Lessons
We made some changes to the daily routine this week when two unrelated issues were resolved. First, Monkey and Bug rarely sleep at naptime anymore and instead that time had become a near daily battle over being quiet and staying in one place. Second, Monkey and Bug's self-declared goal of learning to read when they were 4 had come to a standstill. Daddy and I discussed both of these things and possible solutions, but they both came to a head with a serious disussion between Monkey, Bug, and I following our pre-naptime storytime.

Goose was down for her nap, and Monkey and Bug insisted they were not tired at all. I was sympathetic and explained the need for at least a quiet time (Mommy's an introvert, just like them; we need time alone, so we won't be grumpy. We spend enough time together that they understand this concept.) We came to a compromise: Since they are 4 now and don't need as much sleep, they can do a shorter quiet time, not in a bed, but they have to actually be alone for a solid 30 minutes.

Since they were paying attention and taking it all very seriously, I decided to segue to the next issue: "Speaking of being 4 years old, remember, how you told me when you were 4 you wanted to learn how to read?" Eyes brightened. I apologized for not reminding them about doing reading lessons more often and suggested that maybe if we decided on a special time everyday just for lessons we would remember to do them. They agreed that this sounded like a good idea, and we talked about how they learn things all the time just by playing but some things are easier to learn if you have a grown up who already knows how to help you. I asked them when they thought would be a good time. A moment of silence. Then Monkey suggested it needed to be a time without Goose (she's too little for lessons and she interrupts a lot). I agreed. Another moment of deep thought. "Naptime!" So, for the past several days, when the timer for quiet time goes off, we gather in the study for a brief reading lesson (we do about half of a lesson per day) and a math "lesson" (I gathered our mathy games upstairs, and giving the girls the choice of which to do first gives them more ownership of the time).

So far, so good! We've yet to add an additional letter sound, but they're reviewing the ones they know (m, s, a, r, t, e), working on the reading skills needed to sound out words, and practicing writing letters. For math we're working numbers 1-20 (counting objects and recognizing numerals), very simple addition with counters, and skills like sorting and patterns.

Costumes
I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, but we decided to take advantage of the plethora of costumes available now to add to our dress up box. Rather than buy full-body character costumes, we headed to Jo Ann's with $30 to spend on generic bits and pieces. We came home with costume starters for a pirate, fairies, a police officer, princesses/queens, a firefighter, and superheroes (or whoever else decides to wear a cape). And, of course, the girls were in on the important skills of budgeting and bargain shopping.

a "queen rescuer," a baby fairy, and a firefighter

Showing off their new capes
(adult large t-shirts minus the front and the sleeves)

Goodbye, Friends
On Monday we had Miss K and her boys, N and G, over for one last playdate. The kids had a fantastic time as usual. This time they played with Playmobil people and blocks, then went outside to climb on the dome and cover it and the fence with chalk drawings. Miss K and I enjoyed our last in-person chat, and we explained to the kids about them moving away on Friday. Goose was oblivious, and Monkey and Bug seemed to handle it well. Bug even exclaimed that they were moving to a new house just like we're going to move to a new house someday, and we talked about how the kids can still write letters to each other (with help until they all get a handle on this reading and writing thing). On Friday though we realized that Monkey wasn't handling saying goodbye as well as we thought, when she had a total meltdown after I explained why we couldn't invite N over to play that day. We had a long tearful conversation about it, and she seemed to find a little closure when we drove by their house later that day at her request to see if the moving truck was still there or if anyone new had moved in.

Down on the Farm
Our homeschool group did a day at the farm this week (a local dairy farm goes all out for fall with a corn maze, hay rides, etc. and they had a half price day for homeschoolers). We didn't end up staying with our group (we're one of the few families with only preschoolers), but we had a great time! Monkey and Bug did a great job leading us through the short version of the corn maze and loved being able to see corn really growing on the stalks. Next we checked out the animals: calves, piglets, a heifer, goats, ponies (they got to pet all the previous animals) chicks, chickens, rabbits, and turkeys. We got to see a milking machine, which I explained, but we missed the actual demonstration. We took a hayride ("The farmer's tractor is MUCH bigger than Papa Bear's!"), played on wooden playground structures (a boat, castle, and tractor) and a massive bouncy pillow (this thing was probably twice the width of our house!), and explored a pumpkin patch (noting all the different sizes as well as the different colors of ripe versus not yet ripe). Each of the girls also got to bring home a mini pumpkin, one of which is already covered in sparkly stickers!

Library Day . . . with a Fire Truck!
This week was fire safety day at the library. After the librarian read a book about a fire station, two real firefighters came to talk to the kids about things like not playing with matches, paying attention to smoke alarms, and how to stop, drop and roll. They also put on their full gear to show us how they would look if they arrived at a house to put out a fire and gave us a tour of their fire truck. When we went back inside, the librian had fire safety coloring books for us a take home. We also came home with these books:
Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late
Bearsie Bear and the Surprise Sleepover Party
The Three Pigs (The girls are now familiar enough with the traditional tales to get a real kick out of this alternate tale in which the wolf accidently blows the pigs out of their own story and into others)
Spiders (our "what do you want to learn about?" book)
Once Upon a Bedtime Story
I Want Your Moo


Life Skills
For Goose lately, just about every task we have to accomplish is met with "My do it!" or "Self! Self!" She's gotten quite good at climbing up and down her changing table (from which she can reach the light switch), and she's working on climbing into her crib (she's yet to climb out fortunately). She also now quite consistently tells me when she's pooped ("Poop! Gross! New biper [sic]!"), and she likes to sit on the potty, though she's yet to actually go there. (Now I just need to brace myself and do the whole potty training thing.) She's also decided that I am no longer capable of picking out her clothes.

Monkey and Bug have been working on their independence as well. This week they successfully poured their own juice and cereal, and Bug spread jelly on crackers by herself. Bug has also been spreading her wings to do things like return an item across the produce section at the grocery store by herself and return to our seats at church from the bathroom where I'm still helping her sisters.

Monkey and Bug were also more actively helpful at the grocery store week. I printed up an illustrated list of the produce we needed, so they could find the items, have me teach them how to pick good ones, and then cross things off.