Kid Lit

I just read that there's a $900,000 grant from Volunteer State Health Plan to the Books from Birth program, in conjunction with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Books from Birth provides a new book each month to a child until age 5. Any child in Tennessee younger than 5 can register.

I signed Jiro up a few years ago, and we have really loved the program. Jiro's all time favorite book that they sent is My Lucky Day. It is the story of a little pig who outsmarts a fox. I must read it to him him 2-3 times a week. (Looking for the link on Amazon, I just discovered that the author/illustrator has several other books. Yay!)

I definitely think getting a new book in the mail every month is a great way to get kids interested in reading. And I love getting books that I might not have otherwise known about.

A couple of weeks ago, Warren and I went to Burke's Books in Cooper-Young and picked out a stack of books for the boys. We ended up with a great haul that included Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen, Rumpelstiltskin, Jack and the Bean Stalk, and a Hansel and Gretel pop up book.

In the Night Kitchen was incredibly bizarre and included full frontal boy nudity! (The monkeys loved that part!) Re-reading the latter three "classics" was quite an eye-opening experience. In Rumpelstiltskin we have an evil little troll who wants to take the lazy but beautiful liar of a princess' first born as a slave. In Jack and the Beanstalk we learn that stealing from a giant is perfectly acceptable and that stealing more than once and killing the giant is okay too. In Hansel and Gretel the parents leave their children in the woods because they can't afford to feed them! That one nearly sent me over the edge--I feared the kids would never want to go to the Old Forest again. (All I remembered about the story was the house made of candy!)

My point? The Imagination Library is doing a much better job of picking out books for my kids than I am. Those of you with little ones should sign up! (Register at imaginationlibrary.com or pick up a form at your library.)

Debbie Lee & Family

Debbie Lee, the woman who came up with the Rock-n-Romp concept, is traveling through town with her family. They're on the tail end of a two week road trip that took them to New Orleans, Austin, and Memphis. The Rock-n-Romp board wanted to show Debbie our appreciation, so we threw together a little mixer. We had nearly all of our board members--past and present--in attendance with their families. Everyone brought a dish and sixer and before we knew it, it was like we'd known Debbie forever. She and her husband, David, are incredibly nice people who are extremely easy to talk to. It was a real pleasure having them all to ourselves for a couple of hours!


Hopefully they'll come back and get a chance to experience Memphis Rock-n-Romp first hand!

Beale Street

I took the kids to Beale Street on Saturday. They didn't really know what I was talking about until we got there. "Oh, this is where we came when we were zombies," Satchel said nonchalantly.

I'm not a fan of crowds or Beale Street, but I made the trek on Saturday to the Hard Rock Cafe to see my friend's daughters (ages 11 and 13) rock the house. The Hot Pink Paperclips were performing as part of a fundraiser for the Delta Girls Rock-n-Roll Camp. It was amazing. They played two original songs and a Ramones cover ("I want to be sedated"). They had the most amazing confidence and stage presence-it was inspiring to say the least and a true testament to the power of Rock-n-Roll camp. We were really glad that we made the trip. The boys and I split an ($8!) ice cream sundae and had a great time.

To make the most of our Beale Street appearance, we visited the "diving" goats in Silky's courtyard and did some shopping at A. Schwab. Yes, we were tourists in our own town! Satchel got a cool walking stick with a gnome carved in it; Jiro got a stink bug glow-in-the-dark necklace; and I got an African shaker. Had we not been rushing to the Shell, we could have spent hours in A. Schwab.

Night & Day

Last Thursday, along with the rest of Midtown, we ventured to the Shell to see Todd Snider. It was really kind of cool to see the Shell absolutely packed. At first, I was worried that the kids would get bored because there wasn't much room to run, but they were happy to venture off for awhile and climb trees. Somehow, I managed to forget my newly formed "no black t-shirts at night" rule, so eying the boys from afar once again proved difficult and distracting. Luckily Warren was dressed in bright yellow so they had some luck finding us.


Once it got completely dark, both monkeys joined us on the blanket and actually listened to the music. Satchel was very interested and kept asking me what Todd Snider's name was. Jiro insisted on being carried to the front, which was fine with both Warren and I. (We took turns, though neither of us managed to take the camera!)

After the show, Satchel asked if we were going to get Todd's new CD. (We did.) Then he asked if he could take it to school next day. (They are still studying music.) I laughed and said, "You really like Todd Snider, huh?" He nodded his head vigorously and then added, "I like the way he was dressed!" Todd did have on a really cute outfit. (I found his outfit online--see below--he was also barefoot.)


The show ended around 9:30pm, after several encores, and was an all around success. We smartly chose to ride our bikes to avoid traffic, but I was very nervous about riding home in the dark. Through the old forest. We made it home just fine but it was by far the most exhilarating (read spooky) ride I've ever been on. The boys, of course, loved it.

Anyways, after such a successful experience on Thursday (and a couple of weeks ago), I decided that I absolutely had to take the boys to one of the children's shows at the Shell. So we went to see Conductor Joe on Saturday afternoon.

First let me say that I would not have wanted to be the poor person in the Penelope Opossum suit! It was scorching hot. Penelope had to go back stage to eat salad and do other innocuous things throughout the afternoon. (I pictured her filling the suit up with a cold hose.)


Second, the crowd mainly consisted of pre-schoolers, which immediately got the monkeys' hackles up. I could hear them thinking "THIS IS A BABY SHOW, WTF?" Conductor Joe kind of had a Gwendolyn and the Good Time Gang thing going on, but minus the Chuck and Buck reference point/cool factor, it was a definitely missing some much needed street cred to lift it above, say, Barney. (For me, anyway.)

The monkeys humored me and stayed for the bulk of the performance, but they were not impressed. (Or at least they pretended to not be impressed.) After the show they had a storyteller and a music maker ready to entertain the kids, but we were ready to get home to our air-conditioner.

The Age of Reason

This is a typical conversation these days:

Me: Gigi is coming to watch you guys tonight. Do you want her to bring you some food from Sonic or from the chicken wing place?
Satchel: Chicken wing place!
Me: Go ask Jiro and see what he wants.
*pause as he confers with Jiro*
Satchel: Sonic.
Me: Do you think you guys could agree on one or the other?
Satchel: It's okay, we can do Sonic.

It's official. Satchel can think of people other than himself. It's amazing! Jiro, who sees the world revolving around him, is the weak link on Team Oster these days. Actually, Satchel's newfound selflessness is contributing to Jiro's megalomania.

We're trying to get Jiro to realize he isn't always going to get his way, but Satchel is so giving and empathetic, he wants Jiro to be happy more than he wants everything his way. (He's going to be a great mom!)

Seriously, this selflessness has been thoroughly tested. In Game Stop. Satchel and Jiro were each clutching a Pokemon game, and neither was willing to budge, knowing that they can often win the battle of the will with their parents when they are a united front. (I was ready to give in!) After about 15 minutes of serious negotiation, Warren finally said, "We are getting one game, or no game."

I watched as Satchel took a deep breath and held back tears. "We can get Jiro's game," he said in his bravest voice. Unfortunately Jiro is too young to understand the magnitude of this sacrifice, but I was touched.

I am truly starting to see how this whole birth order stuff pans out in later life. Satchel is definitely having to learn lessons that Jiro will not. Jiro will never be "the big brother," the "one who needs to set a good example," or "the one who knows better." Right now he is definitely, "the baby," the "one who gets his way," and "the one who can melt you with his smile."

I'm not going to worry too much though. Warren and I are both the youngest in our families and we turned out great!

Po

Today's column is about Father's Day, Kids' endearing traits seem to run in the family. Too bad the really good stories about my dad aren't fit to print!

Biker Beware

The monkeys spent the night out Friday and didn't need to be picked up until 4pm on Saturday. Warren had Kendo until noon. Me? I could clean the house...or ride my bike to the Farmer's Market. I chose the latter.

I woke up, hydrated, lathered myself in sunscreen, and hit the road around 9:30am. "Which way are you going to go?" Warren asked. "I don't know," I replied. I wanted to go down North Parkway; Warren suggested Jefferson. In the end, I just set off and let my wheels guide me.

I ended up going through the park, hitting Tucker, then riding Madison all the way downtown. Madison wasn't too bad. Most of the sidewalks sloped down at the corners and traffic was light. There were definitely some sketchy parts, but it wasn't bad. (Definitely not safe enough for the monkeys though.)

Once I hit Main Street I was so happy. There were pedestrians, other bikers, and even a guy on a skateboard. It was just so urban! The closer I got to the train station, the more alive Main Street became. I was so excited by the bustling streets, I decided to take the long way around the train station to the market. Half way down the block, I heard a sound. A swishy sound. Then I noticed that it was getting harder to peddle. I looked down and my tire was flat. I hopped off to investigate and soon discovered a nice chunk of glass in my tire.

Now what?

I actually took a bike repair class in the Peace Corps (where I had a PC issued Trek I only rode once), but that was 15 years ago, and I had no tools. "I'll just go to Midtown Bikes," I thought. I had actually planned to go there anyway and buy a basket, so no big. I walked my bike to the market so I could fill up my water bottle and maybe do some chatting, but once I was there I felt suddenly shy. And red. And hot. (Not red hot!) And thirsty. I freshened up, hydrated, and walked my bike over to the bike shop.

It was about 10:30am and the sign said the shop opened at 10am, but the "closed" sign hung in the window and the door was locked. A nice couple and their college-aged son were patiently waiting outside. They too had a flat tire. I hung out and chatted with them for a bit, went next door to Bluff City Coffee for an iced latte, then went back to waiting/chatting. In my mind I was formulating my backup plan should the shop never open. I figured I'd walk my bike to my office, take the trolley to Madison/Cleveland, then start walking or call Warren if it was after noon. Or I could just hang out in my office until Warren could fetch me. (I was sort of secretly hoping for this scenario since it was hot and I was tired!)

During the chatting, Fran, the dad/husband, insisted on giving me a ride home should the shop never open, but luckily that wasn't necessary. Daniel, the owner, rolled up on his bike at about 10:45am. By then there were at least ten people anxiously waiting to get in to buy bikes, gear, and whatnot. It was actually kind of awesome. Fran had taken me under his wing and insisted Daniel fix my bike first (which was fine by me). He also helped me pick out a basket for my bike. Once he got busy chatting with everyone else in the store, Daniel started chatting me up about Warren and the kids. (Aw, he remembered me!)

In no time I had a new tire, a new basket, and a few new friends. So what if I didn't get any produce or goat cheese this week! Reinvigorated I hopped on my bike and headed home. This time I took Vance to Cleveland, then meandered through Central Gardens, to McLean, then Madison to Tucker, and back to the park. There was debris everywhere and I was trying really hard not to get another flat, so I ended up riding in the street a lot rather than on the sidewalk. It was okay, but damn, wouldn't a bike lane be awesome?? Is it too much to ask?

I got home around 12:15pm and went right for the shower. My face was caked with street scum! Once clean, and cooled off, I realized I was famished. Warren was home by then, so we decided to go to India Palace for the buffet.

"Want to ride bikes?" he asked.

Want to guess what my response was?

Summer School

So people have been asking me what the monkeys are doing this summer. They are going to school! Evergreen offers a summer program every year. They aren't quite old enough for the camps that interest them--well Satchel is, but Jiro isn't, and Satchel doesn't want to go alone. This is the first year that Satchel has really wanted to do a camp, but I haven't found one that he and Jiro can both do.

However, the Evergreen summer program is great. This year they are doing three three-week sessions (music, cooking, and art). For the first one, music, they have been using the Montessori materials (and the amadinda and akadinda they made a few months ago) to explore notes and keys and whatnot, listening to different music styles, and taking guitar lessons. Music for Aardvarks is coming every Thursday and they have a musical guest every Friday. (This week it's a cello player from New York.)

In addition, they are working in the garden, taking care of the school's animals, and just generally enjoying running around. When I picked them up on Wednesday, they gave me a tour of the gardens and showed me how they can move the amadinda and akadinda all by themselves. Very sweet.


In the evenings and on weekends Warren and I am supplementing their summer experience with frequent trips to the pool, bike rides, ice cream & sno cones, and fancy dinners out. Later in the summer we will be going on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

The Diving Board

It's JCC season around here. Two years ago the boys were all about the "3 feet." Last year they tackled the "4 feet" and the giant water slides. (Jiro did each slide once and has not had any interest in going back.) This year it is all about the deep end and the diving board.

For those of you unable to experience the cuteness first hand, I give you this video.

Best Invention of All Time

Team Oster's family bike rides have always been fraught with strife. For whatever reason, Jiro has resisted getting his training wheels off even though he is more than ready. He's gotten over his fear of falling, but he won't lose the wheels. They really slow him down, and by extension, us. Sadly most rides end up with someone whining and generally putting a damper on our outdoorsy togetherness.

Well, those days are over!

On our most recent visit to that magical store, Target, we purchased a "Hitch a Ride" or "A Tag Along" or as I call it "The Best Invention of all Time." Warren hitched this sucker to his bike, I informed Jiro that all he had to do was hold on, and we took off on what I hope is the first of many super awesome family fun rides.


Our destination was Cafe Eclectic, where we planned to eat breakfast. (Warren wanted to ride to Republic Coffee, but I told him we better start small.) We went through the park and down McLean. It was fantastic and best of all, Jiro was having a blast! Poor Satchel suddenly found himself in the role of slowest, and peddled his heart out to keep up. (He's in desperate need of a bigger bike, which we planned to get for his birthday, but all he wanted was a stupid DSi!)

We made it to Cafe Eclectic in about 15 minutes, maybe less, so I guess Republic Coffee isn't totally out of the question. Our brunch was top notch--I had the pineapple chicken panini which was delightful and Warren was raving about his fancy espresso with cayenne pepper. (Satchel had a full breakfast of eggs, bacon, and potatoes while Jiro, who ate cereal at home, enjoyed a donut with sprinkles.) A friend had suggested that I might need to rewrite my review over at DWM because she found the service to be a bit too slow for her babe, but I have to say that our service was just fine. Not the fastest ever, but just fine. (Disclaimer: brunching with a 5 and 7 year old has a completely different time clock than brunching with a 18 month old.)

Anyways, after brunch we took a little tour of Cafe Eclectic's new bakery then set off again. We went home via the Rhodes campus and a different section of the park. We planned to tool around for awhile, but Satchel was attacked by a gumball and wiped out. He busted his knee open pretty bad and I was totally unprepared! I packed water, snacks, and a camera, but no band-aids. Warren didn't even have a bandana in his back pocket! (My stand by!) Thankfully Jiro had his head on stright. "He can use my band aid!" he said as he peeled off the extra big band-aid I gave him at Rock-n-Romp (mostly to appease him) when I was prepared. (Don't worry, the band-aid wasn't even the least bit nasty.) Sadly, it had lost too much stick to withstand furious peddling. So Satchel and I headed home while Warren and Jiro finished their tour of the park.

Despite the bumpy ending, it was still a fabulous way to start the day. Next up, biking to school!

We Rocked. We Romped.

Saturday we had another beautiful day and another great Rock-n-Romp. What's new, right? For some reason I was really nervous the night before--probably because we had planned some extras--and could hardly sleep. The fact that Warren was up working til 5am on a presentation he had to make at 11am on Saturday morning didn't help matters! But everything came together like it always does and we had a successful event that was fun for everyone.



The Goodnight Loving came all the way from Wisconisn to Rock-n-Romp. (Before the show they hung out and played frisbee!) What a treat!



Lauren Rae Holterman, of the Rozelle Artists Guild, organized a couple of temporary mural projects for the kids. Paint + Kids = Super Happy Fun Times. A Junkyard volunteer brought some tees for the kids to wear so they didn't get (too much) paint on their clothes.




Other romping was in full swing.




Next up, Evil Wizard Eyes put the ROCK in Rock-n-Romp.



Some rompers accompanied them on our Junkyard Amadinda.



Next, Jeffrey James and the Haul came out to rock the yard. (This was their second Rock-n-Romp performance. The first was at our one and only rained out show that got moved indoors, so they were loving the near perfect weather.)




(Not sure how Chip managed to get a picture of Jeff Hulett NOT smiling--he's the smilingest guy in town!)

Meanwhile, Lauren Rae Holetrman and Derrick Dent of HolterDent Caricatures set up a caricature station, which was a hit for both parents and kids.




Then much to our delight, The Goodnight Loving came back for a second set (and to model their new RnR tees!).



Thanks again to the Junkyard for letting use their amazing yard; Lauren, Derrick and the other Rozelle volunteers for entertaining the kids; and everyone who showed up to support local music!

See you at the next show, July 11th!

Most of these pictures were taken by Chip Chockley. You can see the rest of his pictures, some of mine, and add your own, in the Memphis Rock-n-Romp Flickr pool.

The Shell

For whatever reason, I only made it to the Shell once last year. I hope to remedy that this year. Tonight we went to see Hoots and Hellmouth, an awesome band from Philly that I first heard at the CPOP benefit last February. Check them out in their CPOP shirts representing! Ok, it is hard to tell in the picture, but they all had them on under their button downs (which they shed as the evening progressed).


I was worried we were going to miss most of the show since we didn't get there until 7:45, but they started playing just as we walked up. There was just a small crowd at first, but by the time we left at nine, it was much bigger. There were probably 10-15 other kids there. They all seemed to be having a great time chasing each other, rolling down the gentle hill, and exploring the area. The weather was perfect! Sure the ground was a bit wet, but there was a cool breeze and nary a skeeter. There were 3 food vendors (that I saw) and several people seemed to be sipping beers from home, some more subtly than others. (I hope this laissez-faire attitude holds.)

It was a really nice evening, almost like being at a Rock-n-Romp--with the added benefit of me not being in charge! The only thing keeping me from fully relaxing was the lack of foresight in sneaking in a beer and also having to keep an eye on the kids. (Note to self, don't dress them in black next time!) Satchel said someone told him to stop climbing trees and there were a few times that I felt like I was getting the death stare from my fellow concert goers, so it wasn't quite the same vibe as Rock-n-Romp. But no worries, Rock-n-Romp will be taking over the Shell July 11th! I can hardly wait.

But back to the Shell's line-up. Since most of the people are from out of town it is hard to know who the "don't miss" acts are, so if there's someone coming that you think I should see, let me know!

Boredom Busters

I spent a good deal of energy compiling a list of super fun things to do for free (or almost free) every day of the week for the June issue of Memphis Parent. I was thrilled to discover that the amazing Jeanne Seagle illustrated it!

Pick up a copy or read it online. And if there's something not on the list that should be, let me know. I'm doing a similar (but different, of course!) story for the Commercial Appeal later this month.

Pictures!

Cute pics of my kids (and friend, Max) taken by the oh-so-talented Melissa...