considerable grace

Sophie’s front tooth finally wiggled itself out:



She said it didn’t even hurt—I’m sure that’s because it was COMPLETELY dead. Should’ve popped out a week ago—there was nothing live holding that thing in. Her adult tooth is FULLY visible already. (And I think she’s just adorable in her toothlessness.)

Sophia is also having loads of fun with a new learning adventure we’re on ... learning to type:



I haven’t read any books or done any research at all as to what is “best” for kids re: learning to use a keyboard, so I don’t have any idea if “experts” or whomever would say this is a bad idea ...

I’ve just thought about for quite some time ("How are we going to introduce Sophie to computers? What is going to be a good fit for our family?")—and just like learning an instrument, it seemed to me that it’s way better and way easier to never mess around with bad positioning. (For example, with piano, if a kid learns to play on the pads of his fingers rather than the tips in a nice, rounded, relaxed hand position with eyes only ever on the music (never looking down), it is VERY hard to develop good hand position and stop “peeking”. But if you start a child right away with good hand position and help them keep their eyes only on the music, that will stay with them for a LONG time.)

We’re also very committed to integrating computers into learning. Yes, I want her to learn to research “the old fashioned way.” Yes, we still read and read and read and we’re a non-computer-game-family. But as we learn about geography, we LOVE Google Earth. As we discover new operas or play new music in youth orchestra, we enjoy hearing and seeing clips online. I want her to be comfortable with word processing, spreadsheeting, presentation software, etc. And oh! I pray that we can help her to be safe and wise re: the internet (just as we strive to help her to be safe and wise re: walking around a big city).

And so far? Typing Instructor for Kids has been a great fit for us. She learned all three rows of letters in three days—and now she’s just working on bringing up her wpm while maintaining her accuracy. Plus? She LOVES it. We have to be diligent to do our other duties before we do the “fun” of working hard on typing.

Very cool.

We also had some serious fun Sunday night watching Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and then listening to our favorite tunes from Ragtime.

Sophie and Ella did some pretty cute dancing to those ragtime tunes. (Ella dances like this ...)



And, as my Facebook pals already know, Fred cracked me up when he said, “I’m probably the only man in America who watched Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat tonight (rather than the Super Bowl).” To which I replied to Fred that, statistically, I doubt that’s true because there’s probably some serious overlap in the subset of men in America who did NOT watch the Super Bowl and who DO like both musicals and their families.

Don’t you think?

(Oh, and BTW ... Ella wanted to be in the typing photo too ...)



That’s pretty much the news from Lake Woebegone. THANK YOU for praying for my friend. So many times I just doubled over today and cried (and cried out, “I can’t BELIEVE it!!”). Not in that “railing against God / tempted to sinful anger” kind of way. Just wracked with grief. I simply cannot believe it.

Anyway. Thanks for praying.

We’re into cuddle time now, so I need to scoot.

Blessings and goodnight,
Tara B.

(& cuddle bugs Eleanor & Sophia too)