John was gone on a business trip all last week, and I came through it intact. It wasn't nearly as terrible as it could have been, although my children did watch a lot more TV and play a lot more computer games than normal. He was in Orlando for part of the time, and went to Islands of Adventure, where he discovered, on a ride he has already experienced, that he is a tiny bit arachnophobic.
I'm trying to write a novel in November. It's going okay, but I'm only about 1/5 as far as I should be right now.
Grant has been playing a lot of basketball lately, and he's quite good at practice or with our family, but once he gets on the court and people start really getting in his face he turns tentative and unsure of himself. We keep telling him, "Mustache feeling!" The Tick is such a good example of so many correct principles. I appreciate him and the help he gives me in raising my children correctly.
Emmett has started piano lessons with the same woman who taught me and all my sisters, and she is the best ever. He came buzzing out of her house last week, jumped in the car and said, "SHE IS THE BEST PIANO TEACHER EVER." He has gotten up early every day since then to practice the piano. I know it won't last, but it sure is nice. He wants to start doing swim team, which I think would be good for him. He also had the best day ever at his program today, because they got to pretend they were attending Hogwarts and had to buy all the stuff. The only dark spot is that the rules of four-square are ever-changing, and vary from school to school, and he can hold forth at prodigious length about the injustice and complexity of it all.
Ike has started Cub Scouts, and he thinks it's the greatest thing ever. He was tardy yesterday because he was talking to his first-grade teacher. I guess it's probably time for him to start piano as well. I don't see him as a long-term pianist. Maybe a tuba player--tubist?
Willa is progressing on those horrible yellow worksheets. Having experienced the same kind of difficulty with two children now, I must conclude that the yellow worksheets are not a good fit for my children's learning style. She throws a lot of tantrums, but she is also very sweet and kind and helpful, so I guess it's a wash.
