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Daughters, Drama, and a Melting Miracle

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Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Daughters, Drama, and a Melting Miracle

My oldest daughter, Dani (now 7), has been a treasure of highs and lows, since birth.  The other night she was so sweet.

"Oh Mom, I love you so much.  No, you don't understand.  It's much more than love.  I just love you more than any daughter could love a mother."  Ahhh.

Then there are the lows.

Her first grade homework/reading, which should take about 35 minutes, usually ends up taking closer to 90 minutes due to, a bit, of a focus issue.

She has not been performing so well on her spelling tests lately, so I simply amended her teachers instructions for spelling practice and, now, have her write out those spelling words---one extra day! (gasp).

Yesterday was the extra day and Dani was not happy about these additional few minutes of work.  She eloquently explained her terrible plight with a loud dramatic cry, "None of the other kids have to do this! I want a new mom! You've ruined my life!!!"

Interesting.

After the waters calmed and backtalk consequences were laid out, Dani finally resigned herself to do what she knew she was not getting out of.

We were just starting our additional spelling words when a spelling diversion miracle happened.  My five-year-old daughter, Evie, ran upstairs excitedly yelling, "The basement flooded!  There's water everywhere!"

We all traveled downstairs to check out the damage.   The snow had melted quickly and the water was covering the tile floor, seeping into the carpet, and still coming in.  (This is now our third mini-flood).  Dani could not believe her luck!   My two girls and my two-year-old son all started jumping up and down and doing a crazy jig-like dance.  Life just doesn't get any better, for them.


Grumpy Mom Goals of the Day:  I'm researching how to fix that window-well, again.  I'm also starting a homework reward system for my daughter, again.

And, I must express gratitude for my miracle:
He has saved us numerous times.

Labels: , , ,

posted by Grumpy Grateful Mom @ Tuesday, April 05, 2011   12 Comments

12 Comments:

At April 5, 2011 at 9:30 AM , Blogger Caitlin MidAtlantic said...

I always had so much trouble with homework. I don't think I ever really found a system that worked. Just had to trudge through twenty years of education till I finally got my masters and threw in the education towel!

 
At April 5, 2011 at 10:42 AM , Blogger Irish Italian Blessings said...

Oh man, she really lucked out with that homework, lol. Sorry about the mini flood, that would seriously drive me nuts!

 
At April 5, 2011 at 10:51 AM , Blogger Karen Greenberg said...

My second-grader has a REALLY tough time with spelling, and I try to do everything I can to make it fun for her. Here are a couple of suggestions I've used or have heard work well.

Give her a jump rope. Have her jump to each letter as she spells the word.

Put some shaving cream on a cookie sheet. Spread evenly. Have her write the spelling words in the shaving cream.

Finally, use www.spellingcity.com. You can put the spelling words into a list, and they have games, tests, and practices on the site.

I hope one of these suggestions is helpful to you!

 
At April 5, 2011 at 10:54 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh the homework woes...Oh how fun! I'm getting ready to get some attitude cause its time for my son to do some work.

 
At April 5, 2011 at 12:39 PM , Blogger Sandra Tyler said...

AH, basement floods -- we've had 3 of those, each costing about $3000 to clean up; house insurance only covers flooding from the inside, so too bad they were not all from a burst pipe. I wish I worked for one of these clean up outfits, since they make a fortune. What else could we do but call them in a flood emergency? Ours weren't mini floods unfortunately...

 
At April 5, 2011 at 1:36 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

My daughter is 4 and is already talking back. It's more like yelling back at me. Not cool! I don't know how to stop it. It drives me crazy!

Sorry about the flood. Hope you can get that window fixed soon!

 
At April 5, 2011 at 8:20 PM , Blogger Jenn said...

Makes you think about what your prayers might do to someone else...ha ha. I hope that your clean-up hasn't been terrible and you will be able to fix your window well before any other problems happen (my parents eventually put a plastic cover on theirs and it worked so maybe that could help you too.) Use lots of Lysol because it kills any mold that might have grown. Good luck!

 
At April 5, 2011 at 10:42 PM , Blogger Him, Me, Wee 3 said...

Sounds exactly like my 6 year old son. I have honestly found NOTHING! that consistently works. :(

 
At April 5, 2011 at 10:43 PM , Blogger Danielle said...

Bummer! :(

Putting on my homeschool mom hat:
My son has always struggled with spelling (he's in 5th grade now). I've tried several different methods other than writing (because learning spelling words this way doesn't work for every child).

A few ideas you might try are:
-fill a baking sheet or long baking dish with cornmeal and let her use her fingers to spell her words in it
-roll clay or Playdough into long skinny rolls and spell words that way
-write words in shaving cream in the bathtub
-The trick for my son is to type them in giant font on the computer (also helps with keyboard awareness). He likes to make up little songs as he spells them out loud.

Some of these options might make your extra spelling day her favorite one!

 
At April 6, 2011 at 6:04 PM , Blogger Itty_Bitty_Wittes said...

awesome, positively awesome.

 
At April 6, 2011 at 9:02 PM , Blogger Monica said...

Homework with my Kindergartner is enough to send me into an anxiety attack!! Kindergarten!! We still have forever to go!! Good Luck!

 
At April 7, 2011 at 3:14 PM , Blogger Unknown said...

So sorry about the flood! It does make you wonder if she was praying for ANYTHING that would happen to get her out of it...lol

My son is overly dramatic, too. If something gets lost or goes wrong, it is the "worse day" in his entire life!

Another tip for spelling would be to use pipe cleaners to spell out the words - just like the playdoh idea above, but better if your child has any touch issues. We do EVERYTHING with pipe cleaners.

I will also have to check out Karen's spelling website she mentioned.

Great post and discussion!
http://stephanie-thejourney.blogspot.com/

 

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