The slumber party saga will have to wait.  For now I’m on a mission.

Here’s the deal:  I’ve spent the past two years working on opening this dual language immersion school.  To say it has been an uphill battle is an understatement.  Along with the usual personality conflicts, we’ve got the “You’re in America!  Speak American!” attitude to contend with.  (To which I have to say, “DUH.  Of course we want everyone to speak English.  We just want Americans to catch up with the rest of the world and learn another language when it’s easy: as a kid!  If you’d stop thinking the U.S.A. is at the center of the universe for one flipping second you’d realize that we’re putting the ourselves and the country at a huge disadvantage.”)

Well, the good news is that on July 16th, we may have our last chance to win a charter for Austin Community dual language school.  For those of you not in Texas, the government here puts a cap on the number of charters (don’t even get me started on the idiocy of that policy).  The only way we can get a charter is to wait for another one to fail.  The problem for us is that the dual language programs really only let kids join in kindergarten or first grade.  Violet starts kinder next year.  So the clock is ticking.  She may not get another shot at this.

To me, this issue is so important we’ve considered moving from Austin to somewhere that offers a dual language immersion education.  It just boggles my mind that every parent in the country isn’t beating down the school board doors to demand this.

But I digress.  I could digress all day.  So I’ll stop and ask you to help Violet and Graham have the chance to learn another language so they’ll be able to tell secrets right in front of my face.  Or get really really good jobs in the future. Here are 4 ways to do it:

1. Donate $10. The State Board wants to see money in the bank. Just ten dollars from all of our supporters would boost our bottom line quickly. Keep in mind that a) we are a non-profit, so your donations are tax deductible and b) many companies match non-profit donations, so check with your employer. (Paypal button here)
2. Spread the word. Send 2 people (or more) information about ACS. Link them to our website, our Facebook & Twitter accounts, or give them our flyer. Keep in mind that our content is in Spanish and English, so don’t hesitate to contact Spanish speakers.
3. Send the State Board a letter. Tell them you want this school. Use our form letter or, better yet, your own words. (see below)
4. Come to our presentation! July 16th at 1 p.m. in the Room 1-111 of the William B. Travis Building. We need to show the Board that ACS has community support. Having a group behind us during our 10 minutes will tip the decision in our favor. (click here for the map).

Thank you Thank you!!

————————————————————————————–
(send the following to sboesupport@tea.state.tx.us)

Dear State Board of Education Members,

I am very interested in having Austin Community School improve our educational choices in Austin. This dual language (DL) and international baccalaureate (IB) school brings two highly effective educational programs together to develop all students—regardless of their home language and economic status– into English- and Spanish-speakers who can read, write, and work in both languages. The IB curriculum supports DL by equipping students with the skills to learn and acquire knowledge, individually or collaboratively, and to apply these skills and knowledge across a broad range of areas. ACS students become life-long learners, who are well prepared for college and our changing global workplace. Many universities require the ability to think creatively and problem-solve but also call for a second language. In addition, multiple language fluency is increasingly required to work in business, the military, the government, or education.

Children from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and races will work together in the same classroom at ACS, becoming resources for each other. This program is based on the ideal 50/50 enrollment of Spanish- and English-speaking students. Research proves that African-American, Latino, and Caucasians from all demographics who have completed dual language programs become academically and conversationally fluent in Spanish and English, graduate, and go on to college at high rates.

Facts About Dual Language (DL) and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs:

• DL and IB schools employ specially trained high quality teachers
• ACS replicates long-successful European and Canadian DL and IB programs
• Public DL programs are now offered and successful in most major cities in the USA including San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, El Paso
• DL students exhibit increased cognitive skills and self-esteem
• Longitudinal studies show DL dramatically increases state test scores
• Only DL closes the achievement gap for 2nd language English-learners
• DL is more effective for students below grade level than remedial ESL programs
• DL is structured to accommodate the fact that we learn languages best as children

I want a DL IB program for the future of my family, Austin and Texas.  Please vote for Austin Community School on July 16th.

Sincerely,

______________

The Plan: Move the kids into the same room for the summer.

The Reason: Trip to New York in July.  Trip to Oregon in August.  They’ll be sharing a room.  Graham’s too big for the portable crib.

What we’ve done so far: (will the end result be blissfully rested ready-to-travel children and parents?  Or screaming messes?  Stay tuned for the exciting ending…)

Step 1:  Weekend slumber parties.  Some failed.  Most were “successful” in that grouchy-tired-and-screamy-for-the-next-24-hours kind of way that happens when kids fall asleep at 9:30 and wake up at 6:00.

Step 2:  Got the big boy bed and brand-new fantastic star sheets (way to choose cool bedding little dude!)

Step 3:  Put the bed in his room for a week (tried not to worry it was only used for jumping)

Step 4:  Sent children to Granny’s house all day (thanks Granny! ).  Tore apart both kids rooms and the garage (100 degree heat).  Broke down crib (shed a few tears).  Reassembled Graham’s room into The Bedroom: and Violet’s room into The Playroom:

Step 5:  Went out for ice cream.  Thought about all the ways in which this scheme could fail spectacularly.

Step 6:  Welcomed kids home.  Graham was wailing, having been woken from his car-nap.  He wandered into his room, flipped out at the change, screamed and hid in the my closet, shrieking, for 30 minutes.  (a good snuggle while watching a “Goodnight Gorilla” then dinner and he was okay).  Violet was thrilled about the new set-up.

Step 7:  Tucked them in.  Held our breath.  The screaming stopped quickly and the bouncing on the bed began.

Step 8:  Changed diaper.  Repeated Step 7.

Step 9:  Violet ran out to pee twice and asked for water once.  Graham stayed in bed.  (Whaaaa???)

Step 10:  Now we’re listening to them in the monitor.  They’re laughing, discussing sleep and how mean we are that we’re not giving them any more water…. It’s all quiet now… will it last…?

To Be Continued….

So the other day I was standing around outside of Violet’s classroom with a few other moms and one of the teachers, waiting for the kids to come back from the dance room.  The conversation turned to lunchtime.  “How did little Sally eat?” asked a mom.

“Oh, she did great!” gushed the teacher.  “She eats whatever we put in front of her.”

Sally’s mom beamed as a few other mothers ooh-ed and ahh-ed.

“Wow,” I said, “You are so lucky.”

“Oh no,” shrugged the mom.  “We’ve just always given her what we eat.  No excuses.  She doesn’t have a choice so she has just always eaten well.”

Her smug smirk disappeared as soon as I grabbed her collar and leaned in menacingly.  Gritting my teeth I said, “You have NO idea what you’re talking about you idiotic know-it-all.  My children have no choice.  We give them what we eat.  They have been served delicious healthy food every goddamn day of their lives.  They still refuse to eat most of it.”  My voice started to rise and I was now gripping her collar with both hands.  Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other mothers nodding to themselves.  “I have tried every trick in the #&*$%ing book and they would rather go to bed hungry than eat something they don’t like!  Then they wake up in the middle of the night screaming and hungry and none of us sleep and we’re all pissed and crazed and want to beat people like you with a giant eggplant!!  The only reason your kid eats is because you are lucky.  Don’t try to convince us it has anything to do with you… you ignorant prattling egotist!!”  The mothers were smiling now and a few were cheering.  I released her and she backed away, mumbling apologies.

At least, that’s what I thought about doing in the split second before I nodded again, smiled vaguely and said, “Wow.  That’s so great for you.”

Yesterday was our first ever family camping trip.  We’d been planning it for a few months.  Originally, we wanted to try it at a state park 5 minutes from our house.  That way, if the kid-variables didn’t work out, we could bail and be home in no time.  However, there is a burn ban in drought-plagued Texas and you can’t have a camp fire while camping.  Well.  What the hell kind of fun is that?  Isn’t the camp fire the best part?

Fortunately, or awesome friends invited us to a camp-out at their amazing property on the San Marcos river.  Swimming, grilling, giant sandbox: it sounded perfect.  The kids were beyond excited.  Well, Violet was.  Graham didn’t really understand what was going on.  And since he turned 2, he does nothing but whine and scream all. day. long.  So it was with extreme trepidation that we embarked on this trip.  Especially after all the time, energy and money spent planning, packing, cooking and buying equipment.

Sure enough, the second we arrived Graham started:  “I wanna go home!  I wanna go home!” Whine Scream.  Fix lunch. Whine Scream.  Break up fights. Whine Scream.  Fix snack.  Whine Scream. Shove into swimsuit.  Whine scream.  Slather with sunscreen.  Whine Scream.  Fun!  Swimming!  Whine Scream.  Fill sippy cups.  Whine Scream.  “No Daddy!  I want Mommy!”  Whine Scream.  Change diaper.  Scream scream scream scream scream scream.  Zzzzzz.

I really really had to pee.  But I held it for over an hour because I thought for sure if he got a good nap he’d be tolerable the rest of the afternoon.  Ha.

After he woke up I ran, with him, to the port-a-potty and set him down.  Scream scream scream scream scream scream scream scream.  Dragged him back to camp, handed him a jar of peanut butter and a spoon.  Quiet.

Meanwhile Violet had been having the time of her life.  As she repeatedly told Rob, “This is the best day I EVER had!”  She learned how to doggy paddle with the life jacket by herself.  This is an amazing feat for the girl who always refused to do any more than splash around in a wading pool.  The kid spent hours in the water.  Rob had a blast with her, but got the brunt of my Graham-induced anxiety.  Clearly not my best wife moment.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent either in the water or listening to screaming.  At long last, after an extremely painful process, which I will not go into, we got the kids into their pajamas.  They were ready for their campfire and Smores.  This is what we’d all been waiting for.

Okay, so they didn’t eat the Smores, just the chocolate (and I don’t blame them.  Smores.  Yuck.)   Meanwhile our friends had been working for two hours trying to get their kids to sleep.    Another painful process.  I thought our strategy would be to let Graham and Violet stay up  and stare at the fire until they couldn’t keep their eyes open, then tuck them sleepily into their tent.  And it actually went smoothly.  They even let me leave the tent on a mission to get them cups of water to keep with them during the night.

Then the screaming started.  Louder and louder and louder until a little piece of my hot, tired, frustrated, anxious brain went plink! and snapped.  Next thing we knew the kids were strapped into their car seats and we were driving home at 10 p.m, leaving everything but our wallets behind.   I will not get into gory details.  But it was clearly not my best parenting moment. Or my best friend moment either.

Rob and Violet went back this morning to break down camp.  Graham and I hung out and went to the movies.  Now he’s napping.  I am trying to figure out how we could’ve handled the whole situation better.  Would they have gone to sleep if I had just stayed in the tent with them?  No, it would’ve freaked Graham out.  Separate tents?  No, Violet was scared of the cricket sounds.  Made them miss the evening camp fire so they could go to bed with the other kids?  Maybe… Graham needs to scream every night for a few minutes before he passes out, so they could’ve all screamed together.  More wine for the parents?  Hmm…

It doesn’t matter.  We are not going to try it again for a while.  A long while.  Still… it was worth a shot.

Okay, so his hair was totally cute.  But his bangs were getting in his eyes and the curls by his ears were starting to look like wings and the baby-mullet was making him itch.  So we decided it was time for his first haircut.

We took him to Fast Freddie’s, home of the $8 cut.  That’s where Rob goes, and they usually do a decent job.  More importantly, they really are fast.  So, armed with a lollipop bribe, we strapped him in.

It did not go well.

Bit of advice:  Don’t accidentally buy a Red Hot lollipop for a bribe.  He would lick the lollipop, wail inconsolably, flail around, lick the lollipop, wail again, etc, etc. Clearly it wasn’t destined to be the most symmetrical haircut ever.

He’s still cute, though.

I got to see the dress rehearsal for “Jack and the Beanstalk”.  The kids were part of a test audience.  They were completely thrilled and (incredibly) sat still for 45 minutes, thanks to a fast pace and lots of audience participation.

My good friend Nancy has put together this community theater and produced their first play.  She has been slaving away for months and brought together a great group of people.  How she accomplished this with two little kids is beyond me.

The premier is this Saturday, May 30th at 5pm at Brentwood park.  Come, bring a blanket, a picnic dinner and enjoy the show.  There are also performances at the Triangle farmer’s market Wednesday, June 3rd at 7 p.m. and the downtown farmer’s market Saturday at 11 a.m. on June 6th.

Support local theater!

So, I’ve mentioned the irony that Graham is on a disposable diaper box even though we cloth diaper.  I definitely don’t mean to sound like there isn’t a place for disposables.  In fact, we used disposables exclusively with Violet for good reason.  As promised, here’s one clueless crazed mom’s journey from disposable to cloth diapering:

When Violet was born, to say I was overwhelmed was an understatement.  She was not an easy baby, and I don’t think I was a ready-made natural mommy.  I knew that people used cloth diapers back in the day; you know, ones with pins and rubber covers and whatnot.  But, in all of my reading during pregnancy, I never once heard anything about the new kind of cloth diapers; ones with snaps, velcro, pockets and whatnot.

A few months after Violet arrived I finally figured out that those cute diaper covers I saw on some baby butts were actually the diapers.  A mom in my mom’s group even started a store catering to cloth diapering.  But I didn’t jump on board.  The truth is, I was freaked out.  Every day seemed so hard, seemed such an exhausting learning experience, I couldn’t imagine voluntarily adding a new skill.  Plus it seemed awfully expensive.  I just ignored the possibility entirely.

Luckily, when Graham was a few months old, a friend of mine passed on her cloth diapers to us.  I know what you’re thinking, “Eeeww!  Used diapers!”  I thought so too, at first.  But that’s the thing about this new generation of diapers; they’re made so well that they last and last and very rarely get permanently stained.  This is good to know if you’re trying to justify the initial cost.  To mitigate the expense you can a) buy used b) buy new and sell them when you’re done c) realize that they’ll pay for themselves very quickly.

Graham was such an easy baby (and I had a bit more experience) that trying out something new with him was no problem.  Now I wish I had done it with Violet; it’s that simple.  Don’t be spooked by all the lingo. For anyone thinking about taking the plunge, this is all you really need to know:

• get about 20 diapers and you’ll wash a diaper load every 2-3 days
• cold rinse, hot wash, hang dry, no fabric softener or bleach
• gently shake the diaper over the toilet (don’t even worry about getting everything off) and store in the waterproof diaper bag until laundry time
• dealing with cloth diapers rates far down on the list of Gross Things Parents Must Endure

We still use disposables at night, and when we’re out of town.  But I’m just saying, if this lazy freaked out mom can do cloth diapers, anyone can.  Plus, they look cute hanging on the line.

We want the kids to be able to sleep in the same room while traveling.  So, for practice we decided to move Violet’s mattress into Graham’s room, right next to his crib.  Violet was extremely excited.  Graham seemed to be also.  They piled on Rob’s lap in the rocking chair to read books.

I tried live-blogging the whole thing, but there was too much screaming and talking and opening of doors and running amok.  So here’s an encapsulated version:

8:00  lights out. Graham screams.  And screams.  And screams.

8:10  Violet comes out:  Mom!  Graham is screaming!

We explain that she can call off the slumber party, but she insists on giving it a try.  Graham continues screaming.

8:30  I relent and read them both a few more books.

8:45  lights out.  Graham screams.  And screams.  And screams.

9:00  Violet comes out several times.  We discuss the strategy of chatting to Graham and NOT talking about Mommy.

9:10  Graham finally stops crying.  Violet comes out to tell us that Graham stopped crying.  Graham starts crying all over again.  We give Violet one more chance to make it work, which includes a promise to stay in the room.  She agrees.

Graham still has the baby monitor so, for our Friday night entertainment, we sat and listened to their conversation.  Here is a bit:

V:  Do you want Mommy?

G: Yeah!  Go tell Mommy I stop crying.

V:  Okay, but Mommy said I can’t do that.  I’ll tell her in the morning.  Okay?

G:  Okay.

V:  Graham, do you want a pillow?  It’s makes your head feel very good.

G:  No.

V:  Do you want a blanket?

G:  No.

V:  When you’re a big kid like me, you’ll have a pillow and a blanket and then we can sleep in the same bed!

G:  YEAH!

V:  I can’t believe I’m sleeping in your room!  It’s so exciting!  I’ve always wanted to have a slumber party!

(20 minutes of excited jabbering and lights turning on and off)

G:  What your favorite color Lala (Violet)?

V:  I like all the colors.  Do you?

G:  Yeah.  I like blue.

V:  You like all the colors, but your favorite is blue?  My blanket is blue.

G:  My Nunu (his lovey) is black.

V:  No it’s not.  It’s white.

G:  No, it’s black.

V:  Are you just pretending?  Okay.  It’s black.

G:  Yeah.

V:  What are you scared of?  Monsters?  Monsters died a long time ago, so you don’t have to be scared of them.  Just dream about something else.  Dream about Mommy.

G: No!

V:  What do you want to dream about?

G:  Ummm… milk!

V: Okay!  Now go to sleep.  Dream about milk.

G:  Lala!  Guess what!  Monkey Gym!

V:  Yes, you’re going to play at Monkey Gym.  But that’s not until tomorrow.

G:  Lala!  I’m tired.

V: That’s good.  Now go to bed.  Good night.

G: Lala guess what?  NEWSPAPER!!  (laughs hysterically and talks about newspapers for 15 minutes)

V:  (silence)

9:45  G:  Good night.

G:  (5 minutes later)  Violet sing.  Sing sing sing.  (laughing)

This would have been perfect except that they woke up at 6:15 a.m. And they want to do it again tonight.

Sigh.

Three words for anyone with a preschool aged daughter and toddler son: “Max and Ruby”.  This is a cartoon based on the books by Rosemary Wells (who is awesome).

Ruby is a 7-year-old bunny who takes care of her little brother Max.  We’re not sure how old he is, but he only says one word per episode.  There are no parents ever mentioned, so Ruby has all the responsibility of making sure her mischievous brother stays out of trouble while trying to accomplish various tasks.  She is extremely patient and creative in trying to distract him while, say, making dinner or chatting with her friends.

Before we discovered this show, Violet was often bent on destroying Graham, and Graham was often terrified.  Now, she spends her day taking care of him, Ruby style,  and practices being sweet, helpful and  clever in getting him to follow direction.  Whenever the situation disintegrates, a quick “What would Ruby do?” often snaps her out of a tantrum and into big sister mode.  (I should really learn how to change my mindset as quickly as Violet does.)

It has been amazing.  Granted, I’m sure there is some kind of developmental milestone that went along with this relationship change.  But “Max and Ruby” has really been a catalyst.  So I’m running with it.  I’ll try not to worry that they insist on calling each other, and themselves, Max and Ruby about 50% of the time.

We don’t have cable, but we discovered the show from the video library at Family Connections.

Apparently, at some point today Violet got into my sewing kit, pulled out all the needles, sprinkled them on the carpet of her room and put the rest of the sewing kit back.

Guess how I found out?