Family News

I went and auditioned last night for a play I know next to nothing about.
It felt a bit like an ethical quandary, truly:
Is showing up like an eBay bid, where if you “win” (are selected) you are bound to follow through and roll with whatever’s given you?
I resist being bound, but understand the thinking that [...]

We took the kids to a playgroud last Saturday morning. There was a family of three kids already there, the oldest brother (maybe 10) seemed to be vaguely in-charge and eager to converse with an adult (hey, that’s me!).
He asked if that school was where my kids went. I said they weren’t old [...]

(Extra points for anyone who recognized that line from Mad About You.)
I don’t know if anybody really uses the “Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free” line, just like I don’t know anybody who uses the “If all your friends jumped off a cliff would you?” line, but I just [...]

Natasha’s first homonyms:
Roc and rock.
Second homonyms:
Knight and night.
Both sets are presented in the order we encountered them in the stories.   Phonetic and observation (of spelling differences) lessons smoothly inserted themselves.  This kid is sharp.
ETA: I have since learned that these are not true homonyms– rather, they are homophones, sounding alike while looking different.

Natasha was playing on her bed today, flopping backwards onto her pillow. After a while she misjudged and fell into her headboard instead (there was a nasty crack).
For a while she could only cry while I held her, and wouldn’t answer my how-are-you-feeling question.
“Can you see okay?” I asked, trying a different tack. [...]

…but at least I can still feed them well.
We had ham and chix chowder for dinner and homemade choc ice cream for desert.
While finishing up in the kitchen I had fun thinking about the different things being said around our front room (one of them was me, and one was Jay. The rest were [...]

They use them.
“Melody needs to lift up her countenance,” Natasha said matter-of-factly this morning.
Melody’s current M.O. is to dissolve in cries and screams when she’s scolded for misbehavior. It’s gotten real old really fast.
~~~
I made sure I used the same phrase on Natasha the next time I had occasion to. I don’t want [...]

I was just recently reviewing what having Maestro (and, earlier, Kricket) has taught (or allowed me to teach) my kids.

Having two resilient and transparent self-advocaters has shown the girls a few things.

Gentleness
Non-violent (and non-screaming) self advocating.

Both M and K will/would put up with as much as they wanted, and then leave.
Maestro had started batting [...]

I’ve begun to understand why those who have experienced a loss are told to not make any major decisions for X-amount of time. It’s only natural that one will not be thinking clearly for a time.
For example (this is a scenario we’ve talked about but placed it far down the road), I was imagining [...]

Oh, and we have a 2-year-old who speaks in complete sentences. How often does that happen? I really don’t know, but it seems unique.
I mentioned this to mom and she said, “It only counts if she can be understood.”
“It can be understood,” I said. “Sarah’s the one who told the story.”
“Antee-tarah, my ponytayol come out. [...]