February in Seattle Chat Thread

[jenneology]

I'll kick it off this month.

Welcome to the month of February in Seattle.

Will someone please tell the trees, bushes and tulips nearby my house that its a little early for sprouting and blooms? I love to see them but feel so sad when they get blasted away from a late frost. Yet now I'm doubting that a late frost is going to occur. The weather has been truly pleasant lately and for a while now.

Also, is there really going to be no snow this winter? I'm sad, I had come to expect it since its snowed each year I've lived here.

Anyone have special plans for this month? Valentines?

I'm planning a tour of SAGA, the German Immersion preschool in the U District, a rescheduled birthday party for the newly 3 year old, to not get sick this month(!) and perhaps a Valentine's (family) trip to Mt Rainier for an overnight.

I really hope we don't get sick this month. There has been too much illness in our family since Beauty was born.

[Sometime]

Originally Posted by jenneology

I'm planning a tour of SAGA, the German Immersion preschool in the U District, a rescheduled birthday party for the newly 3 year old, to not get sick this month(!) and perhaps a Valentine's (family) trip to Mt Rainier for an overnight.

My husband really wants to do a SAGA tour, too. As far as he's concerned, that's the ideal location for DD (for next year, really, since she's only 2, although he wants to do it this year because they do HAVE a two year old program), but I'm going to wait and see how we like the school after a tour.

I've had mixed feelings about the flowers coming out, too. It's so nice to see a little color on the trees, but it's barely February!

[ErinBird]

We were out of town for half of January (note: I survived two children by myself for nearly two weeks) and then we came back with a cold that is still lingering. I can't wait for all of us to feel well again!

[jenneology]

Erin, congratulations! That's an accomplishment! I hear you with lingering sickness. I hope everyone gets better and stays better.

Sometime, do either you or your husband speak German?
In a way, I think a German nanny would be better for a 2 year old than a group setting a couple of days a week. If you are interested in someone, I do know a highly recommended German nanny. You may not need the childcare but what mom doesn't like a little time to herself?
SAGA also has another open house coming up. My husband and I went to one a couple of weeks ago and we were really impressed and excited. I think the tour is happening today. At least I'm going to show up, even though I didn't get a confirmation.

What would you do in that situation?

[darciedoodle]

Originally Posted by jenneology

I'll kick it off this month.
Anyone have special plans for this month? Valentines?

We're taking DD on a train trip to Portland to celebrate her 5th birthday. I didn't feel like having a party so we came up with this idea instead. The more I think about it, it probably would've been easier to clean my house and throw a party! At first I thought, we'll just take a suitcase and the diaper bag and now I'm realizing we'll need a cooler and we should probably take the laptop and we'll need the sit and stand.

I saw a bee today stuck in a crocus. That didn't seem quite right to me. We even planted some radish seeds today, it seemed so warm.

[ErinBird]

Originally Posted by darciedoodle

I saw a bee today stuck in a crocus. That didn't seem quite right to me. We even planted some radish seeds today, it seemed so warm.

We were out at our P-patch today, pulling up weeds and getting ready to plant some spinach. I have a row cover to protect my plants when it cools down again.

[annekh23]

The flowers being out mean allergies, I'm so bummed, I'm itchy, my eyes are are mess and I'm sniffling, for some reason I've found I don't get seasonal allergies the first summer after a baby and by the 2nd they aren't so dependent on breastmilk that I don't want to take an antihistamine in case of supply drop, but she's only 8mths and exclusively breastfed, so I don't really dare. Nasal sprays make me nauseous, but I'm suffering!

[DahliaRW]

Hi everyone!

It's so crazy how warm it's been! I have flowers coming up too, yet on the East Coast they're snowed in!

It's been a looooong 2010 for me so far. I've been dealing with some not so nice after effects of what 3 pregnancies in 5 years has done to my pelvis. Hoping to find something that helps with all my issues soon (have an appointment on Monday with my ND to discuss a "plan of action"). I'm so tired of not feeling well and not feeling like myself! Ugh! So that's why I've been so quiet and not out and about lately.

Darcie - the train ride sounds fun! My ds's would love that! I did clean my house for ds1's party (just family) and it was a royal pain!

[Sometime]

Originally Posted by jenneology

Sometime, do either you or your husband speak German?

My husband is the German speaker in the family (he was born here, but his parents are German immigrants), which is obviously not quite ideal since I'm the one who is home with her so she isn't hearing it as much as she probably "should." It does explain why he is more enthusiastic about the German preschool than I am, though! She understands a lot of German at this point, but doesn't speak much of it.

How about you? And how was the tour - did it happen?

I don't think a German nanny is in the cards right now. We really don't need the childcare, as you say...

[jenneology]

I did go on the tour and found that the schedule works well for my ECE sensibilities. That was my focus of the tour to make sure it wasn't too staff-directed or curriculum heavy. I have the registration application and fee in and the next step is to take the Chunk on the tour to see how he likes it. I told him that I would schedule it as soon as I could.

For us, my husband is the German speaker (as a second language) and we don't often get a lot of German in the house. We are really jumping at the opportunity for the immersion school because we feel like our time here in Seattle is limited (we'll probably move summer 2011), and I really would love to get Chunka conversing in German so he can take that with him wherever we move next. He and my husband could talk together, help my husband maintain his language skills, expose our daughter to it as well and teach me some. A German immersion school seems like such a rare find, I don't want to miss the opportunity for it while its so close to home. I doubt any other cities we move to next would offer the opportunity.

If I understood correctly, the two's program at SAGA starts at 2 1/2 yrs old, rather than just turned 2. They do mixed age groups so the 2s are with the older children up to age 5. I saw it working beautifully while I was there. I love mixed age groups for young children because they can learn from and teach each other. The older ones learn to nurture and care for others younger than them, and the younger ones observe skills that encourage them to reach for the next level of development and skill acquisition.

[jenneology]

Originally Posted by DahliaRW

It's been a looooong 2010 for me so far. I've been dealing with some not so nice after effects of what 3 pregnancies in 5 years has done to my pelvis. Hoping to find something that helps with all my issues soon (have an appointment on Monday with my ND to discuss a "plan of action"). I'm so tired of not feeling well and not feeling like myself! Ugh! So that's why I've been so quiet and not out and about lately.

What's going on? I'm wishing you well with figuring out a plan of action.

I've been having hip pain since Beauty was born. When she was a newborn, there were days that I couldn't bear any weight on that leg. I still have a lot of stiffness and muscle pain there, but it hasn't gotten unbearable. I'm doing what I can though to minimize it. I've found yoga and chiropractic really helpful, but I feel like I need both of them everyday, which is not only expensive, but time consuming when taking care of two little ones! A massage once a month or even every two weeks is in order too, but I'm limited in that too. At this point, I've sworn off another pregnancy for at least 3 years in hopes that in that time, the issue can be resolved.

[bjorker]

Originally Posted by darciedoodle

We're taking DD on a train trip to Portland to celebrate her 5th birthday. I didn't feel like having a party so we came up with this idea instead.

That's a realllllly good idea. I reluctantly did a party for dd's 5th birthday last month, but she had also been talking about having her friends over to her house for her birthday since her 4th birthday. So it had to be done. Maybe next year we'll try something like that, I think she would totally dig it. We have a friend visit from Olympia every so often, she comes on the train since she doesn't drive, and dd is always VERY interested in the trains when we pick her up from the station. She just came up this weekend so it's fresh on my mind. Anyway, we'll have to think about doing that next year - or maybe as a treat sometime.

Originally Posted by DahliaRW

It's been a looooong 2010 for me so far. I've been dealing with some not so nice after effects of what 3 pregnancies in 5 years has done to my pelvis.

I'm sorry, Noah, I hope you can get it all figured out and feeling better soon.

As for me, I finally got a chest freezer and have been having a heyday cooking to feed my freezer. I also need to figure out what I need to do to get a veggie garden started this spring. I'm clueless, and a little unsure how much I'm really going to feel up to doing while in my third trimester... dun dun dun!

I'm also completely spazzed about what the heck we're going to do for school for dd in the fall, but I shouldn't get myself started here... ahem. I'm just completely frustrated with our complete lack of options as a family without any extra money floating around.

[bjorker]

Also, just a heads up, I just started ordering from these guys-- http://www.klesickfamilyfarm.com -- and so far I'm in love.

Check it out. They deliver organic produce! You can order week to week if you want, so no big commitment at a time.

[425lisamarie]

Originally Posted by bjorker

I'm also completely spazzed about what the heck we're going to do for school for dd in the fall, but I shouldn't get myself started here... ahem. I'm just completely frustrated with our complete lack of options as a family without any extra money floating around.

Ditto, and I dont 'think the money part matters as much (though not to discount your concern with that), I feel like I don't have many options either. I didn't know what the heck to do with DS who was 5 this year. I would never put him in the school here, so we are sort of homeschooling. I say sort of because i haven't been super "strict" about anything, I just sort of wing it. I know he's far above his peers who are 6 or 7 though, so maybe i'm not so bad at it after all.

[jennklogan]

Originally Posted by bjorker

Also, just a heads up, I just started ordering from these guys-- http://www.klesickfamilyfarm.com -- and so far I'm in love.

Check it out. They deliver organic produce! You can order week to week if you want, so no big commitment at a time.

I Love Love Love Klesick Farm!! We used to get their produce but had to quit due to financial reasons. Things have been super tight for awhile now. They have wonderful customer service and have replaced anything that had issues with. Hopefully someday I can get back on their delivery list!

[Sometime]

Originally Posted by jenneology

I did go on the tour and found that the schedule works well for my ECE sensibilities. That was my focus of the tour to make sure it wasn't too staff-directed or curriculum heavy. I have the registration application and fee in and the next step is to take the Chunk on the tour to see how he likes it. I told him that I would schedule it as soon as I could.

For us, my husband is the German speaker (as a second language) and we don't often get a lot of German in the house. We are really jumping at the opportunity for the immersion school because we feel like our time here in Seattle is limited (we'll probably move summer 2011), and I really would love to get Chunka conversing in German so he can take that with him wherever we move next. He and my husband could talk together, help my husband maintain his language skills, expose our daughter to it as well and teach me some. A German immersion school seems like such a rare find, I don't want to miss the opportunity for it while its so close to home. I doubt any other cities we move to next would offer the opportunity.

If I understood correctly, the two's program at SAGA starts at 2 1/2 yrs old, rather than just turned 2. They do mixed age groups so the 2s are with the older children up to age 5. I saw it working beautifully while I was there. I love mixed age groups for young children because they can learn from and teach each other. The older ones learn to nurture and care for others younger than them, and the younger ones observe skills that encourage them to reach for the next level of development and skill acquisition.

My daughter is two now, so she will actually be almost 3 by the fall (3 at the end of November), but my plan has always been preschool the following year. But DH thinks the fall will be fine (hard to say, depends on her, really, and her in 7 months is hard to predict), so this is why we will go to the next open house, which is next week!

I'm pleased to hear that you didn't find it too staff-directed. That is one of my concerns, since it has been my experience attending German children's events (and visiting Germany in September) that culturally many Germans expect children to take direction (without question) in a way that I simply do not and do not particularly want my daughter subjected to. Obviously, the same can be true of many Americans and many American schools, so it's just going to depend on the school and the staff and the philosophy, etc. We will go and see.

We do have the advantage that DD's grandparents speak German in addition to DH, but DH is definitely not a native speaker. When he was growing up, popular wisdom suggested that if you didn't speak English in the home, your kids would never learn English correctly, so they spoke English at home. Luckily, HIS grandparents spoke only German at their home (next door), so his German is good, but as one of his co-workers once told him, he speaks it "like an 80 year old grandmother." So we look for other ways to expose her to more modern German. We've taken her to the Bellevue Library German story time, for example, but we're not great about going, because of course I don't speak German, so it's not all that fun for me!

[Sometime]

Originally Posted by bjorker

I also need to figure out what I need to do to get a veggie garden started this spring. I'm clueless, and a little unsure how much I'm really going to feel up to doing while in my third trimester... dun dun dun!.

Doesn't it feel like we should be planting complete gardens right now with the warm weather?! It's a little crazy.

We'll probably just do a few containers, like last year, although possibly a few more. DD really loved eating tomatoes off the plants last year and I hoped to have more plants this year, but we're also planning to move in a couple months when our lease is up, so I don't even know where the garden will be!

[lisalulu]

Originally Posted by bjorker

Also, just a heads up, I just started ordering from these guys-- http://www.klesickfamilyfarm.com -- and so far I'm in love.

That looks great! Too bad we're too far south for their delivery area

So I need help figuring out DS1's bday party. My parents have been very kind to kick in half of the cost. Here is what we are deciding between:

1. Science Center-they have a dinosaur party theme. They provide everything including the cake but the max you can have it 20. That includes children and adults so just our family would 4. They have 2 or 3 activities they do with the kids. Cons are that i don't like the times they offer and its crazy pricey for my normal bday party budget-$285 plus 6/ person over the 20. I just don't know if parents will get that they should just bring one parent and the child. I have friends who would bring their spouse and the younger kids not thinking that I'm have a max. number of people.

2. Park. I saw a cute little park in between Ballard and Phinney Ridge. It has a small (35 capacity) heated rental space and a playground right off it. They're pretty much open any time for the weekend I want. My main concerns are-its March 20th what if it rains and we're stuck in the room. What to do with the 5yo's? And, its also a huge tee-ball field and the woman at the city said it is busy during spring weekends. So parking may be tight and we certainly wouldn't have the park to ourselves. Its much cheaper-$140/2 hours and then 12.50/15min after that. So I think if its nice 2 hours is totally doable and then move everyone outside. If weather is bad, 2.5hrs might be more likely. With this option, I'd have to buy a cake and some decorations, party favors and games but still a money saver, right?

[lisalulu]

Originally Posted by DahliaRW

Hi everyone!
It's been a looooong 2010 for me so far. I've been dealing with some not so nice after effects of what 3 pregnancies in 5 years has done to my pelvis. Hoping to find something that helps with all my issues soon (have an appointment on Monday with my ND to discuss a "plan of action"). I'm so tired of not feeling well and not feeling like myself! Ugh! So that's why I've been so quiet and not out and about lately.

How'd your appt go?

[DahliaRW]

Originally Posted by lisalulu

How'd your appt go?

Went well. Taking some supplements to help with blood flow in the pelvis (I essentially have varicose veins in my pelvis, fun...), and will start pelvic floor physical therapy next week. REALLY hoping the therapy and such helps. I've just basically been dealing with a lot of discomfort in my pelvic floor and some spasming of my bladder, which is awful! Hoping that it all might be muscle/nerve related and respond to therapy, rather than something more chronic. At least I feel like there is something that *might* help which is giving me some hope, which is really helping my overall emotional well being...

Thanks for asking!

School next year has been a big discussion in our house too. Ds1 is 5 and currently at a montessori school which I loved last year and am not as thrilled with since it was bought by a new owner. So, we decided next year that he'll do 1/2 day public K and then go over and do 1/2 day at a montessori school right next to the elementary school. They go and walk the kids over before lunch, so it's convenient for me. And ds2 will go to the same M school there 3 days a week. I hope it works out. I never planned on public school (was going to homeschool), but ds1 really needs to work on social issues with other kids so I feel like right now he needs a consistent group of peers next year...we'll see how it goes.