I don't know how to ice skate. That's not surprising, considering I grew up in the Philippines, where the only ice you see is in freezers. I was in my late teens when the first ice skating rink went up, and I never got the urge to try it. To date, I have been ice-skating only twice in my life. The first time was ten minutes in Tahoe that ended with me and my husband bruised and cold and miserable. The second time was yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon we went to a skating party at the Palo Alto Winter Lodge. It was the first time for all the kids. I was hoping the boys would be content playing with some toys and watching everyone else skate so that Graham could take Natalie on the ice. Not a chance; they wanted to skate like everyone else. Fortunately, another adult offered to help Natalie out so Graham and I only had one boy each.
So there I was, out on the ice, only my second time ever, fighting desperately to keep my balance while one little boy was gripping my hand tightly, counting on me to be steady as he struggled to stay upright. Natalie was valiantly trying to keep up with her friends, refusing our help, wanting to do it by herself. The poor kid was slipping and sliding all over the place while her friends just glided by. I honestly expected my kids to give up within five minutes and watch from the sidelines the rest of the time. Honestly, I was hoping they would stop so I could stop as well.
But amazingly, they didn't want to stop. Natalie and the boys kept going. They loved it! James kept shouting, "I'm skating, I'm skating!". By the end of the session Natalie was skating on her own, with her friends, not falling once. By the end of the session, James was still holding my hand, but he was pulling me along. By the end of the session, even I was less shaky, more confident and more cheerful. And I was actually enjoying myself. Since then, all I've heard from them is, "I want to go skating, when are we going skating?".
I underestimated my children, and I am humbled. Seeing them yesterday made me realize that the difficulty and hardship were all in my mind, not theirs. All this time, we've lived within a mile of the Winter Lodge and have never taken them there; we've flirted with the idea of skating lessons but let it pass. I guess I just didn't think they were old enough, thought they would fall too often and get discouraged too soon. How silly of me to assume they wouldn't be interested. Why should my experiences and attitudes dictate theirs? Looks like I'll be signing them up for lessons soon.
I don't know how to ice skate, but that doesn't mean my kids can't learn. And that doesn't mean that I can't learn too.
Sign up for Natalie's Tell-A-Tthon!
Once Natalie entered kindergarten I knew it would only be a matter of time before I came knocking on people's doors with requests for money or something to sell. From my own schooldays and my experiences from the BC (Before Children) era, it seems fundraising is a part of both public and private school life. I have bought many a Sees' or M&M's candy bar from a co-worker, friend or cousin raising funds for her daughter or son's school. Our neighbor's children knock on our door once or twice a year, without fail, to sell us giftwrap or magazine subscriptions or Girl Scout cookies. Natalie's school has alreay held giftwrap sales and booksales and auctions and pledge drives.
We fully support our schools and understand that, for our kids' sakes, volunteerism and donations are necessary to supplement the paltry stipends given to them by the government. So we do try to help out in various ways, volunteering time and goods and money. We've attended and supported the various fundraisers, but so far I haven't asked anyone else to buy something in support of Natalie's school. Forgive me, but that's about to change.
Natalie's kindergarten class is holding a Kindergarten Tell-A-Thon to raise money for the Family Center at Palo Alto's Opportunity Center, an organization helping homeless and impoverished families. For the Tell-A-Thon, she and her classmates will be learning the answers to the following:
1) Name
2) Mother's name
3) Father's name
4) Birthday (dd/mm/yy)
5) Street address
6) City
7) Zip code
8) State
9) Country
10) Home phone number
11) Bonus question: What are the three colors in the USA flag?
She'll be reciting the above facts to her teachers on Thursday, March 8th. Family and friends can sponsor her for every fact she remembers. For everything on the list that Natalie answers correctly, you can donate 15 cents, for a total of just $1.50 per sponsor. What is $1.50 worth? Not even a tall Starbucks latte ($3). Here's what you can get for $1.50 these days:
A bottle of Diet Coke.
530 calories (from a Taco Bell Beef-and-Potato burrito).
2 packs of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (with 2 pieces each).
I don't feel so bad asking family and friends to give up that Taco Bell burrito. For our English relatives, with the US-GBP exchange rate solidly in their favor, it's even better, only 77p. That 77p buys you:
1 song download from 7Digital.
200g bottle of Johnsons' Baby Powder from ASDA.
2 cups of Weight Watchers Chocolate Mousse.
It's just a small fundraiser but it's the one I wanted to speak out for. Why? Well, it's for a good cause, of course. But I also like the fact that Natalie has to make a little bit of an effort to raise the money. And I like the fact that the fundraiser benefits her as well -- it's a great way to encourage her to learn these important pieces of information, which instills confidence in herself and helps keep her safe. Last but not least, I think it's a great way to get her started on a lifetime habit of helping others in her community.
So friends and family, if you are willing to give up your Starbucks fix for just half a day (or whatever your $.150 buys you) in support of Natalie's fundraiser, please let me know! Send me an email or leave a comment on this post.
We fully support our schools and understand that, for our kids' sakes, volunteerism and donations are necessary to supplement the paltry stipends given to them by the government. So we do try to help out in various ways, volunteering time and goods and money. We've attended and supported the various fundraisers, but so far I haven't asked anyone else to buy something in support of Natalie's school. Forgive me, but that's about to change.
Natalie's kindergarten class is holding a Kindergarten Tell-A-Thon to raise money for the Family Center at Palo Alto's Opportunity Center, an organization helping homeless and impoverished families. For the Tell-A-Thon, she and her classmates will be learning the answers to the following:
1) Name
2) Mother's name
3) Father's name
4) Birthday (dd/mm/yy)
5) Street address
6) City
7) Zip code
8) State
9) Country
10) Home phone number
11) Bonus question: What are the three colors in the USA flag?
She'll be reciting the above facts to her teachers on Thursday, March 8th. Family and friends can sponsor her for every fact she remembers. For everything on the list that Natalie answers correctly, you can donate 15 cents, for a total of just $1.50 per sponsor. What is $1.50 worth? Not even a tall Starbucks latte ($3). Here's what you can get for $1.50 these days:
A bottle of Diet Coke.
530 calories (from a Taco Bell Beef-and-Potato burrito).
2 packs of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (with 2 pieces each).
I don't feel so bad asking family and friends to give up that Taco Bell burrito. For our English relatives, with the US-GBP exchange rate solidly in their favor, it's even better, only 77p. That 77p buys you:
1 song download from 7Digital.
200g bottle of Johnsons' Baby Powder from ASDA.
2 cups of Weight Watchers Chocolate Mousse.
It's just a small fundraiser but it's the one I wanted to speak out for. Why? Well, it's for a good cause, of course. But I also like the fact that Natalie has to make a little bit of an effort to raise the money. And I like the fact that the fundraiser benefits her as well -- it's a great way to encourage her to learn these important pieces of information, which instills confidence in herself and helps keep her safe. Last but not least, I think it's a great way to get her started on a lifetime habit of helping others in her community.
So friends and family, if you are willing to give up your Starbucks fix for just half a day (or whatever your $.150 buys you) in support of Natalie's fundraiser, please let me know! Send me an email or leave a comment on this post.
A new take on Yummy
Reference.com says that "yummy" can refer to:
Yummy Bingham, an American R&B singer.
"Yummy", a song by Gwen Stefani.
"Yummy", a song by Puerto Rican singer Chelo.
Yummy Yummy, a Singaporean film.
Yummy Bingham, an American R&B singer.
"Yummy", a song by Gwen Stefani.
"Yummy", a song by Puerto Rican singer Chelo.
Yummy Yummy, a Singaporean film.
But to me, "yummy" is all about food. Sure, I know yummy is also about the chubby toes of a sweet little baby and the perfect pair of Christian Loubotin heels and that dreamy, hot Latin singer's muscular bod. But nothing says "yummy" to me like
- A juicy, tender burger will sauteed onions and mushrooms, gooey swiss cheese, crisp lettuce and sweet, succulent tomatoes, with salty fries and ketchup and mayonnaise;
- A chewy, moist, dense, rich, dark, chocolatey brownie topped with rich, creamy, sweet vanilla ice cream with rich, thick, creamy caramel syrup rolling off the sides and crunchy, salty slivers of almonds and a rich, sweet, red cherry on the top;
- A truffle from Annette's Chocolates, with dark, silky-smooth heavenly chocolate enrobing a bubbly, tart, pungent, champagne center;
Can you tell that I've had issues with overeating, weight, and healthy eating? I grew up having ice cream every day. The only vegetable I ever ate was potatoes and the only fish I ever had was breaded and fried. I'll always think foods like that are yummy. If that's yummy, yummy can also mean deadly. Over the years I've had to rethink what yummy is. Yummy doesn't have to mean fatty, salty, processed, heavy. Yummy is also fresh, light, healthy, natural. Yummy is also
- A juicy, tender veggie burger will sauteed onions and mushrooms on whole-wheat bread, no cheese, crisp lettuce and sweet, succulent tomatoes and ketchup and mustard;
- Crisp, crunchy, sweet, colorful red and yellow peppers and carrots with a hearty, creamy, tangy ranch or hummus dip;
- Sweet, crusty, bread dipped into thick, creamy, smoky, sweet, split green pea and ham soup;
- A hot, steaming, bubbling baked dish of succulent, dark, colorful raspberries and blueberries and cherries, a touch of orange juice, a sprinkle of Splenda, with light whipped cream.
I'm happy to say that my kids, who love pizza, chicken nuggets and hotdogs, also think these foods are yummy, and will happily gobble them up any day. They are growing up with a much better idea of what yummy is -- yummy for the tastebuds and the body at the same time.
Preparations for V-Day
Valentine merchandise has been displayed in stores since they took down the Christmas decorations in January. Valentine Love is already all over the place, so for Love Thursday I've decided to decorate this site with some valentines. My kids have been creating valentine cards and crafts all week, which I infinitely prefer to anything I could buy from a store:
This first one is Jamie's valentine. Very minimalist and somber, other than the golden blob. James basically squeezed the entire contents of the golden glitter-glue-pen onto that spot, and it took over a day to completely dry. He only put those two stickers on because I asked him to; all that interested him was the glue.
Philip's valentine is the complete opposite of Jamie's. An explosion of hearts and flowers! He just kept piling sticker after sticker onto his valentine, even covering half of his glitter glue. He only stopped when I gave him another big heart for him to put more stickers on.
Natalie's valentine is neat and well-thought-out, from sticker placement (she placed one foam heart sticker over another for a 3-D effect) to the message. While squeezing the glue stick to make the words, she was practically biting her tongue off in her determination to keep them even and neat.
Three valentines, all saying a little something about each child. I love all three works of art just as I love the three works of art that created them!
This first one is Jamie's valentine. Very minimalist and somber, other than the golden blob. James basically squeezed the entire contents of the golden glitter-glue-pen onto that spot, and it took over a day to completely dry. He only put those two stickers on because I asked him to; all that interested him was the glue.
Philip's valentine is the complete opposite of Jamie's. An explosion of hearts and flowers! He just kept piling sticker after sticker onto his valentine, even covering half of his glitter glue. He only stopped when I gave him another big heart for him to put more stickers on.
Natalie's valentine is neat and well-thought-out, from sticker placement (she placed one foam heart sticker over another for a 3-D effect) to the message. While squeezing the glue stick to make the words, she was practically biting her tongue off in her determination to keep them even and neat.
Three valentines, all saying a little something about each child. I love all three works of art just as I love the three works of art that created them!
100th Day of School
Today is Natalie's 100th day of kindergarten! Here she is wearing the 100th-day hat that Graham and I slaved over till midnight doing prep work on. You can read more of my thoughts on her 100th day over at the Silicon Valley Moms Blog.
Vote for me at Maya's Mom!
There's a really cute Valentine's Day contest going on over at Maya's Mom. You basically have to get your kid to answer the following questions:
1) How Can You Tell if Two People Love Each Other?
2) What is Love?
3) How Do You Decide Whom to Marry?
4) Can You Sing Me a Love Song?
Philip and James just responded, "I don't know" to all the questions except to #1: "Daddy kisses Mama!" (by James). Click here to view Natalie's responses, and please vote by leaving a comment on my post! Also view other kids' responses; they are hilarious!
Hello Technorati
OK, now that I'm blogging, I've just signed up with Technorati. It's supposed to help me track references to this blog as well as help drive targeted traffic to this blog (I'm not yet sure how to do this or whether I want to do this...)
Here's my
Technorati Profile
Here's my
Technorati Profile
Lights, Camera, Action!
What do you get when you combine face paints, pillowcase capes and my kids? Three superheroes for a Gymboree activity book, that's what! Yesterday we went up to San Francisco to shoot some layouts for Weldon Owen Publishing. I told them the Gymboree people wanted to take some pictures of them, so James was quite surprised to see a photography studio. He kept demanding to see the Gymboree play area, but was silenced when they started painting superhero masks on their faces.
When bedtime came and we had to scrub the face paint off, all three protested vigorously. James wailed, "Now I'm not a superhero anymore!". I promised them I would paint their faces myself, but they don't have as much faith in my face-painting abilities.
The kids were placed in front of a Gotham-like cityscape and told to jump around and strike superhero poses while the photographer took picture after picture. They had a great time! My kids are not the best at smiling when asked, but the crew did a great job of relaxing them and getting some spontaneous smiles.
Occasionally I felt compelled to help, calling to the kids to smile or stop biting their lips or flex their arm muscles. And of course I had my camera with me, snapping away proudly whenever I was allowed -- not while actual photos being taken because they didn't want my flash messing up their lighting. I'll admit I cheated, taking some photos without a flash. I wondered whether other moms were as "involved" (read: stage mom-ish) as I, or more laid-back, or worse. Hey, it isn't every day my kids do this kind of thing!
Here are a couple of photos that I took while they were having a break:
On the train ride home, the kids were still excited and quite in character. Their masks caused quite a stir with the commuters! After such a long day, it was no wonder my little superheroes fell asleep.
When bedtime came and we had to scrub the face paint off, all three protested vigorously. James wailed, "Now I'm not a superhero anymore!". I promised them I would paint their faces myself, but they don't have as much faith in my face-painting abilities.
The book comes out in September 2007. We're very excited and will be watching out for it in bookstores.
Goodbye, healthy me?
I finally know what is wrong with me. After six months of fatigue, rapid heartbeat, arrhythmia, mood swings, and the agony of uncertainty, my disease has a name.
I'm happy that I know what's wrong with me, but I'm also sad, because now I have to say goodbye to "healthy me". I've had outstanding health until now, and I guess I've just assumed that if I take moderately good care of myself, nothing would ever go wrong with me. So goodbye to that. Goodbye to saying "none" when asked by doctors of any known conditions or current medications. Goodbye to being able to put anything into my body without knowing how it reacts with my medications. Goodbye to being placed in the healthiest, lowest-premium brackets for health and life insurance; thank goodness I have both, because getting either policy now would be ridiculously expensive or impossible.
I know I'm sounding melodramatic. As diseases go, I suppose I'm lucky. While not curable, it is at least manageable (though the choices aren't too pretty: lifetime medication that suppresses my immune system, surgery or swallow a radioactive pill that renders me toxic to humans for two weeks). There's even a tiny chance I could go into remission. Many, many others have it far, far worse.
Rather than wallow in self-pity, I'm going to take positive steps to live with my condition (a better word than disease!). First, I am saying goodbye to complacency. I can no longer take my well-being for granted and assume that my body can withstand the combined effects of genetics, environment, time and the choices I make. I need to be more vigilant about what I put into my body and how I treat it. Second, I am saying goodbye to stress. It turns out that stress can trigger the initial onset, flare-up or recurrence of this condition. I need to reduce my exposure to stressful situations and learn techniques to deal with it, or stress could, literally, kill me.
According to the bean counters at the insurance companies, I'll always be sick. And whether I go into remission or not, it will always be inside me. But I can still live like "healthy me". Who knows, after saying goodbye to some of my bad habits, I might even end up being healthier than when I was diagnosed!
This week's Sunday Scribblings theme is Goodbye. For more goodbyes, click here.
I'm happy that I know what's wrong with me, but I'm also sad, because now I have to say goodbye to "healthy me". I've had outstanding health until now, and I guess I've just assumed that if I take moderately good care of myself, nothing would ever go wrong with me. So goodbye to that. Goodbye to saying "none" when asked by doctors of any known conditions or current medications. Goodbye to being able to put anything into my body without knowing how it reacts with my medications. Goodbye to being placed in the healthiest, lowest-premium brackets for health and life insurance; thank goodness I have both, because getting either policy now would be ridiculously expensive or impossible.
I know I'm sounding melodramatic. As diseases go, I suppose I'm lucky. While not curable, it is at least manageable (though the choices aren't too pretty: lifetime medication that suppresses my immune system, surgery or swallow a radioactive pill that renders me toxic to humans for two weeks). There's even a tiny chance I could go into remission. Many, many others have it far, far worse.
Rather than wallow in self-pity, I'm going to take positive steps to live with my condition (a better word than disease!). First, I am saying goodbye to complacency. I can no longer take my well-being for granted and assume that my body can withstand the combined effects of genetics, environment, time and the choices I make. I need to be more vigilant about what I put into my body and how I treat it. Second, I am saying goodbye to stress. It turns out that stress can trigger the initial onset, flare-up or recurrence of this condition. I need to reduce my exposure to stressful situations and learn techniques to deal with it, or stress could, literally, kill me.
According to the bean counters at the insurance companies, I'll always be sick. And whether I go into remission or not, it will always be inside me. But I can still live like "healthy me". Who knows, after saying goodbye to some of my bad habits, I might even end up being healthier than when I was diagnosed!
This week's Sunday Scribblings theme is Goodbye. For more goodbyes, click here.
Big boy pants!
For this week's Love Thursday photo, I really wanted to show how much my sons love their new big boy underwear. They finished toilet training in early January and putting underpants on still gives them a thrill. The ones in the photo are their very favorites.
But as I was about to post the photo, I thought, hang on, this is a photo of two cute little boys, naked except for their underwear. Prime material for pedophiles. This photo could possibly find its way into websites that contain all sorts of sick perversions of love. So I decided to cut their faces out. But I had to leave their smile, because their smile says it all.
I love my boys, and I'm very proud of them, but I also want to protect them. Did I do the right thing, should I not have posted this at all, or am I overreacting?
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