The Gamble Life

What happened to June?

Wow.  I don't know what happened there (well, really I do) but June just about disappeared in a puff of smoke.  The last few days in Durham were a complete sprint:  the last sock madness sock pattern was released (I didn't win; I just couldn't devote the time to it that it required because of the move); Gus' best friend went to Italy for the summer and a lot of Gus' moving anxiety really came to the front because of that (things got much easier after he was gone, actually, so it worked out for the best); Gus graduated from the children's house level of Montessori school and will be heading to elementary next year; and I packed the whole house (with some considerable help from Chris and my mother-in-law). 

It was exhausting.  Things that completely fell by the side?  My project 365; I don't believe I took even one picture in three weeks there, knitting, and cooking. In the middle of all that Abe fell head first out of my car onto the pavement and gave himself a huge goose egg plus gash that has now turned into his first scar, on his forehead, sadly, and I had to say goodbye to my good friend Sarah, my other knitting friends, school friends, and playgroup friends.

Of course, the closer the move got the more we all turned to look forward at what we were getting instead of backwards at what we were losing.

When our tenant really and truly moved out (we've had some trouble with him the last year) it was pretty much cause for celebration!  I was terrified of having to move in with one of our parents.

Then we flew and drove to Austin, had our entire truck full of stuff dumped in our house and had to unpack, get used to the heat (oof!) all over again, keep unpacking, get the kitchen stocked, and so on.  We also got a great visit from one of my best friends, her husband, and two of their daughters--it was so wonderful to see them that it totally made it worth it to interrupt the settling in for visiting.  Unfortunately, since we've gotten here Chris has flown to Philadelphia for work every week, all week.  This obviously meant he wasn't here to do any unpacking, but way more important than that, it meant Abe was really seriously worried about where his Daddy was.  So poor Abe has been feeling insecure and unsettled until this past long weekend when Chris was here longer and we finally settled into a routine and I started cooking a lot more again.  (Eating out is great; I love it, we all love it, but done too frequently and I find it is very unsettling to the family routine and to the kids.)  Thankfully he's started napping again--I was about to lose it when I thought he was going to refuse to nap anymore.  Not ready for that!

We're so happy to be back in our old home, with it's giant playroom.  Here are the boys at one of two art and project tables we have set up:

I'm so happy to be back in this blog space again too!  Gus and I have a really exciting project we're working on that I can't wait to share with you.  We've taken a more laid-back approach to "camp at home" this summer because the move added so much stress and grandparents want to spend lots of time with the kids (and vice versa), but we still have some good plans.  We've all been reading a ton (desperately seeking more book ideas for a six year old who reads at the level of a third or fourth grader but needs books with a maturity level for a first grader--nothing too scary or too serious!), doing lots of math, enjoying a bunch of new games, and playing lots of baseball; oh, and new pets!  I'll share it all soon.

Baby Days

So the other day I read a really great book, The Host by Stephanie Meyer (yes, that Stephanie Meyer, the author of Twilight et al).  It's science fiction, but also a really human story and just very compelling to read.  I recommend it.  I was so into the book that at one point I had given Abe a snack and I knew he was doing something with it that I wouldn't ordinarily let him do but I just didn't care because I had to keep reading.  And what was little Abe doing?  Filling my bag with cheese, of course.  And taking it out, and putting it back, and so on.  He was really happy doing this!  I got to read a lot of pages!

It was, however, the last straw for my trusty and well-used diaper bag/purse.  Chris gave me this bag when Gus was just born and I carried it for three years with him, and almost two years with Abe.  The piping was coming apart, it had grime on the inside that just wasn't budging and I had already realized that it would be all used up as soon as Abe potty trains.  (It's a BIG bag--marketed as a travel bag--so perfect for carrying the many changes of clothes you need when a little one is learning to use the toilet reliably.)

After the cheese incident though it's retirement date had to be moved up.  Now I love bags, and I love shopping for and buying and using new bags, so this wasn't exactly heartbreaking.  Except that in a little way it was.  Somehow, giving up this diaper bag and buying a smaller, somewhat cuter but probably less utilitarian bag, made me really sad.  Abe is my baby and he isn't a baby at all anymore.  He'll be two in less than a month and he can and does so many, many things all on his own now. 

I am not at all comfortable with being done with the baby stage of my life.  I feel like I waited my whole life to get here and it's over in a flash.  I'm not saying it's all roses and sparkles, lots of it is really hard, but it is also really great, and for me, it is the one thing I always wanted and never changed my mind about.  And now it is probably over and that is heartbreaking for me.

I don't know if we had one more whether I would feel this way when that baby was turning two, or if I'd feel okay with it.  Right now, I think one more would feel complete to me the way two feels incomplete, but who knows, maybe this is just the way it sometimes feels when your baby days are over.  I'm going to keep hoping Chris changes his mind though, even if I'll feel exactly the same way again.

Gus Eats A Pear

Or tries to anyway!  Poor kid has no teeth.

Road Trip!

So our friends (the Duke basketball fanatics) happened to have two extra tickets to Saturday's ACC Tournament and offered them to us!  We enthusiastically said yes, packed ourselves up in a hurry, and hit the road to Greensboro.  We had such a wonderful day!  Chris and Gus went to the games while Abe and I went to the Greensboro Children's Museum, which was a very nice museum.  I think Abe really enjoyed the market.

He ran right over and climbed into the train, and sat down with this little girl who seemed a bit nonplussed by the uninvited visitor to her tea party.  I think Abe went over there because he was thirsty and thought she really had something to drink because after a couple of minutes he brought a teapot and teacup from the table over to where I was sitting and gave them to me to pour him a drink.

There was also a special Hot Wheels race track set up by some true Hot Wheels enthusiasts and collectors.  These guys were also giving all the kids several cars; Abe chose five (!) to bring home and share with Gus and I think they would have let him take even more.

Living as I do, in a hobby glass house, what with my 90,000+ yards of yarn, fabric I purchased almost twenty years ago and hundreds and hundreds of dollars spent on paper for my wedding, I will not be disparaging these collectors hobby at all.  But I absolutely have to share that these guys told me they owned upwards of 30,000 Hot Wheels cars!  All in their original packaging of course!  In fact, that is why they had so many to give away.  Apparently Hot Wheels knows its collecting audience and offers several times a year very special collectors cars that cannot be purchased but instead can only be acquired by mailing in the cardboard backing from 20 cars.  So these guys go buy 20 Hot Wheels cars, open the packaging to get the special car, and then donate all the opened cars to the club to give to kids at special events like this one.

But the absolute highlight of the museum for my little mailman fan was the absolutely real-life mail truck!  When I pointed it out to Abe his eyes lit up, his arms stretched out, and his little feet started moving him right across the room.  He was so excited!

We ate lunch at some locally loved and famous hot dog stand that I thought was gross, but my guys loved.  We ate dinner at a very nice and tasty restaurant that obviously preferred adult customers but tolerated us nonetheless.  Chris and Gus got to watch a very exciting and close Duke game and have that cool experience of going to the tournament.  Oh, and I looked through the windows at a very nice yarn shop, but didn't go in or buy anything!  Yay Maya!

It was a wonderful day, impromptu and fabulous!  The cherry on top, for me, was that on the drive there I finished my Sock Madness IV socks, and using my iPhone (which I love even more now) I took a picture, uploaded the picture to flickr, sent an email, and got officially recorded as finishing.  Also, even though my entire first day of knitting on these socks was a waste because of various technical issues, I still finished them only four days after the pattern was released and I was in the top 20 finishers!

Here's that iPhone picture, plus me wearing them earlier today:

52:365

My cousin Sofia and her new husband Derek.  It was a beautiful wedding.  Abe and I flew to Austin for a crazy 40 hour visit so I could go to the wedding.  Gus and Chris had a fun boys' weekend in Durham with bowling, eating out, and general "mom's not here" kind of stuff.

I have, that I know of, eleven cousins and Sofia is the one I am closest to.  She's 10 or 11 years younger than I am and way cooler, but I always have a good time when we hang out.  Derek seems wonderful, and certainly he showed excellent taste in choosing a wife!  During the vows he said "in richer, and in most likely poorer" -- how can you not like that?

Another Great Year

Chris' birthday was last week--unfortunately we didn't get to celebrate it (yet) the way we had planned because our babysitter didn't want to get stuck at our house all weekend by the snow.  We did still try to make it a birthday weekend for him...and made this cake.

Now you may be wondering if we have mice or if I do some strange taste-testing...but what actually happened is that I set them out to cool and then went to do some laundry.  While I was in the laundry room folding I noticed that Abe was making such happy and contented noises, no screams of frustration or calls for "Mama"...I should have been worried because this isn't my first time with a 20 month old but instead I was just glad he was playing happily alone.

And he was, happily eating cake!  He'd found a stool and scooting it all the way across the room so he could reach the cake and was happily shoveling it into his mouth as fast as he could.  We just piled on the icing and it all worked out, but I'm thinking this kid won't sit at a table for an entire meal before noticing the ice cream shake the way Gus once did!

Knitting Connections

This is Gus, working on his knitting.  He learned to finger knit at school, and really enjoys that because (I think) it is simple and very relaxing.  But I also taught him how to knit using needles (and to purl) and he's pretty good at that too.  They are also working on knitting at school now too.  But sometimes we sit together and each work on our respective knitting projects.  Obviously I love the chance to do something I love and spend time with Gus at the same time.  But I also hope that even if he doesn't continue to be a knitter later in his life, that he'll remember getting to sit and do something I love with me.  Often parents are the ones who do what their kids enjoy, even without too much of their own interest (anyone who has played with wooden trains for hours and hours can commiserate I'm sure) and thereby find a way to be interested in the activity through their child.  I think knitting is little bit like that in reverse for Gus, he wants to knit because I love to knit so much so he wants to see why I like it and he wants to spend time with me.

He's also knit a few presents; art knitting I think you'd have to describe it, rather than functional.  I hope he continues to enjoy it, even if he takes a long break, just by learning now he'll find it easier to re-learn later if he decides too.

This is going to be a special wedding present for my cousin, in just three weeks!

Great Day at the Butterfly House

We were at the Butterfly House and the Museum of Life and Science on a warm day and it was one of those lucky days when we find a butterfly who is new, dying, or "friendly."

I even caught a copycat shot of the picture I took two years ago!

What a difference two years makes!  Same kid, same personality, but so different at the same time.

Obviously we take birthday celebrations pretty seriously, but I have been wanting to do something more meaningful to mark the boys' birthdays, especially Gus since he is older.  Or maybe to mark some of them more.  I remember when I turned sixteen and my dad took me out to a fancy hotel lobby for a drink (I did not have an alcoholic drink, just a regular drink, but the atmosphere was fancy) and gave me my first fountain pen.  It was really great and I felt very grown up.  Maybe it's too soon for this kind of thing, but I do want to think about it for the future.  What do you do to mark birthdays?

Turning Six

Gus turned six this October, but first, I found these bowls at a thrift store for only 75 cents each!  They are the perfect size and shape for Abe to have soup or yogurt, and they are also becoming my favorite bowls for salsa.  I love them!

I can barely believe that I haven't posted about Gus' amazing birthday party at my mom's house (he also had a birthday party here in Durham that was pretty fun too).  It was pirate themed and as usual she went all out!  This is just the cake!

She sewed Gus a pirate costume which he wore at the party.  We also gave all the kids pirate bandannas, tattoos, good hoop earrings, and the option for mustaches.  They all got dressed up as they came in but kept the costumes on to varying degrees.

Gus loved it though and kept his entire costume on the whole time.  I made a buried treasure scavenger hunt for the goody bags (which were treasure chests filled with pencils, stickers, a parrot cookie, pirate erasers) and this is Captain Gus reading one of the clues.

They had so much fun that I think we should do a hunt at every party, regardless of theme.

Abe enjoying his cake right on the floor.  The cake was a huge hit.  It was so elaborate that I got to ask each child "which part do you want?" and they could say "the ocean" "the sand" or whatever.  It was really fun.

Gus' party in Durham was at the bowling alley and I didn't take any pictures, but the kids had a fantastic time.  I made a cake too, although nothing as impressive as the pirate cake, I still thought I did a pretty good job.  The bowling alley staff was very impressed.  Gus decided where the candles and the little balloon and swirly candies went.

Of course I couldn't just give the bowling alley goody bags away...so I made these little fabric bags and filled them with pencils & stickers and snickers bars!  I thought they came out so cute.  The bags I bought at Michaels, in packs of 5 for $5 and then I used Wonder Under to iron the applique to the bags.  I did not sew around them because it would have taken forever, so eventually they'll most likely peel off, bu the bag will still be good.

Turning six is about a lot more than just parties and cakes and presents.  Gus really does seem (most of the time) so much more grown up than he used to.  One of the things we do at a birthday is add a new responsibility and a new privilege.  This year, Gus and I talked it over and decided his new responsibility is to clean out and put away all the items in his lunch bag every day and to clear his place at the table (including picking all the food he drops everywhere) and put everything in the dishwasher or the sink as appropriate.  So far he is doing a good job.  I still have to remind him most days, and in fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that he forgot to do his lunch box tonight which means that he'll have to hand wash his thermos and glass tomorrow morning since it won't have gone through the dishwasher.  But on the whole he does it all and without complaining, so that is nice.

The new privilege has been really hard to settle on.  First we said it would be going to see a movie occasionally, but honestly, he is not that interested in going to see a movie.  And, it requires that I go and watch it first (unless we get a dvd, then I can just watch it in advance at home) because the kids movies I see don't strike me as appropriate for kids!  We (Chris and I) just watched Up last night and it was not appropriate for a six year old in my opinion.  It was far too sad, too mean, and too violent.  I would love to have his new privilege be going places, like across the street to the field by the water easement, alone when he wants to but I'm anxious about that.  So we tentatively settled on the movies, but we haven't gone to one yet so I'm still trying to think of something better.  If you've got a good idea for me let me know.

Gus is a really great kid--loving, goofy, stubborn, smart, silly, sensitive, frustrating, and adorable.  I am so incredibly lucky to be his mom.

Gus & Sports

Saturday was Gus' last soccer game of the season.  This was his first time playing soccer and from my perspective he found it somewhat difficult to get into the groove of it.  Part of it was just that he really didn't know the rules of the game, hadn't seen anyone else playing the game (except for recess soccer, not really the same thing), and obviously hadn't played himself.  And, as it turns out, we joined a team that the majority of the members had been together for two years already. 

His coaches were great though--very encouraging and they did not emphasize winning, which is good because they maybe, maybe won one game, but I'm pretty sure they didn't actually win any.

Frustrating for me was that Gus would so often not pay any attention to the game at all.  He would beg to be goalie and then spend his time facing away from the field fiddling with the ties that keep the net on the frame.  It was a lesson for me to not yell at him, but just to remind him before hand to pay attention and then let him learn, or not, on his own.

At the last game though, he did have some good plays including this save:

Of course later in the same game he managed to get his foot completely tangled in the net (not while saving a ball or anything, just because he was sticking his feet through the net) and needed help getting free from his coach.

I've also struggled because this team has it's share of boys (and yes, it's only the boys on the team doing this, not the girls) telling other kids they aren't good or knocking other kids over or otherwise doing things that are mean or verge on mean.  Gus was definitely on the receiving end of some of this, but it's so hard to tell from a distance whether he was on both ends, whether the kids were having fun pushing or what.  At least one time Gus was really upset and couldn't get a little boy to stop bothering him so I had to go and talk to Gus about what he could do, and tell the other boy to cut it out.

But whenever I asked Gus always said he enjoying soccer, he wants to play again in the spring, and he likes the kids (mostly).  He always took off from the car, leaving me and Abe to trail behind him, and ran all the way to practice or a game; he always wanted to go.

An interesting thing happened that helps me relax about his playing sports.  It happened after the last game, when the kids were gathered prior to the trophy ceremony.  All the kids were yelling about how many different trophies they have at home and Gus was just looking around and quiet.  My first thought was that he was feeling bad because he only has one trophy at home (from T-Ball), but almost at exactly the same time that I thought that he broke out in a big grin and yelled "I have one trophy!  This is my second!" and it occurred to me that rather than feeling inadequate, left out, or bad, maybe he was just figuring out how he was supposed to be behaving.  And then, when he figured out what all the kids were doing, he joined right in, really happy and confident.

That I think, is what I am most glad he is getting from being on these teams.  It's a completely different experience for him than school is (especially since he attends a Montessori school), completely different than a playdate, or the friends he's had his whole life in Austin.  It's rougher and causes me more worry, but it's giving him a chance to experience social mores he is unfamiliar with and figure them out and decide for himself if he wants to participate in them.  And I do believe he is exercising judgment because he also told me, after a run-in with a bigger boy, "Those big boys are all the same, they always ask you how old you are first.  They think being older makes them special.  They are crazy."

Of course, if he learns to love organized sports I think that will be a big plus too.