Stay-cation*

The kids were out of school this week for winter break, and I desperately wanted to go on vacation. I knew that Jamison would have been gone for a week and that the winter would be at the peak of the it's-never-going-to-end feeling (and our landlord said that he would remodel our bathroom if we could get out of the apartment for a week). But we couldn't "afford" to go out of town, so instead my mom came to visit us. I knew we could make staying home for the break enjoyable with all that NYC has to offer. And we did!

Here is a survey of what we have done since Dad has been gone: We went to a bowling birthday party. We went to the Bronx zoo, Central Park zoo and the NY Aquarium. We went to a marionette puppet show of Sleeping Beauty. We saw South Pacific on Broadway (not the kids). I had a day to myself of reading, writing, and a little shopping. I had a date with a girl friend at a French restaurant and enjoyed cheese fondue. We ate pizza, Egyptian food, Indonesian food, pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and pizza. (I'm looking forward to healthy home-cooking again.) We had lots of other fun things planned, but the kids often opted for train tracks and princesses and play at home. And today the kids are at the Staten Island Children's Museum without me :) Oh, and did I mention that we spent $600 in parking tickets and towing fees yesterday from illegally parking Uncle Marshall's car? What fun. There is a reason I don't own a car...

So our time at home didn't end up saving us much money. I guess we'll have to find a way to "afford" our stay-cation...we hadn't factored in the $600 parking spot. Hidden costs will get you every time. Maybe next time we'll just fork out the money for the plane tickets!

Oh, well. At least Daddy comes home tomorrow!!!!!!!
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*A staycation (or stay-cation, or stacation) is a neologism for a period of time in which an individual or family stays at home and relaxes at home or takes day trips from their home to area attractions. Staycations have achieved high popularity in current hard economic times in which unemployment levels and gas prices are high. (from Wikipedia)

Be My Valentine

The kids and I watched Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown yesterday to celebrate Valentine's Day. I thought it would get them in the mood to make their valentines for their classmates. It ended up being not so celebratory...both kids wept when Charlie Brown did not get a valentine from any one during a school party. And they continued to cry as Charlie Brown faced more disappointment. Do you think they might be a little emotional with their dad out of the country? Although, I had forgotten how cynical and depressing Charlie Brown can be. But still, weeping over it? Poor kids. They started the Valentine's "spirit" with a fear of forgetting a friend's card and a nervousness about receiving cards from others.

I have to admit that I was a little nervous myself. Arthur has attached himself to two girls in his class. They are his "best friends" and he thinks about them and talks about them often. But it has become painfully obvious that the feeling is not mutual. Play dates have ceased. He was not invited to their well-attended birthday party. And then there are the general looks of disinterest and even annoyance. Ouch. It has been painful to know what is (probably) going on while Arthur is oblivious to it. Although I certainly hope that he remains oblivious and doesn't get his sweet heart hurt by them. I couldn't help but think of him when Charlie Brown was so sad. Thankfully there was no drama at school today.

It should come as no surprise that we have the reverse situation with Adaline. The aforementioned J*** loves our daughter. He brings her a drawing or card or little present almost every day. When she walks into class in the morning, he lights up. Then he runs to his backpack to retrieve the gift of the day. He is an absolute sweetheart (and strikingly resembles Arthur in many ways). She definitely has an affection for him and occasionally draws him a picture, but there is no doubt that she will disappoint him eventually. I cringe every time I think about her making him sad. But I can't figure out how to tell her to treat him well, but also not to reciprocate an unhealthy dependent friendship. She's only 4 years old!

Of course, I am without a valentine this year. My husband is 7,000 miles away. (I won't be able to talk to him either--he's taking a little plane to Lalibela in northern Ethiopia this weekend. He said something about riding a donkey up a mountain. Love it!) The good news is that my mom is coming to the rescue tomorrow, so that is my valentine's gift. Thanks, Mom!

Dad took the camera on his trip so we will have no new pictures while he's gone. The kids and I took these goofy pictures before he left so that we could send him a surprise. But he hasn't had internet access so far. We'll send him a surprise anyway, just in case he get a peek at a computer...from his donkey :)...I miss you, valentine!

Ice Skating

The kids have been begging to go ice skating, and we finally went. We started them off in normal blade skates, which were a LOT of work. I can barely stand up myself, so it was quite a challenge to get them to skate with us. Quickly we moved to double-blade skates, which were super fun for the kids. They were able to be independent, but weren't really skating...just sort of slowly gliding along. They could have done that all day, if only Mom had double blade skates. It felt like some one was stabbing daggers into my feet and ankles. Very painful!The kids started off pretty confident when they could balance and walk around easily before we hit the ice.


These pictures are by the lake next to the ice rink, which are all in our park. Today we had to say goodbye to Daddy for 16 days. He is traveling to Ethiopia with our church on a medical missions trip. The kids are very excited that their dad gets to go to Africa to "help people." We will miss him a lot!

Special Fridays

I am enjoying my kids so much these days. I'm not sure if it is their age or their interests...or if I'm settling into parenthood in a new way. Whatever it is, it's fun! Part of the fun is their independence and their ability to initiate and maintain play without intervention from me. So I get to observe and reflect on my kids rather than constantly entertain. Now they can actually enjoy one activity for 2 hours. TWO HOURS. This afternoon they spent 2 hours drawing pictures and taping them all over our apartment. I was busy cooking and barely spoke to them the whole time. What a change from the past 4 years of feeding and changing diapers and breaking up fights and rarely freeing myself from the floor of toys just to go to the bathroom. Now I'm experiencing the fruit of having twins as they play together and really enjoy each other (most of the time).

We have inaugurated "Special Fridays" this month. I surprise the kids with some fun activity in celebration of a good week at school (or simply a completed week in Adaline's case, who is still struggling to understand that she is not in charge of her class). I give clues along the way as they try to guess the activity. Today they had 2 surprises: #1 Uncle Marshall, who surprised them on the train platform and #2 the Natural History Museum. Adaline sketched most of the time and Arthur asked "why" most of the time. They experience the world so differently. I love my little artist and scientist!

Sledding!

Today was a fun, fun day sledding with friends. The highlight was the "train" that we formed with all 8 of us on 3 sleds. It took a few trials, but we finally made it all of the way down the hill without turning over. I wish we had it on video--everyone around us must have thought we were crazy. I'm proud to say that the adults had just as much fun as the kids.



And it wasn't too cold. 14 degrees gives you up to 1 hour of sledding, but 34 degrees allows for many hours in the snow. (Except Mom's feet were pre-frostbitten and the kids bath turned cold once their freezing bodies entered the warm water.) But it was totally worth it!

Brrr, it's cold outside

Winter is here and it takes creativity to prevent hibernation in our household. We spent Jamison's last day off at the NY Aquarium by Coney Island. You get to alternate between warm tanks inside and cold viewings outside. We also had authentic Russian food in Brighton Beach, a neighborhood that has the appearance of being transported directly into Russia (all Russian language signs and all Russian-speaking people). Arthur loves a Russian dumpling and Adaline appreciates the Ukrainian sausage. Today we had a fun (but short) sledding day in the snow. We could only stand the low temps for an hour. Tomorrow is supposed to be a high of 14 degrees. Yikes!
This sea lion gave our kids nice juicy kisses that were not caught on camera. The parents declined the sea lion saliva.
Huge walrus.
Adaline was terrified of the sharks. She begged to see them, but did not appreciate Mom trying to throw her towards them in the tank. I've never seen her so scared!

Christmas

We had a very busy and wonderful Christmas celebration. We went to friends' house for Xmas Eve, opened presents with Grandma and Papie in the morning, served lunch to people in an elderly home across the street, and hosted 13 adults and 6 kids for dinner at our place. We enjoyed all of it!

The kids were surprised with bikes (the above picture with their eyes covered) and happy to receive more princess attire and airplanes. They picked out presents for each other and made paintings and books for the grandparents. We have all enjoyed our advent/12 days of Christmas candles, readings and hymns at night. Arthur sings Away in a Manger and Go Tell it on the Mountain in his sweet high yet raspy voice, and Adaline serenades us with a new original song and story afterwards. We are not ready for the Christmas season to end, but we hope to have an Epiphany party when it does. Merry Christmas!

You've been X-ed!

Adaline loves art. She can't pass by a marker or a pen or even a piece of paper without stopping to draw. I think she would prefer to draw and paint most of her waking hours (if she didn't have a brother who would prefer to play with her all of his waking hours). She processes the world through drawing. Often when we are out, she observes something and immediately asks me if I have something to draw with. She enjoys a sight briefly and then needs to get it on paper.(Granted, many drawings tend to end up as a princess or girl...as if everything she sees in the world becomes a muse for another pretty lady. Her subject matter is fairly narrow at this point.)

A recent development is Adaline using art to express her emotions...namely anger. When she gets angry at you for any number of reasons, she stomps away and huffs. Soon she returns with a piece of paper. She angrily hands it over to you and leaves with more stomping and huffing. The picture reveals everything: a drawing of the person in question with a large "X" over them. You mess with Adaline: you get X-ed.

If you're lucky, she "hearts" and "flowers" you after a brief separation. It's her artistic interpretation of forgiveness, I guess.

It was very fun to be with my dad the artist because he set the kids up in his studio to paint with stuff I'll never have in our apartment (pictures below). At one point the kids were on top of a huge drawing they were working on together. Some sort of argument took place, followed by mutual life-size X-ing out of each other, and resolved in hearts and flowers. They rushed to tell me the good news (that they forgave each other without my intervention). I wish all conflict resolution was that easy! Processing anger through art is much more calm than the hair-pulling and hitting that usually occur around here. Maybe I should market the "X" technique...for adults as well as children?

Both kids want to be an artist when they grow up after their experience with "Pa." (Although, they currently want to be a Rockette after going to a show--see pics on Jamison's blog.)

Reunions

Friends, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents...it was great to be reunited with those we love!

Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West

And just for fun...my family as the Wizard of Oz characters when I was a young Dorothy.

Double Trouble

One is trouble at home. One is trouble at school. I guess they have decided to divide and conquer in their spheres of influence.

Arthur: Trouble at home. Wow this boy knows how to test his parents. He's a smart kid who sets his mind to something and refuses to let go. That can manifest itself in positive ways (loves challenges and learning, steadfast and loyal and loving) and negative ways (still throws tantrums over any small thing if it is against his desire). The boy can't take no for an answer. And we never give in. I'm not saying we're perfect--I'm just saying that we have been consistently just as stubborn as him in refusing to give in to his protests. Yet he still hasn't learned to let go. I guess we just continue to hope that he matures into a person with the positive aspects of this characteristic. And he really is a delight when he's free of negative attention and doing something that he enjoys. He sort of has a double personality (as if we need more double language in this post).

Adaline: Trouble at school. I'm informally in perpetual parent-teacher conferences. Arthur is the model student. Adaline, not so much. She is officially the trouble-maker. They have introduced new discipline procedures for Adaline's unruliness (really just a behavior modification reward system). She orders her friends around--uses "teacher" words instead of kid words. She talks back to her teachers and argues with them. She has to be separated from her partner-in-crime J***. (As a side note--the kids are in a special needs school in an integrated classroom. They are supposed to be a component in preparing these special needs kids for regular kindergarten. J*** is one of these kids, and she is succeeding in misleading rather than encouraging him. I'm wondering if they might kick her out of Pre-K--Ha!) Adaline is a dream at home though. Well, maybe not a dream, but very easy. She just flits around in her own world, making up princess dramas and is generally an extremely happy child. I think the structure of school is going to go against her free spirit. Better get used to it, kid.

Everyone says that you never get a break when it comes to twins. And why should you? It's double the fun.



*These pictures are from our recent camping trip with friends. Very fun!

City Cats

Our kids are obsessed with cats. Obsessed. Everything is about meowing and taking kitty for a walk and feeding kitty. They have actually tried to meow through an entire worship service. I've tried to explain to them that if they were cats they would just sleep all day and eat the same nasty food everyday. No such luck changing the annoying kitty voices.

I know I'm supposed to encourage imaginative behavior, but for how long? They've been cats for 6 months. I need something new. Dogs, bunnies, anything. Jamison has tried to get them to be fish, but it hasn't caught on. Well, at least they're cute all painted up as kitties.