On the side wall where cars pass by, however, there are two small movie posters that show the current movie fare, and as our car passed by today, Kieran called from the back, “Mommy! That place must be a movie theatre! I know it from the signs!” This is a child who has been to one movie in his life, a year ago, and yet he still remembers the posters displayed all over the theatre. He saw two similar posters this morning on an otherwise bland building and managed to conclude that the place is where people go to see movies.

I really need to remember to ask Kieran the next time I’ve lost my keys or have that feeling I’m forgetting something at the grocery store.

And in other developing news, Liam was very excited to have finished two bracelets for a friend in the knitting block of his handwork class. (All children at Waldorf schools learn to knit in first grade. Not only is it fun and relaxing, but it builds fine motor skills for later work with pencils, pens, and paint brushes.) Today, though, he made the mistake of speaking about handwork class to a 2nd grade child. I’m not sure what Liam heard from his older schoolmate, but all I know is he climbed in the car at pickup time today saying, “Mom? Mommy? I am so in trouble in 2nd grade because they have to learn to purl in that class and they say it’s REALLY HARD! And I thought knitting was hard! I think I should stay in 1st grade forever….”

He was, however, a bit more relaxed when I told him that since he knows how to cast on, cast off, and knit, once he learns the purl stitch he’ll be set to tackle any knitting project he dares to pursue. Last I heard of this, he was imagining knitting a functional robot. I guess I should have put some explanation on the phrase “any project you wish to pursue.”

Me: “Tell me!”

Kieran: “I love you so much I want to make FIVE of you!”

Me: “Well, that is a whole lot of love, isn’t it?”

Big hugs all around…..

And also-to Gran-Gran in the hospital in Texas, the boys wish you a speedy recovery and they hope your broken hip is healed quickly.

“Feel better soon, Grandma!”

Happy Halloween!

(Liam and Kieran went trick-or-treating tonight with two friends.)

At Liam’s school last week, the 5th Graders came over to help the 1st Graders carve their very own jack-o-lanterns. Here is Liam with his creation. He was very proud to have carved his first pumpkin, and told me that the only help he needed from the older children was scooping the inside seeds and strands out of the pumpkin.

Have a spooky Halloween, everyone!

A few posts ago I was complaining that I couldn’t show you pictures of some needle felting and knitting projects I’d done over the summer because I had lost my camera. Well, I found it again (turns out I left it in the diaper bag, which I stopped using this summer when Kieran learned to use the bathroom), but of course, now that I have time to post, I can’t lay my hands on it. So the pictures will have to wait until next time. In the meantime, I’ll describe September at our house.

Liam started 1st grade, as you saw in the last post, and so far he loves it, although he does have some complaints about the amount of time he needs to sit still. But he’s coming home with stories of golden goblets and knights in shining armor, and outside his classroom are the pictures his class drew to illustrate these stories, so it’s obvious that the 1st grade curriculum is off and running. His teacher did send a note to parents after the first couple of weeks letting us know that much of that time was used simply learning the business of being 1st graders-they have class chores to do, and special subject teachers to get to know. The biggest job of all is learning to work as a team with their class teacher, Miss B., who will be guiding them all the way through 8th Grade, so team building is a lot of what goes on in the first months of 1st Grade. The class took a walk in the woods and across the creek the other day, and happened upon a trail that was overgrown with poison ivy. According to Miss B., this led to much problem-solving discussion amongst the class, which finally ended with her carrying the children, one or two at a time, across the poison ivy to safety. This is an image from this first year of school that I will hold dear forever.

Liam is playing soccer this fall, along with his Saturday piano lessons, so that’s where our weekends have been spent. Having never played before, and finding himself playing on a team of boys who have for the most part all been playing for several years, he’s doing well for himself by keeping up with everyone else. He even came very close to scoring a goal in last week’s game but tripped at the last second. He loves it, though, which is the main thing, and with three wins and one loss, his team is having a good season, too.

Kieran started nursery school with a lovely teacher who is very experienced but new to our school. She herself attended a Waldorf School from Kindergarten through 12th Grade, and her mom is a Kindergarten teacher at that school, so she is perfect for a young nursery class. He has five classmates, which is turning out to be a wonderful class size since the children can all play together and apparently that is what is happening for most of the morning-there is one activity going on at any time with five eager participants. Whether is is vegetable cutting, or bread baking, or piloting a ship from the top of the playset, they are all in it together. So I’m glad that he’s having such a wonderful time with his first year of school.

I’m taking an alumni class through Princeton. It’s a brief version of a popular freshman English class called Princeton University Reads, and it features novels, poetry, and short stories by Princeton authors. We are reading Aloft by Chang-Rae Lee right now, with class discussion taking place on a Google group. The group is moderated by a current Princeton grad student, with the faculty authors popping in from time to time. Soon we will turn our attention to some works by Joyce Carol Oates, Toni Morrison, and Paul Muldoon. It really is treat to be able to interact with these noted authors, and the best part is since it is an alumni class, there are no papers, exams, or other deadlines, so there’s no pressure involved either. When the invitation to join the class came through in my e-mail the other week, I had to accept because truly I’d be silly not to join in.

I’ve got a couple of knitting projects on my needles at the moment, a tote and a shawl. They get done bit by bit while I’m watching House and Private Practice episodes that I’ve gotten on the DVR. I’m also playing around with some needle felting, which I learned to to through the Waldorf School, and is a fun and different way to work with wool. More about all this later when I get something completed.

Kevin is doing IT support for the boys’ school-it’s a nice antidote to the current stress-filled company where he works. People at the school are thoughtful and express gratitude for his help, which is not something he gets at work, so it’s therapeutic that way, and is help that the school really needs. Also, a new living green roof was installed on the front of our Early Childhood/Administration building last weekend, and Kevin was one of the many dads who turned out to install the roof last weekend. It really is beautiful, and it also makes a statement to visitors about Waldorf and what sets the school apart from the other educational choices in our area.

So that has been September – a fun month with a lot going on. It always seems this way-the school year starts with a lot of activity, leads right into the holidays with all the attendant craziness there, and then -BOOM- we hit January and wonder “OK, now what do we do?” I’m sure we’ll figure it out by then.

…petting the lion cub…

…playing with Galapagos tortoises…

…and then, the next week, he was at Work Day at his school, helping set up the classroom and picking out a desk…

…and finally came the first day of school, during which each new 1st-Grade child was introduced the the school community and welcomed into the grade school with a bouquet of wildflowers presented by our 7th Grade Lead Class. This is the Waldorf School Flower Ceremony, which is performed the first day of each school year at each Waldorf school around the world. The wildflowers were grown over the summer in our school garden by the Lead Class, and they are used for this ceremony because they symbolise the unbridled spirit of young children. It was a beautiful day, perfect for celebrating a beautiful group of children.

Welcome to Grade School, Liam. May the years ahead hold many adventures, big and small. We love you and sre so proud of you.

Love,

Mommy, Daddy, and Kieran

]]> http://menageriehouse.com/2010/09/16/the-times-they-are-a-changing/feed/ 1 liesl Liamlion Dolphin Day Week 9 035 IMG_6381 1stgrade http://menageriehouse.com/2010/08/17/a-milestone-and-a-playdate/ http://menageriehouse.com/2010/08/17/a-milestone-and-a-playdate/#comments Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:52:40 +0000 lieslf http://menageriehouse.com/?p=876 ]]> I was outside tonight watering the roses. Through the window I could hear the rumbling of our clothes dryer. There’s nothing unusual about that sound, especially in a household with small children, of course, but it turns out that this load of laundry was indeed just a bit special. We were drying, for the last time ever, a load of diapers.

Three weeks ago we started potty training with Kieran. The first couple of days we weren’t sure he was going to take to it at all, but once he had a couple of successful visits to the bathroom, the lightbulb went off in his head illuminating for him the idea that using the bathroom is ever so much easier than waiting for Daddy or Mommy to change his diaper. And it’s been smooth sailing ever since. We had him in diapers at night initally, but he’s been so dry in the morning that we’re switching to training pants for now, and I don’t think he’s going to need those for much longer.

We are so proud of him, and so happy to have our diaper bag toting days behind us! And Kieran is loving his new freedom. The only downside is that now he wants to visit the bathroom any time we go to a new place just to check it out, silly guy. Sometimes when children reach a new milestone it’s a bittersweet moment, but not this time. This one has everyone here doing the Happy Dance!

In other news, today was an extra fun day for the boys and me. Despite getting a late start out of the house, we managed to make it down to South Jersey to visit Suzanne, Sean, and Allie of Mimilou fame. We hit some road construction going down and back but actually even that worked out well since spotting graders and excavators kept the boys busy and minimized the number of times the famous, “Mommy, are we there yet?” question was asked.

It’s been a couple of years since we’ve seen our friends – Kieran was still crawling then, and it was lovely to see them all again. The kids picked up where they left off last time, and even in the heat, the boys enjoyed a walk to the park and playing spies on the climbing equipment with Sean and Allie. Allie was also very sweet to Kieran by taking on the role of his little Mommy and carefully shepherding him up a ladder, and then pushing him on the swings. Wjile the kids were playing, Suzanne and I got to catch up, which was wonderful. All the way home the boys kept asking when we could go back and play some more. Thanks for the fun playdate, guys! We definitely need to get together soon, perhaps to do some apple picking.

So that’s the latest news hot off the Menagerie House presses. It’s a good to be ending the summer with fun and friends, and we’re planning to make the most of our remaining weeks of summer break.

Guinea pigs need a steady supply of fresh veggies, particularly greens, in their diet, and the boys and I have been having fun picking grass and dandelion greens for Willie. The boys ask to feed him his morning parsley when they get up, and they love to give him tickles and kisses.

We’ve had him for two weeks now and he has settled in well. Initially he was a bit skittish with us, but now he runs to the door of his hutch and squeaks when he sees us. Liam is looking forward to introducing Willie to his 1st grade teacher when she comes by for a visit this week.

Guinea pigs often live to be 6-7 years old, so we’re looking forward to lots of fun times with Willie.

Here we have Liam swinging away and pretending to be an Army helicopter pilot while Lieutenant Kieran mans “The Fort”.

Thank you again to Kevin, Grandma, and Pop-Pop – we love our swingset so much!

Hugs,

Liam and Kieran

We spent a week in Texas just after the July 4th holiday weekend. Kevin was able to stay only a couple of days due to work pressures, but the boys and I stayed all week and had a truly great vacation. Our first day there, my cousin Scott, my Aunt Tess, and my Uncle Jay were able to come up from Houston and spend the afternoon. This was a great experience since believe it or not, it has been almost twenty years since we’ve been together as a group. Tess and Jay were at our wedding in 1990, but Scott and his family were living abroad at the time and couldn’t make it. So it was really wonderful to see them again and pick up our relationship where we left off. As my Aunt Tess mentioned, if it wasn’t for the children running around, you would have thought that no time had passed at all since our last visit. It was fun to introduce Liam and Kieran to them, too, and Liam is still talking about how nice Tess, Jay and Scott are.

From left to right: Aunt Tess, Scott, me, and Uncle Jay (WordPress is giving me trouble with image size tonight, and I’m hoping I can come back in a day or two and enlarge the photos here.)

Kevin’s sister Janet and her children, Ethan and Alexa, came up for Sunday as well, so we had a full house and a lot of happy, excited children running around and screaming. It was really a fun day all around.

We spent the rest of the week doing a little of this and a little of that. There was lots of time in the pool – even though it was actually cooler in the Hill Country than it was back home, it was still pretty warm and a swim in the late afternoon was really refreshing.

Here are Kevin and the boys cooling off on Sunday afternoon.

There is currently an exhibit of dinosaur skeletons and other interesting dinosaur-related items in San Antonio. The boys, Grandma, and I went there one afternoon and we all really enjoyed it.

Here is Liam holding a jaw from one of T-Rex’s smaller relatives. It must have been quite a vicious time back in the Dinosaur Age judging by the looks of those teeth.

After the exhibit we were all hungry, so Grandma treated us all to lunch at a nice Italian place on the Riverwalk.

Kieran loved his ravioli (he calls them “pillows”), but the best part of lunch was still the dessert.

During the week we also took a trip to Sea World where we saw many beautiful marine creatures. The boys got to feed dolphins and alligators, and they loved Shamu’s live show. We also had time for a couple of trips into Blanco to visit GiGi and Uncle Bob at their apartments there, and we even stopped to do a little wading in the Blanco river. It was a full week, for sure.

Then on Saturday we all got up nice and early and flew home. The boys really missed Kevin and were so glad to see him at the airport! Pop-Pop had business on the weekdays, so Grandma stayed with us then, and it was fun having her here. We did a lot of playing and visiting and somehow the days just sped on by.

Then, on the last weekend of their visit, Gran-Gran and Pop-Pop helped us put together the boys’ new swingset. We bought it from a neighbor who was moving right before we left town. During our stay in Texas, Kevin did some repair work on the beams, and then after we returned home Grandma did an amazing job of painting the set. It wasn’t easy as it is a large structure, and the heat has been intense this year. She spent several afternoons out in the soupy afternoon air painting the set for her grandchildren. Then on Sunday, Kevin, Pop-Pop, and Grandma put the whole set together. It was a lot of work from start to finish, and we are so grateful to Kevin’s parents for all their labor on this project!

It was worth all the work, though, as the boys just love their swingset and are spending several hours a day playing on it. It really is terrific to have such a wonderful piece of play equipment in the backyard, and I know we’ll get lots of years of enjoyment out of it. With my camera missing, I can’t show the finished project right now, but I’ll pop out tomorrow and grab a shot with my phone so everyone can get a look at out new toy.

That, in a nutshell, has been our July. Add in swimming lessons for Liam, and lots of playing with neighborhood friends, and you’ve got pretty much the entire story. It’s been a lot of fun, and now we’re looking forward to a relaxing August before we have to get back into school mode in a few weeks. I’ll be back soon with  pictures of our swingset, and our first August news – a new pet at the Menagerie House.

Thanks for reading!

]]> http://menageriehouse.com/2010/08/04/july-wrap-up/feed/ 3 liesl family pool SM icecream http://menageriehouse.com/2010/07/10/vacation/ http://menageriehouse.com/2010/07/10/vacation/#comments Sat, 10 Jul 2010 06:41:23 +0000 lieslf http://menageriehouse.com/?p=859 ]]> Just a quick placeholder here-we are off this morning to spend a week in Texas with Gran-Gran and Pop-Pop. I may blog from the road or I may save it up for one big post when we return-that remains to be seen. Also-I have photos to show of the presents I made for my niece’s birthday, so those will be fun to post, too.

Have a fun week, everyone, and I will be back soon!