'Tis the season...
And here at the G & G household that means, well, not too much. We usually visit my family during the summer and S's family for Thanksgiving, and by the time we get done with all that, we have little, if any, vacation leave to spend on Christmas. Plus, I'm not sure if we are really going to celebrate Christmas as a familial tradition. I mean, we will celebrate it, but I don't know if we will celebrate it. We haven't quite worked it out yet. S never celebrated Christmas growing up, and while I did, and it was one of my favorite days of the year, I now realize it wasn't because it was *Christmas* (Jesus Christ never even crossed my mind during Christmas as a child -- I was just in it for the material goods), but because it was a special day I spent with my family. If we celebrated Arbor Day, I'm sure I would have fond memories of Arbor Day.
But Lil' S1 already knows that Christmas means something different to most people ("Look! Look! Christmas time!" He said when we saw a big decorated tree), so we might start doing something for the kids' sake. This year on Christmas Day we are going to some friends' for dinner and then probably doing a gift exchange over Skype with my family, which seems like a decent enough amount of yuletide activity. We haven't put up decorations or bought a tree or anything like that. Dealing with pine needles and rotting tree trunks is a bridge too far at this point.
We also bought Lil' S1 some gifts this year, but S mistakenly opened the shipping box in front of him thinking it was something else. His eyes got huge as he saw a bunch of Toy Story action figures, and he went into full-on spazz-out mode: "Buzz Lightyear! Is that mine, Amma? Is that Buzz Lightyear mine? That's my Buzz Lightyear, right?! Amma, can you open it? That's mine! Is that my Buzz Lightyear? Hey! There's Woody too! Amma is that my Woody? That's my Woody, right? That Woody is mine ..." What are we going to say at that point? That bell cannot be unrung. Best just to let him have them a few weeks early and avoid a Three Mile Island-esque meltdown.
This year Christmas Eve and Christmas Day fall on a Thursday and Friday, respectively, which, at first blush, seems like a good thing. However, upon further consideration, it's probably not, because it means four straight days trying to entertain two kids, one of whom is at the age where temper tantrums still seem like a keen negotiation strategy. I'm not sure what we are going to do with our kids for that long weekend, but I assure you that going into the office on the 23rd will be far more relaxing than the holidays at home. A bunch of my coworkers will be on vacation; my workload will be light; it will be peaceful and quiet; and there are always holiday related goodies in the office. I can sit at my desk, sip coffee, eat a cookie, do a little work, eat another cookie, do a little more work, have some more coffee -- aah! -- I'm enjoying it already.
One possible saving grace is that it has been unseasonable warm here in DC, so if this weather holds, we can take Lil' S1 to the park over the long weekend. Being able to do stuff outside makes having young kids so much easier. Anthropogenic climate change might be quickly making the Earth uninhabitable for human beings, but I'll be damned if 68 degree temperatures in mid-December aren't incredibly pleasant.
In other news, S went back to work this week after being on maternity leave for the past four months. It's been going relatively well, truth be told. S's mom is staying with us again, which really helps. She's the "shutdown corner" on the baby, which allows S and I to play zone against Lil' S1 and occasionally give her mom help over-the-top (sorry for the strained sports analogy; I've been watching too much football lately). Oh, S's mom also cooks. She's a shutdown corner who cooks. She's like Richard Sherman, if Richard Sherman made really good masala dosas.
Also, I got a gym membership, which is good. Maybe I can finally start exercising regularly again. We took Lil' S1 to this sports-plex place over Thanksgiving break, where they have trampolines and bouncy houses and pits full of foam bricks and stuff like that, and I went on a trampoline and instantly hurt my back, and then I tried to climb up a rope and struggled to even get off the ground. Back in my wrestling days ("only" 20 years ago!), I could climb up a rope without even using my feet. So the fact that I could barely do the equivalent of a pull-up was very distressing to me. I'm going to start hitting the weights a couple times a week, and I'm also thinking about taking a boxing or maybe a kickboxing class. What I would really like to do is MMA (I think I could be the next Holly Holm), but I don't think they offer it at my gym.
It's nice because S has been into the gym lately, and they offer cheap childcare, so it's something we can do as a family. You know you are married with kids when your "family time" consists of you and your spouse listening to Serial on separate iPhones, while you run on adjacent treadmills, as your kids watch SpongeBob, while a 19-year-old gym employee trying to work her way through community college student supervises them.
But, we are doing pretty well, all things considered. Lil' S1 is at that age where like 75% of what comes out of his mouth is comedy gold, so you don't even appreciate how funny it is anymore. I think starting school -- real school, not daycare -- is really helping his really helping his development. I can see why Obama is so big on universal early childhood education. Of course, I have plenty of complaints about Lil' S1's school (I have complaints about everything, although I like to think of them as "constructive criticisms"), but overall I like it a lot.
One thing I don't like is that they get homework. I've become pretty anti-homework in general, but especially so for PK kids. They're just too young for it. They don't appreciate the responsibility of it yet, and obviously they can't keep track of anything, so basically homework just becomes an assignment for the parents -- as if we don't have enough on our plates. What keeping my kid safe and fed and healthy isn't enough? I also have to get him to scribble something on a piece of paper, so that we can turn it in the next morning and say he did his "artwork?" No thank you.
[Bah, humbug!]
And here at the G & G household that means, well, not too much. We usually visit my family during the summer and S's family for Thanksgiving, and by the time we get done with all that, we have little, if any, vacation leave to spend on Christmas. Plus, I'm not sure if we are really going to celebrate Christmas as a familial tradition. I mean, we will celebrate it, but I don't know if we will celebrate it. We haven't quite worked it out yet. S never celebrated Christmas growing up, and while I did, and it was one of my favorite days of the year, I now realize it wasn't because it was *Christmas* (Jesus Christ never even crossed my mind during Christmas as a child -- I was just in it for the material goods), but because it was a special day I spent with my family. If we celebrated Arbor Day, I'm sure I would have fond memories of Arbor Day.
But Lil' S1 already knows that Christmas means something different to most people ("Look! Look! Christmas time!" He said when we saw a big decorated tree), so we might start doing something for the kids' sake. This year on Christmas Day we are going to some friends' for dinner and then probably doing a gift exchange over Skype with my family, which seems like a decent enough amount of yuletide activity. We haven't put up decorations or bought a tree or anything like that. Dealing with pine needles and rotting tree trunks is a bridge too far at this point.
We also bought Lil' S1 some gifts this year, but S mistakenly opened the shipping box in front of him thinking it was something else. His eyes got huge as he saw a bunch of Toy Story action figures, and he went into full-on spazz-out mode: "Buzz Lightyear! Is that mine, Amma? Is that Buzz Lightyear mine? That's my Buzz Lightyear, right?! Amma, can you open it? That's mine! Is that my Buzz Lightyear? Hey! There's Woody too! Amma is that my Woody? That's my Woody, right? That Woody is mine ..." What are we going to say at that point? That bell cannot be unrung. Best just to let him have them a few weeks early and avoid a Three Mile Island-esque meltdown.
[This movie came out "only" 20 years ago!]
This year Christmas Eve and Christmas Day fall on a Thursday and Friday, respectively, which, at first blush, seems like a good thing. However, upon further consideration, it's probably not, because it means four straight days trying to entertain two kids, one of whom is at the age where temper tantrums still seem like a keen negotiation strategy. I'm not sure what we are going to do with our kids for that long weekend, but I assure you that going into the office on the 23rd will be far more relaxing than the holidays at home. A bunch of my coworkers will be on vacation; my workload will be light; it will be peaceful and quiet; and there are always holiday related goodies in the office. I can sit at my desk, sip coffee, eat a cookie, do a little work, eat another cookie, do a little more work, have some more coffee -- aah! -- I'm enjoying it already.
One possible saving grace is that it has been unseasonable warm here in DC, so if this weather holds, we can take Lil' S1 to the park over the long weekend. Being able to do stuff outside makes having young kids so much easier. Anthropogenic climate change might be quickly making the Earth uninhabitable for human beings, but I'll be damned if 68 degree temperatures in mid-December aren't incredibly pleasant.
In other news, S went back to work this week after being on maternity leave for the past four months. It's been going relatively well, truth be told. S's mom is staying with us again, which really helps. She's the "shutdown corner" on the baby, which allows S and I to play zone against Lil' S1 and occasionally give her mom help over-the-top (sorry for the strained sports analogy; I've been watching too much football lately). Oh, S's mom also cooks. She's a shutdown corner who cooks. She's like Richard Sherman, if Richard Sherman made really good masala dosas.
Also, I got a gym membership, which is good. Maybe I can finally start exercising regularly again. We took Lil' S1 to this sports-plex place over Thanksgiving break, where they have trampolines and bouncy houses and pits full of foam bricks and stuff like that, and I went on a trampoline and instantly hurt my back, and then I tried to climb up a rope and struggled to even get off the ground. Back in my wrestling days ("only" 20 years ago!), I could climb up a rope without even using my feet. So the fact that I could barely do the equivalent of a pull-up was very distressing to me. I'm going to start hitting the weights a couple times a week, and I'm also thinking about taking a boxing or maybe a kickboxing class. What I would really like to do is MMA (I think I could be the next Holly Holm), but I don't think they offer it at my gym.
It's nice because S has been into the gym lately, and they offer cheap childcare, so it's something we can do as a family. You know you are married with kids when your "family time" consists of you and your spouse listening to Serial on separate iPhones, while you run on adjacent treadmills, as your kids watch SpongeBob, while a 19-year-old gym employee trying to work her way through community college student supervises them.
But, we are doing pretty well, all things considered. Lil' S1 is at that age where like 75% of what comes out of his mouth is comedy gold, so you don't even appreciate how funny it is anymore. I think starting school -- real school, not daycare -- is really helping his really helping his development. I can see why Obama is so big on universal early childhood education. Of course, I have plenty of complaints about Lil' S1's school (I have complaints about everything, although I like to think of them as "constructive criticisms"), but overall I like it a lot.
One thing I don't like is that they get homework. I've become pretty anti-homework in general, but especially so for PK kids. They're just too young for it. They don't appreciate the responsibility of it yet, and obviously they can't keep track of anything, so basically homework just becomes an assignment for the parents -- as if we don't have enough on our plates. What keeping my kid safe and fed and healthy isn't enough? I also have to get him to scribble something on a piece of paper, so that we can turn it in the next morning and say he did his "artwork?" No thank you.
Actually, I take issue with homework on a larger scale, but I will have to get to that another time. Now I gotta hit the gym.
Until next time...
Homework in preschool is not only ridiculous, it's potentially harmful. I say boycott!!
ReplyDeleteI would love to boycott, but I don't think it's a fight worth having -- not with the school, but with my wife.
Delete