My Crazy Kid

Helena has really gotten into putting things on her head. For example, right now she has a big plastic mixing bowl on her head. This makes me think of the movie "Parenthood," one of our favorites around here. She's also becoming a real whiz at her colors and shapes. We've been using different colored plastic utensils to learn colors - she divides them up into red, blue, etc. and puts them in different baskets. She's got the shape-sorter mastered. BUT, Helena doesn't talk much. Just a few words - "Duck" and "Emma" being two of them. Yesterday, though, Helena started using "Dada" in a meaningful way (it was the only way to get her dad's attention, as he was helping Joel with a shower installation at the time.) It was precious.

The other news here is that winter is definitely coming. Last night we had a High Wind Advisory, and they weren't kidding...and there's snow predicted for today. Already we're halfway through November and I haven't done ANY Christmas shopping/preparation. I'd like to be done, say, in August.

One last (big) thing - I've decided to stop giving music lessons, except for family or church friends. Just having made the decision was a big deal, but of course now I have to tell everybody, which is difficult. What it finally came down to was not being able to give sufficient attention to Helena and whatever student I had at the time. And yes, I could have hired a babysitter or took up every afternoon of Caity's week, but that means I would have been basically teaching for charitable purposes. And anyway, Caity's going to have her hands full(er) pretty soon, too. It's a good thing.

"It's that time of year when the world falls in love!"