Al and I have been pushing reading homework a bit more this year as Alyssa's learning to read. We typically let Samantha read her own books and then ask for a synopsis, but her teacher made some excellent points about why we should be more involved: comprehension and correct pronunciation. And this year I made the policy that the book has to be approved by me because Samantha will read the same book over and over again and try to count that in her reading log.

At first she grumbled that she didn't want to read the book I picked, but about the third chapter in she admitted it was a really funny book. She asked if she could read me the remainder of the book.

This week Samantha and I have been reading Treasure Island. Some nights we'll each read a page and the next night it might be that we trade off chapters. I do stop and ask questions when there is subtle figurative language or a deeper meaning. And we're practicing those good 'ol context clues, but she's getting it! We are having a blast reading together and I get to read children's classics that I've never read before. (We're a third of the way through Little House in the Big Woods, too.)

Last night Alyssa picked a book out and asked Daddy to read. The book is a Level 1 or Early Reader. I think it has a whole whopping 5 words in the story--lots of repetition, obviously. Alyssa picked up the book after Al read it once and tried to read herself. And she did. 

The excitement on her face said it all! She read it to me several more times and then excitedly announced that tomorrow she wanted to learn to tie her shoes. 

More than the reading is the bonding--the quiet time set aside to be with each of our children, one on one. 

Alyssa was anxious to start a full day of Kindergarten after Labor Day. I was surprised, however, that she found it "boring." She has been asking to go to school full time since she was 3 and now that we're here she's not so enthused.

After school, the Friday after Labor Day, she started sobbing before she even got her seat belt on. She decided that she didn't want to go to school anymore. She wanted to stay home with me.

I remember this happening with Samantha. This half- to full-day school is a huge conflict for a child. And it's not just mine, I've noticed it happening with other kids in her class as well. They're realizing that they're expected to grow up just a bit and that means more freedom from mom and dad. They're conflicted because on one hand they want to be treated as big kids, but on the flip they're afraid of what it means.

Alyssa has been worrying all summer about learning to read. She keeps telling me she doesn't know how to do it--not that I expect her to read yet--and that she won't be able to do it. I keep reassuring her that part of being in Kindergarten is learning to read and that is okay, I am not going to stop reading to her just because she can read. I promised that bedtime stories will continue.

I'm selfish. Sometimes I want nothing more than my two pajama-clad girls on each side with their baby dolls in hand listening to me read aloud. That isn't going away, but reassuring Alyssa is another thing.

So through the gasping sobs that consumed most of my Friday afternoon, she admitted that she misses coming home after school, eating lunch alone with mommy, and playing dress up all afternoon.

For as long as she'll let me I will hold her close and let her be that baby a little longer. It won't be long before she doesn't want me to walk her to class or read her bedtime stories.

Thrift stores can be awesome and my family sure loves them. We visit our local thrift stores at least once a month. We have two locally that we support: the hospital thrift store and our local community pantry thrift store. We donate and we buy (a lot).

My parents love to shop furniture because they like to refinish the pieces for resale. I have a small house so I buy what I will use. But we buy books mostly. And truthfully we have a lot unread; but when I ask my kids if they want to go to Pat's they get so exited. They don't care about anything else in that shop except for the books.

Our little library

If we're lucky we find old library books or an entire series. I picked up 32 Magic Treehouse books over two months and recently the library a county over gave up a series of Cynthia Rylant early readers: Poppleton and Mr. Putter and Tabby. I think I picked up about 15 of those.

Samantha tried reading the Magic Treehouse series, but it just didn't interest her. So when I found out that one of Samantha's classmates was having difficulty learning to read I gave his mother the entire series with the hope that it might interest him. One day he came up to me and told me how much he loved the books. At first his mother read them to him and slowly he started sharing in the reading until he was on his own. He couldn't wait to read through them all.

Alyssa is at the cusp of learning to read so early readers like Biscuit are becoming very important in our house. And reading an entire series of books that have a common character appear to be what will interest Alyssa the most.

My husband used to moan and groan about the constant influx of books, but he's finally given that up. He sees the excitement in the girls' eyes when they surround themselves with books. And when our interest has waned we bag them up and donate them right back to where they came from.

Alyssa and I decided to head out to the Gilroy library after dinner/dropping Samantha at theatre. Our poor Hollister library is lacking for recent books. It's sad. I paid the equivalent of Santa Clara taxes to join the Santa Clara County Library. It's a totally different world. There is an entire floor for kids! And we can borrow e-books too.

The girls are excited about it. Samantha is devouring The American Girl series and Alyssa is in love with Biscuit, an early reader series. When I asked Alyssa if she wanted to check out more Biscuit books she gushed, "Really, Mom!"

We ran a few more errands and then took our dessert at Starbucks. We sat outside while the sun set and she drank her hot chocolate and danced. She sat facing the window so she could see her reflection. And she squiggled in her seat until she was finished. Then she got up and danced to the Starbucks music track. 

In those moments I feel so at peace. There isn't anything else in the world but my little life, my children, dancing, music and all. I sat and watched Alyssa dance on the patio while people and cars bustled around us. 

Book Nerds' Paradise

We bought our little house before we had kids and it seemed so big. We've acquired a lot of stuff over the last 10 years and are constantly purging and finding space for the existing things. The most underused room in our house is the dining room. Truthfully, I never wanted a separate dining room, but the house we bought had one. Not a deal breaker by any means.

In the throws of rearranging.

We don't use our dining room 99% of the year except for coloring, computer work, and bill paying. We were in need of something functional.

I stumbled on a blog and fell in love with the idea of bookcase storage. And I've (secretly) pined for a library room. After much discussion and a little table version of musical chairs, we decided that bookcases could be a functional storage solution. So we moved the small round kitchen table into the dining room, the five-foot rectangular one into the kitchen, and the vision was complete.

We bought some black-brown bookcases and a secretary from Ikea. We purchased five large and two small bookcases, one which rounded out the unusable corner. We can purchase doors too, but decided to wait until we could better visualize the space. We strapped everything to the wall (a must in earthquake country) and started shelving.

We moved the new secretary to the living room and the table back into the dining room. I can't believe how much bigger the space looks and how much more functional it is. As soon as we placed all the books, the girls started playing library and bookstore. They even got out the pretend cash register and started accepting Dora credit cards.

When the time comes we can open up the table and serve 12. But for every day this is a dream come true.

Samantha also inherited the two oak bookcases that were previously overflowing in the living room. She's so excited to have her own library to fill and it's made for extra storage in her room.

I love the satisfaction of moving existing furniture and pictures around the house, finding new ways to use what we've got.

A first

I've finally started going to the gym on a regular basis. I am not fighting it as much as I have before. Since money is such a precious commodity these days I figure I better make every dollar count. I've seen improvement in my abs for sure. While they are not rock hard by any means, they're starting to hold in the ol' post-natal gut a bit better.

This week I started the South Beach diet. I've never dieted in my life, but I figure I need to jump-start my system. I had started to eat whatever I felt like and didn't exercise in the last year. It all seems to have coincided with Al's unemployment. While the scale hasn't shown any deduction in weight, I've noticed a tighter core. Let's hope week 2 gives me some better results.

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In other news, Alyssa is fully potty trained; she's finally in the 25th Percentile; and we've signed up her for preschool at Sacred Heart. She can't wait until she can go to school.

Samantha is a copy of her mother--she's a voracious reader. I introduced her to a series about a kindergartner named Junie B. Jones and she's already read 3 in the series. The books are about 60-70 pages and broken up by chapters. I bought Samantha her first one and she finished it in three hours. We found some more at the library so we've been checking out 2-3 every two weeks. I love that she is so hungry for the written word--finally someone in the house as insane about reading as I am.

I Did It! and other musings

I joined the gym and worked out on Monday. I woke up in the middle of the night in so much pain that it hurt to turn over. Ha! I killed my abs because they still have the features of woman who's 20 weeks along. I want results yesterday! So every time I moved today I had to fight back a moan. Oh well. It's worth it, right?


Tomorrow is my Sweet Pea's third birthday. I truly can't believe it. I was showing her pictures from 30 seconds after she was born til today--she kept asking who the baby was until she saw her lovey. She's getting taller and just exploding in some new way everyday. And we're potty trained!!

But it doesn't just happen with Alyssa--I see Samantha changing to so much too. She's gone from reading a few sight words to some harder books. She's sucking it all up and I love sitting down with her every day listening to her read.


We've signed Alyssa up for preschool at Sacred Heart. We've got some major problems in the public school district and wait lists now to get into Sacred Heart so we wanted to get her in now so we'd secure her a spot. We're fortunate enough to be able to pay the tuition, but I constantly think about those families who want a better education for their kids but can't afford it. It's sad that we have to buy our children's education.

Kevin (my brother) is in Indonesia right now. He said that only those who can pay for it get educated in Indonesia. Those who can't don't get any schooling, government or otherwise. It makes me feel fortunate in one way, but then I get upset thinking how the state and federal government are failing our kids and our future.

Al and I didn't start out thinking about private education--we both work in public education and with federal/state curriculum, we expect what the government should provide--but in this economy it all falls short.