A Long Time Ago

Today I printed off a poem I wrote to my daughter just before her seventh birthday and gave it to her. For some reason, I neglected to give it to her for her birthday which was my original intention (how bad is that?). As a result, she spent some time this afternoon writing a poem for me.

A Long Time Ago

(Dedicated to my 42-year-old mother)

A long time ago

You weren't what you are to me now

I had more play time then

But I want to spend more time with you now

A long time ago

I was more cute

A long time ago

I could make more of a hoot

When I was small

Long ago

I grew big

Not as big as Bo

You are the best

I think I know how

I love you

And I haven't stopped now

Love

Hannah

Rose

Marie

Your

Daughter

The first line really choked me up, because it is really true. Hannah wasn't very cuddly as a baby or as a little girl. She was busy and curious and loved spending time with her daddy. In the last couple of years she has changed dramatically. She has become a snuggler. She expresses herself very eloquently and tells me many times a day how much she loves me. One of her common sayings to me is that she "wouldn't want any other mom but me" (imagine that - even after a day of school?). We have begun a little game at night when she is tucked in we call "I love you more than.....". One of us will begin the line and the other will finish it with a rhyme. We have found it to be a very special, pleasant way to finish the day, bonding us even more - amid belly laughter because of the silly things we think to say.

She is still very close to her dad and I hope (and doubt) that will ever change. She's just managed to include me in her heart with that special closeness. I pray it will continue to grow as she blossoms into those teenage years.

I've hung her poem on the wall in my bedroom. Along with other works of "art" that she made for me (her latest passion). My bedroom wall has become a collage of childhood artwork and scribblings. Tell me, what is paint and design to the 1,000 watt smiles of a very pleased child?

Family Pictures

Well, after all the hassle, we finally did manage to do INDOOR family pictures (as a surprise for my mom's 65th birthday). However, because there were some very cranky members of the family (not mentioning any names, of course), it was quite an abbreviated photo shoot. As a result, there were only a handful of pictures per family to choose from. With poor lighting (done inside our museum on the recommendation of a professional photographer) and cranky family members, Rachel and her "side kick" Jenn, managed to do a pretty good job. My wonderfully talented OLDEST sister Laura will be scrapbooking a gigantic shadow box of a kazillion pictures with the help of some of her not-quite-so-talented sisters. This will thrill my mom.

I absolutely love, LOVE, LOVE this picture. This is why people think Hannah looks like her daddy. Can't imagine why.

And here is the happy clan. You can probably tell who was the most impressed by looking closely at this picture.

Anyway. IT'S ALL DONE. For another 25 years.

Unconventional

We are a fairly traditional family. Two parents. Two kids. NO pets. One God. Dad brings home the bacon. Mom stays home with kids. AND HOMESCHOOLS. Dad definitely wears the pants in the family. Mom is submissive (no rotten eggs, please!). Mom generally cooks the meals. Dad can cook and does sometimes (remember: he was a bachelor until age 38). Mom cleans and does laundry, and YES, dad can do these things but generally doesn't (not that mom thinks he should). Mom irons dad's shirts and everyone else's clothes. Mom brings home a little bit of bacon. Dad fixes - EVERYTHING.

There is one thing,however, that this mama does NOT do.

But daddy does. And it's pretty unconventional.

It's got a little something to do with a needle and thread.

This mama does not sew. Yes, she can sew a button on, but generally she chooses to use a safety pin. She has NEVER sewn a hem, choosing scotch tape instead (the preferred method of most of the single girls at camp meeting when she was young and single). Daddy hems his own pants. He sews buttons on. He mends.

AND HE SEWS THE HOLES IN HIS SOCKS!

Now, I really think the reason I have not offered to sew on his buttons or mend his pants (because I'm pretty sure I could) is because of those stinkin' socks. I'm certain that if I offer to do the one, I might actually have to mend them when they NEED TO BE THROWN IN THE GARBAGE!

My kids are very well trained in this area. When they have a tear in something, they very unconventionally take their item to.......daddy, of course. This morning, my daughter decided she was tired of the stuffing coming out of her bear, so she took it and three of her brother's animals with cuts and bruises to the surgeon general. So, before church, while I very traditionally ironed, fed the kids, helped them get ready, did my daughter's hair, combed my son's hair, washed faces and brushed teeth, Dr. Daddy gave stitches. And made my kids' day.

I watched in awe (when I had time). And I wondered if I should feel bad or not. And then I thought (in justification, of course), "Nah. I do every other traditional thing in this family. This just makes us unique."

So I'm curious. Are there any unique, unconventional habits in your family?

Caught!

My son is coming along very well with his reading. It's rather cute to hear him walk around the house sounding out words as he thinks of them.

On Thursday, I was going through his very first reader that comes with the curriculum that I use. The first page had some three letter words as well as the illustration associated with the word. As he sounded out the first word, cap, I began to wonder whether he was really reading the word or whether he had figured out the word because of the picture. However, because he painstakingly sounded out the word, I became convinced that he was really reading the word.

He read his first eight words, flawlessly sounding out the word first. Until we came to this word, illustrated with the picture below:

The word he was to sound out was "wet". He carefully studied the word and the picture, and then removed any doubt as to whether he was really reading the words prior. This is the word he very slowly sounded out:

S - I - N - K

The little cheat! He even carefully sounded each letter out without having learned the "nk" blend yet!

He went on to read very well after that (while I covered up all the pictures). Still, this boy of mine is so slick I doubt I'll ever be able to relax.

Family Traits

My wonderful, curious, bright girl learned how to knit today. It's been something she's been wanting to learn for the last couple of months, along with sewing and crocheting. Since my favourite pasttimes are reading, sleeping and taking hot baths, it pains me to admit that she must have received this curiousity gene from her dad. There is very little that doesn't interest her. She asks a million questions while helping her dad work. She is also very determined and does not quit until she understands it or conquers it herself if she is at all able to. I love this about her. I don't understand it, but I love it.

I also love the fact that she is very honest (unlike her brother - but I'll save that for a separate post). She has proven it countless times by confessing to me things she has said, done or thought that concerned her. Things that I wouldn't know about if she didn't tell me. During a spelling test a couple of weeks ago, after I corrected her perfect test, she took a pen and marked one word wrong because she took a quick peek in my book while I wasn't looking. And then she told me about it. In Sunday School last week, she was unhappy when she realized she forgot her Bible at home since they get rewards for remembering to bring their Bibles and for being able to quote their memory verse. She decided to take one of the generic Bibles from the pew into Sunday School so as not to miss out on that portion of her reward. When we got home, she told me about it because it "just didn't feel right". Very impressed, I agreed that it wasn't totally honest, but that I was very proud of her for seeing it and telling me about it. She understood that in the future if she forgot her Bible, she would just not receive her reward. This trait does come from me, since I always seemed to have enough guilt to cover the entire family's sins when I was a kid (and still sometimes do, for some stupid reason).

She has one nasty flaw, however. And unfortunately, I must also take the credit/blame for this trait. It's all wrapped in that stupid thing called vanity. And PRIDE.

Following our afternoon school bus run, we had to go to the store. I have to wear a bright neon yellow vest while I drive bus, and the kids are required to wear something similarly bright because they ride with me. Just before we got to the door of the store, I noticed that neither of the kids had taken their vests off. Upon reflection now, I wonder why I even mentioned it because it really is no big deal whether or not a person wears their vest into a store. I guess it just proves my point that she got this stinkin' trait from good ole' moi. Because of my stupid mouth, both of the kids removed their previously forgotten vest. Further, to Hannah's mortification, because my hands were already full, I asked her to hold the vests while we were in the store.

This was too much. To actually hold the vests while walking through a public place was akin to the world ending. By the time we made it to the line-up at the till, I noticed she had managed to scrunch the vests up into a very tight ball and hide them around her left armpit so that only a tiny little bit of NEON YELLOW was showing. I leaned over and quietly said (or so I think)...

"Are you embarrassed to be holding those vests, Hannah?"

To which she desperately whispered,

"MOM!"

Being quite quick on the uptake, I shut my mouth for the duration of our time in the store. When we got in the car, I asked her why she was embarrassed.

"Well, what would you think, mom?!" was her sassy reply. "Wouldn't YOU be embarrassed to have to hold vests in the store?" she asked. "I mean, NOBODY EVER HOLDS VESTS IN THE STORE, MOM!"

Well duh! I mean, stupid me. Of course nobody would do something so disgraceful!

"And why did you have to ASK me if I was embarrassed in public?" she continued.

She is seven years old. SEVEN. Can you imagine what she'll be like in a few years?

But at least she is honest.

And curious.

And determined.

Three out of four ain't bad.

Hannah's "Problem"

Okay. I just have to post this. Hannah has been blossoming lately with her creative writing. She has been writing songs, poetry and short stories on her own (in her free time), so I'm pretty proud of her. This was a girl who, as bright as she is, struggled making a short sentence just a few short months ago.

Anyway, this is her latest "creation". It's a math problem she made up.

Once a cat had 3 babies. In another house a dog had 3 babies. The cat and the dog went for a walk. They fell off a high cliff. The cat had 9 lives but the dog only had one. Then another dog with 18 babies came along. He (not she....:) fell off the cliff too. How many babies did the cat have to take care of now?

And of course, she answered correctly.

Cool, huh? I'm just finding the little quirks in her personality fascinating, so of course I think everyone else should, too......:)

Celebration

Today was a major breakthrough day. Today I used every ounce of skill and brain power to help Seth over a hump in school. Today I pat myself on the back because in no way do I have any extraordinary talent and ability to teach. But today I taught.

I think I even deserved a gummy worm.

Much like the thrill of that first time a parent witnesses the baby steps of of their toddler - or some other equally wonderful milestone - I witnessed Seth READ his first word. Then his second word. Then his third through sixth word. It was extremely rewarding. I had to coax and cajole; he resisted. I persisted. He was able to sound out each individual letter in the word cut, but was not able to put the word together.

After several minutes of sounding out each letter, with him informing me that "that's enough now, mom", he finally said the word cut. I screamed and hollered and danced. Hannah came running out of her room to join in the rejoicing. Seth's eyeballs got big as it dawned on him what he just did. And then miracle of all miracles, he asked to do another word.

There was even joy in heaven. Daddy was called. Sirens went off. Fireworks exploded.

After he read cut, he went on to read cat, dog, lot and cub. He then ran out of his room later on with the word zip on something and read it to me. It was glorious.

Prior to this I had been using flashcards to go through the entire alphabet, mixing up each letter, just to see how many letters he really could name. He can sound out more letters than he can name (although he knows entire the alphabet verbally, he does not recognize all of the letters). It was during this time that I gained more insight as to how his brain worked. When holding up the "Y" flashcard, he said, "I know that letter is right before Z", and with the letter "W" he said, "Hmmm, that letter is definitely at the end of the alphabet." He cracked me up. For other letters he didn't recognize immediately, like "M", "N" and "P", he would recite the alphabet until he got to that letter and usually stop suddenly and shout out the correct letter. He is definitely very visual in his learning (he asked to see the entire alphabet as he looked at the flashcards of individual letters, which I didn't allow because I wanted to see which letters he didn't know).

And the funniest little ritual of all? To try to help him remember the short "E" sound, I was singing a silly song using the word elephant and making the short "E" sound over and over. So, when he came to any blends that had the short "E" sound in it, he would recite this little saying in order to remember the correct short "E" sound:

"The elephant likes red eggs, e......e......e.."

How is that for hilariously unique?

After the celebration ended and he got his gummy worms - which he promptly formed the letters "S", "U" and "V" with - we finished school for the day and he went to play. His little brain was still working, though, because he suddenly ran out, shouting:

"MOM! I KNOW ANOTHER WORD! B.......U.......G..........BUG! PRETTY COOL, MOM, RIGHT?!"

I laughed so hard (without him seeing, of course), because he hadn't been reading at all. He just sounded out the word and thought this was just like reading the word.

As the day is ending, I heave a heartfelt sigh. It's been a good day. A rewarding day. And I go to bed with a smile and sense of accomplishment.