Super Early Bird

I learned today that Sophie has been waking up at the same time as Peter and heading down to the basement to join him for seminary. That's up before 6am. She has an early bedtime, but that's still a little too early. We knew she was overtired, now we know why.

Focus

The switch to cyber school has been hardest on Cooper. While the other three are generally done for the day no later than 2pm (and often much earlier), Cooper has been putting in ten to twelve hour days. He's had a very hard time staying on task, then he was switched into an accelerated math class and had to catch up on nearly two weeks of work. That pushed him behind in all of his classes. It's been a long few weeks of work for all of us.

He finally caught up last Saturday evening and rested on Sunday. Then, when this new week started, he kept putting in those late hours.  I figured he was in the same position as before, getting off track and taking his time. We had today off from school, so we only had four days to get through. 

On Wednesday evening Cooper came upstairs from the basement and reported that he was done. I asked if he was done for the day. He said yes, but he was also done for the whole week. He did four days of work in three.

I hugged him and praised his hard work. Then I asked what the difference was this week. Was he so used to the long hours from the first few weeks that he was now conditioned to accomplish more? He said that might have helped, but he figured not watching so many YouTube videos made a big difference too.

Yup, that would definitely help.

 

Teacher's Aide

Some of our school days run relatively smoothly. Others do not. We were having one of those other days last week with Sophie. A friend whose son attends our cyber school had shared that at the end of some weeks she runs out of patience and energy before they run out of school. That's when she has her two older boys step in and act as educational facilitator for their younger brother. This story popped into my brain and I asked Phoebe if she wanted to have a go at helping Sophie with one of her classes.

Phoebe immediately declared that she would teach Sophie all of her schoolwork for the day. I pulled her back and said she could do two of the four. I snapped this picture of how delighted Sophie was to have Phoebe doing school with her. Then, since Topher was upstairs napping, I laid my tired head down on the couch next to them and took a tiny nap.

This teacher's assistant arrangement only lasted two days, I guess the magic wore off quickly. But it was very nice for a moment.

Wunderkind

This morning, as Sophie was running out of steam to finish her schoolwork, I told her it was only ten minutes until lunch, and I thought she could finish her last task by then. I didn't realize that Topher had heard me until I turned around and saw him setting clementines on the table, ready to eat. 

He's moving out of using a highchair, which means meals require pretty tight supervision, and I wasn't quite ready to provide that. So I reminded him that we needed to pick up the blocks first, then we could eat. I turned my attention back to Sophie and the instructions in her Social Studies book. A minute later I looked up, surprised to see Topher finish putting the blocks in their boxes.

I praised the good work he had done as I slid the boxes into their cubbies, then walked into the kitchen. That's when I saw my two-year-old place three plates on the table, a tiny orange on each one, and heard him say, "For Topher, for Sophie, for Mommy," as he laid each place setting out.

I've said it before, but I'm pretty sure he's a genius.

Gone Grill

Peter started the day looking like this:

He ended the day looking like this:

And he spent some time enjoying things he hasn't been able to eat during the past twenty-two months.

Fashion Freedom

One unexpected perk of doing cyber school? Today Sophie attended her lessons wearing Phoebe's church shoes, Phoebe's fancy church coat (over pajamas, of course), and carrying a handbag. She was in desperate need of an old fashioned hat to complete the ensemble, but she made do with my big floppy summer hat instead. I don't think this would have worked for in-person school.

Baby Sea Dee

Actual Conversation I Just Had With Peter

Peter: I have a question Mom.

Me: The answer is go to bed.

It's 10:10 at night, for the record, and his bedtime is 9:30. And Peter will follow us around talking to us until he finally falls asleep. And my brain is tired.

The answer is often go to bed.

Twisty

Phoebe learned a new skill last night. Bryan thinks it'll pair nicely with her budding ventriloquist act. Now she just needs to learn to juggle and she can go on the road.

Getting Some Vitamin D