What I like about Alex's school

I'll be honest, I worried a bit about Alex's school. Of course my darling is above average, as are all kids in Lake Wobegon, and the first week of homework - tracing letters A and B and the number 1 - incited a bit of over-dramatic heart palpitations and I called the teacher to set up a meeting.

I am so glad I didn't let the concerns fester. It turns out the homework is not at all indicative of the work they are doing during the day. The kids have already started writing and reading, they are learning about characters and plot and comparing stories. They start science next week and will learn about the water cycle. In addition, her teacher was happy to give her first grade homework (the first grade teachers are more than willing to share) and if it turns out to be necessary children can go to a first grade class for any specific subject where they are particularly accelerated while staying with their peer group for the rest of the day. Children who finish their work quickly are encouraged to help other children who aren't mastering the material as quickly.  In sum, it is every single thing I could have hoped to hear.

And, although Alex still misses her friends from Russia and tells me so, she also tells me she's made a new best friend. She's only in her third week of school! This is going to be a good year.

Reusable Sandwich Bags

In preparation for school and knowing Alex will eat nearly nothing of the hot lunch options, I asked my mom to pick up some reusable sandwich bags (thanks mom!). My mom likes to shop. She really, really likes to shop. So, in the end we have a plethora of bags from 3 different companies. I've now had a couple of weeks to use the bags and figured now was a good time to review them.

Lunchskins: These are made from a tough canvas, sailcloth-like fabric. Very sturdy. I like the simple designs and the space for writing a kid's name. However, the wonderful tough cloth makes it a little hard to turn them inside out, which I like to do to ensure a thorough washing.


ReUsies: These are hands down my favorites. They are more cloth-y than either of the other brands, which makes washing them easier. They are roomier than either other brand too - the snack size is almost as big as the sandwich size of the PlanetWise. Plus, they have 2 vertical strips of velcro for the closure so that whatever size ends up in the bag, you can wrap or double wrap so it fits just right. Both other brands have the one horizontal velcro closure.


PlanetWise: These were the cutest, I love the little owls. Unfortunately, these are also the smallest and seem to have shrunk a bit even though I always hand wash them. This means that I can't put in a full sandwich unless I use a loaf of homemade bread, which is a good deal smaller than the commercial brand we like.

Alex update (final)

Almost a year after it all began it has finally ended! Alex had her last dose of medicine around the end of August. So far there has been no coughing, no heartburn. She has even gotten to eat french fries and pizza. I think this crazy saga is finally, finally put to bed.

Of course, now Zoltan's got mysterious runny nose. He's probably got allergies, and his adenoids are probably enlarging while I type. Can't have it all!

A declaration of adverse possession

One of the fun things about law school and lawyering is learning about arcane facets of the law. For no particular reason I have always loved the law of adverse possession, by which a person can become the owner of property by simply using it, openly, continuously, exclusively (acting like they own it) hostilely to the deed owner, for 21 years. I have always wanted to adversely possess property.

Our cabin has a right of way over the piece of property that abuts the road. My rant about the people who own that property will be saved for another time. What I will say is that Terry and his dad mowed that property for the very first time all summer back in September (we regularly mow the piece that is our right of way). Since then we have let the kids play freely on it whenever we are at the cabin.

I need to do more research, but I learned at a CLE recently that somewhat recent caselaw states clearly that simply mowing the property is enough possession to count in Pennsylvania.

I am hereby declaring that September 2013 is the month in which we began to adversely possess this piece of property. Check back in 2024 whether it's ours!

A conversation between foreign service folk would have gone differently...

This week I met a neighborhood mom at the bus stop. We were chatting. I asked her some question, not relevant to the post, and her reply was "I don't really know. I haven't lived here that long." So I asked when she moved.

"We've been here three years."

My jaw dropped. Of course, in the foreign service if you've been somewhere for three whole years you are (1) the resident expert on everything and (2) probably leaving next week.

Life is different for other Americans, I think.

Public Service Message

When the home inspector sent us his report, prior to our purchase of the house, one of the items he noted was that the railing was just the right width for a child to get its head stuck. When we went into the house for the first time, we noticed it was the original railing - meaning, at least one family had already raised children here. We put it out of our minds.

Today Zoltan was having a snack and I went to the bathroom. I heard him trying to talk to me and called out he can wait, because of course there's not much one can do from the bathroom.

When I came out ... his head was stuck in the railing. I tried gently easing it back out and couldn't find a way that moved his head through without it hurting him. He was starting to panic so I calmed him down, told him to just hang on (luckily the position wasn't too uncomfortable) and asked my good friend Mr. Google what to do.

This lovely blogger had the solution:
http://chicmommy.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-safely-remove-child-stuck-in.html

So, for anyone out there who needs to know: at least through age almost-4, the head is still the largest part of the body. I managed to help him ease his arms through, then the torso, then I picked him up and the legs easily came around the bend from the other side of the railing. And he's learned his lesson - no more sticking his head through the railing!! 

First day of sadik!

Today did not go as well for Zoltan as yesterday went for Alex :-(  He didn't want to leave mommy. The good news, if it can be described as such, is that he stopped yelling for mommy within a minute of me leaving (the kids were all playing outside and I went inside to put his stuff away so I could still hear everything).

Let's hope this turns out like detsky sad did for, well, both kids, where they clung to mommy at drop-off but didn't want to leave at pickup. And I am now doubly glad we decided to have him in part time now so it wouldn't be such a shock when he goes full time when I start working.

First day of school!

Today was Alex's first day of school. Boy was she excited! I love how excited she was. We walked to school and got there way earlier than we needed to be there (although we were in good company for that) and got to hang out with the other kids and parents from her class. We stayed entertained by noting the various characters or color combinations on other kids' clothes or backpacks. Kindergarten parents were permitted to walk our kids to class and hang out during the introductory routine, variously snapping photos and video of our little cherubs, until the loudspeaker alerted us that our presence was no longer desired in the classrooms. Good work - lay it on the administration not the teachers.  I approve.

Alex came home just as excited as she left. She rode the bus home - her decision. She had great fun today and referred to the different children she interacted with by the color of their shirts. We agreed she would try to remember one child's name each day.

And - my highlight - Alex described the color-coded behavior chart employed by the teacher.Everyone starts off on "green" and can move up to purple and finally blue. Misbehavior drags you down to yellow and finally orange. Guess who was the only child at blue at the end of the day? Yeah.

Zoltan can't wait til it's his turn to ride a bus and go to school.

Photos will be added when Terry edits them. Sigh.
[edited to add photos]

Farmers Market

Yesterday we managed to get the kids' bikes ready for use. Then, of course, Alex wanted to ride her bike immediately. She put on her bike helmet and on it stayed for a good half hour, until we told her it had to come off because we had to run an errand in the car (getting the Subaru titled in MD). When we got home we also remembered the Rockville farmer's market on Saturday mornings and quickly came up with the plan that, we thought, would cover all bases.

We grabbed some snacks and water, bags, the wagon, Alex's bike, and some bungee cords. Some SNAFUs along the way: Alex decided she didn't want to ride the bike after 2 blocks and the first few attempts of bungee didn't pan out; the route we walked ended up involving a massive detour as there was no way to cross 355 at the point where we reached it. But we got the hang of things.

Some thoughts on the farmers' market. In my previous experience - entirely in Pennsylvania - farmer's markets are a place to buy your produce directly from the farmer, where you can chat with the farmer, find out where the farm is and what their practices are and - most importantly for the consumer - pay a discounted price due to the cutting out of twelve layers of middlemen. Not here. Goodness, the prices are crazy high. Like the cheapest items cost around grocery store levels.

Not that it stopped us from buying, of course, because the stuff was local and largely if not entirely organically grown.

And then we saw them. The Amish/Mennonites who came down from Pennsylvania to sell their pork, lamb and who knows or cares what else to the Marylanders. Pennsylvania lamb!! Terry and I started concocting the recipes on the spot. It will involve creating rosemary infused olive oil with fresh rosemary that is flourishing in our yard next to the sadly dying mint (what the heck? We once experienced a pot of mint living 2 months in a storage unit. I am very disappointed in this wimpy specimen). So, we will be back with the insulated grocery bag and some ice packs. Cookies sweetened the walk back, as well as the slight down incline that let Alex ride her bike a good portion of the way.

To finish the day, we grilled our antibiotic-laden, forcibly-grain-fed supermarket beef with pesticide-and-GMO-free corn and roasted some local potatoes covered in parsley from our garden. We paired it with beer from Utah (which gives me such a kick) and it happens to be organic too although I didn't notice that when I bought it. It was a good night.

Pictures on the wall

With all the moving we do, it becomes relatively easy to develop an understanding of what I need to be settled, comfortable, feeling like "home".  For me, no matter what's in the house or not, how much is unpacked vs. strewn across the floors, a residence is finally home when we hang the pictures on the wall.

Today is that day.

Hallelujah.