When I grow up

M & D have spent half an hour entranced by demos at Biltmore's Antler Hill Farm.

M: So I've narrowed it down to 4 things. 
I'm gonna be a blacksmith... or a carpenter... or a firefighter or a cop.

Oh No!

The godkids, their mama, & their dad have a moods chart on which each has a representative character which they can place in the red, green, yellow, or blue quadrant depending on if they're happy, sad, etc.  (Makes me glad I saw Inside Out.)  Curiously, both sad and sleepy are blue, which makes sense in an I'm depressed and never getting out of bed sense, but perhaps less in an I've been up since 6a sense.

After dinner D got upset, probably at me for correcting an attitude.  But not necessarily.  It was a rough day in general and on a couple different fronts.  But the kid hops up and swaps her character over to red.  And we (5 adults, M, D, and a sibling in the room) ask D why she's red.  And she tells us that she's mad.  Ok, good start.  Why are you mad?  We are informed huffily that teacher says when you're mad, you're red.  Fair enough.  Why are you mad?  Teacher says, when you're mad you're red.

This circles and circles unproductively for awhile.  And I ask her who is she mad at?  Me?  Mama?  M?  Mom?  Sibling?  (We're really reaching here...) Dad?  Uncle Big Frog?  ...???  No to all until she gets mad.  And when she's mad, teacher says you're red.

Well, that didn't help.

Let's try what are you mad about?
Teacher says mad=red.

Do you like being mad?
(vehemently) Yes!.
Which surprises all of us.

Now the kid is in this terrible cycle.  Terrible headspace.  And she can't back down even as the questions get ludicrous because that would be losing face.  But at least we've broken the momentum.  Change of state.  And she's listening to the questions instead of just on a single track.

I tell her, I know you may not be ready to give me a hug, but can you receive one from me yet?
No! 

Are you always mad?
Yes!

And it hits me. 
So I tell her, "You're an angry duck!"
To which I get lots of eyes suddenly pointing my way, and nods of agreement from Big Frog, which proves yet again that we've been caged together too long.

But it makes perfect sense!  And fortunately, my mom's favorite illustrator wrote an entire book about moods.  So I beckon D over and ask her if she'll watch a video with me.  This screen-happy kid may resist hugs, but never says no to YouTube. 


And I'm an interactive reader.  So I'm asking her with each animal, and she's responding like Pookie (another favorite by Boynton).  Are you happy as a hippo?  (No)  Are you angry as a duck?  (Yes)  Are you as sad as a chicken?  (No)  Can you sadly say, "Cluck cluck"?  (No).  But the song is catchy and the ukulele music is infectious and little miss angry duck starts smiling. 

I love that the song peaks with "We hope you are happy/But if you are not/You have friends who can help you/We like you a lot," and sums up "And a difficult mood is not here to stay/Everyone's moods will change day to day... unless you're that duck/He's always that way."

D's response to this happy little ditty?  The one which left her smiling?
A deep, from-the-toes sigh.
And the most distressed, exasperated exclamation: "Now I'm HAPPY!"

I love my littles.
 

Indoor frisbees

The pattern by Priscilla Hewitt calls them "scalloped potholders", but they fly well and are soft enough for indoor use, and are foldable to fit into a pocket to just have around.  Plus, you can throw them in the wash when they get dirty.

One of redditgifts international exchanges actually got this going; one of my giftee's interests is disc golf, & he was very specific on "I don't want something you just clicked to have sent to me.  Give me something with your fingerprints on it."  Done!

Overnights

We skip the whole Thanksgiving travel headache by waiting until most people are already with their families to embark. The geography of our family works out well that way. This year that also meant we missed traveling in snow. Ain't God good?

So we took on a new Adventure, capital "A" Adventure, in our Thanksgiving leadup. (Our godkids, when they hang out with us, don't necessarily come over to our house, or go to the same place, so every time is an "Adventure with Auntie Middle Frog & Uncle Big Frog".) We had the kids, M&D, aged 5&3, stay at our place overnight.

My mom has always maintained, since I was little and asking if I could sleep over at a friend's or have them sleep over, that such an event is not a sleepover but a stayover. Sleep is not a priority. But fun is!

Some highlights included:

• Making monkey bread in the crockpot. They were very excited about it at the making stage, and not at all interested in eating it in the morning. Curious.
• "Building" a bed. When I told him that was our next project, he wanted wood and a hammer. What I meant was inflating the airbed. No matter. Big hit regardless.
• Classic family film: SpaceCamp. Hadn't seen it in years, but I loved it as a kid. With the kids' interest in astronomy and aeronautics, it was a huge hit. Bonus: Did you know Joachim Phoenix was in it? That was back when he went by Leaf. And Kate Capshaw (Willie Scott in Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom). And Lea Thompson (Kate Kennish in Switched at Birth; Lorraine Baines McFly in Back to the Future). And Kelly Preston.
• Watching the Macy's parade in the morning, and talking about balloons so big that they need dozens of people to keep them from flying away. (resource: Geekmom article -- Did you know you can see the balloons being inflated the night before the parade?)

Big bonus: Kids got a full night's sleep, albeit skewed from their normal sleeing times, and they woke up happy in the morning. Win and win.

All in all, a huge success. And we would do it again. But not tomorrow... or next week... When we told some friends that we were hosting an overnight for our godkids, we got such responses as, "Testing the water?" And we really do love our littles. But we're still at the catch-and-release point in our lives.

Messiah College, class of 2030 and 2032

Is it brainwashing, a little bit? Probably yes. But don't you think your brain needs to be washed?

Positive expectations. Let's go with that.

So I took the godkids over to campus today: beautiful fall day, blue skies, leaves changing color, students all over campus (We hadn't been there since summertime, when Messiah is mostly conferences rather than students). And with Big Frog advising a Collaboratory group this year, he's on campus every week, and he passes along greetings from the faculty and staff on a consistent basis; a little friendly pressure to come visit. Not only did we both graduate from Messiah, Big Frog also worked there for years as their first electrical engineering technician. So we're enthusiastic about the godkids getting involved.



But unlike at Cupboard Maker ("You can't go in the staff areas because you don't work here, yet!"), at Messiah we not only went down the classroom halls, we also went to where the teachers (professors, obviously, but how do you explain that to kids in preK and kindergarten?) have their offices. And they got to meet the department admin, who fortunately is possibly the most relationship-oriented person I know. Any plans she had to accomplish stuff in her last half-hour of the day went out the window when we showed up, and the kids were playing with all the animal puzzles she had from assorted Burkina Faso trips, as well as a solar-powered dancing flower. Intrigued, they said it ran by "Magic!"

That being said, they also said there were monsters in Frey, to which the admin replied that there were, "No monsters, only engineers."




Also, in terms of family history, M&D have always known, from the very first time we visited Messiah, that Uncle Big Frog used to work in the blue building, Frey, and Aunt Middle Frog used to work at the library, Murray. But today they mind-blowingly learned that the launch area by the creek used to be all grass, and that was where Uncle Big Frog asked Aunt Middle Frog to marry him. ("WHAT?!?!?!") And they also saw the building (Solly) where Aunt Middle Frog used to live when she was exactly the same age as their oldest sister is right now.

We'll let that bounce around in their brains for awhile. Class of 2030 and 2032.

Hello, everybody.

He took this video himself earlier this summer. But today he's starting Kindergarten, so it seemed appropriate.

---

ADDENDUM:
Please pray for our godson M -- today's his first day of kindergarten and while I didn't expect his entire class to change schools (from Headstart last year into K at a different school in the same district) and be in his class, he evidently did. And as it turns out, NO ONE from his last year's class is in this year's. So pray for great relationships to be built with his teachers and the other students. As many of you know, he's a very social kid and makes friends easily. But this was an unexpected shock for him.

Bug-birthday-backpack!

(No, not this bug. Bug Bug, in her bug boots, will be turning four next month! Stop growing, small frogs!)

Four of the small frogs I adore have birthdays in quick succession: 7/2, 7/26, 8/20, 9/27. December's pretty birthday-laden too. And February... I have a lot of small frogs in my life.

But I was stumped on how to celebrate D's 3rd. Until this bit of adorableness found its way to me. That, plus a few recent roadtrips with the yarn bag yield one happy preschooler. (Preschool! Starting preschool in TWO WEEKS! Stop growing!)


I think she likes it.

When I grow up...

... I'm pretty sure I *don't* want to be a pilot. But I sure am glad there are pilots, and ground crew, etc, because I sure do love to travel!

HIA (Harrisburg International Airport)'s open house today had 2500 people looking at and climbing around in:

• Hershey's Kissmobile. One time it was behind me on the highway -- let me tell you, it was kind of disconcerting a shape to see in the rearview! It wasn't until I pulled onto the exit ramp and it passed me that I saw what it really was. Even now, it, like the Turkey Hill cow car, reminds me of Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things that Go.
  
• A UPS plane, the 2nd *smallest* of the planes UPS uses to deliver packages. At Christmastime, UPS alone sends the volume equivalent of five of them to HIA daily. They pack containers full of packages, load them on skids, slide them on rollers to the right place in the plane, and lock them down.
  
• A replica of the plane from Tora Tora Tora, complete with bomb. Near the cockpit you can see two cruisers and three air-to-air battles noted.
  
• A FedEx Boeing 757, M's favorite of all the planes we were in, I suspect because they gave him stickers and a trading card.
  
• The lifeline medical helicopter, which I did not realize loads the gurney thru a door/hatch under the tail!
  
• This awesome blue tunnel for running down!
  
• Personal aircraft, with seats for 4.
  
• A cop car (we taught him the sign for cop). M got to use the radio to report "10-4" and run the siren. D wanted to drive off with the cop car, and Officer Steve said since she had the wheel, he could give her the keys. She immediately looked below-next-to the steering wheel and sadly reported, "No keys."
  
• A United Express plane (why is an "h" sound preceeded by "an" and a "u" sound by "a"?), seats approx 60.
  
  We ongoingly work on "buckled up thumbs up?" with these two. And plane seatbelts are a lot easier to buckle (and unbuckle) than car seatbelts!
  
  But the cockpits are tougher in a commercial plane than a personal plane.
  
  That's a look of "Not so sure about this copilot," I'm sure.
  
• And more!
  

Fun facts:

• HIA's airport code is MDT, which is short for its location, MiDdleTown.
• This entire event was located at the "old terminal", which is separated from the active terminal by parking lot barriers. Not the 2-foot-high K-rails, the curb-height ones kids practice balance beam on.
• We love flying out of HIA because once you get thru security (where the line is usually shorter than that of our local library), you're basically at either gate A, B, or C.

But the best part was that Big Frog came with us. All the small frogs love Big Frog.

Life Lessons: Blinky Sneakers

Note to self: If the room is going to be dark, the shoes shouldn't blink.

It should first be pointed out that I can wear kid-sized sneakers. And kid shoes cost significantly less than adult shoes. And I have no problems being frugal, although I try not to be cheap. It's all about value.

I remember, when blinky sneakers first came out, one of my friends in a similar situation actually whited out the lights on her kid-sized sneakers, to make them look like they were adult sneakers. I don't think there's any way to make the lights stop, and with the delightful energy efficiency and longevity of LEDs, it's almost a guarantee that the sneakers will wear out before the lights die.

Maybe we need sneakers with an on-off switch?¹ Like for in the theater? For those days when I bring a 2yo who loves to dance to a dance recital? Good thing we were sitting in row EE and were surrounded by friends.<sup>3

1</sup> And what ever happened to lace-themselves sneakers? Michael J Fox, Nike, two years! 1985 + 30 years = 2015². Tick tock.
² All other dates are photoshopped, even though the meme persists. The DeLorean went 30 years back in time and 30 years forward in time. Yes, it could have been programmed for any day ever, but in the movie, Doc set it for 30 years in each direction.
³ By contrast, when similar happened to my friends at the planetarium, the guide stopped the narrative cold to "request", "Will the parents whose kid is wearing blinky shoes please take the shoes off?"

C has been dancing two years with Studio 91, and delightedly told me today that next year, she's taking both ballet AND tap.

A girl and her faithful supporters.

And presiding over her celebratory lunch afterwards.


Comparing the girl and her groupies this year and last year:

Growth!

M's newest favorite song is My God is so Big, and so Strong and so Mighty/There's nothing my God cannot do. And lest you think it's the happy, tinkly Sunday School song, you should know that while the message is the same, the delivery is a hard-charging hip hop beat.
Last year at VBS, not only did he not do the motions to any of the songs, he often was distractingly sullen at music time. Sometimes even run-offish.
This year he has the CD and is singing along and looking so forward to "going to your church every day!"
That's serious progress.
The theology, as with all of us, has a ways to go.

M: [sings] My God is so Big, and so Strong, and so Mighty/There's nothing my God cannot do...
Nothing? There's nothing God can't do?
(side note: I've been working on getting "can't" out of M's vocab and replacing it with "I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me!" Also a work in progress.)
me: God can do whatever God wants!
[subtly inserting some application] And we are so blessed that sometimes God uses people to make things happen. To teach us, or help us grow...
M: God makes things grow.
me: Yup! God makes the grass grow, right?
M: Uh huh.
me: Does grass have to work to grow? It just grows, right? That's God's plan, too.
M: Yeah...
me: And God makes kids grow!
M: God uses cake to make kids grow.
me: Cake?
M: Birthday cake.

kid quotes - VBS

This summer, our church is doing Big Fish's Gotta Move VBS, focusing on the Fruit of the Spirit. (Join us! Mornings, June 17-20.)

We turned the CD on in the car today, and the kidlets started listening to it while I ran back into the house for something. I returned to the car to M's cries of:

Aunt Lisa! Come quick!
The song said that God is so big, so strong, and so NAUGHTY?!?!?

Evidently "mighty" isn't a word that crossed his mind.