A Week, Briefly (4/12/21)

 This week was mostly about Pixie.

 

I think you have to be a mom whose kids have left home and then come back for a visit to understand what the week was like.

 

I know I could imagine but not understand the fun and feelings before it happened to me.

 

 The kids reveled in just being near her.

 

We had a marshmallow roast that resulted in much hilarity.

 

One evening after the boys had their baths, they found Pixie on the front porch and took goofy selfies together.

 

Five of the oldest girls went out to the movies together . . . and took bathroom selfies. 😂

We had a proper family portrait session with a professional photographer (photos to come in a couple of weeks).

And we did a lot of sitting around having long conversations.

 

It was good.

She's back at school, and after several mishaps, she's ready for the semester to begin on Monday morning.

Through it all, we had therapy and school.

Beowulf's head CT came out normal. Coupled with his normal blood test results, he is considered medically clear, and we went ahead with his next med trial--another stimulant.  So far, he's doing well.  He came to me on the first day of the first dose saying, "Mom, I feel good!"

He's taking a lower-than-therapeutic dose to test for tolerance, so he's still struggling with a lot of executive function and still having some head complaints and aggression.  But he's so much better than before!!!  He completed a math lesson in under an hour on Friday--something he hasn't done in over a year.

Little Princess finished her math book!

Ladybug had a wonderful nurturing session with Sugar Bear.  

Nature Angel helped Sir Walter Scott with some soldering in the kid bathroom.  I did not notice they weren't wearing any protective gear until I was looking through the pictures!  So I guess the lesson is:  Don't do as we did!

 

But the plumbing all works, and we just might have a functioning shower/bathtub by the end of the week . . . if we can get the taping, mudding, waterproofing, tiling, grouting, caulking, and sealing done . . . yeah, it won't be by the end of this week!

 

I asked Lola to cut out and sort these fruit and veggie cards. 

Then I left the room.

I came back to find that Lola sorted them into a unicorn!  You can see it if you pretend you're a 6-year-old girl . . . the carrot is the horn . . .

We finished Juddie this week and began The Secret School.  Both are books about kids hungry for education, and I figure these are good lessons for all of us who often forget and take our educations for granted.

We also wrapped up our Antarctica readings and moved into Australia.  We also had a couple days' study on asking questions.  We're working on politely gaining attention, listening to the answers, and thanking the person who helps us.  We read books about questions, practiced asking questions, and role-played asking for help in a grocery store.

Just Ask is an especially dear book about kids with disabilities or extraordinary medical conditions and the power of simply asking them about what they're doing in order to make friends and understand one another.  Ask Me is a sweet story of a child wanting her parent to be curious about what she likes and doesn't like.

Sir Walter Scott is ready to move up to 6 hour days next week, and he's doing some of the payroll work he used to do as well.  He goes to work, comes home and helps with kids and construction, and even does some dishes and cares for chickens.  He's strong and focused.

 

There's a chance of snow this week!

 

It's well past our frost date.

 

So once that snow is outta here, my plants are going in the garden!