Life goes on...

Today Grace wowed me with her astounding mathematical skills. I surprised her with a strawberry and a coconut cookie (and a Slush from Boba Smoothie -I love their Thai Milk Tea with Boba!) and she remembered that there was a third flavor. She said next time I should get 2 of each for myself, her, and her daddy. I asked how many that would be total. She walked herself through the solution- "2 for daddy, plus 2 for mommy, plus 2 for me is 6 of the coconut ... 2 strawberry for mommy, 2 for ... is 6 more, 2 for mommy ... of the green tea ... is 6 more..."

I prompted her with "...and 6 times 3 is...?" she looked at me quizzically. "There are 3 of us, each getting 6 cookies." I said. She just matter of factly said 18. Then she asked me how much they were. I replied, "4 for a dollar." She then solved that on her own in the most amusing way- to me anyway- it just reminded me that we all solve problems a little differently. She said "18 takeaway 4 is.... [squirm, murmur, wiggle].... 14," she held up a little finger, "that's 1 dollar, 14 takeaway 4 is.... [squirm, murmur, wiggle].... 10, that's 2 dollars," up went finger #2 and after counting up to $4 she matter of factly stated, "that leaves 2 cookies, which would be.... [squirm, murmur, wiggle] .... $4.50 for us all to try 2 of each flavor."

I almost popped with pride. I had no idea she could solve a word problem using all 4 mathematical processes that she is studying, all in her head.

I've been thinking her homeschooling has been light this year- but it's just because I'm not doing it, and her daddy takes a different approach. His method is working and it actually balances what I did in Kindergarten by being a bit more math and science based. Maybe we should alternate every year! I do feel that we have very successfully trasitioned to him being primarily responsible for her learning. By successful I mean- I don't hate that he isn't doing it my way! And of course, more importantly, Grace is loving learning again.

And he's doing all this while taking care of a quite demanding 9 month old- what an amazing man I ran off and eloped with almost 12 years ago. Our life together this far has been such a varied adventure.

Grace's 1st Grade Experience, etc

So far this year we have done a lot of in the moment, review, reading and math practice. She is still only 6 years old I keep reminding myself! She is enrolled in an enrichment program on Thursdays where she learns Spanish through play, guitar, clarinet, hip hop and tap. The kids bring a lunch and move between classes in the dance studio where the program is held. She loves it so far and is really learning a lot- she drew and labelled her guitar, made up her own song, tried out a flute, trumpet and recorder before settling on the clarinet and she is making friends!

I really want to get Joy in a baby signing class and both the girls in swim programs (Joy in a Mommy & Me so I can get in the water some too!) but I have been working 40 hours a week at Starbucks. I open the store at 4:30am 4 days a week and work a mid-shift on Saturdays. I got transferred to Fashion Island and have an interview planned for the end of the month for Assistant Manager... but... well I don't really want to get promoted! I want to cut back to 20 hours and be with my kids more!! Shawn has also been putting in a LOT of hours at OC Nissan and working really hard, doing well; making ok $, but it just isn't worth the hours if I still have to work towards management to provide that stable base.

Soooo... he talked them into allowing him to work less hours and we will see what happens- this week certainly went better. I was able to get more than 3-4 hours of sleep a day unlike the previous few weeks. Joy was sleeping well until we started this crazy schedule now she wakes up every couple of hours to nurse and she is teething so she can be quite a handful when you are barely conscious and trying to listen to a 6 year old with no front teeth sounding out letters.

Grace has been such a tremendous help, so thoughtful and considerate- making me sandwiches or warming me leftovers when I get home from work, so I can feed the baby. She often watches over Joy so I can do chores or even rest for a bit. I really like the little girl she is becoming. She has quite the fashion sense and she loves to design clothes for herself and Joy- maybe in the spring we'll put together a unit study around fashion design.

Life is back on TV. I like that.

Choreographed Mayhem

Lately Grace has been just full of energy and Shawn and I are totally zapped. This has resulted in too many snappy admonitions to "Settle down", and lots of frustrated, whiny, complaining behavior- and Grace's behavior isn't so great either.

We had a serious talk tonight about where we want to go as parents and how we are not doing the things we want because the lines are so blurred between work, play, homelife, learning, friends, chores, relaxing and family. We are always trying to do it all at once, work never ends and neither does playtime they just fit in around each other. This seems idyllic- it's not working out that way. As in many things, the "ideal" in practice isn't a workable situation.

I had a moment today where I felt left out, not wanted and it made me sad. Even though I truly did have something else to do I wanted to be included in what I thought I was being excluded from. It made me identify with my darling daughter. She is living that life. Although the big grand world has so much calling to her, wanting her to explore and play and discover- she wants to be included in everything we do.

It is such an uncommon thing to have both parents home almost all the time- neither of us ever HAS to be anywhere without her, and although I have been concentrating on how proud I am that she has gotten comfortable enough to be left at her classes and activities, I think I missed how spoiled she is becoming. And we have no one to blame but ourselves.

So tonight we decided to get back to parenting the way we think we should instead of reactionarily (I can so make up words if I want to!)- and one of the things we decided is missing is family silly play time. Grace was just bouncing off the walls and we were climbing up them- so we decided to choregraph a terrific fight scene (she wanted to use the light saber and do a Star Wars theme to match her new T-shirt, but it was slightly unwieldy). After lots of giggling, a few misplaced blows and the perfecting of a 5 move routine Grace happily skipped upstairs for her story with only one whiny plea of "one more time".

Grace had always been so well-behaved and then this past 6 months she has started becoming a little crazy, a little over the top- where once there was enthusiasm, it seems now there is a psycho attention monger. And as much as I do in the name of homeschooling, I think I have been missing the boat too often trying to juggle so many things.

Into every life a little order must fall... this sounds familiar, have I written this very blog before? Am I reliving the same day over and over until I get it right, like that one X-files episode or the Bill Murray movie? Only in real life you don't get to stop aging and the rest of the world keeps going too, until you wake up one day and your child is married and you have a houseful of unfinished projects.

Maybe it's just PMS talking... maybe I'm just crazy. Or more likely I am living through having a 4 year old in a mixed up world full of imperfect people and too much information.