June 2020

You spent at least half of this month winking at anything anyone said or did.

I started out June by finishing a 7 week virtual run in support of the Living Desert with my friend Amanda all the way in Illinois.

Popsicles and pool time!

You (with a little help) created your own Harry Potter themed board game called Hogwarts.  Players roll a die to move their characters around the board through various classes and Hogwarts locations.  At each location, they collect an ingredient to add to their cauldron to make a potion.  First player with a complete potion wins!

Here are the game pieces:  Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Harry.

Working on my birthday cake!  We baked it together but I let you handle the frosting all on your own.  Lemon cake with lemon glaze.  Yummy!

When I got up on my birthday, you had already gotten yourself dressed and were waiting in the kitchen to surprise me.

This is the new keyboard that you and Dad picked out for me.  You chose the colors and the two of you had to swap out all the keys from what it came with.  Despite your face, you were actually really excited to give it to me, just upset because you wanted to take the picture instead of be in the picture.

Dad also bought me a bunch of new books to read with you!

You insisted that you were going to make my breakfast and even picked out my clothes.  The Wheaties were for you and you toasted me a breakfast bun.

Since it was my birthday, I took the day off and decided on a movie and a bunch of games for us to play.  We started with popcorn and Frozen II.

Family pic before cake!  I was trying to get the cake in the picture but almost dropped the phone so I settled for just the single candle instead.

We played Sequence and Scrabble....

....and Scattergories Categories over a pot of tea.  I can't remember everything else we did.  I think we played some card games and I'm pretty sure we swam.  It was a good birthday. 😊

Playing Hogwarts with Grandma and Grandpa.  They must have been spreading the word, because since then you've also played with Matt and Rene' and Levi too!

Sometimes when I think you need reminders I make notes on your bathroom mirror.  You absolutely do not like this.  So when I wrote a reminder about good teeth brushing, you decided one morning that you were going to wipe it off, only you left a big mess behind.

So I decided that meant it was a good day to do math on the mirror.  You really liked it and asked me to do mirror math again the next day.  Maybe I'm a mean mom, but I have a Summer Schedule to make sure you stay busy.  I make you do math (almost) every day.  Sometimes it's out of a workbook, but fun things count too, like card games and certain board games.

We also have a book of science experiments and also do research or watch documentaries on subjects that interest you.

I'd like you to do more writing, but I know you hate it so I don't push it, but I have been able to get you to write some letters.  I am saving any replies you receive, along with a COVID-19 time capsule packet that you filled out, to document this crazy time.

We created a reading corner by the fireplace, which means we now have two couches back to back.  After several days of you climbing over the couches while I was reading to you, I sat you down and agreed that as long as it doesn't get out of hand that I will allow you to climb on these couches as long as they remain back to back.  This of course means that the tops of the couches is your favorite reaching perch and we can find you planted there with a book for some portion of every single day.

*This may seem like a small deal, but due to the hard tile floors and your prior emergency room visit, climbing on furniture has, up until now, been 100% off limits.  The only reason we've agreed to it now is because we have pretty limited access to play space and because if you fall either way you will only land on couch cushions.*

You've been giving us some days of strong will and lots of attitude.  One evening, after a bit of an outburst, you stormed out of the room and Dad turned to me and asked, "When did she turn into a teenager?"

Around that time, as I was putting you to bed one night I tried to talk to you about learning to cope with strong emotions when you told me, " I even surprised myself when I talked to you like that."  I guess it's good that you realize that's not acceptable behavior.

To be honest, I am pretty sure the biggest culprit was just exhaustion.  I had gotten pretty flexible with your bedtime recently, thinking that it's summer and there's nothing you need to be up for.  But even if you stay up late, you never sleep late.  So, I have started getting back to our normal bedtime and it seems to have largely corrected the attitude problem.

You have been planning a Harry Potter themed family party for weeks.  I'll post pictures separately when it happens, but here you were painting a wand for me for the party.

Sunprints.  I don't know what this face is about but it is cracking me up.

We have been doing YouTube Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems.  He started filming these when the Stay at Home orders began back in March.  We never tried it before because school was keeping us so busy, but we've had a lot of fun going back and doing them now.

Just a regular day for you.  Fancy dress?  Check.  Veil?  Check.  (Also, sitting on top of the couch of course.)

I bought you a 6 month Atlas Crate subscription from KiwiCo.  This month was all about France.  We had a lot of fun learning about the country, working on our Mime skills, painting this stained glass window, and building a Tour de France biker.

You often finish a sentence with a pause and then, "she said."  One day you said something to Dad followed by, "she said, testily....My life is kind of like a book."  I think this is a testament to how much you love to read.

When you try to talk about persuading someone of something, you always say paraside instead of persuade.  I have tried to correct you, but you demand that Mrs. Marron said it was paraside.  At this point I have just decided to let it go.  Paraside it is.

You love the game of Life.  Every time you get the Action Card to tell your most embarrassing story you always tell the same story that you accidentally squirted Wyatt with tomato juice at lunch one day.  I love the simplicity of this story and that it has stuck with you all this time as a major thing that still stands out in your mind.

One day we were talking about how the dinosaurs became extinct and a week or so later I asked Dad to see if he could find a video that explained it better than I did.  After watching the video you became consumed with fear that humans were going to go extinct.  You mentioned it a couple of times at bedtime but I didn't think that much of it until one night at dinner you didn't even want to eat and went on to tell me that you felt funny and were really stressed with worry about extinction.  You had a good cry and I did my best to console you and asked if you'd like a cup of my favorite Stress Relief honey lavender tea.  I made you a cup and you sipped it and said you felt remarkably better.  Since that day you are obsessed with lavender tea.  You've been having a cup every day.  I love it.