And.... I'm Back!

Sorry I have been MIA for so long, we’ve had a long busy month, and it’s all my fault! Things are much better now though, so I am back!

Quick updates:

Mr. Man has had a rough go of things. Between the move and the new sister, he’s been the grumpiest three-year old I have ever had the pleasure to know. We’ve thought we had tried everything with him, and nothing has worked…. he’s just been an angry little dude. At my wit’s end, I signed him up for a twice a week preschool program, and he is now three weeks into it.

At first, he hated it. One of the workers at the CDC has a big ‘ole mustache, and he came home from school the first day in tears because he “HATES the mustache man!” and he “hates the mustache class” and he “hates the mustache rules”. It took three weeks, but the last time I picked him up, he ran to me and begged me to not take him away from his friends and his class. I was so proud of him to keep going!

He is loving it, and he is happy having something of his own to go and do. He is getting play time daily, he is learning to stand in line, take turns, share and LISTEN to adults. And its WORKING!!!

The best part about the class is it gives me a much-needed break. I had grand plans of being able to sit down with Bug and do some intensive schooling, the kind that is practically impossible with a wild stubborn man running around the house. But that was a big joke on me. Instead, we spend the time Mr. Man is in class running errands. We take our sweet time at the library, we lay down on the floor to read, we go to the mailbox (often more than once because there is rarely mail, and we WANT mail, so we check first thing and last thing, just.in.case. *** hint*** SEND US MAIL!!*** ). Its heaven. I don’t have to worry about anyone running off in public, or grumping at me, and I get to hold one child instead of two.

The bad thing is, they taught him that polar bears live in the south pole. Humph. So, it’s not educational, clearly…. but I am not paying them to educate, I’m paying them to help him feel special, and to give me a break.

What else….

Its freezing here, and we haven’t seen any more snow (BOO!).

Little Miss is growing like a weed. She’s beautiful, and cute as a button. A really BIG button. She’s in 12 months clothing now, and I can’t believe it.

Bug is thriving. We’ve continued working hard with school, and he’s made so much progress. He took another reading and math assessment and showed significant improvement over where we started. According to the test (I know, I know, it’s not totally accurate, but SHHH) he has a third grade vocabulary, and has very strong phonics skills. He’s reading pretty well now and I couldn’t be more proud.

As for me, I’ve been busy. I’ve read every parenting book under the sun trying to make sense of Mr. Man, I’ve cleaned and organized the house (it didn’t last), I have worked hard at helping organize the co-op for the home school group here, and am planning on teaching three classes, and we finished up a unit on community.

I have lots of pictures to share, so stay tuned!!