Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Beautiful January day






It was a beautiful day outside - and we played in it for a while today. Then we went to visit some new friends, and Esme had a good time playing with them. She was very happy playing with the 1 year old little boy and then warmed up to the girl (who is a little younger than her and was feeling worried about her toys so Esme sensed to back off for a while...) as well and was running all over the house with them within a few hours. She didn't want to leave, though - she said it made her 'not feeling any good' to have to leave them there and that her green house was not home anymore when she was not feeling good. Well, at least that is communication! She didn't mean it, though... we took the purple shovel into the bathtub with her and she made 'soap soup' in the shovel and chicken pie. We are going to go out to Jackson tomorrow with Grandma and Grandpa.

Also - she fell asleep before 9 o clock pm. That, is amazing.

She also said she was a 'Futurama lady' but I couldn't understand the name she was saying. I asked if it was Leela or Amy ... and then said it couldn't be Fry because he was a man. Esme said, no kidding: 'The rocks turn Fry to a lady, once', and held up her finger to me with her little 'aha' look. We watched that episode once a few weeks ago, and then she suddenly remembers that... Yes, the rock aliens did change everyone's gender in that episode, and then they changed them back.

What a day. Let's see what we do tomorrow.

The Update on the language testing I spoke with the language tester briefly the other day. She could not tell me much, as she wants an official meeting to see what we can do for Esme through the school district. The next time our schedules meshed is not until the 17th of February. That is a long time. I did ask her to tell me 'something', and she said she actually had 'good' vocab, 'decent' speech sounds (just a few off, that are normal to be off at this age), no major hearing problem, but she 'did qualify for services' because of a vast difference between her receptive and expressive language abilities. She scored 'very high, nearly all of them' on her receptive language. She is getting the message loud and clear. But, she scored 'a bit lower than expected/average' on expressive language. I'll know more specifics when that meeting happens.

In short: she is understanding a LOT, unable to express much of what she wants to, and it is frustrating her. She tries to express what she can with the words she knows - and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't... The lady did not say this but we know she is highly creative, because she uses words in combinations that approximate what she means - but often in 'Engrish' sounding ways because she does not remember/know the 'usual' form of saying what she means ie: today 'My friends no come with us, they stay there, in the door (their house). I am no feeling any good now.' It takes a second longer to process that type of sentence - but the meaning is clear. Not all of her approximations are this clear, that was a really good one.

Add this with the wide range of things she remembers - but may not be able to express what she is trying to 'connect' to the present at any given time... yes, I can see where all the angst and argument is coming from lately. Her expressions of displeasure and disagreement make it much harder to work through the day, but at least they are expressions - we try to work through them, and help her understand. It is better than her bottling it up and/or throwing frustration fits we have no idea what they are about at all. I will go to the meeting to see what the lady offers, and what kind of activities she thinks would benefit Esme the most. If she wants her to come back once a week for exercises (like I did for speech when I was little) I'm not sure if we could do that with my schedule, and I'm not sure if they'd let us do it when the schedule did meet up. But - knowing where to 'put my finger on the issue' will help a lot in itself... knowing it is not a different issue, not trying to treat a broken leg when there is just a cold etc...

Sunday, January 29, 2012

remember to do this...

more often: Pick up Esme first thing I get home and drive her up the road to see the beautiful pink sunset before it goes away :)

I want to call the speech lady tomorrow morning before I need to go to work, and find out if she has any results. On Tuesday after 11:30 one of the girls at work will call us to come play with her little ones.. we hope. I haven't told Esme about this yet because last time we set it up Esme got her last cold the day before and I had to withdraw. Wednesday, we go to Jackson with Grandma and Grandpa.

weekend...

Off to work early again, yesterday was a very hard and busy day. Esme was in a much better mood, though. I am looking forward to a few days off in the middle of next week. I have fixed my old laptop and gave it to her a few days ago - to replace the one that died before - she is so happy. I should have done it much earlier. I have not sewn up the shirt or cut the jumper out. Esme's cardigan from last year has paint on the sleeve and a run at the elbow.. I should get knitting again on her replacement. I have the back of it done but nothing else.

Friday, January 27, 2012

bits and bobs

We still have not received any results from the language or hearing tests. I think she is waiting for Monday now. But, I've realized that in the past few days a lot of what Esme has done for 'testing limits' and such has been because she is on the verge of another growth spurt. This spurt has a lot to do with language - which is why I have focused on it myself.

A lot of her upset is about things she cannot explain and/or get enough information to calm herself about the topic. ie: monsters, sickness and injuries, people 'stealing' things, buildings being torn up by weather or earthquake etc... She wants to fix people who are sick, and to cook and share food and make everyone happy -- but she also thinks that she is too little and can't help to do the things she needs to do... She worried Mama talking to the 'doctor lady' at the 'school' meant she was sick, also because the other children there were handicapped and it scared her. She still wanted to play, and is so very sweet adapting to almost anyone on their level - no one can believe she barely ever sees other kids. She steps right in and 'mothers' younger kids sometimes but also really loves a group of lots of different ages and any sort of rough-and-tumble. She cried softly one day and said she wanted to 'see her real friend' - a girl we saw at the library she does not know if she will see again etc... She also worries that Mama will not be able to protect her in a terrible weather/accident... more to me than to Mark, but sometimes to him as well (directing him through parking lot traffic sometimes)

It boils down to this - she picks up more than she can emotionally process, because part of her mind is five or six and the other part (especially emotions and communication) is still two or three. This is partially why I have kept such good records over the years - she has never followed the 'regular schedule' on almost anything. It makes everything harder! Sometimes I don't know what to expect on any given day - and when we are in 'spurts' it can be worse. She does not fully understand things that bother her emotionally and/or interprets it in a different way until I can set her straight. And having what seems to be my photographic memory she remembers things we would never think she could - and often puts an old memory and new information together with uncanny speed, also sometimes in a way we would not have guessed. It can be very hard to calm an unspoken fear or address an unspoken 'grudge' she has (like now she thinks I knit at work instead of give tubs and toilets to people... long story).

//added// I will also add that 'asynchronous' makes it harder sometimes to talk about Esme in some company without editing out anything that is not normal for her age group. Hmm.. it was not something I was prone to do at first - Mark says I shouldn't do it at all, but sometimes I feel that others in the room are worried. I do overworry, I admit - it is the Minnesota no-conflict girl coming out there. For example - at work there is an older man who has 3 and 5 year old grandsons. They live with him, and he is very defensive about them. Whenever he overhears me talking to someone else about Esme, and the topic turns to something that is closer to the abilities of the older one - he goes somewhere between haughtily ignoring me for the day or a rude outburst denying that could be possible at that age. And he should know better - because no two kids are EVER the same.. and all kids do progress differently. Some, more differently. I try to avoid saying anything when he is around now...

Another lady 'ES' has chided and disparaged me many times because she thinks I have 'not let Esme be normal'. She thinks cable TV is necessary for normality.. among other things, and I generally disagree a lot with her. She has five children and thinks she knows everything there is to know about development. *sigh* I get a LOT of bad advice that I try to completely ignore from her. Esme is what she is - in all of her different stages at once. Sometimes it takes a different approach to make things work for/with her.

It all saddens me - but I do have some 'safe places' that understand. (A good friend who calls on the phone and talks about Star Wars included!) Another is a group of UK/Australian and American parents that started on Babycenter. I tapped them once there about Esme's sign language and instead of being burned I was welcomed in - they sometimes daily keep me from being frazzled. And we can talk there about joy/fear over 'evening out' (when things catches up to age mates) as well as the things that are just too hard to deal with at certain ages. For example: one five year old was found recently reading a very inappropriate book (dark science fiction) and understanding it enough to scare herself silly... there were a lot of good responses all of the moms could use from that board. And more like that. I'll post a quiet 'thank you' to board organizer Hannah for reaching back to me all that time ago, and more since.

bits

We have had a bit better attitude since yesterday... glad for the turnaround, and hope it lasts. I have not heard the results from the speech tester. The yellow/green fabrics I ordered from Sew Fine Fabrics on Etsy has arrived. It arrived very quickly, indeed! I have cut out a shirt from the sheep fabric and the other fabric is ready to cut another night. Normally I would have cut and sewn the shirt - but I was feeling a little drained. I sat and sewed yarn tails up on unfinished washcloths while Esme blew bubbles downstairs and played 'let's go to Jackson' with her bus and people figures. She did not cry as much this time when I had to go to sleep before her.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

beginning Thursday

I am still being tested by Esme's attitude today. She is being obstinate and upset when things and the order in which they are done, are not under her control. She is pretending to be sick, and to be dead, and then races after you across the house when that is ignored. She is being four. And Mama is just tired :( I would like my days off to be spent doing things we like and have fun at - not a constant power struggle all day trying to fend off growls and crying and 40 lb masses stolid on my kitchen carpet.

We are considering bringing her to the library today - and I did fix her Starfall computer which has been broken for months and placed it back on her desk. And still - I am met with howls and bad attitude.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

busy busy Wednesday

Esme had her hearing test and language tests this morning. The speech lady said she was able to do all of the tests in one day, and that Esme did very well with all of the 'hard work.' Esme told me the hearing test was 'all beeps' in things over her ears, and that a 'needle' on a (clock face/dial?) went all up and all down, and then was all done. The lady will call us back in a few days to let us know what she thinks. I think that is a good thing - because she will cross-reference the tests and the hearing test and tell us much more than she could have on the spot? I hope that is true.

It was a very busy day - with 'school' for over an hour, and then going out to eat with Esme, the library for an hour.. that in itself would have been a busy day. Then, after we came home, we went back to town with Daddy and Grandma for grocery shopping. Esme helped Grandma put all of her food away while Daddy and I put our food away at our house. Then Esme came home to blow bubbles and paint with her new paint.

//things I'll note: She is using the words 'terrible', 'scary' and 'sick' to see what reactions she can get. Last night, she washed her hair 'happily' so that she could 'go to school tomorrow'. She was so happy - very unlike her when she is washing her hair, did everything herself except rubbing the soap in. I was amazed. And then, for some reason I did not understand 'tomorrow' sunk in with the idea that she would have to go to sleep sometime after we got out of the bathtub. She threw a very bad fit about not wanting to do tomorrow, partially because it had to do with going to bed first. We had a breakdown in communication, which felt like I was dealing with an entirely different child. She curled up into a ball in the bathroom and was freezing to death because she had been in the tub and was wet. She told me I was terrible to her and she was scared of the school, and the lady, and the library, and the talking - Mama should not be talking about Esme. **oh wow, that almost hurt me deep inside - because I want to know how to help her BETTER, and I know she knows more than she tells... she 'knows' Mama has been talking about her and she knows it worries me...and she thinks in some way that I'm 'mad at' or unhappy with her....such a deep subject there** I got nowhere trying to find out where she had become upset - and we were quiet for a while, her curled in the corner, and me unable to figure out what to do with a child crying for what seemed to be no reason whatsoever... Eventually I asked her what I could do to make her feel better - what could I do to 'be good' - and she asked me to kiss her on the head, twice, which I did. Then she got back in the tub and played the regular games with her bath toys she always does. She was quite good for the rest of the night - as if nothing had happened at all! She cuddled up against me and shared a blanket while we watched tv, ate her pizza, and eventually went to sleep with no problems at all... ?? *confused*

This morning when I told her she was going to the school she was happy again - and got ready, and even waited patiently in the office for an hour while really really wanting to go play with the slide in a 'handicapped' room. There was no one to ask - and the children kept coming in and out in different age groups, so I did not want her to be where she should not be. She made up lots of games and talked about lots of things. At one point, she told me SHE was 'terrible, and sick' while we were waiting at the school, and pretended to die on my lap. Afterwards, she told me I was terrible and that everyone was sick when she was eating her food at the restaurant. Was she responding to the 'hospital' like atmosphere of that wing of the school and the children with handicaps? I wondered about that - she had called the school a 'hospital' several times. Or, and perhaps and/or...she just wants to see what we say - because we get worried about those words? And then she is happy again, and wants us to be happy... *shakes head* It will all work out. And as she is ABLE to explain these thoughts and start to understand them - at least, maybe, we will communicate better in the long run?

On a further note - she also did the same 'I am so scared everything is awful' today after the heat exchange came on at the library. She told me the ceiling was coming down and we had to get out before we died. She was VERY upset and crying and wringing her hands. I made her pick up all of the toys she had out while she cried and told me I was crazy we had to run. The librarian insisted to her that I was right - and it was just the heater. She did not agree. After we left the children's wing we were away from that heater - and she stopped and played on the computer for about a half-hour, oblivious to her previous worry and unwilling to agree with me that we were safe, 'not now Mama, later.' It reinforced the idea she was pretending to be scared earlier... but pretending so intensely she physically shivered and cried. ***Mama is too sensitive herself, I think***

Mark remembered she has seen a movie recently where one of the kids was suddenly very afraid and irrational - but he can't remember what movie it was.. Aliens in the Attic? or something else? He thinks some of this 'acting scared and traumatized' is mimicing what she has seen in the movie, and maybe nothing more than the words 'terrible' and 'sick' - seeing what response she will get?

Grandma - you told me four would be harder than three... oh yes, you were right!

Monday, January 23, 2012

monday monday

The weather did get scary in the middle of the night - odd wind swirlings all over the top and side of the house. Esme turned on her flashlight in the middle of the night and I had to shut if off in her hand this morning as I am getting ready for work. The wind is still howling some out there. Daddy and Grandpa, Grandma, and Esme will all be going to Jackson today for a doctor's appointment. I hope the weather continues to clear up and they don't see any traffic problems from last night's thunderstorms.

Off to work I go...

Sunday, January 22, 2012

fabric buy and pretty heavy storms

I splurged the other day and sent away for some 'Lunch Box' yellow plaid fabric from Michael Miller, for a new jumper for Esme. Then, I added on a half yard of an organic cotton with yellow and black sheep on it - for a camp shirt :) That is my budget for a couple of months *yeep*. Now, we are also under tornado watch for the night, with some pretty heavy thunderstorm cells coming in all night. So, we are watching the radar. Mark will probably be sitting up for a little while after Esme and I are asleep. He says it looks like loud scary storms on the weather radar, a long diagonal 'red' line of severe activity that is near Memphis. I have to work very early again tomorrow... way too early for sanity.

Since the first evaluation I am convinced Esme knows what we were doing there - she has been listening to more new combinations and trying to take corrections. My main hope for this Wednesday evaluation is to find out where to direct her better and what we need to practice more on. Last night when I was tucking her in she noted I said 'We need to tuck Cookie Rabbit in so she'll be warm. Let's tuck her in.' And she said 'Cookie Rabbit, she, her?' That made me stop in my tracks... she's right. I sometimes call Cookie Rabbit a 'him' and sometimes a 'her'. I never mix my genders in the same sentence/thought, but I do not call her consistently one gender or another. It can't be easy at all for her when Mama changes things up like that without really thinking about it myself! So, I'm trying to watch my own language a bit more too.

Friday, January 20, 2012

speech evaluation

Esme had an evaluation with two speech therapists today, lasting about fifteen minutes. They said her pronunciation was good for her age, and that she needed a language evaluation, not a speech evaluation. She introduced me to Miss K, the langauge evaluator. Miss K. asked for me to bring Esme in again next week for a longer evaluation. They are treating this as a 'get ready for school' and say since Esme was cooperative with the conversation-based testing today it should be something they can help with.

Esme liked it! She thought she was going to school, and was very happy about being 'a (big) kid now'. She got two stickers and was told she had done a good job :)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

upside-down English and the end of the week

Tomorrow I have the day off, and I need one! Last night was nice, we made pancakes and popcorn and Esme and I played dollhouse for a while. There is probably nothing wrong, but I am looking into having a speech eval done for her with the school district, or, if they do not respond, someone else maybe at the University etc.

She is in a spurt again, picking up new phrases and saying many new things. However, she still relies on saying some words twice or more to get a single point across, or mixes up her word order in such a way only Daddy or I can understand what she means. We translate a lot for her. She usually does this with 'new' information, trying to explain something she saw or did before, or wants to do in the future etc. I think it partially has to do with excitement and not slowing down to think things through - but it worries me sometimes. I correct her when she uses the wrong word or the wrong combination, and sometimes it sticks and sometimes it doesn't. I'm probably just a mother hen. Usually I am worried over nothing big, and it passes in time. I did call the school district and their lady was out, will have to get up the courage again to call her on Friday.

new words she is putting into use : 'just', 'supposed to', 'suppose so', 'guess so', 'play WITH', 'go WITH' etc... she is using the connecting words a bit more often. She still mixes up pronouns like he/she and gender items like girl/boy but I think that might just be underexposure? She mixes up tenses often, like saying something is 'all falling' when she has found something fallen on the floor from weeks ago. She uses 'all (verb)' as a tense that I understand, but it sounds odd to the ears. "Daddy is all cleaning in the door in the kitchen" etc. She uses 'This the other one (noun)' to mean something is similar to another item she knows, with no context to what 'the other one' means etc. That is hard for non-family members to understand.

I had a little speech training in college in my linguistics classes... which doesn't help the mother hen. These few things I have noted make me want to hear from someone professional whether it is normal or may need attention. Mark said if I need reassurance, the school district speech program is not a bad place to start.

As a note: I had speech classes when I was young for several things. This happened after I started school, and I was teased often for the oddities. One of the problems that went beyond mere pronunciation problems was echoing questions and new information before I would respond to it. At one point I was called 'that little girl that says everything twice' by other children. I did work out of it, but still consciously remember being a five year old trying HARD not to do what had become a useful and 'necessary' habit. Although the odd patterns I am seeing are not exactly like this, my experience opens up the possibility that sometimes things are not the same for one as they are for their peers.

update: We have an appointment with the education speech therapist tomorrow for a 'brief evaluation.' I hope this will give us what we need!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Blue jumper Sunday


I made this jumper last night, and she has worn it today. It is a little large yet, maybe even more than the brown one - I was slim on the internal seams on this one and that made it bigger. But, she grows and grows! We had to go to town with Grandma to get some groceries, but other than that it is a nice day at home. We found her a mama zebra for her baby zebra at the store today. She has introduced them to everyone in the toybox. At the very moment, she is watching Daddy play a car game, and I am contemplating baking and downloading more chemistry lectures.

She has been hard on her clothes lately, just as I have been telling people how much better they last on her than storebought! Loula puppy tore six holes in the skirt of her brown jumper and Esme herself tore the shoulder out of her green Christmas Lights dress by catching it on a fence. The red gingham dress has shredded ties and looks like a paint explosion happened nearby. That is three out of the most recent four put to the ultimate test! Oh well... girls will be girls and tomboys as well. Mark mentioned the way the puppy grabs hold of the jumper the past few days and got drug around the room he is surprised the seams were holding and the skirt wasn't in rags. I have sewn little patchy patches about 2 inch square all over the jumper skirt to get a few more wash and wears out of it - but it looks like Mama will be in a sewing mode of mind during my next days off. Tomorrow I start five on again until I get two off.

For homeschool we have been slim lately - after all she is four and I work forty hours a week. We have read some books, spelled some words on and off the computer and she is remembering more even when the letters are not in front of her.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Happy birthday to Esme's Grandma and mad scientist tendencies

Happy birthday Irene! Sorry I have to work today, but hope you have a wonderful day and maybe a visit from a little girl who likes to see her Grandma and Grandpa.

//last day of six today, tomorrow off. I've been invited to a baby shower tomorrow but I highly doubt I will go. I have five more days on after that - and I really don't want to have to go anywhere as I'm wearing a little thin after this six!

Yesterday Esme took a chair from one part of the room, and a broken table from another part of the room and put them together in the middle of the floor. I had to do a double-take, because the chair under the broken table made it stand up straight again... she seemed proud of that and wandered off again. Later she set up a tea set for her horse figurines and playmobils - and gave the horse two blocks to stand on, because he has four feet.. and all of the people figures had one block to sit on.

I have had this idea for more than a year now that she is going to grow up to be a mad scientist! Or a mechanic, or maybe both. She just has this sense of spatial logic that is innate. She would balance huge towers and sometimes put things in there that had no sense being in block towers - a random horse toy or plastic egg used fully to its mass and inertia to balance a structural load just so. She would find one thing and dig all over the house to find a mate she remembered existed, or just 'something' she thought would go with it to complete an idea. Like a little Emmett Brown in her workshop. She would seem frustrated and then have a 'Eureka' type moment and go put two pieces together that seemed random - until she told you what she was thinking - and then it was some mixture between laughter and surprise. I remember the plastic fork at the bottom of the slide, placed tines toward the slide at an angle on a block. She then rolled a plastic come-apart Easter egg down the slide, into the fork and pretended that made the egg come apart, while pulling a duck toy out from behind her back and saying 'I crack an egg!' It makes the mind spin a little, but not in a bad way ;)

Her other activity lately is 'Chef' cooking us 'meals' in her toy cooking pans - cheese pizza seems to consist of cat figurines and footballs lightly stirred. 'Snow white pies' are a washcloth draped on top of a tupperware with water slowly poured into the tupperware from a 'porkchop with ketchup' toy bird. ?? I don't know why either, it just is!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

come up for air

In the middle of what we call 'he** week', six days on straight with terrible hours that make it hard to do anything except come home, go to sleep, go to work and do it all over again. Mark and I had our 5th anniversary on the 10th, and it was a very nice day. Thank you to Grandpa and Grandma for chipping in - I'll make Esme a matching sweater out of the yarn :)

We've been doing just a little bit with her books - and talking about different bones and how birds come from eggs and grow up to be big birds. Esme has not wanted to read her new 1st grade primer book with me, but mostly because she is just upset I have to go to work and wants to play as much as possible. There has been a lot of pretend, and some imaginary block castles with princesses in them that need rescuing. Loula puppy is growing at an alarming rate, as puppies do.

It is snowing today, and I hope it will not have icy roads as I will be coming home late :(

Also, It will be Grandma's birthday on Saturday!

Saturday, January 07, 2012

more camp shirt


owl shirt

I did this tonight to see how well I could finish all of the seams and facings, as if it was going to go into a shop. I still have to do the buttonholes. It fits Esme well as a standard size 4. Last time I altered the length two to three inches longer for her. She is long in the torso, like her mother. I didn't do that this time, and probably should have for wearing with pants. For wearing under her jumper or over another dress, it is going to work fine.

materials: 1/2 yard of main color fabric for this particular. 3/4 yard of 45 inch wide fabric would be ideal for the lengthened version, and a fat quarter or a 1/3 yard for short sleeves. Four buttonholes have been worked (not shown).

Thursday, January 05, 2012

4 years old stick figure drawing


The circles in the upper right corner are mine, but the rest is hers


Esme drew this tonight after our math lesson, which included a lot of counting on fingers, counting groups of pennies and dots, saying the names for numerals, matching numerals to the amount of dots on different butterflies wings etc... She liked the lesson a lot. Then she began to draw dots - and turned it into a person. She said it was Mama, and it was Mama's neck and fingers and feet and toes. She worked hard to put five fingers on the one hand - but didn't have enough room and was getting frustrated by that on the other side. The biggest semi-circle is not the face/chin it is actually her mouth. She put a dot above the mouth saying it was where the neck was starting.... and then drew the lines underneath as 'neck and feet.' I was happy she extended the lesson with her own ideas!

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

a tea party for scooby doo and frog


hug her scooby doo



peering at our aloe vera plant that is definitely a 'mosnter'



tea party
she served them 'tea' and 'apples' and 'cake'
but told the baby kangaroo (not pictured)
he had to be quiet and go back to his mom



standing in one of her toy buckets
she had put all her stuffed animals in it and was
being the 'cereal' to their 'milk.'


Grandpa is going into the hospital again for a checkup - I hope they can help him out. We were on the fence today if a visit would be too much for him. Esme was running a little wild right up until she settled down with a 'tea party' for her animals and I took some pictures. She has also needed constant reminders today so I am not changing pants every hour... I think that is an inattention 'busy' and/or a want attention ploy. I've been working and sometimes she does things like this (or throw a massive fit over small things) as soon as I get home from work in protest. It's being four.

She is looking so tall and grown up sometimes... guess when the light hits her just right. She is about 42 inches tall. I haven't weighed her in a while, but her ribs don't show unless she sticks her arms straight up - so that is my gauge. She takes her turns eating like a horse one day and then drinking more another day etc etc... she eats pretty well compared to most children her age. Her cheeks are very pink at times, too. It reminds me of some painting of a child from the Victorian Era... or a description from 'the Secret Garden'...

She talks constantly now - makes sense most of the time. Sometimes, she makes weird sense still, like 'power went off' about things that are not acting as expected, but aren't electric at all. It makes sense if you think about it just so.

Monday, January 02, 2012

bits

I've been working on a shrug type sweater out of my Christmas yarn, and it is very wearable, super warm, and supposedly washable. I've ordered a few books from online for Esme, dinosaur level 1 and 2 readers and a laminated labelled anatomy chart that shows the names of the bones and muscles. Esme and I have been talking more about different 'natural science' things, mostly 'how things work' type explanations. The other day while I was cleaning we had a talk about rain, water, floods, faucets and drains. I told her about the day in Fargo when it flooded and I had to drive my truck across town with the rain up to the windows - and how the truck stopped, and I had to be picked up by another truck and taken to the other side of town. She really thought I was 'being pretend' about that - but I told her it was for real long time ago and that I had to sleep on the floor at a place all night until the water went down and someone could bring me home again. She has been really enjoying her Cat in the Hat 'inside your outside' book and we have been talking about blood and how it carries air from the lungs, food from the stomach and etc etc... She is very interested in many parts of that book! I am hoping to win another one of her level one 'dick and jane' readers. I've been talking with several people I know trying to find out more about the local education system and how and when to do the homeschool registration.

notes to self:
more dry erase markers - they were on clearance at L
look for a tote about 18x24 minimum, 18-24 inches tall with a locking lid. Would like to find one of these to put her specifically lighter and smaller 'homeschool' books and items in so they do not get scattered and potentially ruined. The heavier hardbacks could stay on the place I have for them on the shelf - but as I gather these 'Level one' readers and other small books she will need somewhere to keep them separate and special.

ordered today: 'Meet the Dinosaurs', and 'Dinosaur Babies', both from Nana's gift certificate

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Happy New Year

Happy 2012, the new Year. Not much will change today itself, but there are large aspirations on the horizon to be planned and worked with over the course of the entire year. Projects in the garden and with the land we cleared last year. There are two new areas we hope to till and plant in besides the one we did this year. There will be a lot of fence to run at the shared garden for Grandma and us. Projects in the house as always, knitting and sewing and etc. We will do more with Esme's homeschool, and try to find out the rules of this better before August rolls about. I am also trying to maintain a healthy weight now after losing quite a bit last year. Mark, Grandma and Esme will take Grandpa to his doctor's appointment today in Jackson, and I have to go to work :( I wish them a good safe trip!