Today... on the plus side - the kids both went to school at a normal hour for the whole day (after days at home sick, holidays, 2 hour snow delays, half days, and other such things in the last 2 weeks.) David went to work and I have nothing on the calendar, no appointments, no obligations at school or anywhere else (a WHOLE Friday to myself?!) On the down side - I am spending said Friday home on the couch with a gnarly head cold. Thanks a lot, winter viruses. We managed to avoid them for several months, but they have snagged 3 of us in the last 3 weeks.
Really, though, it feels like forever since I blogged about something besides a holiday or a trip or an event. Every post has at least 32 pictures. I've decided to make this post "photo free." So, if you're only in it for the visuals, you'll want to skip to the next post.
I wanted to take a minute and talk about the girls. It's my blog, I can brag if I want. I know - people get all upset about how blogs only highlight the good and make everyone else feel bad that their lives aren't as perfect as the lives they read about on the internet. Let me start with the disclosure that my kids have brought me to raging tears multiple times this year already with their sometimes embarrassing behavior, foul treatment of each other, lack of personal responsibility, refusal to practice instruments, refusal to listen, pick up after themselves, and get ready for school or bed. But who wants to blog about how terrible their kids are? (We could talk about all my faults too, but that would just take up too many volumes.)
Even with their faults, Grace and Harriet are really great kids. Sure, they don't practice as often as they should, but when a finished song finally does come out of the piano or the guitar, a mom couldn't be prouder. Grace just learned the guitar solo in the new Muse song "Madness." It makes a rock loving mom's heart sing. (I may have to sign up for my own guitar lessons someday.)
Some of the biggest accomplishments made by the girls so far during 2013:
Grace:
*some kind of switch got flipped in her and she finally does, actually, get ready for school without too much intervention from me. (Once I get her out of bed of course - that proves to be a continual battle.) She also gets ready for karate and guitar lessons on her own. I know she should have been doing those things a long time before (nearly) 10 years old, but for us it is a huge victory.
*scored 100% on the district math test for the trimester. She had scored an 89 the previous trimester (still a great score, but not what Grace was capable of doing.) I knew it was because she had been lazy with answers and not paying attention to details since she is a total math wizard otherwise. She felt bad about it and truly tried to do her best the next time. Really, I couldn't care less about what a standardized test score says about my kid, but I was proud of her determination to improve and do her best. She and one other GIRL in 4th grade scored 100%. Go math girls! I pray that they hold onto their math love through middle school so that they can really shine in high school.
*REALLY REALLY LEARNED HOW TO SKI!!! Oh my gosh, did she ever come a long way after 2 days with our favorite ski instructor at Santa Fe (Dale - we love you!) She got off the mountain the first day looking completely, totally wiped out. She could barely walk to the car. She had been on the upper mountain runs for most of the day (I hadn't even been up there once.) Dale reported that they would head for the blacks on day 2. The BLACKS?! Crazy! I am really so proud of her. She doesn't often improve at a fast rate when it comes to things like this, but she really went over the top of any expectation I ever had for her on the ski slopes. Can't wait to see how she does skiing with Daddy next week at Sipapu.
*finished all the Harry Potter books. She was so diligent in reading each one and moving to the next one. Those books are so long, I am still amazed that kids are able to get through them like they do. Credit to JK Rowling for creating such a literary gem.
Harriet:
*has become the best reader in her class. I'm not just saying that because I'm her mom. I go in every week and help administer one-on-one reading assessments. Harriet is one of maybe 3 kids who can read a sentence without pausing between every word, and she's the only kid who seems like she knows what the sentence said or meant when she's done reading it. She is definitely the only one who includes appropriate inflection in her voice as she is reading. This means so much to me since I was so worried about her at the start of kindergarten. She refused to even try to read until a few weeks into kindergarten. You hate to compare your kids, but when one is reading at 3 and the other doesn't even try until 5 1/2, you worry - at least enough to worry that one will always be behind, or have to struggle in the shadow of the other who doesn't have to work hard at school. She still doesn't like reading chapter books on her own (Grace was well into chapter books at this point.) But, I've decided that Harriet's reluctance to leave the picture books behind is that she just loves the pictures so much. She is kind of a little artist and just hates to pick up a book that doesn't illustrate the story as it goes. I am reluctant to force her because I love the picture books too and I will be sad when no one reads them anymore at our house. She will let Daddy read to her though and they have started the first Harry Potter together.
*has gotten over many of her sensory issues when it comes to getting ready in the morning. It has made things so much easier now that we don't have to fix the socks 100 times, keep retying the shoes until they are perfect, try on 6 pairs of pants until we find the ones that feel just right. Thank goodness for these time saving accomplishments because, unfortunately, Harriet has also entered, what seems in our family, the 3 year lolly-gagging phase. She will take 7 minutes to go from the bottom of the stairs to the top as she heads from breakfast to get dressed. 4 minutes to put toothpaste on a toothbrush. 10 minutes to pull on a shirt. It's the kind of slowness that increases the more you encourage hurrying... and when left to her own devices, she will be found in the center of her bed staring at the clothes she should be putting on, like they might eventually just put themselves on. I'm thankful the mental hang-ups are lessened. And, now that I know the lolly-gagging is not a permanent condition, I can remind myself every morning that it's just part of being nearly 7, 8, and 9 years old. That, in itself, is an accomplishment when I can do it well.
*is coming out of her shell and deciding what she really likes in life on her own. I think sometimes she has "little sister syndrome" and isn't sure what to do. She decided in December to quit karate (for the 2nd time in her life - we won't try that one again.) After going to the Nutcracker ballet, she decided she wanted to be a ballerina. Well, there are 2 problems with that. 1- she has also quit dance in her life (leaving me hesitant to rearrange our lives to sign up again.) and 2- the good ballet schools are all expensive and a long drive across town. After looking for many weeks for a convenient west-side option, a gal in our neighborhood decided to host some little in-home dance classes for the neighborhood kids. She is formally trained in Irish dancing at BYU. Irish dancing doesn't exactly equal ballerina, but the price, driving distance (3 neighborhood streets away!), and convenience (can drop her off, come home cook dinner, and go pick her up!) won out. Plus, Harriet gets to go to dance class with all the girls from church and really loves it. She comes home counting the steps out loud and every once in a while I will see her skipping out a little Irish step. She is always excited to go to dance which we have never been able to say about dance or karate before. She even puts on her TIGHTS without a single complaint.
*is making good progress in piano and really loves it. Harriet will practice without being asked (not always, but it's still nice when it happens.) She strives to learn each thing right and is even getting good at memorizing things. Memorization hasn't been a strong skill for her before. I get so used to Grace who looks at something once and remembers it in detail for the rest of her life. I forget that isn't normal for a kid. Harriet has to diligently work at it, but is eventually successful. I think it's helping her in school too.
Ok, that's it for now. They do a lot of other great things too, but none that my benadryl-clouded-head can think of today. I do love my girls and I'm so glad I get to be their mom. They feel like my sisters sometimes and I have to stop myself and be reminded that they really are my little sisters. I just got here first.
1 year ago
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