Potty Trained at Last!
At risk of jinxing the whole thing, I am cautiously announcing that we are finally down to only one in diapers. Apparently, learning he had control of the poop was the only real impediment to Spencer's success. It seems almost obvious now that until recently he didn't believe himself capable of pooping on the pot, and therefore couldn't see any good reason to bother with the rest. I can see his point. And now it's as though he's been potty trained forever. Since the first, triumphant poop he has had exactly one two accidents. Still, it's a beautiful thing, world. A beautiful thing.
Lexi is thrilled, of course, because this has meant finally dipping into the poop-rewards toy stash that Daddy brought home weeks ago. One of the items was a Backyardigans circus train. This seems like a great choice since Spencer is a big fan of the Backyardigans, but there was some disappointment, too. The train does all sorts of fun things, but it only comes with one character. "Where are the rest?" they both wanted to know. I explained as clearly as possible that the other characters were sold separately, not with the train. No, this doesn't seem to make sense, but that way the people who made the toy could get people to buy more stuff and make more money. Lexi nodded her head knowingly. Ah, Marketing 101 for preschoolers.
A few days later I overheard Lexi explaining this to friends we had at the house: "...No, Pablo's the only one that came with the train. It's like this: Do you know about 'Each Sold Separately'?'"
Knit News
I'm a bad, bad blogger because I am too tired to take pictures and post them at the moment, but I finally finished the hat after several false starts. I did abandon the spiral pattern for now. I may return to it when I'm feeling a little braver, but after failing to make it work even with stitch markers (I have since figured out the problem, I think) I turned to a simpler pattern: The Brangelina Hat pattern by Crazy Aunt Purl. It was quick and easy to work, and best of all it FITS! Well, that and Crazy Aunt Purl cracks me up regularly.
I'm almost done the first of Spencer's socks and now that Lexi happily wears her mom-made pair, he's ready to try his too. Like now. If not sooner, thank you. His are a variegated blue/grey/black version of the same self-striping sock yarn that I've used for both the other pairs and frankly, I'm not sure I'll get them done before the cold weather passes. I'll have to hope that his feet don't grow too much between now and next winter!
And finally, I've finished off Spencer's blanket and begun one for Ellie. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed with Spencer's. Once I got into it I decided I didn't really like working with the boucle and the large needles were cumbersome and awkward. I still love the colors, but I know it would be years before I finished it at the rate I was going. I offered him the choice: he could help me unravel it (always a big hit) and I'd start over with a new pattern, or I could cast-off where I was and he could have it right away. He wanted it NOW and has been carrying it all over the house ever since. I may not be thrilled, but he loves it and I guess that's what's important.
I am really enjoying starting Ellie's blanket, though. I got the (free!) Ten Stitch Blanket pattern from Ravelry, and it's SO simple and fun. It took me a few practice turns to figure out how to do the corners, but once I figured it out the rest was cake. I was eying some beautiful self-striping Noro on line that I would have loved to have used, but several balls of that was decidedly not in the budget (apparently I have expensive tastes in yarn, too), so I picked up a few balls of Wool-Ease at Michael's and got started. I am enjoying the spiraling pattern already: just enough challenge without being so complicated that I get lost and have to keep running back to the pattern. I can tell that this one will keep me addicted for a bit: a good thing if I'm ever to finish yet another blanket!
Chicken Pox, Anyone?
Is it possible to have natural immunity to the chicken pox--like from birth?
As Lexi sailed effortlessly through her week of spots we kept a close eye on Spencer, watching and waiting. As always, they squabbled, wrestled, cuddled, and basically shared everything for the entire contagious period. Surely he would be spotted soon.
The days passed. We played games and camped out inside and built forts. We counted Lexi's spots. Spencer's boundless energy never flagged. His temperature never fluctuated. His head and belly felt "just fine". His skin stayed clear.
Lexi's spots are all but gone now. One or two hints of blemish can be found, but looking at her you'd never guess she'd recently had the chicken pox. And Ellie and Spencer? Not a hint of poxiness. A chest cold? Yes, Ellie's got that. But chicken pox seems to have skipped them entirely. We're not vaccinated against it or anything so I'm starting to wonder: what do you have to do to give a kid chicken pox around here?
A Little Fishy
Well, we may soon have a 21 gallon freshwater rock display. The disease that Ruby brought into our tank not only hastened her demise, but it is slowly consuming Nemo, too. After almost 5 years it looks like the big guy might not be long for this world.
I'm not sure what it is that's eating him from the inside out, but it seems to be winning. I've treated him for every kind of ailment that I can think of from parasites to bacterial infections and nothing has worked. The lovely people on the goldfish boards are stumped.
Now, fish aren't exactly the pet I'd imagined we'd have, but we've grown a bit attached to the big guy just the same. He's outlived all his tankmates, and we'd begun to think him invincible. All of the kids have enjoyed watching him swim about, and they were so relieved when he survived the super cold temps of the power outage. So it's a little sad to contemplate losing him after all this time, but honestly, it doesn't look good for him.
The lesson here? Don't buy fish from PetCo--especially if any of the guys in the tank look sick!
The Home School Question Answered, at Least for Now
I am officially preparing to home school Lexi next year. It's a bit daunting, I'll admit, but the more I've looked and talked and read the better I feel about it. It feels like a fit for us academically, financially, and personally.
There are hundreds and hundreds of curricula out there from which to choose, so finding a fit that way was a little more complicated. Sure, there are recommendations and reviews galore, but they certainly don't form a consensus. What works for one family or child may not work for another. The range of educational philosophies is broad and of course there are no cut-and-dried 'right' approaches.
Having never done this before, I wanted to find a program that provided some structure and support with a scope and sequence that covered all the bases. From there, we can build and adapt as necessary. I settled on the Kolbe Academy Home School Program, a Catholic program with a reputation for solid academics and a flexible approach which defers to the parent to make the final decisions.
We recently visited a family locally who've been using the Kolbe program to school their four girls, and it was a great experience. The girls were happy, well-adjusted, and eloquent. They spoke enthusiastically about their learning experiences from science and math to classic literature and languages. They eagerly ran to get their microscope when they discovered some crystallization in their play-doh, and talked excitedly about the things they were reading. The most impressive thing, though, wasn't that they'd been studying Latin since the early grades, or their eagerness to read the Greek classics, but the enthusiasm they still had for learning in general. I want that for my own family. I want the thrill of learning that my children have now to stay alive and thrive as they grow.
I'm sure that, like all of parenting, this will bring challenges I can't begin to imagine at this point, but I'm getting excited to try just the same!