The Big Pink Bear

This morning Anna was up at 5 a.m. By 8:15, she looked exhausted, so I put her in her crib where she stayed for about an hour. I'm not sure how long she slept, but she was mostly quiet so I also semi-snoozed my way through an episode of Dora the Explorer.

By 9:30, both kids were on the couch watching Diego. Anna was hungry, so I offered her leftover pizza but she kept insisting, "Ban! Ban!" (banana). When I asked if she wanted a banana, she gave me a huge grin and nodded.

She's had bananas plenty of times before, so I didn't think anything of it. Today she got a piece stuck and started choking to the point where she was turning blue. I tried everything I knew, but banana is a soft food and it just was not working. I saw someone outside the neighbour's house, so I went outside with Anna. It turned out to be the water guy, and he asked me if I wanted him to call 911.

By this point, I was pretty sure that Anna was ok, but she was still doing that shuddering, gasping cry, and I could still feel something in her throat that wouldn't go up or down. So he called, and the paramedics and a police car showed up at our house. Fun times. Of course she was perfectly fine as soon as they showed up, so I felt like an idiot for wasting their time.

I was surprised to hear them say that I should have called them first. I assumed that I should try to get her to cough it up and only call if it really wasn't going anywhere. One of the paramedics told me that techniques have changed a lot in the past few years, especially regarding babies and choking.

Anna is fine. She is understandably rather angry, but who wouldn't be angry after being whacked, having fingers stuck down the throat, and being poked and prodded by strangers? She's currently napping, and at this point it looks like we will miss our first Kindermusik class of the year.

And of course there is no chocolate or caffeine in the house... I wonder what I'm doing when Ben gets home!??!

Our week so far

Yesterday, Anna got up for the day at 3:30 a.m. Although she napped from 6-7:30 and again from 11-1, Rachel was up at 6:30, and Ben was gone from 6:15-3:15.

By early afternoon, I was exhausted. I suggested to the girls that we find something on TV for everyone to enjoy. "TV!!!!" yelled Anna gleefully. "Up! Couch! TV!"

And that is how we came to be watching Lingo on the Game Show Network and calling it "spelling class". I'd say our second week of homeschooling is off to a great start.

Today, it is only 9:20 a.m. We have already been to the grocery store and resisted the temptation for Starbucks. Both girls are sitting reading in the living room while we listen to piano music on a CD in the background. I don't expect it to last, but it's nice while it does!

Seriously!??!

We just returned home from a family trip to the zoo. Anna headed straight upstairs for a nap (ok, she was escorted up!), and Captain Oblivious took a book and headed for the washroom. About 10 minutes later, we heard, "Oh no! My cap!"

Yes, folks, Rachel's elephant cap had fallen in the toilet. But don't worry, she fished it right back out and put it on the floor! And don't worry, she claims that she did this all before she pooped.

Oy.

It was bound to happen eventually

Rachel just opened the gate and went upstairs singing "I'm going upstairs, I'm going upstairs, and you may NOT follow me!"

Earlier today she was upset because Anna was reading one of her Dora books and playing with her ball. "Those are mine!" she said. Never mind that she was reading and playing with other things. I guess the "fun" years are starting! And how do I justify letting Anna play with stuff that for almost 4 years was only Rachel's!? I don't mind letting Rachel have a few special toys to keep in her room, but I'm not going to say that Anna can only play with her specific baby toys. That's just silly!

Yes!!!!!!!

It only took 18 months and 5 days to get Anna to actually stop moving long enough to watch something on TV. And no, I haven't really been trying to get her to do this, but I will admit that I'm quite happy that both kids are currently happily watching Dora the Explorer. It's even a circus episode complete with elephants and monkeys. What more could they possibly need?

I have a feeling it's going to be a long day. Rachel's diarrhea has yet to disappear, so we're housebound again. Hopefully she'll be done with it very soon and I'll still be able to contemplate taking her to her second swimming class tomorrow. (She missed the first one yesterday.)

Anna keeps getting her shoes and trying to put them on. I keep explaining to her that we're staying home today. She's not buying it.

Ah, the good doctors S.

Anna loves to bring us books and ask (demand) that we read them to her. She even has this adorable backwards walk she does that ends with her plopping down on the first available lap.

She currently has a few favourites. One is "You can go to the potty" by Dr. Sears. She will ask for it by name. "Potty? Potty? Potty!" and she brings it over to be read.

She also adores "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss and has taken to randomly yelling "Ham! Ham! HAM!!!"

So I may have taught her to finish the following sentence: "Anna, ham is..."

"TRAYF!" she says cheerfully. "Ham ham ham! Trayf!"

(Trayf = forbidden)

We'll work on getting her to say shellfish next, I suppose.

I feel a little like a spy

Today was Rachel's first piano lesson. She is taking Suzuki piano, for a variety of reasons, the main one being that we think it's a good fit for her. We are driving out to Lawrence for this (about 50 minutes away if I drive, well over an hour if my mother was driving! Hey, she's away for a week, I can say that!) because there are very few Suzuki piano teachers in the area. This particular teacher also teaches at the UMKC Community Music & Dance Academy but signing up at that location would have required a Friday lesson time at which Anna would have had to be present. Her group classes there are also on Fridays, and it's more expensive to do it that way. (NOT that I even asked about fees!!! I know better, LOL. I also know what the Academy charges since both Ben and I used to teach there.)

It was fascinating watching the lesson. I honestly feel like I should be paying double - one fee for Rachel to get the lesson, and another for the "teacher training" I will magically get just by sitting in on (and taking notes in) Rachel's lessons.

Her teacher had me come up at the end of the lesson to play a duet with her while Rachel sat in the "parent chair" and watched. I was amused, because I could tell that the teacher had forgotten that I had told her I used to teach piano. I was also amused at how self-conscious I was since she was only asking me to play the first Twinkle variation with the right hand and yet the first thing out of my mouth was, "I just want you to know that I haven't had a piano lesson in 17 years!"

I'll have you know that no mistakes were made in the playing of said duet. Go me!

Rachel really enjoyed her lesson and was excited to come home and tell Ben all about it. I'm glad that we didn't start her any earlier than this. Many of our friends have started (or are starting) their kids at age 3 or 4, but Rachel just wasn't ready to take "serious" instruction from anyone until this year. Let's hope the novelty doesn't wear off and she enjoys practising as much as she enjoyed her lesson!

Astute observation

On the way home from her very first piano lesson tonight, Rachel and I were discussing how it went. When I brought up the topic of practice, I asked her if she thought that there were any days on which she shouldn't practise. She suggested Friday afternoon, and I pointed out to her that Shabbat starts after sundown. She then decided that Saturdays were a no-go for practice.

"What about Sundays?" she then asked. "Is that ok?" When I told her that Sunday would be a perfectly fine day to practise on, she said, "Well, I'll have to practise really hard on Sundays because that's the day before my lesson!"

As Ben says, she's already practising the fine art of cramming. At least she's not doing car theory yet!

I can't believe I now find this funny

Copied and pasted from AM980 Radio's website in London:

The Middlesex-London Health Unit has issued a heat alert.

The alert was issued due to the combination of Environment Canada's smog advisory and the humidex reading exceeding 36 degrees Celsius.

It is London's first heat alert of 2009.

Given that it's often 36C BEFORE humidity here, I am unreasonably amused by this. Not that I don't think the heat alert is warranted, but it does make me giggle a little.

Where is my husband?

I'd like to know exactly where the University of Central Missouri has taken my husband. The man who looks an awful lot like him has just informed me that all full-time faculty have to be on committees and he somehow has been placed on the...


*Wait for it.*


SOCIAL COMMITTEE!

I'm definitely looking forward to hearing all about this.

The voices are getting louder

I love the imaginary friend stage. Technically, Rachel's little friends aren't imaginary though. They are stuffed elephants. This morning Diana was being mean. She wanted to watch a certain Mama Mirabelle episode and Rachel wanted to watch another one. I intervened eventually, and told Rachel that I thought that an appropriate consequence would be that Diana didn't get to watch any tv and of course Rachel could watch the episode that she had chosen.

I will admit to being tired of Rachel coming into our room in the middle of the night saying that Tuskie was keeping her up all night, or that Diana wouldn't stop talking. Unless stuffed elephants are the new Chucky doll, I don't think we have anything to worry about.

My girl - polite even through the tantrums!

Mom: "Anna, let's go get your diaper changed."
Anna: "No thank you!"

Anna is fascinated with the little potty we used to use for Rachel. She likes to take her clothes off and sit for a nanosecond before leaping up, pretending to get toilet paper and flush. Then she claps for herself, looking very pleased, and starts the whole game over again. This would be more amusing if she wasn't having huge temper tantrums when it was time to put the diaper back on! "NO thank you! NO! NO THANK YOU!"

When Ben and Rachel were out yesterday, I showed Anna some pictures and videos on the computer. There was one of her at the zoo, with Ben asking her questions about the animals. The "real" Anna sat on my lap yesterday and answered all the questions and also waved at the animals. Then she threw a fit because she heard Daddy's voice but he wasn't there. Oops.

Anna and food again

Anna loves food. Here are just a few of her food-related words:

Applesauce
Cheese stick (string cheese)
StrawbeeYES! (yes, that is what she calls strawberries)
Berries
Pizza
Fries
Chicken
Milk (but she won't drink it)
Water
More please
Cheerios
Bugger (burger - yes, we like this one!)
Fork
Forking (as in, "I am using my fork. Look at me. I am forking!")
Bun
Yogurt (but she won't eat it)
Cracker
OPEN! Open door! (No, she can't quite open the fridge just yet.)
Food
Fooding
Chippies (chips)

The other day I put a single-serve applesauce on her tray. I hadn't opened it yet since I still needed to get her spoons (yes, plural). As I returned to the table, I saw Anna trying to open the applesauce, saying, "Applesauce! Come out!"

Oops

We're getting ready to go out, and the girls are just sitting having their morning snacks. I was cleaning up the living room when I noticed a pair of (clean) underwear on the couch.

"Rachel," I asked, "Did you by any chance forget to put on your underwear this morning?"

"Oops!" she replied. "I guess I'd better go put it on."

In other news, Rachel has informed me that one of the good things about a bowl of Raisin Bran is that you never know where the raisins are hiding.

Our "first day of school"

Rachel has been amusing herself reading my "school" resource books - I picked up a bunch of little books from Scholastic a few months back that have good, short activities to do with kids her age.

The other day, Rachel came up to me all excited because she'd figured out that "we could use this book for science, Mom!" (The book in question is called "5- to 10-Minute SCIENCE Activities for Young Learners".)

Yesterday we did two of the experiments. One was predicting what would happen if we put marshmallows and chocolate in baking cups and then put it out in the sun. We used the dashboard of the van since we wanted to be able to eat the results! Rachel had a lot of fun and even willingly drew a picture of the experiment and helped dictate our hypothesis, observations and conclusion. (See?!? Science class wasn't a total waste on me!)

The second experiment was to build a bridge between two chairs, using marshmallows and toothpicks. We didn't have toothpicks, so we improvised with skinny popsicle sticks. Rachel had some really good ideas for how to do this, and she was again quite eager to eat the results and draw another picture.

This time, Rachel commented that when she put the first marshmallow on a stick, it wasn't very stable. I looked at Ben and said, "Did she really just use the word stable?" Rachel overheard me and said, "What? Don't you know what stable means?"

By this point, Ben and I were both doubled over laughing. Rachel added cheerfully, "I bet you thought it was a homonym!"

Um, yeah. This is why my kid apparently is not suited to public school Kindergarten. Plus, if she was being forced to be "socialized" (It's in quotes because I think it's a stupid word. What's wrong with saying "learning how to get along with others"?), she would have had to share the marshmallows. ;)

As it stands, the principal from the public school near us called yesterday to say that they have 22 kids signed up. He did say that they would be very likely to split if they got 24 kids, but since school starts on Monday, I'd say that's pretty unlikely. And that's apparently fine with Rachel. She's already planned out what subjects she would like to study and what she'd like to do. Less work for me...

Smart, isn't she?

Rachel just came dashing quietly up the stairs. When I told her she could have some computer time, she was very excited. She asked if she could have one "print" and was ecstatic to hear that she could.

She was quick to inform me in hushed tones that, "Just in case you didn't know, I didn't bother Dad at all on the way up here because I noticed he was teaching!"

I think she's hoping that will translate into bonus computer time or something. We'll see.

Almost 18 months old!

Ing

Anna's favourite thing to do with words right now is to add "ing" to words that she knows. Sometimes this is logical, such as the following scenario:

Anna spots Rachel with some food and says, "Rachel! Eating!"

Other times, it is utterly absurd and at the same time, extremely cute:

Anna sees a snack being served and says, "Food! Food-ing!!!"

We have also heard up-ing, book-ing and a few others that of course I can't remember.

On the subject of food (a favourite), one day Ben and Anna came into the house just as I was finishing getting a meal ready. Ben put Anna down and she heard the sounds of food being served. She zipped around the corner to the kitchen as fast as possible, yelling "Foooooooooooooooooood!" with a huge grin on her face. Yes, she does like to eat.

We do speak the same language, right?

We got a gas bill today forwarded from our old address, which made me realize that we have yet to get a gas bill here at the new address. When Ben called to figure out what was going on, the lady told him that we had asked for the bills to be sent via email. We tend to use our gmail account for that since getting people down here to understand the .ca extension is totally futile.

Well, here's the thing. Apparently, in "American" the letters "v" and z" rhyme. So the gas company heard festiZostrings instead of festiVostrings. The really dumb thing? This is not the first time that we've had this particular problem.

Zed. Zed, zed, zed, zed, zed. That's all.

Really, socialism is not a bad thing!

We called our insurance company today to check on why we had yet to receive our renewal notice for our Sienna. While Ben was on the phone sorting that out, he decided to ask our agent if we had to contact the health insurance people with our address change, or if they would do that for us.

He was told that they would take care of it, but because we have moved to a different zip code, our health insurance will go up $60/month or $720/YEAR. Apparently I now live in a zip code where more insurance claims are made and therefore I need to pay more for my health lack-of-care insurance.

We'll have to look more seriously into the (lack of) coverage offered by Ben's current employer, I suppose. The fear and skepticism of Americans regarding a national health care system just boggles my mind. I have read arguments for both sides, but for me it comes down to this:

At home, I take my children to the doctor and don't postpone appointments because I have concerns about being able to pay for it. At home, I can go to the ER with a sprained ankle and not come out $1000 poorer. Yes, at home I will eventually pay more taxes once we have a "real" income again, but I'm ok with that.

I sometimes wonder what Americans think the purpose of their government is. I can understand thinking that the government will screw things up, but quite frankly, I expect my government to provide schools and health care, among other things. No, OHIP (the free portion of my health care) doesn't cover everything, but it does cover the essentials.

I realize this subject is fairly contentious, but when has that ever stopped me before?

Captain Oblivious - A New Low

We have friends staying with us for a couple of days. They have a daughter who is about 6 weeks younger than Anna. Tonight, Rachel was in the bathroom. I asked her to finish up as she had called out that she was done. Since Rachel had declined to close the door, neither G's mother nor myself was too concerned when G wandered in to the bathroom.

We continued chatting out in the living room until both G's mother and myself simultaneously realized that there was a sound coming from the bathroom that sounded an awful lot like splashing!

We raced to the bathroom, where I found Rachel STILL SITTING ON THE TOILET as G splashed happily right behind her in the toilet water.

I'm not sure what's funnier - that G was splashing in the toilet, or that Rachel was totally oblivious to the whole thing.

In other news, the experiment of putting both Anna and G to bed in the same room was an epic failure. But at this present moment, all is quiet in the house, except for the sounds of four people typing on computers!

A long overdue rant

I am a musician. I teach music lessons. So does my husband. So does one of my best friends. Actually, so do several of my good friends.

NO, it is not our "side job" to do this. It is our main source of income. NO, playing at weddings is not our "side job" either. We do not have "side jobs" - we are musicians. And while I'm at it, NO, it's not ok to hire an inexperienced teacher for your child because he or she is "just a beginner." Would you want a Kindergarten or Grade 1 teacher that didn't go to university teaching your child how to read? I didn't think so. (We'll ignore for the moment that my child already reads. I'd still like a qualified teacher teaching my child.)

I agree that all teachers must start somewhere. Heck, when I was 15 I taught piano lessons for $7/half-hour to a girl named Brooke. It didn't last long, and I wonder sometimes if she even remembers it, whereever she may be now! By the time I was in university, I was charging $30/hour. When we moved away from London last year, we were charging $45/hour and that was still really "middle of the road" for pricing.

Yes, music lessons are expensive. We are trained professionals. (No, not trained monkeys. That will be my 1-year-old's profession to train the primates, I'm sure.) We have years of experience on our instruments, and in many cases, years of training to teach as well.

The first two questions we most often hear from prospective students' parents are:

1. Where do you live?
2. How much do you charge?

I don't think those questions are particularly relevant. In most cities, the qualified teachers are all in the same ballpark regarding price. I'll get back to that in a moment.

I think that parents should be asking how the teacher teaches, what the goals are, what the performance opportunities are, etc. I think the teacher should be able to articulate what he/she does and why it's important without feeling like a "sell job" is necessary to get the parent to cough up for lessons.

While we're at it, let's discuss the concept of the private music lesson. It is a time that is set aside for you every week. If you miss lessons, don't expect the teacher to make them up - your absence has caused a hole in the teacher's schedule and it's inconvenient to find another time, especially if the teacher is full! And even if the teacher is not full, likely the teacher had plans for his/her free time. How many parents really try to do make-up classes for any group classes that their children miss, such as dance, gymnastics, soccer, skating or hockey? I can tell you that it's likely not nearly as large a percentage as those who attempt to get a make-up for a private lesson.

Now I'm not saying that teachers should never be willing to reschedule lessons. Sometimes the circumstances are warranted. But many times, music teachers are poorly treated and not respected.

And that's not even the main topic of my rant. Can you believe it?

Let's get back to wages, the real topic at hand. When we moved down to Kansas City, I was initially surprised at the low wages charged by music teachers. I thought that maybe it was a big city thing because there were clearly lots of teachers. Then I thought that perhaps it was a case of "degreed" vs. "non-degreed" teachers. I started looking at ads on Craigslist. Some samples (paraphrased):

"Piano lessons - $15/half-hour or $20/hour" $20/HOUR??!!??!??!! What rock has this teacher crawled out from under? This was an experienced piano teacher, not a beginner or high schooler. (And speaking of kids teaching, there's a hilarious ad on the London Kijiji website right now where a 13-year-old is advertising herself as a violin teacher "just like the professionals, only cheaper". Actually, she didn't spell "professional" or "cheaper" correctly, but I suppose that's not the point.)

Here's another one: "I make lessons FUN!" Um, ok. I agree that lessons should be fun, but too often "fun" = "no homework" in a student's mind. And too often, the parents agree. "Oh, I just want my child to learn and have fun." Um, NO. Playing an instrument is hard work. Yes, we can have fun along the way, but you need to practise!

And my all-time favourite: "Violin lessons: Regular price $50/month. Summer price: half-off" Hey, lady, if you want to teach a month's worth of lessons for $25, go right ahead. And this was someone with a music degree.

Lest you think this is just a problem in Kansas City, let me assure you that it is not a unique quirk of the midwest. It happens everywhere, although I do think that it is worse here. The entire focus seems to be on undercutting the competition in order to get more students. The (huge) downside to this is that the teachers don't seem to see that by undermining their "competitors" they are cheapening their own services and that of all music teachers.

While I agree that something is only worth what you're willing to pay for it, there are reasonable price ranges and sheer idiocy. Reasonable would be offering to pay $16K instead of $20K for a new car, and settling somewhere in between. (NOT that I'm suggesting negotiating prices for music lessons. No way am I advocating that.) Sheer idiocy would be cutting your price on the new car to $10K just to get the sale back in your car lot instead of at *Dumb Darryl's Dumpy Dodge Dealership down the street.

Now let's discuss people who do teach "on the side". Does that mean they should charge much less than someone who is a full-time professional musician? I say yes and no. While I would expect to pay the concertmaster of the symphony more for lessons than I would expect to pay someone who played violin seriously but didn't pursue it as a career, I wouldn't want to see the non-professional undercutting by a huge margin. Actually, I wouldn't pay the concertmaster of our orchestra back home much of anything, but that's because I wouldn't send my child to him for lessons of any kind! (And yes, that's a whole 'nother rant.)

We have friends who also have a string trio. While all of their members have other "day jobs", they charge the same as we do for their services. Could they charge less? Sure. But I appreciate that they don't!

Let's get back to my point. I think I have many points actually, but the main one today is that Ben and I have chosen to NOT lower our teaching rates substantially in order to "compete" in this crappy market here. (And no, it's not related to the economy. Not here in yuppy Johnson County. Trust me. If skating lessons are $15/half-hour for GROUP classes, parents should be willing to cough up the measly $20/half-hour for PRIVATE lessons that I'm asking.) We have brought our rate to $40/hour (which I suppose you could argue is the US equivalent of $45 Can./hour) and, well, I have one student.

And that is another reason why we won't stay in Kansas City long term. I know it's a problem everywhere, but it's particularly bad here since the music teachers don't seem willing to work together to make the changes that are sorely needed.

*Please note that while I went to high school with a boy named Darryl who ate steak with his hands, this choice of name is in no way related to that Darryl or any other Darryl that I might know. Also please note that the choice of Dodge was deliberate. Some people (ie. my mother) might be fans of the Dodge Shadow, but others might have to disagree. ;)