Quarantimes Week 24: The Learning Curve

I told Phoebe that I would not help her make paper fans anymore since she was whining so much. She didn’t say anything. After a moment, Eliza said, “Well that was awkward.” I had to stifle a laugh. Where did she learn that?

I am glad I refused, though, because Phoebe persevered in figuring out how to do it herself, and I could tell she was really proud. She and Eliza went on to make a fan in every color of construction paper while I freaked out about disorder and anxiously organized all the paper into piles of like colors. That was a few days ago. The paper is now in a big sloppy pile again.

As we head back to school for what would be their Kindergarten Year (Montessori school doesn’t exactly have “Kindergarten,” although the equivalent is being an older in Children’s House), I am noticing their interest ramp up when it comes to learning new things. In particular, they’re definitely becoming more interested in reading. 

This has been a slow process. For a while now they have wanted to make signs and write books with short but complete sentences.

Brownie is cooking.

Greeny is going to bed.

They ask me how to spell each word. One. Letter. At. A. Time.

It’s pretty cute, except that I am usually trying to get things done around the house, and they tend to get distracted between and even in the middle of words. So when they say “What letter comes next?” I typically have no idea what we are trying to spell anymore and feel like a jerk.

We had a major breakthrough last night on the reading front, though. In that, Phoebe lay in bed with her headlamp on and “read” a book for a solid half hour while I was downstairs in the kitchen. This was huge — not for the sake of her reading, but because I didn’t have to lie with her until she fell asleep, telling story after story and singing song after song. 

Bedtime prison is one of the most wonderful kinds of prisons, but sometimes it does feel like a maximum security prison. Last night’s prison break was a revelation for me. I came back up every 5 minutes or so to check on her. She would ask me about a word and then get back to it. Finally, I came up and she had turned the light off and laid the book aside. My heart swole up.

And yes, that is a word. I had to look it up. Still learning about words over here, too.

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What I’m reading:

This is a bananas story about a religious zealot I mean American missionary:  The American Missionary and the Uncontacted Tribe This story is painted as a tragedy but I sort of read it as a triumph for the Sentinelese tribe, whose boundaries I could take a huge lesson from. No means no, dude.

My good friend Jamie sent me an article called The Only Parenting Advice You Really Need. It was a good read, not smug or ridiculous like most parental advice pieces.

What I’m watching:

I have not been able to stomach much of the DNC. I am voting for Biden, don’t get me wrong. But he wasn’t my first choice, and watching this go down in Zoom format has been awkward. However, I did grit my teeth and watch Biden’s speech accepting the nomination. It was surprisingly inspiring.

On a much lighter note, I saw a rare movie with the huzz — Jo Jo Rabbit. LOVED IT.

What I’m listening to: 

Diving into the Nice White Parents podcast at the recommendation of pretty much all y’all.

What I’m eating:

I splurged on spices from Gryffon Ridge Spice Merchants to get creative with all my tomatoes and cucumbers. Their za-atar is unholy. Their website sucks though.