I can't believe it has been 10 days since I last posted. Well, I can actually. I have started a half-dozen posts during that time period, but for one thing or another I have never finished them. Life has been busy for us, especially over the last week.
Mary and Katie were both involved in day camps over in the city, which involved getting up at the unfathomable time of 6:30 AM and preparing bagged lunches, making sure they had all their stuff in a book bag and getting everyone up and dressed to be out the door at 7:30. Trust me when I say that having my kids in public school would in no way make my life easier.
But, they did have a great time at camp as they always do. For them day camp is something special. We put a lot of thought into selecting just the right one for them each year. It isn't some glorified, expensive day care...and they treat it as such.
Mary attended a "Sail and Science" camp, where she learned the basics of sailing a sunfish sailboat. She did wonderfully, winning the capsizing award as being one of the best and most gung-ho about tipping the boat over into the water and then flipping it back right-side up. We are already being pressed by her to attend the sleep-away sailing camp on the coast next summer.
Katie went to the "Nature Explorers" camp. Kind of a basic intro to animal and nature study, but she got to do it through group games and lots of playing with other kids her age. The highlight for her was finding another little girl who also collected animal figurines...so, they talked and shared and we have a new best friend who only lives 45 minutes away.
I do have to say the neat thing about them going off and doing these separate classes without me in tow is the sharing in the car on the way home. Normally, I'm right there experiencing everything right along with them, but this time they got to talk it out and give me something new and interesting every day. I have to admit hearing about their day like this was kind of refreshing.
The little ones and I had our own special days here at the house. The couple of days we needed to run errands we did them on the way back to the house. We visited the library for preschool reading time, visited the large park that has a train we could ride on, played with friends at their house, had water play in the backyard, or just helped me with chores around the house. Emily has been into paper cutting this week. Which, generally, has meant me having to pick up some of the smallest pieces of paper scattered all over the arts & crafts area. But she has also finished up with some really fine, recognizable works. She also received a new box of sidewalk chalk from her aunt, so she has spent some time outside with those. For three-and-a-half she is a pretty good natural artist.
Robbie has been right there along side Emily, for better or for worse. He managed to learn a few more words, and many more sounds. He prefers naming objects by the sounds they make, rather than their actual names. Which I think is pretty cute, although I am sure someone has a scary story out there about how it is a major sign for one dysfunction or another. The fact is he has a great ear for mimicry.
We still have one more trip planned, and Mary has one more short sleepover camp for the summer. But, we are all ready to start easing back into a routine and doing a little more focused work. The temps this week are supposed to jump back into the 90s and 100s, a good time to stay inside. Mary wants to learn Chinese (yes, she has yet to finish her exploration of China) so I am going to create my own workbook with things I can find online and we will use a free Chinese language CD we got from a restaurant in the kid's meal. Katie right now is all about reading and writing, she has caught the bug Mary has always managed to avoid. She has been spending some time each day on Starfall.com and I'm going to start sitting with her and reading for some time every day. Emily's cutting activities has given me the push to start working with her on some tracing skills, which she can then cut out. Me, well I am trying to give myself some time each day for knitting. I have a long list of knitting skills I would like to learn.
Peace,
Amy
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