The Sounds of Grading

It's that time of year again when my dear doctor is flooded with grading. Nearly a hundred finals and papers a piece to grade; papers which he so generously already graded in the first draft form. The hope is that the multiple graded drafts will help the undergraduates improve their writing skills.

This morning Dr. M. was grading the first set of finals. I took the girls on our weekly attempt to satisfy all my cravings grocery trip. After I hauled all of the children and groceries into our second story apartment and began to put them away, he started calling out "WRONG!" whenever he came to a wrong answer. Immediately L., our 17 month old, imitated him with "WONG!"

So as I put the groceries away and made the family lunch, the sounds of grading filled the air. No matter if she was adjacent to her father or back in her bedroom playing, whenever she heard the "WRONG!" she immediately echoed "WONG!"

(I know I have been neglecting the cuteness of our developing toddler; this post is an attempt to compensate.)

On the Feelings of Toys

G. loses her Bunny and Bear for various reasons based on her misbehavior. Today she was allowed to have Bear, but not Bunny.

When I offered Bear to her she said,"Bunny will be sad without Bear!" They spend their time apart from her in the same spot. I suggested that Bear stay with Bunny then. Normally, she says that she wants him anyway and seems to forget about Bunny's feelings, but today was different.

"I will give him a hug, and then he can go back to Bunny."

So, I brought her Bear, she gave him a huge hug, and sent him back to his companion in the taken-away-toy-holding-spot.

I am glad she is learning to share her favorite things, even if it is just with other toys. Though I am pretty sure if it had been one of her friends that wanted Bear, it would have been a different story...

It's Been Awhile...

Yes, I did drop off the face of blogspot into what is called the first trimester of pregnancy. And the way I approach blogging is if I don't have something that will impress the whole room to say, than I never take the time to say it. Please compare me to Elizabeth Bennet or Mr. Darcy, or both, in this approach.

Anyway, I am eagerly awaiting the end of nausea and a bit more energy in the next couple of weeks and am going to post because it has been so long, whether I impress anybody or not. The last month has been pretty insane. G, gave up her naptime, but still retreats into quiet time every afternoon, which makes me realize how much I love the quiet of the afternoon. The girls keep each other up for an hour every night instead of falling asleep of late, but whatever, at least they are in their room. And in the middle of the not falling asleep shenanigans that go on, G. bounced out of her bed and broke her wrist. Oh boy! A cast for at least three weeks and she is already sick of it; it's been three days. Also, I am now married to a doctor of philosophy, which meant that for the past two weeks I was trying to read a 375 page dissertation before I attend my husband's defense. This lead to strange pregnancy dreams of not finishing in time and that sense of dread I used to get back in school when I was afraid I would not have time to finish my homework. I failed to finish, and did not get to go anyway since I was getting my daughter put in a cast. Plus, there were Easter preparations and trying to find food I can eat without feeling sick.

I found a new thing that makes my stomach turn today: watching my one year old squish up cheese. I am really glad I savored the non-pregnant 15 months I had after L. was born. Babies are a blessing, but pregnancy really does take a lot of energy. I was thinking, if we have twelve kids, I am almost a quarter of the way through first trimesters!

Oh and I am the proud winner of about 15 games of Sudoku on the iPad. I finally braved the game and discovered the way to reason it out. It is addicting. This also means there are 15 fewer blog posts on this blog.

That's about it. But I promise that I will soon write and amazing comparison between Jean De Brunhoff's Babar the King and a reading from my husbands Catholic social teaching class. Thanks for reading...