the sleppys

At the beginning of the year, I started a new home schooling routine: Before we start the week of schooling, I plan lessons, incorporating all the core subject books (handwriting, journal, mathematics) and add a sprinkle of formal learning of science and social studies from E.D. Hirsch’s What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know. The chart is working better than the previous, which had only the subjects that we were doing that day but no defined lesson.

My mom gave the boys Brain Quest Workbooks. Kyle hasn’t started on his Kindergarten book yet. He is still four, and I’m waiting for his birthday to begin requiring his participation in home schooling. Although, he has been practicing his handwriting on a laminated board with a dry-erase marker. Ty is halfway through the Grade One book, completing six to eight pages a day. He flies right through it. Sometimes, he needs my help, especially if we’re introducing a new concept, i.e. parts of speech. But when he understands it, he’s flying. On those easy Brain Quest days, I can plan tougher, more involved lessons in piano or geography.

Everyday, we work in our composition books. Lately, I’ve given Ty a topic for his journal entry because he was getting bored of writing what happened the day before or his plans for the weekend. This week, we are having a Valentine’s unit study, so his topics are on love and friendship. We read the history of Valentine’s Day together, and eight of those words were for handwriting (cupid, birds, Lupercalia, saints). Handwriting is copying the same word three times, making it look better than the previous time. He does this for days of the week, months, parts of plants, continents, planets… whatever we are studying or have studied. Last week, he copied nursery rhymes.

After six weeks of trying to get it together, I still haven’t gotten it together. I don’t know how often the babies wake up during the night. I don’t know which one is eating more, sleeping more, or having more diaper changes during the night. It’s dark. I just grab whichever baby is crying (I can’t even tell their cries apart, by the way!), change Baby’s diaper, and latch Baby onto whichever side feels the fullest.

Dear Husband did have the idea of putting the couches together to make one great co-sleeper. Before going to bed, I join the loveseat and the sofa, tuck a blanket into the cushions so that the babies won’t fall through the cracks, and prepare a diaper changing station. I fall asleep in my proper room and about three hours later, I pick up a crying baby and move her to the couch. She falls asleep while latched on to nurse, and so do I. I don’t know when the second baby wakes up, but the first baby wakes up when I unlatch her. So I have two babies to latch. Throughout the rest of the night, the three of us sleep together. Sometimes we are joined by a third girl who is *way* to big to fit with us, but we manage. I wake up to the gurgling sounds of the coffee maker or to the older children’s laughter. Refreshed!

This weekend, we did a little bit of preparation for school. For Herbology, we planted cucumbers, watermelon, squash, bush beans, and other summer produce – “summer” actually means autumn down here. We’ll plant, from seed, spinach and lettuce later in the fall.

Ty found a greenthumb:

Today is the first day of the public school year. We woke up to the squealing brakes and roaring engines of school buses. Dad got out of bed early (we went to sleep early, which helps) and began an Herbology class with Ty. This is what the Greenleaf School is all about. They were observing the cucumber that sprouted yesterday morning. Ty was still in his pajamas during class.

Dad is out purchasing kitchen herbs to be transplanted. The boys are reading a book together: It sounds that Ty is reveiwing colors and shapes with Kyle. Taylor and I are about to cut circles of screen for the transplant herbs’ pots.

I always liked the first day of school. We don’t have pictures of brand new lunch boxes, backpacks, nor school clothes because we don’t have those things. What for? So here’s a picture of the boys on the computer, putting a house together for The Read Family.

And this is to explain why there are so few pictures of Kyle:

It finally rained again. There are pros and cons to rain. The summertime is the rainy season around here. Well, it’s more thunderstorm than rain. We had a few rainless weeks, and it was pretty nice having the sun to dry diapers and clothes quickly. I could wash up to six loads and get them dry by the time I got back home from work without the threat of rain or lightning.

But it finally rained again. We needed it, too. The grass is turning brown again, and our poor lantanas and pentas in from of the house were being baked right outside! That’s my fault, though. We have rainwater that we’ve been collecting since the first rains of spring. It doesn’t occur to me to water the plants except when it rains.

*head desk*

Now that it’s raining again, the clothes takes hours to dry. It’s so muggy and humid out, that even in full sun, the clothes is wetter than when it came out of the wash.

I’m totally exaggerating, but you get the point.

It feels hotter because of the humidity, so we don’t go outside anymore. We used to spend late mornings in the “fort,” reading books, watching bugs, and relaxing on the swing. But the threat of mosquitoes’ carrying off one of my kids is too much to bear.

I feel like a heel using the dryer on perfectly sunny days. We’re running the air conditioner now, so using the dryer just uses up more energy… Energy that is *free* when it comes from the sun! I’m at a loss. We could put up some clothes line in our basement and build a fire, but we don’t have a basement, and I’m afraid of fire.

Yesterday, I washed three loads, including diapers, and dried them in the sun. It threatened to rain, as it does on most summer afternoons, so I brought the half-dried clothes and diapers inside and used the drier on them for a few minutes. That may seem a little silly and takes more energy on my own part, but the clothes dried, right? Yes. I suppose that’s the point: to do little, silly things that make you tired of doing them, like washing diapers.

We have been walking to the laundromat lately because I thought that it would be good for the kids to walk places and not ride in the car so much. Now that we’re moving, we won’t need a laundromat as our new place will have a washing machine.

Today was a fun laundry day. Our way to the laundromat was typical: Ty pulled the wagon that carried the load while I carried Taylor and kept sheperding Kyle to follow us at the right speed – he tends to lag. At the laundromat, we did some homeschooling (read fairy tales, flipped through Nature Flash cards, and signed the alphabet and some words and phrases). On the way back, though, Taylor was getting really tired – she was walking – so I put on my sling to carry her. But Kyle saw that I was wearing the sling, and he asked to be carried. I put Kyle in and sat Taylor on the bundle of clean and folded clothes, held on to her as I helped Ty with the wagon. I pushed; he pulled and steered.

With the two of us being the only ones walking, we made it back home in record time. It’s tiring, carrying Kyle, but the sling made it easier for him to ride on my back (horse-y like), and Taylor was falling asleep on her own lap while riding on the clothes. Over the speed bumps, she chuckled, and, well, I had a good time. Ty got a little lazy, noticing that I was pushing the wagon, but I told him to really pull and walk faster. He did. It made him laugh that he was almost running while pulling the wagon. It just made it easier to have everyone working and doing the part that they could do.

He’s always ready to go to work. And he’s always asking to go to work… when he’s not pretending to be a Mater, screaming about the Ghostlight. But he doesn’t like diaper changes (He ought to learn to go in the toilet), and he won’t keep his hair in a ponytail.

Yesterday, while at the bank, he points to the floor. “Hi, Mommy!” He waves like mad. “Hi, Mommy, I see you.”
I laugh, “Hi, Kyle! I see you, too. Can you see my reflection? Do you see the lights from the ceiling being reflected?”
“Yea!” he giggles. “It’s like water.”
“Yes, water reflects light, too.”

Then he crouches, purses his lips toward the floor and begins to blow. “Look, it’s like this.” And he makes a waving motion with his wrists and and fingers.
“Are you imagining the ripples in the water?”

The folks at the bank think the kids are so cute and well-behaved. (o_O) But the boys didn’t get a lollipop yesterday because they started running in circles (although one of the bank people said that it was okay, that no one was around), helping themselves to the muffins, and especially because they didn’t sit and be quiet when I had asked them about 17 times. Kyle kept laughing even though I was on the verge of spanking people. Still, they behaved well for the first half-hour of standing in line. So I can’t possibly be THAT angry with them.

We walked to the post office, which didn’t take us too long since I made them both run (while I carried Taylor in the sling). I just walked fast. It reminds me of Harry Potter, when he has to run to stay beside Dumbledore, who, being tall, takes one step for every three of Harry’s steps. Ty likes holding the door for people, but people don’t seem to want to accept that. They hold the door open, and say, “You can go ahead.” But that bothers Ty, and I don’t know how to tell a gentleman that Ty is learning to be a gentleman. And walking away, Ty gets hot and bothered and forgets to say “thank you.”

We picked up our mail, and Ty wanted to run some more. He’s capable of long-distance. I think we ought to put him in cross country or marathons when he’s older. (One time, we we at the zoo and had to get to the car ASAP, so I carried Taylor, pushed Kyle in the stroller and let Ty run beside me. For almost a mile, he kept the pace, without whining or complaining, just concentrating on running.) Kyle, on the other hand, is like me: explosive energy will save my life, not that cardio/endurance crap. He was tired when we got to the post office. Didn’t want to run back to the car. So I carried him some of the way. After he got in a better mood and my arms were tired, he ran some more. I think his diaper may be hindering him. Next step: Go in the toilet. Ya can’t be a professional hockey player if yer wearin’ diapers.

Last night the boys fell asleep after 11pm (the usual is 9pm), so I was sure that they’d either be cranky upon waking or they’d be waking later than usual. But no.
“Good morning, Mommy. Good morning, Daddy,” happily, cheerfully, even laughing, at the crack of dawn.

“Arthur” is supposed to come on Channel 17 at seven o’clock. Since Monday, the station switched that annoying “Maya & Miguel” show to 7am and “Arthur” to 7:30am. “Little Einsteins” comes on at 8am… so when’s breakfast? It used to be at 7:30, between both shows… ARRGH. Serves us right for not having TiVo. =P

Still, I hate that the public television station just switches the shows around. It’s not like I’m happy letting my kids watch just any shows. And the shows need to come on at certain times in order for them to fit in the routine. But the stupid public television station doesn’t give a hoot about what *I* want. They just ask for money every six months and scramble the shows up. Worse still, they air those dumb public school board meeting once a month, for SEVEN HOURS!!

*****

NASA must have known that we were not going to be able to catch the shuttle launch today, so they postponed it for tomorrow. At least NASA knows who their fans are… unlike the public television station.

Very bad week.

*****
And now for the good news:

Taylor is not really crawling, but she is absolutely mobile. She wriggles like that spider who was swallowed by the woman who swallowed the fly, which I don’t know why she swallowed the fly. Back to Taylor, who wriggles and jiggles like Jell-O with legs. She sees something that isn’t hers, and she’s OFF!! Ooh, I bet I can put that in my mouth! She has a tough time getting moving while she’s sitting on her bottom, but when she’s belly-down, Watch out, America! This girl really knows where she’s going!

Or does she?

And Ty, my good friend Ty. He’s so funny. He’ll tell you the morning routine inside and out…

“First go to sleep, then good morning. Then watch ‘Arthur.’ Then have breakfast. Then the ‘Rocket Show.’ Then… uhm….”
“Shower?”
“Yea. Then shower. Then… uhm… take recycling outside?”
“Yea, take ‘cycling outside. Then… uhm… The end!”
And that covers only until 9am.

Kyle, I’ve noticed the past few days, has been “My turn” more than usual. It’s his turn to the turn the TV off, to close the car door, to close the bedroom door, to turn off the shower, to get the dust broom and dust pan. blah blah blah. Still, I like it!

Go, Kyle!!

He has such good hair, too. I mean, I like Ty’s hair and all, but Kyle has streaks of blonde, like groovy surfer dude. It looks so good!

The kids want yogurt.

Friday isn’t over yet, but we’ve had a busy one so far! Things went pretty smoothly. Our Little Einsteins-centered routine is working. The boys woke up extremely early (about 6:30am) and played in their room for a while before they made some loud noise that brought Dad and me out of bed rather quickly.

Breakfast. Showers. Dressed up for the library. Well, not dressed up, but GOT dressed. I checked out three books, but I was planning on checking out six – I guess I forgot a few books on the table in the Children’s Section. ::slaps forehead:: I guess we’ll keep our fingers crossed so that they will be on the shelves next week and not checked out by someone else.

Grocery store, where Kyle threw a tantrum that hurt Ty’s ears. I had gotten a couple of hot dogs for us to share because it was awfully close to lunch time and all of us were getting cranky. Kyle’s bread started falling apart at the end, so he showed us all how mad he can get. The folks at Publix are greatly friendly – and helpful. The bagboy saw that I had my hands full (Kyle wanted to be carried, but I was also carrying Taylor… ::sigh:: It was quite a sight!), so he put my groceries on the checkout console for me. The folks at that particular Publix know that I can usually handle the load of three kids under four… we are regulars there.

We used to go to the park on Friday mornings, but it’s been so terribly hot lately – and the park is taken up by the summer camp kids now. I think I may have mentioned that before. I still want to find a place where we can pratice light gymnastics and some tumbling that’s not in the hot sun.

We’re trying to get a nap routine established. Our schedules (Dad’s and Mom’s) are so hectic and last-minute that the poor children suffer from irregular nap times. Like most households, it looks like 1-3pm is a good time. But the kids aren’t too used to that yet (we started the routine today, so we have to be patient), and it’s nearly 5pm, and Kyle is just waking up from his nap while Ty is aching for his own nap to begin. Sorry, buddy, your nap window is closed.

Going out for Dad’s cheeseburgers now.

Testing…

So the day started early when the boys woke up at dawn. We all sat around, thinking of what to do, until “Arthur” came on at 7am. Breakfast and little more television until 8:30am. Daddy went off to work. Boys played trains. Played cars. Played bread dough. Played played played played. It was all fun and games until…

“Okay, boys, time to put these toys back in your room.”
Then, as predicted, it was all protesting and hollering. But everything was under control, as the Free Speech Zone is in the bedroom.

So it’s 10am, and all is quiet on the homefront – except for the sporatic bouts and shouts of frustration. BabyGirl is taking her mid-morning nap.