weekend doings

:: partying


:: picking


:: building


:: mastering


:: waiting

a new way of eating

After several divine encounters last week (truly amazing), I came to the conclusion that Elliott's body's pH is off and he is probably deficient in some essential minerals needed to naturally buffer acids and maintain normal pH. My Nancy Drew investigation led me further to conclude that this finding could account for his chronic reflux, his muscle tension and odd hand and eye movements and his regular tantrums. So as of Sunday we have radically changed his (and for the most part all of our) diet.

Two of my encounters last week were with people who live a raw food lifestyle. I had long and fascinating conversations with each of them and discovered later that this is the ultimate pH balancing diet. We are not going quite that far, but (for Elliott) we have cut all dairy, all gluten, all processed foods, as much sugar as possible, and all meat other than white meat chicken (locally raised without hormones). We are also giving him Omega 3 and a probiotic supplement and visiting an absolutely wonderful chiropractor twice a week (covered by insurance - another God send!). In less than a week, we have already witnessed giant leaps. No tantrums, less sleepiness, better attention. The afternoon of his first adjustment at the chiropractor he sat in the living room and put all of his matchbox cars in a perfect row (never done anything like that before) then leaned over them when Liam approached and said "Mine!" (another first) Maybe a coincidence, but it made me well up with tears of hope none the less.

Whether the marked improvements will continue remains to be seen, but I am 100 percent sure that moving away from easy dinners of pizza, quesadillas and chicken nuggets is better for all of us. And our lunchtime ritual of nutrient-rich smoothies - full of calcium and magnesium-rich spinach - has become one of my favorite parts of the day. Elliott sucks them down. And Liam (as long as they are not green - thank you blueberries) loves them, too. I highly, highly recommend this approach to adding good foods to a child's diet. There are so many smoothie recipes out there but I just make stuff up based on what we have.

Here is one of our recent favorites. All measurements are approximate since I don't measure anything.

Mmmm Good Green Smoothie
1/2 cup coconut milk (or almond milk)
1/2 cup orange juice
1 sliced peach
handful of fresh or frozen strawberries (no sugar)
1/2 banana
2 big handfuls fresh spinach
2 T flax seed meal

Smoothies are also a great place to hide supplements. I stir in the powder from vitamin D capsules and, for Elliott, a probiotic. All that good stuff and they have no idea. I love it!

favorite things :: random links I'm loving

:: When I posted yesterday about piano, I should have included a note about our latest musical inspiration - From the Top at Carnegie Hall on PBS. Liam and I have watched several episodes online. When you see kids ripping it up musically, it's great motivation to sit and play.

:: Even though the days are beautiful, we seem to spend less time outdoors than we did in summer. Probably because we are rushing from one activity to the next a breakneck speed. (I said I would never be that mom. So it goes.) This post - 10 Ways to Get Outside Even After School Starts - has some really interesting ideas for getting kids out of the house and in touch with the natural world even when you're all busy and running from place to place.

:: If you're needing inspiration or a good (happy) cry, get your tissues ready for this one: J Mac - A Hoop Dream. And I'm not even a big basketball fan.

:: In a rut? Want to be more creative? Here are 100 Ideas. I am thinking of starting with #1 and trying them all, one a day. Then I would have inspiration for 100 blog posts! :)

:: Finally, I have to give my cousin Matt McKechnie a plug. Living in a new town, with a home-based job, and his full-time working wife his only local friend, this bored (and funny) guy created a comedy program of sorts - The Matt Show. I hope he remembers his family when he's famous.

why I'm grateful for a piano

Many years ago I bought a piano from my aunt on a whim. I was going to learn piano. I was going to be a pianist. Five years of lessons later, I didn't have a whole lot to show for my efforts. But I couldn't part with the piano. Now I am so glad.

Liam and Elliott love banging the keys. A couple times a day Liam will sit and play. We have tried to video or record him, but he resists. This morning, however, Liam asked Andrew if he would record him playing some songs. Andrew agreed and recorded seven songs, all self-titled by Liam. Below are our two favorites. I was blown away by "Fly Away," particularly when I heard him sit down late this afternoon and play it again. Crazy. He can't remember to put his shoes in his cubby or his clothes in the hamper, but an original composition for solo piano? I guess that's a different story. Keep in mind that, as opposed to my five years of lessons, he is five and has never had a lesson. Check it out. They are worth a listen.

:: Fly Away
:: Books on Fire

the king of non sequiturs

I am sure kindergarten teachers must go home with a lot of hilarious one-liners to share. Liam has been throwing out zingers left and right. I already mourn the day when he will be too self-conscious and too "smart" to just let them fly. Here are a few of my favorites from today:

:: Lifting his shirt while standing in front of the mirror this morning: "What am I going to be using these nipples for?"

:: Riding home from t-ball tonight: "When Elliott turns 3 can we start calling him Owen?"

:: Asking him if he'd like to use a free soft-serve cone coupon at McDonald's after his grandma bought him lunch there: "No way, mom. I'm sick. I just ate lunch at McDonald's."

what was once a tablecloth

. . . is now a purse! I am crazy about how easily this pattern from the new book Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule (aka Soulemama) whipped up and how clever it is. Very little cutting and pinning. And a fun way to use vintage linens and not have to buy anything new. The inside of this bag is part of a pretty old pillowcase. The outside is a tablecloth I have had and liked for so long but because of some stains and clashing with my decor, I've almost never used it. I think it was really meant to be a bag.

Now I am off to a local church rummage sale to see what other sheets, curtains, bedspreads, tablecloths I can get for pennies and remake into cute stuff. Very addicting. I am sure my favoring sewing over sleep will soon catch up with me. But not yet.

ninenineonine

My cousin is a fundraising genius. Lucky for the disenfranchised who are looking for a way to get themselves back on their feet, he is raising money for them. Here's the genius part: On this day - 9/9/09 - Chris is promising 9 days of happiness to anyone who donates $9 to Hope International. That's just $1 a day for happiness. A price and a promise not even Starbucks can deliver.

Last year about this time, I wrote a post about some of the amazing work Hope International is doing by providing micro loans to individuals living in poverty around the world. By starting a business and earning a living wage, individuals have been able not only to create new lives for themselves and their families but sometimes turn around an entire community as well. It is incredible and exciting, and YOU can be part of it TODAY simply by contributing $9. Check out Chris' blog for all the details!

rethinking the baggie

Beginning our first year of school, and just a half day at that, I am already pondering what our cumulative plastic bag consumption will be by graduation. Yikees! And we just bring a snack.

My neighbor and I talked about the crazy ways we are trying not to send any containers that will end up in the trash (like the glass spice bottle I put blueberries in today) and yet not go out and spend money on the fancy reusable wraps and bags. I guess we are those weird moms. But, after hearing from more than one reliable source about the mass of plastic floating in the middle of the ocean - maybe twice the size of Texas, they say - I definitely hesitate to think of adding to it.

So, here's a snack bag that I fashioned - with thanks to my neighbor's idea to cut up the waterproof ski gaiters she had packed away. The velcro was already in place, which made them easy to sew. I plan to send Liam to school with apple slices in one tomorrow. Not sure if it will be cool or odd. But I'm sure he'll let me know. Any other ideas from lunch and snack packers who avoid baggies - and whose kids are hailed as rock stars for toting reusable wares - would be appreciated!

boil boil toil and trouble

If Liam were in charge of his own schooling, it would be potions and strange mixture making all day long. I try hard not to squelch him. Our main rule is that he has to ask me before using anything. This is so he doesn't dump all of the saffron and pure vanilla extract down the sink and mix us right out of house and home.

This week he called to me from the kitchen and when I came in he was seated at the counter with his "recipe" book open, holding a spoon and bowl.

"Mom," he said desperately, "I really need to make this. Really!"

When I looked down at the book he selected - The Dangerous Book for Boys - and saw that he had randomly opened to the section on Girls - specifically, how to talk to them and act appropriately around them - I laughed out loud and opened the pantry. You go, little fellow. And good luck.

starting september

The weather turns cool and I'm making applesauce. My neighbor has been gifting me all of her delicious, albeit wormy, apples and I have been churning out the sauce. Nothing like it. I swear it is best - the only applesauce my boys will eat.

Cutting out the wormy bits takes a while, as does mashing the cooked apples through the sieve. So, at night especially, I've been using the time to listen to podcasts of This American Life. One that has stuck with me all week is Break-Up. Act Two of this program replays an interview from 1987 with an eight-year-old girl who is trying to understand why her parents are getting divorced. She wrote a letter to then New York Mayor Ed Koch as well as to a children's author who wrote a book about divorce, but she doesn't get any answers that help. I was so touched by this piece. Her sadness, her confusion, her bluntness.

Maybe it's partly the inherent nostalgia of the season - buying school supplies, pulling out the sweaters and the blankets, making my grandma's applesauce - but there is something in that little girl's voice that yanked me back. Yet, rather than make me feel sad, the piece made me feel strangely grateful. See, at the end of the interview, NPR's Noah Adams rather awkwardly tells the girl that the good news is she'll be okay in the end. And, as dumb as it sounds to say to an eight year old, on a cool, beautiful, sunny first of September, making applesauce in my kitchen while my three guys play in the backyard, this 41 year old knows that he's right.