Daddy's Home!
Obviously, the entourage and Daddy and I are all thrilled to have him home, even if it's just for a few weeks. The entourage wore their TEAM DADDY t-shirts to pick him up at the airport, and he was greeted by a very energetic welcoming committee. The excess energy continued to expend itself in baggage claim, which garnered lots of smiles from the other travelers (imagine the entourage shrieking and giggling, running circles around Daddy and I). We've been fortunate that he's only had to work mornings, so we've all gotten in lots of Daddy time. According to her plan, Bug spent all of Sunday's worship service snuggled on his lap, and we were all excited to introduce Daddy to our new church. The girls were also eagerly anticipating roughhousing with Daddy upon his return, and this week has included a lot of wrestling and chasing. They got their weekly Daddy date, and happily returned to the usual playground to show off any skills acquired in his absense (Goose in particular is more nimble than when he left). We also made it to the neighborhood pool, where Monkey and Bug were happy to show off their ability to "swim all by themselves!" (with floaties of course). With Daddy present though, they were brave enough to venture into the pool with him without floaties, so progress is being made. We also discovered that Goose's old baby floaty is buoyant enough to keep even Daddy afloat. While Goose herself refused to get in it, Monkey and Bug had a blast--especially when they discovered they were capable of pushing Daddy off!

Goose and Daddy getting in some snuggle time

Riding the bumpy car again!

Birthday Party
In the afternoon before we picked up Daddy, we went to our friend N's birthday party. It was a nice low-key affair (a tray of fingerfoods, a homemade cake, a couple of balloons, and lots of time to play in the backyard). The best part though is that they got to witness someone turning four. Turning four is a really big deal for a preschooler. Monkey and Bug occasionally come up with things they just know they'll be able to do when they're four. (N's mom and I were discussing that we think it's because this is the first birthday at which they're actually aware of the concept of getting older.) Monkey and Bug marvelled that N was four, but he still looked three. I think they expected him to turn into a grown up when he blew out the candles. Their own birthday might have been a disappointment if they hadn't had the opportunity to celebrate this milestone with N first.

Finally!
Goose finally figured how to say her sisters' names! One comes out easier than the other, so they both get called that on occassion, but she's getting it straightened out. And, of course, they are still collectively "my sissies" more than anything else.

Library Day
It was a slightly smaller, quieter crowd at the library this week, which was a relief for everyone. The theme this week was fireflies, and all three girls could do the craft this time.

Construction paper with holes cut out + yellow tissue paper squares + chalk = Fireflies!

After the formal storytime we had our own reading session in a corner of the children's section. An almost 3-year-old boy, Q, couldn't resist the coziness and plopped himself into my lap after I finished a book, asking that I read his baseball book next. I obliged with no objections from the entourage, and he picked our next several choices. Everyone's favorite was a book he found about sharks. Monkey and Bug excitedly told him about the shark teeth bracelets Daddy brought them from his trip, and Q was full of tales of the man-eating shark that lives in his bathtub. Goose made friends with Q's little brother, and they had a grand time pulling out most of the books from the toddler bins. When it was time to go, all the siblings pitched in to help clean up. We came home with these books this week:
Mouse Paint
Are You Ready to Play Outside?
Mother Goose
Leo the Late Bloomer
The Bippolo Seed and Other Stories (Dr. Seuss stories published posthumously)

Really Big Girl Beds
Another bit of excitement this week was preparing for the coming of bunk beds for Monkey and Bug! We don't have the actual beds yet, but the entourage came with us to pick out new mattresses, comforters, and sheets. They loved hiding underneath the newly opened sheets and comforters with Daddy and popping out to surprise me. They are so excited! At some point I overheard Bug explaining to Monkey that they get new bunk beds because they are almost four and, therefore, almost grown ups.

Braids
The other milestone reached this week is that Monkey and Bug finally agreed to let me braid their hair and keep the braids in longer than 30 seconds! Monkey is particularly a fan of this look and has requested them several days. I am also a fan of this look since it keeps her beautiful long hair from getting completely unruly. (No photo yet available. For whatever reason they strongly object to photos of their pretty braids right now.)

Number Concepts
Monkey and Bug are slowly increasing their understanding of numbers. They've been practicing counting objects a lot and are getting much better at establishing a consistent one-to-one ratio (they no longer skip objects or double count them). Mostly they only count up to 12 since that's the number they can consistently and accurately count to. I noticed this week, too, that their idea of the almost inconceivable big number is growing. For the longest time they used the number 5 the way most people use the term "bazillion." That number slowly grew to 7, then to 12, but this week Monkey has been throwing the number 60 around. She can't count to it, but she knows it's out there and that it is indeed a big number.

Keeping It Low Key
Monkey and Bug have been wanting to just stay home lately, so I'm afraid my attempts to keep us (ok, maybe mostly me) busy and distracted in Daddy's absense may have been running them into the ground. Goose seems unfazed by all the activities and asks for playdates with LA every single day. For Monkey's and Bug's well-being we kept it low key this week, and I actually turned down three additional playdate opportunities. The entourage spent lots of time reading books, playing out ever more complicated storylines with their toys, and pulling out the games.

Reading
We finished Hugo Cabret, which they loved! They have informed me that we need an automaton, but I'm hoping they'll settle for wind up toys. This week the entourage and I visited a fantastic, local used bookstore and cheerfully discovered that they have a large Illustrated Classics collection. This time we came home with The Jungle Book, The Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan. We're several chapters into The Jungle Book, and Monkey and Bug are constantly peeking ahead to see if they can figure out what happens to Mowgli.

Math
Monkey and Bug continue to be very interested in addition, and Bug in particular has been figuring out addition on her fingers. She's been running me through drills like "If I have 4 fingers up on this hand, and 5 fingers up on the other hand, how many is it?" Occasionally I turn the tables and make her count them out. She's also been able to figure out (at least up to 5) problems like this: If she needs 4 of something and she already has 2, how many more does she need to get? Monkey is always paying attention but she doesn't usually come up with her own questions.

Bloodwork
I had to go to the lab for routine bloodwork and as usual had the entourage in tow. We discussed beforehand what would happen, which led of course to lots of questions: What does blood do? Why does the doctor need to check it? Will they take all of it? What would happen if they did? Will they throw it away when they're done? They also wanted to know what kind of doctor was going to take my blood, so, yes, my three years old are now familiar with the term "phlebotomist." They made me say several times, so they would remember. The nurse was very impressed that they were simply curious about the process, not freaking out like most kids who see their mom get stuck with a needle.

Bible Verse: Philippians 4:13
We've started learning our third Bible verse: "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13). I've put the cards from our previous verses in a photo album on the bookshelf, and Monkey and Bug like to pull it out occasionally to practice singing them. I can't remember if I've mentioned it, but we mostly sing their verses. They don't like repeating after me, but they love to sing, and so far I've managed to remember/make up tunes for each of our verses.

Library Day
We missed most of storytime this week in favor of a Skype date with Daddy! Much more exciting. The theme this week was frogs, and we got there in time to do the craft (paper plate frog) and watch an actual frog the storytime lady brought in a fish bowl. There were so many kids there this week that it was too loud to just sit and read books, but the girls brought home quite a stack instead:
Petunia Goes Wild
Should I Share My Ice Cream?
Autumn: An Alphabet Acrostic
Daisy and the Beastie
Olvina Flies
It Chanced to Rain
A Color of His Own
Alexander and the Wind up Mouse
Petunia's Christmas

Field Trip!

I decided to venture out with the entourage on our first field trip with the homeschool group we're part of. We went to the Forest Ranger station, and the fire fighters across the street brought their fire truck and gear over to show us too. The entourage loved seeing the vehicles. The rangers had bulldozers, four and six wheelers, and massive pick ups with hoses mounted in the back. The fire fighters of course had the big red fire engine with all the compartments on the side, which they opened to show us all the hoses, axes, first aid supplies, etc. One of the fire fighters also put on his full gear to show the kids what everything was and so they could see what he would look like if he ever had to rescue them.

(L) Goose sitting in the ranger's six wheeler with some friends
(R) The entourage watching the fire fighter put on his gear

Of course, the entourage was among the youngest in the crowd, and the rangers and fire fighters spent a good bit of time talking at the level of the older kids, some of whom wanted to know about things like thermal imaging and how the air tanks worked. Goose was quite happy wandering among the big kids, pointing at the various vehicles ("Truck! Truck!") and bringing me rocks she found in the parking lot, but Monkey and Bug were ready to go home early. My hope is that they're saving up their energy for the excitment that awaits us tomorrow:

Daddy's Coming Home!!!

How it Happens
Inevitably the best homeschooling moments are not the ones I plan, but the ones that just fall into place. Monday morning was a perfect example. After our Monday chores of getting bathrooms cleaned (yes, the entourage helps with this; even Goose contributes to scrubbing the tub now), I wanted some fresh air and the entourage wanted a snack. Despite the pouring rain, I solved both our problems by popping a large bowl of popcorn and heading to the front porch to snack and watch the rain. There the conversations began:

• Why does God send rain? So the plants' roots cans suck up the water. When we finally had a sunny day later in the week and weeded the garden, Zoe pulled one up and exclaimed, "Look! That's the part that sucks up water!" 
• Where does rain come from? When the clouds get too full of water, it falls out.
• What things will keep you dry in the rain? Rainboots, raincoats, umbrellas, . . .
• What color is rain? Hmm...
• What sound does it make? "Dibble dibble dopp dopp dopp" (credit to Dr. Seuss)
• What shape are raindrops? To answer this one I grabbed a sheet of construction paper and we caught a bunch of raindrops to see their splatters.
• How many raindrops are there? "Too many!" This last one reminded me of our rhyming counting book, Raindrop Plop, which I retrieved from the shelf inside and we had a front porch storytime. During this reading we noticed details like the worms crawling out of the ground (a few days earlier we had been on a walk and noticed the dead worms who didn't make it back to the dirt, and had a brief preschool-level discussion about death). Of course, reading a counting book inspired them to start counting other things (bushes, trees, cars, etc.).

By my accounting this conversation covered theology, science, life skills, math, and language arts. Eventually we ran out of popcorn and got tired of sitting on the concrete (I see a front porch bench purchase in our future), so we headed inside to find other ways to amuse ourselves. 

Of course, that wasn't the only happenstance learning opportunity of the week. The other one that really stands out occurred later in the week when the entourage had sardines for lunch (Thanks, Granddad. Monkey and Bug have been requesting "little fishes like we ate with Granddad" for weeks and I finally gave in.) Bug's question about whether fish have bones inspired me to pull out the little spines for inspection. Monkey wanted to touch them; Bug just wanted to look. I showed them how to feel each other's spines too, which they thought was pretty cool. They also discussed what parts of the fish were missing (heads, tails, etc.).

Best Buddies
Well, the buddy isn't new (LA from next door), but Goose's recognition of her as someone special certainly is. She can even say an approximation of LA's name, which is more than she does for Monkey and Bug whom she refers to collectively as "my sissies." On our mornig spent outside, Goose insistently repeated LA's name until I went with her so she could gleefully ring the bell and invite LA to play. "Come, [LA]!" The two of them spent a long time chasing each other around with baby doll strollers, while Monkey and Bug retreated inside to play a game that was easier without Goose around. Our visit to the neighborhood pool with Miss N and LA at the end of the week was met with equal enthusiasm by Goose. She was being very hesitant about the pool (just splashing her toes in) until LA appeared, and suddenly she was jumping in with gusto and wanting to "shwim! shwim!" Frequently pausing to yell for LA and play with her too. Miss N was even kind enough to hold both of them in the pool for awhile, which thrilled them and gave me a chance to play more with Monkey and Bug. I even got them to jump too.

Chapter Books
I have fond memories of my parents reading aloud from the Chronicles of Narnia when I was a kid, and I've always thought I'd love for that to be something the entourage and I did too. I actually tried picking up the Narnia books to read to them several months ago. I figured it was early but worth a shot. True to suspicions they weren't into it, and I figured someday I'd try again. Well, we didn't start with Narnia, but we are now reading a chapter book together. I recently read The Invention of Hugo Cabret and during quiet time one afternoon this week Bug found the book. As soon as quiet time was done she came bounding down the stairs demanding that I read it too her. Jos took a peek at the book and was equally enthusiastic. Over the course of the afternoon/evening we got through 200 pages, and they were disappointed when I insisted we quit for the night and go to bed. Based on the conversations I've heard while they flip through the book on their own, I think they really are following at least the basics of the plot. Even Goose has spent a good bit of time snuggled on the couch with us listening and looking at the pictures. Daddy and I discussed that we need to acquire some illustrated classics to jump into next.

Superheroes
The other books Monkey and Bug discovered this week were Daddy's Marvel and DC Comics encyclopedias. They spent a long time one day spread out on the floor with these massive, colorful books admiring the characters' features and speculating about who were bad guys and good guys and who would win various match ups. I decided to follow up on their interest by introducing them to actual storylines. I opted to go retro (simple graphics and storylines, minimal violence, clear black-and-white morals, and plenty of melodrama to get into) and discovered to everyone's delight that Netflix has the original 1940s episodes of Superman available for streaming. Watching the entourage watch Superman is highly entertaining to say the least. They wait with great anticipation ("Where's Superman? Where's Superman?"), and all three of them cheer when Lois Lane gets rescued and the bad guy goes to jail at the end of every episode. For some reason they know who Spiderman is and desperately wanted to watch a TV about him. As expected, even the original 1960s versions proved too angsty and complex for the preschool set. For the time being, we'll stick with the man who "fights for truth, justice, and the American way."

Library Day
Library day didn't actually involve much library this time. This week the library was sponsoring a magic show instead of storytime. The girls were very interested for the first 20 minutes or so  (especially the part where he pulled a live boa constrictor from a previously empty box). But the library was absolutely packed with kids, whom the magician had yelling various magic words and helping him count and cheer, and Monkey and Bug decided they had had quite enough of the crowd and the noise and informed me they were ready to go (Goose was completely unfazed). We made as hasty an exit as possible without stepping on any other children and went home for lunch. Before the show we had managed to pick out three books:
Knuffle Bunny Too
Jabber and Dot and the Mystery of the Missing Stream
How Can You Dance?
Also before the show, we turned in our records for the summer reading program and each girl got to pick a book to keep in addition to a handful of good coupons. (That evening we spent their first coupons and got a free dinner at Taco Bell. They were very excited about paying their own way.) The books they picked were:
Rosie's Walk
Charlie Needs a Cloak
Mudge Takes a Bath

Goodbye Aunt E
Aunt E came for one last visit with me and the entourage before departing to Japan for two years, and we all loved every moment! E even gave me some "me time" and therefore had no competition for the entourage's attention for awhile. It was nice for all of us to have an extra grown up around for swimming lessons, haircuts, shopping, and eating at a real restaurant. Right before she left, the girls insisted she read them their pre-naptime stories and she showed them on our big map where she'll be moving. That night after she left we ate ramen soup and practiced with chopsticks and discussed that it was food from Japan and that Aunt E was probably going to get really good at using chopsticks.

Swimming
Swimming lessons continued this week and ended on Thursday. Monkey and Bug continued to make progress and even let their teacher dunk them without tears! (Goose meanwhile discovered the joys of running around the big reception desk in the middle of the lobby.) We also had three visits to the pool outside of classes. On Monday Aunt E was with us, so we all donned bathingsuits and went straight to our neighborhood pool from swimming lessons. Monkey and Bug took to the water immediately. The grabbed their fish floaties and happily kicked around the pool quite independently despite the fact that it wasn't terribly hot outside and it even started raining. Bug even jumped in the pool with out someone to catch her! Granted, I don't think she expected to go entirely underwater, and she did freak out a bit, but she still wanted to get back in the pool. This pool visit didn't go quite so well for Goose, but I did eventually have her splashing her feet in the pool. Mostly, she just wanted to wrap up in her towel and lounge poolside. Based on our next two pool visits though, this reaction was strictly due to water temperature. She is a little water baby! We went to our friend's apartment complex that has a kiddie pool section (6 inches of water). Goose had a blast splashing around with our friends, and it didn't take much for me to convince her to go swimming with me. She loves jumping in and is completely unfazed by getting facefulls of water every time. I even dunked her a couple of times without her getting upset. Since she has a bathing suit with the floaties built in, I can just hold her hands and let her float, which she thinks is awesome. Since Goose loves the pool, and Monkey and Bug kept up their independence (while still staying pretty close and following all the rules). I think I may even be brave enough to take on the neighborhood pool without another grown up.

Library Day
The summer program continues. The entourage has long since finished the requisite 35 books read to them, but we keep forgetting to take the record of it in to get their prizes. The theme for this week's storytime was elephants, and the craft was a construction paper elephant head with a party blower stuck through for his truck. The elephant heads didn't keep their attention for long, but the party blowers are still getting regular use.

The girls recruited Aunt E to read them books after storytime, so I got to look for books and chat with a friend. We came home with these books:
Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do
Berenstein Bear's Four Seasons
I Will Surprise My Friend
Dinosaurs Dance
The Extraordinary Egg
The Sneetches and Other Stories
While not a library book, we've been reading quite a bit from A Treasury of Fairy Tales, a collection of a couple dozen classic tales wonderfully illustrated. It was a bargain purchase from a consignment store that is going to get lots of use!

Playdate
We had playdate with N and G again this week, but this time we went to their house. Grown ups and kids alike had a fabulous time. The entourage was very excited about N and G's extensive toy train collection. They get along so well, they even know when to go their separate ways and leave each other alone for a bit. At one point the big kids got very quiet and Miss K and I looked to find the three of them had retreated to separate corners of the study, playing with Starfall.com (N), worksheets and crayons (Bug), and a magnadoodle (Monkey). The real excitment of the playdate (not entirely positive) was being enthusiastically greeted at the door by their Newfoundland mix. He didn't jump up or lick them--he was just there and HUGE. The entourage was anxious/upset at first, but I stepped up to pet/distract the dog and the kids and dogs (there was a smaller one at his heels) quickly settled into cheerfully ignoring each other. Except Goose--it didn't take her too long to go from anxious to fascinated, and she started following the dogs around. I'm thrilled the entourage will finally have a chance to really get to know some very large and very well behaved dogs in a friendly environment.

Building
We followed instructions to build a motorcycle with parts from their workbench this week. We don't do this often, but when we do I'm always reminded of what great projects these are. The girls work on colors, shapes, counting, following directions, using the right tool for the job, and practicing fine motor skills and end up with a cool toy to play with and then disassemble. They discovered they had a number of stuffed buddies who were about the right size to ride this.

This is our collection of nature treasures from our walk
around the neighborhood on Saturday.