The Boogie Begins First Grade

We had our first day of first grade yesterday!

If I was a forward-thinking person I would have planned something yummy for breakfast ... like donuts. Or baked some muffins or something. But I didn't think of it.

The first day was super easy.
Bible: "In the beginning God created ..."
Phonics: "A says 'a' as in 'apple'."
Math: "What is the number that means not any? Zero!"
Handwriting: "Trace then write this letter."
We will add a couple of subjects in the next week or so.

Peabody was tired and crabby but she did a couple of workbook pages, too. I am impressed by her cutting and matching skills. I thought the book would be over her head but I underestimated her.

In the afternoon the Boogie called my mom and told her all about it.

Last night while Eric and I were watching tv in the living room, I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye ... and it was a tiny frog! We caught it in a glass. It must have come out from under the couch because it was all covered with lint and kept rubbing its "hands" over its eyes to clear them. (Note to self: vacuum under the couch.) Eric took it outside and released it in the front yard. I don't know how it got into the house -- I guess it was small enough to get in under the crack in the front door. I wish we'd taken a picture. I hope no more frogs come into the house, though. There are two slightly bigger ones living in the back yard. Somehow they have escaped Mama Dog.

Yesterday I went through the playroom and filled a laundry basket with accumulated papers, old coloring books, cardboard-boxes-turned-craft-projects, partially used sheets of stickers, pieces of pipe cleaners, random lengths of yarn, and odd plastic thingamajigs from kids' meals. Toys were put away in proper places, and children were lectured about the importance of returning things to their homes. We shall see how long that lasts.

The contents of the laundry basket were sorted through after the girls were in bed so as to avoid conversations that start like this: "Honey, don't throw away that boat I made out of a box, tape, and yarn! But I really want to keep all of those old Sunday school papers! I need that craft I made in kindergarten!" I even braved the dark side of the house at nighttime (spiders) in order to conceal things in the outside trash and recycling cans. Hopefully sneaking them out of the house means they will never be remembered.

Next I will have Eric bring down the bags and bins of toys that I put in the attic in the spring -- my original plan was to pack things away for a while until they are forgotten, then cycle some of them back into the playroom while donating some of the rest. It's trickier to hide the things that are going to be donated. I might have to take them straight to the garage, though it's more convenient to have a box in the house to toss things into as I go through closets and drawers. Peabody especially has a lot of summer clothes that she rarely wore, so as we near the end of the season I am getting rid of some of them instead of packing them back up. Can you tell I am in my semi-annual "purge everything!" mode?

I've been doing a little sewing, finally learning how to use my machine, and yesterday I finished my latest project:

I'm kind of in that in-between stage of clothes. Some of my regular clothes still fit, and some maternity things are starting to fit. I do have enough clothes to get me through to cold weather and full maternity wardrobe, but I was lacking in the skirt department and wanted a comfortable lightweight one to help bridge the gap. I think it turned out fairly well for my first try! I'm pretty happy with it.

I've also been trying my hand at turning old t-shirts into tiny diapers for the baby. So far the results haven't been that pretty, but I figure they don't need to look great to be functional and it's good practice for me.

My hand has healed up really nicely. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since I cut it. I was able to take the bandages off after ten days. It's sensitive and I don't have quite as much flexibility as before, but I think that will improve with time. I'm very, very thankful that it healed so well and I didn't have any infection at all.

Today marks 18 weeks pregnant! Eric has given the baby a nickname and now refers to him/her as Bacon. Lovely. I'm feeling lots of little kicks and thumps. I can sometimes feel it when I rest my hand on my stomach -- Eric felt one good kick once but hasn't felt anything since. Peabody lays her head on my stomach then immediately sits back up and says, "The baby kicked me!" I'm looking forward to when both girls can really feel it!