Three Plus Two

Week in Review: May 10-16

It was the sort of week that goes by without being captured on film.  Or pixels.

We started off with a trip to the doctor for Farmerboy, who was diagnosed with a sinus infection and prescribed antibiotics.  In the middle of the week, I had a doctor's appointment.  Then on Friday it was back to the pediatrician for Katydid and Pip, after a loooong night of coughing.  More antibiotics.  I was sick -- not too sick, but sick -- for most of the week, too.  But it has meant a lot of draaaaging in the mornings.  And a bit of fretting, since I was just scheduled for my C-section: June 15.   I am only fretting because I have to meet the requirements for New York state's homeschooling laws, which require me to document 180 days/900 hours (990 for Gareth) and turn in quarterly reports on everyone and (because we aren't testing this year) yearly evaluations, too.  I make this all harder on myself by actually providing a narrative.  Quarterly reports are about 2 pages long; yearly evaluations about 3.  I could have given the kids standardized tests this year, but that takes so much time out of our normal routine (going through the test prep book, taking a week out to do the testing...)  that we only do it when we have to.

However, in between and around (and at) doctor's visits, most of us managed to get a few (unphotographed) things done.  We...

• Took a brief walk with Daddy after dinner on the one warm evening of the week, into the field and along the treeline to check on trees downed by the snow this past winter.  We noted that the horsetails seem to be invading the top corner of the field, that the pin cherries were still blooming a little, and that the bee tree was quiet... hopefully because it was dusk.  The kids and Andy did a little running; I just kind of lumbered along behind. (***Note here: if you're curious about finding bee trees, there's an excellent description of "bee lining" in Bernd Heinrich's The Snoring Bird, which is a terrific book for all sorts of reasons... but unfortunately not the sort you'd probably assign your high schooler, due to all the complicated relationships Heinrich's father is constantly getting into.  You can read the description aloud, though, which is what I did as we were driving home from Tennessee this year.  If you'd like a simpler, picture book description of finding bee trees... Patricia Polacco's The Bee Tree is one of our favorites.) 
• Listened to the song of a Baltimore Oriole.  Read an old I Can Read! book about Baltimore Orioles the doctor's office conveniently put in their waiting room for us.
• Tried to watch the History Channel's new series America: The Story of US, which we have DVRed.  The problem is that the episodes the boys are most interested in -- the Civil War episode, for example -- are quite graphic for prime time TV... in my opinion anyway.  It was a good thing we had the episodes DVRed so we could fast forward through the gorier parts, but the younger boys were not happy at having to miss the battle scenes.
• Did a little Montessori.  A very little Montessori.  Chipmunk retrieved the knobbed cylinders from my rotation closet (which also holds sheets) and started working on them again.  He has also been a fiend with a pair of tongs lately, using them to open doors, pinch his brothers, pick up toys, etc.  I tried to channel that energy into a pom-pom and ice cube tray activity, but that only kept him happy for about 5 or 10 minutes.  Then it was back to using the tongs to turn door knobs.  (He also figured out how to open the gate latch on our fenced-in area of the backyard.  Not a good thing.)
•  Sold some eggs.  (Gareth and Katydid's new business.)
• Watched some John Wayne movies.  Does that count as school?
• Did a little math.  Gareth wrestled with functions.  Farmerboy worked on telling time. 
• Used the markers.  Sometimes even on paper!!
• Decided that Gareth will be adding Greek to his schedule next year using the textbook Athenaze.
• Built tractors out of Legos.
• Packed a few boxes.                       

As for me, I dug Women with ADD out of my "to be read" stack and started reading it again.  I had, um, lost it actually (I should probably insert a blush here at the irony)  when I started reading it before we left on our trip to Tennessee.  I had been planning on reading it in the van.  Anyway, it's been sitting on my nightstand for a while, but last week was definitely the time to pick it up again as much of the world which I have responsibility for managing and organizing seemed to be growing ugly people-eating tentacles at an alarming rate.  Anyway, I am finding the book quite helpful and when I finish it I do hope to post a review.  If the tentacles will behave, of course.  

Just your ordinary, average first week back...

Last weekend I was very diligent.  Although I haven't felt much like planning anything lately, I decided that, whether or not I felt like it, I really needed to sit down and provide my older kids some guidance for the new quarter.  I had made a bunch of handwritten notes on the Ivy Basket from Literature for a Young Lady, so mostly what I needed to do was to alter the table on the computer and print it out for Katydid.  I also needed to review what Gareth was doing and provide him with some more structure, since that is what seems to work best for him.  So I did, and I started writing a post about it, too, which I will hopefully finish some time before the next decade passes.  I thought I was fairly prepared for the new year, even though the little boys were sick (again).

Then Monday hit.

Gareth and Katydid dove into their work with a fair amount of enthusiasm (although Gareth was not terribly excited about my asking for two written narrations a week and Katydid was complaining of a sore throat.)  Chipmunk spent most of his time practicing to be a gangster and walloping anyone who came near him -- with anything that came to hand.  All the little boys did was argue with each other.  In spite of being sick (with colds), Pip and Pop did not take naps. (I know I said I was going to call them N and J, but I'm so used to Pip and Pop I'm going back to those names.  Maybe when they're 16 I'll change.) Chipmunk did take a nap, but refused to sleep anywhere but on my shoulder.  Around 2:00, it occurred to me that I had a runny nose, too.  About 3:30, quiet time was over, because the twins were not napping or lying down quietly or sitting down quietly.  Instead, they were in the living room playing Playmobil with Farmerboy, which involved the destruction of at least one castle.

Then there was a big crash and Pip started crying.  Gareth had just sat down at the table where I was in the dining room (still holding Chipmunk) to do his math.  Katydid was reading Little Men on the couch in the living room.  "Is he okay?" I called out to her.

"Yes!" she answered.  "He's ok!"

Pip wailed.  "Are you sure he's ok?" I said.

"He's ok!  He's ok!"  A pause.  "No, no, he's not ok..."

I ran into the living room, still holding Chipmunk, to see Pip holding the back of his head, which was streaming with blood.  Hurriedly I passed Chipmunk to Katydid to take a look at the back of Pip's head, where there was a large, deep gash.

"He slipped and fell and hit the back of his head on the floor," Farmerboy said.  Or, well, maybe a destroyed Playmobil castle.

"Get me the phone and get your stuff together," I said.  "We're going to the emergency room."

So I called Andy, who was able to get home before I had all the kids in the van, because I had to dig the van out of a snow drift and shovel out the end of the driveway.  By that time the big kids had gotten everyone's boots and coats on, collected books and toys, and were ready to walk out the door.  So even though everyone was sick, they wanted to go to Wal-Mart to get a toy for Pip while he was in the ER getting patched up, and we didn't have time to argue, so we all piled into the van and headed for the hospital, where Pip received three stitches, a Mickey Mouse surgical mask because he was coughing so much, and a bunch of stickers.  We went through the McDonald's drive-thru on the way home and then collapsed upon arrival.

The week progressed from there, as all the rest of us came down with the cold, the weather was nasty, and Farmerboy complained off and on of an earache.  Then there were job-related issues to deal with, and by Thursday night, what I was most grateful for was that my thoughtful husband had picked up two packages of all-natural hot dogs and a bag of peeled baby carrots at the store the night before, although he had had no list and we do not normally buy hot dogs. 

Anyway, some productivity was accomplished this week in spite of everything, but good grief, am I glad it's Friday!   

Not quite your average day

The other day I picked up an old favorite that I used to read every year, Homeschooling: A Patchwork of Days: Share a Day With 30 Homeschooling Families.  Reading it reminded me of what homeschooling used to be like before blogs.  It also reminded me that I haven't done a "day in the life" post in a while.  As it happens, on the day I decided to do a day in the life post, it also turns out that it was "Day in the Life Week" at the Not Back to School Blog Hop over at My 3 Boybarians.  But, as usual, it took me a week to actually write this post (because I don't know how to do anything that isn't long and complicated) so I missed the deadline.  However, if any of you, dear readers, would like to share a "Back to School" day at your house, I would love to read it.  Just leave me a comment with the link!

A few notes before I start. 

1) This day was "not quite average" because Andy was home for the morning, and then left around lunchtime to go on a business trip for most of the week.  This happens often enough, though, that it's just not "quite" average.  This is just our second week of school, so we did do school today. 

2) I don't usually work this hard first thing in the morning.  Usually I'm on the computer for a little while.

Monday, August 24

7:15 AM  I wake up, later than I wanted to.  Chipmunk went to bed at 11 last night and I woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I might have a touch of whatever Pip and Farmerboy had this weekend.  Thankfully, I feel decent this morning.  The little boys are getting up, and Andy takes care of them while I take a shower.

8:00 AM: The boys are eating breakfast when I come out.  Gareth is up, too.  I head down to Katydid's room to begin the process of getting her up. (Which sometimes takes a while.)  The little boys finish their breakfast and talk Andy into letting them watch Chased By Dinosaurs: "Most Dangerous Seas of All Time". Andy made me some eggs, and while I eat I switch around some binders so I can organize the originals of some new recordkeeping forms I handwrote over the weekend.  (The USB ports on our desktop are fried, and the software from our printer is incompatible with the Vista on my laptop.  So I have a copier, but no printer right now.)

 

My "desk": tea cup, garden/nature journal, planner, record-keeping book, new Circa notebook for forms, etc.

8:30 AM: Katydid finally comes out. Now everyone is watching Chased By Dinosaurs.  Andy wants to take some food from the garden we (along with our Little Flowers/ Blue Knights group) are growing for the Little Sisters of the Poor.  We have a couple bushels of potatoes to give this time, several pounds of zucchini and patty pan squash, and there's more zucchini out in the garden to pick.  I head out while everyone is occupied and come back with several more pounds of zuchinni.

9:00 AM: Time for prayers.  After prayers, Gareth and Katydid go to brush their teeth and start on their chores, which include feeding and watering all the poultry (turkeys, layers, meat chickens, and bantams).  All together, we have a total of 59 chickens right now, and 6 turkeys.  It takes a little while to get it all done.  The kids dawdle a while, so they're a bit late getting out.  When they come back in, they do their inside chores: collecting and sorting laundry, and wiping out the bathroom sinks for Katydid, and cleaning up the breakfast kitchen for Gareth.  Andy takes the time to take the trash out to the curb so I won't have to do it tomorrow.  Farmerboy is supposed to be picking up the family room, but right now he is involved in a complicated game of "Divers into Dangerous Seas."  Props for this game include all my pots and pans, and cameras, which the boys construct from various toys and tape:

(I help with the tape a little bit.)

9:30 AM: Pop used buttons (like the kind you sew) for his camera, and Chipmunk (who is sitting on the table) is enthralled.  He wants me to identify the colors of all the buttons.  The other three little boys are still involved in their diving game, so I sit down with Chipmunk and help him sort the buttons according to color.  On one of Pop's trips through the dining room, he notices what we are doing and wants to sort, too.  I don't have enough buttons for that, but I set him up with some dyed feathers. Chipmunk soon moves on to pouring the buttons.  He's been occupied for about 30 minutes.

10:00 AM: The boys decide they want to glue.  I get them set up with collage materials, cardboard trays, scissors, papers, and their choice of glue -- Elmer's in a bottle or Mod Podge in a bowl with a brush.  Chipmunk is soon covered in glue, but does manage to also put some on his tray.  There is some frustration on the twins' part: Pip is gluing natural feathers to a piece of cardstock and unfortunately, most of them are small down feathers which are hard to glue without getting all gummed up and coming apart.  And Pop's scissors are not cooperating with him.  This is pretty typical.  My role is to dart from one kid to another providing help, encouragement, and exhortations for patience.  Andy tells me that there is a special room in heaven reserved for homeschooling mothers. 

Pip sets up his collage as part of our nature area.

10: 45 AM: By this time Katydid and Gareth are involved in their own activities.  We're experimenting with different ways to plan for them... or actually, to help them plan their own work. I asked on the 4real boards about planning with Literature for a Young Lady and Jen helpfully replied with how she helps her eldest plan her own work.  I presented that as an option for the kids, and they decided they would like to give it a shot.  So I wrote out a chart (no printer, remember) with days and times on it, and on Sunday we sat down to figure out what they wanted to do during the week, and also what was required for them to do (like math, Latin, and language). 

I clipped off a bit of the top, but you get the picture. 

When I emerge from helping the boys with their collages (and washing all the glue off Chipmunk), I find Gareth working on his math and Katydid comfortably esconced on the couch with Little Women.  Andy takes a break from working on the computer to get the little boys dressed and play with the transportation counters on the floor -- more sorting. Farmerboy can no longer avoid his chores and must get dressed and pick up the family room.  Because people need me -- often -- it takes a good 45 minutes to clean up the dining room. 

11:15 AM: Gareth is now working on his religion and informs Farmerboy that he's going to be done soon so Farmerboy had better get to work if he wants to go out to the archery range.  Katydid didn't know that Gareth was going to do archery, so she scraps the plans she made yesterday to go out and shoot, too.  She's been reading for about an hour with only a brief break, so it's just about time for her to do something active.

11:30 AM: The dining room is not completely clean, but the little boys are clamoring to be let out of the small fenced yard by the deck, and it would be nice to talk to Andy a while before he goes.  Andy takes the little boys out with him to feed greens to the turkeys, and the three older kids head out to practice some archery.  I pick up the transportation counters for the nth time this morning and follow.

 

(Andy took these pictures.  Gareth told me later he got a bullseye!)

While the big kids shoot, the little boys play "dinosaur hunter" in the sideyard with me.  They're gathering sticks and pretending they're dinosaur bones.

12:15 PM: Everyone is hungry by now, so we head in for lunch.  Someone lets Chipmunk in the bathroom first to wash his hands and is not supervising and Chipmunk dunks his truck in the toilet.  I clean him up (and the truck) and then make cheese quesadillas for the kids.  Andy and I eat leftover steak from the night before (I found a stash in the back of the freezer) and canteloupe. At lunch Andy mentions a book that has been recommended to him called The Ten Commandments of How to Fail at Business.  We have a discussion about that, and also about how a Christian should view or use wealth.  Then Andy loads his luggage and the vegetables for the nuns into his van and heads off to the airport.  The big kids are in charge of cleaning up after lunch.  The little boys and I go outside to play some more dinosaur hunter.

2:00 PM: I'm taking the little boys in for some read alouds and a nap.  Katydid comes in to get the camera, because she says the older three want to "study turkey behavior".  It turns out they just want to make the toms strut.

(Pictures by Katydid)

While I admit that the Naragansett tom is particularly impressive when he struts, banging things and making a lot of noise to get him agitated is probably not a good idea.  So no more "studying turkey behavior".

While the big kids are outside, I read Dinosaurs Big and Small (A Let's Read and Find Out title) , Little Tom Turkey (a book about wild turkeys told from the point of view of a small male poult; the writing is not so great, but it's tough to find picture books about wild/heritage turkeys), and a tractor book to the three little boys.  Then it's to bed for them.

2:45-3:00 ish: I've gotten the boys to sleep. When I come into the kitchen, I notice that the cleaning job done after lunch was not all that great.  But now it's time to do some concentrated book work with the older 3 kids.  Since the twins and Chipmunk require most (if not all) of my attention in the morning, the bigger kids have to save anything that needs my attention until the afternoon.  This is not my preferred way of doing things -- nor, to be honest, always the preferred way for my kids either.  But it's what we have to do.  It turns out that they have come in at 2:30 just like they were supposed to and gotten to work.  We've had this basic template schedule for a long time now, but this is only the start of our second week after being "off" for summer.  So I'm pleased that they're readjusting to our school schedule so quickly.  Katydid is working on the first lesson of Lingua Mater 6, and Gareth has finished his lesson for the day in Lingua Mater 7 and is on the couch reading Fellowship of the Ring.  Farmerboy has already done his handwriting (Handwriting Without Tears, My Printing Book) so I take him into the dining room to work on some phonics.  First I need to see what letter sounds he remembers from earlier in the summer, so we do a short "quiz".  Turns out he's forgotten about half his letter sounds.  He wants me to write some words for him to read, though, so I compose a variety of silly sentences using mainly -at words. (Sample: "I sat on the cat.")  He enjoys this and runs to show Katydid and Gareth how silly the sentences are after we're done.

3:30 PM: Katydid is done with her language, so we move on to Latin.  We're redoing the lesson we ended with in June, Review Lesson III from Latina Christiana I.  For some reason we only got through half the book last year.  I'm hoping to do better this year.  Farmerboy wants to get a board game out of the closet and "pretend to play it himself". Ok... he actually chooses the Rush Hour puzzle, which I mentally chalk up to math for the day.  I'm still trying to figure out math for him. I bought Making Math Meaningful Level I for him in the spring, but it turns out I don't really like it at that level. 

4:00 PM: When we're done with our chants and reviewing the vocabulary, Katydid switches to math, which she is able to do independently for the day.  (She is using Making Math Meaningful Level 4, which I do like at least for Katydid, as it seems to be sticking... no small feat for her.  Sometimes it requires me to make presentations, but I think she's finally gotten the concept of multiplying two digits by two digits... albeit in the non-traditional way taught by this curriculum.)  Gareth has written on his chart that he is going to work on a book "response" to Out of the Silent Planet, which he read last week.  He can either work on a graphic novel/comic book version of the book or he can write a book report.  I expect him to choose the comic book, but he surprises me by choosing the book report.  We spend a little over a half an hour discussing the book, how to write a book report, and then planning it out. 

4:45 PM: The kids are done with their work for the day, and Chipmunk is up, but not up, and is dozing on my shoulder.  I check email and the kids have their computer time.  Katydid heads back to her room when it is not her turn to practice her violin and say a rosary.

5:15 PM: Chipmunk is now up and playing with the Rush Hour cars that Farmerboy neglected to put away.  The twins are up and clamoring for their computer time, too. I go to start dinner and realize that I can not make a Dutch Baby because I do not have enough eggs.  What?  Right -- we gave away a dozen eggs on Friday and I made scrambled eggs and ratatouille one night for dinner.  Now we have to wait for the hens to build the supply again.  I remember that I have some frozen spaghetti sauce downstairs in the freezer, though, so I can still make dinner!

I also have to work on the mess left over from lunch.

Chipmunk keeps me company with the pots and pans.

6:00 PM: It took forever to defrost the spaghetti sauce. Dinner is going to be late.  The little boys are clamoring to be let out of the gate (again), so I take my record book and head outside with them while I wait on dinner.

7:00 PM: Dinner's finally ready.  I cave and let the kids eat in front of the TV.  I'd like to say they watched something educational, but no, it was SpongeBob.  And I eat in front of the computer, starting this post. Then Andy calls to let me know he's in Chicago and will be departing for Iowa shortly and also that the Little Sisters would like pictures of us planting the garden for their newsletter.  I am embarassed to say that I have no pictures.  We'll have to take some pictures of harvest instead.

7:30ish: Time for after dinner chores.  Usually I clean the kitchen, Katydid picks up the dining room and kitchen and sweeps both rooms, Farmerboy picks up the family room and vacuums the rug, and Gareth has the living room/entryway area, picking up and sweeping.  This makes it sound as if everything ought to be clean, but this doesn't account for stacks of books and other things on tables and counters, or the disorganization of the toy shelves.  Plus tonight the kids will have to knock off early to do all the chicken/turkey chores that Andy usually does (with Chipmunk and the little boys tagging along).

8:00 PM: The kids are out putting the chickens in for the night and I am trying to hurriedly wash the last pans and sweep the dining room and kitchen floors and switch the laundry before the little boys rev up too much.  (My kids never look tired because they just wind up more and more as they get tired.)

8:30 PM: I didn't make it.  There are still pans in the sink but it's time to get the little boys in their pajamas.  When the big kids come in from doing their outside chores, I ask Katydid to read to the little boys while I put on my pajamas.  Pop has been fascinated by the weather lately, so we also check the weather on the Weather Channel.  Then Katydid reads Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie! while I change for the night. 

9:00 PM: The boys still want books.  Katydid reads a couple of tractor books to Chipmunk, Little Tom Turkey (again), and Where Do Chicks Come From?  I take this opportunity to rotate the books in the book display, which sorely needs it.

9:30 PM: Time for bed.  Gareth and Katydid head back to their rooms and bathroom to take showers and read until who knows when.  The little boys want to know if I will read Farmer Boy while they're in bed like Daddy does.  I tell them that since it's Daddy's favorite book, we'll save it for him.  But I will read the next story from Egermeir's Story Bible.  Chipmunk is not having it, though.  I tell the boys I can't read because I need to nurse Chipmunk.  Pip starts complaining.  I attempt to balance the heavy book precariously past Chipmunk while I nurse him and read the story of "The Great Flood."  It begins with Enoch being taken up to God.  Pop wants to know how people get to heaven, and once you're there, how you can get back home.  Farmerboy tells him you can't get back home.  Pop starts to cry.  Farmerboy tells him that heaven is a wonderful place where you'll know everything, including what happened to the dinosaurs.  Pop says he wants our home to be his home forever.  Farmerboy says, well, his soul will go to heaven after he dies.  Pip says he doesn't want to go to heaven if souls are there.  Farmerboy says everybody has a soul.  Pip is furious because he thought souls were bad things! I'm sure he's confusing them with ghosts.  I would just really like to go to sleep.  But no.  As soon as I get them calmed down, Chipmunk starts fussing because this isn't our usual routine.  I try to take him into my bedroom, and Pip starts crying because he wants Daddy.  I sit back down in the rocking chair, and Pip stops crying but Chipmunk starts.  Finally, I have to take Chipmunk into my room and just let Pip cry for a while.  It's keeping Pop and Farmerboy awake, but I have to get one of the two fussing kids to sleep. 

10:30 PM: Chipmunk is finally asleep and I go back in to sit with Pip.  I bring my book and read a little in the hall light.

11:00 PM: Pip is finally asleep.  I add the last few things to the dishwasher and turn it on.  Then I head back to my bed, where Chipmunk is sleeping for the moment.  I try to write down a few notes, but apparently the scratching of the pen wakes Chipmunk up again.

11:30 PM: Everything is finally quiet.  Andy won't be home till Thursday, and I'm not sure I can survive that long. (But obviously, I do! :-)

 

On a rainy June day

• I overslept because Andy overslept because he stayed up too late reading Harry Potter.
• I tried to do part of my new T-Tapp video but Chipmunk woke up and instead I tried to do part of the T-Tapp video while holding Chipmunk.
• I had to get several drawings back out of the bin which I was attempting to put away for the year because a child suddenly needed to look at them after not thinking about them for at least 9 or 10 months.
• I cleaned out the dress-up bin, which had somehow also become the repository for all the missing puzzle pieces in the house.
• I provided props for "caving", but I did not paint with anybody today.
• I allowed two three year olds to use heavy utensils to pound Saltines into cracker crumbs.
• I took every. single. book. out of the little boys' room. Because they keep ending up in big piles on the floor.
• I made a strawberry and coconut smoothie with coconut oil because I heard that coconut oil helps you lose weight.
• I also asked Andy to bring home McDonald's. Because I had been holding/rocking Chipmunk for three hours and he showed no signs of letting me put him down. And everyone was hungry.  And there is no such thing as a package of chicken breasts when you buy your meat from local farmers. And we were out of spaghetti, and the person who is supposed to collect the eggs every day hasn't, and now we are "out" of eggs.
• During the three (and a half) hours I was holding Chipmunk, I put in a Home Science Tools order for insect-related "stuff" (including an ant farm, which I am a little anxious about) and a Montessori Services order involving color paddles.  I also ordered a Mass kit, after ignoring the fact that all our statues are missing body parts.
• And I looked at shelves online until my eyes crossed.
• And I studied all Jen's pictures. 
• And I skimmed through The Nature Corner and Where Women Create.  I determined I was born without decorating genes. 
• And I watched the Weather Channel. Until finally the child woke up and allowed me to put him down.  Then I folded two loads of laundry and gave permission for the two "flood monsters" to build a flood out of pillows.  And had a discussion with Andy about whether or not we could handle football season, if Gareth decides he wants to play
• So maybe you are not surprised that I totally forgot about Scouts.

Weird Happenings...

So yesterday night, Andy closed our bedroom door and the full-length mirror that hangs on it fell off and shattered into a million pieces.  Fortunately, whoever hung the mirror hung it on the wrong side of the door. It didn't fall on to Andy as he walked inside the room and shut the door; instead, it fell into the hallway.  Also fortunately, the little boys were all sitting at the dining room table at the time, and not trying to follow Andy.  So no one was hurt.

Tonight, as Katydid was practicing violin and I was making dinner, Andy looked outside and announced that the chickens were on the road again. "Stupid chickens."

Then a car hit one.

Unfortunately, the chicken was not killed instantly.  Instead, it was injured internally; its ribs were broken - or something. So Andy and Gareth are outside killing their first chicken. Have I mentioned that Katydid and Farmerboy named all the chickens and have tamed them so they act more like dogs or cats?

Of course, I am left wondering what is going to happen next. And relieved that I did not follow through on those plans to roast a chicken (from the freezer) for dinner.

Week 2, Winter Term: Break for Blocks

We're having a bit of a problem getting back into a groove again.  While we made it through the holidays without getting sick, a couple of colds hit hard after New Year's.  Last week was a run-down sort of week.  Nobody had very much energy, although I doubt you would have thought that had you peeked in my windows and watched my little boys brandishing light sabers and chasing each other round and round the living room.  Anyway, here's a taste of what did happen around here last week.

 Some Montessorians out there just flinched.  Yes, those are pieces of the Pink Tower and the Brown Stair Chipmunk is loading into Andy's boots.  They are only some of the many things we find in our boots these days.  Chipmunk is a spatial kid, and there is nothing he likes more than testing open containers (or boots) for fit.  His next favorite activity is pushing chairs around so he can climb on them and loot the high shelves meant for the bigger kids.  Therefore, I have very little in the way of Montessori out on any shelves, and I've also had to scale back on our nature area. (He broke the Our Lady of Grace statue on the china cabinet this morning, so I have to find a new home for our religious display, too.)  I do, however, give Chipmunk some Montessori-ish activities to do in a very relaxed manner.  Some of the things he enjoys (other than loading up people's boots):

• putting craft sticks into containers with different sized necks, such as spice bottles and cornstarch containers
• matching lids to different containers
• pouring and spooning cheerios
• Duplos
• putting on and taking off play silks knotted into capes
• pushing carts, walkers, etc

In addition to normal toddler chaos, the twins gained access to one of my Montessori storage closets, which could have been Very Bad.  Fortunately I was right there and could set them up with the knobbed cylinders before they dragged every single thing out into the hallway.  (I would have the knobbed cylinders out, but I don't have anywhere to put them where Chipmunk won't leave pieces scattered all over the place... or attempt to choke himself on one of the small pieces.)  Chipmunk joined in with the knobbed cylinders (of a safe size) and did quite well:

 The twins were both able to do two blocks at once.  The challenge held their interest longer.

It was actually a fairly spatial week. Since nobody felt 100%, sitting down with blocks was a good way to pass the time, especially while I read. 

In this picture, Farmerboy is using Katamino to build 3-D structures, Katydid was making patterns using Pattern Play blocks, Pip and Pop were trading blocks and the Rush Hour game (they just like arranging the cars and trucks on the grid, but here's a neat online version, which is also very addictive), and Chipmunk was sorting fish and transportation counters... after a fashion.

And while we're focusing on Chipmunk for a change, he had another first this week:

 

His first hair cut!

In an ironic twist of fate...

I have been working on two new posts this week: a week in review post and one about how nothing ever goes as planned at our house, and how I am trying to learn to accept that fact and be patient and move on without worrying.  Actually the two posts were once one post, but I decided to split them up.  I don't really have much time to write, etc. during the week now that we've started school again, but today is Saturday and so I've been putting the week in review post together in between clearing the huge mess from the dining room table, washing sheets, making lunch and dinner, and making sure that the twins don't injure themselves and each other. 

Then I sat down at a different computer with an old window still open and I accidentally deleted it.

So no.  Nothing ever goes as planned around here.  And now I am attempting to move on and be patient.

Wish me luck.

Ever Had One of Those Weeks...

... that starts out with your daughter's pet rabbit being eaten by raccoons, and then proceeds to the minivan breaking down, the kitchen sink clogging, your husband informing you of all the traveling he'll be doing during the most hectic months of the year (that would be July and August here in the Great White North), and ends with a bad case of allergies and your normally mild-mannered five year old having a complete and total meltdown because his older siblings won't let him play a Star Wars game?

Poor Katydid.  Her headache has still not gone away, and she was the one who found the remains of her rabbit.  We woke up Monday morning to find the hutch flipped over and the rabbit gone.  Originally, I thought the culprit might have been a coyote, but when we found what was left of the bunny, it was pretty clear that it was not.  A coyote would have eaten most of the rabbit.  Raccoons do not. 

We spent a few bad days, but she cheered up considerably when the friends who gave us the rabbit gave us some advice on how to raccoon-proof the hutch and offered to give Katydid another rabbit.  We'll work on the hutch this weekend -- anchoring it to the ground, basically, and installing a latch on the lid -- and hopefully in the next couple of weeks, she'll have another bunny.

As for the other stuff (which is pretty small potatoes when compared to a sad child whose head has hurt daily for the past two months), Andy called a plumber this morning, we're eating McDonald's for lunch because we can't run the dishwasher, and I can't really do anything about the hectic-ness because I want my kids to be able to play soccer and take interesting classes at the art museum.  So I'm just going to have to buck up for a while.

The good news is, tomorrow is the Fourth of July, which means that this week ends early -- thank goodness!

Remind Me #2

Also remind me never, ever (ever) to say, write, or even think: Gee, it looks like we're going to make it until Andy comes back without getting sick or anything really bad happening!

Because that's just like giving all the badness a double-dare.

Last night about 7:30, I was walking Chipmunk around because he was fussing and needed a nap.  Pip and Pop were playing with the blocks.  As is their custom, they both climbed into the large Rubbermaid tub, which is full of blocks, and as is my custom, I told them to get out.  Because the blocks are almost on a level with the top, see, and that meant they were standing about two feet off the ground.  Usually they sit in this container and pitch blocks over the side, but last night they were standing in it, and Pop was trying to sit down (or something) and Pip was in his way (or something) and Pop hadn't had a nap and was feeling irritable (or something) and he... shoved Pip.  Forcefully.  Off the top of the bin and onto the hardwood floor.

Now, Pip hits his head on something roughly three times a day.  He's tough, but for some reason he's always the one who gets hurt.  I don't know why.  His brother runs, climbs, and jumps through life with nary a scratch.  But not Pip.  He's always got a bruise or a scratch or some combination thereof. 

Anyway, Pip fell at great speed off the top of the block bin and smacked his forehead against the hardwood floor.  There are few sounds as sickening as your baby's head hitting a hard surface like that.  I ran the length of the room.  Pip was picking himself off the floor, screaming.  I was hoping just to see a big goose egg. 

What I saw was a whole lot of blood.

Now, I know that head wounds bleed a lot even if they're minor, but he hit that floor really hard.  The first thing I thought was "skull fracture".  I was home by myself with all six kids, Andy was on an airplane, it was icy outside, and it's a long way to the ER.   I called 911.

After the other kids all glued themselves to the windows to watch for the ambulance, I had a chance to examine Pip a little more closely.  By now he was calming down and the blood flow had slowed.  A big goose egg was starting to form on his forehead and what looked like a blood blister.  I wiped him up with a wet paper towel.  He sat in my lap on the kitchen floor and talked a little bit.   Then the EMTs came in, shined a light in his eyes, tried to get him to give them five, took his blood pressure, and concluded that he was probably okay and didn't need stitches.   We didn't have to take him in, but we should keep him awake for a couple hours to make sure he didn't become groggy or vomit or suddenly have trouble walking.

Well, he didn't.  He's fine.  He keeps messing with the bandage on his head and knocking his cut open, and he fell off a chair today and hit the back of his head, but otherwise, he's fine.

Andy and I, however, are not.  Andy called to tell me he was on the ground in Detroit making his connecting flight home during the last few minutes that the EMTs were here.  I couldn't talk to him, so Katydid answered the phone and gave him the details as best she could, but she didn't know for sure if we were staying home or going to the ER at that point.  I imagine she gave Andy a heart attack.  After he got home around midnight, he took over for me sleeping with Pip.  Pip didn't really need us to sleep with him, but we needed to do it.

Today we have been taking it easy.  Daddy went into work late this morning, after we made sure with the pediatrician's office that they didn't need to see Pip.  The kids kind of wandered around at choice time, unable to choose even when I really limited their offerings.  "I didn't really want to see an ambulance," Farmerboy confided to me last night before he went to bed.

"Neither did I," I said.

You know, you go through your life wondering how these little people can be so durable.  How they can be so durable and yet so fragile at the same time.  And why it takes a siren to remind you that life is pretty darn sweet, even when the toilet is clogging and it takes an hour to take the trash out. 

So remind me of that, would you?  Remind me that today I sang "Silent Night" until the boys fell asleep and I didn't even have to sit on anybody and that Pip has been walking around wearing a hat as a helmet and Pop is making his knights "RETREAT!" and that we made armor out of posterboard and the kids went sledding and played "Lost in the Woods" and that life is, in general, good.

Remind me, so I don't need another ambulance to bring it home.

Planning Plans Down the Drain

Disclaimer:  If you want to read something really interesting, you should go read Kim's latest post, which involves snowstorms, birthing goats, power outages, and a birthday.  I'm just going to talk about appliances.  Well, and maybe a little unschooling.

I had the weekend all planned.  It was going to be devoted to planning.  I was going to build that homeschool planner I made offhand mention of here.  I was going to know what I was doing at the beginning of the week!  There would be cabinet locks on the new cabinets by Sunday night, and at least a shelf or two set up with activities for Farmerboy and the babies.

But... on Thursday, our dishwasher died.  It died with a horrible groaning noise, so it was pretty easy to tell that it was dead.  End of the week plans were changed, and we all headed out to Lowe's on Friday night.  "Heading out to Lowe's" requires careful planning here, see, because our nearest Lowe's is about 40 minutes away.  This is a major expedition which requires picking Daddy up at work, eating dinner at Pizza Hut, and then driving to Lowe's, where we always need two carts even if we're only buying bolts, because we have three kids to cart around.  Somehow we are always talked into letting Farmerboy down, though, and then one of us ends up fielding children who want to open every single refrigerator and stove door and lean waaay over the bathtubs while the other grownup tries to tell the difference between 30 different dishwashers which all look exactly the same.

We also decided to replace our stove at the same time.  (Hey, it's only money, right?)  To be honest, we've been "planning" to replace that stove since we moved in.  It was an old gas stove, and every few minutes when the oven was on, there would be a huge WHOMP as more gas ignited and you always wondered if this would be the time when the entire oven exploded.

So -- new stove with SpeedBake for faster baking (!) and new tall-tub dishwasher so maybe we can fit all our dishes in it.  And both were in stock (!!), so they could be delivered the next day (!!!).

Delivered is the key word here.  See, I forgot this is New York, where no one volunteers information.  I forgot that I should have known the right questions to ask.  Such as, Will you disconnect the appliances and then haul them off?  Does this large delivery fee I'm paying cover installation or will they plug in a dishwasher but do nothing else or are they just going to dump this stuff in the middle of our kitchen?

Not that the salesguy was rude, you understand.  He just assumed we knew everything.  Having bought very few major appliances in our day, however, we did not.

So when the delivery truck pulled up our driveway on Saturday afternoon, our old dishwasher and range were still hooked up.  That meant that Andy had to scramble around, trying to find where the heck they put the water shut off valve to the kitchen sink, because it wasn't in any obvious place.  And disconnecting the old gas range, which was a little nervewracking, because as soon as he disconnected the gas line (after making sure the gas at the tank was OFF, of course) there was immediately a strong smell of gas in the room. 

Anyway, somehow he managed to get both appliances disconnected in about ten minutes flat.  Then there loomed the task of connecting both.  He'd been planning to take the kids out to Agway and for ice cream in the afternoon, leaving me at home to get some of that planning done, but of course, that was not an option now.  He started in on the dishwasher, discovered that (of course) there was a part he absolutely needed which wasn't provided and which the salesguy had (of course) neglected to tell us about, and so we compromised.  While he got the kids ready to head to town, I printed out a whole bunch of stuff to take in the car with me.  The plan was to hit Agway first for more peat pots and potting soil, then cruise through the McDonald's drivethrough for the promised ice cream (milkshakes), then head over to the hardware store, where I would stay in the car with the kids while they had their milkshakes, leaving Andy free to look around for the pipe he needed.

But -- hallelujah -- Agway had the pipe.  Agway also had a flat of pretty pastel pansies, two bleeding hearts, broccoli seedlings which looked much better than mine, and a pair of blue crocs for working in the garden when it warms up a little.  And a white geranium for Gareth.  And a pot of forget-me-nots for Katydid.  And a small Schleich zebra that can apparently cast spells.  Or else, it has lasers.  (I'm a bit confused on its true abilities, but I do know that they're quite advanced for such a small zebra.)

Sunday ended up being more errands, and Andy decided that maybe we ought to call someone about the gas range, as he doesn't know how to check for leaks.  Our dishwasher works great, but we are without stove or oven until Wednesday, and have been eating a lot of sandwiches. 

Anyway, none of the planned planning really got done... and sometimes I wonder if we wouldn't all be better off unschooling.  Sunday afternoon and night the kids watched a Wild Kingdom about Tasmanian devils (the real ones, not the cartoons!), watched birds and entered them at ebird.com, Gareth read War of the Worlds and Katydid read The Little Flower, and Farmerboy decided he was interested in undersea life and asked for some books about oceans... This morning has been more of the same (except with more injuries... oy.)  Now I am off to the doctor's office for myself, and I will have time to really think about planning,  but of course, no time to do it.  Especially considering how much Andy is going to be gone in the next two weeks.

Oh well.  I suppose the planned planning is just going to have to fit somehow into real life.