Going green gradually

clothes hanging near tricycle

It is raining now, in Northern California, and these showers are greatly needed. The old adage goes, "April showers bring May flowers," but I can't help but think of how this will bring on more mosquitoes as well. Uplifting, I know, but last night at the play park, my son was attacked by mosquitoes. So were we, but I just saw him standing there surrounded by monstrous mosquitoes.

At the zoo a few days ago, I was looking at a display about how frogs are disappearing and dying off because of so many pollutants that contaminate our environment. Their skin is apparently too thin to withstand the onslaught of everything that we put out there. The question is then asked, if all the frogs disappear, what will become of their predators and their prey?

Indeed, what? And that is why I am picturing these mosquitoes. I am wondering if something has become of their predators...larger insects, small amphibians and what not, perhaps dying due to some environmental pollutant? Am I contributing to this in any way? If so, how can I change that action to something positive? I have said before that my son, god-willing, will live another 80 some-odd years on this planet, and already I can see the difference in our local environment since my own childhood. Hotter summers and more mosquitoes are just the tip of the iceberg. Change from us as individuals needs to happen quickly, before that see-saw has tipped too far in the wrong direction. Slowly but surely, I am making changes. I can only hope that everyone else is too.

I have two great sites I visit regularly. One is the blog (listed on My Blog List in the sidebar as well) of my friend , Cheryl, called The Well-Rounded Child. Cheryl is a wonderful advocate and resource for changing your ways and going green gradually. This post of hers called, "Why Greenify?" has wonderful info on basic steps to take on changing our ways when it comes to food, household cleaners and body products. Also on my sidebar under "Places I Like To Go In Digi-land" is Healthy Child, Healthy World -go here and click on the "5 Steps" box to see what you can do in your own home to make some changes. It is also a great resource.

My next project is to see how much I can do with vinegar!

Sunday suppers, grace, less waste

bountiful organic garden in Esalen, Big Sur

Sunday night suppers have been a tradition with my father and step-mother for around 10 years. Several months ago it became an issue with Tristan because after his nap he would want to stay home and getting him changed and dressed and over there for supper by 5:30 became too much of a forceful event and no longer fun, so I put it on hold for awhile. I'm hoping that now spring is here and he's a little older, maybe we can start to go again. Sunday supper, after all, is where Tristan learned about "Grace." My father, though not overly religious in any one direction, starts each supper with a grace. "Dear God, thank you for the food you have set before us and for the precious hands that prepared it." Tristan seemed to love the idea of holding hands before a meal and as often as his daddy and he and I sit down together for a meal, there is also a grace. Tristan initiates it usually by spreading wide his hands to hold one of each of ours. "Say grace Tristan." "Mommy say grace." O.k., I say grace - something long and overly inclusive. Then I say, "O.k. now Tristan's turn." Tristan has a lovely, simple grace. He bows his head low, and then very quietly he says, "Dear God thank you for the food. I love you God. Amen." How sweet is that?

In the book I mentioned in the April 4th entry, You Are Your Child's First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy, she talks about the importance of grace before meals also. The one she mentions that I like best (unfortunately she cites the author as "Unknown") goes like this:

Before the flour, the mill,

Before the mill, the grain,

Before the grain, the sun and rain,

The beauty of God's will.

Yesterday, my hubby and I in a three-hour period got to plant 8 varieties of tomatoes, 3 varieties of cucumbers, some garlic and some dill. Some of the ground we planted in hasn't seen a plant in decades. I am far from being an expert on soil but this little patch in particular gets a good 6 or 7 hours of sun each day, at least in the spring and summer. We'll see how that goes. We also planted a few of the items in containers. We had great luck with containers last year and hope to have more luck with them this year. Planting our own veggies definitely gives me more consideration about wasting food. We have such a plentiful state here in California. Food is everywhere, easy to get and the varieties are endless, all the time. How spoiled we are here! But when we are growing our own, I become more mindful of what gets lost - the squirrels who get the tangerines and persimmons before we do, the little hands that pick the tomato before it's ripe! I am so happy that Tristan has taken to saying grace, as it gives a little moment of pause to remember just where the food came from, the energy and time that went into growing and picking, and to be mindful of its waste. One nice thing about having that compost hole is that I can often put some of the waste back where it belongs. I do notice that between composting our kitchen scraps and recycling, our garbage has become smaller, which was one of my main goals in creating the compost. I think I'll call the city and order a smaller garbage can. That will save a little bit more!

Have a wonderful Monday.

School, Stress, Sleep, Sunday

Well, I got back into the master's public history program. Now I have to think about sending my boy to preschool! That is the only way I'll have time to study. It's not a perfect world, so part of me feels a little sad at having less time with him, but on the other hand, I saw how much he blossomed during the few days we had him in another preschool. By August he'll be older and more ready - almost three. Wow, how time just shoots by. Seems like I was just preggo. The other night when I couldn't sleep I was stressing out about getting back into the rhythm of studying and reading and it was stressing me out more - I just have to remember not to gobble it all at once. One step at a time is how it goes best, and in fact is the only way it goes. That is how to not stress out - just remember to take it as it comes. Excitement and stress are wicked, prank-playing stepsisters though!

Speaking of not sleeping, I'll really have to remember NOT to finish the coffee in the afternoon by treating myself to a nice little sweet iced-coffee. My still-nursing boy is too sensitive to the caffeine and I found that out for the second time the hard way (I guess I'd forgotten the first time). Needless to say, we had quite a long play-time/story-reading time in the middle of the night. I got to watch him seriously avoid sleep by being impish and cute and kicking his legs just a wee bit too close to me! Finally though, he drifted off. And it gives me time to post something this gorgeous Easter Sunday morning. We have no definitive plans for easter eggs. I didn't do the egg-coloring thing - he's not quite old enough for it and I wasn't motivated enough to get the materials. I have been working on this cute little crown for him though...not the best sewing in the world, but then I've never had to sew around bends of a bejeweled crown either! My aunt said that every thing you ever make needs to have at least one imperfection to keep the bad spirits out of it. Not exactly her words, but the jist of it is, who wants to make something perfect? If it's perfect, how can you know it's yours? The mistake is your mark. Anyway, I'll take a picture of the crown on Tristan's head. I hope he likes it.

Field of Poppies, that changing wind, "two-year old" issues

field of poppies

Ah, it's Saturday and the moodiness is starting to lift. The sun is shining today and the sky is a glorious blue. The wind I enjoyed last week for flying a kite has become hair-whipping and full of pollen and seems to have affected the moods of everyone around me, including myself. Wind has that tendency. The stomach flu has been making its way around the blogs I've been reading and in the people I know and love. I hope it is on its way out.

In the middle of the night last night I couldn't sleep and so I read from a book that I've kept handy since Tristan was just a wee babe! It's called You Are Your Child's First Teacher by Rahima Baldwin Dancy. The writer uses Waldorf-inspired child rearing principles and I enjoy reading it because it is the gentle path to raising a child. I refer back to it now and then - especially when I hit a bump in that child-rearing road. Lately, Tristan seems to be living up to that ubiquitous "two-year old" personality I've often heard about. Clean-up time and tooth-brushing are two of the major problem areas. Today I avoided issue with the clean-up issue by not talking about it as clean up time, but merely playing a game of "ba-doop" - the sound I'd make as I through something in its container. I asked Tristan to "ba-doop" something in the container too, and it seemed to work. We got through cleaning his playroom, and when we were done (save for sweeping) he said, "My room is clean!" So although I was worried that I was manipulating him into cleaning up, it looks like that wasn't the case at all. He seemed to be aware I was making a game out of it. Phew. That's all I needed - confirmation from him!

Today my hubby brought home some tomato, cucumber and green onion plants to put in our garden. Our current house is not a permanent home so I haven't wanted to invest too much time in a garden, but we'll have a few items at least. We seem to have a small strawberry patch in the front yard, so we may add more strawberries to that! Anyway, this afternoon and tomorrow is planting time. The weather is perfect for it.

Zoo and a cute little bag from a free pattern!

zoo animals

Today, we went to the zoo again, to appease my little one's daily need of adventure. Sometimes it's equally a way for us to get out of the house, we're a little out of sorts today - according to the ephemeris the moon was void of course and went to Leo at approximately the same time we left for the zoo. Things did seem to improve at that point, but the wind didn't help. In any case, Tristan may have been fine remaining on the pile of dirt in the backyard with his sand toys all day. We got home in one piece, less grumpy, and Tristan went to sleep fast! My good friend is in town and I am so looking forward to seeing her! Our boys are 6 weeks apart - we sort of wanted to be pregnant together and I was sort of waiting for her to get pregnant so I could too...nice way to do pregnancy, with a friend.

Anyway, there are bills to do, but I wanted to post this picture of a cute little bag from a free pattern I got from JCasa Handmade. I used fabric I already had (can't believe I actually had 2 different fabrics that go semi-well together!) - I don't have much fabric on hand, but it turned out pretty good - except the handle on this one is a little bit too lengthy.

kidlet wall pocket bag

Homeschooling, problems with television

I had something else I wanted to write about but am having so much fun reading other blogs that I changed my mind. Or forgot. One theme I see running through many of the blogs that pull me in is homeschooling. What a commitment. Wow. It has seriously crossed my mind, to homeschool Tristan, but part of me really wants to send him to Waldorf when the time comes. Finances will have a large say in that. Since we're most likely having only one child, it may be possible to send him to a Waldorf school in a few years. I have my own aspirations in public history, but seriously am not sure if I want to work outside the home. I love doing research (why else would I love history?) so...we'll see about that. If it is all a "perfect storm" - homeschooling is definitely a possibility. It is the only option I can currently see if Waldorf isn't feasible. I really don't want to send him to public school. It's not the teachers - I think the teachers are great, committed, qualified people. It's the other kids. Everyday on the playground I see such negativity and anger and selfishness. Not always, no. But the truth is that television and video games are such a major part of most children's and families lives, that the violence and sarcasm picked up while watching it permeate daily interactions. Older kids are often immune to violence and unimpressed with the neat things that happen in daily life. That's how I see it. I know I'm making a blanket assumption, but what I see coming out of Waldorf are well-rounded, confident, creative people - and I'd be willing to bet the same from home-schooled kids too. Not that public school doesn't produce these kinds of people, but the building blocks of these children's lives are based on different ideas.

One of these differences is television and video games. I cannot let my child watch T.V. on a regular basis. I tried letting him watch Caillou once a day for a few days. It resulted in temper-tantrums and anger and tears (when it was time to turn it off) in my normally cheerful boy. Not to mention the glazed look on his face while he was watching. We stopped this on the third day. Now Tristan can watch a Caillou or Elmo movie on the van's DVD player when we take a long car trip (he watched on the way to Big Sur a few weeks ago, and will watch again on the way to Portland in a couple of weeks). He knows that while we're at home there are no DVD's in the van (I physically remove them so I don't lie when I tell him we don't have them except for long trips), and he no longer watches T.V. at home. Thank goodness. I find that I'm not watching much either. In the political season, I was a junkie with the news shows, but now I don't have the time for that. I watch a movie now and then, but not often. There are so many other things I want to do it just becomes a time-sucker!

I took some pictures yesterday but the camera is in our room and Tristan is still sleeping so I'll post them tomorrow. Happy Friday!

Hanging it up to dry, oral traditions

I was unable to finish writing this on Tuesday and avoided the internet due to the April Fool's internet worm on Wednesday, so "today" refers to Tuesday and "yesterday" refers to Monday.
Yesterday, Tristan awoke from his nap with a fever. He later got sick (threw up) - and took a bath and then nursed for hours 'til he slept. This morning he woke up, still feverish, saying, "I'm all better now," and decided he wanted to go outside immediately. Getting dressed is usually an hour-long process for him but today he started the process of taking off his own pajamas! What was the lure outside? Besides the beautiful spring weather of course...it was the dirt pile next to our new compost hole. He got to play with his bulldozer and dump truck in the dirt, and use his toy hand shovel and rake, and I, lucky me (seriously) got to hang up our laundry to dry on one of the nearby lines my hubby strung up yesterday. Tristan's fever broke sometime during this playtime, and as I started in on my second load of clothes to hang dry, I got to reap the rewards of this new way of doing laundry: it dries faster in the sun than it does in the machine. And I fold them as I pull them down instead of leaving them in a heap in the basket to fold "later." Not to mention the energy and money I'm saving. Obviously, as a stay-at-home mom I have more time at home than a lot of people do, and it does take a few extra minutes to hang them (although truly not more than 5 minutes for an average load), but I hope by doing this I can inspire others to do this as well. And it was a fun way to be outside with my boy!
A couple of days ago I spontaneously told Tristan the story about Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox and the briar patch. I had my own version that didn’t include tar-baby, but telling it inspired me to look up more of these folk stories usually passed on by oral tradition. I found a plethora of the Brer Rabbit series here. I hope to read through some and tell them to Tristan. He’s always asking for a story and it comes in handy if I can’t read to him, like in the bathtub or while I’m driving or doing some dishes or hanging the laundry!