W brought me his 1st-grade workbook to do with him this morning. He learned what a verb is and that adding "ad" "at" and "an" to p, m, and b, it makes different words. At 8am we drove K to school together and saw that our little purple flowers were all closed up. It was early and cold and the sun hadn't gotten over to the area yet. In the afternoon when W got home from school, the same flowers were wide open and looked totally different from that morning. So he asked questions and we had a cool talk about why that happens.

J and I were getting back in the car after going to the store and we saw a dead pigeon in the parking lot. She asked if she could go over and look at it. Now, the old me would have said she was crazy, that's disgusting, we're already in the car, etc etc. But this time I said, Sure, go ahead. I realized that a lot of different thoughts can stem from seeing a dead animal. I mean I was always curious like that, too. It felt good to catch myself loosening up a bit. :)

She bought a dry-erase board at the store. At home, she drew on it, wrote some stuff, and plans to hang it up in her room. She and W put on last year's dance recital DVD and danced and sang along together. I rearranged all of J's books and workbooks. Now it's easier to see what's what. She's not taking much of an interest in books of any kind lately, so I'm trying to make them more appealing. She has been reading magazine articles and informative webpages, though. If it has to do with dance, she'll read for an hour. So, I'm not worried.

I had work and the kids had Musical Theater. I picked B up at the train, dropped off the girls, drove to work, and B (and W) took the car back to class. I'm so glad work is only 10 minutes away. And he picked me up again at 9. Things are looking up for us. Even my sister has a new guy, a great job, and is getting her life on track. I just feel this is really the beginning of the "new me".