Story time

Everyone enjoys the bedtime routine. (Which will soon be enhanced by extra rigorous brushing, and possibly some flossing, since the (first ever!) dentist visit this morning showed a need for extra prevention.)


Melanie is quite captivated by the story, despite the slow pace of the reader. Who knows, maybe
she's trying to follow the words on the page...either that or the pictures are lovely.


Not fast enough for Daniel though, but he prefers storytime cuddling with me instead. And occasionally asking to come up to Dad again, and swatting at the book for a while.


Matthew prefers to read two at a time. That way he can catch up with his older siblings faster.


Nathan offered to read. "Daddy if I read a 40 or 50 page book will you read this book for me?" And he displays a 40+ page book for Daddy to see.

As a side note,

Have you ever noticed how quickly kids grow up these days!
Peach fuzz at age three already!
Must be a result of those strange things we make our kids eat.

Matthew's version

It's been so long, that I forget the all-important things I was going to say about Matthew.
Sorry.

One of a kind

There is only one Melanie.
(Well, only one in our house.)

She's also the only one I know that would want me to trace an eraser for her new book.

"Can you trace my eraser?"
"Yes.
...
Why?"
"Just 'cause.
...
Can I see my picture?"
(Meaning-can I see this goofy face that I've been posing for the camera?)


Melanie spends a lot of time hopping off her chair and finding things that she may need when she finally does get busy.

But once she has all the materials that she deems necessary then in a dedicated, and oftentimes, hurried way she will do her work.

Melanie prefers to use anything glamorous or pink or purple, but she'll try anything new or different too. After all, why try something again that you've already done once?

And, she loves layering and mixing! If the yellow she chose was too bright for her eraser drawing, she is quite willing to go over top of it with white until it satisfies her, or until she decides it won't get any lighter no matter how long and hard she tries.

Flying high

Nathan was given a blank book.

"What are the lines on it for Mom?"
"You can draw a picture here (I point at blank part of page) and write a story or about your picture there (I point at lines).
Brief pause.
"Can I have a pen?"
"Sure, help yourself.
I'm busy."

After rummaging up a pen

he created the following:
"a plane and a plane and a plane..."

"and thunder"
(really meaning lightning).

Now that he created his work of art, and shared it with an appreciate audience (even busy mothers stop to look sometimes)

he is busy with his next, completely unrelated project.
Well, unrelated as far I can tell.

"Mom, how do you spell "Holy holy holy"?"


The other night Nathan did not get to pick the bedtime story. (Not that he usually does more than 1/4 the time!) He refused to sit beside the book and be a part of the story reading.

But it was okay to follow along (with the same story in a collection by the same author) in the library book version. And soon, because Daddy occasionally made an interesting remark about the illustrations, Nathan was just as interested as the others, only he was trying hard to act as if he wasn't.

Thanks

Ugh. My head is throbbing, my kid is crying, my nose is running, my throat is tickling, and supper is not yet made. Worst of all, my husband will leave after an hour of being home, and I am going to have to try put four grumpy kids to bed all by my-tired-self. I wish Oma were back here, so she could baby me, and I could be lazy.

We are thankful for the time we did spent together with Oma. (Too bad I wasn't more cheerful!) And fortunately, the kids have been kept busy since her absence with books she left. Fortunately they weren't all reading aloud books, as I can't do much reading with my voice not being at it's best.

Seriously

Homeschooling has officially begun in our home. Since we got back from our holidays sometime we began. I thought having a bit more structure might help with some of the severe behaviour problems that have blown up since the kids are no longer spoiled rotten and have realized that they do indeed have another sibling, and must split their mother 4 ways now, and in 4 disproportionate ways at that. Now that January is almost over, the kids seem to have settled down to their former more manageable level of (dis)obedience. When I tuck myself in at nights my throat no longer feels strained from yelling, and my adrenaline is not pumping madly from poor anger management and self control. Time has settled the kids, no thanks to thoughtful interventions.

My reading stack is a little big, and I'm rather behind...but some of it is pleasure reading, and a lot of it only neads to be read a snippet at a time. So maybe I'll manage.

Just to break any (dis)illusions you may have about me homeschooling:
I plan to spend not more than a half hour with Nathan per day, Mon-Fri
All days start with some Bible stuff (currently Schoolland book above) and singing
Reading lessons will begin next month since Nathan appears (to my untrained eye) to be ready
Matthew and Melanie join a bit of it, and Melanie gets her own "lesson" as sitting practice mostly
I have no idea where I'm going with this homeschooling business
Philip is the resource/motivator/goal setter/monitor

Wish me luck on this new venture. ;)

If I have to.

After quiet time, I often, when I feel generous, read a book to Nathan. After all, he takes them to bed to read, and usually want at least one of them explained or read to him once he is released from his hour of boredom.

Today I read one. He was looking out the window about half the time. I thought it was because he knew the pictures by heart.

But then, as soon as I was done.
"Mommy, can I play outside on the driveway?"
"Yes."
"On the driveway, Mom?"
"Yes, I heard you."
(But did you hear me?)

And I thought I was doing him a favour.

Something is not right!

In the middle of the night
Miss Clavel turned on the light
and said, "Something is not right!"

As usual, life with kids has ups and downs.

Life has ups and downs without kids too...but there's no way for me to know that for certain. Things in my domain cycle from
Fantastic!
to
"Something is not right!"
usually for me life requires the "turning on of the light" for me to notice just how bad things are. Today the light is on.
I saw it flicker yesterday:
Melanie was sitting sedately in her booster seat sometime in the afternoon.

Maybe she'd been coloring? I don't know.
But suddenly she bangs her hand up and down on the table and YELLS
"You be quiet and listen to me NOW!"


(Now who's horrible lack of manners, respect and love could she possibly be imitating SO precisely, we wonder?)


That was just a glimmer. Today she was much worse.

Potty training, which I thought was complete (she has the odd accident every week or so, but otherwise perfect), was a COMPLETE disaster today. COMPLETE. Probably nothing went where it should have today.
By the time I tucked her in bed for the night, I felt my voice was strained.
From YELLING. Yes, yelling.
And my body drained.
From ANGER.
That is terrible.

It has come to that.
For a while now.
Once again.

So what's the next step?
I guess it will be to once again go back on my knees
and admit I just can't do it.
I need help.
Tonnes of it.

Time to, once again, realize that these are God's children, not mine.

Time to respect them (again).

Time to love them (again).

Time to stop loving myself quite quite so much (AGAIN!!).

I need to spend some time, once again, trying to figure out what each of them needs. Spend GOOD time with them, not just guilt laden pretend good time.
If I start this way, hopefully, they'll start listening better...
because I'll be listening better!

Then maybe I won't feel like yelling anymore.

Part of the reason things have deteriorated this much just now, I suspect, is because of the forthcoming trip. It's hard to focus on here when I'm thinking of there.

If the older two really get so bad, what does it matter? I can fix it when I get back, right?
Or Daddy can fix it while I'm gone!
(evil cackles)

Yup, I have been full of horrible attitudes lately. But now I'm truly sorry for it.

First I must be mended,
then I'll have a hope with the kids.

Here we go 'round the mulberry bush

Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush
Here we go ‘round the mulberry bush
So early in the afternoon


As far as picking goes, Matthew was a cherry picker, not a mulberry picker. That is, he'd bend down to pick up fallen dirty ones 'cause then he knew I'd say "No, don't touch those Matthew, they're yucky!" and promptly give him a good one to ensure good behavior (temporary good behavior, I mean.)

If you've read "Blueberries for Sal" by Robert McCloskey, you'll see that Melanie is a perfect little Sal.



There were no bears...but she did share her berries with Matthew, and had nothing left over in her pail at the end.

Nathan was a fabulous helper! It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't eat any!!


Yup, that bowl of berries were ALL picked by him. He, however, didn't share with Matthew OR Melanie. Both him and I had to keep saying:
"No Sal,
Run along and pick your own berries."
(Mother wants to can hers for the winter)
Or gobble them up in a day or two. :)

Mishmash Monday

You should read this book if you want to know how I feel about summer in Ontario. :p I shall give you a brief summary of the relevant part.

The Night Girl never saw the sun in her life...then one day she sees it.
I quote:
Anyhow, [the sun] must be death; for all her strength was going out of her, while all around her was growing so light she could not bear it. She must be blind soon! Would she be blind or dead first? ....
"Oh I'm so frightened! What is this! It must be death! ... This is terrible. I want to hide... Ah me! ah me!"

It is a sunny muggy day, with promises of many more to come this summer. Maybe we'll go camping soon--I never mind muggy weather if we're camping since I can dive in the water to cool down whenever I like.


As you can see, playing isn't as easy as it sometimes looks....


Memory is fun with two...as long as Melanie doesn't mess up the cards. Nathan was very helpful and they took turns on their turns helping each other find sets.


Waking up together

and gobbling the dry crunchy end of Daddy's breakfast loaf (that he doesn't want anyways. :p )


Hugs! These spontaneous displays of affection scare me because I always think Melanie is going to roll over or shove Matthew onto the floor. So far no major injuries...

I am the cheese

The real cheese.


This child would have the camera instead of the nurse. I guess he's a misfit. :p

(Thanks for lending me your book, Lulu. :) )

Temperamental vacillating and volatile.

Fluctuating female at your service!


I am happy. Today I got the things done I wanted to do today. I did not even forget that my children existed during this "productive time", and spent lots of quality time bonding with them. (Bonding, apparently, is one of the focal points of my job.) We had a lot of fun together. Buying and wrapping birthday presents, baking, story reading...


I am frustrated and tense. Today I had children, who took random turns at testing my patience. A few untimely "NO"'s instead of "Yes Mom"'s, a few signs of physical aggression towards each other, and a few too many clingy grabby arms crying for carrying.


I am wiped. Today I had the unshakable feeling of having gotten out of the wrong side of bed a few too many hours earlier than acceptable. I'm am SURE that this is the ONLY reason why I lost my patience, and I can put the sole responsibility on this, and spend the rest of the evening with my conscience unscathed. After all, if I did yell a little, it was only the fault of being a little too tired.

And now it is time for me to be bathed. It may relax me a little.
MAY?
May is a nice time of year you know. Flowers, trees, birthdays, holidays...
HOLIDAYS?
I get to have lots of holidays this year...flying far away, canoe trips, family visiting
VISITING?
We are going visiting tomorrow. A four year old girl's birthday party. I shall fit right in, I am sure. Maybe I'll take the kids along too, after all, I doubt I can find a babysitter on a Friday morning this late in the game.
GAME?
Did I mention the present me got the girl was a game? Hungry hungry hippos. There are four hippos in there, Harry, Homer, Happy and I don't know.
HAPPY?
I shall be happy in the bath.
BATH?
Right, I was going. Time to relax some of my tense muscles...maybe pick up a good book.
Before I blow up.

BANG!