A Roller Skating Party

Montgomery was invited to her first roller skating party this past weekend. She was verrry excited at the thought of skating and eagerly looked forward to the afternoon. She'd never been on skates before, beyond a couple of years ago on the sidewalk on the little plastic adjustable kind you place over your own shoes. We spent a considerable amount of time prior to arriving at the party "managing expectations" (a term I have never liked -- I personally tend to think expectations should always be high! yet, in this situation, well...) and discussing off and on that skating is tricky and often takes several visits to the skating rink to get the hang of it. She seemed to understand. We both agreed that there would be no "I can't skate" crying.

And to her credit, there was none. I think it probably helped that nearly every child there seemed to be at the same highly novice level of roller skating ability. Many times I almost felt that we were watching a live version of America's Funniest Home Videos. It was really too funny! Most of the parents were (and this was a birthday party where I think every parent stayed -- sometimes two parents -- I think the adults outnumbered the kids!), I believe, remembering our many, many skating nights in the '80s, when roller skating was very much a norm. What happened since then? Ahhh...that's right...video games.  But, I'll stand on my soap box another time.

When we first laced on our skates (yes, you heard me right, I did say "we" and "our"), I suggested Gommy spend some time getting her "sea" legs on the carpet by rolling back and forth clinging to the skate rental counter. When she stood up after I'd tied her skates, she also quickly realized that would be a good idea.

While I laced my skates, and that took some time, she counter clung skated back and forth.  Before we could actually get on the rink though (we were, uh, slightly late), they called over the loudspeaker for party guests to come to the snack bar.  Getting from the carpet onto the slick commercial linoleum snack bar floor, carrying our shoes and coats, and gripping onto Gommy for dear life so she wouldn't have the initial horror of a really hard fall on a really hard floor in front of a really large group of people, and gripping every snack bar table on the way to ours (of course Gommy wanted to sit at the very last table at the very end of the snack bar) so I wouldn't have the initial horror of a really hard fall on a really hard floor in front of a really large group of people, took SOME doing!

So, after some pizza...

...and some singing over birthday cake...

...we headed out to the roller rink floor.  (My camera skills from this point on are notably, understandably :-) less than stable...)

Thankfully there was that nice high wall around the whole rink...

  

I think I'll just let the pictures do the talking...



After a couple of times around (the wall), Gommy really wanted to try the main area of the rink floor...so we did...

There were indeed some moments on her feet...

 ...and her Mom's arm was always nearby.  I have to say that once I was on that wooden floor, the rollerskating muscle memory from my adolescence started to come back, and I really would have liked to have zipped around the floor a few times...but I was not leaving the Gommy Girl. Somehow, however, I don't remember gripping a parental arm when I first learned to skate, but then again, I learned in our driveway before I even got to a roller skating rink, from day after day on those little plastic (maybe metal?) adjustable kind you place over your own shoes, because...well...there were no video games.

So, Gommy was true to her word and did not cry because she could not skate well yet.  However, she did cry (at the very end) because she could not skate with her neighbor-friend Mara, the birthday girl, who had clearly been to a skating rink before, and was happily oblivious to her neighbor-friend Gommy trying desperately to catch up to her at least once to skate with her on her birthday. My poor baby. There were a lot of kids there, and probably only three who could actually be called skaters, and the birthday girl was one of them.  It hadn't occurred to me to "manage" that expectation.

Nevertheless, after that final heartbreak, and a bit of recovery with a huge slab of birthday cake in the car, Gommy told me on the way home that she'd like for just me and her to come back to the skating rink more times, not at a party, so she could learn how to skate really good for the next roller skating party. I told her it was like she was actually reading my mind.

Much love. Take care. 



...and so I did return...

I've been away for far too long.  Not away from the living the life, just away from the taking the time to record and savor the journey.  Finding my way back on the grid...and why not with a sweet shot of sisterly love...

Maia's been home from college (more on her college choice to come) several times this year, to enjoy the Ravens' (Caw! Caww!) incredible playoff season here in the incredible Super Bowl winning town of Baltimore. Here, she was heading back to school, and swung by the couch to kiss Gommy goodbye.  Gommy loves this photo because when she woke up, she was disappointed she'd been too tired to see Maia off, but loved knowing Maia took the time to "say" goodbye to her.

Back soon.

Much Love. Take Care.

Hopi Wisdom

This bench, stationed outside of a visionary re-purposed industrial building in Baltimore, really needs no further commentary from me...but being who I am, well, I'll just add a few thoughts.

It sits on the sidewalk at the corner entrance to Charmington's, a unique cafe in the Miller's Court development in a transitional neighborhood in northern Baltimore City, nearish Johns Hopkins University. The building, a former tin can company, was redeveloped in great part to be a place of residential support for recent college graduates who choose to teach in the Baltimore City Public School System. In addition to apartments, it also houses office space for educational nonprofits, and, of course, the Charmington's cafe.

(For more on interesting Miller's Court, check out the following two links: http://millerscourt.com/ and
http://www.preservationnation.org/main-street/main-street-news/2009/04/baltimore-rehab.html )

Charmington's has been one of the many wonderful local meeting spots for a group of parents working to encourage our neighborhood middle school to incorporate a daily recess break into its rather comprehensive, yet overly rigorous and unbalanced school day. Sometimes it seems that we are "racing to nowhere" with our kids. Sometimes our societal efforts to provide them the best quality education swing wildly to the other side of the pendulum, and we end up "teaching for the test" rather than thoughtfully educating the "whole child." Our children need quality instructional time, but they also need time to "play" and imagine and just talk with one another...and a little fresh air wouldn't hurt either.

Working to help balance the school culture has often felt like more than I bargained for over the past year or so, but we press on...because common sense, and parent intuition, and really listening to our children, not to mention the volumes and volumes of recent relevant research, have all indicated that the short- and long-term benefits for our children are easily worth more than the sacrifice it's taking to get there.

So, at a step along the journey, July 11th to be exact, this bench gave me a bit of a fresh wind.

Let's live this wisdom of the Hopi Tribe.

Much Love. Take Care.

Game Day

Craig really loves Sunday afternoons in the fall.

After church service he cooks up a veritable smorgasbord, dons his purple attire, and 

settles in to watch the BALTIMORE RAVENS kick some football butt!

CAW! CAW!

Today he even made a purple cake...

...which Gommy was only too happy to help him decorate...

...in her own special Gommy-Girl way...

...tutu required, of course.

And of course, we didn't have any difficulty finding homes for all those slices of purple cake!

And by the way, it was the Ravens all the way today, babeee...37 to 7!

 

Take Care. Much Love.

  

This Land

This photo speaks to me on so many levels. As I think about what September 11th means to us as a nation and to me personally, my mind roams to the beauty of the American people in the days and weeks and months following that awful tragedy. My heart fills with more of the joy of solidarity than with the remembrances of grief. Perhaps I have that luxury because I did not lose anyone close to me on that day. Or perhaps I have that remembrance because we are so often a nation divided, but in the aftermath of that tragedy we were so much more a nation unified...unified in supporting each other and helping each other, and in many ways appreciating each other more.

Perhaps I have the luxury of that sentiment because I am not a Muslim American and did not experience the suspicions and backlash of that day.

Our world is very complex and there is much I cannot fathom.

The photo above is of Montgomery playing in the street at our neighborhood's 4th of July bike parade this summer. At the end of the bike parade, our local fire station opens the hose in a primary neighborhood intersection while the kids dance and play in the spray, and a local church on that corner hands out free red/white/blue ice pops to the crowd. Usually the hose is mounted on top of the fire truck (just out of view on the left of the photo) and sprays in the air at varying intensities, creating showers that sprinkle or drench. The kids love it!

This year, however, something wasn't working properly on the truck's mounted sprayer, so the firefighters took turns on the ground holding the hose for the spray action. This is by far not my best photo of that day, but it is the one that compels me to linger for a moment. When I look at this photo, I almost don't even see Montgomery in the foreground, because the scene in the background always captures me.

For African Americans, fire hoses hold many disparate memories, but often the first one that leaps to mind is negative. The horrible images, and for some, the horrible memories, of fire hoses, created to protect and defend, but so often in the 1950's and 60's used to inflict pain and preserve a way of life that desecrated the ideals of our unique nation, are what instantly leap to mind. As a native of South Carolina, that is often the case for me.

So this photo, of an African American firefighter, holding a hose on (at that particular moment) Caucasian young people, always gives me pause. And then my eyes roam to the other firefighters and the easy camaraderie their body language displays, and the relaxed crowd all around, and the mother squatting in the lower right corner to take a photo of her children...and my daughter Montgomery, happily oblivious to anything but the fun of this particular day. There are no mixed messages in her mind when she turns to see the fire hose. She is living the dream of the dreamer, and doesn't even know it: "I have a dream that one day... little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Of course, one day I will have to show her the photos and footage from the Civil Rights movement, and plant that awful fire hose imagery in her mind. I will have to do this because a people who forget their history are doomed to repeat it, and in my motherly love and protection for her, I never want her to experience a fire hose turned in her direction for anything other than protection...or a little 4th of July fun. I need her, we all need her, as part of our nation's future, to know and remember all aspects of our country's history, both the wonderful and the awful, so that hopefully, we, as a nation, will never be doomed to willfully repeat the awful.

But...

...not that day...

...and not today...

...and not this year.

There will be time enough yet for her to know the uglies of the human heart.

And, so, on this September 11th, I choose the remembrance of the unification of the American people. I choose to see the silver lining. I choose to hear over and over again in my mind the lyrics of Woody Guthrie's old folk song...

This land is your land, this land is my land

From California to the New York Island

From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters

This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps

To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts

While all around me a voice was sounding

This land was made for you and me.

And I choose to delight in a photo that speaks to me something of how far our nation has come. We have much road yet to travel...but we have progressed.

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord..." Psalm 33:12a

Much Love. Take Care.

Swinging...?

This past spring on a playground junket, I turned around

and found Johngideon like this!

So, while Montgomery was playing in the standard playground fashion...

...doing things like this...

...and this...

And I thought Johngideon was playing like this...

...and this...

I paused to inspect some crawly bugs with Montgomery,

looked back around...and Johngideon was like this...

...joyfully stuck -- and I do mean stuck -- in the infant swing!

It took me and a total stranger dad who had pity on my struggling efforts

to get him pried out...to actually get him pried out!

(There are, of course, no pictures of this comically bizarre activity,

because every limb and appendix I possess was actively and strenuously 

engaged in the prying out effort!)

So, I thought being really stuck

(and him knowing he was really stuck)

would easily communicate the lesson.

Can you believe he actually seemed ready to try it again!

What next?

Much Love. Take Care.

 

A Fun and Unusual School-Nite Dinner

Tonight we stopped by Mama Cucina's, a neighborhood Italian restaurant, for Johngideon's school's fundraising night in support of the second grade. The restaurant donates a percentage of their Tuesday night earnings to the school, so the school rallies to get as many families there as possible. We have never attended a Mama Cucina's night before, and weren't quite sure what to expect.

Johngideon had a blast! When he walked in he was thrilled to see his awesome teacher, Ms. Rice, at a nearby booth and soooooo many kids from his class with their families. It was like a party atmosphere with the kids visiting from table to table...it kinda felt like dinner with a huge Italian family. The few other patrons there not from the school were either delighted by the energy, vibe and excitement, or were bewilderingly looking around at the gaggly ruckus of young people, not sure what was going on. The food took a loooooong time to get to the table, but nobody minded and it was really good when we got it. It was a fun, unusual way to dine on a rainyish school night.

Much Love. Take Care.

An Evening of Shakespeare

Maia transferred to the Theatre Department at her school just in time to be assigned a role and an opportunity to prepare for the annual Junior Acting Ensemble Shakespeare Scenes. She was so new to the department, she wasn't sure she would get an assignment, but she did (by the way, I love those BSA educators!), and a neat one at that (at least by my "I'm not really a fan of Shakespeare in general" barometer)...she portrays Portia in a scene from Merchant of Venice...one of Shakespeare's most wonderful female characters.

While the actual Shakespeare Scenes productions are not until May, the acting students get the opportunity to "practice" their scenes at a delightful local cabaret in Little Italy: Germano's. This Italian restaurant is awesome (you have to try it when you are next in Baltimore), and the owners Germano and his wife Syl are gracious, very involved hosts who love to support the arts. Their two daughters both attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, and they have lovingly provided a venue for so many art students to perform at their Cabaret. The Cabaret is held in an upstairs dining room with warm, cozy ambiance, excellent wait service, and I'll repeat again...fantastic Italian food! The last time I attended Germano's Cabaret (with Maia), they had a number of cast members from the Broadway musical "In The Heights" singing whatever they wanted to sing for us with a local accompanist; the cast was in town for a run of the musical at our Hippodrome Theatre and Craig, Maia, Job and I had seen the show days before. The Germano's atmosphere made the cabaret evening a joy for both the artists and audience and we all just had an awesome time!

So, Shakespeare Scenes (in practice) was no different in delightfulness...only better because my Maia was performing. She was so nervous beforehand because it was her first time performing as an actor with the School for the Arts, and she didn't feel ready yet to do the scene. Can I just say that is Maia's normal process...and then she absolutely blows the performance away! We've experienced this with her in dance as well, so we've come to know that when she says she doesn't feel ready, it really means she is more than prepared by normal standards but hasn't yet reached her super high perfectionist standards.

I wasn't able to take photos during the performance for obvious reasons, but caught Maia and other members of the ensemble just before the show in an adjoining "green" room...

 and then afterwards when they emerged again for their bows with their awesome instructor Donald Hicken (far left)...

This is just an awesome group of incredibly talented kids! And they are wonderful people as well, which is much more important. Maia was absolutely excellent! (Of course I am biased -- no apologies here-- and thought she was the best of the bunch! -- sorry, Maia, I know you'd rather I not said that....but Mommas are allowed some liberties -- and I've pretty much thought you were the best of the bunch everywhere you've been since the hospital nursery!).

Craig was unable to attend (he was out-of-town and so disappointed), but Auntie JoJo and Adrian joined me and Gommy and we had such a nice evening. Gommy loved her "buttered noodles" which are just about the only thing she'll eat for dinner these days (thanks for the accommodation, Germano's), and we grown folk thoroughly enjoyed our delicious entrees as well. And, yes, taking a 4-year-old to an evening cabaret of Shakespeare is not my greatest idea of fun (however we did enjoy the "intermission" stroll outside in the night air and meeting the "cute little white puppy in the pink dress"), but that was just how the evening was stacked up for our family. All in all she did pretty well, until the very end, and that was alright by me (note the back of her in her photo...she wasn't in a picture-taking mood...but sure was silly!).

I hope to have many more evenings of Germano's, and sooooooo many more opportunities to just enjoy Maia thriving and enjoying using her God-given talents. It was a wonderful evening.

(Not sure what was going on with the date on this ticket...Hmmmm....well, what's a few months in an entire lifetime...right?  right?)

Take Care. Much Love.

Cupcake Joy

Recently seen in our travels...the awesome roving Icedgems cupcake van!

Perfect for an afterschool snack for the littles...mmmmmmmmm....yummy!

However, after dancing delightedly and excitedly with the insistence of the must-have pink cupcake, Montgomery decided after one lick that she only liked the cake part (!!) because the pink frosting didn't taste like bubble gum (!!!)...(for the record, I could have baked her some plain cupcakes when we got home!) So, all the pink frosting ended up smushed in a napkin in the trashcan...but, I guess as far as overpriced cupcakes go, it's all about the experience.

Johngideon loved every tasty morsel of his chocolate on chocolate on chocolate on chocolate treat!

Full disclosure: In their super-skippy-excitement, both Johngideon's and Gommy's cupcakes experienced a moment each of concrete pavement action...before the first bites were even taken. Who knew cupcakes were so slippery? (Or so hardy...the frosting was barely dented...they actually rolled...scary?)  We employed the five-second rule (well-known by moms everywhere!)...and a quick napkin swipe...no shame here (a little dirt-flavor adds to the ambiance of gourmet roving cupcake van sidewalk dining!)

...and "requests" for somewhat  more subdued dining movement.

And the biggers enjoyed the rest of the box of treats when they got home...mmmmmmm!

     Take Care. Much Love.

Ahh, the Gommy you thought you knew...and a sprinkling of Job!

This was originally part of my Lenten post, but upon reflection, I thought I'd like to separate the two.
I went on a field trip today...well I guess now that would be yesterday ;o)...with Montgomery. It was my kind of field trip. No sloshing through muddy fields in too brisk cold for up-close looks at odiforous (my word) not-so-clean farm animals, while holding hands with and/or running after several pre-schoolers who are not my own...can you tell I've been on one-too-many farm field trips in my past 17.5 years of parenting! (Now that I've said all of that, I'm almost too ashamed to post my wonderful photos from the Gommy girl's fall pumpkin farm field trip...almost...the pictures are just too cute and begging to be shared, so I'm sure they'll find their way onto the blog sometime.)

Back to today (well, yesterday), this was a calm, pleasant less-than-two-hour junket to nearby Goucher College to sit in a comfortable temperature-controlled, spacious auditorium to see a cute four-person musical of "Harry the Dirty Dog." It was interesting, lively-enough to keep the pre-Kindergarteners engaged, and short enough to not require any mental preparation on my part prior to attending. ;-)  We boarded the big yellow school bus (always a big highlight for the Gommy Girl!)...

...rode the ten minutes or so to Goucher, got off right in front of the auditorium doors, filed inside to our reserved row of seats, watched the starting-right-on-time show with interested delight...

...waited comfortably in our seats when the show was over until our bus pulled right back up at the door, filed back onto the bus, and arrived back at the school. True, the bus noise level was intense, but only for the ten-minute drive time. Yes indeed, my kind of field trip.

The only surprise wrench in this otherwise pleasant outing was that Montgomery was not feeling particularly like cooperating after the show was over. She was in one of her highly-challenging obstinate moods, doing things like sitting on the backs of the seats in front of us (invoking Mommy heart-failure), attempting to wander the aisle and flat-out..and I mean bold-faced... refusing to come back my way (invoking Mommy ominous eye-twitching...and not-so-pleasant whispered potential consequences)...thus the photos you see of her (the girl who lives for the flash of a camera) refusing to look my way for a picture...

 Things improved a bit when her school ace Isabella (who our family will love forever!...more on that in a future post) sat with her on the ride back to school.

They had the best time chatting in great detail about their favorite episodes of The Bubble Guppies...

...and laughing at all the wonderful silly things 4-year-old girlfriends laugh about...

So sweet and endearing...until I realized Isabella herself was also in an obstinate mood and refusing to follow basic safety instructions like "sit down while the bus is moving" and "stop playing in the hair of the child in front of you"...to the point that I actually whipped out my cell phone to call her mother (whom I personally know doesn't play that) and let them have a little chat. Fortunately, something distracted her attention and we didn't actually have to get to that point, but I found it rather amusing how very similar she and Gommy are in temperament! My sweet little stubborn Montgomery will practically "run the car into the ditch" rather than follow someone else's "driving instructions." She will see the catastrophe coming and choose -- and I do mean make an actual choice (you can see the moment in her eyes) --  to meet it head-on rather than acknowledge her error. And I saw that tenacity (albeit sorely misguided, yes) in her little buddy Isabella today...for the first time. Interesting...and yes, this dual-combination does make for a highly volatile, yet passionately fierce little friendship. But I really don't think either one of them would have it any other way.

My personal belief is that all of that raw personality and temperament material is deposited there, by God, for very specific purpose. Our job (challenging...yes!!) as parents, is not to change it or break it, but rather to help our little people hone and mold and prune and learn to use all that great "stuff" productively and passionately, but responsibly and measuredly. It's all in there for a reason...we've gotta help them figure out why...and what to do with it all. I believe it'll completely be worth the journey...but it sure does put miles and miles of wear on our "cars" in the meantime!  ;-)

Later that evening at home, to Craig's question of "How was your field trip today, Gommy?" Montgomery apparently experienced some thoughtful moments of reflective remorse and asked me, "Mommy, would you take my picture now?" 

What's a mother to do? Well, I suppose we must take our cue from God...sometimes we spend a lot of life-time refusing to look His way, but when we come to ourselves, thankfully He lovingly says...

"Sure, baby, I'd love to."

Switching gears a bit...Job got some really exciting news today...he's all smiles...(hmmm...just what does that letter say?)...

...more on that tomorrow...gotta grab a wink...or two!

Take Care. Much Love.