It was so quiet earlier this evening, but that's because all the other kids are going to bed at a decent hour in order to get up for school tomorrow morning. It's so much more pleasant now than it was over the summer. Most of the other kids are jealous because our schedule is so much more relaxed than theirs is, though. Over the weekend, my friends brought me an extra monitor so I could hook MrBaby's computer up, and I told MrBaby and another child (who seems unwilling to listen to any of the adults, including this child's mother) to clear a path on the porch so I could bring the monitor in without tripping, and to please not act like neither of you heard me. Nothing was done. My friends both told them to get a path cleared, because they had things they needed to go do. Again, blank stares and nothing was done. One of my friends said fine, you don't want to clean that up so your mom doesn't fall, just go back your overnight bag and you can come home with us. The porch was miraculously cleaned up in a few seconds. This same child came over yesterday and this child is into snatching toys from younger children, which makes MrBaby fuss and I've had enough. I told my friend Dolly what was going on and she sent her home yesterday. As soon as Dolly had left, though, this child was right back at the door, asking for MrBaby to come outside to play. As you probably already know, I work online, and I cannot be continually distracted by fussing, and the toy snatching is usually the reason for any fussing. My work is not only dependent on the quality I provide, but also on the time I spend on each individual task. This means that flat out, I cannot referee two children who should know that when I say 'play nicely' I really mean to do just that. I can't go out on the porch every few minutes to set things right again. So, since the other child won't eliminate the problem behavior, we've eliminated the child from coming over. Period, no more chances. There are several other children MrBaby can play with around here, and they don't seem to ask a hundred questions about why our family is a certain way and not just like their own. Now I'm trying to explain to MrBaby what the nuances are in this type of situation, such as the other children who play with the child who is banned from being over here are shunning him. I told him I didn't want him to play with them anyway. There is something wrong with children who are put in charge of a one year old child who then not only hold him upside down over the street to get him to scream in terror, but also abandon that same child, while strapped into his stroller, in the middle of the street and then run and hide behind trees and bushes. I don't spank very often, but if I have to, I will. It's usually a safety issue, such as going into the street when I've told him not to, or trying to ride his bike when it's getting to close to dusk, and I really honestly do not want MrBaby picking up any behavioral problems. We have been through so much, and come too far, for him to start acting up like I see so many of these children round here doing. If he starts doing similar things, he's going to end up grounded to the inside of the house, which isn't enjoyable for either of us, of course, and if that doesn't work, I'm going to have to start spanking. And that really will hurt me more than it does him. Social studies is such a blast!!! I think we will continue to 'study' from a distance and avoid any 'hands-on' studying in this area. All I can say is 'wow!'

Last Thursday to today

Covered animal sciences, with Squeaky the mouse, as well as social studies through interactions and observations on the #9.

In beginning addition, in which he did surprisingly well, and even though he refused help, after begging for it, he got every equation correct on the first two pages of the Spiderman workbook he received for Christmas. For practical math, we went today with his sister and Dylan to a book store, where he sold some of his baby books, and received $8.75 for them. (I then turned around and spent about $7.50 on a couple of new books for him, one is a very well-rounded resource fact book, and the other is a bilingual workbook.) He's not as upset as he originally was about selling his baby books as he was before he got the money for them.

With reading, we covered a few different words again, and then he sounded out a few words on his own. We then discussed exclamation marks, because he thought it was an 'i' and sounded it out, as well.

Geography was covered in the usual way, by using the map on his wall. We also discussed the globe, and I again stressed that even though it looks like a ball, it's not able to bounce like one, and it will break. I'm really hoping he doesn't test me on that point!