Homecoming

I am back from a week in Chicago, and met up with the kids early this afternoon. They have been moving along. Eliot and I did some reading from Starfall.com, and she is getting quite quick: willing to sound out an entire one of the beginner books. Little things are starting to come into place, like immediate recognition of combinations like "in" and "is" and words that are repeated from page to page. She loves the games of assembling words out of letters. Then Anselm took out the zither and picked out some tunes, then took out Blaise's lute and played, quite pleasantly, for some time. He says he wants to learn the harp. Blaise has been playing a lot in the evenings on his recently replaced baroque lute and the kids seem to be enjoying that very much.

Then we did a little Spanish. The kids and Tova started with a teacher coming to our house on Friday afternoons-- apparently they had a great time at their first session last week.

This is one of the longest trips I have taken, and it was hard for Eliot. It seems to be best not to talk when I'm away as it just makes her sad. I tried once and only got tiny whimpers on the other side. Today she presented me with a picture Patricia suggested she make to get through a sad mood.

At dinner she was telling us about the time-out table at school. She, apparently, has not used it, "because I do not like to be naughty". Did she get in trouble at home while I was away? Maybe once, for a few minutes, but, "Dad, you weren't angry or cross-- just frustrated."