Halloween

We did a little pumpkin carving on Friday between picking up my dad and Babs at the airport and taking off for the girl's first performance of Cinderella...




With a performance Friday night, and two performances yesterday the girls sort of missed all Halloween festivities/parties. Being Sunday, and doing our best to keep the day holy, we had a little trick-or-treating right in our own house with our friends, the Sanders.

After a delicious stew served inside a pumpkin (thanks, Em!) the kids went knocking on the closed doors throughout the downstairs...

Geoff was behind the first door and asked who would like a treat first. Everyone was very hesitant (I mean, look at him!), except Ceci. She went straight for the bag and brought out...a handful of pumpkin guts. Having been well-trained in the art of deflecting teasing she said simply, "Thanks."
Geoff jumped out of other doors and scared the pants off of some of the more timid in the group. After a few rounds the kids dumped their goods and did some serious trading. They ate to their hearts content. At the designated time we threw the rest of the candy away. They ran the stairs for about 45 minutes. And now Geoff is in trying to get them to sleep. Bless his soul.

Happy Halloween!

A visit to see my dad

While battling cancer my dad got pneumonia a few weeks ago. He was hospitalized twice and not recovering too well. This past week I've been in Utah trying to help him regain his health.

My brother Mitch, his wife Joann and their overwhelmingly adorable son came over for a visit.

Apparently I am responsible for his first belly laugh! I'm so honored! He stayed focused on this game, laughing loudly, for a good 20 minutes. (The lighting was poor but it is the audio that counts here!)



I got away one night to go to my cousin's big pumpkin carving party. It was great to see so much family in one spot.

My cousin Andy's daughter Evie

My great friend Cherstyn lives only five minutes from my dad so we went to lunch one day. I was anxious to hear about her very recent adoption of two Russian children, and the coming birth of her first baby! She handles her big life changes with amazing strength and grace. I'm always a little better after spending time with her.


Best of all was hanging out with my dad, who has the ability to make me laugh even when he feels terrible. I'm happy to report that he made a good deal of progress this past week. In a few hours I'm picking him and his wife up at the airport. They've come to see the Cinderella performances that begin tonight! Even though he is still slow moving, and on an oxygen tank, he didn't want to miss his little "starlets".

A field trip to Chinatown

Yesterday we took a field trip to Chinatown in San Francisco. We are studying immigration during the Gold Rush. In 1848 there were only seven Chinese people in California. When gold was discovered early in 1849 the news spread around the world like wildfire. The Chinese, trying to escape the economic woes and famine going on in their own country, came to California by the thousands.

Uncomfortable with the appearance and culture of the Chinese, a small designated area of the booming San Francisco was set aside for them to live (in other words, to keep them separate). Chinatown was born.

After two hours in the car our first stop was Portsmouth Square. It is the central gathering place for the Chinese living in Chinatown. There were small clusters of men playing cards on pieces of cardboard as a table surface. A few clusters of women, too. And some grandmothers watching their grandchildren play while both parents work.


The original Chinatown structures were quickly thrown together with wood. It burned down with the rest of San Francisco in the earthquake and fire of 1906. When it was reconstructed it had tourism in mind, and some Chinese architectural detail was included. Only one main street is really touristy, though. The rest is a microcosm of China with people having access to all of their needs right in this small area of the city; most speak only Chinese.

Grant street, the main tourist drag

Eastern Bakery is the oldest bakery in Chinatown

We sampled a Lotus Cake...it got a thumbs down all around

The Wok store

Bank of America blends in...

We explored St. Mary's church whose foundation came from China and bricks came from around the horn with the gold seekers. (The only building in Chinatown not completely destroyed in the 1906 fire.) It was built by the Catholics to convert immigrating Chinese.

We missed seeing the two Chinese temples because they closed before we got there.

Geoff bought the girls little boxes of "poppers"

Waverly Place with its painted balconies

Ross Alley is the oldest in Chinatown

We went to a fortune cookie factory. Fortune cookies didn't originate in China. As a matter of fact they were introduced in China maybe 15 years ago as the "Authentic American Fortune Cookie". Some think the idea came from the Chinese patriots in the 14th century who asked the ruling Mongols if they could give gifts to friends and family celebrating Mongol rule. They gave moon cakes with a message giving the date of their planned revolt. If I remember correctly, they won.

In Chinese tradition moon cakes with messages inside are still given when a new baby is born. So maybe that sparked the idea. At any rate, this factory produces 30,000 fortune cookies a day, and sells them all over the country. It is the only one left that makes the cookies by hand.

We stopped in an herb shop (the Chinese pharmacy). Fascinating. I have great respect for their approach to health and healing.

Dried scorpions? Dried crickets? What will you have in your tea?

Careful measurements for this woman's ailment

We finished our day at the Hong Kong Clay Pot which was a neighborhood favorite. It was packed with locals. We passed on the frogs and duck and went with chicken and beef dishes. The girls gobbled it up and then promptly fell asleep on the ride home. A good day.


I must admit that my research on this wasn't terribly thorough so sorry if some of my facts aren't just right!

Recollections, Part II

When we started school last year, upon settling into Geoff's parent's home, one of my students had the same challenges she had during the first year of homeschooling. I contacted an occupational therapist who worked in a local elementary school with children with sensory integration issues. She came over several times and shared some great tools I could use while trying to engage the girls. They sort of worked, but they were band-aids. I wanted to get to the bottom of things, not cover them up. So I asked around and was referred to an occupational therapist in town. While she wasn't the warmest person our child responded fabulously because all of the activities felt so good to her. We went for an hour each day, four days a week for four months. And we did daily exercises at home too. (Had time and money permitted we would have taken all of the girls to this therapy! Instead we tried to do similar things at home.) It was a very demanding time. We saw a lot of improvement but it was slower than all of us expected.

While we weren't seeing the results as quickly as we hoped we learned a lot from the activities. For example, we learned that if we pushed our girls on a tire swing with a pokey ball they didn't get dizzy because we were stimulating the vestibular system while activating the touch sense at the same time. Somehow that helped the brain to tolerate the spinning. At home we rolled the kids up in blankets, tight, and pushed down on them with pillows. We had them crab walk, bear walk, crawl and jump like a frog from one room to the next. We set up a balance beam down our upstairs hallway. We brushed their skin with a surgical brush, a paint brush, a hair brush and with stuffed animals with different textures. These activities became a main focus.

Some time around these early months I was put in contact with an incredibly energetic mom of five in Utah, with a delightful South African accent, who had taken one of her children to The Institutes for the Achievements of Human Potential in Philadelphia. This organization provides teaching programs and literature which it promotes as improving the health and neurological development of normal children and of children who have sustained a brain injury. Like any occupational therapy that trains a brain after a stroke, or a brain that doesn't process sensory information, or the brain has some sort of trauma, the exercises are similar. All seek to build the proprioceptive and vestibular areas of the brain, as well as integrate the two sides of the brain. The integration of the two sides of the brain is done by any cross-lateral movement. That is why crawling is so critical for young children. If they don't ever get the crawling movement down, or skip it all together, they will have trouble with learning later on. (More on that in a future post.)

Interestingly, after training, the brain trauma infants not only grew up having full brain capacity, but out-performed their peers in all academic endeavors! What was it about these movements that would not only help with the sensory integration issues but increase academic performance? I still had so many questions.

One day I read some printed articles in the occupational therapist's waiting room by a developmental pediatrician just 15 minutes away. The articles touched on some remaining unanswered questions and I felt prompted to make an appointment.

(Looking back, this particular child that went to all of these appointments went as a representative for all of us. Every one of us has benefited and tried to implement what these great resources taught us.)

Recollections, Part I

Several months ago I mentioned that I wanted to write some things we've learned since being here in Auburn. I am slow to getting around to it, but the impression to write them continues to nag me. Some of the writings will be in my own personal journal, but some I'm choosing to write here because maybe they might help someone as they helped our family. The recollections will evolve over several posts, and maybe several months!

(NOTE: I won't go into what initiated this learning since in the end it really helped all of us.)

Background
During our year in France, and my first year of homeschooling, I had some concerns about one of our children. I recalled a friend in Seattle telling me about "sensory integration" when sharing some of my worries about this child, which at the time I totally dismissed because it was in reference to her autistic daughter. But having no other resources during that year in France other than God's inspiration, and considering this recollection an impression in answer to some of my personal pleadings for help, I ordered a book called Raising a Sensory Smart Child. I read it cover to cover, marking entire paragraphs, and leaving notes and initials in the white space, and finding that it not only defined exactly what our child of concern was doing, but described parts of the rest of us as well! Behaviors that I thought were idiosyncratic in each of us stemmed from our body's sensory integration (or lack thereof).

Sensory integration is described as the ability to organize sensory information for use by the brain. An individual with sensory integration issues would therefore have a decreased ability to organize sensory information as it comes in through the senses. For example, if you buy a new pair of shoes you can feel (through your touch sense) that the shoes aren't comfortable, yet. But your brain has learned that with a little time the discomfort will go away and you are able to tolerate it. A person that doesn't process the sensory information well will try the shoes on and immediately kick them off, or will feel incredible anxiety until they are removed. It feels like spiders are crawling all over their feet and they want them off, NOW! Their brain doesn't log in or remember experiences as being familiar or "normal". Every sensation of similar touch ignites a fight or flight sensation. The same child may crave deep tickling or strong hugs because the deep pressure is calming, in contrast to the light touch sensations.

The same goes for all other senses, too. With auditory processing, for example, one child hears every single sound at once (the fan, the silverware clanking on plates, shoes clicking on a wood floor, the tempo of distant music and a nearby fountain) and will feel overwhelmed by the noise, while another may seek out noise (speak with an unusually loud voice, play music loudly, constantly sing or hum, or bang tables or plates with their hands or silverware). One takes in too much sensory information while the other not enough. We happen to have a few of each of these which makes for an interesting family dynamic!


Is there anything one can do to develop sensory integration? Yes, the younger the better but its never too late. There are two main functions in the brain to focus on, the proprioceptive system and the vestibular system. The proprioceptive system helps us locate our bodies in space. If a child falls easily, bumps into things, knocks things over, leans back in a chair, and/or has a difficult time sitting still (among other things) they could use some help building their proprioceptive system. Activities to build this system might include jumping, pushing, pulling, carrying weighted objects, climbing, squeezing, hanging, stirring, kneading, etc. (While there is much more information online than I am describing here, hopefully you get a general idea.)

The vestibular system is located in the inner ear. It responds to movement and gravity and is therefore involved with our sense of balance, coordination and eye movements. Activities to help stimulate this system can include hanging upside down, rocking chairs, swings, spinning, rolling, somersaulting, cartwheels, balance beams and dancing. All these activities involve the head moving in different ways that stimulate the vestibular system. All things children naturally love to do unless their system is underdeveloped in which case they may avoid these movements.

This is a continuum, of course, with mild symptoms on one end (we all probably see a few of these in ourselves) and severe autism on the other. Last night we watched a rented movie about Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who educated the world about what it was like to be autistic (an excellent movie well worth seeing). While our kids aren't autistic, understanding how she sensed the world was familiar.

A word about nutrition: people with sensory integration issues are often intolerant to wheat and dairy. These foods exacerbate the symptoms. Sugar is also a trigger food. Removing these foods is a big adjustment but helps tremendously.

During our months in France I did the best I could to incorporate the right activities into our lives, but I felt I needed a little more help and guidance. While I was anxious for further help I knew I would have to wait until we settled somewhere to look for a pediatric occupational therapist, the first professional I wanted to work with. When it became obvious that we were staying in Auburn until further notice I started asking around and...my understanding really started picking up speed.

Sutter's Mill

Friday we went to Sutter's Mill to learn where and how gold was discovered.

A replica of Sutter's mill

Then the girls tried their own luck. The specks of fool's gold kept them looking for quite awhile but like most 49ers they realized it wasn't so easy to find...

If you are interested there is a really fun chapter book for kids on the Gold Rush called By the Great Horn Spoon. It is so much fun I would recommend reading it out loud as a family so you don't miss it yourselves. It fits in a lot of historical details, too.

Catching up...

Does anyone even look at this blog anymore? It feels I've been absent for months! These have been busy weeks. Not with anything special, just life as a homeschooling family! We've got a pretty good schedule going, which is thankfully flexible because we have plenty of disruptions to our daily "routine"!

Ceci and Bailey started a great gymnastics program. The instructor gives a great workout in the form of games. A perfect find.

Adele will be starting up horse lessons in a month or two; she is counting the days!

Tennie is part of a coop that meets once a week to do some creative writing on top of some logic, Latin, calligraphy and physics. It is a great group of kids, and a very dedicated mom. Tennie also auditioned for a children's choir this week, and was welcomed in. The conductor of this choir is the fairy god mother in person. She is so positive with the kids, yet expects exactness in both behavior and voice discipline. Her walking and talking is more like dancing and singing. She is a marvel of a woman and we're so grateful that Tennie will have the privilege of her influence. Tennie wants to take ballet (en route to folk, Irish or other forms of dancing that require some initial technique training first), but we'll see if that fits in this fall.

All of the girls are continuing a knitting project one afternoon a week, and are approaching the final weeks before their Cinderella performance. That means rehearsals are longer and more frequent through the end of the month. In the next month or so we're hoping to get French and piano up and going and then we'll have all of our plates spinning in the air!

Our schedule is a happy busy, a deliberate and carefully selected busy. When it stops being fun and takes away from the slower pace we all function so well with then we'll back off. For now it seems to be the right amount.

The perfectly focused and engaged children I described during the first week became a little more normal. But I find that if the rhythm of the day includes physical, musical, artistic and mental focused time they do pretty well. They sure are quick to let me know (through their attention levels) when they are ready for a change of some sort! Figuring that out keeps me on my toes.

We made a model of the layers of the earth with playdough

We've had a few funny things happen that I'll write for laughs in future years...excuse me if we're the only ones who think these incidences are funny...

Last weekend I took all the girls (including Bailey) to the bathroom in Whole Foods. They were all very "lively" to say the least. When we walked in the bathroom all four of them disappeared into the two stalls while I waited. There was a lot of happy chatter. I tried to remind them why we were in there... Meanwhile a line formed. Finally Adele and Bailey came out leaving Ceci in one stall and Tennie in the other. Upon leaving the stall they noticed three high school girls dressed in fancy gowns waiting for their turn to use the bathroom. Their eyes were glued. They tried to wash their hands but their eyes did not leave the girls; their hands were missing the stream of water. What shoes were they wearing? Did they have on panty hose? What color are their dresses? Do they have sleeves? How short are the dresses? How are they wearing their hair? Do they have bangs? Is it curly or straight? Are they wearing make-up? What color of lipstick? Do they have jewelry on? How much? Normally I would stop such staring but the moment was too perfect. They both stood there facing the girls, hands dripping, mouths open, speechless. Tennie came out of the stall and immediately noticed the girls but tried to be a little more restrained by staring at them in the mirror. She, too, had all the same questions. And as Tennie was finishing washing her hands Ceci opened the door of her stall and at first sight exclaimed, indiscreetly, "WHOOOA!" The lady next in line and I laughed, then I went on to help Ceci focus on washing her hands while Tennie joined the first two in staring and asked, "Are you guys part of a wedding?" No, they were going to Homecoming. As I tried to usher them out of the now crowded bathroom Ceci yelled over her shoulder, "BYE BEAUTIOS!"

What we found when we went to check on Ceci one night before going to bed

A month or so ago I had a sun-induced cold sore. One morning I told the girls I was excited for it to go away. Ceci said consolingly, "Well I think you are prettier than a yucky, old, shaggy ol' thing."

One day while driving to the park we saw a mama and baby deer just off the road. The baby darted off across the field as we drove by; the mama stood and stared. Adele quipped, "That mama is probably saying, 'Baby, learn how to be a good deer, now freeze!'" Adele has impeccable timing with her humor.