We got back from our trip last Wednesday but the next day I woke up sick. It only happens about once a year — where I am too sick to get out of bed — but this was one of those times. Kevin went into high gear and picked up Frodo (the Aussie shepherd) from the kennel in town, did some shopping, and made a great meal — grilled seasoned tri-tip, sauteed mushrooms with garlic and rum and basil, and a salad. He had bought cream puffs for dessert. So it was sort of my birthday dinner a week late. He also tidied up the house and put away the sleeping bags. Bless him.
While at Oregon I found a set of little tiny hardcovers — the Original Pooh Treasury series — they are individual Winnie the Pooh stories, told in the original language with the original pictures — unfortunately there is no image available at Amazon. They are perfectly charming and I got 5 of them for 12 cents each. They are just a leetle beyond Paddy’s comfortable listening level but he loves to stack them and look at them and he did listen to them yesterday. But Kieron, 10, found them the most congenial — laughed at the absurd parts and really appreciated the humor. Come to think of it, he’s just the kind of kid who could relate to these stories. For some reason I’ve never actually read Milne to any of my kids — odd because I liked it as a child. But it seemed that by the time they were old enough to listen and appreciate, they were too old to want to hear stories about bears and rabbits. Anyway, these little books may help me cultivate an interest in the Hundred Acre Wood for my three youngest at any rate — I’d hate to have raised 7 children and never introduce them to Milne beyond the Disney cartoons, which aren’t the same thing at all.
I got Brendan his own set of Lord of the Rings paperbacks too…. we wore out the original hardcover volumes we had; then Clare got a paperback set for her birthday a few years back — but now Den has his own.
Clare found some collectible hardcover editions of Father Brown, Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte for herself. And Kieron spent his allowance on — strangely enough — a Star Wars math program — in FRENCH. He actually won it yesterday. Has been trying to puzzle out the French on the back of the package.
Kevin and I bought ourselves some science fiction books… fun. We shared this interest in common during our university years and before we met, in our high school years, but neither of us do much fiction reading any more so it was fun to go on a fantasy/sci fi marathon while travelling for 12 hours each way. Also, Kevin downloaded a bunch of audio books onto an Ipod so we got to listen to Byzantium history and also Treasure Island en route — also Father Brown mysteries and several episodes of Dragnet and Jack Benny. And thousands of songs from his CD collection…. all the way from Glen Miller to Neil Young to the Clash and Gregorian Chants. Talk about scope and sequence.
Aidan discovered one of the older boys’ old Handwriting without Tears books and has been spending a few minutes every day writing in it by choice. He has an excellent crayon grip. It makes me realize that a little tiny bit of intervention can go a long way. Brendan never really got an easy pen grip because I left him to himself. Though now his grip IS functional and he has nice writing, it didn’t come easily to him till his teen years. I have to ponder on that a bit. I am so non-interventionist sometimes that I am afraid I leave things TOO much to themselves in some ways. For instance, none of them were ever taught by me to tie their shoes. Some figured it out on their own and others learned from siblings, and Brendan still stuffs his laces under the tongues of his shoes. In other ways I probably expect too much, usually in abstract reasoning. Probably basically comes from being rather uncomfortable with practical, sensory things. I need to be aware of that.
Now Aidan and Paddy are playing with the Handwriting Without Tears Magnadoodle (mentioned here in a Learning to Write post at Lilting House — HT The Good Within)
Aidan wants me to make some breakfast so I guess I’d better go.
