Multiple choice weekend

O.K., so this post will be in the multiple choice format. See if you can match the family members to the deeds:

Two people went to a parent-teacher meeting and found out that one person was doing quite well.
Two people had a hockey lesson.
One person went to yoga.
One person went to the grocery store, Target and the health food store.
Two people have sore throats and stuffy noses.
Zero people went to the TaeKwonDo tournament.
One person went to the hardware store twice.
Two people finally finished all of the unfinished furniture.
One person bought cheese twice.
One person had explosive diarrhea.
Three people thought that Neko Case's Middle Cyclone was awesome.
Four people went to the Normal Children's Museum.
Four people went to the ISU family swim (trick question).
One person sanded the claw marks off of the storm door.
One person packed up the winter clothes.
One person forgot to plant the bush beans.

Here are some clues:




One person doesn't take very good pictures, but can make O.K. videos.

not Blivin Santa

Apparently Joseph caused a bit of a ruckus in his kindergarten class last week. He announced that he did not believe in Santa Claus and was basically booed down by the other kids. Joseph, as I have mentioned before, is a very independent guy, and does not easily bow down to peer pressure. But he has clearly been thinking it over.
Joseph sometimes draws what we call "kinetic" pictures: rather than drawing what happened at a point in time, he draws action as it occurs. The end result of these kinetic drawings may be hard to interpret (especially if night falls, and he colors black over the whole picture). I think that in this picture, the "not Blivin Santa" character with the sword seems to have slayed the "Blivin Santa" character. Or maybe the one transformed into the other?

Used car?

Would you buy a used car from this fellow?

How about if this fellow drew you a complete guide to Creatures of Death including "Giint oktpos," "anglr fish," "giint taradaktl," "vampiyr ghost bat," "spitr," "small crab," and "babbi bug?"

Halloweenies

Am I going nuts, or has Halloween blossomed into a massive extravaganza of a holiday? It is no longer just a kids' holiday: it is a giant inflatable lawn ornament and porch-decorating holiday and a college student binge-drinking holiday, too. (In fact, ISU has moved parents' weekend to coincide with Halloween to keep the undergrads under control.)

This year costumes went on sale at the beginning of September and all of the good ones were sold out before October. I think that the idea is that if you buy costumes in advance, the kids will change their minds or ruin the costume in the intervening two months and you will have to buy another one. I tried to sell the kids on home-made costumes, but no dice. This is the first year that no one needed for me to sew them anything elaborate. Snif. Sam wanted to be Iron Man and Joseph wanted to be Darth Vader, so I bought costumes in September and stuck them in the closet for safety. Is it just me, or does Joseph look like Dark Helmet from Spaceballs?

We went to the annual Halloween Planetarium show (for a detailed description, read last year's post). Soooo corny... I was chatting with the fellow who runs the planetarium the other day and I had an epiphany--he records the cheesy audio tracks for the shows!!!

Normal has the annual Uptown Normal Treat Fest for kids to go from store to store and get candy (and coupons--what every kid wants!) But this year was insane--there were just too many people for the length of the street, so that everyone ended up gridlocked and unable to move forward, even though there was plenty of candy (and coupons!) We eventually gave up and stopped for dinner.

Joseph's school has a Halloween parade, which Danny attended. Sam's school also has a "Halloween walk-a-thon" which we didn't see.

Darth Vader makes a skeleton out of Q-tips.


After we went to the Harvest Festival, Sam asked if we could make a scarecrow. So we dipped into the discarded clothes collection, and stuffed them with plastic bags (the ones that I can't use for crocheting). However, the day before Halloween, it was (not surprisingly) stolen off of our porch. So we made another one for Halloween. Sam helped stuff it and Joseph made the mask.

Our neighborhood is awesome for trick-or-treating! There are loads of older neighbors who recall Halloween nostalgically, and stuff handfuls of candy into the kids' bags. Our neighbors also do this awesome haunted yard. Sam was a little freaked out, but Joseph spent a long time examining each of the corpses and ghouls.

We left a big bowl of candy on the porch and when we got back from trick-or-treating, although it looks like some kids helped themselves the bowl was still there! And the biggest surprise--after Halloween weekend, the scarecrow is still there, and the pumpkins haven't been smashed!

Farm day

Friday, Sam's teacher had the entire 4th grade over to her farm. This is an annual event that she has been hosting for 20 years. Anyone who went to Glenn Elementary has visited the farm, so its kind of a big deal. The farm was 40 minutes out of Normal through small, smaller and smallest rural towns, but it was worth the trip! Sam's teacher's husband grows soybeans, corn, pumpkins and cows. They also have an amazing farm dog named Diesel. We went on a hayride from the barn to the pumpkin patch and the rottweiler followed the tractor across the fields and down the highway. The first time I saw the dog go near the highway, I nearly had a heart attack, but apparently Diesel knows how to look both ways before crossing the street, and how to stay out of traffic when he is running alongside the tractor. I had no idea that a dog could actually be expected to take on that kind of responsibility, but Diesel seemed to know what he was doing.
I would suppose that farm people think that I am crazy when they see me walking Argos on a leash. Argos is like a giant subsidized baby compared to a farm dog like Diesel. I am pretty sure that Argos wouldn't survive long on a farm, what with all of his random phobias.

The kids got to pick out pumpkins: they farm grows baking pumpkins for Libby, so the pumpkins are pale on the outside, but bright orange on the inside. I think that we will draw faces on them, rather than carving them so that we can make pie.

The most surprising thing about the trip was watching Sam interacting with his classmates. From Sam's account, I had the impression that Sam didn't really have friends at school. Actually, he seemed very comfortable with the other kids and they actively included him in whatever conversations or activities were going on. Perhaps I misinterpreted his statements that he didn't have any friends at school. I think he meant that he has loads of acquaintances and "work friends," however, he doesn't have enough in common with them to pursue any deeper friendships.

We gave one of Sam's neighborhood friends a ride to the farm, and that was interesting too. His friend has an oddly mature nature--he is very self-possessed and stoic for such a little guy. After chatting with Joseph on the ride to the farm, Sam's friend casually mentioned that he had had a baby brother who had died at 9 months old. This explains why, although he occasionally likes to play with Joseph, he seems a little wistful. I suppose that he is imagining how it would have been to have his own little brother. It was eye-opening for me to realize that a kid Sam's age could have such a complex inner life. My kids have so far lead a tragedy-free existence so they mostly focus on playing and having a good time.

Apples apples apples!

Danny drove Joseph's class went on their yearly field trip to the apple orchard. Joseph had a great time. The picked apples and saw how apples were processed into cider. There was also a pumpkin patch and a playground. The kids got to sample apples, apple juice and apple donuts.



On a related note: I just drove the kids on a different field trip (we saw a play of James and the Giant Peach). I have to say that as much as I worry about Joseph's "spicy" personality, it takes interacting with other kids his age to realize what a great kid he is. I worry that Joseph's temper will get him into trouble, but his teachers have always reassured me that he does just fine in school. When I spend time with other kids, I see what they are talking about. Although Joseph is occasionally spicy, the rest of the time he is self-sufficient and competent at doing things for himself, he pays attention to the rules and is conscientious about obeying them. Joseph is also a great conversationalist: he has a lot to say about a wide range of topics and he is charming with a surprisingly entertaining sense of humor for a kid his age.

Flea boy

I think that I may have won some sort of a bad parent prize. Joseph's kindergarten class is studying insects this week and I sent him to school with a live flea in a ziplock snack bag. I don't know--I was petting the dog as I was getting Joseph ready for school and one thing led to another.

School's out

The kids have started their summer vacation, and I am worn out! We will be leaving for Baltimore and New York on the 14th, and I am trying to get as many experiments done as I can. Danny has been watching the kids during the day, but I have been coming in to work late and leaving @ 3:30 or 4. It has been really hard to get everything done in that short window of time.

Danny and the kids have been stopping by the lab to visit, which has been fun. Joseph hates walking to campus (we don't call him "lazy legs" for nothing). I had encouraged Joseph to put a bike on his birthday wish list so that we could walk places together as a family, and indeed, it has helped. Joseph rides his little Spiderman bike with the training wheels from the house all of the way into the lab. Tuesday we went to the community pool in the afternoon, and I will try to go again tomorrow. Next week, Sam is in zoo camp, although Joseph will be home. After we get back from the East Coast, Joseph starts summer session at the ISU daycare, and Sam has a variety of summer camps and activities.

More birthday pictures. Breakfast of champions: turkey bacon, croissants, eggs and strawberries!

Presents!

The end?

This week has been all about transition and nostalgia. It was the last week of school for the kids. Sam's school had lots of hoopla, awards and games. Joseph's school had a picnic, but was much more emotional because most of the kids in Joseph's class were leaving Mulberry School for kindergarten elsewhere.

The Mulberry school picnic.


Sam tested for his green belt today. He did a fine job, although he had more trouble than usual breaking his board. We all went out to Los Patrillos Real Mexican Cuisine after class, and the food was not bad at all. Kelly, who is a Master's student in in my lab and also a brown belt in Sam's TaeKwonDo class left town today. So sad! I will miss her around the lab and socially, and she is great with Sam at TaeKwonDo.

Sam and Kelly sparring


Most nostalgically, Joseph was born five years ago tomorrow. Five years ago in our little house in Riverside, I woke up at 2 in the morning with back pains every 4 minutes. After first turning on all the lights, the television and then stomping loudly around the bedroom without succeeding in waking up Danny, I believe that I may have punched him. Six-and-a-half hours later, Joseph was born. He had black eyes, dark hair that stood up like a troll, and a lump on his head. Sam wanted to have a party for him, so he got Danny to stop and buy a little cake, a balloon and corn dogs.



Videos from Sam's green belt test:
Jumping Sam

Sam doing his forms. Sam is not doing it wrong when he is out of synch--he is the only one testing for green belt, so he has different forms from the other kids.

Sam's first attempt at breaking his board. He got it after a few tries, but we didn't catch it on video.

Abraham, Martin and Me

I helped escort Joseph's class to a performance of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra yesterday. It was entitled: Abraham, Martin and Me. It was an performance devoted to celebrating Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. It was excruciating! The (white) conductor gave a long (LONG!) impassioned speech about what it would be like to be an African stolen from your family, owned, and forced into labor, and how Lincoln and Martin Luther King (Jr! she never remembered the Jr!) empowered black people. So cringeworthy. It totally took me back to my elementary school days. I specifically recall a puppet show about multiculturalism in which the puppet that represented my brand of diversity was a HORRIBLE caricature. I was mortified! It affected me profoundly that all the other kids would believe what the puppet said because it was presented to them as a lesson in school.

Throughout yesterday's performance of I kept imagining that some 6-year-old black girl (likely the only black kid in her class) was being forced to hear all of this in the presence of her white peers. And starting on the bus ride back to school, and for the rest of her life, would be aware of the curious stares of her classmates and feel embarrassed. I am sure that the conductor was well-meaning. She probably just wanted the white kids to empathize with the black experience. However, I think that this is the root of the problem: it was a lecture about black people specifically for consumption by white people. Being the subject of the empathy is like eavesdropping on people talking about you. I am sure that (WASPy) educators have no idea how it feels to be on the receiving end of such well-intentioned passion. The conductor is probably drinking some tea at home, and feeling like she did a good thing.