the First Week of School Closes with Success and a Change of Sheets

You know it's going to be an interesting day when you awaken at 6:30 AM with your 3-year old standing beside you, throwing up onto your bed. I still felt very sleepy, so I sat up and just dreamily watched him. That didn't suit Mark at all, so he took command and yanked Tater up by his armpits and carried him to the toilet while telling me to take the sheets off. Shaking off a bit more sleep, I did so and promptly arranged a thick towel over the offending spot and put on clean sheets. I wanted to go back to sleep. Nate, my cheerful invalid, curled up at the end of my bed and sucked down the water that Mark brought him. Great. I knew I had about 7 minutes to sleep until he threw up again. And so it went, until I overcame my sleepiness enough to see which remedy might help the poor kid. Arsenicum: throws up even the slightest amount of water. Thirsty for cold water. Yup. That's it. His improvement from that point was dramatic, ending with four pieces of toast with cream cheese for breakfast.

But we've had this sickness before, and I approached the day warily, lest any of the others might begin tossing their breakfast. Bradford did tell me he was very sick, and he seemed to have attacks of it immediately after I told him to do any school work. No, no dear. You must throw up to prove that you are sick. Otherwise, get busy.

Let's see, this is our fourth day of serious school, and it is going amazingly well. Bradford has cut the time needed for his less-than-10-words copywork from 45! minutes to about 20. The true test with how it's going with him is the fact that I still have a voice. *clears throat*

Bradford is enjoying Heidi the most. I told them I'd buy goat's milk and goat cheese so they could have the same kind of meal Heidi did. Heidi's grandfather toasted the cheese over the fire, but I was thinking of using the microwave. Not Bradford. He's figured out that we could put the cheese on sticks and hold them over our heated grill for a more authentic flavor.

Ben is so funny about our new schedule. I wrote it out on two pieces of large chart paper, and it is hanging at the bottom of the stairs. He consults it regularly. "Daddy, it says 'play with daddy' now, so we have to play. Let's wrestle." Today he found the printed lesson plan on which I highlight all completed tasks, and he was fascinated. He wants to be in charge of highlighting everything. Indeed, the moment I finished chapter 5 of Heidi, he did his job.

As for Ben's learning, he's miles ahead of where he would be anywhere else, so I don't fret too much over him. He seems to pick up knowledge from air molecules. Right now he's interested to know how many seconds anything will take. Our conversations look something like this:

Me: Ben, you have 12 minutes to eat the rest of your lunch.
Ben: How many seconds is that?
Me: Good grief, Ben. I don't know. Multiply 12x60. I guess it's 720, so you'd better get eating.

Another weird thing about Ben is the boy is crazy for spelling at all times during the day EXCEPT school time. So I sneak the words during the day. "Hey, Ben. If you spell 'cheese,' I'll give some to GracEliz for lunch." or "I'll bet the word 'because' is too hard for you to spell." We might have reached an agreement today: he'll spell the words during school time if I let him sit in the bottom of the exersaucer while he does it.

Nathaniel is by far the easiest. He delights to do his four pages of the Early Learner workbook, and he never seems to tire from writing "Nate N N N Naten a a a a Nate etaN" every single day. Then I have to convince him to go upstairs and play alone for awhile, and that is certainly his hardest lesson.

Grace is learning, too. She said "dadadada" today. She's discovered what a satisfying noise the cabinet door makes when she opens it just a little and lets go. Her memory is fine-- she remembers which drawer she is allowed to get things out of.

I'm praying that the older boys don't get sick in the night, but I'd better get to bed, just in case. You'll have to wait until another day to hear about the mattresses, cookie jar, and the shirts.