Running, Running, Running

Big changes. I'm working more from home. It's turned my life almost upside down, at least temporarily. Writing for this, that, and the other site, and I'm about to start wearing a wrist brace while typing! I've already set up one of our living room chairs with strategically placed pillows for a work chair.

We hope this working for pay is only temporary to get us out of debt. Things have become a bit serious and buckled-down around here. All for the good, we hope.

Meanwhile, the kids are thriving and I am still homeschooling. I've managed to rig the schedule so only a couple of things suffer. Erik is picking up the slack by cleaning a little more when he's home (while I do a little less) and I am basically getting less rest. But not too much less rest, because I couldn't hack it. :) Unless it was an emergency.

Xander and I both ran races as part of a race festival last weekend. Mine was a 5K and his was a 1K. We both had so much fun. I beat my personal best time and placed in my age group. Xander said his race was great and he'd like to do it again in the future (even though he didn't come in first).

Nick liked saying hi to H-E-Buddy

the start of Xander's race - he's wearing black

the finish line

race goodies

Nick was exactly this tired as a result of our trip

This Week's Runs

Okay, writing that title, as the immature person I can be, I had to giggle. No, this is not a report on any kind of digestive activity. (Was it just me whose mind went that way?)

Last Sunday was that humongous insane 30K race that I ran/walked with my friends (Erica and Eileen). That doesn't fall into the week that I am reporting on, but it sure affected it.

My first inclination was to wait a whole 4 to 5 days before running again, but when the two Es, as I like to think of them in my head, invited me to run Wednesday evening, I said yes. I was getting antsy. I think my body sort of got used to that moving-for-hours-at-a-time thing. We ran/walked about 3 miles.

Pathetically, my body really felt that 3 miles and I took another three days off.

On Sunday, I got antsy again and jogged for almost 3 miles.

This week, I am scheduled to run 8 miles (not counting any walking that I do). I have already done 2.76 of them. :)

This Week's Goals

How did I do on last week's goals? Poorly. But I did something that amazed myself. That was fun. I finished a 30K race (that's 18.6 miles!) with friends who persuaded me to join them. We ran 2 minutes, walked 1 minute through pretty much the whole race. I am training for 5Ks and never imagined that I would do something this long. It is fun to know that you can do something you never thought you could do.

We also all got our hair cut (Xander, Nick, and me). We made firm plans for our Valentine party on February 9th. Xander did quite a bit of school work. (I have to admit there has been more resistance than usual lately.)

Last week's goals:

Christmas:
Knit 10 rows on the partridge.

Knitting:
Knit 6 rows on the mustang and its accessories and knit 13 rows on the Maximum Scarf.
{I did knit 1.5 Valentine bears for our party treat bags. :)}

Parenting:
Spend 15 minutes taking more notes from Raising Happiness.
Make sure Nick makes using the big toilet (instead of the potty) a habit. {We got rid of the potty!!}
Work on Xander's "turtle steps" toward not whining during school.
Read aloud at most breakfasts, lunches, and dinners using the books from my 2013 read-aloud books list. (Pippi Longstocking, 7 Habits of Happy Children, The Adventures of Laura and Jack, The Indian in the Cupboard...)
Do assessments this week with Xander.

Marriage:
Work on my own "turtle steps."
Consistently get up early with Erik so we can both work on our fitness plans.

Personal:
Continue making a to-do list each day and prioritizing it. Do the hardest or least fun thing first.

This week, I will have to scale back my goals. 

Sunday, I did that long race and recovered from it, as well as doing the grocery shopping for the week. Nick got a face injury jumping on bleachers while waiting for me to finish the race. Erik spent all that day at urgent care with him, where he got five or six stitches. 

Yesterday morning, we went to preschool and the play group afterward. That always eats up quite a bit of our day. 

This morning, we went to the boys' dentist appointments. 

Wednesday is our normal library story time day. 

Thursday, Xander has a dermatology appointment. 

Friday, Nick needs to get his stitches out. If we have time, we will go to the science playgroup, too.

When I realized we had three doctors' appointments this week, I knew my goals would be shot. ;)

But here they are anyway:

Valentine's Party:
Knit five or six teeny Valentine teddy bears.
Try the sliders recipe ahead of time.

Parenting:
Listen to Xander some more about his feelings about school and challenging tasks.
Read aloud at most breakfasts and lunches from our book lists.

Marriage: 
Have more than one planned episode of quality time with Erik.
Get up each morning with Erik for our fitness plans.

Personal:
Continue to work hard at my household tasks and goals in a systematic manner.
Do not denigrate myself to anyone for a week. :)

5K Saturday

Woohoo! Finished my first 5K in so many years. My strategy as a not-very-fit-yet runner was to run as slow as I could make myself run for the first mile, maybe two. I did. I purposely put myself in the back of the pack to start and made my way up slowly. My time was better than I expected, 28:58. I do think maybe the course was an easy one (for those who can call any 5K easy - not me, not yet).

They run this friendly, well-attended, not huge 5K every month. I am there next month, if I can be!

My family got up when it was still dark to come with me and cheer me on. As a bonus, they got to see donkeys and feed them grass. Erik said the playground had frost on it. :)

I was happy to be there, just cold

The finish

Doughnuts afterward! Except for me, I hate doughnuts and stuck to a Clif bar and coffee

Xander's "pretty" Arnie-like doughnut

Library Day

I was excited today to see Linda Johnson's reference to a link for Everyday Number Stories by George Baker Longan, Emma Serl, and Florence Elledge. This is a copyright 1915 book that has good, simple, helpful tips for teachers plus a storybook-like approach to math problems. Xander likes it already, having read one page of conversation between "Kate" and "Frank" about real-live chicks.

In future pages, I can see that he will be asked to make up number stories about different items, like "6 cents + 5 cents" and "11 plums - 6 plums." This is what he is being asked to do in his Singapore Math workbook, too.

Yesterday morning the boys had to have a dental appointment just to get a referral to our regular pediatric dentist. Nick adopted an elderly couple in the waiting room and squeezed himself in between them to talk about mosquitoes. They appeared to enjoy it, so I let him be while I filled in health history questionnaires. When the boys were called back for their appointments, they behaved perfectly. No outbursts, only cooperation. Xander did volunteer that neither I nor his dad had asked him to floss for days. The nice dentist gave him a brief spiel about the time coming that he will have to take on responsibility to brush and floss himself, even when nobody reminds him. Like on sleepovers or busy evenings. I was proud of their behavior on this extra dental appointment.

This morning we went to preschool story time at the library. Again, both boys were angelic. I guess Nick was a little loud in the library for about a second until I reminded him to say, "Ssssssssh," upon entering the library. He loves doing that, and it usually prompts him to whisper as we walk through the main part to the children's section. This time, he loudly asked me to, "Say, 'Sssssssssssh,' Mommy!" Oh, well. Plenty of adults are louder than my children in the main section of the library. Now, in the children's section Nick has been known to vigorously sing the alphabet or jog in shouting, "Yay! Children's section!" but I think people are pretty forgiving of that.

Nick chose to check out a National Geographic Kids issue. Xander chose The Trouble With Wishes by Diane Stanley, which is based on the Pygmalion story. I chose for them Star Wars Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross Sections: The Definitive Guide to the Craft from Star Wars: Episode II by Curtis Saxton. It is filled with "incredible cross sections" of the space craft and it is an over-sized book. It is pretty incredible. I also got Teeth, Tails, & Tentacles: An Animal Counting Book by Christopher Wormell, Felix and the 400 Frogs by Jon Buller and Susan Schade, Small Wolf by Nathaniel Benchley and Joan Sandin, Flotsam by David Wiesner, and Luba and the Wren by Patricia Polacco.

Xander and I listened to Just So Stories, looked at Everyday Number Stories, sang "Scarborough Fair," and read from The Hobbit. That is only half our day's studies, but I let him do the following things instead of the other half: spend extra time picking out a book at the library, spend extra time playing in the outside courtyard of the library, and take a nap.

Earlier, Nick and I did a few activities in this free Pumpkin Patch Preschool Pack. (It's only free today.) I like some parts of these packs because all the work is done and they look so neat. Nick likes doing some of the activities. Overall, I don't think they're worth a whole lot of time and money, though. I don't think the learning persists, at least in our household. Nick got in some practice making dots with his Do-A-Dot markers and finding which item in a series was different. It was also quality time between me and him because we did them together (and Xander was still sleeping).

I haven't been running in the last few days due to scheduling difficulties, but I did finish my October Homemaking Cottage articles in just about the nick of time. Erik and I started watching a SyFy show together on Netflix: Warehouse 13. I call it cheesy and Buffyish without the extreme lovableness of the Buffy characters, but still, it is an enormously fun show to watch. We both agree on that. Erik got called out of town for what looks to be the next two nights for an urgent situation. If I do run tonight, it will be in place in front of the computer or television. :)

Oh, I have been reading Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman on the recommendation of my friend who is a nurse (probably a nurse trainer by now if she took her promotion) and it is good. I wanted to be able to discredit it because his nutritarian diet is a "greens and beans diet." His words. That is hard to stick to, at least at first. I am really liking the book, though. As far as I can tell, his work is completely research-based and valid. I am feeling motivated to change our whole family's diet, but I know if I do it will have to be gradual. He recommends hardly any meat, no dairy, no refined sugars or grains, and of course no processed foods. Cakes and pies on this diet? Not so much. There is one recipe in the book for some kind of apple cake. No white sugar, or brown sugar for that matter, in it. And that is a splurge.

The good news for our family is that fruits are also encouraged. If I let Nick have free rein and didn't buy things like crackers and chocolate chips at the grocery store, Nick would eat mainly fruits, all day every day. He is eating everything on his dinner plate since Erik started working with him. So both boys will eat things like collard greens, salad, carrots, broccoli, and beans. The grimace on Nick's face is funny, but at least he will eat them.

I made a pretty healthy recipe this week from Scott Jurek the ultrarunner. It was Scott's Chocolate Adzuki Bars. On first taste, all of us basically said, "That's not sweet!" But they are pretty healthy, with a bean/banana base, so I sprinkled a few more chocolate chips on top and served them for breakfast. Nick and Xander were fine with that. The un-chocolated version is actually growing on me. It's like my body can tell they are good for me.

Tomorrow is Sea World Homeschool Day!! I am just hoping that we all get in the car and leave by 7 a.m. with a packed lunch, snack, and water. If I oversleep, that will be a huge waste and a big shame. I heard from one person that last year there was a line to get in at first and that they turned some people away. We registered ahead of time and have paid tickets, so if that happens to us, I plan to get civilly snooty. Not okay.

We Are Pretenders

Yesterday we did not finish every one of our subjects, mainly due to my energy level, which was extremely low until Erik encouraged me to go running. (I went about two miles and it felt great.) Erik was a big help getting us all out the door in the evening when he came home from work, too. We sat in the cool evening air and he tried to play catch with the boys. Nick was focusing on learning to catch until Xander entered the picture and then most of his focus was lost. I noticed that almost in the middle of a catch, he did lean over and say, "Oh, teeny tiny flowers!" about some wild (weed) flowers that had sprung up after our rains. He is very happy looking at dirt, insects, and other back yard things.

I brought Sandy outside during that time and my spirits lifted. A mosquito got me really bad, though. (Out of all creatures of nature, I think mosquitoes are some of the least uplifting in the world. I'm a wimp that way.) Then we all came in for dinner.

After the kids were put to bed, Erik and I had a good and lengthy discussion about Xander's studies. We got on the same page and did some refining of our science and math plans.

Today Xander and I have been able to do today's work as well as catch up on yesterday's. Some of the busy bag activities I put together yesterday were a big hit with Nick and actually did keep him busy some of the time that Xander and I were reading from The Hobbit and This Country of Ours.

(Specifically, Nick liked Somewhat Simple's Wacky Sacks, Motherhood on a Dime's Cotton Ball Squeeze, and an activity I found and made up years ago for Xander. I cut five pieces of copy paper in half and drew outlines of cute little piggies on nine of those smaller rectangles. Each piggy had a number written on it with a corresponding number of circles. Nick was supposed to place one penny on each circle to make the total number written.

You can see he actually used the buttons from his preschool basket instead. Very cute, I think.)

Xander is really searching for the battles in This Country of Ours. At this point in our studies, we are on Columbus, who is currently encountering kind and gentle native people. Xander wanted me to continue reading, because he was hoping to hear of a battle he could draw for his My America drawing narration. He ended up drawing Columbus and his Spaniards in their full armor landing on the first shore they found.

I am reading Nurture Shock, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, and it's a really good read. One of the chapters talks about the importance of the stages of imaginary play. According to research they had looked at, there are major benefits to be gained when children plan what they will pretend and what role they will take, and then play at that scenario for a length of time (one hour for preschoolers). Um, we have it covered. Xander and Nick do that wonderfully, and they are able to use fewer props as time goes on, which was a developmental step mentioned in the book.

Yeah, we've got that very covered. I just overheard the two of them plan what they would pretend, who they would be, and then begin their "movie." They are running around fighting with zero props, using arms for swords and such and using their mouths for sound effects. Of course.

Drawing

Xander is recovering well from his surgery. Today he has not had any pain medicine. He and I did school work yesterday and today, although we can't start him on recorder practice (or vigorous exercise, or excess heat outside) for another week.

Last night I went for about a two-mile run. Nick wanted to "go out for a run, too," so he and I did a jog up and down the street first. He was holding his tummy a lot. Poor thing either ate too much just before, or had a tummy ache for a different reason. Didn't really bother him, though.

Speaking of running, I have run three or four times in the last week (I can't remember anymore!) for over two miles each time. This is starting to feel good again. I started and finished a book called Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. At this point, I am ready to say it is one of the best books I have ever read. Of course, I'm a runner at heart, so I'm biased - but it's a great story. I am seriously thinking about becoming largely vegetarian (and largely simple-Mexican-foodarian) after reading this book. And ditching my big cushiony running shoes.

On to this week. Xander and I have finished our HUFI Year 1 Term 1 Daily Checklists the last two days, except for the recorder practice and a geography lesson yesterday that would have required going outside. (Nick has been outside playing a lot, but he doesn't like to stay out there too long without a companion.)

rather than drawing on various piece of paper outside, Nick would rather...

...do this, and dig in the dirt

he also loves playing with this old Robots board game we got at a garage sale

The short lessons of Charlotte Mason work like a dream with Xander, but one thing he always wants to continue forever and ever is reading James Herriott's Treasury for Children. We usually end up reading two stories instead of one.

During our break, I asked Xander if he wanted to try a drawing exercise like his brother had done the other day. I'm reading Drawing with Children, by Mona Brookes, and liking it. I agree with others who've said it seems like a lot of work for the teacher, but so far I think it might be worth the work. We haven't gotten very far. One of the preparatory lessons is to figure out at what level the student will start. For my son's age (six), she suggests trying a Level 2 drawing exercise. If he can complete most of the imitation drawings without having to stop for good, then he should start at that level. To be frank, I wasn't sure he would start at Level 2.

Two weeks ago, he and I drew a Chinese dragon step by step together. I drew some of the lines, he drew some of the lines. I simply wanted him to gain confidence. This is what we did (he hasn't quite finished coloring it):

One day, I had him try a warm-up exercise from Drawing with Children:

He complained a bit about it and, as you can see, did not quite finish.

Fast forward two weeks to what he wanted to do today (the Level 2 diagnostic exercise):

The second and fourth rows are his work. Then he wanted to do the Level 1 diagnostic exercise and another round on the Level 2:

We put it all into his new Art binder.

 Now he is drawing whatever he likes on blank pieces of paper while we listen to folk songs. After today, I feel even more hopeful about using Drawing with Children. The results shown in the book are almost unbelievable...but I can hardly believe how easily and quickly my son did these diagnostic exercises.

Oh, one more thing that makes Drawing with Children harder to implement: the author calls for complete silence during drawing lessons. I guess we'll have to do this during Nick's nap time, or that will be completely impossible. :)

If anyone wants to see what Nick did with the Level 1 diagnostic exercise, here it is:

Mona Brookes says that some three-year-olds (more like three-and-a-half-year-olds) are ready to begin learning to draw representationally. Nick is not one of them, not yet. We can try this exercise again when he is four years old. I was excited that he agreed to sit down to this and that he mostly confined his "imitations" to one square apiece. He even copied a few of them rather well!

I was surprised to see him "journal" a pair of lines in a right angle position before preschool this week. I guess the line drawing activities we did a few weeks ago stuck with him a little bit.


I think I have decided what we will do for Handicrafts at least through Christmas. I might have Xander help me make framed silhouettes of himself and his brother for grandparents. He can help me put together these potpourri packages for Christmas gifts. Starting today (or at the latest, next week), we can learn to collect and press leaves and flowers. He will appreciate that, I think, and I found some good examples on Pinterest.

Preschool Starts

This morning was the parent orientation for a preschool program we are participating in with Nick. It is one of the free programs offered in association with the school district. It is well organized. The preschool "class" room is fantastic. It's just as good as or better than the pre-k classrooms Xander attended. It might be smaller, but all the resources are much newer.

There are "workstations" rather than "centers," named that way because the teacher/coordinator wants to emphasize that when children are playing they are working at learning. There is an easel with paints, art station, reading station, writing station with various surfaces to write on, science station, block station, manipulatives station, sensory station, math games and toys station, and the place where the kids pick up their picture/name tags and have their group time.

Preschool only happens once a week for a regularly scheduled hour. Our class is the one on Monday mornings. If we are more than five minutes late, they lock the door. I kind of like that because one of the reasons Erik and I wanted to enroll Nick is to get him used to a structured school-like environment. Of course, they don't lock the doors in public school, but they do make you go to the office and get a "tardy." I do hope to homeschool Nick as he gets older, but he will need these skills for many other kinds of groups he might want to join in the future.

The kids (mostly three-year-olds) start by "signing in" next to their name. Then they go in with their parent(s) and pick up their picture/name tag from the table to put it on. They explore the stations however they want to or however their parents encourage them. During the last ten minutes or so, the children gather together for group time.

The place is beautiful. They have a nice outdoor playground for little ones at their center (which is part of the portable buildings outside a local middle school). There is a child care area that is quite large. Xander will be spending the time there. He will be the oldest, since other older siblings are in public school, but he won't mind that. Just some of the things I saw in there were:

• a nice wall map of the United States
• all kinds of blocks and magnet vehicles
• a mini trampoline with bars to hold on to
• a "house" made of mats in formation
• a kitchen area
• a dress-up area
• a baby/toddler crawl and rocking chair area
• a marble run

 There were plenty of other areas and toys in there; I couldn't take it all in while helping Nick get his shoes on, finding Xander, and getting Nick's picture taken for his name tag.

One drawback was that both boys seemed worn out by the time we got home. It was only 10:15 or so, but I gave them lunch instead of a snack and then had Nick do independent playtime. Xander could not get any school work done without whining, so we went back and forth on whether or not he was going to do his schoolwork or lay down in his bed without playing toys. He rested for more than half an hour.

Meanwhile, Nick got out and admitted he had to go potty. I had him sit on the potty and bribed him with another ice cream cone if he did #2 in the potty again. I just really want to make this second nature for him. He did it! (Hurray! I shouted mentally.)

Nick and I read National Geographic books almost all the way up to naptime.

In fits and starts, Xander:

• listened to another two sections of The Story of the World
• colored, cut, and glued to index cards pictures of what he had heard
• put those cards on our wall timeline in order
• played Star Wards Jedi Math on his Leapster
• listened to The Hobbit
• discussed the saying "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" with me
• listened to Johnny Appleseed, the version retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg (Xander was really captured by his illustrations)
• listened to the poem "Buckingham Palace" by A.A. Milne
• copied a phrase from This Country of Ours underneath his illustration showing the action: "the house was finished"

We're steadily getting through The Hobbit. Xander usually wants to listen to it at breakfast time and before bed.

Yesterday evening I went for a two-mile run and it felt great. I told Erik it was either the five days or so I took off or the temperature. For the last two days, we have had lows of about 60 degrees and highs of 90ish degrees. It feels wonderful.

Our Doings, Including Some Birthday Things

Yesterday:

• Xander listened to the introduction to The Story of the World
• Xander copied a phrase
• Xander did math work with the More M&Ms Math Book
• I read more of The Hobbit to him
• Erik took Xander (who was riding his bike) all the way up to the convenience store closest to us
• Xander helped me do a quick cleaning of the house, without complaint
• Xander did a quick cleaning of his room, 2 minutes long, before bedtime
• I ran 20 minutes, a little faster than my last several runs
• I took Nick on a "cool-down walk," a long loop around the block with him and Winnie the Pooh in his stroller

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I also went out a run, 18 minutes long (jogging pace), on Saturday evening.

On Erik's birthday, he took Xander to Lego Kids Fest at the convention center downtown. They both loved it. Also, throughout the weekend, Erik did a TON of work with Xander re-organizing his Legos and storing some in the garage. Of course, there are some nice built sets on display on Xander's new handmade shelving unit.

I am pretty amazed at how Xander picked out gifts and things for his dad. He insisted on getting a present, a card, and a cake. His gift would have totally captured his dad for months (a computer game) if it had not had some compatibility issues due to being an older game (we got it at the used book store - my fault). Xander wrapped the present very well with my tips to help him. The cake he picked came in handy when my homemade cake ended up being richer than Croesus. All in all, I think Xander is becoming the holiday expert around here.

Here are photos from Erik's birthday and the days before:

picture by Xander; putting flowers in vases after grocery store trip

Xander wrote on our new message board and said it was Chinese characters

some Lego creations from Xander

building a set Dad got for him at the Lego Kids Fest

look away if you're a vegetarian; this is meatloaf (Erik's favorite) with ketchup writing

a few other birthday dishes: sweet tea, homemade macaroni and cheese, and boiled new potatoes

a few gifts and cards waiting for Erik

the cake Xander picked for him

the cake I made; recipe from Our Best Bites website

the icing was more like caramel-flavored fudge, as the friendly lady at Our Best Bites warned

opening gifts (what's in that one, I wonder?)

I got him (us) Wine for Dummies, a wine tasting notebook, a bottle of Bordeaux, and an invitation to start a little wine tasting group, just the two of us. We had our first tasting that night while playing Pandemic. Two victories, even with the Virulent Strain added to the second game!

Official Learning-At-Home First Day

Today, Xander woke up very late. Almost 10:00!!! I think this is the latest he has ever slept in. Because his school-year sleeping-late-time was about 7:30, I was counting on starting our homeschool day at 8:30. I thought that would allow him to be done with workboxes by lunch time so that the few hours after lunch, clean-up, and SSR (sustained silent reading) would be his to do what he liked. But no. We usually put him to bed by 8:30 at the latest, but he seems to fall asleep after 9:00 each night. He tends to wake up at 8:30 in the morning. This is VERY late for our household. It is, however, a pattern for him the last week or two.

I think we will take advantage of the homeschooling schedule and try a later schedule for him. If it doesn't work well for any of us, we can always change it. I am thinking Nick and I will do breakfast, morning cards, and outside play before Xander gets up. Nick can have snack while Xander eats breakfast at 8:30. While Xander gets ready with his morning cards, I can do Core Knowledge books and activities with Nick. Then I hope to have time for both to participate in Morning Meeting before Nick goes to independent playtime. This will be the start of workboxes for Xander.

I will try an 8:00 bedtime for both boys, while letting Xander write in his journal with a small light on until 8:30. I'm hoping 8:00 for Nick will mean he sleeps in until at least 7:00 in the morning. This will all be on a trial and error basis and subject to change.

After Xander got up very late this morning, we "hung out" doing our own things, reading, and playing Angry Birds (Xander) until a cranky Nick went down for nap. (Nick has been extremely emotional and tired-looking this week. I am stumped as to what is going on, other than a runny nose.)

1. Then Xander did a classification card game, putting animal cards into the classes of Invertebrate, Mammal, Bird, Fish, Amphibian, or Reptile. He learned enough from his recent trip to the aquarium to know more than me about which class dolphins belong to! As I've said before, he remembers facts that he hears aloud. Plus, who wouldn't remember a lot about a bottlenose dolphin show with three dolphins? :) Another thing I loved to see was that he could easily read the description below each class. When words are in context, he has a higher reading level than when he is reading word lists. I imagine that is typical.

For lunch, he helped me design this Lunch Ahoy! that he had picked out from one of our Family Fun cookbooks.

And this is pretty amazing: He ate the cheese slice sail, carrot stick mast, tuna salad, Goldfish, and a bite out of the green pepper boat. This is after telling me (repeatedly, on several occasions) he doesn't like green peppers.

2. We read most of the rest of Maps and Globes by Jack Knowlton and explored our globe at the same time.

3. Xander was resistant to copying sentences for social studies. I moved on to free drawing and cutting with tons of copy paper, some construction paper, fine point markers, and scissors. He cut and decorated and "floated" a snowflake.

4. Then I read him many pages of Learn Chess Fast and was impressed by his ability to understand the moves, strategy, and terminology. Yes, he has played several games of chess already, but he showed me he could also read the charts that showed what square was called what on the board and then was able to read the diagonals as, for example, "a2 to g8."

5. Xander played Star Wars Jedi Math on his Leapster for a while.

6. I think I can count watching Wild Kratts as an educational activity. Xander and Nick watch it, mesmerized, and really learn a lot of facts about animals from it. Today's is about Great White sharks. I'll try not to mention it too often, though; they like to watch it every day.

7. Late in the day, we got around to doing the United States and Texas pledges to the flags.

On to my own progress. Two weeks ago, I got into a steady rhythm of running every other evening. Last week, for several different reasons, I did not go running. Last night I went out on a 25-minute outing that was mostly jogging, though I did stop every once in a while for about a minute at a time. It was a terrible-feeling run. I had no reserves to draw on. I think the culprits were being out half the day at the pool party and also neglecting to drink much water during the day. I felt pretty shaky, heavy, and plodding. However, it counts as jogging and I will let myself count it as two miles.

Nick ended up sleeping three hours for his nap. He needed it.