A little schoolin', a little lovin', a lot of livin'...

After this morning's rude awakening, I've decided caffeine is a much preferred method of easing into the day. Today was not your banner day (it was hot and muggy and we were all quite miserable in the house), but it wasn't nearly as roughly paced as yesterday (small yay). We did accomplish quite a bit (bigger yay). Mostly, though, it was a good day with the boys (saved the biggest yay for this part).

Yesterday was a day that found me begging them to please, please, try - just try - to understand their native tongue. Today, they tried. It didn't always work, but bless 'em, they did try. What a joy that is! One day, they will master both speaking and comprehending english. What a day that will be. (Of course, by then, they will be fathers, so I'll have the added delight of watching them beg their children in a similar fashion. Oh, pop the corn and break out the beer, folks - this is gonna be great!) In the meantime, this repetition is this repetition is this repetition is my job.

The boys are doing wonderfully with school. They're enjoying copywork in the mornings. John is so proud of what he can do, and I have discovered that if I ask him to do only a portion of a sentence, he will gladly do the entire sentence. (Conversely, if I ask him to do the whole sentence, he panics and develops hand cramps three letters into the task -- I can be trained, and now only ask for a portion. I'm getting great work out of him!)

James and I spent an hour today, just working numbers. He wanted to work out returns on investment for real estate. We had a great discussion on economics and investment risks while we worked out different scenarios. And the boy has mastered subtraction like nobody's business (which thrills me no end, as we skipped subtraction in MUS when we switched from Classic to New - ahhh, another academic landmine avoided.)

We are back in full-reading-swing, and can I say it's wonderful? I do hope Miss Emily skips that whole screaming and writhing in angst thing regarding read alouds. We are learning so much, and enjoying so much and... we've missed it. Smidge listens in, and engages. He laughs at the jokes (and sometimes just laughs - he is one half of Tuck 'n Roll, if that helps with the imagery any), and brings books for us to share. John plays HARD while I read, but he can tell me anything I've read throughout the day, so I'm good with that. Would that we could all multi-task so well! James gets so sucked into some of the stories that he just tips right over - he leans farther and farther forward until, *plunk*, down he goes. I love this part. This is my own personal crack. Only, you know, not so hard on the ticker. It's lovely.

Oh, speaking of being hard on the ticker, we have a cricket in the basement. I can't find it, but I think it's about two or three feet long. It sounds humongous. It also proved to me today that I know no shame. I started down there for something - a book? No, to empty the dehumidifier, that was it. The dehumidifier isn't even in the basement proper - it's on the stairs, at the bottom landing. Still, it took me three tries to work up the gumption to go get it. But I did - and got it back in and myself back up the stairs in record time. Shortly thereafter, we were recapping some of our history over breakfast, and I remembered having seen the globe in an open box. It was easy to reach - just right there, on top. Down in the basement. So. Yeah, I sent James. Worse yet, when he came FLYING back up the stairs to tell me there's "something large and chirpy" down there, I had the audacity to tell him it's "just a little old cricket, he can't hurt you".

But I will confide to you that I think it's one of those nasty hunchback ones we've seen. Does anyone know what they are? Nevermind, I found them - they are camel crickets, also known as cave crickets. Their bodies are curved, rather like a shrimp, the legs are significantly longer than regular cricket legs, and they are huge, oh, and lightly striped. They're pretty stinkin' nasty! So far, we don't have a cricket wall down there. It was bad when we bought the place. The basement is far better sealed and much drier than it was before, not to mention "the cricket room" - a partial room which had been built on at some point - has been torn down, which I hope will help keep the critter population down. And I did inform Zorak today that when he gets back (he's on the road), we are poisoning everything -- every surface, crevice, and hole in the house. I have my limits, and they have been reached, okay?

However, lest y'all develop an image in your cumulative heads of me living out in the boonies, in a shack, with my hair falling out, obsessing over insectlore... (ok, the hair is coming out, but that's normal post partum stuff - it's not mange or anything. Honest.)

My favorite highlights of today:

* Seeing James check Balto's food and water, then refill them both, AND dump out the water dish before adding fresh - all without being told!

* Making paper airplanes with John and waging a mock air battle with them in the living room.

* Holding a sleepy Smidge on my lap, hearing him giggle and seeing his eyes gleam as I sang, "Jake, Jake, Jake, I'm so glad I've got one..." (a la Neil Diamond tune!)

* Watching John come barrelling out of his class, wearing a paper crown, singing his memory verse. The smile on his sweet face made my heart soar.

* Listening to James read the beginning of the Book of Judges to me on the way home tonight. Talking with him and just enjoying his exuberance.

* Watching Smidge slowly warm up to the teacher in his class, and knowing that he is okay without me, but that I'm right. there. if he should need me.

* As I was laying Emily down on the bed tonight, she opened her eyes, smiled a huge smile, took my finger in her hand and went right back to sleep.

* Hearing Zorak tell me he loves me and cannot wait to come home.

Yay.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy