This doesn't quite fit but I have to share it somewhere and well this isn't the kind of thing you can laugh about with just anyone.

DS got a year end note from the teacher (grade 3) -

X,
It's been fun teaching you! You've taught me alot!
Happy Summer
Mrs. X

I'm still laughing.

Ha! Chay, how funny and lovely.

DD8's Shakespeare camp teacher asked me if she went to normal school, or? I thnk assuming we homeschool. This led to me hearing a story about the first day: as the teacher went into rhythm etc but didn't want to overwhelm the kids with lots of terms, dd raised her hand and said quietly, isn't that called a trochee?

I was glad DD felt comfortable enough there to offer that info. I feel at school she hides that kind of thing. And she certainly learned poetics at home!

Ha! I got a similar note from DS's preschool teachers, Chay, only she listed several new science and nature facts she had learned from him ("Thanks to DS, I now know that...")

Thank aquinas! Also, I really appreciate how patient you are with the swimming. I too was very water sensitive as a child and some extremely traumatic "learning experience" in the pool didn't help. I still find that I don't like water in my face or to put my head under, even though I enjoy swimming.

I really appreciate hearing about everyone's experiences with the existential stuff. DD often does this and it can be hard for other people to understand.

For example, when DD first really registered that people could be unhappy enough to commit suicide, she got very worried that one day she could become that unhappy. So it's not that she was unhappy, but that she was worried that the state existed and could somehow come to her at some point. We focus on dealing with the anxiety rather than worrying about the having a preteen thinking about suicide. Of course we had the 'do all things die' walk when she was, oh, 3ish? So we're getting better at coping. Certainly the parenting books are of no help.

She also says things like "we are all connected because all the atoms in my body touch other atoms that touch the atoms in your body..." that sort of thing.

Late last night, in what I believed was another stall, DS7 called out saying he was "too bored to go to sleep." I stomped in to his room ready to give him a piece of my mind. But when I got there he was actually a little teary-eyed and frustrated about not being able to get to sleep. He literally jumped in my arms for a rare, long and lovely snuggle. When I tucked him in, he took in a deep breath and said "Mom, you smell like love."

Aw, thanks Ivy. I see my job as making available opportunities to swim in a pleasant environment and offering fun ways to practice skills. DS' job is to determine our activities and how much of any given activity we do. The only limit I set is that we must be in the pool for at least 2 half hour sessions per week. Comfort and skill will come from many positive experiences and positive associations with the activity.

This is the best anecdote I've ever read!!! Love melts hearts.

I love it!!!

Studying the nation's founding in US History, class discussion centers around about pursuit of happiness and right to be happy. DS and his partner in intellect and theater launch into Sondheim's "Everybody's Got a Right to be Happy" from Assassins. Always ready to add that little extra element to the class.