It's Almost Valentine's Day!

Time is flying by, each day filled to the brim. I feel so bad that I have so little time to keep up with people outside my own home. Even my closest friends are getting ignored. And my writing is so badly ignored it is frightful -- a long time ago I used to write poetry, stories, and even novels, but I haven't had the chance in nearly six months now to write a thing, other than blog updates. (And you see how bad I have been about keeping this up to date.)

Enough about me, though. Mayana is doing quite well. This past week and a half has been a real turning point for us. She has started to truly accept me as Mommy -- wanting me to help her do her hair, give her a bath, snuggle with her (even in public), and teach her, too! She is soaring through her very basic math book, now - but still counting on her fingers. And she is working hard on handwriting. She is quite good at that.

Next step: Truly accepting Tom as Daddy. She likes to play with him and treats him like a big brother, but she doesn't really want him to be a dad to her -- for instance, she'd rather eat dirt than have him brush her teeth.

People keep asking about language, and I tell them it is coming along, slowly but surely. She is working harder at it, and she is more and more willing to both repeat words and try them on her own. Today she pointed to something and said clearly, "Mommy, what is that?" But most of the time she is at the 2-word sentence level. "Mayana eat" "Mommy bye bye" "Gracie sleep" "Cat upstairs" "Mayana outside?"

Today was one of those homeschooling days that makes us feel so blessed. It is warm and windy outside, and Mayana and I were looking at a picture of a girl who is blowing bubbles. She asks, "Mayana, outside? bubbles?" So, we put aside our books and head outside to watch the bubbles blowing in the gusts of wind. Soon all three girls were happily blowing bubbles, and being the good homeschool mom, I helped them compose some poems. Here is our best:

Bubbles bouncing on the breeze,
Bubbles flying to the trees,
Bubbles sticking to the ground,
Bubbles dancing all around.

These are days worth remembering, for they make it easier to get through the mundane, dreary days where it seems all we do is math and handwriting.

My goal is to add some more posts soon ... (I said that before, didn't I?) So check back in a week or so. More photos to come, too!