It Really Shouldn't Be This Hard

Written on the board: A predicate nominative renames the subject.

The question on the Latin worksheet: A ________ ________ renames the subject.

Z: "I don't know the answer."
Mommy: "Look at the board."
Z (looks at the board): "A who what?"
Mommy: "No. Read what is on the board."
Z (studies the board): "I don't know."
Mommy: "Read the sentence on your paper and read the board."
Z (studies me): "You look frustrated."
At this point I should get some sort of award for not yelling "Yes, I am frustrated!! We just spent 20 minutes talking about this. The exact same sentence is written on the board with the answer you need, for Pete's sake!!!! Apply yourself!
Mommy: "You cannot get out of your chair until you get the right answer."
Z (looks at his paper and then the board): "Uh, is it predicate nominative?"

Odds and Ends

L & Z tested for their orange belts and I tested for my green belt in Judo this past Saturday. We all 3 passed, and the reward was the throwing promotion ceremony. I think there were close to 40 people in the class, which equals almost 40 falls. The first picture is of our Sensei throwing me, the second is of our Sensei throwing Z, and the third is of M throwing L. J was in class, too, and got to throw each of us. The boys really enjoyed throwing me, but probably not quite as much as I enjoyed throwing them.

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Yesterday L was cleaning up some play money. All of the sudden I saw a lightbulb go off in his head.

L: Mom, this sure is a lot of dollars.
Mom: Yep, it is.
L: Has anyone ever tried to pay for stuff using dollars like this?
Mom: Yes, and they are in jail now.
L (complete shock): Really? They'd put you in jail just for trying to pay for stuff with pretend dollars?!?

I'm glad we nipped that one in the bud before he started a counterfitting business in between his studies.

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I was in the school room getting ready for the day. M & N were the only ones awake and they were down the hall in the playroom. N came wandering in muttering "M....trouble.....M.....trouble".

Smart boy, that N.

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N is often referred to as "The Baby". I know he's over 2, but he's still "The Baby". The other day he was going through the dirty laundry. He'd pick up one of L's shirt and say "L....shirt", something of Z's and say "Z's", and so on. When he got to one of his shirt he said "The Baby's.....The Baby's".

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We're plugging along with school. We did start with an 11 week co-op. We meet once a week for 3 hours. L & Z are in Art and PE together, L is in a Geography Club, Z is in a Games/Chess Club, J is in PE, Spanish, Weather, and State History, and M is in Preschool. N has been in preschool for 2 hours with M and he's had a blast, but he's usually in the nursery. They're meeting new people and are enjoying the break from our normal school routine.

I think that's all I've been saving up. We had the flu come through and lost about 2 weeks, but I think we're all on the upswing now.

Use the Force

Mommy: M, why are you going upstairs? L is still sleeping.
M (holding a toy Darth Vader): I need to get a guy with a blue lightsaber. I need Wuke Kywalker.
Mommy (thinking if I can get M to say Luke Skywalker correctly we won't have to go to speech therapy in the future): Who?
M: Wuke Kywalker.
Mommy: No, I think you need L-L-L-L-Luke S-S-S-S-Skywalker.
M (using extreme concentration): Yeah, L-L-Wuke S-S-S-S-kywalker.
Mommy (happy that he at least said "S"): Ok, just be quiet so you don't wake up L.

M goes upstairs, comes back after about 10 minutes looking sad.

Mommy: What's wrong?
M (smiling proudly at the effort he's about to exert) : I can't find S-S-S-Wuke.

*sigh* At least he tried.

Servanthood

When you're on your hands and knees scrubbing stains out of the carpet in the playroom, and you're becoming quite certain that you're raising a houseful of pigs instead of boys, and one of them looks at you and says "Wow, Mom, you look like a servant when you do that" and the others pipe up and join in and they get involved in a conversation about how they are so glad you aren't a servant.....

it's good if they can run.

Quickly.