The Decline of Play

This is very interesting. And something I've been reading up on for about 2 years now.

I encourage you to watch this Ted Talk from Dr. Peter Gray. He goes into how waaaaay back in the day, hunters/gatherers' children were off playing from dawn until dusk.

From dawn until dusk.

With no adult supervision. 

In fact, all mammals play. Playing is what teaches young mammals how to behave. How to act socially and emotionally. It teaches social norms.

It makes total sense.

Back in the day, kids didn't start kindergarten until like age 7 (or something). There was no homework. They learned through independent play.

I love this philosophy.

Dr. Gray also mentions how nowadays, there are so many more kids suffering from anxiety, depression, and stress.


The Montessori school we had enrolled Mila in for Preschool had twenty minutes of "optional" homework each night.

20 minutes.

Of homework.

For a 4 year old. 

Even though I was told it was optional, I still felt like we were slackers. Even though I KNOW she's not "behind" if we don't do the homework.

But, for fuck's sake, tell me HOW ON EARTH I'm supposed to fit this in.

After work.

In between making dinner, feeding dinner, cleaning up, bath, PLAY, READING, having an 18 month old also....I just couldn't do it.

So we didn't.

And then shortly afterwards, we pulled both girls from that daycare/school. It just didn't jive with us.

Now that Mila is in first grade and Ava will be heading to UPK in the Fall, I decided last year to take a break. Take a break from it all.

Mila started with a toddler gym class, which was tailored to kids ages 1-2, I believe. That was each Saturday morning and we loved it.

Then when we moved, we signed Mila up for dance at the local YMCA (not hard core dance). We went every Saturday morning and I dragged Ava along with us each week. She did dance for 2 years. We enjoyed it and met some great friends. That's how I found our current daycare provider as well! One of the moms I met worked at the daycare and knew Miss Leah. She introduced us.

Once Ava was old enough, I enrolled both girls into gymnastics for 16 weeks (2 sessions) - this was super fun and I'll likely enroll again this fall. It made for long Saturdays, but I think it's worth it. The girls' classes were back to back, so it's two hours there, then lunch at the Burger Bar, then grocery shopping. Part of me hates the how busy we are those mornings and the other part of me loves the routine.

Then we hit summer and while I had looked into horseback riding (it's expensive!) we opted to take a break over summer and do nothing. Enjoy lazy mornings, the slow pace of summer. Be outside. Do our own activities each day/weekend. Outside chores are so much more fun than inside chores!

And enjoy it we did! Swimming, hiking, running, gardening, chasing chickens, playing, bon-firing, etc. It was glorious. We ended the summer with a beach vacation.

Then I decided again to take a break for the fall term. It was Ava's first year of "school", and I just didn't feel like getting the girls up and ready to go on Saturday mornings. It was always a rush. And for whatever activities I sign them up for, I need to be able to bring both kids and deal with them myself - since Steve works Saturdays every other month. It was more of an issue when Ava was a baby, but I still like to find things that coordinate and make sense - gymnastics was perfect - Ava's class was at 10, Mila's was at 11. She finished up at noon and that's when we'd head to Wegmans to eat lunch at the Burger Bar. Then do our weekly grocery shopping.

But this meant that we were gone from 9:30am - 2:30pm even Saturday. Again, part of me loves it, part of me hates it!

Don't get me wrong - I am all about my kids being in activities. I want them to learn, be social, find something they LOVE.

But I also know they have time for that. I don't need to schedule my 4 and 6 year old into too many activities - I just want to let them be. (Cue The Beatles)

And living out where we live is incredibly conducive to this lifestyle/philosophy.

Now, don't get me wrong.

I'm a helicopter mom by nature.

But I also have a rational side of me that knows that I shouldn't be a helicopter mom.

Last summer was the first time I felt comfortable enough to tell the girls after work/daycare "I'm going in to cook dinner, you guys stay outside until I call you in."

And it worked! I couldn't believe it.

For 30 - 45 minutes, my girls were outside playing.

Without any adult supervision.

Of course I ran to every single window to see if I could see them playing outside. Once I could, I calmed the fuck down and was able to get dinner made.

I would periodically check every window on the ground level to see if I could see them.

This year, I'm not nearly as nutty about it. It hasn't even been a full year, but Ava has matured a LOT in the last 6-8 months.

Now when they are outside, I only check every window like every 10 minutes or yell really loudly out the front door and wait to hear "yeah mom" from one of them. It's glorious.

Girls playing on their playset (see the blue coat on the left side of the playset? That's Mila's coat. 

Ava is wearing pink.) This pic was taken zoomed in quite a bit. I was standing in the kitchen. 

This is a more realistic photo - this is taken without any zooming going on. They are pretty far from me. But, that's why we placed the playset strategically where I could see them from the kitchen. 

They built this really cool fort with dad the other day

They have a "secret" set up back there. 

I do totally still get nervous if I can't see them. Last week Mila was playing a "prank" on me and wouldn't answer me when I yelled for her. 

I almost lost it! I came barreling out of the front door, screaming her name, just to see her shit-eating smile peeking out from behind the coop. 

We talked about answering mom every. single. time. 

We love looking for bird's nests in the Spring! We found an old discarded one yesterday.

Sorry for the blurry pic, but Ava was very proud to carry it!

Found another one! 

But this summer? I'm pumped. The deck will be up so that will make life easier for sure (don't worry we will have bells, whistles and alarms all over that sonofabitch to ease my paranoia). I still plan on kicking my kids outside for most of the summer. 

At least I'm not locking the door like my mom did.

Rochester Museum and Science Center Field Trip!

We've been looking forward to this field trip now for weeks! It's been a long time since I've personally gone there, and I don't think we've brought the kids before.

I offered to chaperone the trip - I try REALLY hard to make sure either Steve or I can attend these types of school activities.

When I was growing up, both my parents worked in professional-type jobs (in the medical field) and weren't able to leave their jobs to attend school functions. Ever.

Don't get me wrong - my parents also didn't work a traditional Monday - Friday schedule, so they were available for other things.

Steve's parents also didn't attend many of his school activities. So we want to be there - we want our kids to see our faces watching them and having fun.

Thank goodness for my flexible job that allows me to take time off and go to these things.

We started at the Planetarium and it was recently updated.

My group was Mila and one other little friend - awesome. This should be easy. Right after the teacher told me I had two girls, she turned to another mom and said "you have these 4 boys" LOL.

The kids enjoyed the bean bag chairs. I enjoyed the dim light and 40 minute presentation. I loved learning about the stars, constellations and the planets. Super interesting! 

Mila and friend holding up the moon. I'm intentionally making it so you can't see the other kids' faces. I don't have permission from their parents to post. 

Looking at wildlife

Doing some digging! 

A 25 year old tortoise.

Oppossums are much cuter in person. These guys get groomed. 

Ok, meet Bella, the biggest freaking toad I've ever met. And she's not full grown. She's about half the size of full grown - which can be up to 5lbs. Bella here weighs 2.5lbs. 

She had to have been my favorite part. 

Trying the Rock Wall

Climbing

Water/sand play

Building

Another mom was nice enough to pay the $2 fee for the kids to feel wind forces of up to 80mph! 

I took my two kiddos on a faux rollercoaster ride - they loved it! We were inside a vehicle that's secured to the ground, but it moves up and down, side to side, and goes along with the video we're watching inside. It felt pretty real! The girls loved it so much we went on it twice. 

After we dropped our friend off to catch the bus back to school, Mila and I then did the free "underwater" ride similar to the rollercoaster. We also hit up the gift shop (there were rules about going there when all the kids were around, so we had to wait). Mila picked out candy sticks, glow in the dark slime and a small stuffed animal - a set for herself and a set for Ava. I'll always love that Mila thinks of her sister and wants to make sure Ava also gets some goodies. 

A GREAT day was had by all! I'm so glad I got to experience it with my kiddo. We definitely need to go again with Ava. 

So, this happened!

Introducing our brand new Ruple Farms logo! 

My beautiful friend, Mary designed the logo for us! She's an art director at my company and she's good shit. 

It's been TORTURE to keep this a secret from Steve. Not only did I get a logo created for our mini farm, I wanted to present it in a real way (not just giving him a JPG file LOL). Mary and I started this process back in the middle of February.

I decided to start with some basics: t-shirts for everyone and hoodies for me and Steve. As the girls get bigger, I'll order more.

I'm thrilled with how my ladies' v-neck t-shirt came out. Super soft and fitted! 

I got Steve a regular crew neck T-shirt.

With the hoodie! I opted for a gray hoodie so the white logo would pop.

Back of hoodie with larger logo!

I also got him some stickers and a notepad.

I'll probably order some coffee mugs, water bottles, etc. I plan to give away a certain amount to family and friends. I'll likely post them for sale at some point! 

Weekend Update. The good and the bad.

Let's start with the bad.

It was bound to happen. I had gotten confident.

We lost several chickens over the weekend. 

Including Hei-Hei. I'm sad. 

It started Friday evening. I had just gotten home with the kids from daycare and pulling up our driveway, I noticed that there were quite a few chickens out of the fence.

The girls immediately got out of the car and went to work.

"We got it, mommy! We'll grab who we can and throw them over the fence!"

Great job, girls!

I called them inside for dinner and they told me they got Hei-Hei and one other chicken into the fence.

While they are eating, I head out to throw food scraps and check on them. I notice that Hei-Hei is back in the fence, but that there are probably 4-5 other ones out.

I leave them out because it can be futile to try to get them into the fence. Plus, they flutter out again anyway.

In the past, when we thought we lost chickens, they would miraculously show up again a few days later. Since we live near the woods, I assume that they roost over night in the trees, then come back down during the day.

That happened a few times to us.

But not this time. Steve went out to check again yesterday and still no signs of them.

So I think they are gone for good. 

I'm really sad about Hei-Hei, but I'm trying really hard not to take it horribly. I know these are farm animals and that this could happen.

So what can we do to avoid this?

I'm asking Steve to build in extra protection to our fence. I want to make it so the chickens can't flutter and get over the top. I'm not exactly sure how to go about it - I keep thinking of having wiring that comes out into the fence, so the chickens would have to fly up and OVER. Which I think would be harder to do. So we're brainstorming.

I can't lose chickens like this again. It's too heartbreaking.

Plus, we were getting 15 eggs per day. We're down to 7.

On to the Good News.

Our baby chicks are starting to get their feathers and are definitely getting bigger. I'd say we can move them outside in the next 2-3 weeks. Since we lost so many over the weekend, after we get these guys outside into the small coop, we will be getting probably another 12 baby chicks.

I also started my next batch of seedlings.

This Bubba is always wanting to help - and I'm realizing she's very perceptive. She told me that the cauliflower seeds look very similar to broccoli seeds. She also told me that squash seeds look very similar to pumpkin seeds. I'm impressed she remembered! 

Popsicle sticks being put to good use!

Squash

Here is the first batch. Our watermelon popped through! So exciting!

Pumpkin on the right, watermelon in the middle, broccoli on the left

See the watermelon finally poking through? 

So now I have the first batch and second batch under the lights. I will be transferring the hardier plants in the next week or so to the biodegradable planters I bought. 

Seedlings day 10 (watermelon sprouted!)

I went down to the basement this morning to check on everything. I was happy to see that having this light is really getting these guys going! 

Pumpkin is really taking off!

Pumpkin

Broccoli

Center of pic - see the watermelon sprout just peeking through? There are two that I can see visibly. 

This weekend me and the girls will get the next batch started. Still gotta find those seeds from last year....but I can at least get my Japanese Cucumbers started. I may pick up a few more packets of seeds at some point too. This is so exciting! I can't wait to get the garden going! 

Grow Station

We set up a grow station in our basement. Nothing fancy, we just hung a grow light from the ceiling rafters with some chains and bungee cords. We're setting my seedlings on Steve's work bench. The bungees with hooks will allow me to adjust the height of the light as the plants grow. I can already see a difference!

It's only been one night and I think the seedlings are flourishing!

I have another tray and set of pods for my my next batch. I plan on transferring these guys, once they are hardy enough to move to these biodegradable planters I bought. Then I'll start my next batch. 

We'll need to get started on the garden soon! I told Steve the other day that I don't expect him to build as nice a one as he did before, only because it's going to be so much bigger.

That, and I really want to fence this garden - the entire thing, because I'm worried about deer and other animals eating all my veggies. So, instead of doing those beautiful wood log fencing, I told him we could do some {cringe} chainlink fencing. Ugh, I hate even typing that! But, it'll have to do for this year. Plus, I'm not 100% sure that we won't move the garden again...I mean, I don't think we'd move it again, but I guess you never know. And it likely isn't going to be real chainlink, but something sturdy and easier to put up than wood logs and then wrapping that with chicken wire. We'll see what we come up with! 

We got into UPK!

Exciting news in the Ruple household!

Instead of writing a novel on our past childcare experiences, I will simply share that Miss Ava was accepted into the UPK program in our district! WAHOO!

Mila attended a preschool program at a local church (such a long story, but we had Mila in a program, then we left, and it was too late to get her into UPK) and she went there 3 days a week prior to starting Kindergarten.

We loved the preschool program Mila attended, so when Ava aged into the program (age 3 by December 1) for the 3's class, I was excited to sign her up.

Her birthday is late, so she misses the cut off in our district - by 19 days. I get it though, there needs to be a cut off at some point.

But, she needs to be in school. She needs to be stimulated. She needs to be active and she needs to be with other kids. She thrives being with others.

So Ava now attends the 3's class, two days per week, for 2.5 hours. I'm lucky that I get to bring her one day per week, and Steve brings her the other day. Our daycare provider we have now (I LOVE HER) picks her up after preschool and brings her back to her house for the rest of the day. Works perfectly.

Not all parents choose to enroll their 3 year old (hell, not all parents enroll for 4's preschool, nor is it a requirement to attend K), but I always felt that my kids needed it. Needed some level of preschool. I basically needed them to learn how to learn and listen to other adults and be social.

And, both my girls have learned a ton from preschool and I just generally love them.

For this fall, we could have chosen to keep Ava where she is, at the same preschool at the church, just in the 4's class. This would be either 3 days per week or 5 days (we would be able to choose).

But, it costs money.

I think when Mila attended, it was around $160/month? That, on top of daycare.

Right now, because it's only 2 days per week, I think we pay $100/month. Plus daycare.

Our district (like many others) offers a FREE Universal Pre-K program for the kiddos who will be ready for K in a year.

It's 5 days per week, for 2.5 hours per day.

And, it's lottery based. 

There are several locations and two time periods to choose from.

I wanted Ava to go to the school, because that's where Mila goes (so, convenient AND Ava would get used to going there).

I also wanted Ava to have the morning session, because let's be real - she would not do well in a 12:30 - 3pm class. She'd be miserable, tired and cranky. She's at that awkward stage of needing a nap, but not needing a nap.

But I was worried. I heard not everyone gets into the lottery. We had missed the cut off for registration at her current school (we missed it due to the $75 non-refundable deposit) and we were just hoping she got accepted into UPK.

If she didn't, well, we'd be screwed.

Well, the stars have aligned and not only did she get in, we got what we wanted. 

Ava will be going to the same school at Mila next year and will attend the morning session.

Steve is excited because that means for next year he won't have to get up early to get Mila on the bus, he will drive them both (Ava will not have transportation and since it's at the school, he may as well drive Mila too!) He gets an extra half hour if he drives vs. if she takes the bus. It's a long bus ride for Mila - about 40 minutes so she loves getting a ride.

Seedlings days 5, 6, 7

Reporting back on our seedlings! If you remember, we started last week. 

Our broccoli poked through on day 4 (pic taken at 8am)

Broccoli - day 4, 5pm 

Broccoli Day 5

Pumpkin poking through day 5

Broccoli day 5

Broccoli day 6

Broccoli day 6

Pumpkin day 6

Broccoli day 7

Pumpkin day 7

Broccoli and pumpkin day 7

Watermelon is taking its time sprouting. I've read that it can take longer to germinate, so I'm not worried yet. 

I'm using natural light with these guys. It's not consistent enough, so I'm going to start using a grow light for my next batch. Steve found our light and I think we're going to set up a grow station in the basement so I can effectively start all my seedlings.

My mom sent me Japanese Cucumbers - I received them in the mail last week, so I'm anxious to get those started as well! 

I also have to hunt down all my seeds from last year...