As The Worm Turns

In college we had a few different and hilarious (to us) voice mail messages. For a while, our voice mail said:

You have reached 1-900-909-WORM.
If you'd like to talk to a worm, press 1.
To listen to worms talk, press 2.

This is when I was a hippie granola botany major and learning all about vermiculture. We planned to open a microbrewery, and we'd have a bunch of benches with places for people to sit, and the benches would be worm bins where we composted all the hops and barley. Our first beer was going to be called The Great Wide Chasm Worm Stout. Ah, Tony's Tavern, so many plans were hatched there. Well, I gave all those plans up for an exciting career in administering databases, but I did just purchase a big bucket of worms from the Colorado Worm Man.

We had a worm bin for the first year after college, and it was great. Worms ate all our leftovers. But then we moved into a really small place, and then a slightly bigger place, and then a much bigger place, and as of yesterday, I can cross "start worm composting again" off my list of things I have been meaning to do for the last 12 years.

Love to cross stuff off that list.

Congratulations Class of 2008

Graduation was today, and I found myself simultaneously getting teary-eyed and scoffing at the concept of getting teary-eyed at a preschool graduation. But, you know what? Luke spent longer at this school/daycare than he will in high school. All the major baby milestones were shared with the staff there and, well, they have helped us raise Luke. I have trusted them with my first born. I didn't read the card from the director yet, because I knew it would get me. So tears were shed, but not by me. Poor Luke split his lip right before the ceremony, and I think he had a harder time recovering than he normally would, because he was a little emotional too.

As much as we love our crunchy granola daycare, I could do a whole post about how to survive the potlucks. In a nutshell, I get the fried chicken from king soopers, some sort of pre-washed delicious fruit from the produce section, and this year I splurged on all natural chips and really unnatural french onion dip. It's important to get the right mix of all natural/organic foods and really unhealthy food that people will wish they were eating too. Oh, and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

Back to the party: These three go way back. Way, way back. It seems like just last summer that they were throwing down in front of the outdoor screening of Karate Kid. Yeah, it was last summer. I taught them this oldie, but goodie, courtesy of my good friend Krista: Cheers Big Ears, Here's the to Good Years!

And I fear that if I blink, we'll be at the Congratulations Preschool Class of 2013.

Kindergarten Assessment

Luke had his assessment today at the kindergarten and we found out he is in the afternoon class with the new teacher. No daycare kids, but two neighbors are in his class. He didn't share to much about the assessment, but he did say, "She asked me to count and I counted to 20. I thought about counting to 30 but then I figured it would take too long."

Tonight is the pre-school graduation - so I am sure I will have pictures to share later.

Kindergarten Anxiety

I remember your first day of kindergarten. We walked all the way there, and I had John in the stroller. Wait, was John born yet? No, it must have been Beth in the stroller. And we walked, walked, walked all those blocks and as we got within a block of the school you just put your hand on the stroller. And I thought, "Oh, she just needs a little reassurance." And that was all, just a hand on the stroller and then everything was fine.

*** My first day of kindergarten as told by my mom ***

All I remember was that my mom had made my name tag and that it was much more beautiful than anyone else's name tag. And that when I walked out at the end of the day I had no idea where I was supposed to go. I just sort of looked around and thought, "huh." Then the tide swept me to the other side of the circular drive where all the moms, including my mom, were waiting. And I must have said something about not knowing where to go because I remember my mom saying, "I told you I'd be right here." And thinking, "I am sure that is right, but I don't remember that at all."

Luke seems ready, and not worried about school, but you can all thank me for sparing you the details about the stress I have been experiencing on his behalf. Or maybe not, it could be a future blog post once school has started and I can look back and laugh about it all!

And I'm too tired for the redneck roadtrip post tonight, but here is a teaser:

Grandma Takes a Fall

My mom plays hard. I think she and Luke were playing non-stop for 3 days in our basement. They played pickle in the middle with Jack, some wii bowling, pretend restaurant, and I really have no idea what else. Since I was working and missing out on all the fun, I decided to take Wednesday afternoon off to play, and to take them to the pool. And not just any pool, but the fed-by-artesian-springs, since 1905, Eldorado Springs Pool. Here is the thing, my mom does not come to Colorado for the scenery, she comes to see her grandchildren. She doesn't even pretend that she is here to see me, so the fact that I was making Luke and Grandma stop playing and go to the pool was really just something they tolerated.

Luke and Jack and Grandma and I put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool while Grandpa settled down for a nice summer's nap. It was a hot day, but brrr, that water was cold. Way too cold for baby Jack. So I took one for the team and sat in the shade and held baby Jack while Grandma got in the pool with Luke. In the shallow end there is a little corner with a little metal fence around it. They call that the baby pool. On the other side of the fence is a ledge for sitting or jumping into the slightly deeper water. Apparently, the baby pool side is a different depth than the ledge side. At least that is what Grandma said after she tried to go from the ledge to the baby pool, and tripped and fell, landing with an "AAAAAHHHH!" and a little splash. A mom and dad were trying to help her out while Luke and I stared with our mouths gaping open, and the life guard was saying, "NO Splashing IN THE BABY POOL." And my mother was laughing and telling the bystanders that she was OK, and turning the life guard and saying, "Are you talking to me? I wasn't splashing, I fell in! I'm a grandma!" He was not, in fact, talking to her.

I finally decided to be a good daughter and let her get out and hold the baby and warm up while I got in. I'm not a "just jump in" type of person. More of a "eeeh" "oooh" "brrr" "eeek" person who gets in 1 inch at a time, suffering all the while. But that day, I thought, "what the heck? I'll do a cannonball off the diving board." As I was walking to the diving board I was thinking, "Huh, how long since I've been on a diving board? 19 years? 20?" I almost chickened out until I noticed the kid in front of me in line had only one leg. OK, I can do this. And at the end of the board as I was jumping, I sort of remembered that I have a knee injury, shoulder pain, back issues, and various and sundry other problems that maybe make the quick cannonball movement, and powerful cannonball landing an ill advised maneuver. But I was already in the air, so I did a half-hearted attempt at a cannon ball and then swam to the side to confer with the judge. And Luke said, "That was the worst cannonball I have ever seen." (Ironically, I am watching Olympic Swimming as I type this.)

After a while, we left, and crossed the little bridge over the tiny creek from the pool to the parking lot. Grandma declared the view magnificent and if I had just agreed and walked to the car, I would be $7.00 richer, and Grandma wouldn't have those two new gray hairs. But I thought, "Hey! Let's drive through Eldorado Canyon State Park! And maybe go for a hike!" My mom doesn't like heights, or curvy roads, so what could be better than a canyon? You are at bottom, so no heights to worry about! The road through the park is about a mile long, so no time to get car sick! The speed limit is 15 mph. I drove 5 mph, which apparently still made it seem like we were careening towards the little creek. Let's just say we didn't make it to the visitors center. As soon as I could turn around I did, because Grandma was curled into the fetal position saying, "No, go on! I'm fine! You just spent $7.00! I'm fineohmygodanothercariscominghowwillitevergetpastusturnaroundturnaround. No, I'm fine. Keep going." I turned around without crashing into the creek. Of course, on the way back, I did make everyone go on a little hike with me. And everyone was happy when I went to work the next day.

Sorry Mom!

I shouldn't tease, but I can't help it. That is how I was raised. In fact, before my parents showed up, Luke said to me, "Mom, when Grandma and Grandpa are here, I don't want you to tease me. Because Grandpa is going to be teasing me a lot. So I don't want you to tease me. But it's OK if Grandpa teases me." So, basically, I was forced to tease my mom. So blame Grandpa!

Summertime and the Livin's Easy

Summer is going by too quickly, but at least we have been enjoying every minute.

Credit Where Credit is Due

I need to clarify that Dave actually composed the Spanglish Luke song. Just had to get that out there.

And I have to post this picture now because it is too cute to languish away while I find time to write the redneck road trip weekend post; here is Luke with his friends, Scarlett and Stella.

Touché, Voodoo Doll. Touché

After Jack slept through 27 glorious nights in a row, we have had two nights of waking at least 3 times. Is it the three to four teeth he is getting? The fact that the book says nine month olds have consciously realized that crying gets people to appear in front of them? The fact that I lowered his crib mattress finally and now he is disoriented? The non stop fun of grandparents? Did I jinx myself by being so happy about sleep, or is it the voodoo doll?

I have a big backlog of posts in my head and pictures on my camera and videos that need to be uploaded so stay tuned for such potential topics as:
Redneck Roadtrip
Grandma Falls in the Pool and then has a panic attack at Eldorado Springs Canyon
And many more.

La Sagrada de Will Vill

Being a mind reader is an important skill to have as a mother. When you see a baby take off at lightning speed, it's good to be able to anticipate where they might be headed. I presume that with teenagers a little mind reading might help out too.

With five year olds, being a mind reader can often be annoying. For example, when I hear, "I'm hungry." I know that means, "Mommy, may I please have a snack? I think I'd like a banana and a glass of milk." But since that isn't what was said, I have to find unique and creative ways of saying, "Please rephrase that in the form of a polite question." I am torn on that one because as a hostess, I think I should always be anticipating peoples' hungers and thirsts. But as a mother, I require polite requests. And I know, "Mommy, what can I do?" means, "Mommy, I want to play wii, but I know you are going to say no, so I am just going pretend I can't think of anything else to do until you come up with the idea yourself out of desperation." Probably the best/worst one is, "My ears are popped." Everyone knows that one, right? No? Well, at least two or two and half years ago we were either in a plane or driving into the mountains and Luke said, "Wah, wah, wah, my ears hurt!" And we said, "Your ears must be popped. Would you like a piece of gum, that might help." And ever since, Luke has always said, "My ears are popped" when he wants gum. Once we bought gum at a gas station. The next ten times we pulled into a gas station he immediately said, "My ears are popped." What is so hard about, "May I please have a piece of gum?"

Other times when he may ask a question in a round-about way, or casually make a reference to some offhand comment that someone made, I appreciate my mind reading skills because I can tell he has a concern, a fear, or needs some reassurance. But probably my favorite mind reading incident has to do with what I like to call La Sagrada de Will Vill.

There was a very brief, maybe two day phase between pirates and star wars obsessions and that obsession was with knights. As I savored the break from shivering me timbers, I shared our photo album from our pre-kid trip to Spain and showed Luke all the pictures, specifically the knights and castles in Toledo. But I guess the whole album made an impression. Because several months later, when we drove by the Williams Village dorms at CU, Luke said ,

"Hey, that's that building!"

And I said, "No, that is Williams Village. The building you are thinking of is in Spain."

And Luke said, "Haven't you and Daddy walked on that bridge from one building to another?"

And I said, "You are thinking of La Sagrada Familia. And we did walk from one building to another, but that was in Spain. Different building."

And he said, "Oh."

You can see how he'd be confused, and how I would know exactly what he was talking about.


Photo from wikipedia.

Pearl Street Flirt

Jack was flirting with a photographer on the Pearl Street Mall on Wednesday while I was shopping for books. She kindly sent Grandad this collage.