moving in directions I didn't see coming... because I'm obsessive.

I never thought we'd naturally gravitate towards a more unschooled approach, but it's happening... all the color coded binders and folders I bought, the weekly summary sheets I designed and printed about 2 dozen of, the wonderfully organized box of supplies, the worksheets... it's all collecting dust, for the most part. Since we pinpointed the Bipolar diagnosis (with some characteristics of OCD and just general mood disorder) I have learned that on an unmedicated road, reducing conflict is really the best practice. We try to work around him and his wants/needs whenever possible.

But there are some things I won't budge on;

• We're still trying to figure out how we can fit video games into his life, since it's one of his major passions... but in a way that's healthy and constructive for him and us as a family.


• He's going through one of those "I hate everything" phases and I just can't deal. If something is served to you at a meal, and I spent time, effort, and cold hard cash on making it as likable as possible, avoiding foods that I know you genuinely dislike, you're damn well gonna eat it! We're done here, sir!


• The tv is not on in this house unless there is something specific we are planning to watch. A movie, an episode of Top Gear or Jeopardy, etc... no channel flipping. That goes for Seth & I, too. I grew up in a household that almost always had more tvs than people living there. Currently my parents and 16 yr old brother have 6 tvs in their possession. We have one. At times I wish we didn't have any, but I'm just not THAT crunchy. Silas likes watching Back To The Future and epsiodes of the Simpsons. I really like No Reservations and Bizarre Foods. We're human.

We're finding opportunities to learn in really odd places. We're rarely sitting down to do anything structured. Worksheets are rarely done and are a major power struggle between us, causing stress and grumpiness... and it's going really well. I'm as shocked as anybody.

fast & loose.

• I have stopped washing my hair. There's something in the air right now. I first read about no-poo a few weeks ago in the Shapely Prose Ning Community, then Kelly posted a link to a news story on her facebook, then Pioneer Woman did a blog post about it. It was like my little universe was closing in on me, chanting "vinegar, baking soda, no-poo!" I'm on day three, and other than the fact that I smell like pickles, so far so good. The first two days I just scrubbed with water and my fingertips, and rinsed it out really well with water. This morning I scrubbed with baking soda (which I've read can strip a lot of gunk out of the hair, but to use it sparingly) and then did a distilled white vinegar rinse. MY hair dried soft and full of body and with looser, more cooperative curls than when over washed and styled.


• Silas is down and out with a ridiculous cold that won't quit. He hasn't had a fever, but the runny nose has been non-stop and his death-coughs can probably be heard down the block. I've keep him home from his morning time in Peter's class for the past 3 days. Hopefully he comes out the other side of this before he goes to his dad's friday night. His colds always seem to get worse there.

fun times.

bento galore!

I've started making Bento lunches for everybody!

This one was just a snack for Silas during a car ride. From the top left corner; apple gummy rings, turkey pepperoni, sliced turkey, and a mozzarella ball, small pita bread tuna sandwich, grapes, grape tomatoes, more mozzarella balls, more grapes, used lettuce to seperate...

I made this one for myself to eat on my lunch break at work. Grapes, grape tomatoes, celery, mozzarella balls, turkey pepperoni, hummus with sprouts and pita cut into strips, spicy ranch dip for the veggies...

For Seth's lunch; cheeseburger corn muffin, turkey pepperoni, turkey, mozzarella, grapes, grape tomatoes, cottage cheese, hummus with sprouts and pita, celery with spicy ranch dip, pocky...

Also for Seth; grapes and apple gummy rings, pocky, tuna on pita bread with sprouts, cheeseburger corn muffin, mini salad, turkey pepperoni, turkey, more mozzarella... as you can see, I haven't really branched out yet. I don't want to buy too much varieties of food and end up throwing things away.

this is how we do it.

Top of dresser... a perpetual mish-mash of jewelery, belts, candles, children's tylenol, and crap we don't need. Hoorah.

A few weeks ago on Rick Steves' Europe, he was in the Netherlands and talking about the Bosch triptych, The Garden Of Earthly Delights. Silas didn't say anything about being interested at the time, but last week he decided to recreate the right hand panel... of Hell. He remembered a shocking amount of detail. Of course, it's hard to tell when he made it with pencil and black & red crayons... but he can explain every part of the picture and how it relates to the original. My kid is weird.

The door to his bedroom has become his own personal art gallery.

His creative area is a bit of a pit, all the better to color in, my dear...

We made a trip to Ikea a couple weeks ago, just the two of us. Silas HAD TO HAVE this canopy. Once he declared that it "wasn't even a little bit girly" he needed it to be a part of his life.

Holy laundry, Batman! This is all clean... and all mine.

So we finally redid the living room with tax money... and apparently I couldn't be bothered to do an entire post about the process. So here's a few pictures of the finished product. In planning I didn't realize how off-white and furry everything would be once together... But I kind of like things furry.

Like this... furry!

But seriously, back to the living room... new couch, new rug, new sheepskin throw on the couch, covered the ugly chair of doom in better fabric, re-did the wall hangings behind my green chair... the list goes on.

I bought a bunch of map prints from one of the cute little tourist shops downtown for $6 each and framed them with super cheap black frames... the silhouette is Silas' profile.

Furry! Blurry! Sunny!

Our back porch is in complete disarray. And covered in sidewalk chalk drawings.

This is the stack of Silas' school books. His creepy OCD binders are on the shelf to the right... I totally have color coded folders. It's a little out of control.

My coffee corner... and soda corner... and recycling corner. Mmmm, recycling.

Organized clutter is the name of the game, yo.

Dishes... I took this picture about half an hour ago... Seth has since vacated the shower. I predict that if I walked into the kitchen now, these dishes would be done. I bet I'm right. He's compulsive, I tell you. It's a dream. A lucid dream. Name that movie!

These are my cookbooks... they don't fit in the kitchen. I don't care... they fit here just fine. BY the kitchen.

Rack of doom. He'd better watch out. My cleavage is sneaking up behind him, waiting to eat his soul.

April 10th was the 1 year anniversary of my grandma Dorothy's death.

No idea what year this is, but my grandma looks YOUNG here, I'm guessing sometime in the 1930's before she met my grandpa... I think she's in front of her family's orchard in the Yakima area.

Grandma Dorothy with my uncle Jim, 1942 ish.

Have no idea what year this is... but that's my Grandma on the far right, her little sister Zelda on the far left, and my grandpa Edwin is in the back.

Grandpa Edwin, uncle Jim, and Dorothy. Around 1943 or 1944.

My dad, grandma, & uncle Jim... guessing by how old my dad & uncle look, I'd guess this was taken around 1960.

I'm guessing this is somewhere around 1951 or 1952. That's my uncle Jim on the left and my dad on the right.

and here's the one that gets me... it's my Grandma's little sister, Zelda... sometime between 1940 and 1942. I believe she was born in 1915, so this would make her about the age I am now.

I guess she liked taking pictures of herself too. This is where I get it. I am a very strong combination of Zelda & Dorothy... it's almost eerie.

sometimes, relating to your child in the best way for HIM is just common sense... sometimes it requires immense amounts of reflection.

• I've noticed that he wakes up in a much better mood when he gets up on his own, rather than being woken up. Understandable. How could we get him to wake up on his own on mornings where he goes to Grant Street for the first part of the day, when we're short on time? Maybe I could open his door when I first get up at 7:15, but not go in & bug him. He might wake up & come out on his own by the time I'm out of the shower and dressed (the time I normally go in & wake him up).

• He has had major stress lately cleaning his room. It's a huge struggle most days. The key to avoiding conflict on this is not to leave him alone. I shouldn't send him off to do it & then stay in a seperate part of the house. He doesn't necesarrily want help, he just wants company & encouragement, and I have no good reason to "put my foot down" and make him go without that.

• Stop using threatening statements entirely! If a sentence comes out of my mouth that starts with "If you don't stop..." or "If you keep on doing..." then it is inevitably followed up with some kind of threat or consequence... these get us NOWHERE. I need to find a new way of conveying what the expectations of him are, in a way that isn't authoritarian. This is gonna take some practice.

• I have some regrets about taking a break from video games... But he has stress with them, especially games where he is by himself, building things, and can OCD out on the details. He loves to create and he's quite good at the technical aspect of it, but he gets VERY easily frustrated. When that happens, it usually causes a fit, a meltdown, that leads to a downward spiral that is near impossible to climb out of. We need to find him a different creative outlet that will encourage, rather than frustrate him. Something he can do with his hands that will focus his energy and interest on the task. Or a way to regulate the games that all of us can live with.

• There is no point trying to force structured school activities on him during the times of day when he has zero focus. This only teaches him to see learning as a chore. Doing school after lunch doesn't work for him, we've tried... but what does work? We could try doing school from 3 to 5, but that tends to be a time of day when I am lacking focus and motivation... It's going to take awhile for us to find our groove. I also need to remind myself that Seth is willing, able, and interest in being more involved. There is absolutely nothing wrong with school in the evenings if we find it works for us. We don't have to fit into anyone's idea of what's normal.