Kiss My Knits!

Behold, Brownie vests for Emily’s multicultural little Brownie troop. Actually, they’re reversible – green on one side, brown on the other, so that the dolls can be either Brownies or Juniors. As you can see, two of them have bridged up to Juniors.

The one on the right was the first one I made, and it shows. To make these, I make two identical shapes with green and brown, sew them together at the edges except for one spot, then turn them inside out by pulling them through that one spot. Then I sew them around the edges again to keep them from being puffy, and seam them at the shoulders. On the one on the right, I didn’t think to make the point that I keep open behind the neck where it wouldn’t show, so her front edge is kind of sloppy. I don’t hear her complaining, though, and Emily is very happy, so good enough.

I let Emily run the sewing machine foot pedal on the straight sections. She did well. It’s a good introduction into how the machine works.

It was a long day of us running hither and yon, and her being super engaged, which means I’m worn out. Don’t get me wrong, we want her to be engaged, but I’m an introvert running on not enough sleep and it’s very tiring. Still, good day. I can’t complain.

I’ve had a recent upswing in orders from non-English-speaking countries. I’m getting some of those folks to send me their native currency, to be a fun learning tool for Emily to learn more about, say, Germany. I’d call them considerate strangers, but Browncoats aren’t really strangers now, are they?

I realized this evening that this is the first year I haven’t thought, “this could be the last year Emily is in mainstream classes.” I don’t want to jinx it, especially since they’re just starting multiplication, but for the first time I’m taking it as a given that she’ll be able to continue on in regular classes. She’ll just have all the many, many other standard pitfalls that kids in school have to deal with, that’s all.

Lord, I’m making myself more tired. Time to go to bed.

Just got out of a parent/teacher conference with Emily’s teacher. No breakdowns or meltdowns like last year, and good marks except in writing (she’s terse) and reading comprehension (“why” questions about stories are difficult in particular). Anything where she has to dig up words from within are hard. Think about the difference between reading a foreign language and speaking it. High marks in Social Studies and Science in particular. My girl’s crazy about space and the planets, and she’s really enjoying learning about geography and other countries.

This is the first year I’ve walked out of one of these conferences without a raging headache. Emily’s different than other kids, no doubt about it, and that’s fine… but this is the first conference where “different” hasn’t translated into “disruptive behavior.”

Of course, while I was typing this, we had a mini-meltdown over a frustrating task here at home, but that’s the exception rather than the rule. I’m still focusing on the positive. This was an extremely encouraging conference, and it felt great to walk out of there feeling hopeful rather than with a black cloud over my head. Keep up the good work, Boo!