Thursday, March 13, 2014
And Then
Fans, we have so much to report and too few hours of late to report it! So though there is more yet to come, we are seizing this little moment to tell you that tonight, Joe reported that something he loved about his day was "reading books with Mommy" while Clara said she loved "showing her outfit to the girls." It was a pink, purple, and aqua tiered tulle skirt paired with an aqua Ariel waffle weave shirt. Fairly garish but that's what trends when you're three going on four. Also, we learned that Clara's favorite color is still "pinknpurple" while Joe's is "rainbow." And then there was a group hug and no one freaked out about, oh, we don't know, like someone's hair being in his face. And then Clara wanted to take one of Joe's Fly Guy library books and just did, but then when Julie said she wasn't sure Joe would be o-kay with that Clara stopped and asked and didn't pitch a fit or whine. And then when Joe said no, she just asked if she could take it tomorrow, and didn't pitch a fit or whine. And then Joe said yes!--!!!!! And then when Clara walked into her room she called out "Good night, Joe!" And then Joe called back, "Good night, Clara!" And it was like the end of a Berenstain Bears book around here!
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Lego Movie: A Joe and Ted original film
Today for quiet time, Ted decided that he and Joe should try making their own Lego movie. Joe was asked what Legos he wanted to use and he was quick to select Star Wars. So they set up a scene using a gray bedsheet on the dining room table. From there Joe selected some TIE fighter ships to use, and they dug around for some Star Wars Lego guys to use. They decided the TIE fighters would be attacking a rebel base and that Obi Wan and R2D2 would save the base. The ships selected were tied with some thread so they could be hung into the scene. We set up the tripod and ensured the whole scene would fit into the shot. Joe was able to climb a step ladder to hang the ships in the air for the battle. They made 36 frames and then off to the editing room! Ted touched up all the photos to erase the thread from the shots and did some sound editing. You have to pay attention to catch all the action, but notice at the end that R2D2 is celebrated and hoisted into the air before they fall down on each other. Enjoy this cinematic marvel here!
Monday, March 3, 2014
Getting There
Not long after the new year began, we got a note from Mrs. D that said Joe was having trouble maintaining focus, especially during large group time (also known as "carpet time" around here), and wondering if we could share what might have been observed in his pre-K days, or what we observed at home, and any strategies we had found successful in helping him manage. Well we were catching what she was throwing: Our Hero can be very in his head. For example, he sometimes wears his underwear under his swim trunks because he just forgets to take it off before putting his swim trunks on. So Julie wrote Mrs. D to say that in pre-K, his teachers chalked his absence of focus up to boredom and that perhaps, he was in fact a bit bored there over time, but that the more we observed him, the more we had come to conclude that Our Hero is just in his head a lot, and also easily overwhelmed. We shared that we tried to let him know what he needed to do, give him a lot of autonomy, and then stay out of the way, especially at chaotic junctures like leaving the house for the day and the dinner-bath-bed trifecta for two in roughly as many hours.
Fans, it was a pretty long e-mail, to which Mrs. D wrote, basically, thanks, and she'd love to talk on the phone to share some of what she was observing. Now as it turns out, she just worries her meaning won't come through in e-mails so she prefers to talk on the phone, but Fans, it was a long 12 hours or so before she said that and we were right there with her. In the meantime, Julie--the anxious one--got anxious and had to remind herself that Joe is a kind kid, with just enough of a rebellious streak to buy chocolate milk in the school cafeteria at lunchtime (he recently gleeful let this cat out of the bag--don't you love it?), who likes to read as much as he likes to, say, sled, all of which seems to suggest that he'll be someone who will be hired later on in life to do some things for which other people will cut him a paycheck, and some other people will want to hang out with, maybe catch a movie with, have a slice, grab a beer. . .
So Julie talked with Mrs. D and recognized Our Hero in all that was reported: greets Mrs. D with a hug every morning but often without all of the items he should bring into the room each morning, often the last person to get up from the carpet after large group time and then unsure where to go next because he was thinking about who only knows what, that sort of thing. Mrs. D wanted to work on it so she could push Joe a bit more academically--like challenge him to write two sentences with the words of the week instead of one. That all seemed reasonable. So the plan Julie hatched with Mrs. D had two primary components: Mrs. D would give Joe a special, secret signal when he needed to re-focus his attention (she touches her nose, Fans) and she would write a brief one or two sentence report on how things had gone each day so we could talk with Joe at home.
That was the plan, and then of course, there were only, like, nine days of school in January because of the weather and every kindergartener was unfocused. It was one step forward and two steps back for a while there. It didn't take us long to decide we weren't going to talk to Joe every day about the daily report. Instead, we visited with him about it Friday nights at the close of a week and Sunday nights at the start of another, unless he had a great day which would all ways be acknowledged on that great day.
There were some successes though and on the first day Mrs. D reported that Joe had had a good day, Julie read what Mrs. D had written aloud and then spontaneously, Julie and Joe chanted, "Yea, yea, yea! Joe had a great day!" (It so happened that it was a day when they were home alone for a bit before Ted and Birdie were also home.)
Fans, we are so proud to report that this past Friday, we had to change the chant because "Yea, yea, yea! Joe had a great WEEK!" It doesn't rhyme, but it's got a certain ring to it, don't you think?
Recently Julie was sent an article from her Dear Friend Carrie reminding her that into every life, a little failure must fall because without it, we wouldn't get to practice resiliency. It's an obvious observation, especially when made from a comfortable remove, and especially when, as a parent, you are arguably aiming to reach the point where your child can motor through life with some purpose, confidence, and decency. At a remove, you can easily acknowledge there is no better way to learn to drive--literally, and through life--than actually driving.
In practice, it is hard to reach that comfortable remove and let go. Instead, it is only too easy to see the bumps in the road and the danger ahead, and to reach over and jerk the wheel, pump the break, grip the door handle, and holler directions from the passenger seat (the back seat would be too far away), or to say, "That's enough. Get in the back. I'll take it from here."
It can be hard, too, to maintain perspective about what is most important to you as a parent. That's how Julie, at least, found herself in a momentarily tailspin about Joe's absence of focus halfway through kindergarten. It was just a hop right over his big, kind, friendly heart; and a skip right over his sort of lovely lost in his thoughts ways; and a jump right over his love of books and stories to well-but-without-that -"executive-functioning"-focus-then-he's-probably-going-to-struggle-through-the-rest-of-his-formal-education-and-then-where-will-he-be?!?!
It was hard to see that check engine light for what it was and to trust that with a pit stop and maybe an oil change, Joe was going to be running just fine.
But we're on our way again, Fans! We stashed some resiliency in the glove compartment and threw some perspective in the trunk. We're getting there.
Fans, it was a pretty long e-mail, to which Mrs. D wrote, basically, thanks, and she'd love to talk on the phone to share some of what she was observing. Now as it turns out, she just worries her meaning won't come through in e-mails so she prefers to talk on the phone, but Fans, it was a long 12 hours or so before she said that and we were right there with her. In the meantime, Julie--the anxious one--got anxious and had to remind herself that Joe is a kind kid, with just enough of a rebellious streak to buy chocolate milk in the school cafeteria at lunchtime (he recently gleeful let this cat out of the bag--don't you love it?), who likes to read as much as he likes to, say, sled, all of which seems to suggest that he'll be someone who will be hired later on in life to do some things for which other people will cut him a paycheck, and some other people will want to hang out with, maybe catch a movie with, have a slice, grab a beer. . .
So Julie talked with Mrs. D and recognized Our Hero in all that was reported: greets Mrs. D with a hug every morning but often without all of the items he should bring into the room each morning, often the last person to get up from the carpet after large group time and then unsure where to go next because he was thinking about who only knows what, that sort of thing. Mrs. D wanted to work on it so she could push Joe a bit more academically--like challenge him to write two sentences with the words of the week instead of one. That all seemed reasonable. So the plan Julie hatched with Mrs. D had two primary components: Mrs. D would give Joe a special, secret signal when he needed to re-focus his attention (she touches her nose, Fans) and she would write a brief one or two sentence report on how things had gone each day so we could talk with Joe at home.
That was the plan, and then of course, there were only, like, nine days of school in January because of the weather and every kindergartener was unfocused. It was one step forward and two steps back for a while there. It didn't take us long to decide we weren't going to talk to Joe every day about the daily report. Instead, we visited with him about it Friday nights at the close of a week and Sunday nights at the start of another, unless he had a great day which would all ways be acknowledged on that great day.
There were some successes though and on the first day Mrs. D reported that Joe had had a good day, Julie read what Mrs. D had written aloud and then spontaneously, Julie and Joe chanted, "Yea, yea, yea! Joe had a great day!" (It so happened that it was a day when they were home alone for a bit before Ted and Birdie were also home.)
Fans, we are so proud to report that this past Friday, we had to change the chant because "Yea, yea, yea! Joe had a great WEEK!" It doesn't rhyme, but it's got a certain ring to it, don't you think?
Recently Julie was sent an article from her Dear Friend Carrie reminding her that into every life, a little failure must fall because without it, we wouldn't get to practice resiliency. It's an obvious observation, especially when made from a comfortable remove, and especially when, as a parent, you are arguably aiming to reach the point where your child can motor through life with some purpose, confidence, and decency. At a remove, you can easily acknowledge there is no better way to learn to drive--literally, and through life--than actually driving.
In practice, it is hard to reach that comfortable remove and let go. Instead, it is only too easy to see the bumps in the road and the danger ahead, and to reach over and jerk the wheel, pump the break, grip the door handle, and holler directions from the passenger seat (the back seat would be too far away), or to say, "That's enough. Get in the back. I'll take it from here."
It can be hard, too, to maintain perspective about what is most important to you as a parent. That's how Julie, at least, found herself in a momentarily tailspin about Joe's absence of focus halfway through kindergarten. It was just a hop right over his big, kind, friendly heart; and a skip right over his sort of lovely lost in his thoughts ways; and a jump right over his love of books and stories to well-but-without-that -"executive-functioning"-focus-then-he's-probably-going-to-struggle-through-the-rest-of-his-formal-education-and-then-where-will-he-be?!?!
It was hard to see that check engine light for what it was and to trust that with a pit stop and maybe an oil change, Joe was going to be running just fine.
But we're on our way again, Fans! We stashed some resiliency in the glove compartment and threw some perspective in the trunk. We're getting there.
A Song in Her Heart
Birdie for her part has been coping by singing. A lot. As Ted puts it, "She sings like she breathes." She doesn't always sing recognizable songs. Instead what she does is set the running monologue in her head to a tune she makes up as she goes that often skitters into very high registers. A snippet might go, "And then I put on my sock! It is pink! It is so cozy-eee-eee--EEE!!!" It is sometimes charming, but sometimes maddening-ing-ing-ING!!! Birdie is capable of picking up the tune of a song. You can sometimes hear her singing a song and while you might not recognize what it is by the words since more than a few might be missing, you can usually recognize it by the tune.
Julie will still sometimes sing a song or two after reading books before the bambini go to bed. Julie makes up for in enthusiasm what she lacks in talent when it comes to singing. She really can't stay on key to save her life. So she's sort of waiting for the day when Clara tells her she's got it all wrong. But that'll be alright.
Julie will still sometimes sing a song or two after reading books before the bambini go to bed. Julie makes up for in enthusiasm what she lacks in talent when it comes to singing. She really can't stay on key to save her life. So she's sort of waiting for the day when Clara tells her she's got it all wrong. But that'll be alright.
Trefk
Fans! We're still here! So is all the snow that was falling when last we left you. Below are some shots of the little people next to or on top of the big piles of it. Even though it's not like the first time there have been big piles of snow here or elsewhere, there is something amazing about this winter (though not in a good way).
Joe for his part has been keeping busy making webs with blue painter's tape in a Charlotte's Web Spier-Man mash-up haze. Last weekend, the sticky blue web extended into the upstairs hallway to which he had affixed a sign reading "Trefk." Fans of the E. B. White classic might recognize this as the first word Charlotte weaves into her web: terrific. Throughout the week, Joe could be found asleep affixed to a web he made in his bed by one longer piece of tape wrapped about his ankle. This past weekend, he made a star web that involved taking every book from the shelf in his room to construct a tower of them to which he could affix the end of one long piece of tape. It's sort of trefk. Even if this winter is not trefk, or terrific.
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