Dreaming

Another cute Filip story. Every morning when he wakes up, I ask him what he dreamed about. He used to say the same thing, every day, "Horsey, was mean..."

Now he's trying to say some other things when I ask him. This morning, he said "boney cows".

I have been playing the same Bible story CD for him over and over. The first story, is called 'Pharoah's Dreams'. So, he keeps hearing that Pharoah dreamed about 7 fat cows, and 7 boney cows. So now, that's what Filip dreams about.

He's so smart! I'm going to have to kiss his brain.

Scary Movie

I rented Land Before Time 12 for Filip at the library. Since it's dinosaurs, of course he loved it. Then it got better, because Cera's (the triceratops) little sister was born. So his favorite portions of the movie were the scenes with the 'baby'.

At the climax of the movie, the baby dinosaur falls into the rushing river and can't swim. As required in scenes like this, the baby is headed straight for a waterfall.

Filip was so upset by this. He cried for me, and I had to comfort him while the baby was in trouble. Then, the disc started skipping. Not just a quick skip, we had to wait 5 full minutes for the movie to resume again. All the while, Filip is crying:

"Baby! Arde, Baby! Mommy, Baby Arde! Baby Arde!"

BTW "Arde" is Filip for 'Water'.

Finally, we get to the scene where they save the baby, and all was well again. However, through the evening, he kept telling me about the baby and the arde. I had to keep reminding him that the baby was saved.

Teaching

I went to the piano store last night. I sat in on one of the group classes that my boss taught. She wants me to be teaching some of these classes. It should be a new challenge for me to teach several children at once. I'm looking forward to it.

The program is pretty straight forward. You just go by the book they provide, and you make sure there are plenty of interactive group activities. Preparation is the key.

I've learned alot just these few times I was watching Teresa teach her class. Before, I didn't think I had control over how seriously my students took their lessons. I figured it was just a toss up on if they we're 'good' students or 'bad' students. The 'good' students would learn more, and the 'bad' students would review the old stuff more. However, after watching her teach, I realize that the teacher has a huge bearing on how seriously the students treat their lessons.

There are also practical things that I can implement right away. These would be like giving students written homework every week, and requiring them to turn it in. I also need to require good rhythm right from the start. I used to let them learn a song, and then work on the rhythm. The most important thing I am going to start is to have a lesson plan prepared in advance, instead of just 'winging' it.

So I'm excited about having a whole class to teach. I can really see how it's going to improve the caliber of my teaching ability in private lessons as well.

Mohonk

We are at our favorite place today. We left at 3:45am today and arrived for breakfast at 8:30. We decided to sneak off. I didn't even tell my Mom.

Hi Mom!! I'm sending you a post card!

For breakfast, I had a veggie omelette, french toast, eggs benedict with tomato, fresh pineapple and blackberries, toasted pecans, sausage and bacon. I shared with Filip, who ate alot! He was a hungry boy.

Filip is staying very occupied. He played with tree blocks and watched a bird in the conservatory room. He checked out a couple of fireplaces. He's also playing with a sparkly ball that I bought him in the gift shop. He's enjoying exploring the mansion.

I'm going to write some postcards today, catch up on some reading, maybe we'll go ice skating. I know JR wants to see the greenhouse.

Oh yeah this is funny. Filip saw the jar of crispy rice cakes and just HAD to have one. He had no idea that they taste like nothing. I guess to a two-year-old it looks like a big cookie. Well, now he knows. He kind of touched it with his tongue, and moved on.

Ham and other vices

Before JR had even finished his cleanse, he brought home this huge ham from Cracker Barrel. It was a really good price, and we could freeze it for later, and my Mom would want some, yada yada yada.
I love ham, but I try not to eat too much. Pork is probably the unhealthiest meat a person could possibly eat (except maybe crabs). My impression is that pigs eat anything, and require tons of vaccinations in order to be suitable food for humans. Perhaps I'm wrong, I haven't read anything about it. I still eat it every once in a while, since I don't really have a solid basis to object to it, and I like it.
So we had ham, pancakes and eggs for breakfast. I cut up the leftover ham for lunch. For dinner, I'm using the ham hauck (spelling) to make a bean soup. We have more ham I have to cook within 5 days. I also froze 3 more packages of it.
JR loves this ham so much. I try not to express my reservations about it. There's no use in taking away the joy he gets from eating food he likes.

I'm also trying to stay away from refined sugars. I get plenty of sweets with our maple syrup, honey, and molassas. So every time I have something refined, (basically every time I visit my Mom's) I try to go 3 days before having something else. Stephanie A. made that suggestion of having sweets just 2 times a week. It sounds like a reasonable limit, so I'm trying to adopt it.

JR tends to bring home the sweets. When he was on his cleanse, he brought me home 2 doughnuts. I think I spaced eating them about 2 days apart. Not bad. He also brought home this pecan/caramel fudge. I have not touched it. I'm not supposed to, until Thursday. Maybe I won't touch it at all, and give it as a gift to someone.

I don't know why he was buying all this greedy stuff, during the time he was not going to eat any of it.

I'm having such a hard time enjoying foods that the majority of the population eat without so much as a thought of what they're putting into their bodies. I could not enjoy my breakfast, because I was thinking about the refined flour in the pancakes, the vaccinations in the meat, how I used Mrs. Butterworths instead of real syrup.

The fact is, I have improved my eating habits drastically since I got married. I grew up on foods that do little for my health besides give me calories to burn. Anything good I do now is an improvement from before. I do alot of good things now. I eat sprouts that I grow myself, I make sprouted wheat bread, I drink apple cider vinegar every day, and many more positive things. So if I eat 'normal' food, I really need to just enjoy it. Stressing over it, is worse for my health than eating something bad.

So I sat down with a cup of coffee to eat with my eggs and pancakes (I skipped my own portion of the ham). JR saw me drinking it and says:

"The caffeine in coffee inhibits your body's ability to absorb minerals, so don't bother taking vitamins this morning".

Day 7 A Hungry Man is an Angry Man

JR completed his last cleanse day yesterday. Now he get's to ease back into eating food.
I noticed some good results in him while he was on the cleanse. I know you won't believe that this is possible, but he seemed more calm and relaxed this week. He no longer got moody when he was hungry. His patience level was higher too.
He started working out this week as well. Within a day or so, there was noticeable muscle definition. He looks so manly and strong! He just takes my breath away, but I digress.
His eyes look younger, and well rested.
As an added bonus, I could actually squeeze the blackheads out that were on his back! They used to be there as permanent fixtures, just teasing me to try to squeeze them out. When I tried before, they would bury themselves deeper in as I squeezed, mocking my vigilence at removing all foreign particles from his skin. Now, they're gone. What an accomplishment!

I think his plan is to be on juice today and tomorrow. Tuesday, he'll introduce vegetable broth, and Wednesday he'll begin eating normally.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

The cheap seats have a 'two for one' deal every tuesday night. So, we decided to take Filip to this movie.

I liked this movie much better than the first one. The plot is weak, but the charactors were an improvement from the last one. Basically, it's a bunch of dumb story developments to deliver hilarious pop-cult gags.

If you take the plot seriously, you'll be like "this is just a poor man's lion king" or "didn't I see this 10 times before?". So just view it like you're being entertained by the likes of Bernie Mac, Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, Cedric the Entertainer, Alec Baldwin, and that guy from 'Friends', in animal suits. It will make you laugh.