Bad Fight
had a bad fight with Olya this morning, so not much fun stuff to post just now, I am sure it will work out.
Aikido Testing
I have been going to Aikido off and on for over twenty years now.
8 years or so ago I finally decided that I was going to test for my first rank.
After all there was a test coming up, and while I was still relearning the move, I knew all of the moves for the first test.
Mamura, Sensei had been my teacher since the beginning.
When he found out I wanted to finally test, he pulled me aside and asked me not to.
He told me that while I know the moves better than any of the others testing for their first rank, I had been with the school so long that I needed to show my experience, and should be ready to double test for my first and second rank at the same time if asked, because the sensei giving the test knew me on sight as an old student. My form was not what it should be so please don’t test, he repeated.
Later during that same class he honored me by recognizing me as an older student, even though I had never tested.
I stopped going to Aikido for a while, mostly because I was annoyed that I was asked not to test, even though I could easily have completed the test, and confused because he had recognized me as an older student to the rest of the class, I left because I fell shame, I left because I was not ready for the responsibility of being a senior student.
This was the last time I saw Mamura, Sensei, because shortly after that he died.
I am back in Aikido again, and Mamura, Sensei’s daughter is now the head sensei.
She has asking me if I was going to test, for rank one, and I have been declining.
Declining because I wanted to full fill Mamura, Sensei’s last request of me, which was to be ready to test for the first two ranks, in Aikido at the same time, and I do not feel that I am ready.
Then she asked me to test, this is very different than asking me if I want to test.
I told her I am not ready, but she said I am ready.
Earlier this week, I talked to her after class and told her about what her father said to me, and how I am trying to complete that request to be ready to test for the first two ranks at the same time.
She said she would take a look at my technique and let me know if I am ready.
Which is great, even though I know I am not ready to double test, right now, I was hoping to make a try for it in Spring.
What is bothering me is that I think I explained the situation in a bad way, because I was very nervous, and that I came across as demanding to double test because I have so many years of experience, and am so much better than the other students, blah, blah, blah, ego, ego, ego.
Hopefully I will be able to explain myself better next week.
On the plus side when I asked if I could continue to sit in the lowest ranked position in the room even after I gain a Rank, she said if I want to sure. Which is good because I enjoy helping the new students, and that is the best place to help them.
24. Pumpkin Walk – Now with digital evidence (and 100% less misspellings)!
24. Pumpkin Walk
Damien walks around with a jack-o-lantern on each foot. I should probably mention that they were plastic trick-or-treat buckets that were only made to look like jack-o-lanterns.
Not sure how he managed to maintain his balance.
This is only second-hand knowledge, but supposedly there is digital evidence.
New Toy, Giant Box (with photographic evidence of awesomeness)
$350 {we spare no expense} for a new dryer and we get a bonus box.
I think the kids have gotten as much use out of the box as we have the dryer. {royal we, I don’t actually use the dryer, but I do enjoy the benefits of dried cloths}.
It is about four feet high, and can serve many purposes:
1. Spy house with secret window {there is a hole in one side}.
2. Child powered tumble weed {where in the children try to roll over things as a giant ball that rolls over things, except they don’t usually agree on a direction}.
3. Hiding place {great for ambushing the kids, I mean great for them playing hid and seek, yeah, that’s what I meant}.
4. Climbing obstacle {it’s smooth sides and ever changing shape offer a challenge even for the mighty climber of things, known as Damien}.
5. Giant venus fly {Sergey} trap {in cardboard form, powered by Damien}.
6. Mega pack-n-play from which there is no escape {ideal for relocating the children to a different part of the house against their will, not that I would ever do such a thing}.
New Wildlife Sighting (added photo)
This morning while getting the kids ready for school we spotted a hawk outside our window. At first I thought that it was injured and was just fluffing up its feathers to stay warm, later it moved and I saw that it had either a large mouse or a small squirrel, in its talons.
This picture does not do it justice but it is the best that I could do before the bird flew off with its kill.
I was holding Sergey up so he could see out the window, which is why I do not have more photos.
coincidentally I am holding him now and typing with one hand, which is why this post is so short.
The little guy has a 103 fever, lucky for us Grandma can watch him tomorrow, so we can go to work.
Bye Bye Crib
Yesterday we took Sergey’s Crib down, and put the matress on the floor.
This is to get him ready for the toddler bed, my idea is that he is going to fall off the bed now that there is no fence to stop him.
With the mattress being only a few inches off the floor the impact shouldn’t be that bad {floor is carpeted and I have a folded quilt there as well}.
With nothing to stop him Sergey got up off he mattress several times, but finally did fall asleep.
He still got up at night as often, but we were able to pet him and snuggle with him on the mattress which we couldn’t do when he was in the crib, this meant that Sergey didn’t sleep with us for the first time in a week, and we were able to get some real sleep instead of having to keep one eye {or arm} open watching after Sergey, so he didn’t roll or climb out of our bed.
The big bonus was that when the boys woke up this morning, they played with each other letting us sleep until almost 8:30, about two hours longer than we were used to.
this night Damien took an interest in sleeping on just the mattress but he fell asleep in the chair while being read to to usurp Sergey from his mattress..
Swim Class Over
Swim class ended last week, and it has taken me this long to write about it, or did I already write about it and just now forgot that I did already write about it. I could check my previous posts but I am too lazy.
Damien did rather well, even swimming on his own with a water noodle tied around him.
Sergey on the other hand had one of his worst days, but he is usually so good that he was bound to have a bad day.
They each got a certificate and some candy {the instructor wanted to make sure they all got some sugar, and she smiled as she said it}.
Most of the other kids in the class have taken it before so we will be back with our kids for round two, when the class is offered again next year.
On lesson that I took away from the class was to just tell Damien to stop crying, this is something that that the teacher did to him one time when she was helping me teach him about doing the doggy paddle.
15. Drag the Foot Walk
15. Drag The Foot Walk
Damien still does this one where he walks normal with one foot then drags the other foot behind him like he is doing the Electric Slid, across the kitchen. This is one of the walks that Damien will do to slow himself down. He wanted a cracker and I was handing out crackers, so he was racing over to me, but Sergey was already right in front of me begging for another cracker, though he already had one in his moth and another one in his hand. So Damien knew he had to wait before he could get a cracker, so he did the drag the foot walk around in a circle while waiting his turn.
How I Almost Ruined Thanksgiving
This Thanksgiving we {the Finnegan’s} were tasked with Mashed Potatoes.
Olya got a recipe from her mom, and was plugging along fine when I entered the picture.
Thinking I was helping I sliced the Boiling potatoes in smaller manageable bit, the idea being that they would cook more evenly.
They did cook more evenly but instead of boiled potatoes, we ended up with potato soup with large potato chunks that were water logged.
The whole think tasted far too watery, more watery than potatoy {which is generally bad for a mashed potato recipe}.
Luckily Olya found a solution, to simmer and stir at low heat to cook off the excess water. My idea was to use paper towels to absorbe the excess water, but I am told this would have caused the paper towels to disintergrate into the mashed potatoes which I am sure would not have enhanced it’s flavor.
after 15 or 20 minutes the potatoes had really thickened up, and I let them cool a bit with the lid off to reduce some more.
They were still hot when we got to Peggy’s and Nate ate almost half of them himself, when we left there was less than one cup of mashed potatoes left, so I would say they were a hit.
They should be even better next year, if I don’t get involved.
Damien the Dinosaur
This morning while I was getting Damien dressed, I asked what shirt he would like to wear.
Instead of a shirt Damien pointed to the green and red dinosaur costume that he wore last year. That is not the odd part, the odd part is that he really didn’t like the dinosaur costume last year. Presently though Damien has a hood fetish, and the dinosaur costume has one.
I figured that this might be the last time he would fit into the costume, and at his age if he wants to dress funny, no one is going to care, so why not wear the costume to daycare.
After a few minutes I convince Damien to wear a shirt on under the costume, and that he is not too big for it, I help him put it on. It is a bit high watery if you know what I mean, but Damien is happy walking around saying “Dinosaur Rarrr!”
I pick out some red socks for him, at first he doesn’t want to wear the socks, prefering to be barefoot, because anything else would detract from the costume. That is until I point out that the socks match the red spots on the costume, and that his shoes also have some red in them as well. Damien quickly consents to the shoes and socks, once they are on, he graps his Right foot and pulls it up to his chest, to he can compare how the red on the shoe and sock are relative to the red on the costume. I did show him by placing the sock right next to a red spot on the costume, bet he had to double check just in case something had changed. Then he did the same thing with the Left foot.
After that we got his coat on which fit over this costume, then then I got my coat and shoes, on. Then he told me he was poopy. just looking at the costume I could tell that I would have to strit everything off inorder to change his diaper, nice timing, oh well being on time for work is overrated.
Pat called me from work about a server problem, I started walking her through a solution, when she heard the kids screaming in the car, as I was loading them in, and she said she would call me back later.
Mrs Trisha at daycare was alright with Damien in the dinosaur costume, and I let he know about the total stripdown for diapers. I did bring a packup pair of pants for him to change into and he was wearing a shirt under the costume.
When I came to pick him up in the evening he was no longer wearing the costume, and he teachers were already gone for the day, I’ll have to find out what happened on Monday.