Mama, Mama, Mama.

When I got home from Oula tonight, I had a bit of energy so decided to take Pablo to the park.  He trotted along,  He goes between platypus slow moving, waddling, to what I imagine a mouse would look like running on its hind legs, scurrying along but still not overly elegant. 

We get to the park and Pablo is firing on all cylinders.  He points at trains shouting out "Chu! Chu!"  I make his Miffy stuffed bunny do all the park events: slide, climb up the stairs, ride the swing, which makes Pablo have more fun and want to participate in everything two fold.  It's obviously even funnier when Miffy lands on her head from falling out of the swing or tumbling down the slide.  I don't think I could ever get enough 21 month old giggles. 

We strut back home and stop to pick up some ice cream on the way.  Pablo's happy that the older version of Pablo, who owns the ice cream store, knows who he is.  He passes him a high five, a grin and sparkling eyes.  Pablo offers my Pablo a free cone, but I sway him away before baby Pablo sees it.  Perhaps, it's the blonde hair in a sea of dark haired babies, or the luck of all babies or maybe that Argentines are really kind people who love babies but I think Pablo gets something free everywhere he goes, whether it be an avocado or a alfejor or dried apricots. 

As we get home, I feed Pablo a dinner of veggie burger, a couple potato chips, some pieces of apple and some slices of avocado.  Topped off with some coconut and chocolate ice cream, he is pretty much in heaven. 

More laughter pours from the bathroom as papa does the bath with him.  When papa later goes to the store, I take book duty and at one moment, Pablo crawled on top of me and embraced me and just said "Mama. Mama. Mama."  I held him back sucking in every second of this moment, my life speeding before my eyes not wanting it to ever end.   If you are lucky in life, your child will never stop calling for you.... "Mama, Mama, Mama.."

A Brewing Storm

There's a small storm stirring.
People threatened by power.
People craving power.
People wanting to redistribute power.

Power falling on the weight of tradition.
At least 8 years at stake, but really engrained
Rooted deep down in the earth,
20 years at least.

Power being shifted from one mountain to another.
One mountain wants to grow new trees, new ideas,
give birth to more life.

Another mountain wants to stand still
Let things pan out
Let things be
Believing that things will work
Themselves out
Or remain calm.

Neither mountain is overly confident
As the mountains as are have been laid
By others

Neither way is right nor wrong.

But people who live beneath the mountains
Are spirited
Want something different
Know something different
Is in the cards
Know the power of something
Different can rise up
And rejuvenate
Cultivate.

#SOL19 

The Flight Home

The white cotton fields were spread out for what seemed like miles, with little puffy icebergs popping out spontaneously as we cruised through the air.
Baby boy sucks down his last drop of milk at take ooff and his eyes roll back, eye lids fluttering still, sinking into my left arm which I know will be numb within minutes.
It's short and sweet, a rise and fall, with no ear pressure and a gentle flight as we pass by the Riva stadium packed full of people during game hour.

Short and sweet.  Day is done. Gone the sun, more this week.  

Pablo’s Pace

It’s 8:15 and every bone and emotional neuron is saying “Go back to sleep” but my intellect won’t switch off and it doesn’t happen. I tell my husband I am going downstairs for breakfast in peace.  

He says “Is Pablo up?” 

“Nope.”

“Espera y vamos todos juntos.”

I shrug. I am a slave to my child’s vibe and agree halfheartedly.  Soon, he wakes up a little bit more of a hot mess than normal, so I throw him in the rain shower with my husband for 2 seconds. Initially, he freaks out but when I open the door to grab him and wrap him in a towel, he says “Mas! Más!” Wanting to stay in the water longer. Still, I know this drill and get him, because I know the dressing will take awhile. He basks in the piles of pillows, blankets and sheets on the hotel bed and frolicks around with splendid delight. Finally, I pin him down for diaper and fresh clothes. Between pPablo and my husband’s pacing, my hunger is skyrocketing. Eventually, about 40 minutes later we go down to breakfast.

Airports

Every single person
Holds a different story
Of where they come from
And where they are going.

Most are lost in a device
Prepping to return to their
Monotony or lost in a book
Dreaming of where they are
Off to.

As the parent of a young child,
My airport time is spent
Chasing around a Pablo
Trying to keep him off the floors
Playing with the Duty free toys
That are too expensive to buy.

Still we will go.
We will fly.
We will do.
We will be.

Body Awareness

I remember my chiropractor in Barcelona and him saying to me "At least, you are body aware, it's better than being so accustomed to pain, you let it get worse, or ultimately ignore it."  90% of the time I agree, but I have unfortunately been dealing with this extreme shoulder and neck pain for the last 9 months and I really wish I had a Dr. House in the house to examine me.

 I have been to a Orthopedic doctor thinking it was in my shoulder.  Although, I am not convinced he was the best doctor or measure of if there is an actual muscular injury.  He literally lifted my arm up, moved his hand along my scapula and asked "Does that hurt?" And I said, "Yep." And he prescribed "10 sessions of physiotherapy, should do it." 

I told him "I have had chronic issues and my shoulder hyper extends."

"Let's do this and see what happens."

I felt silenced but at least I knew the PT I was already doing would be covered by insurance.

But it's been nearly 3 months and a lot of PT, and working out with a physical trainer to strengthen those muscles and still, there's a lot of pain.  My physio suggested it might be connected to my digestive system and recommended I visit a gastro. 

At this point, the song "I'm a hypochondriac" was on repeat in my head, but the pain was still not going away.  So, I visited the gastroenterologist and he felt around my stomach, and sent me off for a stomach and digestive system ultrasound.

This came back clear too.  So, he has prescribed me some medicine which ideally is supposed to help speed up my digestion. 

Still, all in all, I usually spend half my week with debilitating shoulder pain.  Sometimes, it's so bad, I am awkward in meetings massaging my neck or stretching in a chair.  At least, in my office, in the comfort of my colleagues, I will try and massage a knot out, do yogi stretches, and exercises.  At home, when I wake up every morning, I try to do 5 minutes of stretching to loosen up my body. 

So these days my body awareness is over rated.  I think I would rather build up a resistance to the pain if it's going to be with me for awhile.

#SOL19 #TWTblog #ouch

Wednesday Work Appreciations

Wednesday Work Appreciations

• The music team at Lincoln and their willingness to let me work with them on inquiry units as I stumble around with my limited knowledge of intervals, rhythm and more. 
• The Grade 5 team who lets me question the hell out of them about mixtures and solutions and annoyingly make sure that what they're doing is grounded in standards and concepts.  And especially to Bernie, who confirms whether or not any of our ideas are scientifically legit. 
• A head of school who looks out for me, who called me into his office today to make sure that I was okay after a colleague berated me in a meeting yesterday.  I shrugged it off.  KL was the first full time leadership position I had and initially there was a lot of resistance.  Still, the same, I was well supported by my colleagues and my leadership team and got shit done.  I feel the same way here with my superintendent, fellow coaches and principals. 
• The flexibility and courage of the 4th grade team.  This team has taken on a wealth of new units this year and often, as leaders in teaching and learning we don't have concrete answers for them as they continue to plan.  Still, they are patient, willing to problem solve and super invested in making learning unbelievably rich for every student.  Go Grade 4 team. 
• HS IB professor of art, Lindsay Rude and her IB art students, particularly those in the second sala, who had some beautiful themes wonderfully connected or justified by literature, politics, emotional or artistic references.  
• Little second grader, Cameron, for being well behaved during lunch duty today and not getting in my face at one point. 

#SOL19  #learning #schools #TWTblog