Still, it's not at all fair to focus so much on the negatives without remembering the positives.
The twins are reading enthusiastically. At night, when we ask if they want us to read to them or if they would rather read to us, they regularly choose the latter. And, several pages into green eggs and ham or fox in socks, we ask if they want us to take over but they never do. They're not getting frustrated almost ever, and they're getting so much better at sounding out words and matching the series of sounds to a word they know.
I have to wonder if their new desire to read stems from us reading the original Winnie the Pooh stories to them. It seems like there is some kind of magic in finding real, narrative stories that engage the kids. They do love those stories, and its the first series of stories we've found that they can consistently remember the next night.
They're writing a lot, too. C is sounding out and writing lots of words and S is practicing writing letters and putting together a few words here and there. S has started doing word-finds and color-by-numbers, requiring her to read. C made her own color-by-number, requiring her to spell. And all of this was completely voluntary.
We're working on understanding fractions through baking. Wednesday, the twins measured oil and water for a box mix pan of brownies that they picked out at the store with me. I'm not a box mix kind of girl, but it does lower the stress and frustration level when I'm trying to use baking to teach them something. They love baking.
M, being only 3, is asking a lot of questions and making up a lot of crazy answers for her own questions. I'm compelled to correct her a lot of the time because I don't want her to go on thinking that our freezer makes chicken nuggets. But, on the other hand, I don't want to ruin her fanciful make believe world. And, besides, I can never correct all of her misconceptions about the world. When i was little, I honestly thought that cats were girls and dogs were boys and they secretly got married. Thanks, Lisa Frank.
She talks a lot. I find I am literally not able to listen to her as much as she wants to talk or ask questions or I wouldn't be able to get things done around the house. I'd just be sitting next to a 3-year-old, explaining why my dog doesn't have a tail, why some ants bite, and why screaming and ignoring your sisters doesn't solve your problems... constantly.
She's learning about shapes and numbers and recognizing letters. The other day, I found her playing a geography game on the iPad and doing just about as we'll at it as I did. I think she is just that good at recognizing and remembering shapes. 
C has learned to play the chords of hush little baby in her guitar class. At home, we taught her twinkle twinkle because she loves that song. She and S also love to sing Kukaburra and Train's "Brick by Brick". I'm not sure if S has learned much of anything tangible at her soccer practices and games, but she has gained confidence and become less shy. She also looks healthier, I think. In a way, I'm a little sad that she'll be taking the summer off.
Papa's new job gives him a couple of months off for the summer, so we're looking forward to taking the kids to the park, the zoo, the children's museum, and the lake. We're also going to have my mom and sister visiting next month, and a week-long vacation in the mountains in July.
I worry and complain; I guess it's in my nature to always want things to be better. Nothing is perfect. I still haven't figured out how to convince them to flush the toilet, put their dishes in the sink, or leave their dirty clothes in the hamper and not on the floor reliably, but life is pretty good.
No comments:
Post a Comment