u/pico310

I bought tickets to hear Górecki’s Sorrowful Songs today after listening to it for the first time 35 years ago. Back to back nights. First night just for me, and second for me and my dad.

I didn’t have anyone to tell that would get it. I’m tearing up just thinking about being in the audience.

Are there any pieces that you would love to hear live? What’s been your most memorable performance that you’ve attended?

She could use the small Pottery Barn backpack she used for kindergarten and first grade, but she’s angling for a new one. I’m feeling uninspired by the current Pottery Barn options so I’m probably going to branch into something new.

I remember people recommended their LL Bean backpacks, so maybe I’ll start there. Anyone have one that they love? And what size is it?

Also, are there any special 2nd grade school supplies we should be getting?

My newly 7 year old daughter made a vacation friend yesterday. They played in the pool together yesterday and they set up a time today to play. (They’re currently playing now in the pool as I write this.) We spontaneously met them on a hiking trail and they hiked together and rode a down the mountain gondola together. It was really sweet. The friend is 12 and is from Korea. They share a love of stuffed animals. lol

We are considering adding a pool to our backyard. My husband (H) and six year old are strongly in favor… I’m less interested.

One of H’s pool pros is that thinks that a pool would be appealing to friends and bring kids to our house. I don’t even know if I want kids at our house in the first place lol

I also wonder how much my daughter would use the pool by herself. I’m not getting in the pool each time she wants to swim. She has swam by herself on vacation, but there are usually kids there that she ends up playing with. I kind of feel like if I had more than one, I’d be more open to it which sounds kind of messed up now that I think about it.

If you have a pool, how often does your only use it? Does, to paraphrase Kelis, your pool bring all the kids to your yard? Did it come with the house or did you add it after? How do you feel about it?

Do you have a shoe rack by the door? How many pairs does it fit? I feel like our shoe rack has gotten bigger and bigger and has taken over our small entry space. No one should have 7 pairs of shoes available to them on the shoe rack (person in question is 6 lol, but still!). I’m thinking 2-3 pairs per person should be sufficient.

I know there’s a couple of students attending immersion schools and I was just curious how the school year ended up and how you’re planning on keeping learning going over the summer.

How’s reading/writing in other the language going? Have they started reading/writing in English? Was one language harder than the other? Lastly, if your kid is in a Spanish immersion school, what are some favorite books?

My daughter is in a Spanish immersion school - her dad speaks decent Spanish but I’ve topped out at around 1st quarter first grade. lol I can phonetically read it, but probably need to look up a word every now and then. Generally we’re an English speaking home. I’m the primary caregiver and he’ll speak with her in Spanish like 50% of the time.

She’s reading fluidly in Spanish, but sometimes the 4-5 syllable words trip her up. She makes a few phonetic spelling errors in her writing as well, but she enjoys doing it.

They haven’t done English reading instruction at her school yet, but she was curious about it so I taught her a few things like magical e, how some letters sound differently in English and now she can read basic English as well. It’s interesting seeing how she uses contextual cues and general knowledge to make sense of the more challenging English texts and how there are interesting “gaps” - like she has no problem with “fountain” but struggled with “do” and “does”.

This summer I’m going to have her work with a tutor to read and discuss Spanish books. We’ll also have Spanish movie nights and I’ll encourage my husband to speak more Spanish. And I plan to take some lessons myself.

Her favorite books are the National Geographic series, but I’m always looking for interesting Spanish books.