sans Sybil or: today is brought to you by the color blue

Life without Sybil lurking around the school has been sooooo much better. Granted it’s only been two days, but it’s been so less stressful and nutty I can’t really even begin. Except to say that things are MUCH better. Which is saying a lot, because I came home covered in blue paint.

Ok, not covered. Not covered in comparision to the 3 year old who went hog-wild at the easel and ended up with paint in her HAIR,but more covered than your average 34 year old on any given non-game day here in the Circle City.

When I rounded the corner and saw my budding O’Keefe, I was really thankful that I didn’t put the red paint out today, or the art area would have looked like a crime scene instead of just a smurf-party gone bad. Seriously. She got the other side of the easel. The floor. The sink. The cabinet. The step stool. The fridge. Her socks and her hair.

It’s days like this that make me say, “to hell with the process, give me CRAYOLA COLOR WONDER!!!” But then I regroup and remember that it is a process, and while my little O’Keefe has a long way to go in the painting department, she did a good job of helping me to clean up.

Sooner or later…

Apparently, the virus will be leaving later. The rash is just a symptom of the virus, or that’s the speculation anyway. It amazes me that in say 50 years of “modern” medicine, no progress has been made in the way of such things as viral infections. Ok, I know that’s not really true, but come on! I was talking to a co-worker last night (the one I’ve called now, six nights in a row to inform of my absence) and she said that she had a similiar thing every fall as a kid. She asked her mom, and she verified all the symptoms, and what the doctor said about each one. I don’t know if it’s comforting or not that the course of treatment is the same as it was in 1977. Seriously. My other consolation is that my friend’s son seems to have gotten the same bug–he’s 4 1/2 so he was only waylayed for about 5 days, but his symptoms were identical, sans rash.

Today M slept in (again) , logging a total of 13 hours of night time sleep. She was up for about 3 hours, drank a little, ate a little (she’s partial to bagels these days) and then was ready for a nap. She’s going on hour four of said nap.

I took this opportunity to watch a movie, Akeelah and the Bee. OMG, such a GREAT movie!! Seriously, check it out. Very upbeat, uplifting, cute and funny, clean, all around family fun. Totally good movie for all. Slightly predictable, but not annoyingly so.

Tomorrow L is staying home with M–so I can make an appearance at work, get out of the germ-infested house and go to a dr’s appt. You know it’s sad when you are looking forward to having an EMG. Ok, that’s a lie, I’m not looking forward to the actual shock-treatment like test I’ll be getting, but I’m looking forward to solving the weird sensations that have been plaguing my right leg for awhile now.

Not much else is new today. I missed the balloon launch at school–we are beginning to count down the 100 days to the 100th anniversary of the Montessori movement. We even had speical staff t-shirts made and everything. I don’t live far from school, but didn’t see any balloons in the sky at the appointed time. The school is working on getting the funds to send the entire staff to San Fransico in February, where there will be the annual professional development course as well as a centenary celebration. Included will be a trip to the grounds where the “glass classroom” was on display at the 1915 world’s fair. How cool is that???

Can you tell prime time doesn’t start for another 30 minutes?

Sniffly monkey has been put to bed. I’m tired of housework. So here I sit. I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately about Montessori at home–either home-learning families or just applying principles to your every day family life. Since I’ve been the one giving the enrollment tours at school lately, I’ve been trying to get that point across–that it’s not just a learning method, but a lifestyle. A lifestyle that embraces respect for all members of a family, big and small, as well as a respect for everyone’s place in society. (among other things)

M has definitely taken a turn in the expressive/receptive communication arena this week, and she’s showing me that she knows SO MUCH. So how else am I going to pass the next 30 minutes?? Bragging on my kid, of course. What else would any self-respecting MommyBlogger do??

The Top 10 Best Things about Baby Kahuna (this week)

1) Playing Mama. M’s dolly now has time in the booster seat, and the tray must be fastened on! Dolly also goes “na na” on a pillow, and gets covered with a blanket. She gets a bottle, and honest to goodness, she was trying to change her today with some junk mail I had around the house. (Putting her down on a piece of paper, covering the diaper area with anothe piece of paper) She also goes for stroller rides around the house, as well as on shopping trips in the shopping cart.

2)Going Bye bye. She takes me keys to the front door, tries to reach the lock and waves to me. Seriously.

3) Answering questions with the shake of her head. Walking over to her seat when she’s hungry. Going to the fridge for milk. Closing the fridge door and car doors every chance she gets.

4) Brushing her teeth and her hair. Helping to dress herself–moving her arms and legs to actually aid the dressing and undressing process. Taking off her velcro shoes. Untying her tie shoes.

5) Using a spoon and a fork. She gets quite irritated if I give her a bowl of food without a utensil. She’s also started handing me things when she’s done (rather than dumping the leftovers on the floor).

6) Using a few signs!! She can sign “please” when I ask her to (before food), she does the potty sign when I go, and does “all done” after she hands me her dishes. And she points to the sky for airplane.

7)The talking. We’ve got the new “na na” for night-night, “bu-bu” for butterfly, the two sounds for duck (one for duck, the other for quack quack), “ba ba” is universal for drink….it’s amazing how much she gets her point across with just a few words!!! She’s also a fan of ba-boo, and pi-doo….which can mean anything from shoes to pizza, depending on what’s in her line of sight.

8) The repetition. And the repetition. And the repetition. Open the drawer. Take out one playing card. Close the drawer. Bring it to me across the room. Go back to the drawer. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until I have 10 playing cards. Then take back a card and do the whole thing in reverse. Seriously.

9) The fridge magnets. She LOVES our acrylic frames with pictures of her friends and cousins. LOVES THEM. Will look at them, move them around, talk to them…..

10) Her smile and hug in the mornings when I open her door. How can that not be the best moment of my day?

I’ll shut up now. But know there are probably 5 more top ten lists where this one came from.