Nicky's Train of Thought

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Nicky was obviously envious as we made Stephen's birthday breakfast this morning. I reminded him that we were celebrating Stephen being born and he was to be especially grateful that God put Stephen here to be his best friend before Nicky was born. He agreed that was "pretty good." Then,

"But he wins everything we play. He beats me every single time. Except when Paddy's the ref and then Paddy cheats for me and I win. But cheaters never win (HT: Dan Bean) and that's why I hate the Patriots. And I hope that Eli beats their pants off because Peyton probably always beat him when they were little. And they probably always acted like in that Sportscenter commercial. Except I know Eli won the Double Stuff Racing League. And I could probably win that. Can we buy Oreos today?"

Sure. Why not?

I knew if I kept my mouth shut long enough, his brothers would do the job

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Nicky and Stephen had some huge altercation in the basement involving a basketball or a soccer ball or some such thing that they aren't supposed to play in the house. There was much wailing and they both came up to find me. Michael was with me.

Michael (using his best "tough guy" voice") : Stephen, stop that wailing; you're being a girl.
Stephen: I'm not being a girl! You're being a girl!
Michael: At least I don't going crying to Mom every time someone bumps me.
Stephen: At least I don't wear her earrings!

And the point goes to Stephen. I'm still maintaining my earring silence.

Apparently, there is some confusion here;-)

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Nicholas: I wonder how we're going to get across the river in the van.

Stephen: We could take a ferry.

Nicholas: Fairies aren't real.

Stephen: Yes, they are.

Nicholas: No, they're not!

Stephen: Yes, they are. Mom, tell him ferries are real! There's a ferry in Leesburg.

Mom explains carefully, reminding Nicholas of our favorite ferry.

Nicholas (grumpily): First, they're not real. Now, they're real. Y'all can't make up your minds.

I think we need to draw a Ferry Fairy.

So far he's loving Waldorf-inspired Math

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Toyfairlogo_2Stephen: Mom, what are we going to do today?

Me: Well, this morning we're going to make math gnomes.

Stephen: Math gnomes? What do math gnomes do?

Me: Oh, after we make them, they'll add, subtract, multiply and divide.

Stephen: Cool! Spend one morning making gnomes and they do our math for us! Gotta love those little dudes.

Indeed.

Our gnomes are on the lefthand sidebar. I'll add  pages to the album as we play with numbers this year. Right now, I'm off to read Oak Meadow 1 and Christopherus First Grade Syllabus for inspiration so that I can figure out for myself a really good number gnomes story.

Be sure to visit the Jacobite Rose for the Toymaking Fair.

While I appreciate the beauty, the materials and some of the methods of Waldorf education, I am not a follower of Rudolf Steiner, his educational philosophy, or his religion. I am a practicing Catholic who is very clear in teaching the faith to her children. Please see this post for any further explanation of incorporating methods or materials that might also appear in Waldorf schools into your home. Take inspiration from what is good and what in in harmony with the true faith and leave the rest. If you can't discern, then leave it all alone.