5 accidents/stalls along the major hwy I was driving today
4 children
3 unexpected hours in downtown Vancouver
2 flat tires
1 broken lug nut
= CRAZY!
today did not go as planned, that is for sure!
We were headed to the Aquarium for the Home School Science class. I thought this post would be about that. Instead after sitting for traffic for 1.5 hours (about 45 minutes longer that is typical), we made it through the headache that was traffic today only to get a flat tire (10 minutes from our destination).
Once I parked and sat there for a minute, I took action - I figured out where the spare tire was and how to get it off the bottom of the van. I had got out the tools, loosened the lug nuts, and was jacking up the vehicle, when a nice guy came to my rescue. He helped me get the tire all put on and the lug nuts tightened up. The problem was that he felt it wasn't safe because the lug nuts didn't seem to fit on properly. In trying to tighten them, one of the lug nuts broke. At the time, I didn't understand the significance of this. Since I didn't know enough to determine if it was or wasn't safe, I decided the best option was to come up with a way to get the old tire fixed and then put it back on, instead of the spare.
Now you may have looked at the title of this post, and looked at the numbers there at the top and thought that I forgot a couple. I didn't. This is where the 0 comes in:
0 charged cell phones in my possession
Awesome! (dripping with sarcasm) and pretty typical really. I think I am going to get better at keeping it charged! Luckily, one guy shared his cell with me. And we pulled over beside Vancouver Community College, which had some pay phones.
Oh, here's another 0 for you:
0 cab companies in Vancouver that offer rides to 5 passengers in one vehicle (even the mini-vans are converted to handicap vans, so they don't seat more than 4 passengers besides the driver).
If you do the math, you will see that I could have taken a cab by myself and sent my 4 children in the other one. Or split them up ... maybe me and the older two and send Ophelia and Kellan in a cab by themselves?? Obviously, I didn't choose that option and we had to find another way to solve this problem. It is a good thing we did, because that lug nut was not going to come off - so had I gone and fixed the tire (which was unfixable apparently, and just had to be replaced in the end) and come back, I wouldn't have been able to put it on, I would just a have a good tire in my trunk and an unsafe spare still attached to my vehicle, which was parked in street parking for which I was paying $2.50 an hour (what a rip-off that is!!). Instead after talking with Mike, calling cab companies, finding phone numbers for tow trucks, I called my dad. Sometimes he comes into Vancouver on business, I wondered if he would be that day. My next call would have been to Mike's sister(s), even if it was just to come get my kids and leave me to deal with the van.
Anyway, my dad saved the day - he called BCAA (the auto association which provides roadside assistance), got me a membership so they would come out right away and help me. The guy got there after a half an hour and he said the spare was fine. Did you read that right? Yes, the spare was fine! I hung around 3 hours only to be told that I had done it right in the first place and that I could drive on it just the way I had put it on! The good news is that he pumped up all my tires to the same tire pressure and said he noticed that the air was low on the right front tire and to keep an eye on it, in case I may have driven over the nail with the front tire and got a puncture before getting it lodged irreparably in the rear tire. I am VERY glad that he pumped it up. I was on the road about 15 minutes when the tire pressure light which he had reset went on again. I was on the road about 25 minutes when the steering wheel started pulling a bit to the right. I got off at the next exit where I knew there was a Canadian Tire and got it checked out.
Long story short, I now have 2 new tires (thank goodness for warranties), one spare still on (because I didn't have time for him to remove the brakes and get the bolt and broken lug nut separated from the inside), and we made it home safe and sound. Seriously, it wasn't the worst day EVER. But it was up there in terms of what I have experienced with 4 children on my own! for sure!
And here is where the 6 comes in. I love when you are having a terrible day and you notice that people are just doing nice things for you. 6 stands for the 6 people who went out of their way to be kind and nice to me/us today in that 3 hours downtown with my 4 babies in tow.
One let me use his cell.
One stopped to help me put on the new tire.
One helped me find a pay phone (which is much harder than you might think) and watched to make sure I found it, giving me the thumbs up when I did!
One wouldn't let me buy five $4 hot dogs from his over priced stand, instead directing me to the much better priced cafeteria up the elevator (which he walked us to).
One saw my utterly bored children lying on the benches at the college while I was next to them on the pay phone and offered them (after he checked with me first) some gummy candies - don't worry it was safe, we had been watching him and his friends devouring them for a few minutes before he offered.
One asked me (as we sat in ikea eating the 50 cent hot dogs while waiting for the tires to be fixed at Canadian Tire at about hour 5 of our adventure) if my children were always this good and always this happy. Maybe you don't understand why he is on my list of 6 people who were nice to me to day, but that was about the best thing I could have heard at that moment!
And finally, one who (I am pretty sure) moved my paperwork and my van in front of the line up of others so that we could get out of there as fast as possible, and 6 also stands for the 6 people who were in line who didn't complain, they simply smiled and let it happen (and my children were seriously being angels ... it is not like they were moving us along because we were being crazy and obnoxious, not today anyway!).
I am glad to be home, I am glad to have BCAA now, and I am glad that I had this chance to spend the day with my kids playing at the fountain beside Vancouver Community College, looking at totem poles, playing rhyming games in the car, and eating hot dogs at IKEA. And I am glad I had a chance to notice how genuinely nice people are. Turns out it was a pretty good day!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Weekly Chore Wednesday
Today is the day we do our weekly chores.
We had a discussion a while ago about taking care of our home and our things. We listed many of the things that Mom and Dad to keep our house in its regular state of organized chaos. The kids (with some guidance) picked some things they could help with. They make their beds each morning, and each evening they tidy their rooms or the toy room (with help). We haven't gotten around to instituting the help make dinner and help clean up dinner swap that we all discussed and decided on. It will come. We have instituted Weekly Chore Wednesdays however. On this day, sometime in the morning, we do our weekly chores. Kaya cleans the powder room on the main floor. Keidis vacuums the main floor. And Ophelia unloads the cutlery from the dishwasher. It is wonderful!
I was feeling so satisfied as I was working alongside Ophelia in the kitchen as she unloaded the cutlery and I unloaded the rest of the dishwasher. I could hear Kaya singing and talking to herself (mostly happy, with an occasional 'yuck') as she did the vanity and toilet. And Keidis had already happily pulled out the vacuum and did his job earlier.
Is it always like this? No. It is not always so happily done. We do have to have conversations around the agreements we have made and why it is important to (a) keep agreements and (b) help Mama out!
Does it always look like the chore is done? No. In fact, it almost never looks like it. Especially the vacuuming, which I have to strongly resist the urge to redo. I usually wait until after dinner when it could be vacuumed again and just do that area again.
Do they feel good after they have done it? Yes. I absolutely make a big deal about how much I appreciate their help. Because I do. And I love working alongside them, and watching them learn and grow.
I heart Weekly Chore Wednesday.
We had a discussion a while ago about taking care of our home and our things. We listed many of the things that Mom and Dad to keep our house in its regular state of organized chaos. The kids (with some guidance) picked some things they could help with. They make their beds each morning, and each evening they tidy their rooms or the toy room (with help). We haven't gotten around to instituting the help make dinner and help clean up dinner swap that we all discussed and decided on. It will come. We have instituted Weekly Chore Wednesdays however. On this day, sometime in the morning, we do our weekly chores. Kaya cleans the powder room on the main floor. Keidis vacuums the main floor. And Ophelia unloads the cutlery from the dishwasher. It is wonderful!
I was feeling so satisfied as I was working alongside Ophelia in the kitchen as she unloaded the cutlery and I unloaded the rest of the dishwasher. I could hear Kaya singing and talking to herself (mostly happy, with an occasional 'yuck') as she did the vanity and toilet. And Keidis had already happily pulled out the vacuum and did his job earlier.
Is it always like this? No. It is not always so happily done. We do have to have conversations around the agreements we have made and why it is important to (a) keep agreements and (b) help Mama out!
Does it always look like the chore is done? No. In fact, it almost never looks like it. Especially the vacuuming, which I have to strongly resist the urge to redo. I usually wait until after dinner when it could be vacuumed again and just do that area again.
Do they feel good after they have done it? Yes. I absolutely make a big deal about how much I appreciate their help. Because I do. And I love working alongside them, and watching them learn and grow.
I heart Weekly Chore Wednesday.
I have failed!! or Knitting for Great-Grandma
Great-Grandma loved the scarf, she was amazed that Kaya could knit so well, and was very pleased! I reported this to Kaya who was equally pleased!
Writing writing and more writing
Writing writing and more writing
I have been finding more and more notes and stories and letters around the house and her room, where she has written a story and illustrated it, or written a letter to a friend. Her printing is legible (if a tad messy) but sometimes when she is writing slowly and for someone else, she will have lovely penmenship. She is really growing in her ability to spell. I am finding this to be true more and more because she is emailing on a regular basis. Her friend Lilah (who I am sure you will hear loads about this year) has been emailing her. This has led to Kaya emailing her older sister and her mom on a regular basis! Kaya loves the little red flags in her mailbox and spends much time composing emails. Sometimes she figures out a word on her own, sometimes she asks for help. I know she is using all sorts of strategies because I hear her sounding out loud on a regular basis (just yesterday she asked how to spell 'finally'). When she asks me for help, she usually says 'is this how you spell ____? and then she spells it for me (probably she knows I will ask her how she thinks it is spelled before I tell her!). So this week she asked me how to spell recipe, and she spelled it 'REICPE'. What is interesting about this is that it shows that knows what letters are in the word - she has that part memorized, because if you sound it out, you don't get REICPE! Just another spelling strategy right there.
I have been finding more and more notes and stories and letters around the house and her room, where she has written a story and illustrated it, or written a letter to a friend. Her printing is legible (if a tad messy) but sometimes when she is writing slowly and for someone else, she will have lovely penmenship. She is really growing in her ability to spell. I am finding this to be true more and more because she is emailing on a regular basis. Her friend Lilah (who I am sure you will hear loads about this year) has been emailing her. This has led to Kaya emailing her older sister and her mom on a regular basis! Kaya loves the little red flags in her mailbox and spends much time composing emails. Sometimes she figures out a word on her own, sometimes she asks for help. I know she is using all sorts of strategies because I hear her sounding out loud on a regular basis (just yesterday she asked how to spell 'finally'). When she asks me for help, she usually says 'is this how you spell ____? and then she spells it for me (probably she knows I will ask her how she thinks it is spelled before I tell her!). So this week she asked me how to spell recipe, and she spelled it 'REICPE'. What is interesting about this is that it shows that knows what letters are in the word - she has that part memorized, because if you sound it out, you don't get REICPE! Just another spelling strategy right there.
Sounding Out
Sounding Out
One major goal for Keidis this year is to learn to read. He came to me one day and said he wants to learn. And he has been practicing. We found a bunch of books that have just a few words in them on each page and so I read them and then he reads them. I often lay with Ophelia (who sleeps on the bottom bunk) at bedtime, when Keidis is up on his bed reading to himself. I can hear him sounding out words. Some words I know he has, even though he doesn't realize he has them yet are 'up' and 'and' and 'the'. It is so awesome! When we are reading together, he will stop me on a page to ask me which word is which and have me point it out. Or he will point to a word on the page and ask me which one it is. I notice that he spends a lot of time examining pictures in the books we read. Yesterday he brought me a book called "A Winter Day" and informed me that if I read it first, he could read it after me. And he did. He mostly memorizes, which is the first step to reading and picks out a few words (like and, the, up). It is SO exciting!
One major goal for Keidis this year is to learn to read. He came to me one day and said he wants to learn. And he has been practicing. We found a bunch of books that have just a few words in them on each page and so I read them and then he reads them. I often lay with Ophelia (who sleeps on the bottom bunk) at bedtime, when Keidis is up on his bed reading to himself. I can hear him sounding out words. Some words I know he has, even though he doesn't realize he has them yet are 'up' and 'and' and 'the'. It is so awesome! When we are reading together, he will stop me on a page to ask me which word is which and have me point it out. Or he will point to a word on the page and ask me which one it is. I notice that he spends a lot of time examining pictures in the books we read. Yesterday he brought me a book called "A Winter Day" and informed me that if I read it first, he could read it after me. And he did. He mostly memorizes, which is the first step to reading and picks out a few words (like and, the, up). It is SO exciting!
Lego Creations
Keidis has had Lego for a while and has received kits and things. Once he has built the kit, it comes apart and then, for the most part, he has just put together small little cars or ships using just a handful of pieces. This is his most recent creation, which is much more complex. I asked him to tell me about them and it turns out there is a piece there that shoots bullets to defend the ship and one piece that launches rockets. It is a plane which flies - I guess he will learn more about the physics of flight and the need for *wings* on planes later on :) He is using more and more pieces and is rotating and flipping them to get them just the way he wants them. Often searching for the perfect piece. I love that he is thinking in more creative and complex ways about his creations!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Cheerio Math
This has been a great week for Keidis - he likes not having to go to school!!!
Cheerios and numbers
One day I came down from upstairs and Mike and Keidis were sitting at the table with a Math Workbook that someone had given Keidis for his 6th birthday. Keidis had asked for Daddy's help to do some of the questions. So Mike sat with him and spent some time going through the questions. Keidis did about 3 pages on his own. Mike showed him how to count on his fingers first. Keidis was doing okay with this, but seemed to struggle a bit (holding the pencil, counting, and subtracting can be challenging on your fingers when you first start). I got out some Cheerios and Mike showed him how to make grouping and then combine them for adding or take away some for subtracting. He worked on adding up to 15 and subtracting from no higher than 15. Along with your standard math questions. One set of questions was 'which are the same as 7?', and then had a whole bunch of equations to circle (i.e. 9-6, 3+5, etc) and he had to pick which ones were equal to 7. Mike explained the symbols of + and - and Keidis worked through them. At one point he did a question on about the 3rd page where he looked at the question and just wrote down the answer without counting. Mike asked him how he knew that. He said he remembered it from the page before. I was glad Mike asked him that question because helping Keidis think about how he is learning and processing things is a really valuable piece of learning (if you ask me!!).
Cheerios and numbers
One day I came down from upstairs and Mike and Keidis were sitting at the table with a Math Workbook that someone had given Keidis for his 6th birthday. Keidis had asked for Daddy's help to do some of the questions. So Mike sat with him and spent some time going through the questions. Keidis did about 3 pages on his own. Mike showed him how to count on his fingers first. Keidis was doing okay with this, but seemed to struggle a bit (holding the pencil, counting, and subtracting can be challenging on your fingers when you first start). I got out some Cheerios and Mike showed him how to make grouping and then combine them for adding or take away some for subtracting. He worked on adding up to 15 and subtracting from no higher than 15. Along with your standard math questions. One set of questions was 'which are the same as 7?', and then had a whole bunch of equations to circle (i.e. 9-6, 3+5, etc) and he had to pick which ones were equal to 7. Mike explained the symbols of + and - and Keidis worked through them. At one point he did a question on about the 3rd page where he looked at the question and just wrote down the answer without counting. Mike asked him how he knew that. He said he remembered it from the page before. I was glad Mike asked him that question because helping Keidis think about how he is learning and processing things is a really valuable piece of learning (if you ask me!!).
reading reading and more reading
Hurray for not going back to school!
Reading reading and more reading
Kaya is a great reader. She spends about and hour a day at least reading books.
She really enjoys Magic Treehouse, even though it is a bit easy for her - I think that may be why she likes it - she can whip through one of them in about 2 hours. She carries her favourite books around with her and she has them organized in piles beside her bed of ones she has read, ones she is reading and ones she plans to read. I am thinking of keeping a log of all the books she reads - she might enjoy looking at it one day. We started reading Narnia as a read aloud, but haven't finished as we got distracted. Her friend Lilah previously enjoyed the Charlie Bone series and so we found the first one at the library and have started that one. It seems a bit spooky so far and I am not sure she likes the mystery side of it, but she keeps asking for more. It is written by an English author, so we are stopping to discuss what various phrases mean (like conkers=pinecones).
Reading reading and more reading
Kaya is a great reader. She spends about and hour a day at least reading books.
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