Good Night Little Bear

     Spring has been absolutely, wonderfully beautiful this year. Except for the lack of rain, I cannot remember a more pleasant time March and early April. Our back door has been propped open for days to allow the kids and puppy to come and go as they wish, and to let the wonderful air in. I call the kids in around 8:30, just as it's getting dark, to get ready for bed. As the time without rain extends there is less grass and more dirt in the yard. Therefore, the kids are coming in covered in ever increasing amounts of filth. Juliana looked like she had been rolling in the dust for hours when she came in last night.

     It's a beautiful sight to me. Last year (and the years before) the kids barely stepped in the backyard. We had two large dogs who made the backyard a minefield of poop. While I miss my pups, I am happy to have regained use of the yard. Add the fact that Max had so much homework that by the time he was finished, there was little time to go outside and I was too exhausted to supervise. Now that we've changed our lives to include homeschooling there is plenty of time for playing outside. On an average day, the kids probably spend three hours playing in the fresh air and sunshine.

     The little girl who cuddled up to me for her story last night had streaks of dirt still under her nails and on her cheeks, even after a good pre-bedtime scrubbing. She was tired after a full day of play, and happy to settle down. We read a chapter of Little House on the Prairie, and then her selection of Good Night, Little Bear by Patsy Scarry and illustrated by one of our favorites, Richard Scarry. It's a book about a playful bedtime, one that made Juliana giggle. She believes that Papa Bear had no idea Baby Bear was on his shoulders the whole time. She wants to see if she can pull that trick on her daddy. Somehow, I think she could.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

     The days are getting longer, yet even less seems to be getting done. In order to get school done, the house has to be ignored. In order to get the house clean, school has to be ignored. Now, school is the priority, so the house is not getting the attention it deserves. I honestly had no idea when I signed up for the whole "stay at home and homeschool" thing that my house would not look perfect every day. In fact, had you told me it would look worse than it did when I worked 40 hours a week, I would have laughed in your face. How disillusioned I was!

     It's been ten months now, since I left working outside the home behind. Ten months in which to retrain my brain to see that homemaking is now my job. I am discovering new things about myself every day-- like the fact that I do not know how to simply "pick-up" a room. Once I get started gathering the dirty clothes, I cannot stop until the entire house is mopped and dusted. Hence, my not so clean house, because who really has it in them to do a deep clean every day? Today I gave myself ten minutes to "pick up" my bedroom. It pained me to leave the mirror un-windexed and the floor unswept, but I did it. There is hope for me yet...

     While this seems completely unrelated to bedtime stories, it is part of the problem with me not reading every night. For it seems that when my bedtime alarm goes off, I still have just one or two things to do to get the house just right, and it kills me to leave them undone. So, I am learning, also, to let things go when the bedtime storytime arrives. As I did tonight.

     We read Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel tonight. When Juliana picked it, I had to remind myself not to roll my eyes in her presence. The book is one of those cheesy ones that has pictures of the movie and an abbreviated storyline, produced just so kids like mine will beg parents like me to buy it because they loved the movie. Surprisingly,  I rather enjoyed reading it to her. She and Max love the movie, and I found I could be as silly, exaggerated and loud without diminishing the overall effect of the story. Max even sat nearby and pretended not to listen. It wasn't the most educational book or a timeless classic, but we all enjoyed storytime. Most importantly, storytime happened tonight.

Dogku by Andrew Clements

     Today I went to the library by myself! It has been years since I walked through those wonderful doors without the sounds of my children already bickering about who gets to push the books we are returning through the little metal slot. I was able to pick out a few books from the children's section, move to the young adult section and finally walk all the way across the library to the adult section. All in the peace of controlled silence that was not punctuated with the whine of my kids who hate the adult section. It was a bliss I had all but forgotten existed.

     I also enjoyed picking out books for my kids that did not have anything to do with princesses, cartoon characters also seen on TV, or anime creatures that have special powers only used for fighting. I spent a good deal of time wandering the waist high shelves filled with books geared towards little minds. Then I moved to the taller racks and got books that Max never would have thought to check out for himself. My last selection was the first book of Little House on the Prairie, which I have promised to read a chapter of every night to Juliana. She carried that book around all evening!

     Our bedtime selection for tonight is called DogKu, a story about a stray dog who finds a home. The book is entirely in Haiku. It's a touching book, with just the right amount of words per page. Nothing is lost by sticking with such an abbreviated style of writing, and in fact much is gained. The illustrations are charming and help little listeners better understand the poetry. It was a story time all the more cherished because our little Rikki was nestled between JuJu and I as we read.

101 Dalmatians

     We are back! Holy moly, the past few months have been hectic, to say the least. We finally got the house painted and all the furniture and pictures back in their places. We've gotten (somewhat) caught up on school work and activities. I'm finally in a place of relative calm and order. I feel like I can now get down to the business of being a stay at home mom instead of just someone who has no job. I liken it to finally getting my desk cleared of all the clutter when I was working. Now I can focus.

     We have adopted a wonderful little chiweenie puppy (chihuahua/dachshund mix) named Riccardo Schnellenberger-- aka Rikki. He has already wormed his way into our hearts and become a member of the family. Except with Molly the cat. She still hates him.

     So when Juliana picked 101 Dalmatians for her bedtime story, I was not surprised. The book follows the movie, leaving out lots of good details and a good portion of the plot. Still, it was a fairly long book and Juliana stayed with it the whole time. She's never seen the movie, so it was a whole new story to her. I've seen the movie a hundred and one times, so I filled in all the blanks for myself.

     All in all, it was nice to have a sweet little four year old nestled up to me, enjoying a classic story and winding down for bed. I missed our bedtime stories!

Max's Chocolate Chicken -- Rosemary Wells

     The house painting should be done in time for the ice/snow storm that comes on Monday! I'd love to be "iced/snowed in" for a few days, provided we maintain our electricity. Then I can concentrate on putting my house back together again. I'm so excited, I may actually cry when the house is done, clean and organized! It's been over a year since we started this project and I had honestly given up hope of it ever being done.

     So tonight we finally got another bedtime story in. We've been reading a lot during the "school day", and even a few times at night, but then I was just too exhausted to write it all out. But tonight, Jon was home to help entertain the kids for a while and I got some real relaxing in before story time.

     Juliana picked Max's Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells. It is an Easter book, but there's no reason not to start looking forward to Easter (and Spring!) now. I have always had a special place in my heart for the Max and Ruby books because of, well, Max! I loved the books before the TV show stole some of the magic away from them. I never worried about their parents before the show, but now Juliana always asks "where are their parents?" *Sigh*

Fancy Nancy -- Jane O'connor (Author), Robin Preiss Glasser (Illustrator)

     Anyone who truly knows me, would understand how keeping to a schedule of any kind under these circumstances is almost miraculous. My house is in total disarray, waiting for the painter to come finish the inside. He's been a no-show three times now for various reasons (death in the family-- understandable for sure, a little ice on the road-- not so much). I am a person who thrives on order and a household out of balance is a threat to my mental well being. Therefore, keeping up with this blog is a small victory against letting my need for order dictate every aspect of my life.

     I'm also using this time, since everything is out of whack anyway, to wean the kids off needing to watch TV while falling asleep. Juliana has crashed within 10 minutes of laying down for the past three nights. Granted, she's asleep on the couch because she doesn't want to be in her room alone. Small steps, right?

     Tonight we read Fancy Nancy, one of the books I honestly enjoy most. One thing about the Nancy books, you cannot rush through them. Every page requires extra discussion about her clothes, her vocabulary, her toys... The illustrations are wonderful, capturing the fanciness of Fancy Nancy on every page and in every outfit. Plus, there are lots of fancy new words to learn.

     I think I like Nancy so much because when I was pregnant with Juliana, I used to secretly hope for a girly-girl who loves dress up and dolls. And Juliana does remind me of Nancy. She loves to get gussied up, but still has a mean independent streak. She's perfectly girl.

Barbie -- Secret Hearts

     We had to take a week "off" due to house painting (which is still not done) and trying to settle into a new routine. It's been a rough couple of days, with both of the kids loosing TV privileges for today. I am also going to force them to go to sleep without the television at night, which is a huge change for them. It's been a goal of mine since I quit working , but I didn't have the guts to follow through until last night. There was lots of screaming in the Hill house last night.

     I offered a sort of treat in exchange for their willingness to try bed without TV. We headed to the bookstore earlier and bought new books and book lights. Although Juliana can't read quite yet, I have no problems with her and Max staying up for a little while "reading" until they fall asleep. The plan worked tonight, as Juliana is already asleep and I think Max is not long for this day.

     However, the book that Juliana picked out from the bookstore is terrible in my opinion. I so wish I would have at least looked at it before we paid for it. I honestly saw "Barbie" and figured it was OK. I was wrong! The book takes Barbie through a scavenger hunt from a secret admirer and ends with a date with Ken. This is a standard sized children's book that any four or five year old would grab simply because it has Barbie on the front, but the story inside is not a "children's story". I had a hard time keeping the sarcasm out of my voice as I read it to her (not that she noticed).

     Another lesson learned... don't assume that the books that your children pick out are appropriate for children, no matter how cute the cover is. Ugh!