Springing into Summer

Water Play day

Zach of Note

• Zach’s playdate with Beckett - all day at his house
• Love this: Owen E.’s quote: “Zach, I love your hustle, but you need to call for the ball.”
• Playdates with Tom. Thanks, Vanina
• Chores and chore chart are a work in progress
• Approaching summer solstice, and we’re all sleeping less
• He still enjoys writing out a menu and serving Frank breakfast

Zach at School

• Sr. Bachelet commented on how  much Zach knew about Udvar Hazy
• Zach has worked hard on Jiji
• Reading is still something he resists spending any time on
• With Mrs. Vargas gone things have been bumpy, and now the boys are really struggling. One of the kids is using inappropriate, abusive language and is struggling with regulating his body and space. He’s hitting and kicking kids, stepping on them, and as happened with me, pretending to cut them with swords, which is just pretend, but the large, uncontrolled movements feel like they could easily make contact and cause pain, and I think they do a lot at school. 
• With all this going on, I am alerted AGAIN that Zach needs to work on his self control and time management. Sigh. Therefore, a meeting with Sra. Bachelet.
• School so needs to be over!

Zach and Soccer

• Tryouts - what a disruption to the game and their current team. Not a fan! I have loved his team this year, but now the focus is on what it will be next year, and it has been for the last six weeks!
• Zach and Andrew impromptu playdate on a practice cancelled evening
• Two games and dust ups with refs. Jeez! First one. Not warranted. The second one. The ref’s behavior was not okay. 
• After the first game in the tournament, Zach and I were walking, and I talked about how people asked “if he had fun,” and I said, “That’s important, but it’s also important to think about what you learned.” So, then I asked what he’d learned from the game, and he said, “Nothing.” I gave a few possible examples, and then he started talking about what he “should have done” when the ball came at him. He thought it was going to hit the post or go wide, so he didn’t dive for it, and he should have. I told him, “That’s what you learned.”
• Zach and six of his teammates invited to join Lazio (the B team); he’ll stay with Owen, Owen, Charlie, Alex, and Josh
• He is playing goalie and out on the field most games. He was the sole goalie in two games.

Zach’s Words and Music

• Piano Keys program
• Levitating playing in the Percy Jackson show
• He really enjoyed the end of year concert with the orchestra, band, and chorus and wants to play violin
• Audio books are it!
• The Cascades Library is our fave: they have a puzzle, books as "to go" orders, small reading rooms, fun check-in and check-out technology, and great librarian who introduced us to Wonder Books

S&Z

• Trip to Philly! We had so much fun on the train, at Philly's Magic Gardens, sampling cookies amongst plants, at dinner ("Bathroom?"), on the 21st floor, at the Reading Terminal Market, and on the hop on/hop off bus
• Walking to school with Zach and sometimes Cora, Lindy, and Adina
• Spanish with Zach
• Echo Mountain and general listening
• Adventure to La Plata, MD, and lunch at Dania’s the Wee Bean
• Lice checks
• Church 
• Lunch with Mom and Dad at Region’s 117
• Z at the pool on a cool, rainy day

F&Z

• Kung Fu Panda IV
• Swimming; summer goal, I think, is for Zach to work on his formal swimming strokes
• The Water Mine
• Bike ride
• Wildcraft

Mother's Day 2024

Family Fun

• Soccer games
• Mother’s Day with the Ramos and Elcesser families
• Wizards of Once family book club
• Zach’s half birthday dinner at Ted’s Bulletin
• Percy Jackson
• Finished Forbidden Island as a family - after Zach and I started it up on our own

Good Food

• Tahini Caesar - always (siempre)
• Sugar with sprinkles, Snickerdoodle and peanut butter and jam cookies - what a good idea!
• Mother’s Day goodies, including Thompson Italian twice-baked raspberry brioches
• Mezeh
• Brownies
• Zucchini hash with goat cheese, tomatoes, and bread

Connection

• Chats with Jenny and Jenn
• Chats with Paige
• Hanging with Auntie Em
• Post-water balloon fight pizza at Mod
• Serendipitous meeting at the farmer’s market and hanging out with Lauren and Dania while Zach and Owen played
• Zach and Beckett and me and Jen (Beckett’s mom)
• Speaking French with Agathe and Sacha - learned that fourniture = supplies
• Paige’s orchids
• Walk with Katie
• Water play with the reusable water balloons! 
• Spanish! (Mary at the farmer’s market, the DIY Dame, and Jenn)
• Memorial Day weekend gathering at Auntie Em’s
• Dropped off baby Katherine's gifts and food for Emily & Andrew
• Date night dinner of zucchini hash with tomatoes, olives, and goat cheese on bread with a sparkling rose and Brownies with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Yum! Yum!

Grateful

• Zach is such a great travel companion
• Zach is holding my hand from time to time lately. Not sure why, but I’ll take it!
• Empathy Corner
• Kindness notes. Zach wrote one to Beckett and Teddy, and then he lost the one he wrote for Teddy, but still!

Fun Stuff (Personal)

• Back patio redone and complete!
• Helping to hang art and the art show at school. It was more fun this year. :) 
• Spanish study is going well
• Ali’s baby, Pan’s graduation
• Reading
• Good Enough
• Finished Adam Grant’s Hidden Potential and The People We Meet on Vacation
• Olga Dies Dreaming
• Arthur Brooks’ From Strength to Strength
• Never Enough
• Watching
• The Night Agent
• Abbott Elementary
• The Lost Kitchen
• Listening
• Light on the podcasts - mostly just Adam Grant’s Work Life
• LinkedIn has been good and Simon Sinek’s story about our need for only 8 minutes when we’re in crisis. We should call and reach out.

Fun Stuff (Professional)

• Culture Onboarding and sharing
• Time management and recent Leadership Institute was particularly good
• Coffee chat with Corey was delightful!
• Ian is coming back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• DEIB (Liesl and Jess)

Health Stuff

• Podiatrist - my feet are definitely getting worse more quickly
• Saville appointment - all is well; I’m very consistent
• Frank’s sports hernia surgery and recovery

Not So Fun Stuff (Personal and Professional)

• Flat Retreat situation and all retreats are canceled for this year. Very sad since I know so many have gotten so much out of the community. It is their light and joy!
• Therapist, Shunise, is leaving current practice and will no longer see clients
• Emily and Andrew’s baby Katherine Ann R-K arrived 7 weeks early and spent the first month in the NICU. 
• Deb’s seizures and surgery
• Jess’ mom’s health
• More layoffs and lost another DEIB-er
• Tough week around Memorial Day
• I definitely struggle when things are out of control. When I feel there has been a misunderstanding. 
• I definitely feel more deeply than others and have to keep that in mind when I struggle with how I feel like I’m treated poorly. 
• Also, disagreements and conflict are normal and do not mean the end of the relationship. 
• I struggle with holding critical feedback against others. Clearly, if they think one thing is wrong with me or my son or anything, they see no value in me. 

Nuggets

• Simon Sinke’s analogy about how to support people in hard times. It’s like they’re in the mud, and we want to get them out of the mud, but what they need is for us to get in the mud with them and just be there. It’s not fun, but it’s important to stay in the mud until they say it’s time to come out. 
• Metacognition is still there, but it might have waned a bit this month
• Susan David shared a great emotional agility graphic on core emotions that I have loved using and sharing with Aspiring Leaders and Leadership Institute
• All Zach needs is love and a soft place to land.
• Stop comparing Zach to other kids. It is helpful when I remember all the things that make him amazing rather than focusing on a few things that I wish were different!
• Beware of people pleasing and giving too much energy to supporting others
• Adding into learning modules and generally the idea of 3 things learned, 2 interesting things, and 1 question.