'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house, whoops and hollers of joy shook the jousts.
Grades are in! Grades are in!
Now that the bulk of the work of the semester is wrapped up, I'm finding myself at loose ends - not for lack of things to do, but for not knowing where to start on the "I'll get to this when the semester is over" list. It's a long list. And so instead of starting on the list I'm blogging. Shame on me, but oh well.
A crossroads in life for us is becoming more imminent, and we do have a plan for when the crossroads slam us in the face, but until then have been reflecting on the plan. Wondering if I'll ever be able to stop obsessively navel-gazing about what is best for our family, how to balance work and school and family, and to what extent each is being short-changed and whether it's being short-changed at damaging levels. I'm working at the highest part-time percentage since #1 Kiddo was born, and with the addition of #2 Kiddo, homeschool, and random home life stuff. We have only two kids. I have a washing machine, a dryer, a dishwasher, a car, several grocery stores within 2 miles of my home, and a husband who doesn't see a differentiation between "his" work and "her" work, but shares in our mutual effort to take care of our family. Life is still busy. It is what it is; these are the choices we've made and values we've chosen to live out right now.
Being a working mom planted squarely in home life and squarely in a professional life, I think anyway, has made me a better person. And much worse. Here's to hoping it all washes out, or at least tips in the positive direction.
Better: Have had to learn to be less sensitive, become better at communicating in conflict-heavy and difficult situations, learned how to listen more, and come to know and understand others (but not definitely not agree - I'm still German and will not be swayed). Been able to nurture a bunch of baby nurses who then get to nurture a bunch of patients. That's pretty cool. Built up a little confidence. Learned how to stick up for all kinds of things. Ironically, become better organized because simply must use time well or it's all over.
Worse: Have used being busy as an excuse to give in to introverted bents, house is an absolute disaster most of the time, worry/worry/worry/worry/worry, been swayed by what I think other people expect of me, probably shorted my kids on some reading time or activities or something important. Had many, many opportunities to be sensitive and responded thusly. Become grumpy.
There are myriads ways to be a good mom. I don't pretend my way is the best way. Or even a good way. Just trying to do the best with what we think is best for our family and the circumstances we find today.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Friday, November 20, 2015
A Taxonomy of Assignments
My students submit routine written assignments, to help process and apply what they are learning in the clinical setting. Having read reams upon reams of said paperwork (I can recite the pathophysiology of pneumonia in my sleep), I have come to the conclusion that 95% of these assignments can be organized into the following categories:
1) Please Fall Asleep While Reading 50 Pages About Everything and Anything, So You Won't Notice I Didn't Actually Answer the Questions
2) I'm An Over-Achiever and Made My Own Tables and Diagrams to Illustrate My Knowledge; Please Refer to My APA-Style Reference List as I Have Relied on Valid/Reliable Evidence to Expand My Knowledge. And I Will Probably Cry if You Point Out a Small Hole in My Comprehension.
3) I Have a Really, Really, Really Important Party This Weekend and This Assignment Means Nothing to Me. Until the End of the Semester When My Grade is On the Edge and Then I Will Care Deeply and Write You Several E-mails to Request Re-Grading Of My Previous Assignments In Case You Might Change Your Mind And Give Me an A. Because I Really Do Need to Go to Grad School Someday.
4) I Don't Understand Anything About My Patient and I Am Stressed Out So I Copied Some Stuff Out of My Textbook In Hopes You Will Think I Understand.
5) I Am Reasonably Certain You Can Read My Mind, So it is Unnecessary For Me to Answer These Questions with Anything Further Than a Cursory Answer. (Pneumonia is a lung infection. Period.)
6) I Actually Read the Assignment Questions, Collected the Data, Have Researched and Am Applying the Information, and Will Ask Questions When I Don't Understand.
1) Please Fall Asleep While Reading 50 Pages About Everything and Anything, So You Won't Notice I Didn't Actually Answer the Questions
2) I'm An Over-Achiever and Made My Own Tables and Diagrams to Illustrate My Knowledge; Please Refer to My APA-Style Reference List as I Have Relied on Valid/Reliable Evidence to Expand My Knowledge. And I Will Probably Cry if You Point Out a Small Hole in My Comprehension.
3) I Have a Really, Really, Really Important Party This Weekend and This Assignment Means Nothing to Me. Until the End of the Semester When My Grade is On the Edge and Then I Will Care Deeply and Write You Several E-mails to Request Re-Grading Of My Previous Assignments In Case You Might Change Your Mind And Give Me an A. Because I Really Do Need to Go to Grad School Someday.
4) I Don't Understand Anything About My Patient and I Am Stressed Out So I Copied Some Stuff Out of My Textbook In Hopes You Will Think I Understand.
5) I Am Reasonably Certain You Can Read My Mind, So it is Unnecessary For Me to Answer These Questions with Anything Further Than a Cursory Answer. (Pneumonia is a lung infection. Period.)
6) I Actually Read the Assignment Questions, Collected the Data, Have Researched and Am Applying the Information, and Will Ask Questions When I Don't Understand.
Friday, November 6, 2015
Needled
My skills aren't so much, and time even less, but have managed to needle up a couple items this year.
Baby Bear Cowl for a cute baby.
She absolutely loves it - because she loves animals so much.
I've been eyeing some commercial bear cowls but couldn't stand to buy something I could knit.
And it was totally worth it.
Sigh - this refuses to rotate. Hopefully you get the picture.
Baby Sophisticate Infant Sweater.
Made for new, adorable nephew, and yes, I guessed right!
Whipped up a matching Aviatrix hat and boy do they look cute together.
Project on the needles right now is my New Year's Resolution sock. My resolution this year was to learn to knit socks. I have about 80% of one sock, but am proud nonetheless because have successfully turned a heel and done the gussets - both of which I was terrified. Does it count as a fulfilled resolution if it was for sockS, but will likely be A sock?
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Waning Summer Days
Today is an absolutely gorgeous day out - feels like summer, yet the cool in the morning and quickly-setting sun in the evening remind us we'll soon find heaps of leaves on our lawn and begin craving hot cups of herbal tea and pumpkin everything.
This will be a photo-free post since I've largely delegated photography duties to my much-talented and enthusiastic Dear Hubby. I don't have access to his photos, and since he is spending his time doing things of account today, I shall not bother him to sort and load for me. And most of you have that Facebook thingy so you've seen all the pictures anyway.
Most of our activities wrapped up the end of July and early August, which was perfect, because the garden really hit its stride around then and we took a quick trip to Ooohhh Canada (you have to sing it, to the tune of their national anthem, really, you do). We went to the zoo (bears! camels! lions! --- more about the lions soon) and the kids had so much fun there. It was sooo hot that day, but we still had a lot of fun admiring all the animals. The polar bear exhibit has been majorly expanded and we were able to watch the bears swimming and playing, from a clear tunnel under their pool. Also cool - snarling lions, a walk-in kangaroo exhibit, and watching pelicans try to chase down the last of their lunch. At the end I went to change Baby's diaper and developed a huge nosebleed (it's really, really hard to fasten a diaper onto a squirmy toddler with one hand), which resulted in a lot of messy laundry and me clutching giant wads of paper towels to my nose, hoping no one was going to call us in as a domestic incident. The lions made a significant impression on our daughter - she has been obsessed ever since. She spent most of her time in the hotel room picking up the phone to call Papa to tell him about the "lines". (OK, it was really, really cute --- "Papa. Line. Rarrrr.") Now, instead of "Camel" being the answer to just about every question, "Line" is also an acceptable answer.
"What did you dream about last night?"
"Camel." pause... "Line."
"Who took your hair clip out?"
"Line."
The main focus of our visit was the city's annual folk/culture festival. We managed to make it to two cultural events each evening - Belgium and French Canada the first night. We went to the Belgian centre in honor of some family members and learned a bunch about their history, and that Belgium has the highest tax rate of any country (40%!). Lots of yummy, yummy Belgian fries there, and beautiful lace samples. Hubby enjoyed a delicious Belgian beer. The French-Canadian pavilion was one of our favorites for the entire weekend - delicious bison/wild rice meatballs and a dessert of which I can't find the name - was like a rich, caramelly/cinamonny sauce. The music was superb.
Next day we hit the regional natural history museum - The Boy's particular request, he remembered it from our visit a couple years ago and insisted on returning. It was a little more exciting this time with an exuberant toddler, but we tried to find as many animals as we could, and that helped. We visited the Israeli and Serbian centres that evening - also very interesting. The lower-budget centres had the best food by far, since it was all authentic and homemade by the sponsoring people. We made a quick exit when someone got overwhelmed and had an upset stomach... again, hoping no one would confront the ugly Americans.
Children's Museum the next day, which was a big hit with the younger half of the family. The water display was immensely popular with Baby and The Boy spent most of his time in the big train (again, he definitely remembered it from a couple years ago!) and the pint-size Harley Davidson shop and cycle simulators. Then off to the Scottish Heavy Games - caber tossing, sheaf heaving, and kilts everywhere. The Boy got to try tossing a mini-caber and it was really something else to see all those heavy things flying through the air. We agreed, however, that Scots are feisty, because who wouldn't be contentious if one had to eat their food and listen to bagpipes all the time. Last of all we visited the Brazilians - the boys ate real churros and I had the most delicious coconut ice cream. I hear there was martial arts and Carnival dancing, but I wouldn't know because Baby lost it for good there. She was rather spunky (of course) throughout our stay, and we disconnected the hotel phone for reasons 1) to prevent her from making multiple front desk and emergency calls and 2) to prevent Stephen Harper calling and telling us to please, please never visit his country again, eh.
The highlight of our trip for me was being able to go to Mass at the Church and Shrine dedicated to St. Gianna Beretta Molla, my heavenly friend who found me and hasn't let me forget her care and patronage. The Shrine was very recently dedicated, and included a visit from St. Gianna's daughter, Gianna Emanuela. It was special and blessed to be present there, reflect and pray, and bring to mind again the small, daily sacrifices of love Gianna made for her children and husband; her sainthood wasn't made in a day and a single sacrifice. It was important to hear again her call to live each moment out faithfully, if not always gracefully. To know Gianna came home from work tired and made supper for her family, that having small children she sometimes struggled to have prayer time and to focus - these things speak to me and give me hope that God can do something with even me.
Much of August was occupied preparing school, school, and school. I spent two full weeks preparing activities for Baby, in desperate hopes of trying to engage and occupy her during our school hours. I'm not at all crafty, so most of what I came up with took a long time and is yet half-you-know-what, but I don't think she'll notice. We are having moderate success with the activities and many are still in reserve for when the excitement of these wear off. Then another couple weeks to prepare school for The Boy. I'm very, very indebted to my mom who rescued me from tears, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and helped me identify priorities and materials for the coming year. I didn't leave enough time to get ready for my school job, which hasn't been great. In past years I have been able to get the skeleton of my online courses organized before the start of the semester, leaving the time I need for my clinical courses, which really eat gobble up the hours. Less successful with that this year which has made for some early mornings and late nights. (I'm blogging now only because my online course management system is down. Guess I'm not supposed to grade today!)
Our late August and September weather has been beautiful. No frost yet, so have had tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. We've been loving the garden-fresh edamame Mom grew this year, and amazing how many veggies the kids can plow through in a meal. Thanks to Grandma I had extra rhubarb to stock this year, which is super because Baby's favorite food is Greek yogurt mixed with rhubarb sauce - she ate three bowls yesterday, calling it "ice cream". The Boy is still my cucumber man and also loves our new Asian Green Bean recipe, at least now that we got the sauce nomenclature cleared up. When grocery shopping one day, I mentioned we needed to find Hoisin sauce for the recipe, to which he reacted vehemently negatively. He thought I said "Poison" sauce and was intending to do in the family, apparently.
God is good and we are counting our blessings daily - beautiful children, new things to learn every day, good jobs, the love of our families surrounding us, comforts beyond our needs, funny and piquant things uttered by small mouths from big hearts, good books to read, and an overflowing dose of grace daily poured out.
This will be a photo-free post since I've largely delegated photography duties to my much-talented and enthusiastic Dear Hubby. I don't have access to his photos, and since he is spending his time doing things of account today, I shall not bother him to sort and load for me. And most of you have that Facebook thingy so you've seen all the pictures anyway.
Most of our activities wrapped up the end of July and early August, which was perfect, because the garden really hit its stride around then and we took a quick trip to Ooohhh Canada (you have to sing it, to the tune of their national anthem, really, you do). We went to the zoo (bears! camels! lions! --- more about the lions soon) and the kids had so much fun there. It was sooo hot that day, but we still had a lot of fun admiring all the animals. The polar bear exhibit has been majorly expanded and we were able to watch the bears swimming and playing, from a clear tunnel under their pool. Also cool - snarling lions, a walk-in kangaroo exhibit, and watching pelicans try to chase down the last of their lunch. At the end I went to change Baby's diaper and developed a huge nosebleed (it's really, really hard to fasten a diaper onto a squirmy toddler with one hand), which resulted in a lot of messy laundry and me clutching giant wads of paper towels to my nose, hoping no one was going to call us in as a domestic incident. The lions made a significant impression on our daughter - she has been obsessed ever since. She spent most of her time in the hotel room picking up the phone to call Papa to tell him about the "lines". (OK, it was really, really cute --- "Papa. Line. Rarrrr.") Now, instead of "Camel" being the answer to just about every question, "Line" is also an acceptable answer.
"What did you dream about last night?"
"Camel." pause... "Line."
"Who took your hair clip out?"
"Line."
The main focus of our visit was the city's annual folk/culture festival. We managed to make it to two cultural events each evening - Belgium and French Canada the first night. We went to the Belgian centre in honor of some family members and learned a bunch about their history, and that Belgium has the highest tax rate of any country (40%!). Lots of yummy, yummy Belgian fries there, and beautiful lace samples. Hubby enjoyed a delicious Belgian beer. The French-Canadian pavilion was one of our favorites for the entire weekend - delicious bison/wild rice meatballs and a dessert of which I can't find the name - was like a rich, caramelly/cinamonny sauce. The music was superb.
Next day we hit the regional natural history museum - The Boy's particular request, he remembered it from our visit a couple years ago and insisted on returning. It was a little more exciting this time with an exuberant toddler, but we tried to find as many animals as we could, and that helped. We visited the Israeli and Serbian centres that evening - also very interesting. The lower-budget centres had the best food by far, since it was all authentic and homemade by the sponsoring people. We made a quick exit when someone got overwhelmed and had an upset stomach... again, hoping no one would confront the ugly Americans.
Children's Museum the next day, which was a big hit with the younger half of the family. The water display was immensely popular with Baby and The Boy spent most of his time in the big train (again, he definitely remembered it from a couple years ago!) and the pint-size Harley Davidson shop and cycle simulators. Then off to the Scottish Heavy Games - caber tossing, sheaf heaving, and kilts everywhere. The Boy got to try tossing a mini-caber and it was really something else to see all those heavy things flying through the air. We agreed, however, that Scots are feisty, because who wouldn't be contentious if one had to eat their food and listen to bagpipes all the time. Last of all we visited the Brazilians - the boys ate real churros and I had the most delicious coconut ice cream. I hear there was martial arts and Carnival dancing, but I wouldn't know because Baby lost it for good there. She was rather spunky (of course) throughout our stay, and we disconnected the hotel phone for reasons 1) to prevent her from making multiple front desk and emergency calls and 2) to prevent Stephen Harper calling and telling us to please, please never visit his country again, eh.
The highlight of our trip for me was being able to go to Mass at the Church and Shrine dedicated to St. Gianna Beretta Molla, my heavenly friend who found me and hasn't let me forget her care and patronage. The Shrine was very recently dedicated, and included a visit from St. Gianna's daughter, Gianna Emanuela. It was special and blessed to be present there, reflect and pray, and bring to mind again the small, daily sacrifices of love Gianna made for her children and husband; her sainthood wasn't made in a day and a single sacrifice. It was important to hear again her call to live each moment out faithfully, if not always gracefully. To know Gianna came home from work tired and made supper for her family, that having small children she sometimes struggled to have prayer time and to focus - these things speak to me and give me hope that God can do something with even me.
Much of August was occupied preparing school, school, and school. I spent two full weeks preparing activities for Baby, in desperate hopes of trying to engage and occupy her during our school hours. I'm not at all crafty, so most of what I came up with took a long time and is yet half-you-know-what, but I don't think she'll notice. We are having moderate success with the activities and many are still in reserve for when the excitement of these wear off. Then another couple weeks to prepare school for The Boy. I'm very, very indebted to my mom who rescued me from tears, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and helped me identify priorities and materials for the coming year. I didn't leave enough time to get ready for my school job, which hasn't been great. In past years I have been able to get the skeleton of my online courses organized before the start of the semester, leaving the time I need for my clinical courses, which really eat gobble up the hours. Less successful with that this year which has made for some early mornings and late nights. (I'm blogging now only because my online course management system is down. Guess I'm not supposed to grade today!)
Our late August and September weather has been beautiful. No frost yet, so have had tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. We've been loving the garden-fresh edamame Mom grew this year, and amazing how many veggies the kids can plow through in a meal. Thanks to Grandma I had extra rhubarb to stock this year, which is super because Baby's favorite food is Greek yogurt mixed with rhubarb sauce - she ate three bowls yesterday, calling it "ice cream". The Boy is still my cucumber man and also loves our new Asian Green Bean recipe, at least now that we got the sauce nomenclature cleared up. When grocery shopping one day, I mentioned we needed to find Hoisin sauce for the recipe, to which he reacted vehemently negatively. He thought I said "Poison" sauce and was intending to do in the family, apparently.
God is good and we are counting our blessings daily - beautiful children, new things to learn every day, good jobs, the love of our families surrounding us, comforts beyond our needs, funny and piquant things uttered by small mouths from big hearts, good books to read, and an overflowing dose of grace daily poured out.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
The Sage Studied, Or, What We Did for School
I had posted at the start of the school year our plan for the year, but that was the desired vision and it is sometimes more useful to talk about what we actually did.
Then if I get a chance (and, GET ORGANIZED), I'll post our pie-in-the-sky vision for the coming year. It's spread out on the table now. Definitely not organized.
(Again, these are my personal, non-reimbursed opinions regarding any products mentioned.)
Classically Catholic Memorization
This was really super. I highly recommend this program - it was extremely complementary to his learning this year and really smoothed along some of the more difficult parts of his learning (like multiplication, catechism, etc.). We did this in a co-op context where he had classmates, primary and secondary teacher, handouts, etc. I was amazed by how quickly he memorized things and how they stuck with a minimal amount of review. We will be doing Beta year in co-op this year.
Sing, Spell, Read, and Write
Finished right at mid-year! I ordered a trophy from a large online distributor for a minimal fee, and he was SO excited to get a trophy. It is prominently displayed along with his piano medals and the trophy he earned for Piano Festival this year, and he talked about the trophy incessantly the first few weeks he had it. It's still a prized possession.
He's done a crazy amount of reading this year - we are at the library about constantly. Some favorites:
-Walter Brooks - Freddy the Cowboy and related
-Magic Treehouse books by Mary Pope Osborne
-Beverly Cleary - Ramona books, Otis Spofford, Beezus and Henry
-Cam Jansen mysteries by David Adler
-Encyclopedia Brown books by D. Sobol
-Anne Pellowski - similar to Laura Ingalls Wilder books, writes about Polish immigrant families in Wisconsin
-Gordan Korman - one of Hubby's favorite childhood authors - not all are appropriate for younger children, but Daddy has been screening
-Finished the Little House books this year
Explode the Code
Because I'm so awesome, I skipped books 3 and 4 (because I simply forgot I had them) and we did books 5 and 6. It's a good review and he likes the active work - assembling words, funny illustrations, etc. I like the teacher's manual - it has some helpful ideas such as starting a Sight Words Wall, constructing tongue twisters out of the week's words, rhyming exercises, and so on. We'll do books 7 and 8 this year.
Handwriting without Tears
Worth its weight in gold. Handwriting went from illegible to decent. I love the lefty-friendly workbook. He still needs reminders to slow down and write neatly, but he has a good base from which to operate.
Story of the World
This is also awesome, totally awesome. If you ask him his favorite study, he will instantly respond, "History!". The chapters are short enough to hold his attention but thorough enough to provide a lot of areas to expand and enrich. We have supplemented extensively with our library (SOTW workbook provides a recommended reading list for each chapter) and done at least one activity along with each chapter. Some are simple board games which reinforce the topics, others are really nifty like Egyptian death masks, Spartan and Athenian paper dolls with associated weapons and scrolls, make a Pharos light house out of Pringles boxes, etc. Lest you think I am a super mom (I am not!!!), we still have a Cornish Game Hen in our freezer waiting to be mummified. It's been there since October. Pretty soon the freezer will mummify it for us.
Two favorite authors for supplemental learning:
-Mary Pope Osborne (author of the Magic Treehouse books) - wrote a two volume children's version of the Odyssey. He read these several times each and couldn't get him to do any chores because he was so absorbed!
-Marcia Williams - books about Egypt, Rome, and just found two volumes of Shakespeare plays. Hilarious humor and illustrations, accurate historical info, and leveled appropriately for early to mid-elementary.
Right Start Math
Completed Level C except the last 10 lessons. There were 140 lessons in this one compared to only 125 in Level B - that was a rather rude surprise. The 2nd edition, I believe, does have a standard amount of lessons from level to level, but we don't have the 2nd edition because they are about 2 months behind our current level with revisions.... blech. I did do a diagnostic test for reading and math, and was pleased with how this math program is helping him learn concepts. A few more word problems might be helpful, but really hands-on, and that makes a big difference for him.
Espanol para los chiquitos
It's a decent program (my personal opinion, too expensive for what you get, or for what we used of it) but we just didn't have the time and energy to devote to using it well. It doesn't lend itself well to sporadic use (like most language programs, ha). His interest level wasn't really there, either.
I Can Do All Things
Big waste of money. He did 2 lessons and hated it.
Religion/Catechism
He did Sacrament preparation this year, and most of it ended up being home-made as our parish did a very limited/brief preparation. That being said, I feel what we did was good preparation for what he did on the parish level and they were complementary. Books used:
-A Little Book About Confession by Kendra Tierney - excellent resource, used this extensively
-Fr. Lovasik books - about 10 Commandments, Confession, Sacraments, Sacramentals
-Baltimore Catechism - springboard for further learning about grace, sin, forgiveness/mercy, etc.
-Children's Bible - gifted him his own Bible - the full version with easier language. He used this a little on his own, but mostly read to him from it. We read the Gospel of Matthew, some Psalms, and Acts of the Apostles together - to get a sense of sequence.
Science
Totally and utterly bored by the Harcourt Science I ordered. We switched to a unit study format just a couple weeks into doing the science - units on Seeds, Space, and Vertebrates. Supplemented heavily with library books, a Solar System model (Hobby Lobby has an awesome one to assemble complete with glow-in-the-dark paint), NASA and Hubble websites, Classically Catholic Memory science topics, and culminated with a trip to the zoo to identify different types of vertebrates (Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Mammals, Birds) and make a flip book with pictures he took. I may continue to use the Harcourt book to get some ideas for topics and content, but will need to get creative with this so he doesn't hate science... that would be bad and I would be sad.
Field Trips
Hahahaha.
We used the Let's Go Learn reading and math diagnostic tests available through Seton at the end of the year to determine learning, strengths, weaknesses. I found this very helpful to get both broad and specific data for him, although found it lined up very closely with my personal assessment of his strengths and learning needs. It was cheap (around $40) and online - next year we will probably do a standardized test for further testing experience for him.
This was a helpful exercise for me - after typing this up I feel like maybe we actually did learn something this year, because honestly it felt like the year was an exercise in futility. Like waking up most mornings thinking, "I can't do this!" but muddling through it anyway. The Boy loves it and he is doing well, so I guess that needs to be my standard for success!
Then if I get a chance (and, GET ORGANIZED), I'll post our pie-in-the-sky vision for the coming year. It's spread out on the table now. Definitely not organized.
(Again, these are my personal, non-reimbursed opinions regarding any products mentioned.)
Classically Catholic Memorization
This was really super. I highly recommend this program - it was extremely complementary to his learning this year and really smoothed along some of the more difficult parts of his learning (like multiplication, catechism, etc.). We did this in a co-op context where he had classmates, primary and secondary teacher, handouts, etc. I was amazed by how quickly he memorized things and how they stuck with a minimal amount of review. We will be doing Beta year in co-op this year.
Sing, Spell, Read, and Write
Finished right at mid-year! I ordered a trophy from a large online distributor for a minimal fee, and he was SO excited to get a trophy. It is prominently displayed along with his piano medals and the trophy he earned for Piano Festival this year, and he talked about the trophy incessantly the first few weeks he had it. It's still a prized possession.
He's done a crazy amount of reading this year - we are at the library about constantly. Some favorites:
-Walter Brooks - Freddy the Cowboy and related
-Magic Treehouse books by Mary Pope Osborne
-Beverly Cleary - Ramona books, Otis Spofford, Beezus and Henry
-Cam Jansen mysteries by David Adler
-Encyclopedia Brown books by D. Sobol
-Anne Pellowski - similar to Laura Ingalls Wilder books, writes about Polish immigrant families in Wisconsin
-Gordan Korman - one of Hubby's favorite childhood authors - not all are appropriate for younger children, but Daddy has been screening
-Finished the Little House books this year
Explode the Code
Because I'm so awesome, I skipped books 3 and 4 (because I simply forgot I had them) and we did books 5 and 6. It's a good review and he likes the active work - assembling words, funny illustrations, etc. I like the teacher's manual - it has some helpful ideas such as starting a Sight Words Wall, constructing tongue twisters out of the week's words, rhyming exercises, and so on. We'll do books 7 and 8 this year.
Handwriting without Tears
Worth its weight in gold. Handwriting went from illegible to decent. I love the lefty-friendly workbook. He still needs reminders to slow down and write neatly, but he has a good base from which to operate.
Story of the World
This is also awesome, totally awesome. If you ask him his favorite study, he will instantly respond, "History!". The chapters are short enough to hold his attention but thorough enough to provide a lot of areas to expand and enrich. We have supplemented extensively with our library (SOTW workbook provides a recommended reading list for each chapter) and done at least one activity along with each chapter. Some are simple board games which reinforce the topics, others are really nifty like Egyptian death masks, Spartan and Athenian paper dolls with associated weapons and scrolls, make a Pharos light house out of Pringles boxes, etc. Lest you think I am a super mom (I am not!!!), we still have a Cornish Game Hen in our freezer waiting to be mummified. It's been there since October. Pretty soon the freezer will mummify it for us.
Two favorite authors for supplemental learning:
-Mary Pope Osborne (author of the Magic Treehouse books) - wrote a two volume children's version of the Odyssey. He read these several times each and couldn't get him to do any chores because he was so absorbed!
-Marcia Williams - books about Egypt, Rome, and just found two volumes of Shakespeare plays. Hilarious humor and illustrations, accurate historical info, and leveled appropriately for early to mid-elementary.
Right Start Math
Completed Level C except the last 10 lessons. There were 140 lessons in this one compared to only 125 in Level B - that was a rather rude surprise. The 2nd edition, I believe, does have a standard amount of lessons from level to level, but we don't have the 2nd edition because they are about 2 months behind our current level with revisions.... blech. I did do a diagnostic test for reading and math, and was pleased with how this math program is helping him learn concepts. A few more word problems might be helpful, but really hands-on, and that makes a big difference for him.
Espanol para los chiquitos
It's a decent program (my personal opinion, too expensive for what you get, or for what we used of it) but we just didn't have the time and energy to devote to using it well. It doesn't lend itself well to sporadic use (like most language programs, ha). His interest level wasn't really there, either.
I Can Do All Things
Big waste of money. He did 2 lessons and hated it.
Religion/Catechism
He did Sacrament preparation this year, and most of it ended up being home-made as our parish did a very limited/brief preparation. That being said, I feel what we did was good preparation for what he did on the parish level and they were complementary. Books used:
-A Little Book About Confession by Kendra Tierney - excellent resource, used this extensively
-Fr. Lovasik books - about 10 Commandments, Confession, Sacraments, Sacramentals
-Baltimore Catechism - springboard for further learning about grace, sin, forgiveness/mercy, etc.
-Children's Bible - gifted him his own Bible - the full version with easier language. He used this a little on his own, but mostly read to him from it. We read the Gospel of Matthew, some Psalms, and Acts of the Apostles together - to get a sense of sequence.
Science
Totally and utterly bored by the Harcourt Science I ordered. We switched to a unit study format just a couple weeks into doing the science - units on Seeds, Space, and Vertebrates. Supplemented heavily with library books, a Solar System model (Hobby Lobby has an awesome one to assemble complete with glow-in-the-dark paint), NASA and Hubble websites, Classically Catholic Memory science topics, and culminated with a trip to the zoo to identify different types of vertebrates (Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Mammals, Birds) and make a flip book with pictures he took. I may continue to use the Harcourt book to get some ideas for topics and content, but will need to get creative with this so he doesn't hate science... that would be bad and I would be sad.
Field Trips
Hahahaha.
We used the Let's Go Learn reading and math diagnostic tests available through Seton at the end of the year to determine learning, strengths, weaknesses. I found this very helpful to get both broad and specific data for him, although found it lined up very closely with my personal assessment of his strengths and learning needs. It was cheap (around $40) and online - next year we will probably do a standardized test for further testing experience for him.
This was a helpful exercise for me - after typing this up I feel like maybe we actually did learn something this year, because honestly it felt like the year was an exercise in futility. Like waking up most mornings thinking, "I can't do this!" but muddling through it anyway. The Boy loves it and he is doing well, so I guess that needs to be my standard for success!
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Summer Summer Summer
By far my favorite season - even with the road construction, summer still beats out beet harvest, blizzard, and mud/flood seasons (at least that's how I categorize them around here). We've been living up the warmth and spending as much time outdoors as possible. Baby helps with that - she asks to be outside from when she gets up in the morning until bedtime. She has hit her word explosion - the other day she asked for candy, and I have no idea where she learned that word (Sugar-Free-Except-Sunday is actually going fairly well). Other new words just this week - garbage truck, pool, drink, scooter ("scootee!"), and a whole bunch more that I can't really interpret yet. She loves going for walks around the block, going to the park, the library, visiting Nana and Papa's house and the woof-woof, reading books, and eating.
The gardens are doing fairly well considering all the recent wind and rain - as usual I didn't plan very well and some parts are too crowded and others too sparse, but we've been enjoying the produce with great relish.
The Boy is doing the summer reading program at the library (on his third time log already - the kid loves to read), park board golf, and has been riding his $5 rummage sale scooter several times a day (best find ever - we went on a long walk with him on the scooter - no complaints! - compared to what would have been a two or three mile long whine session).
Although this summer is going quickly, I'm really enjoying it and finding time to savor the days. I don't remember much about last summer, but I'm thinking it's due to chronic sleep deprivation from last year, recalling it was about mid-May a year ago when Baby stopped sleeping through the night and spending a few hours each night in a vicious doze/sob/rock/sob cycle. Now that's she's finally in her own room (it would have been sooner - we had to build a room...) life is good. Anyway, I've been working on putting together a 2014 family yearbook (thanks, Mixbook, for restoring my interest in scrapbooking. OK, so it's not real scrapbooking, but thank you for giving me a way to scrapbook without having to cut paper and write in straight lines and buy stickers... ick...). Reading books for pleasure and for growth, sorting through kids too-small and too-big clothes and stocking up for the coming winter (still have to find Baby girl boots... otherwise set so bring on the snow - wait, not yet!), working enough to keep my skills fresh and my old soul reflective, few days of summer school for The Boy, and getting ready for the coming year. Bike rides, walks, splash pad, kiddie pool on the deck, a tiny bit of shopping to freshen up the closet, planning a family trip, picking plants and planting new grass around the new front landscaping, and knitting to keep up with the upcoming weddings. Yep, it's been a good summer and the wonderful news is it's not over yet!
The gardens are doing fairly well considering all the recent wind and rain - as usual I didn't plan very well and some parts are too crowded and others too sparse, but we've been enjoying the produce with great relish.
The Boy is doing the summer reading program at the library (on his third time log already - the kid loves to read), park board golf, and has been riding his $5 rummage sale scooter several times a day (best find ever - we went on a long walk with him on the scooter - no complaints! - compared to what would have been a two or three mile long whine session).
Although this summer is going quickly, I'm really enjoying it and finding time to savor the days. I don't remember much about last summer, but I'm thinking it's due to chronic sleep deprivation from last year, recalling it was about mid-May a year ago when Baby stopped sleeping through the night and spending a few hours each night in a vicious doze/sob/rock/sob cycle. Now that's she's finally in her own room (it would have been sooner - we had to build a room...) life is good. Anyway, I've been working on putting together a 2014 family yearbook (thanks, Mixbook, for restoring my interest in scrapbooking. OK, so it's not real scrapbooking, but thank you for giving me a way to scrapbook without having to cut paper and write in straight lines and buy stickers... ick...). Reading books for pleasure and for growth, sorting through kids too-small and too-big clothes and stocking up for the coming winter (still have to find Baby girl boots... otherwise set so bring on the snow - wait, not yet!), working enough to keep my skills fresh and my old soul reflective, few days of summer school for The Boy, and getting ready for the coming year. Bike rides, walks, splash pad, kiddie pool on the deck, a tiny bit of shopping to freshen up the closet, planning a family trip, picking plants and planting new grass around the new front landscaping, and knitting to keep up with the upcoming weddings. Yep, it's been a good summer and the wonderful news is it's not over yet!
Box of happiness. From the place of happiness (my favorite green house).
Riding "Gar". This is the absolute favoritest thing ever. And she tries to ride it out into the street everyday. Because we no longer like riding it on the deck. Must tempt fate.
Driving Miss Baby
Feed me. Now.
Loving the kiddie pool! It's been fairly warm so we are getting our dollars-worth.
Taking Elmo for a ride. Another garage sale find.
Bruiser gets a haircut. Mom no longer provides free haircuts. The Barber shop likes the business.
Vacuum packed chicken
The Boy constructed elaborate World War I trenches in the sandbox. No one else could play there for a week for risk of disturbing the front lines.
War in the sandbox.
Yes, she is eating ketchup with a spoon.
Happy Baby!
We've had a run of storms with the most amazing clouds. I missed the most recent bout of storms as I was pushing patients into the halls and trying to keep the calm - would much rather have been ignoring the sirens and gawking at the sky. When I grow up I want to be a storm chaser.
Reading a book about discipline. Let the irony be not lost.
All this playing makes a tired Baby.
Princess Chainsaw.
Again, it's tiring being this cute.
He doesn't get as many pictures taken because he is always in his room building Legos. This creation was submitted to a contest, of which results he is most anxiously awaiting.
Happy Summer! Get out and enjoy it!
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Imagine the Uproar if...
... people gave their mothers Mother's Day cards which closely resemble the crap-which-is-Father's-Day-cards.
Mom, here's a card for you that references your body odor, toilet seat neglect, smelly socks, nap habits, uncouth body noises, etc.
Oh, how everyone would lose their you-know-what in an instant.
So why on earth is it impossible to find a nice card for a Dad which appreciates what he does for his family on a daily basis?
Mom, here's a card for you that references your body odor, toilet seat neglect, smelly socks, nap habits, uncouth body noises, etc.
Oh, how everyone would lose their you-know-what in an instant.
So why on earth is it impossible to find a nice card for a Dad which appreciates what he does for his family on a daily basis?
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Good Things
Final grades are posted. This is a very good thing. I'm not old, but I feel older this year. The students stay the same age yet seem a little less mature each year and I get a bit more jaded annually. I'm not the only one. And then there comes the student who gives you a hug and tells you, "I want to be a nurse just like you someday". That's pretty good.
Then there is the last day of school for The Boy, Day 175. Let me tell you, that's really good. I love him and I love being able to see him grow every single day. That's not to say every single day is a great day where we love learning and we love being together. (Mea maxima culpa.) I still see just a tiny hint of baby eyelashes and toddler abandonment, usually only when he is asleep. The rest has grown into a big boy who is so smart, so funny, a bit smart-aleck, and very much stubborn. Even though he's had to learn to share a mom who used to be all his for a good long time, he knows that Mom is still his in a special way. He made his First Reconciliation this spring - what an amazing thing to see your child receive the Sacraments with happiness. It's the best thing in the whole world.
Finding cool stuff all over the place!
Best big brother in the world
Having fun on Easter morning.
And Baby Girl, who isn't really a baby anymore, but we call her that and she calls herself that, and just by nature of how things worked out in our family, will be the baby for maybe forever...well, we'll leave that up to Providence. She is happy, oh so happy. She loves being outside, hairbows, dressing up, animals, pounding on Big Brother, being outside, waving to people, snuggling with Mom and Dad, being outside, going to the park, animals, playing with balls, reading books, and did we mention, being outside, and animals (DOGS)? She is constantly running, jumping, climbing, and making the darn cutest expressions. Her response to basically everything is yes/more/yay! Except maybe sleep.
"Uh-oh"
Having a great laugh.
Playing with Easter dog
Brushing up on clinical skills.
Tax season is over for Hubby and he is back to his routine schedule. That's a very, very good thing - sure is nice to see the guy. We've been working on getting the house in order - new bedrooms in the downstairs and moving Baby Girl across the hall to her own room. The last of the paint went on tonight, so things are coming along nicely. We can never just leave a house alone, but then too this year's projects were necessitated by the happy growth (size of the smaller two) in our family and just needing to create some elbow room for them.
My garden is NOT planted and that makes me sad. But we've also been having drought-busting rains all week, so that's a good thing. The plants will grow when they hit the dirt, and they will hit the dirt eventually.
We are grateful for the good news in our family - new baby, new job, new assignment. Grateful for blessings from above and the grace of God providentially guiding and leading.
Then there is the last day of school for The Boy, Day 175. Let me tell you, that's really good. I love him and I love being able to see him grow every single day. That's not to say every single day is a great day where we love learning and we love being together. (Mea maxima culpa.) I still see just a tiny hint of baby eyelashes and toddler abandonment, usually only when he is asleep. The rest has grown into a big boy who is so smart, so funny, a bit smart-aleck, and very much stubborn. Even though he's had to learn to share a mom who used to be all his for a good long time, he knows that Mom is still his in a special way. He made his First Reconciliation this spring - what an amazing thing to see your child receive the Sacraments with happiness. It's the best thing in the whole world.
Finding cool stuff all over the place!
Best big brother in the world
Having fun on Easter morning.
And Baby Girl, who isn't really a baby anymore, but we call her that and she calls herself that, and just by nature of how things worked out in our family, will be the baby for maybe forever...well, we'll leave that up to Providence. She is happy, oh so happy. She loves being outside, hairbows, dressing up, animals, pounding on Big Brother, being outside, waving to people, snuggling with Mom and Dad, being outside, going to the park, animals, playing with balls, reading books, and did we mention, being outside, and animals (DOGS)? She is constantly running, jumping, climbing, and making the darn cutest expressions. Her response to basically everything is yes/more/yay! Except maybe sleep.
"Uh-oh"
Having a great laugh.
Playing with Easter dog
Brushing up on clinical skills.
Tax season is over for Hubby and he is back to his routine schedule. That's a very, very good thing - sure is nice to see the guy. We've been working on getting the house in order - new bedrooms in the downstairs and moving Baby Girl across the hall to her own room. The last of the paint went on tonight, so things are coming along nicely. We can never just leave a house alone, but then too this year's projects were necessitated by the happy growth (size of the smaller two) in our family and just needing to create some elbow room for them.
My garden is NOT planted and that makes me sad. But we've also been having drought-busting rains all week, so that's a good thing. The plants will grow when they hit the dirt, and they will hit the dirt eventually.
We are grateful for the good news in our family - new baby, new job, new assignment. Grateful for blessings from above and the grace of God providentially guiding and leading.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
72 Hours of Island Bliss
Had the privilege of being present a couple weeks ago for one of my goddaughter's Confirmation in the Faith! Being there necessitated a trip across the ocean to Hawaii - bummer. Did feel a bit guilty about leaving the kiddos in Daddy's care right at the end of tax season, and for missing another goddaughter's Confirmation, but my chances to see my oldest goddaughter are a bit more limited, so that sealed the deal.
I'm such a hothouse plant that my solo travels have been fairly limited, but relished the thought of reading a book without being interrupted every five minutes, and this actually did occur, particularly with all the flight delays. I finished TWO WHOLE BOOKS and loved every second. (Yes, Fr., I went somewhere and read books. I will have you know it was just on the airplanes - I didn't read on the beach). I also started a new knitting project (finally) and made quite a bit of progress on it. And caught up on my podcast list.
The B. family was so incredibly kind and accommodating, particularly considering their impending changes. To be with both my godmother and goddaughter was refreshing mentally and spiritually, and every moment was blessed. I discovered The Boy's twin-separated-at-birth while there - the resemblances between these two kids is rather uncanny. It helped me miss my kids a little less - even though I was looking forward to a few days without diapers and school drama, I still missed the rugrats - and yet it was good to be away for a little while.
L.'s Confirmation day was beautiful as was her lovely reception of the Sacrament. Thank you, L., for the chance to be a part of your special day!
I'm such a hothouse plant that my solo travels have been fairly limited, but relished the thought of reading a book without being interrupted every five minutes, and this actually did occur, particularly with all the flight delays. I finished TWO WHOLE BOOKS and loved every second. (Yes, Fr., I went somewhere and read books. I will have you know it was just on the airplanes - I didn't read on the beach). I also started a new knitting project (finally) and made quite a bit of progress on it. And caught up on my podcast list.
The B. family was so incredibly kind and accommodating, particularly considering their impending changes. To be with both my godmother and goddaughter was refreshing mentally and spiritually, and every moment was blessed. I discovered The Boy's twin-separated-at-birth while there - the resemblances between these two kids is rather uncanny. It helped me miss my kids a little less - even though I was looking forward to a few days without diapers and school drama, I still missed the rugrats - and yet it was good to be away for a little while.
L.'s Confirmation day was beautiful as was her lovely reception of the Sacrament. Thank you, L., for the chance to be a part of your special day!
Left wildfires at home, to snow in the Rockies, to 80* on the islands in less than 24 hours.
Hurrah for modern transportation!
Bird of Paradise, and someone cute.
More beautiful flowers - all the plants, trees, flowers, and unique wildlife were so neat to see.
Myna bird. No, it's not headless, just preening. I stink at taking pictures.
Pineapple ice cream - YUM! Mine was gone in just a few minutes, and not from the heat.
Coffee beans.
Field ready for pineapple.
Coffee field.
Green Sea Turtle on the beach.
Also got to snorkel
(with a lot of help - thank you, Uncle B., for putting up with my aquatic anxiety)
and saw sea turtles swimming, and a couple humuhumunukunukuapuaʻa - so fun!
Beach - beautiful!
Sunset coming
We finished our sandcastle...
Sunset
Again, I stink at taking pictures - no actual photos of Confirmation, but did love the beautiful orchids in the chapel and leis for Joseph and Mary. What a beautiful day of grace!
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Kill and Eat
The Boy received a Bible from us this year to help him prepare for his Sacraments and to help with his learning. He has enjoyed reading on his own, and I have been reading parts to him also - Psalms, some of the prophets, Gospel of Matthew, and now on to Acts of the Apostles. We read this week in Chapters 11 and 12 about Peter's visit with Cornelius and his vision of the unclean animals lowered in the sheet. Hence the conversation which took place today.
Me: Look, there's a squirrel in our yard. He's got something in his mouth.
Baby Girl: Oooooh!
The Boy: We should shoot it and eat it.
Me: Why would you want to do that?
The Boy: Kill and eat, Mom, kill and eat. That's what God told Peter, you know.
Me: Look, there's a squirrel in our yard. He's got something in his mouth.
Baby Girl: Oooooh!
The Boy: We should shoot it and eat it.
Me: Why would you want to do that?
The Boy: Kill and eat, Mom, kill and eat. That's what God told Peter, you know.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
Everything is Important
What does one do when everything is important? Or at least, everything seems important. I've always been a to-do-list devotee. There is something amazingly satisfying about checking one's day off a step at a time. Knowing what I need to accomplish post-haste, what can be saved for later, what's coming up in the next day or two, and tackling my day a task or two at a time.
I made it through school the first time with a to-do list, through school the second time with a to-do list (and a toddler to boot), a couple (albeit small, not cross-country) moves, part-time job and full-time mothering with to-do list firmly in hand. A couple decades into the list-making process, I feel betrayed, for now my list is failing me. Only important things go on the list these days, nothing optional ever makes the list (washing curtains definitely fits the optional side of things these days). Just things that do-or-die must be done make it on the daily list. And that's not including the stuff that really ought to be do-or-die (like prayer... exercise... keeping the bathroom from degenerating into a disgusting slime-room...).
Organization makes me happy. I feel fretful when things are taken on a come-as-they-may basis. Allowing my day to spontaneously generate means absolutely nothing happens and I'm madder than mad by the end. I've eliminated all non-essential items from the list. At least what I think are non-essentials - stuff like spring cleaning, and let's please not talk about play dates and art projects. I've tried getting up earlier (like this morning, when the both kids also got up early, which totally defeats the point of getting up early when I could pray without help [Mom, why are your eyes closed? Mom? Mom? Mom, did you fall asleep? Mom? Mom?]). I've tried staying up later (which absolutely does not work because I am tired and end up having to go back and re-do all my late night work because it stinks... it really does). I've tried limiting my to-do list to only the THREE MOST ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL TASKS PER DAY, except that doesn't leave room for the things I have to do like, oh, make lunch, change diapers, teach school, make supper, teach school, and of course there's always that prayer and exercise thing [Well, got the kids bathed, so, sorry, Family, only 1 meal today and sorry, students, only 1 paper graded today. Oops, up to 3 things already, can't take a shower today... maybe tomorrow]. So I guess I will just continue to write my to-do lists, knowing that my house will be messy, papers will be later than I'd like, middle-age spread will occur, and purgatory is looming (at least I'm hoping for purgatory... Lord spare me from another fate).
I made it through school the first time with a to-do list, through school the second time with a to-do list (and a toddler to boot), a couple (albeit small, not cross-country) moves, part-time job and full-time mothering with to-do list firmly in hand. A couple decades into the list-making process, I feel betrayed, for now my list is failing me. Only important things go on the list these days, nothing optional ever makes the list (washing curtains definitely fits the optional side of things these days). Just things that do-or-die must be done make it on the daily list. And that's not including the stuff that really ought to be do-or-die (like prayer... exercise... keeping the bathroom from degenerating into a disgusting slime-room...).
Organization makes me happy. I feel fretful when things are taken on a come-as-they-may basis. Allowing my day to spontaneously generate means absolutely nothing happens and I'm madder than mad by the end. I've eliminated all non-essential items from the list. At least what I think are non-essentials - stuff like spring cleaning, and let's please not talk about play dates and art projects. I've tried getting up earlier (like this morning, when the both kids also got up early, which totally defeats the point of getting up early when I could pray without help [Mom, why are your eyes closed? Mom? Mom? Mom, did you fall asleep? Mom? Mom?]). I've tried staying up later (which absolutely does not work because I am tired and end up having to go back and re-do all my late night work because it stinks... it really does). I've tried limiting my to-do list to only the THREE MOST ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL TASKS PER DAY, except that doesn't leave room for the things I have to do like, oh, make lunch, change diapers, teach school, make supper, teach school, and of course there's always that prayer and exercise thing [Well, got the kids bathed, so, sorry, Family, only 1 meal today and sorry, students, only 1 paper graded today. Oops, up to 3 things already, can't take a shower today... maybe tomorrow]. So I guess I will just continue to write my to-do lists, knowing that my house will be messy, papers will be later than I'd like, middle-age spread will occur, and purgatory is looming (at least I'm hoping for purgatory... Lord spare me from another fate).
Friday, March 6, 2015
Fast
The Boy loves standing up as tall as he can to see how much he has grown. And has he ever grown. Today he stood next to me and showed me how he is now up to my shoulders. Granted, I'm not all that tall, but he is growing up ever so quickly. He is more than a lap-full when he snuggles up when I read to him. So hard to imagine it was only a few years ago he was a tiny baby in my arms.
And our baby girl is so big, now, too. She knows several words including Mommy, Daddy, Jesus (which sounds a lot like cheese, which she also knows, but uses in appropriate contexts), please, bye-bye, night-night, and a few others. She climbs on absolutely everything. I thought school with a walking toddler was challenging, but was nothing compared to school with a climbing toddler. She is on the table all the time unless we keep the chairs pulled in all the way, and I imagine it's not too long until she learns to pull them out. She is amazingly strong, both physically and mentally. She loves to read books and rock in her little rocking chair. It doesn't seem real she is big enough to do all these things.
It's all so fast - so very, very fast. I'm afraid I'll blink and they will be in college. I realize this is the normal progression of life, and happy to realize just a bit of how great a blessing it is to be a mother. My job will not always be diaper-changer and math-tutor, but will always be mother. To yearn for and love my children, to pray for them and share my life with them.
And our baby girl is so big, now, too. She knows several words including Mommy, Daddy, Jesus (which sounds a lot like cheese, which she also knows, but uses in appropriate contexts), please, bye-bye, night-night, and a few others. She climbs on absolutely everything. I thought school with a walking toddler was challenging, but was nothing compared to school with a climbing toddler. She is on the table all the time unless we keep the chairs pulled in all the way, and I imagine it's not too long until she learns to pull them out. She is amazingly strong, both physically and mentally. She loves to read books and rock in her little rocking chair. It doesn't seem real she is big enough to do all these things.
It's all so fast - so very, very fast. I'm afraid I'll blink and they will be in college. I realize this is the normal progression of life, and happy to realize just a bit of how great a blessing it is to be a mother. My job will not always be diaper-changer and math-tutor, but will always be mother. To yearn for and love my children, to pray for them and share my life with them.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
I'm Not Old Enough... Said the Old Soul
I'm going gray. Or more like white - a few weeks ago I discovered these weird corky hairs springing out of my scalp. Just a few. But enough that my scalp hurt from the pulling, and have been yanking ever since.
I'm not old enough to go gray. I have decided to keep these cranky white hairs and give one to each person who has obviously caused them to appear, or to persist in appearing. (My husband says this is not only rude but gross.) Students, you are forewarned. Certain co-workers, you are warned. Children, I have more than a few for you.
I'm not old enough to go gray. I have decided to keep these cranky white hairs and give one to each person who has obviously caused them to appear, or to persist in appearing. (My husband says this is not only rude but gross.) Students, you are forewarned. Certain co-workers, you are warned. Children, I have more than a few for you.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
A Long Silence
So I haven't had anything to say, haven't been able to take any photos which aren't blurry, and my biggest accomplishments lately have been not burning (or just partially not burning) supper. It's also been a wee bit busy between school, the other school, and a rather energetic baby.
Routine life is good life, but a good blog post it does not make. Actually, I think everyone should post the mundane (look, I scrubbed my toilet; see it sparkle [at least for 30 seconds until a child enters said bathroom]).
Having a blog was my way of exiting Facebook and yet maintaining some semblance of connection with distant friends and family. It's been helpful to have a place to vent, but on the other hand, a lot of what I vent probably isn't worth the time. I like being able to share pictures with those of you I speak with so rarely, but also am not crazy about my kids' faces being out there in cyberspace for anyone to see.
Should I leave social media for good?
Routine life is good life, but a good blog post it does not make. Actually, I think everyone should post the mundane (look, I scrubbed my toilet; see it sparkle [at least for 30 seconds until a child enters said bathroom]).
Having a blog was my way of exiting Facebook and yet maintaining some semblance of connection with distant friends and family. It's been helpful to have a place to vent, but on the other hand, a lot of what I vent probably isn't worth the time. I like being able to share pictures with those of you I speak with so rarely, but also am not crazy about my kids' faces being out there in cyberspace for anyone to see.
Should I leave social media for good?
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