Kid Talk and College

My children are all at ages where they come to me with a million things at once. What was quiet time in the mornings to peruse the news or do water color or just make breakfast has become time for the kids to come in. One son doesn't speak clearly and he has the most to say and speaks his mind. The one who is the brightest and fastest thinker speaks very low, so low that the dog doesn't even move when he says something. The next younger boy who has mild special needs speaks. . . ver-y. . . slow-ly. Some... times. . . he. . . for...gets. . . where. . . he. . . is. . . go-ing. I have to remind him.

The five year old girl wants to speak like her teenaged sisters. This is a hoot. The eldest comes home from college and we speak in French. The next eldest speaks Japanese and she likes to just rattle off at us, perhaps telling us what nerds we are, who knows, but Miss 5 mimics her. The third eldest is learning Spanish. The five year old speaks all three languages while she plays. She probably doesn't speak clearly in the three languages besides English, but she ties it together with, "So I was like, well. . . and he said-she said. . ." My four year old son speaks a language with his 2 year old sister-- it's English but they speak it best to each other. They make strides together with their speech. I was panicking over his not being potty trained but I think they will do that together. They are very attached.

They all want to speak to me at the same time. I love them dearly but at times they overwhelm me. I can be writing or talking to another child and someone feels left out so a random question about Harry Potter gets thrown in or one of them, having been listening to the conversation, will deliberately ask a question to throw me off balance. There are phases like this. They are great kids and I would never change my life but I am trying to figure out if this is a passing phase or if I need to try a behavior modification. The oddest thing is-- all the kids are doing this on me-- all nine, ages 18 down to 2! Each get a lot of attention, but they want me to shift my spotlight. I think it will take a group modification change, where I remind them of the rules. I already don't allow them to

I am still messing around with my college classes. Art is not my major but I associate myself as being an artist. This semester intermediate drawing is to be canceled. I signed up for it yesterday so that we would have enough people in the class to meet the minimum and decided to go without another class for my major. I want to see our art program thrive and I wanted to take the class in another semester. The head of the art department called to say she was canceling. I was sad because I was happily anticipating the drawing class and realized that four classes in my major would get mentally exhausting. I signed up for a writing class instead-- it's online and I can do it in two weeks if I want and then just focus on the other classes. I also found some interesting looking distance ed art classes. My college doesn't have Chinese painting as a course and I found it here

London Art College also has botanical drawing and children's illustration courses. A little spendy for a class not giving me college credit, but at least I will have a teacher some place in the world to work with and give me feedback. Like with most things in college, it's seldom what you learn in class that matters but what you pursue outside it. Are they good? I don't know. I just want to learn to improve my art style. I could pay the dean of the art department for private lessons but for this, I can get up in the middle of the night and write my teacher in London a note and work of my stuff. I like that.

I am not looking forward to college starting. My degree teaches students to think like the professors. Last year on one of my classes, we watched a video of rehabbing murderesses. My prof said at the end, "I don't trust that and I think they are speaking for the cameras." The class agreed. I raised my hand and asked, "Why do you get that feeling?" I really thought she'd have an explanation. My classmates glared at me, "Don't be sarcastic!" "Don't split hairs!" "Why isn't that obvious to you, Tea?" Yikes. Don't ask questions. Don't qualify your statements. The professor rolled her eyes at me and she is one of the better ones. I like her-- but the class scares me. These people want to go into jobs making subjective decisions about people. They don't even pretend to have a scientific base for thinking. One of my closest friends if a defense lawyer and he is sick of this with my profession and it's a game on the stand. You'd think that the judges would get mad but they seem to not.

I am getting back to my old self and buying French heeled stockings again. I did in the eighties when I was in high school. I love dressing nicely. I don't have a lot of money but I feel so much nicer and accomplish more when I get dressed in the morning like I will conquer the universe.