Ah....Friday!

After 4 days of bad reports from preschool, Penelope came home with a paper that said "Penny did a great job today!" Woo hoo! A couple days ago I decided to reward her if she did well at school. I bought an Easter basket, plastic eggs and little toys from the $1 bin at Target. If she does well at school she gets to pick an easter egg out of the basket. Yesterday her report said she listened to her teachers, but was not nice to her friends. We let her get an egg for listening, but told her she had to be nice and listen today. I guess it worked!

Tonight at dinner (baked chicken, baked fries and mixed veggies) she picked out all the lima beans, put them into a pile and ate all of them. Then asked for more, even with french fries sitting on her plate! I'm so happy we found another veggie besides peas that she'll eat. So her favorite veggies are lima beans and peas and mine is brussell sprouts. We are a kooky bunch here at the Strand house!

But not too kooky...we are off to try the ice cream place, Flapdoodles!

My Pinterest Terms and Conditions

As many others in blogworld, I'm addicted to the Pinterest craze. How many social networking sites can I be a part of? Facebook for friends/family, my blog, librarything to track my books, ravelry to feed my knitting obsession, weight watchers boards. I have not joined twitter because I just can't add one more. But pinterest has to be one of the most addicting. Over the past week there's been all sorts of hubub about their terms and conditions. My Mpls neighbor Kelcey, an attorney who understands all this stuff, did a very thorough Q & A blog post if you were like me and didn't really dive into all the legal stuff. (Who has time for that when there's all the pinning to do?) After reading her answers I'm pretty comfortable still using Pinterest. http://www.socialnetworkingnanny.com/pinterest-copyright-questions-and-concerns/

However, I'd like to suggest that Pinterest add the following to their Terms and Conditions or Disclaimers or something (note: I haven't actually read through their T&C to know if these could be included, but I'm betting they aren't)

1. Pinterest won't be held accountable for the years lost in your life by using the website as a procrastination tool. 
Truly, how do college kids actually go to school any more? All we had back then was IM, email and napster and that was a huge time suck. I can't imagine Facebook, Pinterest and all the rest. Well, actually I can....the piles of laundry taller than me are a good indicator. Although, I had those while having my nose stuck in a book so Pinterest is really just another tool. Anyone else put a time limit on how much they can pin? I set myself to about 15 mins at most. Pretty easy now, but tough when I first started.

2. Pinterest will not be responsible for bodily harm from amateurs trying to be expert crafters. This includes, sewing and knitting notions, glue guns and any sharp tool.
Last year my friends and I commented how we all had tons of DIY ideas on our boards, but hadn't actually done any of them. So the Craft Club began! (another excuse for a night with your girlfriends with yummy snacks and wine. if you feel you don't get enough at book club, add in a craft club) Last weekend I drove up to Julie's house in St Paul for some good ol' crafting. We made coffee filter flower wreaths. The tutorial we pinned it from is here (Kelcey, I'm following her copywrite restrictions and not posting her tutorial, just linking to it!) I'm also going to mention that the blog is in Polish. Look at Pinterest just bringing everyone together. It makes me want to sing We are the World. By the way, Julie just dipped the coffee filters in water with food coloring...none of that messing with intricate color techniques. It took quite a lot of trial and error to get the flowers how we wanted. Karen figured out that by folding while twisting we could get more of the rose look. Julie did more of a tulip style. Unfortunately she had a bad run-in with the glue gun:

See the blister?! Ouch! She was down for the count.

After the wild and crazy night of crafting where we went to bed at 11:00, I had exactly 4 roses glued to my wreath. I thought it would be better to make all the flowers first before gluing, but I'd be showing up at home with very little to show for a whole night in the cities. I ended up finishing it at home and rushing to glue the flowers on during Penelope's nap time, my thumb also suffered from a glue gun blister. I pushed on and completed my wreath (that's some real craft dedication, don't you think?)

So here's the finished product. I wish I had kept with my idea of making all the flowers before gluing, but I got bored with the flower making and glued before I had done all my roses.

Chris commented that he never thought I'd be into crafts. I'll have to blame Pinterest and my friends who think we should actually DO some of the crafts we pin. These Minnesota friends sure can be demanding, but I'm happy they let in an outsider ;)

Oh, and here's Julie's finished wreath. Definitely worth the blister!

Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Downhill

Our house in Rochester is on a pretty steep hill. Our first weekend here we broke out one of Penny's Christmas presents that we hadn't opened in December (no fun to open outdoor toys when it is too cold/icy to use them). Here she is going down the hill on her "car":

I tend to use my feet to slow us down pretty much the whole way, and now Penelope does it too. Chris says I've "scared the fun" out of it. He weighs too much to ride it so he just shakes his head as Penelope and I cautiously ride down the hill.

A culture shock

I know a couple weeks ago I shared that we were all adjusting well. Unfortunately it didn't last long. If you remember one of the hardest decisions on making this move was changing day cares. Our daycare, Jardin Magico, in Minneapolis is truly a unique place. It was the first day care we toured, and nothing else compared. I was set on finding a place with language immersion. The fact that they had organic, mostly local food,  cloth diapers, a structured/exploring learning philosophy and was a mile from our house sealed it for me. We were on the waiting list for nine months, which now is probably a short time. Last I heard the waiting list was 3X the capacity of their 3 locations.

When we made the move  I was most sad about Penelope not being with her teachers and the kids she has known since 5 months old. And of course, sad that she wouldn't be in Spanish immersion anymore. However, I didn't think she'd have too difficult of a time adjusting to a new school. She's very friendly and plays with kids on every playground we visit. We toured daycares in Rochester. None of them had the feeling of Jardin, but I was prepared for that. We decided to go with Primrose since they have a very good curriculum and the structure I thought would be good.

What I didn't expect was the total culture shock she is going through. It took me a week to figure out the difference I was feeling when we dropped her off. At Jardin the teachers were all from Central or South America, most with teaching experience from their home country. The level of outward affection towards the kids was huge. It was like being surrounded by grandmothers and aunts and uncles. Although, Jardin's staff is only slightly bigger than Primroses', it felt like a lot more teachers just from the happy greetings of "Buenos dias Laura and Penelope" that came from every direction when we arrived. All of the teachers were amazing at redirecting kids when a fit was going to start and really had somewhat of a relaxed attitude towards tantrums and short attention spans. It was like "well, these are toddlers and they throw tantrums. We are going to do our best to redirect their attention." It was amazing to see them do it. With the preschoolers they were teaching kids more about how to behave. Sure, there were times when Penelope cried when I  dropped her off or she got in trouble and wasn't listening or still needed to "practice sharing," but they were few and far between. Plus, she was learning a ton. She blew me away one day by counting to 40 in Spanish and singing Itsy Bitsy Spider in both english and spanish.

Since I never got around to it I'm posting photos of Penelope on her last day with her teachers. All her teachers including her toddler and infant teachers came to the preschool class to say goodbye. They had put together a picture book of photos since her infant class (pics we had never seen before). Unfortunately I wasn't able to be there since I was on that darn bus. I bawled my eyes out when I got home and saw the photos so maybe it was good I wasn't there. Her wonderful teachers spent weeks preparing her for her new school. She would come home and say "Teacher Maya and Catalina told me I have to listen to my new teachers and make friends at my new escuela"

Teacher Lucy

Teacher Catalina & teacher Maya

This is Sandra (toddler class) and Irma (infant class). Penelope insisted on giving Irma a hug and kiss good night every single night when I picked her up.

Penny and Christian

Penny and Natalie (director of Jardin)

Unfortunately, Penelope seemed to forget her instructions from teacher maya and catlaina. After three days at Primrose, Penelope kind of lost it. I know these are sweeping generalizations, but the culture of a dozen young women who grew up in southern Minnesota is VERY different than the teachers at Jardin. The expectations of the kids behavior is a lot higher, and the learning style is more traditional rather than exploratory (not sure if that's the right word for it?). I think Penelope probably feels reprimanded a lot more just because the teachers are less affectionate.  One morning she cried to the point she was shaking. Last Thursday she cried the night before "I don't want to go to school." One day it took her 3 hours before she joined the other kids. Now it has gotten worse. For 5 days we've gotten reports about Penelope pushing and hitting other kids, which was never something she did at Jardin. We've talked with the lead teacher and are talking to Penelope every night about not being nice and listening to her teachers.

I know you are thinking "well, she'd have to go through this at some time." But to be honest the two elementary schools we had picked out in Minneapolis was the local montessori school or the spanish immersion elementary school. Both are less traditional than the school system here. I know kids adapt. I think it will just take longer than I thought. In some ways it is more like Penelope moved countries instead of 150 miles. And to be selfish one of the hardest parts is now I worry about her at work. In Minneapolis I knew she was having a blast at school...now I worry, which has to be the hardest feeling for a working mom.

I know everyone said moving when she is young is the easiest time to do it. I'm struggling with it because I can't explain it to her. Yes, it was difficult to move in high school, but I understood it. Penelope asks "can we go on a different street to the old school and see teacher Maya?" or "Let's go home today, not to the other house. I want to see my friends." I try to be as upbeat as possible so she doesn't know I'm upset, but it's tough.

I'm hoping in 2 weeks I can post about how she has adjusted so well and made a bunch of new friends.

The Princess Bed

Penelope has been wanting a "big girl bed," especially when she saw her friend Libbi's princess bed. Now, Libbi's bed is really just a bunk bed found at a garage sale and turned into a loft bed. Her handy dad built a great ladder to go with it, and her crafty mom built a purple canopy thing that hangs from the ceiling (not sure how to describe exactly, but if you are on pinterest you've seen them made from hula hoops). Penelope fell in love with it.

We've had some issues with Penelope climbing into our bed at night and/or falling asleep with me when we zonk out at 8:00 reading stories together. Maybe it would be smarter to not read stories in my comfortable bed. Way too logical! We kept telling Penelope she had to sleep in her own bed. She said "I will in my princess bed" We decided to wait until after the move.

Chris's mom has been asking to buy Penelope a new bed since Christmas so the moment we said princess bed  she whipped out her iPad and googled away. Penelope was determined to have a bed with a ladder. I also like loft beds for the play room underneath. You tell Phyllis princess bed and you get princess bed! She did show it to us first and ask multiple times "so you want me to order it?" At one point I said "hmmm...I wonder if we should measure the room?" But I didn't.

We got the mattress and 3 enormous boxes. Chris started saturday morning and finished around 4:00 that evening. Here's what I saw at the end of the day:

It's hard to take pictures of the room because it is long and skinny, but yes, that is a slide coming off of her bed...directly into the closet! I asked "ummm...could we turn it the other way and have the slide against the back wall?" Chris looked at me and said "we'll live with it for a week". I guess it is not an easy switcheroo to move the slide. I'm thinking of actually switching Penny's room for the office.

Penelope was beyond happy. That first night we had to constantly yell "get off the slide". By 10:30 when I threatened to bring up the car bed and lose the princess bed she finally went to sleep.

Yet by the second night when I walked into my bedroom to go to sleep, this is what I found:

Gah! Princess bed with slide and she still sleeps in our bed!

A Sunday tradition revived

I may have mentioned once or twice that our life in NY included a couple of hours a week at the dog park. We were at the White Plains dog park pretty much every Sunday and became part of the regulars. Cece was well known for her speed and jumping. She outraced all the dogs there, including greyhounds. Plus, it would take hours before she'd stop running, while all the other dogs would tucker out.

When we came to Minneapolis we were excited to learn about the many dog parks. Well, for some reason the dog park fences were only built to be about 4 1/2 ft tall. Cece could jump it from a standing position. For the most part she'll come when we call her, but if there's a squirrel or a bunny on the other side, all bets are off. So her Sunday trips ended.

Here in Rochester though, there's a great dog park with 6 1/2 ft high fences. For whatever reason, Cece is having a tough time adjusting to our new house. Every morning she will whimper and hide in the closets, sit in the bathtub, glue herself to me or Chris and pant for an hour. I wish she could tell us why she is so upset every morning! So we thought we'd check out the dog park and tire her out some. Just like the old days she had a blast. Her age is showing though. She ran with a bunch of huskies and some puppy hunting dogs. Her speed was still there, but within a few minutes she was lying in the shade. I can't believe she is 10 years old!

Here she is after her run.

I was very firm with Penelope about staying by me and not approaching dogs. In NY I'd always get annoyed by people who would bring little kids that would chase the dogs wanting to pet them. They'd invariably get run over by a bunch of dogs playing or knocked down by a enthusiastic slobbery puppy, and the parents would get upset. It's a dog park, people. There are hundreds of playgrounds if your kid needs to play and get energy out. Since Cece is pretty laid back and never licks, Penelope doesn't really know how to handle enthusiastic friendly dogs. She mainly sat with me at the bench and we'd wait for dogs to come to us. The beagle mutt above was a love who was really gentle.

We are excited to begin our Sunday dog park visits again. Next time I'll bring Uno or coloring so Penelope doesn't get bored as quickly. Hopefully after a couple times, Cece's stamina will improve where she can run a little more. 

The Support Team

Well, we are living in Rochester. Since I didn't blog this whole time it probably seems like we just up and left from Minneapolis all on our own, but that's not the case.

If you were in drama do you remember those techies in drama that made everything happen behind the scenes? I only chose to be one when I didn't get a part in the play. Why be back there and get no spotlight? Obviously I'm not the techie type of person. Well, we had 2 very important behind-the-scenes helpers for our move. I'm not sure how we could have done it without them! A big thanks has to go out to both our moms!

My mom came and stayed during the week I had off between jobs. My thought was we'd tackle cleaning and organizing the basement and then have a couple of days of fun grandmama and Penelope activities. My immune system had another idea. By the time I left my job on my last day -- presenting at a finance board meeting at 6:30 pm (who does that on their last day?!) -- my immune system acted like I just finished exams and was headed into winter break. It went kaput! I hadn't been sick for close to a year, but I was laid up with a terrible cold. Perfect time to have your mom swoop in and organize your basement and spend hours and hours cleaning cobwebs. Even if I had been well, I would have given up an hour into it, but she diligently did it for days. And surprisingly, my mom can toss stuff when it isn't hers! We took 12 bags to Goodwill and had a ton of trash. When stuff is ruined by moisture it is much easier to toss. Ahhh....it felt good to declutter. Then it was days of fun with Penelope.

At the zoo watching the dolphins

I didn't get any good pictures of my mom with penny. She was such a pill at the zoo. Near the end we had to take turns carrying her or herding her to the exit. How my mom did this with 3 I'll never know...well, actually I do know. I've seen the pictures of us with leashes at Disneyland.

One cute picture

So with a clean and more organized basement I started that grueling month commute. Chris and I sat down to look at the calendar for the move and were overwhelmed with everything...when to have the movers come, when to end Penelope's day care, how many days could we take off. Who do you call when you are overwhelmed? Well, we call mom!

Chris's mom came out for a week. Her main task was to watch Penny when all the movers came and the unpacking. She did so much more. She cleaned our fridge, stove, all the dusty glassware, helped pack up food, and talk sense into me and Chris when it felt like we'd never make it. Then the days I went back to work and Chris had to start working from home, she started Phyllis' Precious Daycare and kept Penelope entertained unpacking toys and exploring the new neighborhood.

A huge thank you goes to our moms! Your the best! Hopefully in 25 years Penelope will think of me when she has some major life change to tackle.