Books

I jjoined a book club at Chapters and am currently reading a book called Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  So far it is interesting.  Jan 11 is the next meeting and I have a lot of reading to do to finish the book.  I joined the club because it is free and I like free stuff and it makes me read books I would otherwise not pick.  I tend to stay with the authors that I know.

I am back at work after my nice long holiday and it feels good to connect with the kids again.  I practiced with my new digital camera and that is going viery well but my mini movie camera needs a little more practice.  Today I use it on the kids as they were talking while waiting for lunch and as soon as they saw the camera they went quiet and wouldn't talk.  Later I tried again while they were in deep conversation with each other and someone spoke up saying, "Guys she has it on again."  Everything went quiet.  Oh well, they willl get use to it and won't notice it after awhile.

Amazing that conversation is such a skill.  The kids are learning how to listen to each other and respond with the topic.  The biggest thing I get is "guys, you interrupted me."    When one child is finished talking and another child is talking, the previous child will think of something else to say and think that he got interrupted.  However, all the kids have come a long way with the conversation.  They know how to listen to each other and usually let everyone have a chance to talk.  Today they asked each other about their day.

Listening is something I could practice.  I can remember one day one of the girls was sitting on the kitchen floor unpacking her school backpack.  I was in a hurry scurrying around the kitchen to prepare the snacks.  This child on the floor held something up to me that she made at school and asked if I liked it.  When I responded yes, she said, "Colleen, how do you know.  You didn't even look at it."   OOOPS!  She was right so from now on I make sure that I look before responding.

I decided to withdraw from my race.  I ran yesterday and realized that since it has been awhile since I last ran a  great distance, I should start off slow.  My new goal is to join a 5 K in April.  At least by joining now  I realized that I miss running and running races.  It feels good to be back into it.  Yes, I miss the sound of the pounding on the pavement at the races and talking with other runners.  Yes, actually talking while running.  It helps the kilometers pass by quicker.  I will look forward to April and building my mileage up from now to then.,