Jon in Singapore, Day 1 (with better formatting!)

OK, OK, Jon only left at 3:30. But I'm still counting it as Day 1.

So those of you who know my husband also knows that he has a form of wanderlust, one enabled by large pots of federal education dollars supporting invitations to exotic locations. This time, it’s Singapore – he’s off for most of a week. Because beating a hasty retreat to my parents (my usual response to this situation) was not in the cards, I’m here with the kids ‘til Sunday.

On the plus side, the kids’ second cousin Sara Warren came over to help. Sara’s great with kids, and helped us out last year when we decided we’d like a moment’s peace on our Cape vacation. Here’s a picture of Sara with Seth, taken today in the park:

And here's Seth giving her a smack on the nose:

Sara’s taking a week off from her studies at Auburn to nanny for our kids (and be a bit of a tourist for the shards of time they’re in school this week). So that's the plus side.

On the minus side, our kids are particularly challenging right now. Here’s the scene before dinner:

Nathan is doing his homework in the other room and then being entertained by the heroic efforts of Sara, who has been up since the wee hours (Atlanta time) for her flight to Madrid. So that is one Starhill down.

Nora is doing her math homework – seven computation problems which ultimately take her almost an hour. For reasons unbeknownst to me, the Spanish 4^th grade curriculum skips directly from multi-digit addition (2545+345) to multi-digit multiplication (3,485 x 7), leaving out, oh, things like basic multiplication facts (which apparently kids are expected to know at the start of 4^th grade), easier multi-digit problems (e.g., 40 x 7), and so forth. So not knowing the facts or the basics of the procedure is one big problem for Nora.

The other big problem is that Nora vehemently rejects all of my attempts to explain why procedures work – those explanations, apparently, stand in the way of her executing the procedure as quickly as possible in order to go out and play. But because the multi-digit problems they are working on tonight each require extensive regrouping, and she quickly becomes entangled in the procedure, putting phantom zeroes in and writing numbers willy-nilly on top of one another.

Nora, to her credit, was mostly good-humored about the situation. I couldn’t resist teaching the partial product method—I’ve been dreaming of teaching the partial product method to my daughter for years – and Nora mostly took that in stride. But Nora also begs incessantly for help and answer checks, and I also learned how easy it is to provide the answers to one’s daughter, in hopes that the ordeal of homework will be over faster.

Meanwhile, I am trying to cook dinner. Which, as my children will tell you, never goes particularly well even on a good night, when the kitchen is cleared of Starhills. On this particular night, in addition to Nora doing her math, Seth is in and out “helping” Mommie cook, pestering Nora, rummaging around in the laundry, trash and recycling, and getting into sundry other things. Sara finally lures him away, but only by taking out the big guns: Angry Birds.

As a side note, there been a lively discussion on the Arlington parent’s list about a parent with a clingy 18^th-month-old. Most other parents responded by providing strategies (for instance, let the toddler cook, get them a really good toy to play with) and then assuring the advice-seeker that the stage goes away in a few months. I can testify, however, that it does not go away until approximately age 5. All three of my children have been Mommie-attached in the worst way – practically from giving up nursing (and thus allowing Mommie to cook) they have been either attached to my leg or screaming to be picked up, making cooking awkward and at times even unsafe. I briefly consider writing this to the parent who originally asked for advice, but finally decide it’s too depressing.

This all continues on while judeo beans simmer into a mushy mess, rice burns at the bottom of the pot, I hack an ungainly watermelon to pieces with a dull knife, and lomo (pork) is turned into an unchewable mass by over-frying. Finally, an hour after I started, I serve dinner to the masses.

Tune in tomorrow to see whether this situation gets better or worse.