Tippy Toes and Tantrums

The Only Thing Sliding is Bedtime

Summer lawn mowers - the white dots are goats

Right before summer break, I make an annual trip to a local teacher's supply store to stock up on craft supplies, wide lined paper, pencil grips and other tools to get us through the summer. As I paid, a display of summer bridge books caught my eye and I almost went to go pick one up, but then I thought that Clover's only six, so there's not a lot of pertinent information that I need to worry about her losing over the summer, especially since she spends every spare moment with her nose buried in a book.

After seeing the books, I started hearing or reading about the feared summer slide almost everywhere I went and consequently my fear grew with the more I read until I finally stopped to think about it. Clover loves to read and write, so that's safe, math could be a worry, but she's been playing math games online that help. I could only think of one area of concern: Spanish. Of course this is the hardest place to help her as my two years in high school don't make me exactly fluent or even conversationally capable. (But I can make sure food doesn't contain cheese, which comes in handy when you're in Spain with your lactose intolerant husband. Also the cashiers speak to me in Spanish at the Latino market and I take that as a huge compliment to mean that I look bilingual even if the cashiers are really just playing the odds since most people shopping there speak Spanish.)

Clover's in a summer Spanish class, but she isn't thrilled about it. In the Spring, I gave her the catalog of summer classes offered at her school and she picked a few like organic gardening, an animals class, and how to put together a newspaper. She ignored Spanish, but I didn't. About a week ago she asked, inadvertently using the casual voice of the annoying boss from Office Space,  "Ummm, who signed me up for Spanish?" I responded with "me," and she said, "Ummm, yeaaahhh. I don't remember picking Spanish out." "You didn't. I did." "Oookkaay, see I didn't want Spanish." "It was non negotiable." She concluded with a long, pained sigh and walked out of the room with her shoulder slumped.

Crisis averted for this year, but I assume the problem gets bigger as the kids get older and learn more complicated information during the school year that they don't want to practice during the summer. Clover has a little quirk that I hope she doesn't outgrow for a long time: she loves workbooks. When those chunky workbooks show up a few times a year at Costco, I always buy one or two (her grade and the grade ahead) and I buy more from Amazon when needed. She thinks they're a fun way to spend an afternoon and I'm not about to point out the super nerdiness of it all.

The key to Clover's love of workbooks and reading is that it isn't required. I love that her school doesn't have homework in the early years and they certainly don't have summer work either. Without anything required of her, workbooks and reading are simply fun. Clover likes Spanish class, especially the activities like cooking and pinata making, even if she doesn't always want to acknowledge it. She announced after school the other day that she was going to make us empanadas for dinner. Que? However, the only thing that makes her sour about Spanish is that I'm making her do it. To her, it's forced upon her, so inherently less fun.

Until ineffective, during summer breaks we will continue to use our school year approach of striving to make learning fun and engaging.  Now if I can only make potty training fun, then Rocket will be on his way.

The Best (Okay, Only) Kiwi Lunch I've Ever Had

After two and a half days of the flu and eating nothing but a handful of Saltines and a little Sprite, I was finally better. While pretty much any solid food would have been welcomed once the flu had passed, I was treated to an amazing lunch at Calafia, one of my favorite restaurants, that was so good it may never be replicated. Since the lunch, I've found myself daydreaming about kiwi popsicles and bee pollen smoothies. It was that good. And because Rocket was at home with nonnie, I was free to relax and enjoy the first three hour lunch I've had since becoming a mom. It was heaven.

The lunch was courtesy of Zespri, a collective of New Zealand kiwi growers, which is sponsoring a recipe contest (more on that below), therefore the menu was kiwi-centric. A friend giggled when I told her I went to a kiwi-centric lunch, but not only was it excellent, I realized kiwis can do much more than be peeled, sliced and eaten straight. Soon after I learned that peeling and slicing for wussies and there's such a thing as a spife (the spoon-knife cousin of the spork) and kiwis can quickly be cut in half and then cut into easy to scoop out chunks, making it portable food.

After the smoothie, Calafia Owner/Chef Charlie Ayers (commonly known as the Google Chef from his former gig), served kiwi gazpacho with lump crab meat and vanilla salt, Lomi Lomi salmon with kiwi salsa on won ton chips, crispy chicken breast (a Calafia standard) with kiwi honey mustard relish, a kiwi popsicle and a vanilla tapioca parfait with kiwi and banana. Everything was delicious and light. He also made up a kid's sandwich using golden kiwi, almond butter, honey and thinly sliced strawberries, so we could see it. I'm not a big fan of nuts, so I had to trust that it was sweet tasting, regardless it did look pretty.

The gold kiwi (right) has more of an egg shape than the rounder green.

The gold kiwi was new to me and most of the U.S. It's predominantly in Asian markets - apparently overall Asians eat more fruit and are more adventurous in the fruit they try - and should not be difficult to find in the Bay Area, at least until late July when the supply is expected to run out. It's sweeter than green and as long as the gold kiwi doesn't feel overly soft, it's good to eat.

Lunch discussion focused on how best to get kids to eat a packed lunch. Clover eats the same thing for lunch every day - a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut into a circle shape - while Rocket likes a variety of foods. One tip is to aim for a (positive) visual impact when the kid opens the lunch box that makes the kid want to eat. We also got some small, but helpful advice like preheat a thermos with boiling water, then dump out the water and add the soup, noodles or whatever to the thermos. The pre-heated thermos will keep warmer whatever it is holding. However, when adding warm food to other containers, let the food cool a little before putting on the lid. If the lid is put on too soon, condensation forms, but it also makes it harder for the lid to be opened up later.

Charlie said that mostly vegetarian food was served at Google, helping to avoid the post-lunch crash and burn. Instead, he said the vegetarian diet gave Google workers an afternoon boost.

In between courses, Laptop Lunches gave us a peak at their new products unveiled this month. I always say that Crocs should sponsor Clover's school because all of the kids own at least one pair, but a close second for a ubiquitous product would be Laptop Lunches. So many of the kids have them, but not us as Clover's single circular sandwich doesn't quite work with a bento-style lunch box. However the new configurations actually have a much larger compartment that could hold the sandwich. I'm also considering it for Rocket because that kid loves a variety, plus they have a space-themed (okay, it's an alien) cover that makes me want to get it for him even more.

The big kiwi test was later that night when I cut a bunch of green and gold kiwis up as part of our dinner. Kevin thought it tasted close to a banana (it's high in potassium, maybe that has something to do with the taste similarities?), very picky Clover surprised us all by saying she liked it and asking for seconds, while Rocket, our football player in training, grabbed the plate and scooped up every last slice with his two hands...then after shoving them into his mouth, he asked me to cut more. The kiwis were a hit.

The Zespri recipe contest is for the best original kiwi recipe for a kid's packed lunch item. It could be a snack, entree, dessert...anything that uses a green and/or gold kiwi and can go into a lunch box. Six semi finalists will get a copy of Food 2.0 (I have it and it's awesome) and one of those people will win a $2500 grand prize. (See kiwiforlunch.com for more details on rules and how to enter.) For inspiration, here's the super simple and yummy popsicle recipe:

Charlie Ayers' Kiwi Popsicle
12 green kiwi *or* 12 gold kiwi
1 cup agave syrup
1 cup water

peel kiwi and puree with one cup water
add agave syrup
freeze for four hours

Traveling the Globe Without Leaving Her Room

Clover loves getting mail and even better than an envelope bearing her name is a big brown box delivered to her. When a package comes her way, she's more enthusiastic then a college kid opening a care package full of brownies. Knowing this, I jumped at the chance to try out Little Passports for two months. Little Passports sends out a monthly package from characters Sam and Sofia, who travel the globe on a magical scooter, sharing the adventure with your child. Like a magazine, you subscribe to the service ($10.95 a month) and each month your child receives a package with a letter, some stickers or other souvenirs and activities. (Access to online games and activities is included, but we have yet to try them.)

Clover loves mail and she's curious about other cultures, making Little Passports like an amazing penpal without the trouble of ever having to write a reply. For me, there was an additional bonus, which was that it brought home some of the excitement of travel, despite the fact that this year it doesn't appear we're going very far from home. We may only be spending our summer vacation camping, but Clover is still able to get a taste of different countries.

Thus far we've received our first box, which I assume is the starter box. It included a little suitcase, a map, some stickers and a letter introducing the characters and how they found the magical scooter. Clover was engrossed in the map, looking up where she was and where she's been, also asking me to point out some of the farther off countries I've visited. She excitedly read the letter aloud, seemingly thrilled that these older kids had written to her to tell their story (it's not clear if she knows they're fictional or not). Either way, she can't wait to be included in the next adventure.

Next: A Cowboy Up Bumper Sticker

I pretty much thought I'd live my whole life never having gone to a rodeo and I wasn't one bit saddened by the thought. I hate seeing animals distressed, so I never thought of the rodeo as my scene. It's still not my scene, but we did spend the holiday at a rodeo, although it was a junior rodeo, which meant that while there were questions such as "who gets their 12 year old son into bull riding?" the issues of animal cruelty were mostly diminished.

When the calf was roped, the rider released her end of the rope, avoiding a painful take down of the animal. This made squeamish me happy. The girls riding were quite good and we clapped for them all even before the announcer bluntly pointed out that if they don't rope the cattle, the applause was "pretty much all they're going home with." I'm sure the girl galloping on her horse out of the ring after an unsuccessful run was thrilled by the announcer's timing.

Clover told me later that she'd always wanted to go to a rodeo, then she repeated the word rodeo as many different ways possible (row de oh, rode e o, rodeo...) after she announced it's one of the more interesting words in the English language. Also one of the most annoying words when heard over and over again. The day was dampened a little for Clover when I refused to buy her a $40 cowboy hat. The hat seemed like the gateway to bull riding, and I was stopping this rodeo thing here.

Super Why? Super Wow

Mentally I keep dividing June into BF (before flu) and AF (after flu), even though those around me keep asking "are you sure you had the flu?" as if I'm being a drama queen about having a fever, stomach cramps and losing all will to live. Sitting up in bed took all of my energy and I couldn't imagine ever having enough strength to actually walk upright into another room. I'm going to keep calling it the flu until medically proven otherwise.

Anyway, one week BF I was invited to a great PBS cocktail get together, despite the fact the cocktails and PBS kid's programming don't always go together unless you are my friend Lisa who says Elmo's portion of Sesame Street is much more tolerable when accompanied by wine. She even goes as far to say that the cartoon portion with the gravely voiced woman (I always think lesbian P.E. teacher) is quite funny after a few sips of wine. So for some people PBS and alcohol have always pared well together.

The night was to talk about Super Why! and also to expose that I don't watch my kids' television shows very closely...or at least that's what was obvious when they explained the main characters in the show come from children's literature. I never caught on that Wyatt/Super Why is Jack's brother in the Beanstalk family or there's also the littlest of the Three Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and the princess from the Princess and the Pea. In my defense, I trust PBS children's programming and when I turn on the TV, I start running around the house to get things done during that time. I also try to record everything, which allows me to cut off the closest thing PBS has to commercials, those sponsorship spots at the start of the show, plus by recording the show, the programming ends, rather than blends right into the next show and so on. (On our way to Rocket's first day on summer camp today he said, "I hope Chucky Cheese isn't at my school!" Baffled, I thought "how does he know Chuck E. Cheese?" But soon thought "Damn you PBS!")

What I already knew from my cursory viewing was the Super Why follows a pattern: 1. some sort of socio-emotional drama, a preschool-relatable problem; 2. the characters get into books to find a response to the problem; and 3. the information from the book is applied to resolving the problem. The goal is to "show the power behind words" and when kids learn to read, the gain power - like the characters - and a new world opens up to them.

What I didn't know is that the show doesn't only get kids interested in reading, but it's teaching a problem-solving approach. The University of Pennsylvania (Kevin is a proud Quaker) recently concluded a third party study (not funded by PBS) that for eight weeks followed 106 preschoolers divided into two groups: one watched Super Why and another watched a non-literacy children's program. At the end of the study, the Super Why watchers well outperformed the control group not only in regards to specific literary skills (naming letters, sounds, etc.), but they also scored 46% higher on standardized readings test, which means the kids aren't only memorizing the information, but they are learning a successful strategy for problem solving, according to PBS.

PBS also conducts weeklong reading camps in lower income communities generally where kids are not read to as frequently and preschoolers are less likely to know the letters in their names. The Super Why based curriculum has been so successful that not only will 100 camps around the country be held this summer, but anyone at home can get a small taste of the camp because PBS has decided to run a month of Wonderrific Weeks in August, with each week focusing mainly on one of the Super Why characters and the super power they possess (for instance, Alpha Pig's alphabet power).

I had a chance to meet Angela Santomero, the Super Why creator whose name I actually recognized from the show's credits, which proves I do pay attention to part of it, and Lesli Rotenberg, from PBS. Both were great and left me with even more confidence in PBS and the great deal of thought that goes into the programming. However, the highlight of the night was leaving with backpack from The Electric Company. Clover was thrilled and said it was perfect because she was thinking that the theme for her next birthday party was going to be The Electric Company and we could give out the backpacks as favors. Um, what?