A Brilliant Autumn

I realize almost a month has passed since last I wrote. What a full and blessed October we have had. The weeks are passing so quickly this school year. School now takes us a few hours a day depending on Ruby's participation. Our afternoons are dispensed quickly among piano lessons, friends, Mom's in Touch, and Homeschool Group. Most weeks are a blur. Somewhere in the midst of the rapidly fleeting days, we found the time to enjoy visits from Mammaw and Aunt Nat; a field trip with the Markerts and Boisverts to Plimoth Plantation; apple-picking, twice; suffered one ear infection (Ruby); visited Robert Frost's Farm; and ate two fresh apple pies. Like I said, a very blessed month.

I have really enjoyed school with the girls this fall. We are using a Bible Curriculum from Veritas Press that is very rich with historical information. The girls love researching the stories and often come away with new insights. This week we studied the Tower of Babel. We learned about ziggurats and where Babylon was located. They can tell you where Mesopotamia can be found. They can also tell you that some scholars believe the Garden of Eden lies beneath the Persian Gulf. The Bible curriculum ties in well with the ancient history lessons. Just recently after studying the Egyptians, the girls questioned the practicality of burying the dead under the house floor. Percy-Kate particularly found it disturbing that the Egyptians ate their dinner over their ancestor's carcass. I'm with you, PK. Cursive and copywork are Flannery's favorite subjects. Percy-Kate says the snack-break is her favorite subject. They are both very compliant and self-motivated students. Flannery does struggle some days with math. She wants to do it in her head. I was just like her when I was young. She insists she can get to the answer on her own without applying pencil to paper. I disagree. After some tears, coaxing, and prayer, she tries it my way and succeeds. Percy-Kate is a real workhorse. I rarely have to assist her and she often does more than I ask her to do. It is interesting to see their personalities emerge in their approaches to school work. Flannery does most of her school work half-standing, half-sitting. Drives me crazy! But, I let her be. Her brain simply processes faster if she is in motion.

Ruby is finally getting some words. She says "mine", "this", "cheese", "dance", "baby", "ball" and "good girl". Her word "mine" actually serves as "please" and "thank you" too. When I ask her to say please, she smiles a fake smile and says "mine" as patronizingly as she can. She has recently entered the stage of fancying the toilet water. She acts like there is some magical power to be obtained from anointing herself with the basin water. It grosses me out beyond words. After all, I know how infrequently the toilet is cleaned. Three times in the past week we've caught her stirring the waters. There is never a guarantee that her older sisters even flushed it if they were there before her. She doesn't care. In her mind, use of the potty is the only thing separating her from the adults so she is determined to master its use.

We all really enjoyed having Mammaw with us for a week. The girls love to play Little House on the Prairie with Mammaw. They don their bonnets and dresses she made for them and romp around going by the names "Mary" and "Laura". This time a Native American theme was added (inspired by our visit to Plimoth, I'm sure). Ruby went by the name "Little Fawn". Hopefully, we'll have Mammaw and Pappaw both with us for Thanksgiving. The hope of a not too distant return was the only thing that made Mammaw's departure bearable. Usually a sadness descends on all of the Moore clan any time Mammaw and Pappaw have to leave us. This time Ruby shed the most tears out of all of us. Soon she'll learn that they always come back.

Aunt Natalie visited last week. Her visits are always refreshing to me. Her world is much wider than my own, so I live vicariously through her a lot. The girls enjoy having her here. In a strange way, I think they sense that she is an extension of me, my history, my personality. She has known me longer than anyone else besides my mother and brother. Little Ruby bonded with her this visit. She gave more full-on mouth kisses to Nat in a few days than she has given me since birth. She cried again when we dropped Natalie at the airport. Ruby must wonder why we bring these people into our house, love them, then drop them at the curb after a few days. Like her, I wish we could keep them indefinitely.