my son's grasp on the english language...

So here is how my conversation with Sky went this morning:

sky: "that hurt my weiner"
me: "you know the right word for it, right?"
sky: "yeah... penis... just like an(us)... asshole"
me: "skyler are you supposed to be using that language?"
sky: "well i didnt call YOU an asshole!"

at this point, I had to cover my face and mouth with my hands to keep him from hearing/seeing me laugh.

i found out later that he learned that word at his dad's house. whew!

passing on my love of music to my son

I've been wanting to get Sky into some musical lessons for the last year or so. Now I finally have the brain power to think about this and get it in our schedule. He initially wanted to play guitar, and I'm wondering if that is too advanced for him (he is 6). I want to foster a life-long love of music in him, and I don't want to frustrate him early on.

I read this article which seemed to present a lot of different opinions, good perspectives:
http://ask.metafilter.com/89630/Help-me-pick-the-best-first-instrument-for-a-very-small-6-year-old

Looks like my options are:
1. kid's size guitar (hopefully good enough quality to keep for a while)
2. ukulele (same tuning, smaller, easier to play)

I just bought a mandolin (why? it was a deal, and I'm sure I'll find some use for it). I could get him on that, but apparently it is tuned like a violin, which I don't know if it would be confusing or not.

I have a keyboard at home as well, which is another option. I think what I am going to do is dedicate some time to play around on different instruments and see which one he is more inclined to pick up. I welcome any thoughts on this!

so very thankful

What a lovely Thanksgiving Day I had today! My favorite guy and I took our time getting out of bed (he woke up, rolled over, and said "read, mama"). We went to get D and drove down to my folk's house. My mom and dad, uncle and grandfather, sister and her husband, my niece and nephew were all there. We had good food and good conversation. We lingered over seconds. We played Fuller Family Bingo with the kids. We sat around yakking until we were all ready for naps.

I took D home to Alameda, and the three of us ended up playing soccer together in the park near his house. Lots of running around, lots of laughter. At the end my little guy wanted to stay with his dad. They had a talk, and we walked back to my car. The two of us drove home, watched the Spiderwick Chronicles, then did our usual bed time routine. I managed to practice cello and put away a ton of laundry while he was in the bath.

It is just so lovely to spend time together as a family. I think the three of us are finally settling in to this new family arrangement. And that is such a relief!! :)

music: aurora borealis

Tonight I'm hosting my nephew for a sleepover. The boys are downstairs playing while the muffins we made together are cooling. On iTunes, I am playing the mix CD I made for D's 40th birthday. I haven't listened to these in about a year. Right now, C.W. McCall is playing. Its a great spoken word bit, totally in contrast to his big hit "Convoy". Very reflective and a bit profound.


Aurora Borealis
by C.W. McCall
(dowmload MP3)

One night last summer we were camped at ten thousand feet up where the air is
clear, high in the Rockies of Lost Lake, Colorado. And as the fire burned low
and only a few glowing embers remained, we laid on our backs all warm in our
sleeping bags and looked up at the stars.

And as I felt myself falling into the vastness of the Universe, I thought about
things, and places, and times.

I thought about the time my grandma told me what to say when I saw the evening
star. You know, Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I
may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.

The air is crystal-clear up here; that's why you can see a million stars.

I remember a time a bunch of us were in a canyon of the Green River in Wyoming;
it was a night like this. And we had our rafts pulled up on the bank an' turned
over so we could sleep on 'em, and one of the guys from New York said, "Hey!
Look at the smog in the sky! Smog clear out here in the sticks!" And somebody
said, "Hey, Joe, that's not smog; that's the Milky Way."

Joe had never seen the Milky Way.

And we saw the Northern Lights once, in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana.
They're like flames from some prehistoric campfire, leaping and dancing in the
sky and changing colors. Red to gold, and blue to violet... Aurora Borealis.
It's like the equinox, the changing of the seasons. Summer to fall, young to
old, then to now. And then tomorrow...

And then everyone was asleep, except me. And as I saw the morning star come up
over the mountains, I realized that life is just a collection of memories. And
memories are like starlight: they go on forever.

My dear boy's birthday

Meant to post this 10/10 (on the actual day):

skyler came into bed with me around 6:30am, which is strange because that's the time labor started on his birthday. Six years ago I was grumpily telling Darcy to turn off the alarm at 7:45am, which is when Sky and I woke up. I sang him happy birthday in bed.

He started saying something about butts and laughing. I shook him and mock-demanded: "Why do you like butts so much?!" which made him laugh more. He said "Its a secret!"

"You don't keep secrets from your mother, tell me!"
"I like butts because they make farts"
"Well that's not a secret"
...

"I have another secret about me and Tibee"
"What is it? TELL ME!!"
"We like to smack each other on the butt"

"So youre saying all your secrets are about butts?"
"Yeah"

we got up and had french toast, the jumped back in bed to snuggle, got up to get ready, drove to pick up my taxes in lafayette, dropped by D's gym so that sky could say happy birthday, gave him a card and present for HIS birthday,

We then took BART and muni train to GG park, had lunch, went to the CA Academy of Sciences,
didnt realize it closed at 5pm. we got there at 3pm... but we did manage to see the planetarium show, which was way cool!

afterwards we went to a japanese restaurant that has the little room where you sit on the floor without shoes, had yummy food. they gave us green tea ice cream with a candle and sang happy birthday

Tired, we trekked across SF, came back home, had bathtime and watched a movie.

All in all a pretty magical day!

just when you thought you were safe

I belong to an email list, a pretty active community of moms. This is a place I have felt safe for the last five years to be able to post pretty much anything going on for me. Today, that safety was violated.

Today my son's principal called to say that he was sent to the office for inappropriately touching another student. She then informed me that it was the third time, and that next time he would be sent home.

First off, I'm pissed that I wasn't told the first two times. That is not ok with me. There will be talks with the principal for sure... when I'm not so angry.

My first instinct was to post to my list to see what I should do. I've gotten some solid advice from these women. I forgot that my sister in law (not the one I am close to) is on the list. She was molested as a young girl and decided to write this post (onlist!) about how she felt like my son was an "abusive, bullying relative", which is completely untrue.

I feel embarrassed, ashamed and angry. If she had sent that to me personally, I could have responded privately. Now I feel like my son has been labeled a bad person to about 100 people and I have been labeled as someone who permits bad behavior. Which is (AGAIN) untrue!

I sent a short reply to the list about it being inappropriate venue for her post. I cannot possibly respond in any rational way. I sent something to the list about how I was feeling, kept it to two sentences. I will respond to her privately in detail when I can do so without being SO DAMN ANGRY.

muppets and ice cream

I took my boy to SF tonight to see the Muppet Movie in Dolores Park. It was great to see the Muppet Movie again, with everyone laughing and cheering. At the end, they turned down the sound so we could all sing along with the Rainbow Connection. Yay!

Afterwards we went to birite creamery. Mmmmmmm late-night ice cream. The girl behind the counter served Skyler before the three people in front of us. Super sweet!

I had salted caramel and roasted banana, while Sky had coconut and mint chip (umm... are you sure you want that?!) Its some of the most delicious ice cream I've had. I totally recommend a trip there!

That sugar boost gave us the energy we needed to walk up the umpteen hills to where I had to park the car. My guy was a trooper!

He stayed awake on the way home, because we have his Leapster game on loan from his dad (man, I can’t wait to give that back!!) but as soon as we got home he was like “mom, I need to go to bed RIGHT NOW”.

Yeah, I'm about ready to go to bed myself.

you can tell its been a while if...

I just got the DVD for the my son's school variety show (I may need to post our act later on YouTube). One of the hosts of the show is Mr K, one of the teachers. In the middle of watching the DVD with my son, I asked him "hey, is Mr K married?" (thinking, hmmm he's cute!) My son looked at me with confusion (and I'm sure if he had been a teenager it would have been mixed with disgust) and said, "I don't know!!"

ha!

a beautiful day in Santa Cruz

My bf and I took our kids to the Boardwalk on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day! My favorite part was spending time at the beach. The water was nice and cool on a hot day. It felt deliciously slippery around my legs.

Sky got completely soaked! At one point, he went under a wave. I raced in to haul him up, soaking my iPhone in the process. He sputtered and announced "mom, that was SO COOL!!!" So much for me saving his life! ;)

Today I went in to the Apple store and bought a new iPhone. DOH!!!

god I love him

This morning Sky has a hard time picking what he wants for breakfast. To get over his frustration in the moment, he goes to iTunes to pick out music. "The amp isn't on" I say as I walk away. I start making banana bread and music comes on. "This sounds like Prince"