A visit to the ICA

We visited the ICA (the contemporary art museum here in Boston) last week with friends and had a great time. Mr. 8 was very engaged and actually had quite the discussion with one of the people at the museum about the symbols in Shepard Fairey's work. Unfortunately Mr. 2 and Mr. 6 began to lose interest about that time so we had to head out but I hope to continue the discussion at home. The contradictory images Shepard Fairey puts in his images, especially given that the images themselves often have such historical and emotional signficance, make for a great starting off point and I hope he develops a much better understanding of modern history and how it is shaping our current history than I ever had. Given that I was a biochemistry major, I haven't really taken a history class since high school and then never really discussed anything much beyond World War II - maybe the Korean War if I stretch it. We've been doing History.com's This Day in History for the past year and I have learned so much from talking about it with the boys. Both Mr. 6 and Mr. 8 are really engaged and we've discussed everything from civil rights to the fall of communism. We've been known to pull up a map of the Warsaw Pact and watched a very young Tom Brokaw interview East Germans the day the Berlin Wall came down. We would definitely recommend it to anyone with older kids - makes for some great dinner discussions!

A Day at the Beach

Yesterday we spent the day enjoying the beach up in Gloucester. Somehow we made it to the end of July without hitting the beach which was well-evidenced by the sunburns everyone sported by the end of the day (actually we all managed to end up with those random sunburn spots where the sunscreen didn't reach - for Mr. 2 and Mr. 8 those spots were just under their eyes leaving them with handsome red raccoon eyes). Turns out we needed the inspiration of our good Minnesotan friends who know how to enjoy a good day at the beach. It was lovely to be able to explore the rocks, do some much needed saving of the planet, watch as the tide slowly went out, dig numerous engineering feats, chat in the sun, play a little frisbee without any concern for time. Around 4pm we reached low tide and hiked out to the sandbar where we found all sorts of treasures including a dead ray, a clam that squirted water at us, numerous crabs and snails. I can't imagine a more perfect summer day except perhaps one that had involved a bit more sunscreen!

On the road again

Dinosaur songs

Mr. 2 is quite the singer!

Just in case you missed the words:
Tyrannosaurus Rex was a tyrant king.
He terrorized the countryside, made the giant reptiles hide.
Bahmp, bahmp, bahmp, bahmp.

Inane conversations with a 2 year old

Mr. 2: There's poop on my finger.
Me: Let me get a wipe. Now your finger is clean.
Mr. 2: But I want to do it.
Me: Here's a new wipe - you can wipe.
Mr. 2: No I wanted to wipe the poop.
Me: No, you're not getting more poop on your finger so you can wipe it.
Mr. 2: But I wanted to wipe the poop.
Me: No...
Repeat many, many times.

India

We had a great recommendation for a study of India and I thought it would be a good thing to ease us into studying together. Yesterday we talked about life in the slums and it was good for all of us to think about how much we have. Even though we live in a relatively small place by American standards, we have around 280 square feet for each of us. In some of the most crowded slums they have only 28 square feet per person. And only 35% of children go to school we learned. Mr. 8 asked why that was.

"Do they pay taxes?" He asked. Honestly I have no idea how education works exactly in India. Families have to pay to send their kids to school but there are income taxes according to Wikipedia. I think that question needs a bit more research. I'm going to learn a lot this year.

We also started working on spanish (The boys love Rosetta Stone - it's like free computer time! What could be better?) and piano. And next week we'll add a little math and likely continue on that schedule until post-baby. After years of work, a schedule really helps me more than anyone.

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Little by little

In the past month our normal daily life has drastically changed and we're only now starting to readjust - just a few weeks before a new baby turns us upside down again. The older boys finished school at the end of June and we said goodbye to our beloved nanny and enjoyed some time with grandparents while I finished up work. Then July 1st I said goodbye to work for the next year and took on the role of full-time mom and teacher as I prepare to spend a year hanging out with 4 boys and homeschooling.

Of course I didn't actually finish work until the 7th and the older boys left us to spend a week with grandparents and then we drove halfway across the country to collect them and visit family. And then last week we trekked downtown each day for Kidsweek. It was a great week and we loved every minute but we were all pretty exhausted by the end.

Which drops us in our first week of trying to readust to "normal" life with swimming lessons and starting a little school and piano and chores. And thinking to how it will all be so different so soon.

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