This month, we begin our blog post by sharing what might be the funniest thing my kids have said to date. Most of you know my mom, Mary, was very frugal. Not quite Depression-era collecting used pieces of string frugal, but she had this habit of translating the worth of something into cans of tuna. Like, “wow, that toy is cool, but that’s 5 cans of tuna”! I have told my kids about this habit and it’s a little family joke. Recently, Moriarty heard from somewhere how expensive it is to have a baby in the US. He asked me about the costs for having him and Lorelei, and I told him the story about when my mom gave birth to my brother, Don. She was in active labor all evening but waited to check into the hospital until after midnight, to cut down on the number of days she had to pay for. With a completely straight face, Moriarty turned to me and asked, “how many cans of tuna is your brother worth”.
Lorelei’s humor is also coming along nicely. Lorelei was talking about Halloween costumes and said she was going to be the Queen of the Night. She was telling me about planning to wear a pretty black dress and then ran in her room and got this green sash she was given by a knight at Medieval Times. She said “I’m gonna make a joke.” She wrapped the sash around her neck and said “I’m Queen of the Knights”, then proceeded to explain her homophone pun. It was SO cute. The last was a bit different. Lorelei and I were chatting and she said out of the blue, “I’m glad I don’t have brown skin.” Now, we’re a progressive family in a progressive area but the alarm bells in my head were starting to clang. I asked her why without any commentary. And she came back with, “because I’d want to bite myself because I’d think I taste like chocolate.” Whew, racist ideas averted. When I telling Pip this story later she overheard and said, well, and because brown people aren’t treated very well. She’s listening to everything we say, especially when we don’t think they are.
Now I get to brag about their athleticism. And MINE! Moriarty and I are officially black belts in taekwondo. OMG We had our black belt test in 2 parts. First was conditioning (100 push-ups, sit-ups, squats, jumping jacks, and round kicks in 40 min) and vocabulary (in Korean). The part last night was poomse (8 routines) and board breaking (two hand breaks, a standing kick, and a jumping kick). Moriarty was a boss. Here’s him doing a hammer fist break on 3 boards, and one where his instructor helped him with body position and then he broke 2 boards with a back kick.
Lorelei is having a blast doing gymnastics and recently the local ice skating club had a free skate morning so I brought the kids. They’ve both been roller skating a few times, but fewer than 5. I was nervous about them on ice for the first time, especially because ice skating doesn’t offer the cane/helper devices that roller rinks have now. Well, they were both out there rocking out. Lorelei learned how to spin in circles. First time on ice!
Moriarty has become obsessed with tops. Yes, you heard me right. I admit, they’re fancy tops with lots of features and you battle with them, but they’re still just tops. They’re called Beyblades. He has…many. He and his friends battle them. For hours and hours and hours. If you want to be educated, you can listen to Moriarty’s master class in Beyblading.
Lorelei has been struggling with reading and gets extra help at school, but we were worried she might be dyslexic. We took her to the children’s hospital for a battery of tests and they identified some strengths, and some big weaknesses. Dyslexia might still be an issue, but it’s hard to test at her age. What they did note was a lot of restlessness, boredom, and wanting to stop. That’s more ADHD sounding so we’ll see if that goes anywhere. She comes by it honestly, from all family branches. But the doctors did help us find a private reading specialist for 1:1 help. I’m excited. I have been worried she’ll get so frustrated with reading she just shuts down and isn’t willing to try anymore. Pip and I see that as the worst case we’re trying to avoid. More updates as we progress.
Grandpa Phil visited us and brought the 80s with him. He found classic Creepy Crawler kits on Ebay. They have a special plastic you pour into molds, then cook on hot plates to make rubber bugs. The kids loved it and made many many bugs. There was a bit of a learning curve but don’t threaten hackers with an excuse to optimize something with random parts we have in the basement. It was a very fun, chill, visit. We did touristy things like Pike’s Place Market, but also just ate good sushi and made Build-A-Bears. Great visit all around. I’m so glad my kids get to know their grandpa. I never felt like I had much connection to my extended family. It’s hard when you’re thousands of miles away, but I’m trying.
The kids had camp again. The school does 2 camps per year where the kids and most of their parents stay overnight at a local campground. It’s full of songs, hugs, hikes, and a talent show. I’ll let you guess whether my quiet-blank-face-in-a-crowd son or swirling-center-of-every-room daughter participated in the talent show. Did you guess Lorelei? She came up with this idea herself. I just stood back and watched.
Now I get to brag about Moriarty’s adventurous nature. Lorelei is still a pretty picky eater, but Moriarty has entered the thunder dome of meat. At pho the kids have historically gotten meatball as their meat. Simple, homogenous, safe. Well this time he decided to get the Everything Pho which includes: eye-round steak, well-done flank, marble brisket, soft tendon, and tripe. He at most of it but discovered he didn’t like soft tendon. It’s “stringy and too chewy”. My parents told me they ate whale blubber while living in Japan and “chewy” was the foundational word there too. Pip and I always hoped our kids would be cool when they grew up. Moriarty knocks cool out of the park.
This last anecdote warms up my heart more than anything else this month. I started my adult life with a pretty abrasive personality, but over time I realized I didn’t want to keep those traits. Over my life I’ve had wonderful friends who loved me enough to point out when I was being a complete ass and that helped me change my behavior. I try to be very conscientious now about how I treat everyone and am generally happy with who I’ve become. My father warned me that kids watch everything we do as parents. They often don’t listen! But what we model is what they learn. So Lorelei just started ice skating lessons. I screwed up the dates so we missed the first class when they explain how the process at the rink works. So we walked in, lost, confused, and her regular teacher was out so people were trying to figure out who was covering. It was chaotic and I was not my most kind and patient self. I was just snappy and felt bad about it while I waited during practice. So on our way out I apologized to the coordinator, explained I was confused about the process and felt guilty about my mistake and shouldn’t have taken it out on her. We all smiled and went on our way. I didn’t do this SO Lorelei could watch me, I just do this now. Well later that night Lorelei snapped at Pip for something then later came to him and apologized, explained she had been cranky, and told him she shouldn’t have taken it out on him. I wasn’t around for any of it, but she copied me almost word-for-word. This is how I’m changing generational behaviors. I’m so proud of myself and my kids for showing such emotional awareness and empathy.
New Photos, password “mal”
Fun videos:
Lorelei pretending to be a baby strapped in her baby car seat