Hollywood Sucks!

Sick of the nonsense in movies?  Me too. Read what I think at Robinella’s.

~R

Trust In Your Children

I’ve been whining about Pete’s reading, or lack of reading for two years now.

I posted on the boards.  I read unschoolers methods.  Bought all the phonics programs known to me.  So go ahead and ask me – did any of it work?

Yes, the unschoolers were right.  Kids want to learn.  Kids learn at different ages and stages.  When they are ready, they’ll just do it.

Over the last two years, I tried phonics, I tried spelling, he got glasses.  And don’t forget the whining.  Those didn’t work.  I’m sure some of it sunk in, but he just wasn’t ready.  This year, it clicked.  He even asked me the other day if he should start reading on his own.

blink, blink

~R

Back To The Farm

Read about it on my alter ego, Robinella’s.

Using Baking Soda for Deodorant

You can read about it on my alter ego Robinella’s.

Old Mother Hubbard

I was reading over at Cindy’s tonight, and came across her post on “Free Range Kids“.

I used to be the helicopter mom.  I even reminisced about it last year on my old blog.  Our local news team does a yearly scare the crap out of parents bit where they have a man with a bandaged arm and a picture of a puppy walk around the playground soliciting help from the children to help him find the missing dog. His goal? To get the children, while their parents watch, out of the play area and into the parking lot.

I remember seeing him and asking him what he was doing and he gave me the “shh” sign and pointed towards the news crew.  I didn’t catch the crew part so proceeded to follow him and his latest “victim” out of the play area.  I remember I was frantically looking around for parents and wondering how I could wrestle that child from him with my then two year old on my hip if need be.

I remember the news anchor coming up to me before they left and commending me on being so diligent and how more parents should be like me.  Blah, blah blah.  But oh how I walked taller for the rest of our playtime.  My chin was higher, my chest poofed out.  I couldn’t wait to call my husband and tell him how great a mom I was.

Thank goodness those insecure days are over.  I still watch my boys when we are in public places, but I’ve relaxed quite a bit.  Those same “scare the crap out of parents” news teams are the same ones that prey on alarm and sensationalism.  I no longer watch the news and I no longer need to be the best mom on the playground.

~R

Back-up Plan

Well, WinterPromise went back to the source.  It looks good on paper.  I’m sure it is right for the right kid.  Mine wasn’t that kid.  I purchased it because it promised, “You can count on activities that are exciting for kids and realistic for parents.“  Umm, nope, not so exciting for us.  Again, I’m sure it is exciting for the right kid, just not mine.

The majority of the “activities” were paper crafts which meant I had to first photocopy them onto cardstock and cut them out so that Pete could color and glue.  Pete doesn’t like coloring pre-made things, not even coloring books.  He prefers to draw everything himself and then color.  He also isn’t much of a gluer, unless it is hot glue.  Now if these projects would have worked better with tape – we’d have been in business.

I didn’t like reading small snippets from five different books each day.  Neither did the kids.  Sooo, since this was the history spine, I just sent it all back and purchased Story of The World.  The boys love listening to the cds in the car or while we are playing.  The activities are varied and interesting.  They give lots of suggestions for comprehension questions and resources to find in the library.  I’m not even sure now why I tried to switch.

I knew then I wanted a program where everything was already scheduled for me.  I knew I wanted a program where all the craft materials came in a big box so I didn’t have to search for them.

I now know, I don’t like somebody else making my schedule.  I have all the craft materials – it was just a matter of sorting it all out and organizing a craft closet to hold it all.

So that’s what I have been doing for the past week.  Organizing.

~R

Pete, The Entrepreneur

Yesterday, my friend Pogo and I took the boys Letterboxing. Yeah, I know, but it was an easy quest. Only .4 miles and there were four boxes. We managed to find all four and everyone survived. Phew!

This morning, BN gave me a five dollar bill and asked if I could get in touch with Pogo. He said Pete sold her son a car for $5. I asked Pete about it and he said C wanted to buy the car. I asked which car he bought and Pete said, “Oh, he doesn’t have it yet. He can pick one out when he comes over next time.” (gah) I called Pogo this afternoon to let her know we’d be mailing it back since I probably won’t see her for a week or two and she and I had a good laugh over it. Her son let out a big sigh the night before and said, “I don’t think I should have made that deal.” That’s how Pogo found out that C paid $5 to get a chance to play with the Pixter during the van ride home.

Wait a minute, I thought it was for a car. Children have a way of omitting important details, so Pogo grilled C while I was on the phone and he said it was for Pixter time and a car.

Then it was my turn. Here’s the scoop from Pete. C offered Pete $1 to let him play with the Pixter. Pete gave C the Pixter. When we got to Pogo’s house, the boys went inside before coming outside to play in the yard and when they got to C’s room, he didn’t have any dollars, only a five. So Pete, being a fast thinker, said C could just give him $5 and then Pete would give C a car to make up the rest.

Pogo and I laughed and made really inappropriate jokes about the whole thing, especially with regard to the apology letter that Pete is to write and send with the $5 to C. I told Pogo I was not really sure what to have him write.

Dear C,

I am sorry I swindled you.

Your Friend,

Pete

??? lol

We decided on:

Dear C,

Maybe we didn’t make such a good deal. I am returning your money to you.

Your Friend,

Pete

Pogo insisted on no sorrys since it was a deal between the two of them. I still feel like a sorry should slip in there somewhere. We’ll see.

Oh and the kicker is that on the way home, Pete asked me how a kid could become a millionaire. Little did I know he was well on his way.

~R

Toe Walking

I don’t really like sharing personal information about my kids, partly for safety and partly because I don’t have their permission – and let’s face it, the internet is forever. But I’m fed up with the so called experts.

Anyway, Pete started walking on his toes when he was two. We thought it was cute and called him twinkle toes behind his back. Lots of kids walk on their toes starting at age two, but most stop, so we weren’t worried about it and in fact didn’t even think to worry about it.

Over the next few years, he continued to walk on his toes and we always corrected him. When he wore shoes, he was good at hiding his walk, so we still didn’t worry – much and the doctors all said he would probably outgrow it.

Notice the wear on his shoes. The heels look brand new while the toe area is getting smooth. These shoes are two months old. He usually wears a hole in the toe area.

Fast forward a few years and we are getting Pete’s check-up done for school. I mention to his doctor (for like the third year in a row) that we were concerned that Pete was still on his toes and was there anything we needed to do. He said going to school would probably do the trick. (Huh?) The kids would tease him about it and he would probably stop, he said with a chuckle. I wasn’t laughing and that began my search for another doctor. (Incidentally, this also started my research on homeschooling.)

BN and I became diligent about stretching his legs and calling him on it when we saw him toe walking. He’s been in gymnastics for several years and that is all about stretching. None of that helped. I knew we needed help with this.

As the “experts” seemed to be morons, I decided to research it on my own. I swear I should have a medical degree for all the things I’ve had to research on my own, but nevertheless I did it and was disturbed to read that if a child doesn’t stop walking on his toes by age 7-8, it becomes hardwired in their brain to walk this way, not to mention the physical problems associated with it.

I took Pete to see a pediatric foot surgeon. He agreed with me that he should not still be walking on his toes. Pete suffers from extremely tight Achilles tendons and muscles. When he stands flatfooted, he has to splay his feet outwards, and only for short periods of time – it’s too painful. Standing with toes facing straight ahead is not something he can do. In addition to the “appearance of toe walking”, walking on his heels is needed for proper bone growth. Toe walkers will have small heels and wide feet in the toe area. This can cause problems down the road.

Degrees of physical problems from toe walking range from the very minor to the extreme. The more severe issues require surgery. Toe walking may also be a sign of a more serious condition such as cerebral palsy. Barring any neurological or orthopedic abnormalities, a toe walker is considered an idiopathic toe walker, meaning the toe walking is habitual or may stem from congenital short Achilles tendon. If your child can actually get his heels to touch the ground, and no other conditions are present, there are less invasive procedures prescribed. Pete presents as an idiopathic toe walker, thankfully. (can you tell I took medical terminology in college?)

We went today for his fitting of an orthotic boot. They made a cast of his lower legs with his feet at a 90 degree angle to his legs. I could see him straining from the effort. The “boots” will be sculpted from these casts to insure proper fit and no pressure points. Pete will have to wear these each night while he sleeps for an undetermined amount of time. I think this first go round will last seven weeks before we go back to see the surgeon for a reassessment.

He also requires physical therapy three times a week for the next seven weeks. The diagnosis is “bilateral heel cord contracture”.

If you have a little *twinkle toes* in your life, pay attention. It may just be a phase for your child, but it could be something more. Always follow your gut.

~R

** I do not hold a degree in medicine and am not an expert on toe walking. This post is a synopsis of my observations of my own son and his experience with toe walking. I will post more on this as we go along**

***That was quite therapeutic. I may have to spill my guts on here about other issues we are having***

BBC Book List

Kaytabug posted this meme on her almost forgotten blog (thanks to plurk) and she got the idea from Nine Acres

Here is what you do:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize the books you LOVE.
3) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated.

1 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
6 The Bible ( I have read parts of it, but not the whole thing!)
7 Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations Charles Dickens
11 Little Women Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy
13 Catch-22 Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare William Shakespeare
15 Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia CS Lewis
34 Emma Jane Austen
35 Persuasion Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin Louis de Bernières
39 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh AA Milne
41 Animal Farm George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown (read the sequel too -excellent)
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney, John Irving
45 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies William Golding
50 Atonement Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi Yann Martel
52 Dune Frank Herbert(love the movie)
53 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
62 Lolita Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road Jack Kerouac(on my must read list)
67 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary Helen Fielding (saw the movie)
69 Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist Charles Dickens
72 Dracula Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks
94 Watership Down Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
100 Les Misérables Victor Hugo

I probably should have italicized more but it’s been awhile since I read them for me to say I loved them.

So I’ve read close to half. Not bad considering I read half of those in high school. (I didn’t cross them off cause I liked them)  I wonder if public schools still require those books to be read.

Thanks Kaytabug. Now I have a list with more books I can pick up. They’ll come right after stori telling. Can you believe our library has 12 copies of that book? We are a smut-lovin’ town and I like it.

~R

Foods cause behavior problems

What do you think?

We have always tried to limit certain items from our diets, or rather our children’s diets. Artificial colorings, artificial flavors, artificial sweetners, preservatives and on and on. It just makes sense not to introduce these man-made, often byproducts into their little bodies.

Whole foods, whole grains – that’s what we strive to eat. We limit medications and use alternative solutions wherever possible. I’m well on my way to being a crunchy mama. But the road is long.

So I read a great book that deals with a certain condition and so many people made great strides by eliminating “environmental allergies”. I never did really figure out what “environmental allergies” were, but based on the name, I’m going with cleaning products, outgassing from furniture, carpeting and paints and such. To include outdoor sources like grass, pollen, pollution.

We decided to have Pete tested for allergies because it seemed the next logical step. BN has allergies as do I. Today, I gooped up his arms with Lydocaine and took him in. 66 “tests” later and he’s allergic to all the grass tests and some dog allergies. Glad he wasn’t allergic to cats. I’d hate to have to get rid of Kubi girl because I’m not sold on long-term allergy shots. Next week we go back for another 20-some “tests”.

So I asked this allergist about food testing. Did he do these? He knows my concerns about Pete from our consultation. He said he doesn’t do food testing unless the patient presents with hives or similar physical reactions. I think if I fork over $550, he should test for whatever I want. However, HE doesn’t believe behavior problems or other such conditions are caused by foods.

Well, allrighty then. Guess we are on our own for this portion of our journey.

~R