Riley and Avery

Big girl on her big girl bike. Later that day she was riding through an old rain puddle (by old I mean full of road grime) and there was a pot-hole hidden at the bottom and she fell face-first into the grime puddle. She scraped her face up and had road grime all over her. That was fun. But she got back on her bike a little later with no problems. I really can't watch her ride her bike that much. They way she turns and maneuvers scares me. It's stressful to watch.

The chap stick girl. Oh yeah.



This is our first lapbook. We really had a blast making it. The "Predator" and "Defenses" are flaps that unfold and there are a few booklets in there about the monarch butterfly migration. She wants to do a lot more. Right now I'm working on getting library books on the solar system and tigers (a few of her requests) so that we can do more lapbooks. I also saw online that many homeschoolers to an Iditarod lapbook, and that looks like a whole lot of fun. There are free sites online where you can pick a musher to follow and help your child track their progress on a wall map. We can learn about the dogs, Alaska, the history of the race, and the basic needs of man and animal on the Iditarod trail. I'm all excited about that, but the Iditarod is not until February, I think. As Riley gets older, she'll be able to do more of the lapbook herself, but for right now it's a little time-consuming for me, looking online for resources to print out. I found a lapbooking yahoo group and there is a treasure-trove of info there so it's been a lot easier lately. Ack, I just googled the Iditarod and it's not 'til March. Poo. I hate waiting. They used to have dogsled races in Montana, and I'm wondering if they have them in Colorado. That would be a fun field trip. Hmmm...

Riley and Avery have developed a closer relationship, which is not always good. They have mastered the art of aggravating each other and pushing each other's buttons, but they also engage in spontaneous play together too. It's nice to watch them build a fort together and come up with imaginative scenarios.

I lost a whole long post and don't remember what I was posting about. Autosave on Blogger seems like a good idea in theory, but it always fails. Whatever.

I think that Riley is on the cusp of learning how to read. I think. She was lamenting last night about being afraid that she will never learn to read. She sounds out words as she's falling asleep. She writes random letters in her journal and on the chalkboard side of her easel, all neat and small. Like everything with Riley (walking, talking, riding a bike, and tying shoes) she seems to do things suddenly and all at once. Once she sets her mind to something, she will get it all within a short amount of time. I guess we'll just wait and see...

Avery can count up to 9. I guess she learned it from Riley. I certainly didn't teach her. Well, I would ask her to count up to three, I think. Mostly because she always wants three of everything. She also likes pushing the buttons on the microwave. I was reheating my coffee and asked her to push the "2" and she said "That's not a 2, that's an S." Ah, when they learn on their own...

I should be doing homework, so I'm going to run...

Okay, I can't resist. I am on a thread at MDC and a poster asked how to break it to a family member that her "famous" dish makes her and her family sick. That lead to 10 pages of horrible horrible terrible no good recipes. Seriously, you've gotta check these out!:
Sandra Lee's Kwanzaa Celebration Cake (you MUST read the reviews on this one! Hilarious! A $1000 vet bill?! Priceless!)
Paula Deen's Lady's Brunch Burger (and we wonder why there's a obesity epidemic?)
Paula Deen's Cheesy Ham and Banana Casserole (yes, you read that right, banana-pig casserole!)

Wow, Riley is making out like a bandit these past couple of days. Our neighbor Candace just gave Riley her daughter's old bike since her birthday is today and she is getting a new one. Sweet deal for Riley. It's the next size up, so what it that? A 16"? Either way, she's speeding around the neighborhood on it, as if she's been riding it her whole life. I haven't gotten a picture yet since this just happened like 10 minutes ago.

So, we picked up Little Sweetheart this morning after her spay yesterday. I tell you the incision is perhaps 1/3 inch, if that. Probably closer to 1/4 inch. It looks like a little knot. The nurse said that since LS (that's what I'm calling her on here from now on since I'm tired of typing "Little Sweetheart") is still really young she had teeny tiny little ovaries, and that the vets do spay and neuters all day every day and have gotten really good at doing it through minute incisions. I expected (was looking forward to) a sleepy cat, but LS has been up and at it since coming home. I gave her her pain medication pill without drama, and she went right to harassing the guinea pigs Thank goodness I've closed off the cage, so it now has a lid. The guinea pigs are obviously so much happier, but LS is so definitely not happy about the new arrangement. She moves a little stiffly, but seem no worse for the wear.

Oh, and because LS's stitches will dissolve, she cannot be bathed for 2 to 3 weeks. I guess we'll see if Riley is still allergic or if she's become accustomed to the cat. I have a feeling she's accustomed because LS likes to sleep on our necks or on our pillows and I'm sure Riley would have had some sort of reaction, in spite of the baths, but we'll see on that one. Fingers crossed.

So, the disc drive on my iBook has been on the fritz for a while and Riley really likes to play her math and phonics games on the computer, so....I bought her a used iMac for $60. Not too shabby. I know that kids play too many games and such, but she gets a very healthy amount of outside exercise so I'm really not worried about it. Additionally, playing computer games is the only time that she really shows what she knows. Otherwise, she tries to trick whoever she's speaking to. But on the computer, I can look over her shoulder periodically and catch a glimpse of what she really knows. She upstairs right now, over the moon, playing games I checked out of the library. Oh, yeah, for the past couple of hours I've been deemed the most awesomest mom in the world. Tomorrow I'll be back to sucking eggs, but I'll take what I can get.

Hmmm, what else is new? Oh yeah, Rudi went out an got new tires for his car yesterday. That was fun. He went to Sears and while he was waiting he went to the ATM and did some looking around the mall and then realized that he left his ATM card in the machine and it took it. So he called me, Avery was sleeping, and said "come quick, my car is almost done and my ATM card was taken by the machine!!" Oh, yay!

So we were going to have my windshield replaced (Rudi said the windshield was more important, although I voted to get my drivers-side window fixed and was vetoed) but then I notice, on my way home from school, that my brakes are squeaking and grinding. Oh, good. It's not so bad right now, and I can drive without making the brakes grind by braking slowly and gradually. They only grind when I am braking downhill right now, but I want to take it in right away before I need new rotors. Trying to keep it cheap. And safe, too, I guess. When it rains, it pours, right?

Just a short one to document the funny thing that Riley said last night. She usually starts talking to herself about random things as she is winding down, and sometimes I jump in:

Riley: We are meat-eaters, but we don't have sharp teeth so we don't hunt our prey. We get our meet at the supermarket. We make our own food, so we are not really a part of the food chain.
Me: Do you know what meat-eaters are called?
Riley: No. Oh, carnivores!
Me: Right. But we also eat plants. Do you remember what animal that eat both plants and animals are called?
Riley: No.
Me: They're called omnivores.
Riley: Om-ni-vores?
Me: Yup. Do you remember what animals that only eat plants are called?
Riley: Lawn mowers!

I think I just about died. Rudi thought it was hilarious when I recounted it to him later. Ah, Riley!

So, the kitchen window is open and I hear Matthew and Riley talking:

Riley: We can't have too many sprinkles on our cupcakes because sugar makes you fat.

Matthew: We just have to get a lot of exercise. That happened to my friend and he just had to get a lot of exercise because he ate too much.

Riley: Is that what happened to your mom? (gasp! His mom just had a baby!)

Matthew: No, my Mom had to eat like that because she was pregnant and she even had to eat things that were bad for her like chocolate and caffeine for breakfast.

Riley: Oh.

Just thought that was funny!

So, I got a pack of science cards for Riley that are intended for ages 5-7, thinking that I could pull a few out now and then and we could have fun with them. Well, we sat down together and she went through the whole deck in about 40 minutes. There goes that. So I'm trying to expand upon what interested her most. She was most interested in temperature, biomes, the water cycle, the food chain. We've had a water cycle experiment planned for days, but it had been raining. So we're doing it today. Here's a nice website that explains the water cycle: Earth Guide. And here's a cute song to remember the terms: Water Cycle Song. I also got a couple of posters at the school store, one for the water cycle and one for the food chain.

Here are the pictures of our process:
1.) Fill a clear bowl with a bit of water.

2.) Place an empty jar in the middle of the bowl.

3.) Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place a weight (like a rock!) over the jar and wait for it to rain in the jar!

We had an interesting play therapy session. In short, the therapist is going to look into intelligence testing for Riley. I just don't know what to think about all this. The facts of the situation are that Riley does not tell her teachers what she knows, and pretends not to know things that she knows. She does an abnormal amount of art in school, rather than "academic" work. The therapist's hypothesis is that the work is boring to her (because she is not challenged, and won't tell the teachers that she knows the work so that they can move her on to something new) and that she escapes the monotony by doing artwork. By the way, there is really no need for her to do so much artwork at school since she has a complete art center at home, and they only have the basic supplies at school. A lot of kids seem to do art work at school because they don't have those materials available at home. That's not the case with Riley. And most of the artwork that she does is not even good artwork (I'm so mean). It's clear that it's just busy work or filler work. Riley has said that she is afraid to tell her teachers that she already knows something, but Mom suggested that perhaps she is afraid of telling her teachers that she knows something because she is scared that they will give her something new that she doesn't know. When I suggested this to Riley, she started to cry, so I think it may be closer to what is really going on. I offered to teach her "the next thing" a bit so when the teachers give her something "new" it's not really all that new and she won't have to be scared of it. She was a little hesitant, so we'll see how that pans out.

The therapist did point out that once she is not in a Montessori classroom where she can escape things that she already knows or finds boring (ie, when she's in a "regular" school) she may have difficulties sitting at a table and having to do something that she already knows. The therapist said that it is very important that she is placed properly next year (whether Kindergarten or first grade) so that she is challenged constantly. I don't know what testing involves for her age. I told the therapist that I wasn't interested in a "teachable" test and she assured me that they have a battery of tests and activities to accurately evaluate children her age. I don't know, but I think that perhaps if we had a male psychologist test her then we would have fewer problems with her pretending she doesn't know stuff. Like a person who is not "teacher-ish" and thus not fool-able. Eh, I don't know. But I sure hope Avery isn't like this. I think I deserve one "normal" child!!

We are planning to look at Globe Charter School next week, hopefully on Monday. We were going to go last Wednesday, but totally forgot. Little Sweetheart is getting spayed on the 18th, so that will be fun. The girls are both really upset about it. They don't want her tummy to get cut. Yes, I could have not told them about it, but I thought it would be best to prepare them so that they will be gentle with her after her surgery. Oh, mental note, I need to buy a cat carrier...

We just checked on our science experiment and Riley was thrilled to see it raining into the jar. It is pretty cool. It's hard to tell in the picture, but about 1/2 inch of "rain" precipitated into the jar. I will definitely check out Borders and Barnes & Noble for a science experiment book for younger kids. She's really digging this experiment thing. Rudi's response to this while thing was somewhere along the lines of "Oh, no, not another kid interested in the weather!" Oh well...

So, Matthew's mother just came back from the hospital with their new baby (their fifth baby!). And all I hear is screaming coming from their house. Serious screaming. They have almost-two-year-old twins who really can scream. They scream better than Avery and I never thought I'd say that. She told me before that she knew the twins would not take well to the baby. But, wow, they just got home like an hour ago and all I'm hearing is screaming. That's why I stopped with two. Having five children under 6 is just about my worst nightmare!!

So, I got most of Rudi's room done while he was gone camping. He came home a day early so I didn't get all that I had planned done, mainly getting his bookcases in there. The girls helped me paint. There is a magnetic wall on one side of that brown thing. I have to touch up the paint around the ceiling since the paint was super thick (like mud) and peeled off when I took the painter's tape off. I "built" those shelves. I stained the shelves and got those glass things on super-sale. They are normally $4.50 each and I got the for 75 cents each. Score!! I was going to arrange his art supplies on the shelves, but didn't have time before he came home. The girls were really happy to lead him upstairs to show him when he got home.

Another old post. I'll just add pictures and let it go...



Riley's been enjoying school so far. She is doing a lot more academic work already this year. She is doing really well with the full days. Today is her second full day, so we'll see how she is when she comes home. She does say that she doesn't want to go to school but that she likes school. It's just the going that she doesn't like. Which really isn't surprising considering Riley's transition problems. I did forget to give her her medication before school today, so we'll see how that turns out. Hopefully nothing too catastrophic.

We've been getting to school on-time this year (I know, quite an accomplishment three days into the school year!) which is something that we never managed to do last year with Riley's anxiety issues. Sometimes we clash on what is appropriate breakfast food, but the panic involved with getting ready is gone. She still brings a few things in the car, but no biggie. Nothing that I can't handle. She also has to get over the fact that she cannot go play outside before school. On full days, she gets plenty of time to play outside at school. Drop-ff is 8:30 at the earliest, and school starts at 9. Around 11 they get 1/2 hour to play before lunch. Then school is out at 3, with 3:30 being the latest pick-up time. She's always so excited to tell me how many times she got to play outside, and whether or not she took a nap on the stretcher. She also likes making lunch decisions. Ah, she's getting so big!