Seven Quick Takes on Super Heroes, Iodine Breathing Treatments, Latin, and More

:: 1 ::

Last weekend, Friend R. threw a super hero birthday party for her twin boys, who turned six. I got to help with the cupcakes! I love helping, because basically, she does all the work, and I show up and swirl some frosting on top. It’s loads of fun.

These were super easy.

We tinted normal buttercream frosting using Wilton gel tints: red red {hint: add a bit of cocoa powder to get the darker hue}, golden yellow, and royal blue. I piped it on using three different Wilton tips, and Friend R. topped them with sprinkles.

Of course, we added the adorable comic signs on top for a finishing touch.

:: 2 ::

The superhero party was a costume party. Translated, this means the children were supposed to dress up. This did not stop my husband from participating; he dressed up as Captain Alaska.

Ahem.

He combined his trusty Alaska T-shirt with a red cape that he plundered from the children’s dress up clothing bin.

“He tried out for Captain America,” I said, “and all the runners-up got their own states.”

“I’m a regional hero,” he said proudly.

:: 3 ::

This week was a sick week for us. We still did lessons, but everyone kept leaving the room to blow their noses. On Tuesday night, Q-Age-Eight seemed like she was getting worse when she ought to have been getting better, so we went over to my folks’ house and did an iodine breathing treatment on their nebulizer. This is something that works oh. so. well. on our family. {Of course, you have to have access to a nebulizer!} To a saline base, we add a drop or two of Lugol’s 2% Iodine Solution. It knocks the infection right out, every time.

Daughter Q. was headed in the right direction when she woke up the next morning. The cold had moved out of her lungs and into her nose where it belonged.

I’ve gotten to where I use iodine a lot, now that I keep it on hand. For example, I had a cut that looked a bit infected last week, so I put a drop of iodine on it. Problem solved. It’s really quite a handy thing to keep in the medicine cabinet, I think.

:: 4 ::

This week’s links collection:

• Spoiling the Egyptians: An Introduction to Resuscitating Paideia by Helena Sullivan
  • I’ll be honest and say I haven’t read this one yet. It looks great, and I’ve bookmarked it to read later today, when I should have more time.
• How Plumbing {Not Vaccines} Eradicated Disease by Joel Edwards
  • I wish he’d kept vaccines out of the title — it makes it unnecessarily inflammatory, I think. I’m sharing it, however, because it’s a history of bathing and sanitation that was so. darn. fascinating. Did you know Boston outlawed bathing in 1845? That’s not really all that long ago! My own grandmother didn’t have plumbing as a child.
• Can Claritin Help Cure Lyme Disease? from LymeDisease.org
  • As a survivor of chronic Lyme Disease who spent years and years under antibiotic treatment, the idea of a Claritin option is rather intriguing.

:: 5 ::

I’ve really been pondering what to do with A-Age-10 in regard to Latin. While I believe in setting the feast for all children and letting them take what they can, I really think that the combination of Visual Latin and Henle that I’ve done with my oldest would be best done by her at an older age — say junior high or high school. With that said, I don’t want to deny her the chance to learn Latin just because she’s different from her brother. I actually have a whole post brewing on the Latin issue, but for now I’ll just say that I remembered that I own Song School Latin, which I used with E-Age-12 once upon a time when he was just a little guy. I think it’ll be perfect for her, and I’m happy to see they have a second level to follow the first. My tentative plan for now is to do it during Circle Time and let Q-Age-Eight and O-Age-Six sit in on it. They will enjoy the little songs. Only Daughter A., however, will do the actual book work.

:: 6 ::

There is something to be said for reading multiple books on a common topic at the same time. I think Adler called it syntopical reading? I don’t know. That is just a vague recollection. Anyhow, in my personal reading — and I’m including my book clubs here — I’ve touched chapters from Parents and Children, Consider This, Left Back, Begin Here, and Nichomachean Ethics this week. And they have all come together in some truly amazing ways.

What are you reading?

:: 7 ::

Answering your questions:

• Question: How do I place my child{ren} in an AO year?
  • Answer: If you can’t tell, this is a composite question. {Because I’m sneaky like that. 😉 } I’ve gotten a number of these emails in the past week, and I haven’t been able to answer them — it’s been especially difficult because our internet was down or spotty about half the week. So. I really think the best place to ask questions like this is on the free AO Help Forum. You will get a lot of input from a lot of AO moms with experience. In the end, you’ll still have to make your own call, but these moms really can help you learn the kinds of things to think about when making that call.
• Question: I feel sort of guilty every time I hear about habits. There are all of these things that would go so smoothly if I had simply started in the right direction when they were littler. But when they were littler I didn’t know that we would all be headed this direction now. So we have all these misspent preschool years to overcome. What now? Where do I begin?
  • Answer: We’ve talked about this here on the blog, as well as in the Newbie Tuesday newsletter. But I just thought I’d say once more what I’ve said before, because I learned it from some really wise people who are worth listening to. 🙂 Just begin. Don’t look back. What’s done is done. Choose core habits — habits that will have really broad impact on your days — and root habits — habits that are at the “bottom” of the stack of problem, that will pave the way for other better habits in the future. If you can work on one habit with all of your children, even better, because as a mother it’s hard to keep track and be diligent with different habits for different children.