Three Things

On Monday, we got the news we knew was coming ... Hybrid school was transitioning to distance school after Thanksgiving due to exponential growth of covid cases in Minnesota. Today, we got an update. After Tuesday, the kids are out of school until at least January. [please let them go back after the holidays. We are literally begging the universe] We feel both more and less prepared for Homeschool: The Sequel than we did in March. At least we know what we are in for. Unfortunately, we also know what we are in for. 

So, instead of focusing on that - because we know there will be blog posts about yet another adventure in homeschooling - I'll tell you three fun things about each of the kids right now.

Fiona

1) Fiona has grown over an inch since her birthday (which was less than two months ago). She is shooting up at quite the rate. She's also such a skinny minnie that I cannot keep pants on this child. They are either two short (see growth spurt) or too big in the waist (see skinny). We are currently defaulting to too short - because pants falling down isn't ideal. I'm also quite proficient at sewing tabs into the waist bands to tighten things up. I think there is another growth spurt happening (or this one is still going) because she ate more than me at dinner tonight! She polished off three ribs and two helpings of potatoes.

2) It is so hard to be a Type B perfectionist! Fiona has a holiday piano recital in a month. We are working on her song and she's doing a really good job. But she still gets so frustrated when she doesn't immediately play it perfectly. We are discussing (a lot) about how someone can have a talent for something [Fiona really is a talented musician], but talent only goes so far. You have to put in the time and the practice. To demonstrate embracing our mistakes, I've been sitting down to play the piano a bit too. And boy am I rusty!

3) With covid restrictions in place, Fiona is getting ample opportunities to practice her independence. I feel like a taxi driver most of the time - and F is uninterested in being a taxi intern. So she's getting short bursts of solo time and is both proud and relieved to not spend half her life at the rink - or driving back and forth between home and the rink.

Quinn

1) Last Monday, Q was on her morning meeting and her teacher asked her to share the highlight of the weekend. She said "decorating for Thanksgiving with my mom." Quinn has really loved adding personal decorating touches lately. She rearranged the furniture in the basement, organized the dresser in the kids' room, and got up mid-book last night to straighten the pile of library books on the coffee table [that sounds random but I totally understand needing to straighten something right now].

2) Quinn is all in on hockey this season. She has both practice and a game on Saturday and cannot wait. She also gets to start dryland training this year, which apparently is the greatest thing ever. D can hardly wait for dryland and is so glad that Q can fill him in on it! I told her that I ordered myself a Shakopee Hockey quarter zip and got a full-on Q smile as a reward. She would love hockey anyway, but that fact that one of her coaches is Coach Dad ... that's just the cherry on top! [Q got called out in practice today to demonstrate backwards skating to the group. Mike told her afterwards that it's because she has the best form! She was incredibly proud.]

3) All Q wants for Christmas is a wheeled hockey bag. They are crazy expensive, so I've told her that if she really wants one, that will be the only present she gets from Mike and me. She's standing firm on her desire for the bag. If the fact that this child is perfectly okay with only having a hockey bag under the tree doesn't tell you she's all in, text me and I'll share her practice schedule. It's intense.

Declan

1) I made an official proclamation this weekend. Mike is allowed to let the kids watch his favorite Christmas movie .. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I think we are finally at the point where D understands the difference between funny in a movie and appropriate in real life. And since they aren't in school, risk is low. Mike jokingly told me that Dec is probably not ready for his other favorite Christmas movie - Die Hard. 

I would agree with that, since Dec nearly had a stroke when we watched Race to Witch Mountain. ["I don't think Mom would want us to watch this. There's a lot of violence." Buddy, I picked it. "I think Dad would say 'no.'" Buddy, I'm right here. "You guys, there's more violence."] We've started calling him the Moral Compass. Which means he probably couldn't handle John McClane quite yet. 

2) Dec is obsessed with Dog Man books. Seriously obsessed. However, like Fiona, he is a voracious reader and can read that entire $10 book in a single day. Sigh. Luckily he'll happily read it over and over. Last night, Q pulled out a joke book. Dec took it over and reads all the jokes out loud. However, he does not pause in-between jokes. So there are some audio skills required to separate the punch line from the next joke.

3) Dec is also super excited about hockey and having Coach Dad at practice. He played goalie yesterday and was so disappointed that he didn't get to play it again today. I keep telling both hockey players that I do not want to have goalies. They don't seem to care. Although both are fast skaters - so I'm banking on their need for speed. With school going remote, I'm so glad Dec has hockey to help direct his energy in a positive direction. Or at least a direction less destructive to my furniture.