Make Cookies

When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom make cookies...

And that is precisely what we did. We had to hurry (as usual), so it wasn't quite as therapeutic, but still. And who can argue with the end result?

Incivility Bites

DD and I had our usual pretty wonderful Monday. We had a "challenging" reading lesson (Mondays have been difficult lately), but I dug deep into the patience vault and managed to convey feelings of love and acceptance rather than mommy fear and annoyance. To my delight, we made it through the lesson satisfactorily and were free to attend Nature Circle, one of the best things we do all week.

However, I was NOT able to ferret out something for show and tell this morning, so my resourceful daughter took part of the waiting arts-and-craft activity and exhibited it to her friends. Excellent.

The great weather beckoned us to the park and we were able to play there for a good long time with our buddies. Then, Lord of the Flies incident no. 37 took place. Some [insert adjective of choice here] called my daughter and her friend "stupid." This incident colored the entire rest of our day. DD really took it to heart. She returned to the story again and again. At first I tried to reason with her, taking care not to call the other little girl stupid, which took an enormous amount of willpower. After subsequent retellings, I just let her blow off steam without comment. I can tell you, though, unequivocally, that this young lady will NEVER be invited to our house for a sleepover, nor would she receive a bday present if we were invited to her bday party. I probably don't need to mention that this kid is a total stranger...

A Dingo Sang us a Song

More accurately referred to as a New Guinea Singing Dog, Tootsie sang a song to the kids in today's zoo class. She sang a bit on her own, then the kids howled more encouragement, and off she went. She was very comfortable around the kids and all got a chance to pet her, including DD. She also got to pet a milk snake and a box turtle.

In fact, today's craft was a charmed snake. The kids colored and cut out a snake, then stuck paper clips to its nose in order to pick it up with a magnet glued to the end of a paint stirrer. Very ingenious. As DD was making her craft, I asked her what kind of snake it was (meaning basic info like color, sex, etc.) and she busts out with "It's a milk snake named L****" which we eventually decided was Laraby. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I wouldn't know a milk snake if it slithered over my foot, and let's hope and pray that never happens. The kid could be an opera-singing, baking herpetologist. Let's hope she keeps plenty of Purell around.

We didn't have a chance to mingle with the other kids in our class. Next time, I'm going to make a better effort at getting to know people. DD is usually more outgoing than I, so I'm going to have to take the initiative here. The Friday turnout was greater than the TR class we attended last month, so I think we'll stick with Fridays. So far, we generally have two down days a week and we could really use three. I think the transition from social gadabouts to serious homeschoolers will be difficult, especially for me. I've trained DD to want to go out. From a very young age, we typically went somewhere every day. It was just easier for me then if I could be around people, even if they were strangers at the mall. I think next year will be our transition year, as we are not really hitting the heavy academics until first grade. One step at a time, Mama....

Math Wizards

We played a few rounds of Snap from the Math Wizard game set from DK. It was recommended by the authors of WTM. I'm really pleased. It's a set that will grow with her, at least for a few years. Snap is a fun little game, sort of like War, only the object of the game is to spot matches (i.e. when she lays down a 3 card and I lay down a 3 as well), then yell "Snap" and take the card pile. She already knows 1-10 very well; she still consistently drops 15 each time she counts to 20, so we continue to work on that. I might try to make some 11-20 cards similar to the MW cards. The pictures seem to work well for her. She has no trouble with one-to-one correspondence, but she wasn't able to understand adding. Of course she wanted to work the hardest aspect of the set right off the bat. She tried to add 6 + 2, but she couldn't understand that you put them together. She kept wanting to keep them separate. From an ed psych pov, it was interesting to watch her at work, but the SAHM part of me didn't want the frustration to spiral out of control. I think I'll hide that portion of the game for awhile.

She is downstairs reading to DH from Phonics Pathways. She seems more comfortable in a one-on-one situation. Both of us hovering over her tends to freak her out, and who could blame her??

Well. my first day out as a more positive mom was about a 50% success. I experienced my greatest success while we were out of the house. Typical. We had a few of the "You don't love me" outbursts today, as well as a few "I'm not good at anything" episodes. She also tried to give her Cinderella Barbie to our neighbor as a self-inflicted punishment. Lord help me.

We checked out David Wiesner's Flotsam from the library this week. Perfect timing after our trip to the aquarium. She loved making up a story to go along with the pictures. She was still making up a story with her animals right after lights out.

She's still making great progress with her reading. Our second set of Bob books came this week, and she's having a ball reading through them. It gives her a big boost of confidence to read the books all by herself. DH and I only wished the second set of books were more challenging. I think we'll skip set 3 and order sets 4 and 5.

The Name Game

So, I changed the name of our blog. I've been considering it for awhile, but I just couldn't think of anything noteworthy. I'd been feeling like La Vida Loca was a bit negative for us, ok me. Instead of being the hectic, whirlwind crazy person I've been feeling like, I wanted to embrace, ok create, a more relaxed and balanced persona, like the kind of mothers who people the landscape of DD's stories. Think of Mother Bear, Little Bear's mother. She remains firm, but unruffled. She has a sense of humor and she doesn't go from 0 to 60 in 8.5 seconds. What about Oliver's mother from Tales of Oliver Pig. They have a baking day where flour gets all over the floor. Does she say "Please be more careful" or "Watch what you're doing?" No. She just gives her two-year-old her own cup of flour to play with. Yikes!

I realize that I cannot be like those mothers. In real life, I most closely resemble Junie B. Jones' mother, with a healthy dose of Mrs. thrown in. But, I can always strive for those zen-like qualities...

So, we were sitting in the library today, reading stories, and she asked me to read a book of short Pooh excerpts, and there it was:

Forgotten

What's become of John boy?
Nothing at all,

He played with his skipping rope,
He played with his ball.

He ran after butterflies,
Blue ones and red;

He did a hundred happy things -
and then he went to bed.

A.A. Milne
Now We Are Six

So, all that pretension just to say that I'm trying to cultivate a happier, more relaxed environment for myself and my family. We're going to end up as Well-Trained CMers, I just know it!

72 Degrees of Separation

After our enormously, tremendously, incredibly busy superweekend, I woke up grouchy and it didn't take long for my mood to rub off on DD. Then, we proceeded to our reading lesson. Bad idea. Really bad. We both became even more frustrated (big surprise). I cancelled the lesson, took a short break and tried to come back as a different person. The rest of the day went something like this:

DD: Why don't you love me anymore?
Evil Mommy: I do love you, always and forever.
DD: But you don't forgive me.
EM: I do forgive you, but there is nothing to forgive.

And on and on. Oh dear. I can hear her future therapist now...

However, we did enjoy several bright spots in between the angst. It was a gorgeous day and we spent most of it outside. Hallelujah!

Under the Sea

DH organized another great day trip today to the Tennessee Aquarium. We spent a couple of hours exploring marine life in ocean and river habitats. A few favorites were the sharks, the penguins (my personal favorite) and the otters. DD also really loved the stingrays. We actually got to pet stingrays and sturgeons. I repressed my natural revulsion and forced myself to touch a stingray. I just pretended to touch the sturgeon.

We spent some time in the butterfly garden. A butterfly perched on DD's finger, which she loved.

We ended our visit with an IMAX movie entitled Under the Sea, a 3D extravaganza which showed more than I wanted to know about the hunting and mating skills of cuddlefish. Luckily, we had no questions about any of that. DD kept reaching out to touch the 3D images. She really got a kick out of that.

We strolled around downtown Chattanooga for awhile, ate a great rib dinner at Sticky Fingers, then topped off with some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. We watched carriage rides and listened to an open air blues show (ok, one dude with a guitar, but it was still pretty cool. Turns out he lived in Hollywood and knew Glenn Ford). On our way home, she asked if she could come back to this place that she loved. Another great day.

Even Goats Refuse to Eat my Cooking

Here's the deal. I was in a hurry, as usual. I thawed out some cookie dough so that DD and I could take something to our playdate. Something NICE. Something TASTY. So, we roll out the dough, cut it into adorable spring shapes, the whole nine yards. I discover after 10 minutes at 350 degrees that they are not quite done. I think I will leave them in the warm, TURNED OFF oven to cook just a bit more. I go upstairs to help DD dress. I smell the wonderful cookie smell throughout the house. I do pause to think that the smell is awfully strong for a warm oven, then resume my "help." I go downstairs to the kitchen a few moments later, only to discover that I left the oven on. Of course. However, all is not lost. The cookies do not appear burnt and the test cookie that DH consumes is pronounced to be good. I also taste one, just to be sure. Off we go, cookies and all, to our playdate.

Approximately one hour later, I sneak over to the cookies and eat one. It is as hard as a rock. You could play a mean game of baseball with it. In spite of notifying all that the cookies are no good, a few kids, mine included, attempt to eat the cookies. One poor kid manages to gnaw off a few crumbs before giving up in futility.

After this alleged snack, we decide to feed the neighbor's donkeys and goats. DD offers our cookies to the donkeys. Attempted and refused. She offers one to the goat and he flat out refuses. REFUSES. Goats eat anything. They even eat tin cans, which apparently taste better than today's batch of cookies.

Ponderings

DD picked a book out of the library book bag this morning, thumbed through the pages and remarked, "I'll bet I could read you this book." I cheerily replied that of course she could, but was inwardly dreading the 20 minutes of frustration that would probably ensue upon encountering unfamiliar words. The title of the book was Hug. It contained three words throughout: Hug, Bobo and Mommy. EXCELLENT!!! She could, of course, read that book. Whew.

We visited a nursing home today. I'm looking for volunteer opportunities that she and I can do together. I envisioned a happy, cheerful place full of active seniors - sort of Fried Green Tomatoes. The reality was somewhat different. I had an idea that DD and I would breeze in and hang out, visit with lots of different people. Now I think we'll try to pair up with just one resident. I think that will be easiest on DD. As we were playing this afternoon, she told me that one of her slides was for people with wheelchairs. Yikes!

This is wearing me out

A direct quote from DD after reading halfway through a Step into Reading primer. Excellent. I'm not sure if reading is wearing her out or if Mama and Daddy are wearing her out. It could also be a combination... At any rate, she is really reading well. We've resumed our reading lessons in the EARLY morning, which makes a huge difference in attitude and ability (hers and mine). It's as if some internal switch has been flipped and she understands how to apply what she's learned. She reads less haltingly and doesn't need to sound out her words as often. When she comes across an unfamiliar word, even a sight word, she just sounds it out and uses the context to figure it out. Our second Bob books are on the way!!! Yippee!!!

Journey to the Center of the Earth

DH surprised us with a trip to Mammoth Cave today. We took the Niagra Falls tour, which is roughly 2 miles in 2 hours. I was a bit concerned about DD's ability to walk the trail, but she never faltered. We descended approximately 250 ft below the surface, then ascended to 180 ft to see the stalagmites (formations that grow up from the ground) and stalactites (formations that grow down from the ceiling). DD thought it might be spooky in the caves, but the interior was well lit, both by electric lights and flashes from digital cameras. It's hard to be spooked when you are surrounded by 75 other tourists. She enjoyed the hike, but wanted to know what else we could do in Kentucky. Visit Chik-Fil-A, as it turns out. It was a great day, but I'm glad to be back on the surface.

You Can't Catch Me

We've been reading yet another version of the Gingerbread Man story, one that includes a recipe on the back cover. So, of course, we made Gingerbread men, worms, puppies, suns. We even made colored sugar glazes for decoration. They turned out pretty well, looks wise, and they taste very good. The molasses flavor wasn't so strong in this recipe, or perhaps I just bought a better brand of molasses. At any rate, I ate two to many tonight.

She is still burning up Phonics Pathways. I can't believe she is reading after so few lessons, but WTM was right, as usual. The only trouble I'm having is finding appropriate readers at the library. Most of the level 1s are still beyond her capability; they include too many sight words. Most other readers are whole word readers; the plot is too easily guessed through the pictures. I'm planning to order the two Bob Books series that we don't have and they may bridge the gap between early readers and level 1 readers. We'll see.

She was attempting a craft today: making medals for her friends. I traced the ribbons for her, but did not cut them out, as I thought she would like to do that. She can wield a pair of scissors like nobody's business. At any rate, she ended up cutting unevenly and had an epic meltdown, which culminated in this woeful statement: "I'm just at my regular home. I miss Disney. It's not fun at regular home." Replete with tears, I might add. I sent her to her room to finish crying and she ended up playing by herself for a good long time. Lucky me.