Bubble gum basics

We don't eat gum or very rarely do. I don't like it so I don't buy it. I don't let the children have it because it either gets swallowed, spit out on the carpet, or winds up in their hair. So the long and short of it is my girls are clueless as to how to blow bubbles. E had "Camp Cowabunga" this week where part of the time they had a bubblegum blowing contest. Being fairly competitive I never want my kids to feel like they can't do something compared to others so the day before I bought two packs of gum at the store. One for E to take and one for practice. That night we practiced. We practiced for a long time. We started at the basics--chewing and learning how to flatten a piece of gum. We then moved on to how to cover your tongue in gum and finally how to blow. Teaching how to blow a bubble is hard work. E, T, and M all had their gum and were so ready and anxious to blow a bubble no matter how small or how big. They liked practicing in front of the mirror so we went into the bathroom. Gum kept flying out of their mouths when trying to blow (we were still trying to learn how to cover our tongues). T was the funniest in how many times the gum kept flying out of her mouth. M just liked chewing and sticking weird gum creations out of her mouth pretending they were bubbles. E was eventually successful in creating a few bubbles and sincerely thanked me for teaching her. E didn't win the contest but she said that she did blow a bubble--one of her biggest in fact about the size of a lime. I'm mighty proud.

Math terms

Tonight I had the following conversation with E as she is trying to write up two things that she has learned this week in math.

E: What is the word that means shapes are similar?
Me: Um.... (Now trying to google "what are similar shapes called in geometry..." and not finding much.)
E: It starts with 'con' then something, something, something 'e'
Me: (trying to rack my brain and then my light bulb moment). Congruent?
E: Yeah, congruent. Thanks.
Me: (now googling 'congruent' and finding that it is indeed the correct term). No problem E.

Wow. I'm glad I still know something and what would I do without google?

Introduction to classical music

T is working on a project for school where she must listen to classical music, choose a favorite song and then share it and what she likes about it with her class. Last night she was listening and we told her that she should keep notes about what she likes about the songs. Here are the notes:

Edvard Grieg's Opus 54-3. Nocturne--I like this one because it sounds like spring is coming and birds are waking up.

Mozart's Piano Concerto #21 in C major K 467-- This song makes me think about a ball. It's soft and smooth.

Edvard Grieg's Opus 23-12. Solveig's Song--It makes me think of opera


Vivaldi's Four Seasons Autumn (Allegro)--It makes me think of traveling and makes me think of horses. Makes me happy. Makes me want to dance.
(Adagio movement)--makes me think of sadness and rain falling from the sky, like tears.
(Allegro Hunting movement)-- I like Allegro dancing.

I'm not sure when I listen to songs if I think they remind me of such simple things but listening to them again with her descriptions I can imagine it and begin to see how she thinks. I can picture her dancing Mozart's Piano Concerto with a sparkly ball throwing and catching it in mid air and I can see galloping horses in Vivaldi's Autumn Allegro movement.

I am grateful that I get a chance to catch glimpses into how T's mind works. I find it very rewarding as we have been enjoying the music together--she dancing to it and I listening to the notes as they take on new meanings that T has introduced me to because she was not the only one learning new things.

Names to a four year old

Today as we were driving we saw M's old Primary teacher and I asked her if she was excited to get a new one. She replied that she was but said that she couldn't remember her name. I told M that her teacher's name was Sister Prison to which M exclaimed, "She went to prison!"

Hair and cancer

My hair periodically falls out and one night as I was running my hands through my hair I got some hair and Steve asked me why my hair was falling out. E was right there and responded, "She's got cancer! You're hair falls out when you have cancer." I started laughing and Steve told E that usually it's the chemotherapy you receive when you have cancer that makes your hair fall out and not the cancer.

Seven-fourths

Last night at T's parent teacher conference her teacher was telling me that T is doing quite well in math and that her mind is working beyond her grade level. They have been working on fractions and her teacher gave them a problem: There were 7 brownies and 4 friends so how many brownies would each friend get? T's teacher said that everyone started cutting their "brownies" in half because they knew that they all had to have the same amount. T however just sat there. T's teacher, Mrs. T, came over and asked T what she thought she should do and T responded that they each got seven-fourths. Mrs. T was surprised at this answer because T hadn't cut anything or done anything yet so she had T show her what she meant so T cuts all the brownies in fourths and separates them into 4 piles showing seven-fourths. Mrs. T was amazed that she knew the answer so quickly and understood the concept so well. T is always amazing me with her ability to conceptualize facts.

E is also doing quite well in class and her teacher loves her enthusiasm and is so proud of E for how well she is doing in math since E skipped an entire grade level in math and has had to work hard to catch up and keep up with the rest of the class who were all in the ALPS program last year. Her teacher says that her enthusiasm is contagious and that periodically she has to remind E to bring the level down--just like what we have to do at home.

Both of them have improved in their reading levels and are doing a great job in school. It was a good night and I'm so proud of them.

EEG

So we finally took H in for his EEG. The pictures make it look like he is quite sad but Steve said he was just fine and had just woken up when the pictures were taken. In one of the pictures you can see what H brought for comfort (his man bag and inside it was full of strings and wheels). The only hard part came later that night because he didn't want to sleep after having a short power nap at the hospital.