Packing lunches is so much more work than simply pulling leftovers out of the fridge like I did when we were homeschooling, so I'm working hard to train Jonah and Caroline to pack their own lunches. I get a kick out of watching them choose what they want for lunch. The rule is they have to have a protein, a fruit, and a vegetable. Then they can pick a snack and/or a dessert (depending on what we have around the house). Here's a typical lunch by child:
Jonah:
Protein: Varies, but usually the same thing for weeks at a time and then never again
(He went through a hummus phase and another turkey sandwich phase last school year, but heaven help you if you try to offer either of those options to him now. This week, he's been taking leftovers and eating them cold.)
Fruit: Sliced apples tossed in lemon juice or a handful of grapes
Vegetable: Almost always broccoli, but occasionally carrots with ranch dressing
Snack/dessert: Potato chips or frosted animal crackers unless there are homemade cookies
Caroline:
Protein: Salted almonds or pepperoni
Fruit: Grapes, grapes, grapes, or applesauce if we don't have any grapes
Vegetable: Carrots or bell peppers with ranch
(The one time I tried to pack broccoli there was a small revolt.)
Snack/dessert: Fig bars, fruit leather, yogurt, and/or homemade cookies
Miriam, meanwhile, either gets macaroni and cheese or whatever leftovers I'm having for lunch. Once she's in kindergarten, I can't decide if I'll start making really delicious lunches or just eat cold cereal. Maybe both!
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
synonyms
C (telling me all about school): So then, Mason*...he's the really fat kid...he got in trouble and Ms. Matthews moved him down to "think about it"!!
me: Oh boy. That sounds like quite the adventure. But Caroline, let's talk about all the ways you can describe people that doesn't hurt their feelings.
[After that, I talked for like 5 minutes and gave what I considered to be a great tutorial on how to talk about people that was accurate but also didn't add any stress or shame to how she might view herself and others. Basically, parenting is hard, but I felt pretty good about how this went.]
C: Ok, so Mason the gigantic kid with the huge belly.
me: Well, no, that's not quite what I had in mind.
C: He sometimes sits by Nate, who is very WIDE.
*Names changed to protect the young and probably delightfully huggable.
me: Oh boy. That sounds like quite the adventure. But Caroline, let's talk about all the ways you can describe people that doesn't hurt their feelings.
[After that, I talked for like 5 minutes and gave what I considered to be a great tutorial on how to talk about people that was accurate but also didn't add any stress or shame to how she might view herself and others. Basically, parenting is hard, but I felt pretty good about how this went.]
C: Ok, so Mason the gigantic kid with the huge belly.
me: Well, no, that's not quite what I had in mind.
C: He sometimes sits by Nate, who is very WIDE.
*Names changed to protect the young and probably delightfully huggable.
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Buffy the Brave
Oh, Buffy. She has always been our noisiest chicken. She's also...a bit dumb. If she gets separated from the other chickens by something as small as a tree, she will start squawking like she's been tortured. Although the longer we have her, the more I think she's lucky or just a genius.
Once, over a year ago, we heard her alarm squawk, so Jonah and I went outside to see what was going on. Sure enough, there was a hawk in a tree above her, hopping from tree to tree. I ran to the woods to scare off the hawk and her noises completely stopped. I looked around where I thought the noises were coming from, but I could not find her. Jonah and I looked for a good 30 minutes, and still nothing. I didn't see her get carried away, but I also couldn't find her. We had no idea what was going on.
Over two hours later, when I took some scraps out to the compost heap, another one of our chickens was wandering near the forest and clucking. Pretty soon, I heard Buffy and Nevyn (the other chicken) calling back and forth to each other and Buffy came out from the spot I'd heard her hours before and happily joined the flock. I can only assume she'd gone to ground to lose the hawk.
All of this is back story to explain something that happened this week.
Buffy went broody over a month ago, so we let her hatch some chicks. She successfully hatched 10 of the 12 eggs, but she's down to 8 live chicks these days. She is mean as all get out and won't let anyone near any of the chicks, so they're all running feral with her through the property. We're super impressed with her abilities as a mother, even if they're the least tame chickens of our flock.
(Case in point, I have yet to get a picture of her with them where she's facing me. As soon as she hears me coming, she takes off.)
Just the other day, I heard her ridiculous alarm squawk again. Thinking it might have been another chicken that had laid an egg somewhere unusual (the proud cluck usually gives them away), I went to investigate. It was Buffy, pacing back and forth along the fence. Alone. Buffy hasn't been alone in weeks! I was so worried.
I rushed over and scared off a hawk that was perched in the tree above her, but she was still agitated. I only saw one of her chicks, and it was huddled on the ground and looked dead. I crept closer and saw that it was, in fact, breathing. I immediately remembered the situation last year and assumed she'd managed to hide this chick. Genius Buffy! Since I could only see the one, though, I figured the hawk must have carried some of the others off.
At this point, Josh came outside. He saw another chick huddled a way off in the leaves and said, "What happened? Is this chick dead?!" As he got closer, he could see the second chick was breathing too. I quickly told him what I'd seen and my theory about the chicks going to ground. Although we were upset about the other missing chicks, the two we'd seen were the only two chicks we can tell apart from the others and the only two anyone has formed an attachment to. (One is this hideous turkey-neck chick and the other is all white in a clutch of all black chicks.)
I tried to shoo the turkey-neck chicken over to the white one and Buffy started making a different cluck and heading their way. Almost immediately, another chick popped out of a pile of branches we trimmed and piled up on the fence line and headed to Buffy. Three chicks!
At this point, we were just standing back and watching in awe. Two more chicks came running from way over at the edge of the yard cheeping like mad. It took them a while to find Buffy, but then she was up to five.
Little chick heads started popping up all over the leaves and cheeping for their mama hen. A few minutes later, Buffy and all eight chicks happily headed back to the compost to peck around at some kitchen scraps. Good work, brave Buffy!
Once, over a year ago, we heard her alarm squawk, so Jonah and I went outside to see what was going on. Sure enough, there was a hawk in a tree above her, hopping from tree to tree. I ran to the woods to scare off the hawk and her noises completely stopped. I looked around where I thought the noises were coming from, but I could not find her. Jonah and I looked for a good 30 minutes, and still nothing. I didn't see her get carried away, but I also couldn't find her. We had no idea what was going on.
Over two hours later, when I took some scraps out to the compost heap, another one of our chickens was wandering near the forest and clucking. Pretty soon, I heard Buffy and Nevyn (the other chicken) calling back and forth to each other and Buffy came out from the spot I'd heard her hours before and happily joined the flock. I can only assume she'd gone to ground to lose the hawk.
All of this is back story to explain something that happened this week.
Buffy went broody over a month ago, so we let her hatch some chicks. She successfully hatched 10 of the 12 eggs, but she's down to 8 live chicks these days. She is mean as all get out and won't let anyone near any of the chicks, so they're all running feral with her through the property. We're super impressed with her abilities as a mother, even if they're the least tame chickens of our flock.
(Case in point, I have yet to get a picture of her with them where she's facing me. As soon as she hears me coming, she takes off.)
Just the other day, I heard her ridiculous alarm squawk again. Thinking it might have been another chicken that had laid an egg somewhere unusual (the proud cluck usually gives them away), I went to investigate. It was Buffy, pacing back and forth along the fence. Alone. Buffy hasn't been alone in weeks! I was so worried.
I rushed over and scared off a hawk that was perched in the tree above her, but she was still agitated. I only saw one of her chicks, and it was huddled on the ground and looked dead. I crept closer and saw that it was, in fact, breathing. I immediately remembered the situation last year and assumed she'd managed to hide this chick. Genius Buffy! Since I could only see the one, though, I figured the hawk must have carried some of the others off.
At this point, Josh came outside. He saw another chick huddled a way off in the leaves and said, "What happened? Is this chick dead?!" As he got closer, he could see the second chick was breathing too. I quickly told him what I'd seen and my theory about the chicks going to ground. Although we were upset about the other missing chicks, the two we'd seen were the only two chicks we can tell apart from the others and the only two anyone has formed an attachment to. (One is this hideous turkey-neck chick and the other is all white in a clutch of all black chicks.)
I tried to shoo the turkey-neck chicken over to the white one and Buffy started making a different cluck and heading their way. Almost immediately, another chick popped out of a pile of branches we trimmed and piled up on the fence line and headed to Buffy. Three chicks!
At this point, we were just standing back and watching in awe. Two more chicks came running from way over at the edge of the yard cheeping like mad. It took them a while to find Buffy, but then she was up to five.
Little chick heads started popping up all over the leaves and cheeping for their mama hen. A few minutes later, Buffy and all eight chicks happily headed back to the compost to peck around at some kitchen scraps. Good work, brave Buffy!
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