First Day Back at School

As most of you know the kids and I embarked on a homeschooling journey this fall. I'm proud to say that through it I learned much about my children and got to share a closeness with them and develop a rapport that I have not had before. But, for as much as we liked it when it came down to it M just really likes going to school. She always has. As she told me, "I like learning at home, but I like learning with friends better."  Part of me thinks we didn't give it enough of a chance, but my gut feeling is that this is what is right for my whole family right now. And, lucky for me "teaching" my kids doesn't get to end. Little N still has a year and a half until Kindergarten, and I've got a bookshelf bulging with the best "living books" I could find. So cheers for bookophilia!!

Some New Definitions...Thanks to M & N

Scrapping (v)- A musical style on which most of the words are spoken in a fast, rhyming, melodic manner. Some of M's favorite scrapping occurs in songs such as D.J. Got Us Falling in Love and Tonight.

Dext (n)- The place where one sits to do homework, read lessons, and text on their iPod.

Bathtize (v)- The Initiation Rite in which a Christian has water poured over them and the "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" is called down to make them a new person in God. See also "John the Bathtist."

Oopsie the Daisy (ph)- A colloquial phrase that means "uh-oh"; commonly known to get most adorable four year olds out of trouble.

Part time angels

Brightly Wrapped Presents Christmas

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And to think, she once refused to go upside down!

So my little M is an acro lover (that's short for acrobatics.) She takes classes at the studio where I work, and she practices all the time. She got her standing backbend after just a few weeks of class. She has just mastered the "kickover" which means she's just one more step away from a back walkover. A little more fluidity and she's there! Check out this video of her practicing in the living room.
And to think, this is the girl who refused to turn upside down at birth!

Sneakin Around in Her Pink Sneakers

Well, not actually sneaking. More like running and scootin' up a storm and letting them rest on her bunkbed while she sleeps.
It was time to get M a new pair of sneakers and we decided that she needed a tie pair because, well how else was she ever going to learn how to tie her shoes? And an aside here - there are not many tie options out there anymore. We just assume our kids cannot do it, or sadder, we don't have the time or the patience to wait for them. But either way, Target had only a couple of true tie tennis shoes. The first pair I found were perfect. Pink, low top sparkle star Converse One-Stars. Yes!
Only problem is they were the display pair with no other shoe like it in sight, no price, and no box. Turns out not a problem at all. We got them at a sale price since they couldn't locate the true price.

Any sage advice out there on the method for teaching her? Big N suggested the bunny ears way may be best, but I've never done it that way and find it difficult so I'm going with the old loop around method.
Any good rhymes come to mind?

Children Teaching Parents

We had another whirlwind day today. I was at work until five, then drove to the Y (stopping off at the grocer's) to meet Momma H who was waiting with LittleN outside of M's dance class. So, it was bathtime before I realized she was wearing some foreign hair adornment. This is nothing new. She has been coming home with traded gifts/headbands/schoolwork since day one of pre-K. Usually she is pretty savvy and does not trade but merely accepts other girl's gifts. I'm not sure precisely how this plays out, but she still has friends so she musn't be a bully.

In her stocking for Christmas this year, M got a nice rhinestone Hello Kitty headband. It came from Southpark and was not cheap, but Santa decided she really needed to have it. Since I know what Santa spent on a 5 yo's headband, I was especially neurotic that she would give this one away.

So, bathtime tonight I notice the contraband flimsy plastic polka dot headband and unfamiliar clip in her hair and ask, knowing answer, "Honey, where did you get that?"

"From MK."
"The clip. too?"
"No, that is from C."
"Did you trade, or did they give it to you?"
"Um"
"What did you give them?"
"Not both of them, just MK"
"Gave them what? (head whips around to her hair supply stash)"
"My Christmas one."

I was really annoyed when I heard this. I had made a point of telling her I knew Santa spent a lot of money on it and she needed to keep it for herself. It's not enough to lose jackets and stain clothes, she has to give her nice new things away, too!"

When she saw how frustrated and unhappy I was about her decision she reacted instantaneously with such honesty and truth:

"But Mom, I love my friend more than my headband."

Out of the mouth's of babes...

New Year, New Posts

Happy 2010.
This year will hopefully be about routine and normalcy (whatever that is.)
As you know, I started a new job over the holidays. I am back in a M-F 8-5 job which I have not had in a while. This will allow me to go to school on Tues/Thurs nights at Belmont Abbey College. Incidentally, I am taking classes at the school's satellite campus- Charlotte Catholic H.S. Yes, my alma mater. I will graduate college-from my high school.

M LOVES Kindergarden and is excelling all around - especially in reading and writing. She loves to make books. She will staples several sheets of printer paper together and get going with a cover, title, table of contents and pictures. She asks for help with some spelling but we try and let her sound everything out. Her favorite song right now is Fireflies by Owl City. It's super cute.

N is busy being a boy. He loves transportation right now. Trains, planes, cars, rockets. Actually, anything can zoom through the sky and fly if he has a mind to do it. We played bat the other day (despite the cooooold weather) and he is awesome. He can really smack the ball sometimes. Once, right before we pitched he turned around and spat on the ground. How do boys know to do this? His favorite song right now is Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. I know. It's catchy though and he likes the part where she growls a bit (Roma, roma-a-a-a-a.)



If this photo looks reminiscient it's b/c it came from the same November library photo shoot that our Xmas card picture came from.

Have a blessed New Year.