Easter 2015

Purple manicure love

Last fall, shortly after the beginning of the school year, a friend of mine posted on her facebook page about a run-in her young son had at school. The boy had wanted his fingernails painted, a request she had delightfully fulfilled. At school, however, he had been made fun of by another boy in his class, a purported friend even. He was heartbroken, and his mother was torn about how to handle it. Of course reassurance is in order, but then what? She was looking for support and suggestions, and thanks to our era of social media, she found lots of it.

The answer seems simple. The teasing friend was in the wrong, of course. Differences should be embraced and children should be encouraged to explore them. In a perfect world the teasing wouldn't have occurred, or certainly would not be repeated. But the truth is much more complex. Differences, especially those that challenge gender identity, aren't often tolerated. And, whatever the reason, nonconformity meets with its greatest challenge in school groups. So, while the answer should simply be that we should encourage our children to be themselves, it's hard for a mom to do so, knowing the personal hurt it might cause.

I was reminded of this story today when Calvin went to a birthday party that began in a nail salon. Ten pint-sized wonders getting mani/pedis (before traipsing off to Chuck E. Cheese's, of all places). Calvin chose sparkly purple polish and settled in to fully enjoy the process. It's not for everyone, of course, but it's hard not to enjoy a little pampering and massaging that results in pretty nails. Calvin loved it, and was delighted to find out that he got to keep his polish, too.

I loved it, too. I loved that he had so much fun, and got to try something he'd been asking about for quite some time, but mostly I loved that we are part of a community that allows him to have this kind of fun safely and warmly. It's the kind of community that invited him to such a party, and fully expected him to enjoy it, and complimented him on his sparkly nails when all was said and done. I loved that I didn't have to worry, that I wasn't faced with the very difficult decisions about drawing the line between encouraging differences and safeguarding self assurance.

And his purple fingers are awfully fun.

Early morning friends

Calvin has had an adorable habit this year of getting up at the crack of dawn in order to be ready in time to walk his best friend to the bus stop. Aside from the cuteness, there are many hilarious things about this. First, I think I posted a year or two ago, or maybe even both times, about how nice it was to be able to sleep in, especially on winter mornings, instead of having to live on a traditional school schedule. Second, the bus stop is across from our house, so in order to walk her to the bus stop he often actually goes around the corner to meet her at her house first.

No doubt, it's cute.

This morning, as usual, even though it was frigid and snowing like crazy, he was up and out the door at 7:40. He meets his friend and they talk, play, do I-don't-know-what, while waiting for the bus, which comes around 7:50. The bus stop is right outside our door, and his friend usually has a parent there in addition to other parents there on foot or in cars, and now that it's cold I usually shut the door firmly behind him and go back to my coffee until he returns and we start school. This morning, though, I looked up from my crossword to find that it was already 8:00 and no kid. Jon and I both yelled upstairs—had we missed him? Nope, nowhere in the house. I looked out front—everyone was gone from the corner. In the moment before actual panic set in I quickly scanned the whitened neighborhood for signs in the snow, and there he was.

He had shoveled our driveway.

Halloween field tripping

Homeschoolers can do field trips, too. This is an annual one for our group—a trip to what used to be a small, local pumpkin patch and apple orchard with a very scary haunted house but is now a very large fall fair. Putt putt golf, petting zoo, haunted hayride, corn maze, paint ball, AND pumpkins and apples in the fields. We get a doughnut and cider snack, too, of course.

And we didn't get lost in the corn maze.

Cali part 3: Angel Island, Alcatraz, and a reunion with friends

One final day in San Francisco, spent mostly asea, and it was finally bright, sunny, AND clear. We took the ferry, with beautiful views of the bridge and city, first to Angel Island, where we took a tram tour, then to Alcatraz, where we took a self guided audio tour. Back on land we headed to Golden Gate Park to meet with friends who moved to San Fran a year ago.