flea

Yesterday we did errands and grocery and bought a Christmas tree and put it up and I made a batch of gingersnaps and baked half, and baked the rest of last weekend's speculaas and made pizza, and at that point we agreed we were too tired to go downtown and watch Santa rappell off of Macy's and set off a fireworks display.

Casper came down and got in our bed, and I went up and slept in hers. First I was awakened by mr. flea, coming to sleep in Casper's bed because he felt crowded in our bed (and assumed I was in it, on the other side of Casper, and was very startled to find me in her bed!). Then Dillo had to pee (he still has to be taken.) I was still awake and congratulating myself on getting him to the potty (because as annoying as taking a 5 year old down a flight of stairs to pee it still beats changing a bed) when there were shouts from downstairs and a pause, then mr. flea called up, "It's your responsibility." (He's poop; I'm vomit.)

Casper went from asleep to throwing up almost instantaneously, and got herself and almost everything on the bed (our bed, remember), and it was an unpleasant one even as these things go. mr. flea lumbered back up to her bed and I got her changed and set up in a nest on the living room floor and stripped the bed and started the laundry, and she couldn't sleep so I started a Nature about hummingbirds (which was beautiful and fascinating - their shoulders rotate, and their wings go in a figure 8 - oh the joys of slomo cameras!). She threw up 5-6 more times over the next 3 hours, although there was pretty much nothing to throw up. She is such a big girl; all apologetic and stoic.

When Dillo got up late for a weekend at 7:30 we were still exhausted, so mr. flea took him out to breakfast, and we watched a movie, and then they came back, and we watched a movie, and then the boys went out again to get different flea meds for the cats (have I mentioned we have been battling fleas pretty hard for 2 weeks now - through one dose of Frontline on both cats, and flea-bombing Casper's bedroom last weekend, neither of which seems to have taken. Casper is terribly flea-bitten, though the rest of us are not.) Casper and I napped, then we watched another movie. (I also did 8 loads of laundry, the dishes, baked the rest of the gingersnaps, which are for the student workers I am managing, and made lasagna.

Casper seems fine and ate lasagna for dinner; she's pale and tired but not sick. Now that I am working again, I hate to lose a weekend to such things. Christmas? What Christmas?

Dillo read me the letter from his grandmother that he has posted on his bulletin board tonight. I went and got an Elephant and Piggie book and asked him to read it to me, and he did. He needed help with a very few words - now, and here, and he had trouble with a few long words. Mostly once I helped him with a word, he could read it again, although he never quite got "banana." (We read We Are In A Book.) I said, "You must be working so hard on your reading at school!" and he said, "They don't teach us reading, they only teach us math." I asked him how he's learned to read so well and he said he didn't know. He still doesn't really get silent e, but he has good instincts at word guessing and can sound out a lot, and rarely reverses letters. I'd say he's probably reading now, mid-K, about as well as Casper was reading at the end of first/beginning of second grade, and with more endurance and ease. Lucky guy, to have it come so easily.

At the library, in a staff of perhaps 150, there are women named Irma, Erma, Ingeborg, and Elna.

Cincinnati is a German city!

(I have only met Erma, and she is probably in her 40s; no idea on other ages but as they are all fairly senior positions, probably also on the older end. I got emails from Erma, Irma, and Ingeborg all in one day, and then had to go looking through the staff list for others. In related but not close enough to lead with news, there are also a Lorna and an Edith.)

Oh, and actual baby born: Margaux Joelee, to Sarah and Jody (m.).

Applications to magnet elementary schools in Cincinnati occur November 16. As Cincinnati magnet schools operate on a first-come, first-served basis, parents are now camping out outside the top schools, to get a preferred place in line for when the name-taking begins on Nov. 16. Which, you may note, is still 10 days away. An acquaintance posted to twitter from the line (in a tent? mr. flea suggested we drive by the school and see!) with the hashtag #occupyfairview. Note the inherent favoritism in this system not only for the organized and dedicated parents, but also for the parents with the resources, support, and flexibility to camp out for 10 days. What do single parents, families with two working parents, families with small children at home (which must be in a majority, as most of the camping out is for K enrollment) do? It's beautiful weather today, but generally in the low 40s overnight. Surely there is a less cruel way?

This is why my kids attend a "neighborhood" elementary school.

Just for shits and giggles, I looked into the application procedures for the magnet K-12 school for the creative and performing arts. For students entering K-3, you fill our forms and go for an interview. For students entering grades 4 and above, you fill our forms, get written recommendations from academic and art teachers, and audition. 4th and 5th graders submit a portfolio of visual art, a portfolio of writing, sing "America the Beautiful" (in the key of F), perform a short dramatic monologue (from the beginning of Charlotte's Web), are asked to turn up in a leotard (and those with dance experience are asked to submit a photo in first arabesque), and those with experience in musical instruments are asked to play.

I think getting into college might be simpler. Can we move back to small-town Georgia for the sake of the kids' education, please? Or at least for the sake of my stress level about it?

Names from the children's classes:

K (a double class): Shamar, Nathaniel, Lily, Addison, Marco, Nathan, Melody, Zubin, Megan, Lila, Telly (not a Savales - last name is not even Greek), Amere, Jahnavi, Ariah, Audrey, Samantha, Liliana, Paul, Jason, Tameisha, Christopher, Katherine, Christian, Anna, Chase, Lucas, Christopher, Angelina, Ryan, Kyra, Reese, Gavin, Cristian, Kaitlin, Adeline, Presley, Sabine, Iraj, Fletcher, Griffin, Gabrielle, Maxwell, Peter. Two sets of twins: Kyra and Reese (both girls) and Cristian and Kaitlin.

3: Zoe, Ally, Jupiter (AWESOME), William, Alexander, Marcus, Matthew, Adam, Maria Sophia, Aidan, Erin, Caelan, Madison, Nicholas, Alexander, Lauren, Adrian, Alana, Evelyn, Lila, David.

Each of my children is unique in her/his grade.

Let us begin with school. The school is a "neighborhood" public school, in a very nice neighborhood (some rentals in the zone, but houses for sale at $4-500,000 are the standard.) Judging by eye the student body is about 10% non-white, largely black but a few Asians (south and east); I have not seen a child I would guess is Latino. There are a lot of blondes; we're back in the land of the Germans! We're scheduled to get on the bus route on October 24 (there is no stop within 1/4 mile of our house, so they have to create a stop for us, and this takes 2 weeks), but in the meantime our routine is mr. flea drives us all to school at about 8:30; the kids play on the playground and I watch them (other kids start showing up by 8:45, the before-school program, kids off the buses, and drop-offs); and at 9:15 they line up and go into school and I walk 2.1 miles home.

In the afternoon I walk 2.1 miles back to school, pick the kids up when they are released at 3:35, and we all walk home. We haven't actually walked the whole thing yet. Day 1 we were 2/3 of the way home and our neighbors drove by and picked us up (on purpose - I had mentioned the bus assignment delay, and their 8 year old saw us from her schoolbus and begged her mother to come get us so they could play. Neighbor 8 year old and Casper have hit it off great guns - a sleepover is planned for tonight.) Yesterday it rained and mr. flea did the pickup, but he forgot and was late and was unreachable at work, so if it rains again I am calling Nice Neighbor and asking for help rather than spending an hour and a half trying not to panic about whether someone is picking up my kids. Today is cool but sunny and I am planning to break at the library.

Dillo is in K is a large mixed class (I think it's actually K and 1 together) of about 36 kids and 2 teachers, although one of the teacher is his primary. He seems to be doing fine, and the work is at his level, and to his interests (they are doing planets and the sun; we had a talk about why Pluto was no longer a planet this morning). He had an accident yesterday, but this is hardly unusual for him.

In general, Dillo has pretty much taught himself to read this past month. He sounds out words everywhere and all the time - from boxes, on signs, anything with letters. He hasn't grasped the Silent E concept yet, and in general tends to be frustrated that letters do not always make the same sounds, but once he's read a word he tends to remember it. SO completely different from Casper at this age, who got letter identification and sounds, but never had any spontaneous interest in sounding out words and in fact is still not very good at it.

Casper is in 3rd grade in a small classroom with about 20 kids and 1 teacher and a part-time student aide. She got off to a decent start socially - the teacher cleverly seating her next to an extremely social and outgoing girl - but has been overwhelmed and disorganized about work. She never brought the homework packet home, and I discovered last night that she had a spelling test today, but she had no idea on which chapter in the spelling book, and she seems to have lost the book (Danger Along the Ohio) that is serving as their reading and social studies text (it has never come home). The teacher has been responsive to email, so I hope we can get Casper sorted out soon. She is happy, in general, and they have started division (with Smarties) and she picked it right up, and I sent her in with $5 to buy a recorder for music class.

At home she had a brief phase of obsessively reading Dahl's Matilda (her proper first chapter book) but she has stalled out on p. 91 and I need to get her going again. Neighbor 8 year old takes a dance class that seems fine, so I think we will sign Casper up for that too. Next to look at are Girl Scouts (although she does not seem interested at the moment), and maybe Art club at school, and then when our finances settle out some kind of music lessons I think.

Every afternoon the 4 kids on the block play together, outside, at their house, and at ours (Neighbors have a 5 year old girl with an October birthday, so she is still in preschool; she and Dillo are not BFFs like Casper and the 8 year old, but they deal perfectly well). I was brave and spent 45 minutes with the parents over a glass of wine yesterday (and nearly burned our soup - gas stoves are enthusiastic!) so I am starting to get to know them.

mr. flea: What happened here? Why is this all wet?
me: Someone knocked over a cup of water!
mr. flea: Who knocked over a cup of water?
me: That fucking cat!
Casper: What fucking cat?
Dillo: *Simon* fucking cat!

We're in Cincinnati. Surviving. Facebook is for hearts and flowers, but this apartment is not as nice as our house, and they aren't bringing our furniture until MONDAY at the earliest now. (The day the packed it, it was Friday.)

We have a place to live. It's the 2-3 floor apartment of a 2-family, brick, vaguely tudor-style foursquare ca. 1910 or so. Hardwoods on 2, and berberish on 3, where there are slightly sloping ceilings. I think the kids go up there. Only 1 bathroom, on 2. Not much of a kitchen, but it has a dishwasher. W/D and storage in the basement. Quiet street, it dead-ends in unused train tracks and backs up against the Whole Foods Parking. It's flat with big sidewalks and street trees. We have 2 spaces in a garage but no back yard, and a maybe 8-foot wide front yard, and a balcony above the porch. The kids will have to take the bus to school; it's at least 3 miles. But I can walk to the nice local bookstore, and Whole Foods and Kroger, and Hyde Park square with 3 pilates studios and a post office and library. Buses to downtown stop at the end of the street.

mr. flea is leaving here Saturday afternoon and plans to stay with friends (whom I strongly suspect he has not yet contacted; I offered to contact my father and/or our mutual friends who have a guest room, but he makes his own bed, so to speak.) He can get into the house on Thursday night.

My last day at work is 9/30 and we haven't made a moving plan yet. Movers are pricey but I suspect right now we do not have the reserves to deal with a UHaul situation. I have lined up transportation for Casper to dance classes for all but the last. I need to make some calls to get a grocery solution (probably our neighbor - I can leave the kids at her house and we can shop together; we did this once before when our car died.) I can do school. I am working 4-day weeks until I finish, as well, and tonight is my last evening shift.

mr. flea has been trying to get everything scheduled as far as house stuff; he had a painter in today and is getting an estimate, and I think has scheduled the driveway-gravelling folks. There may be some porch and deck painting to do, which I can probably do, and some general yard-tidying. The porch is done and the fellow mr. flea has been working with is trustworthy, so I am comfortable with him having a couple of days worth of things he'll be doing after mr. flea goes.

I started packing things for mr. flea to take; an aerobed (and once in the house he can buy a mattress, since Dillo's is impossibly sprung and should have been replaced ages ago), the porch chairs and table (all folding), a duffel with sheets and towels and his clothes, a box of kitchen basics, and boxes and boxes for his office. The last is the most problematic - really, a lot could be recycled, but I can't make those decisions for him.

There's a lot to do. There's stuff I'd like to be rid of, but would like to get a return on; I've listed a beautiful fancy but impractical chair on craigslist, and I'd love to get rid of one of our four sets of dishes, but I suspect that will not happen. I've been culling stuff as I go through spaces and putting everything I don't want to keep in my closet, but I have to decide what to do with it. And I won't have transportation. A yard sale might just be a decent way to get people to come take my stuff. The hardest culling - of the toy bins - is yet to come, too.

You know how when you jump out of bed at 4am to throw something at the cats who are fighting, and you have a massive headrush? Apparently this time I actually passed out, because I went from standing at the top of the stairs shooing the cats down, to lying at the top of the stairs listening to my daughter ask from my bed "Are you all right?" Happily I did not fall down the stairs or hit my head, but I will have a massive bruise on my hip and a smaller one on my shoulder. Ow. This is nearly as good at the time someone knocked on the door, and I quickly got up off my bed and slipped on a pile of math homework and sprained my elbow.

Margot Paige, big sister Eva, to a former coworker.
Zainab, to a college friend, who is Pakistani-American.

I know two other women who are due to have first children any day now, but I was worried I'd forget if I waited on these!