La Leche League may tend toward the dogmatic more than I like, but they're good to have around. Here's this from my email:

> Get the word out˜quickly! Squidoo, which I had not heard of but is
> apparently a charity-promoting organization (I‚ll learn more about it
> later) is giving $80,000 to charity. They are inviting people to visit
> their web site and vote for an organization to receive $2. They‚ll
> continue accepting votes until the $80,000 is gone. That‚s it. Simple,
> quick.
>
> On the list is La Leche League.
>
>
>
> If LLL can get the word out quickly, they could get a large donation
> indeed. Ditto for the other organizations.
>
>
>
> Spread the word∑.
>
>
>
> http://www.squidoo.com/squidoo-charity-giveaway

Warning: It is hard to walk away from this. And when you do, your eyes will jump around for a while.

http://www.nekogames.jp/mt/2008/01/cursor10.html

Must go back and see if I can win again with a higher score....

Two, in fact:
Today when I arrived at my community garden plot, it actually looked like a garden. Not a weedy mess with maybe some stuff growing in it if you know where to look.
We had hit the typical mid-summer mess of fast-growing weeds and no time to do anything about it. Plus all the rain had made a huge swamp and it was hard to get a moment to work when it wasn't actively pouring. I put in a bunch of time this past week, and it's paying off.

Along with free-standing non-weed-choked plants, I have now re-planted three of the beds with salad greens, spinach, and chard. And while the viability of the seeds was questionable, I accidentally unearthed some from the bed I planted 2 days ago and they had already started to sprout!

This marks the first time I have reclaimed the garden from a weed problem and turned it back into a productive garden. Other years I've never managed to get the late summer planting done.

I would've liked to get salad greens in 3 weeks ago, to harvest baby greens for salads along the way, but I'm still pretty pleased.

I've also got a few ideas for improving the garden next year. For one thing, the radishes fall down all over the place and make a mess when they go to seed, and they really could be removed once flea-beetle season has passed, which I didn't think to do this year. They're attracting cool butterflies, but I might be able to do that with some less floppy flowers.

Woo.

Karin says I should stop being so surprised. She says Americans don't want to do anti-racism work because we like our racism just the way it is thankyouverymuch.

But... I wanted to find info on anti-racism workshops with an adventure education/experiential education twist. I googled. I didn't find much that combined the two and didn't know what keywords would work, so I just started with "anti-racism workshop" and played around from there. I found 10ish links. ALL OF THEM were in Canada, Europe, or Australia.

We went to World Fellowship, in NH (Albany, NH, actually), for a week.

First, I must share my packing coup:

At no point during the entire trip did either of us think or say, "hmm, I wish we had X, let's add that to our list for next time."

And that's with bringing all our own food and food-prep stuff. I did forget the rice, so we went to the supermarket in town and got some. We were going to town anyway, so no big deal.

Also, we are almost completely unpacked. All that remains is a small pile of Karin's clean clothes and sundries.

Woo!

We all three had a great time. It was awesome spending so much time with my sister, who Zach fell in love with immediately (he may remember her a little from the last time he saw her, in January, but now he was old enough to really get to know her). And we got some good time in with my mom, too, and with my Dad and Susan who are more frequently seen but just as much enjoyed.

It was beautiful up there. Great weather, too, which we are very thankful for.

A week was way too short.

Now Z doesn't have Gram and Clara and Popop and Sue everywhere constantly, and he's frequently talking about "bye popop," etc, but he is SOOOOO excited to have his Nadia (& family) back. Yay for good people at home as well as away.

Also, WILD BLUEBERRIES!!!!!!!! YUM!

(and, Z is suddenly food boy. he's eating! fingers crossed that he keeps it up.)

*playing with a toy car*
Z: Mama!
K: Is Mama in the car?
Z: Mama!
K: oh, Mommy is in the car.
Z: *nod*
K: Mommy is in the car, bye bye mommy! vrrm vrrm vrrm (all over Z & K's bodies)
Z: Bye bye!
(repeat a few times)
Z: Mama!
K: Now Mama is in the car?
Z: bye bye!
etc.
E: Is Zacky in the car?
Z: Yeah!
K: All 3 P---ks are in the car.
E: Should we go visit somebody?
Z: Yeah!
E: Who should we go visit?
Z: Popop!
K: vrrm vrrm vrrm (around the playroom)...

When we "got to popop's house" we visited the fire trucks (as we did on Sunday when we visited him at his gf's house) and played in the water. Those were K's additions.

Zack has found the word for one of his favorite things in the world. There is Nadia, there are moms, there is nursing ("side!", as in "other side"), and now there is STROLLER!!! He used to spend days saying "outside outside outside" and much of the time what he meant was stroller walking. Now he can be specific. And he threw three crying-real-tears fits over the weekend about having to get in the car for a short drive first before getting in the stroller.

( We have also been stroller-obsessed )

ZMP are now his official legal initials, and he is ours.

Not that he is really any more ours today than yesterday, but the legal system has put its irreversable stamp on our role as his parents.

It's not a big event to us, because since 4/6/07 there has been no question that he was staying with us permanently, and there was no more turning back for us as of the day we met him than there is today, as far as we're concerned.

We finalized in family court. I think our lawyer filed there (both surrogate and family courts have the power to do adoptions) because the weird surrogate court judge requires the home study to be done by a particular social worker and we would've had to have her come out and do another one (briefly) before finalizing. We didn't know we were going to family court until we were notified of where to show up today, and we were very thankful that we ended up in front of the one judge who we never saw with Shaya. As Karin said, we don't need to mix memories. It was odd enough sitting in the family court waiting room. Nice to have a more pleasant association with the building, though.

It is weird that we can be legally both his parents, but we can't have a legal relationship to each other. But, while we don't really define family in the same way the legal system does, it is still convenient to match up with their requirements sometimes and it's nice to be in NY where we can both adopt him together.

I really do love a good concert of political folk music.

Back when we had Chris (early 2005), Karin and I saw Charlie King and Karen Brandow performing with Pat Humphries and Sandy Opatow. That was an awesome awesome concert. Friday night was similarly awesome.

We had been ambivalent about going because as much as we love Pat & Sandy, Holly had been getting on our nerves lately. We last saw her at Clearwater last year (?) and it was the same shtick as it had been the previous time (at least a year before, maybe more). And it was old and boring and not inspiring or fun or anything. Her theatricality has never been my favorite piece, but it stood out as particularly annoying without the good stuff to balance it. We still bought her newest CD, and I think I played it twice before giving up on it in frustration and annoyance. :P

Well, she redeemed herself on Friday. She did a great mix of old and new, lots that I really liked and hadn't listened to in ages and even two that are on that newest album and now make me want to listen to it again. And the banter was actually engaging!

Some of it was about how art, including songs, can help us to digest the more complex, foreign, and disturbingg things in our world. That rang very true to me. I learned a lot more about history, politics, etc, from my parents' folk music collection (and later my own) than from school. And I wanted to be a history teacher, originally, because I wanted to use folk music to teach my students. I'd forgotten about that. It is good to have a reminder as we think about homeschooling. I mean, of course we'd expose him to it anyway, but it is different because now I'm thinking of creating curriculum specifically around folk music. I wonder if much of that has already been done and is publicly available for the borrowing/adapting.

Holly instructed the audience to each think of one tiny, managable item we could do in the next 24 hours to make peace, and do it. I didn't manage to think of one of those, but there are bigger, harder, slower changes I've been inspired to work on, so hopefully I can keep those in sight and make some progress there.

Thanks to brigadoondays for using one of her snow-day refunded tickets for one of us so it wasn't even an expensive outing. It was fun riding with you, too.

I've been frustrated lately in the world of blogging. Zachary does so many cute things, and changes so much all the time, that I can't keep track to tell you all about them. So, well, rest assured that the boy is being extremely cute on an hourly basis, even if the stories aren't making it here.

My current favorite is that he's shaking his head and saying "ohh." Well, more like "eau" as in "de toilet." He doesn't always mean it - still figuring that part out.

He's also got probably 40 words by now. Many of them are very similar to the ones I posted yesterday - bebba, bobbu, etc. Something in that approximate range means balloon, apple, umbrella, car, Becca, bottle, bubble, and probably more that I can't think of. Things similar to "outside" are slide and other side (for nursing). The guessing gets kinda confusing and a little frustrating all around, but he's pretty patient with us.

From Shannon.

What were you doing five years ago?

Packing to leave our apartment in Madison, WI, for a summer internship on a farm in Ellenville, NY, with a weekend in between at the Kripalu Center.

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?

1. Submit an offer on a house for a client
2. Other tidbits at work
3. Get dressed
4. Entertain Zack later while K's at work
5. Maybe get a little house cleaning done?

What are five snacks you enjoy?

(substitute for "enjoy": "can have" - not that I don't enjoy them, but they would not be my first picks in normal world)
1. Carrots
2. Raisins
3. Chocolate chips
4. Fritos
5. Apples

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

1. Buy up that strip mall on 2nd and Whitehall and do something good with it, including starting a Delaware/2nd Ave Community Center, at which I would employ myself.
2. Fund research on effective candida treatments (starting with holistic methods).
3. Help my sister get set up with whatever she wants to do next, and with paying off college debt.
4. Fund hospitals to provide slings to new parents, like they do those evil diaper bags full of formula. Including training nurses so they can show the new parents how to use said slings (and maybe end up using them themselves for the babies in their care).
5. Pay for K to go to grad school. If we didn't have to take out loans almost equivalent to how much we paid for our house, then her increased income after graduation would be enough of an increase in our spending money that I wouldn't use the imaginary billionaire money for daily life. Perhaps things like the occasional trip to Italy or the Carribean or something.

What are five of your bad habits?

1. Internet-related procrastination (like everyone else who did this meme). (answer stolen from Shannon)
2. Boredom eating.
3. Not putting things away or cleaning up after myself.
4. Procrastination, whether internet related or not. It deserves to be on here twice; it could pretty much be all 5 answers.
5. Carelessness when tired.

What are five places where you have lived?

1. Park Slope, Brooklyn
2. Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
3. Flatbush, Brooklyn
4. Madison, WI (East Side)
5. Albany, NY (Delaware Avenue Neighborhood)

What are five jobs you've had?

1. Assistant Teacher, New York Society for the Deaf (adult ed, life skills & ESL)
2. Retail @ Big Apple Bicycles
3. 4H After-School teacher
4. ASL interpreter (staff interpreter at relay and itinerant interpreter in NYC and Albany)
5. Homebuyer Advisor, Community Realty (3 years now! Even two was a record for me)


Tag, you're it!

This morning after his nap, Zack kept saying "outside, outside, outside, nadia, nadia, nadia, dig dig dig, dig dig dig..." Dig dig dig means the garden. So we called up Nadia's servants parents and off we went. Happy boy! His three favorite things, all at once. And some gardening work got done in both families' plots, on the side.

Z's vocabulary is expanding pretty quickly. Each day he copies quite a few words, but not all of them stick. It's hard for me to recall all of his words, but I'll try for a list of the ones he's added since I last posted:
"ah wuh" = water - he is obsessed, and constantly wants to be dumping water everywhere, including on me.
"buh" = usually bus, frequently ball, occasionally bath, block, or book. Usually discernable from context.
"bah bo" = "back in bowl" - This is a reference to a Lily Tomlin movie that K and her mom especially like (All of Me). When he was in the bowl-like infant car seat I started saying it when putting him in. It stuck, and we say it every time we put him in the car seat. On Friday he was bored while K and he were waiting for me to be done at work, so he started saying "back in bowl" cuz he wanted to get in the car and go. Too cute!
"o-fo" = phone.
"mum" = yum = food. Food other than "eesh," which has become specific to his cookies.

He really really likes his words. He says them all. the. time. It's like he wants to be asking for something just because he can. And when he's asking for something it always involves us not sitting on our asses. Which is often good for us, but the demandingness can get annoying. Watching Nadia, we're not expecting that to decrease any time soon.

Past two days he's been eating constantly. Which includes nursing very frequently overnight. Tired. :P

No, seriously.
Does anyone know anyone who might be interested in a real estate investment?

The house on the corner of our street is for sale.
The house that we've been saying since we moved to the block that we wish we could buy so it could be maintained better. It's apparently pretty nice inside, though we haven't seen it yet. But it needs new landscaping, siding, and probably some other stuff. Plus just basic decent maintenance. A shed built to contain the garbage cans, etc.

It's a 4-unit house, two 1BRs and two 2BRs. With current rents and the current asking price, the numbers work out to mortgage, taxes, insurance, some profit and some money reinvested into the property.


But we *don't* have $42,000, which is a 20% downpayment. That's what's required for an investment property. But, if we could find a responsible owner to buy it, we'd be totally psychd. Even if they're out of town, it could work, because we could manage it for a low-reasonable fee and then it would be well cared for just like a locally owned building.

Alternately, if anyone is looking for a 4-unit *owner occupied* building, even better! But none of my buyers are. The mortgage lender will require 10% down even for a first-time buyer, and not many people who can afford that are looking for this kind of property. It's kind of a good idea, but not one that most people are thinking of.

So...
Any takers?
(hey, it's worth a shot... maybe one of you knows someone who knows someone... the Albany real estate market is pretty stable and possibly slightly rising, unlike many others...)

Pretty please?

Z's been nursing for a full year as of today. Go Zach!

Shannon over at Peter's Cross Station just made a post I want you all to read. Especially those of you planning to send your kids to school (or whose kids are currently in school). Not to convince you not to send them. Rather, to let you know about an important book that you should read and use as you deal with their schooling. Namely, The Case Against Homework: How Homework is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It .

If you are sending your kids to school, currently or in the future, read this book. No, I haven't read it yet, but I will. But Shannon's recommendations are usually good and what she says about the book in this post make me want to have one delivered to every parent, teacher, and school administrator's door.

The problems I had with homework, practical and philosophical, from a very young age, were totally valid AND have left me majorly scarred to this day. misquoted and posniesd, I'm thinking that as your kids deal with homework and your philosophy about it butts up against the school's approach, this book might help.

Ok, gotta see if I can get the book through our library. Doubting it. Might just have to buy it. Will post more once I've read it.

I, like miriamjoyce and rosedrake, am not so sure about the predictive values of each of these childhood experiences. But taken as a whole, it does paint a picture. And given the results that various friends have posted compared to my impressions of their backgrounds, it seems pretty good at giving an accurate snapshot. I enjoyed oppendonnell's idea of posting her expectations for her new son's experiences, so I'll put notes in about Z as well.

---

The list below is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen,Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

Bold the ones that are true for you.

1. Father went to college
2. Father finished college
3. Mother went to college (Z, for 2 moms)
4. Mother finished college (Z, for 2 moms)
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers (Z - probably within the range)
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home (Z)
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
9. Were read children's books by a parent (Z)
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18 (Z will)
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 (Z probably will)
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively. (um, dress and talk maybe, but Z's skin color will be an issue here)
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18 (Z will NOT)
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
16. Went to a private high school (The Harriet Tubman H.S. is private, and I hope Z ends up going there.)
17. Went to summer camp. (Z probably will to some extent)
18.Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels (CAMPING! I did, we do, and Z will)
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them.
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child (will be for Z - his aunt Clara gave him some she made for Xmas, even)
23. You and your family lived in a single family house (will not be for Z - we have a 2 family)
24. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home. (yes for Z too, even before he came along - my parents didn't buy theirs til I was 8, and Karin's parents don't own. Our situation feels noticeably different from those to me.)
25. You had your own room as a child. (Z will as well, if we manage the attic finishing thing.)
26. You had a phone in your room before you turned 18. (my dad worked for the phone company. Z will probably have a cell b4 he's 18. Probably pretty young, if he does have life-threatening allergies.)
27. Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
28. Had your own TV in your room in High School
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College.
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16. (Z will as well)
31. Went on a cruise with your family
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up. (we will take Z to the state museum, at least)
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family. (we'll probably help him understand this, even if affording heat isn't a point of stress)

Should you be MALE or FEMALE?* created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Female Being mostly female by thought, a good thing in many ways: By definition it means that you are more creative, and sensitive towards your environment, enabling you to express yourself freely. Female 50% Either 46% Neither 32% Male 14%

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twinkletoze posted an AWESOME link.

Our current address:
78 out of 100

Previous address:
74

Apt in Madison:
82

Last apt in Brooklyn:
75

Previous apt, in Park Slope:
94

Apt in Boerum Hill:
92 (inaccurate. for one, "prospect car and limo" is not a park. :)

Karin's previous apt:
92

(this is a much better reason to list all past addresses than a child abuse clearance form. :)

My mom's house (south slope, brooklyn):
92

(these South Slope addresses probably have lots of things that they didn't have when we lived there. Also, I love it that bodegas count as grocery stores. :)

Karin's mom's old house (in Brookline MA):
88

My Boston (Brighton) apartment:
77