Thought for the Day

"I reject your reality and substitute my own."

I think this should be my mantra when talking to my parents..... ;o)

Unforeseen benefits

When I pulled T out of school I had high hopes that it would better our lives. It has, of course, in numerous ways...T and I have really connected; our relationship is better than it has ever been (and it was incredibly rocky for years). We are both more relaxed and truly more happy. I never realized, however, how quickly his interactions would change with other kids.

In school T was in trouble about 90% of the time. It was a rare day that he didn't come home with a note that went into great detail about all of his infractions. His relationships at school were troubled. Kids knew of T's sensitive nature and took advantage of it. Some would purposefully taunt T just to get a reaction out of him and loved the fact that T would then get into trouble for "overreacting." The group dynamics were never in T's favor...the bullying, the fickle nature of kids ("yesterday I was your friend, today I'm not"), the gang mentality. T always had problems waiting in lines, bustling others and wanting always to be first.

Recently we found a sledding hill close to our home. As soon as we arrived, T offered up his tube to the other two kids that were sledding. When they would all race up the hill together, T would offer to let them go ahead of him (where in the past, he would fight to be first). This similar senario has happened during all the times we have visited this particular hill. I'm amazed at the changes in T -- and we've only been unschooling since December!

Winter doldrums

T and I have been in a rut these past few weeks, but I think we are slowly working our way out of it. We've had several tragic deaths occur over the past month, all in Iraq. One soldier I knew personally (and her husband worked closely with Jody), and the other two were in Jody's unit. Thankfully, I've been able to keep this news from T. I've had a hard enough time dealing with it. The news of these deaths would crush T, and he would be more worried than ever about his dad, who is constantly in harm's way. Today marks our halfway point through this deployment. One can only hope the remaining six months go by safely and quickly.

The last few weeks were made even more difficult because of the extremely cold temperatures. For about three weeks our high temps hovered around the -30's and -40's - much too cold to do any outdoor activities. We did get out and mainly haunted Fred Meyer and WalMart (just to get out of the house), and visited Glow Putt a few times. I do love Alaska, but this winter has really taken its toll on me. I just want to curl up in bed and wait until spring arrives.

That isn't to say we haven't been busy. I broke down and bought both T and I Nintendo DS's (much to T's shock and excitment). We've been playing Animal Crossing and have had a great time working in our little towns and visiting each other. T has already finished Star Wars Episode III on DS and is now immersed in Sims 2. When it comes to video games, the DS is much more my speed. T's PS2 is way too complicated for me.

Jody also introduced us to "Smallville," a TV show on the WB. It's almost become a nightly ritual to watch one DVD a night to catch us up on the past four seasons.