September 16, 2004 - 8:52 p.m.

Bookworms

The combination of rainy weather, Rosh Hoshanah (meaning the girls didn't have school), and my sleep deprivation today led to a lot of reading at our house. It was the perfect cool, dreary, early fall day to curl up with a good book, so the girls and I did so with pleasure between math and spelling practice and a trip to the grocery store.

I was reading Modoc. H is plowing through Eragon (which sounds intriguing enough that I may have to borrow it when she's done, though the reviews on Amazon are quite mixed.) And M is reading Doll People, which has achieved the feat of actually holding her attention more than a third of the way through. See, M loves books, loves being read to, even enjoys reading, but never seems to actually finish a book. I think the main problem is that the books that capture her imagination are just a bit above her reading level, since she's just starting 2nd grade. She's a solid reader, above age level I'd say (note that both girls at nearly 8 and nearly 10 are reading books recommended for older kids), but is slowed enough by complex sentence structure and more challenging vocabulary that books she loves to hear read aloud, such as the Harry Potter series, aren't as clear or engaging when she reads them herself. Anyway, it was both nice to be curled up on a rainy day not only knowing the girls were quite content to be reading, but also to have the luxury of spending nearly an hour at work reading myself. Sometimes my job kicks ass!

Later in the day, I joined M and B while she read to him, and when she tired, I took over. It was just a nice, bookish sort of rainy day, and it left me feeling quite cheerful despite being bone tired. Rehearsals are wreaking havoc with my sleep schedule. They haven't been running very late - we are usually out by 9:30 and always by 10, but after all the singing, dancing, and acting, I tend to be wound up and have trouble going to bed right when I get home. Last night I was up until almost midnight before I felt sleepy. Needless to say, my alarm at 6:30 was not a welcome sound. It's worth it, though, since the show continues to progress well. The other urchins and I have now learned, though imperfectly, four complete dances, but we have 2-3 more to learn. A couple of them are pretty simple, so it isn't quite as intense as it may sound.

As a complete non-sequitur, today's search engine hits here in birdland were again fairly amusing. Of course, there was the usual potty training search reference, but there was also "romantic nicknames" (my page was the 69th link listed, yet the person clicked through... Was this individual really that desperate to find an alternative to Sugarbritches?), "tickle fest", "perfect foot pictures", "connect the dot puzzles", and "black girls fit toned" (my page was almost certainly NOT what that person was looking for!). I really love the diaryland feature that lets me look these things up. It's always good for a laugh!

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