7 Quick Takes Friday

1.

Margaret (almost 5) has joined her big siblings in having a Practice List for piano. She has been asking me for a list for months and I finally agreed (my putting it off because it is one more thing I have to keep track of). She has done so well her first two weeks!

Margaret's new piano practice sheet

Funny pic of Margaret at the dealership getting an oil change with Daddy

2.

Tucked in the 3- and 4-year-olds, only to find them out of beds, one reading to another by headlamp. How to give consequences for that sweetness?

Speaking of Margaret, when I lost my voice this week, Margaret suggested that she read a bedtime story to me. She got out a book with which she is unfamiliar and she slowly, carefully sounded out the first paragraph. I got the witness the moment when she realized that she can read real books, not just her readers with her phonics program. I love that 'magical' moment!

Tucking her in, Margaret wanted to keep reading by herself

Margaret fell asleep, head lamp still aglow

3.

Mommy milestone: I left Thomas for the first time at 6 months 3 weeks old. I had been trying to get to Confession for some time, and it is so hard to get away on a Saturday afternoon, so I'd just promised myself to go that day. But Thomas had missed morning nap and had just recently fallen soundly asleep, so I slipped out, leaving him home with Daddy. I was so nervous, and texted Chris from the Confession line about how I felt nauseated to my stomach to be away from my nursing baby, but all was well. He slept till about 20 minutes before I got home and remained happy in the interim.

4.

I had Thomas on my back when I knelt down to get something and a sibling dashed over to place wolf ears on the baby. I forgot about it a nanosecond later--my brain being a sieve and all--and didn't realize until two hours later that the baby, still on my back, still wore wolf ears. He never complained!

Could you not just eat him up?

5.

Thomas is seven months old today!

While attending the parish mission on Monday night, Thomas pulled up to standing all by himself for the first time. It's a bad photo below as I rushed to document the milestone.

Thomas pulled up for the first time at 6 months 3 weeks

Pulling up already! What am I in for?

Starting to scootch the stool around the room like a walker

Lifting a knee to try to climb atop the stool

Thomas now ascends the two stair steps out of our sunken den into the kitchen with ease, so I spend much time sitting down, watching him crawl into the kitchen in about 20 seconds, getting up, retrieving him, placing him on the far side of the den again, enjoying my 20 seconds of sitting, getting up to retrieve him again . . . .

Here is a little glimpse of the destruction being wrought while I teach school each morning . . .

Pulling books off shelves

I am now assigning John or Mary to occupy both Joseph (3) and Thomas (crawling!) while I teach the other child, and poor Margaret (almost 5) is left to fend for herself.

One morning, I was sick, supervising John scrambling his eggs, keeping Margaret occupied, and cooking breakfast for everyone else: I was so desperate that to calm the screaming-for-food baby, I asked Joseph (3) to feed him his yogurt . . . Mary having dramatically refused to do so because "Greek yogurt smells terrible!"

3-year-old feeding the baby

Mary got over her histrionics and employed a clip to seal her nose from the offensive odor.

Mary protecting herself from yogurt smell

Thomas' new foods this week included spaghetti with marinara and Greek yogurt. I don't think Thomas has yet met a food he hasn't liked.

6.

Speaking of harried homeschooling days, I greatly appreciated the amazing blogger, speaker, and author Sarah MacKenzie saying publicly what many of us feel: "Sometimes, I Feel Like Quitting"!

Bonus reading: "The Loudest Silence I've Ever Heard" by Travis Norwood

7.

I caught my children playing the most wonderful game I just have to share. However, I think if a parent tried to get their children to place this cooperatively, it wouldn't work. It had to happen spontaneously for the virtues to shine.

The 4-year-old had been trying to color with white board pen and mind her own business, but the 3-year-old repeatedly erased her work, causing much anger, shouting, and Mama having to intervene repeatedly. I was at my wit's end and left to tend to the waking-up baby.

I returned to find the 7-year-old had invented an ingenious game to please all: She drew pictures on the white board of various meals, which she described in great detail. Then each child got to "eat" the food, one at a time (using his or her dry paint brush to erase the picture), while they exclaimed over the delicious meal.

"I'm going to prepare a salad. Joseph, you'll want Ranch on that, right? Here it is!"

"Yum!" (erase)

"And now I'm making some chicken nuggets. Some for you Margaret and you Joseph. Here, Margaret, you eat yours first!"

"Those are good!" (erase)

"Now it's your turn to eat your nuggets, Joseph!"

"Yay!" (erase)

"Okay, now we're making popsicles. Just eat one or you'll get sick, okay?"

(each child eats/erases one)

"I'm swerving a bowl of cherries. We each get a separate bowl of cherries, plus some caramel for dipping. Now it's Joseph's turn to eat first!"

"This is yummy!" (erase)

So many moments make my Mama's heart plunge into sadness, but this one made me tickled with joy.


Check out more 7 Quick Takes Fridays over at This Ain't the Lyceum.