A Week, Briefly (1/15/18)
The theme of the week has been overwhelmed.
Nothing has changed except the feeling in all of our chests . . . and the restarting of dance . . . but that wasn't until Thursday, and we all felt it the whole week through.
From Nature Angel to me to Brother to Baymax to Sir Walter Scott and everyone in-between, we've all been tense and anxious over our usual work.
Nature Angel said to me, "I just feel too full and overwhelmed with each day. Why do the days feel so full? How come there isn't enough time?"
This from a 10-year old who has hours of free time each day!
But I understand the feeling. What has felt perfectly fine until now has not felt fine this week.
Does something need to change? Or is it simply hormones and seriously freezing winter temperatures that have us temporarily feeling trapped in our own world?
The littles went out to play in the snow Monday through Thursday. Climbing temperatures on Thursday afternoon melted enough snow that sledding and snow forts weren't an option by Friday. But pink-cheeked, cold-fingered, lively children were the order of the days for most of the week. As much as I truly hate bundling small people up in enough clothing to stay safe in -4 degree weather, I am grateful for the excitement and joy of snow play.
In Academy we finished the Christian Liberty Nature Reader #1 and Can't You Make them Behave, King George?. We did 3 art projects exploring the concepts of texture, value, and warm/cool colors.
We worked on Movies as Literature for Symposium (The Music Man), and the girls have essays due next Monday. We also managed a couple of history lessons, lots of Spanish practice (ser and estar are slowly coming into focus), and a chapter or two of Huck Finn. We don't love it, but we're sticking with it as an exercise in diligence and coming to know a great American author.
Pixie and I spent a long time on Monday trying to work out some Algebra 2 (actually trig--because Saxon combines algebra, geometry, and trigonometry together!) puzzles. We solved a couple of them and finally decided that a couple more of them were better left unsolved at this point. This breaks our streak of 100% completion and correctness in math, but perhaps that is an unreasonable goal at this point.
At least that's what I'm telling myself as I rationalize our decision.
We watched the announcement about our new prophet/church president on Tuesday, and later I went to the dentist for a new crown. This knocked our school day wonky, but church activities for everyone 8-and-older left me home with the 7-and-under crowd (though Rose Red and Pixie ended up at home for personal reasons). With the help of these two teens, we got the littlest ones in bed, and I called Ladybug and Mister Man over to the couch with their schoolbooks and some blankets, and we had "bedtime school."
I wouldn't do it regularly, but it was a fun treat at the end of an unusual day.
Then I spent a silly 1/2 hour with my oldest two as they played with various camera toys, taking selfies and laughing over odd facebook memes.
In Morning Meeting we finally finished The Jesus Storybook Bible, and we are all sad to end such a sweet experience as reading this book has been. Without a doubt we will pick it back up in the coming months and again enjoy the spirit of Christ that permeates every page. In the meantime, we are so very close to finishing The Book of Mormon that we pulled out our Seek game (1955 edition), and we're flashing through the Book of Mormon quiz questions just for the fun of it.
We've learned this week that even raw, cultured dairy is not good for Lola--which is disappointing because I finally found a source for really good raw milk, and now I make wonderful yogurt. The jury is out about whether Beowulf can tolerate it, but I have my suspicions that it might be building back up in his system and causing some behavioral setbacks.
On the flip side, the setbacks could be from the return to dance, which is always a major trigger for him. I often think I'd pull him out if I had another place to keep him . . . but I also want him to ultimately learn to overcome the triggers and feel joyful at dance.
At any rate, I'm not sure whether to keep buying the milk and culturing the yogurt for the rest of the family or just stop altogether because keeping all meals the same for everyone is easier that dividing.
By Friday morning the sense of overwhemedness was simply too strong to overcome, so I packed up the elementary 8 and bribed the teens with a 2 day extension on their essay due date if they'd come with us to the art museum.
Pixie took me up on my offer.
After a whirlwind morning of prepping a GAPS-friendly picnic lunch, we headed out.
We only managed about an hour and a half inside the museum itself (poor Nature Angel would have stayed all day if she could have) before small people were fainting from the effort of controlling their voices, hands, and bodies. Fortunately, Friday was the warmest day of the week, and the art museum has an awesome lawn and sculpture garden.
In the sculpture garden is a glass labyrinth. Outside the labyrinth is a warning to walk slowly. But my small people were too excited, and it took less than 2 minutes for 5 kids to misjudge the direction they should go, bounce off a glass panel, and end up crying over a swelling bump on the head.
It sounds sad.
It is sad.
But it was hilarious to watch!
Pixie and I could not stop laughing--even as we kissed owies and hugged small sad people.
Beowulf and Brother thought it was fabulous to run into glass panels on purpose and enjoy the sensation of bouncing off them. They'd lie on the ground laughing until they couldn't stand up.
After half and hour or so of this, we ran around the huge lawn and then had a picnic.
It was 42 degrees.
But it was good . . . mostly.
After getting home, the kids managed an hour of indoor play before I kicked them back outside, where they played and cleaned the garage (of their own volition!!!) until dark and dinner.
Indoors I folded laundry, taught math lessons, listened to Little Princess talk, and made dinner. The teens worked on their schoolwork. Super Star finished and handed in her essay!
Oh! And how is potty training Lola going?
Ha!!! Eight of us schmeight of us!
She's not going to be potty trained until she wants to be potty-trained. Our smiles are wearing thin. The washer is running even more frequently than before (if that's possible). The potty is dry, but our couches, carpets, and clothing are too often wet. Four of the 8 big people who were helping have given up and refuse to help with her any more.
Lola has perfect control of her bodily functions; she just chooses when and how she will exercise them. One day Little Princess took Lola potty. Lola would not go. Little Princess talked sweetly. Lola would not go. Little Princess wheedled gently. Lola would not go. Little Princess was firm. Lola would not go, but Lola did ask for a drink of water. Little Princess wisely said Lola could not have a drink of water until after Lola went potty. Lola cried. Little Princess stood firm. Lola filled the potty abundantly and then got her drink of water.
*sigh*
On the flip side, Baymax spent a whole day in underwear and stayed perfectly dry one day this week--voluntarily. So even if we're failing with Lola, we may be obliquely training Baymax!
Nothing has changed except the feeling in all of our chests . . . and the restarting of dance . . . but that wasn't until Thursday, and we all felt it the whole week through.
From Nature Angel to me to Brother to Baymax to Sir Walter Scott and everyone in-between, we've all been tense and anxious over our usual work.
Nature Angel said to me, "I just feel too full and overwhelmed with each day. Why do the days feel so full? How come there isn't enough time?"
This from a 10-year old who has hours of free time each day!
But I understand the feeling. What has felt perfectly fine until now has not felt fine this week.
Does something need to change? Or is it simply hormones and seriously freezing winter temperatures that have us temporarily feeling trapped in our own world?
The littles went out to play in the snow Monday through Thursday. Climbing temperatures on Thursday afternoon melted enough snow that sledding and snow forts weren't an option by Friday. But pink-cheeked, cold-fingered, lively children were the order of the days for most of the week. As much as I truly hate bundling small people up in enough clothing to stay safe in -4 degree weather, I am grateful for the excitement and joy of snow play.
In Academy we finished the Christian Liberty Nature Reader #1 and Can't You Make them Behave, King George?. We did 3 art projects exploring the concepts of texture, value, and warm/cool colors.
We worked on Movies as Literature for Symposium (The Music Man), and the girls have essays due next Monday. We also managed a couple of history lessons, lots of Spanish practice (ser and estar are slowly coming into focus), and a chapter or two of Huck Finn. We don't love it, but we're sticking with it as an exercise in diligence and coming to know a great American author.
Pixie and I spent a long time on Monday trying to work out some Algebra 2 (actually trig--because Saxon combines algebra, geometry, and trigonometry together!) puzzles. We solved a couple of them and finally decided that a couple more of them were better left unsolved at this point. This breaks our streak of 100% completion and correctness in math, but perhaps that is an unreasonable goal at this point.
At least that's what I'm telling myself as I rationalize our decision.
 |
| At Little Princess's request, Daddy got out his old mission scrapbooks, and the kids spent a happy afternoon learning about life in Venezuela and Curaçao when Daddy was just 19 and 20 years old. |
We watched the announcement about our new prophet/church president on Tuesday, and later I went to the dentist for a new crown. This knocked our school day wonky, but church activities for everyone 8-and-older left me home with the 7-and-under crowd (though Rose Red and Pixie ended up at home for personal reasons). With the help of these two teens, we got the littlest ones in bed, and I called Ladybug and Mister Man over to the couch with their schoolbooks and some blankets, and we had "bedtime school."
I wouldn't do it regularly, but it was a fun treat at the end of an unusual day.
Then I spent a silly 1/2 hour with my oldest two as they played with various camera toys, taking selfies and laughing over odd facebook memes.
In Morning Meeting we finally finished The Jesus Storybook Bible, and we are all sad to end such a sweet experience as reading this book has been. Without a doubt we will pick it back up in the coming months and again enjoy the spirit of Christ that permeates every page. In the meantime, we are so very close to finishing The Book of Mormon that we pulled out our Seek game (1955 edition), and we're flashing through the Book of Mormon quiz questions just for the fun of it.
We've learned this week that even raw, cultured dairy is not good for Lola--which is disappointing because I finally found a source for really good raw milk, and now I make wonderful yogurt. The jury is out about whether Beowulf can tolerate it, but I have my suspicions that it might be building back up in his system and causing some behavioral setbacks.
On the flip side, the setbacks could be from the return to dance, which is always a major trigger for him. I often think I'd pull him out if I had another place to keep him . . . but I also want him to ultimately learn to overcome the triggers and feel joyful at dance.
At any rate, I'm not sure whether to keep buying the milk and culturing the yogurt for the rest of the family or just stop altogether because keeping all meals the same for everyone is easier that dividing.
By Friday morning the sense of overwhemedness was simply too strong to overcome, so I packed up the elementary 8 and bribed the teens with a 2 day extension on their essay due date if they'd come with us to the art museum.
Pixie took me up on my offer.
After a whirlwind morning of prepping a GAPS-friendly picnic lunch, we headed out.
We only managed about an hour and a half inside the museum itself (poor Nature Angel would have stayed all day if she could have) before small people were fainting from the effort of controlling their voices, hands, and bodies. Fortunately, Friday was the warmest day of the week, and the art museum has an awesome lawn and sculpture garden.
In the sculpture garden is a glass labyrinth. Outside the labyrinth is a warning to walk slowly. But my small people were too excited, and it took less than 2 minutes for 5 kids to misjudge the direction they should go, bounce off a glass panel, and end up crying over a swelling bump on the head.
It sounds sad.
It is sad.
But it was hilarious to watch!
Pixie and I could not stop laughing--even as we kissed owies and hugged small sad people.
Beowulf and Brother thought it was fabulous to run into glass panels on purpose and enjoy the sensation of bouncing off them. They'd lie on the ground laughing until they couldn't stand up.
After half and hour or so of this, we ran around the huge lawn and then had a picnic.
It was 42 degrees.
But it was good . . . mostly.
After getting home, the kids managed an hour of indoor play before I kicked them back outside, where they played and cleaned the garage (of their own volition!!!) until dark and dinner.
Indoors I folded laundry, taught math lessons, listened to Little Princess talk, and made dinner. The teens worked on their schoolwork. Super Star finished and handed in her essay!
 |
| Pasting is a good mommy's-really-got-to-finish-dinner-now activity. |
Oh! And how is potty training Lola going?
Ha!!! Eight of us schmeight of us!
She's not going to be potty trained until she wants to be potty-trained. Our smiles are wearing thin. The washer is running even more frequently than before (if that's possible). The potty is dry, but our couches, carpets, and clothing are too often wet. Four of the 8 big people who were helping have given up and refuse to help with her any more.
Lola has perfect control of her bodily functions; she just chooses when and how she will exercise them. One day Little Princess took Lola potty. Lola would not go. Little Princess talked sweetly. Lola would not go. Little Princess wheedled gently. Lola would not go. Little Princess was firm. Lola would not go, but Lola did ask for a drink of water. Little Princess wisely said Lola could not have a drink of water until after Lola went potty. Lola cried. Little Princess stood firm. Lola filled the potty abundantly and then got her drink of water.
*sigh*
On the flip side, Baymax spent a whole day in underwear and stayed perfectly dry one day this week--voluntarily. So even if we're failing with Lola, we may be obliquely training Baymax!
The glass maze... I want to take my kids. Several would do the same thing and I would laugh so much.
ReplyDeletePotty training. Ugh. It's hard with every child, but one who has struggles from her earlier years I can only imagine is crazy hard.
That overwhelmed feeling and the resultant stress and struggles for people - I have no advice. Honestly, I would curl up in a ball if I had to try and do all you do with out of the house things. I just can't. But I do know that sometimes those very things are exactly what is needed for some of the family and you just do them anyway.
I have a friend who says the only two things you really can't control about your kids are what goes into their bodies and what comes out. I am procrastinating training my little Pip. I just don't want to, and he doesn't either.
ReplyDeleteI planned on not even thinking about potty training until my daughter was 2 years, 6 months. (30 months?). Then at age 2 and 4 months she just insisted she wanted big girl panties and that was it. I think cloth diapers had a lot to do with it.
ReplyDeleteI was really hoping, too that the apostle from Germany (Ulchdorf?) would get to be president. I’m not LDS, but to me, he has a real talent for public speaking even in his second language.
ReplyDeleteI hope this coming week settles out and you all feel peace. It is hard to potty train. Love you.
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures from the art museum and the update on potty-training! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIs the overwhelmed feeling just because it’s January? Honestly I have been feeling that way for weeks, and even my 6 year old has picked up on it. She made a comment the other day about why I am always hurrying (and it is causing her stress) so I have been trying to make a conscious effort to slow things down and not show the children my stressed feelings. I am hoping with better weather, and more sunshine it will improve. Hooray for your day out! The glass maze looks really cool!
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to feel overwhelmed! I've fallen into a routine that has me volunteering T, W, Th, and I find myself longing for M and F so I can get stuff done.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Crown, ugh! Been there, done that. I bet you're glad that's over with. I hate going to the dentist.
The glass maze looks awesome! There used to be a plywood one somewhere sort of near where I lived as a teen. It was a hit with youth groups.