And She's Off!

Little sister is happier than ever as she learns to crawl and explore her world, leaving big brother reeling from the five stages of grief, grappling with the end of his long reign as "King of the Mountain".

I was so focused on wanting Katie to crawl--she was so frustrated by her lack of mobility-- that I forgot to account for the big changes in store for Andy.  For almost eight years, Andy's been able to leave his toys on the floor and trust that they'll still be there waiting for him, undisturbed (unless I was inspired by a fit of housekeeping).

Apparently, the folded, gummy mass of Wiki Sticks that sister scattered around and stuffed in her mouth were, in fact, an intricate and labor-intensive design of tables and chairs. Impossible to duplicate! Ruined forever!

After much screaming and lots of tears, Andy decided the only thing that would make him feel better was watching the episode of "Dirty Jobs" where Mike works with sled dogs in Alaska. I relented, and calm was once again restored to the household.

Just when we were settling in to finish the last of A Voice From the Redwoods for book club today, Andy looked up to discover that sister had destroyed his domino fortress full of Lego people. More wailing. More grief. I could forget about reading, writing and math... at least for now.

I'm so glad another homeschooling mom told me that the gateway to reading for her son was Calvin and Hobbes and other "graphic novels". Andy is now happily reading Garfield, and I'm enjoying this bit of writing therapy. I don't feel guilty that we didn't accomplish "school work" this morning, because I know that we're all learning so much--about life and each other.

 It occurs to me that the challenges of homeschooling are no different than the challenges of parenting, they are just more intense, with less distractions.

I'm hoping to regroup with Andy soon, and come up with a plan for keeping his stuff safe from our newly mobile little girl.