I want to go home

Mimi has started saying this lately. Out of the blue, whilst sitting on the sofa or doing one her 309509234 jigsaw puzzles she says "oh mum, I want to go home".

I know just how she feels. I really do. Sometimes you just want to go somewhere ... else that is home. Not away. Not on vacation or for a trip somewhere. Just a peaceful, quiet place.

I've been feeling this lately. New job, new routine, new season. It's all good. Yet I would like a moment of zen, peacefulness. I fireplace and a comfy chair and oh some quiet. Especially with two three year olds that talk, yell, fight, scream, need and demand 24 hours a day!!

Next week is the big camping adventure. Watch out Hudson Valley. Here we come. 

Best place to recover from surgery

The tooth extraction no longer hurts that much but the jaw surgery does. Luckily my darling husband and I got an amazing break for two night in a hotel so here I am resting up on the bed in between heavy painkillers. Where's the hotel I hear you ask? About thirty mins from our home. I know. I know! But flying when you are in pain is just no fun. OK in reality my tough hubbie didn't want to go too far from the kids. Honestly. What a big softy.

Room service is a wonder when your a little pill happy :)

So far no famous person sightings. Bummer.  I have my poker face on just in case "your famous huh? never heard of ya" (for non NY folks this is something that is required of ALL NY residents).


Will keep my eyes peeled and iphone camera on alert, just in case. 

Kiddie GPS

Does anyone GPS their kids? I have been seeing lots of Amber alerts lately and wondered if giving the kids toddler tags.  Do I sound completely nuts?

I bet this is a return to work panic.

Speaking of which, I got an email inviting me to a creative retreat in Santa Monica. Haven't started yet but boy I love my new job :) Swanky hotel by the beach in October. Wha ha ha ha.

What's going on with you?

tooth extraction

Just had one. OWWWWWW. Waiting for the drugs to kick in. Reminds me of the c-section (not pain levels of course).

Sigh.

5K

I ran my first 5K this year.  See below.  I ran some of the way and walk really fast the rest. When I crossed the finish line I was amazed to see that I ran the same time as the 5K I did after 8 weeks of training. It has inspired me It has exhausted me :)

Camping and soccer and ballet oh my

We have decided to camping for the night. Which of course means ... stuff. You know ... tent, sleeping bag.  The great thing is this is going to be backyard camping for one night only. Late September me and  kids will be under the star studded sky in the Hudson Valley.

I. am. PSYCHED.

I grew up camping and haven't been for decades. I love falling asleep outside. I cannot begin to imagine how it will be falling asleep outside with my two kids.

The fall schedule kicks in next week. Dear lord our kids are busy. I may have over done it just a little :-) Dancing, yoga, art, soccer, 'learning' ( you know learning to read etc).  I won't be able to go to many of their classes but knowing they are having fun will be great while I start another new job.

I also think bike riding is on the books for the autumn. And apple picking.


Oh this is gonna be fun. Take a look.

Tents sure got fancy since I last went camping - that end bit is called a PORCH and the middle bit is the  hinged door. Reading books under the stars and telling each other stories. Gonna rock.

I posted on fa,ceb.ook...

... about the frustrations that is early education in NYC and I got lampooned. Yup, its a hot topic.


Anyhow we are now thinking about a tutor. Here's the reasoning, see what you think. We have twins. Those twins have about 2323432 friends. Socialisation isn't too much of an issue. We think that learning the stuff is more important than where they learn due to the massive amount of activity the are currently engaged in.
So, hire a tutor.

There are tons of early education students and teachers around. My guys need only four hours of teaching a week and the cheapest we can get with an organisation is $4000 a term. A teacher would run us way less and could be shared with some friends.

So, that is what we are thinking.

What do you think?

OK I stopped laughing now.

Instead of working billable hours today I spent most of the morning organising the kids autumn acitivites. Coz I hate paying for anything full price I searched all the discount sites and got some great deals. Wish my social life was as exciting as the kids is going to be. 

I only have a couple of weeks till full time work starts and I am going to try and go to as many classes as possible. 

I was looking for a school prep class and the cheapest one I've found is $350 per month per child. At that price why wouldn't I just send my kid to a private school? 

It's all a bit fooked up. 

Since Labor Day came and went we have retired our white seersucker (yeah, not really) and are prepping for the wonders of autumn. I LOVE AUTUMN! 

I'm going through cupboards and drawers and just chucking out anything that has been in there for more than 1 yr and not been used. It's a glorious feeling. Bags and bags are on the outs. 

This is in response to not being able to move thanks to kid crap everywhere. Enough is enough. I am taking the apartment back. We are creating a little sitting area in our bedroom so we can read and what not in quiet. I am calling it my mumcave

How do you prepare for the next season? 

PreK and K doing my frikkin' head in!

When I was a kid ... wait for it .... this wasn't so complicated. You turned up to the first day of school, sat in gym and then went off to your classroom.

I just spend hours trying to work out if my kids fall in the right age group for state pre K (seats are like fairy dust or winning the lottery but you gotta have a dream, right). Then I came into a whole new level called 'testing criteria'.

We are going public all the way but there are some institutions that whilst public, run like a private. My future nobel award winning toddlers have to get tested for  .....

five areas assessed both verbally and non-verbally (ten subtests in total)

• Fluid reasoning
• Knowledge
• Quantitative reasoning
• Visual-spatial processing
• Working memory

The verbal subtests of the SB5 test require facility with words and printed material (reading or speaking).

Verbal Domain Subtest Information:

• Fluid Reasoning: early reasoning with pictures, analogies.
• Verbal Knowledge: vocabulary. Includes toys, identification of body parts, Verbal Quantitative
• Reasoning: contains five different levels. tapping number concepts, problem solving, and figural-geometric/measurement estimation problems
• Verbal Visual-Spatial Processing
• Verbal Working Memory: memory for sentences and last word.

The nonverbal subtests for the Stanford-Binet test require understanding spoken instructions and allow for pointing responses, how to work with puzzle-like pieces, and manipulation of toys to indicate correct answers.
Nonverbal Domain Subtest Information:

• Nonverbal Fluid Reasoning
• Nonverbal Knowledge
• Nonverbal Quantitative Reasoning
• Nonverbal Visual-Spatial Processing
• Nonverbal Working Memory

Skills required to do well on the Stanford-Binet test include:

• Listening ability
• General knowledge
• Language development
• Mathematical achievement
• Mathematical knowledge
• Spatial relations
• Visualization
• Induction
• Working memory
• Memory span

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha .. oh wait I'll ok ... ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha 

no chance!