So, this probably represents my longest break in blogging since I started 7+ years ago. Things have been busy. I'm now faced with what to even put here... Thanksgiving, Christmas, MLK have all passed with many memorable and fun things that happened. I've thought of lots of things I want to put here, but our computer was being repaired for most of January so I didn't even bother to start an entry. I really wanted to write an entry dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, since at the time of his death things were so hectic and the grief was so fresh I couldn't really put it all together. I hope that post will be something I can do soon. I visited Mommo yesterday, and was so impressed with how she handles living on her own at age 94. I think it's the fear that would get to me, but she is unafraid. She is very careful, very meticulous, and finds joy in places most of us overlook, which does a lot to mask the constant ache of missing him. I can feel it, too, especially in their house. I don't think it'll ever go away...
Anyway, as is standard, for tonight I'll go with a brief rundown of each kid.
Clara has a few more words than previous posting. She is willing to echo back words that are one-syllable and start with B, so: book, ball, boot, bowl... She spontaneously asked me to help her get her sweatshirt "off" one day, much to my delight! So, we're getting there. The other day, she ran in to the bathroom saying "poop," so I took off her diaper (skidmark) and she did her business, happily returning to play. It was incredible. I guess I could potty train her any day now, but I think I'll wait until my own attitude improves, considering the other two are still requiring so much reminding and tutorials in how to not gamble until the last second (they lose), or how to not leave poop all over the toilet seat while cleaning up oneself. This whole excrement-management business is TRICKY. Anyway, Clara is very snuggly and cuddly and will give me the most fabulous smoochy kisses!! This morning she went back to sleep after I brought her to my bed at 6:20 AM, and we snoozed together quite awhile. it was glorious. Her only issue now is lacking words to express her increasingly complex desires, and the resulting head-splitting screams she emits when she's temporarily maddened by something are incredible. But, she dances, she smiles, she snuggles and kisses and is 100% made of love. Er, I guess she's 99.9% love and 0.1% screams. Whatever, I'll take it. :)
Audrey is reading just about everything these days. Nearly all the children's books are fair game, as are emails and texts that she reads over my shoulder (not cool, kiddo...) She is confident in her reading and prefers to do it over just about any other activity, including playing with another 4YO girl and a Barbie DreamHouse at New Year's Eve. I found her away from all the other kids, behind the couch, reading books. She is the epitome of girly girl, loving make-up and spending entire COLD days dressed up as Tinkerbell (insisting we call her by that name, even) or in her snowflake ballerina outfit. She evaluates the clothes and hair of women she sees everywhere, including a homeowner on This Old House (Ooo, I like her flipflops!!). She sings with confidence and perfect pitch over nearly two octave range. She was reading One Morning in Maine the other day, replacing every mention of the title character, Sal, with her own name, and Sal's little sister Jane's name with Clara. And she is just lovely to be around. She and I generally get along really well; even if she is feeling stubborn about something, she is remarkably good about communicating just what it is that's troubling her, and then we can compromise or weed out just the part she doesn't like. It's pretty awesome.
Emily is a bit intimidated by Audrey's freakish reading abilities, but I'm trying several different tactics on her. I've tried telling her that Audrey is a reader but Emily is my writer, and encouraging her to write notes to me, which I absolutely love to get! I've told her that she will get good at reading if she keeps trying at school; everybody gets good at it, at her own pace, and it doesn't matter to me what she does at home as long as she is happy when she IS reading. I've also pointed out that Audrey has nearly all day every day to sit at home and read, whereas Emily gets to do things like gym class and math and recess and music class. Once she has practiced as much as Audrey has driven herself to, she'll be good at it too. Emily has been playing her piano more, since she learned Jingle Bells at Christmastime. We don't schedule lessons, but she has about 4 songs written down in a little booklet, and she gives herself a checkmark each time she plays each one. When she has 4 checkmarks, she plays them for me and we pick out new songs to practice. I told her if she works hard at piano and learns to play songs, then she can play my little half-size violin. She also wants to sing in the Heartland Youth Choir, and we went to a rehearsal to see what it was about. It looks like SO much fun, but it's a bigger commitment than I want to sign my kindergartener up for, so we're saving that for next fall (it's 1st and 2nd graders anyway). It'd be nice if she'd want to do some kind of athletic thing, but I'll let her jump on board with whatever her friends are doing whenever it seems fun to her, softball, soccer... I would even take her to cheerleading if that's really what she wanted. As much as a dippy thing it seems to me, I can't crush her completely! We butt heads enough as it is, with her continuing compulsion to complete her intentions, no matter how much someone is screaming at her to get her hands off from around her sister's neck, or other such pressing situations. My new take on it, over the past few weeks, is to try to give her a way out of a situation that allows her to make the good choice as though it were her idea, or at least without the forced admission that she must do what I want her to do. I don't need to win the battle, I just need to keep her sisters from being strangled. That's helping a little but I have a lot of work to do for it to be effective all the time. One of my favorite things from this winter was hearing from Emily's teacher that she had told everyone in her class a fantastic story about moving into a stranger's mansion for the weekend, doing arts & crafts. Her description of our Minneapolis Reunion was HILARIOUS. I am so glad her teacher emailed me, because I laughed and laughed. And it was a good reminder that Emily sees the world in a very different way than I do, and it's not necessarily wrong. She spent the entire drive home from Ames last night asking me questions about outer space: "Why is the moon round? and the earth? Why is Pluto not a planet anymore? Why is outer space cold? Why is some air cold and some air warm?" Emily may not fancy herself to be a reader, but she is absolutely a scientist. I tried really hard to answer her questions completely but simply, and I think I did all right because she just kept coming back at me with related but more complex questions. Her sisters were asleep, but her little brain was working really hard!!
I have been getting up early in the mornings to do some exercises in the basement, using an app on my phone to direct me since I'm terribly unclever and lazy at 6 AM. I think it's been doing some good, because I had been seeing a chiropractor every other week due to lower back pain. I have terribly crooked hips and poor posture, so the strengthening exercises should help with both. I am hoping it helps my attitude and energy level, too, and gets me ready to hit the beach in Thailand in April!! Travis and I are taking a celebratory 10-year anniversary trip together, leaving the kids with grandparents while we're gone. It's going to be awesome!!
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