Billy writes a letter to his father:
Dear Dad,
Shoole’s going great, But the only problem is…I can’t figure out what I’m going to be for – Holoween!
School’s going great, Dad, as long as you don’t mind that I’m failing spelling and grammar.
And he’s my best hope.
Peter: “Goodnight Nobody” doesn’t make any sense.It’s 20 minutes long, but well worth it.
h/t Stina
The best lines are, paraphrasing, that there is no good in displaying a man’s weaknesses and that the greater the struggle, the more glorious the final result. Now, let’s all get out there and shine.
I just finished reading Managers of Their Chores: A Practical Guide to Children’s Chores (the book was loaned to me by Angoraknitter). If you struggle with home management, and I know many do, this may be the book for you.
Most of the book is dedicated to explaining why children should be doing chores, which I didn’t really need. Some of the book talked about having a good attitude (both the parents and the children) toward doing chores. Since I am the only person in this house who seems to like doing housework, there was some good advice here. I especially liked the back of the book with their “troubleshooting guide” written like the manual for an appliance (Problem: children won’t do chores; Possible Cause: no consequences for not doing chores).
Very valuable was the Master List of chores in the back which seems pretty thorough. This is a list of most things that need to be done around the house with the idea that you use this list to assign frequency and person to the chore (including Mom and Dad).
I really like the idea of young children taking their chore list with them (the book comes with special holders that clip to clothing). They claim that this helps keep distracted children on task. Since this is a huge problem in this household, I will be finding out really soon if this does, in fact, work. Sounds like it should.
Finally, and most appealing, is the ability to purchase software that will help you manage your chores and also the ability to print out the chore cards using their online program, including picture chore cards for those who can not yet read. I’m not clear if the chore cards require the additional purchase of the software or if that is provided free for book owners. I’ll have to buy the book first to find out. Anyone could get by with handwritten cards or ones done on the computer yourself, but having personally spent hours looking for appropriate free clipart to use for various chore charts over the years, having a resource of related artwork on hand is worth the money to avoid all that work.
What do you think? Moving the fridge and washing the floor underneath: would you consider that unnecessary, servile work, unsuitable for 730 AM on a Sunday morning? Aren’t Sunday mornings the best times for twice annual cleaning jobs?
If you have (or have ever had) little children, you might know that some chores are necessary or not depending on the situation.
Like when your toddler tries to pull out of the fridge a gallon pitcher nearly full of red Koolaid…and fails, because it’s so heavy…and spills the vast majority of it right there.
And half of it seems to get under the fridge, so that as you wash the floor in front, more seeps out from under in this angry, red puddle as though the refrigerator were hemorrhaging.
And you have to run to your bedroom to change out of your dry clean only church skirt because there’s no way to avoid getting down on your hands and knees to handle this job (and while on your knees you pause to pray, through gritted teeth, for patience).
So, sometimes, a seemingly unnecessary job is really a necessary job. Even for a Sunday morning.
Katie’s birthday was…quite a while ago (two Fridays ago). I’m just not getting to the computer much these days.
Since Jenny’s birthday is only a few weeks away, Nana thought it best to just give both girls their presents at once. They already own the dolls but they got the desks and school supplies and school clothes for their birthday. Very appropriate for this time of year. They love the gifts, of course.
Katie took birthday money from my parents and bought this stuffed dog. Because she needed another stuffed animal. Of course. Every girl needs another stuffed animal.
She was thrilled when the delivery man arrived with her present from Daddy. Bill has decided to make himself a tough act to follow. Imagine her in ten years: “What? You didn’t get me flowers? My daddy always gets me flowers! You obviously don’t love me.”
It was difficult to beat the smiles generated by that present, but at least my gift is a bit longer lasting. We’re moving into the big girl years with pierced ears. Next, it’ll be high heels and make up…
Yesterday, Bill’s parents, the kids, Neighbor Girl and I went to Friendly’s for ice cream sundaes to celebrate Bill’s birthday. The kids have not been to a Friendly’s since we lived in New Jersey (2005), so this was quite a treat. Wish you could have been there, honey.
My sister sent this cute photo of her and her husband toasting my husband. She doesn’t say what they’re drinking, but I’ll guess some sort of Pale Ale for him and cranberry juice with vodka for her.
My boys have been hard at work copying the schematics for the Battle of Balaclava as found in The Dangerous Book for Boys.
Why?
Well, Fritz is memorizing The Charge of the Light Brigade for school, and we just had to find out what the poem was about.
Every boy should know this poem. What fabulous lines:
…”Forward the Light Brigade
Charge for the guns,” he said…
…Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d…
…Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro‘ the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell…
Every parent’s child should know this poem:
…Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die…
Until your kids get so smart that they point out that blind obedience led to a disaster…
For history this year, Fritz is studying Ancient Egypt.
And the Crimean War.
Updated: Did I mention I’m not a student of military affairs? My husband emailed me to point out that the Americans weren’t at the Battle of Balaclava. I don’t think the Germans were, either. Hey, one battle plan looks like any other to me. Apparently, the boys are not studying the Crimean War as much as Military Science, and they’re just making their own battle plans for some imaginary war. I have just ruled out “spy” as a career plan for me once I’m done raising babies.
Once she learned that certain shows could be viewed from my computer, she began demanding to watch the moment she woke up. She doesn’t care that there are emails from Daddy waiting to be read.
It’s OK. I’m forcing myself to pray and read first thing in the morning.
As an aside, my oldest son was also an early riser…and I mean early: before 5 AM and raring to go, just like Mary. I remember hearing the sage advice of an experienced mom saying that mothers needed to get up at least a half hour before their children to have some personal time. She, obviously, did not have really early risers. I am an early riser, but I draw the line at 5 AM. I think it is unreasonable for anyone to be expected to get up before then, and my advice to mothers in that position is to have patience and teach your toddler his numbers as soon as possible. When he can identify the number 6, get him a digital clock for his bedroom and forbid him to come out until the first number is a 6. There is hope; you just have to wait three years and pray the next baby likes to sleep late.
After she gets bored with “See Tee” – which I think means “See TV” – she wants “bubbles” in the sink. She makes a mess, but at least I get time to read the latest love note from hubby.
Friend: Can I take Fritz and Billy to the pool with my boys?
Me: Sure!
Friend: And can I leave my 13 year old daughter at your house to babysit so you can do stuff?
Me: Oh, yes!
…is a friend indeed!
Reit This Way 