Biking to Gymnastics

Helen started taking gymnastics a couple of weeks ago. A studio moved in near our home, and lo' and behold, they have beginning classes designed for girls older than three. Helen's last attempt at gymnastics was deemed a total disaster by her, because all she wanted to learn to do was a cartwheel, and they never taught her that. (Never mind that she needed to learn some easier things, first.)



Because it is September, and our family fitness challenge is to bike, Helen and I have been riding to her class. Getting there is no problem. It's basically downhill the whole way, and we only have one city street to cross that requires hopping off our bikes and walking across the street.

But that means that getting home is basically uphill the whole way. On week 1, I tried to route us a little out of our way so we'd have a little more flat territory to cross along with the hills. I was not fully successful, which resulted in Helen crashing on her bike.



She was an absolute rock star, taking it all in stride, and hopping right back on her bike to get home.

On week 2, I had a better route, and there was only one small portion where I needed to give Helen a shove up a hill near our home.



This week, as I was going through her Friday folder, I found her artistic version of our week one ride.

I believe she is saying "ow-ee", not "owe" as in "you owe, me, Mom".



I'm pretty impressed with her very accurate drawing of me. All that running has clearly paid off. And biking with a purse takes a lot of talent!

Elaine



AN UPDATE: Helen clarified that the picture she drew was an example of when she was being a "good citizen". Laying on the ground with no helmet is Connor, after falling from his bike in the backyard. (For the record, I didn't even know about this injury until this discussion about the picture came up.) Riding her bike with no helmet and offering assistance to Connor is Helen. Helen told me I should have known this, because Connor's bike is green. I reminded her that she and I have blue eyes, but Connor has brown eyes. I'm pretty sure her response to me was "what-ever", which is her basic response to everything that annoys her lately.

New Family Mantra

Helen has always been the light in our house. As crabby and obstinate as she can be, she remains an optimist through and through.

A few days ago, Helen and I headed off to her girl scout meeting in the pouring rain. Ed happened to be commuting by bike that day (as he often does) and as we stepped outside I told Helen "I feel so badly for Daddy riding home in this rain".

Without missing a beat, Helen responded "well, at least the bike path won't be crowded today".

And I think that should be our new family mantra. When things are not going well, we should just look at each other and repeat "at least the bike path won't be crowded today" as a reminder that somewhere, amidst whatever trouble is happening, a silver lining exists.

Even if it's tiny.

Elaine

First Volley Thrown

Connor launched his first volley in his war on school a few days ago. It started out innocently enough. The teacher (who was an intern at the school last year, but is teaching her first solo class this year) asked the students to write about themselves - their families, their pets, what they were looking forward to, and what the student wanted the teacher to know.

Connor responded with this:

The teacher was a bit taken aback, as was I when I read it at his conference. She told me he didn't just riff it off, that he had actually sat and thought about it a bit. She thought it was pretty funny, as did I. And she also thought it was pretty sad, which I also agreed with. Connor is the type of kid who should enjoy school.

After Connor and I talked about the letter, I asked him if he had to pick a favorite subject, what it would be. He chose science, which is not too surprising. He had a great science teacher last year and this year's science teacher is reputed to be just as good. But then he said "because it's the last class of the day and it means I get to go home soon".

I have a feeling it's going to be a long year. For everyone.

Elaine

Arlington County Fair

This year's trip to the fair did not bring job offers, as one many years ago did. But it did bring the usual bit of fun at the usual ridiculously high price. We almost didn't get to the fair, because it was the day before Helen and Connor left for Kansas for two weeks (which I believe my parents and sister have recovered from). But the bags were pretty much packed, and a friend's email inviting me to the fair that weekend reminded me that we had a few hours to ride some dangerous rides and possibly eat a sweet treat.

The best (and only free) part of the fair that we go to is the pig races. Ed has a crazy record of picking winners, though Connor and Helen did a fine job with the strategy of "pick your favorite color". Yellow won half the races and purple won the other half of the races, as I recall. But maybe I just told the kids that so they wouldn't argue about who picked the best pigs.

Note the handmade dress Helen is wearing. She made it in camp earlier that day. Sadly, she wanted it in Kansas, and when I dried it on a very low setting, it went from dress to shirt. Happily, she made a new one with my mom the next week, which is handwash only, though I'm guessing the fabric my mom chose wouldn't shrink that much.

Connor, as always, was drawn to any ride that seemed dangerous. Helen abstained, and even went on a ride that she was technically too tall for, but reported afterwards that it was pretty wild. You're my kind of amusement park gal, Helen.

The next morning, they were off for two weeks.

Elaine

First day!

The first day of school went off without a hitch. ON TIME ARRIVAL - motivated at least in part by a neighbor coaxing us to the starting line with muffins. And while I had the best intentions to arrive at school right on time at the end of the day, I only managed to do this because I saw I had about 12 seconds of crosswalk time left when I rounded the hill at the top of the street leading to the school, and I turned on the gas. As I ran through I shouted a greeting to the crossing guard and added "picking up right where we left off". He laughed. This was followed by a second day sprint bike ride from the subway which did get me to school right as the bell rang.

We went to the baseball game after school the first day, only to witness ANOTHER 7th inning collapse by our home team. Getting into the play-offs is starting to seem a distant possibility. As Ed noted last night, now the whole house can commit itself to the Royals. On the way to the game, the metro stopped for an enormous amount of time, but thankfully the kids and I had books so we spent the time reading. I may finish my book club book yet, despite my late start on it.

Second day brought a sick Connor, so he stayed home from school. Helen came home wanting to do her math packet and I had to break it to her that she lives in a house that doesn't do summer math packets, even with the shiny prize of a sticker in your sticker book on the line. I told her I'd give her an at-home sticker though, which seemed acceptable.

Cheers, all. Hopefully the bug is gone from Connor and he can enjoy today.

There goes my heart again.

Elaine

Summer Is Over?!?

Wow. After two weeks without the children, followed by two weeks of vacationing first in the Adirondacks with Ed's family and then in Montreal and Vermont with just the four of us, it seems as if summer has officially found its end. As I type this, Helen and Connor are sleeping, with first day of school clothes laid out, and Ed and I figuring out who's going to perform drop-off duty and who will take on pick-up.

I don't cherish the end of summer. I like the time Connor and Helen have at home. I like the looseness of most days, and even on days when nothing seems to get accomplished, I like the idea that at least we probably weren't rushed in the morning, grabbing sips of coffee on the way out the door and crossing fingers that nothing requiring a return trip to school would be forgotten.

Connor will be entering fifth grade - the oldest grade at our elementary school. He's in a classroom with many students who have never been in his class, the byproduct of having four sections of his grade.

Helen feels like she's flying a bit solo, but she's absolutely ready to dive in. She has the same teacher Connor had for second grade, and that is a huge relief for me. I am certain Helen will love her.

I have my own first-day jitters. I'm starting a book club for students in Helen's and Connor's classes. If I don't get enough takers in their classes, I'll expand to other classes in the grade. But since I'm hoping for a group of about eight, I suspect it won't be too difficult to fill.

This is the moment in the school year, when the world seems full of possibilities. Pencils are sharpened, backpacks are clean, nobody has asked a child to do any meaningless homework. The hope of getting the perfect teacher fills the house, and somehow I am able to believe that THIS will be the year that everything will just work out.

Fingers crossed. Let's do this!

Elaine

And they're off!

Last Thursday, the kids hopped on a plane bound for Kansas and never looked back. They've been too busy. So far, I've seen photos of Connor catching an 18 inch catfish, heard about guns, arrows, canoes, smoothies, dog walking, and more. They've been to camp, an amusement park, LegoLand, and more. It's been a great vacation for Connor and Helen, and I'm excited to hear more about it.

Ed and I have been mixing up going out without thinking about the time, home projects, working a little extra at the office, and this weekend we'll go on a brief getaway. I miss Connor and Helen, but I'm so confident they're in a great place, that I'm able to just enjoy time without them, as well.

Connor and Helen were absolute troopers at the airport.

While we waited in the "special services" line, we were goofing around a bit. If we had known what was coming, we would've spent our time worrying, instead.

When it was our turn, something in the system went awry. Despite having about an hour to get these two unaccompanied minors checked in, when it was all said and done, the ticket agent literally led us on a run through the airport, through security, and right onto the plane. I have to hand it to him - the problem was entirely of his making, but damn if he didn't sky up and solve it. I imagined that we were famous people being escorted through lines, stepping in front of everyone with all of the agents just nodding and saying "absolutely, go right on through" while the regular public stood in line waiting.

My only instruction to the children was to "tail that guy and DO NOT let him out of your sight no matter what". This almost resulted in a collision with an innocent person casually walking through the airport, but we all survived.

And there was no time to get nervous at the gate - because they walked right on the plane!

Connor reported that he played iPad the whole time, Helen cut up the time by knitting a bit on this summer's scarf. They were both proud of their solo travel.

As soon as they walked onto the plane, I snapped this photo:

PAR-TAY!

Elaine

Laurapalooza: Day 2 - 3

Days 2 - 3 of Helen's and my adventure were spent mostly at the conference. We learned that Mary's blindness was likely NOT caused by scarlet fever and that the grasshoppers that destroyed Pa's crops were actually locusts and for a variety of reasons, they are now extinct. (There was a long discussion about the biological relationship of grasshoppers and locusts, with the upshot being that one is a subset of the other, but it was all just confusing to me.) The presentations that tied most closely to the books (as opposed to being more academic in nature) were the things I loved best - and the ones Helen could relate to.

The conference materials came with peppermint sticks and conversation hearts. The hearts had specially printed messages relating to the conference and Laura. AWESOME! Helen doesn't like peppermint, so she traded for my hearts upon opening her goodie bag. It was a win-win situation.

Helen loved parading around in her bonnet (which she's worn a LOT since my mother gave it to her a couple of years ago) and was even interviewed for the evening news. This was a big thrill for Helen, as you can imagine. There were several older ladies who seemed to love parading around in their bonnets as well, which was only a little bit surprising. (One lady had not one, but two pretty creepy bonnets - which was just weird.)

Probably the highlight of the conference for Helen was on the second day of the conference, when we made bracelets and name cards. We traded our name cards just as Laura had traded hers. Pa didn't have to give us a dime to purchase them, since we made them ourselves. What a fun tradition!

Each evening after the conference we spent a lot of time at the indoor waterslide at our hotel. My friend's daughters and Helen were instant friends, and all three girls played so nicely together. Watching them interact was one of those wonderful parenting moments. I wish my friend and I still lived just a few blocks from each other. It would be super fun to watch our children grow up together!

Elaine

Running

I get a lot of good energy from running, so when a runner I truly admire asked me to write a post on why I run for her blog, I felt like I had made the big-time. She is funny, she is a great storyteller (two attributes that are extremely welcome in running company), and she spreads good energy everywhere she goes. My post is here.

Here is the story about the track that she alludes to in her introduction. The first time I went to the track, I was a couple of minutes late. I looked around for a big group of women, because I had heard about the track workout through a running group I had joined, Moms Run This Town (MRTT). (If you are a woman looking for running buddies, I strongly recommend looking for a chapter of this group near you.) I had already decided that I was going to run at the track that morning and not be discouraged, no matter what. I ran up next to this group of women and by way of introduction said "are you the moms?". Well, no, they were not the moms, they were the LUNA chix, but some of the people running with them were from MRTT and they said "sure, run with us". So I fell in to their warm-up mile. Only their warm-up was like my all-time fastest rock star pace (and I had run the 0.5 miles to the track, so I had warmed up a bit). I hung on to the back of the pack and then they stopped and said "OK, now it's time for striders" and they might as well have been speaking in Russian because I had no idea what that meant. Someone told me what they were, and I followed along for that as well.

At this point, I am dying, but also reminding myself that I was not going to be discouraged. I'm clinging to my water bottle pretending that I'm OK, but I am not.

And then someone said "here's today's workout" and sweet Jesus on a bicycle I swear all I could think of was "what the crap was all that stuff we just did?" and the woman with "today's workout" started talking about distances and tempos and rest breaks and I knew there was no way I was going to keep up, so I told myself - I'll just run whatever pace I can for the total length she is describing, and maybe if I don't take the breaks I can sort of keep up.

This whole pack of women took off around the track and I just started doing my thing. But here's what happened. When they ran by me (because even with their jogging breaks they were so damn speedy), a few of them would say "good job, Elaine". And I took that as a sign that even though I was not doing even close to what they were doing, I wasn't actually causing harm to them, so it must be OK for me to keep going. I could not finish the workout that had been described, so I just ran around that track until they all stopped, and then I said my good-byes and ran home, rather than cooling down at the track. After all, I was dying and thought dying in a private place might be better than collapsing on the track.

It took a few weeks for me to realize that those breaks were actually an important part of the workout.

I have no idea what they were thinking about me. At one point, I decided that maybe I made a good mascot for them. Maybe I made them feel good about how awesome they were, as they lapped me week after week. It was a few months in, on an exceptionally cold day when they shortened the workout that I actually finished it. For the first time, I had completed the workout, and I did announce this glory to everyone else, and their reaction told me it was clear they had no idea I hadn't been completing the workouts before. And while they were happy for me because this was clearly a huge milestone in my eyes, they weren't bothered at all by my previous early exits.

As spring approached, I learned that I had actually been going to workouts that weren't official. There is an official LUNA chix season where everyone is invited to join, and unofficially, several people had just kept it going. I had totally crowded right into their workouts (at someone's invitation, but still...), which made me realize even more how nice these women were being to me.

It took me a long time before I felt comfortable running off the track with these women. On the track, pace doesn't matter. You can't get lost, you can't get left behind. You're running in circles. But off the track, pace matters. You have to have a reasonable chance of keeping up with your fellow runners, and it doesn't feel good to know you're holding everyone back. And if you can't keep up, there is the very real chance that you will be left behind (people will volunteer to slow down, but I would've just said - oh no, I'm fine).

My only regret? I wish the first time someone in that group had asked me to run with them I would've just done it. Because I am loving my runs lately.

Elaine

Laurapalooza! Day 1.

Helen and I recently flew to Minneapolis, picked up my best friend from elementary school and her two daughters, and then drove to Brookings, South Dakota where we attended a conference on Laura Ingalls Wilder. And as ridiculous as that all sounds, I promise I am not making it up.

I have never traveled with Helen alone for an extended period. This trip was a real treat. That Helen made fast friends with my friend's daughters was icing on the cake. I'd rate this trip as being as good as it could've been - and I'm hopeful this will be the start of some mother-daughter travel for Helen and me.

Our adventure started with an early morning drive up to Baltimore, because I decided the convenience of a direct flight was better than the convenience of driving to Dulles or National. Upon landing in Minneapolis, we headed to The Works. It's super cool, we should have one in DC.

A huge bonus of going to a children's museum in the middle of the week is that it is virtually empty. And we took advantage of that by testing every exhibit in the place, with only a brief break to eat what would be the first of roughly 20 pizzas on our trip. (My deal with myself was that I was going to try and make the trip as easy on Helen as possible, and if that meant cow-towing to her daily request for cheese pizza, I was going to smile and love it.)

Helen was a little horrified that I took her photo in these clothes. They are her traveling clothes, selected only for comfort, not fashion. She did admit they were good on the plane, but they are not even close to enough style for her.

We rocked it so hard building a marble run, that at one point, a bunch of kids were trying their best to take the project over from Helen. But she was determined to make it work, and she succeeded! 

And then Helen made a balloon car, and she brought home a kit for Connor because she would really like to show him how awesome it is.

After spending several hours here, we headed off to Lisa's house - but not without texting my mom a photo for my dad, the family engineer.

It was good to move around a lot, because the next phase of our trip was driving. We were able to remind ourselves that I am a terrible navigator, which resulted in Lisa driving down a few roads in the wrong direction. Luckily, she either remembers that I'm a disaster with a map or doesn't care.

We did make it to our destination and were able to check into our "suite". It was there we encountered the first problem - the couch that was supposed to be in our room with two beds was an imaginary couch. Helen sized up the situation quickly and begged for all three girls to sleep in the same bed, even volunteering to be the middle kid. (She wasn't being nice here - she remembers getting kicked out of bed the last time she shared with a friend, and she wanted to make sure she didn't suffer a similar indignity on this trip.) The kids were thrilled, so as Lisa noted, the problem was solved before anyone even realized it was a problem. Yay!

Elaine