Earth Day

Elliot came home from school filled with information about global warming, "In space there is the earth and the solar system and above the solar system is the future. We'll destroy the future if we don't stop global warming." I love his theory about the future.

Then he exclaimed "I'm going to walk to school instead of drive from now on," a noble thought, but unfortunately it would take an hour to get to school if he walked. He also said,"Don't use a hair dryer Mom." I suppose that could be green advice (don't use electricity if you don't have to) or is it because he thinks it will warm the globe?

Here is list of tips for decreasing your ecological footprint:

• Turn it off when not in use.
• Turn down the central heating slightly (1 or 2 degrees).
• Only run your dishwasher and washing machine with a full load.
• Recycle paper, glass and plastics (a City of Seattle requirement).
• Use every piece of paper twice.
• Don't use "throw away" products such as paper plates, napkins and plastic utensils.
• Use reusable plastic containers in lunchboxes, instead of plastic bags.
• Take your own bags to shops and grocery stores.
• Look for products that have less packaging.
• Buy organic and local.
• Don't buy bottled water if tap water is safe.
• Choose biodegradable cleaning products.
• Buy energy-efficient household appliances.
• Use energy-saving light bulbs.
• Stop using chemical pesticides on your lawn and garden.
• Drive an energy-efficient car and walk or ride a bicycle when possible.

Seattle Summer Camp Craziness

If Elliot had lived 100 years ago, he would have spent his summers harvesting wheat or picking blueberries and peaches on the family farm or he might have wandered the streets with a band of feral kids. He might have spent his time shooting marbles or lazing under a shady tree. As a kid, I remember doing nothing but reading, swimming, and hanging out at the beach all summer long. But it's 2007 and he gets to spend his summer as a pirate, a wizard and a naturalist. Dan is going to be home all summer with the kids, but he would go crazy if he had both kids all day alone. Why don't we have year round school?

A mom I know who grew up in Alaska complained about how we have too many choices in Seattle. It would make things simpler if we didn't have 5,000 summer day camps to choose from. I've been researching and trying to pair Elliot up with his friends at various Seattle day camp programs for weeks now. It's only April, but some camps are already booked.

University of Washington Summer Youth Programs
Fairies, Wizards and Dragons - Oh My!
As we look forward to the next Harry Potter book hitting the stores, come join us at summer camp where we will have lots of fun exploring fantasy, mythology and magic, through stories, art, drama, creative writing and science!

EarthKeepers at Carkeek Park
Our caring, trained naturalists will help open a world of discovery for your child using the unique outdoor classroom environment of Carkeek Park.

Dragonfire Pirate Camp
There are projects every day, including making a dagger or sword, or building a raft big enough to hold 20 young pirates in shallow water. Or digging in the secret Pirate Mine, which is "seeded" nightly with trinkets and treasure items such as old coins, chains and sparkly stuff.

There are also at least 10 types of soccer camps, drama camps, and art camps. I'm exhausted.

1970s Kid TV vs 2000s Kid TV

Elliot loves Star Wars, Captain Jack disco songs, grass green crocs and long red satin basketball shorts. He's never seen Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers, yet he thinks they're super cool. His cultural references are heavily influenced by other kids.

He's seen plenty of Disney movies (we learned long ago that Pinnochio, Dumbo and Sleeping Beauty are brutal and not for kids under 7), but in terms of TV influences, he's been bred completely on PBS thus far. Luckily, Asher still doesn't really care about TV, it's on for an hour in the morning, but he walks away and busies himself with mischievious projects such as transfering the shoes in my closet to under our couch.

GenXers suffer from 70s and 80s nostalgia, it's baked into our culture. Of course I'm going to idealize my childhood pop culture references. Did the 70s offer superior television for kids? In terms of PBS shows, I will say hands down yes. The Electric Company taught intitial sounds, letter recognition and all kinds of beginning reading skills that are not present in any of the cartoons my boys watch.

As a younger kid in the 1970s, I watched the classic golden age of educational television programming:

Electric Company
Big Blue Marble
Vie Allegra
Seasame Street
Captain Kangaroo
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

As I got older, my brother and I spent hours on the floor of our den two feet away from the TV watching endless cartoons that had little educational value.

Schoolhouse Rock
Fat Albert
Scooby Doo
Flintstones
Jetsons
Tom Slick
Super Chicken
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Wait Till Your Father Gets Home

I did have brutal nail scratching fights with Michael over how long he could watch unsavory violent shows such as Popeye, Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry. Violence breeds violence?

The live action shows with surreal themes were like candy. These shows are always mentioned when you get a few 30+ year olds together talking about their childhoods.

Land of the Lost
HR Puffnstuf
Bugaloos
Sigmund and the Seamonsters
The Monkees
Brady Bunch
Partridge Family

Kid TV in the 2000s
PBS Kids shows are for the most part, just plain terrible. I trained Elliot to despise Barney, so that was never a problem. He's always disliked Jakers for some reason, maybe it's the accents. He's dissed Seasame Street, It's a Big Big World, Mustard Pancakes and Berenstain Bears (which I like). We don't have cable and he doesn't watch after school TV so that restriction has limited his exposure thus far.

His TV diet consists of mostly insipid whiny cartoons, where the emphasis is on social emotional navigation. He's bored of them all, unfortunately that doesn't mean Elliot won't watch them anyway. Arthur is the only PBS show that is bearable. We rented a few Magic School Bus and Time Warp Trio videos recently both of which were well written, educational and funny. The current line up on PBS is truly awful:

Dragontales
Clifford
Caillou
Bob the Builder (the Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. This message does stay with the kids)
Curious George
Arthur (I love Arthur, sharp writing, it nails kid culture)

I'm not saying that I feel bad for his generation for not having good cartoons or TV shows. Maybe we're just out of the loop. I'm sure if we had cable it would be a different story. Or maybe it's a sign that kids are watching less TV or place less value on TV than my generation.

Spring Rituals

After a mostly disasterous Passover seder full of unruly kids last week (Alexa said, it was great to see that insanity is normal), we had a succesful mostly calm seder at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Easter sunday. When the boys do shabbat dinners at their house I'm told they have impeccable table manners. Victor produced a very short musical seder - all the hits of pesach - and the boys loved it, especially Asher. We took a break to dance around the living room. Asher asked for seconds of the gefilte fish. Everyone loved the matzah ball soup.

Montessori Birthday Circle

Elliot had his birthday circle at school last week.
In the Montessori tradition, the birthday child carries a globe around the circle for each year of their life representing the path of earth around sun during each year of the child's age. This Montessori ritual helps the child understand their birthday is more than just birthday cake and presents.

At the end of each trip around the sun, I talked about Elliot's achievements in that particular year. I didn't know I had to bring pictures for each year, oops.

Year One: Learned to crawl, laugh and sing.
Year Two: Learned to talk, visited Disneyland, visited Hawaii, played music.
Year Three: Learned to ride a bike. Dressed and toileted by himself. Big brother.
Year Four: Mastered the balance beam. Wrote a play that was produced by the school.
Year Five: Learned to swim by himself. Started kindergarten.
Goals for Year Six: "Be nice to my family. Ride a bike without training wheels. Learn to read."

6 Year Old Boy

My first born is 6 today. He asked to have a night in the "family bed" for his birthday. We let him sleep with us, he's a deep sleeper, a good cuddler. On the eve of his 6th birthday, he felt compelled to return to babyhood. Kindergarten has been challenging for Elliot. He senses the big changes ahead, more responsibility, less silliness, work, work, work. Who wants to sit still, practicing letter formation when you could be chasing the girls around at recess? School is hard, it is challenging. He makes mistakes, his fine motor skills betray his creative, curious intellect. He's expected to act like his most grown up self at school. But he's not ready to leave babyhood completely behind. As Robert Munsch wrote, "I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living, my baby you'll be."

Ad-Busters Class for Kindergartners

The New Yorker printed this piece in the Talk of the Town this week about a kindergarten field trip to the supermarket aimed at teaching kids how to think critically about consumer products. I'm going to have to do a similar experiment with my kids. I think Elliot and Walter would hit it off, "I want to take off my underwear...I want candy!"

Smart Cookies by Rebecca Mead
It is sometimes suggested that schools no longer teach children values, but this assertion would not be true of P.S. 321, in Park Slope, which has been offering an “Ad-Busters” class as an after-school program, intended to impart radical skepticism to kindergartners. The class is taught by Susan Gregory Thomas, a P.S. 321 parent and the author of “Buy, Buy Baby,” a soon-to-be-published exposé of the depredations of kiddie consumer culture. One recent very cold Friday, Thomas’s charges were crowded around a lunch table in the cafeteria in advance of a field trip to Key Food.

“Who goes shopping with their parents?” Thomas, who has brown curly hair and was wearing a pastel-colored jacket trimmed with fake fur, asked.

Walter, whose lips bore faint traces of blue that might have been caused by food coloring (unlikely) or marker pen (probable), said, “I sometimes go to Met Foods, or D’Agostino’s.”

Ishai, who was eating a bag of Pirate’s Booty, said, “I go to the Food Co-op.” Thomas asked if Pirate’s Booty was healthy. “It’s snacky,” Ishai said.

“How do we know when something is healthy?” Thomas asked.

“From reading the nutrients list,” Ishai said.

“I can’t read,” Walter said, pulling on a fleece hat.

The children headed down Seventh Avenue holding hands in boy-girl pairs: their choice. The group passed Back to the Land Natural Foods and the D’Vine Taste fancy-food emporium.

“There’s the wine market!” a boy named James said.

“I want to take off my coat, I want to take off my hat, I want to take off my shoes, I want to take off my pants, I want to take off my underwear!” Walter was saying as he entered the supermarket. Once inside, he yelled, “I want candy!”

The children milled around a bin filled with bananas, blocking the efforts of a middle-aged man to navigate his shopping cart beyond Fruit. “I know what this is,” Walter said, momentarily dispirited. “It’s the grownup aisle.”

As the group rounded the corner into Canned Goods, a quiet boy named Charlie reached for a pack of soy chips. “We’re not buying those, Charlie,” Charlie’s dad, a parental monitor, said. “You had those for snack.” Thomas halted in front of an array of Campbell’s soups, pointing out that the packaging on many of the cans featured cartoon characters. “Leave the cans of soup on the shelf,” Charlie’s dad warned, as Charlie picked up two cans—bearing Chicken & Stars and Goldfish labels—and knocked over a display of pickle jars.

“Does anyone know what saturated fats are?” Thomas asked. “If you ate three of these cans in a day, you would be over the fat limit for a child of your age. You would have to say, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t have the cupcakes and the cookies.’ ”

A boy named Sam looked dubious. “I don’t even like soup,” he said.

Further along the aisle were packages of mix for macaroni and cheese. “Would you choose this one, or the one without characters?” asked Thomas, holding a box featuring Shrek.

“I’d choose the plain one,” Maeve, who had blond hair and was just getting over a cold, said. “Shrek is bad for you.”

“Why is all the macaroni and cheese orange?” Thomas asked.

“Food coloring!” Ishai said, dropping dramatically to the tiled floor and picking himself up.

“Who is it aimed at?” Thomas asked.

“Kids!” Ishai answered, dropping to the floor again.

In the cereal aisle, James, who was wearing a white Power Rangers cap, grabbed a box of Fruity Pebbles. “That’s ‘The Flintstones,’ ” he said. “That’s a very old show.”

Thomas picked up a box of Health Valley granola and asked, “What does ‘organic’ mean?”

“It means it’s organized,” a boy named Henry said. An older gentleman who was carrying a tub of Quaker Oats paused to listen. “You wonder why people are dying of heart attacks every day,” he said. “The corporations are running America and poisoning Americans, and the people don’t realize it. The politicians are paid off to let them kill people.”

Thomas ushered the children past Paper Products and back outside, where a truck decorated with a Canada Dry logo and covered with wintry ice was making a delivery.

“Icicles!” Walter shouted.

“Icicles aren’t packaged!” Ishai said.

“You can’t eat icicles,” a wary Maeve warned. None of the children expressed a desire for ginger ale.

Yellow Submarine Lyrics

We needed a refresher on the Yellow Submarine lyrics - one of the best sing along songs ever. The boys love watching the youtube music videos, it's much better than tv, so I'm happy to oblige. I didn't realize how much we sing in our house. I'm always amazed how easily Asher can learn to sing a song like Scarborough Fair (of course not the whole thing) having only heard it twice. The door is open, it's magic.




In the town where I was born,
Lived a man who sailed to sea,
And he told us of his life,
In the land of submarines,

So we sailed up to the sun,
Till we found a sea of green,
And we lived beneath the waves,
In our yellow submarine,

We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,
We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,

And our friends are all aboard,
Many more of them live next door,
And the band begins to play.

(Trumpets play)

We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,
We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,

(weird sounds)

As we live a life of ease,
Everyone of us has all we need (has all we need)
Sky of blue (sky of blue) and sea of green (sea of green)
In our yellow (in our yellow) submarine (submarine. Blaaaha)

We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,
We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine,

We all live in a yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine.

Noruz

Spring holidays tend to be particularly symbolic, tied to pagan traditions and rooted to the earth. Spring cleaning. Hope. Renewal. New life. Fertility. Freedom. Feasts and celebrations.

Growing up in LA, which has a huge Persian community, I somehow wasn't exposed to the biggest Persian communal holiday Noruz, even though I had several Persian friends. Noruz is an ancient Persian celebration of the spring equinox. I was struck by the elaborate beauty of this 13 day long celebration. The symbols of Noruz are particularly poetic: mirrors, grass, gold fish and eggs.

Wheat or lentil representing new growth is grown in a flat dish a few days before the New Year and is called Sabzeh (green shoots). Decorated with colorful ribbons, it is kept until Sizdah beh dar, the 13th day of the New Year, and then disposed outdoors. A few live gold fish (the most easily obtainable animal) are placed in a fish bowl. In the old days they would be returned to the riverbanks, but today most people will keep them. Mirrors are placed on the spread with lit candles as a symbol of fire.

Zoroastrians today place the lit candle in front of the mirror to increase the reflection of light. Mirrors were significant items in Zoroastrian art and architecture, and still are an integral part of most Iranian celebrations including weddings. They are extensively referred to in Iranian mystical literature as well and represent self-reflection. All Iranian burial shrines are still extensively decorated with mirrors, a popular decorative style of ancient times. Light is regarded as sacred by the Zoroastrians and the use of mirrors multiplies the reflection of light.

Wine was always present on the Haft Seen spread. Since the Muslim conquest, it has been replaced by vinegar because alcohol is banned in Islam. Egg, a universal symbol of fertility corresponding to Sepanta Armaiti, or mother earth, is still present. The eggs are hard-boiled and are traditionally colored in red, green or yellow, colors favored by Zoroastrians. Recently following the Easter Egg tradition, any color is used and they are elaborately decorated. The eggs are offered to children as treats.

Fresh garlic is used to warn off bad omen. This is a modern introduction. There is no evidence that it was used in this context before. However the ancient Iranians would grow seven different herbs for the New Year and garlic might have been one of them. Samano a thick brownish paste is present today. It is a nutritious meal and could have been part of the feasts. It is also possible that it has replaced Haoma, a scared herbal mix known for its healing properties. It was a major cult on its own with many rituals and ceremonies. The cult is still performed by the Zoroastrians today, but is abandoned by other Iranians. Coins symbolizing wealth and prosperity, fruits and special sweets and baked goods are also in the Haft Seen.

All kinds of food and delicacies are prepared with tea, drinks, fruits, bread, cheese and fresh herbs. Wealthy Iranians will spend the day in country homes. The occasion is a communal one and all close relatives and friends will participate. Wheat or barley shoots (Sabzeh) grown especially for the New Year are discarded in nature on this day. The picnic ends with the setting of the sun. The occasion has no religious significance and is celebrated by all. With the more modern Iranians there is music and dancing while most people will play games and sports. It is also believed that unwed girls can wish for a husband by going into the fields and tying a knot between green shoots, symbolizing a marital bond.

Spring is Here!

Spring color has saturated Seattle: purple and blue hyacinths have pushed up, sunny daffodils, magenta camellias and frothy cherry blossoms line the streets. The vernal equinox happened on March 21st, a dreary grey blustery day. But today we finally got a hint of summer. Elliot of course broke out his shorts and crocs.
Spring - by Gerard Manley Hopkins
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
A strain of the earth’s sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden.—Have, get, before it cloy,
Before it cloud, Christ, lord, and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
Most, O maid’s child, thy choice and worthy the winning.

Our Favorite Education Sites For Kids

There are tons of TV and product (webkinz freaks me out) web games for kids, all of the PBS kids and Nickelodeon shows have their own interactive games, but they're loaded with ads and designed to build loyalty to the show. I'm cautious about letting Elliot do any computer games regardless of product placement, but we have slowly opened the gates to a few sites (with good user interface) that have met our approval.

Starfall
Great for pre-k kids as well. Interactive games that promote early literacy and math skills.

BrainPOP
Elliot's gym teacher told him about this site (nice viral marketing) that has animated movies and games about famous authors (we watched Roald Dahl), ancient history, science and math concepts. Comprehension quiz after the movie.

Read Write Think
Simple phonics, prefix and suffix alphabet games.

ABC Education
Australian site with some great math games that are easy to manipulate.

A Pirate's Life For Me

Elliot's T-ball team is called the "Golden Pirates." Elliot suggested they could be called the Golden Bald Eagles (my favorite) or the Golden Thunderbirds, but the pirates won by popular vote. At least they're not the Gold Stars. I don't know what it is about pirates, but they really speak to Elliot's generation. Something about living without rules? Just a guess. A Pirate's Life is a catchy tune, the lyrics are innocent and depraved at once.



Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me
we pillage we plunder we rifle we loot
drink up me hearties yo ho
we kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot
drink up me hearties yo ho
yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me
we extort we pilfer we filch and sack
we maraud and embezzle and even hijack
yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me
we kindle and char we flame and ignite
drink up me hearties yo ho
we burn up the city we're really a fright
drink up me hardies yo ho
we're rascals and scoundrels and villains and knaves
drink up me hearties yo ho
we're devils and black sheep
we're really bad eggs
drink up me hearties yo ho
we're beggars and blighters and
ne'er-do-well cads
drink up me hearties yo ho
I think we're loved by our mommy's and dad's
drink up me hearties yo ho
yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me

Fun with Photo Booth

Pippi Longstocking Lyrics

We were trying to remember the pippi lyrics today and we were completely off. Here are the English lyrics for pippi theme song.



Freckles on her nose
diddle diddle di
a girl came riding
into town one day
diddle diddle di
she was quite a sight
it's pippi longstocking
say ho ho he ha ha
it's pippi longstocking
there's no one like her
happy as can be
diddle diddle
pippi tells you stories
you just wait and see
tra la la la
she's quite a girl
she's got a house
an older funny house
a monkey and a horse
a suitcase full of gold and coins
you'll never ever ever find
a girl so strong
the grown ups here in town
tra la la la
pippi's world is fun
she makes kids happy
her make believe
the grown ups here in town
tra la la la
she is such an imp
tra la la la
you'll love her too.

Do Re Mi - Sound of Music

Children in Babel, Half Nelson, Sherrybaby

We watched Babel, Sherrybaby and Half Nelson, all 2006 movies that received oodles of accolades, back-to-back last week. Half Nelson (Ryan Gosling plays an addict) and Sherrybaby (Maggie Gyllenhaal plays an addict) share obvious similarities, but Babel also fits into the theme of troubled adults and their relationships with children. Children are often idealized in storytelling - they're bland or cute stand-in's for purity, innocence, salvation, wilderness, the future, hope (Little Miss Sunshine) so I was interested to analyze how well developed the child characters were and what purpose they served in each of the above films.

Half Nelson
Ryan Gosling (swoon) is fascinating to watch as Dan, a charming and immature middle school history teacher on crack. As extreme as the plot sounds, the story was subtle and unsensational, and the actors were magnetic. It doesn't follow the standard redemption myth - nothing is idealized or villainized, we don't know if this guy will ever recover, we don't understand why he's an addict - he has self respect, passion for social justice and really connects with kids. He has periods where he isn't using and he's got it together. So we're devastated each time he relapses, over and over again. Dan is self centered and charismatic - as popular teachers generally are (cult of personality) - and his complicated friendship with his lonely student Drey, who ends up selling him drugs - is the crux of the film. Drey isn't a wise child, she isn't cute or innocent, bucking the stereotype.

Half Nelson works well as a Jungian coming of age story. Dan's mask is crumbling, he's steeped in his shadow, then he recognizes his anima (Drey) who represents the feminine aspects of his persona, she's forgiving, she accepts him even though he's a wreck. She is his soul image, his guide out of his shadow unconscious. The film is satisfying because he has made progress toward individuation, integrating aspects of self.

Sherrybaby
Maggie Gyllenhaal was excellent as another self centered (but not charismatic) addict. Sexually abused as a child, Sherry is completely unconscious, immature, sexually inappropriate, and competes for attention with her 6 year old daughter. We see her grow and recognize that she needs help, but the tone is rotten and seedy thoughout the whole film. She lacks self respect. Children save her several times. Getting a job as a preschool assistant keeps her out of prison. Her desire to be a mother to her daughter also keeps her from making some really bad decisions. The children in Sherrybaby symbolize purity; they serve as mirrors, reminding Sherry she is still a child. The film ends with Sherry acknowlegding that she can't do it alone, but she hasn't met her animus. She's still swimming in her unconcious and far from individuation.

Babel
Babel was the weakest film of the group, preachy and pessimistic. I completely lost trust in the movie at mid point, but it also has some interesting child characters. Each of the 3 stories in Babel features parents and children. The parents are emotionally and/or geographically distant from their children. The children in the Moroccan story are well developed, the father favors his youngest son, the brothers are competitive. I feared they would end up shooting each other. The deaf Japanese girl is an interesting character, acting out her grief and angst, fabricating stories. She pushes her father away and he's not available to her either, yet she's protective of him. The theme of miscommunication (how different rules apply to the wealthy and powerful) works especially well with the Japanese and Moroccan stories. But the idealized white American children kill the movie. They're symbols of purity and innocence and nothing more. They're sacrificial lambs meant to illicit our tears.

Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show

Our new favorite YouTube video. I feel sort of guilty for condoning the potty humor, but it's very mild and I'm sorry, it's really funny. What's so funny about chickens? I explained the context to Elliot, some Japanese talk shows are this wacky, mispronunciation, bad translations etc, but he could care less. Spinning the "Wheel of Fun" chicken makes Elliot break into gales of laughter. Love the song, "talk to the hot dog, it can read your mind, it's a very frisky feeling."

Kid Food

Pre-foodie revolution, my childhood in the 70s and early 80s was filled with truly terrible food: American cheese toast, creamed chipped beef on toast (my dad's specialty), avocado with mayonnaise (another favorite of my dad's), canned peaches on cottage cheese, canned green beans, spaghetti with meat marinara, baked chicken, hamburgers, kosher hot dogs, mac and cheese with hot dogs, tuna sandwhiches, iceburg lettuce salads with mushy tomatoes and Italian dressing, chicken casseroles. Mostly home made. But high in fat and sodium.

Danny lucked out, Roberta was always health conscious and created a childhood food landscape that was much more evolved. Although Danny says that he didn't appreciate it at the time - a typical meal might include any or all of the following: chicken with panko bread crumbs and plum sauce, turkey burgers, brown rice and tofu.

When I started making my own food as a pre-teen, I was compelled to load garlic butter on everything I ate. Spaghetti with garlic butter and parmesean cheese. I made my own "party mix " with pretzels and chex cereral saturated in hot salty garlic butter. I microwaved garlic butter slathered bagels (this concoction required that I cover the bagel in plastic wrap which melted into the bread). I peeled off the melted plastic, but I'm sure this multiplied my risk of cancer 100x. Sally and I went through a phase where we cooked hamburger patties with a side of canned sliced potatoes (with butter and salt of course). I also ate loads of peanut butter mixed with ice cream or chocolate. It was a miracle I didn't become obese.

So now as a parent, how do I feed my kids? Have I cultivated a international, healthy gourmet palette in my kids? Well international yes, but healthy, no. When we eat out it's easier to feed them. They both like burritos. They like noodles -- udon, pad thai, pad see ew, pho -- that's all good. Elliot used to like aloo matar paneer, but now he'll only eat tandori chicken and naan. Asher loves rice and bread.

But at home we're really a mess. We're rarely on top of it enough to make more than two things for dinner. Trader Joes dominates our refrigerator - fake corn dogs, fake chicken nuggets, quesadillas, baby carrots, pasta and cheese, turkey dogs, chicken noodle soup, string cheese, yogurt. We occassionally make lasagne or enchiladas (which the kids won't eat - Asher claims that he wants to eat the lasagne but then it just sits there). We can't figure out what to feed Asher, he's off meat, off cheese, off eggs, off chicken noodle soup, off pasta (mac and cheese included). He'll eat any fruit, dried or fresh. He'll eat bread. But no protein.

Last night we had an especially ambitious meal: leftover chicken, homemade mac and cheese, french lentils, broccoli with cheddar cheese and bread. Asher ate the bread. Elliot ate the chicken and broccoli (after much coercion), but refused to eat the mac and cheese (it wasn't like Amy's frozen mac and cheese).

Danny thinks its time to go out to eat more. I agree.

Wishing We Were in Hawaii

Cousin Ila, Uncle Joel and Aunt Bessie came to Seattle for Grandpa's 65th birthday bash / February Luau. A wild time was had by all. Plastic leis, tropical drinks, tiki torches and loopy kids running around. Who knew Danny was such a skilled hula hooper? It was bitterly cold outside, but most everyone came in Hawaiian-esque attire. At least it wasn't snowing (as it did twice later in the week - it's March, what's going on?).

Elliot has taken on the role of elder statesman in the family. (Gawd he's such a ham, we've got to sign him up for acting classes.). His card for Grandpa included all of the grandkids. Note how Ila is wearing a dress and has long blond hair. Happy Birthday Grandpa!

This boy and MK and I have something in common.

I saw this video and I thought it was a fun little video about children and how they grow up.

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