Allergies....

We have been sniffling and sniffling in this new environment. During the evening news we await for the air quality report to see just what culprits have been causing us such havoc. Mold, pollen, rag weed, oak take your pick! We have stocked up on Z.ytec and C.lariten and other such aids, they seem to keep the kleenex at bay, better on some days than others. We do not know exactly which allergens to blame for each of our sinus trouble, but we did discover a particular troublesome one for our 6 year old DD.

It seems that for her, she has a terrible reaction to EFFORT!

Oh, I myself have had such horrid allergic reactions to the same culprit. It rears its ugly head with such terrible side effects such as procrastination and laziness. I guess I can only blame my genes for the yucky allergy.

The discovery came about 10 AM this morning, (though I must say I have had my suspicions for awhile) I asked her quite benignly to please write out her 2's skip counting to 20! She giggled and laughed and doodled with her pencil. She looked on as her sister did a 2 minute multiplication drill and as I explained what sound W says to her other sister. When I looked back over her work she had written 2, 4, 22, 48, 100. So I thought "hmmm....she misunderstood my directions" so I explained myself again and went over to help my son with his reading assignment. 5 minutes later I returned to see her looking longingly out the window at the trees blowing and the empty, lonely swing dancing in the breeze.

I know that feeling well, it plagued me for most of 3rd grade, so I allowed a 15 minute recess, but immediatley after we were going to return to our 2's and just for reinforcement I made her skip count by 2's to 20 before soaring to the clouds on her blue swing. She said it perfectly without even the slightest hesitation in the teens. Out she ran, free at last.

15 minutes later she ran in the door with the tell-tale puppy dog smell of a wonderful romp out of doors. Again I placed her paper in front of her and TWELVE minutes later she had produced the 10 numerals that had eluded her earlier. GOOD we were done with math now on to bible study....

her verse was too long for her to say... there were too many words on the page of her reader...she was too little to remember who George Washington was...tears smudged her drawing of the ladybug we were working on...

Her allergen, effort, was just off the chart and the only cure was the blue swing that could easily reach the elephant shaped clouds. So off she ran with her ponytail bouncing with each stride...I want to be 6 again! Atleast at 6 there is a still a chance to outgrow the allergy, I thought as I walked past the sink full of breakfast dishes.