Inspire-less

Is that a word? If not, can I make it one?

Lots of fun things happening this week, yet when a moment arrives to write and tell-YAWN. I sit here kind of moronically thinking about if I want to write, what to write and coming up blank.

Last night, Ian up until 10:30pm. ("Why do grownups get to stay up? That's not fair." Enter crocodile tears.) Probably a week of consecutive time outs/early bedtimes for Connor not eating his dinner. Ian teetering on the edge with some serious anger management issues. Both of them employing the stamp your foot technique, which makes me either infuriated or hysterical, depending on my mood. Boys getting up routinely around 6:15am, including over the weekend. Parenting is a perpetual state of exhaustion, I am convinced.

But, not to be a complete loser and pessimist....here's the up side, lots of new photos to see soon....debut of a certain young photographer.....flowers for the front yard to be planted tomorrow....I got a contract for next year....we have caterpillars in a cup....Trevor's birthday...Ian learned to play Battleship.....lots of good things so stay tuned if I get my act together! I usually do at some point.

The Met and Central Park

Following our delightful MetroNorth trip back to the city, we met Aunt Soooz in Grand Central and headed over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I love the Met- Terri and I went a few years ago and enjoyed walking around (she liked the same exhibits that I did) and I wanted to go back and visit the photography section. We weren't certain how much Ian would like the museum, but he seemed to enjoy examining the photographs and giving us an explanation of what was going on in each one.

In particular, he liked the modern art section-which we would have skipped if not for the museum volunteer who directed us to visit the real shark encased in formaldehyde. And it was quite a sight-Ian was definitely thrilled to see it. Some exhibits didn't allow for photos and I don't want to post any here, in case I took something I wasn't supposed to. Ian enjoyed the Jackson Pollock works and I actually really enjoyed the modern art more than I expected! Next time, we will bring Uncle Jeff along, since he can decipher and explain some of the techniques that the artists used for us.

Some of my favorite photos are just of Aunt Soooz and Ian, just being together. I meandered off for a bit and came back to find them pondering the ceiling.

Out on the streets during the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Hanging out in Central Park, burning off the energy!


Don't forget to visit our buddy Trevor, who is celebrating his 5th birthday today! Happy Birthday!

Grand Central and Metro-North

Ian and I ventured on our own through Grand Central Station to hop a train upstate to visit my mother. Ian was a little overwhelmed in Grand Central in morning rush hour, but we managed okay.
Ian rode for free and made fast friends with the train ticket taker.

Ian: Hey, how are you?
Ticket Guy: Hey little guy, how you doin'? (yes, inflect Joey from Friends accent)
Ian: Good. Just trying to earn money here. (he is sitting doing absolutely nothing)
Ticket Guy: Yeah? Me too. You workin' really hard there?
Ian: Yes!
Ticket Guy: You got the right idea.

Ian marveled at the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge, which I didn't think about it, but we don't have any true bridges here in Arizona. I explained to him that I used to run back and forth across the bridge for exercise. He thought that was pretty funny.

My mom picked us up and Ian treated her to his famous peanut butter and jelly cracker sandwiches. She hung out with Ian while I visited Stacy and Dan and their new baby girl. She is so precious and soooo tiny! I don't know that I have ever held such a delicate, little 6 lb baby before-my boys were both bruisers at 8.5 and 9.4 lbs!

Following that, Ian, my mom and I went to visit our friends Shannon and Ryan and their two children for dinner. Ian was very shy at first, but luckily Shannon's daughter has such a friendly personality that she and Ian became fast friends and accomplices pretty quickly. Later that evening, they decided to wrap my mother up in a jump rope and told her, "Don't move!"

And my mother, just sat there, gabbing with Shannon and me, while her hands and feet were bound and the kids were busy bringing toys to her. She is one good sport.

I didn't take a lot of photos upstate. We watched Dancing with the Stars (who knew I would like that show and who knew Ian would like it too?) and got some rest before leaving in the morning for the city once again.

Unfortunately, we decided to leave on St. Patrick's Day, with the big parade going on in the city that afternoon. On the 8:30 express train, Ian and I sat in a quiet car for about two stops. Then the revelers came on board. A sea of teenagers wearing green hats, green makeup and carrying all kinds of party items on board. Every car was filled with them and each stop added more and more partiers.

The party folks loved Ian for whatever reason. ("Hey, Little Dude! Look, it's a little dude! Hey, be cool, there's a little dude right there! Gimme a high five, little dude!" "Hey, little dude-you're the coolest and don't let anyone tell you different, okay?" ) Someone smack me if I ever call my kid or any kid "Little Dude". One kid suggested that I move my seat because they were rowdy and then rethought that as all of the train was rowdy.

So, amidst drinking, smoking and general loud and obnoxious behavior, I put the iPod on for Ian and he also played his Leapster game for a good while. The express train-only one hour-seemed to be the looongest hour of our trip. I certainly felt my age, maybe even older-how could any of this seem remotely fun or cool seems beyond my grasp now.

In Westchester, the police then boarded the train, deciding to enforce some civility. They brought a drug-sniffing dog on our car and searched several bags and took a few off the train. An official was brought on the train to maintain some order until the train reached Grand Central, where several revelers were greeted by NYPD. It was all very exciting. Ian was disappointed that he missed seeing the dog, but he was happily engrossed in Leapster. Thank God.

Back at Grand Central, we listened to some Irish bands playing on the stairs before meeting Aunt Sooz for the next adventure.

Mom-thanks for such a nice visit! It was so good to see you, even for a short time.

I Was Going to Blog Tonight, But

my school district is making all of us take a 4-hour technology class (watch us jump the hoop!). Let's just say that four hours of analyzing test scores and statistics personally makes my brain shut down.

Secondly, not giving us a break in four hours--literally working and reading reports on subjects I don't teach for four hours non-stop, has put me in a foul mood.

On top of that, the instructors seem to have forgotten that these are children and not statistics. The entire push is to get them to improve scores, improve scores and that really helps your school!! And that's what it's all about!!

Here's why this is a big deal: MONEY. Students = dollar signs. Better test scores=more dollar signs. Taking this stupid class=dollar signs.

One teacher said that she cannot wait for next week after the state tests are done and she can "teach the things that I really want to teach." I think that statement is a sad and true commentary on education out here.

Blurg.

We Interrupt the NYC Blogging for These Special Reports...

This photo is for Uncle Jeff and Aunt Soooz. Because before we left for New York, Ian would not touch a vegetable. After eating mashed potatoes, baby carrots and assorted good foods, this very same child-the one that would negotiate how many bites of vegetables were required to make his parents happy-actually ate baby carrots AND this cucumber of his own volition before being prompted to try them. I placed a peeled cucumber on his dinner plate, expecting the worst. He ate the cucumber, declaring "This is the best apple I've ever eaten!" The carrots were "super awesome!"

Of course, Connor has turned the eating table, refusing to eat in favor of horsing around, because we cannot have everyone be completely agreeable at the same time.

So, you might recall that the week before leaving for New York, I decide to use my vacation to repaint the office, move out all of the boys furniture and all. We moved the boys into the newly painted office (yes, it is taupe and green trim-a little ho hum for my more colorful sister-in-laws) and I sold Ian's captain bed and will be selling Connor's crib and dresser this weekend. Meaning, I created no place for them to actually sleep. Here, Connor naps on the couch, with the Lightning McQueen from Aunt Kristen and Uncle Chris strapped on his back like a backpack.

And below Connor is sleeping on the mattresses on the floor. This floor arrangement appealed to the boys for obvious reasons-jumping on the mattresses equals a lot of fun. Tom took this photo and he told me that he even camped out on Ian's mattress a few times.

This past weekend, Tom and I (but mostly Tom) put together brand-new bunkbeds for the boys. The beds do separate and we did read the warning that only 6 year old kids should have bunkbeds. We thought about that one for awhile and thought about Ian and how he operates. We thought he would be okay and we did lay out the rules and how any stunts would mean he would not have a bed to sleep in and the bunkbeds would be separated.

Connor is more of the question mark, as he does enjoy climbing up and he is a bit more precarious on the way down. We have to discourage him from carrying cars up and down , so he can use his hands to hold on. We figured we can always separate the beds if he doesn't listen.

I put the boys' bookcase across from the beds and then we don't have a dresser for them yet, so their clothes are under the bed. The toys are in the closet and we had room to put Ian's table (now a chess table) and the beanbags for a reading corner. They spent most of their evening in there playing Jenga, making space forts on Connor's lower bunk with blankets and couch pillows and we read books in there now. It needs some more lighting and shelves, which will go up this weekend.

It looks like a real boys room instead a baby room!

New York Hall of Science

The New York Hall of Science in Queens was our next adventure with Aunt Soooz and Grandma Sheila. This is a terrific, very hands-on place for kids to learn about the science behind everyday things (see, Michael, we learned a lot on vacation!)---the exhibits included sports, the eye, sound waves, microbes (bleech) and air/wind. Here Aunt Soooz and Ian engage in some shadow play.

Finding out how electrical connections work. Aunt Soooz and I also made our own discovery as we watched Grandma Sheila and Ian in action. Sheila has discussed how her sons were always curious, very smart (why wouldn't they be?) at a young age and how Ian is just like they were as kids-figuring out how things work and asking questions.

Well, let's just say that the apples don't fall far from the tree. Grandma Sheila is quite the figgerer herself-perhaps the catalyst figgerer or the master figgerer. At almost every experiment, she was the one who explained to Ian what to do and figured out how the darn experiments worked. It definitely wasn't me-I have to read the plaque and even then, it's pretty much Greek. We suddenly saw in Sheila exactly what we have been seeing in my son all along.

Some kind of race car thing-I really don't know what the point was, but Ian enjoyed it.

Ants working the farm-the sign on the spider exhibit said "Spiders on Vacation in South Florida for the Winter." Yes, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Ants are much more my speed!


A basketball bouncing experiment on different surfaces to determine what creates the best bounce. Here, we discovered that Aunt Soooz has some game with the basketball moves, unfortunately, not the height.


A balancing board, where you widen or narrow your stance to determine which gives you the best balance. This was more challenging than it looks!

After skipping the demonstration on cow's eye dissection (no joke), we headed for the bubbles, where the three of us felt our collective New York hackles rise. Several children were around the bubbles, with only four circular wands and four middle-school children with no parental supervision hogging the wands from all of the younger children. One boy, who admittedly did some wild bubble tricks, was there for probably a good half-hour with parents taking photos and videos and not giving any of the kids surrounding him any thought at all.

Another boy also took a very long turn, with Ian standing in line behind him. As he put the wand down and Ian about to step in, his mother grabbed the wand and proceeded to play. She then passed it to the sister, who continued to play. Meanwhile, Ian was just standing there, waiting his line as patiently as he could. So, another kid went to cut Ian off and that was it. I stepped and announced that it was Ian's turn and that there was in fact, an actual line. This probably didn't fare well with the people who didn't see much else beside themselves.

Another middle school kid went up to Ian and asked to borrow the wand for a minute. Ian was about to give it to him and Sheila and I both squashed that and made the boy get in line. Another little boy Ian's age was also waiting in line so we made sure he got the next turn-but he ended up getting sabotaged by the middle school kid, who appeared to have no parent or adult in sight.....so we left a bit grumbly.

I really cannot stand rude kids, but it is way more irksome when the parents are equally rude or ignorant. Yeah, I'm on the pedestal, but courtesy is not overrated.


Seeing how air works with ping pong balls. The balls were floating above the pipes-very cool!

The final activity before we left was one of those video rollocoaster rides that seat 6 people. Yeah. So, Ian saw this big spaceship-looking vehicle with a huge volcano painted on the side and he was immediately ready for "hot lava." I was kind of hoping he wasn't tall enough. Of course, he was more than tall enough AND before I knew it, Grandma Sheila had gotten Ian and me tickets for the next ride.

Ian and I sat inside with a few others and he was very excited. The "ride" began and it was just a rollocoaster ride through the inside of a volcano. We were getting jostled around a lot and I looked over at Ian, who is yelling "Woo HOO!" and barely holding on. He is laughing and having a grand time while I was hanging on, trying to not get too motion sick. Ian walked out with a declaration: "That was SUPER AWESOME!".

Grandma Sheila left that afternoon and we are both so grateful for the time we got to spend-short, but sweet. The two figgerers hug it out-probably both exhausted from all that figuring!

Second Generation Friends

Tom and Bob have been friends since they were three years old and Bob is considered one of the Murphy clan. It was great to have them accompany us to the museum.

Ian declared, "Hey, I remember that kid!" after meeting Bobby again. The boys got along very well, constantly looking for each other to stand next to or to make a hand-holding train in the streets. We absolutely wish that they could hang out all the time, because they became such fast friends. Their personalities seem to be a perfect fit.

As it turns out, the young friends have a lot in common, including chess. Here the boys are challenging Bob to a game. Lots of silliness ensued and I'll be honest that I didn't pay much attention as Suz and Jeff set me up with some delicious sangria.

At one point, the boys were curled up on the couch, playing Leapster. I was impressed how relaxed and flexible Ian was about sharing his Legos, Leapster and playing chess, since he enjoys laying down the law about how to do things the right way.

My favorite picture, taken by Christina-their expressions are just so cute. We cannot wait until the summer to get these boys back together again for more adventures AND see the first generation and second generation friends all together! I've got some photo opps stewing in my head already.

Thanks for hanging with Ian and me!

Museum of Natural History - NYC

Last Saturday, the Murphy and Vilbig families met for a trip to visit the Museum of Natural History, pairing second generation buddies Ian and Bobby. Here, the boys enjoy the subway ride with Grandma Sheila-Bobby watching out the window and Ian who seemed to be lulled into a sleepy quietness by the traveling.

On our second subway connection, we were treated to some musical entertainment. The boys both seemed surprised by this. Grandma Sheila gave them each a dollar to tip the musicians-which gave them pause for a moment.....you mean you're giving us a dollar to give to someone else?? But they happily tipped and the musicians went on their way.

Once we got into Manhattan, the boys needed a rest and Christina suggested eating before arriving at the museum. (these Vilbigs are loaded with good parenting ideas!) We stopped at an Irish brewery where we could sit upstairs and allow the boys some downtime.

Good parenting tip # 2 from the Vilbigs: Take all or most of the french fries off of the kid's plate before it is given to them. Ingenius. So, Bobby proceeded to eat all of his chicken, while my son, with a plate overflowing with french fries, ate mostly fries.

It did bring my favorite quote of the day though, from Bobby to Ian. Eyeing Ian's fries, he used his best friendship charms to snag a fry.....

"Ian, you know, sharing is caring!"

Grandpa helped carry a weary Ian through the streets toward the museum.

Here is a photo I actually took after visiting the museum, but I think it is a good intro photo for the visit.

We began with the planetarium show called Cosmic Connections about asteroids hitting the earth. I think Grandpa took a good solid nap, Aunt Soooz kept sneaking glances at Ian, Bobby was waiting for the dinosaurs to appear and Ian was riveted by the entire show. I was going to take a nap, but I figured I'd better pay attention since Ian was completely engrossed and I figured questions would be coming.

We also checked out an IMAX dinosaur movie-I'll admit, not my favorite, but this time, Bobby really enjoyed the show. Ian sat on my lap and was a bit skeptical, but he paid close attention. He did not suffer any cracked ribs while being squeezed by Mommy during the dinosaur fights.
Grandpa and Grandma both got a good power nap in during this show as well.

Following the movies, we went to the Hall of Dinosaurs to view the exhibits there. Grandma Sheila was glowing in this photo-she enjoyed seeing Ian's curiosity. I even let Christina snap a few photos of me too! Imagine that!

The blue whale. Anyone who has been to the Museum of Natural History knows the whale. You cannot go to the museum without a visit to the whale. My father-in-law told us he used to hang out in the museum as a kid and the whale was there. Grandpa and Grandma took Ian down to the ground floor to look up at the whale. I hope it makes the impression on Ian that it has made for all of us.

Our question was how the heck do they get that whale to stay on the ceiling? We looked for cables and unless they were super invisible, it was impossible to see how he is attached. I think Grandma asked Ian how the whale got up there and she could probably relay his comments better than I can, but I think it involves "a million workers." Grandma, can you elaborate?

We didn't see too much more besides the gift shop. Grandma picked up a few trinkets for the boys, including a bag of magnets which Ian has been delighted to play with here at home.

I think on our return visit, I'd love to take Ian back through the space exhibits and spend more time there. And no, I didn't get to meet Neil deGrasse Tyson, but you know I was keeping my eye out just in case! If anyone has an in, let me know!

Mommy and Ian after our day at the museum. I have to send a shout out to Suz's friends who gave us the museum tickets-thank you, thank you!

New York in the Blood

Ian and I traveled to New York City last week to visit Super Aunt Soooz and Crazy Uncle Jeff for a few days. Arriving in the morning, we spent some time relaxing at Aunt Soooz's apartment before heading out for Ian's first trip on the subway into Manhattan. Here, he is on the lean, mean streets of Queens.

The subway proved more challenging for Mommy than Ian. Ian rides free, but Mommy needed a few lessons in how to correctly swipe the Metro Card. Ian rode like he has traveled by subway for his entire life. A few times, he even stood up and held the pole. He tried to balance without holding on, but it wasn't advisable.

Arriving at Aunt Soooz's workplace, Ian enjoyed the elevator ride and was promptly greeted by adoring fans...meaning Suz's co-workers. He was immediately given chocolate candy and shook hands with several people. We toured the office and Ian picked up lots of compliments, a gift of coloring book and crayons and amidst the sugar rush, was walked to a conference room filled with Star Wars balloons, streamers and gifts-all for him. Here, we spent a good amount of time watching Ian do lightsaber demonstrations rather enthusiastically followed by attempts to blow up latex balloons which probably filled up with a good amount of spit.

Here, Ian keeps the workplace safe.

We walked with our Overconfident Navigator to Starbucks, where Ian sucked down a hot chocolate in record time, followed by a trip to a computer store. While Aunt Soooz was busy in the store, we sat on the bench in the front of the store, where Ian promptly fell sound asleep. The options were to carry a sleeping child on two subways or get a taxi.

Ian took his first cab ride and woke up for a few moments to see if "this taxi driver is going to drive crazy!" Aunt Soooz said he was driving pretty well and Ian responded with "Well, I want him to drive crazy!" That received a smiling glance from the cab driver. He then fell asleep, with a goldfish snack in his mouth and proceeded to sleep for the rest of the evening, waking up around 11pm and falling back to sleep off his jetlag. Giving Aunt Sooz, Uncle Jeff and I the chance to have a nice quiet dinner and a glass or two of wine as well.

NYC

How does the "Annie" song go?  

NYC...I go years without you.  Something like that.  

The best city in the world.  I miss it so much that I feel like I am just a tourist, not a native New Yorker, like I have been away too long.  But, I am enjoying it immensely.  

My wonderful sister-in-law and brother-in-law are the most gracious hosts and our time here is going to be such a impressionable memory for both me and Ian.  Ian is traveling like New York has been in his blood all of his life.  

I am busy gathering moments, thoughts and deciding what to say about our adventures here, but I promise to include more at the end of the week.

Until then, you can enjoy my husband's adventures with Connor. 

Hiatus

It's been a loooong week for all of us and I just couldn't find a way to write that didn't sound stressful, annoyed or neurotic, so I opted to not write at all.

Some highlights of the week include:

-repainting the office in 4 hours (sorry, Terri, I opted for Classic Taupe once again!)
-moved boys into said painted room
-with Rick and Cindy's help, moved crib, changing table and captain's bed to garage for resale
-furiously researching bunk beds and dressers with no luck yet
-agonizing over not repainting the boys original bedroom yet (final color verdict: keeping the sage green and painting over the baby blue-sorry J&T, the perfectly lasered line will be gone soon!)
-writing a grant that is now done
-utter shock over taxes and still having to add up my expenses-BLAH. Stupid 1099's.
-Packing for vacation....still yet to happen
-dealing with sibling rivalry
-learning how to play chess with Ian
-teaching music to both Connor and Ian's preschool classes this week-super fun!
-a strained muscle in my neck for over 5 days
-putting down soil in the front flower bed and shooing away cats who think it is a port-a-potty area. The smell of cat urine in my yard is driving me bonkers. Sorry. It is reinforcing the no pet policy.
-more chorale work
-operating on an average of 4.5-5 hours of sleep each night of vacation
-the only tv watching included the painful last hour of American Idol-shouldn't a requirement of finals include singing in tune?
-Ian's spasms of reckless silliness, which had better not accompany him on the plane.
-Obama's okay with merit pay this week-don't get me started, but I am not happy.

But since THIS is vacation, at least I didn't have to actually work amid this list of calamities and self-inflicted stress.

I'll be back with much more interesting posts, but until then, you can visit Tom. He is a very good sport considering that life is lemons instead of lemonade and he has to deal with me trying to figure out that above-mentioned list. Things will look up before you know it.

Because It's Okay To Learn While Blogging

Tom and I enjoy watching The Colbert Show, even though it's not a regular event. However, we have happened to catch astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson more than once on the show and always watched with great interest. We recently had the chance to listen to Dr. Tyson on NPR's Science Friday and this afternoon, I purchased his new book, The Pluto Files.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and recently demoted Pluto from planethood, much to the outrage of elementary students. His new book has several of those student letters, cartoons and scientific information regarding this decision. He has a wonderful way of explaining astrophysics in an eloquent manner without going over our head and with a great sense of humor to boot.

In my stalker mind, I somehow hope that he will be at the Planetarium during our NYC visit. I would love to stalk...er, meet him and have Ian meet him too. Considering how much Ian loves to discover and figure out things, I am hoping he will hurry and complete his current project which endeavors to help children become more science-literate. As a moderately literate science person, judging from the direction my son is headed, I will need all the science guides I can get.

He mentions in the NPR interview on how to expand on natural curiosity by doing things like giving kids a bunch of magnets and letting them play and discover. He has a ultra-violet light that they experiment with how different objects look under the light. Simple things, but as an adult with a limited science background, those ideas don't pop into my brain.

He also mentions how if adults could better informed about science and even math (here's where I get palpitations) that we would not be in half of the predicaments that we are in right now in the nation and world.

I really hope to have the chance to hear him speak someday.

Plus, I think his memoir title is perfect: The Sky's Not the Limit.

Enjoy listening to him on both Colbert and Daily Show and you can podcast Science Friday's interview on NPR.org. I hope you will enjoy him as much as we do.


Interview with Stephen Colbert

Interview with Jon Stewart

Rubik's Cube

Show and Tell

As mentioned in several posts, Ian enjoys playing chess. He knows what all of the pieces are called, how they move and even how to trick a new and unsuspecting opponent (Mommy). Tom has been playing with him almost every day for the last few weeks and sometimes, we will walk in the living room to find Ian on the floor, with the chess board set up properly, waiting for someone to play with him.

This past week, he said he would teach me how to play chess-which I was honestly impressed because he did teach me correctly. He even tried to help me feel better by showing me "how to take a few of my guys." He also cleverly encouraged some moves where I was set up to lose.

So, when Thursday rolled around and I told him that he needed a Show and Tell item, he asked if he could bring his chess set, so he could "teach all the kids how to set it up and play!" I hesitated but then I figured it wasn't a big deal. He had his chess pieces bagged up and his board and sat in the car, discussing how he would set up the board and how he would teach the kids the moves.

The look on the preschool aide's face when he walked into the class carrying a chess set was priceless. Of course, they probably think I am some crazy overachiever parent, I mean, who teaches a four-year-old to play chess? But the truth is that this is just who he is and what he is about. He isn't too much about some typical little boy stuff, although he can be at times.

Secretly, I love him and all his curiosity and natural propensity toward things I cannot fathom even now in my thirties.

Lucky for me that I get to show and tell all about him too.

Uncle Cheffrey's Competition

Nothing says gourmet like peanut butter and low sugar jelly on saltine crackers. I discovered these awhile back when we were out of bread and I need a lunch for the boys. I allowed Ian to create his own peanut butter and jelly "sandwiches" on the saltines, using a butter knife and spoon. He not only made himself lunch, but also made some for his brother. The cleanup detail was a bit stickier than usual, but Ian really enjoyed the independence.

Now a weekend lunch staple, Connor decided that he was also old enough to create his own saltine sandwich, which consisted of peanut butter, raisins and the main ingredient of jelly.

He sat very quietly working on his sandwiches and also created quite a mess.


I sometimes forget that they can do a lot more than I think. And catering to their independence within some boundaries has created some very happy and empowered little boys.

By the way, I am a little torn on the natural peanut butter-just peanuts and salt. I love it mixed with Carb Smart ice pops (thanks, Michelle) and on celery, but it isn't as mentally yummy as sugar-laden peanut butter.