Growing Like Gang Busters!

I bet you were all wondering when I would post an update on our garden. Well, the wait is over! You can all breathe a deep sigh of relief... :-)

Three years ago, right after we bought this house, I planted a fruit tree in a corner of the backyard. I knew it would take a while before it started bearing fruit, so I was patient. Summer after summer went by, and I started to get frustrated. I was thrilled when this summer, the fruit tree got flowers on it. It had never done that before, so I was sure it must have meant something important! Here's what the tree looked like on April 1.

Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the date I took the picture, and considered the possibility that my fruit tree was playing a joke on me. The tree got only 3 pieces of fruit that looked like peaches. But a few weeks later I went out to the tree and all 3 pieces were still very small, and were completely shriveled up. The tree never produced any more fruit. And I never gave it another thought, until today. Hector was mowing the lawn, and I heard the lawnmower stop all of a sudden. He came into the house and said "Guess what I found?" And from behind his back he pulled out a huge peach! "No way" I yelled! We went out to the tree and it is, in fact, producing fruit. Avery ate 2 peaches by herself. They were SO good and really sweet! There's only about 6 more peaches on the tree, but still, it's something!

I think seeing Avery's excitement was the best part of it all. As for the rest of my garden, this time last year, my garden was completely dead. So, a few weeks ago when I noticed that everything in my garden was starting to turn brown, I assumed that everything was about to die. I stopped watering the garden and waited. I was really looking forward to digging up everything after it died, so that I could start my winter garden. And then the rain came... It rained, and rained, and rained some more. It rained for 5 days straight. That's when I posted on here that I was so bummed about not being able to do anything the week before school started with the kids. Yeah, well my garden must have got the message that it was not time to die after all, because everything started growing again (even the crepe myrtle that Hector dug up back in March and we thought he had killed, it came back up!). Today, I picked 20 pieces of okra, 30 jalapenos, a cantaloupe, 2 cucumbers, a bell pepper, 1 Roma tomato, 3 peaches, and 9 grape tomatoes. So far we have harvested 5 cantaloupes, and there are several more growing in the garden. I have 3 canning jars full of pickled jalapenos, and another 25 jars of every kind of pickle you can imagine that I made from the cucumbers. I can't even keep up with everything, it's all growing so fast. I don't know what was in that rain, but it's crazy, I tell you. And I'm loving every minute of it.

08/30/08: Our very overgrown garden (above) and one of our cantaloupes (below)

I could put a bunch of quotes here from famous gardeners, about gardening and it's rewards, or how life relates to gardening, or how much joy one can get from gardening... But I won't... Instead, I will leave you all with one of my own quotes that I made to Avery this morning, and her response.

Patty: "Everything in our garden is growing like gang busters!"

Avery: "Yeah, and it all tastes really good too!"

The Good vs. The Not-So-Good

If there's anything I have discovered when it comes to helping out at the kid's school, it's that the same 3 or 4 parents always seem to be the ones who volunteer to do everything. I realize that a lot of parents work, and they are busy, but I would think that all parents would want to help out in some way. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Still, the teachers (and ultimately the kids) need the help and support of the parents. The good thing about me helping out at the school is that I get a chance to see them interacting with their teachers and classmates. I also get a chance to let their teachers know that I am an involved parents. I've seen children suffer in school, and I think it could have made a huge difference in the child's success at school if their parent(s) would have been more involved. The not-so-good thing about me helping out in both kids' classrooms is that I have an active 1 1/2 year old, and many of his naps (and therefore, my quiet time too) are sure to get interrupted. But that is a small price to pay.

This morning, Samuel's teacher sent me an email. In the email she said that she is "enjoying getting to know Samuel's personality. He has a cute sense of humor." Seems like Samuel might be telling his knock-knock jokes in class! No seriously, his teacher seems extremely nice and I am thrilled with how well he is doing in her class. His teacher had a quote under her name in the email. It said "It is easier to build a child than to repair an adult." I quickly Googled it, and found out that the quote came from a former slave and 19th century racial justice advocate named Frederick Douglass. I really enjoyed reading about him and his life, and I thought that I would include this link here for others to read:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1539.html

That quote and everything that Frederick Douglass worked so hard for in his life are things that we can sometimes take for granted, especially with the public education system. We are very blessed. So, I will take "the good" right along with the "not-so-good" of public education! And I will feel very thankful that I can help out in any way I am needed.

In Other News

Despite the fact that we have been so focused around here on Samuel and Avery starting school, there are a few other pieces of information that I would like to share with everyone.

I have started tutoring the same little girl I tutored last year after school. Even though I had set in my mind that I was not going to watch her again this year, I winded up agreeing to do it. And here is why...

When I spoke to her father on Monday morning, I told him that on Wednesday nights our family would be going up to our church where the children would go to choir practice and missionary lessons. I told him that he would need to pick her up from my house on Wednesdays by 5:00. When he told me that there was no way he could do that with his work schedule, we both stood there for a minute in silence. He asked me if children who are not members of our church could participate in the Wednesday night activities. With shame and embarrassment in my heart, I told him that I would be honored to take his daughter to church with us, and I apologized for not suggesting it myself.

My plan was to tell this father that I could not tutor his daughter after school, but God had another plan.

In other news... Isaac seems to be adjusting to days at home without the big kids around. He stills goes up to Avery's bedroom door from time to time, and knocks on it and calls out for her. But we have been keeping ourselves busy and Isaac seems to be enjoying his new-found freedom. He brought me the remote control yesterday, and started banging on the t.v. Seems that Samuel's daily cartoon marathons over the summer must have rubbed off on Isaac. He really likes Sesame Street. What is it about Elmo that attracts the undivided attention of so many kids? Whatever it is, I wish that I could bottle it up and use it whenever I need to get their attention.

Today, Isaac discovered that standing on his toy t.v. is pretty funny because when he steps on it, it starts to play music that sounds all smeared together. This is big fun! But you know what is even more fun?



Jumping off of the toy t.v. into the cat's pillow while Mommy is yelling NO! That's definitely more fun!!! I didn't find it nearly as "fun" as Isaac did...

What else keeps the little man busy during the day? Glad you asked... Well, he loves dancing to music, whether it's actually playing in the house where we can both hear it, or just in his own head. :-)

Isaac, The Dancing Machine...

He also likes going on hour-long walks in our neighborhood, which I clocked at about 2.2 miles. My heels and pinky toes are showing the signs of going on these walks, but Isaac's feet still look great! He doesn't seem to mind sitting in the stroller for that long at all. He is having a grand ol' time...

"Can we go on another walk, please Mommy?"

Isaac also enjoys sitting quietly in his room on Avery's toy microwave, and when he thinks I'm not watching, he likes to count to 3 and chunk various items across his room. Hmmm, Isaac, who made this big mess in your room? I don't know, Mommy. Perhaps it was Avery. Oops, she's not here...

The Mess Maker

I honestly don't care how big of a mess he makes because life at home over the past 3 days has been peaceful and quiet! I must admit, this part of the big kids starting school has been nice... That's it for now. Hope everyone has a great day.

3rd Time's a Charm!

After Avery's "meltdown" in the school gym yesterday morning, I felt the need to sit her down last night and talk things through with her, in the hopes that dropping her off at school on the 3rd morning would go smoother than the first 2 mornings. I love the fact that my kids know they can be completely honest with me about how they are feeling. I asked her why she thought she reacted the way she did. And she told me everything she was feeling (scared, unsure, nervous) about starting Kindergarten. Starting school can be overwhelming, I know! I was terrified when I started Kindergarten. And over the past couple of days I have received emails and phone calls from many of you, who have shared similar school experiences with me.

I prayed yesterday before I had my talk with Avery that God would give me the right words to say to her... words that would help her to realize that while it is okay to feel scared, it's not okay to behave the way she did. And I think whatever it was that I said must have made an impact on Avery, because this morning when I went to drop her off in the gym, she gave me a big hug, kissed my cheek, asked me 2 questions, and then sat in her classroom's line. She sat there, and waved at me and waved at Samuel from across the gym. And when her teacher came to get her, she walked by me, gave me 1 more hug and kiss, and walked off with her classmates. She did it! "3rd time's a charm" is my new favorite saying. :-)

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part

It was the waiting that destroyed things this morning. On the first morning of school, parents are encouraged to walk their children to their classrooms. And as I wrote yesterday, things went okay with Samuel, probably because he knows by now how these things work. Saying goodbye to Avery yesterday did not go well though. In every childhood education class I've ever taken, and in every book or piece of advise given from early childhood specialists, when it comes to leaving your child in the care of someone else, the best advise that always seems to be given is to make your goodbyes fast; say your goodbyes, give your child a hug and a kiss, and then make a swift exit. Yesterday, that's what I tried to do with Avery, but then her teacher asked me to sit and stay a while... I should have politely declined her invitation, but I sat down. Which, as I expected, made Avery's fit even worse when I did leave a few minutes later.

So, after school yesterday I talked to Avery about it. I explained to her that on the 2nd day of school, I would need to take her and Samuel into the gym to wait for their teachers. This is how their school does the morning drop off. You can either pull up to the curb of the school where a teacher is waiting to open your car door (doesn't it sound so nice?) and let your children walk into the gym by themselves, or you can park, get out of your car, and walk with them to the gym. And since I know how my children are, I park and walk with them to the gym, where they are put into lines with their classmates to wait for their teachers to come get them and take them to their classes. At least, that's how it's supposed to work.

This morning, I parked the car and walked the kids into the gym, and Samuel walked off without even saying goodbye to me, and sat down in his line. :-( I still can't get over what a big kid he is sometimes!

But there was poor Avery, crying and holding my hand. She did not want to sit in her line. And since I remembered how much Samuel struggled with this drop off process last year, I offered to stand along the wall of the gym with Avery (like I did with Samuel last year), and wait for her teacher to come and get her. I would give her a big hug and a kiss and then she would take her teacher's hand. This worked like a charm with Samuel for the first few weeks of school. We did this every morning for around 6 weeks, until he became comfortable with the drop off routine, and he started sitting in line in the gym with his classmates. I was confident that this would work with Avery too. She reluctantly agreed to the plan. And so we stood there and waited, and waited, and waited for her teacher. And the longer we waited, the more intense and loud her sobbing became. Snot was pouring out of her nose, and her eyes were puffy and red. As I tried (and failed) to calm her down, other parents and teachers started to offer their help. And while I adore my daughter and sincerely appreciate other adults stepping in and trying to help, the attention seemed to make Avery's sobbing even worse. Finally, Avery's teacher arrived and tried to take Avery from me, but Avery had a bear hug grip around one of my thighs. She was not letting go. "No, I don't want to go to school. I hate school. I don't like it here. I'm just shy and I want to stay home." I held back the tears though, and the more I tried to reason with Avery, the tighter her grasp became. I looked at her teacher and told her that this was not how I wanted to leave my child. I could not leave her that way. Her teacher told me that I could walk her to class, but today was the final day I would be allowed to do that.

And so we walked, with me trying to push Isaac in his stroller with one hand, and trying to pry Avery off of my leg with my free hand. We walked and got to her classroom, where I told Avery that we simply could not say goodbye that way. I did not want to start my day like that, and I suspected that she did not want to start her day like that either. She eventually did calm down and I left her in the arms of her teacher. As I walked off, I could hear that she was still crying, and as I turned the corner, I started crying too.

It was heartbreaking. What else can I say?

I pulled myself together when I saw Samuel coming around the corner with his classmates, heading for his classroom. I waved to him and he smiled and waved back at me. His teacher stopped me and told me that Samuel had a great first day of school. He responded to her questions, he interacted with other children at group time, and he seemed to respond really well to her verbal instructions. I had recommended at the "Meet The Teacher" night that she should tell Samuel a few minutes beforehand when they were going to change activities. She said doing that seemed to really help Samuel in transition times, and she was thankful for the piece of advise. She also told me that they drew family portraits yesterday in class, and Samuel drew me, Hector, himself and Avery. And when he turned in his drawing, his teacher asked him if he had a baby brother at home. Samuel shook his head no. Then the teacher asked him if he had any pets, maybe a dog or a cat that he wanted to add to his drawing. Again, he shook his head no. I laughed and told his teacher that in fact, Samuel does have a baby brother (right here in the stroller), as well as 2 dogs and 1 cat. But, I told her, he doesn't really seem to care for the animals all that much. She laughed and said that at least we both know now that Samuel holds his baby brother in the same regard as the dogs and cat... Poor Isaac!

I left the school feeling relieved. Seeing how far Samuel has come in school reminded me of how he started Kindergarten. This time last year, I was feeling the same way. Samuel has come a long way! Knowing this fact, I am reassured when I think about Avery. I know that she will be okay too. And more than likely, 4 years down the road, I will be reminded of this time in the life of our family, and hopefully I will be able to laugh as I am prying Isaac off my thigh and leaving him in the arms of his Kindergarten teacher.