Small Victories

Yesterday, our first few hours of school were not the prettiest. There was attitude, frustration, hopelessness, and an overall sense of discontentment. This morning was a beauty as tempers were kept, children were excused to work out any attitude kinks they might have been brewing, and we even finished the book learning early!

Victory came in being in the form of peace-filled productivity.

Another victory came as Nathan and I put our nose to the grindstone and worked through our reading curriculum for half an hour. Nathan's struggles with memorizing sequences; he'll get it eventually, but it takes a good while. This particular reading program addresses that difficulty by writing in great repetition. Our little stack of sight word flash cards came out of the bag, Nathan's shoulders slumped slightly, and his forehead dropped into his hands as though his growing brain was just too heavy.

When a sight word is spelled wrong the student studies the flash card until he can see it in his mind with his eyes closed. He then envisions the word onto a blank spot on the wall and reads it out loud. Next he uses his fingers to spell it on the surface of the table while again spelling it out loud. Finally, he writes it onto paper. While Nathan's memorization lacks a bit, his attitude through the tedium does not.

Said. S-A-U... uh... U. Flashcard, wall, table, paper. What. W-H-U-T. Flashcard, wall, table, paper. His. H-U-I. Flashcard, wall, table, paper. Do. He tested the B and the D in his head and I held my breath in preparation for the O-D (or B-O) that usually follows. "D-O," he said. And my breath held exploded in a victory call. The pride of spelling something right and the relief of not having to go through the lengthy process again resulted in a huge smile from the boy and he threw his hands into the air with a happy shout. Victory. He spelled a good handful correct.

Victory came in improvement.

After lunch we dropped the two older kids off at their week-long golf class and the two youngers and I went to the local mall for a coffee/chocolate milk and some window-shopping. We had just reached the second floor, per Simon's request, when a little train hollered from the floor beneath. Simon squealed in excitement and rushed back downstairs just in time to see the colorful little ride pass us by. He chased after the train, which wasn't very hard, as he yelled about taking a ride. I have never bought any of the kids a ride on the cheesy little train, because it's touring the inside of a small indoor mall and with a family of six the question is often, "Would you like to go to college or would you like ride an expensive kiddie ride?" (Of course, I don't ask that question out loud, because we all know what the answer would be.)

Three dollars a ride! And as I inwardly scoffed at the ridiculous price for a tour that lasts three minutes, I found myself handing over the credit card! It isn't often that I find myself with just two children after all. I also sat in the caboose with my iced coffee and two children grinning with anticipation and remembered a lifetime ago when we had one child and the question was, "Would you like to eat or would you like to ride an expensive kiddie ride?"

Victory came in remembering the past and living in the future. (We'll go back to saving next month.)

There was more window shopping and then, at Gymboree, I found this super cheap little hat for Alynna, which goes perfectly with her thrift-store-find shirt. It only too $2.50 to add a little spunk to her six-year old step.

Victory came in a bright new accessory. And, ladies, isn't that just the truth sometimes?