(no subject)

Wednesday at the library felt a little crazier than usual. When I got there, the area where the tables and chairs usually are had been cleared. All the tables and chairs were stacked off to one side. I ended up helping the librarian move everything back into place in the ten minutes before the kids arrived. Moving the tables took both of us, and we had to be careful because I'm not supposed to lift very much.

There was a lot of shelving to be done, and I got to almost none of it. I did get the nonfiction into call number order so that it would be easier for someone else to shelve. I just wasn't in a position to spend the time on it.

Instead, I helped the second graders with their projects. For several weeks now, they've been working on this. The idea is to take an animal, list three or four facts about it, find a picture of it, print the whole thing out and make a poster. The picture and the name of the animal are hidden while the facts are out in the open. People can lift the flap to see what the animal is. The whole project was a hassle. The kids needed help with every step of it-- They had to use a particular website, for example, and often ended up taking a lot of time to find it. Formatting the facts and the picture in Pages was also frequently difficult. It took a lot of patience to verbally walk the kids through what they were doing when my instinct was to do it myself because I could do it so much faster.

(no subject)

Wednesday at the library felt a little crazier than usual. When I got there, the area where the tables and chairs usually are had been cleared. All the tables and chairs were stacked off to one side. I ended up helping the librarian move everything back into place in the ten minutes before the kids arrived. Moving the tables took both of us, and we had to be careful because I'm not supposed to lift very much.

There was a lot of shelving to be done, and I got to almost none of it. I did get the nonfiction into call number order so that it would be easier for someone else to shelve. I just wasn't in a position to spend the time on it.

Instead, I helped the second graders with their projects. For several weeks now, they've been working on this. The idea is to take an animal, list three or four facts about it, find a picture of it, print the whole thing out and make a poster. The picture and the name of the animal are hidden while the facts are out in the open. People can lift the flap to see what the animal is. The whole project was a hassle. The kids needed help with every step of it-- They had to use a particular website, for example, and often ended up taking a lot of time to find it. Formatting the facts and the picture in Pages was also frequently difficult. It took a lot of patience to verbally walk the kids through what they were doing when my instinct was to do it myself because I could do it so much faster.

(no subject)

Scott and Delia recently finished reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I was afraid she'd reject the book when it came to the point when Aslan is killed. She's rejected books for less before (We may never manage The Secret Garden because the parents die in the first chapter). Fortunately, it was a night when we'd gotten her into bed relatively early, so Scott had time to read the next chapter, too, to get her past the scary bit.

They're working on Prince Caspian now and will probably do all of the Narnia books. I don't know what will come after that because Scott wants to stick with things he's read. I have suggestions, and other people have made suggestions, but Scott hasn't read those books. That complicates matters considerably. Maybe Delia will let me start reading to her again.

(no subject)

Scott and Delia recently finished reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I was afraid she'd reject the book when it came to the point when Aslan is killed. She's rejected books for less before (We may never manage The Secret Garden because the parents die in the first chapter). Fortunately, it was a night when we'd gotten her into bed relatively early, so Scott had time to read the next chapter, too, to get her past the scary bit.

They're working on Prince Caspian now and will probably do all of the Narnia books. I don't know what will come after that because Scott wants to stick with things he's read. I have suggestions, and other people have made suggestions, but Scott hasn't read those books. That complicates matters considerably. Maybe Delia will let me start reading to her again.

(no subject)

Yesterday was a long day. The early part of it wasn't too bad. I just had to tidy up so that the cleaning lady can do her thing (mopping the floors is much easier when there aren't laundry baskets in the way). Somewhere around noon, our internet went out (the airport needed to be cycled. Scott did it when he got home. He needs to show me how to do it). That stressed me out because I was in the middle of something and because I rely on e-mail for updates from the two ladies who help us out with transportation to and from soccer. I was afraid of plans changing without my being notified.

The busy part of the day started at 2:30 when I did Sit and Be Fit. At 3:00, just as that ended, the cleaning lady arrived, and I had to do the last minute putting away of junk to get it out of her way (this often amounts to dumping it in our bedroom for the duration as that's the one room she doesn't touch). At 3:30, I headed out to get Delia from school.

We rushed home so that she could put on her soccer gear and that we could head out to catch the bus. Catching the bus is always a bit fraught-- It comes between 3:55 and 4:10, depending on how far behind it's running. If it's early, we miss it. We generally have no way of knowing whether or not we've missed the bus, so we just wait. Yesterday, we were there by 3:56, and the bus came not even five minutes later. This is the last time I'll have to haul along the car seat on the bus. Delia turns eight on Tuesday, and it'll be legal for her to ride in a car without a car seat. We'll keep the car seat in our car, I think. She's not dreadfully tall and is probably safer with it, but going to and from soccer practice will be done without the car seat. It's hard to carry, and the ride to practice currently involves wedging three car seats into a space that isn't meant to accommodate them.

The bus dropped us off across from Olson Park at about 4:10. We had at least thirty-five minutes to wait. Delia climbed a little but complained that it was too hot and ended up lying on the ground in the shade of the rock wall. I found myself faced with a choice-- I could sit in full sun and bake, or I could stand in the very limited shade. I stood.

Eventually, Delia decided that she could play after all, but she mostly used the swings. I think the breeze felt good for her.

Once we got to practice, I again faced the sitting in the sun versus standing in the shade choice. I tried sitting for a while, but it was too hot. I tried walking around the field, but I felt exhausted when I was just starting out (I think it was the heat). I ended up standing in the shade, shooing off bugs, for most of the hour long practice. I was the only parent who stayed, so I didn't even have anyone to talk to.

I think the practice went pretty well. They practiced corner kicks, how to do them and how to defend against them. They practiced dribbling and ball stealing. They ended the practice with a scrimmage which the girls seemed to enjoy. The coach made sure everybody took regular water breaks. He calls for one every fifteen minutes. I think he uses a stop watch.

We got home from practice about 6:10. Delia did her math homework while Scott prepared a plate of food for her. We all rushed through dinner so that we could go to the school at 6:30 for the science fair.

Delia's project was something Scott called a Newton Mobile. It involved taking a flat piece of wood, putting three nails in it in a triangle and using the nails, a rubberband and piece of string to put another piece of wood (the reaction mass) off the back of the flat piece. The flat piece was resting on evenly spaced pieces of dowel rod. When the reaction mass was pushed off the back, the flat piece of wood went forward. Scott and Delia measured how far it went and tried changing the weight of the reaction mass and the number of rubberbands involved. The number of rubberbands increased distance more than increasing the weight of the reaction mass did.

I'm not sure how much Delia understood of the experiment, actually. She really liked the idea of doing an experiment, but she didn't so much like actually doing it or analyzing it. She always wanted to do something else when it was time to work on the project. On the way to the school, she told us that, next year, she wants to go the science fair to see other people's projects but doesn't want to do one herself. I suppose we'll see when next year rolls around.

The science fair was set up in the school's multi-purpose room (a cafeteria with a stage). It was crowded and stuffy. I was tired enough that I couldn't get myself even to look at the projects. Delia did wander around and look, though. I lasted half an hour before I abandoned Scott and Delia to finish things out on their own and went home.

It's just as well that I did go home-- I had just time enough to pour myself some juice when the phone rang. It was a long distance call from a friend I hadn't talked to in a while. I kind of wished he'd waited another few minutes so that I could drink my juice, but I was glad to hear from him.

Scott and Delia came home a bit past 7:30. Delia then had to do her reading homework-- twenty minutes of reading followed by a discussion with us about what she read-- and her spelling homework. Once that was done, it was technically bedtime, but she still needed a shower. She actually got to bed kind of late. It was about 9:15 by the time the lights went out.

I feel like I hardly stopped moving yesterday. I know that's not true, but I still feel like I was horribly busy.

(no subject)

Yesterday was a long day. The early part of it wasn't too bad. I just had to tidy up so that the cleaning lady can do her thing (mopping the floors is much easier when there aren't laundry baskets in the way). Somewhere around noon, our internet went out (the airport needed to be cycled. Scott did it when he got home. He needs to show me how to do it). That stressed me out because I was in the middle of something and because I rely on e-mail for updates from the two ladies who help us out with transportation to and from soccer. I was afraid of plans changing without my being notified.

The busy part of the day started at 2:30 when I did Sit and Be Fit. At 3:00, just as that ended, the cleaning lady arrived, and I had to do the last minute putting away of junk to get it out of her way (this often amounts to dumping it in our bedroom for the duration as that's the one room she doesn't touch). At 3:30, I headed out to get Delia from school.

We rushed home so that she could put on her soccer gear and that we could head out to catch the bus. Catching the bus is always a bit fraught-- It comes between 3:55 and 4:10, depending on how far behind it's running. If it's early, we miss it. We generally have no way of knowing whether or not we've missed the bus, so we just wait. Yesterday, we were there by 3:56, and the bus came not even five minutes later. This is the last time I'll have to haul along the car seat on the bus. Delia turns eight on Tuesday, and it'll be legal for her to ride in a car without a car seat. We'll keep the car seat in our car, I think. She's not dreadfully tall and is probably safer with it, but going to and from soccer practice will be done without the car seat. It's hard to carry, and the ride to practice currently involves wedging three car seats into a space that isn't meant to accommodate them.

The bus dropped us off across from Olson Park at about 4:10. We had at least thirty-five minutes to wait. Delia climbed a little but complained that it was too hot and ended up lying on the ground in the shade of the rock wall. I found myself faced with a choice-- I could sit in full sun and bake, or I could stand in the very limited shade. I stood.

Eventually, Delia decided that she could play after all, but she mostly used the swings. I think the breeze felt good for her.

Once we got to practice, I again faced the sitting in the sun versus standing in the shade choice. I tried sitting for a while, but it was too hot. I tried walking around the field, but I felt exhausted when I was just starting out (I think it was the heat). I ended up standing in the shade, shooing off bugs, for most of the hour long practice. I was the only parent who stayed, so I didn't even have anyone to talk to.

I think the practice went pretty well. They practiced corner kicks, how to do them and how to defend against them. They practiced dribbling and ball stealing. They ended the practice with a scrimmage which the girls seemed to enjoy. The coach made sure everybody took regular water breaks. He calls for one every fifteen minutes. I think he uses a stop watch.

We got home from practice about 6:10. Delia did her math homework while Scott prepared a plate of food for her. We all rushed through dinner so that we could go to the school at 6:30 for the science fair.

Delia's project was something Scott called a Newton Mobile. It involved taking a flat piece of wood, putting three nails in it in a triangle and using the nails, a rubberband and piece of string to put another piece of wood (the reaction mass) off the back of the flat piece. The flat piece was resting on evenly spaced pieces of dowel rod. When the reaction mass was pushed off the back, the flat piece of wood went forward. Scott and Delia measured how far it went and tried changing the weight of the reaction mass and the number of rubberbands involved. The number of rubberbands increased distance more than increasing the weight of the reaction mass did.

I'm not sure how much Delia understood of the experiment, actually. She really liked the idea of doing an experiment, but she didn't so much like actually doing it or analyzing it. She always wanted to do something else when it was time to work on the project. On the way to the school, she told us that, next year, she wants to go the science fair to see other people's projects but doesn't want to do one herself. I suppose we'll see when next year rolls around.

The science fair was set up in the school's multi-purpose room (a cafeteria with a stage). It was crowded and stuffy. I was tired enough that I couldn't get myself even to look at the projects. Delia did wander around and look, though. I lasted half an hour before I abandoned Scott and Delia to finish things out on their own and went home.

It's just as well that I did go home-- I had just time enough to pour myself some juice when the phone rang. It was a long distance call from a friend I hadn't talked to in a while. I kind of wished he'd waited another few minutes so that I could drink my juice, but I was glad to hear from him.

Scott and Delia came home a bit past 7:30. Delia then had to do her reading homework-- twenty minutes of reading followed by a discussion with us about what she read-- and her spelling homework. Once that was done, it was technically bedtime, but she still needed a shower. She actually got to bed kind of late. It was about 9:15 by the time the lights went out.

I feel like I hardly stopped moving yesterday. I know that's not true, but I still feel like I was horribly busy.

(no subject)

Delia's birthday party is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. The weather prediction isn't promising, but we'll get by somehow. Eight kids for two hours in our house will be crowded, but we'll manage. Still, I'm hoping it won't be raining between 2:00 and 4:00.

So far, only two parents of kids invited have let me know that they're coming. Two other kids have told Delia that they're coming, so I'm counting them. Of the remaining three, one is pretty certainly coming. I think her mother figures that having discussed the party before the invitations went out counts. One of the others has had a fight with Delia and one of the other girls coming and so isn't likely to come (though she may. I don't know). The last is our niece, and I'm really puzzled as to why I haven't heard anything. I need to call tonight to ask if they're coming.

Tomorrow will be a day of cupcake baking. We need eight for the party and ten for Brownies on Monday. That's the better part of one batch. I'll do another batch on Monday for taking to school on Tuesday. Delia says there are twenty kids in her class, so a batch of twenty-four cupcakes should easily cover them. I suppose I should check with the teacher to be sure the count is right.

(no subject)

Delia's birthday party is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. The weather prediction isn't promising, but we'll get by somehow. Eight kids for two hours in our house will be crowded, but we'll manage. Still, I'm hoping it won't be raining between 2:00 and 4:00.

So far, only two parents of kids invited have let me know that they're coming. Two other kids have told Delia that they're coming, so I'm counting them. Of the remaining three, one is pretty certainly coming. I think her mother figures that having discussed the party before the invitations went out counts. One of the others has had a fight with Delia and one of the other girls coming and so isn't likely to come (though she may. I don't know). The last is our niece, and I'm really puzzled as to why I haven't heard anything. I need to call tonight to ask if they're coming.

Tomorrow will be a day of cupcake baking. We need eight for the party and ten for Brownies on Monday. That's the better part of one batch. I'll do another batch on Monday for taking to school on Tuesday. Delia says there are twenty kids in her class, so a batch of twenty-four cupcakes should easily cover them. I suppose I should check with the teacher to be sure the count is right.