Purple Wax Perfection

I admit that I am somewhat of a cross-country skiing geek.  I'm not anything like some of those lycra-ed guys with the yellow lenses in their goggle/glasses (...jon...cough...) but I do know my kick waxes.  I am starting to feel like I am one of a dying breed of classic style skiers as everyone around me converts to skating, and I do skate ski when classic is impossible, but I try to stay true to my 17 year old pair of waxable skies.  I can walk outside in winter, take a sniff of the weather and tell you what wax would be best on your skies.  They come in a range from white (polar!) to the warmer tones in the rainbow- the reds and purples.  Each wax has a corresponding temperature range and if you put on the wrong wax  your ski turns into either a slip sliding dangerous flailing, or a sticky grudge with no glide whatsoever.  So you have to get it right.  Most waxes have a range of 10-15 degrees, but then there's the purple.  It is from -1 to 1 degree celsius.  There are not many purple wax ski days.  But when one rolls around, I hate to miss it.  Yesterday was a glorious purple wax day.  The sun was high and almost felt hot, there was no wind, and the snow was in top condition.  I didn't have time to sneak away to the woods somewhere so just bolted down to the golf course for an hour, but it was a lovely hour indeed.  In November when winter is just starting up, it's hard to believe that you would ever venture outside at 31 degrees in just a long underwear top- but indeed I did.  And I got sweaty.  Love that. 

Today looks like it will hit the purple zone in an hour or so, but by afternoon warm right over into the red zone.  I stay away from that- that red wax has the consistency of bubble gum and once it is on your skies you find it everywhere- your coat, your boots, your hair, your steering wheel. Plus, once we hit the red wax it means the snow is starting to melt, which hurts my heart.  Just checked- it's 25 and rising.  I have five degrees before go time!

Tooth Fairy Declares a Snow Emergency

So last weekend in Minnesota we had a full on blizzard.  There was so much snow in the cities that the school districts closed both Monday and Tuesday- even though the snow came through on Saturday.  That is unheard of and I do believe that school officials got us confused with somewhere like Kansas for a while.  But I must admit it was fun.  And in the middle of it Eli bit down on some candy and popped out a tooth.  This one came out whole, unlike the half tooth he spat out a week earlier, and he quickly tucked it into an envelope and stashed it under his pillow.  Where he found it the next morning.  And the morning after that....  It took 3 whole days for the tooth fairy to get here and claim it.  Seems as if she too declared a snow emergency that weekend.  And then there must have been an awful backlog of teeth to collect because it sure took her awhile to get over here.  Theo did thoughtfully point out that our windows were frozen shut after that blizzard, which he happens to know about because we tried to open one so we could jump out of it and into a gigantic drift during the storm, and maybe that was holding up the poor fairy.  Whatever the case, it seems that she is back on schedule now and probably ready for any other teeth that might go missing over the holiday break.  Whew. 

International House of French Toast

We suddenly became the proprietors of a youth hostel last night.  The blizzard that struck the cities actually shut the buslines down, which in turn stranded Ildar and 5 fellow foreign exchange student friends at the Mall of America.  We had several phone consultations, and at one point the 6 teens were going to try to stay overnight at the mall.  But then they learned everyone was getting kicked out by 9, regardless of if they had anywhere to go.  Or that was their understanding.  So we needed a plan B.  Our car was snowed into the alley and there was going to be no getting it out, but Jon happened upon a lovely neighbor who was up for an adventure.  The two of them took about a half hour to get the two blocks to Snelling Avenue, but from there were in the clear.  So I called Ildar and told the crew to hop a train to the 46th street station- which it turns out they did, only they shot right past the stop and had to get out a ways down, run across the platform and jump one coming back south.  But on pass number two they all got out and trudged through the hip deep drifts to a Walgreens where they huddled until Jon and Pat drove up in an SUV.  All 6 piled in and they made it back here with only having to get out and push twice.  They came in relieved to get out of the cold, and a bit damp- so we dug out sweatpants and socks for all takers and threw a load into the dryer.   We were able to find enough sheets and blankets and blow up mattresses to get them all mostly comfortable so that after a game of monopoly and a movie they were all able to get some sleep.  Except Theo- who was so keyed up to have a houseful of teenagers that he had real trouble turning it off for the night. He was right in the middle of their game, abusing power as the banker, attempting to give secret loans to his new best friend from Ukraine. 
In the morning we burned through 3 (small) loaves of bread at the International House of French Toast to feed the troops and then we were able to find enough winterwear to outfit our own private shovelling corps.  The five guys tackled the snow with much vigor, helping several neighbors and pushing out lots of stranded cars.  I think they enjoyed themselves.  I would have been out there too, but the boy from Yemen was wearing my boots, the Ukrainian was in my mittens, and the Moldovan was wearing my snowpants.  That left me and my boys, plus a Ukrainian girl, inside getting some tea and cocoa ready.  By noon they had all been picked up and our house almost echoed with the silence after being inundated with teens for the past 18 hours. 

All in all, it was great fun to have them here.  Even if they did demolish almost all of the four dozen cookies I had made just that afternoon!  I suppose that when you look at the hours of shovelling help we got out of the deal this morning, we got off easy.  Eli summed up the experience by saying, "Well, I guess you just never know what you are agreeing to when you say you will host an exchange student!"  But after watching Theo basking in the glow of his six new best friends, I'd say that it still seems worth it.

Kato is in the house

Last night when Eli slipped into the bathroom before bed I took the opportunity to sneak into his room and hide under his covers.  He has one of those huge comforters and I was hoping that he would not notice that I was under there.  Sure enough, he came in, leaned over on the bed, resting his hand on my covered face, in order to turn on his reading light and didn't notice a thing.  He left again to find a book and when he returned sat on part of me.  I got the serious giggles so couldn't really attack him like I had planned, but I still was able to procure a pretty good scream.  Ildar never knew of this chain of events because he was downstairs talking with Jon.  But somehow he got the same idea.  Tonight the boys were all hanging out in the living room and when Eli came in to help me with some biscuit making Ildar burrowed under the couch cushions and some blankets.  Five minutes later when Eli returned to so some more reading, Ildar pounced. 
I don't know what it is about Eli that elicits this desire in people, but the good thing is, he doesn't seem to hold a grudge.  Which is good, because I'm heading up to get under his covers right now.

Of fresh snow, brotherly love, and eyeballs

This past Saturday we woke up to a fresh snowfall and Jon and I could not resist getting the boys out on their skies.  So we trundled off to the highland golf course.  Nothing was groomed yet, but there were quite a few real nice 'citizen tracks' going off in all directions.  We hopped into a few and enjoyed a real nice ski.  Until the end.  Eli fell going down this little incline and ended up in a position that was apparently real hard to get out of.  He was all tangled and got a little frustrated, but was still giggling at his plight.  Until his brother crashed into him.  Theo kept his balance and was standing behind him.  Eli lashed out with his pole and struck a glancing blow of of his brother's face. Eli couldn't see from his position what kind of damage he might have done, but was wise enough to realize (after the fact) that striking out with a ski pole and having the sharp end connect with your brother's face is serious and he better get contrite, fast.  He did, apologizing a blue streak.  And then he went to lower his pole so that he could continue his quest to get up.  But I yelled, "NO!  STOP!  Don't put your pole in the snow, your brother's eyeball is on the end of it!"  And for a second he believed me.  And then I didn't know who was in more trouble, me or his brother.  Good thing it took him another 5 minutes to actually get up, and by then he had blown off most of his steam so his attack on me was half-hearted.  But I do want to believe he learned a little lesson in that brief second where he believed he had shish-ka-bobbed his brother's eyeball.

Limiting his horizons

I know, I really do know, that as a parent I should not limit my child's horizons by telling him what he should not set his sites on in terms of a future career.  But today I did.  It's just that we were in the car and when Theo gets in an enclosed space he tends to start to move.  Faster and faster- his little body seeking out anything that he can sense would not like to be bothered right then.  Usually this is limited to his brother.  But today he was even reaching up between the seats and bugging me.  I was thinking about how small spaces and Theo do not mix and before I knew it I had gone and told him that I really hoped he never considered a career as a submarine crew member.  Just picturing him there in those cramped corners with so many others- I know that it would get ugly, and fast.  And after I told him I thought he should avoid this he was actually quite crushed, like this was just the career he had been thinking about and I had dashed all hope.  Feeling bad, but really, it's for his own good. 

Impressions

Ever since Ildar arrived in the US he's been growing his hair.  Or rather he has been choosing NOT to spend money on getting haircuts.  At one point he hatched the plan to get his head shaved on New Year's Eve, so that he could start the new year with a new look.  But then his longish hair got on his last nerve and last Saturday night I returned home from an outing to see the light on in the basement.  Through the foggy window I could make out Jon all set up in his barber station, Ildar on a stool in front of him.  I went to down to find them in the middle of not just cutting his hair, but creating a mohawk.  This was new territory for Jon, but I think he did a fair job.  Ildar mentioned that this type of cut would NEVER be tolerated at his school back home, and he thought he would give it a whirl. In his words, Why not? If he didn't like it, they could shave it right off.  When Jon finished, Ildar bounded up the stairs to check it out in a mirror and pronounced it ok for the time being.  The next night we had the foreign exchange holiday party for the P.I.E. students and their host families.  Ildar departed from his usually strict stocking cap policy in order to slick his hair up.  This was kind of a meet and greet for Jon and I since we were late to this hosting game and had not attended any social events in the fall.  As we circulated amongst the other host families people would cheerfully ask us who we were hosting and after we said, "Ildar, the one over there in the striped sweatshirt....and the mohawk," we would get these sympathetic looks and then in lowered voices the inquiry, "Oh.  And how's that going?"  The answer, despite the fact that his current hair may symbolize rebellion, or angst, is fabulous.  It amused me how family after family assumed that he might be someone who would be pushing buttons or boundaries.  Which he might someday, but we've not seen any evidence yet.  And then when the word got out that it was Ildar's very own host dad who gave the haircut, well, that produced a whole different reaction. 

For the record, Ildar has scheduled another haircut for this weekend- his flirtation with the mohawked life is over after a week. 

Getting comfortable

When Ildar first moved in with us, I wondered how long it would take before he really was a member of our family and we felt totally comfortable with him in our house.  I figured it would take us all different intervals of time, due to our personalities.  Theo, it took about 5 minutes.  Jon seemed good from the get go as well.  And while I admit I may be more restrained still with some things, say farting, it has become pretty natural for me to have this third boy in the house. And I think everyone is glad for his presence if it does continue to restrain some of my less mature behavior.  But Eli, he can be slow to show his true colors. But I think he's finally there.  Here's how I know:  Last weekend when we were putting up our Christmas tree, Eli marched around the house singing christmas carols at the top of his lungs.  For hours. And Ildar seems to be comfortable here as well- at least comfortable enough to comment, after I took a picture of him putting an ornament on the tree, "Why do some people take such bad pictures?"  He then rolled me through a couple examples of good pictures (his and Jon's) and then mine and asked me if I could see the difference.  I could, I admit, but that didn't stop me from giving him a hearty punch in the arm first. But then we had a retake session and I got his blessing.  Apparently I can learn new things. 

Personality Test

Last night things at dinner got a little wild.  I can't remember what we were talking about, but one of the nice things about having a new temporary son from Russia is that all of the old stories are new again.  Anyway- we were telling tales and laughing (ok- I do remember one topic- it was how people change through time and we were using old Uncle Tim as an example.  Jon and I might have brought up Tim's star turn in the church youth musical when his one and only line was "And Myrrh" and that might have been about 25% of the words he spoke throughout his high school career. He was a quiet guy, which might shock some who have met Tim as an adult....) So we were telling these tales and the boys kept laughing harder and harder and harder.  After dinner was over they were still hyped and at some point Jon picked Eli up by the ankles and held him upside down.  Which would have been fine, but he was wearing kind of loose pants and somehow they slipped right up to his ankles (he was upside down, remember).  So there he was hanging from his ankles in his boxers and I thought to myself in the split second before cracking up, "Which way is this going to go?  Here he is nearly naked not only in front of his family, but Ildar too....Is Eli going to laugh or cry?  Or punch?"  And the good news is the response he decided to go with was to laugh harder than any of the rest of us.  It made me confident about his future.  Other parents might look for different signs to prove to them that their kids are going to be ok, but me, my fears are calmed when I know my boy doesn't take himself too seriously and can have a real hard laugh at his own expense.  Because we sure were laughing and it was nice to be doing it with him, not at him.