At this point I very am happy with the school. I am not the best
stay-at-home mom and as much as I think it would be great if I could do all
the neat things with the girls they are doing in Montessori, I know I
wouldn't get-er-done. I feel like they are learning correct principles that
will help them be successful in their lives and their interactions with
others. The biggest thing is I know they are learning a lot of personal
responsibility. How many 2 year olds zip up their own coats? How many 3
year olds wash and put away their dishes when they are done eating? Simple
things they learn at school are helping them (and me) do better at home. I
keep trying to remind myself not to do things for them that they are capable
of doing for themselves. I also think it's great that they get outside
play time in the winter. They have their snowpants and warm clothes and get
30 minutes before lunch and 30 minutes after, plus carpool time at the end
of the day. (As long as it's above 20 degrees.) When it warms up they have
trikes and bikes to ride around. Shay loves the sledding hill, and as I
mentioned earlier, Kysa loves eating the snow. :)
As for Raleigh, he says, "Mom, I wish I could go here!" Sorry, Ral, you're
a public school kiddo now.
Biking is on my mind today. Shelby and Joel Whiting came over last night to pick up Aunt Nancy’s old specialized bike for Shelby’s sister to ride on an indoor trainer. I got out my prized possession—my lightspeed tri bike—to show Shelby because she hadn’t seen it. So today as I was searching for pictures for our web site, I came across this gorgeous shot on FlickR that is probably taken somewhere on the Sunnyside-Lincoln bike loop that I love so much. The loop starts with a very long hill up Sunnyside, and as you reach the top of the hill you see a windmill appear on the horizon. The first time I rode up Sunnyside I swore I would never make it to the top—but I forced myself to keep on pedaling and did not stop, and it was a great feeling to make it. (My neighbor John Wood led me, Jen Cannon, and Nancy Archibald on an early morning ride the first time we did it. We had no idea what we were in for!)
Once you’ve reached the summit, the route then takes you down a steep decline that is exhilarating and somewhat frightening, but absolutely beautiful. At the intersection of Bone Road you head north, mostly downhill with a few rollers. The windmills and the mountains to the west are breathtaking, a great reward for making it up the Sunnyside grade. The entire loop is around 26 miles, about the same distance as the Spudman bike route. I felt like doing that ride several times last summer really prepared my legs for race day. Looking forward to spring when I can do it again.
Seeing what Kirb went through I am incredibly grateful that I had all
c-sections. Not for the pain side of it, but for the emotional side. With
the c-section you pretty much know exactly when you are going to have the
baby. There's so much more time to get worried with a natural birth. I was
worried because Bodie got distressed and they had to slow thing down for a
bit, and she was posterior and they were maybe going to need to use forceps
or a vacuum. But it is cool how they monitor everything so closely so at
least you know if the baby is having trouble.
The Question: Kysa, what did you learn today?
The punchline: “If we put the really ball next to the heater, it will blow up our house!”
The background: This morning my awesome 65 cm exercise ball that mom gave me when Raleigh was a toddler was destroyed when Kysa decided to see what would happen if she held it against our cadet heater in the living room. Raleigh tried to tape up the hole that she melted in it, to no avail. Raleigh and Kysa were crying about it this morning.
When we got home from work/school I asked Kysa what she learned, and that was her answer.
