Buenos Dias

We had our first day of Spanish. It went so well. It is a perfect size group with ten children ranging in age from four to nine. Marta was great with the kids — and we learned quite a bit in just over an hour.

I am completely out of my element… I only know a few words in Spanish, and we are learning by hearing and speaking the language. — It is challenging for me, but lots of fun. We are looking forward to next week.

Here is our big baby sitting up! She is still a bit tippy so I had to snap the picture quickly.

And she is now on the move… Although, not in the direction she is desperately trying to go… She backed herself under the couch and was happily stuck for a couple minutes. Her transmission is stuck in reverse at the moment… I need to get her a blinking light and a beep beep noise.

This week

So… We have not been to the library in ages! Shame on me! Mostly because we have been very consumed with skiing… But it was definitely time… (and tonight we have a night off from the race clinics)

See how fast they are pulling things off the shelf…

We found many great books and a lot of books on CD to bring home for the next few weeks. Then we were off to gym day. It was mellow today.. and we all had a very nice time.

This week we are working with the letter F … Next week we will jump into a math block of greater and less and odd and even. And tomorrow we are starting our new weekly Spanish “class”. We are all very excited to meet Marta (a native speaker) and be together with our great friends. And here are a few pictures of our not so tiny baby.

She is so close to sitting on her own! Unbelievable. She is growing up waaayyy too fast.

On our own

I put our alarm clock in Phoebe’s room, Andy and I never really use it. Now Phoebe can listen to a cd whenever she likes. She was thrilled to have it. I set it all up and then I started to explain how to use it — and she gave me this look… and pushed me back out of her way. I should have known she would want to figure it out on her own

And of course we can not “teach” Haddie how to crawl. She has to figure it out on her own.

I am so thankful to have found our homeschool curriculum– as it is founded in discovery learning as well. We worked with the letter G this week. Drew was excited to see that the “gate has a G in it… Oh mom…! Gate starts with G!”

Yes it does. Doesn’t it feel good to figure things out on our own!

The power of touch

Today Haddie had a special treat. Emi-O (the name Phoebe created for my cousin Emily) came over to give Haddie a massage. She really enjoyed it.

Thank you Emi-O!

Our old dog

A few days ago I found Teak like this… I think my children helped tuck him in this way… But he stayed there for over an hour, keeping watch on the moose, the cow, and the babies.

And today he played with this baby. He let her grab his fur, squeal in his ears, and drool all over him. — well, then he did drool a bit on her too– one good turn does deserve another.

Intuition

Yesterday on our morning walk we started the strange family verse. It is a counting verse
“I know a family strange indeed
Each one walks at a different speed
They can walk for half the day
Counting footsteps on their way”

For one-
“I am correct and neat and slim
My walk is proud and straight and trim
My feet can count and you can see
That each step is the same to me”

For two– (walk with limp)
“But my two steps are not the same
For I must walk upon my cane
Although I’m weak and bent and old
I still can count my footsteps bold”

(and there are six more verses)

Well– I did these first two verses yesterday and it was really interesting. The kids really enjoy any kind of poem. And they quickly picked it up– Drew actually said– in a playful way– mom, please stop saying it, i’ll get it stuck in my head!! Well, yes Drew that is the point or better yet, lets get it stuck in your body. The funny thing though that Drew did was he started counting after we had said the first verse 123456789… in a very monotone way. (right before I was about to start!) and then after the second verse he counted again 1-2, 3-4,5-6,7-8,9-10…. Just like he had heard it before.
Hmmm… Maybe he had heard it in my mind.

I have always thought this about Drew.. He has an uncanny ability to read minds. If you think I am crazy please feel free to stop reading . Because it does sound crazy… But here is another example. Today we finished up our work with the letter N (with the story Natalia in the notch) and as we were sitting at the table I randomly thought about these alphabet cards we bought a year ago or so– and how using those could be a good way to somehow review the letters– once we were finished (in a month or so) Drew has never really played with them– they just sit on his desk. And today when he put away his crayons he came out with the deck. And he said– Phoebe– let’s line up the alphabet. ??! Seriously??! Did I say it out loud? No….
So this is what they did for the better part of 45 minutes.

Now last night was a long night for me. I might have had 3 good hours… I went to bed late (my fault!) and then tossed and turned in between two very restless little bodies. And then Haddie was wide awake at 4, hmm. Thankfully when I am low on sleep the day seems to float by… I am mellow… relaxed… And I mostly just want to sit around, play a game, yawn through a story… And then poof the day is over… It is almost like when my knee was all messed up (both times) and how those great pills made each day blend into another. Yes,sleep deprivation feels just a little bit like vicodin to me. Now the kids are up at Hickory with Andy and I just came home to try to figure out something for dinner. And when I opened the fridge, I was elated to see my soup pot. Oh yes, I made chicken soup yesterday! I remembered thinking yesterday, I need to make this today (even though I really did not) maybe again it was just a bit of intuition…
A real meal sure will taste lovely tonight.

Drew

Drew is such a wonderful little boy. I have really begun to welcome his new energy and that has made such a difference. We are also back into a good rhythm now that the holidays have passed and it feels so right. We take our morning walk, do a form walk (currently the infinity symbol) and come in to read stories (Mondays are for Drews story, Tues-thurs are for a kindy story for Phoebe, and Fridays are nature stories) then we draw from the stories– or write– or do a craft depending on the day, then lunch, and quiet time. Our afternoons are free to play with friends, go to gym day, run errands, go to plays, and of course go ski! Here is a picture from our morning walk today. Something about this shot really captures his new energy.

A little mischievous, but still that kind Drew we all know and love. This afternoon I pulled out a bottle (I like to have a few with pumped milk on hand just in case…) they are only good frozen for so long so it is time to pump a few fresh ones. And Drew was delighted to feed it to Hadley. It is funny but Phoebe was not too interested in helping?? And the really funny thing is Hadley drank it right down — like she has been bottle fed for her whole life. It is the first time any of my babies have ever mastered a bottle. It was pretty sweet to let them have that moment together.

First ski race!

The fun has begun. It was nice to be back up at Hickory. It does not seem like a whole year has passed. Phoebe was so excited to be able to compete this year. She slipped the Slalom course two times with Andy and Drew and then it was her turn to go. She was up first for the girls. Right before she went she asked Andy “can I go fast now??” Yes Phoebe go fast.
And she did– straight down the hill with no real regard for the gates. It was adorable. And we have it all on video!
Then for the next run Andy explained it better and she was able to hit every gate. Here are some pictures.

Having a little hot chocolate in between runs

And of course Drew had a blast too. Though we won’t tell him– his little sister smoked him in the GS race… Thankfully it is all about fun for now and the times don’t matter (and boys and girls do not race against each other) There will still be a little while before they realize they can compare their times. Oh and another funny thing– Drew got a 9th place ribbon for his GS race — it happened to be pink– so he tried to give it back to the woman, saying she must have given him the wrong one. and he still does not 100% believe us that it is his ribbon. So funny!