressful evening with the boys. Picked them up (they were not dropped off as usual, I feel like I'm traveling a lot to get to them).

Wrangled them to a pizza place. They wanted McDonalds. I know pizza is not much more healthy than McDonalds, but I think it is. They got a can of soda and then William said, "say something mean to me." I wouldn't do it. Andres did. He crushed his can. Then he was ripping it apart. "Be careful, it's easy to cut yourself with the cans edge." Of course Andres cut himself later, and was crying pitifully.

At home we struggled to do homework. Diana laid into me when I didn't notice all the homework, so I spent the whole evening doing homework, which seems wrong for a first grader. William cut himself working on a project. He did quite well. So as usual, time got away from me, and I'm so afraid of Diana's anger, and she gets angry when I'm late, so we were rushing back to their place. I was a bit frazzled.

William said to me, "Daddy, I had a good time with you tonight." And all my criticism of the night, the problems faded away. It's about being together. He just melted my heart, my anxieties, my worries. I love him so much. He's a good boy.

I've been reading Learning from the Heart by Daniel Gottlieb, and it's really touching. His advice is to chill about our expectations about our children, to understand how some of our projects are just mental confusion. I look at pictures of the boys a lot, I don't feel like I spend enough time with them. We have to accept things and just roll with things.

Thank you to Will for The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which we read together recently and I quite enjoyed.

Looking forward to going apple picking with aunt Di the weekend after this one, and Halloween.

Santa Fe Trip

So I took the boys to Santa Fe to see their Glamma and Grandpa.

The highlight for me was them snuggling up to me on the trip home. Andres was snuggling on my lap and William spontaneously joined in. As I was enveloped in this wonderful warm snuggle cloud, the physical pleasure of being attached to my boys for a week, culminated in such a lovely warmness. I shall never forget.

Other highlights were hikes, one in Bandalier, where William spotted a rattle snake, after we were cooling off in the stream. We ended up going to the rattle snake museum on Albuquerque, the day before we left, to learn more about rattle snakes. I love looking into archeological sites of the ancestral Pueblos. I think kiva's are really cool.

We also went to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum, and hung out in downtown Santa Fe.

My parents joked that it was monsoon season, and then it did start raining a lot, and they said, "I've never seen it rain so much." One rainy day Glamma took the boys to see Sorcerer's Apprentice, which the boys liked. It was the one time the boys were not with me, and Glamma reported the boys were good.

The boys enjoyed roasting marshmallows in the fireplace outside, and running around, and kicking the soccer ball around. They enjoyed the Railyard Park near my parents and also Cowgirl's BBQ, where they seated us in the kiddie coral, where they played with some girls and the mother complimented the boys on how sweet they were.

In the down time, they played their DSi, with lego, watched YouTube and Mario Brothers on Netflicks, or iCarly on TV. They also ran around a lot and I like how physical the trip was. My boys are good athletes, nice strong boys. They are also artists, as their artwork shows. We read some and I got them to do homework one day, when their mother reminded me. After that I kept asking William if he wanted to do homework and he said, "no."

Glamma gave them math lessons and tried to do other education things along the way.

So you can see the photos if you're a friend of mine on facebook. It was a lovely trip. I loved being with my boys, even if I was overwhelmed at times, and if they had silly fights sometimes, or didn't listen well. I loved seeing them running around and playing and laughing. I hope they grew from the experience, as I'm sure they did.

Thank you to Glamma Kathy and Grandpa Rich for their generosity, support, caring and attention. Thank you to Glamma for cooking and taking us out for meals, and doing laundry, and generally caring for us, giving the boys baths and whatnot, plus providing structure and organizing most of the trip. Thank you to Rich for your humor and teachings and showing us fun things, and generally hanging out with us, and trying to corral the wild beasts when they got a little out of hand and organizational support. It was a wonderful trip that I shall remember for the rest of my life.

Interesting video teaching mindfulness to children

Andres

Andres
Originally uploaded by sravacitta

Andres had 2 cavities, and was brave (with some help of laughing gas), at the dentist today. The picture is before the laughing gas.

In other news Great Grandpa Parks turned 88 today. He's no April fool, he's had an amazing life as befits someone from the great generation. Happy birthday Grandpa. My life, as your grand son, is so much better with you in it, and so is your great grand children's.

William's school work

IMAG0220
Originally uploaded by sravacitta

Here's a bit from the wall of William's school. He has inventive spelling, and he's working on spacing and other writing conventions. I'm so proud of my boy, he got a good report from his teachers.

Fudgecycle face

STP60602
Originally uploaded by sravacitta

Bedbug ordeal

Supposedly bedbug free, we're back home. Andres doesn't like pizza any more, he's sick I think. He wants to eat at Grandma's house. I thank Abuela for letting us stay at her place so long. Hopefully we'll sleep in our own beds tonight for the first time in about 3 weeks. I think I adjusted well after the initial shock. My heart goes out to others who have suffered the blight of bedbugs.

I was looking at the photos I have on Flickr last night on my new Droid. Next post will be a photo and you can click the Flickr link there if you'd like to look at the oldish photos (177 of them--you pay after 200 photos).

1,117th post

On my other blogs I hit 500 and 200 entries, but this blog has been more popular because it's updates about the boys.

So what's new? We've been enduring a bedbugs crisis by the kindness of my mother-in-law. She's letting us stay at her place. So there's some chaos in the world, you can't shield it from your children. Bedbugs are not about cleanliness, or class or anything. They're just a really bug bummer. Had to put everything into bags, essentially almost move out of our house, and then stay out for 2 weeks. They squirted stuff into our light sockets and really did a thorough job.

William seems to be becoming a reader. He asks to spell things. He reads books to me. Of course he did not know "Musk Oxen", but he knew every other word in a book he read to me the other day. I've been reading the Flat Stanley series to them, which are becoming some of my favorite children's books.

Andres is a cute boy who got his shortest haircut. He is ruled more by jealousy than some kids, and can be quite cruel sometimes. He's also very cuddly and snugly. He's learning to write and read some without even trying, just watching his brother. He's different temperamentally than his brother and 18 months younger. He seems to have a different head and face, and body type.

I sing Puff The Magic Dragon to them when I put them to bed, among other things, and that song is really for adults about the impermanence of childhood. The window of childhood closes fast. I'm glad I'm done with school for the moment, and can really enjoy the boys. I lament that I have a night job 3 times a week, and miss out on 3 evenings.

Anywho, a quick update, while I'm at the computer. I hope everyone is well.

comment on William's report card

His teacher writes:

William is an extremely respectful, well-mannered and friendly child. He has a great personality and sense of humor we all enjoy. William is always willing to lend a helping hand to myself as well as his classmates. I can always count on him! Please continue working with William at home by reading and writing with him daily. Also, please encourage William to keep up the great work.

My handsome eldest son at age 5

school 2009 (1 photo), 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.
Click here to view photos

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.