Thoughts from Wuggy Norple

Wuggy Norple wants you all to know that this Lego Star Wars Walker, that he built with Papercup Mixmaster last night not only turns his head, but the guy can sit inside when the hatch is closed.

Glitter Story

Tonight a craft-kit we had sent away for came in the mail, and Wuggy Norple immediately chose the one that involved gold glitter. Despite our precautions, it went everywhere, including all over him. I asked him to wash up for dinner, so he didn't have to eat glitter.
He said "know what glitter tastes like?"
"What?"
"Fairies."

A Home!

A real settle in and unpack your books home! We saw the house, made an offer, and had the offer accepted all within the same afternoon. We knew as soon as we saw it that this was the one, and as we were used to the break-neck pace of California Real Estate, probably took things a little faster than the more sedate Ithaca market calls for. We've been trying to catch up to our selves ever since, but after a few sleepless nights, we are feeling sure again that this place is right for our little family at this moment in our lives, and hopefully for the next decade or two. So what if there is no garage or driveway, and the lot is smaller than our place in California. It is BEAUTIFUL. And it has a wrap-around porch, which has been a dream for Papercup Mixmaster since before we first met. It's so close to the Commons, that we walked there with K-nob, King Waffle and Boog for the historic "Ithaca Sundae Celebration" last week. So what if we will have to dig our car out after the snow plow comes during the winter blizzards, we can just walk to the sports bar, the yoga studio, the over-priced clothing and craft boutiques, and like 5 pizza places. And darned if there isn't a statue of St. Joseph in the little garden (Nonnie and Drama Mama, you know what I'm talking about.) Now if we can just figure out where we are going to store Papercup Mixmaster's Records, an my multitudinous boxes of books I used to keep at the church...

But I am getting ahead of myself- we're still in our inspection period. If all goes well we close atthe end of August.

And More Camp

This week is "Stone Circle Camp" advertised to be a Waldorf inspired season-oriented camp. And so it is. Mostly, however, it is small and person-oriented. I showed up the first day, however, and no one was there. Wuggy Norple and I played on the playground, and checked out the real-live stone circle that is like a mini solstice oriented henge thing. finally, when I was thoroughly flummoxed, a parent pulled into the driveway to "pick something up" and the mystery was revealed: seems they really meet down the street at the Foundation of Light.

There are between 3- 7 kids in the camp at any given time, and 1 or 2 teachers. They make little Waldorf dolls, do puppet shows, run around in the yard, explore the woods, build fairy houses and end these hot summer days splashing in giant buckets of water. I guess it's not that much smaller than Fossil Camp, but it feels more intimate. It reminds me of Wuggy Norple's Family Daycare from when he was little (Kids@home, it was called). I went to drop off his lunch the first day, and Wuggy Norple greeted me adorned with gold beads. I asked him "are these kids fun?" and he replied "This is a fun camp." Long though, he said. Apparently this month off from school has gotten him out of the rhythm of a 9-3:00 day.

Stone Circle was full in August, though, so coming next are "Nature Camp" and "Arts All Around You Camp." (or, as Papercup Mixmaster calls it AAAY!) I hope Wuggy Norple doesn't get tired of camp-hopping.

We have Camp!

For the past 48 hours I've been looking for a camp for Wuggy Norple (many of them are full, as you could imagine).

I can now proudly say he is signed up for daily swim lessons at the YMCA and "Fossil Camp" at the Museum of the Earth for next week.

Fossil Camp is a one week deal, but it looks like there are openings in arts camps and traditional day camps for the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted.

Tooth Fairy

Wuggy Norple lost his second tooth! It came out tonight while he was eating Uncle King Waffle's special home made chocolate chip muffin. His new tooth is under his pillow right now, with that first tooth. (He wanted to make sure we were safely back in the U.S. and all his loose teeth were out before daring to request a visit from the tooth fairy. What if he sees here as she goes out the window, he wonders?)

getting started

So far in Ithaca we have found:

K-nob's house
the grocery store
the mall
a pizza place
decent local beer
the lake
a yoga class

Still needed:
A job for Exploding Poptart
A camp for Wuggy Norple
A house for everyone to live in after September rolls around.

I think we are all a little tired. It seems like everything needs doing all at once. Papercup Mixmaster starts work again Monday, so he needs to have his home office set up. We don't have any of our furniture until we find our permanent home, so we are trying to make things work with what we have, but some shopping is still required. There is no usual routine yet, no comfortable old habits to fall back on. We are starting over in many, many ways.

Very much house hunting this week. Nothing that's ready to move into in the part of town we like. We realize several times a day how easy it would be to abandon our vision of living downtown, where houses are older, and the dollar doesn't go as far. So far we are holding fast (and wondering if we are in for major renovations...)

Dog and I took a walk by the creek that runs by our house and that reduced the angst somewhat. Wuggy Norple continues to be deeply invested in Leggo Star Wars. Papercup Mixmaster finally got his temporary studio set up, and we get A's games in streaming video, which helps with the fact that our TV gets literally 0 channels.

Fortunately K-nob and family (Boog and King Waffle) have been incredibly supportive. Yesterday they invited us out to the Grandparent's house by the lake for BBQ and fireworks, dropped by today with some crazy Backyardigans water toy and we ran around for a while squealing.