Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Friday, February 24, 2006
And the winner is.........-m-
Daan, who was voted "best costume in the primary grades" for his devastating appearance as Batman.
Douwe of course had a lovely time, because his pal Ryan showed up also dressed as Superman as was (evidently) planned. He now claims tht the reason he had cold feet this morning was that he thought Ryan would show up in regular clothes leaving Douwe feeling foolish. They were by report of their father both terrified by the appearance of Princess Carnaval and her retinue and her dancing girls and her marching band and so on. Douwe's picture is in fact on the front page of the Montessori school webpage right now, laughing his butt off. So is Daan's, though he is hard to recognize (that being the purpose of a batman mask).
Anyone who wants to see them and I haven't already sent it to, send me an email and I'll send you the link. I am not sure about the propriety of sending the entire internet to the website of the montessori school and I doubt they would thank me for it, lol.
Pictures to follow: I had to use a disposable camera I am afraid, so it'll be about a week.
Douwe of course had a lovely time, because his pal Ryan showed up also dressed as Superman as was (evidently) planned. He now claims tht the reason he had cold feet this morning was that he thought Ryan would show up in regular clothes leaving Douwe feeling foolish. They were by report of their father both terrified by the appearance of Princess Carnaval and her retinue and her dancing girls and her marching band and so on. Douwe's picture is in fact on the front page of the Montessori school webpage right now, laughing his butt off. So is Daan's, though he is hard to recognize (that being the purpose of a batman mask).
Anyone who wants to see them and I haven't already sent it to, send me an email and I'll send you the link. I am not sure about the propriety of sending the entire internet to the website of the montessori school and I doubt they would thank me for it, lol.
Pictures to follow: I had to use a disposable camera I am afraid, so it'll be about a week.
Urg
Okay, so I have not had the best parenting morning of all time. You know, most of the time I do a fairly good job I think. But there are some things that make me just nuts.
Today is the Carnaval parade for te kids' school. So they go to school dressed up, just like they do for Halloween in the states I suppose. They have been talking about it all week. They want to wear this, they want to wear that. So they got up, hurrah, we get to wear the costumes to school. All is well.
Then half way through getting dressed, Douwe decides tht he doesn't want to after all. Thus ensues much moaning crying and objecting and arguing and claiming to be sick. (Though he is getting older, so this time no actual lying on the ground and kicking. Must remember to be grateful for progress).
Why? I dunno. He doesn't know. But it happens a lot with him -- he wants to do something, whateve rit may be. He wants to do it a lot. Then at the penultimate moment, *shrug*. He doesn't want to any more. The problem is this: at the ultimate moment, he wants to do it a lot. He always, without exception, is happy when it happens, and before it happens. But just as it is about to happen he hates it.
Which places me in the position of cajoling, wheedling, and sometimes bullying and dragging him into it by main force. All of which I do so that he can have a good time.
And afterward he doesn't even really recall the wheedling/cajoling/bullying/dragging by main force part. He only remembers the fun part.
But sometimes, in the moment you understand, I wonder why I am working this hard to force him to have a good time.
And yes, mom, I do have some, oh, vague recollection that perhaps very long ago and far away in another place and time there might have once been some other child who did exactly the same thing. I do remember. (Though I realize that I never kicked and screamed and threw a fit, My Mother's Children Would Never. It is a difference in degree I think but not in kind),
But it doesn't help, I didn't know why I did it then; I don't know why I did it then, now.
But I am glad you didn't just drown me in the sink and hope to follow that example.
Today is the Carnaval parade for te kids' school. So they go to school dressed up, just like they do for Halloween in the states I suppose. They have been talking about it all week. They want to wear this, they want to wear that. So they got up, hurrah, we get to wear the costumes to school. All is well.
Then half way through getting dressed, Douwe decides tht he doesn't want to after all. Thus ensues much moaning crying and objecting and arguing and claiming to be sick. (Though he is getting older, so this time no actual lying on the ground and kicking. Must remember to be grateful for progress).
Why? I dunno. He doesn't know. But it happens a lot with him -- he wants to do something, whateve rit may be. He wants to do it a lot. Then at the penultimate moment, *shrug*. He doesn't want to any more. The problem is this: at the ultimate moment, he wants to do it a lot. He always, without exception, is happy when it happens, and before it happens. But just as it is about to happen he hates it.
Which places me in the position of cajoling, wheedling, and sometimes bullying and dragging him into it by main force. All of which I do so that he can have a good time.
And afterward he doesn't even really recall the wheedling/cajoling/bullying/dragging by main force part. He only remembers the fun part.
But sometimes, in the moment you understand, I wonder why I am working this hard to force him to have a good time.
And yes, mom, I do have some, oh, vague recollection that perhaps very long ago and far away in another place and time there might have once been some other child who did exactly the same thing. I do remember. (Though I realize that I never kicked and screamed and threw a fit, My Mother's Children Would Never. It is a difference in degree I think but not in kind),
But it doesn't help, I didn't know why I did it then; I don't know why I did it then, now.
But I am glad you didn't just drown me in the sink and hope to follow that example.
Carnaval
Well, it's that time of year again. Tomorrow is the Carnaval parade at the school and the last day before a week vacation for carnaval.
Douwe is going as Superman. Daan is going as Batman. Yes, the cape will drag as it's really Douwe's costume.
It will be a really big thing at the school as our Prince Carnaval this year comes from the Montessori school. Only for the first time, this year Prince Carnaval is a Princess Carnaval and she is also Iranian (I think) and not Dutch. I assume she is Catholic: if you have to be Protestant to be King, I think you should have to be Catholic to be Prince Carnaval.
Sunday is the grown up's parade and it will go right by the house again. So I have invited some of the kids' pals over with their parents and we'll all watch the parade go by. Hopefully from indoors, unless it warms up, lol.
Douwe is going as Superman. Daan is going as Batman. Yes, the cape will drag as it's really Douwe's costume.
It will be a really big thing at the school as our Prince Carnaval this year comes from the Montessori school. Only for the first time, this year Prince Carnaval is a Princess Carnaval and she is also Iranian (I think) and not Dutch. I assume she is Catholic: if you have to be Protestant to be King, I think you should have to be Catholic to be Prince Carnaval.
Sunday is the grown up's parade and it will go right by the house again. So I have invited some of the kids' pals over with their parents and we'll all watch the parade go by. Hopefully from indoors, unless it warms up, lol.
Report cards
We have gone and had Douwe and Daan's reports, though the Montessori school does not use report cards for this age group. Everything is fine.
It's so nice to have nothing to report.
They don't run with scissors and they don't hit and they do their work as requested and what more could a teacher ask for?
Douwe continues to have trouble with story time in a group setting, which the teacher thinks (and we think, too) has to do with the sheer amount of concentration he has to put in to follow a story in a group setting -- it's like the telephone problem, it's almost pure verbal input and it's a lot of work for him. So he gets tired of it and is easily distracted. Or distracting if he is sitting near his little pals. Since what works for me (ask him questions about the story as you go along or touch him gently to help him refocus) cannot work in a group setting, we are holding out for the Experts' advice on that. I wonder if they could give him a second copy of the book or something so he could see it up close. I did suggest giving him a little ball of clay or a bean bag to play with in his hand; it seems to help him focus in other group settings.
He has now demonstrated to his teachers that he knows the alphabet *whew* and can read and write simple words in cursive. He has also consented to demonstrate that he can add and subtract numbers up to 10 and count to 30.
Daan is entirely self willed (he jumped abruptly into a deep puddle on the playground the other day soaking himself to his waist -- "mommy, I went swimming today!";) and even more distressing, he is entirely non-apologetic about it (he took all the colored pencils at once and held them together in both hands and drew with them all at once, then earnestly explained that he could not possibly share with the other children because if he did he couldn't draw with all the pencils at once, so, well, that's a real shame for the other kids and all. Maybe they could get some other pencils from the cupboard?) . He has some baby ways of speaking still which seem to be improving; if they don't get better they may send him for a speech screening. (He does have this, in English, too. It worries me a little; but he was also a bit late talking so I have just decided to wait and keep an eye on it.)
But he's just awfully cute and charming. He loves to work and asks for new work constantly.
I suggested they throw him in a barrel and feed him through the....
No, I didn't.
They note that Douwe and Daan speak English to each other at school, which surprises me.
It's so nice to have nothing to report.
They don't run with scissors and they don't hit and they do their work as requested and what more could a teacher ask for?
Douwe continues to have trouble with story time in a group setting, which the teacher thinks (and we think, too) has to do with the sheer amount of concentration he has to put in to follow a story in a group setting -- it's like the telephone problem, it's almost pure verbal input and it's a lot of work for him. So he gets tired of it and is easily distracted. Or distracting if he is sitting near his little pals. Since what works for me (ask him questions about the story as you go along or touch him gently to help him refocus) cannot work in a group setting, we are holding out for the Experts' advice on that. I wonder if they could give him a second copy of the book or something so he could see it up close. I did suggest giving him a little ball of clay or a bean bag to play with in his hand; it seems to help him focus in other group settings.
He has now demonstrated to his teachers that he knows the alphabet *whew* and can read and write simple words in cursive. He has also consented to demonstrate that he can add and subtract numbers up to 10 and count to 30.
Daan is entirely self willed (he jumped abruptly into a deep puddle on the playground the other day soaking himself to his waist -- "mommy, I went swimming today!";) and even more distressing, he is entirely non-apologetic about it (he took all the colored pencils at once and held them together in both hands and drew with them all at once, then earnestly explained that he could not possibly share with the other children because if he did he couldn't draw with all the pencils at once, so, well, that's a real shame for the other kids and all. Maybe they could get some other pencils from the cupboard?) . He has some baby ways of speaking still which seem to be improving; if they don't get better they may send him for a speech screening. (He does have this, in English, too. It worries me a little; but he was also a bit late talking so I have just decided to wait and keep an eye on it.)
But he's just awfully cute and charming. He loves to work and asks for new work constantly.
I suggested they throw him in a barrel and feed him through the....
No, I didn't.
They note that Douwe and Daan speak English to each other at school, which surprises me.
Monday, February 20, 2006
How do you throw away a garbage can?
Well, in my case, you drill holes in the bottom and use it for compost.
My goodness, you would think I was expecting spring or something wouldn't you?
My goodness, you would think I was expecting spring or something wouldn't you?
Updates
Well, Daan got over being sick and Douwe took his place in line, and I haven't slept through the night in, I dunno, a week. My kids are not debilitated by viral illnesses with fever; but I am -- they only have to do it once each after all. (wah).
We now have a wireless network so Dearly Beloved is playing the latest in a series of sixty gajillion games of Go (and that's only since this morning) right now as I type. And the likelihood that we will both survive to see our anniversary in May has increased while the likelihood that I will collect a rather large life insurance policy and check out life as a Merry Widow has decreased. Erahem.
He is a very good Go player. He will no doubt by the end of this month achieve tournament level status and also enlightenment. Because he will now likely survive to do it. Erahem again.
Dearly Beloved is also planning to return to school and become a teacher of physics and/or maths -- simultaneously or seriatum, I am not sure which. I gather that he can get a teaching certificate in about 6 to 8 months in physics (having had more formal training in physics than ought to be strictly legal) and about a year in maths. This will, it is devoutly to be hoped, settle his nerves and get some kind of regular income moving through here (the latter leading to the former you understand). This can only be a good thing.
I expect to be on this computer a lot in the next few days, as I have a lot of work to do. So I will probably blog a lot to get out of it. Maybe I'll even tell you what I think about the big Cartoon Controversey. Bwah ha hah.
I have baby lettuces and spinach in my fish tank, er, cold frame. Spring may come some day after all. No person living in 40/50 degree weather may speak to me about cold and dark, grrr.
Okay, I lie, it's been mostly a mild winter. But not 50 degrees, no indeedy.
We now have a wireless network so Dearly Beloved is playing the latest in a series of sixty gajillion games of Go (and that's only since this morning) right now as I type. And the likelihood that we will both survive to see our anniversary in May has increased while the likelihood that I will collect a rather large life insurance policy and check out life as a Merry Widow has decreased. Erahem.
He is a very good Go player. He will no doubt by the end of this month achieve tournament level status and also enlightenment. Because he will now likely survive to do it. Erahem again.
Dearly Beloved is also planning to return to school and become a teacher of physics and/or maths -- simultaneously or seriatum, I am not sure which. I gather that he can get a teaching certificate in about 6 to 8 months in physics (having had more formal training in physics than ought to be strictly legal) and about a year in maths. This will, it is devoutly to be hoped, settle his nerves and get some kind of regular income moving through here (the latter leading to the former you understand). This can only be a good thing.
I expect to be on this computer a lot in the next few days, as I have a lot of work to do. So I will probably blog a lot to get out of it. Maybe I'll even tell you what I think about the big Cartoon Controversey. Bwah ha hah.
I have baby lettuces and spinach in my fish tank, er, cold frame. Spring may come some day after all. No person living in 40/50 degree weather may speak to me about cold and dark, grrr.
Okay, I lie, it's been mostly a mild winter. But not 50 degrees, no indeedy.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Pathetic
If there is anything more pathetic than Daan with a cold and fever, I am unsure what it might be. He's even cute when his face is all pink and his eyes are glassy from being sick. He laid in his bed and said that he wanted to put on his mittens and his boots and his coat and go out in the snow. In this little croaky half asleep baby voice. Complete with lisping I must say.
Then he fell asleep. Good thing, too, it's above freezing and the snow didn't stick.
Then he fell asleep. Good thing, too, it's above freezing and the snow didn't stick.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Moving along
On Friday the nice lady from the Speech School who is going to coordinate the acquiring and so on of services to Douwe came over to talk to us. She seems very nice.
Paul did most of the talking and periodic translating, as otherwise I come off entirely insane. It is difficult to explain how we got where we are today to people who are used to things going a certain way if, well, they did not go that way at all. It has taken me some time to work this out.
Here's the certain way: Child goes to school. Teachers or doctor notice something a bit odd. Teachers or doctor mention this to parents. School-associated specialist is called in. Some testing perhaps, conducted by the school. Meeting with parents at which recommendations are made. School fills out paperwork with some input from parents. Recommendation is made for in-place special ed support or referral to a school for specific special needs. Decision is made, yes/no. If yes, parents are given informational interview regarding options, teachers and specialists meet and decide on services to be provided.
Here's our way: Parent goes to school to tell school about child's issues. Teacher dismisses concerns. Several weeks later, teacher notes that indeed there is something odd. School associated specialists are called in. Some testing conducted by the school. Meeting with parents at which recommendations are made denying speech services and recommending special needs school. Parents entirely reject recommendation and instead seek private speech therapy. Many meetings between parents and school (and evidently at school about parents and occasionally even about child). Parents decide to change schools. Parents locate special needs school in the area they think their child has a problem. Parents fill out paperwork and arrange testing. Schools fill out paperwork at request of parents. Decision is made. Informational interview is scheduled.
This nice lady called up Douwe's teacher (who by rights should be the one coordinating the application for special needs support) who said something to the effect that, "Well, I'm not sure he needs any. We could use some advice in dealing with him in certain areas, but he seems to be doing just fine. What are we supposed to do again?"
So then she called us and came over. And I said something to the effect that "Well, his fine motor skills are good, but he has real issues with fine motor planning and also visual motor integration. One of the great ironies of being Douwe is that he has a strongly auditory learning style but he also has a language disorder. So he falls back on kinetic learning. His visual memory is good but not terrifying; his auditory memory is terrifyingly good. His phonics are pretty iffy when tested, because he has a bad way of crossing up his languages. But his reading skills are good. He does rely a great deal on nonverbal information so if he cannot see your face and upper body you have usually lost his attention. But I have no real idea what services he needs in the classroom as I have never had to try to teach him anything in a room with twenty some odd other kids in it. I do think he needs to be taught to read by a person who reads Dutch better than I do, because I am teaching him to read in English right now and it does help".
Poor lady. Luckily for her I didn't get to say that all at once as there were translation issues.
She did say that she feared that if I taught him to read English he might at some time confuse the grammar of the two languages; so maybe I ought to stop. Uh huh. You now, everyone fears that at every step of the way but it never actually happens. Well, anyway, if he does, then I'll stop. *Whoops*, then it'll be too late and somebody will just have to teach him to read dutch so he doesn't confuse them any more.
And the big recommendation of the day was to sign him up for some kind of activity. Like a club or something. Because....? I never got that, maybe there was a because I missed. Because it will give him new people to talk to?
However, this lady will not actually be providing the services as I understand it; her job is organizational and so on. She helps get the Plan of Action written as I understand it. Next she meets with the teachers and principal of Douwe's school. Then we all meet together and write up the Plan of Action. Then we'll see what happens where the rubber meets the road.
But I have this feeling I am going to be written up in yet another file as a pain in the ass mother. Maybe not. We'll see about that, too.
Paul did most of the talking and periodic translating, as otherwise I come off entirely insane. It is difficult to explain how we got where we are today to people who are used to things going a certain way if, well, they did not go that way at all. It has taken me some time to work this out.
Here's the certain way: Child goes to school. Teachers or doctor notice something a bit odd. Teachers or doctor mention this to parents. School-associated specialist is called in. Some testing perhaps, conducted by the school. Meeting with parents at which recommendations are made. School fills out paperwork with some input from parents. Recommendation is made for in-place special ed support or referral to a school for specific special needs. Decision is made, yes/no. If yes, parents are given informational interview regarding options, teachers and specialists meet and decide on services to be provided.
Here's our way: Parent goes to school to tell school about child's issues. Teacher dismisses concerns. Several weeks later, teacher notes that indeed there is something odd. School associated specialists are called in. Some testing conducted by the school. Meeting with parents at which recommendations are made denying speech services and recommending special needs school. Parents entirely reject recommendation and instead seek private speech therapy. Many meetings between parents and school (and evidently at school about parents and occasionally even about child). Parents decide to change schools. Parents locate special needs school in the area they think their child has a problem. Parents fill out paperwork and arrange testing. Schools fill out paperwork at request of parents. Decision is made. Informational interview is scheduled.
This nice lady called up Douwe's teacher (who by rights should be the one coordinating the application for special needs support) who said something to the effect that, "Well, I'm not sure he needs any. We could use some advice in dealing with him in certain areas, but he seems to be doing just fine. What are we supposed to do again?"
So then she called us and came over. And I said something to the effect that "Well, his fine motor skills are good, but he has real issues with fine motor planning and also visual motor integration. One of the great ironies of being Douwe is that he has a strongly auditory learning style but he also has a language disorder. So he falls back on kinetic learning. His visual memory is good but not terrifying; his auditory memory is terrifyingly good. His phonics are pretty iffy when tested, because he has a bad way of crossing up his languages. But his reading skills are good. He does rely a great deal on nonverbal information so if he cannot see your face and upper body you have usually lost his attention. But I have no real idea what services he needs in the classroom as I have never had to try to teach him anything in a room with twenty some odd other kids in it. I do think he needs to be taught to read by a person who reads Dutch better than I do, because I am teaching him to read in English right now and it does help".
Poor lady. Luckily for her I didn't get to say that all at once as there were translation issues.
She did say that she feared that if I taught him to read English he might at some time confuse the grammar of the two languages; so maybe I ought to stop. Uh huh. You now, everyone fears that at every step of the way but it never actually happens. Well, anyway, if he does, then I'll stop. *Whoops*, then it'll be too late and somebody will just have to teach him to read dutch so he doesn't confuse them any more.
And the big recommendation of the day was to sign him up for some kind of activity. Like a club or something. Because....? I never got that, maybe there was a because I missed. Because it will give him new people to talk to?
However, this lady will not actually be providing the services as I understand it; her job is organizational and so on. She helps get the Plan of Action written as I understand it. Next she meets with the teachers and principal of Douwe's school. Then we all meet together and write up the Plan of Action. Then we'll see what happens where the rubber meets the road.
But I have this feeling I am going to be written up in yet another file as a pain in the ass mother. Maybe not. We'll see about that, too.
Thursday, February 09, 2006
Plant Talk
I got my nose out of my seed catalog long enough to order, so that's good. Before I did, I went back to the local shop just to be sure the prices were in line and the selection was as bad as I remembered. Bleah. It was worse.
I did buy some spinach and greens thingies to put in my cold frame. My cold frame, for those of you who do not know, is actually Ernest's former enormous fish tank with dirt in it. It's good for growing things with shallow roots which do not have to live very long, like lettuces and so on.
I was going to entirely ignore Dearly Beloved's stated preference for cutting flowers in the garden except that, well, they had California poppies and I just couldn't resist. ANd black eyed susans which I love.
My rooftop garden overlooks the patio below and there is a drop of about, oh, twelve or fifteen feet. I am considering trying a blackberry hedge there, like my grandfather had coming over his fence, but I don't know if it will work with the blackberries in a container. I sort of like the idea for other than sentimental reasons, to wit: covering the drop with thorny vines will surely keep the Wild Boys away from it. Would a climbing rose be as happy going down as going up?
While I was hunting around on the web I found the most interesting thing. There is a website on which people who collect seed and grow from seed trade seed. It appears that if you have seed you just put up a listing of what you have; and if you need it you put up a listing asking for it. I may give it a whirl and see how it works out.
Since anybody who does that is likely to be a serious gardener I may also ask of anybody ever heard of dwarf cherries; I can't find any evidence that they exist in Holland and I would surely like to have a couple.
I did buy some spinach and greens thingies to put in my cold frame. My cold frame, for those of you who do not know, is actually Ernest's former enormous fish tank with dirt in it. It's good for growing things with shallow roots which do not have to live very long, like lettuces and so on.
I was going to entirely ignore Dearly Beloved's stated preference for cutting flowers in the garden except that, well, they had California poppies and I just couldn't resist. ANd black eyed susans which I love.
My rooftop garden overlooks the patio below and there is a drop of about, oh, twelve or fifteen feet. I am considering trying a blackberry hedge there, like my grandfather had coming over his fence, but I don't know if it will work with the blackberries in a container. I sort of like the idea for other than sentimental reasons, to wit: covering the drop with thorny vines will surely keep the Wild Boys away from it. Would a climbing rose be as happy going down as going up?
While I was hunting around on the web I found the most interesting thing. There is a website on which people who collect seed and grow from seed trade seed. It appears that if you have seed you just put up a listing of what you have; and if you need it you put up a listing asking for it. I may give it a whirl and see how it works out.
Since anybody who does that is likely to be a serious gardener I may also ask of anybody ever heard of dwarf cherries; I can't find any evidence that they exist in Holland and I would surely like to have a couple.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Bragging
I will have you know that I was invited to go for coffee at the home of one of the mothers of one of the kids at Douwe's school today.
My God, social contact with a human, I hardly know what to say.
No, she isn't Dutch*. She's at a guess from India or thereabouts. Her English has that musical British quality which I associate with India anyway.
But unquestionably human. We have chatted a bit about this-es and thats on the playground at pickup time. We both come from large Catholic families so I suppose we can talk about that for the first two years.
*I think the Dutch aren't allowed to invite you home until you have lived here about a hundred years, seems I read that rule someplace. Well, except during Carnival, then they invite you home a lot but that's different and I am too old for that.
My God, social contact with a human, I hardly know what to say.
No, she isn't Dutch*. She's at a guess from India or thereabouts. Her English has that musical British quality which I associate with India anyway.
But unquestionably human. We have chatted a bit about this-es and thats on the playground at pickup time. We both come from large Catholic families so I suppose we can talk about that for the first two years.
*I think the Dutch aren't allowed to invite you home until you have lived here about a hundred years, seems I read that rule someplace. Well, except during Carnival, then they invite you home a lot but that's different and I am too old for that.
Temper, temper
After another weekend involving some frustration over our similarities*, I shared with my spouse that unless he wants to pencil in the very first knock down drag out no hold barred bring out the big guns quarrel of our marriage I recommended in the strongest possible terms that we get on the stick about installing a wireless network.
He looked thoughtful for a moment and said he would do it tomorrow.
I pointed out that if he did it tomorrow then neither of us could work while he was installing things and debugging things and cursing Bill Gates' name and descendants and otherwise swearing in the seven languages in which he can swear.
He looked more thoughtful and said he would do it this week.
Quite possibly the only person on earth who respects the extremities to which their spouse might go in a fit of real temper more than I do, is Dearly Beloved.
So I expect he will do it. This is a good thing because if I actually expressed the annoyance I have felt for the last several days we might see an earthquake in Alaska.
Oh, really? Whoops.
*to wit: when we have work to do we both expect to sit down and do it without stopping and furthermore expect that somebody else, that is, the other one, entertain the children and shove food at them every two hours. The problems of this obsessive style of operating are obvious if you both want to work and you have only one computer.
He looked thoughtful for a moment and said he would do it tomorrow.
I pointed out that if he did it tomorrow then neither of us could work while he was installing things and debugging things and cursing Bill Gates' name and descendants and otherwise swearing in the seven languages in which he can swear.
He looked more thoughtful and said he would do it this week.
Quite possibly the only person on earth who respects the extremities to which their spouse might go in a fit of real temper more than I do, is Dearly Beloved.
So I expect he will do it. This is a good thing because if I actually expressed the annoyance I have felt for the last several days we might see an earthquake in Alaska.
Oh, really? Whoops.
*to wit: when we have work to do we both expect to sit down and do it without stopping and furthermore expect that somebody else, that is, the other one, entertain the children and shove food at them every two hours. The problems of this obsessive style of operating are obvious if you both want to work and you have only one computer.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Nota Bene
As some of you know, I bowed to extreme pressure and allowed my spouse and mother in law to start in on Douwe about his eating habits. After some initial *ahem* boundary setting (read, the child declared war and burned the ground and salted the ground after he burned it, then decided it wasn't worth the trouble and went along) this has worked out fine. I still think it was stupid, but it wasn't so stupid as to be harmful and god knows I do my share of stupid parent tricks.
So guess who got in on the "I don't eat" act? C'mon, guess.
Got it in one. And if Douwe is stubborn, Daan is implacable. Daan, when he sets his mind to it, makes Dowue look easygoing (though he is less dramatic about it. And does it far less often). Some of you may recall that Daan never took a bottle in his life. Never. Not ever. Douwe screamed and hollered and carried on and threw fits and then when it became clear that there was no other option he went along. Daan? Well, may I just say that my mother, battle hardened veteran of six children and four grandchildren, only ever called anybody once about a baby who wouldn't settle down. And that grandbaby was Daan.
So here's how little Daan has solved his problem: every single night for about a week, Daan has had either his father or his grandmother and sometimes both feeding him the bulk of his dinner.
I did not feed that child his dinner when he was an infant. As soon as he could get his food to his mouth he fed himself. He liked it. So I spread a sheet to protect the floor and let him have at it.
So now he's 4. And he is eating right out of their hands. And they like it. Or at least they don't seem to mind.
I have sat in secret admiration while he managed this little feat, I must say. I hope he hasn't noticed, though. I might be next you know.
So guess who got in on the "I don't eat" act? C'mon, guess.
Got it in one. And if Douwe is stubborn, Daan is implacable. Daan, when he sets his mind to it, makes Dowue look easygoing (though he is less dramatic about it. And does it far less often). Some of you may recall that Daan never took a bottle in his life. Never. Not ever. Douwe screamed and hollered and carried on and threw fits and then when it became clear that there was no other option he went along. Daan? Well, may I just say that my mother, battle hardened veteran of six children and four grandchildren, only ever called anybody once about a baby who wouldn't settle down. And that grandbaby was Daan.
So here's how little Daan has solved his problem: every single night for about a week, Daan has had either his father or his grandmother and sometimes both feeding him the bulk of his dinner.
I did not feed that child his dinner when he was an infant. As soon as he could get his food to his mouth he fed himself. He liked it. So I spread a sheet to protect the floor and let him have at it.
So now he's 4. And he is eating right out of their hands. And they like it. Or at least they don't seem to mind.
I have sat in secret admiration while he managed this little feat, I must say. I hope he hasn't noticed, though. I might be next you know.
School update
Well, so I went to Douwe's school and told them he had qualified for special ed. They said "Great! Now what do we do?"
Um.
I had rather hoped that they would tell me. Or at least make some suggestions.
What I did not say was ,"Well how the fuck am I supposed to know? I still haven't figured out what the names of all the agencies I am regularly corresponding with actually mean."
So of course I got on the phone and I made my spouse get on the phone (because at least one of the people I called is difficult for me to understand on the telephone) and then we told everybody what to do.
I have no idea whether what we told them to do is what we are supposed to do or not. I expect if it is not, someone will let us know.
So the next thing is, the speech school will assign us somebody to coordinate getting the services Douwe needs to Douwe. We will then all have a nice little meeting to write it all down with targets and goals and so on and then the coordinator will find the people who will come.
If this sounds a lot like an IEP meeting this is either the merest coincidence or it's because it's what I am familiar with and everybody was looking at me so it's what I came up with. It is my sincerest hope, however, that the coordinator has some suggestions about what services might be useful. Otherwise I'm going to have to make it up and try to resemble someone who has some idea what she is talking about.
However, I must point out that everyone who comes in contact with my child has commented that his speech has advanced quite markedly again in the past three weeks or so. If you would like to go back and look you will find that almost exactly three weeks ago Douwe started to read and this started him off wanting to write things down. I do not think this is a coincidence; I read a lot about this possibility and it is why I discarded my tendency to let things happen instead of pushing them.
So I expect that number one on my list will be somebody to teach him to read and write in Dutch. I really think I should not, I won't unless I just have to.
Um.
I had rather hoped that they would tell me. Or at least make some suggestions.
What I did not say was ,"Well how the fuck am I supposed to know? I still haven't figured out what the names of all the agencies I am regularly corresponding with actually mean."
So of course I got on the phone and I made my spouse get on the phone (because at least one of the people I called is difficult for me to understand on the telephone) and then we told everybody what to do.
I have no idea whether what we told them to do is what we are supposed to do or not. I expect if it is not, someone will let us know.
So the next thing is, the speech school will assign us somebody to coordinate getting the services Douwe needs to Douwe. We will then all have a nice little meeting to write it all down with targets and goals and so on and then the coordinator will find the people who will come.
If this sounds a lot like an IEP meeting this is either the merest coincidence or it's because it's what I am familiar with and everybody was looking at me so it's what I came up with. It is my sincerest hope, however, that the coordinator has some suggestions about what services might be useful. Otherwise I'm going to have to make it up and try to resemble someone who has some idea what she is talking about.
However, I must point out that everyone who comes in contact with my child has commented that his speech has advanced quite markedly again in the past three weeks or so. If you would like to go back and look you will find that almost exactly three weeks ago Douwe started to read and this started him off wanting to write things down. I do not think this is a coincidence; I read a lot about this possibility and it is why I discarded my tendency to let things happen instead of pushing them.
So I expect that number one on my list will be somebody to teach him to read and write in Dutch. I really think I should not, I won't unless I just have to.
Okay, so it's February
So what am I doing looking at a seed catalog? Well, I figured (as I do every year actually) that I would start some plants from seed this year. I already have some bell peppers and some kind of squash, which I have by virtue of having kept them when I was cooking. I could probably get tomatoes this way too except that I almost never use fresh tomatoes and I doubt the canned ones would sprout.
But this is a non-approved way of acquiring seeds. So I went to the local, er, farming store I suppose and looked at what they had. Which was not much. Nobody in Holland is seeding right now which ought to give me a clue.
Of course it did not, don't be silly.
So I asked a firend, which is what you do when you have no idea what to do. And she sent me the link to a seed place.
Oh. My. God.
There are 47 pages of just vegetables. I haven't even got to the fruits yet and the flowers will probably take until May when I can seed directly in the ground. I expected the 47 billion varieties of string bean, as the Dutch are mad for beans. I didnot expect to encounter vegetables I never heard of before. The first thing on the list is called an Aardaker, lathyrus tuberosus, which is apparently a root vegetable of which I have never ever heard a word. So I looked it up. There is some debate about whether it is a vegetable or an herb but no argument that it is used to flavor whiskey. An Alsempeer translates as a bitter melon and comes from south america. They say it tastes like hell but has near magical blood sugar lowering qualities. And further more -- they have six different varieties to choose from.
I promise not to go out of the "A"s, though, this is a very large catalog. Clearly I have friends with very discriminating tastes. Hey, I was getting my seeds from the vegetables at the local grocery store, my head is spinning.
They have about seventy kinds of pumpkin, and incude the butternut squash as a variety of pumpkin oddly enough. Only a few of the kinds of pumpkin they list are intended to be eaten, though, and less than five appear to be pie pumpkins so the selection there should be simple.
On the other hand, I may not get to watermelon in time to plant watermelon.
Hey, dad, get that look off your face, it's a big roof. Well, no, I don't actually know anyone who ever tried watermelon in a container but a girl's gotta have an ambition. Watermelon and pumpkin vines on the same roof seems ambitious to me.
Anyway, I'd love to write more but I have to go read my seed catalog. I may never stop reading it long enough to actually order anything.
But this is a non-approved way of acquiring seeds. So I went to the local, er, farming store I suppose and looked at what they had. Which was not much. Nobody in Holland is seeding right now which ought to give me a clue.
Of course it did not, don't be silly.
So I asked a firend, which is what you do when you have no idea what to do. And she sent me the link to a seed place.
Oh. My. God.
There are 47 pages of just vegetables. I haven't even got to the fruits yet and the flowers will probably take until May when I can seed directly in the ground. I expected the 47 billion varieties of string bean, as the Dutch are mad for beans. I didnot expect to encounter vegetables I never heard of before. The first thing on the list is called an Aardaker, lathyrus tuberosus, which is apparently a root vegetable of which I have never ever heard a word. So I looked it up. There is some debate about whether it is a vegetable or an herb but no argument that it is used to flavor whiskey. An Alsempeer translates as a bitter melon and comes from south america. They say it tastes like hell but has near magical blood sugar lowering qualities. And further more -- they have six different varieties to choose from.
I promise not to go out of the "A"s, though, this is a very large catalog. Clearly I have friends with very discriminating tastes. Hey, I was getting my seeds from the vegetables at the local grocery store, my head is spinning.
They have about seventy kinds of pumpkin, and incude the butternut squash as a variety of pumpkin oddly enough. Only a few of the kinds of pumpkin they list are intended to be eaten, though, and less than five appear to be pie pumpkins so the selection there should be simple.
On the other hand, I may not get to watermelon in time to plant watermelon.
Hey, dad, get that look off your face, it's a big roof. Well, no, I don't actually know anyone who ever tried watermelon in a container but a girl's gotta have an ambition. Watermelon and pumpkin vines on the same roof seems ambitious to me.
Anyway, I'd love to write more but I have to go read my seed catalog. I may never stop reading it long enough to actually order anything.
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