Today, this day, July 27, 2009 has been declared a holiday in my household. (perhaps even the pontif himself has written it down in the official vatican archives) Officially it is dubbed as "Mom's Day Off", unofficially I refer to it as "I Get to Do What-the-fuck Ever I want to Do" day.
My darling, delightful, delectable husband has, for many months been saying to me, "I want to give you day off. You NEED a day off." My reply of course being muttered under breath rife with profanities. It just didn't seem feasible. An entire day wherein I am not in charge, not scheduling, not cleaning, not running errands. Impossible.
Much to my surprise, Ralph chose to use one of the many banked furlough days he has in store that our Governor has been kind enough to offer all his employees. ::dripping sarcasm::
Written in black ink on our dry erase calendar, the words called out to me for weeks...."Mom's Day Off". Furtively sneaking glances at the words, I dared allow myself a seed of hope & pondered the possibilities of a day off. A day to not be in charge of the children. A day to do what I'd like without interruption.
A day. Not hours. Not minutes. A day. An entire day.
I began this holiday by sleeping in until I could no longer avoid the call of nature. Glancing at the clock as I strode past, 8:45 a.m. ?! Wonderful! It gets better.
Upon return from the bathroom, Ralph presented me with a steaming cup of coffee & the television remote. I sipped coffee, read the paper & watched a Las Vegas rerun. After imagining several vile and debase fantasies involving myself and Josh Duhamel I decided to workout.
It was a strange, but fulfulling experience to be able to workout without my children asking questions like, "mommy, why is your face so red? Why are you breathing so hard? Why do you have that funny look on your face?" As I finished, Ralph informed me he was taking the children to get a tune up on the Envoy. I get to shower without tiny hands pounding on the glass?
Now here I sit, in a silent house, lingering over the peach/mango/orange smoothie I made for my breakfast. I've donned my bathing suit and plan to go outside and soak up all of the sun Bakersfield has to offer.
I wonder, wonder, wonder how I will ever thank my husband for this day.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
A Moment w/ A Momma to A Learning Disabled Child
Most who know me, know about my son Gabriel.
After his first grade year in school, he was assessed as being dyslexic. While it was a welcome discovery, to learn that we had a name to hang on the problems we'd been having with his educational development we had no idea what we were in for. Every new concept, every new subject meant frusterations, confusion, tears (his and ours).
I've been contemplating homeschooling and decided to utilize this summer as a sort of testing ground of MY abilities. At the end of the school year, I'd asked the teacher for any disguarded 5'th grade textbooks (thinking a year ahead) hoping to see how far I'd get with Gabriel.
In my concious mind I kept very realistic expectations, knowing that any attempt at bringing forth new concepts would be met with frusteration. To my surprise, today we focused on United States capitols and abbreviations; after an hours worth of dilligent work....he'd nearly mastered the first 10 states. While cooking dinner, I thought to *test* what he'd learned -- to my shock he'd answered each question nearly correct! By this time, Ralph had arrived home and decided to play in our "game". He too was shocked at Gabriel's relaxed manner & retrival of information.
If we thought we were shocked when he successfully named the first ten states, capitols and abbreviations ..... we both nearly fell over when he asked Ralph directly to work with him on math after supper! As I sit here right now, he is still sitting at the table .... alone. Working on multiplication and division, fractions and decimals, contentedly, happily.
My eyes are filling with tears as I even think about this, because I cannot recount the hair pulling moments we've had over the last year with math facts. Could it be the summertime atomosphere? The bare feet and swimming trunks?
I'm nearly certain this is a sign for me to pursue homeschooling. I've wondered for so long if it would be the right choice for Gabriel and I feel so strongly that it is.
After his first grade year in school, he was assessed as being dyslexic. While it was a welcome discovery, to learn that we had a name to hang on the problems we'd been having with his educational development we had no idea what we were in for. Every new concept, every new subject meant frusterations, confusion, tears (his and ours).
I've been contemplating homeschooling and decided to utilize this summer as a sort of testing ground of MY abilities. At the end of the school year, I'd asked the teacher for any disguarded 5'th grade textbooks (thinking a year ahead) hoping to see how far I'd get with Gabriel.
In my concious mind I kept very realistic expectations, knowing that any attempt at bringing forth new concepts would be met with frusteration. To my surprise, today we focused on United States capitols and abbreviations; after an hours worth of dilligent work....he'd nearly mastered the first 10 states. While cooking dinner, I thought to *test* what he'd learned -- to my shock he'd answered each question nearly correct! By this time, Ralph had arrived home and decided to play in our "game". He too was shocked at Gabriel's relaxed manner & retrival of information.
If we thought we were shocked when he successfully named the first ten states, capitols and abbreviations ..... we both nearly fell over when he asked Ralph directly to work with him on math after supper! As I sit here right now, he is still sitting at the table .... alone. Working on multiplication and division, fractions and decimals, contentedly, happily.
My eyes are filling with tears as I even think about this, because I cannot recount the hair pulling moments we've had over the last year with math facts. Could it be the summertime atomosphere? The bare feet and swimming trunks?
I'm nearly certain this is a sign for me to pursue homeschooling. I've wondered for so long if it would be the right choice for Gabriel and I feel so strongly that it is.
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