Summa-time Summary: Books, Balls and Bonding

Summertime! We are one month into our grand vacation of pleasurable memories. Finally, we have settled into a routine. It looks a little bit like this:

As I enter her room around 7am, her coos are followed by flapping of her arms, as she sees me say, “Good Morning, Tater!!!” This s is followed by a “The prettiest little girl in the whole wide world; she’s the tot of my dreams she’s my Tot…” song. Thank goodness she doesn’t know I cannot sing yet. I have a fan.

What will she wear? She grabs it from her basket since she seems to want to grab everything she can. If it is not pink or flowery, the “theys” will say, “Oh…what a cute little boy!” Well, perhaps it is that she has no hair.

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Breakfast! Rice, multigrain, or oatmeal with pureed pears, apples, or nanners. Can I grab that too? This is a constant theme.

Upon me giving in to her taking the spoon to suck, we read the devotions. Too bad Charles Spurgeon does not have a Baby Einstein version of his work. This was today: ”Wait awhile, and that weary head shall wear the crown of glory, and that hand of labour shall grasp the palm-branch of victory. Lament not thy troubles, but rather rejoice that ere long thou wilt be where “there shall be neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.”  In other words, have joy despite your circumstances. See? I can do this.

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We then retire to her house for a game of catch. Her right (and left!) hook are powerful.  Major Leagues…. Here she comes!

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Sometimes, we meet a friend for coffee which is another battle of grabbing and more grabbing of straws, napkins, my coffee(!), water bottle, etc, and I become the “pick-up artiest”. Here today, we met Bob, her twin.

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Wal-Mart or some shopping palace is next, and she gets to see all the sights. Learning about low prices is just what she needs to learn right now (ha-ha)

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Upon her 1:00 bottle and some puréed beans, peas, sweet taters or squash we revisit Sesame Street Old School. Again…I repeat, OLD SCHOOL> Elmo will not be coming to our house anytime soon or ever.

As she plays in her house in her room, I work in there with her. She finally takes a nap (We hope) IMG_2838IMG_2830

only to enjoy her 4:00 bottle. Home stretch to 6:30/7 for bath and more fruit and veggies. What a day! Her 10 Little Lady bugs await to be discussed. Quack, buzz, tweet, and ribbit and of course the turtle, ladybug, caterpillar noises which I produce become the thrill of evening. Little does she know that a ladybug does not purr. (Or do they)

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What a day. May angels surround her crib and may God bless her little crab butt dreams.

 

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Staying Power

I have planned it well, I must say! We arrive when the music is playing, and Tatum is in AWE! She loves the music and the singing,

Then I feed her while the service begins. This takes a good 15 minutes, and then LAP TIME! She seems to keep it quiet and happy the whole time. God is good. Holy Spirit is in the air and in her 🙂IMG_9292

When she goes down….

IMG_2830And after I have played with her and fed her……IMG_2797I work.

What is it about my job that keeps me completely enthralled? Is English Language Arts all that exciting? I will argue, YES it is. Reading books, analyzing lesson plans, researching ideas, reading English blogs, perusing texts…it all excites me. What is wrong with me? I do this in my free time. Most people go to the news or the latest Hollywood gossip as their sites du jour, but me? I go to Englishcompanion.ning.com or.. TED talks or… some other writing blog. My never-ending question: How can I engage my students? How can I teach them to THINK? How can I insert the needed skills in their head by connecting all the reading/writing/speaking/listening modes simultaneously? AND of course….they need grammar grammar grammar. What new ways can they get it?

The questions persist and they drive me to continue seeking best practices.

 

1969 Revisited

We got it!
Sesame Street, Old School…1969-1974. Supposedly at 4 months, I watched the PREMIERE of Sesame Street. Sooooo, mom ordered it on Amazon and Tater is watching right now as I write this.
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“On my way to where the air is clean…Can you tell me how to get..how to get to Sesame Street…”

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Crazy, I remember these scenes! Man, this is bringing back memories. I think Big Bird has very few feathers in the first shows; he’s more poofy now!? Also, Bert and Ernie are taking baths and it’s no big deal. Now? It would be weird! It seemed very innocent. The sets are incredibly simplistic, but sans the techno-garb and the stimulating lights, it works so much more effectively. It’s slower and less opulent. She won’t ever get ADD with the slowness and purely unadulterated scenes. Nowadays, one would say this is “boring” and perhaps lifeless, but back then? They didn’t have the issues of constant need for stimulation. Things did not light up when you touched them. Every button did not make a noise!

IMG_2772 IMG_2775Mealtime is no longer a cryfest. Poor thing. The first 9 days of introducing solid food into her system was heckish! Eating rice, oatmeal or multigrain cereal sans sweetener definitely would make me want to eat my fingers instead as well! But alas, she is enjoying her pears, bananas and apples with her cereal now. Delish!
At lunchtime, we have added veggies! WOOHOO! The fav? Drumroll….Yep, like mommy like daughter: squash and sweet taters…(aptly named!)

Now, if she could only keep the food IN the mouth. This plastic bib is garish, but what’s a mom to do…a wash after every feeding? Apparently yes 🙂

At least she is still enjoying her bottles! Here she is with my dear friend Susan. IMG_2782

While I tutor Olivia, she watches Taters. Well, at least she was. Now, Tatum has developed this “attachment thingy” so she now has to sit on my lap the whole time. Who is in charge again? Ehhem? 🙂IMG_2796Yep, Mom…  You are (wink wink.)