Another tooth!

Dear Santa

Homefront Updates

Our home is always changing, mostly because I love change and am constantly adding, subtracting and rearranging things.  I'd say it's an obsession, but really I think it's psychologically supportive for me in some way.  It keeps the energy flowing and it allows us all to live surrounded by things that we really enjoy and use on a daily basis.

Recently I added a small learning area to the dining room.  I've had this before but have now moved books, more educational games, a soft rug and all the art stuff to the area.  I realized that I wanted the dining room (which is the largest room in our house) to be about more than just mealtime, but to be a place for gathering, eating, crafting, playing board games and learning.

We got a chalkboard and both Nora Lee and I realized just how aesthetically pleasing it is to write with chalk.  Right away it opened up room for more structured learning with word identification and math problems.  It's more fun to write with colored chalk than on a plain old piece of paper!

I'm constantly amazed at how much Nora Lee learns by simply being alive and inquisitive.  Last week she began reading her first very simple book by sounding out the letters.  She has known the sounds of the letters for two years but has not shown an interest in applying the sounds to forming words.  Reading the first "Cat" book seemed like a huge success!  She now seems capable of reading most words I put in front of her that can be sounded out.  We are reviewing the words that sound different than they appear and that simply need to be memorized such as "the" and "is".

She is pretty comfortable with numbers 1-100 and adding and subtracting one digit numbers.  The next step is to begin adding and subtracting with two digit numbers.  I've introduced the concept of multiplication but I'm realizing that getting really solid with adding and subtracting is more important right now.

She continues to learn about the value of money (both literally and figuratively) through the use of her allowance and how to spend and save money.  Today she took her friend out for ice cream with money her Mimi sent her.  I totally dig that about Nora Lee - her generosity.  She has this feeling of plenty and the desire to share it.  I hope this never ever changes.

Halloween

Dia De Los Muertos

The Gap

On October 9th Nora Lee lost her first two teeth!  She lost both bottom teeth on the same day!

Big Ideas

Nora Lee has Big Ideas.  These Big Ideas involve many things, most of which are not possible or desirable to actually do for many reasons.  These ideas often originate as something we will turn our house into - an art gallery, a live theater, a place for her band, a clubhouse, and most recently, the location of a festival we will put on to make lots of money to give to the people who cut down trees so that they wont have to cut down trees anymore.

I must pause now to exhale.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely LOVE that Nora Lee is a big thinker and in general each concept  relates to a way to make the world a better place - WHICH IS TOTALLY AWESOME.

That all being said, it can be totally exhausting because her mind and mouth can go a million miles an hour for long periods of time.  In an effort to support her creativity I decided to make no promises about what we could actually do, but to continually say, "Let's just focus on the planning stage right now.  Dream it all up and then we'll talk about it down the road.  I'm not sure what we are actually going to be able to make happen but keep creating!"

Some of the ideas have passed without ever needing to come to fruition, but this most recent idea has been going strong for several weeks now.  She wants to talk about it A LOT.  And Now she wants to go beyond the dreaming phase and into the notifying other people phase.  Now, we have conversations that go something like this:

NL:  So, I was thinking that Toby would be the security guard at the festival, which he is really excited about.  Mom, you will be selling the tickets.  We need to talk more about costumes.

Me:  (Silence)

NL:  Mom, why are you just quiet when I talk with you about this festival?  Aren't you so excited?

Me:  No, I'm not excited.  This is your thing and I'm so glad you're enjoying planning this but it's not my thing and I'm not sure how much I can talk about this anymore.  I'm starting to get worried that we wont be able to make happen what you're hoping will happen.

NL:  Mom, I know you don't like having strangers in our house but we'll keep them in the back yard.

Me:  (Loud Sigh)

Today Matt helped me out with some ideas about ways to address Nora Lee's desires.  He suggested that we get a group together and volunteer at a tree planting day here in Los Angeles.  Perhaps she could sell baked goods there or could sell baked goods at homeschool parkday or someplace else and donate the money to helping the trees.  Perhaps even Matt and our friends could play music.

She was very satisfied with these ideas and so was I.

Peace is now restored.