We got our new water heater installed today — after 17 days of boiling water on the kitchen stove. I quickly took a bath before something else happens! Sorry everybody else, but a clean mom is a happy mom. So far no one else has been in a particular hurry to get themselves clean.
Mondays here are always “clean the house” day and then “free day” for screen time. Academics are light and different from the rest of the week.
Sean did:
- Key to Algebra book 7
- Latin Quia — he did concentration rather than matching, and didn’t manage to beat Kieron’s score, and got a little bit annoyed about it.
- Our Life in the CHurch 8
Kieron did:
- Quia Division (concentration, and did pretty well)
- Credo I Believe (book 5 in Faith and Life series)
- He read a couple of pages of Minimus Latin and seemed to really click with it. We’ll see how it goes.
Kieron has been getting a lot of mileage out of Snap Circuits Jr. He got it for his birthday. The starter set is not very challenging for someone his age but it is fun and he is learning. I think this is a wonderfully elegant way to explore electronics, and quite affordable too. Aidan absolutely loves it, especially the fan that goes whizzing off into the air.
Our school day was interrupted by various entrances and exits by the plumber, and once he had to have Kevin and Sean go out to help him wrestle out the old 70 gallon heater. The new one is a 50 because we decided we could get along fine with that. Hope we don’t regret it!
I am still in “checking systems” mode and I think this will last throughout January. I do the day as normal, but I actively look for glitches in how things are working and try to brainstorm ways to improve. I can’t do this all the time. My mind seems to be able to do practical things or big-picture systems re-organizations, but not both at the same time. My mother in law is wonderful about being able to make little incremental improvements all the time and I am resolved to try to improve in this area but I don’t expect wild success. So meanwhile, my “systems checks” help me upgrade and adapt at least until the next time.
It is getting just a little warmer here… actually above freezing for a change.
Aidan’s OT had a good idea which I want to jot down before I forget. She thought I could do sort of a PECs system on the refrigerator, except with words rather than pictures. That way, when he asks for a favorite food I could help him find the corresponding word on the fridge. I suppose it could be done in an advanced way by having him choose the letters for the word, with magnet letters. But anyway, I thought this showed an understanding of how he does things — he is quite motivated to learn new things especially if there is some concrete benefit.
Another idea to do with therapy — put the exercises he has been “assigned” on index cards or laminated cards and have them on a board in the kitchen so I can grab one occasionally and work with him during those stray moments of the day. That might help me actually DO the therapy at-home which is always a weak point though I do think our lifestyle lends itself to him doing “natural” therapy — I just saw him climbing the short pool ladder we keep in our loft.
Brendan on our fireplace!– since I hardly ever get a picture of him! I wonder if the New England Patriots heard his yell of triumph all the way from CA when they beat the SD Chargers yesterday? Funny to have two California teenagers who root for the Packers and the Patriots over their own state’s teams : ).
