First things

Hudson did the slide at the pool and got to the side all by himself last weekend. SANS flotation device. It isn't pretty, but he did not drown.

Harper had her first real haircut Saturday, and then we spent the morning together and she paid $17 of her own money on a book about the periodic table she had seen and fallen in love with a couple of weeks ago. It came with a free flashlight that projects 4 different constellations on the ceiling, including Casseopeia and Pegasus. I think it might have to be confiscated lest she and Hudson never get to sleep with all of the faux star gazing. Also, we've just started reading Mary Poppins out loud which invites giggling and other shenanigans. Because perhaps if there is sufficient giggling, we might all float up to the ceiling and have our tea.

We've been concentrating on the work of school a bit more, and we've had one good day and one not so great day. Helena is actually surprising me with her ability to play with math manipulatives in an appropriate way for a rather long period of time while I focus on the other two kids. She enjoyed sorting the counting bears by colors today. And she also practiced writing some very wiggly 'H''s in the dry erase book.  Hudson is doing great with his reading lessons. His handwriting is also improving. Harper is determined to learn cursive because her friends in our co-op learned over the summer. She started weeping today after lunch when she couldn't perfect the drawing of the oriole she was working on. Which, granted, is tragic. I gently removed the offending drawing, and suggested she might need to focus on something else for a few minutes. A little while later, Helena was weeping because she couldn't seem to get her ballet costume and tap shoes on fast enough in order to dance along with the Beatrix Potter ballet DVD. Also very tragic. Then the dog started barking at me for no reason. And now she is squished into this small chair next to me sleeping and pretending none of it ever happened.

We took a family bike ride yesterday morning. Helena rides facing forward on this little seat on the front of my bike and gives running commentary on everything she sees, while occasionally calling back to me to make sure I am still there, awkwardly pedaling with my knees at a bizarre angle.

A friend told me this weekend how much better she is feeling on a gluten-free, dairy-free diet. I'd be willing to try it, except that every single thing I ate today (with the exception of the not quite ripe cantaloupe we ate with lunch which perhaps would have tasted better with a little gluten and/or dairy) was loaded with gluten and/or dairy and I really can't imagine such a radical shift. Plus no ice cream. Or cheese! Or sandwiches! That really is tragic.