I gave Haley a kiss goodnight in the bath, and came downstairs to do some work and pay some bills. Imagine my surprise when I heard footsteps on the stairs. In walks Haley in a froggy towel, the kind with the whole for her head and a hood with froggie eyes and big ears that stick up, and Felix, holding Haley's mini pink guitar.
Felix starts strumming the guitar, and Haley sings, "How much wood would a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood."
It was completely ridiculous.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Friday, September 07, 2007
Alexa turns two!
Alexa-dexa.
Xaxa.
Xaxa-doo
Xaxie.
Whatever you call her, there is no denying that she is the cutest toddler EVER. With her curly hair and goofy smile and sparkley, giant brown eyes with the world's largest lashes, she is CUTE! And chatty. OMG the kid talks like a 4 year old. And petite! She doesn't weigh much more than her 16 month old cousin who is nearly as tall as her, too. But she's damn smart and articulate and playful. Loves to hug and snuggle and is not one of those terror of a two year old who says NO all the time. In fact, she will often say, "Um...yeah!" She loves to eat, boy does she love to eat. It's pretty amazing. We celebrated her second birthday at our home today. Wow Haley was jealous and wild! Even with gifts for her. Photos on our home page, check 'em out!
Xaxa.
Xaxa-doo
Xaxie.
Whatever you call her, there is no denying that she is the cutest toddler EVER. With her curly hair and goofy smile and sparkley, giant brown eyes with the world's largest lashes, she is CUTE! And chatty. OMG the kid talks like a 4 year old. And petite! She doesn't weigh much more than her 16 month old cousin who is nearly as tall as her, too. But she's damn smart and articulate and playful. Loves to hug and snuggle and is not one of those terror of a two year old who says NO all the time. In fact, she will often say, "Um...yeah!" She loves to eat, boy does she love to eat. It's pretty amazing. We celebrated her second birthday at our home today. Wow Haley was jealous and wild! Even with gifts for her. Photos on our home page, check 'em out!
Bentley's Back to School Night
We had Back to School Night at Bentley, Haley's new school, last
night. WOW and DAMN! She's a lucky girl. What an amazing school.
All the teachers are someone you would really enjoy sharing a meal
with, they are enthusiastic, interesting, well spoken, and they all
love teaching. They love what they do and they love the kids. We heard
from the art teacher, the music teacher, the PE teacher, the Spanish
teacher and the Mandarin teacher. The French teacher was out sick. K-2
gets a trimester of each language and in third grade they choose one.
The music and PE teacher occasionally combine efforts and do movement
to music.
After that presentation, we crammed our adult asses into kindergarten
chairs in the classroom and learned all about the kindergarten class.
Each child had drawn "why I am special," and there was a sheet there
for us to draw "Why you are special" for our kids to find the next
morning. We saw the poetry book, the math book, the reading book, the
handwriting book. We learned about the specialists that have lectured
the teachers over the summer and why they think homework is not as
important - in fact, possibly damaging - as they used to. We signed up
for the many many field trips, parties, fund raisers and events. There
will be a Yahoo group and a Shutterfly account, and a cd of photos at
the end of the year. Near each kids birthday, they are the student of
the week, which includes presentations of baby photos, inviting in
someone important in their life, and so on.
To top it all of, there is free childcare (well, included as part of
the exorbitant tuition) until 6 pm every night. Haley LOVES it - and
why not! She can draw and play in the child care room, run around the
playground, or read in the library, along with all the other lower and
middle school kids. She's already made a ton of friends of various
ages. Yesterday when I picked her up at 4:15 (classes end at 2:40), I
said, "wow, Haley, you must love this!" "No, mom, I don't love it when
I cannot find Luxe and Lachelle!" Ah, yes, so many kids, so much to
do, life is so hard, little one!
I've signed on as one of 4 class parents, which means I'm the back up
if any volunteer flakes, and I get to moderate the Yahoo list. It's a
lot of time but I'm happy to find someway to be involved in all of
this.
Lucky kid, I wish I had a school like this!
Alexa is sleeping and the fambly is due at 5pm. Must shower, cook, set
up, pick up Haley and get the cake. I'm so glad to know she is happy
where she is and I can pick her up when I am good and ready.
night. WOW and DAMN! She's a lucky girl. What an amazing school.
All the teachers are someone you would really enjoy sharing a meal
with, they are enthusiastic, interesting, well spoken, and they all
love teaching. They love what they do and they love the kids. We heard
from the art teacher, the music teacher, the PE teacher, the Spanish
teacher and the Mandarin teacher. The French teacher was out sick. K-2
gets a trimester of each language and in third grade they choose one.
The music and PE teacher occasionally combine efforts and do movement
to music.
After that presentation, we crammed our adult asses into kindergarten
chairs in the classroom and learned all about the kindergarten class.
Each child had drawn "why I am special," and there was a sheet there
for us to draw "Why you are special" for our kids to find the next
morning. We saw the poetry book, the math book, the reading book, the
handwriting book. We learned about the specialists that have lectured
the teachers over the summer and why they think homework is not as
important - in fact, possibly damaging - as they used to. We signed up
for the many many field trips, parties, fund raisers and events. There
will be a Yahoo group and a Shutterfly account, and a cd of photos at
the end of the year. Near each kids birthday, they are the student of
the week, which includes presentations of baby photos, inviting in
someone important in their life, and so on.
To top it all of, there is free childcare (well, included as part of
the exorbitant tuition) until 6 pm every night. Haley LOVES it - and
why not! She can draw and play in the child care room, run around the
playground, or read in the library, along with all the other lower and
middle school kids. She's already made a ton of friends of various
ages. Yesterday when I picked her up at 4:15 (classes end at 2:40), I
said, "wow, Haley, you must love this!" "No, mom, I don't love it when
I cannot find Luxe and Lachelle!" Ah, yes, so many kids, so much to
do, life is so hard, little one!
I've signed on as one of 4 class parents, which means I'm the back up
if any volunteer flakes, and I get to moderate the Yahoo list. It's a
lot of time but I'm happy to find someway to be involved in all of
this.
Lucky kid, I wish I had a school like this!
Alexa is sleeping and the fambly is due at 5pm. Must shower, cook, set
up, pick up Haley and get the cake. I'm so glad to know she is happy
where she is and I can pick her up when I am good and ready.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
First day of Kindergarten
Today was Haley's first day of Kindergarten at Bentley. We were all very excited, but it was more like the first day of a new school than the first day of school. I had been feeling this and she actually verbalized it in the car on the way. "You know, Mama," she said, "I've been going to school for a very long time, so this isn't my first day of school, it's just my first day of Kindergarten." Smartie.
In any case, she had a great time and, partly because of our efforts, new a few kids in her class already. We had to take a shuttle from a parking lot 1/4 mile away (they didn't want to freak out the neighborhood with the hundreds of cars as is typical on the first day) and the only other kid in the shuttle was a little boy she met at camp earlier this summer. Once we arrived in the classroom, her name was at a seat at a table and she had a name tag waiting for her. Most of the kids were wandering around checking everything out, so Haley and I did that, too. Then she sat down, ready to go. It's amazing, cause that's exactly what I would have done. "Do you want to walk around more and check out the classroom some more, Haley?" "No, I did that." Her attitude was like, okay, I'm here, let's get this thing started. I feel that way so often in similar situations! A few minutes later, Mrs. Purcell said, "Give your parents a kiss good-bye and tell them to go to work!" So Haley says, "Mama, it's opposite day - DON"T go to work!" and gave me a kiss and a hug and out the door I went.
In any case, she had a great time and, partly because of our efforts, new a few kids in her class already. We had to take a shuttle from a parking lot 1/4 mile away (they didn't want to freak out the neighborhood with the hundreds of cars as is typical on the first day) and the only other kid in the shuttle was a little boy she met at camp earlier this summer. Once we arrived in the classroom, her name was at a seat at a table and she had a name tag waiting for her. Most of the kids were wandering around checking everything out, so Haley and I did that, too. Then she sat down, ready to go. It's amazing, cause that's exactly what I would have done. "Do you want to walk around more and check out the classroom some more, Haley?" "No, I did that." Her attitude was like, okay, I'm here, let's get this thing started. I feel that way so often in similar situations! A few minutes later, Mrs. Purcell said, "Give your parents a kiss good-bye and tell them to go to work!" So Haley says, "Mama, it's opposite day - DON"T go to work!" and gave me a kiss and a hug and out the door I went.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Peridot Productions
Have you heard? I started a business!
My website is live: www.peridotprod.com
My first client, Merlin Securities, has launched a new website designed and written by Peridot. You can view it here: www.merlinsecurities.com (it will have a splash flash presentation Peridot created beginning Monday). We also have created an ad for Merlin that will run in this weekend's Barron's.
Check it out!
I'm also just dying to be nominated in the Newbie category of the 1st Annual Oakland Indie Awards: oaklandunwrapped.org. Thanks! :)
My website is live: www.peridotprod.com
My first client, Merlin Securities, has launched a new website designed and written by Peridot. You can view it here: www.merlinsecurities.com (it will have a splash flash presentation Peridot created beginning Monday). We also have created an ad for Merlin that will run in this weekend's Barron's.
Check it out!
I'm also just dying to be nominated in the Newbie category of the 1st Annual Oakland Indie Awards: oaklandunwrapped.org. Thanks! :)
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Kindergarten
We heard from the private schools over the weekend.
It's been a very long process. First, we had to decide if we were going to do public or private. Our public school is wonderful until 5th grade. That is,except for my neighbor Sam who pulled her son out of 2nd grade there cause the teacher was saying things like, "Susie is reading, why aren't you?" I switched from public to private in 5th grade and it was academic and social hell until I went back to public in 9th grade. Trying to be friends with kids who had been together since K just wasn't doable. (Probably also had to do with the fact that I am a freak, I just didn't know it then!) At the time, our public high school was one of the best in the country. I'm sure that's changed. And we know that Oakland public high schools are the worst. So we decided to find one school where the girls can go and stay, ideally, a K-12.
Sure, it's a shitload of money, but we are*extremely* fortunate that my parents are footing the bill. Mom's attitude is, "what good is my money if I can't help with my grandchildren's education?" We are truly blessed and we don't forget it for a minute.
Tours began last fall. We were not allowed to even contact the schools until the fall before she started Kindergarten. So we spent a lot of mornings skipping work and visiting schools, about 7 or 8 in all. We applied to 4, which included a hefty application fee (~$75), a long application with questions on it like Why is this school a good fit for your family, How does your family value diversity, What activities does your child enjoy, etc.
Then, in January, the schools met with Haley on Saturday mornings. We called it a playdate, they called it an assessment. Haley did things like the "what's missing" game, the hoki poki, writing the alphabet and her numbers. At each school, we sat in a different room for the 90 minutes wondering what the hell was going on.
We heard that this was a particularly difficult year. Most schools had roughly 36 slots, and 18-20 were given to siblings and teachers kids first. That left about 15-18 slots for the 100+ applicants at each school. Haley was wait listed at three schools, and accepted at one. She was accepted at Bentley, our 2nd choice - an incredible school with amazing teachers, very rigorously academic. The issues we have with it are that it's not diverse, and the high school (and soon the middle school) are out in Lafayette, which means I'd have to drive through the Caldecott tunnel 2x/day. And, having gone to private school in Greenwich, CT, the idea of private school in Lafayette, CA gives me the willies! ;)
Haley was wait listed at our first choice, Head Royce. All 13 years are on one campus just a mile from the house on Lincoln b/n Hwy 13 &MacArthur. They have b&w darkrooms! They are very focused on diversity, so it won't be a classroom of rich white kids. While academically rigorous, they are known to be much more "whole-child"focused, rather than just academically focused like Bentley (although I am very impressed with the lower school art, Spanish and music teachers at Bentley). I have not visited the Lafayette campus.
In order to stay on the waiting list, Head Royce wants a written letter. I typed it up, signed it, and hand delivered it to the dir of admissions yesterday morning. I'm sure I was the first to get my letter in. She and I had a great conversation, and she told me to call again later this week before I send my $ to Bentley. There is no order to the waiting list, it's a boy/girl thing, she told me. Bentley needs a $1,900 deposit check no later than Friday before they give up Haley's space.
The upshot is that we can't lose - Haley (and Alexa, by extension) will get an amazing education either way. But I swear I feel emotional every time I drive past Head Royce I want her to go to that school SOOO BAAAD! Please send your juju!
It's been a very long process. First, we had to decide if we were going to do public or private. Our public school is wonderful until 5th grade. That is,except for my neighbor Sam who pulled her son out of 2nd grade there cause the teacher was saying things like, "Susie is reading, why aren't you?" I switched from public to private in 5th grade and it was academic and social hell until I went back to public in 9th grade. Trying to be friends with kids who had been together since K just wasn't doable. (Probably also had to do with the fact that I am a freak, I just didn't know it then!) At the time, our public high school was one of the best in the country. I'm sure that's changed. And we know that Oakland public high schools are the worst. So we decided to find one school where the girls can go and stay, ideally, a K-12.
Sure, it's a shitload of money, but we are*extremely* fortunate that my parents are footing the bill. Mom's attitude is, "what good is my money if I can't help with my grandchildren's education?" We are truly blessed and we don't forget it for a minute.
Tours began last fall. We were not allowed to even contact the schools until the fall before she started Kindergarten. So we spent a lot of mornings skipping work and visiting schools, about 7 or 8 in all. We applied to 4, which included a hefty application fee (~$75), a long application with questions on it like Why is this school a good fit for your family, How does your family value diversity, What activities does your child enjoy, etc.
Then, in January, the schools met with Haley on Saturday mornings. We called it a playdate, they called it an assessment. Haley did things like the "what's missing" game, the hoki poki, writing the alphabet and her numbers. At each school, we sat in a different room for the 90 minutes wondering what the hell was going on.
We heard that this was a particularly difficult year. Most schools had roughly 36 slots, and 18-20 were given to siblings and teachers kids first. That left about 15-18 slots for the 100+ applicants at each school. Haley was wait listed at three schools, and accepted at one. She was accepted at Bentley, our 2nd choice - an incredible school with amazing teachers, very rigorously academic. The issues we have with it are that it's not diverse, and the high school (and soon the middle school) are out in Lafayette, which means I'd have to drive through the Caldecott tunnel 2x/day. And, having gone to private school in Greenwich, CT, the idea of private school in Lafayette, CA gives me the willies! ;)
Haley was wait listed at our first choice, Head Royce. All 13 years are on one campus just a mile from the house on Lincoln b/n Hwy 13 &MacArthur. They have b&w darkrooms! They are very focused on diversity, so it won't be a classroom of rich white kids. While academically rigorous, they are known to be much more "whole-child"focused, rather than just academically focused like Bentley (although I am very impressed with the lower school art, Spanish and music teachers at Bentley). I have not visited the Lafayette campus.
In order to stay on the waiting list, Head Royce wants a written letter. I typed it up, signed it, and hand delivered it to the dir of admissions yesterday morning. I'm sure I was the first to get my letter in. She and I had a great conversation, and she told me to call again later this week before I send my $ to Bentley. There is no order to the waiting list, it's a boy/girl thing, she told me. Bentley needs a $1,900 deposit check no later than Friday before they give up Haley's space.
The upshot is that we can't lose - Haley (and Alexa, by extension) will get an amazing education either way. But I swear I feel emotional every time I drive past Head Royce I want her to go to that school SOOO BAAAD! Please send your juju!
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