We kicked off Spring Break on Friday with a trip to the movies with Grammy. We shared popcorn and saw previews for upcoming movies. I think out of all of them, The Jungle Book looks scary and sweet.
I must say this is the first animated movie in a long time that I liked. We …all three generations…of us could like this, at all different levels. And for me the pro-girl (female bunny character), urban (train rides and hamster tubes) and rural (carrot farmers) setting, arctic shrew mobster guarded by polar bears, and the “free spirited” hippy type animals that don’t wear clothes were all entertaining. There was a twinge of Richard Scarry in the animation as well.
I even loved the elephant doing yoga with Olivine loudly whispering…”look mommy, it’s you!” And no, she didn’t mean the elephant..she was referring to the yoga pose of downward dog.
If you need something to do, can get into a matinee screening in the middle of the day with an empty theater, I recommend this one. And then call me up….so we can chat about the undercurrent of issues around prejudice, class, and racism, and this movie’s timely relevance to our current issues of power in this country…so good!
There was one highly motivated teacher and two younger siblings as the students.
I watched as the class became inattentive and giggly. Some would call that “off task,”
which in turn made the teacher anxious. He just wanted them to do what he asked, which was some incredibly difficult math. 
It’s like a theatrical, kid friendly, rendition of the jobs Joe and I hold as teachers. It requires thinking on your feet, being flexible, and admitting your own mistakes. A combination of talent, courage, and joy in learning.
He even presented the math lesson in multiple formats: numbers, sentences, and then resorted to true or false. All of which was over their heads, but they still kept trying.
Suddenly, teacher Paul was saved by the bath bell. The students left smiling because they did earn stickers. I even overhead the teacher say that once they earned six stickers, they could have a piece of candy.
Some days the creativity intersects with homework. This is his “made up shape or solid figure.” The name makes me laugh. I don’t have that sort of creativity.
Then there is the dinosaur diorama and typed report he has due. After a trip to the craft store and a clearing of the kitchen table, he took over.
After covering the inside and outside of a shoebox, measuring and gluing along the way. He labeled the back and eagerly worked on his river.
He then spent time drawing out the dinosaur the chose to feature in his report: Triceratops.
Soon after, he needed a break. So he called his friend Mario to see how his report was coming along. The conversation quickly fell into this random quiz of facts going back and forth about lengths of specific dinosaur, period of time they lived, or predators and prey of dinosaurs. 
He added details and abandoned a T-rex on the hill in the background (he became overly frustrated at his inability to draw it accurately). There need to be more diorama projects and less worksheets.
Here is highlighter with marker and pen:
And some boredom expressed about the days where we drive the boys to and from school:
There is also a growing fascination with tape, because she has found the drawer where I keep it. A little bit of singing about “money and momma.” Then some sadness in her voice to tell me her daddy is at work and clearly missing from the picture. Another added dimension is the letters to indicate who each person is. The scribbles are her own attempts to write her sentences before I came along.
Then there are memories. Make believe or not. I am unsure. She remembers a time when it was mostly daddy and not so much mommy. I didn’t take offense. I am guessing this is her way of processing what I know to be an on-going transition.
I love these peeks inside her brain and thinking. I love that everyone looks happy.
I am drawn to listen to the detail about the girl combing her hair, or the turtle who is carrying her babies, and the kitty eating its sandwich so nice. And when I inquire about the fire she explains that is how the girl with the hat is heating her coffee. Ingenious!
Luckily she was feeling up to it and these ones volunteered to sit on the couch and watch shows with her.
We had snacks, brought flowers, and were excited to see she is doing so well.
Keep up the physical therapy, elevate and ice, and soon enough retirement will be here. We still can’t really believe Grammy won’t be working in a couple months. I guess that means plenty of time to play and run around, which is why the knee needs healing.
The Nakajima Family went overboard for her.
We can spend the whole day together eating and playing, which is exactly what she wanted.
She is convinced she had a party.
We don’t typically celebrate the day and his card made my heart swell.
This is a donut shop run by a husband and wife. It’s not Dunkin’ Donuts or Starbucks. One dollar coffee with so many choices. I love this! There are just too many flavors to sample in one visit.
Laurie is the woman behind the pies. They taste amazing and knowing I am tasting food from her kitchen is awesome. She just had her kickstarter funded and is in the stages of looking for her kitchen and a store front. In the meantime her pies can be found inside the Made store downtown. Another local shop full of fun artistic finds.
Another new to me, down the street shop that has amazing balloons and pinatas. Owned by a mom, who lives in the neighborhood and is finding her passion can be a business model.
and candles and wishes
She was loving the attention. She even changed her mind about it being a party. Previously she didn’t want to call it a pancake party since I wasn’t inviting all her friends. But when she saw her brothers clapping and cheering, she announced it was in fact a party.
The balloons were a hit.
She spent some time in the morning laying on her bed, with sunshine cheeks, enamored by the golden stars inside.
I might have been extra generous in politely asking the birthday girl to kindly remove the stickers her brother gave her. She argued a bit about how she was trying to make the house pretty and share the stickers. Both valid points. But when I presented her with a blank paper she willingly transferred them to a safer place.
Before school I pinned a button on her dress, after insisting balloons were not permitted to go with her. Compromise is key these days. 
This girl is quickly acquiring her own personality. She has recently been riding her balance bike, even though she learned to ride her scooter first.
family notebook 