Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Nice compliment!

On the way to town tonight, the idea of mom swapping came up. Specifically, Maggie thought two boys in her grade should swap moms so that "the mom's hair matched the boy's hair." Then the conversation morphed into swapping me with another mom:

"Would you want to swap me for someone else's mom?"
"NO WAY!!"
"Not even for one that yelled less?"
"Oh, mom, you don't yell at us."
"I don't yell at you?! Really?!?"
"Well, it doesn't seem like much. Maybe a little, but only when we need it."

And that made me happy. I feel like I yell ALL the stinkin' time, usually to be heard over the chaotic conversations. It made my heart smile to know that how I feel isn't how they hear it.

And, they'll keep me... for now. :)

Saturday, October 16, 2010

October update

I knew school would change how I did things; I probably underestimated how much less I would be able to do. My house is not clean. I miss my friends. I miss my husband. I make the kids a priority, because I think they need mommy time. And I study. A lot.

It's paying off. I got my first 100 percent last week and have a high A in my classes. I've learned so much information in such a short amount of time, but am really retaining it all. And enjoying it. It's easy to study when you are interested in what you are studying.

Katie is doing great in 4th grade. She is enjoying the lessons and loves any praise she gets for her academic success. Art club and dance make her the happiest 4th grader ever, except for those days when she's tired and a drama queen. I am getting little previews of what the teen years are going to look like, and I quiver with fear.

Maggie's gotten her behavior under control and has been a lot of fun lately. We had her 7th birthday party today at the bowling alley, and she proudly bowled the 2nd highest score. :) She is so creative and imaginative and I love hearing her vocab flourish. We are really hearing the benefit of her speech therapy, too, as she can now clearly say Rs and S's...still working on sh- and ch-.

Lainie too is doing great with speech. We hear lots of sentences and arguments and tattle taling. Even when I don't want to hear what she's saying, I'm just so darn grateful to be able to hear what she's saying. At this point, we are focusing on articulation, since her vocab and receptive communication is doing great, age appropriate. With the addition of speech we do get to see a bit of her argumentative side and I try very hard to treat her the same way I treated her sisters at the same age. I'm probably failing, but I am trying!

And Natalie! Oh, my, Natalie. Most days I call her Evil Kneivel. She still has no fears and loves to climb and jump and investigate and dig and did I mention climb? She has a fabulous belly laugh that's almost a growl and loves to give kisses. She's finally saying mama and, no, I am not tired of it yet. :)

We are a busy busy family with our eyes set on June. Just push through. We can do it. It'll be worth it. Please let it be worth it.