Sure is early.

It's nearly 7:00 am and the Knitternall family's morning has been underway over an hour. We rise and stumble at 5:30 so High School Girl can catch her bus to the Fernbank Science Tools & Technology program. No complaints from her ... all that science is nirvana to her rationalist soul. (Oh, the philosophical and faithful discussions we have had ...)

Once the fog of sleepwalking in the dark lifts, I'm glad I'm up so early. I'm at my most productive during those brisk hours before mid-afternoon, after which I slide into a stuporous, slow blinking half attention for late afternoon and evening meetings and deadlines (fair warning). One of my clients is at full charge around the time I head to bed, which means she's texting me at a time I can't think straight. We've worked out a system where she sends stuff to me well past midnight, then I tackle them a few hours later. Deadlines met.

Good morning, Dunwoody.

Hello, Mr. Smith, the preternaturally alert and cautious school bus driver who rises at 3 am, makes his rounds in Dunwoody, then delivers his teen-aged passengers safely to Decatur each day.

See you tonight, Campaign Guy, as he leaves for another busy day bridging work and Dunwoody visits. We'll meet again over dinner.

Have a great day, neighbors leaving the house with one hand on the wheel and the other flexing a coffee cup to lips in the dark of the pre-dawn work day.

Sssshhh, lawn care companies starting power mowers and blowers before 9 (actually, at 7:15 one recent morning). I know you have a long day ahead, but please don't break the morning peace so abruptly.

That's enough, Fox News, CNN, and other cable news shows relying way too much yelling at each other rather than the calmer BBC method of simply reporting the news.

I'm on it, much valued client texting a desperate "can you get this by 10 am today" plea for writerly attention.

Just a minute, hyperactive Scooter the Wonder Dog. You don't really need to go to the bathroom - it's that chipmunk family under the front steps you're really keen to check on.

Have a great day!

We want your telephone number.

The Girl Scouts want my social security number to verify I'm safe around my daughter and her friends during GS activities. Google wants my telephone number in case my blog gets hijacked or I lose my password. The library wants to see my driver's license every now and then to make sure it's really me checking out the latest bestseller. The United States government wants to see my in my altogether before I can board a plane. Every website I visit wants to leave a few unsavory cookies on my computer to track my interests.

I am not comfortable with mandatory identity-proving procedures, the loss of privacy, and the increased demand by governmental and commercial entities for personal information. I am more comfortable with anonymity. (I know, that seems a bit perverse considering the very public nature of this blog.)

It's insidious. Gradually, over time, I've grown accustomed to the relentless demand for personal information everywhere I go, from the grocery store to my kids' schools. I am asked to share my address, telephone number, and social security number for a background check, my socioeconomic status and interests "for marketing purposes," and proof of medical insurance and liability waiver to have my cholesterol checked.


I am pragmatic about the reasons for these intrusions. I recognize that our culture and way of life are in flux, wrestling with the transition from everybody-is-the-same to an uneasy imbalance among government, commercial, and personal interests.

Another morning is dawning. I'm packing school lunches, Preschool Phonics gear, and freelance paperwork for several projects due today while I hold down the fort at Dunwoody Nature Center as interim director.

I'm also making sure I have my driver's license, insurance card, frequent customer card for the grocery store, checking account card, credit card, smart phone with contact information, remote log in for my desktop, personal hotspot, and memorized passwords and user names for the many accounts I work on each day ... without which, I could not function at all and all of which reveal so much about my personal life to strangers around the world.

Kinda creepy, isn't it?

Phonics Phunnies.

My Preschool Phonics classes are well underway. The children are settled into class routines, I've figured out each one's learning style and quirks, and we've jumped gleefully into blending sounds into words.

I begin each year believing that, having taught this program for more than six years, I've seen and heard everything.

Like do I live at Dunwoody Nature Center? (Feels that way sometimes.) Are my children actually Phonics Friends who decided to stay with me because they love, love, love Phonics? (I said yes.) And the fact that there's one child, every single year, who likes to put EVERYTHING in his mouth (I've had to retrieve letter magnets, pencil erasers, puzzle pieces, notes to parents, and a hot dot pen from various little mouths through the years.)

Turns out I can still be surprised.

I did not think that a lanyard holding a name tag could become a chew toy. I have some powerful chewers this year.

"Can I use the bathroom outside? Did you know you can pee on a tree?" Well, yes I did. But I encouraged the little scholar to use the regular bathroom instead. (I also noted that /pee/ and /tree/ rhyme. I never miss a teachable moment.)

"Look!" I looked. At the same time one of my students was successfully matching rhyming word pictures, his "free" hand was stuck firmly up his nose. "Honey, let's not pick noses in class. And you need to wash your hands." "Why?"

I taught the children the Little Red Wagon chant (You can't ride in my little red wagon! The front wheel's broken and the axle's draggin! Chugga, chugga, chugga chugga chugga!) It's a great wiggle-soother. I forgot that preschoolers can't say "axle" very well. So, loud and clear across Dunwoody Park came one little darlin's rendition: "The front seat's broken and the a (double s) is draggin!" I am proud of myself for not falling apart in giggles right in the middle of the lesson.

"Mrs. Nall, we're late because the back-berry kept talking." Mom blushed and I chuckled. "My phone does that too, sometimes." 

Keep 'em coming, kids!

Rainy Days and Fridays.

There is an inverse relationship between a rainy day and the amount of wiggles, shrieks, and tears found in the average preschool classroom.

Every preschool teacher out there knows exactly what I mean.

Teacher has erased playground time and fresh air from the day's schedule. If the school has a large gym or great hall, that will be where the kids will run around for fifteen minutes some time over the next four hours.

They make it through the morning, have some lunch . . . then come to me for Preschool Phonics.

I love these kids. They're bright, loving, eager to share the minutae of their lives (including some things I'm sure their parents would be appalled they tell me), and greet me joyfully each week.

But if it rains, all bets are off. I resort to theatrics, goofy faces, songs, jumping up and down, and anything I can think of to get their attention. Oh, they want to work. But they just can't contain themselves. Because they haven't had playground time. Or fresh air.

Lesson: long vowel /o/ with silent /e/ at the end. "Phonics Friends, how do we know this is a long o?"

"It's funderin, Mrs. Naw," says precious girl in sparkling pink shoes. We take a two-minute pause so everyone can shriek and wonder if it's going to "funder" again.

I'm looking for one of them to notice the silent e at the end of the word. I'm pointing to it. I'm making my goofy face. They KNOW this - we're merely reviewing a concept they have engraved on their brains.

"My feet aw wet - I don't like wet feet." Monkey boy who never met a dirt pile he didn't like does not feel the same way about rain.

Okay, then. Let's start our centers. They love centers. Open an easter egg, pull out the letters, and create a long vowel word for the picture card inside (a kid favorite - who doesn't like seeing what's hiding in a plastic egg?). Who can make the most three-letter words with the What's Gnu game?  Sort the words according to long vowel and short vowel sounds.

Because it's raining outside, children who can usually spend five minutes in each center are wriggling and restless after just 2 minutes. Hello, Short Attention Span Theater.

"Mrs. Naw, I need to go to the baffroom." This child has already gone three times, and unless we're dealing with a bladder infection, I think the bathroom has turned into his happy place.

CRASH! Shrieks of laughter reward the curly haired moppet who just took all the Boggle cubes and scattered them across the floor. So I suggest the kids make words by rolling the cubes and seeing what words turn up. An instant hit, and soon we're spelling LOUDLY on the floor.

Suddenly it's treasure box and pick up time. Parents dash in from the rain, Phonics Friends go skipping out the door, and I survey the wreckage left behind.

Another rainy day. Yet learning still happened.

Preschool Phonics

I get to spend part of each week with wriggling preschoolers and words. Both give me much pleasure.

First, we begin with letter sounds. We said "aaaaaahhhhh" to the doctor, "eh?" because we can't hear well, "i! i! i!" because we're itchy, roar "oooooooooooo" like Tarzan, and look skyward with a "uuuuuuu!"  (Short vowels aren't so mysterious after all!)

Then we begin to sing letter sounds together: baaaaaaaaaat!

Soon, we discover that those sounds made words.

bat cat fat hat mat pat rat sat

Now we're playing with rhymes as the children decode words through their rhyming "families."

I love teaching phonics to preschoolers. Whether they're ready to "get it" or will need to hear the concepts a few times before that light bulb glows, they LOVE playing with letters and sounds and rhymes and pencils. Since we celebrate achievements and a can-do spirit through play-based learning, they have a really good time. (The fact that every class ends with a visit to the treasure box certainly helps, too!)

What I see emerging in my little learners are lifelong personality traits. Perfectionists do not like to try, try again. They hold back until they get it right the first time, won't write if their letters don't look like mine, and worry more about the end result rather than taking pleasure in the process. Carefree spirits forget a workbook, skip a page, accidentally knock over a learning center, and live in the moment - worry is not part of their psyche. I get to see the genesis of leaders and followers, scholars and players, those who will give up easily and those who will keep trying until they succeed.

While I'm introducing them to the world of reading, I also impart gentle lessons in trying your best, working with a partner, completing assignments, celebrating your own achievements rather than comparing yourself to others, patience, accepting change, and good manners.

Once upon a time, I taught high schoolers the art of analyzing literature, expressing themselves through writing and speech, and exploring the world through the words of witnesses through the ages. Now I'm teaching preschoolers the art of the word at its most fundamental level.


I am so very blessed . . . and grateful . . . to have the opportunity to teach.
.

Preschool Phonics

The first thing I wanted to be when I grew up was a teacher.

I loved school. Even though I moved 13 times by the time I finished high school, classrooms were a constant in an inconstant life. The smells, sounds, and rituals of school sustained me from Florida to Kansas, Georgia to Okinawa, and on and on.

I loved teaching. Until I discovered that my measly $13,000 paycheck wasn't enough to do much more than pay the rent on a shared apartment and my college loans. So I left, to satisfy my other love, writing. I became a copywriter in an ad agency, doubled my salary in one year, and enjoyed myself tremendously for the next 20-odd years.

(Oops . . . I'm revealing a little age there, aren't I?)

I returned to teaching when I discovered that my children were ready to learn to read far sooner than Kindergarten. Writing a curriculum, figuring out the preschool learning style, adapting Phonics to the comprehension of a 4-year old: Preschool Phonics was born.

For the past six years, I have taught Preschool Phonics, primarily at the preschool my daughter attended, the continuing long after she entered our neighborhood school.  These classes come after my stint at Dunwoody Nature Center, and satisfy my need to teach. I recently calculated, just for fun, how many preschoolers I've taught the foundations of phonics. More than 400. Oh, my goodness.

This week, I begin my 7th year, with a new class of wriggling, slobbery, grinning, eager-to-try-anything pre-kindergarten munchkins.

I'm back in the preschool world. What a blessing.

I am so lucky.

One of my favorite people, who happens to be on the cusp of Kindergarten this fall at the Knitternall alma mater, Austin Elementary School, rang our doorbell yesterday and asked the tween to deliver a gift and message.

The gift: a handwritten card on cherry yellow construction paper.
The message: that she's reading "a really big book" all by herself.

Sublime joy. Teaching little ones the fundamentals of phonics has been such fulfilling work. In each class of 12 children, 12 different light bulbs pop on at 12 different times. Through the past few years, I've seen more than 600 of those light bulbs twinkle. What a privilege it has been.

Oh, Elizabeth. Thank YOU for your hugs and grins, for your determination and fearless jumps into alphabet soup (emerging, victoriously, with letter-sound connections), and for that wonderful card you wrote all by yourself.

Someday soon, I hope we'll sit on the front stoop and share a book together. I'd like that, very much.

Howdy, neighbor

Just a few of the reasons I love being in Dunwoody for the holidays . . .

1.  Light Up Dunwoody and Cocoa & Candles. The Knitternall family can walk the three short blocks between our house and the farmhouse, enjoy the jostling, smiling, familiar crowd, and shiver in the shift from sunset to darkness before hitting the luminaria-lit trails at the Nature Center with warm cocoa in hand.

2. My darling little Preschool Phonics friends starting to wear Christmas dresses and shirts, with bows in mussed up hair, lick-lipped chap marks making perfect circles around their mouths, and hands shooting up into the air to tell me everything and anything going on in their families (I promise I believe only half what I hear).

3.  The rare quiet of very little traffic on Mt. Vernon Road on Thanksgiving and Christmas Days.

4. Red Velvet Cake from Wright Gourmet, Moravian Sugar Cookies from the Fresh Market (a taste from Winston-Salem that we'd otherwise miss), a smoked turkey from Olde Hickory House, and peppermint cocoa from Starbcks.

5.  Redfield's Christmas Eve gala, with hundreds of cars meandering through street after street of magical Christmas lights displayed by neighbors competing for bragging rights in a variety of categories (Knitternall Family Favorite: the Kids' Choice!). Plus, we always have to see the gi-normous display at the estate in the heart of Dunwoody Club Forest.

6.  The huge Great Dane who walks his owner through my neighborhood with genteel dignity, foot-long stuffed bone pillow grasped firmly in his slobbery mouth and a happy gleam in his eye as he ambles along. 

7.  The local Griswold house in Wyntercreek.

8.  The 11:00 Christmas Eve service at St. Luke's,  with its carols, communion, chrismons, and candlelit lullaby.

9. Running into friends and familiar faces in the aisles of Kroger and Publix  as I make yet another run for that one ingredient I thought was on my list but completely forgot and the gingerbread/stuffing/fudge/buckeyes/hard sauce etc. MUST BE MADE.

10. Holiday dinner leftovers. Yummmmm.

I love the holidays!

Just when you think you've seen everything knitted . . .

Click http://sternlab.org/index.php?project=BodyTechnologyInterfaces. TangleGirl sent me this link and it's proof that some knitters have way too much time to play with yarn. Absolutely hysterical.

It's been a busy week in my corner of the universe.

• The DeKalb County School System decided to turn a planned elementary school into a 4th and 5th grade academy - maybe good in the long run, but horrible in the short run as the schools turn into trailered parking lots. This just delays construction, allows even more multi-family housing to flood Austin Elementary School, and turns us all into ping-pong balls.
• The City of Dunwoody iniative is rolling towards voting day July 15.
• The new girls' softball fields at Murphy Candler are tantalizingly close to completion, except for grass. We're watching it grow. It has to be green before the girls can play on it. Funny thing is that we've never had grass to play on, so the girls think a grassy outfield is a novelty.
• I've begun marketing seminars to preschool directors so I can teach their teachers how to teach Preschool Phonics to preschoolers. Try to say that out loud without stammering.
• I just finished registration for next fall's Preschool Phonics classes. All the spots were filled in 24 hours.
• I have several private knitting lessons scheduled in the next week or so.

Hmmm . . .

Somewhere in all that overachievement, I finished all the pieces of the White Hot Cardigan and have cast on a lacy edge treatment for the bottom. I don't like the rolled edge of the stockinette field, so I'm laying it down with edging. I'll let the sleeves roll - that looks fine. I'd like to wear it this weekend, so I'm on a mission. AG has softball practice Friday evening and a game Saturday, so I'm sure I'll be sewing together all the pieces by Saturday afternoon.

The winter of our discontent

Spring just can't come soon enough. I'm likely placing way too much hope that spring will bring change for the better. When I fret, I knit prayer shawls. I just finished one in record time that has prayers for so many people woven into every stitch. Sharing those prayers in such a public forum seems somehow intrusive and self-serving, so suffice to say that a winter's worth of suffering just HAS to end.

The Comfort Shawl pattern is one of my favorites for combining yarns and varying the size. You can find the pattern here: http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/shawls-shrugs/comfort-shawl.htm. I crocheted a ruffle along the edge for a bit of whimsy and am quite pleased with how it turned out. The mix of yarns - a thick fuzzy merino, some novelty yarn, and a heathered wool work well together. Now I'm thinking about using some girly pinks and greens for the next shawl.

The mukluks turned out exactly according to the design, except I felted them too long. So they fit AG's feet perfectly. When they're supposed to be larger so they'll fit next fall. Darn it. AG wants them anyway because "they feel like big thick socks." I'm going to give her the rejects and cast on another pair. They really do knit up quickly, I like the way they look, AG loves how they feel, and the yarn isn't expensive (hurray Paton's Classic Merino!), so I'm not too bugged.

I have two more weeks of Preschool Phonics after Spring Break, and am both sad to see another class of preschoolers move on to Kindergarten and glad to have some free time. My freelance writing assignments are coming in steadily (I have another speech to write this week and just finished a really technical piece for an IT company), so it's good to have more hours to put into those jobs. And the Nature Center is gearing up for summer camps and the Butterfly Festival, which means exhausting times ahead.

But right now, it's cold and damp outside and Spring seems just too far away. So I'll go cast on another prayer shawl and keep a little faith in better days ahead.

Knitting on a prayer

This has been one fretful winter. I've been so busy I feel breathless, but the busy-ness has helped to numb the worries cascading through our daily lives.

I like to pretend I'm in charge of stuff. That if I just plan things right and keep things organized I can prevent the unexpected.

I have a really good imagination. And a high degree of denial.

Tim the Tutor will arrive shortly to help A with his geometry proofs and I'll indulge in an hour of Clapotis. I can't do chores while they're working, so it's as good an excuse as any to knit. While I'm knitting, I'll be praying for a young mom in our midst who's suffered the 1918 pandemic Type H influenza, sepsis, dialysis, damage to organs, and potential loss of limbs. Disbelief is putting it mildly.

God, this is bad. Really bad. This woman, this mother, this wife, this daughter, this sister, this friend needs you. Surround her and her family with your love and grace. Help them. Then help me understand WHY. Amen.

The birthday that slapped me upside the head

Today I hit one of those milestone birthdays. It comes with these:

He went to Jared! Check out the major WOW factor of my extravagant diamond necklace and earrings!!!

and these:

The kids got me knitting loot! Sock forms, a shawl pin, and a pattern that I really wanted. I promptly put Jaywalker #1 on one of the sock forms.

and these:
my cohorts at Dunwoody Nature Center shared the love - luscious lavender to grow in a pot and a custom designed bracelet featuring butterflies, the icon of one of our biggest special events!

I'm not going to say which birthday I'm celebrating. I quite enjoy the shock on the faces of the much-younger moms who find out. If I broadcast it here, the surprise isn't as much fun.

I feel blessed in so many ways. Except time! So much still to do. So much less time. Ah, well. I'm just going to have to kick it up a notch and get even busier exploring new byways and moving ahead. My kids came to my husband and me when we were older than our peers. Just as knitting came to me later in life than the knitters I admire.

I've always been a late bloomer.

I'm trying things right now while friends have already "been there done that." They shrug, think I'm kind of slow, and move on to the next big thing. I don't mind toddling along afterward. I'm too busy enjoying the here and now!

Check out my roses and lovely vase! T will be in San Francisco for Valentine's Day, so he presented me with flowers during the birthday festivities. The guy doesn't miss a thing.

So today, for my birthday, I count my blessings:

• My husband and children - I longed for this when I was younger and got everything I imagined.
• Knitting - of course! It's meditation, recreation, socialization and inspiration.
• Fulfilling work - writing, the Nature Center, website management, teaching Preschool Phonics.
• Community of faith - what would I do without you?
• Friends - you're wonderful!
• Home - it's OURS. How very essential that is.
  
• My inner Donna Reed. I admit it. I was born in the wrong generation.

It isn't all good. But it's good. Yes, indeed.

All better now

Five reasons things are better at the Knitternall House:

1. AG is nearly over her cold. She was out of school for two days, which meant I was out of work for the same period. I spent much of yesterday catching up the backlog.

2. I just finished a gi-normous edit job for one of my copywriting clients. Six hours of proofing indices, tables of content, technical data, cross-references, captions, and legalese. Hitting that "send" button felt really, really good.

3. My Preschool Phonics classes are just zooming. The kids collectively had a cognitive "growth spurt" over the holiday break and most are catching on. Many are even reading fluently!

4. I finished six scarves, a prayer shawl, and started a ShareAtlanta layette, so my charity knitting is right on schedule.

5. The ice blue kid silk mohair and suede soles arrived yesterday so I can start Ice Queen and the mukluks!!! Paradise Fibers was a dream to work with.

I'm craving a visit to my favorite LYS, Cast-On Cottage in Roswell. Maybe, just maybe, there will be time to indulge that craving on Saturday. I'm in the mood for some stash-building. And I'd love to dig through their new patterns for the queue.

Jaywalker #1 is nearing the toe and the dreaded second-sock syndrome is looming. Gotta fight it. Must . . . cast . . . on.

Random thoughts on knitting, Dunwoody, and Queen Bees

It's been a busy week of constant hat-changing. I've published the workbook for the next Preschool Phonics classes, conferenced with AG's teachers, thought about the main course for my son's church youth group Progressive Dinner coming up on Sunday, and, of course, blogged.

Out of all that frenetic activity have come some random thoughts.

1. After road-knitting for 12 hours last weekend, I needed a break. I've discovered my passion for knitting doesn't lessen just because I take a periodic breather. It just gets more savory.

2. The Queen Bees have emerged! Their circles are busy, busy, busy with long hair, appropriate clothing, and a constantly changing list of "dos" and "don'ts." It's fascinating to watch the queens use their power. Ah, but if it were only for good.

3. Crohn's Disease is one of those pervasive genetic disorders that seem to affect every possible body process. On the other hand, it's all too easy to dismiss something new as Crohn's related. We're still learning how my son's disease works. And just when we think we know, it evolves.

4. I snore. There, I admitted it. I can't believe I do it and there's not a darned thing I can do to stop it. Sigh.

5. I love managing the Nature Center's web site. Want to see it? It's at www.dunwoodynature.org. I took a DreamWeaver class to get me up to speed, and it's been a joy ever since. I'm far from being able to design a site from scratch (the center's site was created by a very talented web designer), but this part of my morning job is definitely keeping me in the loop web-wise.

6. Berroco's new web site design is really good. And Norah Gaughan's latest design is cool. The short-sleeve sweater has an intriguing circular design that radiates out beneath the sleeves. Definitely thinking about knitting it.

7. I'd love to own a knitting shop right here in Dunwoody. But I don't have the business acumen and that's absolutely essential. It's one thing to love all things knitting. It's another to run a business.

That's enough for one day. On to my morning job!

Making do at year's end

Tomorrow is the last time we'll write 2007 on checks, school work, letters, "to do" lists, and the calendar. It's been a pretty good year Chez Making Do. A had just one surgery, AG finally got a major wish fulfilled (learning to play the sax), T is having lots of good work and church stuff, and I'm knitting like a fool. Not bad, not bad at all.

I just finished dismantling the Christmas effect. It's all so much easier now. Two years ago, I purchased plastic bins and labelled them with their Christmas contents. One bin at a time makes the work pretty smooth. And I use the bins to store the various accessories temporarily displaced by all the fa-la-la. All is calm and clean. We're ready for the New Year!

My Preschool Phonics business is in its sixth year and I fully expect to be scheduling classes next fall. Juggling the Nature Center, Preschool Phonics, freelance writing, and a burgeoning design business seems to be working so far. Scheduling and organization are critical. Just as I tell my kids, you can't put off the minor stuff because it'll get in the way of the unexpected major stuff that's always waiting around the corner. Which means I have to finish the laundry and ironing in the AM. My niece is arriving for two days (she and AG are just two months apart in age) and I want to be able to focus on two very busy and quite social ten year old girls!

Speaking of Preschool Phonics, I'm doing some preliminary work for the Level 2 classes that begin the second week of January. My little respite is nearly over and I'm raring to get back to the preschool world.

Making Do Pointer #5: Treasure other people's cast-offs.
I hit the Goodwill in Sandy Springs and came home with two ginormous bags of toys for the Preschool Phonics treasure box. Most are brand new - stuffed animals, birthday party goodies, fast food toys, and more, all with tags or in the original packages. I aced nearly 70 prizes for less than ten bucks. That sure beats even the reasonable costs of prizes from Oriental Trading Company!

Making Do Pointer #6: Sometimes it's just as important to save time.
For years, I stood at two copiers at the local Kinko's, copying and colating 36 to 48 workbooks (depending on how many classes I scheduled that year). It took several hours, then I had to assemble them once I got home. After a spontaneous discussion with the services guru at Office Max, I discovered that they would do the copying, colating, and hole-punching as well as laminating the covers - for about the same amount of money. All I'd have to do is the plastic combi-binding with my machine at home. Blinding glimpse of the obvious here - let someone else do the heavy stuff! I'd just assumed that do-it-yourself was cheaper. Not so in this case!

Knitting up a party

Glad tidings . . . I've finished my knitting gifts, satisfied the hard-to-find yearnings for friends and family, baked the last batch of cookies and breads for exchanges, and settled in for the heart of the holiday.

Today I'm leaving work a bit early to attend the Christmas party for my knitting circle. I call it "my" knitting circle even though my job now precludes regular attendance. I love the ROCKers - such a delightful mix of personalities that meld beautifully together. I have my treat to warm up in the Nature Center kitchen, a knitting project in hand, and I'm on my way!

The St. Luke's Presbyterian Church Rockers (Reaching Out Through Crocheting and Knitting) has a mission of creating layettes for stillborns through Share Atlanta, a wonderful grassroots bereavement organization that does wonderful work for parents of children who don't come home from the hospital. That's awfully hard to say, let alone experience. We create luscious, soft blankets, hats, and booties in a range of sizes, from premature to full term. Nurses wrap the babies in these hand-knit gifts and give parents time to hold their child and say good-bye. The parents keep the sets as a keepsake. I try to make one set each month . . . our circle has made hundreds of sets in the past two years.

The Einstein Coat is still in progress - the lower section is half finished. I want to finish it pretty soon because it already feels heavy and warm. I added a few inches to the length so it'll hit me mid-thigh. Since designer Sally Melville cautioned that the coat lengthens with wear, I hope it'll eventually come to just above the knee.

One of my many pleasures is teaching phonics to preschoolers. My business, Preschool Phonics, means I get to stay in the preschool world long after my own children have moved on to tween and teendom. After six years, my little "graduates" number more than 220, which means I run into familiar faces at the grocery store, elementary school, music studio, pool, and everywhere in Dunwoody we roam. They love to tell me what they're reading. Introducing them to phonics concepts is the core of the classes, but nurturing excitement about reading is equally important. It's so much fun to see those light bulbs click on.

Then, of course, comes a time when they don't recognize me anymore. Hey - three years is a long time to a seven-year-old! That happened at my son's most recent Boy Scout meeting, a Court of Honor when he was recognized for completing 100+ service hours and receiving the Presidential Service Award (wow). A little Phonics friend was there, watching his own brother advance in rank. M didn't recognize me at all! Ah, well. I have enough memory for both of us.

Making Do Pointer #4
School - whether public or private - will not meet all of your child's needs. Since my children were in preschool, we've had "Mom School" during the summer. I've focused on content that was inadequate or not mastered so that my children could be comfortable with each subject. I've seen many discussions about the concept of summer school in the home - that kids need time off, that summer should be carefree. An hour in the morning isn't a burden for my children, and it's such a habit for them that they are completely comfortable with the lessons. Part of Mom School is also reading for pleasure. I want to make sure, particularly as my kids get older, that t hey continue to read books they enjoy because required reading takes over so much of their time in the upper grades during the school year.