Vignette

So, we've had a lot of wonderful things happen, including a FABULOUS trip to Chicago, which is documented in many pictures. A lost a tooth, "school" is out for the summer (we're on a modified light summer schedule), etc, etc. But today I wanted to paint a vignette of something that happened this morning with G.

The girls went to the park with their old preschool teacher (she does a park day in the summer for all of her students and the ward kids--love it!!). I let G play at the park at bit too, and he found a slide he loved and was having a wonderful time.

Then, he headed towards the tunnel in the middle of the play structure, and I saw that some children had left a huge open bag of peanut M&Ms in the tunnel, and candies were strewn about. The entire mass blew towards G. (G is severely allergic to peanuts.) G saw only candy and he wanted it. I had to remove him from the play structure for his own safety. He screamed. He cried. He fought against the carseat, straightening like a board, twisting and pulling at the straps. He signed "play" and "more" as he screamed. (He also signed "milk, which is just an automatic comfort thing for him--if he's upset, he signs "milk.") He screamed the entire drive home. When I opened the door to unbuckle him, he kept screaming at me. He signed "play" over and over again, plus his comfort signs. I tried to carry him out of the car. He screamed at me, signed "NO" as he screamed, and dove away from me, tears streaking his cheeks. He grabbed the fence on the way in with both of his hands, pulling as hard as he could to go back out. Eventually I let him go out of the gate and watched as he stood a few from it, crying and gasping, slowly calming. Finally he stopped crying altogether and looked at me, sadness etched in every line of his face. His eyes weren't angry, or frustrated--they held betrayal. We stared at each other for a few moments, his eyes never losing their cast of hurt betrayal. Then he took a breath and ran away.

He ran around the car and out of the driveway. He ran down the entire street to the end, where the grass ends atop a short cement wall overlooking the sidewalk area and the street. He stood there, watching the cars drive past and the tree branches sway, crying softly for several minutes. I followed him but I didn't try to speak to him. I just watched as he cried to himself, staring out at the street through his tears. I didn't want to interrupt his grieving. That's the only word to describe it. Eventually I pointed out the birds in the tree, and he looked for a few second before stepping away from me and resuming his quiet cries, staring out at the passing cars. After a minute I asked if he wanted a hug, and by then he was calm enough to accept it and agree to come home with me.

I've never had a kid run away out of sadness and grief. He's 20 months old, for goodness' sake!! What is he going to be like when he's older?

Project Clothesline

We went as a family to the Project Clothesline at J's university tonight. He will be writing a paper on it. We explained a bit about it to the girls. J talked to C about having good friends. I talked to A about the colors of the shirts and what they meant, and how some people are still very very hurt and angry about the sad things that happened to them and some people have moved on to forgiveness. She can read well enough to read most of the shirts herself, so I had to help pick and choose which ones she read, and what parts. A great deal of hurt is often expressed in very strong language. I made my shirt, and then A asked to make a shirt. She said C hits her and it hurts her. She kept insisting on making a shirt for being hurt by C. I tried to explain how it was different, but I couldn't. I couldn't make myself qualify her pain, tell her that her pain was less than other people's, that it wasn't as "real" as other women's pain. The (rather rare) occasion of being hit by her sister was traumatic enough to make her really want to express it with all these other women, so I brought her back to make a shirt, too. She wrote that her sister hits her and it hurts her feelings, and then she drew a sad face and a fist coming towards it, and then wrote that she hates it when her sister hurts her. Then we put it up. And then we talked to C about how much it hurts A when she hits! (And I need to talk to A about not hitting C, either. They don't hit each other often at all, but apparently it's still too much.) G just ran around and babbled and asked for "Up" in the carrier or in arms, and ran around some more, etc.

Charity

We had a Family Home Evening lesson on being children of God, and ways to show that we are children of God. One of the topics mentioned was helping the poor and needy. Today A got a bucket, cleaned it out, filled it with water, and was going to walk down the street asking people if they were poor and needed water. I LOVE HER. We looked up the food bank and saw that they didn't need water but they did need many other things, so she put her water outside for any stray cats and we made up a box for the food bank with canned beans, mac & cheese boxes, soap, and shampoo that we don't need. Then she taught C that she shouldn't just think about herself; she should think about others.

More fun

Today the clones came over, and A's "fiance" came dressed as Superman. He also came carrying a Supergirl costume he made for A--the front insignia and a little cape, both made of paper with tape on the back to stick on her shirt. SO cute. A reminded him that "when we're for real grownups we'll for real get married" but I don't think he's forgotten. All of the kids together made a rock band and gave us a concert, too. Fake guitar, drums, piano, and recorder.

Proposal!

A told me as her friends were leaving that she needed to get dressed (her dress was wet so she was changing it) so she could kiss her friend (also A) because she loved him. Then she saw him on the porch and told him she wanted to marry him when they were grownups. He said yes, he would marry her when they were grown up. Happiness ensued. Heehee. A has been saying that for a few weeks to me, and Boy A said that to his own mother recently, and now it's official. Or, as A says, FOR REAL she will marry him.

C now says she wants to marry his little brother, L. Time will tell, lol.

Wow, it's been a while.

We had Christmas. I can't believe I didn't post about Christmas. It was FAB. FAB-U-LOUS. The girls loved essentially EVERYTHING, didn't fight, and even forgot about opening presents to play with what was opened. G liked his toys, too! He really understood the whole "opening" concept. ;)

A few weeks ago a stomach virus swept the house and hit G pretty hard. He was sick for days and lost weight. He is now making up for it by eating 2-3 times as much (it seems) and is visibly looking much more G-shaped (he got all hollow-cheeked and skinny for a week or so afterwards. It was sad). He's squishy again now. He also has gotten a new tooth on top (left side) and a new tooth on the bottom (right side) and the random tooth dot that we could see when he was born is now a random molar popping through in the back. O.o

G is saying more sounds where I know what he's trying to say, but the general public would just hear babble. He is signing a lot more, and saying more of the words he's signing, which helps. Signing turns "uh" into "up" and "aaah" into "on" and "off" and "mah" into "milk," for instance. Well, the "up" isn't an official sign, but it works. He now signs, "milk," "mama," "more," "food/eat," "water" (which doubles as JUICE!!!!!!), "all done," "on/off" (lights), "cook," "clean," "hot," "potty," "cat" (his own invented sign), and "yuck" (he uses his "potty" sign and makes a "yck!!" sound). He's got the usual indicators for "no," "yes," and "up" (head shaking and nodding and reaching up are different from sign language). He also points to the TV and makes demanding noises (sigh), feeds himself, runs outside whenever possible (generally half-clothed), pretends to cook in the play kitchen, scribbles, pushes chairs around the kitchen and climbs on them, thinks knives are called, "No!" (that's what he calls them since that's what I say every time he climbs up and reaches for one in the sink), throws tantrums, watches the fish, and loves to dance if there's anything remotely resembling a beat.

A family sponsored trip to Chi-town to see the family is in the works. Woohoo!!!

J is now on a high dose of a different ADHD med and doing quiet well. He received his second invitation to an honor society (but they all charge fees, argh, so he hasn't joined any yet) and is working on scholarship applications.

C is very, very verbal. I need to write down some of the things she says! She will delineate very clearly exactly what she sees or what she is thinking, in long sentences with lots of description. It's funny in a 4-year-old.

We were watching the first Harry Potter and A asked why the characters' hair didn't grow at all in the entire movie. Heehee. Very good point.

Today A had a companion to help her during math. She turned her crayon into "Math Hero! She knows every number!" Math Hero sang through the entire math assignment, got every answer right, and added extra song challenges (like ordering all of her answers from lowest to highest).

I realized no one here really knows what our homeschool days look like. Generally, our schedule is:
Breakfast
Circle Time (song or finger play, poem, scripture to memorize)
Phonics or Spelling (A) and the phonics portion of C's K program
Reading (I read one aloud and A reads one aloud)
Play/snack break
Logic or Writing
Math
Science
The art portion of C's K program
On Fridays, we learn a new state and president.
On Wednesdays A has a full-day arts program, and on Wed/Fri C has play preschool for two hours. We also have playgroups two days a week. Busy busy!
In the summer, that will change a lot. We will have fun learning about/practicing art, music, and world cultures. Science will involve lots of animals and plants while everything is alive to observe. Art classes and preschool will be finished, and the girls should have swimming lessons.

Fun with A

Well, first off with some family help we loaded two IKEA shoeboxes with tons of art supplies (paper, pencils, crayons, markers, colored pencils, coloring book or colored paper), princess dress-ups, hair clips, nail polish, brain puzzles like a Rubix cube, games like Uno and the jumping pegs in a wooden board game, mini candy canes, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, soap, pink washcloth, and mini scriptures. We sent them out for Operation Christmas Child!

A caught a slug, a worm, a millipede, a caterpillar, a pillbug, and several snails in the last week. They all died, as did her fish. And her underwater snail, which climbed out of its waterbowl and escaped behind the dresser. Bad pet luck.

A invented her own version of "There's a Hole in the Bucket" today:

There's a hole in the fan, dear Liza, dear Liza
There's a hole in the fan, dear Liza, a hole.

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
Then fix it dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it.

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza,
With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, with what?

With metal, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
With metal, dear Henry, dear Henry, with metal.

With what shall I stick it, dear Liza, dear Liza,
With what shall I stick it, dear Liza, with what?

With tape, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
With tape, dear Henry, dear Henry, with tape.

But the tape is too loose, dear Liza, dear Liza,
But the tape is too loose, dear Liza, too loose.

Then glue it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,
Then glue it, dear Henry, dear Henry, glue it.

But the metal's too little, dear Liza, dear Liza,
But the metal's too little, dear Liza, too little.

The End!