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I finally got smart and decided to write a catch-up post when there isn't something big hovering over me. So, nothing big and "news-worthy" but lots of little general life stuff.
Morgan has started school again. She's in third grade now (when did that happen?!). On her third day of school we found out she'd been moved to a new class, a 2/3 split. I've been in the older half of a split class before and those were not my best school years, so I met with her teacher to find out what was up. Turns out that on the second day, the Superintendent visited the school and, upon seeing how crowded some of the classrooms were, immediately authorized a new class to be created. So the school hired back one of its teachers from last year and set up a new classroom - ironically, the same exact room Morgan had been in last year for second grade - and they hand-picked the children to go into this new class. I had worried it was a step "down," if you will, putting Morgan with second graders; her grades last year weren't as good as they had been at her private school in first grade. But her new teacher intimated (I'm sure she's somehow prohibited from actually saying outright) it's actually kind of a step "up." They picked bright kids whom they knew would be able to stay on task and do their own work while the teacher worked with the other grade level. It's not the Rapid Learner program, which her iq tests keep missing by just a few points, but it sounds like it's a carefully curated group and Morgan is with a group of kids on her own intellectual level. I am so, so pleased.
We're having some behavior issues here and there. She's starting the whole sassing and rolling her eyes thing, and saying "Fine," when we remind her to do her chores and stomping about it sulkily. And she's chewing on _everything_. We noticed teeth marks on some of the baby's toys and book covers and assumed it was him while he was teething, but it turns out it's her. Even the end of a wooden spoon we put out with the baby's toys so he could play drums on measuring cups. Now, she has always had a bit of an oral thing - she might get that from my nail-biting, and I'm also the child of a nail-biter - but it's _so_ much worse now than it ever was before. Also she has some pretty bad mood crashes: yesterday she crawled into my lap and cried about how she was the "worst kid ever" and Mom says Morgan told her that she doesn't have friends at school, that other kids don't want to play with her because "I try to tell them the rules and they just won't listen." Bless her, that was me too. Now, they say puberty can start as early as nine these days, and that's just half a year away, so this could all be part of that. My poor baby. Alan's job offers free counseling to employees and their families, so we might start looking into if that includes children.
Liam finally figured out how to crawl without dragging his belly, and then almost immediately started pulling up. He's cruising along the front of the couch these days and we need to figure out a new home for the remote controls because he can reach the top of the endtable now too. He's cutting like four teeth right now, at least one of which is a molar, so he's back to not sleeping through the night, poor boo, and we're blowing through infant ibuprofen like crazy. He's really vocal, though still monosyllabic, but he's figuring out inflection and emphasis. Even if all he's saying is just one vowel sound, he'll pitch his tone two or three different ways as if he's saying a whole sentence. And it's so cute when he says something so strongly that his little feet kick out too.
Mom has stayed with us this past week to crack the whip over us and get us to straighten up the house and finally fully "move in" to it. We got about halfway, you know, the essentials, and then kind of stopped. Our garage is full of boxes while the actual storage spaces like cupboards and closets are half empty. So we're working on that. It's good, I'm feeling excited and happy about living here again, if not quite so much as when we very first moved in. I think I'm so used to living in an apartment that I kind of don't know what to even do with a real house, you know? We still have yet to hang anything on the walls and my side of the bedroom closet has most of my clothes still in boxes.
My mother's day gift from my family was garden boxes (I'm not sure if I told about that here). I'm growing butternut squash, potatoes & sweet potatoes, zucchini (with which I have learned to make some pretty nom zucchini bread), tomatoes, and bell peppers. I had spinach too and that gave me salads for a few weeks and then went to seed, so I'm waiting for the weather to cool down before I try it again. Our winters are so mild that I have hopes of being able to grow things throughout the year. And for possibly the first time in my life I'm sort of looking forward to rain starting up again, so I don't have to water every day. ;)
Alan's doing well, his work is steady, which is good because I'm down to like 8 hours a week. Yeep. He's finally finished his NaNoWriMo novel from last year and it's in the hands of a friend from work who's also an editor. I've always thought that I would be the one to get published, but you know what they say about best laid plans.
Other than my kids and my house and my husband, there's not much interesting about my life these days. I work (a little, but still more than some, so I know I'm lucky), I come home and try to take care of my family, and that's pretty much it. With only one car, which Alan needs to get to and from work, I'm housebound every evening. I'd love to use the time to write or something, but I feel braindead and listless and I end up just veging on facebook instead. :(
Chimera (the roleplaying convention in New Zealand Alan and I have managed to get to a couple times) was last weekend, and I was surprised by how strongly "homesick" I felt thinking about it. I'm crying now, just writing that sentence. Alan's friends are all so sweet and welcoming that I feel like they've been my friends for years, too. Which is true in the sense that I met them years ago (four years already?!!), but the hours I've spent in their company probably only add up to a few days. And I want so desperately to be down there with them. And I'm making myself cry so I'll stop there.
Morgan has started school again. She's in third grade now (when did that happen?!). On her third day of school we found out she'd been moved to a new class, a 2/3 split. I've been in the older half of a split class before and those were not my best school years, so I met with her teacher to find out what was up. Turns out that on the second day, the Superintendent visited the school and, upon seeing how crowded some of the classrooms were, immediately authorized a new class to be created. So the school hired back one of its teachers from last year and set up a new classroom - ironically, the same exact room Morgan had been in last year for second grade - and they hand-picked the children to go into this new class. I had worried it was a step "down," if you will, putting Morgan with second graders; her grades last year weren't as good as they had been at her private school in first grade. But her new teacher intimated (I'm sure she's somehow prohibited from actually saying outright) it's actually kind of a step "up." They picked bright kids whom they knew would be able to stay on task and do their own work while the teacher worked with the other grade level. It's not the Rapid Learner program, which her iq tests keep missing by just a few points, but it sounds like it's a carefully curated group and Morgan is with a group of kids on her own intellectual level. I am so, so pleased.
We're having some behavior issues here and there. She's starting the whole sassing and rolling her eyes thing, and saying "Fine," when we remind her to do her chores and stomping about it sulkily. And she's chewing on _everything_. We noticed teeth marks on some of the baby's toys and book covers and assumed it was him while he was teething, but it turns out it's her. Even the end of a wooden spoon we put out with the baby's toys so he could play drums on measuring cups. Now, she has always had a bit of an oral thing - she might get that from my nail-biting, and I'm also the child of a nail-biter - but it's _so_ much worse now than it ever was before. Also she has some pretty bad mood crashes: yesterday she crawled into my lap and cried about how she was the "worst kid ever" and Mom says Morgan told her that she doesn't have friends at school, that other kids don't want to play with her because "I try to tell them the rules and they just won't listen." Bless her, that was me too. Now, they say puberty can start as early as nine these days, and that's just half a year away, so this could all be part of that. My poor baby. Alan's job offers free counseling to employees and their families, so we might start looking into if that includes children.
Liam finally figured out how to crawl without dragging his belly, and then almost immediately started pulling up. He's cruising along the front of the couch these days and we need to figure out a new home for the remote controls because he can reach the top of the endtable now too. He's cutting like four teeth right now, at least one of which is a molar, so he's back to not sleeping through the night, poor boo, and we're blowing through infant ibuprofen like crazy. He's really vocal, though still monosyllabic, but he's figuring out inflection and emphasis. Even if all he's saying is just one vowel sound, he'll pitch his tone two or three different ways as if he's saying a whole sentence. And it's so cute when he says something so strongly that his little feet kick out too.
Mom has stayed with us this past week to crack the whip over us and get us to straighten up the house and finally fully "move in" to it. We got about halfway, you know, the essentials, and then kind of stopped. Our garage is full of boxes while the actual storage spaces like cupboards and closets are half empty. So we're working on that. It's good, I'm feeling excited and happy about living here again, if not quite so much as when we very first moved in. I think I'm so used to living in an apartment that I kind of don't know what to even do with a real house, you know? We still have yet to hang anything on the walls and my side of the bedroom closet has most of my clothes still in boxes.
My mother's day gift from my family was garden boxes (I'm not sure if I told about that here). I'm growing butternut squash, potatoes & sweet potatoes, zucchini (with which I have learned to make some pretty nom zucchini bread), tomatoes, and bell peppers. I had spinach too and that gave me salads for a few weeks and then went to seed, so I'm waiting for the weather to cool down before I try it again. Our winters are so mild that I have hopes of being able to grow things throughout the year. And for possibly the first time in my life I'm sort of looking forward to rain starting up again, so I don't have to water every day. ;)
Alan's doing well, his work is steady, which is good because I'm down to like 8 hours a week. Yeep. He's finally finished his NaNoWriMo novel from last year and it's in the hands of a friend from work who's also an editor. I've always thought that I would be the one to get published, but you know what they say about best laid plans.
Other than my kids and my house and my husband, there's not much interesting about my life these days. I work (a little, but still more than some, so I know I'm lucky), I come home and try to take care of my family, and that's pretty much it. With only one car, which Alan needs to get to and from work, I'm housebound every evening. I'd love to use the time to write or something, but I feel braindead and listless and I end up just veging on facebook instead. :(
Chimera (the roleplaying convention in New Zealand Alan and I have managed to get to a couple times) was last weekend, and I was surprised by how strongly "homesick" I felt thinking about it. I'm crying now, just writing that sentence. Alan's friends are all so sweet and welcoming that I feel like they've been my friends for years, too. Which is true in the sense that I met them years ago (four years already?!!), but the hours I've spent in their company probably only add up to a few days. And I want so desperately to be down there with them. And I'm making myself cry so I'll stop there.
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