When my son recently began panicking about his music practice, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by having to practice piano AND drums through the week, my husband said he would sit with him every morning that he could to help (that being 5 mornings out of 7). That's like getting Buzz Aldrin to help you on your Space Unit—not a bad catch! My husband is going to explain the tricky jazz stuff (like a Dominant 7th chord. What's that?), plus help him learn his notes, make him laugh, and keep him company. My son can't wait.
When my daughter asked my husband to play this week (having missed him so much when he went to work that she cried), he went to her wholeheartedly and PLAYED. He got on the floor and played literally for hours with my girl. He was a toy dog/cat/bird 'til near collapse! Last week, they did art and my daughter taught him to make a cardboard puppy, and last night, because it was late, they just snuggled up on the bed together, nose to nose, talked and talked, and laughed. She felt so loved.
When my son needed help on his maths the other day, and I was busy, my husband leapt into our learning room, yanked open his shirt to reveal the t-shirt beneath and said, "Math Man is here!" The kids nearly fell on the floor laughing. My daughter now calls him Math Man daily. What was also beautiful was, as much as he tried to help, my husband couldn't figure out the maths problem. So I had to step in and rescue Math Man. Very funny. In the kids' eyes, this in no way diminished his powers. Math Man is, and will always be, awesome!
When we had dinner together one night this week, my son came up with a really funny skit idea, and was showing us at the table. My husband instantly ran with it, leapt up to join my son, and together they made us laugh so hard we cried.*
When we stayed so long at homeschool group last Tuesday that we completely skipped Dinner-Making time, my husband whipped it up for us while we were driving the half hour trip home. It was so delicious we said he had to be the Official Fried Rice maker for the family from now on. But get this: He hadn't made enough for four, so he let us (who were starving) eat the whole thing while he ate leftovers. Our hero.
When I had to make a Big Decision recently and realised I simply could not choose the path that filled me with unease (or, plain old FEAR, if you don't beat about the bush), I said, "But I don't want to be a fearful person. I promised myself I would never live in fear." My husband said, "Helena, you chose homeschooling. That's something that most people never try, and you went for it. You were fearless about that, you were fearless with that school, those teachers. You totally went for it. It was amazing."
Ah. He is a good person. He sure is the love of my life.
* a bit of the skit that made us laugh 'til we cried:
<3 <3 <3
ReplyDeletethat is awesome Helena