Alice's Musical

Alice is at it again! Some of you might remember last year when she organized her friends to put on an American Girl Doll play about Kiersten. AGD puts out these theater kits that are designed to help kids Alice's age to put on a play all by themselves...Director's Guide, 4 copies of the script, Playbill, and even tiny little tickets you can copy and hand out to your patrons. Everything is laid out for you.

Well, Alice asked if she could do it again this fall with Josefina's story, but bring in her friend Ellie and turn it into a musical. How could I refuse?! She and Ellie worked out the music together in an afternoon. I would describe the musical style as, well, modern minimalism. I tried to put it into a standard staff and couldn't...the rhythm and meter don't make sense...but Alice was delighted all the same.

She and Ellie held auditions last Saturday, complete with a grading system that she and Ellie had worked out ahead of time. For example, if the character you were trying out for happened to get bitten by a snake in the play, the performer was asked to fall to the ground with a scream. The best scream won the part. All four girls that attended the auditions ended up with parts they liked. Rehearsals start this week and go weekly until the performance Halloween weekend.

Alice and Ellie are currently working on props, background scenery, and more music.

I'm astonished and excited to see how this works out in the end.

In other news about Alice, she was excited to tell me about something she's been working on: standing up for herself. Alice likes to be in charge and make rules, but she loathes conflict, especially direct conflict. One of her friends is very up front with her, periodically calling her "bossy" or "goody two shoes" or "miss perfect". Most of the time, they play perfectly well together and there's no problem, but statements like that hurt Alice deeply. Alice hadn't yet managed to stand up for herself with this friend until 2 days ago. Alice tells me they were playing a school game where she was the principal and this friend was a belligerent student called into the principal's office. The friend started to swing fists at Alice, telling her she was beating up the principal in the game. Alice decided this would be the day to stand up. She told this friend that 1) she didn't like the pretend hitting and 2) would she please stop doing it. The friend stopped. Alice was SO relieved. SO proud of herself. She beamed as she told me this story, "I did it! I actually stood up for myself!"

Way to go, girlie. Way. to. go.

Alice is learning stuff that is hard to take pictures of. Not that she'd let me snap a picture of her anyway :(

This semester, she wanted to enroll in "Girls on the Run" which is something like a running club for 3rd-5th grade girls that incorporates self-esteem, team building, and goal making into their training. Alice likes everything about it except the running (lol), but she's proud of herself when she meets her goal for each training session. There's a 5K at the end of the semester they're all training for. Too bad it's on a Sunday :( We'll have our own 5K party on the Saturday before it :)

I recently started a Mother-Daughter Book Club for Alice and some girls her age. Our first book is this month...so glad I'm not hosting it. I'm finding it difficult to bridge the gap between adult interaction and kid interaction. How do you ask questions and discuss things with such a mixed group? It's something I want to learn, especially when it comes to talking with Alice and her friends and her friends' parents. The first host happens to be a high school history teacher and a book club buff, so if anyone can make this first meeting work, it's her.

Piano is still a challenge for Alice. Her new teacher emphasizes theory much more than her last teacher, so it's a bit of a learning curve. Some things I feel are SO basic are still pretty hard for her. She can hack through a piece as well as anyone, but counting measures and saying note names and remembering which notes have incidentals is physically painful for her. We've scaled back the lessons a bit so she doesn't feel too overwhelmed. Right now, Alice prefers her flute lessons because it's all one line and she doesn't have to say the note names or count the measures while she plays ;) In school, they've started learning to play the recorder. It's pretty much a flute, so Alice is flying through the Recorder Karate belt levels. She passed off two belts in one day just sight reading. She said, "I played the song once and passed it off. The kids were amazed and I just said, "Yeah, I take flute lessons. I already know what a breath mark is." and my teacher said flute lessons were cheating (giggle giggle)."

If I had a recent picture of Alice, I would put it here. I don't think she understands how much she'll want pictures of herself at this age when she's my age.

Hand Foot Mouth Returns...

Matthew's fingernails and toenails have been falling out lately. A couple at a time, right at the base of the nail. No purple bruising or anything. The new nail seems to be growing up below it just fine. At first I thought it was from getting his digits slammed in doors as he is wont to do. But more and more nails kept going. Then I thought it was some genetic disorder (of course) but a little research indicated it could be a side effect of his seriously nasty case of Hand Foot Mouth Disease a few weeks ago. Only 4% of infected kids end up losing nails afterwards, usually 1-10 weeks after the disease has passed. I think the severity of the strain has something to do with it. I know of only one other family that contracted HFM the same time Matthew did, and their kids' nails are falling out, too. Odd.

Glad it's not a genetic problem.

Glad it's not from getting slammed in doors.

Glad it doesn't bother him too much.

He's so darn excited that he got Robert's new shoes on his own feet all by himself.

Restructured schedule

I've been tweaking my schedule to make it fit my needs and priorities better. Things with James have gotten a TON better the last week, I've checked many things off my to-do list, and the house never got so out of control that I couldn't put it back together in 30 minutes or less. But I haven't managed to exercise. At all. And I'm still waaaaaaaay behind on the outdoor garden/chicken/farm work.

Who am I kidding? I've always been behind on the farm chores.

James relishes my time and attention. I feel like a celebrity around him. My presence, my words, everything about me is more powerful to him than any other person, place, or thing on this planet. I like it and don't like it at the same time. Sure, who doesn't like to feel loved? I just wish he would be as responsive and thoughtful towards some other really, really important people in his life (a few siblings come to mind). But only in the last 10 days with this modified schedule, he's managed to become more independent than ever with dressing and buckling his seat belt. He's trying to do "big boy" stuff and taking pride in it. Self-motivated. Happier. Self-directed.

And the only real cost to me is changing which exercise class I go to (which I don't like as much as the other class) and going on the mornings James is at preschool. I just haven't managed to go yet. Tomorrow, though, I'm totally there.

So, I'll try it out for a month and see how things develop further. If all James needs is more home time with Mom to feel secure in my love and attention, then I'm happy to give it to him. It makes behavior correction SO much smoother later in the day when he's driving the other kids nuts. I just wish I could also get my perfect workout schedule in there, too, and about 3 more hours of cool sunlight to work outdoors in ;)

Snippets

James and a puppy
A certain little boy's birthday is coming up soon (very soon!) and he's talking about it more and more. Earlier this week, he informed me that he wanted a baby puppy for his birthday. I balked at the notion, and told James that I couldn't get him a puppy for his birthday. "That's okay," he replied, "I can ask Aunt Erin instead." I don't think he was being tricky. I think he took me literally when I said "I can't" and he was just coming up with a different viable solution. I clarified my position that I don't want any puppies in our house. He thought about it for a moment, then asked to go to a baby puppy store so he could play with one instead. Okay, now we're talking.

Robert and field trip prep
This morning, just as we were shooing the big kids out the door to start their walk to school, Robert suddenly remembered that it was a field trip day. He calmly informed us in a cool and confident voice what exactly he needed: a sack lunch with disposable bags, closed-toe shoes, and a light jacket. Then he set about making it happen. With some help from me and Bobby, he got everything he needed and walked out the door only a couple minutes later. Can I tell you how shocked this made me?! Stunned! This kid had a problem, clearly stated the solution, and got to work right away making it happen. No screaming. No panicking. No moaning and crying that he would never finish the tasks on time...astonishing! I'm just not used to that kind of behavior around here ;) And, by the way, he's managed to pay off his car-bike incident debt in full.

Alice and bedtime fear
I had a bit of a breakdown last night (it boils down to being overscheduled and malsocialized recently) and I put myself to bed at 8:30pm. Alice was feeling especially scared last night, vulnerable, and she was expecting me to come in one last time and say good night. But I didn't. Alice asked Bobby about it and Bobby let her know that I was feeling too sad to come see her. This was too much for Alice. She burst into tears! As soon as I heard her get upset, I stopped crying. It was odd. You'd think that yet another demand on my time and energy at that moment would put me over the edge, but it felt more like, "Snap out of it. Stop wallowing. There's work to be done that only you can do." I listened a couple minutes from my bedroom to see if Alice would resolve this on her own, but I could tell she was only getting worse. I invited her to come lay down in my room. She asked why I was sad. I told her that everyone has a sad day every once in a while. She seemed to agree. Then she immediately calmed down and snuggled right up to my head and shoulder. She was asleep within 2 minutes.

I didn't feel like moving her yet, so I just lay there thinking about my own situation again. A couple solutions struck me. I felt better. Some time later, I rolled over onto my side, trying to put some air between me and Alice. I'm not much of a snuggler, y'know? Soon I felt a few fingers gently prod my back once, then again, then a third time. Then a still-sleeping Alice scooted over and lay right up against me like a mom-seeking missile, breathing on the back of my neck. Dude, I was ready to put her back in bed right then. I tried to carry her (ha ha ha!) and miraculously didn't hurt either of us in the process. She remembers me taking her back to her bed, but she doesn't remember the poking and snuggling incident.

Matthew ready for a nap
Speaking of sleeping, is anyone ready for a nap?

Me! Me! Meeeeeeeee!

One reason why I do this...

"It's hard," she complains.

"Okay, so what do you do when something is difficult?" I ask.

"Stop doing it," she snorts.

Piano lessons...good for the soul ;)

Strike a pose

My parents were visiting us this week and my mom managed to snap this picture of Matthew on the hearth. Who taught him that pose?! So....dang.....cute....!

James has been teaching Matthew a few new tricks, too. Just this evening, Matthew ran away from me, turned around, cocked his head to the side, stuck his fingers in his ears, swung his rump side to side, and sent a little sing-songy taunt my way. He was being playful, not belligerent, so it was more hilarious than infuriating, but still not something I want to see directed at me. For the record, James reserves that sort of rude behavior for his siblings and peers, not adults. This little Matthew is gonna get in trouble some day for something he didn't realize was wrong. Siblings. Argh.

Robert used to be a bit of a stinker, too, at age 3. I've gone back on this blog to check :) But he's come a long way in the last 3+ years. He got this thank you note from his teacher today:

The bells!

Some friends and I took a field trip to our local bell tower for a private tour and concert. I was so, so, so excited to see it up close and personal. The tower is part of Altgeld Hall on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. Real bells chime each quarter hour, and real chimers play a 10-minute concert every week day from 11:50am-12:00pm.

The kids got to use the "practice" board. You can see the real one behind them. It's a mess of levers and a few pedals that individually pull each bell's clapper.

It was stinkin' hot and humid, though, so when I do this again, I'll be sure to select a more temperate day. It was also nearly impossible to find close parking on campus, so I might opt to take the bus next time. And, to be sure, it's a nice long hike up several flights of stairs to get to the top, so I might not choose to do it after my regular gym work out again. Ugh.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the pleasant company. Here's a little video featuring 1) the bells playing above us, 2) Matthew watching himself and others on the phone screen, 3) James punching through to steal his moment of fame, and 4) my befuddled expression as I try to stop the recording. Enjoy!

The chimer who took us up happens to be LDS, and everyone in our group was LDS, so he played a few songs from the Children's Songbook during his 10-minute concert: Popcorn Popping, Do As I'm Doing, and I Am a Child of God were the ones I remember. There was also the theme to Looney Tunes somewhere in there, and a few others.

I took the little ladder all the way up to the bells themselves. What a treat! Snapped a selfie:

Can't wait to show the bigger kids this part of the tour!

The bells are engraved with the school name.

This was the view from the bells' height. Bonus points if you can spot James looking up at me. Extra bonus points if you can find Matthew. I can't find him.

First Car Accident

Robert had his first car accident.

Well, it's probably more accurate to call it a "car-bike incident".

He was riding his bike on our cul-de-sac, lost control a for a moment, and put a nice, long scratch along the driver-side door of our neighbor's brand new Mercedes.

Ugh.

It will take him months to work off his 10% share of the cost, even after clearing out his personal savings. He's taking it well, though, working diligently and keeping his debt in mind.

The most remarkable thing to me, though, was how Robert personally handled the situation. He didn't cry or scream at the consequence of his mistake. He wasn't outwardly embarrassed or humiliated or ashamed, either. He was a little reluctant to admit it happened. He was a little concerned about how much it would cost him. But once the details were sorted out, he accepted the consequence and moved on.

If only I could so readily forgive myself of my mistakes ;)

Robert recently fell asleep with his lip tucked in. Don't know why I snapped a photo of it.