Quote from Xenia left for me on the whiteboard, “I don’t get the attention that I want, but I don’t get ignored when I want.”
Being the mother of older children is a balancing act. They want attention on their own schedules. Throughout the day they check in with me, and I check in with them. Sometimes we do a puzzle together or watch a television program or read, but most of the time, we are doing our own things.
Esther spends most of her day sleeping or running around with Joshua. She has some summer reading to accomplish, and she keeps in touch with her friends from college. When she’s at the store, she texts me to ask if I need anything, and I do the same for her. Sometimes we go out to eat lunch together, but it’s not every week that our stars align between her availability and my childcare needs. She and Joshua are excited to start their road trip back to Thomas Aquinas College. They have reservations with the monasteries they will stay at along the way. Yesterday they received their COVID tests that all returning students will take. Once they return, they will wear masks for a couple of weeks to make sure no one has gotten sick traveling, and then they can go mask free, relatively safe in their campus bubble in the secluded mountain town.
Sophia went through the same procedure for the summer camp she attended there a couple of weeks ago. It gave her a good feel for the college and helped her decide to look closer at the Texas universities to reach her current goal of becoming an accountant. She’s a senior this year, so it’s time to start applying. I feel so bad for her that her senior year is starting out at home online. She’s a homebody, and her boyfriend Anthony is over here a lot too. She also babysits for our friends.
Basil wakes up in the afternoon like most fourteen-year-old boys. After the younger siblings have had their turn at the home computer, he stays glued to it playing Minecraft and watching Minecraft videos for the rest of the day. Sometimes he goes swimming at the community pool. He’s been working on his summer reading projects now that there are only a few more weeks till school starts. All that rest and relaxation has paid off in growth. He went up two to three sizes in clothes and is now a few inches taller than me. He’s just under Mike’s six-foot height. There’s something satisfying about having a big man child. It’s akin to the feeling of having a baby with chunky legs. I always wanted a roly-poly baby to prove that I was growing them right.
School for Basil, Jonah, Xenia, and Justin will be opening mid-August in person. I’m thrilled for them. I love the posts on social media encouraging people to not judge families for their choices. Their private school has small class sizes and will be able to set the desks six feet apart and offer zoom and distance learning options if anyone needs to stay home in quarantine. My younger children have each other, but I believe their mental health will be better for having the social interaction that comes in the classroom. When I was a homeschooling mother we were always on the go to classes and co-ops. That isn’t today’s reality. I’m so thankful for a small, Christian school that is able to open its doors.
Jonah is looking forward to school. He spends his days reading, watching television, and playing on the computer. Justin and Xenia complain that he doesn’t like playing their imaginary games anymore, but he sometimes does play with them. He’s just growing up. Since the pandemic quarantine started, we’ve been able to figure out that Jonah has migraines. I used to think that he threw up so often because he was susceptible to viruses, but his headaches make him throw up. Sophia has a lot of experience in this area, so I have turned him over to his big sister for guidance.
Xenia is most often found wandering around inside and in the back yard listening to audiobooks. Our audiobook library has exploded in number over the summer. She goes back and forth between begging to go back to school and wishing she could stay home forever. She and I spend some time working on puzzles while watching “Family Ties” but that series has some serious topics. We got tired of my fast-forwarding through them.
Xenia said, “ ‘Family Ties’ is heavier than Uncle Zach.” Mike’s brother at six foot five towers two feet over Xenia, and he’s a giant to her.
Xenia has been spending a lot of time with her older sisters lately. It will be a sad day for her when she’s the only sister left in the house.
Justin is taking the isolation the hardest. He wakes up the earliest and spends half an hour on the computer. Then he makes his rounds of the yard and cul de sac. I have no idea what projects or imaginary games he has going on in his mind, but he comes inside a couple of hours later to check in with me and tells me he is bored. Then it’s playing with his siblings or watching television for the rest of the day. Sometimes Basil will take him swimming, but that’s not an everyday treat.
He's gotten formal with me. When he asks for something like my phone to use as an audiobook or a television remote he says, “Mother, may I have your phone.”
I always reply, “Yes, my son.”
A few nights ago, as we were walking upstairs to tuck him in bed, I said, “I love you, Mister Man.”
He said, “You’re not so bad yourself. That’s from the Greatest Showman.”
The rest of the kids have resigned themselves to summer being canceled, but Justin keeps trying to find ways around it.
Last week he came to me all animated, “Hey Mom! Let’s go to the dinosaur museum!”
“We can’t Justin. It’s a pandemic.”
He cried and cried. We get out more than we used to, but the little children are still kept at home, and there is no way I’d take Justin to a hands-on exhibit at the children’s museum. I was germophobic about that place before there was something I really didn’t want to catch.
We tried to get together with a friend of his but though we planned and counter-planned all day, nothing came of it.
Mike and Joshua and I were playing our last scenario in an “Arkham Horror the Card Game” campaign when Justin called down to me, “Mother, would you play ping pong with me?”
“I can’t my son, Daddy and Joshua need me here.”
“I never get anything fun! Cora can’t come over either.”
Esther came walking by him and said, “Don’t be bitter.”
He said, “Hey, I’m just telling the truth.”
Justin is the biggest supporter of my big news.
At the end of the school year, the mathematics teaching position came open. I was initially excited at the possibility of going back to work, but teaching full time was intimidating. Another teacher stepped up to take the geometry class which is the biggest class in the school, leaving pre-algebra, algebra, and pre-calculus. Other applicants than me were considered, but I was chosen for my expertise in mathematics and my willingness to be part-time. I liked feeling like I had a choice, and it was thrilling to have my mathematical skills valued. When I asked the kids how they felt the responses ranged from Basil’s “Do whatever you want,” to Justin’s “Yes! I’ll see you in the hall sometimes!”
I’ve brought the books home and started outlining the chapters and working through the homework problems. Classroom management will be so different in this setting with only four students in each class rather than what I went through when I taught high school math before Esther was born in with classes with over twenty students. I was so young I looked the same age as the kids. I can hardly wait to get in front of the white board and start talking about functions.
One thing I’ll miss a lot is my escapes over to my friend Magdalena’s house this summer. She had foot surgery recently so sometimes I show up at her place with lunch, and we watch movies on the Hallmark Channel. Catching those cheesy, happy stories is a secret pleasure.
Mike is looking forward to all of us being out of the house. He’s still working from home and longs for the peace and quiet of an empty house.
I think this will be a good year for all of us. It’s 2020 and there’s a lot wrong in the world, but life is moving on as it often does. All my life I’ve felt that the new year really started in September. It’s a good time to make fresh starts.
Being the mother of older children is a balancing act. They want attention on their own schedules. Throughout the day they check in with me, and I check in with them. Sometimes we do a puzzle together or watch a television program or read, but most of the time, we are doing our own things.
Esther spends most of her day sleeping or running around with Joshua. She has some summer reading to accomplish, and she keeps in touch with her friends from college. When she’s at the store, she texts me to ask if I need anything, and I do the same for her. Sometimes we go out to eat lunch together, but it’s not every week that our stars align between her availability and my childcare needs. She and Joshua are excited to start their road trip back to Thomas Aquinas College. They have reservations with the monasteries they will stay at along the way. Yesterday they received their COVID tests that all returning students will take. Once they return, they will wear masks for a couple of weeks to make sure no one has gotten sick traveling, and then they can go mask free, relatively safe in their campus bubble in the secluded mountain town.
Sophia went through the same procedure for the summer camp she attended there a couple of weeks ago. It gave her a good feel for the college and helped her decide to look closer at the Texas universities to reach her current goal of becoming an accountant. She’s a senior this year, so it’s time to start applying. I feel so bad for her that her senior year is starting out at home online. She’s a homebody, and her boyfriend Anthony is over here a lot too. She also babysits for our friends.
Basil wakes up in the afternoon like most fourteen-year-old boys. After the younger siblings have had their turn at the home computer, he stays glued to it playing Minecraft and watching Minecraft videos for the rest of the day. Sometimes he goes swimming at the community pool. He’s been working on his summer reading projects now that there are only a few more weeks till school starts. All that rest and relaxation has paid off in growth. He went up two to three sizes in clothes and is now a few inches taller than me. He’s just under Mike’s six-foot height. There’s something satisfying about having a big man child. It’s akin to the feeling of having a baby with chunky legs. I always wanted a roly-poly baby to prove that I was growing them right.
School for Basil, Jonah, Xenia, and Justin will be opening mid-August in person. I’m thrilled for them. I love the posts on social media encouraging people to not judge families for their choices. Their private school has small class sizes and will be able to set the desks six feet apart and offer zoom and distance learning options if anyone needs to stay home in quarantine. My younger children have each other, but I believe their mental health will be better for having the social interaction that comes in the classroom. When I was a homeschooling mother we were always on the go to classes and co-ops. That isn’t today’s reality. I’m so thankful for a small, Christian school that is able to open its doors.
Jonah is looking forward to school. He spends his days reading, watching television, and playing on the computer. Justin and Xenia complain that he doesn’t like playing their imaginary games anymore, but he sometimes does play with them. He’s just growing up. Since the pandemic quarantine started, we’ve been able to figure out that Jonah has migraines. I used to think that he threw up so often because he was susceptible to viruses, but his headaches make him throw up. Sophia has a lot of experience in this area, so I have turned him over to his big sister for guidance.
Xenia is most often found wandering around inside and in the back yard listening to audiobooks. Our audiobook library has exploded in number over the summer. She goes back and forth between begging to go back to school and wishing she could stay home forever. She and I spend some time working on puzzles while watching “Family Ties” but that series has some serious topics. We got tired of my fast-forwarding through them.
Xenia said, “ ‘Family Ties’ is heavier than Uncle Zach.” Mike’s brother at six foot five towers two feet over Xenia, and he’s a giant to her.
Xenia has been spending a lot of time with her older sisters lately. It will be a sad day for her when she’s the only sister left in the house.
Justin is taking the isolation the hardest. He wakes up the earliest and spends half an hour on the computer. Then he makes his rounds of the yard and cul de sac. I have no idea what projects or imaginary games he has going on in his mind, but he comes inside a couple of hours later to check in with me and tells me he is bored. Then it’s playing with his siblings or watching television for the rest of the day. Sometimes Basil will take him swimming, but that’s not an everyday treat.
He's gotten formal with me. When he asks for something like my phone to use as an audiobook or a television remote he says, “Mother, may I have your phone.”
I always reply, “Yes, my son.”
A few nights ago, as we were walking upstairs to tuck him in bed, I said, “I love you, Mister Man.”
He said, “You’re not so bad yourself. That’s from the Greatest Showman.”
The rest of the kids have resigned themselves to summer being canceled, but Justin keeps trying to find ways around it.
Last week he came to me all animated, “Hey Mom! Let’s go to the dinosaur museum!”
“We can’t Justin. It’s a pandemic.”
He cried and cried. We get out more than we used to, but the little children are still kept at home, and there is no way I’d take Justin to a hands-on exhibit at the children’s museum. I was germophobic about that place before there was something I really didn’t want to catch.
We tried to get together with a friend of his but though we planned and counter-planned all day, nothing came of it.
Mike and Joshua and I were playing our last scenario in an “Arkham Horror the Card Game” campaign when Justin called down to me, “Mother, would you play ping pong with me?”
“I can’t my son, Daddy and Joshua need me here.”
“I never get anything fun! Cora can’t come over either.”
Esther came walking by him and said, “Don’t be bitter.”
He said, “Hey, I’m just telling the truth.”
Justin is the biggest supporter of my big news.
At the end of the school year, the mathematics teaching position came open. I was initially excited at the possibility of going back to work, but teaching full time was intimidating. Another teacher stepped up to take the geometry class which is the biggest class in the school, leaving pre-algebra, algebra, and pre-calculus. Other applicants than me were considered, but I was chosen for my expertise in mathematics and my willingness to be part-time. I liked feeling like I had a choice, and it was thrilling to have my mathematical skills valued. When I asked the kids how they felt the responses ranged from Basil’s “Do whatever you want,” to Justin’s “Yes! I’ll see you in the hall sometimes!”
I’ve brought the books home and started outlining the chapters and working through the homework problems. Classroom management will be so different in this setting with only four students in each class rather than what I went through when I taught high school math before Esther was born in with classes with over twenty students. I was so young I looked the same age as the kids. I can hardly wait to get in front of the white board and start talking about functions.
One thing I’ll miss a lot is my escapes over to my friend Magdalena’s house this summer. She had foot surgery recently so sometimes I show up at her place with lunch, and we watch movies on the Hallmark Channel. Catching those cheesy, happy stories is a secret pleasure.
Mike is looking forward to all of us being out of the house. He’s still working from home and longs for the peace and quiet of an empty house.
I think this will be a good year for all of us. It’s 2020 and there’s a lot wrong in the world, but life is moving on as it often does. All my life I’ve felt that the new year really started in September. It’s a good time to make fresh starts.