It has come to my attention....

That I haven't posted a WOW Wednesday in quite sometime... seems that routines are not good for me, I don't get into them very well.

Well, this week I just happen to have a WOW post.... it's still about my girlies.

They are quite rambunctious, wild, boisterous, but I would not call them out of control.... my husband, well that's for a different post, maybe even a different blog!

When Li comes home mid-day from Pre-K she has a quick lunch or snack and then proceeds to play (sniff, sniff the nap times are gone  ).  Now her play constitutes tea parties with dollies and mommy, drawing a ream of pictures/notes, dressing up (5-10 times), asking questions about books/tv/people in general.....

It's quiet play, sometimes I even doze off on the couch if I have a few minutes to sit (or I'm not having tea).

Then, it's Lauryn's turn to come home.  She is full of excitement, school news, excessive energy from sitting in classes, in general she is just a LOUD girl.  She is demonstrative in all her story telling!  Not only that she appears to be needy (alert, looks can be deceiving ).  Mom, can I have this for a snack, will you get this, can you fix this, how about this, is it alright to have this, can I have 2 of these...?  These questions go on and on... I'm just trying to figure out who left the door open and let the little tornado in!

Eh, once we get sorted out the amount of food that constitutes a snack and NOT a meal, she's good to go for about 30 minutes.  She has 1/2 hr. of "free" time where she can kick back with a cartoon, book, coloring, playing etc (hopefully you get the picture) and then she must get with her homework.

This time alone used to be dreadful, we're talking about 3 hours for what should have taken her 20 minutes (30 at the most).  Mommy decided things were going to change, or I would really be loading myself up to go to the funny farm.  Found a book titled Ending the Homework Hassles (author's name cannot be recalled at this moment, if anyone wants to know, I'll post it later)!  I'm free again!!

Basically, he says no child doing homework @ kitchen table (and directing the lives of everyone around them), find a desk/table in a separate room (Lauryn has a large desk in her room) and let them do their home work their way.  With music, etc....  Not only are they to do their own homework (I know that is a very retro concept for a lot of us parents), but they are to bring their work to YOU if they have a question (not holler down the hall as if they were telling you what to do  needing you (ahem, possibly that is only at my house ).

So with my battle gear on, ready to fight for my right to sanity.  I explained to Lauryn how homework was going to be done from now on... not only was she going to be doing it in her room, on her own (with very minimal help from a parent), she was going to be done by 5:30 pm (that is an hour and a half for 3rd grade homework....'nuff time).  If she's not done, she still packs it up for school the next day and gets her groove on setting the table for dinner and family time.  When dinner table is set it's outdoor time....until it's freezing out (then it is still an option).

Do you want to know a really great thing, my WOW for this Wednesday?!?!  Huh, do ya, do ya?!  I'll tell you anyways..... she has made this momma proud with her responsible behavior and getting that homework knocked out in an hour or less!!!  Only needing to come to me to do some reading aloud or some memory work!

WHOOOOSH!  That is the bucket load of stress that just left my body.  Sorry for the noise.  The school year had NOT started out fine, alright I'll admit it was a tense start.  Mommy was expecting too much maybe, Lauryn was headbutting those expectations, as usual.  Whatever the reason, I wasn't expecting to make it through the whole school year with my sanity intact (or Lauryn's head actually).

Who knew, you could give a strong willed child more responsibilities and the freedom to take on those 'sponsibilities, and they would grab hold and run with 'em!!  Yeah, me for discovering this before her 7th b-day!!

So, what does the whirling dervish do with her after chore time last evening?  Take a 1971 Walt Disney book outside to look at, because she wants to see Peter Pan again and we don't happen to have the movie in our home collection.  Hmmm, b-day is coming up.  Could be a good idea!

So I'm leaving you with a picture of my girlies, acting as if they were the perfect angels.... outside getting fresh air and expanding their brain power!!

Of course Liyah had to join her yesterday.... she was reading an ABC's of Civility book I picked up at a yard sale over the weekend.