Marin Maven » Motherhood

The Weekend Is Not Near, It’s Here.

marinmaven — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 17:10:54 +0000

Where did the week go? It probably blew through with that wind that plagued us this week. Driving up North on 101 to work every morning I noticed the hills of the Silviera Ranch/St. Vincents were not only carpeted green, but with huge patches of purple, orange gold, and yellow. The wildflowers are out in force this year and are breathtakingly beautiful, and makes you want to be Ferdinand, the Bull napping under an oak smelling the flowers. These beauties are also my torturers because my long absent allergies have returned.

Bright Horizons at Marin Commons

As a working mother of a pre-K son, I understand the value of high quality childcare and pre-school. In the Spring of 2005, when our son was 15 months old, we decided as an only child he needed to be socialized with kids his age outside of the home environment. We lucked out because Marin Day School in St. Vincent’s was just opening its doors to the public as its sponsor, Lucas Films moved to San Francisco. What drew us was the engaged and effectionate staff, the age appropriate activities, and a wonderful playground. Our son has really thrived there and is ready for Kindergarten.

What I like about my son’s experience there is that the staff allows the children to be children and follow their interests. They allow the kids to explore, create, and even ride a large Tonka truck down the small hill in the playground. Kids learn about creating dams in the sand and are allowed to float from Our World (dress up and pretend play), Science Rocks!, and Art Smart. More than all that I really appreciate the time they take in developing relationships with other children and how to make good choices. As kids get older they are encouraged to take on more responsibility, independence, and to work out their disagreements and get help when they cannot. You can go to work and know that your child is in a wonderful place where they will blossom.

Plus, they don’t have any requirement that your child has to be potty trained nor do they charge extra for those kids who haven’t been potty trained. They believe as we do that it is far better to let potty training happen organically when the child is ready. Arbitrary deadlines only stress the parents and kids when you have to tie badly needed child care to when your child is potty trained. The staff is willing to support parents and kids during potty training, and believe that it is moved along by kids seeing the older kids go on their own.

Opening around August 2009, Marin Day School will change its name to Bright Horizons (the name of the Corporate Headquarters) and move from St. Vincents to Marin Commons. Marin Commons is just off the Lucas Valley exit next to the YMCA on Los Gamos Rd. While they won’t have the amazing play yard that they had at St. Vincents, they will have far more room in the classrooms and their outstanding staff will be there. Bright Horizons at Marin Commons will be located at 1600 Los Gamos Drive, Suite 230, Lobby C in San Rafael. You can contact them now at 415-492-2262 or marincommons@brighthorizons.com. Let them know that Marin Maven sent you.

The classrooms will be seperated in four groups: Infants (6 weeks – 18 months with a 1:4 ratio), Toddlers (18 months to 30 months with a ratio of 1:6), Twos (30 months to 3 years), and Pre-school/Pre-Kindergarten (3 years-5.9 years). The center is open from 7:30am to 6:30am, which allows parents enough time to drop off and pick up their children.

This is my way to thank all the teachers and staff over the years for enriching our son’s life and allow him to grow into the boy he has become.

Wine Auction for Huckleberry Youth Programs in Terra Linda

For 40 years, Huckleberry Youth Programs have been making a difference in the lives of at-risk adolescents and their families. On Saturday, May 9th at 4pm to 7pm, you can show your support and be whisked away to a 5-acre estate overlooking Lucas Valley. There will be valet parking, hors d’oeuvers from Insalata’s, wine tasting, and bid on wine — all for a $75 donation for a great cause.

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Humpday Roundup in Marin

marinmaven — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:20:19 +0000

- Filmmaker, Sheila Ganz will screen a 7 minute trailer of the film on Thursday, April 2, 2009 at 6pm as part of a panel Spotlight On: Documentary Activism
at the San Francisco Women’s Film Festival. The panel will take place at the 9th Street Independent Film Center, 145 Ninth Street, San Francisco, CA
for ticket information click here. Sheila Ganz is working on film about a San Rafael organization, Center Point, a residential program that helps mothers stay clean off drugs while keeping their children. Awesome stuff. The film is called “Moms Living Clean” and I have had the privilege of watching a screening of the film and this is an important film for so many mothers. A $100 or more donation gets your name in the credits.

- Megan Calhoun of Ross, has a website for mothers to Twitter called, Twitter Moms, the influentual Moms Network.

- Greg Klien of MarinIJ’s Underbelly, the Marin True-Crime site, reports that a Girl Scout Troop in Novato got a counterfeit $100 for what I presume was a whole lot of delicious Thin Mint cookies.

- Tonight’s Marin Science Seminar – ” How we Know what we Know About the Brain” 7:30 pm Terra Linda HS room #207 http://www.marinscienceseminar.com/speakers/rswanson.html

- FB Friend and activist, Angelo Blue Campisi will be marching the next 5 days from San Francisco to Sacramento for Equal Rights and against Prop 8. He is inspired by Peace Pilgrim who marched 25,000 miles for peace between 1953 to 1981. We wish him well on his journey.

- Check out projectcoyote.org, a Larkspur organization that educates and advocates for the often maligned coyote. Also in Larkspur, on this Sunday, March 29th there will be a special screening of ‘On Any Sunday’ at the Lark Theater to benefit Lawwill’s Nonprofit Organization that develops state-of-art prosthetic hands for soldiers and kids to continue in sports.

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Post Stop The Spray Edition

marinmaven — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:38:23 +0000

Don’t Spray on Me

Yesterday I went marching with 1000 others on the Golden Gate bridge against the Spraying of Checkmate. I am still working on the Video from the event.

Despite, Carole Migden being able to get Arnold Schwartzenegger to agree to testing, spraying is still scheduled in August. Checkout stopthespraymarin.org, and find out how you can put pressure on the State and Federal government to do an EIR (state level) and an EIS (federal level). Ultimately, our goal should be to stop the spraying period. Today, June 5th, Mothers of Marin Against the Spray will be having a Play Date in the Park/Letter Writing Campaign Party at Corte Madera Town Park from 3pm to 5pm.

If you haven’t already, please contact the Governor, Nancy Pelosi, Lynn Woolsey, Barbara Boxer, and Diane Feinstein. Let them know that we refuse to be guinea pigs and don’t want to have our children breathe in Checkmate.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160
Address:
Governor Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, California 95814

Nancy Pelosi
Phone: 415-556-4862 or 202-225-4965
Fax: 202-225-4188
450 Golden Gate Avenue
14th Floor
San Francisco, California 94102

Lynn Woolsey
Phone: 415-507-9554 or 202-225-5161
Fax: 415-507-9601 or 202-225-5163
1050 Northgate Drive
Suite 354
San Rafael, California 94903

Barbara Boxer
Phone: 415-403-0100 or 202-224-3553
Fax: 202-224-0454
1700 Montgomery Street
Suite 240
San Francisco, California 94111

Dianne Feinstein
Phone: 415-393-0707 or 202-224-3841
Fax: 415-393-0710 or 202-228-3954
One Post Street
Suite 2450
San Francisco, California 94104

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Mother’s Day Edition

The Maven — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:42:37 +0000

This is my dear mother, Colette Arlyne Fuller. She passed away on May 5th, 2002 just short of my parents 40th wedding anniversary. Needless to say this made for a really sad Mother’s Day for me that year. It certainly adds poignancy to every Mother’s Day because she did not live to see my son being born. She would have adored him and I could have had her advice, support, wisdom, and humor. She loved kids. When she worked for the Children’s Protective Services they would always bring the kids to her because she was so very good with them. It would break her heart to see kids with cigarette burns and bruises on their arms, and she would bravely smile for them and say how beautiful they were.

She was one of those women who always wanted to be a mother, but after she married she couldn’t get pregnant. So my parents turned to adoption and adopted me at 6 months old. There was never a time where I didn’t think she loved me. There was never a time that I thought that she wasn’t my real mother. She spent her life worrying about me, taking care of me, and being there in good and bad times. She and my father were ever so curious and supportive of searching for my birthfamily. She even attended my birth father’s wedding and raised a toast to him for giving her a daughter, just as she thanked my birthmother. My mother was generously inclusive of my birth family and they thought the world of her.

The engagement ring I wear came from her mother’s family. The diamond came from one of a pair of earrings that traveled from Poland through Ellis Island. to Long Island. My grandmother turned that earring into a ring and it took the journey with her to Los Angeles and to the Bay Area. Half of her Polish, Jewish, Gypsy family converted to Catholicism. My mother was a Catholic Jew, having to keep track which of her family observed which religion.

She looked nothing like me. She was short, skinny, olive skinned, and had curly brunette hair. People would say to us that they saw a resemblance, but we would look at each other, laugh, and say, “Where?”

She taught me not to talk about politics, religion, or sex, but she completely failed. Sorry Mom.

My mother started smoking in 1945 when she was a teenager working in a dime store thinking about quitting high school. She developed osteoporosis and emphysema in the last 10-15 years of her life which caused her great pain and gasping for breath. Even thinking about it now, makes me feel like being kicked in the stomach. I wish she was with us today and was able to spend time with our son, who watches video of her and is sorry that she died.

Being a mother of my almost 4 1/2 year old has been such a wonderful journey. He is healthy, happy, and very bright. He is a sportsboy who loves soccer, baseball, and likes to watch extreme sports (hint: we will NEED our health care plan). The important thing to me is that he has empathy, he feels bad when others feel bad. My son developed the sense of fairness early. I am hoping that I can keep encouraging him to use that to be involved in politics. I will be taking him with me on the Golden Gate Walk against the Spraying on May 31.

I am a very fortunate mom. Our family has a roof over our head, we have food, transportation, education, and a familial support system. On Mother’s Day, I also think of mothers who are less fortunate in this county, this country, and around the world. There are mothers who are incarcerated by the War against Drugs. There are mothers who are in the grasp of domestic violence. There are mothers who are working two or more jobs and living from paycheck to pay check. There are mothers who are poor and homeless. My heart and thoughts go out to them. I believe passionately with all my heart that ALL mothers should be honored and supported. It shouldn’t be a stigma to be parenting while poor, it should be create an urge for compassion and warm welcoming.

Happy Mothers Day to me! Happy Mothers Day to all Mothers.

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