Tired today. Xander had an asthma attack at about 11:30 pm last night. Did not want to go to sleep. Wanted to watch 'THE RESCUERS' in the livingroom with Daddy cuddling him and his Nemo blankie. Sigh. Poor baby. I have some fellow feeling there because I have developed an asthmatic cough -- the trees are in full flare around here and we all have felt the force of that -- Tom and the boys because I am so sick/tired if not because they themselves are experiencing the allergies. I wonder about Xander though...
At any rate, Xander (and Tom and I) were up until at least 12:30/1 am. Then Tom had to get up to go to work at 4:30. He will be leaving work 'early', at 2:30 (his nominal stopping time) so that he can get home and get off to practice. I really worry about him. I told him to come home and take a nap, even if only for 1/2 an hour. We will see. I do think, however, that I will NOT take the boys to swimming today. Xander's asthma and the demands on Jason's energy would just be too great. Better to keep the morning quiet around here. I have contacted the swim instructor and she suggested that the boys could come MW, Xander at 10:30 then Jason at 11. She wants Jason in the 11 am class because it is a length swimming class and she thinks he needs the challenge. I will ask Jason what he thinks. If he is willing to sit on the side of the pool while Xander swims for 1/2 an hour, then I think I can probably distract Xander while Jason swims. We will see. Alternatively, we may have to give up swimming for awhile.
We did receive the Saxon Math book yesterday. Jason is very excited. I will sit down with him and we can look through it together. He is working on learning addition and subtraction in much the same way he is working on reading and spelling -- he sets the problems and then works through them. When he needs help, he asks for it and I help him. He is satisfied with that approach and I prefer it because it is HIS interest that drives the process. He is not being forced to sit down and drill. I remember reading somewhere about one mother who decided to homeschool. The complaint she'd received from the public school teacher was that her son never sat still... so she worked with that. She had him doing his math while skipping rope! She would read the problems to him and he would answer them . Apparently it worked... He got into MIT with a scholarship... Whatever works.
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And Xander... oh Xander... he is still on his 'when I was' train. 'When I was you, mommy, I...' or 'When I was daddy, I ...' The funniest ones are his animal 'when I was'. He is enormously creative. I worry sometimes that I am not paying enough attention to him but he seems more than capable of creating all sorts of games on his own.
The nice thing is, both boys love books and the library. My biggest problems when I take them are (1)stopping Jason from borrowing every book he sees and finds interesting (He is worried that someone ELSE will borrow them and he won't get a chance!),(2) keeping Xander away from the computer, and (3)getting them OUT of the library. They always find books that they want me to read to them... RIGHT THEN!! Yesterday, when Xander woke from his nap, we went to the Issaquah library -- at Jason's request. Xander loves that library because, in the childrens' section, they have a wall of gears. He will walk up and down it, turning and twisting and talking to the wall and to anyone who passes by. Jason likes it because he is ever the optomist and believes that if he just checks enough libraries, he will find a new Ricky Ricotta or LarryBoy... despite my having told him that we have read all that those authors have written! It is not that he doesn't have other series that we are reading but he is in the Mcknight mode of having multiple books going simultaneously. He even has them pegged by time of day -- some are morning reading, some are naptime reading, and some are bed time reading (the not so scary ones). It will be something to watch when he is reading independently!
At any rate, Xander (and Tom and I) were up until at least 12:30/1 am. Then Tom had to get up to go to work at 4:30. He will be leaving work 'early', at 2:30 (his nominal stopping time) so that he can get home and get off to practice. I really worry about him. I told him to come home and take a nap, even if only for 1/2 an hour. We will see. I do think, however, that I will NOT take the boys to swimming today. Xander's asthma and the demands on Jason's energy would just be too great. Better to keep the morning quiet around here. I have contacted the swim instructor and she suggested that the boys could come MW, Xander at 10:30 then Jason at 11. She wants Jason in the 11 am class because it is a length swimming class and she thinks he needs the challenge. I will ask Jason what he thinks. If he is willing to sit on the side of the pool while Xander swims for 1/2 an hour, then I think I can probably distract Xander while Jason swims. We will see. Alternatively, we may have to give up swimming for awhile.
We did receive the Saxon Math book yesterday. Jason is very excited. I will sit down with him and we can look through it together. He is working on learning addition and subtraction in much the same way he is working on reading and spelling -- he sets the problems and then works through them. When he needs help, he asks for it and I help him. He is satisfied with that approach and I prefer it because it is HIS interest that drives the process. He is not being forced to sit down and drill. I remember reading somewhere about one mother who decided to homeschool. The complaint she'd received from the public school teacher was that her son never sat still... so she worked with that. She had him doing his math while skipping rope! She would read the problems to him and he would answer them . Apparently it worked... He got into MIT with a scholarship... Whatever works.
e
And Xander... oh Xander... he is still on his 'when I was' train. 'When I was you, mommy, I...' or 'When I was daddy, I ...' The funniest ones are his animal 'when I was'. He is enormously creative. I worry sometimes that I am not paying enough attention to him but he seems more than capable of creating all sorts of games on his own.
The nice thing is, both boys love books and the library. My biggest problems when I take them are (1)stopping Jason from borrowing every book he sees and finds interesting (He is worried that someone ELSE will borrow them and he won't get a chance!),(2) keeping Xander away from the computer, and (3)getting them OUT of the library. They always find books that they want me to read to them... RIGHT THEN!! Yesterday, when Xander woke from his nap, we went to the Issaquah library -- at Jason's request. Xander loves that library because, in the childrens' section, they have a wall of gears. He will walk up and down it, turning and twisting and talking to the wall and to anyone who passes by. Jason likes it because he is ever the optomist and believes that if he just checks enough libraries, he will find a new Ricky Ricotta or LarryBoy... despite my having told him that we have read all that those authors have written! It is not that he doesn't have other series that we are reading but he is in the Mcknight mode of having multiple books going simultaneously. He even has them pegged by time of day -- some are morning reading, some are naptime reading, and some are bed time reading (the not so scary ones). It will be something to watch when he is reading independently!
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