weekly wrap-up: Hosptial Hangovers and Learning Curves

 

We kicked off the week with a schlep to Bean Town.  It was that time again.  Trevy's quarterly date with Dr. Neuro.  

How could I resist snapping a picture of his sweet little zonked out face on the way home?  Serious.Cute.  Worth his hating me for posting it someday cute.

::smile:: 

Also.  I think it perfectly captures how these trips always leave us feeling the week after.  I like to call it our Hospital Hangover. 

But, alas, school must go on.  And so it did.  I found myself a little bit surprised that the post-Bean-Town-schlep exhaustion seemed to pass more quickly?  The crankies stuck around, though.  Least I could crank it out with zest!

::wink::

Bri-bee is still blowing me away with her reading skills!  I'm SO proud of her.

I've started bringing books up to the bus stop to read with her while we're waiting for the bus.   


She loves having special Mommy Time.

Actually, I've been a bit of a Bristel learning curve lately.  I've noticed that she's been feeling a smidge jealous of her brothers lately.   If one of them are being praised or cuddled...she's squeezing in (read: pushing them outta the way) and demanding some sugar too. It's so interesting.  Her little personality.  She's super sensitive.  Misty eyed at the drop of a hat.  A natural comedian.  And has the most contagious laugh.  Last night I had an "aha" mommy moment.  I was sharing a Toby story with Jonathan.  The boys weren't around.  One in bed.  The other at an impromptu playdate.   She was all ears and perched at the island.  Munching something or other. As I recounted how I caught Toby trying to teach Trevy a game.  It was so cute and sweet (and out of the Toby norm) that I took a video clip.  Her body language was giving away her hurt feelings.  I squeezed her and asked what was wrong.  I don't know if it's a boy vs. girl thing?  But she's much more open to spilling her guts.  And they came flowing out.  Crocodile tears brimming.  And as she squeezed me back and shared her six year old heart...it hit me.  Her strongest love language is verbal praise.  She's just such a natural lover...that it's easy to blow off her sweetness.  Because it's just her.   And I promised in my heart to make an effort to praise her sweetness more often.

 Toby was busy about his work.  We recently switched from Monarch (yuck!) to Saxon.  I had him take the pre-assessment testing first.  He was one question shy of qualifying for 6/5.  I was SO torn which way to go.  Math is not my forte.  It's going to be his.  But in the end I opted to purchase a used set of 4/5.  Just because I don't want to give him a faulty foundation by pushing him too much.  He's been breezing through it.  Mostly.  I can always tell his un-focused days by the writer's cramp I get while grading his work.  The mistakes aren't lack of understanding...they're silly, boy-ish, not paying attention mistakes.  I think I've told him he's a Rock Star in Math one too many times and now he doesn't think he needs to check his answers first!  Wonder how many red x-es and re-dos it'll take to convince him he DOES!  In the meantime, I found another used set of 6/5 and went ahead and purchased it too.  I'm toying with the idea of condensing five lessons at a time in the 5/4...  Anyway...

Who cares about all that?? 

The big news is...

SPRING BREAK!