2009. Where we are right now.
I only published 36 public posts in 2008. I don’t even remember doing THAT many. What a year 2008 was.
Amidst all the crappy things that happened in 2008, I made some positive changes that I can’t wait to share here! But I’ll save that for later posts. Today, I’ll just do an update on where we are at the moment, and what our immediate plans are looking like. I’ll start with my favorite subject— bragging on my G!
G turned five a few weeks ago, and he is a real reader now. At some point over the fall, he just started reading. Like, for real. All on his own! It’s no surprise, since that’s how both Philip and myself learned to read—each of us also just started reading one day. Philip at 4, and me right when I turned 5. So now Gray is reading, but get this. He’s not so much interested in his kids’ books, and he has plenty of them, plus I get new ones at the library every month or so. He’ll read them, but isn’t thrilled by them. So what is he reading and loving? The Lord of the Rings books! LOL! It’s amazing. He struggles with some of the names/places words and skips some others, but he can read just about anything, and really enjoys doing it. And when it’s not The LOTR, he’s digging up our encyclopedia-style reference books and reading them, or any instruction manual he can find. Like one day recently, we were driving to town, and he got the truck manual out from the glove compartment. He spent the entire drive reading the seat belt instructions out loud to me. And HE LOVED IT! 
Here he is reading a Curious George book I brought him from the library when he was sick last week:
What I would really love is to get a set of encyclopedias for him. Both Philip and I had those in our homes growing up, and we each have fond memories of the many, many hours spent sitting around reading through a random volume, about whatever caught our fancy. I’ve been scanning eBay for an affordable World Book set that’s not too out of date, and there are some decent deals. I wish we could buy them now, but he may have to wait until next Christmas or his birthday…maybe we can talk the grandparents into chipping in.
As for homeschooling, I’m not going to focus on grade levels, because he’s all over the place. The beauty of HSing is that you can do this, and it’s best for the child to work on every subject at his own level. Like with reading, he’s way ahead, obviously. But with math, he’s probably at 1st grade level. He has a good grasp of numbers and can count indefinitely. And he can tell time, y’all! He also learned to do that almost completely on his own— I have NO IDEA how he grasped it, but he did. He’s always been very interested in and attuned to time, I assume because we’re schedule people and are always looking at the clock and talking about the time.
But back to math: he doesn’t really know how to add or subtract. He’s just starting to grasp some addition concepts, and can add small numbers using his fingers. So, first grade level is where we’ll start. I haven’t fully decided on what math curriculum we’re using, but I’m almost sold on Math-U-See. I have their introduction DVD and am impressed with it.
For reading/phonics, I’m doing Alpha-Phonics. He’s technically beyond it, but since he did learn to read on his own, I want to go through the program anyway, so that he learns the basics and the “whys” of phonics. I want him to understand why letters and words sound the way they do, to give him a firm foundation in phonics and language. Props to my mom, for buying us the Alpha-Phonics book for Christmas!
That’s all we’ll be doing for HS this year, as far as dedicated curriculum. I figure we’ll spend a year getting a strong grasp of reading & phonics, and establishing a basic understanding of simple math concepts. After that, we’ll start doing formal science and social studies curricula, as well. Of course, during this year, I’ll be “assigning” him a book from the library each week, on subjects that cover science and social studies topics, so we will actually be doing some informal coverage of those things. I also want to devote a little time each week to something art- or music-related, and we’ll be doing a Biblical study each week, as well.
As for little Des, he’s 15.5 months old and is just growing and changing all the time. He’s still nursing 3x a day, but once he’s feeling better (he has his very first cold this week!), I’m going to drop another feeding, and soon after, I’ll drop yet another. My plan is to have him down to just his before-bed nursing by the time he’s 18 months, and I’ll see what I want to do then. Part of me just wants to wean him at that point, but I doubt I’ll still feel that way when I get there.
He’s been slow to walk, which didn’t worry me in the least, but had his pedi concerned. However, he took his first real walking steps on New Year’s Day, and now, 5 days later, he’s “walking” all over the house. I would definitely call it “toddling”, actually! It’s adorable, and I love watching him. All too soon, he’ll be zipping around like a pro, so I cherish the shaky, goofy, toddler I have right now today. A quick video of him once he started taking off with his silly walk:
The home-building has officially started. Not much to say about that at the moment, but I can’t wait to see some real progress. I’ll be posting pics on FB as it happens.
I’m about to start my get-serious plan to lose weight. I have 25 pounds to lose. I gained most of it since this summer, with all the stress we went through, as well as the 9-month phenomenon. That’s what I call it— when a nursing babe reaches 9 months, they’re eating more solids and nursing way less. And that month was the exact month, with both my boys, that I started piling on the pounds! I had just decided to get serious about losing the weight back in October, but was so stressed about the election hoopla, and later, the subsequent “end of all things”, that I ditched that plan and took a vacation instead. LOL! (That reminds me, I’ve got lots to say about the terribly unfortunate election of The Messiah…that’s coming, too, but not just yet. I have more important things to do at the moment!) So then after the vacation (which was lovely and wonderful, thank you very much), I was way off track with eating and exercising, which led me right into the holidays, which is no time to be embarking on a weight-loss adventure. So here I am! Fat once again, and ready to change it for good. Once I put my mind to it, I’ll lose it, and I am ready now to put my mind to it. I’m ready to give it 100%. So hopefully soon, I’ll be talking about results, and on my way back to my skinny, oh-so-sexy self. 
That’s it for now.
