regression

My father reminded me that I am overdue for a family update (or any kind of new post, I guess). I am afraid that I don't have much to share with you, but here is where we're at:

My dear friend Mylissa just flew in from Memphis for a visit, which was lovely. It struck me that although we've been friends since our oldest were toddlers, this is only the second time that one of us has stayed the night at the other's house--the first was this past summer as our family stayed with hers on our way out here. We had an enjoyable, pretty low key visit, and Mylissa is right back in the thick of things back home... check out her doings at Habitat for Hope's site.

Michael now understands the rudiments of the four basic math operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division). He really enjoyed the new concepts of "greater than" and "less than" which we hit last week. The concept of alligators is thanks to my fourth grade math teacher, whose name I unfortunately cannot remember. He has been introduced to the characters of The Lord of the Rings and has developed an intense interest in the same. He's been begging us to read it to him but we resisted, saying he needed to read The Hobbit first, thinking that would delay him for quite a while--until he was emotionally ready to confront the Black Riders. Well, it delayed him about two days. He spent those days hunched over The Hobbit, following Bilbo There and Back Again, and then demanded that we start on the series. He really read it, too--I asked pointed questions about what happened and he knew. The child amazes me. What's next?

Caroline has moved on from teaching herself addition to teaching herself subtraction. If you have preschool children who are interested in math, or who are not interested in math, or elementary children struggling with math, whatever, I highly recommend a set (or two) of Cuisenaire rods. These things rock. Michael was already doing some mental math when we started with them so he doesn't seem to need them very much, but Caroline started out playing with these, just playing, then moved on to building "trains" ("What do you put with a purple rod to make an orange rod?"), then asked for worksheets, and has never looked back. I taught her nothing about addition and very little about subtraction--and she just gets it. She rarely if ever needs the rods for addition at this point. Did I mention that these things rock?

By the way, for those of you who knew we were on the fence about schooling for next year, we have decided to keep Michael and Caroline at home for another year instead of trying to run the school choice gauntlet long distance. It would have been doable, but Michael insists that he wants to continue homeschooling and I think we'd like to go another round.

Elanor has had an interesting couple of weeks and bears the dubious honor of having this entry named for her. She potty trained quickly at the end of October/beginning of November last year. It was truly an effortless experience. I've trained two children, each with their own little quirks (Michael's: needing constant coaching and encouragement to stay on the toilet long enough to make a real "deposit", hence the need for "poo poo stories"; Caroline's: several months of losing bladder control every time she lost her temper, which if you knew her back then, you know was about four times each day), and, until last week, Elanor had none. She was perfect. Last week, however, Elanor apparently forgot that she was potty trained. She started having accidents everywhere. At the kitchen table. On a chair in the playroom. In the bathroom. Hanging off a gate outside of church. In her bed. Several each day. Total regression. Thankfully she seems to be over it. But she is sleeping on a towel.

It made me think of a blog post I read last fall--look here. I thought then, and think now, that the author has a really good point. We do love to think of God as "Daddy" and "Father" and he has encouraged that. But I know from watching Andy that any good father spends quite a lot of time coaxing his children, humiliating himself, and cleaning up their messes. And doing all those things with patience, love, and consistency. Elanor may have backslid on her potty training... and I confess I rolled my eyes more than once... but how often do I backslide in my own faith? Does God roll his eyes over my accidents and mistakes? I doubt it. Like Andy with Elanor, he cleans me up, loves on me, and sends me on my way, hoping that this time I will make it.