My daughter reads very well for her age. I worry that a lot of her books are really too easy for her. She loves to read though, so I’ve been thinking a lot about what to read with her. I came up with the idea of going to the library and picking up a bunch of kid books about a single topic. When I first mentioned this to her, she said “Maybe then you and I can be as smart as dad!” (Oh great!)
This is the first week we’re trying this out. The topic she chose was African animals. We’ve been having fun reading the books we chose. She was reading them by herself the other day and kept saying, “Mom, you have to know this RIGHT NOW!” I think this will be fun and we will both learn something. Hopefully some of the books will be a bit more challenging for her and she’ll have fun in the process.
(We’re reading them with Sam too, of course. It seems he’s learning to love books as much as the rest of us.)
It’s been almost a year and a half since my mom passed away. They say you’re supposed to say the persons name to help you heal. Does saying mom count? Probably not, just thinking of her name makes the tears come. A good friend of mine had her father pass away right before Christmas. He got sick just after my mom did. He had a longer fight. I don’t know if this is better or worse for him and his family. I wanted more time with my mom, I guess I always will, but seeing her in pain, seeing her go from being the strongest woman I knew to literally just skin and bones was awful. People sometimes say that they don’t want to remember people like that and it’s better to not see them in that condition. For me, I don’t remember my mom in that way. I’m glad that I was a part of the whole process. When I think of how my mom looked the last time, she actually looked at peace. She didn’t look like she was in pain anymore. I think that was important for me to see.
I didn’t talk to my dad or my siblings on Christmas. I talked to them around Christmas, but just not the day. My sister called on Christmas Eve and started talking about my mom and I just said I had to go. Matt put the ornaments that are reminders of my mom on the tree. I don’t know if he realized the significance of them. I sort of just ignored them. I didn’t want anyone to make me think of my mom. I hope at some point I can pull out all the feelings I have and figure them out. For now, it still hurts too much.
