Impromptu Science

What Aidan is Reading

Nuttin Much Happening

Puzzles... of course

Something new I picked up
Both of the girls like it although Ainsley mostly builds towers

Lots of reading!

Building Zoos

TRUTHS

I ask Ainsley while she's playing dress up if she's the princess. "No," she says. "I'm the Queen!"

While reading a Frog and Toad story... Aidan reads the word "read" wrong and reads it as a present tense instead of past tense. When it's explained that it already happened she quickly points out the picture shows his mouth open so that means he's doing it right now.

There can never be enough puzzles in our house.

The older the girls get... the easier things are. Being stringent in my expectations of their behavior really pays off now that they're older. They behave automatically and I receive compliments everywhere I go on how well behaved and mannerly they are. I'm still looking for those terrible twos and threes. :-)

I will never be too wealthy to NOT yard sale. I have the greatest luck with them and find the absolute best deals!

I really need to buy a notebook for the express purpose of writing down the girls' adventures in their playing. They are so imaginative and detailed! It's like watching an enjoyable play.

I was always an intelligent person but my children are more so. Sometimes I'm scared of having more because I'm already worried I wont be able to pace the two I have.

Touring preschools was a joke. I was thinking hard of putting Aidan in twice a week for socializing and because she would enjoy the structure of school. However, when the only thing the director could come up with on why it would be a good place for Aidan to go is so that Aidan can learn how to use scissors... I knew right then. Learn to use scissors? Yeah, considering Aidan has been using scissors proficiently for well over a year... I think I'm doing a much better job in my lackadaisical way than any preschool could do.

I was accused recently from an anonymous commenter of thinking my kids are greater than any others and that my blogs were nothing but brag fests..... well.... as to that..... all I can say is...... DUUUUHHH!!!! I don't believe I've ever met another parent who didn't really believe their kids were the best and smartest and overall greatest. That's how it should be!

( I would like to point out though... I have never made up anything I've written and I've always striven to be as accurate as I can on how I present things... so if the girls come across as being rather awesome... then that means they're awesome!!!! ;-) )

Yup... They Still Fit!

Playdough Playdate

We haven't had a playdate in quite a while and so I invited a friend over with her daughter (who is 3 months older than Ainsley but 3 or so inches taller than Aidan so she fits right in with them.) They played very nicely together with babies and random toys and I also brought out the play dough for them. (unless told it doesn't matter... I do not post pictures of other kids in case the parents do not wish them to be "exposed") Anyway, I enjoyed it and hope to have the girls see each other more often. They are getting to be old enough to really develop relationships and close friendships.

Starting Back

Aidan started Gymnastics today...again. We changed gyms and from this one lesson I believe I'll like it much better. She actually was the only student present. There apparently is one other but she was on vacation. The instructor, Ms. Angela, put Aidan through her paces trying her out and seeing what she could do. I have to admit to being surprised on how well she did on things. It has been a LOOONG time since her last class and she was doing things she had never done before. It was amusing to see Ms. Angela start Aidan out on trying easy things and quickly having her do much harder things. The only thing Aidan struggled with was climbing a knotted rope... which I do not at all blame her for having trouble with! Goodness knows I cannot do it! Anyway... Aidan enjoyed it but then complained all the way home that it was a "baby class" and she wanted to go to the "big kid" class. I ended up lecturing her on being grateful about going and that she had to work hard and practice with what Ms. Angela says to do and that if she does that she'll move into a bigger class but needed to learn the basics first. I'm sure most of what Aidan heard was "blah blah blah" but I know she heard some of it so .... we'll see how it goes. Watching her today really affirmed in my head...however... that I have picked the right sport for her. Having a Mom with an excellent set of "instincts" *wink* really works in their favor sometimes.

Mommy May I?

This week there have been new developments!

First of all, Aidan has discovered reading in her head as opposed to reading aloud. She actually asks me "Please may I read it in my head?" Of course, with her doing so, I have no clue as to how well she's reading or if she's skipping words but as long as she wants to... I will totally encourage it. I've caught her sitting by herself reading a book "in her head" all week.

Secondly, she's skipped again... this time with fluency. Every time we take a break from "school" she jumps ahead. (Hmmm...) Very rarely does she sound out anything now and rarer still does she sound them out aloud. I know she's sounding them out sometimes in her head because she pauses... but mostly... she's reading steadily without a thought about what the words are.

As I said in my last post... Aidan read A LOT of books. Most of them were "fluency readers" (I call them thus because they are below her actual level but they give her practice with reading easily and fluidly) but some of them were more "meatier" books.

Examples of "Fluency" readers:

Biscuit
Silly Sara
Mouse Makes Words

Examples of more "Meatier" readers:

Danny and the Dinosaur
Frog and Toad Together
Amelia Bedelia

So, this week, I have proven that even if their body spends the week doing nothing... their brains are still hard at work!

CuteNess

Afternoon at the Mall

I love weekends and I love the family time we get to spend together! Today John and I took the girls to play at the mall and shop for Aidan's much needed shoes.

Softplay!

The newest thing... inflatables!

Lunch!

The highlight of the day... The Carousal!

Weekly Review

Well... good intentions and all that...

This week was a bust. Our days were filled with doctor's appointments and runny noses. School was not done and in fact we spent much of the week crashed on the couch watching T.V. (LOL! so much for being "unplugged.") Anyway, this next coming week doesn't look good either. With McMama being sick and with all our commitments coming up... I'm not going to start with my plans until the 28th.

We'll just call this Spring Break!

Unschooling will, of course, continue but I'm not expecting much. I do feel bad b/c things keep being pushed back... but life is often not what you plan it to be.

Sooo.... what did we do?

Aidan read A LOT of books...

We watched A LOT of t.v....

We again did A LOT of puzzles...

and that's about it!!!

On Order

Impulse Control- An Anecdote

(McMama related this to me and I HAD to write it down)

Aidan has a tendency to be obnoxious about asking for something over and over and over again. (There's the 3 year old in her!) Today I went to a doctor's appointment and left the girls with McMama. Apparently, Aidan was bugging the mess out of McMama and kept asking if she could have lunch... when was it lunch time... is she going to fix lunch soon... etc.

McMama told her how irritating that was and that of course she would fix lunch but Aidan needed to wait patiently and quit asking. Aidan said "okay" and she "understood".

Then she asked again but clapped her hands to her mouth...knowing she shouldn't have

McMama says "Aidan did you not understand anything I said to you?"

she replied...

"Yes Grandma but my mind keeps telling me to say it. I knew I wasn't supposed to ask but my mind keeps saying....

( she lowered her voice and started whispering)

"go ask Grandma for some lunch"
"go ask Grandma for a snack"
"maybe Grandma will give you a drink"

and then

"It's my mind telling me to do it and before I can stop myself, I do it. It keeps talking to me"

So, McMama asks her "Aidan, who controls your mind?"

"You do Grandma"

'No, Aidan, you control your mind. Daddy controls his mind. Mommy controls her mind. I control my mind. Everyone controls their own mind."

Aidan thinks for a minute

and then very seriously says...

"No Grandma... I don't think everybody does"

LOL! Gotta Love her!

What We've Been Up To

Finally swimming in our pool!

Painting the playroom... yellow... VERY yellow!

Spending a rainy day getting exercise...

Puzzles, Puzzles, and more Puzzles!

(Aidan literally went through every puzzle the girls had... including all the 100 piece ones so I brought out a 500 piece and we both put it together. Ainsley is now putting together the 25 piece ones by herself.)

Trying out new pajamas!

And I swore I'd NEVER buy character p.j.s

(buuuut theeeey liiiiiike theeeeeemm!)

Trying New Things

This week I'm test-driving a new way of doing things. Instead of making a list of things to accomplish and sticking to that list... I'm going to let Aidan decide how much or how little she wishes to do with each subject. I've been surfing through a lot of other blogs this weekend and saw a lot of "Weekly Recaps" instead of "Weekly Goals". I like that idea. So, at the end of the this week... I'll post about what was done.

Lately, I realized that our system will not continue working much longer. There hasn't been any big issues but I'm sensing that Aidan is getting bored with the pace of things. (she often wants to do more lessons in certain things but I'll tell her no) I also realized that I'm sometimes bribing (i.e. PUSHING) her to do something else (because I put it on her list and want to check it off!!) but she's uninterested in it. I don't like that... even if it has just happened a few times... I believe strongly that young kids should have the lead in their learning... and I don't want to become a PUSHY Mom who forgets herself because of the joy of having advanced daughters.

I do, however, want to make sure we don't turn into cartoon-watching lay-a-bouts...

Sooo

1) "Unplugging" from the t.v. will again be implemented

&

2) I plan to finally enforce a specific time where we do school. Since mornings seem to be our most productive time... this week the school bell will ring at 9:30.

After soul-searching... I realized that I'm taking things too seriously and that I need to let go of the control... and let the girls take over. My job, I've told myself, is to offer them materials and let them choose what to do with it.