A few months after we moved to Frederick, HPR reminded me that we had actually been here before. On our way back to Philly from one of HPR's West Virginia training events, Shmoo was being fussy in the car. HPR had heard that Frederick was "cuters" (as our Peace Corps friend, A., would say), so we got off the freeway and looked for a coffee shop. I have only the vaguest recollection of that morning. (I've been sleep-deprived for five years now.) We were charmed by the businesses in the quaint historic district and said we should live here someday.
The New York Times did a nice travel piece on Frederick a year ago. Siblings: please go to the article and notice the photo features O'Hair Salon in the foreground. Others: it's a family thing to collect silly business names for hair-cutting places.
You have perhaps seen the video of Roo's birthday where she is clearly perplexed about the blowing-out-the-candles business. HPR helped her with the cake candles and Shmoo helped her with her birthday ring candles.
Shmoo's birthday is six weeks after Roo's, and this video shows that it didn't take long for her to catch on. I ended up having to restrain her while HPR relit Shmoo's candles.
Have I raved yet about Shmoo's pre-K? It's part of our local public school. (Thank you, Frederick County taxpayers!) Shmoo is in the afternoon class with 19 other kids. The teacher and teacher's aide are fantastic. They have taught my child some punctuation marks and he loves it (period = stop sign, comma = take a breath, quotation marks = talking marks, and exclamation point = excitement mark). They have terrific catchy songs, practice positive behavior reinforcement, and teach sign language. The majority of kids are reading by the end of the year. Shmoo loves being around kids his age.
The school also has a once-a-week program for two- and three-year-olds, too, which parents and siblings attend. They give 5th graders a chance to be assistants for the little ones. It's so well organized, age appropriate, and perfect for getting families involved in schools.
Shmoo's class get to bring "baggie books" home: books from the school library packaged in zip bags with a reading log sheet to complete. Of course, Shmoo is all over that, too.
The books he has been bringing home most often are in the Sweet Pickles series. Do you know these books? I guess I'm a little too old to have been exposed to them in early classroom, since they first came out in 1977. (Probably took several years for them to make their way to small-town ND, too, like "Sesame Street," which I never saw as a little kid.)
Anyway, these books are bizarre. I guess I'm spoiled by the fabulous books we have access to at the public library (thanks again, Frederick County taxpayers!), but imho Sweet Pickles feature ugly illustrations, flat text, and flatter plot lines. I guess their point is to teach some sort of emotional intelligence or something. I don't know. Anyway, thanks to the amazing internets, you too can experience the books. I found this YouTube video of a guy reading a Sweet Pickles book as he drinks a beer. (Now that's more like it. Maybe I can figure out a drinking game to go along with the books!) You probably don't want to play this video in front of the kids, however, as the guy throws in a few swears. Enjoy!
I have hesitated to write this because writing about it makes it more real/true. Our cat, Stella, has been missing since Halloween afternoon. I know. We have been trying to stay positive: have filed a report with animal control, put up posters and a craigslist post, alerted our neighbors, and she has a chip. (The Philly pound does the chip to all pets when you adopt.) But as each day passes, we lose a little hope.
Loki was gone for one week once in Philly. We assume he got stuck in a garage when someone went on vacation (Sat - Sat). But we are also preparing ourselves for the possibility that she is gone for good. HPR's positive thought is that someone took her in - it was raining pretty hard that night (although she has stayed out on other rainy nights despite our calling for her. She has always come back dry and unfazed, so she certainly knows how to find shelter).
The kids don't seem too affected by Stella's absence. Probably because Stella always hid when they were awake! We know we have had a good run with her and that she has loved the new house/neighborhood. Loki is missing her, we think.
I'm sure the neighbors are enjoying the Streetcar Named Desire reenactments that we have been doing as we try to call her home to us.
Shmoo made me a mother five years ago. We retold his birth story to him today, how it all started with a donut on Broad Street, and that he said "I want that!" My trolley ride home while in labor, calling HPR to tell him it was time for him to come home. How the fire alarm was going off at the hospital when we arrived, the elevator began to take us up to the 14th floor, but then stopped and returned us to the first floor. (We only had to wait a few minutes before we could go up, but I had visions of delivering in the waiting room.) Anyway, here he is, over the years. Newborn photo missing since I'm not at my computer.
Age one
A few days away from age two, in New Mexico
Age three, he's looking at me
Age four, brother bugs sister (and best Philly friend, S.)
Only a short post today. We are exhausted from preparing for Shmoo's party, then the party itself (bounce house again this year, and s'mores, all in our own back yard), then packing up and driving 3 hours to PA grandparents' place.
Shmoo's quote to the crowd during his party. "I don't eat any meat except turkey bacon. My mom says I'm a veterinarian."
The brilliant Sheryltweeted that she charges a candy tax for every wrapper she finds on the floor. Excellent! So today, after catching Shmoo trying to lift Loki cat up with a doll scarf, I told him if I saw him hurting the cat or Roo that I would take a piece of candy out of his basket and eat it. As I was gathering shoes and coats to get us out the door for his afternoon Pre-K, I caught Shmoo roughly squeezing Roo on the couch. (He puts one hand on her belly and the other on the small of her back and pushes them together.) I announced that I was taking a piece of his candy and did it. (I set the candy aside because I had just brushed my teeth.) He was crestfallen. Candy is his Precious. So we'll see how effective this is. The best part about it is I can just calmly announce it and do it, rather than put him in time-out, which tends to get dramatic and incendiary. When the candy's all gone, however, I'll have to figure out another plan.
Shmoo's actions worry me a bit because no matter what I say/do, he doesn't seem to realize the consequences of what he does. Empathy doesn't seem to be his strong suite. I wouldn't say it's on the level of sociopath—probably more a lack of impulse control.
It's tough to find the balance of controlling him vs. letting things play out. The cat has claws and teeth and can run away and jump out of reach. Roo can speak up for herself and physically can hold her own more and more. She enjoys the roughhousing they do (different than today's incident because it wasn't mutual). But Shmoo is nearly 50 lbs and strong as an ox. Bottom line is we don't inflict harm on others. /sigh/
