Birdyhead

End of Summer

Theron started public school this week and it seems to be good. I told his teacher the first day that he talks a lot and she said he wouldn't soon. When I picked him up she said, "He does talk a lot but he's very bright. We need to work on the eye rolling, though". Theron loves many things about this new school that is soooo big. He loves that his classroom is up a flight of stairs. He loves that they have a school nurse. He loves eating in the cafeteria. He loves wearing a backpack. We were all worried but it looks like he'll be okay and so will we.

Labor Day weekend we of course had soccer practice that went MUCH better. He's having fun with it now and gaining confidence. More on that in a minute. Anyway, we also went to see Eden's Edge at the Hammer on its last day. We all really loved the work by Rebecca Morales - Ashley says he would like to own a piece of hers. Theron and I spent a long, long time examining every bit of this piece by Liz Craft. There is so much to look at - squirrels, mushrooms, bee hives - very interesting.

Theron was making me laugh because he'd have to ask "Is this art?" since we told him not to touch the art, and there were a few things that had to be confusing to a little kid. Finally he was told, No, that's not art, and he was happy because he got to sit on the bench. He was also really super interested in the video at the entrance that had all these people in pink hoods/masks with faces drawn on eating food, baking, etc. We watched it twice.

Monday we decided to go to the beach to get out of our hot house. Ash thinks we should get a special award for not having run an air conditioner all summer. Anyway, we packed up for the day and can you believe this, it only took 15 minutes to get to Santa Monica. Everyone else had the same idea, look at all the people in the water (Ashley is very tiny in this picture, on the right side wearing a cap):

After being there all day we all got a little pink in places, but not bad at all, even Ashley who usually gets the worst of it. Because what did we learn last time? That body hair is not as good a sunblock as you might have thought.

Theron got involved in not one but two fortress building projects. Here's one of them:

Okay, so soccer is going very well, too. They had their first game today and people kept complimenting him on his speed. He took a few tumbles, one pretty good face dive, but there were no tears. One thing Ash and I were hoping is that soccer will help him burn off some of that excess energy. We were high-fiving each other. Then it occured to us that maybe it's the opposite, maybe he'll actually increase his stamina.

I volunteered to make the banner, which means that I volunteered Ashley, too. By the time all the information needed to do it got to me I only had a week. It was brutal, and it was done at the last minute, but we did it. I still want to work on it some, so does Ash. He made the beautiful frame/stand. It was so much nicer than the others we saw out there that were stuck in the ground - ours is free standing.

The time constaints meant I had to make compromises I don't normally like to make, such as using fabric glue for some parts, but in the end it was fine.

Here are a few things I learned:

- That very shiny lining fabric looks great but pins fall out, use scotch tape or safety pins.

- Fraycheck for finishing the edges - a little goes a long way but it made the dark green fabric bleed.

- If Fraycheck is not completely dry it soaks up red wine instantly. Washing it off immediately does not work and it makes every other Fraychecked edge blanch.

- There are subtle differences between a green hawk and a parrot.