Leaves, leaves, all around!

Like a gentle rain
they fall
Orange, red, and brown
Yellow, and all.

Slowly
Swiftly
To the ground
Leaves, leaves, all around!



Question:
Forget about raking, can you match the leaves to their trees (below)?

Leaf Kebab?!

Ben threads leaf after leaf through a twig, to make a shish kebab of the nature kind!



And when eventually we let a can-be-rather-independent Jon carpool with his chess coach for last Saturday's tournament, we had a little less walking here and there to do, by the time we met up with Jon, and he was already some halfway through the games.

More Serious Fun with Chess

Jon tried his best. There were five games he played throughout that day. He was up against four third graders and one second grader. And it looked like he was more evenly matched in this tournament, than that earlier, first one. He won one game... yay! And he tied for another!

"How did that feel?" I asked Jon. "Good!", was his reply.

I'm trying a slightly different approach, by not having to say "I'm proud of you" all the time, to my boys. Some parenting guru had said the other day, that we should try and teach our children to see for themselves that they have done well. It's part of the equipping them with the skills for life, and in this case, for self-esteem, so they would know not to have to look to someone else for assurance. Of course, when I think they need to hear me say it, I still do!

How did I feel? Good, too! Encouraged, also! And to top it off, the school did marvellously well, and clinched top spot in that K to 5th grade category!

And the days are shorter now...
Since the end of daylight savings a week ago, there's less sunshine we see now. By 5pm, it's dark, and if you aren't indoors by 5.30pm, you'd better be carrying a torchlight if you're still walking around! (The street lamps here are spaced so far apart, they are rather non-existent).

I've moved our dinner forward, too, and Vern was trying to get Jon and Ben to also sleep one hour earlier. But somehow their biorhythms know better, and even when they do, they wake up earlier! Sigh! (Partly because the day starts earlier, too).

So now, the boys are back to sleeping at the usual time, which actually means, one hour later than before! And for Ben, the recommended sleep for his age group is 11 to 13 hours, but he doesn't always get even 10 hours, because he takes ages to fall asleep and is quite a light sleeper at that. How does he do it, without a nap, and all that interrupted sleep that he transfers to us? I really don't know, but I'd better make a point to go to bed earlier!

Hello, Dinner!

Right after the cake-cutting, dinner on Jon's birthday was a mad rush for me, because there was something else I had to run off to, like, how just after the cake was baked, I had to scoot, with Ben, to go fetch Jon home.

It's been like this all week long, week after week, after Ben started school. Driving to and fro, running from one place and thing to another, and trying to fit in a little something else here and there. Last week, in between school and some weatherization works for the house, we also managed to go get our flu shots, when the good hospital was giving them out for free!

Today, after some fun at school with the little ones making cards for boxes for the Operation Christmas Child, the parents' group chairperson asked me to seriously consider attending her meetings (so that I could be involved in a bigger way). I didn't say yes. Instead, I told her quite honestly, "Erm, I don't think so, because as it is, with the current, ad-hoc involvement, it's already a stretch for me."

Besides a few lastminute calls that had come my way, that I couldn't possibly say no to, a "liberated" me in my enthusiasm (thinking, finally, some time to be of more help!), also volunteered for a few other things, that on their own, when they would take place during Ben's schoolhours, they didn't seem like much. But while I'd like to be of more help, no, I'm not managing my time very well. And this month alone, it worked out that I have at least one activity every week I'm committed to.

I need to slow down some, and if anything, I can do with some forced rest, one of the things I'd talked about doing. Three mornings of Ben in school is more time to myself than I ever had, but it isn't exactly a lot of time to do a whole lot! And I am behind in my chores -- half-done, because there's so much running around! =(

So, when my boys made a face, hair and all, out of dinner the other night, I just had to hand it to them...


And I tell you, it's little things like this every day that puts a smile on my face, and gets me going! =)



I have to remind myself, though, that it's bread and butter, mommy issues I need to concern myself with first. There's only so much of me, and I shouldn't try and spread myself thin. And yes, yes, that margin... I'd better leave some here and there!