Tooth number two emerged today!
Who won the office pool?
March, 2005
30
Mar 05
Lydia is brilliant
Today my mother’s helper was here. Lydia is cranky because she still has a runny nose and a cough. She hung out with the mother’s helper for about two hours before getting super fussy. At that point, the mother’s helper brought her back to the office. Lydia got all excited, snuggled into my arms, wiggling with delight. Then she looked at the mother’s helper, waved, and said “Bye bye”. She was telling the mother’s helper that now that she had her mommy back, she could leave!
She is only nine months old! Brilliant I tell you! Brilliant!
29
Mar 05
One thing I just don’t get
Ok, quick intro – Jess moved out a couple of months ago – originally she was living in an apt with a teen mom. She lasted about 5 weeks there before moving in with another friend. Just before moving out of the apt with the teen mom, Jess got $3000 from a car accident she was in. She happily took that to the bank to open a checking account – her first ever. Then the next day, she and her roommate got into a big fight and Jess moved out – this was on a Friday or Saturday. The next Monday she went to the bank and told them NOT to mail her debit card or her checks to that address. They said fine. Well a week later (give or take), Jess goes to the bank to check her balance and learns that she has $156 in the bank – apparently the bank sent her stuff to her old address and the ex-roommate swiped something like $2600 from Jess. Over $500 is a felony. The bank is refunding Jess’s money, because it was their fault, and because it was on a visa check card which is protected like a credit card. No problem there.
Now here is what I don’t get (besides the fact of how did the ex-roommate justify this to herself??? Did she think she wouldn’t get caught? That Jess wouldn’t care? WHAT???), since this happened, the ex-roommate’s father has been calling Jess up threatening her (threatening to sue her because she moved out early – even though they demanded she move out, and even though she wasn’t on the lease – good luck there!) & begging her not to place charges because she has a baby (whatever). They don’t seem to get that this is the bank’s case, not Jessica’s. The bank has photos of this girl using the ATM – they have this girl admitting to it, etc., It really is out of Jess’s hands (not to mention that this girl is a FELON!). ANYWAY, the dad of the roommate is offering to pay Jess the money she stole, anything. And then, just today, the bank called Jess and told her that the girl is STILL writing checks on the account! Even though she KNOWS that she is under investigation and likely to face felony charges – even though she KNOWS that this bank account has been closed. Even though all of her friends and her family know what she has been doing, she is still writing CHECKS!
So what I don’t get – HOW can that father be willing to bail her out, and how can that father be so angry at the person his daughter victimized???? Its obvious that this girl never learned right from wrong and it is obvious that her father never taught her! I just don’t get it. I don’t get it at all. And some of their mutual friends are actually taking this girl’s side, blaming Jessica because this girl is going to go to jail and be separated from her son. Um, excuse me?? Jess should just forgive and forget that this girl stole nearly $3k from her?? This is NOT Jess’s fault here! This girl is doing this to herself.
And excuse me, but if I were this girl’s father, I would say, “Well dear, you sure did a stupid thing, I hope your jail term isn’t too rough on you” – he isn’t holding his daughter accountable at all. She committed a felony! And everyone feels sorry for her??? And even in the midst of all of this, she is continuing to do this???
28
Mar 05
Germs crawling from the walls
Well since I last posted, we have been sick. Lydia hasn’t displayed ANY mobility (except perhaps snot) since then, and various other household members have been sick to some degree or another. I fear that my turn is coming – my tummy hurts.
School – haven’t done that in over a week – the days that we were healthy last week, we had outside plans – like a kite workshop with our homeschool group! That was so much fun. Allison REALLY listened to the presenter, and even asked a question! She asked if the kites that he was displaying (most were REALLY big) were strong enough to lift her up into the air. It was very sweet…so she learned a lot (history, kite structures, etc.), and then both the girls got to build their own kites (art – science). I was really impressed with how well she paid attention, considering the presenter tailored his discussion towards the older kids.
After the kite workshop, Allison reported that she wanted to marry one of her friends in the homeschool group. He is a very sweet boy, and she certainly could do worse. What got me were her reasons for choosing this boy to be her future husband – 1) because they are the exact same age; 2) because they are already friends so she knows they will get along; and 3) because she thinks he will make a good daddy! Isn’t that the SWEETEST thing you have ever heard?????
Last friday, my car battery died – in the driveway of our new piano teacher’s house. Luckily her neighbor had some jumper cables and could help – it was still embarrassing. I felt as though I was transported back to the time of driving a 1972 rusted out Toyota Corolla or the 1977 Pink Thunderbird – affectionally referred to as the pimp-mobile (remember those cars, mom?)……
Easter was ok – quiet and simple here at home. Kids didn’t get much sleep, so they were cranky. Luckily Allison took a nap and was fine the rest of the day. I worked in between hunting for eggs and preparing a lovely Easter dinner for my children to shun.
Well, lets see….we had eye exams this morning – Allison’s eyes are fine! Mine, however, not so fine – ordered new glasses and contacts…but at least I can see again! Tomorrow the girls start swim lessons! They are SO excited. I hope everyone is healthy enough. Meredith hasn’t been sick yet, so I am preparing for that…Lydia is still sorta sick, but since she won’t be getting in the pool, it shouldn’t get in the way.
Me? Well I’m behind on an index -its due on Friday, and I am only on page 109 – I really need to have it in editing by tomorrow night….so that means about 80 pages a day. Guess I should be doing that now instead of blogging huh?……
22
Mar 05
she’s mobile
Lydia wasn’t mobile before her nap…but now she is. Not crawling, but gaining some major distance in the scooting dept. Its odd, because when I say she wasn’t mobile – I mean she didn’t move! She would sorta roll around, and she would get up on her hand or on her knees, but really seemed quite content where ever you put her. And when I say now she is mobile, I mean I sat her down on my office floor, and she got down on her belly and has scooted all over my floor. Probably moved 2-3 yards (my office isn’t that big) in a couple of minutes or so!
As Lydia would say, Uh oh!
22
Mar 05
Why can’t she ask the easy questions?
You know, like why is the sky blue, or how does water get in our sink faucets – where do babies come from – Stuff like that. Instead she asks about the banking system, and evolution, and how language evolved, what the “first” people wore, and Santa/Easter Bunny/Tooth fairy – and not easy questions about those “people” – hard ones. Like how did Santa start doing what he does? Who was the first kid he visited? How can he afford all of this? I tried to tell her that Santa is a spirit, a feeling that each one of us have inside of us, and people all over the world carry on the work of Santa – just short of saying that I am Santa…it is me! And that seemed to pacify her for a while, but now the questions are coming again, and including Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy questions as well. I HATE having to answer these questions, because I feel as though I am lying to my own child! Dare me to tell her??
Anyway, this post isn’t about Santa – it is about our conversation earlier today…the banking system one. Why can’t she settle for an “I keep my money in the bank so that it will be safe and I won’t loose it” LOL. She wants to know about checks, why I use those, why the check I was depositing is the same as money, what the banks do with my money, what the store does when I write them a check, where the first money came from, who physically makes money, and why can’t they make more of it so that we can buy whatever we want…that leads to a conversation about the government and taxes.
But here is a funny – the conversation started innocently enough, and I did try to limit it to the answer of “I keep my money in the bank so it will be safe” – her response to that was “How do they keep it safe? Do they keep your money in a big jar or something?” LOL
I love that kid.
20
Mar 05
trend on my mailing lists
In the past couple of weeks, I have noticed a bit of a trend with regards to postings on my email lists. I belong to several lists, most being homeschool lists. I mostly lurk, often not even reading the messages. Lately, in the messages I have been reading, I’m noticing a LOT of posts saying “I just started homeschooling this year, and am apalled at how little my children has learned in their years of public schooling.” And these messages are getting responses from many other people who share their experiences, and report further disturbing experiences, like not only do their children not know much, but their children do not know how to learn. They don’t know how to question, research, or work.
Boy can I relate – that is my exact experience with Jess when I pulled her out in the 7th grade. Between homeschooling her in Kindergarten and resuming homeschooling in the 7th grade, I had lost her. She didn’t know how to learn. To her, education was something that was given to her, rather than something she worked for or sought out for herself.
A year or two ago, the trend I noticed was that a lot of people who choose homeschooling for their children had been teachers in either the public or private school system…and even from that vantagae point – within that system, they knew that they wanted different for their own children.
17
Mar 05
I offer the following as further evidence that I have the coolest kids
I was feeding Lydia breakfast and she was spitting after each bite. I kept going “no no no Lydia, please don’t spit bananas on Mommy”, to which she would spit more at me (she loves to spit, but loves it more when she has ammo in there). After this going on for a while, Allison says in this odd disgusted voice, “Are you really sure she’s smart, Mom?”
Another one -
You know you are in trouble when your three year old enters your office, hands on her face, sorta shaking her head slowly and sadly, and announces, “It was an accident Mommy, I’m REALLY REALLY sorry. It really was an accident”
16
Mar 05
three – two – one – BLAST OFF!
We have moved back to our original reading lessons – 100EZ lessons, and scrapped Original Parent’s Guide for the time being. We liked the stories in 100EZ lessons – and Original Parent’s Guide seemed a bit forced. Plus Allison just didn’t seem to get as much from the way the material is presented – phonograms/pure phonics rather than the distar approach of 100EZ lessons – so I made an excutive decision. We are going to finish 100EZ lesson, and then we may do the last 20-30 lessons in Ordinary Parent’s Guide (it seems to go a bit further than 100EZ lessons), and then move on to spelling, ala Writing Road to Reading and lots of just reading out loud. SO, this week we shifted back and I realized something, Allison seemed to be struggling with reading before we moved to Ordinary Parent’s, and seemed to continue to struggle even more with Ordinary Parent’s – not really struggling in her ability, but more in her desire…and some in her ability too…but now that we are back with 100EZ lessons, it is apparent that she was struggling because she was about to make a MAJOR jump…I can’t believe the difference in her reading! She is so much more fluent now! It is incredible! I am blown away. Our reading lessons have been back under 15 minutes, without the timer. Before we shifted from 100EZ lessons, we were breaking a lesson up over two days so that it wouldn’t be overwhelming or too long to maintain focus. And now, here we are, and she is BLASTING through these lessons, and reading the stories with much increased fluency and comprehension. It is like night and day! Today she even asked to do two lessons (I talked her out of it, lol). So we are on lesson 82 – only 18 more of 100EZ lessons!
In other news, we resumed piano with a new teacher, and even Meredith is partaking in piano lessons! She is just basically doing a preschool thing, playing around with pitch, tone, etc. Not really learning to play But their teacher says that Meredith has a great deal of focus for a three year old and should do very well! Allison likes her new teacher a lot. She didn’t think she would, but she does
And, in even more news, I found the Kindergarten level of our math program on ebay for a good price, so now when Meredith is older (probably in a year or so), she has her math all ready to go!
And in even more news, unrelated to education, Lydia has a tooth, talks and is working on mobility! Watch out world! I think she is going to be a dainty gentle little thing She doesn’t seem as destructive as Meredith:
But time will tell
12
Mar 05
what’s going on here
supposed to be 73 degrees today and only 33 degrees with up to 6 inches of snow tomorrow?