02.16.09
How about a basic update first?
Biggest news We moved at Halloween. Not very far, back west over the hills into Castro Valley. Our new home is smaller than the Dublin behemoth, and we are doing our best to be efficient in our use of space. It’s pretty successful so far. Primary reasons for moving: to locate ourselves closer to most of our activities; to reduce our square footage and our rent; to live on a property with food-producing potential. We are enjoying an additional benefit – this is a wonderfully quiet cul-de-sac street, with plenty of children. There is a family of homeschoolers (girls 12, 10, 7), and a number of toddlers; when it’s not raining, the kids are congregating in the front yard and riding their bikes on the street. It’s a terrific enhancement to our days!
Jamie We’ve got a lively three-year-old on our hands now. Jamie loves dearly to play both Little House prairie dress up and trains-and-trucks; he enjoys baking and heavy construction. Non-traditional gender is an issue I want to explore here… Now that we’re back west of the hills, Jamie is taking monthly classes at Sulphur Creek, our local nature center and wildlife rehabilitation facility. This week he starts a twice-weekly toddler swim class, and in March he’ll start a gymnastics class. He loves these outings, and with Jeff working at home, they are very easy to manage because the girls can stay home and do what they want. Jamie is of course deep into the first individuation – colloquially known as “the terrible twos”, though we have never felt that way about them. We noticed with both girls that this period didn’t start until around three as well; I hypothesize that our parenting style contributes to this delay, and I suspect that it also contributes to why it doesn’t seem so terrible.
Emma Now 9.5 years old, our middle child enjoys her music and her playtime more than anything. Having started harp a mere year ago, she has progressed so rapidly that she was able to accompany the homeschool choir on a Celtic piece just a few weeks ago. Her dedication is such that she is able to practice an hour a day, six days a week, in addition to her two lessons (she also plays the violin), and she is self-teaching piano and making terrific progress there. Living on our new street, Emma has finally been able to develop her bike-riding confidence and graduated to a larger bike with gears and hand brakes. She is exploring new interests such as horseback riding and pottery via generous grandparental birthday present. As a child with a mild temperament, Emma and her parents struggle to maintain the time and space necessary for strong attachment around the more obviously presenting needs of her demanding siblings.
Katie A teenager at last, although she has been an adolescent for almost two years now if the non-chronological markers are any indication. This stage comes with nice privileges, like being able to wander the streets unsupervised, subscribe to New Moon magazine, and stay up later. Katie now spends 6 hours a day on her homeschooling responsibilities, which include 1.5 hours of music on her three instruments (violin, flute and piano). She would love to add twice-weekly ballet to her schedule, toward her goal of acheiving en pointe, and there is a good program nearby; the challenge of how the overall load will adjust has not yet been resolved. Katie is going through the second individuation stage toward maturity (and boy is it fun sometimes having two doing that at once!); the biggest challenge is anger and stress management, and we are looking into activities that can help with that.
Christina I am thrilled with our new house for the big reason that it is a ten-minute walk from the theater where I do my music! The closeness to rehearsals there and for ensembles at people’s homes means I can spend more time doing the actual music (when before I had to count a lot of commute time each week into the total). Just yesterday I auditioned an operatic trio with two great friends and I believe we blew the director away with our performance. Much of my time is taken up of course with the kids, their activities and their homeschooling. What additional time I have is devoted to what is called “peak oil preparation”; this means lifestyle adaptation, planning and development toward what Jeff and I believe is the rapidly approaching global change away from a petroleum-centered society. (Another issue that will get much more attention in individual posts.)
Jeff Continuing to financially support our family, Jeff has been what we feel is phenomenally successful as a consultant for the pharmaceutical industry, though we have no other data points. He has captured the attention of significant corporate clients, won extended contracts and negotiated substantial billing rates. To achieve that he has developed solid personal skills in business, marketing and networking, but for the most part his success is based on customer satisfaction and referrals; in other words, his work is self-perpetuating based on his excellent performance. We are of course concerned about the U.S. and global economies and their impact on his industry and on our family; to that end we are trying new business strategies like articles, presentations, and targeted marketing of specific contracts, and we have worked like fiends to conserve as much as possible of the income gained during these productive years. Jeff has added some hobby-like activities to his life after a number of years dedicated solely to family and work; he enjoys playing and writing text adventure games with the girls, and is trying to coalesce a regular group of friends interested in enjoying games and conversation.