Corn Maze II

A year ago we went to a corn maze with Paul’s scout pack.  Petra stayed home with Grandma, but we brought Paul’s buddy, J. with us.  The two boys were rather excessively silly, and I was challenged by the maze because I was excessively pregnant.

This year we went again with our whole family.  We arrived a little late, but there were still plenty of hot dogs and marshmallows to roast over the fire.  I think Petra was intrigued by the open fire cooking.  After a quick meal, we entered the maze with Nathan riding in the backpack.  We did the maze with J. again, but this year we had his dad along for backup.

Maybe it’s just because I had full use of my lungs, but the maze seemed to go much faster this year.  It helped that Steve or J.’s dad would break off from the group periodically to scout around for the landmarks we were supposed to find.  Mr. V even carried Julia for a few stretches. Boy, was she ever milking that!  Steve carried Petra for the last 10 or 15 minutes of the maze.

We had beautiful weather, and it must have been a great growing season for corn.  There were places in the field where the corn stalks were 10 feet tall.

The farmers who run the corn maze have a little country store and a large pumping launching truck.  The truck looks like an antique fire truck.  It had been fitted with a 3 or 4 foot diameter air compressor on the back.  The air compressor was hooked up to a pipe which makes the barrel of the pumpkin cannon.  Each half hour they charge the compressor and then launch a pumplin.  A sign nearby says the pumpkins land about half a mile away.  

Open Mat Night

Friday we tried out Open Matt Night at our Tae Kwon Do school.  I’m excited to start taking regular classes, but we want to wait until Petra and I can join together.  In the meantime, I’ve been trying to build up my strength so that I can at least make it through the warm ups.  I can’t do sit ups yet, but I’m getting closer.  Open Matt Night is a once a month chance to get a taste of what the school offers.

We took the whole family.  Steve hung out with Nathan on the side, but the rest of us were out on the mat.  Before the class began, Steve and Nathan went out on the mat.  Steve stretched, threw some kicks and practiced his form.  Nathan stood on the mat.  At first he looked a little concerned.  What was this strange soft surface?  After a few moments of caution, he tried a couple of steps.  He quickly figured out that the mat was a wonderful place to toddle.  It was consistent, wide open, and soft for falling.  He started cruising all over the place.  Once the class started, Steve had to work to keep Nathan off the mat.

I really enjoyed going the class and learning a couple of moves.  Just getting out an moving felt wonderful.  One of our big motivation in going to the class was to see if Petra was ready for regular classes.  Steve and I agreed she need a couple more months of maturity.  She hung with Paul and Julia for the first half of class, but then she was done.  And it was pretty funny to see her sort of throw herself into completely random shapes when we were supposed to be stretching.

The group Paul and Julia were practiced some of the falling techniques from the Judo class.  The Master Steve let all the kids practice throwing him to the ground.  So Paul and Julia got to toss a big guy.

 I think they enjoyed it.  When we got home, Nathan’s skin smelled like the matt, which is to say like feet.

Brave little Petra

Last weekend Petra got her first bee sting.  I had invited or ordered the children to help me pick apples from our apple tree.  This is the first year the trees produced anything significant.  We brought out a two-step stepstool and a bucket.  Nathan played on the ground and I watched nervously to make sure he stayed away from the broken apples on the ground because they were being frequented by yellow jackets and some other type of wasp.

Petra had to wait for a turn on the stepstool.  She was so pleased to climb up where she could reach some apples too.  I was looking the other way when I heard her cry, “Mommy, a be stung me.”  She was rubbing face.  I quickly moved Nathan to the play set and told Paul and Julia to watch him. 

I picked up Petra and carried her to the house.  We have a family history of bee sting allergies, so I didn’t want to mess around.  Even so, Petra was taking the sting so well that I had trouble believing she had actually been stung.  She wasn’t screaming, wailing, or crying.  “Petra, are you sure you got stung?”

“Yes, mommy.”

“It didn’t just fly into your face and scare you?”

“No , it stung me, Mommy.”

“Are you sure?”

When we got into the house, I started making a meat tenderizer paste and Steve coaxed Petra to pull her hands away from her face.  Sure enough, there was a little welt with a red center between the bridge of her nose and her eyes. 

I was proud of how well Petra handled the whole thing.  She didn’t have a bad reaction.  Later in the day I found a rubber yellow jacket toy that was about six inches long.  I thought it would be funny to give Petra a chance to punch the toy to get even with the bees.  Not thinking, I offered the toy to Petra by pushing it right in front of her face and saying, “Look, Petra, it’s a yellow jacket!”  Poor girl jumped.  “No, sweetie, it’s a toy.  See.  You can hit it.”  I showed demonstrated and she gave it a few featherweight punches.  She thought that was funny.

And the next day when the yellow jackets were out at our church picnic, Petra was nervous, but she didn’t panic.  Good girl.

At least there is a good reason

A couple of weeks ago I got a form letter from the school nurse because Paul had suffered a head injury.  He had been too cold in class and had pulled his arms and legs inside his shirt, so that when he tipped out of his chair he landed on his forehead.  Fortunately, he did not suffer a concussion.


Today,  I felt like writing the following:

Dear Mrs C.,

I am writing to explain the small scrape Paul has on his upper lip.  You see, during his wait for the bus, he walked into a 100 year old maple tree, while pretending to be blind because his sister's striped pants looked so bad with her striped jacket.  Thank you for your patience with my son and his injury.

Yours,
his mother

Baby steps

It was a big weekend for Nathan:
his eleventh month birthday
his first Octobeerfest
he dumped Steve's glass of Coke off the coffee table
he started walking.

Saturday evening I told Petra it was bath time and she ran yelling from the room.  Nathan watched and then it was like something snapped inside him.  He stood up.

Shuffle, shuffle, sit.
Stand, step, sit.
Stand, shuffle, step, step, sit.
Stand, sit.
Stand, step, step, waver, step, sit.

Up and down, down and up he went.  I don't know how he didn't get seasick.  He kept working and has earned the title, Toddler Danger Baby Extraordinaire.

Big party through mommy's eyes

Octobeerfest '13
" Petra, have you had anything to eat tonight?  I mean besides the 3 cookies?"
With an air of injured indignation, she answered, "Yes.  I had candy corn."

Leading up to the party, Steve asked me to look for sparklers to stuff in a pumpkin to launch from our home built trebuchet to ignite the bonfire. I could only find re-lighting birthday candles, but they didn't have enough umph. I think he used road flares.  I'm pleased to report that no humans were harmed in the lighting of the bonfire, but please don't report us to the ASAPA.  (American Society for the Abolition of Pumpkin Abuse).

The children all got to bed late.  Even little Nathan held out, laying relaxed in the stroller listening to the band, but NOT closing his eyes. I think I tucked Paul and Julia in bed around eleven o'clock.

Notes to self for next year:
Buy more juice pouches for the kids.
Pick up sparklers in July.
Put the cat in the dog's crate before the party begins so he doesn't steal people food.
Take the dog's bedding out of the crate before you put the cat in.
Don't make a gallon of fresh salsa - half gallon will be plenty.
Starting brats to thaw in fridge Wednesday night is about right.
You can't buy too many glow bracelets for the children.
Keep extra towels and disinfecting spray in the bathroom - just in case.