It is uncommonly cold in my bedroom tonight. I don't know if there is a heat problem or what, but it has been progressively getting colder night by night. Normally, since heat rises, our upstairs is much more comfortable than the downstairs, but that definitely it not the case right now. I love cold weather, I love warm sweaters and soft pants and blazing fires and things getting cancelled. In many ways, I have no beef with coldness. That said, I don't really want to be out in it, either. I want to be home in front of the fire, sipping tea and reading a good book. This year I'm getting my fill of cold weather, though I sure could use a little more snow. Our reservoir is partially frozen just about the whole way across. You wouldn't want to walk on it or anything (even Rutledge commented that you can't step on it or you will get wet), but to see it like this day after day is noteworthy.

We've been having a great two weeks here. The dance show is over, and it was fabulous. It seems to improve each year, and the junior company was really polished; I was impressed. Frances adored every aspect of this past week--the many late rehearsals, the camaraderie with the girls backstage, the gossip and intrigue, the makeup and hair braiding, the opportunity to be on stage, the growing knowledge of how a theatre works. Now we're getting heavier into rehearsals for her next show. It's a lot of fun to watch, and it makes the inevitable driving and missed dinners so much easier when there's so much enthusiasm.

I'm giving up on the idea of a schoolroom and am working on getting desks set up in the boys' bedrooms. This morning I didn't supervise well enough, and the quality of the schoolwork showed it. You know how you get these key phrases, almost metaphors that enter your life and take on a life of their own? The new one is, "Is it anything a pink lamp might solve?" I was talking with Hilary about some challenges with Frances and doing the very tiny bit of work I ask of her, and she had mentioned buying a pink lamp for a desk. Might a pink lamp be the little thing that would add a bit of excitement and specialness to Frances's academic life? Could that, perhaps, be the magic bullet? Maybe it isn't all about workboxes or lapbooks or unschooling or experiential learning. Maybe everything could really be solved with nothing more than a trip to Target and a new pink desk lamp. The "pink lamp" for the twins, I think, just might be cushily padded, leatherette executive desk chairs. Wouldn't you just want to get right down to business with your Latin book sitting at an expansive, clear desk in a comfortable chair that made you feel like you owned the place?

The best part of our day is reading. I have a totally new child with Walter. I credit most of it to LearningRx this summer. He had a critical turning point where he became much more open to oral input. Before, he had been the kind of kid who was turning somersaults and playing with Legos or just plain leaving the room when I was reading, and no, he could not tell you, uncannily, everything that had just happened in the book; he was genuinely not paying attention and couldn't even give you the broadest, most sweeping strokes of plot or character. Now he begs for us to read longer, and he sits for hours at night (sometimes with Legos, but sometimes not). I used to pick what I thought would be higher-interest books for him and then would read other books with Ollie, who devours historical fiction and more complicated Newbery type books. But Walter is completely with us now. We just finished two books this week. The Thief Lord was the book for this month's library book club, and thank goodness there were two other girls there this time, since I worry about the viability of this "club." The librarian who facilitates is just awesome--she picks the best books and whether the kids are all alone or have comrades there, they have a great time and come out super-excited about the next pick and with a handful of other books by that author or on the same subject as this month's book. We're really looking forward to seeing the movie of the Thief Lord now. I read a little less than half of it aloud to them because I wanted to read it myself and we were having trouble sharing a single copy (we actually had two copies, but we just found the second tonight; it had fallen behind my headboard). Now we are about to finish Caddie Woodlawn, which is a Newbery winner that I have always heard of and haven't read. What a great book! We were all just smitten. I guess some would call it a "girl" book, but that's the beauty of reading aloud--I can get them to "read" things that they otherwise might not, and we always find that it was worthwhile for everyone. This was everything you want in a book--sweet, thought-provoking, historical, multiple characters that you really care about, clear themes that still have depth.

I'm off to the chiropractor again fairly early tomorrow to try to work on this ear problem. Life is far less pleasant when you're only hearing 2/3 of what anyone is saying.