28 November 2006

Sorry, busy

My boss's last day is two weeks away, and the other assistant director and I are swamped.

Quick wrap:

Kids had a blast at my family's farm. They were dirty filthy from playing in hay, cattle feed, and who knows what, but they had a great time. Tractors and four-wheelers and hikes through the woods, oh my!

We had a blast out at a Blues game and The Dubliner downtown with N&M. Sometimes, ya just gotta ditch the kids and go hang with college friends, who also ditched their kids.

Our kids hung out here with Grandma and Grandpa while we watched the Blues play pathetically poor hockey, so they weren't hurting.

Next post will be the Breakfast with Santa insanity. Wish us luck. Pray for patience for us.

09 November 2006

Unsure and unhappy

Two bad days at work. Back-to-back.

I've already been questioning why I'm there . . . for months, actually. But nothing more appealing has opened up.

This past week has really done a number on my psyche. It's really hard to do my job when I don't feel respected, when I'm second-guessed. It's been even worse, recently, as more projects come down the pike, but no real help or new hires to take on some of the work load.

I had planned to take the afternoon today, anyway. My kids were out at noon because it is parent-teacher conferences days. It's nearly 80 degrees here today, so it was a good fall day to get out. Especially after a morning meeting didn't go well. I needed out, mentally and physically.

But the day in the sun with my kids, a picnic at the park, and a quick explore of the cave there helped. Some.

02 November 2006

Three is a magic number

Years ago, we bought the Schoolhouse Rock DVD when it came out. Our eldest was fascinated by it, and as Gen Xers who grew up with it, we thought it was beyond cool.

After multiple watchings and a move from IL to here, we packed it away and didn't bother pulling it out. There's only so much Conjunction Junction one can stand.

I pulled it back out about a month ago, and our eldest rediscovered it, and our four-year-old son was mesmerized by it. He has favorites. He can sing entire songs. This from a kid who previously had zlich, zip, nada interest in anything educational.

We took all three to a local production of Schoolhouse Rock Live! recently. That's when I learned that "Three is a magic number" is my son's favorite episode.

He's now fascinated by it. He looks around the house for combinations of three. He's learned subtraction this week, just by figuring out how to get to 3, or 6, or 9. Basic multiplication: He's got it, at least when it's the 3s.

I'm blown over. It's like a switch flipped on in his head, and now he's learning by leaps and bounds. Math. Reading. He now spends hours with this phonics computer game we bought his older sister years ago. He spelled ANT last night, out of the blue.

Incredible.

It's inspired my little hyperkenetic kid to learn, more than 30 years after it was created to teach me (and the rest of us) to learn during Saturday morning cartoons.