Happy May

Happy May 1st to everyone. This marks Cora's last month of school and her last year at Abintra Montessori School. She has been there full time since she was two years old. It's hard to believe she is fast approaching five already. She practically spilled her cereal at breakfast when we told her she will be five in two months.

We went to a spaghetti dinner/fundraiser at the school we hope Cora will attend next year. It is a public school near us that uses an approach called Paideia. Kate has visited several times and I had my first experience there at the spaghetti dinner. The school reminds us both of our own elementary schools, back in those golden years, oh so long ago. The teachers are enthusiastic and all the parents rave about the school. Cora is 8th on the waitlist now and it looks likely that she will get in before the school year starts.

Unk!

Dan and Cora
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Uncle Dan was in town for the weekend from California, and he was treated as visiting royalty. Cora ate him up, and Oliver acted like Dan was an old pal.

Both kids seem to have an intuitive feeling for family members, even ones they haven't seen in a long time. Oliver was only a couple months old the last time Dan was here, so it was reasonable to assume it might take a little while for Ollie to warm up to Dan. Dan came right in the door and snatched Ollie up, and Oliver never missed a beat. He was ready to see Unk as if Dan hadn't been in California all this time. Both kids loved having him here, and we did too.

Lizard attack

A friend of mine posted this clip on her website. A local anchorman at a news station is doing an animal segment when a lizard decides to jump him. His reaction is priceless. Best viewed with the volume up and friends to share the laughter with.

The Parade

The parade that Kate is helping organize is picking up steam. See the webpage here. Kate's organizing partner is Ms. Booty Homemaker. Stay tuned...

On another note, Sarah got some good press in a Nashville weekly--a review of her new EP and plug for this weekend's show. Go girl!

These days

mom and 'em
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

A snapshot of the kids these days:

Cora has been on a growing jag lately. We have a growth chart of pencil marks on the kitchen wall, and she has been excited to see her progress. Her legs look like skinny girl legs now with no remnants of baby fat.

Oliver, on the other hand, waddles around like a Hobbit. His growth spurt hasn't come yet evidently. He has six teeth and we've been waiting on the next round for several weeks.

Cora has really been enjoying books on tape in the car. On our way to school and basically any time she's in the car we've been listening to the Little House on the Prairie books. We're listening to "On the Banks of Plum Creek" right now. The books have sucked us all in, and Kate and I often sneak in extra listening time when Cora's not in the car and then rewind when she is ready to listen again.

Cora's imagination has also been very active. I imagine it's related to the stories but it's impossible to say for sure. She's afraid of the dark and we check her closet several times before bedtime. Normal kid stuff. I remember thinking that someone was coming up behind me on the stairs at our house. And I was probably thirteen at the time.

Cora painted a beautiful flower with watercolors last week. I had never seen her draw a flower and then she cranks out a beautiful picture. It's amazing how fast things develop sometimes.

Our neighbors have a new puppy named Abigail--a golden labrador mix. She's only a few months old, and Cora loves her. Abigail is still learning not to bite, so Cora hasn't been over the fence to play with her much. But she stands at the fence and watches Abigail play. Cora also talks to our neighbors and yard hops in the afternoon when they're outside.

The garden is looking great and we've already harvested green onions and radishes and enjoyed some mustard greens that we thinned out. G'ma Sally is the primary gardener but Kate has been out there a lot too with the great weather.

Oliver loves being outside--he explores all over the place, swinging his arms, exclaiming merrily, pointing at airplanes and birds.

Big weekend

yellow flag
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

We had a big time Easter weekend, with lots of family time and sugar consumption. We went to Cheekwood for their annual Easter egg hunt. It was our first time there for the hunt and didn't really know what to expect. It turns out they have "hunts" in several places throughout the day. They have truckloads of easter eggs. A Cheekwood employee threw out the eggs on the ground in an open field with cut grass. So there was no "hunt"--the eggs just sat there. The kids were held at the starting line and then set loose to swarm over the grass and snatch up the eggs. It was wild. Cora had a blast.
We closed out the weekend with a nice dinner at the grandparent's house, enjoying the breeze on the deck and the absence of mosquitoes. They'll be here soon I'm sure.

This weekend should be fun as Uncle Dan (Mark's brother)is visiting from California and Sarah plays a show in town.

Love to everyone!

Easter Bunny Humor

Easter and spring are here

swinging
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

It's Easter weekend, which means Daddy doesn't have to work on Saturday, among other things. We haven't cranked up too many Easter traditions yet, but I think we'll dye some eggs this year.

It was in the upper 80s today and the trees are pushing out leaves as fast as they can to soak up the sun. Just two weeks ago there was frost on the deck in the mornings.

I took my bike in to get tuned up at the shop today. With gas at $3/gallon this summer (and maybe for the foreseeable future) it is time to explore alternative means of travel. It's only seven miles from our door to my work, but there are some treacherous stretches along the way. Tennessee drivers are not really used to sharing the road--even with other cars--so I will be taking some back ways or using the bus. Or driving, after I get home once with my skin intact and swear I'll never do that again.

Ollie's new motto

Ollie's new motto
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Anne and Grandma Carol were in town this weekend for Anne's bridal shower.

Grandma brought Oliver a great new shirt. He seems relieved that we finally understand his needs.

We're Okay!

Kate here. We've had a bit of nasty weather in these parts, as you may have heard on the news. Tornadoes passed quite near Nashville and did a fair amount of damage in some outlying suburbs, but thankfully, we didn't find ourselves in their path of destruction. Anne, Grandma Carol, Cora, Ollie and I were actually at the mall, of all places, completely oblivious of the tornado warning. We were on the upper level, en route to a store, when I happened to look down and see a man with a walkie-talkie motioning to us. He was some kind of mall security person, and was busily herding all the shoppers into an enclave of sorts under a large stairway and away from the massive skylit ceiling nearby. So there we went and there we sat, for about ten minutes or so, crammed in with a bunch of strangers on cell phones. Cora was pretty freaked out (I was too, but I had to pretend that I wasn't), but seemed to understand that we were in a safe place. Then, the walkie-talkie man said everything was clear and let us go. So what did we do? We kept shopping!

On a side note, I took Cora to an art class today at a local botanical garden and overheard a woman talking with the art teacher about the tornadoes. She actually said, "I mean, I keep thinking they'll find a way to control the weather," as if it's unbelievable that they haven't already. That's the last thing we need -- George Bush deciding, God-like, who gets the tornadoes, the wild fires, the hurricanes. Hmmm...Katrina...maybe they've already figured it out...

busy busy

wading feet
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the momentum of things and forget to stop and take a breath. We've been in that mode lately.

Things are picking up for all of us. Kate just started a part-time job from home editing the website of an online high school, Compuhigh. That is keeping her busy, along with her growing involvement with local activists here. She is organizing a Mothers Day peace rally along with another local woman in conjunction with an organization called Mothers Acting Up. The ball started rolling when Kate met with Medea Benjamin from Codepink and momentum has continued from there.

I'm working on edits for my second manuscript and will have them finished by Monday the 10th (Hallelujah Praise the Lord). In July I'll be teaching a course in Myofascial Release along with my other duties.

Cora is eagerly anticipating her spring break next week. She loves school, but the five day week can be a grind.

Oliver is doing great--no major milestones; he just stays busy eating food and growing teeth.

We went to the park on Monday and enjoyed the spring warmth. Oliver and Cora waded in the frigid creek.

Phew....

I hit "send" this morning on the second of two manuscripts. Ahh...relief. I've been hoarding my words lately.

We're all passing around a springtime cold. Cora brought it home from school and it has slowly infested the house and our sinuses.

Our hermit crab Hermie has a new roommate--another hermit crab named Abigail. Abigail is the third in a procession of now-dead Hermie roommates: Clancy and Clancy Junior never survived more than a week.

Mommy Blogger!

Hello, Kate here. It's about time I added a few of my own words to the blog, especially because Brian is so busy with his own writing these days. Cora is home sick today. She woke up three times last night, congested and delirious, looking for tissues. This morning she put on her most pitiful sick-kid face, coughed a few times, and asked very sweetly if she could stay home from school today. Even though she was laying it on a bit heavy ("My throat hurts, my eyes are watering, I've got a tummyache..."), it was obvious that she really was sick, so we agreed to let her stay home. She got this look on her face, like she was trying to maintain her pitifulness despite being overjoyed to be allowed to miss school. I remember putting on that face myself as a kid...

Fresh air

We went to the park yesterday and enjoyed the warm weather. We've all been a little stressed so it was nice to get out.

cora and ollie

cora and ollie
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

pics from the park...

Shoe Relocation Program

Kate fell prey to one of Oliver's abiding interests this morning--shoe relocation. He likes to walk around the house with a shoe in his hand. The problem is that he manages to leave the shoe in an obscure spot that takes extreme searching to locate.

His other passion is toilets. Two mornings ago Cora used the bathroom and forgot to close the door behind her. A few minutes later, as I was preparing breakfast, I heard some splashing in the bathroom. I discovered Oliver playing happily at the toilet. He had dropped a shampoo bottle in the bowl and was stirring it in Cora's pee. When he saw me, he of course said "nuh nuh nuh."

Springtime is here and the kids have been playing outside. The Bradford pears are blooming and the daffodils are blooming. It's too early for mosquitoes, so it really is one of the nicest times of the year. G'ma Sally and Kate got the spring garden started and the radishes are already sprouting.

Proof of the walker--take a look!

Here's a 30 second clip of Oliver walking.

There's also a clip from Ollie's first birthday. Enjoy!

Really walking

proof of the walker
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Today Oliver really started walking. Yesterday he still held on to a wall for support most of the time, but today he motored around without any help. Tonight before bed he walked all through the house with a huge grin on his face, clearly excited by his new skill.

We've been pretty busy here--Kate's organizing an event for code pink (women for peace) and I'm starting my second freelance manuscript of the year for a company I've written for for several years. I finished one on football last week and have a deadline for a soccer book on March 20th. If postings are scarce for a little while you know why!

Cora started her transition from the Montessori school to public school this week by going in for evaluations and testing with the public school system. She will finish out the school year at her current school and then will start public school (kindergarten!) in late summer. The public school system here has a program for (hmm...advanced...smart...precocious) kids and you have to test into it. When I was in school you got your own class of nerds to be around all the time, but here you only have one class per week with fellow smarties. It's interesting because a smart child is considered disabled here; a gifted child is technically a child with a disability. So we received a big packet for parents with disabled children. Cora finished the first round of testing and will proceed to the next phase late next month.

Cora was in a room alone with the tester while Kate waited outside. According to Cora they read books and played games and the lady asked her questions about them. Anyone who has spent any time with Cora knows how relentlessly observant she is. The evaluator scored Cora in the 99.8th percentile in the social sciences category, or her observations of the world. Afterward, as the evaluator explained the results to Kate she raised her eyebrows and said, "Clearly she observes a lot."

Oliver's Travels and the Power of No

Oliver has learned the meaning of the word "no" now, with amusing results. He likes to touch the computer power button, look up at me, and say "nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh." Yesterday morning he went into the bathroom, unspooled the toilet paper, put it in the toilet and then tried to flush. When I came in--"nuh nuh nuh nuh." He went behind the chair to the power outlet yesterday--"nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh." He's obviously watching and learning.

He's walking in bursts, usually from one "station" to another a few feet away.

Kate and I just finished watching the movie "What the Bleep Do We Know" last night. Highly recommended grist for the mill.

Cora and Leo

Cora and Leo
Originally uploaded by Wingates.

Cora and Leo spent some time in the snow last week while we stayed at G'ma and G'dad's house. Leo is a neighborhood dog with a great personality and impeccable timing. He always knows when dinner is being served.

We finally found a good contractor here in Nashville. Cora's bathroom looks great and the new wall in the bedroom is perfect. I thought we would grieve for a while over the loss of our large bedroom, but the new wall is so well done that it feels like we added space to the house. Double doors open up the wall, so it still feels spacious. Oliver now has his own room and it's very cozy. We still need to paint one of these days but all the dust is gone and we're back into the routine here.

Staying with the parents was a revelation for us. We just had the best week at the grandparents' house, and it's a great reminder of how much we have to be thankful for--in this case, the power of family and loving support. Cora and Oliver are surrounded by an extended family that loves them to pieces. From the beginning Cora has always had a strong bond with her relatives, even those that we only see once a year or so. Living together under their roof for one week felt natural and lighter. We watched Olympics together like my family did when I was young. It's hard to go back to the nuclear unit.

Oliver's really starting to walk now after a few weeks of mostly crawling again. He staggers around like someone's holding his ankles, usually four or five steps and then plop on the butt again.