Time for a haircut?

He hasn't said his first word yet, but has a way of getting his point across!!

Courage? Patience?

"Hey mommy! Do I look like an adult now?" Glad I had the camera on hand! He was actually pretty serious about the issue, so I had to say yes, with the caveat that he was a little short still, and that adults usually run around the house with clothes on!

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Anyways, recently, I've had a few conversations with people who have offered up their comments on homeschooling. Some are negative. Generally, comments about socialization. I usually respond to those with comments about how if my son was in public school, I'd have to worry about peer pressure and bullying. I assure these usually complete strangers that my son indeed does have many opportunities to be around other children and that it's not an issue. Each choice of schooling has it's challenges.

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With socialization however, I can see why people bring it up. What's flooring me are the pseudo-positive comments, like "you must have so much patience!", "Good for you, that's brave", or the worst "You're amazing, I never could have handled being around my children all the time!".

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Seriously, how do you reply to such things? I don't actually have heaps of patience, though I'm working on it. As for courage, I think it would have taken far more courage to send my son off to school for an entire day! He just spent a day, and ENTIRE, 8hr. day at a friends house recently, and it was hard on me! Many parents find the first day of Kindergarten hard, and I have a good friend who was in a puddle of tears for a couple days after her last child headed off to school and she was home alone. So while taking the responsibility of your child's education is a little nerve-wracking, I can't imagine the other route being any easier. Again, just different challenges.

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So I guess my reply to the first two comments should be that I'm actually an impatient wimp!

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The last comment, well, everyone needs a break from their kids from time to time. But in general, I want my kids around me most of the time. I don't really understand why someone wouldn't! I don't want to miss out on all those precious moments! The ones that come when an imagination has free reign, uninterrupted by the next school bell, or stifled by concern of not being cool. I wonder if I'll feel differently about all this when they're teens though??

Hide and seek has to be one of my kids favorite games at the moment! D has it down pat, other than having very little patience to be found, but E is a funny gal, and thinks she needs to hide to do the counting (she only counts properly up to seven, then is all over the place until it's time to yell 'twenty'). Here, they decided it was a good idea to both hide from mommy! I knew from the giggles where they were, so I grabbed the camera!

Good news on the basement suite, the renters started moving their stuff in today! Different renters than the girls I mentioned last post, who were late on bringing the damage deposit, and so we decided that was a no-go as we don't want difficulties of course! I'm really thinking we've got some great tenants here though. A single mom and her 11 yr old son. She's a very nice lady, and she just loves kids and doesn't mind the noises they produce, which is important around here! When she was unpacking today she had E down there with her, and there were heaps of giggles lofting up the stairs! Her son seems like a quiet and sweet boy, and D is so excited that there is a boy moving in downstairs. He seems to think they'll be part of our family though, which I'll need to talk to him about! He asked today how long till he moves in and is sleeping here, and when I said it would be 9 more days he said that that's how long it took to bring E home from Ethiopia (our trip was 9days). Humm.

Some news on the job front as well. Hubby has a phone interview this coming week, and there is a job fair in Kelowna next week as well! We're also looking into him perhaps working part time, and upgrading his skills in school a bit as it would be beneficial to have Microsoft certification.

Last but not least, here's a sweet photo from this eve. I would have gotten on of E as well, but she was grumpy, and baby J was already asleep!

Still around, just busy!

I just thought I'd better write to give a quick update! Still no jobs for hubby, but we've been keeping really busy with getting the basement suite ready to rent. My Mom came for a week long, um, I'd like to say 'visit', but we just worked a lot! Not much visiting! But the suite is painted, and we have had several people come by to look at it. A couple girls have said they'll be by with a damage deposit and first month's rent for tomorrow, so I hope that happens!

Other than that, we've all been fighting some colds here, but are on the mend. I'm bushed, but will have more to write soon!