North Pole Flyer, ride three

Today I enjoyed my third annual ride aboard the North Pole Flyer. Worry not, after being subjected to the coach car last year, we were back in the first class lounge where the hot chocolate was flowing freely and I was able to eat more than my weight in candy canes and Christmas cookies. After grouchy Santa visited the passengers, his sweet wife came through to distribute cookies. We had a good chat so I am confident that I am securely on the good list. It stands to reason that Santa's wife is the one running the whole show anyhow. 

The train departs from Cedar Park (better known as the town where Molly had her wedding) and travels to Bertram (wherever that is) and finally to the North Pole. The scenery is always fascinating but even more so this year because of the recent flood. so many grumbled trees! We pass through some industrial areas and I cannot even count how many football fields I saw.

Thanksgiving

For whatever reason, some genius decided that closing my school for an entire week at Thanksgiving is a good idea; it's not really. Couple the extended break with miserably cold/wet weather (with the threat of snow or at least freezing rain) and it seems even worse. I enjoyed some visits with friends. Attended a birthday party. Did some baking. Went to the library. One morning I was so bored that I vacuumed under the bed. And we finally made it to Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving morning started with the baking of a chocolate pecan pie. I suppose it turned out perfectly - like most everything I bake. Once the pie filling was ready/cooling, I was put to work peeling four pounds of sweet potatoes. Throughout the day, I helped with prepping, cooking, and cleaning . . . until I crawled into bed and slept for two hours. It is hard to be a chef.

I woke from my nap eager to host my dinner party.

Team Canada

Winter session of soccer started today. I am back in training. Or still in training. 

Halloween

Each year, some parts of Halloween get increasingly appealing. I don't like the scary part of Halloween though. In the weeks leading up to Halloween, I did not want to wear a costume. In the days leading up to Halloween, I wanted to be "something quiet" like a spider (good luck finding a good costume at the very end). Then I was going to wear the dragon costume that Trinity wore when she was four. But, for the third consecutive year, I opted to dress as a construction worker. Easy.

We went to the same neighborhood as last year to trick or treat. The streets are wide, houses are brightly lit, and it is safe. And the neighbors are so friendly. I am especially well mannered and love to chat with people so I did well with my candy bucket. By the end of the evening, I had discarded my costume but no one cared. I am already excited about next Halloween and have talked to my mom a lot about strategies and plans.

further proof

If there were ever any doubts that I am related to Trinity, or that I am a Montessori student, these photos may clear things up. I have very recently become obsessed with vacuuming. And my mom is especially happy about this because she loves to keep the baseboards clean (no small task with a dog, two cats, and at least 100 muddy boys living here). I like to experiment with the different vacuum attachments and see which one works best. The long skinny tube is best for under the oven. The best part is that I am allowed to vacuum whenever I ask to . . . even in the early morning hours of Saturday. Or Sunday. (Sorry dad, but it's got to be done.)

I also enjoy washing the windows in the afternoon.

And then I make big messes of play doh, construction, and fire rescues. So the house will never ever be clean.

cookies

We are now a little more than a month into the school year and I am settling into my routine. We are keeping busy and have something planned for every day of the week. except Monday. I decided that Monday has now become the day to bake cookies. Here is the batch I made yesterday. I usually don't eat my own sweets - even though I am the best baker and whatever I make is always delicious - but I really enjoy the process of baking. I love measuring (excellent math lesson) and learning about ingredients. Oh yeah, and I love sampling the dough. (Note: my hands were VERY clean when I tasted the dough and I follow the strictest of hygiene practices while cooking.)

Somehow, I decided that every day of the week needs to have something special. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we get to school early and run with a group of kids and parents. It's mostly the older children but, even so, I am the fastest. On Wednesdays, we picnic with my friends after school.

Friday . . . what is Friday? I tend to nap on Fridays since I am so tired from the week. Then my dad can take me walking when he gets home.

the new school

Yesterday was my first day at my new school. All of our effort spent restructuring my life was (hopefully only temporarily) undone and I was rather sleepy in the afternoon and evening mostly because I insisted on waking up in the opening minutes of the 5:00 hour to help my mom with scrambled eggs. By helping, I mean I did all of the work except I let her steam the spinach. (I am determined to be a better chef than Trinity is.) While you may think it is some feat that I can cook the most delicious scrambled eggs in the world, it was a greater accomplishment that we had my dad out of bed and eating a proper breakfast shortly after 6:00am.

Since the only thing predictable about our commute into downtown is that it is going to be miserable and long, we left early and got to school in time to explore the baseball fields across the street. This is a nice way to stretch out after being in the car for an hour+.

With a few minutes to spare, we walked over to the courtyard and, after playing chase with two of my new friends, I sat outside of my classroom door with my hands in my lap (Montessori style, to signify that I am ready).

And off I went. happily.

I was sleepy. But I worked hard and enjoyed the day.

At my new school, the teacher phones every parent every day for the first week. Her version of events largely matched what I told my mom in the time it took me to finish my chocolate croissant in the car before I passed out and didn't awake for three hours. The teacher made some insightful observations about me . . . like that I ask a lot of questions. Did you know that I ask a lot of questions? She says I am working hard to understand the new procedures and how everything fits together. I gravitated toward the materials I am most familiar with (including the geometric solids) and worked with that farm I have been obsessed with all summer.

Pay no attention to my brown dead lawn. Though I thankfully avoided a lot of it while I was frolicking on the beaches and in the lush parks of the northwest, surprise, we've had weeks upon weeks of miserable dry hot weather. It might be a good idea to pave my yard and install a race track.

This is a photo of me enjoying the very end of my last day of summer break. And what a day it was. My good friend Terese even came over to do some gardening with me and then we built some row houses (love that Boston accent of hers) with my toy logs.

My alarm is set for 5:12am so I (yes, ME, I will be doing the cooking) can wake up and make scrambled eggs with spinach. And then we will set out to try to remember just how fun commuting is.

orientation

We have been busy, or perhaps deliberately unbusy, this week preparing for preschool orientation.

Here is a photo of me yesterday arriving for my first session of orientation. Since I was excited about going, we got there early. too early. We sat in the office to wait (they have a nice selection of books) and when my assistant teacher came in to introduce herself and take me to the classroom, I greeted her with a hug so big that tears popped out of her eyes. She was wearing a fancy giraffe skirt (not cheesy giraffe print but pink silkscreened giraffes). While we talked, I had to make sure she knows that I am a fast runner and I have the fastest shoes in the world.

The orientation itself went well. Really, I'd say it was uneventful. I am ready to be back in school so I was delighted to be there. (The boy before me was quite shy and the boy after me cried.) I had missed my Montessori work during the summer.

In yesterday's orientation, I got a lesson with materials I have never worked with before. In today's orientation, I got to work with the barn I have been obsessed with since my first visit to the campus back in June.

My first real day of school is next Wednesday. Now we just have to finish adjusting my sleep schedule. We have dropped the nap and I now go to bed as close to 7:00pm as possible. Once I am completely ready to be awake and alert all afternoon, I will be able to stay at school full day. For now, I will go home at noon - and probably be annoyingly cranky as I struggle to stay awake.

I have a package coming in the mail tomorrow. Trinity sewed me a few items that I need for school. I will be up at 4:00am waiting for my mailman.

what I ate

On Thursday afternoon, we returned to Austin after a long visit to the northwest. I am still sorting through my vacation photos and trying to remember where I did what. I have been able to whistle through my nose so it sounds exactly like a seagull. I miss the ocean.

On Friday morning, I slept until well after 10:00. I woke up and promptly made myself a smoothie (12oz with banana, yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, apple, and pineapple juice) and four scrambled eggs with spinach. I also had multigrain toast. Since it was so late in the day, this covered breakfast and lunch.

For an afternoon snack, I ate two bowls of popcorn with nutritional yeast.

And then my mom made tacos for dinner. I ate three bowls of rice (or was it four?), strawberries, cashews, and a taco overflowing with beans and cheese. This was all washed down with tomato juice.

true love

Perhaps it would be more accurate to entitle this entry heartbreak. Six weeks ago, I met the love of my life. We have been attending daily swim lessons together and becoming better friends by the minute. We were so perfect together that the swim school created special classes so it would just be us two and the teacher. This was done also, in part, because we are superstars and they didn't want us swimming with the big kids who normally enroll at this level.

I knew it was true love because she swims as masterfully as I do. We both wanted to have children . . . but not until after we were doctors. Then she decided that she doesn't want to be a mother because it is too much work so I suppose I can raise our babies. I forgot to tell her that I had long ago decided to name my offspring Helen and Jasper. I should say that we both wanted to be doctors until we saw how fun it could be to teach swimming. Maybe we can drop our lofty ambitions to open a swim school. Then I met her dad and he wholeheartedly approves of me and he has convinced me to be an engineer. So many options.

Sadly, she is moving away this week. We will become penpals and NOT by e-mail or anything insincere like that; we will be real penpals and exchange old-fashioned love letters. Someday I will marry this girl.

The good news is that she and I can both swim 80 feet of freestyle and competitive backstroke. And now I am on a well-deserved hiatus from training.

preschool, part III

If you refer back to my blog post of February 25, 2012, you will read about my acceptance to the Montessori school that has/had the finest of reputations. Tragically, I found myself in the midst of a perfect storm this year: several classmates with significant unaddressed behavior issues, a new guide whose mentor was selling her short, and parents who were not adhering to the media policy. Toward the end of the school year, it was becoming increasingly obvious that staying there was too much of a gamble.

At just the right moment, a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend (who we have still never met) swooped in to save me and, before I knew it, I was invited to interview at an even better school! Needless to say, on the day I interviewed, I was at my best. I charmed everyone from the front office staff to the founder/director and I was promptly offered the spot that every child in town desperately wants.

In the photo above, taken several days after my interview, I am returning my forms to my new NEW school. If I look a bit groggy, it's because I woke up at 4:30am eager to bake. We had our loaf of bread in the oven by 7:00. (Now I have to wonder why we didn't take any bread to share with the office staff at my new school.)

Now, I really do hope to stay in one place until the end of elementary school. The preschool admissions process has been grueling but for good reason: every one dollar spent on high quality preK education saves four when it comes time for college. This has been excellent practice though because quality preschools have a much lower acceptance rate (stalled around 2.3% in urban areas) than Harvard (5.8%). My application success rate was 100%.

Having said that, I do need to start applying for middle schools NOW. Wish me luck.

swimming

This time last year, I was a swim lesson dropout. I had enrolled in another set of lessons at the YMCA and spent the entire time sitting on the stairs while the teacher tried most unsuccessfully to coax the other children into the water. At the first class, not only did the teacher fail to formally introduce herself to me or ask my name but a lifeguard was assigned to me to prevent me from trying to swim. After several classes, things did not improve and we sent a strongly worded letter to the Director of Aquatics and got a full refund. A big part of the problem is that they have only one level of classes for ages 3-5 and teach to the lowest performer. See evidence of my dread and boredom below. 

This summer is an entirely different story. I have enrolled in a swim school and I have a lesson every day of the week. It's a huge undertaking and my life revolves around swimming. Prior to registering, I was tested and placed in the Advanced class. I finished that level, skipped the next, and am in Super now. Below is a photo of me with my very attentive coach.

I am perfecting my freestyle stroke. I have started working on backstroke. Soon I will add breaststroke and butterfly. Each day, I swim a bit further.

soccer

Today marked the start of what is already proving to be a very successful soccer career.

To say I have been eagerly awaiting soccer season is a gross understatement. I signed up weeks ago and have been counting down the seconds while I practice at home. I had even perfected my soccer pose, modeling it after one of the players I saw in the Seattle Sounders brochure my grandmother sent.

I woke up this morning around 4:00 ready to go. NOW. We arrived a bit early to soccer and that just presented another grueling wait. Once I finally got on the field, I proved myself as the fastest most accurate player with the best concentration. Thankfully, I also have the only set of parents who don't stand at the sidelines and bark orders at me about what the coach has just said. (Note to those parents: your kids were listening to the coaches until you started hollering. The second you say something, your kids stop playing soccer and wander off to talk to you.)

Soccer caused me to be famished so we lunched at Whole Foods afterward. I had pizza, mashed potatoes, a cinnamon roll, and apple juice. carbs!

sewing

My mom visited with my teacher yesterday for their final conference of the year. I am excelling as a Montessori student.

Now that I have mastered the maps (I know and can identify all of the continents and some oceans) and the geometric solids, I have been sewing. It is my goal to have a sample perfect enough to submit to Trinity in support of my job application.

My school day looks much like my day at home and my teacher says this is the ideal. I read every book. And then talk about every detail of every book. (We raided Trinity's prized Roald Dahl stash and my dad has been reading chapter books to me and my mom quizzes me about plot and characters.)  I build. (In addition to the river my dad and I have built, I have multiple construction projects in the yard.) I engage anyone and everyone in conversation. (My teacher says I am well qualified to be a debater. At home, my dad is usually on the losing end of this.) I have been developing my math skills and I think we can thank my mom for this. (OK, maybe not.)

About my river: we got the water bill yesterday. It was big. Like the Amazon.

the donut saga

Since our last trip to the library, I have been reading Who Needs Donuts? almost obsessively.

Every morning on our way to school, we pass by a family owned donut shop. On sunny mornings, they have a dancing donut outside. The donut shop is painted a cheerful blue and features a mural of a police car. (classic)

I had decided that I must try donuts. It took a great deal of coordinating but I woke up extra early yesterday and sped through my morning routine so we could visit the donut shop en route to school. (Yes, shhhhhhhhh, I know I committed a cardinal Montessori sin and ate sugar before school.)

No one can recall for certain but it seems I had never ever tried donuts. My mom had been to this donut shop before and had probably since spent a bit too much time talking/thinking about it. I was taken in by all of the colors. My initial choice was a donut with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles. good choice. At the last second, I changed my mind and ordered a mint chocolate chip donut. Although my mom knew that I wouldn't like the minty frosting, she did not intervene. The only time she alters my order is when I try to make a request for a latte. It was no surprise that I did not like the minty donut. We left the donut shop and, thankfully, I had my snack bag full of the usual healthy offerings and my cup of soymilk to fill my tummy.

We will have to try this again one day. Next time, the pink donut it is!

salvation

Trinity departed early Monday morning after spending a week with me. She came here to take care of me while I had a break from school and while my parents work too much. I scarcely remember my mom. Luckily, we've somehow almost made it through the legislative session and then my mom will return to enjoying her housewife life and never ever will we do something like this again. It's almost impossible for me to go to school full time and take care of my dad; he's a lot of work and it can be challenging to get him to remember the procedures.

When Trinity was here, we had countless tasks on our list of things to do - including visiting the barber and, as you can see, I am still in desperate need of a haircut. But we ate a lot. And caught up on our sleep. I slept until 9:20 one morning and Trinity even had to wake me up! I am now just as addicted to tacos as she is and let's not even talk about cakepops and cocoa. My grandmother sent me a gift card so I could buy my own snacks.

As an added bonus, we had a cold front while Trinity was here. The very day she left, we suffered through a mid 90s day. In the morning when I first step outside, I always comment on the weather. These days, I say "it's not too bad today." I won't be able to say that much longer.

bunnies

Yesterday my dad and I went to the YMCA to go swimming and we found ourselves in the midst of an Easter party.

There was a petting zoo complete with bunnies, cows, ducks, goats, pigs, and a massive unidentified animal that I have tried describing. My mom thinks it sounds like a yak but what kind of petting zoo would ever have a yak? The bunnies were my favorite because they were soft and I could cuddle with them.

And then I had a nice visit with the Easter bunny. Apparently, I might wake up to a basket of chocolate on Easter morning.

FIRE!

Aside from making detailed grocery lists and bossing my parents around, I use what all of my teachers have described as sophisticated planning skills to create scenes like the one you see in the photo. I cannot be certain but I suspect them saying me having sophisticated planning skills is a euphemism for me being a control freak. So was Trinity and look at her now. We both get our work done, and lots of it!

I used the grappler (shown in the bottom left corner) to haul in the logs one by one to build the farm. Minutes after the construction of the house was complete, disaster struck and the whole farm was on fire. I immediately called 886 (aka 911) and the crew arrived just in time with their laddertruck to extinguish the blaze. Tragedy averted.

All of this work had the (un)intended benefit of extending my bedtime until 10:00pm.

happy (belated) Valentine wishes

Here is a photo of me enjoying my Valentine cupcake at Whole Foods. It was well over a month ago but we have fallen behind with everything because of work and school but we are managing to keep our cupcake consumption up.

Soon I will catch up with my blog about my visit from Trinity (fun!), what I am doing in school (reading reading and more reading, and Asia is my favorite continent), and spring break.

my grandpa

April 22, 1944–January 23, 2013 After a brief hospitalization, Brian passed away peacefully with his wife of 47 years holding his hand. He spent his final days enjoying the company of his wife, children, and granddaughter.

Brian leaves behind his wife, Roberta. He will be missed by his children Mike and Stephanie (Brad), and grandchildren Trinity and Atticus Orion. Brian is also survived by his brother, Wayne (Joan). Brian was preceded in death by his parents and his sister.

After a long and distinguished career at TELUS (formerly BC Tel), Brian retired in 2002. He then spent his days relaxing on his back porch knowing that he lived in the most beautiful part of the world. He lived his entire life in Victoria and had no interest in going elsewhere. He followed politics closely and spoke knowledgeably of current events until his last day. His favourite activity was walking his very best friend, Harley, in Victoria’s many parks. Harley died less than one week before Brian; neither could have lived without the other. 

Sincerest thanks to the nurses, doctors, and staff at the Royal Jubilee Hospital (Surgical 7N ward) for their compassion and the excellent care they provided to keep Brian comfortable and happy in his final days. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Victoria Hospitals Foundation at 1952 Bay Street, Victoria BC, V8R 1J8.

A Graveside Service will be held at 1:00pm on Friday, February 1, 2013, at Royal Oak Burial Park. Plans for a celebration of Brian’s life will be announced at a later date. Please see http://www.mccallbros.com/brian-harold-gray/ for more information.

140 (plus 1)

Tomorrow is the first of 140 days of the legislative session.

My dad took me to the Capitol to have lunch with my mom today. We met her at her office and we walked through the super-secret underground tunnel. I ran the whole way, like a train barreling through a mineshaft, because the tunnels slope in a most fascinating manner. It would be ideal if I could take my tricycle there but I am supposing that might interfere with business.

They have decent food in the Capitol prepared by real chefs. My dad had the Monday special (catfish and vegetables) and my mom and I shared grilled cheese and french fries. My beverage of choice was coconut water. My dad had a white chocolate mocha. Had it been Thursday, we could have enjoyed the sundae bar. Alas, I am sure that I will have many, too MANY, opportunities to dine there in the upcoming months!

The politician in me emerged while we were eating lunch. I went over to the next table and said "my name is Atticus. I am three. What's your name? How old are you?" And, just like that, I won some votes.

After lunch, my mom returned to work and my dad took me on a tour of the Capitol.