Author / Kelsey

by Kelsey

Language Games

One regret I have is our busy-ness. In my eyes, we are go-go-go and there is little time for idle activities and chatter. So, it’s somewhat rare to just talk with the kids while having no other input or distractions.

Tonight, I laid down with Cam while Joe was reading with Demi, and Cam’s curiousness was in hyper-mode. I don’t even know how it started, but for me, I couldn’t help but keep the conversation going beyond our usual school night bedtime because I love to talk about words and language. And, while I know he has a high aptitude to learn…. well, most things…. our focus hasn’t really been on language.

I believe our meandering conversation went something like this:

  • I said something about dictation and asked if he knew what that meant. He said it had to do with words. So, I said YES, but how did he know? He said because of the word dictionary which led to the next point…
  • How the English language often has Latin roots… Cam: Pig Latin? Me: No, just Latin. (Side note: Joe and I have resorted to pig latin on occasion and refuse to teach them because they can both spell and Pig Latin is all we have left for secret communication).
    • While he looks for context clues and does that in a savvy way, he also is good at making associations that I think are unbeknownst to himself… for example, a couple weeks ago I asked him if he knew what fallow meant and he said “something to do with farming.” I was blown away.
  • We talked about tonal languages because he told me he heard Chinese was difficult to learn. I gave a terrible attempted example of tones of ‘o’, but I hope he got the message.
  • He said he wanted to learn another language and then we talked about how to choose a language based on his goals. If it’s just for fun, he could choose based on difficulty level or interest in an area of the world. Or, if it’s because he wants to communicate with more people, he could consider the more popular languages. He concluded: Spanish. We will see if anything comes of this, but pairing his interest of learning Spanish with the advancements apps have had (specifically: gamification), I am hopeful he could have some success with this over the summer!
  • He asked me to teach him some new words (preferably long words) and I turned to Merriam Webster’s Instagram because I am a dork and love their account and thought that would be a great place to start.
    • First word: Triskaidekaphobia… we had fun with this one, partially because of his love of numbers. It’s the fear of the number 13! We dissected Tris (tri=three), kai (and), deka (ten), and phobia (fear) and he tried to remember all the prefixes pertaining to numbers. I explained why in American culture 13 is thought to be unlucky. Then he asked why the Padres’ Manny Machado would want that number, which is hilarious because we hardly watch baseball, but with Cam, numbers seem to stick.
    • Second word: Etiquette. He struggled at a guess with this but he remembered it from our book The Mysterious Benedict Society and related it to utensils. Close!
    • Third: Fruition. His guesses included “healthy diet” (no), and “full of fruit” which was so right on. I explained why this guess made sense and how to remember it going forward.
    • Fourth was a word I didn’t know either and told him we’d learn together: Saturnine. Neither of us had good guesses, but now know it is “gloomy and grumpy”.

I told him I’d be impressed if he could teach someone at school about triskaidekaphobia and he said he was sad the school year was ending because he loves school and his brain loves school. I know he enjoys learning (yayyyy!) and I know he especially enjoys learning in a familiar environment (aka: knows the teacher, classroom and routine), so the end of year is genuinely bittersweet for him. While the beginnings of the school year are SO tough (tears, resistance, reluctance), I know he’ll return to his love of learning with some time.

These conversations fill me with joy. Of course, language lights my fire, but excitement for growth and interest in diverse subjects is everything–it means the world is so wide open for his taking, both in the short-term and in the future when he eventually chooses what he wants to spend his time doing.

by Kelsey

Curious Brain, Smart Questions

At least once a day, Cam’s questions strike me as being really smart questions and often enough, they are beyond me and I readily admit it. At which point, we either turn to google (by “we” I mean Cam: “okay Google, show me a video of how ants lift more than their own weight!”… real question from a couple days ago) or debate the possibilities.

Tonight, for our lights-out chat before bedtime, things got deep pretty quickly based on Cam’s line of thinking and I had a moment where I felt like he sparked profoundness. I know kids, with their unique perspectives, do make adults really think, but this really got my mind spinning.

Here is how it went.

Cam: mom, I don’t think you got the whole splinter out. Can I just wait until it comes out?

Me: well, as long as it isn’t from treated wood or a tree that has oils that will cause your skin to react, I guess you could just wait. It’s usually not a good idea to have something foreign in your body.

Cam: what does foreign mean?

Me: in this case, foreign means it doesn’t belong as a natural part of the body.

Cam: but food belongs in the body and it’s foreign.

Me: well, I guess that means it is foreign, but when you eat it, it becomes a part of you.

Cam: so if you eat a donut, do you become a donut?

Me: actually, kinda, yeah, you do. Do you want me to explain what I mean?

Cam: yes.

Thus started a long conversation about how food is a major driver of your how your genes express… you can eat a donut and tell your genes to do one thing, or you can eat something else, like a bright alive strawberry, and tell your genes to do something else and over time it has an effect on how you could feel and how you might look. He seemed interested, so I attempted to explain all the things I’ve learned in the last 6 years in 7-year old terms and in the span of a few minutes. No sweat, right?

He asked follow up questions, like “does that mean cheese isn’t so great?” I responded with my thoughts on that, and naturally, Cam responded he will definitely have happy roaming cows when he grows up. No surprise for the animal-obsessed guy that he is.

I hope I kept it light enough and accurate enough for his bright mind to interpret as he wishes, but I couldn’t help but just see how far he would guide the conversation.

It was all fascinating to me, and at the end of the day, I have never in my life thought of food that way– that it starts as foreign and then becomes native to the body. It’s so profound in its simplicity. A different take on ‘you are what you eat’ but something that considers it more intimately… it almost makes you think twice about what foreign things you welcome or allow to become part of you. I guess it’s the marketer in me that is obsessing over this incredibly smart reframing of an existing idea.

He teaches me every day!

That was quite enough for bedtime talk though. Off to la la land he went.

by Kelsey

Demi Says, Ingredients

Here’s a cute one from Demi.

I work in the nutrition world, so it shouldn’t be a surprise when my kids incorporate concepts into regular old conversations. But it still is.

For example, when Cam was only two, Inny put him in the high chair and turned on a show so she could make him lunch. She asked what he wanted on his bagel and he said “protein.” Back then I was always worried about him feeling/staying full because he has always been an aggressive eater. Even still… so laugh out loud funny.

Well this time, Joe was rounding up all our sunblock bottles because the season is upon us and he asked me if two of them were okay to use. I said no. He asked why and I told him they have some of the harmful ingredients. He offered to only use them on himself and I proceeded my nagfest–loving, yes, but you know, one of those conversations you don’t let go of. Eventually we moved on.

Then, Demi asked me why we couldn’t use that sunscreen, so I explained the ingredients aren’t good for you, at which point she asked me, “Why mama, do they have probiotics?”

In what world does a 5-year old remember the word probiotics?

It is one of a million daily reminders they are always listening and watching, for better or worse.

Such a little cutie pie.

by Kelsey

Field Trips Are Back… or, First Field Trip Ever

Cam went to the zoo yesterday with his school and I was chatting with him about it last night when I realized… 3rd year of school (TK, Kinder, and now 1st) and this is the very first field trip!

I remember field trip days being something to really look forward to and not just for the destination. It was exciting to break routine, have a different lunch, ride on a loud and crazy bus and just not be at school doing the typical things, so it made me sad he hasn’t had any of them.

If you ask Joe, he would say it wasn’t all that fun… but that’s because he was chaperone in charge of five 6-7 year olds. That’s not a job I would want either. He said one kid set the pace and just kept running to the next exhibit so he had to wrangle the 4 others and just keep jogging around the zoo.

However, to the 6-7 year olds, I can confirm, it was a great time. When I asked Cam to tell me about the zoo, he gave me every last detail so much so that I felt like I was there. He talked about the sculpture outside, the reptile exhibit to the left, the 6′ Komodo dragon he wishes he could have, the monkeys that were all hiding, the microscope that let them inspect hair and feathers and what not…

Here he is demonstrating the lion sculpture at the entrance of the zoo. He nailed it.

Some of my favorite moments with Cam are when is so impressed and interested in something that he feels compelled to tell me about it in hyper detail, so I was feeling grateful last night to have field trips back on the calendar for my little ones.

by Kelsey

Earning the Mom Badge

I’ve been a mom for 7.3 years, but just recently I earned my mom badge, which is the badge you receive after surviving a truly awful parenting moment.

Let me lay the scene…

It was 6:30pm on a Monday, we were 10 days out from Christmas and 1 day out from a road trip to see great grandma. Joe volunteered to help set up a holiday activity at Cam’s school and so I was alone with the kids and my worries about being ready for Christmas–gifts for the kids, cards and gifts for my colleagues and bosses, teacher appreciation, etc. etc.! I was almost out of time.

That’s when I decided to beg the kids to be good and patient through a short trip to Target. I promised the better they behaved the quicker it would be. And mayyyybe they would get a small treat at the end.

They agreed begrudgingly and not 3 steps in the Target doors did they begin arguing, complaining and touching things.

I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. I’m tired. I’m bored. I want to ride in the cart. I want to get out of the cart. Can I have one of these? *tosses something we aren’t buying into the cart. And on and on and on.

About 40 minutes later we were rounding the last turn. I genuinely had one last “frill” to purchase for the 3 people on my team at work. I was sniffing candles, Cam was in the cart acting like it was the worst day of his life. Then it began…

Demi was touching and pushing on a tall fuzzy rug on the opposite side of the aisle, it fell over, across the aisle and hit a shelf full of candles. I was SO lucky they only clinked and shifted. But that set Demi off crying and apologizing and hugging my leg while I was trying to finish the shopping trip from hell.

Then Cam said “I don’t feel good.” And I rolled my eyes, not believing anything was truly wrong, and told him we were a couple minutes away from being out of there.

I turned away from him to continue picking candles and Cam said, “Mama, I really don’t feel good.”

His cheeks were red and got up on his knees and said “I think I’m going to throw up.”

And the poor, sweet, sick kid just exploded with vomit. Mind you, we’re in Covid times, so Cam had a mask on and he also wears glasses. So the explosion went up and out the mask and glasses. He threw both down into the cart and proceeded to heave 3 or 4 more times through the bottom of the cart.

It was so sad, but I also didn’t know how to fix the situation. I looked in all directions for an employee in yelling distance. I totally would have yelled. But there weren’t any. And fellow shoppers were pretending they couldn’t see us (that’s the holiday spirit!). I then called the Target twice following the phone tree to customer service where it dropped my call. Eventually a woman with a cart swung by to tell me they let the cashier know to send help.

I cropped out the triggering part of this photo… and you may ask why I took this photo. Well, the situation was so horrible (and we waited so long for help), I didn’t think Joe would believe me. I wanted him to know just how bad it was.

A young cashier arrived to this horrifying scene, at which point he was probably questioning his life choices. But he still helped… brought paper towels and a hand basket so I could transfer the items I STILL needed to purchase even under the circumstances. We took off Cam’s sweatshirt and mopped up his face and glasses. Then the clean-up guy came with his mop and supplies.

I apologized upside down and backward that he had to deal with the mess. I then told Cam not to get near anyone or touch anything as I held the soiled stuff in my left hand and shopping basket in the right. We awkwardly checked out and Cam said, “At least I feel better.”

Yeah, buddy. At least that!

That was when I earned my mom badge.

From there, the stomach bug swept through our whole house. That’s the first time since having kids that we have had a full family sickness. Everyone threw up for 5-6 hours and then we each spent a day achey with low energy. And it took a couple days for our appetites to come back. And, ultimately, we lived to tell the tale.

The next day, recovering in bed, after we’d all been up all night.

by Kelsey

CamO at SEVEN Years Old

We’re 2 short weeks away from Cam’s 7th Birthday so I searched high and low on the internet (one Google search and one click because I ain’t got time for much more than that!) for a set of questions that would help show who Camden is at 7 years old. While I wish there were fewer mentions of digital devices, I can’t pretend he doesn’t like them. This is my little buddy Cam in a nutshell.

  1. What do you know how to do that you can teach to others?
    How to build really well and how to play on an XBox.
  2. If you could be a sound, what would it be?
    “Ruff ruff!”
  3. What is the funniest thing that ever happened to you?
    When I fell like a starfish and I was about to cry, but then I farted and it made me laugh.
  4. What do you think your life will be like in the future?
    Good. And with a lot of treats and I’ll be really good at Minecraft. I’m going to have 4 pet dogs. I’m going to have 5 cats, 2 birds, 25 fish and a lot of computers, and make YouTube videos. I’m going to go to Disneyland a lot. I will work at YouTube and have a channel. I will have a bright green house or a bright blue house.
  5. What is the most wonderful thing that ever happened to you?
    My last birthday party camping in Inny and Poppy’s backyard.
  6. Who is your best friend and why?
    Morgan, because she was my first friend and she’s fun when she isn’t playing with Barbies.
  7. If you could choose a new name for yourself, what would it be, and why?
    Mila because that is the name of my very cute and happy puppy dog who is right next to me right now.
  8. What’s the coolest thing you saw someone do today?
    Today? Well, yesterday we went to 2 parties and one was at Heather, Travis and Easton’s house and they have a waterslide and I stacked all the floaties on the slide and I didn’t get all the way down because the floaties stopped me. It was funny and a lot of fun.
  9. How would you change the world if you could?
    I would change it so it would be exactly like Minecraft.
by Kelsey

‘Rember and ‘Retend, K?

These are Demi’s favorite words lately!

She asks if we ‘rember when…’ and wants to talk about something that may have happened yesterday or may have happened a year ago. Or, she wants us to pretend and make believe with her by going through a long list of things we are going to pretend together like: ‘retend I was I going to school’ and ‘retend it was my birthday, k?’ and ‘retend it was naptime, k?’ and ‘retend I was reading one of my favorite books.’ She confirms that we’re understand her with “K”?

That last part I blame on myself because when I want to ensure Cam and Demi are listening I often say either “K?” or “Got it?” For better or worse, they use the same devices.

Here’s Demi “retending” it is indeed her birthday at preschool and because it is her birthday she is allowed to bring a book and share it with the class.

She loves her kitchen and we often play cafe. She has a couple menus and takes customer orders, sometimes telling her customers ‘I don’t have that, but I do have…’

Demi often talks about things that happened in the past, but she hasn’t yet sorted out timing of past events, so she may say ‘5 days ago’ for something that was a year ago or if you don’t “rember” what she was talking about, she might say “no, last year”. I usually need clues to get me exactly to what she was talking about.

Quite possibly Demi and Cam’s favorite things to ‘rember’ and bring up over and over again was the time we were on a walk and Cam went running ahead of us, tripped over a paver, fell hard and flat on the sidewalk in a starfish formation (arms and legs sprawled out in all directions), started to cry, but then tooted and immediately began laughing. She asks us if we ‘rember’ when… and then she acts it out.

One of Demi’s nighttime rituals is to go through a whole bunch of ‘rember when’s’. I love it because it truly is a mixed bag of things that I may not have known were significant moments, but because she’s bringing it up, I realize it has meaning for her or caused her to reflect.

‘Retending with Barbies

I love observing her busy little brain and, even when I’m tired, I find it hard to resist doing what she asks. If she asks me to ‘retend I’m a monster and I will eat her, then by golly, I’m a monster and I will try and eat her.

by Kelsey

NYE Interviews with CamO and DemO

I saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be fun as a way to remember what’s top of mind for these little munchkins at the close of 2020. I hope to remember and do it again next year… even if there are some incriminating answers.

Name: Camden
Age: 6
Height: 3′ 11″

Actual photo of the gremlin right at this moment… jelly on his face and all.

What is your favorite breakfast? Toasted sourdough with peanut butter and jelly. Oh, I did that wrong. Cinnamon Rolls!

What is your favorite veggie? Bell peppers & cucumbers

Favorite drink? That thing at Mike and Amy’s last time we were there. I don’t know what it was but it had a gummy worm at the bottom.

Favorite toy? My arrow set.

Favorite TV show? Angry Birds

Favorite thing to do? Play Minecraft >>>insert mom sad face here<<<

Game: Battleship

Book: Walter the Farting Dog

Restaurant: McDonald’s

Place to go: Disneyland

If you could change your name what would you change it to? I don’t know.

What is something mommy says? “Cam, stop playing on your iPad”

What do you want to be when you grow up? Dad.

What are you going to do different this year than last: Not cry.

Who are your friends? Morgan, Charlee, Kaya, Miles, Benson, Olivia, Steely, Hazel, Maya, Owen & Travis… oh! And Demi!

One wish for the new year? For the Coronavirus to be over. And if I had another wish? For the entire world to be candy.

If I gave you $100, what would you do with it? Buy 4 million toys.

What are you afraid of? The dark.

_______

Name: Demi
Age: 3.5
Height: 3′4″

Actual photo of gremlin #2 who did a good job with original answers even though Cam went first for each.

What is your favorite breakfast? Toasted sourdough with butter and jelly.

What is your favorite veggie? Carrot

Favorite drink? Lemonade

Favorite toy? Unicorn baby

Favorite TV show? Sophia the First

Favorite thing to do? Shopping

Game: Legos

Book: The Elf on the Shelf

Restaurant: Burritos

Place to go: Disneyland

If you could change your name what would you change it to: Yuna

What is something mommy says? “Demi, watch a learning game!”

What do you want to be when you grow up: Mama

What are you going to do different this year than last: Not get booboos.

Who are your friends? Camden picked all of our friends.

One wish for the new year? Riding a unicorn.

If I gave you $100, what would you do with it? Put it in my safe.

What are you afraid of? Zombies

by Kelsey

COVID Kinder

We booked a long road trip at the end of August thinking it would be Cam’s 3rd week of virtual school. As such, we thought we would have the hang of it and could apply our virtual school learnings to the road.

Then, the school year was pushed back and his first day, a Thursday, fell on the 6th day of our trip.

So, as it went, Cam took his first official day of virtual Kindergarten from our Airbnb in Grants Pass, Oregon.

The first and second days were really just about meeting the teacher, learning rules and getting oriented, so they were easy to handle. But I will say it was a unique thing to be starting elementary school from a place other than our home.

Cam had a great attitude… you can even see he was cooperative for photos, which is not really his thing, so that means something too.

My mama heart bursts when I look at these photos.

by Kelsey

Saaaaaavoooorrrrrr (Savor)!

For about a month now, one of our family mantras has been “savor”.

I was watching Cam wolf down a bowl of ice cream, large bites, scooping the next one before he had even swallowed the one in his mouth, and then when the bowl appeared empty, he stuck his face inside and licked the sides.

To say Cam and Demi like sweets is an understatement.

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So, one afternoon, I asked Cam if he knew what the word “savor” meant. And he did! But we discussed what it really meant if you applied it to meals or desserts. It means to enjoy the bite that is in your mouth without thinking about the next bite. It means taking your time through a meal or a dessert so you get the most out of it.

Shockingly, this worked.

Maybe a little too well.

Case in point: Cam now will fish chopsticks out of our utensil drawer for his dessert. He’ll poke the end of it into the dessert and lick the tip of the chopstick. He’ll ask everyone around him how much dessert they have left and flaunt that he still has the most. He’ll arguably make more of a mess while his dessert turns to mush and he drags it around the house or yard.

Other case in point: Demi and I went to the grocery store the other day and it was getting toward dinner time, so we were both in need of a snack. I opened the cheddar popcorn and handed her some on a napkin while I kept the bag. I am a big fan of cheddar popcorn, so apparently I was shoving fistfuls into my mouth while I drove. Lo and behold my 3-year-old called me out from the back seat. “Maaaaaa-maaaaa! You’re not savoring!!”

I guess these unintended consequences are still better than where we started. There is rarely a meal where we don’t talk about savoring and generally speaking I think that’s a really good thing!

Acai_Cam&amp;Demi