Student at life

So far I love being in Tae Kwon Do.

Tonight Paul and I got paired up for a warm-up exercise because we were reasonably close to being the same size.  (my world is moving so fast)  At one point we were back to back with arms linked and he lifted me off the ground.  He demonstrated good strength, balance, and control.  He did good.

I keep finding that I am learning things in class that apply to life at large - especially my walk with God.

• It is okay to need to be corrected.  ALL THE TIME.  Constantly.
• Getting embarrassed (almost to the point of tears) is not a reason to quit.
• You need to practice what you know.
• There is a world of difference between understanding something (like a punch, or like being kind) and actually executing it.
• Practice more.
• The mind, spirit, and body are not as distinct from each other as Plato would lead us to believe.
• If you don't practice good stuff, then when you are called into a real world situation or test, your brain will default to stupid stuff.
• Sometimes you have to absorb a kick in order to get into a better position.
• Don't kick elbows. They will bruise you.
• Meditation - clearing your mind - does wonders for preparing you for instruction.
• Don't fall asleep during meditation.
• Bruises aren't the end of the world.  (Steve has taught me this one.  I don't have any of my own.  Yet.)

Well that's a start.  I'm looking forward to learning and growing with this.

Interview with Petra

Petra is student of the week next week for preschool.  The teacher sent an interview for Petra.  Below are her answers.

Student of the Week!

1. My name is Petra.
2. I was born on October 30th.
3. I am 4 years old.
4. I have 2 brothers and 1 sister.
5. I have 2 pets: 1 dog named Maggie and 1 cat named Midnight, plus a bunch of chickens.
6. I like to play with dolls.
7. I wish I had a horse.
8. When I grow up I want to be Julia's kids' grandma [and do fun things with them.]
9. My favorite color is pink/purple. And green and black and AND ORANGE! and red (I finally cut her off)
10. My favorite food is salami.
11. My favorite book is "Pickles to Pittsburgh."
12. My favorite animal is a horse.
13. My favorite TV show or movie is Lego Atlantis.
14. My favorite game or sport is Wii Sports.
15. My favorite toy is princess dolls and toy animals.
16. My favorite place is King's Island and the cabin in Georgia.

Nathan at 15mos.

I keep meaning to write up a blog on how Nathan is doing.  Poor little 4th born.

He started walking at 11 months.
By 12 months he was trying to spin in circles.
He is now 15 months old and can do a toddler run and even go in reverse.
His fascination with the dog's water dish has diminished, but I was tempted to get him his own box of Kleenex for Christmas, because he loves to pull out the tissues.

He also loves anything with buttons - remote controls, phones, Wii-motes, humidifiers, radiators, the dishwasher...
You just never know what you will find them set for.

He has started using a few words.  He does mommy and daddy pretty consistently although not always for the right parent.  For a while, mommy sounded like nanee.  It was so cute.  He has a word for Maggie/doggie which sounds a lot like daddy. He has also had a word for switch, as in light switch, and nana for banana.  He likes to point and say, "deesh, deesh" which seems to be some generic pronoun "this" for anything he might be interested in.

He and I have colds right now, so he is in my lap, drinking a bottle, fingering my hair.

At his 15 month checkup he was running 75th percentile on length, 90th percentile on head circumference, and 50th percentile on weight.  He is, like his brother before him, one busy little explorer.

From Narnia to here

I want to say thanks to God for giving me C.S. Lewis.  Growing up, I not only enjoyed the Chronicles of Narnia, but they became an important vehicle for me to keep a dialogue running with God.  They made me hopeful. 

At times when the idea of heaven sounded boring, like sitting in church too long as a child, Lewis painted pictures of a heaven that I could long for in “The Last Battle,” and “The Great Divorce.”  I was appropriately shaken by his claim in “Surprised by Joy” that he wanted heaven to be a place and was brought to his knees to know heaven was a person.

In college, when I thought DesCartes’, Pascal’s and Aquinas’ “proofs” of God seemed weak or lacking, “Mere Christianity” gave me a line of logic that I could sink my teeth into.

Perhaps the most important thing that Lewis did for me was teach me how to read the Bible.  I found myself wondering how he could read the 4 gospels and walk away with Aslan the Lion.  The Bible seemed dry or boring, and here was C.S. Lewis reading it and being inspired with amazing allegorical fairy tales.  I wanted to see what he saw in the Bible.  It forced me to slow down my reading and be more thoughtful in it.  It made me try to imagine how the people whose stories are recorded felt, and where they were from, and how they lived afterward.

There have certainly been many people who have helped me in my Christian walk.  They have clarified my thinking, corrected me, colored my understanding, and cared for my soul.  But Lord, today I thank you for providing C.S. Lewis.

Angst, pathos and bloodshed

The kids had another snow day this week.  It was their 6th or 7th this year - I've lost count.  We tried to keep it real with some school work and chores during the day.

Oh the pathos!

You wouldn't believe what an ogre I was.
I made Paul mop the kitchen floor (because he spilled a pint of orange juice on it.
Paul and Julia had to read the bible for 20 minutes.
I made Julia give up some of her favorite clothing (because it is now Petra's size.)  Julia was in tears over it even though the sorting of clothing was initiated because she just got a nice bundle of hand-me-downs from a friend.
I made Julia and Petra put on long sleeves and long pants.

I'm really just terribly unreasonable.

After lunch we took a little break to sled in the yard while Nathan napped.  The snow had a thin layer of ice on top.  The kids in their sleds did not break through the ice, so their sleds just kept going and going.  As I came out of the house with Petra, Paul's sled skimmed across the ground and into the wall of an old foundation on our property.  He was going head first and bumped the side of his face on the wall pretty good.  I went running across the snow to check on him. He was able to shake it off in a few minutes.

Julia managed to dodge between the wall and a black wallnut tree.  A dip in the ground gave her a burst of speed, she ricocheted off a small blueberry bush and slid all the way down to the runoff. Paul also had a good run later and made it down to the runoff.

Sadly, Julia had a run where she repeated Paul's mistake and tried to use her face as a brake on that stone wall.  It made her eye hurt and scraped the bridge of her nose badly enough to merit a band-aid.

Ouch

Do you think people will notice?

Snow men

A little over a week ago the temperature got above freezing while there was snow on the ground.  The kids got some time outside.  Nathan seemed to enjoy it.

Paul loves good packing snow.

Nathan didn't get his hands into the snow much, but he was fascinated with what Paul was up to.

Eventually Nathan got tired and wanted to go in. Paul decided to make this shot look like brother abuse.

The snowman Paul and I build.  If you look closely, you can see that the carrot was a double carrot.

Pinewood Derby '14

LAST WEEK

Steve and Paul are working on the pinewood derby car together.  This is always an exercise in patience on the part of the parent, trying to teach the boy on task. 

They are way behind schedule because of the last 3 Saturdays Steve was sick for two and we were traveling for one.  Last weekend I tried to help Paul along, but I am not particularly handy.  I was afraid to try using the power tools without a more experienced person on hand to ask questions of.  On the plus side, Steve now has a relatively nice to scale technical drawing in three views to guide their work.

Last night Steve and Paul made some cuts and started sanding the car.  They are going for creativity points and making a tiny working catapult.  Paul got to use the scroll saw and the power sander.  He learned that Daddy was right when he explained not to hold the sander down when you turn it on.

THIS WEEK

They went to the Pinewood Derby yesterday.  Their design - a miniature working catapult.  It used a  rubber band, a dowel rod frame, a walnut shell for the throwing cup, and dried moss on the car to make it look like the ground.  They did not have the fastest car, but it did respectably.  

Paul came home with a trophy for 2nd Place for Pack in Design.

Fun Math

Math!  So here is some fun stuff to think about -

I have been in my current house nearly 10 years.

I think there are about 12 feet between the first and second story floors.

If I estimate a weight of 125 lbs for myself, then the work it takes to go from one floor to another is 1,500 ft-lbs, which is equivalent  to 0.5 food calories (technically kilo-calories).

I figure I walk up those stairs an average of 5 times a day.  That means I have walked up those stairs about 18,250 times in the last 10 years, and used 9125 calories just going up and down the stairs. 

OR, if I'm feeling a little more generous with myself, a New Hampshire Health Department website estimate indicates that I burn closer to 4 calories with each trip up the stairs.  Even if I try to be conservative and lower the number of trips up the stairs each day to 3, I still end up with having burned 43,800 calories over the course of 10 years.  That much energy is equivalent to 16 whole Mrs. Smith's Dutch Apples pies.

Anybody up for a girls' night out for pie?

P.S. When I wrote this to a friend, she commented that you burn more calories while pregnant, and that I should add one pie for each child.  I'm up to 20.  Pies.  Not children.