So it was rainy today, which meant that lazy old me did not really want to go outside at all, but naturally the nearly five year old had a superstrong desire to use her umbrella in the rain. After lunch, it slowed down to a drizzle so we went on a trek to the local big chain bookstore. I purchased another copy of The Well-trained Mind: A guide to Classical Education at Home and a new copy of D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Mythology. The first is to help me formulate a broader plan for the next couple years and the latter is to put into immediate use as part of our morning routine.
TheBubster has been doing some exercises out of a kindergarden level workbook in the morning and I wanted to enhance that by reading some stories that are formational to our society. Come on, you have to admit that most of Western civilization is completely wrapped around Greek Mythology, well if you won’t admit that at least stop judging me.
LittleBud, on the other hand, has been nearly as obsessed with cricket as I. He grabs a cricket bat as soon as he wakes up, he routinely practices his bowling procedures and is trying to get the hand movements to spin the ball. Completely obsessed. Of course, it is all from watching his Dad and sitting on my lap as we tune into Australia versus New Zealand test cricket over the internet. Plus I have been using an app on my phone to play cricket while putting him to sleep. Here is LittleBud having a go at batting.
Posted by Stephanie Eckenrode on Mar 29, 2010 in Eckenrode
pursue me like a horde of zombies: constantly, relentlessly; they sit on me whenever I stop moving. Luckily, they smell sweeter than zombies and laugh more prettily.
Today when I woke up, NYC was turning the beautiful spring we had last week into a grey and drizzly day; executive decision, we were going to the Met today.
I printed a map of our walking path so that we could practice learning the grid system with TheBubster. By the time we reached Central Park, she was too cold to look at it anymore, so we got some hot chocolate for the last five blocks. Even before we were into the park, we had stopped at an art supply store and got some stuff for a project I am lining up for and a sketchpad with some colors for her. TheBubster was very excited about this new circumstance.
Once inside the museum, she could hardly contain her enthusiasm and desire to draw. So we found a place where we could all get something; the balcony over the armory. I love the knights and the armor, it was also a closed off space where Bud could safely wander about while TheBubster cracked open her colors and pad.
We did this sane routine several times during the visit and finally when Bud took his nap, I was able to give her some lessons which changed her drawing immediately. Pretty exciting day altogether.
Posted by Stephanie Eckenrode on Mar 22, 2010 in Mother
It’s so exciting to be American. I am proud to be American. When President Obama signs the healthcare bill into law in a couple of days, I can begin to stop worrying about keeping my family covered if I get laid off (again).
Yes, we can make America the greatest place to live. A place where everyone is free to pursue what makes them happy, and need not be shackled to a corporate identity for basic necessities.
Since I have several places to blog from and subjects to blog about, it seems like it would be simple enough to become a better blogger. If you jump over to my artblog you will see that I have a nice stream of work that I have been producing, but have been slipping on my viewing of other people’s artwork and have not been linking to many other people’s websites. My twitterstream has not exactly been sharilicious either. My home blog is mostly about the way the family has grown and frankly I find it hard to keep up with the pace of that growth, particularly as both kids are blasting past milestones with such abandon. Recently, I have begun a trial period as a tech blogger for MakeTechEasier and I am looking to see if that can help me get better as it is a more researched set of subject matter and requires more writing skills than just jotting down random thoughts as they occur to me. Fish. Bears, Lions and Tin woodsmen not withstanding my faux randomness. As there is a great deal of sickness happening in the house at the moment, I thought I’d take this opportunity to throw some words at the internet and hope that they find some place to be read.
Posted by Stephanie Eckenrode on Mar 2, 2010 in Eckenrode
After an hour in the shower, which is not unusual for Bud and me in the mornings before I go to work, he was happy to be bundled up in some Pooh clothes, eat some grapes, and sit on Daddy’s lap.
Meanwhile, The Bubster is trying so hard to have real grown-up conversations with us. Last night at dinner she asked “Are these fingersticks?” Well almost. Not fish sticks but chicken fingers. LAter she asked if she could have a Spider-Man costume to wear “at night and in the morning”. I said, “hmmm…”, she said, “But I think you might have to pay one”. Then later she popped her head around her bedroom door: “Are you getting one now?”
So she goes from being Spider-Man to Batman to a fairy princess, to Wolf Girl. I’d say that’s a pretty well-rounded young lady.
As LittleBud has taken to waking up screaming at 0430 lately and as TheWife has done a lion’s share of calming him down, seeing how she has the equipment he desires, and seeing how tired she looked, I made a decision yesterday. The decision actually came after looking at my Facebook page and seeing a friend of mine share a funny story about her child doing something similar and then after a little sharing back and forth, I looked at the Internet (you know if you squint your browser just right you can see the whole thing, right?) and found out where our old church was meeting now days, and seeing how it was right around the corner, you know ten minutes walk away, sort of like the distance from Peach Ave to the intersection of Jeffress St & North Main St. I bundled up the kids and took both of them to church and let TheWife sleep in the bed or whatever it she does during those extremely rare times she is in the house alone. People were both surprised and happy to see me and the kids. I got an escort to drop the kids off in their respective play areas and went to have a seat in the auditorium. It was a nice place and a nice service. It was a real pleasure to be able to sit and not worry about anybody needing me or wanting to grab me or something. I escaped into a chair, if you will, and was free to sit there. When it was over and I went to collect the kids, they were fine. TheBubster’s teacher(you call those young ladies who watch the kids teachers, right?) handed me the crayon drawing that you see above and was surprised at her ability to create the composition of Jesus walking on Water from listening to the story. I was not surprised at the technical capabilities but was pleased to see that her retention of details is growing quite well. Anyways, I thought I’d share this little story and the picture with all of you, hope you enjoy!
As LittleBud has taken to waking up screaming at 0430 lately and as TheWife has done a lion’s share of calming him down, seeing how she has the equipment he desires, and seeing how tired she looked, I made a decision yesterday. The decision actually came after looking at my Facebook page and seeing a friend of mine share a funny story about her child doing something similar and then after a little sharing back and forth, I looked at the Internet (you know if you squint your browser just right you can see the whole thing, right?) and found out where our old church 