Wednesday, June 10, 2009

springtime favorite

If there is one thing I over buy for J it's books.  I'm sure he could happily keep reading the same books but I get bored and there are SOOOO many books out there I just cannot resist.  I especially love TJ Maxx because they are the price of used books but in better shape.  Not that all used books are in horrible shape - I definitely buy a good deal from Half Price Books too.  Kids can just be so hard on books though that the used ones often show a bit of wear and I don't have an issue with that other than they will fall apart sooner once J gets a hold of them.  He doesn't chew them, thankfully, but he is rough on them all the same.  He has no concept of front/back cover and often tries to close the book in the wrong spot.  Another great source for books is Amazon because they often run sales on books if bought in 4s.  I think the sale was if you buy 3 the 4th is free and if you do that twice then you also qualify for free shipping!  That was quite a score for the holidays and his birthday but a bit excessive for an everyday purchase (even for me).

What about the library you ask?  Not yet.  When he is older and reading on his own we'll become frequent visitors to the library.  I have gained a new appreciation for libraries in the past year.  I had not taken advantage of the wonderful resource they are since probably middle school when my mother would take us to Westminster College's library.  They had an awesome children's section complete with a fort!  I am not embarrassed at all to admit that even in middle school I had as much fun in that fort as my much younger siblings.  I loved to climb up on top with a few books and spend a good bit of time deciding which in my pile would make the cut and come home with me that week.

This winter I found a book at Half Price Books that J never really took to, but I continued to read it to him anyway because it was MY favorite.  I loved the artwork - absolutely loved it.  I wrote about it a few months ago and if you don't remember take a look at it here.
Over vacation one of our bags was 3 days late in arriving.  It apparently wanted a separate vacation in Miami and St. Thomas.  J's bedtime reads were in it so we found a book on St. John for him.  It is my new favorite and this time J likes it too!  It's called the Secret Seahorse.  It's definitely a book I can see him growing with because right now he just gets the basics.  In time he'll see it's actually a hide and seek book . . . looking for the seahorse of course.  
For me, I love the artwork.  The winter book I loved the artwork also and wanted to live in it.  This book, I want to re-create the artwork.  The entire book is felt applique of different underwater scenes and various underwater creatures complete with coral, a shipwreck, and sparkly sequin fish scales!  

Photos are from the book ‘Secret Seahorse’ Stella Blackstone & Calre Beaton/Barefoot Books

toys

Where do vintage toys go exactly?  Are they buried deep within landfills?  How is it I can find vintage furniture, cars, flooring and fabric but barely any toys anywhere except apparently in Switzerland?  I'm going to have to investigate the exchange rate for "chf."  
Maybe I'm just being nostalgic but many of J's toys are built for the destiny of those vintage toys.  My toys were so much sturdier.  I wish my mother had saved more items . . . my treehouse for one.  I have wonderful memories of playing with that.  Secondly would be my shopping cart which I would love to have for J.  The third item is Ollie though he was sort of saved and died years later from the elements in his storage area.  My Ollie had wheels unlike the earlier version.  Last but not least is my Kermit the frog.  I have been given replacements but none of them are quite the same and the hands do not velcro like my old kermit.  
I guess I should consider this as I determine the fate of J's toys.  However, like I said before his toys are to some extent not build well.  Maybe I need to pull aside the few that are and save them?  Or perhaps my parents thought the same thing of my toys compared to theirs and I must stop the cycle!  There is a fine line between saving and hoarding and I only have so much space.  I can't keep everything nor do I want to be tied to that stuff.  

What preschool toy do you have fond memories of, and are you lucky enough to still have it?

Friday, June 05, 2009

some are silver and some are gold

I could move to Dallas.  I'm ready.  I find it interesting that I say that normally after two things . . . visits there and holidays away from there.  The rest of the time (especially early winter and all of autumn) I'm more than happy (yes more than) to stay put here in Ohio.  It's a frustrating see-saw, especially since the only way we'd move to Dallas is if D applied for and got a promotion.  So it's really a moot point that I need not consider as it's not really on the radar right now.  So why bring it up?  In part because we just returned from a trip there and it's fresh in my mind.  My sister-in-law's neighborhood has 9 houses for sale (4 on her street) and most could potentially be in our price range.  
There are definitely negatives to a move to Texas - a move that is by no means on the radar or happening any time soon but for which I feel the need to obsess and blog about.  It's hot down there and it's red - as in too freakin' conservative.  The schools aren't great though there are some that are apparently superb (Southlake comes to mind for one).  However not to ruffle any feathers of my six readers, but I don't want J taught stories in science - I want him taught science.  Back to weather though, it never snows in Dallas and I like the snow, at least for the first four weeks or so around the holidays.  I also really love autumn with it's crisp air and melancholy colors.  Last but not least, while I enjoy visiting Texas I don't have a lot of friends there.  I have one friend, 2 sister-in-laws, one cousin my age and 3 significantly younger.  
With that said there are negatives to Ohio too and the whole "I have no friends" issue with Texas isn't that much different here.  I have a bunch of "friends" on Facebook but even the activity on there mirrors real life.  As in there is no activity on there with or from my "friends" and in real-life I rarely see or talk to more than a couple of said friends.  So I guess the friend issue is a draw.  It does allow me to segue from my nonsense writing about a move south to, well to friendship I guess.
I have to say I'm not terribly outgoing.  I always tell D that being outgoing is a trait not a learned action but secretly I suspect that's false and just a cop out.  It's just a scary proposition to make an attempt to be more outgoing.  I'd rather get over a fear of spiders or tight spaces through systematic desensitisation than work to be more outgoing.  I wouldn't say I'm shy; I'm just slow to open up to people so I come off as cold (to say the least).  I would say the fact that I tend to find myself in friendships in which I do all the work is probably fueling the fire.  I don't know.  Maybe I can look at the friendships that are not one-way and learn something from them for going forward?  
Funny.  Funny to me at least.  Just last year I was considering joining a mom's group and didn't.  I wanted to join for J so he could play with other kids.  I was stressing because of the social interaction I'd be forced into with the mom's.  I wasn't interested in more/new friends.  My friendship situation hasn't changed since then but obviously my perspective has.  I really think it boils down to me being ready to have a life again so now friendships are important and what was enough last year isn't now.
I'm not sure how I'll be working through this.  I know I need to force myself to be more outgoing to some extent.  So when I take J to swim class or art class I need to be more social and outgoing with the other moms.  I also need to reach out to the moms I already know with kids J's age and setup some playdates.  Maybe by this holiday season I'll no longer be longing for the supposedly greener grass across the Mason Dixon line.
Today was J's 1-year assessment with Help Me Grow.  He's a "super star" in every category except one - speech.  His receptive speech is awesome but not the expressive.  He fluctuates between 3mo and 6mo "behind."  Why the quotes?  Because I recognize every kid is different and behind is relative.  I'm not super stressed about it but at the same time if our house sells there's a really good chance we'll leave the county and iCheck Spellingt's resources.  So we're having J get an evaluation with a speech therapist.  Figure it can't hurt.
They also fill out a social development type questionnaire.  J "passed" that too.  However, I'm having issues with that.  He/we had such a great time on vacation.  We saw people; we went places and did new things each day.  Now we're back at home and he's bored.  Okay, I'm bored (not really but sort of - I have plenty to do but lack momentum and motivation and that's a whole other story).  
I bought him new toys which is so not like me.  He has plenty of toys as it is and plenty more in storage and he doesn't "need" particular toys as he has no idea they even exist.  I've also found swimming lessons for him, and I should be getting a list of other age appropriate activities for him from his Help Me Grow specialist.  I've also been stressing over the playdate emails I sent over two months ago to friends.  I know so many families with kids J's age and I think playdates are in order.  Of course, all that work I need to do but have been avoiding due to lack of motivation keeps me from emailing about specifics.  That's not the only thing but it's the largest surface stumbling block.
Below the surface there are plenty more.  I recognize that and need to work it out.  What that entails I'm not sure but for starters I need to just send those emails for playdates and register J for classes so we both get out of the house more and have fun.