Second Day of Preschool

Today was our second semi-official day of preschool and, again, it didn't look exactly like I'd planned. I was operating on fewer than five hours of broken sleep (thanks, insomnia) and had been awake since about 4:00 a.m. (thanks, Mary), plus the baby and I are sick, so she was a real crab. I, on the other hand, was positively cheerful (not--Chris can testify to that!).

Today was the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady (Mary's birthday!) and I decided to take the kids to Mass. I felt sort of conflicted, but then I thought, this is what homeschooling is all about! Anyone could teach my children their ABCs, but because I "stay home" and they "stay home," I can take them out for experiences like Mass and following the liturgical calendar.

I was driving to the church for nine o'clock Mass--harried, having gathered up all the extra things one needs when leaving the house with a child in early potty training, myself only barely "put together"--and I was wondering, disappointed, how can I have been awake for nearly five hours and it still was very hard to get ready and to Mass on time. God sent a nice older lady to say just what I needed to hear. As I was walking the children in from the parking lot, this lady said to me, "It takes a lot to get two children together for Mass!" I said, "Thank you! It really is hard." She replied, "I did it for years." It turns out that she raised eight children. So, she knows how hard it is and she validated my feelings and gave me encouragement when I needed it.

Also, John did so great at Mass. He made the sign of the cross in the holy water, then spent much of Mass quietly practicing his genuflecting right at the edge of the pew. When we had to leave because Mary was fussy, John quietly sorted holy cards in the vestibule. At the Gospel, John made the triple cross on his forehead, mouth, and chest--something he must have learned by osmosis. Then when we went up for me to receive Communion, for the first time John knelt while I was kneeling.

Here you can see John matching a 'G' cookie to the puzzle while I put away groceries.

Later we took a walk on which we chatted about innumerable subjects interesting to boys (like whether those two dog droppings in the grass were from one or two doggies) and sang for the world to hear. (But John is singing shyly in the below video.)

John has already figured out how to operate my iPhone, unlocking it, opening up the camera to take a picture, rearrange the icons, and today he wrote this email from my iPhone:

To: "xyt@tty" xyt@tty

&54Bnnnnn]~[[=]

TykeudopwLopytsSent from my iPhones
A
QuputffdfghgfsdAaaaaaaasanspsprewwsj

We baked cupcakes to celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mother's birth. Unfortunately, they were prettier than they were tasty.

Mary did not get to eat any cupcake, but she did lunge after them. John ate only the top.

Apparently it did make an impression on John that I took him to Mass to celebrate the Virgin Mary's birthday and we baked cupcakes (and say "Happy Birthday" and "Immaculate Mary"). He snuck off quietly and when I walked in on him, he announced happily that he was painting a picture of the Virgin Mary on the extra refrigerator in the laundry room . . . with the cat's bowl of water. Do you know what kind of germs are in the water?!