Another National StoryCorps Broadcast!

This morning (Friday), NPR aired a clip from an interview I facilitated back in October, between a 63-year old man, Joe Buford, and his literacy tutor, Michelle Miller. Joe lived his whole life not knowing how to read, and 3 years ago, he sought help at the Nashville Adult Literacy Council. In the clip, Joe tells Michelle about the lifelong shame he felt over his illiteracy, and the joy he felt when he discovered he was finally "getting it." To hear the story and see a picture (that I took) of Joe and Michelle, visit the StoryCorps website and look for Joe's name. Happy listening!

Cora's lost her first baby tooth!

Well, the big day finally came -- Cora lost her first baby tooth this evening! It's been wiggling for weeks, and all her messing with it finally paid off. This picture says it all -- she was ecstatic. She was a bit concerned at bedtime because she really wants to keep her tooth, but she also wants the big payoff. I told her I was sure the tooth fairy could work with her on this one. Also, Cora tells me the going rate for a "first tooth" is a whopping FIVE dollars, according to a friend at school who is in the know. That seems pretty steep to me. We'll just have to wait and see what the tooth fairy decides...

Happenings

-We all had the flu last week. It sucked. Kate and Oliver had it bad.

-Cora has her first real loose tooth. She has had several phantom loose teeth in the past, born of wishful thinking as her classmates lost their own teeth. But this one is for real--the permanent tooth is already pushing up through the gum behind it. Exciting!

-Gma Carol and Cora went out his week and got Cora a new generation of hermit crabs. She got two this time--Hermie Jr. and Shermie. We went to the pet store this afternoon and outfitted them with a larger terrarium and a nice hiding space. These crabs are biiger than Hermie the First, and we've already noticed more crab poo. We don't know if Hermie the First ever pooed at all. That might have been his cause of death.

-Oliver is starting to read. Short words of three letters basically, but he knows all the letters of the alphabet and is learning how to put them together. It has been fun to watch because it is arising from his pure joy in letters and how they sound. We're not coaching him at all. Maybe a little :)

-A few days ago I was playing with Oliver, making shapes of letters with my fingers. I tried to spell his name with my fingers, making the shape of each letter. I got all the way to "r" and couldn't get it to look right. I was trying to make a literal shape of an "r". Oliver asked, "What's that letter?" I told him what I was trying to do. He said, "This is an R", and held up the sign language symbol for "r". The rascal. Our kids are already smarter than we are. Smarter than me at least.

How did that happen?

Cora was telling me about her day at school tonight during dinner. She was proud that she just finished worksheet #8 in grammar at school. She sat for a second and sighed wearily.
"(Sigh)....Adverbs. Long pause....They describe verbs."

What?

It just didn't register in my brain for a minute that my daughter had just used the word adverb, and that she knew what it meant. Not to mention verbs. Weird. She's growing up fast.

Oops?

I gave Oliver a bath tonight. When he got out I slicked his hair back and put him in a little blue bathrobe with a duckie on it. It is just his size and adorably cute. I told him to go into the kitchen and say to Kate, "I'm Hugh Hefner."

He pranced right in and proclaimed, "I'm Hugh Hef-a-ner!" Kate laughed, Oliver cackled, and then he proceeded to say it again and again.

That's when I realized my little Daddy joke might have been a bad idea. Oliver's preschool is being reviewed by the State Board of something or other tomorrow for their licensure or accreditation. They sent home a flier with all the things that Oliver must have at school tomorrow: fruits and vegetables in his lunch, hats and mittens for the cold, etc. Obviously it's a big deal.

I can just see Oliver tomorrow, trying to win a laugh from the new strangers visiting his classroom:

"What's your name, little boy?"

"I'm Hugh Hef-a-ner!"

Back to school and stuff

Things are returning to normal after the holidays. The kids are back in school and we're both back to work.

Oliver will be three in a few weeks. It seems like he has been two forever. He is enjoying preschool. His teachers think he is a little genius because he knows the alphabet and can count to twenty. He has been playing Starfall, an online reading website, and has just soaked up his letters like a sponge. He enjoys playing with letters and making words. He can't actually spell yet; he just strings letters together and gets us to pronounce the result.

His hair is also growing into a small bush on top of his head. He has refused to have his hair cut at all over the last five months or so, only getting Gma Sally to trim his bangs (by request) one time.

Cora is back at school after nineteen days off for the holidays. She is working a lot with reading at school and some with math. She is also taking gymnastics at the YMCA and is learning new skills at a rapid pace.

We're looking at summer camps already--hard to believe. The good ones fill up fast.

Smart Aleck

Oliver said to me this morning, "Mommy, I wish our table could talk."
I said, "Why? What do you think it would say?"
Him: "Clean me."

Christmas Photos!

2007_1125_141050AA, originally uploaded by Wingates.

Click the pic to travel to Flickr...

Oliver's been so darn cute lately, Brian was about to have a conniption fit if I didn't start documenting his cuteness. Oliver's been sick, for one, which always gives my kids that endearing, helpless, cuddly quality I find so irresistible, at least most of the time. He's got some sort of viral respiratory thing -- bronchialitis is what they're calling it. He's been pretty miserable -- bad cough, fever, runny nose, labored breathing, you name it. Last night, he said to me pitifully, "Mommy, you need to change my batteries -- I'm broken."

This evening at bedtime, he had to position me just so -- my arm over his head, my shoulder by his ear, his face snuggled into my neck. I said, "You're such a sweet Oliver," and he replied, "You're such a sweet Mommy." He was just so obviously where he wanted to be, with me. As I walked out of his room, he started singing Ring Around the Rosey with his little lisp: Ring around the rosey, pocket full of posies, asses, asses, we all fall down!"

Metamorphosis is cool!

Some of you have been asking about the Black Swallowtail caterpillars Cora found last month in a neighbor's yard, named North America and South America by their doting mother. Well, within two days they'd both retreated into their cocoons, and less than two weeks later...

Mana Mana

Thanks to Aunt Mary Pat (for buying it for them), Cora and Oliver looooove the Muppet Show. And thanks to the muppets, Cora now knows who Sandy Duncan is, as well as Twiggy and Candace Bergen and Jim Nabors. Here's Cora and Oliver as they do a new take on an old muppet classic...

Phew!

Oliver started preschool two weeks ago; he's going from 9 to 3 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. He started when Kate was in New York, and the first week was fairly uneventful. I think he was in shock, and with Kate being gone his routines were all upside down anyway. When the second week rolled around he made it clear he had no intention of going to school, crying and griping all morning both days. But each day when he actually got there he settled down pretty quickly. He's been much more of a handful at home, especially with Mommy, processing his indignation at being left in a sort of love-hate-I'm going to hit you-I need your hugs kind of way. He's settling down now, it seems. He told me he didn't want to go this morning, but no tears. He made a friend last week that he's looking forward to seeing again. And his teachers have said several times that he's the sweetest little boy in the world. So another milestone reached.

Cora has been busy as well, loving school as usual. Two days ago when she got home she discovered two caterpillars in our neighbor's yard. She brought them home and we outfitted the terrarium for their use with sand and sticks and leaves. From our Internet research, it looks like they are Black Swallowtail caterpillars that will pupate soon. Cora named them North America and South America. They're both hanging on the underside of their respective branches right now, either dying or getting ready to spin their cocoons. We'll know in a few days.

The kids are growing

Cora's wall chart:




She woke up today and said "I feel like I grew last night." Sure enough, she sprouted in just the last week and a half.

Oliver's chart:

Cooler weather is comng

We enjoyed breakfast on the deck this morning, wrapped warmly in sweatshirts and long pants. The air temp was in the mid to high fifties, which felt absolutely chilly after six to seven weeks of eighty degree mornings. Fall is coming soon. We won't really have fall colors due to the drought, but these crisp mornings are one of my favorite times of year.

Kate is flying to Cincinnati in a few weeks for her first mobile StoryCorps gig. She started her Nashville training yesterday after a week of intensive training in New York last week. She's doing great, and we're both excited about the possibilities of this job. I have pestered her to blog about it a bit, but she has been too busy so far. She'll be a Nashville StoryCorps facilitator. Awesome!

Readers

I don't know how, but I somehow survived last week. Kate was in New York City training for her new job, so I was single dad, trying to take care of the kids and work.

Of course, that's not true at all. I was single dad with grandparents in town. There is a universe of difference. But even with abundant help I was frazzled by Friday.

Cora is loving first grade, as we knew she would. She is getting more confident with her reading, and has begun to discover some of the calming qualities of becoming absorbed in a book.

Oliver is also practicing his "reading." He asks me to sound out words as I read them and identify letters. Last night at bedtime we were reading an alphabet book. I made the sound of the letter:
"M...Muh...Muh."
Oliver then scanned the page and found his favorite picture...
"Muh...Muh...Rabbit."

He doesn't quite have the hang of it yet....

Copying big sister

2007_0826_091914AA, originally uploaded by Wingates.

Oliver parrots everything that Cora does. This picture caught him in the act, studying every detail of big sis, copying her walk, her hands.

Kim and Rich's first dance

The best first wedding dance ever.

Aunt Sarah explains:
Halfway through Kim and Rich's "first slow dance", the DJ stopped the song - seemingly an accident - but within moments, Rich flung off his coat and he and Kim broke into the most magnificent booty-dance that they had choreographed just for this event! Soon after, the dance floor was full of family and friends shakin' it up!

First day of first grade

Tomorrow's the big day, and Cora's ready for it. Tonight at bedtime as I told her about my first day of first grade (Brian was shocked that I actually remember it), it struck me yet again how grown up she's getting. This afternoon I took Cora and her friend Ily to the pool, and listened to them chatting away in the back seat about boyfriends and kissy games. I suppose I should be glad they weren't talking about eggrolls. I casually said that they were still a little young to be getting into all this kissy stuff, and Ily agreed, saying they should probably wait until they were thirteen, when they could get married. I almost swallowed my gum! When I reminded them that only grown-ups get married, Cora said, "OK, when I'm a grown-up I'll marry my boyfriend Ben Firestone." So much for Mommy's two cents.

But let me reel in my fast-forwarding Mommy brain -- back to the here and now, in which Cora is not getting married, but simply heading off to first grade. Brian and I are so grateful that she'll be back at Abintra this year, her first in Lower Elementary. She'll have an enclosed wooded area as her playground, a teacher who will speak mostly Spanish with the kids, and, best of all in her mind, this will be the first year she'll have field trips. Getting to sit with friends on the magical Abintra mini school bus, leaving the confines of campus for the wider world, getting that much farther away from mom and dad -- what could be finer?

Woah, Mommy, rein it in again. For now, she's still my little girl, asleep in her top bunk with a teddy bear tucked under her arm, dreaming a six-year-old's dreams and resting up for her big day tomorrow. Right where she's supposed to be.

Special needs

The days are getting shorter now. I know this because Oliver woke up at 5:30am and it was still dark outside. Like the farmer who knows when it will rain and the ancient mariner who charted his course by the stars, I grope my way through the celestial universe by my children's sleep schedules and other domestic cues. Cranky wife? Full moon's coming. Cranky me? Same.

Considering that Oliver now refuses to sleep when it is light outside, I knew I had a small window of opportunity to get him to go back to sleep. I walked in his room and he was sitting up in the dark. He'll usually take a little water and go back down. He looked at me and demanded firmly, "I want my Crocs on!"

Of course I tried to ignore his request--who sleeps in shoes? It's just not natural--but he would have none of it. It was still dark but I knew dawn was a few minutes away. So I told him to lay down and went off in search of his Crocs. It felt like Mission Impossible: Find the Crocs. Find the Crocs. Put them on his feet. He must not see the dawn or the mission is doomed. He will never sleep if he sees the light.

I found the Crocs, put them on his feet, gave him some water and tucked him in. But there was one problem. Anyone who sleeps in rubber shoes knows that they stick to the sheets. His feet kept grabbing the edges of the sheets and yanking them off his body as he tried to get comfortable. I'm thinking, stay calm. The dawn is coming. I raised the whole sheet up like a tent and let it billow down over him, covering him completely. Not satisfied yet, he protested: "I need a friend! I need a friend!" I grabbed the softest stuffed animal I could feel in the dark and placed it in his arms. With a quick good night I ducked out of the room. The sky brightened minutes later. Mission accomplished. I haven't heard a peep.