Year 2, Days 252 and 253: The Library Escapade

Oh...my...goodness...what a day!

Ok, back up. I need to talk about Monday first.  Let's see....oh yeah, Tuesday was pretty much a repeat of Monday.  Work hard all day, on my feet, keep kids on task, keeping toddler from hurting himself, figuring out dinner last minute, not opening my laptop until 6pm (I keep up with social media and email on my phone all day, otherwise it backs up) meaning I don't get any business work done, etc.  No, back up, on Monday, I did have a 15 minute online, video call with someone at the state wide homeschool association because I'm going to try to squeeze in 1 hr of bookkeeping work for them for free because, well, that's how I can help them the most!  It took 5 months to get those 15 minutes scheduled in and completed.  Yes, 5 months.  Life is just like that sometimes.  And so, I had to make sure I was done with putting Abishai down for a nap, and the other two kids were occupied with schoolwork so I could get online.  Ah!  But it got done, and so did school, and dinner, and chores.  And that's about it.

This school year is definitely still overwhelming and we are on week 4.  I may have bitten off more than I can handle by switching things up so much.  So, later this week, I'm going to figure out how long it takes each kid to do each individual subject when they concentrate and there's no outside distractions.  I'll time each subject one by one.  You see, each subject shouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes of them working independently (this doesn't include when I teach them or go over things with them, but I need to time those times as well), and with 10-12 subjects (I break big subjects up into more pieces on this assignment sheet), it shouldn't take more than 3 hrs.  Hm,...right there makes me pause because our together time, plus our teacher checking the homework time does take up to 2-3 hrs.  I think I know what the problem is.  Because when you factor in real life, school is taking us from 8 am to 4 pm and then more time after supper.  Aha!  Momma needs to tweak more things.

Meanwhile, the fun part of today, Tuesday was the library.  We needed to choose a consistent day of the week to go to the library now that we are ordering and picking up books more often, and they need to be picked up within a week of them arriving at the library.  So, I saw that toddler time (story time for 2 yr olds) is on Tuesdays at 10:15 am.  Perfect! Abishai can get some social time, we can get our books.  This also helps with getting books back on time so we don't incur late fines, although, with the library being on the way to church, it's been much easier to drop them off.  Well, this week for storytime, they had the toddlers and the preschoolers together because a magician was there.  The preschoolers are the 3-5 yr olds and they usually meet on Wednesdays at 10:15 am which will make it hard come Febraury when Abishai turns 3 and Keturah is still doing gymnastics, but I think Leah and I can split up the kids between us and make it work.  Anyway, we were there early, so we sat in the back row because technically the older kids weren't supposed to be there.  However, no one questioned their presence and Justin even got to be part of the show!  I told them that if the room got too full, that they would give up their seats and sit outside the room.  The room they used today was a little further away from the children's area is where I thought I could have the other two sit nearby, but not be part of the group.  I know Justin could "watch" Keturah, but I didn't want the librarians and other patrons peppering them with questions if I weren't nearby.  Perhaps once we get to know these librarians, I will feel more comfortable leaving them wherever in the library.  Justin even signed himself into an adult computer and maybe it was the children's librarian that checked him in who had heard that he was homeschooled because no one questioned why he was out of school.  They do have a homeschool event or two per month there, so it's definitely a known fact that there are homeschoolers in the area.

Anyway, the kids stayed in the room with Abishai and I, and it was a good thing we sat in the back because Abishai did NOT want to be there.  In fact, he wanted 'kie and paci and I purposefully left those home thinking we are only going to the library and surely Abishai would enjoy the show.  Nope.  Thankfully we have a second paci in the diaper bag just in case.  Abishai was all over the place and did not pay attention to the magician hardly at all.  The other two tried to do homework, but thought the magician was great and had fun interacting with him.  He is a grandpa to 14 grandchildren and sings well, and has practiced magic since he was like 10.  Sweet old man who probably plays Santa at Christmastime because he has a pure white beard.  Awesome show, too.  Most of the kids laughed and interacted with him.  Except Abishai.

Why? Well, Abishai just hasn't experienced regular exposure to these kinds of environment.  When the other were his age, we went to church on Sunday and usually stayed for two services so they were in the nursery/preschool/Kids Rock classrooms with their peers.  Then we went to MOPS or a MOPS event every single Tuesday, so they interacted with their peers there as well.  That's where they learned how to share and make friends.  Abishai has picked up lots of things, but because his siblings are so much older, he hasn't had to really share his toys with anyone.  It's like when you only have 1 child, there's no competition.  So, I think library time is going to a perfect way to practice sitting still when someone is talking and reading and helping with a craft and to practice sharing and taking turns.  Abishai did do well when I said we weren't going to play on the tractor first because all the other kids were mobbing it right after the show ended.  There was a computer free, so he played on that first.  Then, when he was done, no one was on the tractor, so it was his turn.  He even freely gave up the drivers' seat after I said "30 more seconds and it's this little girl's turn."  So, he knows.  He just needs more practice.  I'm not a proponent for preschools where it's all about "kindergarten readiness" as far as letter and number recognition or other academic skills, but there is something to be said about it helping with social skills.   And that can be accomplished in numerous ways like library story time.  I remember going to the library regularly so my younger siblings could do story time as well.  So, I'm glad it will be part of our routine, although now we have to retweak the schedule again.

And that's about it.  Keturah had a meltdown because she didn't have electronic time because she dawdled about school and still had not finished picking up her room.  I felt bad, and tried to explain that most kids here age have no time for it during the school week either.  But, I really don't want us to be like them, so it is causing me to pause and think, too.  She likes to take her own sweet time organizing and reorganizing her stuff, but she gets it all out and then just leaves it midstream, leaving her floor covered in stuff that has no rhyme or reason (to me anyway).  So, I had her just throw everything into random bins to clear the floor, and then she can take out one bin at time to sort.  I need to step in and help as well.  Keturah does a lovely job at decorating and organizing a lot of the time.  But she had to endure the natural consequence of not finishing her project over the weekend and having to do it tonight instead.

Justin is working hard as well, but he gets distracted with Abishai, the dog, food, and what not.  Part of this is normal homeschooling and a chaotic home culture.  And part of it is his own brain not fully functioning.  He is memorizing a ton of stuff for different subjects, and I really don't know how he does it.  Bible Bowl has been a big help in that.

Benaiah heads off tomorrow with his school for a 2 day, 2 night retreat for his school.  It's so neat that they get to do that with their students and focus on the kids' spiritual health and school relationships, team building kind of things.  I was thinking late last night how I don't hardly any time with Benaiah whereas I still have all day with the other 3 to interact, work on character, teach academics, joke around, go on field trips etc.  and it makes me sad.  If Benaiah was homeschooled, we would still have some of that, but at the same time, he would still probably be really busy with other things that took him away from me.  And in 3 years he'll be gone anyway, right?  But at least I can trust Southside with him and there are so many upsides to that school, too.  And I can focus on the younger ones at home.  Just like I didn't make it to his 1st birthday with breastfeeding, I will always be sad to not have gone all the way with homeschooling him through high school.  And that's just me being hard on myself, but it's true.  I will always feel a bit guilty, but then I refocus and do better the next time, and the next, and the next.  Benaiah was the trial run, and then the other 3 benefit from my mistakes from the trial run.  Nah, whatever mistakes I made, God filled in the gaps and it's all good.

Alrighty, back to the grind tomorrow with gymnastics and Bible Bowl.

I put danglie earrings in for the first time yesterday!  They felt SO weird! And they hurt when I took them out.  I hadn't worn earrings for a couple of weeks again, but I think I'm super sensitive or something because all the earrings I have, hurt! Jared's cousin suggested to just wear real gold jewelry and see if that makes a difference, so I will try that.  This is another reason why I didn't have my ears pierced until I was 34 years old!  It's just not meant to be.  Looks pretty though!

Abishai had colored on his Color Wonder paper, dumped out gobs of toys, interrupted the they two doing their schoolwork, made a mess with food, crawled all over the dog, screeched his bus through the house,....all before 10 am.  Oh glorious toddlerhood!

Justin wanted to draw something specific so he drew a box in the corner and told Abishai that he could color only in the box.  Yeah, that's worked for 2 seconds, but at least Justin tried!  Abishai is just mimicking everybody all the time.  Fun, crazy, annoying and downright hilarious at times.

"Dan home!" Mr. Dan came by to drill a hole for our dryer vent.  Abishai was pretty excited to see that Mr. Dan had "come home."

Keturah's handwriting is pretty decent.  We will be adding cursive in at some point in the next month hopefully.  I want to be sitting right next to her when she does it though, which is something I didn't do with the boys and their handwriting has suffered because of it.

Have cars? Will find road!

Abishai and Jared made up this silly game of "icky toes!" where Abishai pretends to vacuum your feet causing them to feel "icky."  Jared got the "icky toes" phrase from a movie, but he says it most often about having to walk into a lake or ocean or something.  And he says it in such a way where his face all crinkles up and his voice get high pitched and it makes Abishai laugh and laugh.  So, Abishai tried the game out on me and I played along, too.

See, doesn't the magician make a great Santa?  He's so sweet, too! He had hand motions for his magic phrase of "colors, numbers, magic, oh my!" His tricks were simple, but he would react to them in a way like "how did this happen?" and it made the kids laugh and laugh!

He kept unfolding this hat saying it was one color when it clearly was not.

Until, he got to this point and sometimes he would hold it in a way where you couldn't see the troll and sometimes you could.  Too funny!

Barely sitting still, with a paci in his mouth to keep quiet.

Mrs. Lori (who used to go to Indian Creek and has triplets Justin's age) got involved because she brought her daycare kids.  The joke was that you put the crayon in an "empty" tube and after you flipped it over a certain amount of times, the crayon would have flipped.  Well, the magician would hold his in such a way that it didn't flip.  They were trick tubes of course with different layers of materials that he would hold at certain times.  Simple tricks, but the kids never caught on.

Abishai wasn't interested at all.  He'd rather play with his cars.  Then another little boy with a motorcycle came over wanting to play, but Abishai didn't want to share his cars and the little boy didn't want to share his motorcycle.  Well, Abishai eventually had it in his hand and didn't want to give it back when we finally forced them apart (this was all during the show by the way.  This caused both boys to get upset and loud.  Good grief!  So embarrassing but at the same time, to be expected at this age.  Sigh.  I made sure the cars were put away when we went to play in the regular part of the library so there would be no more squabbles.

Justin's turn to get involved!  The magician even knew Justin was wearing a Flash t-shirt!

Hands up, mouths closed! One way to get kids to be quiet!

On one hand, I'm glad this book exists, but on the other hand, it's sad that it is needed.  I read a couple of pages and it focuses on the facts that children of divorced parents have two rooms, two houses, two whatever, but it almost celebrates it, i.e. "I have more stuff than my peers do!"  Sad.

Abishai saw us carry bags to the car, so he brought his car case outside and we put it in the van.  We left in the van at the library though.  Then he wheeled it back inside the house with no issues, just like it was any other day.

Toddler in a cage, for now.

Now the tween is in the cage.

Roles reversed.

Abishai in the box

Cheese!

Abishai putting blocks in box

 

Abishai would ride his bike up the driveway on the pavement, but down the front yard on the grass.  I have no idea why except maybe the pavement was hot or he didn't want to go down at a fast pace.  Then, he would get off his bike, and pull it up out of the ditch all by himself.  And he did this like 5 times!  Strong and determined this one is.

Abishai working hard with his bike

We studied these guys today in history because we talked about Elisha and the famine that was in Judah because of locusts eating the crops.

Do you know the differences?  We have mostly cicadas here, but I heard and saw more crickets in New England.  Locusts are a member of the grasshopper family, but a grasshopper is not a locust.

"I look (at) Mommy!"  Abishai climbed up on the stool and onto the windowsill and then stood up and got stuck.  I had to help him get down on my side because Jared was busy finishing up supper for me on the other side.

Another new game!  Stand up on Daddy's shoulders and then tumble straight backwards onto the chair.  This kid, oh my word, this kid.  Shaking my head!

Abishai falling into the chair

Abishai did all the work of climbing up, standing up straight and then falling.  Jared just sat there playing Minecraft.  Gee whiz!

Let's add a track to the big slide and then let our cars jump!  Jared always has time to play with the kids.  I don't know how he does, but he is awesome at making the time for it.  Sweet!