Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

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Eden is up, though it’s almost 10:00 pm.  She has a cold and after weeping off and on for two hours and begging us to let her sleep with us we relented.  Paul and I were lounging on our bed playing on our laptops.  The second we told Eden she was in, she shot back to her room for her pillow and a blanket.  She snuggled in between us and began to chittety chat our ears off.  I turned to her, looked into her sleepy eyes and asked her if she would like to sip a little “rasberry tea” (a magnesium drink that helps us sleep) and read a little Laura Ingalls.  She did.  As I walked to the kitchen she called after me, 
“I’ll save your spot!”
My heart, already soft, melted.  
That the bed is mine, that it’s always my spot and not in need of saving doesn’t really matter does it?  It’s good to be chosen.
And now I’m going to choose her back.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/09/393/

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Well, Birdie turned a corner Monday.   Between not having to take a general math assessment and getting invited to go with a friend’s family to the football rally tonight she was more than happy.

A couple days ago there was a curriculum night at her school where her teachers explained what the class would be studying and opened it up for questions.  We had met her teacher at open house and Paul and I both liked her immediately.  Lydia loves her.  It was good to check in with her and to learn that she was telling Lydia the same thing we were: the point of school is to learn and that no one cares about her grades if she is working hard.  The math curriculum is different than one we used or even what she studying at her old public school.  It was tough walking through the loneliness and the academic angst with her.  I was having plenty of my own, “What were we thinking sending her back to school in the SIXTH GRADE?/I think I was a cruddy math teacher/mother/human being” angst.
And yet, at the bottom there was peace.  I forget, at times (like always) that following the path you feel compelled to travel does not guarantee ease.  
Tonight Lydia’s going to her friend’s house, Paul’s going to hang out with Christopher and Eden and I are going to have a date with Torey, Ren and Willa.  Ren has been breaking down lately longing for “those days where we saw each other every day”.  I told/warned Eden that Ren was feeling fragile and why.  She looked at me, “So am I!”  When I suggested that she give her cousin a hug she readily agreed, “And it’s OK if we hurt each other because we love each other so much!”
“Do you mean hugging each other so hard it hurts?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you can hug a little gentler than that.”  I told her.
We’ll see if she takes my recommendation.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/09/394/

First Day of School

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Here we all are on the way to Lydia’s bus stop, which is at the neighbor’s.  Eden, Christopher and I were already outside documenting her first day, when Lydia came rushing out panicked that we were late.  Christopher shouted something annoying, then Lydia told him to shut up, which provoked him to shout even louder to me that Lydia had told him to shut up and then I shouted at him to shut up and get in the picture.  

Perfect we ain’t.  

Fortunately, we believe in asking for forgiveness and in extending grace, which we did as we walked to the bus stop where we took this next picture.

That’s better.
Do you see that Kindergartner?  Look at that sweet and eager face!  The first day she made friends with every kid in her class and specified Lydia, J.P., Ellie and Sydney.  The second day she was talking about Lydia and Dandy.
“You mean Sydney?”  I asked.
“Oh yeah.”
Today she came home with the sad news that she and Lydia had a fight.  We’re sorting out the details.  Apparently the teacher had to intervene, calling, “Girls, girls that’s not forgive.”
This is.

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It’s been a long week.  Lydia started a new school too – sixth grade.  It hasn’t been easy being the new kid and being her mom hasn’t been a cake walk either.  I haven’t blogged, because it takes time getting up early, packing lunches, waiting for buses, driving Kindergartners to school, neducating homeschoolers, praying on the hour for lonely girls, rejecting plans to beat up would be mean girls and such.

We’re tired.
All of us are seeking comfort and rest in our own particular way:  Eden and Christopher are playing Star Wars Legos on the Wii, Lydia is baking and Paul and I are lounging on our bed laptops propped on our legs.
“Are we being terrible parents?”  I asked Paul.
He paused from his typing for a second to mumble, “No.”
He didn’t recommend taking the long view here, but it was implied.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2008/09/396/

First Day of School – Ever!

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Here is a sweet little Kindergartner.  She carefully selected this spot in front of an upturned and half painted doghouse for her first portrait.  Questionable taste in back drops aside, this kid is perfect.
She was a little distressed that people were lumping her siblings in on her first day.  I had to explain to her that, though they had both been in school previously, today WAS their first day back, but that it was her first day EVER.  This explanation satisfied.  Please note the giant name tag that she will be wearing until her teacher is comfortable with everyone’s name.  Eden was not pleased that it featured Curious George.  I asked why.

“I don’t like monkeys,” she leveled her gaze, “because of their bottoms.”
Can you blame her?
“I know some kids like monkeys because they don’t know about the bottoms.  The kids who have been to school before have apples (she had noted the first graders’ name tags) but I think we have Curious George because we’re curious about learning.”  There was a tone of respect for the purpose behind the mascot (pun unintended) if not for George himself.  

Here’s a side view of her gigantic Hello Kitty backpack that only some fast and deft P.R. on my part replaced the My Little Pony one, she had her eye on initially.  
You can’t fathom the horror.