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Recently, I decided to try a new bedtime routine with V. I have tried to read with her at bedtime before and it never works because she just talks the whole time and interrupts the story and frustrates me and wounds her up instead of winding her down for bed. However, she is getting older, so I decided to try reading a chapter a night out of a book series. I was also more clear about my expectations while we were reading. So far, it has gone really well! We started with "The Magician's Nephew" from the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. She ADORES the book and starts asking after her shower if we have time to read each night. Of course, there are nights where she goofs around and doesn't shower quickly and we don't have time to read but I really try to get to it each night if possible. It's so nice to end the night with cuddles and reading rather than just quick hugs and tucking and fussing to stop talking and go to sleep.
So what do your kids like to read at bedtime? We have a while before we finish Narnia (it's a 7 book series) but I would love suggestions for what to read next.
Oh.my.gosh. As I am typing this, my legs ache, my arms are stiff, my back feels like someone pounded on it, and my butt hurts. I am trying to lose weight and get back into some kind of shape other than round and flabby, so I tried "The Biggest Loser 2" DVD tonight. Sweet Lord...I am in terrible shape. The sadistic girl in the video kept smiling and saying, "Can't you feel the burn? Aren't you working up a sweat?" Yes, cute skinny girl with flat abs and a perfect body. This fat girl with a jiggle roll and granny arms sure can feel the burn. I HATE to sweat - and I had to shower afterwards because I was so sweaty. It sure is more fun getting fat than trying to get it off. I want some ice cream SOOO bad...thank goodness Tim is working late so I can't indulge my craving. Pray for me!
The other night I was tucking V into bed. We had our hug, our kiss, our "goodnight", our "sweet dreams", and I was walking out the door. She calls out, "Mommy, hang on. I need to tell you something really important." V has been really bad about stalling lately, so I said, "It better be important - it's time for bed." She assured me that it was. It had been a long day and we had been to the pool, so I already had my pj's on - a cami and some knit shorts. She looked at me and said, "You really shouldn't wear that sleeveless shirt to bed - you might get cold and it's not very fashionable." Oh really? Thank you so much for the advice. I guess it wasn't fierce enough for her... :)
My sweet V. How she loves to talk! If it were an Olympic sport, she would have more medals than Michael Phelps. However, as much as she likes to talk, she pronounces certain words so hilariously that you cannot help but laugh at her. She also comes up with the wackiest things! Let me share some of my favorites from the long weekend...
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Me: (Friday afternoon on the way to the dentist) How was school today?
V: Good. We have this new girl and she's from another state and she had a fit at school today.
Me: Oh, my! What happened?
V: She got mad and said she hated our school and she hated our TEACHERS (said very dramatically because that's the worst thing you can say in 3rd grade, I believe) and that she was going to call her dad and tell him to move her back where she moved from because people in the South are just ig-nore-ment.
Me: Did she mean ignorant? (snickering under my breath)
V: Yeah. I just couldn't remember how to say that word she said when she was being so mean to us.
Well, if this kid thinks the South is ignorant, at least V is doing all she can to change her mind. HAHA!
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Tim, V and I were watching the Today show on Saturday morning and the reporter was interviewing people about how they are cutting their budgets this summer. All of the people were in New York City and were talking about how they were going to this state and that state for vacation. Tim and I were amazed because hello! You live in New York. You have tons of places to go and do things without even leaving your city. We started talking about our ideal dream vacation. V jumped in...
V: If I could go anywhere, I want to go to China.
Tim: Why would you want to go there?
V: So I could see where all my toys are made. Every single toy I have says on the bottom "Made in China." I bet they have really cool toy making places there.
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Monday morning...
V: So Mommy, what are you remembering today?
Me: Huh? What do you mean?
V: Well, today is Mem-oral Day...you have to reMEMber something.
Hope everyone had a great Mem-oral Day weekend! :)
I hope those of you who teach will enjoy this! :)
10. You are so tired, you now want to answer students' questions with "Shut up!"
9. Your friends call to ask how you've been and you immediately scream "Stop asking me all these questions."
8. Your garbage can is now your "INBOX"
7. The next kid who asks you for a pencil is going to hear "Don't you ever have anything? Do you see Wal-Mart tattooed on my forehead?"
6. You fantasize about how relaxing it would be if you were in jail right now!
5. Your recess jumps from 15 minutes to 45 minutes.
4. The only thing in your classroom to eat is chocolate with a soda chaser.
3. Math lesson consists of "calculate how many days we have left, hours, minutes, no wait, seconds..."
2. You find yourself saying "This is May, you should know the rules by now" way too many times a day.
1. You start turning the teachers of the next grade level into big scary monsters who "will NOT accept this kind of behavior at all next year!"
7 days left....can you tell I am getting excited?
1. Unlimited hugs...at any time. God gave me a huggy little girl!
2. An awesome husband who is the best dad in the world. Even when things are going horribly, he can always find a way to make me laugh!
3. I get a whole day off where I don't have to cook (not that I do that a whole lot anyway) or clean (ditto). I sure enjoyed eating out TWICE today :)
4. Sweet homemade gifts - V worked ALL day yesterday on bead crafts. :) I now have a beaded cat magnet and a beaded portrait magnet. You gotta admit, it's got to be hard to make beads look like your mommy!
5. Cards...I am such a Hallmark target. I love getting sappy and funny cards - and Tim and V did a great job with both!
Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!!!!
If you have ever read "Hooray for Diffendoofer Day" by Dr. Seuss, you know exactly what my title means. Here's a brief recap of the book...Diffendoofer School teaches what it wants. The teachers teach frogs to dance and pigs to put on underpants! However, they soon learn that all students have to take a standardized test to prove the worth of the school or it will be shut down. The teachers, who obviously take such a different approach to learning, get nervous. Will their students do well? Will they "make the grade"? Miss Bonkers, the main teacher in the story isn't worried. She says, "We've taught you that the earth is round, That red and white make pink, And something else that matters more- We've taught you how to think."
In this testing era, I feel sometimes that we test kids to death. There are times of the year where we literally spend more time on testing than teaching. Standardized testing for my 2nd grade babies starts tomorrow. And I start questioning myself....have I done all I can do to prepare them? Are they really ready for this? And - most importantly - have I taught them the things that matter? Have I taught them how to think?
I pray that I have. I pray that my students do well. It's easy to let an end of the year assessment overshadow the day to day learning that I have helped facilitate all year.
