It's Hot Outside. I Have Spoken. Approaching 5 Months of Social Distancing :(

Dear Kids, 

In August, we only go outside in the mornings. It's been crazy hot lately. As I'm writing this at 9 pm, the temperature is still over 90 degrees. 

Hailey, you are getting to be very speedy on your bike these days. You literally have road runner legs as you propel yourself forward Fred Flintstone style. 

On the weekend Daddy gets to join us on hikes. 

School is still going pretty well. I'm glad to report that the curricula that I ordered is right at the level that meets both of your needs. 

Our day pretty much consists of work time sprinkled with play time. But in Hailey's case, it's pretty much play time all day! 

Nathan, you are really digging the Monster Academy math workbooks. They are really forcing you to use your brain and to apply the math concepts that you've been learning. I have no problem getting you to work on your math because it's just that much fun for you. I originally thought that you would be interested in the graphic novel style teaching that they use, but it's actually the working out of the problems. 

I'm really liking how it's teaching you how to systematically work out things, instead of just randomly trying things out. That's a good life lesson right there. 

Hailey, I'm so thankful that you enjoy doing your own thing while your brother and sister are working. 

For Hannah's math, we are currently working through a workbook that I got at Costco first. I've been really impressed with the quality of material in that it also gets the kids to think at a higher level. We are working from here, but then also playing dice games and pop quizzes to solidify the math facts to help you get them down cold. 

When all three of you are working independently, it's magic. I can sometimes even walk away and get some cleaning done. But there are times when all three of you need my attention. Hailey's screaming because you dropped the playdoh and want it now, I'm helping Hannah read a passage and Nathan you want to tell me how frustrated you are because you have to erase your work and start all over again. 

Hey...that's supposed to say, "Use your words"  [Looks at Daddy]

For science and art one day, we built marshmallow towers. This was a lesson that was in the workbook from Costco, I know, cool, right? 

I first showed you guys some pictures of bridges and towers. I asked you guys to identify shapes that you saw and pointed out that there were lots of triangles. I gave each of you a set amount of toothpicks and let you go. 

Hannah, your tower ended up being the tallest. Nathan, you did not like that one bit. In fact you threw a temper tantrum when you realized that Hannah's tower was taller. Eventually you calmed down, but I think you are a little discouraged from the experience. We'll have to repeat this in a few weeks to hopefully repair the damage. Maybe I'll have you guys do different challenges like one person builds the longest bridge and the other builds a tower. Or, I can just let you deal with it. 

I've been having you guys help out more with chores around the house. It's actually built into the schedule, so for now, I don't get too many grumbles, so hopefully this will continue. Each day, our home is looking noticeably cleaner and cleaner. 

On Monday, we went to the neighborhood pool again early in the morning and had the whole pool to ourselves. Nathan, since the chlorine has been irritating to you the past few times we've gone, I decided to try giving you a puff of your inhaler to see if it would help. It actually did. We ended up spending almost 2 hours there and in the past, you would start to complain after 30 minutes. Why didn't I think of this earlier? 

On a related note, I'm wondering if this makes you asthmatic. You have crazy allergies and we've only had to use your inhaler when you would have sickness induced asthma, so having to use this before we go swimming now leaves me with more questions. Would COVID make you feel more miserable than the average kid? Are you asthmatic, but you've been hiding or putting up with the symptoms for so long? 

For some reason, writing cursive is very intriguing to both of you big kids. Hannah, you just started to practice your "h" out of the blue one day and wanted me to take a picture of you to show other people. 

Hailey, you are just mentally growing so much these days. You are talking up a storm, playing with things in interesting ways, role-playing, making others role play, and using logic to solve problems! What a cool time to be your mom right now! 

You are also going through a mommy only phase. I don't think the others went through this as severe as you are right now, but I read that it's your way of asserting independence, so I guess we'll just ride it out. 

Last week we were dancing to some GoNoodle songs and you had mentioned that you didn't like certain songs. I realized that you were not a big fan of songs from the Pop genre and tended to like songs that were more cheesy in nature. This inspired me to go on a quest to help you discover your musical tastes. 

On day 1, I had you both listen to excerpts of songs from the following genres: jazz, heavy metal, techno, and funk. After each genre, I prompted you guys to represent the music with paint. We talked about heavy and light tones; dark and light moods, etc. 

There are a lot of genres so we will power through until you guys figure out what kind of music you enjoy listening to. Nathan out of the 4 that we sampled, you liked techno the best. Hannah, you like jazz. Both of you were not into heavy metal and only kind of liked funk, depending on the song. 

Oh, and there's snacking too...can't forget about the snacks. Snacks are starting to be one of the highlights of your day... I mean, I get it. Being stuck at home all day, I'd get excited about snacks too! 

Side note, for some reason last week, you two were prone to nose bleeds. This was the one time when both of you had one at the same time. Luckily, they stopped this week. 

Well, here are the obligatory first day of school pictures, COVID style, a week late. I made sure I had Hannah go first, otherwise you would basically copy what Nathan would write down. I am really having to encourage you to find your own voice and desires these days. I know how that can hold you back from life because that was me. Now I know better and hopefully can help you realize that too. 

 I'm so glad that I have the three of you and Daddy to ride out COVID with. I wouldn't have it any other way. There are days when you test my patience, and there are plenty of times when I lose it, but in the end it all works out. 

Quick note, I started to use the phrase "I have spoken" (stolen from the Mandalorian) when you guys are trying to change my mind. So far I've gotten weird looks from you guys, but I think you guys get it and drop the subject. I finally broke down tonight and showed you a clip of where I got the phrase. Hannah, you thought it was super funny. Nathan, I'm not sure what you thought. I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to say the phrase again because I'm curious to see how you guys will respond. 

Until then, I have spoken. 

Mommy