I got my final confirmation tonight. I've suspected for a long time. Mother's intuition. But after this school year, it's become more and more obvious.
Courtney is dyslexic. Just like Christopher. 2 out of my 3 kids who are reading age are dyslexic. It makes me wonder: how many of my kids will have to struggle with this?
I noticed it back when she was 3 years old. She is very visually-oriented. When she looks at books, she would only look at the pictures. Me following along with my fingers under the words bothered her and hurt her eyes. She begged me to stop it. When she looks at words, she doesn't perceive them as individual letters making up a word, she she's it as a whole...as a picture, which to her doesn't make any sense.
Even though she knows all the letter sounds and can sound out simple words, she will wiggle and jump in her seat and cry rather than try to sound out a word. She wants to guess the word. She is very good at reading memorized books and guessing what word comes next, but figuring out and reading a word for real feels like torture to her. She complained about it hurting her eyes so much that we took her to an eye doctor in December. Dr. Johnson told us she has perfect vision, and that it's just very natural for a kid her age to struggle with reading. Their brain just isn't fully developed in that capacity until they are 8 years old.
Courtney showed many signs and symptoms similar to what Christopher did...and still does. They tend to go right to left instead of left to right. She makes her letters and numbers backwards...almost all of them. The only way she makes progress with her letters and numbers is LOTS AND LOTS of repetition and tactile input. (writing in sand, in salt, making letters with play dough, writing with chalk, etc) Which is fun, but messy and takes a lot of energy. Even when copying a letter that is right in front of them, they will look up and ask, "Is this the right way?" And they quickly get discouraged with erasing and redoing all their work.
I wonder: are all dyslexic kids just wired differently than the other half of us? If they were reading a language that went from right to left, would it be easier for them? I joke with Scott that it's too bad we don't write in Hebrew. Written Hebrew really uses no vowels, and that's how Christopher writes....All consonants, no vowels.
I've read many books about dyslexia. Back when I married Scott, he told me he was dyslexic. So are his father and many of his siblings. I didn't know anything about it, and so I thought I should research it some. I need to do more reading on it! I've heard a lot about how dyslexia can be a gift, it's a different way of thinking, an out-of-the-box way of perceiving the world. I do know that Scott, Christopher, and Courtney are all very gifted with visualization and understanding how things are put together. They seem to intuitively register how things work. Whereas Dorathy and I, who are both very verbal, seem a bit more clueless in that department!
I began homeschooling Christopher when he was 3 1/2. He was reading by the time he was 4 1/2. Part of the reason he became an early reader is because he was my first child and I had lots of time to dedicate to teaching him. He got one on one tutoring with me for 2 or 3 hours a day. We always started out reading a Children's Science Encyclopedia, since he loved Science so much from the very beginning. That got him excited about learning, and it would carry us through the day. He was also interested in reading for the pleasure of it, and he wanted to please us, so he worked pretty hard at it. After years of practice in reading aloud and silently, Christopher has almost completely cured himself of reading dyslexia. He now can read on a college level. His writing, however, is a completely different subject. I have faith and hope that he will be able to overcome that challenge when he has the desire to do so. In the meantime, it is his biggest academic cross to bear.
Courtney, however, is my 3rd child and she would rather play than do school. She is happy to be in her own little world. She treats reading aloud like a punishment instead of a treat. After a year or so of struggle, she can now read books like Green Eggs and Ham, and Ten Apples Up on Top, and Go Dog Go (K-1st level). But she doesn't enjoy it and won't voluntarily try it. She is slowly learning to read and write better, and is making solid progress. She will tolerate about 15 to 30 minutes a day with me on school stuff. (Unless it's me reading aloud to her! She will sit still for hours and avidly listen to any literature on birds, fishes, or other animals. She is an incredibly gifted naturalist and loves all biological life! I can totally see her growing up to be a Marine Biologist, swimming with the Dolphins!)
The good thing is, she loves to draw. She has followed in her sister's footsteps in spending hours making and illustrating her own stories. This has given her wonderful fine motor coordination. She can also cut ANYTHING with scissors. I'm amazed at what her chubby little hands can do. (She has inherited my stubby short fingers) So her handwriting is beautiful, even when the letters are backwards! Even when she gets the letters in the right direction, however, she tends to write the word backwards.
Today she was writing a funny story. A snake is swallowing a girl, and the snake is saying "MUY!" I stared at it a while, trying to figure out if she was making the snake talk in a different language...then I realized that M*U*Y is Y*U*M* backwards.
The funny thing is, both Christopher and Courtney can read backwards words like that and it makes perfect sense to them. So they are both sitting at the table, writing this book together and laughing, and, it's all in their own private language. And they don't even know it.
It is so interesting to me that Christopher and Courtney who share many personality traits and talents are both dyslexic. They even look the most like each other out of my kids. They are both so intelligent and talented, and I hope that they can always find confidence in their strengths, instead of being discouraged by their weaknesses. I am grateful that I can homeschool them and teach them at their own pace. I sometimes wonder if I am doing them a diservice by not enrolling them in "intervention" or "special ed" classes to help them with their learning challenges. I have been very reluctant, however, to delegate any of my teaching and parental privileges away to the "experts". I'm not sure I want any government program with it's foot in my door.
So I wonder if because Angel tends to be more like Dorathy, and looks like her, if she will be non-dyslexic? Only time will tell. I'm not teaching her to read yet, although Angel has been showing some signs that she is ready to begin the learning process. It is very very possible that soon Angel will be reading and learning on Courtney's level. That is what has happened with Christopher and Dorathy. I must admit, it's easier teaching 2 kids the same thing instead of completely separate levels of school work.
If any of you out there know of good resources for teaching dyslexic children, please send them my way! There area lot of differing opinions out there on what Dyslexia is and what causes it/how to overcome it. It can get very confusing for me. If any of you have success stories of helping your children overcome learning disablities for reading/writing, please send them my way. And if any of you want to know what to get me for my next birthday/Christmas, please buy me some good books/resources for handling this kind of challenge!
Thanks!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The Family Thief
Lucy, our pet Beagle, has turned into the family thief. She did not get these bad habits overnight. It's been a gradual build-up. No punishment or system I have ever devised has deterred her from her ultimate goal of getting more to eat. I've even tried doubling her dog food portions, but it only seems to make her get fatter, quicker! So hunger must not be the culprit. It is food? Is it attention? Is it instinct? Or is it sheer naughtiness?
*Disclaimer!* Do not read the entry below if you ever want to own a dog.
New talents Lucy has developed this month:
*She can opened the bottom cupboards with her nose. While we are not at home she can peruse cold cereal crumbs and other odds and ends out of their packaging. I even caught her chewing on a uncooked Lasagna noodle she found!
*Opening the refrigerator door in our outside food storage room. I'm not sure how she's managing this one? Her claws? But she has successfully eaten the food straight out of the refrigerator. Including raw meat and an entire package of hamburger buns. (Costco size)
*Opening Scott's lunch bag he takes to work. When he puts it on the floor, she must work the zipper open with her nose. She pulls out bags of treats and chips and Jerky, and then hides them outside to eat while we are away from home. We find the evidence of torn ziploc bags and other packaged trash scattered about our backyard. It's a real pain to clean up.
*Sneaking into the bathroom trashes to find anything remotely interesting (usually diapers) to shred at her leisure....usually under the trampoline. This is my personal #1 biggest pet peeve about our dog. Minced poopy diaper is a nasty clean up job amongst a wet and muddy yard. She's very clever at getting at them before we manage to even get it into the trash can! Aaarrgghh!
*Climbing into the feed bags to eat all the Rabbit and Chicken feed. Chicken feed is her favorite. She loves the grain, I guess. She's getting horribly fat.
*Sneaking into the garage when the kids leave the door to the yard/garage open a crack, and going through our trash and sticking her nose in her own food bag to gorge herself. Then she gets sick and throws up. If the garage door has been left open, then when she gets into the garage when the kids open the door to the backyard, she also runs away. Our next door neighbor is usually the one who finds and returns her.
*Eating the play-dough made "money coins" that we use in our family token economy, and then throwing it up on the floor shortly thereafter.
* Chewing up all of Courtney and Angel's crayons, but not eating it, and leaving chewed up colored wax all over our floors.
*Digging under the fence into our garden to chase our chickens and eat their food scraps.
*climbing over our rabbit boxes to JUMP INTO the garden to chase the chickens and eat their scraps. The more meat in their food scraps, the quicker Lucy gets into the garden
*Eating anyone's food that they leave near the edge of their table if they leave their food for more than 1 minute unattended. She has taken whole plates of food off the table that way.
*Sneaking into my closet and eating an entire 5lb box of Valentine Chocolates I was saving for the entire family for Valentine's day.
*Getting into open buckets when I'm trying to make cookies.
*Pulling the butter tray off the counter and eating an entire cube of butter.
We are currently entertaining the notion of Lucy as an outside dog.
*Disclaimer!* Do not read the entry below if you ever want to own a dog.
New talents Lucy has developed this month:
*She can opened the bottom cupboards with her nose. While we are not at home she can peruse cold cereal crumbs and other odds and ends out of their packaging. I even caught her chewing on a uncooked Lasagna noodle she found!
*Opening the refrigerator door in our outside food storage room. I'm not sure how she's managing this one? Her claws? But she has successfully eaten the food straight out of the refrigerator. Including raw meat and an entire package of hamburger buns. (Costco size)
*Opening Scott's lunch bag he takes to work. When he puts it on the floor, she must work the zipper open with her nose. She pulls out bags of treats and chips and Jerky, and then hides them outside to eat while we are away from home. We find the evidence of torn ziploc bags and other packaged trash scattered about our backyard. It's a real pain to clean up.
*Sneaking into the bathroom trashes to find anything remotely interesting (usually diapers) to shred at her leisure....usually under the trampoline. This is my personal #1 biggest pet peeve about our dog. Minced poopy diaper is a nasty clean up job amongst a wet and muddy yard. She's very clever at getting at them before we manage to even get it into the trash can! Aaarrgghh!
*Climbing into the feed bags to eat all the Rabbit and Chicken feed. Chicken feed is her favorite. She loves the grain, I guess. She's getting horribly fat.
*Sneaking into the garage when the kids leave the door to the yard/garage open a crack, and going through our trash and sticking her nose in her own food bag to gorge herself. Then she gets sick and throws up. If the garage door has been left open, then when she gets into the garage when the kids open the door to the backyard, she also runs away. Our next door neighbor is usually the one who finds and returns her.
*Eating the play-dough made "money coins" that we use in our family token economy, and then throwing it up on the floor shortly thereafter.
* Chewing up all of Courtney and Angel's crayons, but not eating it, and leaving chewed up colored wax all over our floors.
*Digging under the fence into our garden to chase our chickens and eat their food scraps.
*climbing over our rabbit boxes to JUMP INTO the garden to chase the chickens and eat their scraps. The more meat in their food scraps, the quicker Lucy gets into the garden
*Eating anyone's food that they leave near the edge of their table if they leave their food for more than 1 minute unattended. She has taken whole plates of food off the table that way.
*Sneaking into my closet and eating an entire 5lb box of Valentine Chocolates I was saving for the entire family for Valentine's day.
*Getting into open buckets when I'm trying to make cookies.
*Pulling the butter tray off the counter and eating an entire cube of butter.
We are currently entertaining the notion of Lucy as an outside dog.
More Aventures in Preschool
This week it was my turn again to host Angel's co-op preschool.
The good thing about Angel's preschool is that I only have to host it every six weeks. The bad thing about Angel's preschool, is that I do have to host it once every six weeks! I stress out over it too much. My husband pointed out to me, "Why are you worried?! They're just a bunch of little kids! They don't care, all they want to do is play, anyway!" I know he's right, but it seems to take over my life during the week I have to teach.
For some reason this week, I found hosting preschool much more stressful than the last couple of times. I'm not sure why, I was just stressing myself out over it. I think I've learned some lessons from what happened this week. Here's a little summary:
On Tuesday, I nearly gave myself a nervous breakdown. I was hoping to get up super early in the morning so I could exercise and study and get some quiet moments to myself. I wanted to review my preschool plans as well. When my alarm went off at 5:30, however, it was so loud I nearly leaped out of bed....and so did everybody else! Some kid must have been fiddling with my alarm clock dials.
So instead of a nice quiet morning to prepare, I had 5 grumpy kids wide awake. We had stayed up 2 hours past their bedtime the night before in a really great Family Home Evening, and because of their lack of sleep, the kids were groggy and cranky. They just laid around and didn't want to do their chores. I didn't get my productive morning. I didn't even get to exercise.
I had to drive to the store to pick up ingredients for ice cream and butter we'd be making at preschool. (I've been stuck at home for the last month because Scott's car is getting its engine rebuilt...we are currently a one car family) I was hoping when I got back that the kids' chores would be done and they'd be ready to eat breakfast.
I was sorely disappointed. My house was a mess, I was suppose to prepare food for preschool, and I was getting a headache. The kids were noisy and not being helpful. My husband was trying to help, but it just seemed like everything was going wrong. I know it was all in my head, and I was obsessing over ridiculous, small, unimportant items, but I just couldn't seem to break out of my haze.
I felt so physically ill, I nearly passed out. My head felt like it was going to explode. I took 3 ibruprofen, but I felt like I needed to lay down in a dark room for a few hours. By the time Mary Cate dropped off Hyrum, she could see that I was near tears. She was able to help me pinpoint some of the cause for my stress: It's not the childrens' expectations we obsess about. It's our own expectations, and that of the other parents. We have this perfect picture of what we want to do and accomplish, but there is no way with 6 little four year olds to make that happen! We want to show the other parents: Look! I'm doing my part to make this a great preschool experience for your kids!
It was hard for me to teach the lesson when my head felt so horrible, but it went okay. I had a really fun topic, at least. It was on Dairy Products. Scott and Christopher made ice cream...except that it wasn't done until a couple of hours after the preschoolers left. It turns out we needed more ice and rock salt. I was going to make butter with the kids, but I didn't have enough whipping cream. Every ounce I bought went towards the ice cream.
Usually my big kids are a good help to me with the preschoolers over, but sometimes they make it more difficult. Like when they are inviting all the kids to go play in their own bedrooms instead of participating in the preschool activities with me! I don't like distractions when I have got my own agenda that I'm trying to accomplish.
I'm sure it's a common problem with all preschools, but we had a particularly difficult time this week getting the kids to even WANT to participate in all the activities and games I had planned. All they wanted to do was play in the back bedrooms. We need to schedule more playdates with all the kids so they can get some of the freeplay/new toy fascination out of their system and actually be able to enjoy the lesson plans.
To make the day worse, Julianna had several temper tantrums. We had to put her in her crib kicking and screaming so I could do circle time with the preschoolers. That was pretty stressful. Trying to sing fun songs and tell stories over the sound of her wailing in the next room made me feel like such a bad Mom. Lucky for me, Christopher went in and was able to comfort and distract her.
Thankfully, despite my mini-panic attack, the preschool went fairly well, and the kids all enjoyed our wide array of dairy samples for snack time: Cheese, goat milk, cream cheese on crackers, and strawberry yogurt.
The kids couldn't concentrate on anymore activies, and they were totally bored of coloring. When I gave them coloring sheets, they scribble one page and say "Can I please be done now? This is so boring! I want to play! Do I HAVE to color this?" So I just put on a Baby Einstein MacDonald show (for Julie, though some older kids liked it) let the kids play, and collapsed in exhaustion on the couch.
After Preschool, I was so mentally and emotionally washed out, I just crashed. I let Scott take over the household, and I hid in a dark room for an hour or two. I wasn't able to fall asleep, but at least I was able to relax a bit. It helped me A LOT!
Thursday wasn't as self-stress inducing as Tuesday, but it wasn't calm and controlled, either.
I did plenty of preparing and cleaning beforehand so I could begin without anything hanging over my head. Unfortunately, we started the day out with an accident.
Hyrum was swinging around a heavy BALLOON WEIGHT in the shape of a blue star...and as Courtney went down our Little Tykes Slide, it hit her in the temple. I heard screaming and crying, and I ran into the room to find blood pouring down Courtney's face. It was dripping all down her face, over her nose and onto her clothes! I was hyperventilating, when Scott came in and took charge. Once he got Courtney cleaned up, we were relieved to find it was only a little cut & bruise. I guess head injuries just bleed a lot. Courtney was pretty shaken up over it though. And so was I! I was kicking myself for not getting that balloon weight in the trash the trash the night before.
But on the positive side, even Julianna sat down and enjoyed participating in the preschool activities today. We learned about where meat comes from. We sang and recited a few farm animal poems, and we read several books. We played some games (some worked, some failed, ah, well) The best part is that we own chickens! And so we were able to take all the kids outside to feed the chickens and look for eggs. Scott even caught a chicken so we could all pet one! EVERYBODY loved that and wanted to participate! YAY!
The biggest hit, as always, was the food. We turned Hot Dogs into little racing cars with carrot wheels. So cute! The kids loved it. I was never able to make homemade butter (we ended up having to use all the cream for the ice cream) but at least we got to try out the homemade vanilla ice cream that wasn't ready before. It was SOOO good. All the kids asked for seconds of course (they didn't get it) and they immediately got hyped up on sugar, but it was good all around.
And the best part about today, is that I don't have to teach preschool for another 6 weeks, hurray!
Maybe I'll even learn to relax and enjoy it more the next time around...we'll see!
p.s. super cute quote!
One of the boys in the preschool asked me, "How many fingers do YOU have? 10 or 11?"
"I have 10." I say.
"Oh!" he says, then he starts to count," I have.....15 fingers!"
"Oooooh...." I respond...."How special!"
"No, I was just JOKING, you silly! Of course I have only 10!" he shakes his head in disbelief at me, as if he can't believe I'd be so gullible as to believe him.
WHAT a sense of humor! That had me chuckling.
The good thing about Angel's preschool is that I only have to host it every six weeks. The bad thing about Angel's preschool, is that I do have to host it once every six weeks! I stress out over it too much. My husband pointed out to me, "Why are you worried?! They're just a bunch of little kids! They don't care, all they want to do is play, anyway!" I know he's right, but it seems to take over my life during the week I have to teach.
For some reason this week, I found hosting preschool much more stressful than the last couple of times. I'm not sure why, I was just stressing myself out over it. I think I've learned some lessons from what happened this week. Here's a little summary:
On Tuesday, I nearly gave myself a nervous breakdown. I was hoping to get up super early in the morning so I could exercise and study and get some quiet moments to myself. I wanted to review my preschool plans as well. When my alarm went off at 5:30, however, it was so loud I nearly leaped out of bed....and so did everybody else! Some kid must have been fiddling with my alarm clock dials.
So instead of a nice quiet morning to prepare, I had 5 grumpy kids wide awake. We had stayed up 2 hours past their bedtime the night before in a really great Family Home Evening, and because of their lack of sleep, the kids were groggy and cranky. They just laid around and didn't want to do their chores. I didn't get my productive morning. I didn't even get to exercise.
I had to drive to the store to pick up ingredients for ice cream and butter we'd be making at preschool. (I've been stuck at home for the last month because Scott's car is getting its engine rebuilt...we are currently a one car family) I was hoping when I got back that the kids' chores would be done and they'd be ready to eat breakfast.
I was sorely disappointed. My house was a mess, I was suppose to prepare food for preschool, and I was getting a headache. The kids were noisy and not being helpful. My husband was trying to help, but it just seemed like everything was going wrong. I know it was all in my head, and I was obsessing over ridiculous, small, unimportant items, but I just couldn't seem to break out of my haze.
I felt so physically ill, I nearly passed out. My head felt like it was going to explode. I took 3 ibruprofen, but I felt like I needed to lay down in a dark room for a few hours. By the time Mary Cate dropped off Hyrum, she could see that I was near tears. She was able to help me pinpoint some of the cause for my stress: It's not the childrens' expectations we obsess about. It's our own expectations, and that of the other parents. We have this perfect picture of what we want to do and accomplish, but there is no way with 6 little four year olds to make that happen! We want to show the other parents: Look! I'm doing my part to make this a great preschool experience for your kids!
It was hard for me to teach the lesson when my head felt so horrible, but it went okay. I had a really fun topic, at least. It was on Dairy Products. Scott and Christopher made ice cream...except that it wasn't done until a couple of hours after the preschoolers left. It turns out we needed more ice and rock salt. I was going to make butter with the kids, but I didn't have enough whipping cream. Every ounce I bought went towards the ice cream.
Usually my big kids are a good help to me with the preschoolers over, but sometimes they make it more difficult. Like when they are inviting all the kids to go play in their own bedrooms instead of participating in the preschool activities with me! I don't like distractions when I have got my own agenda that I'm trying to accomplish.
I'm sure it's a common problem with all preschools, but we had a particularly difficult time this week getting the kids to even WANT to participate in all the activities and games I had planned. All they wanted to do was play in the back bedrooms. We need to schedule more playdates with all the kids so they can get some of the freeplay/new toy fascination out of their system and actually be able to enjoy the lesson plans.
To make the day worse, Julianna had several temper tantrums. We had to put her in her crib kicking and screaming so I could do circle time with the preschoolers. That was pretty stressful. Trying to sing fun songs and tell stories over the sound of her wailing in the next room made me feel like such a bad Mom. Lucky for me, Christopher went in and was able to comfort and distract her.
Thankfully, despite my mini-panic attack, the preschool went fairly well, and the kids all enjoyed our wide array of dairy samples for snack time: Cheese, goat milk, cream cheese on crackers, and strawberry yogurt.
The kids couldn't concentrate on anymore activies, and they were totally bored of coloring. When I gave them coloring sheets, they scribble one page and say "Can I please be done now? This is so boring! I want to play! Do I HAVE to color this?" So I just put on a Baby Einstein MacDonald show (for Julie, though some older kids liked it) let the kids play, and collapsed in exhaustion on the couch.
After Preschool, I was so mentally and emotionally washed out, I just crashed. I let Scott take over the household, and I hid in a dark room for an hour or two. I wasn't able to fall asleep, but at least I was able to relax a bit. It helped me A LOT!
Thursday wasn't as self-stress inducing as Tuesday, but it wasn't calm and controlled, either.
I did plenty of preparing and cleaning beforehand so I could begin without anything hanging over my head. Unfortunately, we started the day out with an accident.
Hyrum was swinging around a heavy BALLOON WEIGHT in the shape of a blue star...and as Courtney went down our Little Tykes Slide, it hit her in the temple. I heard screaming and crying, and I ran into the room to find blood pouring down Courtney's face. It was dripping all down her face, over her nose and onto her clothes! I was hyperventilating, when Scott came in and took charge. Once he got Courtney cleaned up, we were relieved to find it was only a little cut & bruise. I guess head injuries just bleed a lot. Courtney was pretty shaken up over it though. And so was I! I was kicking myself for not getting that balloon weight in the trash the trash the night before.
But on the positive side, even Julianna sat down and enjoyed participating in the preschool activities today. We learned about where meat comes from. We sang and recited a few farm animal poems, and we read several books. We played some games (some worked, some failed, ah, well) The best part is that we own chickens! And so we were able to take all the kids outside to feed the chickens and look for eggs. Scott even caught a chicken so we could all pet one! EVERYBODY loved that and wanted to participate! YAY!
The biggest hit, as always, was the food. We turned Hot Dogs into little racing cars with carrot wheels. So cute! The kids loved it. I was never able to make homemade butter (we ended up having to use all the cream for the ice cream) but at least we got to try out the homemade vanilla ice cream that wasn't ready before. It was SOOO good. All the kids asked for seconds of course (they didn't get it) and they immediately got hyped up on sugar, but it was good all around.
And the best part about today, is that I don't have to teach preschool for another 6 weeks, hurray!
Maybe I'll even learn to relax and enjoy it more the next time around...we'll see!
p.s. super cute quote!
One of the boys in the preschool asked me, "How many fingers do YOU have? 10 or 11?"
"I have 10." I say.
"Oh!" he says, then he starts to count," I have.....15 fingers!"
"Oooooh...." I respond...."How special!"
"No, I was just JOKING, you silly! Of course I have only 10!" he shakes his head in disbelief at me, as if he can't believe I'd be so gullible as to believe him.
WHAT a sense of humor! That had me chuckling.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Trip to the Omsi written by Dorathy
AT THE OMSI!!!!!!!
We had a large family trip to the OMSI [ Oregon Museum of Science Institute ] . We started at the Water Rockets and the Ball Room . Then I played a dolphin game .If I collided with other dolphins I would play a True Or False game against players playing that VERY SAME GAME . I always got each one right , but always the other players would either get the Do Dolphins Have A Poor Sense Of Hearing? or the Do Sharks Have More Than One Row Of Teeth? True Or False question wrong . We moved slowly through the Physics Lab and then upstairs .We went to the "Indoor Playground ". Angel and Courtney had their faces painted .Then we watched Deep Sea at the Omnimax theater. It was a cool movie about how all different species work together to balance Sea Life . Then Christopher , Courtney and Daddy went on a Volcano Mine play ride . Me , Julianna , Angel and Mommy went to the OMSI store. After that , We[everyone in my family !!!!!]went to Home-Town Buffet . I had : a sweet roll , two breaded fish fillets , some Mac N Cheese and some chocolate milk . My dessert was chocolate ice cream and a brownie . Then we went home .
THE END
Friday, February 19, 2010
Tinker-Bell Toes & Cinderella's Woes
Springtime is headed our way!
Angel is experiencing a magic-filled phase of great imagination. I love listening to her child-like view on reality. Life is much more refreshing when you can occasionally look at the world through the innocence of 4 year-old eyes.
Angel came to me in excitement tonight exclaiming, "I'm getting sprinklings on my toes! Sprinkles! My feet are tingling! And if my feet tingle like this everyday, it must be fairy dust! And in a few more days that means I'll be the fairy Tinkerbell, and I'll be able to help YOU, Mommy! Isn't that great? I'm going to be Tinker-Bell!"
All that just from her foot going to sleep! When Courtney's foot would fall asleep at that age, She would cry and scream in terror, "There's sand in my feet! Help! Help! There's sand in my feet! And I CAN'T..............GET................IT...................OUT!!! How did it get IN there, anyway?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Currently, Angel's favorite imagination game is pretending to be Cinderella. She even wants to sleep in her dress-up clothes. Angel is my third girl, and she is the first one I've had who enjoys playing princesses, or playing house with dolls. Dorathy hated all that stuff for years, and wouldn't touch a baby with a 10 foot pole (even her own siblings) until she was around 7 yrs old. She'd only play with ponies and carebears. Courtney liked babies and princesses okay, but she liked playing with her big brother and exploring animals outside much more. But Angel? She's ALL princess right now.
Funny Story: a few weeks ago, when Angel was just falling in love with Cinderella, I'd try to call her Angel, but she'd insist,"NO, Mom! I'm Cinderella. Just call me Cinderella!" She would then insist that I pick out a princess name for myself. If I didn't pick one out, then she'd choose one for me...and I would become "Princess Samantha" for the day.
Well, since Angel was so into the Princess act, the older girls thought it would be fun to "act out" the story of Cinderella. They volunteered to be the two wicked step-sisters. Christopher would play all the male roles(with little tolerance, he prefers being the bad guy only), and I would get to be the horrible step-mother. I thought this would be a great idea to put some drama into our homeschool.
Angel was looking forward to putting on a "play" all day long. After we got our work done, I told her it was time to act the story out. Everyone dressed up. Dorathy and Courtney got really into their characters, gleefully ordering Angel about. "Clean my room! Wash the dishes!" etc, etc. The big girls kept on trying to put an apron over Angel's beautiful Cinderella outfit. They handed her a broom and a mop. I soon noticed Angel's crestfallen expression. To her eyes, this was not going at ALL how she expected it to. I thought I could explain it to her, since she HAD seen the Disney movie a few times. I even tried singing her the mice song "Cinderelli, Cinderelli, night and day, it's Cinderelli...."
"Mom!" the big girls complained. "Angel isn't doing it right! She's not playing along!"
Poor Angel broke into a torrent of heart-broken sobs. "No, no, no!" Angel cried, "This isn't playing Cinderella! All I wanted to...*sniff*....do was.....*sob*....dance with the prince at the ball!"
Angel then pulled off her apron, threw down the mop and broom and shouted, "I don't want to be Cinderella anymore!" And ran off to her room crying in disppointment.
Well, that was a little lesson to me about the different expectations of different aged kids! We won't be acting out that full story for some years to come, I guess. Angel has since recovered her love of Cinderella, and loves to invite me to play princesses along with her. Now when she wants to play Princess all I have to do is put on some pretty music and dance with her and she's as happy as can be. She won't invite her sisters to participate, however. Every once and a while when she's dressed up as Cinderella, she'll quietly confide to me, "You've got to protect me from the other princesses! The bad ones! They don't like me very much. Don't tell them where I am, okay?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angel has joined her sisters in her love of writing books. Angel will draw several pictures, have me staple them into a book, and then she'll dictate to me the words she wants written down. They are all quite adorable. I'm seeing some main themes emerge, however. I'm sure it would be an intersting study for anyone studying the psychology of children. The books all involve a Mommy, a grocery store, and a birthday cake. And almost all of them end with the Care Bears shooting the Aliens dead. So hilarious. I think the Alien influence comes from Big Brother's stunning puppet shows he puts on for his sisters. The funniest part is that she loves me to read them to her before I put her to bed.
Here are a few examples for your entertainment:
story #1
"Once upon a time there was a girl called Alluga, and Alluga had a chipmunk and a racoon and a bird. There were a few chipmunks who said, "We are NOT chipmunks, we are frogs!" They decided to all be Alluga's pets, and she decided to take care of them. Then the Aliens came and everyone screamed AAAAHHH, and then the Care Bears came and saved everyone and shot the Aliens Dead." THE END
story#2
"Once upon a time there was a girl named Shell. All Shell wanted to do was play all day long and stay in her pajamas. One day, she went to her Dady's work. Dad's work was big because he was a GREAT BIG DAD! And then Shell went to the Playground -- she was so busy! She played and played and played till her Mom called her to go bye-bye to her house, and she didn't want to go to her house. THE END."
story #3: The Sea of Land
"Once upon a time there was a Cathamon's family. Then a girl jumped in and said HELLO to her brothers and sisters and her Mom and Dad. And then she got to the museum and she said, "That is the best painting I ever saw! Look at that silly face!" Then she saw a pony. It was a cute pony. The pony was stuck on the wall. Angel helped her off, and then Angel rode on her. And then she went off of her and the pony said, "That was a good ride, Angel!" And then they were best friends forever." THE END
Story #4
"When you are little, you have to wear diapers, but when you grow up, you can wear them only at night. There was a family with an Angel, Mom, Dad, Courtney, Dorathy, Christopher, and Julie. And they lived in a house. And then the house caught on fire. Oh no! Everyone yelled. And then they were surrounded by monsters. Aaah! Everyone screamed. And then they all went to the Grocery store. And they bought Angel a birthday cake. And then they bought a new house. But then the Aliens came, and they wanted to get everybody. AAAhhh screamed everyone, Aliens! Run away! But then the Care Bears came, and the Care Bears shot all the aliens dead and then they disappeaered. And then they went to the grocery store again and bought apples, oranges, bannanas, and another birthday cake. And then everyone went to the new house and had Angels birthday cake and gave her presents. THE END."
Story #5
Once upon a time there was a Mommy and an Angel. And the Mommy went to run a race. And she ran faster and faster, but she fell down and got a hurt on her knee. So Angel went and got a bandaid and made her Mommy's scratch all better. And then Mommy could finish the race, and then she won and her scratch didn't even hurt anymore." THE END
Mmmmm.....I wonder what is at the center of Angel's Universe?
The Flush of Terror
We had some stressful excitement in my house tonight.
In the middle of trying to clean up after dinner, 4 year old Angel comes running into the kitchen, shrieking and crying as if she has just seen a monster. Now, when you are a Mom of 5 boisterous kids, you don't leap to any conclusions when one child is crying...it could mean anything.
But then six year old Courtney came running and screaming. "Help! Help! There's water everywhere!!!"
I sigh and throw down a dish towel, walking down the hallway, trying to stay calm.
It's just an overflowing potty...but I've never seen a potty overflow at such an alarming rate! Usually it's just a slow spill, and you have plenty of time to grab a plunger!
But this potty was CHUGGING it out like there was no tomorrow. There was already an inch of water all over the bathroom floor, and it was about to spill over onto the hallway carpet.
The older kids stood around and giggled. The younger kids were still screaming in panic like the world was about to come to and end.
Julie just thought the water park had come to her house to play.
This is when I wish I stored plungers in my bathrooms. (I don't because of the EEeewwww factor of having a toddler in the house who will grab and play with/chew on anything.) So I had to run to the garage and find one.
It was a total nightmare! It took me about 15 towels to soak up all the water. I'm so glad the kids came and got me right away. I can't imagine what would have happened if they hadn't. My deepest sympathy goes out to all the local people who had pipes burst during the deep freeze in December. I don't like plumbing issues!!!!
Angel told me the story of what happened later. In her words: "Courtney flushed the potty, but it wouldn't go. So I flushed it again...and then it just EXPLODED!"
Oh, shoot. Don't forget that Angel has a potty-phobia. She's the kind of kid who chooses to hold it in for hours on end and have an accident rather than use a potty that she perceives as "scary." After tonight, the kids potty has been demoted once again back to the scary side. (and we had been making such progress with using our home potties, at least!)
Angel said to me tonight, "I'm going to use your potty. Your potty is safe. It doesn't explode when you flush it. Aren't you glad? Thank-you for rescuing us tonight, Mom. You were so nice to rescue us!"
In the middle of trying to clean up after dinner, 4 year old Angel comes running into the kitchen, shrieking and crying as if she has just seen a monster. Now, when you are a Mom of 5 boisterous kids, you don't leap to any conclusions when one child is crying...it could mean anything.
But then six year old Courtney came running and screaming. "Help! Help! There's water everywhere!!!"
I sigh and throw down a dish towel, walking down the hallway, trying to stay calm.
It's just an overflowing potty...but I've never seen a potty overflow at such an alarming rate! Usually it's just a slow spill, and you have plenty of time to grab a plunger!
But this potty was CHUGGING it out like there was no tomorrow. There was already an inch of water all over the bathroom floor, and it was about to spill over onto the hallway carpet.
The older kids stood around and giggled. The younger kids were still screaming in panic like the world was about to come to and end.
Julie just thought the water park had come to her house to play.
This is when I wish I stored plungers in my bathrooms. (I don't because of the EEeewwww factor of having a toddler in the house who will grab and play with/chew on anything.) So I had to run to the garage and find one.
It was a total nightmare! It took me about 15 towels to soak up all the water. I'm so glad the kids came and got me right away. I can't imagine what would have happened if they hadn't. My deepest sympathy goes out to all the local people who had pipes burst during the deep freeze in December. I don't like plumbing issues!!!!
Angel told me the story of what happened later. In her words: "Courtney flushed the potty, but it wouldn't go. So I flushed it again...and then it just EXPLODED!"
Oh, shoot. Don't forget that Angel has a potty-phobia. She's the kind of kid who chooses to hold it in for hours on end and have an accident rather than use a potty that she perceives as "scary." After tonight, the kids potty has been demoted once again back to the scary side. (and we had been making such progress with using our home potties, at least!)
Angel said to me tonight, "I'm going to use your potty. Your potty is safe. It doesn't explode when you flush it. Aren't you glad? Thank-you for rescuing us tonight, Mom. You were so nice to rescue us!"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
