A lazy Sunday

One of her math sets for the weekend.  Ella may not see
it, but it's incredible, how much she's learning.

All morning yesterday, whenever I mentioned finishing up her homework, Ella pulled scowls and told me, "Aargh! Not now!" So I finally decided that she could get to it herself, or face the consequences.  Well, at bedtime last night, Ella realized the weekend was waning, and she suddenly got very nervous about not having finished it.  Dennis, who tends to be calmer about these sorts of things than I, reminded her she had a whole day to finish up, still, and told her he'd help her in the morning.

But Ella woke up with her conscience still niggling, and started in on her homework as soon as she got out of bed, well before 7:00.  She was finished by 8:00, and it occurred to her that she had the whole day, now, to do anything she wanted. "But...this is great! I'm free! Mom, I think I'll always get my homework done as soon as I get home!"  Yes, please, that!  Do that, Ella!

So Ella celebrated her morning of industriousness with a little Garfield and then some books on tape and legos.

Meanwhile, the boys spent the morning being absolutely charming.  When I woke up, Alex and Joey were sitting across from one another, looking for Goldbug.  They dabbled in legos, too, and then Alex, rediscovering his hidden stash of tic-tacs, decided he wanted to throw a party for the family.

As I watched him wrap up some of his precious little treasures (a few beads that he'd painted, a tiny silver needle-threader, an earring) to give away as party favors, I reminded him that, if he gave them away, he couldn't expect to have them back.  "I know, Mom," he told me, and then he paused.  "Mom, can I tell you a secret about boys?  You have to promise not to tell anyone."

Story hour this morning

I realize that I'm revealing myself as being utterly unreliable when it comes to keeping a secret. But hopefully, by the time Alex is old enough to read this, he'll forgive me for wanting to record the cute things he says.

Anyway, back to the big secret: "Here's the thing about boys.  I love having little things, but I don't have any idea what to do with them once I have them. I don't really want a collection.  So it's okay if I give them away."

Men, I assumed as much.

So Alex sacrificed his collection and set up a little party on the patio, which the whole family attended.  And, after the distribution of the gifts, we feasted on our three tic-tacs, each.

At Alex's party

About Alex, I just want to note how much he surprises Dennis and me with his own German skills.  I think if he weren't so shy, he'd really be good at speaking.  He always pronounces his words with an excellent Swiss accent, with a heavy dose of phlegm at the end of words like "Buch" and "Milch." Yesterday, when I reminded him to say thank you to a vendor for his candy, he instead said the very Swiss "Danke vielmal."  I didn't teach him that.

After an early lunch we took the kids across the street to the pool: it was already pretty warm, and we wanted to beat the bulk of the crowds.  It was Dennis's first time there, and having two adults in our group meant (joy!) that I could finally ride the water slide. And so I did, again and again, with my very excited Alex and Ella. I also got to play for a long time with just Ella, who usually has to swim alone because I'm busy watching the boys. She managed to grab a small floaty mat, and she spent a half-hour practicing standing upright on it, until she was chattering and shaking too much to balance at all. She was awfully funny: at one point she noticed some boys kicking their own mat in our direction, and Ella called out "Avast! We're being boarded!"  And, at another point, she asked me, "Mom, if I go under water and I look like I might be trapped under the mat, could you please lift the mat up?  Because you wouldn't want a drowned daughter. I'd be useless at doing the dishes, then."

We left when everyone was thoroughly cold (but not too cold for popsicles), right around 3:30.  Dennis gave Joey and Alex baths right after, and both of them insisted on putting on their pajamas. And, since everyone was starving, I had dinner on the table by 4:30.  So that confused the kids entirely: all three were convinced that it was almost bedtime.  So when I offered to let them watch the Wizard of Oz (Kathy, you're right...so fun to go back and watch!) they thought they were getting away with murder.

Ella attributed her good fortune, once again, to getting her homework done so early this morning, and renewed her resolve to always get it done immediately, if not sooner.  Excellent.

Persistent questions about the Wizard of Oz, as articulated by Ella Geels:

• How can the scarecrow and the tin man possibly be alive if they're missing a vital organ?
• Who's going to pay for the crockery that the tin man breaks to make the lion's crown?
• Why do the witch's guards wear tutus?
• What would happen if I popped Glinda's bubble?