Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I just bribed the baby into quiet with a handful of crackers. Why is it that whenever he sees me sitting (or in this case, standing) still, he thinks it's time to nurse? He looks at me with those big blue eyes and desperately makes the sign for milk, which in our house we call "baby snack." Anyway, he is thrilled with the crackers, but I don't expect them to work for long. The older two have a pile of Friend magazines, a pair of scissors each, and a bottle of glue. I made them get off the couch and move to the kitchen table.

We are in the throngs of potty training. Sorta. He is only 18 mo, so I don't expect much, but he seems to really hate the diapers. If we let him run around naked, he's got a 100% success rate. In underwear it's more like 80%. In a diaper, he never gets to the potty, and only notifies us after he's gone. This is all really good news, (hang on, more crackers needed). My mom is a bit horrified at him running around naked, but if it works... and of course he's fully dressed whenever we go out. Good grief.

The timing would be good. I'd like to be able to go to Chicago this Jan without carting all the diapers. It would save us about a third of our laundry costs (pay machines in this apartment complex), too. And, after near constant use for the past 7 years, our diapers are definitely showing signs of wear. My friend just replaced hers, I need to do the same. Most of them have already been resewn along the edges, but now the middles are wearing out and I don't think I can do much to save them. But, like she said, when they are no longer good for diapers, they still make good cleaning cloths. Or else I could cut them up and make them into menstrual pads.

I didn't mention all the fun with had with my mother-in-law. We went to the library a couple of times and the park. (Whatever else I think about Manchester, they have a wonderful library system and beautiful parks.) We also went to the farmer's market, where she bought some beautiful greens for her daily green drink and Lil'Nathan bought a small deer antler. (No, I don't know why. I don't think he does either.) We also went to Lebanon and hit LISTEN (the world's most wonderful thrift shop!) and the CO-OP (also the most wonderful of it's kind). We visited a friend and went blueberry picking. It poured on us as we picked, the only ones in the field that day. (We did run into another friend up there, but she was smart enough to leave before the downpour. We traveled a total of 98 mi to get to these unsprayed blueberries and we were not leaving until we had our year's supply!) We spent the rest of the day trying to dry out, but all 26 pounds of blueberries were worth it. "Mom" took her berries home and froze most of them. I froze a little more than half and made some jams and cobbler sauce with part of the rest. (This I did the night she left. I put on Pride and Prejudice (the good one) and polished off the rest of the mint chocolate chip ice cream. I was up until almost 3 am!) We've eaten lots on our oatmeal and by the handful and last night made blueberry peach cobbler for Family Home Evening.

Also yesterday, we made bread and pitas. I put millet in the pita bread and only 2 ballooned up. I wonder if it was the millet. They sure tasted good, though.

Last night Sweetheart started his homework schedule. As part of one of the assignments he had to take a learning styles analysis quiz. He had me take it, too. Anyone ever take one of these things? It makes a statement and they you decide how much that describes you. Well, I consider myself eclectic. About halfway through this test I began to feel a bit schizophrenic. My final results showed that I am... pretty darn eclectic, though music and math don't hold as high a percentage as anything else.

And this morning we mailed our letter of intent for homeschooling. I guess there's no turning back now. We stated our start date as next Monday to coincide with Sweetheart's classes. I also think I'm going to try and incorporate a bit of ASL. They already know a little and this will be fun for them. We'll likely go with Core Knowledge, though I don't know yet if I'll buy the books or not. Now, all that's left to do is tell Lil'Nathan. He still doesn't know.

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