Category Archives: Family

Here’s what we look like today.

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Homeschooling in Alaska

Dude. I am going with Option 1. (PDF)

Talk about simplifying my life.

I found some more teaching materials yesterday (reference and textbooks were half-off at Forget-Me-Not this week). Just went through that and what I’ve already collected, organizing them into an Excel sheet so I can find and keep track of what I’ve got and what I need.

Woefully short on anything math-related, but that’s okay, considering that what I want won’t be in the used book stores I’ve been collecting from. I’m very excited about the things I do have, and 60% ready to make my own curriculum rather than go with a premade pack.

The reason for this is mainly the hugeness of choosing a curriculum.

There are *so* many options I get frozen up, whereas the 1-3 books I’ve collected on a subject I brought home because I *loved* already.

My “next step” is to find a way to compare the actual content of a Kindergarten year and a 1st-grade year, to decide which Natasha should be doing.

I’ve reserved two books at the library to help with that.

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Words and Writing

Natasha wrote her first Thank-you notes today.

She and I practiced the letters in “THANK YOU” (She only wanted to do caps) until I felt they were recognizable, then I drew a straight line in a blank card and she wrote her thank-you on it. Then she decorated all the rest of the inside with stamps and markers.

The writing wasn’t easy. I coached her through each letter— where to start and which direction to move, how to space, and so on— four times.

But she was *very* proud of herself when she was done.

I don’t know if she would have been willing to try if she hadn’t just seen Mr. Rogers write a thank-you yesterday.

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During snuggles tonight Melody was telling me a story and used two “big” words– a couple times, like she was practicing. I didn’t write them down immediately so I lost one. The one I remember is “horrified.”

“He was just horrified,” she articulated, mouthing the word as if it were delicious. There was a huge smile in her voice.

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Setting Goals

So, mainly from recognizing the influence that goals had on me as a foster parent, I’ve decided I need to set goals for my own kids. And these are going to be basic, realistic goals here.

“Independently using the potty” is too big a goal for Melody just now. We’re going to start with just “Uses the potty when cued without complaining.”

For Elisha, the big one I would have put at the top of his list Jay just saw the fruition of Saturday night: Understanding and accepting the concept of ‘taking turns’.

Jay has been consciously working on that goal every time he has all three kids together. Elisha would consistently wig-out at having to let the ball go and watching someone else catch it.

Then, Saturday night when I was out storytelling, Jay was throwing the ball to each of them in turn, saying their names before tossing it, and Elisha got it. He sat and waited until his name was called, and then came alive, “catching” the ball and then throwing it back to Jay to pass to the next kid.

*Very* cool.  A lot of kids older than 20 months still don’t have this figured out 😉

So here are my little-step goals I want to keep in mind as we go through our days (the mechanism of attaining the goals is not always obvious, but I found before that focusing on the goals seems to shape what happens into meeting them).

For Natasha:

  1. Will use consistently kind words and tone, even when frustrated with siblings.
  2. Will be willing to read aloud when cued.
  3. Will put away books and toys when finished.

For Melody:

  1. Will use the potty when cued, without complaining.
  2. Will begin spontaneous sentences in a low voice.
  3. Will use words to express emotions, rather than crying or pouting.

For Elisha

  1. Will use words and signs rather than grunts for specific requests.
  2. Will patiently wait during diaper changes.
  3. Will stop grabbing objects from others.

All of these are things that we don’t currently have, but are (I believe) near enough that they’re not unreasonable.

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Natasha Milestones

She combed out her own hair after a shower, and use the ‘Y’ in yellow for the first time.

In the “Cinderella dressed in Yella” rhyme.  Only, when the girls do it it’s a non-distorted “true” word.

They were still asking for “The Sound of Muquis” (sounds almost like mucus) instead of The Sound of Music just yesterday.  So they haven’t lost all their “cute talk.”

Mom always cringes when they girls use that word, and Dad snarks when they talk about the movie.

We figure they’ll get it right eventually and till then it gives us a laugh.  Worth letting it stick around until it dies a natural death.   I don’t think it’ll make it to 5th grade.

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Books Figure Largely in Our Lives

Like I mentioned earlier, I spent most of January 1st working on books.

The girls and I traded bookshelves in our bedrooms. These pictures are the girls washing their “new” kid-sized bookshelf.

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And then I saw Elisha in his little rocking chair, sitting with “Where the Wild Things Are” in a perfect photo-op set-up. But Jay flopped out behind him on the bed and the boy immediately climbed over the back of the chair to get his daddy to read to him.

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There were so many great expressions the camera was *just* too slow to catch, but these were still fun too.

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That last one is E roaring at the pictures of the “wild things.”

It’s so fun to watch my family do stuff together!

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Elisha’s beginning to transition to verbal.

Elisha said “Mama” yesterday, very distinct.  It was so clear I didn’t realize at first it was him talking.

He also managed a distinct, polite “no” today, in answer to a question.  Up till now he’s communicated that by shaking both his head and shoulders (like he knows the body language, but hasn’t figured out the muscle isolation).  I think it’s adorable.  I also think he looks a little dizzy every time he does it.

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Sleep and sweetness connected?

Starting Tuesday of last week (12/18) when she emptied her part of the dishwasher the first time she was asked, Melody has grown more and more sweet and affectionate. Almost compliant at times.

She still clams up and does her pouty face when she feels like too much is being asked of her (smile? right *now*?), but her words are becoming sweeter (“I love you so much.”) and her snuggles more…genuine, I guess is the word I’m looking for.

She’s always been a touch-hungry kiddo, but half the time it’s been a demanding on-her-terms sort of affection. It’s been nice watching her soften.

It’s also been a week of unexpected night-wakings. And I really wonder what’s going on in her little self– whether whatever is loosening her tongue is somehow causing her sleep to be disturbed.

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Warm Hands are Misleading

A few nights ago Melody was using the potty after bedtime, so all the big lights were out.

Responding to her call for assistance I could see well enough that I didn’t turn on any new lights.

Melody reached out and took my hand, feeling it like clay in the dark, trying to recognize it. Finally she asked, “Is this Daddy?”

“No, it’s Mama,” I told her. “Why did you think it was Daddy?”

“Your hands were warm…”

I could hear the confusion in her voice when she first asked the question.  It was so unusual even the familiar size and shape couldn’t overrule the temperature element.

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Natasha’s Observations

Natasha [whispered to me]: Daddy’s being a good daddy: he’s changing the sheets.

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She’s been playing one of Jay’s Everquest characters this morning, too, and I heard her run to Jay and shout, delighted, “I collected a striped blue butterfly!”  Which is doubly adorable because she only knows that because of the print that came up on the screen.

Jay and I are continually surprised at what words she has in her sight-vocabulary.  It’s very fun.

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Delayed (reporting of a) Complement

Last week Jay hurt his back when he brought the tree up from under the house.

His hurt wasn’t on my mind that evening, but, like I sometimes do, I changed into a nice dress right before Jay got home. The girls of course were thrilled and begged me to help them into dresses also, and ties sashes, etc., which I tried to do while finishing dinner.

When Jay staggered (literally) through the door, complaining of his pain (he’d planed this whole scene of agony for my benefit), he collapsed on the couch and looked up at me. I wasn’t looking the way he’d expected.

“You know,” he said, after a pause, “it’s really hard to complain to a beautiful woman.”

“I’ll have to remember that,” I said.

He played with the kids (a change from what I expected with that sore back) while I finished dinner, and I was able to join in for the last of the game.

Later, at dinner, Natasha was gazing at me with eyes nearly glowing and a huge smile on her face. I was so busy juggling the meal I didn’t really notice at first, until she said, “Oh Mama, you just so beautiful I can’t keep my eyes off you.” (Lots of nervous giggling from her, before and after this statement).

She’s said this once before (and once said something similar about my singing), and I never know, really how to respond to that. Such uninhibited adoration is not something fallible humans like me are used to receiving.

Anyway, I’m going to have to remember that trick with the dress. I never expected changing my clothes would change the tone of the entire evening, but it did.