What's Been Going On

This is just a general update post, I guess. The last few days eBay has been treating me well; I may have to take a few months off this summer to make sure my profits don't get to a level that's reportable on our income tax! So we've been busily e-mailing, packaging and shipping (Emma loves to help; she drops the wrapped clothing into the envelopes for me, and then helps me seal them. When we get to the Post Office, I use the Automated Post Office machine and she puts the "stickers" on and drops them in the bin and closes it. She has a blast.) I am almost cleaned out of inventory, I need to make another trip to SunThrift this Saturday (their half off day.)

We have a new little vacuum; it's a Eureka Cordless Quick-Up. They're $24 at Target right now and my aunt had me get one for her brother-in-law's birthday, but it's not until July, so I hinted that I would like one for my birthday, and they called me back in after discussing it to give it to me early. I'm loving it. We have a great vacuum and will still use it for that twice-monthly or so deep-cleaning, but for quick clean-ups, this one is more than adequate. It's light enough I can use it without hurting my back; if Emma didn't hate vacuum noise so much, she could even use it! Speaking of noise, it's much quieter than the big vacuum, and I hate vacuum noise too, so that is a big plus. I can pick up crushed Cheerio messes with it without a big hassle, and it even has a part that detaches to make a little hand-vac for cleaning the couch and such! Very cool.

We went today and did a preschool interview for Emma. I have been feeling more and more strongly that while I intend to home-school Emma when she gets to kindergarten, for the next year at least she needs more peer interaction than she is getting. Socially she is on track and intellectually she is very advanced, but she still has a few language difficulties that I think more time away from home would be a benefit for, and potty training has become a big resistance issue. I think she would benefit greatly by being around other kids who are using the potty and also by being "potty taught" a bit by an adult who is NOT Mommy or Abba, with whom she already has all kinds of other issues. She will be three in a few weeks and she is firmly resistant to using the potty at this point, just because it has become such a control thing between her and us. A week ago, about a month after I had started praying about how to get her more peer interaction, we noticed a new sign for a home-based Montessori preschool on the corner. We interviewed today and we are going to do it! The lady whose new business it is has been teaching in Montessori schools for 16 years. She had about 30 pages of references, just completed her Montessori certification (after two years of work on it), and has been inspected by the Department of Health and licensed by the state. She is really nice, Emma loved it there, the fees are reasonable (cheaper than anything I've had quoted to me), and my aunt has said she will pay half, and that she will speak to my dad because he will probably be willing to chip in some too. Emma will be going two days a week, and the best part is that we can take her for as many or as few hours as we wish; because it is literally a one-minute walk from our apartment, I will be able to take her and pick her up whenever I want or she needs it. We are all really excited. Besides the potty-training and language advantages, Emma is showing a lot of pre-reading readiness (she spends some quality time on Starfall, that's where she has learned most of it), and we think that in a Montessori environment (perfect for her learning style and Sensory Processing Disorder!) we think she will probably be reading within a year (although of course we aren't going to push it.) The schedule is very thorough, with a lot of structure but allowing for plenty of unstructured play, and I think that will be good for her, too. I think this is going to be a huge blessing in our lives, and if the monthly fee is split three ways, I think I can just about pay for our portion with my monthly eBay profits, it's that reasonable! And I just know that Ems will have a blast, there was so much fun stuff to do, they have music and Spanish (both of which she adores) every day, and she even has a swing set and slide!

We are trying to clean up the living room and keep it clean. Emma is helping because she wants to go to Chuck E. Cheese (insidious viral marketing! They sponsor Sesame Street), and we told her that if she helps clean up and keep it clean, we will take her on Saturday. (We don't really mind much. Jeff likes pizza and I like skeeball... And we have coupons.)

I have started on chasteberry extract (Vitex) to hopefully regulate my cycle, which has been wonky ever since that miscarriage. It seems to be having an effect already, we will see what it does long-term.

So that's pretty much our week so far. Hope you are all having as much good news in your life as we are having in ours!