In case you haven't noticed, my 9-yr. old daughter, Deanna, has discovered my Blog. She logs in under my User I.D. and posts comments, often with mispellings and lacking punctuation. Her remarks look pretty funny under a picture of me with my name attached.
Deanna loves to read my Posts, but she prefers that I read them to her. She's always loved to listen to interesting stories and begs me to relate her favorite ones over and over. From the time she was very little, I'd read to her, and she would lie on the couch by the hour and listen. When she was about 3 and was sick once with a stomach bug, I read her the entire book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis in two days. She loved it but I would have to stop after every chapter and answer questions.
Two summers ago, the year our house was under construction and we lived in a cottage owned by some friends, I read all three of the children, Charlotte's Web. We finished the book in August, just before school started. Deanna came home the first week of school and told me that her teacher was reading it to them at school. She was very tickled that she had already "read" the book and thought she had one-up on her friends.
Lately, we've been reading Hardy Boy's mysteries. We also have quite a few Trixie Belden mysteries that Don's mother gave us several years back and almost all the Nancy Drew books, but the children find Nancy Drew archaic and boring (I tend to agree with them - there's not near as much action as in the other two sets of books). I just finished a Hardy Boy's mystery over the weekend. Then, on Monday, we took the children to the new movie version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. For Christmas, Don gave me a boxed set of CD's - the BBC version of this film as well as Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and The Silver Chair. However, the BBC version isn't near as good as the Giant Screen version. On the way home from the movie, we decided to attack all the Chronicles of Narnia next. Several years ago, after reading the first one to the children for a second time, I started Prince Caspian, but they lost interest. They seemed to have gotten much more interested now, and I think it might hold their attention. I haven't read all these books since I was in grade school, and would love to read them all again.
After the movie yesterday, I was chatting with some friends who have gone to the same movie as us and sat behind us. I couldn't remember, but thought there was some connection with, who the Professor was in the first book. I thought he had been a Narnia child, but couldn't remember who. My friend, Anne, explained that he is the boy who visits Narnia in The Magician's Nephew. His mother is ill and Aslan gives him a Narnian apple to take home for his mother. If she eats it, it will restore her health. The boy then plants the seeds from the apple and they grow into a huge apple tree. When the tree dies, many years later, he cuts it down and makes a wardrobe out of it, carving an apple tree on the front of the door. This, of course, is the wardrobe that takes the Pevensie children to Narnia. The Professor is quick to reassure the two older children that Lucy should be taken seriously about her story of Narnia and his ears quite perk up when they mention that this "magical land" was reached through the wardrobe. All this sends chills up my spine.
I can't wait to jump back into these books. But, I fear it will have to wait until this weekend. The children have homework and we are all trying to adjust to them being back in school.
I substituted again today - this time for Deanna's teacher. It was interesting, being the first day back from Christmas vacation. They were all jabber-boxes. They seem to have forgotten, in just 2 short weeks, how to work quietly. One boy confessed he had forgotten how to do long and short division and how to double-check his answers.
Last night, I began preparing lunches. I thought 2 was a pain - you should have seen me doing 4. Daelyn had a lunchbox right next to brother and sissy's to take with him to Grandma's for the day. She gets frustrated because he never wants to eat what she cooks, so it's best I send a lunch. Besides, he feels like a big boy if he gets to take a lunchbox with him. Then there was my lunch. I had a huge problem trying to figure out what to take for me to drink. I'm allergic to milk (sort of - not really allergic, it just causes my reflux to act up and my stomach to secrete more acid, causing me to get sick) and juice makes my stomach hurt. I thought about just plain water, but I want something a little more interesting for lunch, so last night, at midnight, I was steeping decaf tea bags to make ice tea for myself.
Needless to say, I got it all done but sleep eluded me, yet again. This seems to be the "insomnia week" for me. At 2:00, I was still awake when Don rolled over. Still awake at 4:30 when his alarm went off. Still awake at 5:15, when he finally forced himself out of the bed. I begged him to pray over me, citing the fact that I would have 15 9-year olds waiting for me to make their life interesting for 6 1/2 hours in just two. Despite Don's prayers, I don't think I ever dozed.
So, it's off to take an Ambien and let it gently nose me towards slumber. Goodnight, sweet prince (Caspian, that is), and I'll see you in Narnia this weekend.
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